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Ideas about witchcraft in the 17th century
Rise of witchcraft in europe
Ideas about witchcraft in the 17th century
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Modern Witches
While doing research for this paper I decided to talk to some modern witches. When I informed some of my friends of this the most common remark was “Be careful!.” From these conversations it quickly became evident that most people have no idea what witches believe or even if they exist. However, almost everyone has an image of an ugly witch on a broom, who kidnaps and eats little children. Kids dress up like her during Halloween, and books like Hansel and Gretel introduce her to each new generation of children. I became interested in where all these stereotypes about witches come from and how they differ from the reality about witches and Wicca. It seems that most of the stereotypes can be traced to the Middle Ages and the time of the witch craze and the inquisition.
1. The stereotype of witches and where it comes from
a. Pre-Christian Witches
Although most of the stereotypes of witches can be traced to the Middle Ages, it does not mean that people during this time came up with the description of a witch without prior historical influence. In order to understand what happened during the Middle Ages to create the images of a witch that we know today, it is necessary to go back to pre-Christian times.
European witchcraft during the Middle Ages was strongly influenced by beliefs in magic and sorcery from the Greco-Roman as well as Hebrew times. The Greeks had a sophisticated system of magic that was combined with witchcraft and religion. The highest level of magic was that dealing with the gods. This was the one acceptable form. The two lower levels both deal with individuals who claim to brew potions, recite incantations, or give people magical objects. These people usually sold their...
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...with all the other groups that fall under the name of witchcraft.
References:
1. Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon. Boston: Beacon Press, 1981
2. Ankarloo, Bengt and Henningsen, Gustav. Early Modern European Witchcraft. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
3. Barry, Jonathan and Hester, Marianne and Roberts, Gareth. Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
4. Clark, Stuart. Thinking with Demons. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
5. Farrar, Stewart. What Witches Do. Blaine: Phoenix Publishing Inc., 1991
6. Russell, Jeffrey. A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans. New York: Themes and Hudson Inc. 1983.
7. Starhawk. The Spiral Dance. New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 1989
8. Interview with Seamus McKeon and Sandy Herrera both practicing Wiccans.
Witches were also mentioned in the bible in multiple places. In Hebrews, Exodus 22:18, one reads, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide) This basically translates to, “any women practicing dark arts or unnatural powers should be put to death.” Again in the bible, witchcrafts is mentioned “when the prophet Samuel admonishes King Saul of the Israelites, for seeking aid of the Witch of Endor” (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide). Then God punishes King Saul for this sin by killing him and his sons and allowing the Philistines, Israel’s enemy, to destroy his army (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference
Kocic, Ana. (2010). Salem Witchcraft Trails: The Perception of Women In History, Literature And Culture. Linguistics and Literature, Vol. 8 (Issue N1), 1-7. http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/lal/lal201001/lal201001-01.pdf
Jesse Owens, also known as “The Buckeye Bullet,” was known for being one of the greatest track and field, African American runners in the 20th century. Jesse was sick a lot when he was a child, but he still had to work to help his family. When Jesse was 9 years old, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio and found out there was a difference between how he was being treated in Ohio and how he was treated where he lived down south. Jesse attended the Ohio State University and went on to break many
The White Rose, one of the first groups to oppose the Nazis because they knew the truth. They were a band of mostly college students and some young adults that got out of the war. They were mostly led by their college professor to make a difference in Germany. They wanted to tell the people about the camps and what some of the young adults saw while they were in the war and what they did to the Jews. So when this group formed, they would tell people of their cause by passing out leaflets that told people the truth of the Nazis, but they did all of this in secret because if they were caught, they would be severely punished. So this Gang would have to do everything in secret but while getting the message out to everyone in Germany so that they might be able to take down the Nazis and Hitler.
There are significant health disparities that exist between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Being an Indigenous Australian means the person is and identifies as an Indigenous Australian, acknowledges their Indigenous heritage and is accepted as such in the community they live in (Daly, Speedy, & Jackson, 2010). Compared with Non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people die at much younger ages, have more disability and experience a reduced quality of life because of ill health. This difference in health status is why Indigenous Australians health is often described as “Third World health in a First World nation” (Carson, Dunbar, Chenhall, & Bailie, 2007, p.xxi). Aboriginal health care in the present and future should encompass a holistic approach which includes social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing in order to be culturally suitable to improve Indigenous Health. There are three dimensions of health- physical, social and mental- that all interrelate to determine an individual’s overall health. If one of these dimensions is compromised, it affects how the other two dimensions function, and overall affects an individual’s health status. The social determinants of health are conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age which includes education, economics, social gradient, stress, early life, social inclusion, employment, transport, food, and social supports (Gruis, 2014). The social determinants that are specifically negatively impacting on Indigenous Australians health include poverty, social class, racism, education, employment, country/land and housing (Isaacs, 2014). If these social determinants inequalities are remedied, Indigenous Australians will have the same opportunities as Non-Ind...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have some of the worst health outcomes in comparison to any other indigenous community in the world (AIHW, 2011). According to United Nations official Anand Grover, Aboriginal health conditions are even worse than some Third World countries (Arup & Sharp, 2009), which is astonishing, considering Australia is one of the worlds wealthiest countries. Thoroughly identifying the causes and analysing every aspect behind poor health of indigenous Australians, and Australian health in general, is near impossible due to the complexity and abundant layers of this issue. Even within the category of social determinants, it is hard to distinguish just one factor, due to so many which interrelate and correspond with each other. The aim of this essay is to firstly identify and analyse components of the social determinants of health that impact the wellbeing of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, and demonstrate how they overlap with each other. By analysing the inequalities in health of Aboriginal and non-indigenous Australians, positive health interventions will then be addressed. Racism and the consequences it has on Indigenous health and wellbeing will be discussed, followed by an analysis of how and why social class and status is considered a determining factor when studying the health of the Aboriginal population. The issue relating ...
1 Nachman Ben-Yehuda The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A Sociologist’s Perspective. The University of Chicago, 1980. 15. 2 Levack! 123.3 Levack 164.
Thank you for taking time to read my letter. As a nursing student of University of Technology Sydney, I studied contemporary indigenous subject this semester. In this letter I want to illustrate 3 main social determinants of health that impact indigenous Australian health which I found and analysed during my recently study. And also offer some suggestion that could help the government improve aboriginal Australian mental health conditions in the future.
The XII. Pp. 39-58. pp. 58-59. Murray, Margaret A. & Co. ‘The God of the Witches’ Blackmask Online, 2001.
Religious influence, the manipulation of fear, and the frightening aspects of witchcraft all are very influential to the popular belief of witchcraft during this time period. The popularity of witchcraft in this time period is important because it has shown how in the past when there is no logical explanation they would automatically blame Satan and say it was Satan’s doing. It also shows that history repeats itself because during the Cold War many individuals were accused of being communist even though there was no hard evidence proving this accusation; however, out of fear people will still be convicted, just like during the witch trials. Moreover, witch trials were not only influenced by many things but they have been influential; therefore, showing that they influenced things in our time
Upon Googling “witch” almost all the images are of women riding on broomsticks. This is today’s pop culture view of witches, however it has it’s roots in Early Modern stereotypes of witchcraft. It was probably easy to find the old, ugly hag down the street and accuse her of being a witch, but there is more to the story. In the case of Françette Camont, the stereotype of witches helped to put suspicion on her, however she wasn’t convicted because of the stereotypes that applied to her, but rather it was personal feelings toward her and a needed catalyst for the trial to start that led to her execution and the execution of many other witches.
Sidky, H. Witchcraft, lycanthropy, drugs, and disease: an anthropological study of the European witch-hunts. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc., 1997.
...ches and witchcraft have been passed down through generations to generations. From way back to the 1200’s to today in the present times, that is how long witches have been around. As of the history of witches and witchcraft, stories were used to keep the history alive inside the stories written in ancient mythology to Walt Disney’s movies. Check your family history. What and who were they. Were they witch hunters or were they a witch? There’s more to the story of Halloween or All Hallows Eve than meets the eye. What story or legend will come next?
HIST303 Witch Hunting 1400-1700 Essay 1: Describe the nature of "witchcraft"and explain why it was threatening to Christianity. Prepared by: Sikiki Angela Lloyd Due: 4 April 2014 Student Number: 203139861 Image: The Witches' Sabbath.
Lehmann A. C. & Myers J. E. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion – An anthropological Study of the Supernatural (Fourth Edition) (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997)