- This article should be merged
with Witchcraft
The word witch can, nowadays, refer to a person (usually a woman, but the same term is used for men)
who practices witchcraft or magic, also called magick, or to a Wiccan, a person
who practices the religion Wicca.
The shamans of the Germanic peoples were female, and were called Wicces in Anglo-Saxon England and Völvas in Scandinavia. Naturally, the
tradition of female shamans did not disappear immediately with the arrival of Christianity. The traditions were maintained, but the church condemned the women who practiced the ancient shamanism (and
consequently elements of the old religion) as witches, and demonized them. Ultimately the Church tried to exterminate any women who could be suspected of maintaining the tradition (see witch hunt).
The Church's successful transformation of these socially important women into the
modern concept "witch" can seen in the following law:
- "We teach that every priest shall extinguish heathendom, and forbid wilweorthunga (fountain worship), and licwiglunga
(incantations of the dead), and hwata (omens), and galdra (magic), and man worship, and the abominations that men exercise in
various sorts of witchcraft, and in frithspottum (peace-enclosures) with elms and other trees, and with stones, and with many
phantoms." (source: 16th Canon Law enacted under King Edgar in the
10th century)
In colloquial use, the word witch is now applied almost exclusively to women, though in earlier English it applied to men as well. Most people would now call male witches
sorcerers, wizards, or warlocks. Wiccans continue to use the term witch for all who practice witchcraft. Warlock is considered an insult among Wiccans and Neopagans.
The etymological roots could be several: among the canditates are German
weihen ("consecrate") as well as the English word "victim" in its original meaning for someone killed in a religious
ritual. Thus, a "witch" would signify nothing else but an ancient type of priestess.
The Old English words wicca (m.) and its feminine counterpart wicce both mean wizard and gave rise to the adjective "wicked". Wizard, again is thought to be related to the modern term "wise". A
cautious interpretation gives us a witch being a woman of (presumably occult) knowledge.
The belief in witches has always existed in nearly every region of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
In Western culture, the concept of a witch has existed since at least the days of the ancient Greeks, as witches figure
prominently in many Greek tragedies.
(A good list of references to witches in ancient history would be good here.) http://www.witches.net/legendaryandfolkwitches1.htm
http://roswell.fortunecity.com/necronomicon/310/WitchCraft/witch6.html http://www.the-cauldron.fsnet.co.uk/greece_and_rome.html
American and European Witches
Before the advent of Christianity, wicces served as spiritual advisors and healers (see Völva or shaman). This changed with the arrival of Christianity and the priests who regarded them as competitors. From the Middle ages
and onwards to about the mid-19th century, witches were universally associated with evil, under the belief that the witch's
magical powers were granted by Satan in exchange for the witch's soul. A few folk tales, however, refer to kindly witches. Many outrageous claims were made about the powers of
witches, which include the ability to fly, to transform oneself or others into animals or other shapes, and to curse one's
enemies. On the other hand, all these powers typically belong to those of the shaman,
so these powers were associated with witches long before the arrival of Christianity.
It was extremely dangerous to be accused of being a "witch", since a common punishment was to be burnt at the stake. Both in North America and in Europe, thousands of people (mostly women),
were put to death as witches at various points in history. Some of the worst witchhunts were in Germany, though there are documented cases of torture and murder in
the name of stopping witchcraft in nearly every European country.
Most people who were killed as witches were probably hapless midwives,
herbalists, widows, spinsters, social outcasts, or victims of revenge seekers.
For example, some researchers wholly attribute the Salem witch
trials in 1692 to rivalries between opposing political forces in Salem, Massachusetts. See the extensive discussion under witchhunts.
Witches in Modern Culture
In modern days, few people believe in witches that curse enemies, change shapes, or can fly. However, since the last last half
of the 1800s Neopagans (mostly
Wiccans a subset of Neopagans), have called themselves witches and while most of western
culture continues to assign negative connotations to the word, to a Wiccan, it is not a derogatory term, nor does it have
anything to do with Satanism. In fact, many Wiccans wish to reclaim the term "witch" and make it positive. The term "white witch"
is sometimes used to refer to an exclusively positive meaning of the word, although others reject this term feeling that it is
racially insensitive.
In 1968, a group of radical politically active women formed a protest organization in the City of New York called W.I.T.C.H., standing for "Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy From Hell".
Today, witches are iconically associated with Halloween, though Wiccans
actually celebrate Samhain. Both dates are the same, and are at least metaphorically
similar in meaning. This is not coincidence. Christianity had a basic contempt for the supernatural overtones of the festival.
The association between "witches" and Halloween most certainly came from vilification of practitioners of the Celtic celebration of the last harvest.
Witches also appear as villains in many 19th- and 20th-century fairy tales,
folk tales and children's stories, such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Hansel and Gretel", "Sleeping Beauty", and many other stories recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Such folktales typically portray witches as either remarkably ugly hags or remarkably
beautiful young women. In the classic story The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum the villain is a bad
witch but two good witches play important roles as well.
Witches have come into the mainstream in the last decade as well as common pop-culture figures. Teenage and young adult witches have been the focus or appeared in the movies
"The Craft," "Practical Magic," and "Blair Witch Project 2" (the sequel to The Blair Witch Project), as well as the television programs "Buffy the Vampire
Slayer," "Charmed," "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," and some episodes of "The X-Files." Such neo-Gothic portrayals bear little
relationship to Wicca, or even a Christian view of witches. In almost all
cases witches portrayed in movies and TV shows today are attractive women who have supernatural powers. In the Harry Potter universe, a witch is a female wizard.
See also
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