As wo/man became more civilized the deities changed, and more were "added." Woden is now known as "The Horned One," and Gaia received the title of "The Triple Goddess," personifying the maid, mother and crone. Being a religion based on tradition, the "old ways" were never forgotten, so the rituals were still observed; Then along comes Christianity, and the religions existed peacefully together, until the "Dark Ages." Shortly after the "New Testament" was written, witches started getting pushed around. After a few years of anti-wiccan writings (the most infamous of these being the Malleus Maleficarum {the Witch Hammer} written by two German monks) and "protests," the Christian hierarchy 'decided' that witches were the minions of "Satan," and so they must conform, or be destroyed; This is shown in the following quote by Raymond Buckland.
             Gradually the hysteria kindled by Kramer and Sprenger began to
             spread. It spread like a fire-flashing up in unexpected places;
             spreading quickly across the whole of Europe. For nearly three hundred
             years the fires of the persecutions raged. Humankind had gone mad. The
             inhabitants of entire villages were one or two Witches were suspected
             of living, were put to death with the cry: "destroy them all...the Lord will know his own! (5)
             These three hundred years became known as 'The Burning Times.' It was during these years that accusations were 'ripping' through the countryside's. It was also during this time when the Salem Witch Trials took place. When the cries of Witch stopped approximately nine million people were burned at the stake, hung or tortured to death, and a good number, probably weren't even Witches. Does this sound familiar? Hitler destroyed approximately six million people, that's about three million more.
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