Is there a real history of witchcraft? Most of the stories are told by outsiders. They can’t understand or accurately describe what is going on! This may be for the better, you don’t let children play with guns.so where can you find a true history of the craft?
Nowhere. Because it doesn’t exist.
Witchcraft has taken many forms over the centuries and has never been a single unified tradition. Much of what exists in the historical record regarding folk magic practices and ceremonial magic was done anecdotally or after the fact by historians, and we will never know how much of it is accurate and how much is just supposition. There isn’t a clear, definitive history of “true” witchcraft because the term means different things to different people.
Furthermore, most of what we would call witchcraft today is either a modern invention or a reconstruction of an older tradition that did not survive intact to the present day. It’s also important to remember that the vast majority of people accused of being witches were not witches at all, but unfortunate victims of classism and politics, as well as social and religious prejudice.
What we DO have are historical records of the superstitions, legal proceedings, religious strictures, and colloquial beliefs surrounding witches and witchcraft. These can give us clues as to some of the folk practices of the time, but they don’t indicate the existence of a secret pagan witch-cult, as Murray suggested. We also have records of modern practices and the actions of modern practitioners and community leaders.
We’re writing our own history of the craft right now, in all its’ myriad forms. Hopefully it will be something worth reading.
