Origins of Wicca
How did it start
Wicca originates from Animism (ascribing to each aspect of nature a spirit, making it a deity). Animism dates back 25,000 years to Paleolithic man (man meaning both man and woman in this entire article). Most importantly hunting gave food to eat, skins for warmth, and bones for weapons and tools. So comes the God of the Hunt. Most animals that were hunted were horned so man pictures the God of the Hunt as being horned. This is the first step towards religion and magic. Sympathetic magic, the belief that like attracts like, is used in acting out victorious hunts. It was believed that in acting it out the God of the Hunt would make it victorious. Mortality rates were high in this time so fertility was important also, therefore the Goddess of Fertility. A faceless figure of a woman with enlarged breasts and belly, usually with no arms or legs, representing a mother with child was used to represent the Goddess.
During the Anglo-Saxon times in England the King always consulted the Witan (the "council of wise ones") before making any important decisions. Wiccan (wicca (M), wicce (F)) translates as the "wise one" , also spelled Wica or Wita. They had to be wise, they were the religious leaders and needed knowledge of herbal lore, magick, and divination.
Throughout England the Old Religion was predominate for the first 1000 years of Christianity. Mass conversion was attempted by Pope Gregory the Great. He built new Christian churches on the sites of the older Temples. Bishops smashed idols and sprinkled holy water over the whole Temple and proceeded to rededicate them. Fortunately Pagans were the only artists around while they were building the new churches. While decorating the churches the stone masons and woodcarvers incorporated the images of their Gods in to their work. Thus they were able to worship their Gods while worshiping in the new churches.
The Devil....well he is a Christian invention. The concept of evil associated with the devil comes from an error in translating the Old Testament Ha-satan and the New Testament Diabolos, these translate to "opponent" or "adversary" not evil. The entire concept of an all good God (therefore and all evil Devil) was created in the 7th century by Zoroasten in Persia. The Old Religion believes that all Gods have good and bad sides just as we do. Duality there cannot be one with out the other. Separating them was a concept that the Christian adopted for another culture altogether.
As Christianity grew the followers of the Old Religion mostly lived out in the country and became known as Pagans (from the latin word Pagani, "people who live in the country") and Heathens ("one who dwells on the heath")