The witchcraft conspiracy – part I

In the UK witchcraft was illegal until the 1950's but since the late 1800's there had been a growing interest in folklore, myth and legend, particularly in the areas of spiritualism, ghost and magic. This was tied in to increasing interest in archaeology and antiquarian research and extended out from the UK across Europe, with several attempts made to find extant links between mediaeval witchcraft and modern witches and magicians. One of the leading proponents of this quest was Margaret Murray in her book “The witch cult of Europe”, and was taken on by several groups including off-shoots of Rosicrucian groups and those involved in occult societies such as the Ordo Templi Orientis and the Golden Dawn. This much is well researched, but what is interesting is that there is good evidence that through the period before 1951 from the first witchcraft act in 1542 that there were practices still continuing that we would today recognise as the witches art. Indeed, the 1542 act was created early during the reign of Elizabeth I, yet she herself engaged as a consultant Dr John Dee, a polymath who amongst his many skills was an alchemist, hermeticist and and diviner, engaged to foretell the future for the Royal Court.

Coming up to date, the father of modern witchcraft, Gerald Brosseau Gardener the founder of Wicca made claims that much of his work was discovered whilst working with a coven of witches in the New Forest in Hampshire who were a continuation of a tradition extending back into antiquity. This coven had, amongst other things, been involved during World War II in attempts to hold back the German forces using witchcraft and druidry, and it has been suggested that Winston Churchill himself was a practising druid and involved in this effort, his druid group meeting in Sussex. Historians have regularly dismissed the claims of a continuous heritage for witchcraft, suggesting instead that there was a gap between the 16^th Century and the late 19^th Century when witchcraft ceased to exist. However it seems surprising that such a complete recreation as the one seen in Wiccan writings could be achieved without some previous reference material.

There is an alternative, one which more completely explains the progression of magical practice through a far longer age range. If we look at where magic is now, and how belief systems tend to develop we see a process which began certainly in Egypt, and probably even earlier in Sumeria although the Sumerian texts have yet to be discovered to support this. The magic of Egypt was a mystery tradition, known to the priests of Egypt that relied heavily on symbolism, astrology, numerology and correspondences. This style of magical practice was carried on into Greece and Rome, with many Greek writers discussing the four essential elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, bound together in Spirit. It should be noted that this was strictly a magical symbolic construct, given that the Greeks were perfectly well aware of a more standard chemistry, as evidenced by their use of explosives and military use of geometry and principles of leverage, and their discoveries in medicine. Yet still there was a undercurrent of magical practice and thinking, particularly in the area of divination.

Moving on from the Roman Empire through early mediaeval Europe there is clear evidence of continuing witchcraft practice, influenced both by Gnostic Christianity, and the pagan practices of Northern European tribes particularly the Norse Vikings and the Teutonic and Hungarian tribes, the Goths and Magyars. This is evidenced by the still extant Italian and French grimoires again emphasising divination and introducing the concept of Demonology, a natural progression of a magical belief system that was polytheistic in nature in the face of increasing monotheism. There is good evidence, through the work of the Catholic Inquisition and Kramers work in German, and Hopkins in England that witchcraft was still widely practiced throughout Europe from 1480 to 1750, bringing us to within 200 years of the repeal of the UK witchcraft laws and the concomitant acceptance of Wicca as a witchcraft based spiritual path.

So, are we really being told that modern witchcraft has no basis in historical practice? That it has no continuation of belief when we also know that witchcraft was practised, and punished 250 years ago? That it is possible to wipe out a belief system when there has never been a case of the complete destruction of a system of this type, no matter what the oppression? I suggest that the case is very much still open on the history of witchcraft and its practice today.