correct me if im wrong!?

Yes and no...sort of. The practices used in witchcraft have existed since the very beginning of mankind. They predate almost all forms of belief, including Judaism which takes its origins at about 1800BCE. The basic principles of sympathetic magick, the "law of similarity" and the "law of contact" or "contagion.” Frazer defined them this way:

“If we analyze the principles of thought on which magick is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called the Law of Similarity, the latter the Law of Contact or Contagion. From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not.”

Many modern pagan practices are reconstructions of the original, combined with basic knowledge of the universe around us. It becomes more symbolism than a way of explaining why the sun rises etc. Some forms of paganism, such as romani and stregheria are continuations of the original passed down through family traditions, but most are not.

The revival of various pagan and witchcraft traditions really beings at the renissance of England and a few places in Europe. 1951 was the year that the anti-witchcraft laws in England were repealed, and many different groups came out into the open. Wicca actually takes its origins in the 1930's but did not become public until 1954, and contrary to a previous answer is not a combination of animism and paganism. Wicca is a complex and spiritual religion with Masonic, Hermetic, and classical Romantic Era religious roots created by a British civil servant named Gerald Gardner, combining various ancient concepts and a syncretic view of the divine that is quite different than really any religion before or after it.

In the middle ages is really when you see the actual term witchcraft become created. It is also the time period when many different forms of pagan belief were either stopped or went into hiding. Some of Europe converted to Christianity out of fear and propoganda at that time, though much of Europe was Christian already due to the spread of it by the Roman empire. With the publishing of such books as Inferno and the Malleus Malificarum, hell and witchcraft became scare tactics used to keep the masses under control of the church even though they were starving to death and dying of disease. Various pagan god images were taken to be images of Satan mainly to scare people, though originally the image of Satan was meant to be one of the most beautiful of the angels. As a side note to this, Lucifier was not even part of Christian dogma until 325BCE, who was originally an Etruscan/Roman deity that was changed to be a darker deity. You may notice that all of the other angels had a Hebrew name, but Lucifer is a latin name. Satan is aramaic for adversary.

So really, it is primarily propaganda about ancient beliefs and scare tactics that made ancient beliefs out to be evil, primarily as a matter of control in a time of chaos. It was as much a way of forcing belief as a way of controlling people in a time period when most of Europe was in total chaos.

Another reason people think all forms of Paganism are evil is simply because some people hate anyting to do not understand. This is not true of all Christian or followers of other Abrahamic beliefs, but it is true of many of them. Not all Christians think this way, and there are a few people on this forum who are actually model christians in their tolerance toward other religions

BB,

Lord AmonRaHa

Edit:

The word witch was never in the bible until the king james version. The original term in the bible in the old testiment was a persian word for a assyrian form of sorcerer that is said to make pacts with demons and jinn. This is where part of the belief that witches make pacts with demons for power.

Uhhh... Witchcraft and magic WERE the religious practices before the spred of Christianity. The ancient Egyptian priest practiced magic. The Druids did, too. As did the Norse shamen.

And the image of Pan may have been the inspiration for the Christian depiction of Satan, along with aspects of other pagan Gods.

But if you mean was it contiguously practiced and is it at all the same today as it was then, the answer is no. Today we have recconstructionist practices which attempt to worship and use magic like in the past (sans sacrifices, etc). So today, they are at best a bastardized version of the ancient practices, due to loss of knowlede and current morality.

Of course witchcraft goes back before Christianity...

Christianity was the coming of Christ.... and the Bible talks about witchcraft in the Old Testament...

Babylon.. and idol worship... etc.

But... nonetheless... stuff like that is why there was a need for Christ.... and that is why He came... He came to show the light... over the darkness...

And the Bible never describes satan with horns.. and Christians.. that have true Christian practice.. wouldn't steal horns to dress up a devil that doesn't have an image anyway....

The Attitude Era was much better than what the WWE has now, but I'm not certain that returning to it would bring the WWE they audience they want. The target audience that the WWE wants to return is now watching UFC, WEC, Elite XC, IFL, K-1 and other Mixed Martial Arts Promotions. I don't know if the WWE can compete with them for that audinece. The UFC alone generates more Pay Per View Money than Boxing or the WWE. All the points you make are valid ones, I just think that MMA has taken away the vast majority of WWE's viewership.

You're not wrong about witchcraft pre-dating Christ.

The imagery of Satan as a horned beast comes out of the Book of Revelation, however, the image you speak of is from the Ren/Ref time period. It all goes back to midevil fears about the unknown and the wayward pope's idea of scaring people into faith. Satan/Lucifer was the most beautiful angel, the archangel of light, beauty and music (or at least that is the tradition, anyway), so the imagery used in those paintings is not exactly correct.

From what i have read in secular and Wiccan sources, modern Wicca originated in the 1950's, largely due to a man named Gerald Brosseau Gardner. However it is based, or at least attempting to be based on, pre-Christian religions, and also draws from Medieval and later philosophers, mystics and occultists, notably François Rabelais via Aleister Crowley.

Witchcraft was condemned in the old covenant, long before the birth of Christ. However, the birth of Christ is irrelevant to your question.

The horns issue is also a Non Sequitur. There are only two sources of power, God's and Satan's. Witches/wiccans, etc. try to tap into the wrong power.

Instead of controlling the power as they are taught to believe, the power ends up controlling them.

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Your correct for the most part... Paganism, witchcraft, are misunderstood. But theres always going to be the people who insist that there wasn't anything before Christianity which is just plain naive.

Paganism-nature.

Christianity made up the devil or "Satan".

Many things go back before christ. Look at Easter, a stolen holiday of fertility. How about that they used to think that the Earth is about 6000 years old. I find it funny that they just found 5000 year old bubble gum in Finland.

"On the 365,000th day, god invented bubble gum and it was good!"

Witchcraft, which is in reality following satan's path of rebellion against God, began all the way back in the garden when Adam and Eve chose to obey the serpent (speaking on satan's behalf), and thus hand over earth to satan.

Perhaps that's a bit strong. They were, after all, ignorant of satan or his plans, but it was only a few generations later in which people "started calling on gods" meaning false gods, or more specifically, demons posing as gods.

But Christ was here from the beginning. "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was WITH God, and the Word WAS God."

Why bother worshipping one of God's created beings when we could be worshipping God the Creator of all things? God is the only One worthy of worship. All others are false gods.