Horned God? Or Satan?

Hi everyone, I'm back! I'm going to tell you about how the rumor of witches worshiping the devil came to be. One thing you need to understand before I begin is that there is a big difference between the original pagans and what is today called "neopaganism". If you begin to practice Wicca today, you are under the category of a neopagan. This simply means that the beliefs and customs have evolved with the times. A pagan living in 100 A.D. wouldn't be able to use a lighter to light their candles, for instance, however it is a perfectly acceptable way to prepare for a ceremony in neopagan Wicca. The only reason to use a match is if you are out of lighter fluid (haha) or to set up the ceremony in your mind. Much of Wicca is about how you feel about it. We'll get to that later. Now, a history lesson.

I'm terrible with dates, so don't expect me to give them. If you want cold, hard facts, research this at the library, not on a blog. However, if you just want the story, read on.

Pagans worshiped two deities as I have mentioned before. The Goddess (in three parts) and the Horned God. The Horned God evolved throughout time as a mixture of all the nature gods pagans could come up with. It included mythical satyrs, the god Pan, and various hunting gods. What came out was a basically scary looking guy. Usually he has horns, sometimes a goat head, sometimes female breasts. He can have the lower body of a goat (satyrs) and is often associated with the celestial. However, there is no concrete image because of the mix of gods. When Christians began seeing pagan rituals take place in the woods, they would catch glimpses of a large horned man (usually a priest wearing horns and animal skins). The Church told its people that this was Satan. So the rumor was born. The fact is, it doesn't tell anywhere in the Bible what Satan looks like. It describes his temperament and has stories he is involved in, but never describes his appearance. The description we have today (pretty much the way I described the Horned God) was based entirely on descriptions given by people who witnessed pagan ceremonies. So, in essence, Satan was only given an image when the Church found something it wanted to condemn. It worked. Paganism was nearly wiped out because of the stigma involved with devil-worship.

Learn much today? I'll talk about pentacles next time.