WI: The hypothetical "witch-cult" religion really existed

[Night Gaul]

What if there really was a "witch-cult" religion in Europe similar to that hypothesized by multiple scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries? It could have any number of different origins, but for the purposes of having a starting point, I'm going to go back a very long time and say it has its roots in the Paleolithic. That's not to say I'm unwilling to discuss other possible origins; to the contrary, I welcome them.

P.S. This isn't "secret history", is it? If it is, I may have to ask for help.

 

[John7755 يوحنا]

In the Basque lands, was there not a certain female priestess like position associated with folklore among the people and local rites and customs? This was often amounted to a cultural tradition-trait and witchcraft. As I understand, some individuals wished to break this custom in the Middle Ages through the inquisition, yet, the inquisitors had little interest in the charges of witchcraft, derived from Heinrich Kramer's 'Malleus Maleficarum.'

 

[Byzantion]

What if there really was a "witch-cult" religion in Europe similar to that hypothesized by multiple scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries? It could have any number of different origins, but for the purposes of having a starting point, I'm going to go back a very long time and say it has its roots in the Paleolithic. That's not to say I'm unwilling to discuss other possible origins; to the contrary, I welcome them.

P.S. This isn't "secret history", is it? If it is, I may have to ask for help.

Folk beliefs and semi Shamanist practice originating von Pagan Religion had been maintained into modern times in all over rural Europe.

 

[piratedude]

The witch-cult theory, at least as I'm familiar with it, says that the worship of a horned god and a triple goddess continued in some form or other. Personally i think a tl with a triple goddess cult/religion surviving is more interesting than the horned god, mostly because itd be the inverse of the triune God and it seems to have a very long history.

What I'd do is have this triple goddess thing replace the gnostic heresies that seemed to crop up now and again in Christian history. I know a few of those schismatics got accused of using magic (like the priscillians), so its not a huge stretch of imagination to replace them with an actual witch-cult.