Belief in witchcraft exists around the world and varies from culture to culture. Historically, people have associated witchcraft with evil and usually have regarded a witch as someone who uses magic to harm others, by causing accidents, illness, bad luck, and even death. Some societies believe that witches also use magic for good, performing such actions as casting spells for love, health, and wealth. People around the world continue to practice witchcraft for good or harm.
Unlike those who practice witchcraft for harm, the followers of Wicca believe in practicing magic only for beneficial purposes. They worship a deity with male and female aspects, but some traditions emphasize the female, or Goddess, side of the deity.
The term witch comes
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They may fly under their own power, ride tools such as brooms or rakes, or ride magical animals. This is not true, while there are spells and rituals involving brooms, we do not fly on them.
Some witches have great knowledge of how to make herbal potions and charms. A potion is a drink that causes a desired effect in person’s health or behavior. A charm is a magical incantation (word or phrase), or amulet that helps to bring about the desired effect. The practice of Wicca—Witchcraft as a religion flourishes primarily in English-speaking loosely organized in groups called covens. Some covens are made up of only women or only men. And other covens are mixed. Many Witches do not join a cove but practice alone as solitaries.
The practice of Wicca is controversial, primarily because many Christians find the idea of a religion based on witchcraft objectionable. Some Christians associate the form of witchcraft with the worship of Satan. This, however, would be difficult, as Wicca does not acknowledge the existence of a “Satan”. Satan and the Devil are Judeo-Christian inventions. Others fear that Wicca might be tied to modern cults. This is not true. Wicca is a religion, legally recognized as such. The U.S. Army, with the publication of the Army pamphlet 165-13, A handbook for Chaplin’s recognizes Witchcraft as a
Witchcraft, the use of magical faculties, most commonly for religious, divinatory or medicinal purposes, something that is supernatural. One would think something of the supernatural order would be null and void to the concepts of social norms and labeling. Well one would be wrong. From the start of this ordeal in Salem social order was one of the first things to be thrown down on the people of Salem. The first three women accused of practicing Witchcraft and being witches were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. These 3 women who lived in Salem during the Witch Craze of 1692 were seen as “rejects” and the “outcast” of the community. Sarah Good was no more than a homeless person, always begging for food and place to sleep. Sarah Osborne wasn’t a poor women like the lesser Sarah but she was a mean old lady who was confined to her bed most of the time due to her old age. Now Titbua, she wasn’t a fre...
Yardley, Meg. "Social Work Practice With Pagans, Witches, And Wiccans: Guidelines For Practice With Children And Youths." Social Work 53.4 (2008): 329-336. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
Witchcraft has always fascinated many people and been a very controversial topic in North America during the seventeenth and 17th centuries. Many people believe that witchcraft implies the ability to injure or use supernatural power to harm others. People believed that a witch represented the dark side of female presence and were more likely to embrace witchcraft than men. There are still real witches among us in the Utah who believe that witchcraft is the oldest religion dealing with the occult. However, the popular conception of a witch has not changed at least since the seventeenth century; they still caused panic, fear and a variety of other emotions in people.
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
Does Wicca mean evil? Is Wicca a witch? These are just a few descriptions and questions of what people believe Wicca represents. When I hear the word “Wicca”, I right away think of a witch. There is witches and witchcraft in Wicca but it is not about Hocus Pocus and spells. Wicca is a religion and not just a religion with one God but the belief of many Gods. Wicca is an earth based religion. I believe Wicca’s beliefs is similar to that of the Hinduism religion. There are three topics in Wicca that stood out to me the most. The first topic that stood out to me was the Wicca’s belief in how creation came to be, the second topic is the many Gods and deities that the Wiccan religion believes in, and the last topic that was the most interesting
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 Encounters podcast I listened to was “Episode Eighteen: The One about the Bell Witch”. The interviewers are Ellie Hasken and Jesse Fivecoate. The person being interviewed is Brandon Barker, a member of the IU folklore faculty. The supernatural creature mentioned in the podcast is the Bell Witch from Adams, Tennessee. Brandon Barker is from the nearby area in Tennessee and grew up hearing about the Bell Witch.
Wiccans contradict cultural norms, the term “norm” can also be equaled to the “medium,” while all of those values that stand beyond that medium are considered as deviant. On the medium, we have traditional Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and other approved religions that are supported by millions of individuals. If we look at the demography of Wicca, then it would be clear that the whole quantity of this neo-pagan practice barely equals to 150,000 followers around the world. As a result, it is a demonstration of divergence from the “medium” or deviation from the norm. The same behavioral deviant patterns such as practicing witchcraft or worshipping of non-recognized gods underline the abnormality of Wiccan religion, simply because the actions of Wiccans contradict the laws and morality of the dominative and widely-accepted religions. Christianity, and all its subdivisions and branches, prohibits people from admiring nature but encourages worshiping the Holy Trinity and honoring God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The behavioral values of Christianity are based on obeyance and Christian morality, what technically and practically constitutes the order in the social life of their followers. In contrast to Christianity, Wicca ignores certain morality order and systems, which brings chaos in their ideological belonging and commitment. This can be explained
This is a paper written about my impression of “The Truth About Witchcraft Today” by Scott Cunningham. To explain my commentaries I have to state a something about myself that you don’t really care to know. I have been introduced to Wicca before, know many wiccans and sometimes considerer myself a wiccan. But after reading this the most I could call myself would be “Non-practicing Wiccan” I hold wiccan beliefs to my heart but have never tried to perform an act of magic, nor do I hold the sabbats and esbats special. I didn’t even know what esbats were until reading this book, and I thought there was only 4 sabbats, the ones in line with the equinox and the solstices. Having taken that out perhaps some of my biases and opinions are not that blatant or unreasonable.
The Islamic faith also believes in witchcraft but believe in two separate kinds. The belief that an individual practices witchcraft for the good of society to rid of evil and reverse any evil doings is one.
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 newest generation in western society is being partially raised by films, literature, and music. Pop culture is taking a bigger and bigger role in the upbringing of today’s children. Images like Harry Potter flying on his broomstick during a game of quidditch, or the old lady from Brave creating potions. To the majority of Western Society, these situations are used for entertainment purposes, but many tribes and villages still believe in the power of witchcraft and see it as an enormous threat. Weather witchcraft is still prevalent for religious reasons, old school beliefs, or economic motives, the fact still remains that it is used to show order and give power to those who are willing to give up a life to take it. With modern advancements becoming more widespread, many are trying to hold on to the traditional values of their tribes, and in result, pushing the idea of witchcraft onto the new generation in a very aggressive way. The Badyaranke tribe of Senegal believes witchcraft is responsible for many hardships including, health issues, economic troubles, and loss of religion (Simmons, 1980:447). While the population of seventeenth century Malta looked to magic when medical knowledge because inadequate, yet when a negative situation arose, killing those who were thought to use witchcraft was the logical choice (Cassar, 1993:329). Both nations used witchcraft to hold on to old school religious ideas, a way to propel themselves in their economic status, and as a scapegoat. These nations showed how witchcraft was used as a source of power and a way to maintain order.
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.
By contrast, self-proclaimed witches still have a function in some societies today, mainly in the developing world. Magic, however, is often a word used to describe certain people’s modes of divination, mainly those in the developing world.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Belief in witchcraft is the traditional way of explaining the ultimate cause of evil, misfortune or death.” The African worldview is holistic. In this perception, things do not just happen. What happens, either good or bad, is traced back to human action, including “ancestors who can intervene by blessing or cursing the living.” Witches, on the other hand, harm because they want to destroy life.