The Race of Witch
Historical Background and Theory
 
by
 
Alyne Pustiano
 
The articles "The Race of Witch" and "Which Witch is Which" have a lot of merit, and, in fact, give the most likely explanation for witchcraft as we know it...
 
I think the "organization" of witchcraft occurred primarily after Murray and Gardner took to organizing it -- in my mind an antithesis that if taken too seriously can lend itself to overstructuring and overpowering. But I particularly like your contention that a race of witches evolved coincident to the evolution of the human race into a thinking and rational
being.  This theory is borne out in a lot of ancient belief, worldwide and particularly in the heart of the Western mystical tradition.  In those traditions the race of witches, wizards, shamans, and the like are all traced back to the so-called Fallen Angels -- those fallen through rebellion as well as through choice. 
 
Though some must clearly have rebelled against God (or, in whatever belief system you are surveying, the Supernal Creator Being) there were obviously some who, enamored of the new human beings, chose to come and walk among us. 

In my understanding (and I feel this another valid argument for the evolution of the "species" of witch) these were the Nephalim, the original  race of super beings, "extra" terrestrial only in the respect that the originated somewhere other than earth -- in this case Heaven -- who came among mankind and married our females and taught the race not only the difference between good and evil, but the very slight differences between mankind and themselves and in all of us to what came to be called God.
 
The Nephalim survive in ancient texts as the giants and great wizards andwitches of world mythology.  In the Norse mythos they are particularly prominent, and in tales like Beowulf there is very thin veiling between the world of man and of the descendants of the Nephalim.
 
So the Nephalim taught the evolving brother and sisterhood and these peoples were able to aspire and achieve the amazing and unusual by virtue of their descent from these great beings.
 
Of course, in the Judeo-Christian tradition these beings have been villified as the very angels who rebeled against God.  But as you know, this is particularly vitriolic in the Christian church -- the Old and the New -- because everything had to have it's place and there was just no room for the argument that some humans possessed extraneous powers by virtue of their descent from powerful beings who were once the very priests of the One God.
 
And your argument is further validated in of all places the Book of Genesis where, in Chapter 6, I believe, prior to commencing on the lineage of Noah, there is the infamous verse that says (paraphrasing) "And the Sons of God came unto the Daughters of Man and knew them" ...  Of course this reference has been scorned and jerry-rigged by everyone who ever read it, it doesn't
leave anything open to interpretation.  Who were these Sons of God if Christ Himself had not been incarnated yet -- in actuality??
 
So the next time someone challenges that argument based on their cock-eyed religious belief, just refer them to their own good book.