Wicca and Witchcraft essays

Wicca and Witchcraft essays Much of the knowledge about witchcraft is a combination of archeological data, passed down myths, and some translated historical documents. Wicca is overall a very flexible religion, representing people from many paths and backgrounds. Its not only a religion but also a way of life. At the simplest level, Wicca is a religion that embraces nature, individualism, and magic. No one can say for certain what the ancestors really did, or why (Walker 1, Kettler 1). After the Thirteenth Century, people began believing that magic was from the devil, and witches were bonded with Satan. Satan is a Christian creation of a fallen angel. Wiccans are not Christian; do not worship a Christian god, or a Christian devil. For the most part, there is no deity of ultimate evil in the Wiccan belief structure. Oppression against religious movements is as old as recorded religion. The Crusades, Christian martyrdom, the destruction of the Cathar and other "heretics", anti-Semitic actions, and the burning of African-American churches in the southern region of the United States, all reflect oppressive and sometimes genocidal acts against members of differing religious groups. Many witches, the lowest number being in the thousands, were burned at the stake, and put to death. It was not until the Eighteenth Century that the witch-hunts ended. The last big outbreak was the famous Salem Witch Trials. If one were to assume that hatred of witches is a thing of the past, one would be sadly mistaken. One has only to look as far as the media portrayal of witches and other pagans. There are those today who are convinced that the Neo-pagan movement is directed by Satan in a deliberate ploy to destroy good Christians (Baker 1-3). The Development of Wicca in the United States started in the early nineteenth century. A new natural religion gradually evolved. It gathered momentum in the mid-Twentieth Century with the Neo-Pagan movement, considered t...