Much of our religian was lost through the years.
Since wicce' was declared a heretical act sometime in the 12th centrury
which sparked a rage of wars, crusades and peasent revolts all over Europe to include Dame Alice Kyteler in 1324 who was tried by Bishop Ossory for following what was deemed witchcraft for worshipping the pagan gods..because of her rank she was spared but all her followers were burned alive.
Joan Of Arc what we all call the maid of orleans (to be a maiden in our religian is a term of very high respect)
lead france to victory in the name of god however she was burned at the stake by the english.
In 1484 the book titled Malleus Maleficarum was published and unleashed the power of what is known today as Inquisition this was a terror that ravished the english countryside well into the seventeenth centrury.
Now this is were most of our ways were lost since dueing the inquisition if a woman was accused and found guilty she was put to death thats true.
Man i'm long winded........
However few history books tell the full story.
Wicce' is handed down mother to daughter and while it is handed down to the male children its the female children we place all our trust in and dueing the inqusition when a mother was tried as a witch as were her children specialy the female children who were seen to inherite the evil from thier mothers.
This evil that was percived was that of menstruation and giving birth.
Which was sacred in the wicce' religian the Malleus Maleficarun stated
"All Witchcraft stems from carnel lust , in which women are insatiable"
As a result an estimated Nine Million women and thier children were executed and people stoped following the religian out of fear and much was lost.
Communcation were severed between covens and for the most part still remain severed today since we still face alot of hostilitys.
Now because of this cut in communication and so many people not worshiping due to fear much of the religian was lost.
not all but alot was.
I was lucky enough to be exsposed to my birth grandmother and grandfather.
My grandfather irish and still a follower of the old religian my grandmother an apache indian with her own belifes so while I was raised by my foster parents as catholic I was also taught some of the old ways and when I was adopted by parents who were methodist I got a well rounded education in religians and christianity never fit well with me and I found my way back to what I belive is my spiritual roots.
But because of the loss of so many belifes and traditions the religian of todays wicca is as much a new religian as an old one.
The reason so many call themselves a witch is out of pride and a small token of tribute to all those murdered for thier belifes.
Of course we do have kids who call themselves witches for whatever coolness factor it might hold .
To understand the relgian of today you have to understand the old relgian and the history of conflicts between teh religians but one things for sure christanity and paganism are inner mixed and inseperable these days and perhaps thats a good thing.
Fell free to message me for any questions.