Evidence of Goddess worship is found in many places. Figurines of fat, fertile women were abundant. Showing their reverence for both fertility and for the feminine. Paintings on cave walls also showed reverence for the mystical. Some of these paintings could only have been done by crawling through dark caves for miles, that's a heck of a journey !

Margaret Murry state that she believes Witchcraft to be the "reminisce of a Pagan Goddess worshipping religion, a nature religion based on the sacredness of the Earth and all living beings."

The Encylopidia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rosemary Ellen Guiley says of the subject
"Sorcery or magic is world-wide and world old. It is simply the attempt to control nature in man's own interests; It is the forerunner of religion before the priests appropriated tribal lore for themselves. The same stages of development of any early society, in whatever part of the world, at whatever date, and without transmission or direct influence, will produce similar basic ideas, although of course, the rationalisation of these ideas may vary. Thus many of the practices of sorcery , invocation of spirits, belief in demons, charms and rituals for fertility of men and crops, charms and rituals for blight and death found in Europe are duplicated in Africa, Asia, South and Central America."

Stewart Farrar,(and I promise this is the last big quote) sums it up nicely with this
"Witchcraft proper is the fertility- based philosophy of the old countryside. This was largely unwritten , nebulous, sometimes degenerate thanks to the ravages of church persecution and the creeping fog of the industrial revolution; but if the nineteenth century science has done much to redress the balance by equipping the folklorist, the archaeologist and the psychic researcher with a clearer perspective and more accurate techniques"

I presume you have all heard of the Malleus Maleficarum?
There is a hand out on it which I will give out. It was a terrible book , that led to millions of witches being killed. Some say nine million, though we will never know. Because of this , we lost much information on witchcraft, that our ancestors must have passed down to each other for tens of thousands of years, all lost in a couple of centuarys. Anyways I get a wee bit miffed when I carry on about this so I will let you read the hand out and continue.

During the time we were persecuted , we were accused of worshipping the devil. This was not so. In the beginning as I see it , the mother earth was first worshipped as a likeness of woman because the similarity's of woman giving birth and then having the ability to nurture them was obvious, The identification of the male in this process was not as obvious and came a little later. But this groovy idea took on, so the goddess had her very important consort. He was identified in many societies as having horns,, many male animals in nature bear horns, with which they protect the flocks with and fight with for leadership. Also these horns could be if worn used in ritual of sympathetic magic to attract animals to their hunting grounds. Anywise, he was often depicted as having horns, he was known as Cerne, Herne, Cernunnos, Pan to name a few. The Christians told everyone that the devil had horns ,,and it was proof to them that witches worshipped their devil.

There are legends that tell where we come from, some say we come from Atlantis, and there is a great summary of this in What Witches do , by Stewart Farrar, which we can read afterwards.

My favourite is that Diana(or Artimus) (Moon Goddess)seduced her brother Apollo(Sun God) in the guise of a cat. From this union was born a daughter named Aradia. When Aradia was grown, she was charged by her mother , who is Queen of all witches to come to earth and teach us humans of the craft. There is a beautiful charge to the Goddess about this (which I can read to you if you wish) by Doreen Valentien. Though I have read many stories where it came from, it is associated with an old Italian vertion. The charge is recited by the high priestess

Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month, and better it be when the moon is full, then shall ye assemble in some secret place, and adore the spirit of me, who am Queen of all witches. There shall ye assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, yet have not won its deepest secrets; to these will I teach things that are as yet unknown. And ye shall be free from slavery; and as a sign that ye be really free,ye shall be naked in your rites; and ye shall dance, sing , feast make music and love, all in my praise. For mine is the ecstasy of the spirit, and mine also is joy on earth, for my love is love unto all beings. Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it, let naught stop you or turn you aside; for mine is the secret door which opens upon the secret door of youth, and mine is the cup of wine of life, and the cauldron of Cerridwen, which is the Holy Grail of immortality. I am the gracious Goddess, who gives the gift of joy unto the heart of man. Upon earth , I give the knowledge of the spirit of the eternal, and beyond death, I give peace, and freedom, and reunion with those who have gone before. Nor do I demand sacrifice; for behold , I am the Mother of all living , and my love is poured upon the earth. And thou who thinkest to seek for me, know they seeking and yearning will avail thee not unless thou know the mystery; that if that which thou seekest findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee. For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.


Witchcraft went underground for hundreds of years, because of the protections. They survived by keeping silent, secret. This was so until a man called Gerald Gardner began to gather information that was fragmented and difficult to aquire . He had been initiated in 1939. He had enough guts to stand tall, and he is known as the father of modern witchcraft. He influenced many to come such as the Alexandrians.

In the last ten years or so the religion of Witchcraft has grown in leaps and bounds. We are lucky in Australia that it is legal (with the exception of Queensland), though their are still many that don't understand, and many that abuse our religion by using it for their ego and power. We are allowed to worship nature, revere the Goddess and God as we see fit. Blessed be.

Homework.

Reassert who these people are.

Gerald Gardner.
Alexander Sanders
Stewart Farrar
Margot Adler
Starhawk