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Why Bad History Matters
What's real, what isn't, and why it DOES matter.

History is a valued commodity within Western culture. Ideas which have "withstood the test of time" gain credibility with some on that merit alone. In this environment, a new religion feels particularly vulnerable, and the instinctive reaction is to find some history. The problem is a great amount of information that Wiccans pass off as "history" has no credible basis in fact, and that makes us look amateurish at best, or even an outright sham.

Wiccans have become much more sensitive in the last couple of decades to the reality of history. Nevertheless, many others still circulate grossly erroneous recollections of events, often because they simply read the same information elsewhere and take it at face value.

The biggest problematic claims proceed as follows:

• Matriarchal Societies - When the Goddess was supreme.
• The Old Religion - A single all-encompassing belief system incorporating the beliefs of all the pagan people of Europe, and perhaps more. This system, often equated with Wicca or witchcraft, is frequently traced back 25,000 years or even further.
• The Power of Pagan Women - Within these ancient pagan cultures, women were held in high regard, wielding religious, magical and political power.
• The Christian Church - Christianity was manipulated, developed or even invented as a tool of men as a means of subjugating these women. Through a series of clever deceptions, however, Old Religion followers continued to practice their arts long after Christianity had seized Europe.
• The Burning Times - The apex of the Church's persecutions, in which tales of demonic involvement were invented to turn the people against the women they feared and the last defiant followers of the Old Religion.

Don't take my word on these. Research the subjects if you find my words unlikely, but be aware of your sources. Solid historical scholarship is based on historical documents, while Wiccans tend to most often just quote other Wiccans. Historians also tell you what they base their conclusions on, frequently through footnotes. Many Wiccan authors do not even have a bibliography. Instead, they simply make claims and expect readers to believe them.

A couple years ago, I came across one of the more well-presented and well-thought-out websites on Wicca I've found to date. The author, however, claimed that "witchcraft" was a Celtic term meaning "wise, good people".¹ There are several versions of this oft-used claim, but I've never seen any evidence of its truth. I honestly hoped this person might be able to explain it to me. I emailed her with my question. She answered as follows:

my information is correct. im not dumb and if you dont like my information i dont know what to tell you. ive researched everything ive put on that site and if i knew or felt it was the wrong information, i would not put it up. wicca is my religion and i take it very seriously. i would never put false information on a website that teaches who we are.²

Well, that's a wee bit defensive isn't it? I wrote her back trying to re-explain my situation, since I clearly had offended her. I had no intention of challenging her. I was seeking information. She didn't reply. She never answered my question either.

Please , please, PLEASE check your facts before publishing them. Any serious historical work can point to legitimate sources as validation. Citing someone else's book or webpage on Wicca is NOT enough, particularly when addressing a debated topic. (I'm not expecting people to research every single fact they ever come across. One would never get anywhere. But be aware of your sources of information.) Find out where that author got his information. Most often it's a case of one Wiccan citing another citing another without ever presenting actual facts. In a social setting, this sort of information distribution would be called gossip, and is about as reliable.

² Private correspondance.