1 - The Origins and Practice of Witchcraft
A History Of Witchcraft
Witchcraft probably originated about 25,000 years ago in thePalaeolithic era. At that time, humankind and nature were seen asinextricably linked. People acknowledged every rock, tree and streamas deities in the life force, and the Earth as mother, offering bothwomb and tomb.
Early man used sympathetic, or attracting, magick - in the form of dances, chants and cave paintings of animals - to attract the herds of animals that provided for the needs of the group, and to bring fertilityto humans and animals alike. Hunters would re-enact the successfuloutcome of a hunt and would carry these energies into the everydayworld. Offerings were made to the Mistress of the Herds and later tothe Horned God, who was depicted wearing horns or antlers to displayhis sovereignty over the herds. Animal bones would be buried so thatthey, like humankind, would enjoy rebirth from the Earth Mother'swomb.Where hunter-gatherers today continue the unbroken tradition thatstretches back thousands of years - for example, among the Lapps inthe far North of Scandinavia and the Inuits - these rites continue, ledby a shaman, or magick man, who negotiates with the Mistress of theHerds or Fish in a trance for the release of the animals.One of the earliest recorded examples of shamanism is the DancingSorcerer. Painted in black on the cave walls of Les Trois Freres in theFrench Pyrenees, this shamanic figure, which portrays a man in animalskins, dates from about 14000 BC and stands high above the animalsthat are depicted on the lower walls. Only his feet are human and hepossesses the large, round eyes of an owl, the antlers and ears of astag, the front paws of a lion or bear, the genitals of a wild cat and thetail of a horse or wolf.By the Neolithic period, which began around 7500 BC and lasted untilabout 5500 BC, the hunter-gatherer culture had given way to thedevelopment of agriculture, and the god evolved into the son-consortof the Earth Mother. He was the god of vegetation, corn, winter anddeath, who offered himself as a sacrifice each year with the cuttingdown of the corn, and was reborn at the mid-winter solstice, as theSun God.