From the medieval times to these modern ages, the Wicca religion is still confused with the unmoral religion of Satanism. The Wicca religion has been around for many centuries. The Christian religion has harmed Wicca’s reputation by spreading fear that Wicca is an evil religion; no better than the worshipping of Lucifer. From the witch burnings in the medieval period till now, Wicca has been classified as part of Satanism. Common witch lore and costumes around the time of All Hallows Eve depict witches as evil beings, doing unspeakable things with malicious intent. This is a very common occurrence and is unfair to all that practice the ancient religion. Granted, uneducated people could easily place Wicca in the same category as Satanism; however, these two religions are completely different from each other and Wicca is obviously the better of the two.
Because of the Catholic churches attempts in the medieval times to make more pagan worshipers join, they have made the pagan’s religion into something that was evil and sinister. Anybody who was practicing a religion that was different from their point of views, especially any religion practiced by people they were trying to convert, was evil and they needed to bring to the light of Christ. This was a normal way of thinking for the people from the medieval time period who were oppressed by the Church and had very little education. A very common view was that all “witches” worshiped Satan, did unspeakable acts, stole and killed babies for their potions, and caused mayhem for the common people. For example, if a farmer’s crop failed to harvest much, the most disliked person in town that had no influence, could be the scapegoat of farmer’s anger and frustration. The person who is bein...
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...mixing pot of nationalities. It is ideal to people who are open minded, while Satanism is for people who are against following the natural order of things. They believe that a person can do anything they want without repercussions. It is a wrong and immoral way of thinking.
Satanism and Wicca have been place in the same generalization through out history when Wicca holds no relation with Satanism in any way. Satanism is a religion that is inherently evil, while Wicca, though misunderstood, is a nature-based religion that is about living to the best of ones ability and abiding by the Wicca ways. There is nothing sinister about the Wicca ways. The rule to abide by nature’s laws has made it separate from other religions, especially Satanism. Throughout the centuries, Wicca has been place unfairly in the category of Satanism when it has no ties to the evil religion.
What images come to mind when you think of witches? Many people immediately imagine a black pointy hat, bubbling cauldron, green warty skin, and Halloween. Usually the image that comes to mind is something scary and evil. Real witches do exist. Most modern witches go by the label Wiccan now. Wiccans practice Wicca, which is a nature-based religion with many different branches or denominations. The basic tenant of all Wicca is called the Three Fold Law. The Three Fold Law states that whatever you do will come back to you times three, good or bad, so do not cause harm or, in other words, “harm none”. It is kind of like the concept of karma in one lifetime. There is debate over how old the religion actually is with some saying that it is an ancient religion that pre-dates Christianity and some saying it is more modern, starting in the 1950’s with Gerald Gardener. Regardless of how old the religion is, Hollywood’s portrayal of witches often does have some kernel of truth, albeit sometimes it is hard to find.
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...
Witchfinders is a book by Malcolm Gaskill that looks upon strategies that were employed by two Christian crusaders in their quest to mitigate witches in England. The book explores England’s important story and the biggest witch hunt. In the book, Gaskill brings out issues relating to religious and social lives in a very fascinating way. The whole book brings to right ways that witch-finders used to support their brutality and bloodshed in the ancient England notably through biblical justifications. In the book either, the author brings out the demonic ways of the 1640s in East Anglia and through keen analyzes of the factors that are being stipulated in the book one can factor out the rotten society in the time and to some degree relate this to the current society and religious behaviors. The current paper looks upon the short and long term factors
The growing practice of Neo-Paganism in America has caused many to turn their heads. The misunderstanding of the religion has caused many to equate the practitioners with the popular conception of typical "witches," that perform black magic rituals, satanic sacrifices, and engage in devil-inspired orgies. After many years, the Neo-Pagan community has cleared up many misconceptions through the showing that many of them do not engage in activities, and are rather participating in a religion, just as those would that participate in a Christian community. It's unacceptance continues, perhaps due to its non-conformity to the ideal of worshipping a Christian God. Through the use of ethnography, anthropologists and sociologists are able to present the public with a much different view than what we are bombarded with in popular media.
The controversies that surround Wicca start with its exact origin. There are some who believe that it has its origins in Witchcraft due to the similarities between the two. Witchcraft itself is a Pagan practice [polytheistic and non-Christian, Muslim and Jewish in origin] that began with the Celts around 700 B.C. As the movie The Burning Times depicts, the region during this time period was primarily a rural culture so the Celtic traditions were based completely on Nature. Their months were even named after trees and their festivals revolved around the solstices and equinoxes (Steiger). A polytheistic religion, they worshiped a host of female and male deities and are most notably associated with the concept of Goddess worship, a strong belief in the divinity of the female (Burning Times). These paganistic beliefs and rituals gradually over the centuries combined with other European religious practices, such as magic, potions, and ointments for healing, to form what we call in modern times Witchcraft. Groups who did not hav...
The early modern era in Western Europe was a dangerous place for women with the rise of so called “witches” populating towns and country sides. With the peak of these witch trials happening between 1560 and 1640 in England (the making of the west 499). This caused the people of Europe to live in fear of the devil and his counterparts on earth. Over 80 percent of victims of these witch trials were women and thousands upon thousands of trials taking place all across Europe and the North American Colonies at the time as well (motw 500). Seeing that women are mostly accused of witches, it raises the questions as to why that is. Upon examining 2 specific cases in this essay, those being of Walpurga Hausmannin from Dillingen, Germany and Francatte Camont from Lorraine, France; one can see that both these cases are very similar in many aspects despite the fact that both these women were trialed in different countries in Western Europe. In this essay, the reader will explore the motivations, visions and the targets of these witch trials with specific evidence and focus on the trials of both Walpurga and Francatte. The reader will also be able see connections between both trials throughout as well.
The epoch of Medieval European history concerning the vast and complicated witch hunts spanning from 1450 to 1750 is demonstrative of the socioeconomic, religious, and cultural changes that were occurring within a population that was unprepared for the reconstruction of society. Though numerous conclusions concerning the witch trials, why they occurred, and who was prosecuted have been found within agreement, there remain interpretations that expand on the central beliefs. Through examining multiple arguments, a greater understanding of this period can be observed as there remains a staggering amount of catalysts and consequences that emerged. In the pursuit of a greater understanding, three different interpretations will be presented. These interpretations, which involve Brian Levack’s “The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe,” Eric Boss’s “Syphilis, Misogyny, and Witchcraft in 16th-Century Europe,” and Nachman Ben-Yehuda’s “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th centuries:
Wicca, commonly known as the “Craft” or “Old Ways” is an expression used to describe various traditions of contemporary Paganism, an earth-centered religion that shows a substantial amount of respect for nature; celebrating the changes in the season and lunar cycles (Mankiller, Wicca); As stated by Morrison Wicca celebrates, “the beauty of the moon, the stars, and the sun (5)”; and the worshipping of the deities (Morrison, 2001). Those who follow the path of Wicca are usually referred to as “Witches” or “Wiccans” derived from the Anglo-Saxon term wicce, which can be translated as “Sorceress” or “Wise One” (Morrison, 2001), they are nothing like the witches seen in modern media (Mankiller, Wicca). Throughout History Wicca has been depicted as a Satanist related religion, leading to mass persecution of those who adhere to its principles (as seen in the Salem Witch Trials); few truly fathom the Wiccan faith. The real truth about Wicca is that, it is a religion centered on the theology of the deities in form of the Patron Goddess and God, it is a matriarchal religion, with varying traditions and religious branches, that doesn’t believe in predestination, and has basic tenets that must be followed.
In this essay I will discuss the role of gender in witchcraft and why the majority of people executed as witches were women. There have been various explanations by different historians for why the majority of witches accused were women. 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.
For hundreds of years, Wicca and witchcraft has been considered the practice of the Devil. In result, many witches throughout those hundreds of years have been tortured, burned, hanged, and killed outright. Although the “witches” from the infamous Salem Witch Trials were not actual witches, it is the thought that counts. The assumption that witchcraft involves summoning the devil and sacrificing animals is extremely inaccurate, as well as a little insulting. Wicca and witchcraft has been misunderstood throughout the time it has existed, and it is actually a very beautiful practice.
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...
Through out time many people have viewed witches as bad people. Even in religion witches are viewed as workers of Satan himself. “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them” Leviticus 20:27 King James Bible. Throughout our world’s history there have been thousands if not millions of witch hunt cases around the world. During the Bubonic Plague people blamed witches for what was going on. Then in the early years of the Dark Ages people where convinced of these so called witches and other mythological creatures. At first people where scared to go outside at night because they thought that the witches, would get them. However, when people began to learn how to read, they realized that witchcraft was against what the bible says. So this led to even more people being accused of being a witch. During the colonial era when the European countries where colonizing the world, England was a breeding ground for witch hunts. The religious persecution of small Christian groups in England led to the Puritans leaving the country. Arriving in the 13 colonies, here one of the worst witch trials in American history took place in Salem Massachusetts. These are known as the Salem Witch Trials, in which over 100 people were blamed for witchcraft and almost all of them were killed. These trials were not alone though, many others countries have their own versions of the Salem trials. However, in today’s time these so called witch hunts are not common in countries like the US, and there are laws that prevent actual witch hunts from happening. There are still countries that have witch hunts within their borders ba...
For many centuries to the present day, Christians have lived in fear of witches. They were known as to be the devils child who only practiced black magic and thought of as the Christians “persecution”. Witches have been known to mankind since the 1200’s. Throughout the 1400’s, the examination of witches was more focus and moved from the Jews. In the church’s law, it was stated that the belief of existence and practices of witchcraft was “heresy”. Because of what the Christians believed, churches would then torture and hunt down anyone who they thought were witches and killed the many women and only a few of the men. They even made them make the confession of flying through the midnight sky, being in love with the devil himself, practicing black magic and even turning into animals.
Prior to open practice of Satanism, the Roman Catholic church used Satanism as a label for individuals and groups who held views or ideologies that conflicted with those of the church. This was an attempt to delegitimize their opponents and to strengthen the Church’s following. While these accusations were initially harmless and limited to heretics, they became increasingly frequent and extreme. These wild accusations spread to rumors of violent rituals claimed to be performed by Satanists which built up to widespread fear and panic. Ultimately, this would result in events like the Salem Witch Trials where innocent people were put to death due to false suspicion of individuals performing witchcraft and becoming possessed by the Devil. Ironically, while the church merely intended to bolster both its image and following with these accusations, the widespread panic that resulted put Satanism on the map, and “several scholars identify fundamentalist Christianity as one of the major influences shaping and driving the” onset of the Satanist movement (Underwager and Wakefield, 281). This sheds light on the true relationship between the conflicting belief systems of Christianity and Satanism. Although the two are at odds on even the most basic levels, their relationship is largely codependent. Christianity uses the fear surrounding Satanism and the
...se, destroy and threaten the survival of the Christian world. However, the threats to the Church were economic and sociopolitical and not witchcraft. The Church was struggling with internal conflicts, rebellions, social changes as a result of the breakdown of the feudal system and they were reflected in terms of religious dissatisfaction that demanded religious reform. These threats were treated as heresy rather than political dissent and its response was to frame the motives and practices of heretics in terms of satanism. Witchcraft threatened Christianity because it provided an alternative values system compared to the established patriarchal institutions and questioned male power. Witch beliefs represented the inverse of the positive values in medieval patriarchal society and the stereotype of the witch is the negative standard for women.