Written By: Michael Streeter; Witchcraft A Secret History.

 Magic and Witchcraft were part of the fabric of the Ancient World.. The Old Gods inspired Devotion among men. Sorcerers and Magicians inspired respect and fear..

Eventually two new forces were to Dominate the landscape of Human beliefs--Christianity and the Devil..

The Dawn of Witchcraft

Most Societies in the World have a tradition of Witchcraft. Many societies also revered Goddesses such as Ishtar and Isis, who were linked with magic and witchcraft..

Meanwhile, the Hebrews developed the idea of an Evil God or Devil. Which in turn came to be identified in Western culture with anyone who performed witchcraft..

Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion

The use of magic--in which the force of a person's will harnesses natural forces to influence events or outcomes--is common to most cultures in the world..

At its most basic, such magic is not part of a religion, but could be referred to as simple magic in which certain acts are carried out to produce defined effects..

This might be sticking a pin in the image of someone to cause harm to that person; or having sex in a newly sown wheat field to ensure that the coming harvest is a good one..

 This form of folk magic is similar to that practiced by those so-called "Cunning Folk" or "Wise Women" who survived the persecutions of the European and North American witch crazes in the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern periods..

 These traditions lasted into and beyond the twentieth century, although today, this folk magic is practiced by only a few.

For these people, spells to mend a broken heart, cure warts or other ailments, or simply to bring good luck were not, and are not, the rituals of a religion, They were, as they saw it, simply harnessing the natural powers of the world around them, making the hidden connections that for them exist in the unseen world.

A different form of magic is that where spirits and ltimately gods are invoked in the process of rituals.

Here, the magic is an integral part of a religious system, where the participants have a coherent set of beliefs that seek to explain humanity's place in the world. This kind of magic is Witchcraft religion.

These witches are still tapping the natural forces of the world, and point out that such magic is not "Supernatural" as such, It is simply using hidden laws of nature that scientists have yet to understand, However, the rituals are in the context of worshipping or revering goddesses and gods, who are in turn but many different aspects of the one true Deity.

 At the heart of this belief system is the role of the Goddess, Mother Nature, or, as she is also known, the Lady.

This chapter is mainly concerned with exploring the development of such religious witchcraft in ancient times, and illuminating some of the most powerful deities of the time..

 Many of the old gods revered today by modern witches have their origins in the cultures of the Near and Middle East, where goddesses, and gods, and magicians were a the heart of societies.

 The gods and witches of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Egyptians in turn influenced the Hebrew world and its view of magic and gods.

 The shifting view of magic through this crucial period in history has profoundly effected the way the Western world view witchcraft.

When people today confront the reality of witchcraft, they are doing so with assumptions that go back thousands of years.