Introduction
Magic (often spelled "magick" to
distinguish it from stage illusionism) experienced
a revival during the twentieth century ,
especially during the last generation. Of
the several groups which include magic as
an important aspect of their structures,
Witchcraft claimed the most adherents and
emerged as a popular movement, far outstripping
most other groups labeled as "cults."
The following is a Wiccan/Pagan explanation
of their religion: "When one defines oneself as Pagan,
it means she or he follows an earth or nature
religion, one that sees the divine manifest
in all creation. The cycles of nature are
our holy days, the earth is our temple, its
plants and creatures our partners and teachers.
We worship a deity that is both male and
female, a mother Goddess and father God,
who together created all that is, was, or
will be. We respect life, cherish the free
will of sentient beings, and accept the sacredness
of all creation." ~Edain McCoy.
"We are not evil. We don't harm or seduce
people. We are not dangerous. We are ordinary
people like you. We have families, jobs,
hopes, and dreams. We are not a cult. This
religion is not a joke. We are not what you
think we are from looking at T.V. We are
real. We laugh, we cry. We are serious. We
have a sense of humor. You don't have to
be afraid of us. We don't want to convert
you. And please don't try to convert us.
Just give us the same right we give you--to
live in peace. We are much more similar to
you than you think. "~Margot Adler
The term "witchcraft" is used to
describe a wide variety of phenomena (both
secular and sacred), and very distinct groups
can be easily confused. In the Bible, the
Hebrew word ob is sometimes translated witch,
as the famous ob of Endor (I Samuel 28).
We do not exactly know what the ancient obs
did, but we do know that they specialized
in herbs, poisons, and mediumship. The shamans
and priests in many pre-industrial societies
are popularly called "witch doctors"
and their practice "witchcraft. "
The medieval Church equated witchcraft with
Satanism, the worship of the devil. Finally
witchcraft is synonymous with malevolent
sorcery, the attempt to do evil by occult
or supernatural means. In this context, voodoo
is also equated with witchcraft.
While North America is home to a growing
voodoo community, a few Satanists, and even
several witch doctors or shamans, the great
majority of people who call themselves Witches
fit none of the categories described above.
Rather most modern Witches are followers
of a polytheistic faith centered upon the
worship of the Great Mother Goddess, usually
called Diana, Isis, or Demeter, though many
different names are used. When a contemporary
Westerner describes herself or himself as
a Witch, it is this form of Witchcraft to
which they refer.
Contemporary Wicca or Witchcraft was founded
by Gerald B. Gardner (1884-1964), a British
civil servant and amateur archeologist. Gardner
spent most of his working years in Southern
Asia where he absorbed a knowledge of magic.
He wrote the definitive book on the Malaysian
magical knife, Kris and Other Malay Weapons
(1936), joined the Masons, and quickly involved
himself in the occult scene.
Witches and NeoPagans worship the Great Mother
Goddess, usually seen in her triple aspect
as maiden (Kore), Mother (Diana), and Crone
(Hecate), thus representing the basic stages
of life. Beside her is the Homed God (Pan),
her consort, and together they represent
the male and female principle basic to life.
They also acknowledge a pantheon of deities
who come to the fore at the various seasonal
festivals. Many witches see these deities
as merely projected aspirations of the individual
or Jungian archetypes.
Witches and NeoPagans practice "magic,"
the art of causing change through the use
of the cosmic power that is believed to underlay
the universe. Magic is of two basic varieties.
Low magic seeks change in the mundane world
and is most frequently employed for healing
or improvement of one's immediate condition
(a new job, love, or relationship). High
magic is worked for the transformation of
the individual. Meetings of Witches combine
the worship of the deities with the invocation
of magic.
Ethically, Witches value freedom and harmlessness
as expressed in the Wiccan Rede, "Lest
ye harm none, do what you will." They
also believe that the effects of magic will
be returned threefold upon the person working
it, a belief that severely limits the pronouncing
of curses. A basic love of nature and natural
things pervades the Pagan community and leads
many to espouse ecology, natural foods, and
compassion toward animals.
Witchcraft and NeoPaganism is organized in
small autonomous groups called "covens"
(variously, "groves," "nests,"
and "circles"). Covens will have
from four to twenty-six people. They meet
semimonthly at the new and full moons for
regular meetings called "esbats."
There are eight major solar festivals, "sabbats,"
beginning with Samhain, often referred to
as Halloween (October 31), and continuing
with Yule (December 31), Oimelc, sometimes
called Candlemas (February 2), Spring Equinox
(March 21), Beltane (April 30), Summer Solstice
(June 21), Lammas (August 1), and Fall Equinox
(September 21). Sabbats are frequently occasions
for several covens to come together.
Individuals generally pass through three
degrees of initiation in a Pagan or Wiccan
group (though some traditions recognize more).
Once a neophyte has passed through the first
degree, he or she becomes a full member of
the coven. Once the member has mastered a
set of basic knowledge, he or she is given
the second degree as an accomplished Witch.
The third degree admits one to priesthood.
Admission to the third degree usually involves
the Great Rite (ritual sexual intercourse)
between the new priest/ess and the officiating
priest/ess of the opposite sex. The Great
Rite is usually performed symbolically by
the plunging of the ritual knife (the athame)
into a chalice of wine. It should also be
noted that there are many solitary Witches
who practice apart from a coven though they
may join in on major festivals.
There are, by best estimates, over 40,000
Witches and NeoPagans in North America, a
slight majority of whom are female. Most
are found in totally independent covens and
keep a very low profile as a means of protection
from what they perceive as a hostile public.
A number of covens (though a minority) have
attached themselves to one of the major national
Witchcraft or NeoPagan organizations which
are discussed below.
By far the largest Witchcraft-Pagan organization
is the Church of Circle Wicca, headquartered
in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin. It was founded around
1975 by Selena Fox and Jim Alan who have
spent many years building a national network
of Goddess Worshippers. Circle publishes
Circle Network News, the largest circulating
Pagan periodical and holds annually a series
of public Pagan festivals, the largest of
which is the Pagan Spirit Gathering every
summer. They also publish the annual Circle
Guide to Wicca and Pagan Resources, a national
directory of Pagans and Pagan organizations.
Oldest of the several Witchcraft groups in
the United States, Gardnerian Wicca was brought
to North America in 1962 by Rosemary and
Raymond Buckland who established a Witchcraft
Museum in Long Island. They built a series
of covens across the United States. Gardnerian
Wicca is distinguished by its worshipping
"skyclad" (in the nude) and its
lineage of priestesses. New Gardnerian covens
are formed by a priestess leaving the coven
in which she was initiated and beginning
a new group. She acknowledges her initiating
priestess as a Witch Queen. While a Gardnerian
coven can meet and conduct worship without
a priest, it cannot operate without a priestess
present.
Following a divorce, Raymond Buckland turned
the leadership of the Gardnerians over to
Theos and Phoenix, a couple who live on Long
Island. He has moved on to develop other
systems and remains a prominent leader in
the NeoPagan community. Theos and Phoenix
have now turned the work over to Lady Rhiannon
and Theseus (also known to those outside
the movement by their religious names). Gardnerians
support several periodicals which are available
only to members and, The Hidden Path, which
circulates more widely to interested outsiders.
Second in size only to Circle, the Covenant
of the Goddess was formed in 1975 as an association
of autonomous covens on the West Coast. It
has since expanded into a national organization.
Unlike Circle, membership in the Covenant
of the Goddess is open only to groups which
define themselves as Witches, but member
covens represent the wide variety of Wiccan
tradition and diversity.
The Covenant of the Goddess holds an annual
festival at which a Grand Council (consisting
of all the member covens) conducts Covenant
business. Each Coven is allowed one vote.
The Covenant also grants ministerial credentials.
The headquarters and the publication site
of its periodical move frequently as new
officers are selected. The Covenant of the
Goddess Newsletter is published eight times
annually.
Around 1974, several women began to combine
Witchcraft with a strong feminist position.
They not only included lesbian separatists
such as Zsuzsanna Budapest of the Susan B.
Anthony Coven #1 then in Venice, California,
who saw Witchcraft as "Wimrnin's Religion"
and advocated all-female covens, but more
moderate voices who saw in Witchcraft a religion
that recognized the equality of women and
the need for social justice. Initially as
sources of controversy as older Wiccan leaders
complained of their missing the female/male
balance inherent in the religion, through
the 1980s they have been fully accepted and
now form a key element of the community.
The feminists have also taken the lead in
integrating the community into the larger
debates concerning women's status and role
in society.
Many of the most vocal feminists have become
active in the Covenant of the Goddess (Zsuzsanna
Budapest, Margot Adler, Starhawk, Allison
Harlow, Deborah Bender), but others continue
to remain independent. Prominent among the
latter is Ann Forfreedom, priestess of the
Temple of the Goddess Within of Oakland,
California, and editor of a quarterly, The
Wise Woman. Ann Forfreedom was the coordinator
of the 1982 Goddess Is Rising Conference,
one of the largest Witchcraft-Pagan events
ever held.
Prior to 1976, the largest Pagan organization
was the Church of All Worlds, a NeoPagan
group headed by Tim Zell, who also published
and edited Thc Green Egg, which for many
years was the prime periodical linking Pagan
and Wiccan groups together. However, in 1976
Zell moved from St. Louis to California and
dropped his role as editor of The Green Egg
and leader of the Church. The magazine soon
ceased publication and within a few years
the national organization disappeared, though
several "nests" remain.
Away from the responsibilities of running
the Church, Zell, who changed his name to
Otter G'Zell, devoted his time to a number
of research projects upon which he had long
desired to work. The most famous of these
projects was an experiment with goats in
the hopes of producing a unicorn. Zell had
contended that the picture of unicorns in
traditional visual art indicated a variation
on a goat rather than a horse (which has
neither beard or horns). The result of his
work has been the appearance of several "unicorns"
which have been widely exhibited around the
United States.
Some NeoPagans have adopted a single national
ethnic tradition, the Norse, Druidic, and
Egyptian being the most popular. The principal
Norse Group through the 1980s was the Asatru
Free Assembly (formerly known as the Viking
Brotherhood). However, it disbanded in 1989
and has been replaced by several smaller
groups made up of former members. The oldest
Egyptian NeoPagan group is the Church of
the Eternal Source, headquartered in Burbank,
California. Druids have had an up-and-down
existence ever since a group of students
at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota,
created what they termed Reformed Druidism
out of several anthropological textbooks.
Reformed Druidism found some support around
the country and has had its most effective
exponent in Isaac Bonewits, author of a popular
magical text, Real Magic. Bonewits currently
heads Ar ndraiocht Fein and edits The Druid's
Progress, one of the most substantive Pagan
periodicals.
Possibly the most substantive advance in
the 1980s within the NeoPagan community has
come in the organization and formal recognition
of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist
Pagans (CUUPS). CUUPS has found significant
support within the highly intellectual Unitarian-Universalist
community and is spearheading the emergence
of a seminary-trained leadership for NeoPagans.
Through the last half of the decade, CUUPS
chapters have been established across the
United States and NeoPagan Unitarian-Universalist
ministers have completed their seminary education
and become professionals and pastors within
the church. CUUPS has provided NeoPagans
with an avenue into mainstream society for
those who wish to pursue it.
