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This article is from the magicK kreEePing
oOze FAQ, by tyagi nagasiva tyagI@houseofAos.abyss.coM with
numerous contributions by others.
13.4 "Where did Wicca come from? Did Crowley invent it? (etc.)" cont
...many Wiccans now realize that Wicca is not "The Old Religion", but
rather a modern religion which drew much of its inspiration from (among
other sources) Margaret Murray's theories about an alleged medieval
"witch cult". What's not so widely acknowledged is that some of
Margaret Murray's key ideas were, in turn, derived from Jules Michelet's
"La_Sorciere", a 19th-century work of literary Satanism. (See
"A_History_of_Witchcraft" by J.B. Russell.)
...Neo-Pagans and other occultists disowning Satanism is a little
like the 1970-era feminists who thought they had to disown lesbians
to dispel the notion that all feminists are lesbians, or like the gay
activists who used to feel embarrassed about transvestites. Fortunately,
most of the feminists and gay activists soon realized that trying to
disown their less "respectable" constituents would only result in being
divided and conquered.
...were it not for Wicca's use of words and other trappings popularly
associated with "Satanism", Wiccan leaders wouldn't get interviewed
by newspapers or on TV nearly as often as they do, nor would their books
have sold nearly as well. Wiccan spokespeople may complain that they
get interviewed only once a year, on Halloween; but most leaders of
small religious sects don't get interviewed at all, not even on
Halloween.
dvera@met.com (Diane Vera)
--------------------------
Ralph Mack (ralph@maxware.mv.com) wrote:
| One thing that I have found interesting is how different Wicca is from
| the traditions from which it claims its origins. That isn't to say that
| the claim of descent is invalid; far from it.
|
| However, it appears that modern pagans approach magic with a far different
| approach than their ancient counterparts.
There's a pretty simple reason for that. Wicca is not a descent from
ancient sources, but a self-conscious modern reclamation of them. This
began in the nineteenth century, as esoteric Freemasons adopting the
approach of universalist syncretism raided more and more mythologies
and anthropological sources for material for new rituals. Egypt was
especially popular, but an investigation of minor rites reveals that
almost every mythology which was then known in Europe was ritualized
somewhere.
This assimilationism gave birth to the modern occult movement, which
gave birth to the modern witchcraft movement. These movements approach
pagan sources from a set of pre-existing theurgical and initiatory
assumptions and within an existing framework of ritual forms, which
they impose on all the sources that they reclaim.
Recently, however, some pagan movements have emerged which try to
revive rather than assimilate pagan movements. Asatru is attempting to
recreate ancient ritual forms directly, though early forms such as
Thorssen's "hammer ritual" continued to use long-established ritual
forms from esoteric Freemasonry and its successors. There are also
some Hellenic revivalists active in the SF Bay Area, who similarly
practice more traditional forms.
Personally, I happen to like the ritual frameworks and assumptions
established by the occult/pagan movement, so I haven't worked much with
the more revivalist groups. Our formulae are quite similar to those of
the ancient mysteries, which esoteric Masonry actively sought to revive
(rather than assimilate). In particular, there are very strong
similarities to the Graeco-Roman mysteries and sibling movements,
especially Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism. To me this is not something
to be ashamed of!
Given the differences in approach between modern occult paganism and
ancient paganism, we should expect to see the revivalist and
assimilationist movements differentiating over the next few decades.
--
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