The Old Religion An excerpt from the Malleus Maleficarum written by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger reads, "Witches are so called on account of the blackness of their guilt, that is to say their deeds are more evil than those of any other malefactors. They stir up and confound the elements by the aid of the devil and arouse terrible hailstorms and tempests. They distract the minds of men driving them to madness, insane hatred, and inordinate lusts. By the terrible influence of their spells alone as it were by a draught of poison they can destroy life." The mere mention of the words witch or witchcraft automatically bring to mind either the green skinned broom-riding hag of The Wizard of Oz or visions of some Devil-worshipping cult. Witchcraft is not a cult. It is a pagan earth religion that has origins dating back before any other formalized religion. Some witches prefer to worship in groups, commonly known as covens. However, since there is no single worldwide institution for the practitioners of witchcraft others are free to worship alone as solitary witches. Witchcraft in one form or another has existed longer than Christianity. This is evidenced by the Christian holidays that have been adapted from older Pagan celebrations. Long before the world had heard of Jesus. Wiccan's had been observing the season by bringing in the Yule log wishing on it and lighting it with the remains of the last years log. The Roman Catholic holiday of Candlemas is an adaptation of the pagan Celebration of Imbolc; this day is also known as Brigit's Day. The Goddess Brigit symbolized the fire of birth and healing. Early pagans celebrated her day by kindling sacred fires. The Roman Catholic Church adopted the fire symbolism and used this day to bless all the church candles that would be used during the coming year. The name Easter was taken from the name of a pagan goddess Eostre whose Symbols were the bunny and the egg. Aside from that symbolism most pagan religions speak of the goddess descending into the Underworld for a period of three days. This is reflected in the Christian tradition that Jesus died on the cross, descended to hell (during the three days he was entombed), and on the third day he arose and ascended into heaven.
Witchcraft was relentlessly thought as the work of the devil with only sinful and immoral intentions. Julio Caro Baroja explains in his book on Basque witchcraft that women who were out casted from society and unable to fulfill their womanly duties became witches as a way to compensate for her failed life. They were thought to be a threat to society as they dwindled in evil magic. This misunderstanding may have originated from the literary works of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, in their published book, “Malleus Maleficarum”. Accusations of being adulterous, liars and dealing with the devil materialized because of the...
Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem after it was reclaimed from the Syrian Greeks. The Temple was recaptured by the leaders of the Jews, who fought the Syrian Greeks; these leaders were known as the Maccabees. When the Maccabees seized the Temple of Jerusalem again they became the Temples priests, they also became they Jewish towns leaders. When the Temple was recaptured it held only a single day supply of olive oil for their candles left, they lit it anyways and to everyone’s surprise the oil kept burning for a whole eight days, which is where the eight days of Hanukkah originated from (Neusner, 20...
Witchcraft is the most illogical and despised practices involving the supernatural power. “It implies the ability to injure others. A witch usually acquires his power through an inherent physical factor or through the power of another witch. Witch possess a special organ called mangu, located somewhere behind the sternum or attached to the liver.”[11] Woman/man may become a witch through the influence of another witch or contact with another witch. Witches do not intend to do harm; they are as much the victims of witchcraft as those upon whom they practice it. They have innate power and often don’t know what they are doing. The belief in witchcraft helps people explain the causes of illness, death and misfortune experienced by a person or a group when no other explanations can be found. Most of the time when witches create injury and calamity, they were punished by death, sometimes by exile. They also were forced into admission of guilt by torture, fear, or the hope for lighter punishment. “Most witches work by night, are capable of covering long distances very rapidly, tem...
Witchcraft is a term which sprouts many different meanings. As stated above, it is attributed to witches. But what is a witch? Probably an evil haggish-like women who has signed a pact with the devil if we think of it in the English sense. So witchcraft must be evil doings; putting curses on people to make their life miserable, using wicked spells to transform humans to frogs etc. But does this hold true to everyone's idea of what witchcraft is.People's believes on the subject of witchcraft might differ between different cultures.
Witchcraft first emerged in Renaissance Europe and consisted of, “the individual’s making, for whatever reason and to whatever end, a pact or covenant with the Devil, thereby gaining the power to manipulate supernatural forces for anti-social and un-Christian ends.” (Currie 8). Obviously, witchcraft is not something that is done out of love for God, so this statement from Currie would be true because the witches were doing supernatural things and
shows the witches are ones who believe in evil spirits, as most witches are portrayed as.
Halloween is believed to have been developed over two thousand years ago, before even the birth of Jesus. It originated from the Celtic people native to Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, and
There have been various explanations by different historians for why the majority of Witches accused were woman. One of the first models concerning Witchcraft and gender to be produced was the ‘Witch-cult‘ idea. This theory was devised by Margaret Murray in the early 20th century and revolved around the idea of Witchcraft being an actual pre-Christian religion. This pagan woman-based religion centred around ‘The Horned God’ who from the Christian point of view was Satan. Murray writes that the ‘God of the old religion becomes the Devil of the new.’ This religion concerned woman in that it was being supressed by the Christian Church which was a male dominated organisation with an exclusively male hierarchy. In effect the whole Witch-hunt affair was a persecution of woman by men, both being polar opposites even in religion. Murray’s thesis proved very popular with radical feminists from the 1960s onwards, providing the feminist movement with a sort of rallying point, further exaggerating the sex specific elements in the Murray model. Murray’s thesis however, was attacked from day one and continues to be discredited to this day due to the lack of evidence in support of it and th...
Witchcraft has been in practice for centuries upon centuries, having been traced back to the beginning of mankind, where it was seen as a religious practice that instilled magical rights upon the user (Witchcraft). Prehistoric art exemplifies this, with inscriptions detailing magical rites that were used to ensure that their hunting was successful (Wiccan One’s Universe). Witches were commonplace all over the world with different stigmas and stereotypes attached to them from each respectful culture that contained them. The belief in magic predated Christianity, Judaism, and recorded history, and over time magic became mainly associated with one group - Witches (Erzulie). This could have been due to the fading out of many other ancient religions as well as the growing popularity that Witchcraft gained from incorporating man...
More than a few centuries ago, many practicing Christians, and those of other religions, had a sturdy belief that the Devil could give certain people recognized as witches the control to mischief others in return for their loyalty. A "witchcraft craze" rippled through Europe from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s. Tens of thousands of thought to be witches (mostly women) were executed. Nonetheless the Salem trials came on just as the European obsession was winding down, resident circumstances explain their onset. In 1689, English rulers William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies, known as King William's War to colonists; it wasted regions of upstate New York, Nova Scotia and Queb...
Witchcraft was anything considered as “the act of invoking spiritual powers to accomplish a supernatural task", such as telling the future (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide). However what defined a witch soon became ambiguous; people would accuse someone of witchcraft if said person was talking to themselves or had the witch’s mark, which was often just a mole (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide). Witches were severely feared because they were thought to be serviceable to the devil. Puritans believed the devil had supernatural powers similar to those of God’s and he would use his powers for selfish sadistic intentions. Puritans believed Satan was active and walking among the earth, and he would attempt to recruit witches to serve him. Puritans were petrified of this possibility because Satan can only be constantly looking to wreak havoc (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide). Soon people commenced witch hunts and accused witches and wizards were incarcerated and put on
What do you think when someone calls someone a witch? What comes to mind? Do you think of the movie, ‘Hocus Pocus’ or do you think of the black pointed hats and the long black, slit ended dresses? What about witchcraft? Does the term “Devil worshiper” ever cross your mind? Do you think of potions and spells? For many, many generations, we have underestimated what the true meaning of a witch and what witchcraft really is. What is the history that hides behind it? Witches and witchcraft have been in our history since the ancient times. There is a little bit more than the ghost stories told on Halloween, the movies shown on TV and dressing up on Halloween.
The witches play a very important role in "Macbeth", as they initiate the evil plot. Even from the prologue we can see the witches are evil. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair:" (Act 1 scene 1 line 11). They uphold their evil status throughout the play although their power is not fully demonstrated until the prophecies come true and also later where they conjure up the three apparitions. The witches are truly evil and love evil for its own self unlike Macbeth. "Spiteful and wrathful; who. as others do,/Loves for his own ends, not for you." (Act 3 scene 5 line 12-13). Throughout the play they provide the strongest impression of evil. They are continually committing mischievous deeds, such as, "Killing swine" (Act 1 scene 3 line 2), tormenting sailors and casting spells.
Popular culture was mixed with ecclesiastical culture in many ways. The story of St. John the Baptist is a good example of this. The ancient ritual of bathing and lighting fires during Midsummer's Eve was a remnant of a ritual from the pre-Christian period. Fire and water, symbols of purification, could be seen as the tools of St. John the Baptist, and therefore a combination of the two elements of popular and ecclesiastical culture was obvious. It looks as if the Medieval Church took over the festival and made it theirs. The same thing happened to the Midwinter Festival, which became linked with the birth of Christ, on 25 December.
While attempting to explain the distinction between the Benadante and witches, Maria Panzona said that witches “consigned their menses to the devil-abbess, who then restored them so that they could be used to ‘injure people, make them fall sick, become stunted and even die’” (Ginzburg 94). Because women were supposed to be less aggressive than men, women typically opted for responses that favored their natural strengths and, therefore, women were more likely than men to engage in the underhanded behaviors associated with witchcraft (Bever 969). According to Bever, women were more likely to take advantage of the power associated with witchcraft because “significant elements of it fell into female social space . . . because they were at a disadvantage in utilizing other sources of power. . . and in part because it played to their innate and learned strengths” (974). For example, although cursing was considered to be one of the most effective ways to cause harm because it was able to be used to harm both humans and livestock, only women were accused of cursing (Jones 56). One potential explanation for the association between witchcraft and women is because witchcraft offered a source of power and “women, lacking the physical strength to assault their enemies, or the power to initiate litigation, resorted to verbal means, including cursing” (Jones