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Witchcraft through the centuries
Witchcraft history essay
Witchcraft through the centuries
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All throughout American history there have been numerous dark spots that have plagued us and our land. We’ve faced bombings, wars, terrorism and persecution of innocents. Most people can confirm that one of the original dark spots would have to be the witch trials of our past. Now we see these people who were slaughtered as innocents who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But what is witchcraft. Is like Harry Potter with short incantations, potions and flying broomsticks, or is it demon worship with sacrifices and a goat's blood. For many people they believe it is make believe and just part of another story, with no structure or rules upon themselves. But sadly life itself isn’t a story and in real life witchcraft follows rules. …show more content…
They aren’t just string of words that with a wand create an instant outcome. In fact wiccan spells rarely if ever just require a wnd or have instant outcomes. Real magick comes in five different styles. They are nature, intrinsic, ceremonial, hermetic and kitchen magick. Nature magick focuses on working with the natural elements, besides fire, and uses the simplest of tools. Intrinsic magick focuses on development of your selves and uses the body and emotion as tools with this kind of magick. Ceremonial magick is the type of magick that focuses heavily on tool use and with hopes of spiritual gain. Hermetic is the easiest but also the most convoluted because practicing it is practicing a combination between philosophy and common magick. Finally there is kitchen witch magick, which is the most simple of them because it uses everyday items as tools to make life easier in daily life. These are the five most common ways to practice magick and most rarely practice outside the style that they follow, and there is no bad consequences for practicing out of the style they are working with. Also to witches themselves magick is a type of skill and as with most skills some people have more talent over others at first. Like with weatherworking or the ability to influence the weather in certain ways. Some versions of magick include tarot readings, divination, and of course spells. There are numerous spells that can affect; emotions, employment, luck, love, prosperity, safety, healing and more. Most of these spells are complex, involve a lot of ingredients and take time to begin taking effect. Amber K research has further added that when you read someone else’s spell, even the ones above, always ask yourselves three questions: “Is it ethical?” “Do I understand how it is meant to work, why it is organized as it is, and why it includes the things it does?” “How could I adapt it to work better for me?”.(Citation 1,
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...
Witchcraft was anything considered as “the act of invoking spiritual powers to accomplish a supernatural task", such as telling the future (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide). However what defined a witch soon became ambiguous; people would accuse someone of witchcraft if said person was talking to themselves or had the witch’s mark, which was often just a mole (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide). Witches were severely feared because they were thought to be serviceable to the devil. Puritans believed the devil had supernatural powers similar to those of God’s and he would use his powers for selfish sadistic intentions. Puritans believed Satan was active and walking among the earth, and he would attempt to recruit witches to serve him. Puritans were petrified of this possibility because Satan can only be constantly looking to wreak havoc (The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide). Soon people commenced witch hunts and accused witches and wizards were incarcerated and put on
“A nice warm shower, a cup of tea, and a caring ear may be all you need to warm your heart”. Charles Glassman’s quote was exemplified beautifully in the poem “Common Magic” by Bronwen Wallace. The piece took readers through a series of everyday events, explaining how each seemingly meaningless moment contained it’s own kind of magic. Through the use of oxymoron, imagery and characters, Wallace developed the theme that simple pleasures are fleeting and a fulfilled life involves t`21aking time to appreciate everything.
...ion. The Salem tragedy, which occurred in 1692, makes us feel sympathetic towards the innocent people that died. It almost brings tears to our eyes because these people gave in to death in order to maintain humanity on this Earth. Although the deaths of these people were very tragic, it clearly demonstrates that good deed will always over power evil. The people, who reinforced this statement, were people like John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse. These people uprooted the seeds for evil from the ground, to lay the seeds for goodness. Throughout history citizens have branded people as witches, and warlocks. Maybe, a person act's different than us, or they have strange habits, does this make them a witch? In the Massachusetts Bay Colony in January of 1692, you would be branded a witch for these odd doing's. Being accused of witchcraft had serious consequences (spark notes).
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...
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.
During the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, more than twenty people died an innocent death. All of those innocent people were accused of one thing, witchcraft. During 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts many terrible events happened. A group of Puritans lived in Salem during this time. They had come from England, where they were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs. They chose to come live in America and choose their own way to live. They were very strict people, who did not like to act different from others. They were also very simple people who devoted most of their lives to God. Men hunted for food and were ministers. Women worked at home doing chores like sewing, cooking, cleaning, and making clothes. The Puritans were also very superstitious. They believed that the devil would cause people to do bad things on earth by using the people who worshiped him. Witches sent out their specters and harmed others. Puritans believed by putting heavy chains on a witch, that it would hold down their specter. Puritans also believed that by hanging a witch, all the people the witch cast a spell on would be healed. Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe. As one can see, the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria.
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
“Jumping to conclusions is like playing with wet gun powder: both likely to go off in wrong direction.”-Charlie Chang. The puritans were a group of English Protestants who adhere to strict religious principles and oppose sensual enjoyment. The puritans had a strong belief that the Devil could be walking among them at anytime. Due to this belief, the puritans believed that people could sign there souls away to the devil. By signing their souls away to the devil, a person could become a witch or wizard. In Arthur Millers’ novel The Crucible, the puritans go on a hunt to rid their town of witches. The puritans also had a big emphasis on how one would act in society. For example, if one didn’t go to church often, the people would be very suspicious about that one. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Minister’s Black Veil”, the puritans become suspicious of others because of a strange event. The strange events lead the puritans to mistrust and reject each other. In both of Hawthorne’s short stories “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Minister Black Veil” and in Miller’s The Crucible, a strange event makes the puritans jump to conclusions of witchcraft.
As we may already know, the town of Salem was subject to an epidemic of the accusations of witchcraft that lasted over ten months. Witchcraft of this time period was not taken lightly. In England alone over 40,000-60,000 people were killed after being found guilty of witchcraft. Needless to say the people found witchcraft as a virus that infected the town. The first cases started off with the daughters of Samuel Parris, the town minister, accusing his slave, Tituba, of being a witch. She claimed that she and others in the town were witches and there was even a wizard. The town broke out in hysteria in further months. Over 100 people were put in jail because of accusations. The council that were to find these people’s innocence or guilt were corrupted as well because to claim innocence meant you were guilty and if you were to claim guilt you could be redeemed. Many of the items found incriminating were pins and voodoo dolls. Many of these people faced the psychological terror of being pressured into claiming guilt to a crime, you didn’t commit in front of a committee and scared the community to death that they were going to be subjected to. Many of the witnesses to these trials were said to have undergone physical distress or act inhumanly. Many historians say to these records that since their body was put under so much strain and fear of the witchcraft that surrounded them all the time, their bodies going through strange changes such as paralysis or temporary blindness with no real cause rather than stress. But many historians also believe the witnesses were voluntarily acting and committing fraud against the others. But why was this such an enigma to understand why this small town in New England was all of a sudden becoming a cen...
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.
WITCHCRAFT: The word witchcraft comes from the word “Wicca.” Wicca means the wise one. Witchcraft is to be believed as a pagan worship and or religion, a stereotype as a “magical phenomenon. In 1000 A.D., the practice of witchcraft became a threat to the Christians and their beliefs. They believe that wit...
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 ... ...
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.
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.