Neopagan witchcraft
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Witchcraft |
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Neopagan witchcraft, sometimes referred to as The Craft, is an umbrella term for some
In contemporary Western culture, some adherents of these religions, as well as some followers of New Age belief systems, may self-identify as "witches", and use the term "witchcraft" for their self-help, healing, or divination rituals.[3] Others avoid the term due to its negative connotations. Religious studies scholars class the various neopagan witchcraft traditions under the broad category of 'Wicca',[4][5] although many within Traditional Witchcraft do not accept that title.[6]
These Neopagans use definitions of witchcraft which are distinct from those used by many anthropologists and from some historic understandings of witchcraft, such as that of pagan Rome, which had laws against harmful magic.[7]
Origins
Most societies that have believed in harmful witchcraft or black magic have also believed in helpful or white magic or cunning craft.[8] In these societies, practitioners of helpful magic provided services such as breaking the effects of witchcraft, healing, divination, finding lost or stolen goods, and love magic.[9] In Britain they were commonly known as cunning folk or wise people.[9] Alan McFarlane writes, "There were a number of interchangeable terms for these practitioners, 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding' witches, blessers, wizards, sorcerers, however 'cunning-man' and 'wise-man' were the most frequent".[10] Ronald Hutton prefers the term "service magicians".[9] Often these people were involved in identifying alleged witches.[8]
In the 1920s, the witch-cult hypothesis gained increasing attention in occult circles when it was popularized by Margaret Murray.[11] The witch-cult hypothesis was the idea that those persecuted as witches were not workers of harmful magic, but followers of a pagan religion (the "Old Religion") that had survived the Christianization of Europe. This has been proven untrue by further historical research.[12][13][14] Though the theory of accused witches being followers of an organized pagan religion was discredited in academia, it spurred renewed interest in witchcraft.[15]
From the 1930s, occult neopagan groups began to emerge who re-defined the term 'witchcraft' and applied it to their religion. They were initiatory secret societies inspired by Murray's witch cult theory, ceremonial magic, Aleister Crowley's Thelema, and historical paganism.[16][17][18] The earliest group was the Bricket Wood coven of English occultist Gerald Gardner. Gardner said he had been initiated by a group of pagan witches, the New Forest coven, whom he said were one of the few remnants of this pagan witch cult.[19] His story is disputed by academics.[20][21][17][22][23] Gardner's neopagan witchcraft religion, later known as Wicca, adopted many of the traditions ascribed to Murray's witch cult.[24]
Gerald Gardner was not the only person who believed they were a member of a surviving pagan witch-cult. Others such as
English historian Ronald Hutton notes that neopagan witchcraft is "the only full-formed religion which England can be said to have given the world."[27]
Following its establishment in Britain, Gardnerian Wicca was brought to the U.S. in the early 1960s[28] by English initiate Raymond Buckland and his then-wife Rosemary, who together founded a coven in Long Island.[16][29] In the U.S., numerous new variants of Wicca then developed.[30]
Wicca
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Wicca |
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Wicca is a
Various forms of Wicca are now practised as a religion with positive ethical principles, organised into autonomous covens and led by a High Priesthood. A survey published in 2000 cited just over 200,000 people who reported practicing Wicca in the United States.[33] There is also "Eclectic Wicca", a movement of individuals and groups who share key Wiccan beliefs but have no formal link with traditional Wiccan covens. While some Wiccans call themselves witches, others avoid the term due to its negative connotations.[34]
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is the oldest tradition of Wicca. The tradition is itself named after Gerald Gardner (1884–1964). Gardner formed the Bricket Wood coven and in turn initiated many Witches who founded further covens, continuing the initiation of more Wiccans in the tradition. The term "Gardnerian" was probably coined by Robert Cochrane, who himself left that tradition to found his own.[35]
Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca is the tradition founded by Alex Sanders (also known as "King of the Witches")[36] who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established it in Britain in the 1960s. Alexandrian Wicca is similar to and largely based upon Gardnerian Wicca, in which Sanders was trained to the first degree of initiation.[37] It also contains elements of ceremonial magic and Qabalah, which Sanders studied independently. It is one of Wicca's most widely recognized traditions.[38]
Eclectic Wicca
While the origins of modern Wiccan practice lie in coven activity and the careful handing on of practices to a small number of initiates, since the 1970s a widening public appetite made this unsustainable. From about that time, larger, more informal, often publicly advertised camps and workshops began to take place and it has been argued[39] that this more informal but more accessible method of passing on the tradition is responsible for the rise of eclectic Wicca. Eclectic Wiccans are more often than not solitary practitioners. Some of these solitaries do, however, attend gatherings and other community events, but reserve their spiritual practices (Sabbats, Esbats, spell-casting, worship, magical work, etc.) for when they are alone. Eclectic Wicca is the most popular variety of Wicca in America[40] and eclectic Wiccans now significantly outnumber lineaged Wiccans; their beliefs and practices tend to be much more varied.[41]
Traditional Witchcraft
Some strands of neopagan witchcraft refer to themselves as "Traditional Witchcraft",[4][5] "Traditional Pagan Witchcraft"',[42] or the "Traditional Craft". Their beliefs and practices are similar to Wicca, but they use these terms to differentiate themselves from mainstream Wicca. They may wish to practice neopagan witchcraft differently from mainstream Wicca and outside national Wiccan networks.[42] Religious studies scholars consider these traditions to fall under the umbrella or broad category of Wicca;[4][5] treating Wicca as a religion with denominations in the same way Christianity has denominations like Catholicism and Protestantism.[4] Religious studies scholar Ethan Doyle White described Traditional Witchcraft as:
a broad movement of aligned
magico-religious groups who reject any relation to Gardnerianism and the wider Wiccan movement, claiming older, more "traditional" roots. Although typically united by a shared aesthetic rooted in European folklore, the Traditional Craft contains within its ranks a rich and varied array of occult groups, from those who follow a contemporary Pagan path that is suspiciously similar to Wicca, to those who adhere to Luciferianism.[43]
Cochrane's Craft
I am a witch descended from a family of witches. Genuine witchcraft is not paganism, though it retains the memory of ancient faiths.
It is a religion mystical in approach and puritanical in attitudes. It is the last real mystery cult to survive, with a very complex and evolved philosophy that has strong affinities with many Christian beliefs. The concept of a sacrificial god was not new to the ancient world; it is not new to a witch.
At a gathering at
Feri Tradition
The
Sabbatic Craft
The Sabbatic Craft is described by its founder Andrew D. Chumbley as "an initiatory line of spirit-power that can inform all who are receptive to its impetus, and which – when engaged with beyond names – may be understood as a Key unto the Hidden Design of Arte."[51] Chumbley sometimes referred to the Nameless Faith,[52] Crooked Path, and Via Tortuosa.[51][53] He reserved "Sabbatic Craft" as a unifying term to refer to the "convergent lineages"[51] of the "Cultus Sabbati," a body of neopagan witchcraft initiates.[53]
Chumbley's works and those of Daniel Schulke on the Cultus Sabbati's "ongoing tradition of sorcerous wisdom"
'Sabbatic Craft' describes a corpus of magical practices which self-consciously utilize the imagery and mythos of the "Witches' Sabbath" as a cipher of ritual, teaching and gnosis. This is not the same as saying that one practises the self-same rituals in the self-same manner as the purported early modern "witches" or historically attested cunning folk, rather it points toward the fact that the very mythos which had been generated about both "witches" and their "ritual gatherings" has been appropriated and re-orientated by contemporary successors of cunning-craft observance, and then knowingly applied for their own purposes.
— Andrew Chumbley defining Sabbatic Craft [51]
In his
Stregheria
An Italian neopagan religion similar to Wicca emerged in the 1970s, known as
Feminism
Wiccans often consider their beliefs to be in line with liberal ideals such as the
Deborah Willis writes that "the magical practices of modern feminist and New Age witches closely resemble those of early modern cunning folk", whose work involved thwarting witchcraft. Yet she notes that the ideology of these neopagan movements "would be quite alien to the sixteenth-century cunning woman, whose magical beliefs coexisted comfortably with her Christian ones".[60]
Media
Some of the recent growth in Wicca has been attributed to popular media such as
Demographics
Neopagan witchcraft has been extremely difficult to pinpoint due to many religious surveys grouping it with general Paganism, stigmatization from much of the outside world, poor public opinion, and the secrecy prevalent among Neopagan Witches (and Pagans as a whole). This causes the demographics to fluctuate drastically and become difficult to track. Establishing exact numbers pertaining to witchcraft is difficult.[62] Nevertheless, there is a slow growing body of data on the subject.[63] Based on studies conducted in the United States, all that can be said accurately of the growth rate of Neopagan Witchcraft in the U.S. is that "as of 2001 the ARIS organization reports that contemporary witchcraft saw a 1.575% growth rate between 1990 and 2001, effectively a doubling of adherents every two years."[64] The limited tracking by ARIS has kept Neopagan Witchcraft from being continually and accurately tracked. However, there have been spikes over the years. These are attributed to growth as well as an increase in practitioner’s willingness to report, and increasingly positive views of Wicca in America.[65]
The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (July 2023) |
United States
Based on the most recent survey by the
According to Dr. Helen A. Berger's 1995 survey, "The Pagan Census", most American Pagans are middle class, educated, and live in urban/suburban areas on the East and West coasts.[68]
See also
- Aleister Crowley bibliography
- Babalon – Goddess in Thelema
- English qaballa– English Qaballa system of James Lees
- Enochian magic – System of Renaissance magic
- European witchcraft – Belief in witchcraft in Europe
- Great rite – Wiccan ritual
- Lunar deity – Deity that represents the Moon
- Magical organization – Organization for the practice of occult magic
- Priestess – Women's ordination in religious groups
- Sorcery (goetia) – Magical practice involving evocation of demons
- The Thunder, Perfect Mind – Text in the Nag Hammadi library
- Semitic neopaganism – Religions attempting to reconstruct ancient Semitic religions, which may include traditions of Jewish witchcraft
- Worship of heavenly bodies – Worship of stars and other heavenly bodies as deities
References
This article has an unclear citation style. (July 2023) |
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- ^ a b c d Doyle White, Ethan (2015). Wicca: History, Belief & Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Liverpool University Press. pp. 160–162.
- ^ a b c Aitamurto, Kaarina; Simpson, Scott (2016). "36: The Study of Paganism and Wicca". The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, Volume 2. Oxford University Press. p. 482.
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- ^ a b c Hutton, Ronald (2017). The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. Yale University Press. pp. x–xi.
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Works cited
- Adler, Margot (2006). Drawing Down the Moon; Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780807032374.
- ISBN 1-57003-246-7.
- Berger, Helen A.; Ezzy, Douglas (September 2009). "Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 48 (3): 501–514. JSTOR 40405642.
- Clifton, Chas S. (2006). Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. ISBN 0-7591-0201-5.
- Doyle White, Ethan (2011). "Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft: Feuds, Secrets, and Mysteries in Contemporary British Witchcraft". The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 13 (2). .
- Doyle White, Ethan (2016). Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-84519-754-4.
- ISBN 978-0192854490.
- ISBN 978-0875423708.
- Kelly, Aidan A. (1992). "An Update on Neopagan Witchcraft in America". In Lewis, James R.; Melton, J. Gordon (eds.). Perspectives on the New Age. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 136–151. ISBN 978-0791412138.
- Lipp, Deborah (2007). The Study of Witchcraft: A Guidebook to Advanced Wicca. San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1-57863-409-5.
- Pearson, Joanne (2002). "The History and Development of Wicca and Paganism". In Joanne Pearson (ed.). Belief Beyond Boundaries: Wicca, Celtic Spirituality and the New Age. Aldershot: Ashgate. pp. 15–54. ISBN 9780754608202.
- Salomonsen, Jone (2002). Enchanted Feminism: Ritual, Gender and Divinity Among the Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415223928.
- Tosenberger, Catherine (2010). "Neo-Paganism for Teens". Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures. 2 (2): 172–182. Project MUSE 406886.
- OCLC 59694320.
Further reading
- De Mattos Frisvold, Nicholaj (2014). Craft of the Untamed: An Inspired Vision of Traditional Witchcraft. Mandrake.
- Del Rio, M. A. (2000). Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. (ed.). Investigations Into Magic. Translated by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0719049767.
- Doyle White, Ethan (2010). "The Meaning of "Wicca": A Study in Etymology, History and Pagan Politics". The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 12 (2): 185–207. .
- Gary, Gemma (2011). Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways. Troy Books.
- Harris, N. (2004). Witcha: A Book of Cunning. Oxford: Mandrake of Oxford. ISBN 978-1869928773.
- Howard, Michael (2011). Children of Cain: A Study of Modern Traditional Witches. Richmond Vista, California: Three Hands Press. ASIN B006XKJF2U.
- Mastering Witchcraft: a Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
- Montesano, Marina, ed. (2020). Witchcraft, Demonology and Magic. Switzerland: Mdpi AG. ISBN 978-3039289592.
- Morgan, Lee (2013). A Deed Without a Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft. Moon Books.
- Murray, Margaret A. (1921). The Witch-Cult in Western Europe. Oxford University Press.
- ISBN 978-0919690066.
- Radulović, Nemanja; Hess, Karolina Maria, eds. (2019). Studies on Western Esotericism in Central and Eastern Europe. Hungary: JATE Press. ISBN 978-9633153970.
- Salomonsen, Jone (1998). "Feminist Witchcraft and Holy Hermeneutics". In Geoffrey Samuel; Joanne Pearson; Richard H. Roberts (eds.). Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0748610570.
External links
- Wicca, Witchcraft or Paganism? at Learnreligions.com
- Witchcraft and Wicca at the CUNYAcademic Commons