Margaret Murray's Unlikely History

[icymist]

Much of the nonsense you might hear uttered about the history of Wicca and witchcraft started with an anthropologist named Margaret Murray. She first published a book on the subject of European witchcraft in the 1920s, despite the fact that her entire academic background was in Egyptology. You will see her name in the bibliographies of many, many books on Wicca, particularly older books. I generally take mention of her as a reason NOT to purchase a book. What the Wiccan books that cite her generally fail to mention is that her witchcraft theories were thoroughly discredited several decades ago due to a painful and unprofessional lack of evidence.

Was she a sham?
Murray never claimed to be Wiccan or Pagan or a follower of the Old Religion, so she had nothing to gain from deception. She probably honestly thought she was promoting historical truth, although her research methods ranges from ignorant to outright deceptive. For example, she provides several quotes from witch-trial documents which are taken completely out of context, and at least one in which she removed the middle of a paragraph, running the beginning and end of the paragraph together as if they made one complete thought, completely changing the meaning of the text.

What did she teach?
She believed, in short, that there was an ancient Old Religion in Europe far predating Christianity and that it secretly survived for centuries despite the Church's attempt to destroy it, culminating in the great witch-hunts, which Wiccans have taken to calling the Burning Times.

According to Murray, the witch-cult was the oldest religion in the world and was practiced by Stone-Age people. Her evidence is two cave paintings, neither of which, according to historian Ronald Hutton, depict what Murray claims they depict. Even if they did, the evidence is way too slight to make such a sweeping claim. One image is supposedly a group of people dancing in a circle. The second is supposedly a priest in animal skins with deer antlers on his head.

Read the full article

[Why Syzygy]

1. I agree with the author.

It IS depressing. So, how do we find accurate history?

[skater314159]

2. An Anthropologist's view...

... is that calling Ms. Murray an Anthropologist is being quite polite and generous. Unfortunately, Ms. Murray's "work" comes from the period when Anthropology and Archaeology were just beginning. Many of the theories and methods that we use today to study cultures, peoples and belief systems weren't around then - or were just getting started.

And yes, Ms. Murray *does* cherry-pick her "data" and "facts" from the historical records.

As for ways to find out the real history of Paganism, it is good to start with a general history and then move to original source documents. It's best if you can read the sources yourself, to see what exactly they contain. After you get a real feel for the history and development of the Craft, *then* I would recommed that you read something by Ms. Murry, just so you could see the contrast between good history/anthropology and bad history/fake anthropology.

The best place to start your search for knowledge would be your local library - ask a librarian what books and articles your collection has available. Librarians *love it* when you come to them seeking to learn and gain knowlege! It would also be good for you to check out what local people are doing (I recommend either going to witchvox.com or meetups.com and check out what's going on in your area. If either of these are un-fruitful or impractical for you, IM me, and I'll see if I can get you some info.

Peace! :hippie: