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Modern Witchcraft
Modern day offers a myriad of religions from which to choose when looking for spiritual fulfillment. Of interest to this paper is Paganism, one of the oldest forms of religion. It has roots that not only predate Christianity but oppose its idea of monotheism through their worship of multiple gods and goddesses; it truly is Christianity’s oldest nemesis. The new growth of Paganism, Wicca, seems tailor-made for the modern-day woman by feeding the feminine pride while offering an artificial avenue for spiritual satisfaction. It is the purpose of this paper, then, to expose the practice of Modern Witchcraft as a manmade religion and threatening cult to women by exposing its shallow roots in history, examining its fundamental characteristics, and through contemplation of its impact on Christianity.
Before delving into the history of Modern Witchcraft or Wicca, used interchangeably in this paper, two important terms that will be used should be defined; Pagansim and Wicca. Paganism is a general term for anyone who “operates without a centralized religious body or standardized dogma” (Higginbotham, 2002, p.1). The word is derived from the Latin word for “country dweller”, paganus, which helps to indicate the original location of many Pagan religions. Wicca is the masculine form of the Latin word for witch and is entirely related to witchcraft. It has been expressed by some Wiccans that the male version of this word was adopted by the “misogynistic” early-Christian Church (Farrar & Bone, 2004). While all Wiccans are Pagans, not all Pagans are Wiccan. Paganism will be elaborated on a bit more during the fundamentals section of this paper but first, the history of Wicca needs illumination.
True to its name, Modern Witchcraft is a religion with a relatively short history, spanning all of 50 some-odd years. It is also a religion that desperately tries to bring elements of old-world Pagan ritual and divination into modern society while singing “he...