Witchcraft - Satan Woship, or Just another Religion?
In today's society, new religions are popping up all over the place. One of the oldest, yet fastest growing faiths today is witchcraft. This earth-based, nature oriented belief has been established since the thirteenth century, but it is not until recently that it has began to spread across the world. Everywhere we look we see something associated with the practice of wicca. The movie, Blair Witch Project, is one example of the growing belief in spells, charms, and covens. However, there are many people who disapprove of this practice and are labeling it as a 'false religion.'; Christians, for example, greatly disagree with the belief of witchcraft and find it in association with the devil. Today, there is considerable debate as to whether witchcraft in today's society is simply a harmless religion, or if it is an evil practice in league with Satan.
Before anyone can speak their opinion on the practice of witchcraft, one must know a little bit about the religion itself. There are many different definitions of witchcraft. In Webster's Dictionary, it defines witchcraft as. The Christian definition of witchcraft is simply 'devil-worship'; or just plain sin. However, the secular definition is somewhere along the lines of 'cool,'; 'trendy,'; and 'new.'; Although these are the main meanings of the term 'witch craft,'; there are also some other definitions within different cultures, such as Indian medicine men, also known as witch doctors, who are believed to have magical powers that can heal the sick. Different time periods and religions also alter the meaning of witch or witchcraft.
The history of witchcraft dates back all the way to the thirteenth century. During the 13th and 14th centuries, witchcraft was considered to only be harmless magic. However, in the 16th century, witches were condemned and tortured. Later, during the 17th century, witch hunts and trials died off, along with the 'witch craze.';
Witchcraft was practiced in many different regions around the world. Most experts believe it's origination was somewhere in India or Africa, where magic was used as medicine. Later, the practice was brought over to New England with the pilgrims where it slowly began to grow within the puritan communities.
There was a diverse group of people who practiced witchcraft. Most of them were...
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...he is simply a Christian concept and he doesn't even exist.
Some people believe that witches can't even associate with Christians. This is one of the hardest questions to answer. Some of them say yes and others say no. While most say no, all witches believe that if you are in a religion, you are in that ONE religion alone. Witches disagree with belonging to several faiths, but they never remove themselves completely from another faith. Many things witches do are associated with Christianity, such as, weddings, Christmas services, and even talking to Christian relatives. While they do keep their distance from other religions, witches never cut off all communication with Christians and other religions.
So is witch craft evil? Is it a false religion? There will never be a real answer to these questions. It seems that no one can agree on the same answer. Even the witches themselves have disputes within their own belief. Even though the Bible does give factual information as to what's right and what's wrong, it is up to each individual person to decide for themselves what they are going to believe in. So what is the real definition of witchcraft? Decide for yourself.
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...
Witchcraft had always fascinated many people and been a very controversial topic in North America during (seventeenth) 17th century. Many People believe that witchcraft implies the ability to injure or using supernatural power to harm others. People believed that a witch represents dark side of female present and were more likely to embrace witchcraft than men. There are still real witches among us in the Utah whom 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 variety of other emotions in people…………………….
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.
Whenever we think of witches, we think of shriveled up ladies who wear pointy hats with a big black drape over her. But in England, in the Renaissance era, that is not always how they were distinguished out among the crowd. Many citizens were put on trial and even killed if they were accused of being witches. Many times, these people were falsely accused and therefore murdered wrongfully. Witchcraft was a problem starting around the mid-1400’s and influenced many writers such as Shakespeare, and although it is not a big problem in today’s society, looking back at how this affected the renaissance era in England is something that had a huge impact on their society.
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
Imagine you are walking through the woods, it’s chilly and from a distance you hear a chanting floating across the wind. The sound has an eerie lulling sound, urging you to follow the new melody. Your curiosity gets the best of you so you follow the noise. You enter a clearing and witness a group of individuals around a fire, chanting and dancing. What is your first impression? Have you stumbled upon a satanic cult? Or maybe are you witnessing a vibrant, misunderstood religion. Wicca, is a religion very commonly misunderstood to be affiliated with the devil and rituals containing black magic. To the uneducated mind, this is what we think when we hear the word Wicca, or more commonly known as Witch.
Over time the world and society have both changed tremendously and one thing that has changed with that is the idea of Witchcraft. Witchcraft has never been prosperous but has been around ever since society has had any written records of time. Different societies and areas all experienced Witchcraft and were driven by the same motives like naivety and fear. Society has a very different view on witchcraft from 35,000 BC compared to present present day because things change over time. Witchcraft has never really been socially acceptable in most countries but the view and ideas about Witchcraft has definitely changed over time. Witches, depending on the country and time period, were characterized with specific traits and appearance
The Wiccan religion is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States as well one of the most misunderstood due to the controversies surrounding its history and mystery shrouding its beliefs and doctrines. Due to a series of popular TV series that have shown Witchcraft in a positive light, such as Sabrina, the Teen-aged Witch and Charmed, the popularity of Wicca has grown, especially amongst teenagers; but sadly this popularity has not been partnered with a growth in understanding and respect (Kaminer). Although Wicca offers a nature-oriented, egalitarian belief system with a rich collection of customs and rituals, ignorance and historically-rooted misconceptions still dominate public opinion.
In 1692, the occurrence of “witchcraft” began after the Massachusetts Bay Charter revolution and the outbreak of small pox. The rebellion caused hysteria and a sad injustice. Friends were pinned against friends; upstanding citizens were forced to flee for their lives and men and women were put to death (Jurist Legal News and Research Services 2008).The fear of the devil influenced the cruelty that took place. Most of the settlers that established their homes in the colony were puritans, a member of a group of English Protestants who revolted against the Church of England. The belief that God punished sinful behavior with misfortune did not help circumstances. The puritans targeted outcasts, people who never really fit it in; they wanted to rid the towns of these suspected sinners.
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
In Jw.org it states that thousands of people in European colonies died and millions of others suffered from torture, arrest, interrogation, hate, guilt, or fear. Also there was well over seventy percent of the people accused of witchcraft was women especially the poor, and or elderly. Therefore no one was safe not even the men, rich or poor. In the case of being accused of being a witch it state that if you are going to be blessed which means to be thrown into deep water that if you were to float then you were to be hanged on the spot but if you sunk then you were deemed as innocent so you do not get hung you get pulled out. Also another way to be deemed as a witch is to look for the devils mark which consist of a complete inspection of the body. Therefore modern day witchcraft did exist all over the world and thousands of people were accused of witchcraft and thousands also lost their lives due to scapegoating.
...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?
Witchcraft persecution peaked in intensity between 1560 and 1630 however the large scale witch hysteria began in the 14th century, at the end of the Middle Ages and were most intense during the Renaissance and continued until the 18th century, an era often referred to as the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. Representation of witches, nay, representation in general is a political issue. Without the power ot define the female voice and participate in decisions that affect women -similar to other marginalised groups in society- will be subject to the definitions and decisions of those in power. In this context, the power base lay with men. It can be said that the oppression of women may not have been deliberate, it is merely a common sense approach to the natural order of things: women have babies, women are weak, women are dispensable. However the natural order of things, the social constructs reflect the enduring success of patriarchal ideology. As such, ideology is a powerful source of inequality as well as a rationalisation of it. This essay will examine the nature of witchcraft and why it was threatening to Christianity.
Witchcraft is the use of these forces for negative ends, to extort evil, and magic asks for positive ends. Witchcraft has been found to exist in all corners of the globe at some point. It is no coincidence that during the Enlightenment, witch hunts in Europe and North America became common. The aim was to rid society of these people regarded as unreasonable and dangerous. 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 certai...
In most African societies, a witch is seen as the enemy of life and society. Laurenti Magesa affirmed “African Religion has a pragmatic approach to life: Everything that promotes the well-being of the community is good, and everything that destroys the community is evil.”