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Why Wicca Is Not Celtic v.3.2 by Iain Mac an tSaoir and Dawn O'Laoghaire Wicca is a relatively recent addition to the religious paths of humanity. There is a lot of mis-information bandied about regarding it. It is sad that a great many of its followers have to do the religion such a disservice by claiming a lineage that doesn't exist. I would point out the now tired joke about Wiccan grand mums. Celts tend to discount initiation, or any other device through which validity is gained through some person or agency. To a Celt, that one exists is proof of their validity. The only generally recognized 'initiations' are those afforded by the process of life itself, with the two most important being birth and death, with marriage, parenthood and grand-parenthood coming along in a close second place. Some well known writers have claimed a great antiquity for Wicca. Yet, if it has any age to it at all, then it is through the Wicce, which were Saxon in origin, and patriarchal from the start. These are thought to have been members of the Lodges of Cunning Men. They have nothing to do with the mythological Druids (a product of the British Revival effort of the 18th century). The Wicce have even less to do with the historical Draoi. Such histories, as have connected the two groups of people, are in fact pseudo-histories, or as Margot Adler calls such ideas in her book, Drawing Down The Moon, "myths". These same writers state that the word Wicca derives from the Saxon word, Witan. However, the Witan was the proto-parliament of old Saxon England. If one wishes to twist etymology in this way, it would be more correct to trace the word witch, back to the word 'wicga', which is Old English for the insect known as the earwig, and which literally means "creepy-crawly". These same writers state that Wicca was practiced in the Celtic lands, and specifically name Gaelic lands, where these practices were supposedly called "Witta". Yet, from the Gaelic language itself we can see the truth that Wicca is not descended from the Gaelic Celts. The simplicity of this fact is seen in that that there isn't even a 'W ' in the Gaelic language, so neither Wicca nor Witta as a derivation could be Gaelic. As concerns the Gaelic language, the sound [w] does exist in Gaelic, or at least in Old Irish, as a lenited /m/ or /b/, like the [w] in the current pronunciation of Samhain [sawhIn - that's a capital I]. But that never occurs at the beginning of a word. Even in Gaidhlig (Scots Gaelic) the sound is rather like a "wide mouthed 'V' sound" [as in Samhain - SHA-vin]. In technical speak the 'w' does not exist in the language, nor is [w] ever its own phoneme, just an allophone of /m/ or /b/ (depending on the word). Since lenition is rare at the beginning of a word though, it is extraordinarily unlikely that any native Gaelic word would have a [w] at the beginning, and thus 'Wicca' is practically impossible in Gaelic even transliterated into the Roman alphabet. Likewise, a similar argument exists to show that Wicca did not descend from the Welsh (the representative of the P-Celt branch of the linguistic family). While the alphabet character 'W' does exist in the Welsh language, it does not express the same sound as the English 'W' (white, wig, Wicca, Witta). Instead, within Welsh language, the 'W' expresses the "oo" sound. Thus, within the Welsh the letter W can be pronounced either as found in the English "put" (short) or "soon" (long); or the Welsh "twp" (short) and "rhwd" (long). The truth is that modern Wicca, as it is most commonly practiced, is a fairly modern construction, dating from the middle part of this century. This was best summed up by Dr. Marilyn Wells, PhD, Anthropology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, who has referred to modern Wiccans as Neo-Wiccans. In other words, there is little to no connection between Gardner's creation and the Wicce of the middle ages, and no connection to the Celts; except for what modern Wiccans have borrowed and incorporated. As a matter of fact, if the veracity of The Pickengill Papers is complete, as many Gardnerians have vouched, then the Lodges of Saxon Cunning Men stood in the place of adversary to the Celtic Wise Women, which also goes to support this essay. More evidence supporting this can be found in a body of religious laws called the "Law of the Craft". While there are a great number of groups operating who do not use the set of laws that Gardner wrote, these do, however, usually use some derivation. "The Law of the Craft" as it was created by Gardner, and forwarded by a great many people who received it from their grandmothers (a bit of humor), at the least shows the attitude present in the creators of this religion. The undertones still reverberate. There are printed copies of this body to be found in the public domain, in such books as Lady Sheba's Grimoire and The King of the Witches by June Johns. There is also to be found on the Internet, a work comparing several versions of that body of law. There are three items of note, where that law is concerned. They are: #1 The uniform appellation given to modern Wicca, as a "brotherhood." All three of these items fly in the face of how women were viewed by pre-Roman Gaelic people. Even the Wiccan law demanding that mature, experienced priestesses step aside for someone younger, soley because of youth, should raise questions as to the motives of the author of these laws. It should also raise questions about their foundation in tradition. The fact is, our ancestor's views towards women were quite progressive for the times, and were close to being on par with modern views. Much to the chagrin of other powers of the time, namely the Romans, women had the right to possess and disburse property. They possessed the right to inheritance, and to chose their mates. They possessed ascendancy to the throne, in some places, above the right of men to do so. They possessed the right to keep and bear weapons, and let it be noted that subjagating an armed populace is indeed a difficult thing to do. It was not until Christianity was firmly implanted that women lost these rights, and the equality of the law concerning women came into question. An argument can be made by Wiccans that their religion has evolved since Gardner created it. That however only shows more conclusively how far removed Wicca is from anything Celtic. Yet the point must be made that as much of Gardners laws involve liturgy and ritual format, as long as those things are found in Wicca, then even those groups that have put aside Gardners laws are still abiding by them by default. Other corollary evidence comes from Wiccan statements about themselves. Of the Druids, all that can be agreed upon, based on evidence, was that they were intimately involved in sacrifices. Yet, many Wiccans state that they "..are the priestcraft for the pagan people...". They are even "training clergy". Yet, within Gaelic/Celtic culture all people were considered capable of, and responsible for, the mediation of the Gods on their own behalf. Celtic regard for personal responsibility is amply abundant. This is particularly true as regards to mediating the Gods on ones own behalf, and is so obvious and well known that even pop culture books such as The Celtic Tradition by Caitlin Matthews tell of this truth. This has even been commented on by respected celtophiles such as Peter Berresford-Ellis as being a part of the mindset of the Gaels unto this day. Even the Triads of our people show where the redactor's hands slipped on occasion, and let go expressions of the feeling among our forebears, that kept priests were an abomination. The idea was, evidently, that the first place we give up our personal power over our lives is to priestcrafts. From there on out, it is one piece of our lives at a time, until we are veritable slaves. Slavery is not a position taken with grace by our people. This is not to deny the fact that certainly after the coming of Christianity, and probably before, that there were probably orders of Monks dedicated to the service of one or a number of deities. This is only to say that just as there were not temples of the Greek and Roman type, neither were there sacredotes or "clergy", whose functions were to mediate and/or intercede with the Gods on the behalf of other people. The sacrifices that these officiated over were not to appease angry deities. Indo-European sacrifices were for the renewal of the world, which itself according to Indo-European thought was created from the primordial sacrifice of a deity. In fact, traditional celtic religion was votive/sacrificial in nature. Concepts of votive offerings and world renewing sacrifice, though central to Celtic religion, have no position in Wicca. When I was asked to write this essay, I was also asked to keep it as short as possible, yet not neglecting thoroughness. This should be enough though, to establish the premise quite securely, that Wicca is not descended form our Gaelic/Celtic ancestors.
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