Is witchcraft the remnants of the Prue-christian religions in Europe?

Question

Or is that just a wiccan theory?

pre christian it should be.

Answer 1

The witchcraft we know today is actually a remnant of paganism, the worship of nature and natural spirits. Some pagan rituals were integrated into the Christian faith and some were condemned. Also many of the important dates on the Christian calendar coincide with important pagan dates too!

Answer 2

No. "Witchcraft" is a very broad category. There are forms of witchcraft found on every continent. Some of it is pre-Christian and some of it isn't.

It is not a Wiccan theory either. It was. But that is because the people whod developed this theory such as Dr. Margaret Murray and G. Gardner were basing it on the information available to them at that time. We've learned quite a lot since then. Today it seems the only people who still hold to this theory are people like Silver Ravenwolf...who isn't a Wicca herself. Wicca is based on Pre-Christian European Paganism certainly. But, as it is practiced today it would not be identifiable as anything Pre-Christian. Not surprising really, most everything evolves and is influenced by the world around it. Christianity has also absorbed many of those influences, including those that are Pagan in origin. The Christianity that is practiced today is nothing like the Christianity practiced by the authors of the New Testament.

Answer 3

I'm not going to pretend, I don't really kow much about witchcraft, but it seems to be similar to some pagan rituals that were common in Europe before the Roman Empire. This culture more than an organised religion continued in areas untouched by the Romans untill the spread of Christianity began to dismantle it. Christianity and Paganism have many similar charachteristics, there are many theories on a mild evolution from Paganism to Christianity rather than a straight replacement. I should think that witchcraft is more inspired by Paganism than the remnants. There is hardly any real history is witchcraft, I see it as folklore and a bit of fun.

Answer 4

It's a Wiccan theory (a theory proven untrue time and time again by historians!).

Wicca was created by Gerald Gardner circa 1950. He was a nudist and masochist who somehow coincidentally discovered a prehistoric religion into the same things!

Adian Kelly wrote a book on the history of Wicca called "Crafting The Art of Magic" in the 1980's. Wiccans had a fit when it was published, and pressured Llewyllyn to take it out of print. It was supposed to be the first in a series of books. I think Adian Kelly probably summed it up best when he said this about the Gardnerian "Book of Shadows", the closest thing Wicca has to a sacred book:

" [M]any of the Book of Shadows rituals did not exist in 1954 (when Witchcraft Today was published) but instead were still being written. [T]he major sources from which the rituals had been constructed included: (a) Mather's edition of the Greater Key of Solomon; (b) Aleister Crowley's Magic in Theory and Practice; (c) Leland's Aradia (d) some Masonic rituals akin to those described by Duncan and those of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (aside from those transmitted by Crowley; and (e) Margaret Murray's The Witch Cult in Western Europe. There were also bits and pieces from other works by Leland, Jane E. Harrison, Gilbert Murray, James Frazier, and other great classicists from the 19th century. That accounted for EVERYTHING in the rituals! There was nothing left that differed in any important way from what you can find in those sources- - but that is NOT at all what Gardner had claimed!"

The word "Witchcraft" simply means "sorcery". The word "witch" has a negative meaning in every culture. http://usminc.org/meaning.html
Wiccans have tried to hijack the word and become defensive about it, which is about like calling yourself a murderer and get offended when people are wary of you.

Answer 5

Wiccans aren't the only witches. Some witchcraft is, yes.

Answer 6

What is commonly perceived as witchcraft today is thousands of years older than Christianity, and it is not exclusively European. Almost all cultures have some ancient reference to it. Wicca was invented something like 40 or 50 years ago.

Answer 7

No. Witchcraft is the remnants of ancient religious and Christians are the remnants of that. Get a bible and read it. Don't be so lazy to rely on someone else. You got a Brain, use it

Answer 8

Witchcraft predates all religion. It has its origin in the Garden of Eden when Satan deceived Eve into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was in direct disobedience to God. It is th4e nature of witchcraft to counter anything that God commands; thus witchcraft fulfills the definition of religion---action by self-righteousness, or acting outside the will of God.

Answer 9

they have a source back to pre Christian times. witches were considered evil not only because they worshiped Satan but also they were some of the first healers. these witches were knowledgeable in the use of various herbs and plants to cure certain diseases which caused the general population to think of them as having forbidden knowledge which could only be obtained by The Devil.

Answer 10

Both. Wicca was technically invented in the 60's, but it is based largely on pre-Christian religions (but not exclusively European).