Witch-cult hypothesis
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Witch–cult is the term for a hypothetical pre-Christian, pagan religion of Europe that survived into at least the early modern period. The theory of its existence was postulated by some 19th and 20th century scholars based upon the theory that the European witchcraft which had been persecuted in the witch-hunt had been a part of a Satanic plot to overthrow Christianity, and indeed most of the evidence for the theory was compiled by studying the accounts of the persecutors in the witch trials in early modern Europe. In the 20th century, the theory gave rise to the neopagan religion of Gardnerianism, with its various offshoots and traditions summarized under the term Wicca.
The theory was pioneered by Romanticist and free-thinking authors such as Karl Ernst Jarcke and Jules Michelet in the 19th century, but received its most prominent exposition with Margaret Murray's 1921 book, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, and her contributions to the Encyclopædia Britannica. Scholars have criticised the theory and the general consensus is that the Witch Cult never existed and is entirely pseudohistorical.
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