Storytelling as Our Religious Heritage
Morgan Drake Eckstein
One of the “facts” that has came out of historical research of British Wicca is that the religion was made up from bits and pieces that were assembled from various sources (fairy tales, books about pagan mythology, Freemasonry, etc.). We do not have an unbroken lineage dating back to the Stone Age. We are a new religion, built in modern times to address the needs of modern people.
It is the fact that the religion was assembled from bits and pieces that gives us a heritage. Myths and pagan customs were filtered down though the ages clear up to modern times, hidden in books. For instance, while the last Egyptian Temple closed in early fifth century, the legend of Isis and Osiris continued to be told in books throughout the Middle Ages. It can be shocking to chance upon the story of Isis and Osiris in the literature of that time, for Isis and Osiris are considered to be real people, proto-Christians.
One of the hazards of using the surviving material is that the stories are so varied. There is no one story, no one myth, except in those cases where only one copy has survived. But this is also a great boon to those people who are designing rituals and practices to address modern needs.
The variation in the stories is not a new thing. The Egyptian literature is full of variations. You can see some of the gods evolve as time goes on. For instance, Imhotep starts off as a real flesh and blood human being; he was an actual official in Ancient Egypt. Imhotep then is elevated to being a god. Later, his cult would forget that he was once a human being, with only his godhood remaining. One does wonder what the Ancient Egyptians would have thought of recent set of movies featuring this character.
The mythology of Egypt, with its four thousand year history of development before the last Temple being closed, shows a richness of variation. Different eras stressed different gods, as did different regions. There were also variations that seemed to exist between different storytellers in the same region and time period. The purpose, the mood, and the audience---all seemed to inform how the stories were told.
A vast range of variation is present in every mythos that we have a significant body of textual evidence for---Greek mythology, Arthurian mythology, even Christian lore. And it is not just Western lore that shows this level of variation; both African lore and the mythology of India contain vast variations in detail. The cherry on top is that this is merely the areas that I am aware of; other people can add to this list.
To put this in perspective, consider this: We all know the stories of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and Jack and the Beanstalk. But what version(s) do you know? Jack and the Beanstalk, also known as Jack the Giant Killer, has variations that trace back to the Vikings. Red Riding Hood starts off as a French tale, and has over a one hundred retellings. And Cinderella has over seven hundred known retellings.
Today, one of our jokes about Wicca is that you cannot define what it is. No wonder considering that Wicca was built from the bones and remains that were scattered throughout nineteenth and twentieth century literature---we are lucky to be able to agree on anything. Our heritage is to retell stories, more or less aimed at the mood of our current audience. That includes our religious stories.
[Note---It is historical research on British Wicca that I am referring to in this article. Some authorities claim that recent historical research of Continental European Paganism, mostly from Italy, indicates that there were survivals of the pagan religions clear up to the time of the witch-hunts in Europe. Not being able to read Italian, I am not in a position to judge this research. The history student in me says to wait ten to fifteen years to see if the research is discredited. As it is now, most of my contacts in BTW (British Traditional Wicca) and ETW (European Traditional Wicca), including the branch that I belong to, disagree with this claim.---MDE.]