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 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...
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3. “Witchcraft in North America” www. wikipedia.org
4. Boyer, Paul and Nissenbaum, Stephen.”Salem Possessed” the United States of America 1974.
5. Knopf, Alfred. “In the Devil’s Snare” New York 2003 Pg 18
6. Dee, Ivan. “A Fever in Salem” New England 1999. Pg 68
7. Woodward, Walter “New England’s other Witch-hunt: The Hartford Witch-hunt of the 1660s and Changing Patterns in Witchcraft Prosecution” OAH Magazine of History, 2003
8. Cavendish, Richard. “A History of Magic” New York, 1977 pg 69-79
9. Liz, Kelly. “Moving in the Shadows: Violence in the Lives of Minority Women and Children”
10. Stonehocker, Kolbie“Witches, Wiccans and Pagans” Rita Morgan: Daily Life, Not Religion 2012 www.cityweekly.net
11. Annemaire de Waal Malefijt, “Religion and Culture An Introduction to Anthropology of Religion” The United States of America 1989
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...
Starkey, Marion L. The Devil In Massachusetts: A Modern Inquiry Into The Salem Witch Trials. London: Robert Hale Limited.
The term witchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that “witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society and with women themselves”. Witchcraft also confronts us too with violence against women. Even through some men were executed as witches during the witch hunts, the numbers were far less then women. Witches were generally thought to be women and most of those who were accused and executed for being witches were women. Why were women there so many women accused of witchcraft compared to men? Were woman accused of witchcraft because men thought it was a way to control these women? It all happened in 1692, in an era where women were expected to behave a certain way, and women were punished if they threatened what was considered the right way of life. The emphasis of this paper is the explanation of Salem proceedings in view of the role and the position of women in Colonial America.
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.
Suddenly people seemed very paranoid and soon residents were placing blame on one another and accusing each other of witchcraft. In a fifteen month period between 1691 and 1692 nearly twelve dozen people were accused of witchcraft in or near Salem (Norton, p8).
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
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...
Today when one hears the word “witch” automatically a woman comes to mind. The modern day stereotype of a witch is viewed by many scholars as the ultimate representation of society’s misogynistic fear of female deviance and evil. (Tadeau) A common question about witchery is how did the word “witch” come to be directed to women? Tadeau states that “ The sacred Feminine and women’s priesthood falls into obscurity with the subsequent establishment of the Hebrew, Greco-Roman and Celtic-German societies.” Finally around the late 1680’s the witch hunts ended and the age of Enlightenment caused people to realize that there was no proof of witchcraft and the torturing of these innocent women was absurd and cruel. In modern day we think of witchcraft mostly as a joke, it is like Santa claus, of course it isn't real, it is just a story we were all told as children. However there are still people who believe that witchcraft is real and they forbid their children to read or be educated about anything related to the
Lastly I would like to reiterate the fact that witches, have been negatively depicted as evil devil worshipers throughout history and in popular dramas. This has led society to misunderstand what the practice of witchcraft is all about. So in conclusion fear, skepticism, negative depictions, and harsh legislation towards the practice of witchcraft have heavily contributed to societies misunderstanding of the practice of witchcraft, and until a more accurate portrayal of witches, witchcraft, and polypharmakas is written
Witchcraft is the practice of what the people in Salem said “Satan”. If you did anything involving or even talked about Satan or witchcraft for too long you would be frowned upon. It was not something you should just try out. People's negative feeling toward witchcraft caused multiple people a sentence of death.
The thought of witchcraft had began in 560 B.C., through the bible. The bible had said in “Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” and “ Leviticus 20:27 A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them” which had caused people to question if witches existed. The next important date that brings the stereotypical thought of witches, is 420 C.E. when St. Augustine added to people fearing witches by saying demons and witches could not function under God. Later, in 1273 a monk named Thomas Aquinas led people to tempt the belief that there was evil. In a more favorable aspect classical Greece and Rome authorities supposedly had said witchcraft had been used to help with troubling weather, but they included it could be used for evil.
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.
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.”