When did Goddess Worship In Ireland Begin?

[PhoenixTwilight]

I'm not sure if this is relivent to the discussion here, for the fact that this doesn not mention Goddess Worship, but the first <i>recorded</i> witch trial took place in Ireland, around 1324. Lady Alice Kyteler. She was accused by Sir John le Poer, her fourth husband, after falling ill (jumpy guy, since her first three husbands died)... The accusations piqued the interest of Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory. He indicted Lady Alice and her group of seven charges, all of which Lady Alice fought.

Now, there's a lot more to the history of that, but I didn't wqant to bore anybody by typing it all out.. though I can if anyone's interested... the reason I posted this was because it may have some revelence to early Goddess Worship, not sure...

[Danustouch]

Hi Phoenix...

I'm sure many people would be interested in the story,and some links you could provide. If you want to start a new thread on it, that would be great !

I'm not so sure it is relevant to Goddess Worship, as witchcraft and Goddess worship don't necessarily go hand in hand. Especially since many accused witches, were actually Christian :)

But it should make for a very interesting new thread :) Glad to have you aboard.

[PhoenixTwilight]

Those were my thoughts, actually... witchcraft and Goddess Worship doesn't always go hand in hand, but we don't know if this trial may have revelence to Goddess Worship or not... I have a little information on the trial, from an encyclopidia I have access to... (Witchcraft and Witches)...

[Earthcup]

I have read a few accounts of accused witches worshipping Diana and Satan but most were Christian.

Many of the early occult groups were greatly influenced by Christian and Jewish mysticism.

I've heard of Lady Alice but I don't know the whole story. I would love to hear more.

[Danustouch]

Lady Alice does seem like a worthy topic, however, I posted this thread on legendary and folk witches a while ago..and I think it would fit in really well there. Plus...you can read about other famous and legendary people accused of Witchcraft :)

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?threadid=13112

[Éric]

I'd been waiting to see if this angle would develop a little more, but it hasn't...so here I go. :)

There's no reason at all to think Kyteler was a gynomonotheist. For whatever reason, her husbands happened to have died in serial. Outlawe died of disease, le Blond simply dropped one day, de Valle killed himself, and Le Poer had some kind of strange, undiagnosable malady. Their families were none too fond of Kyteler at this point, and when they raided her private rooms, they found all manner of strange stuff. When the bishop investigated, he decided she had used this paraphenalia to kill her husbands. That's a sign of witchcraft (the craft of a witch), not any sort of religious conviction. I think it's a pretty big jump from husband-killer to monotheistic goddess-worshipper, especially since that concept didn't enter Ireland until the 20th century.

Logically, there's roughly three possible explanations for her supposed skill in magic:

1) These techniques were holdovers from Norse magic as practiced before conversion to Christianity (all the principles in this story are not Gaels, but Normans), and Kyteler's family had preserved and passed on these skills.

2) These techniques were holdovers from Gaulish magic as practiced before the conversion to Christianity, and learned by Kyteler's immediate ancestors from the French they conquered and displaced in the formation of Normandy, before taking England and then parts of Ireland.

3) These techniques were holdovers from Gaelic magic as practiced before conversion to Christianity, and learned from those natives the Normans employed as servants.

Any of the above cases suppose the preservation of magical techniques within Christian families after conversion (which isn't much of a supposition, as we know such things happened; the supposition is that she was actually using magic to kill people). These magical techniques would have come from either Norse or Celtic religions, transmitted through Christians, and thus would have nothing to do with monotheistic goddess-worship, but actual polytheistic traditions conveyed in secret through familiar Medieval Christianity. A third option, which I didn't really detail, is that she was just an unlucky woman with a bad marital streak.

[Danustouch]

Ok..guys...I tried to say it in a million other ways. If you want to discuss Kyteler..please start a new topic thread, or use the one I presented you with. Thank you.

[Éric]

Sorry. Didn't see your other thread. I'll bow out.