The History

While Wicca has had a rich and mystic history, it's also been one of the most persecuted religions on earth. When the christian came to convert the pagans, the once great Druids were ostracized and even burned and tortured, for sorcery to the christians was the work of the devil.

Druids were the judges and lawyers of the day, very respected and awe inspiring, and when they retreated from the people who turned on them, much, almost all of the ancient knowledge was lost. Women also lost, much of their respect and the reverence the Celtic tribes had for women was not the same ideology that the christians followed.

Paganism was different from every other religion in that it treated women with much more respect. There were Druidesses, female rulers, such as Boadicea who ruled the Iceni. Women were warriors, like Medb of Connacht, who commanded her army and personally slew the warrior Cethren in combat. They were ambassadors, some were involved in the treaty between Hannibal and the Celtic Volcae.

The position of women in the Brehan Law system was amazingly advanced compared with the rest of the world. They were lawyers and judges and queens, while women in other parts of the world were the chattels of men. Even in some religions today women are not given the power that men have. Druidesses were considered very powerful and wise. In fact in the Tripartite Life of Patrick, in his canons Patrick warns kings not to accept the advice of Druids and Druidesses, but especially asks god to protect him from Druidesses. The catholic saint, Brigit, was a Druidess who converted to christianity. Many of her festivals and traits were grafted on to the catholic saint.

Wicca is rich in cultural history and steeped in mysticism. We have no bible, no great works to adhere to. Many of the written works of the Druids, the rods of the Fili were burnt by the christians, the only works surviving were set in stone and not the combustible wooden rods.

The Druids believed the human soul indestructible, immortal. Death is a changing of place, and life went on in another world, a world of the dead. The Summerland, Otherworld, whatever you want to call it. When people died in that world, they were reborn in this one, so a constant exchange of souls took place between the two worlds. The Celts celebrated a birth with mourning for a death in the Otherworld, a regarded death with joy of rebirth in the Otherworld. Some believe that this is why the Celtic Warriors were so fierce in battle. There was no fear for them, only the joy of rebirth. Wiccans believe the same. When there is a death of a Wiccan we wish good journey to the departed.

In the middle ages Pagans, Witches, were routed out and destroyed. Burned, drowned, tortured, hundreds of thousands of them. Mostly women, but men and children weren't ignored either. If they tried to defend their wives, mothers, daughters, they were suspect too. In two villages in Germany the witch finders went through, at the end of their inquisition there were two women left between the villages.

It isn't over. It exists today, this fear and hatred of Wiccans.

I have a brother who calls me every time we have an argument or he thinks I'm mad at him, and asks me if I'm going to cast a spell on him. At first I thought he was joking. He's not. Mr. Christianity is seriously afraid of me. This is my brother. Sigh.

Amazing.