FREE ESSAY ON WICCA AND CHRISTIANITY:

WICCA AND CHRISTIANITY:

In this paper I will be discussing the treatment of Wicca, Witchcraft, by the Christian
religion, since day one. First I will give a brief description of the religions. In the
next paragraph I will give a brief history lesson, then I will get into the nitty-gritty.
In the next few paragraphs, I will discuss the movie, The Craft, and some reviews by
various Witches in the country. Then I will speak of the movie Warlock, and I will give
my own review. Then I will give my own thoughts, and wrap it all up.
In Genesis, it is written that God created Heaven and Earth. It also says he created man
and beast and put them in the Garden of Eden. It is also stated that a serpent forced
Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit from The Tree of Knowledge. There was no such
being known as Satan; in fact, I don't believe it is mentioned until the New testament.
The only mention of an evil being, before it receives the name 'Satan,' is in
Revelations, where Job speaks of The Leviathan. Also, there has been a lot of war and
violence in the name of God, the so-called 'Almighty god of love.' 
Witchcraft, in most traditions, speaks of a god, Woden, and a goddess, Gaia, giving birth
to the world. There is no set holy book, Witches live by eight words, not Ten
Commandments; Those eight words are: An' harm ye none, do as thou wilt. There is no being
of true evil, and they don't blame anyone for their mistakes.
Witchcraft originates in the Paleolithic era; when primitive wo/man, was finding out what
was happening in the world. Excluding the discovery of fire and the wheel, the first
religion was formed. Wo/men created what the gods looked like, Woden has horns and
scraggly hair, and Gaia is fat, and her genitals are enlarged. The reasons for these
traits were simple, Woden, who was the god of the hunt, resembled a beastly humanoid,
while Gaia, who was the goddess of fertility, showed off the pregnant, fertile role; As
wo/man became more civilized the deities changed, and more were added. Woden is now known
as The Horned One, and Gaia received the title of The Triple Goddess, personifying the
maid, mother and crone. Being a religion based on tradition, the old ways were never
forgotten, so the rituals were still observed; Then along comes Christianity, and the
religions existed peacefully together, until the Dark Ages. Shortly after the New
Testament was written, witches started getting pushed around. After a few years of
anti-wiccan writings (the most infamous of these being the Malleus Maleficarum {the Witch
Hammer} written by two German monks) and protests, the Christian hierarchy 'decided' that
witches were the minions of Satan, and so they must conform, or be destroyed; This is
shown in the following quote by Raymond Buckland.
Gradually the hysteria kindled by Kramer and Sprenger began to
spread. It spread like a fire-flashing up in unexpected places;
spreading quickly across the whole of Europe. For nearly three hundred
years the fires of the persecutions raged. Humankind had gone mad. The 
inhabitants of entire villages were one or two Witches were suspected
of living, were put to death with the cry: destroy them all...the Lord will know his own!
(5)
These three hundred years became known as 'The Burning Times.' It was during these years
that accusations were 'ripping' through the countryside's. It was also during this time
when the Salem Witch Trials took place. When the cries of Witch stopped approximately
nine million people were burned at the stake, hung or tortured to death, and a good
number, probably weren't even Witches. Does this sound familiar? Hitler destroyed
approximately six million people, that's about three million more. Once it was over, any
surviving Witches went into the shadows, and continued practicing. A book was written by
the coven leaders of the time, and passed from coven to coven. This became known as The
Book of Shadows, it was intended to keep the religion 'alive' until it was 'safe' for the
religion to resurface. After a few hundred years, sometime in the nineteen-seventies,
there was a re-surgence in the Wiccan religion, started by Gerald Gardner and Raymond
Buckland; Because of this re-surgence, Hollywood had a field day. Also since this time,
Wicca was realized by The Parliament of Religions, as a 'real religion.'
In the early eighties there was a demand for Witchcraft movies, and movies such as the
Witchcraft series, the Witchboard series, and Warlock were on the silver screen. Finally
in the early nineteen-nineties, The Craft was introduced to the world, and it was hyped
up as having an authentic Witch on the set during filming. In a statement I found on the
Internet, the COG website, it was strongly stated that COG has no stand on the issue. The
same statement, gives a name to this authentic Witch. 
Pat Devin, currently First Officer of the Southern California Local
Council, was hired as a technical consultant on the film. At the 
time she worked of The Craft she was a National Public Information
Officer for the Covenant, but she was not representing COG's interests
or opinions in her work there. Ms. Devin never claimed that she was,
but her role in COG did become known to the film company, and it
has since appeared in their publicity information and has been spread
through outlets such as Entertainment Tonight. (Suliin)
While surfing the same website, http://www.cog.org, I came across quite a few reviews of
The Craft, made by Witches, some totally against the movie, and some were on the fence.
Out of all of these reviews, the same basic message was repeated; In the end of the film,
Witchcraft was defeated by Witchcraft, not Christianity. To me, one particular review
stands out, it was written by Don Frew. 
The film includes a few phrases of dialog common to Craft ritual 
scripts. I would rather these had not been present so as to further
distance the girls' practice from real Craft, but it's not a big deal.
The scriptwriters could have gotten the words from most published 
books on Craft. The One above all is identified as a male spirit named
Manon. Fictitious, fine, but I would rather it had been female or
genderless. The second half of the film, as many critics have noted,
degenerates from a study of the outsider into a horror flic, but
then The Craft is a horror flic so this is hardly suprising.(reviews 4)
Frew goes on to talk about the positive aspects of the film, and how it teaches audiences
to identify with positive witch characters, rather than fear them, and this certainly
seemed to be true...(reviews4) 
Until this point, I wrote this paper from a neutral standpoint, but this is the part
where I take sides. As I mentioned earlier, Warlock was released in the nineteen
eighties. It was one of Hollywood's first Craft films, so it was handled rather
distastefully. In the film, Julian Sands, who is a superb actor, plays the title
character. The only problem I saw with this film was the script. Sands depicts the
Warlock, a.k.a. Satan's son, and it just so happens that he is a Witch. His role was more
of a Wicked Witch of the West, than a Wiccan, but whatever. In the film there were two
quotations that ruffled my feathers; One of which was said by the Witch-Hunter, Redferne,
and the other was spoken by Mr. Sands himself. The first quotation takes place in a scene
in which Redferne is preparing for his standoff with the Warlock. He is salting the
leather of his whip, when another character asks what he is doing, he replies, Salting
the leather...Witches loathe salt. Witches don't loathe salt; in fact, I put salt on
almost everything. The other quotation is in one of the final scenes, when the Warlock is
casting a spell, to bring together the pages of Satan's Bible.
I am he of empty crib and stillborn fole,
I am he whose coming the stars hath foretold.
I am he with heart forged by blackest coal,
I am he who makest whole the glorious goal of Satan's unborn soul.
-The Warlock
This quote particularly urks me because of the fact that it could have recreated the
panic that those German monks started. From a filmmaker's standpoint, both of these
movies were phenomenal, but as a Witch I am horrified. Granted, The Craft did have some
genuine Craft beliefs, such as:
True magick is neither black nor white, 
It is both because nature is both.
Loving and cruel...all at the same time.
The only good or bad is in the heart of the witch.
Life keeps a balance
-Lirio the Wiccan shop owner
Being a Witch isn't as simple as it seems in the movies. You must try to get along with
everyone, and not get angry; Because anger causes bad decision making, which could get
someone seriously injured. We choose to always live by the Rede, An' harm ye none, do as
thou wilt. We must also worry about the Three fold law, Mind the three fold law you
should, Three times bad and three times good.(Wiccan Rede) We really don't have to worry
about anything in the Wiccan Rede if we don't want to, because it is just a guideline,
but all Witches do. In the inner circles of the Craft, the Wiccan Rede isn't just a
guideline on how you should live it is more like a code of honor. The entire Wiccan Rede
is as follows:
Bide the Wiccan Laws we must,
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust
Live and let live,
Fairly take and fairly give.
Cast the Circle thrice about,
To keep the evil sprits out.
To bind the spell every time,
Let the spell be spake in rhyme.
Soft of eye and light of touch,
Speak little, listen much.
Deosil go by waxing moon,
Chanting out the Witches' Rune
Widdershins go by waning moon,
Chanting out the baneful rune.
When the lady's moon is new,
Kiss the hand to her, times two.
When the moon rides at her peak,
Then your heart's desire seek.
Heed the North wind's mighty gale,
Lock the door and drop the sail.
When the wind comes from the South,
Love will kiss thee on the mouth.
When the wind blows from the West,
Departed souls will have no rest.
When the wind blows from the East,
Expect the new and set the feast.
Nine woods in the cauldron go, 
Burn them fast and burn them slow.
Elder be the Lady's tree,
Burn it not or cursed you'll be.
When the wheel begins to turn,
Let the beltane fires burn.
When the wheel turns to Yule,
Light the log and the Horned One rules.
Heed ye flower, bush and tree,
By the Lady, blessed be.
Where the rippling waters go,
Cast a stone and truth you'll know.
When you have a true need,
Hearken not to other's greed.
With a fool no season spend,
Lest ye be counted as a friend.
Merry meet and merry part,
Bright the cheeks and warm the heart.
Mind the Threefold law you should,
Three times bad and three times good.
When misfortune is enow,
Wear Thy blue star on Thy brow.
True in love ever be,
Lest Thy lover's false to thee.
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfills;
An' harm ye none, do as thou wilt. 
I didn't use many quotations in this paper, because most of the paper is common knowledge
amongst Witches; Furthermore it may seem a little vague, because I've taken an oath of
silence, which prevents me from speaking, or writing about much of the religion, (to
non-Pagans). I hope this paper enlightens all who read it, to the great wrong that has
been done to us, but most importantly the point that must be made is: We are not bitter
because of this...in the words of a great man, That which does not kill me, only makes me
stronger. We must stop the violence in this world or else Nostradamus' predictions will
be correct, and the way the world is going, they will come about before the time he
predicted. What I trying to say was already said by Rodney King, Can't we all just get
along? Blessed be and have a pleasant existence.
Bibliography
Buckland, Raymond. (1975). Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (Sixteenth edition
1993). Minnesota:
Llewellyn Publications.
Dunwich, Gerina. (1995). The Wicca Book of Days "Legend and Lore for Every Day of the
Year. New Jersey:
Citadel Press (Carol Publishing Group).
Flemming, Andrew. (Supervising Director) and Nugent, Ginny. (Producer). (1995). The
Craft. [Videotape].
Burbank, CA: Columbia Pictures. 
Miner, Steve. (Supervising Director) and Kopelson, Arnold. (Producer). (1988). Warlock.
[Videotape]. Burbank,
CA: New World Pictures. 
http://www.cog.org (1996). [Internet Website]. Covenant of the Goddess website.