Lesson 4: Witchcraft History - Ancient History

When looking far back to when witchcraft first began, is difficult to discover. There is no exact time as to when it all officially began. Magik has been around since the dawn of time and it cannot be measured. Now, what that said, we can still look back to the origin of witchcraft, hopefully without getting it confused with the origin of Wicca. Wicca is a religion that was created around the 1950s. Witchcraft has been alive way longer than Wicca.

In the past, we have thought that witchcraft and practicing magik was utilized to close the bond and the ideas that we have about God. Certain tribes have previously approached this in their own ways by performing rituals in order to satisfy or please the gods. Doing this, was the beginning of witchcraft altogether. As centuries have passed, these practices had developed more and more and spread across the world in order to create numerous religions and cultures. This kind of magick was marked as acceptable. However, as soon as Christianity took over, any kind of "Pagan" practices was marked as being Satanic. Example of this can be shown in the Salem witchcraft trials which were held in the middle of the 1600s which we have discussed in the previous lesson.

However, along with the Salem Witch Trials, there are several other, and much larger trials that have taken place. Here is a short list of them.

Fulda witch trials (1603 - 1606) - over 200 people were killed, and most of them were women who were burned alive.
Wurzburg witch trials (1626 - 1631) - 200 people were executed, numerous were burned alive. Hundreds more were killed in the regions around the city itself.
Bamburg witch trials (1626 - 1631) - Most likely the largest series of witch trials and executions, with more than 300 people killed (some sources say closer to 600).
Torsaker trials (1675) - 71 executions in a single day.
Salzburg trials (1675 - 1690) - nearly 140 people were killed for witchcraft.

The punishment for this crime varies depending on what century and what country you are in. However, the most common punishments by death included burning at the stake or being hung. There were many occasions where they were stoned. Of course, there is also the water test as I have explained in the previous lesson where they are tied and throw in the lake. If they sink and drowned, they are innocent and given a proper burial. However, if they float, they are accused of being a witch and must be executed, or jailed.

Medieval Witchcraft

When referring to Medieval Witchcraft, it is also known as the middle ages and mainly took places between the 5th and 15 centuries and when doing the math, it was around 1,000 years between those time periods, therefore, it would be very difficult to describe this kind of witchcraft. Before witchcraft became mostly threatening, it was a practice that was common among most villages. Therefore, it was common to have a woman cast certain spells for certain events, such as, for their neighbors. However, because witchcraft began to cause fear to many others, and due to the several and upcoming events of witch hunting, these practices have faded.

Overall, these practices began to arise during the middle ages and people started getting ideas in their heads that witches bring destruction and illnesses even though they have not been proven. And along with this, the fairytale appearance of witches that includes the riding of brooms into the starry night also came into thought. 

Wicca Origin

Going over to Wicca, and as I have mentioned previously, the origin of witchcraft and Wicca, are very different. Wicca and witchcraft are two entirely different things, which makes their history very different. To begin, I should introduce one important author, Gerald Gardner. He, in the 1950s, wrote and published a book that was entitled "Witchcraft Today". This book basically outlined the nature of Wicca altogether. According to various sources, he had claimed to come across an ancient coven which followed the Wicca religion. With this in mind, he has also claimed to have received all his information from this coven. So, according to Gerald himself, he stated that he was initiated into the coven by Old Dorothy Clutterbuck in 1939. However, this has not be proven whether this actually happened.

However, since his information seemed to develop from various practices and ceremonies, people have believed that Wicca was something that Gerald had developed and created himself. All religions have to begin somewhere and they usually all have to begin with the person's idea just like how the universe cannot be created from literally nothing. In addition, Wicca was coven-oriented. This means that you can learn the information and everything about their magick and practice, but only if you were officially initiated into the group. However, it is time to introduce to you another important author: Scott Cunningham. He wrote a book in 1988 that was entitled "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practioner". This book has the completed details of the Wicca religion and practice. It was open to anybody and everybody whether you had a coven membership or not. 

Hopefully, this gave you some more insight into how history was on witchcraft and how it all came around. If you would like to continue reading more on this history, here is a source you can look into if you are interested but this is totally optional.

Click here to read more history on witchcraft

*Likely subject to edit by the instructor