| The wiccan beliefs many people practice today | | | | influential members of their communities. Often |
| can trace their ancestry back to our ancient | | | | seen as the high point in the history of wicca they |
| stone age past. Evidence for the beginnings of the | | | | were able to move freely between tribes and |
| long history of wicca can first be seen in the cave | | | | kingdoms. The power of the druids was so great |
| paintings of the Pyrenees areas of France and | | | | that many historians now believe that the |
| Spain dating from around 17,000 years ago. | | | | Romans brought Britain into the Empire in order |
| Concerned with success in hunting these paintings | | | | to end their influence in Gaul. With the fall of the |
| are usually very far underground and are clearly | | | | Druids, religious beliefs reverted to a more |
| intended to invoke the aid of the goddess of | | | | personal and unorganized level. This was the |
| mother Earth. | | | | situation until the suppression of these beliefs |
| A great change in the history of wicca came with | | | | from the mid first millennium by the new Christian |
| the spread of farming in Europe around 10,000 | | | | religion. |
| years ago. The peoples relationship with the land | | | | From this time through to almost the present |
| changed and their need for a wider range of | | | | day, the history of wicca changed from being a |
| deities to help and protect them expanded. | | | | religion openly practiced and of necessity went |
| Evidence of elemental Gods now become more | | | | "underground". The Latin word "pagan" simply |
| common with Gods and Goddesses of wind, rain, | | | | means country dweller or rustic and the old ways |
| thunder and fertility being added to the old Sun | | | | were kept alive in the more rural areas by "Wise |
| God and moon Goddess and the history of wicca | | | | women" who would use their knowledge of |
| starts to become more familiar to us. The older | | | | magick and plantlore to help their neighbors and it |
| gods of the hunt retreated back into the woods | | | | is during this time during the history of wicca that |
| and forests and became gods of nature and the | | | | the old ways were at their most danger of being |
| "wild wood" usually represented by the horned | | | | lost. |
| figure of Herne the Hunter or the leafy Green | | | | Thankfully in the mid twentieth century there was |
| Man. | | | | a revival of interest in the old ways with the |
| As communities grew so there became a need | | | | publication in 1954 of Gerald Gardner's book |
| for a specialized priesthood to evolve. In the | | | | "Witchcraft Today" being generally seen as a |
| history of wicca the Celtic druids are often | | | | moment of re-birth in the history of wicca to the |
| claimed to be the direct ancestors of today's | | | | point that today it is the 5th largest religion in the |
| wiccans. Druids trained in their craft for twenty | | | | United States with almost 1 million active |
| years before becoming very important and | | | | participants. |