Witchology, the history of Wicca & Witchcraft
by Dr Leo Ruickbie

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Read Dr Ruickbie on witchcraft and magic in Paranormal magazine.Read Dr Ruickbie on witchcraft and magic in Paranormal magazine

What is Witchcraft?

That's what this website is here to find out. Witchology.com is the website of WICA - the Witchcraft Information Centre and Archive - founded in 1999 by Dr Leo Ruickbie as a research and education provider specialising in the areas of Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Magic (Magick) and the Occult. We have been online continuously since 2000.

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Witchcraft out of the Shadows does provide many good insights, and would make an interesting read for anyone interested in the history of Witchcraft in Europe. (Avalonia.com, 2005)

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Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A Complete History"Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A Complete History is an engaging book which deserves to be the benchmark for all future analyses of the Craft."

Open Source WiccaFaustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Legend


Histories of the Barbarians: Vandals, Goths and FranksBeowulf in Anglo-Saxon and English Translation


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The Sociology of Witchcraft and Wicca

History of Witchcraft

It is time to shake the wand of serious, scientific research at the stereotypes that still haunt the perception of Witchcraft. It is time to dispel the sweet and fearful fantasy of evil and find out who are today's Witches. Are they, as Shakespeare called them, dark and midnight hags? The answer might surprise you.

The Sociology of Witchcraft and Wicca

Extract from Leo Ruickbie's Witchcraft Out of the Shadows

text / image

7. The Society of Witches: The New Face and Form of Witchcraft Beyond the Stereotypes


The witches are abroad, and hurtle swiftly aloft, a hideous covey, borne headlong on the skirling blast. To some peak of the Brocken or lonely Cevennes they haste, to the orgies of the Sabbat, the infernal Sacraments, the dance of Acheron, the sweet and fearful fantasy of evil. In delirious tones they are yelling foul mysterious words as they go: “Har! Har! Har! Altri! Altri!”1


On a broomstick of pictures and words we have travelled through the history of witchcraft. We have seen how the witch has fallen from the celestial sphere, from her position as goddess and priestess, to become an anti-Christian creation, an agent of the Devil bent on the destruction of mankind. And we have seen how witchcraft has risen again though the efforts of more enlightened thinkers to become a religion in its own right, perhaps not the same religion, or facet of religion, as it was before, but nonetheless, a valid and genuine expression of the spiritual quest.


Now it is time to examine who today’s Witches are. It is time to shake the wand of serious, scientific research, of statistical analysis, at the stereotypes that still haunt the perception of Witchcraft. It is time to dispel the sweet and fearful fantasy of evil.


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Formatting may differ from the print edition.

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