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The Beginning

by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler

Tracing the origins and evolution of magic as far back as historical records allow, we can see that the first vestiges of magic can be found in Paleolithic times, also known as the Old Stone Age. This period left numerous indications of early magical practices exemplified in cave paintings, burial sites, and stone carvings. It is impossible to trace these early signs of magic deeper into prehistory because the archaeological record is still incomplete. Thus, we have to be contest with knowing that approximately fifty thousand years ago the Neanderthal man of the Old Stone Age showed distinct evidences of a developing religious-magical consciousness.

As man advanced in the evolutionary scale his concern with magic deepened. In the Neolithic or New Stone Age sanctuaries for religious and magical rites and shrines for community worship appeared in many villages. It is apparent from archaeological findings that Neolithic communites observed certain magical rites around the times of the spring and autumn equinoxes and during the summer and winter solstices. It is uncertain whether these rites were celebrated in connection with agriculture or with the worship of the sun. What we do know for sure is that these times of the year became sacred to mankind, and they are still observed today both in magic and religious rituals.



HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT & MAGIC

Some of the information we have provided this page are from Wikipedia. The true knowledge of the past has been mostly lost over time due to many causes, primarily from religious fear and persecution. Because of this and for the best possible reading for you, we feel Wikipedia will provide a good understanding.




Magical Beliefs in Western Europe

Belief in various magical practices has waxed and waned in European and Western history, under pressure from either organised monotheistic religions or from scepticism about the reality of magic, and the ascendancy of scientism.

In the world of classical antiquity, much as in the present time, magic was thought to be somewhat exotic. Egypt, home of hermeticism, and Mesopotamia and Persia, original home of the Magi, were lands where expertise in magic was thought to be prevalant. In Egypt, a large number of magical papyri, in Greek, Coptic, and Demotic, have been recovered. These sources contain early instances of much of the magical lore that later became part of Western cultural expectations about the practice of magic, especially ceremonial magic. They contain early instances of:

  • the use of "magical words" said to have the power to command spirits;
  • the use of wands and other ritual tools;
  • the use of a magic circle to defend the magician against the spirits he is invoking or evoking; and
  • the use of mysterious symbols or sigils thought useful to invoke or evoke spirits.
    The use of spirit mediums is also documented in these texts; many of the spells call for a child to be brought to the magic circle to act as a conduit for messages from the spirits. The time of the Emperor Julian of Rome, marked by a reaction against the influence of Christianity, saw a revival of magical practices associated with neo-Plantonism under the guise of theurgy.




    • Magic In the Middle Ages

    Medieval authors, under the control of the Church, confined their magic to compilations of wonderlore and collections of spells. Albertus Magnus was credited, rightly or wrongly, with a number of such compilations. Specifically Christianised varieties of magic were devised at this period. During the early Middle Ages, the cult of relics as objects not only of veneration but also of supernatural power arose. Miraculous tales were told of the power of relics of the saints to work miracles, not only to heal the sick, but for purposes like swaying the outcome of a battle. The relics had become amulets, and various churches strove to purchase scarce or valuable examples, hoping to become places of pilgrimage. As in any other economic endeavour, demand gave rise to supply. Tales of the miracle-working relics of the saints were compiled later into quite popular collections like the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine or the Dialogus miraculorum of Caesar of Heisterbach.

    There were other, officially proscribed varieties of Christianized magic. The demonology and angelology contained in the earliest grimoires assume a life surrounded by Christian implements and sacred rituals. The underlying theology in these works of Christian demonology encourages the magician to fortify himself with fasting, prayers, and sacraments so that by using the holy names of God in the sacred languages, he could use divine power to coërce demons into appearing and serving his usually lustful or avaricious magical goals. Not surprisingly, the Church disapproved of these rites.

    In the 13th century, astrology had some great names: in England Johannes de Sacrobosco, in Europe the Italian Guido Bonatti from Forlì.



    Magic in the Renaissance

    Renaissance humanism saw a resurgence in hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of ceremonial magic. The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, saw the rise of scientism, in such forms as the substitution of chemistry for alchemy, the dethronement of the Plotemaic theory of the universe assumed by astrology, the development of the germ theory of disease, that restricted the scope of applied magic and threatened the belief systems it relied on. Tensions roused by the Protestant Reformation led to an upswing in witch-hunting especially in Germany, England, and Scotland; but ultimately, the new theology of Protestantism proved a worse foe to magic by undermining belief in the sort of ritualism that allowed religious rites to be re-purposed towards earthly, magical ends. Scientism, more than religion, proved to be magic's deadliest foe.

    Alongside the ceremonial magic followed by the better educated were the everyday activities of folk practitioners of magic across Europe, typified by the cunning folk found in Great Britain. In their magical practices astrology, folklore and distorted versions of Christian ritual magic worked alongside each other to answer customer demand.




    Magic in the twentieth century

    A further revival of interest in magic was heralded by the repeal, in England of the last Witchcraft Act in 1951. This was the cue for Gerald Gardner to publish his first non-fiction book Witchcraft Today, in which he claimed to reveal the existence of a witch-cult that dated back to pre-Christian Europe. Gardner combined magic and religion in a way that was later to cause people to question the Enlightenment's boundaries between the two subjects.

    Gardner's newly publicized religion, and many others, took off in the atmosphere of the 1960's and 1970's, when the counterculture of the hippies also spawned another period of renewed interest in magic, divination, and other occult practices. The various branches of Neopaganism and other Earth religions that have been publicized since Gardner's publication tend to follow a pattern in combining the practice of magic and religion. Following the trend of magic associated with counterculture, some feminists launched an independent revival of goddess worship. This brought them into contact with the Gardnerian tradition of magical religion, and deeply influenced that tradition in return.




    Informative Links

    Egyptian mythology
    black magic
    witch trials
    Magi
    neo-Platonism
    demonology
    angelology
    astrology
    Aleister Crowley
    magick