History of Wicca

Wicca is a relatively new nature religion. This religion's deity is a mother goddess and is practiced through means of herbal magic and benign witchcraft. Founded in the 1950's, Wicca borrows many aspects of its worship from cultures and religions dating back as far as the 9th millennium BCE, such as the Canaanite religion. Modern Wiccans espouse the use of magic, the celebration of eight solar-based holidays (which are the four days of the two solstices and two equinoxes, as well as the four days that fall between those), and a code of morality that supports any action that does not harm others. Wicca is a polytheistic religion that has its roots in harvests and agriculture and keeps its members tied to and in care of the Earth through reincarnation. Gerald Gardner, founder of Wicca, referred to the religion as witchcraft. It does borrow several aspects from the centuries old craft, as well as from nomadic and agriculture-based tribes in ancient and medieval Europe, namely the Celts. Wicca has been compared to Satanism due to inaccurate media portrayals of Wiccans acting in satirical ways (i.e. committing blood and animal sacrifices), though there is no belief in a Satan-like deity for Wiccans. There are no blood sacrifices as there are with Satanism, and animal sacrifices are confined to small, nontraditional Wiccan subsets and are also very rare. No harm is meant by the traditional magic practiced by Wiccans.

Today, Wicca is considered to be a Neopagan religion, which is the worship of nature, fertility, etcetera, and can be represented by various deities. Wicca is also recognized by the United States government as a legitimate religion. While only being recognized for just over twenty years, Wicca has prompted many questions among more conservatives and liberals alike. It has also spawned several different sub-genre's of movies and schools of thought.

Early influences of the religion can be found as far back as the Paleolithic period (2.5 to 2.6 million years ago), in which cave drawings expressed similar values as would one day be supported by the group. By the Neolithic period, which began a little after the 10th millennium BC, it appears that people's values changed as they settled into a less nomadic, hunting-based lifestyle and began to farm. Gods of the Hunt and figures of pregnant females with fertile, swollen breasts (most famously, the Venus of Willendorf figurine) showed a reverence for nature and for fertility of any kind, very similar to the beliefs of modern day Wiccans because Wicca has dual gendered deities. Keeping the idea of appeasing nature for its help due to their lifestyles (farming, hunting, etcetera), cultures began to notice more about the world around them, and attribute their thankfulness to the moon and seasons by documenting the phases of the moon. The feminization of the moon was an early sign of the dual-gendered deities of Wicca. Early carvings in antlers dating back to 7500 BCE showed the phases of the moon. This was the first time the moon came into a period of reverence, which is an idea that would become crucial in the Wiccan religion because a lot of Wicca deals with the moon and its phases. The female menstrual cycle, the ultimate embodiment of fertility and life, was connected to the moon's cycle. Thus, females began to represent much that was important, such as agriculture, seasons, nature, and fertility.

The influence of the moon on the values of European tribes in the following centuries continued to grow by the way of which the moon's phases began to represent certain things. The three phases of the moon (waxing, full, and waning) continued to represent most aspects of life and death for these early European tribes. Women went from virgins, to mothers, to old, thin, and dying women during this time. Agriculture went from blossoming, to harvesting, to dying out. Similarly, Wiccan deities experienced the phases as well, as they were tied intimately with nature. In fact, the gods showed a great deal of malleability and lifelike transformations, especially when cultures met and merged. Wiccan Gods and Goddesses met, changed, reproduced, and died with changing cultures and values.

The most recognizable influence on the shaping of what would one day become modern Wicca and Neopaganism would be the Celtic people due to their dominance, mystical nature religion, and four main holidays. In 450 BCE, the Celts were the dominant force in the British Isles and in areas not under Roman control. They had previously been able to conquer the widespread and unstable tribes throughout the isles and were able to spread their religious influence as a result of their unity. In keeping with the mysterious, mystical nature of the religion, little written history of the Celtic influence is present, as it was an oral culture, but it is certain that the four main holidays celebrated by the Celts would one day become four of the eight solar Sabbats, which is another name for the eight solar-based holidays of Wicca, observed by the Wiccan religion (and several even have modern day secular counterparts).