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European Christians in the medieval era, some conservative Christians today, Neopagans and many African religions (past and present) believe that witchcraft is a form of
genuine magic which can produce effects that are beyond the
natural powers of man. However, the ways they characterize it differ widely.
This article will examine witchcraft in its historical and anthroplogical contexts. For witchcraft in the modern Western world
as practised by neopagans see the article The Craft and
Wicca.
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.
European witchcraft
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)
The Shamans of the Germanic peoples, the so-called Wicces (Witches) or
Völvas praticed the seid. They served as
healers, diviners and spiritual advisors before the arrival of Christianity. As competitors to the Roman Catholic Church they were demonized and persecuted in
witch hunts. Thus, little is really known about the survival of the practice of
'witchcraft' in Europe before modern times. In written records, people deemed 'witches' (not necessarily practictioners) were
primarily women who practiced forms of herbal medicine, but became unpopular in their community for one reason or another and
were singled out for the attentions of the Inquisition and persecuted.
Charges of heresy or witchcraft were sometimes brought against people for political
reasons. The accusation of 'practicing witchcraft' was usually allied with others, especially 'having sexual intercourse with the
devil'.
While it is common to classify witches into one of three categories (white
witch, black witch and hedgewitch), this is not a very accurate grouping as the concepts of good and evil are
foreign to witches. A witch is neither good, nor evil, neither black nor white because all acts in themselves are relative and
cannot therefore be classified one way or the other.
C.f.
Witches have often been imagined to have the power to fly on broomsticks or distaffs. This mural of a naked pagan
sexuality/fertility goddess on a distaff suggests that the connection may have originally been a sexual one (sticks and staffs
have long been common masturbation devices, orgasm is achieved by rubbing them between the legs against the clitoris). From Jones, Prudence and Pennick, Nigel: A history of pagan Europe.
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.
Middle-eastern witchcraft
Ancient middle-eastern and near-eastern beliefs
The belief in witchcraft and its practice seem to have been widespread in the past. Both in ancient Egypt and in Babylonia it played a conspicuous part, as
existing records plainly show. It will be sufficient to quote a short section from the Code of Hammurabi (about 2000 B.C.). It is there prescribed,
- If a man has laid a charge of witchcraft and has not justified it, he upon whom the witchcraft is laid shall go to the holy
river; he shall plunge into the holy river and if the holy river overcome him, he who accused him shall take to himself his
house.
Witchcraft in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament)
In the Bible references to witchcraft are frequent, and the strong condemnations of such practices which we read there do not
seem to be based so much upon the supposition of fraud as upon the "abomination" of the magic in itself. (See Deuteronomy 18:11-12; Exodus 22:18, "wizards thou shalt not suffer to live" - A.V. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch
to live".) The whole narrative of Saul's visit to the witch of En Dor (I Kings 28) implies
the reality of the witch's evocation of the shade of Samuel; and from Leviticus 20:27: "A man or woman in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die: they shall stone them: Their blood be upon them", we should
naturally infer that the divining spirit was not a mere imposture.
The prohibitions of sorcery in the New Testament leave the same impression (Galatians 5:20,
compared with Revelations 21:8; 22:15; and Acts 8:9; 13:6). Supposing that the belief in witchcraft were an idle superstition, it would be strange that the suggestion should nowhere be made that the evil of these practices only lay in the pretending to the possession of powers which did not really
exist.
Jewish views of witchcraft
Almost all modern day Jews view the practice of witchcraft as idolatry, a serious theological offense in Judaism. Jews believe
that the practices associated with witchcraft and magic are in vain, as such magic and supernatural forces don't actually exist.
The only supernatural belief Jews still maintain is the belief in God. It should be noted that a small number of Orthodox Jews who study Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric mysticism) do believe in magic; their practices use terminology that varies greatly from
witchcraft, but the basic ideas (using supernatural forces to effect results in the physical world) are identical. Most Jews find
such ideas ludicrous; since The Enlightenment most Jewish people
have abandoned a belief in the Kabbalah.
Some Neopagans study and practice forms of magery based in sincrecy between classical Jewish mysticism and the modern
witchcraft uses. A reference on this subject is Ellen Cannon
Reed's book "The Witches Qabala: The Pagan Path and the Tree of Life".
See also: Christian views
on witchcraft
African witchcraft
Africans have a wider range of views, some believing the same things that Christians do, while others believing that
witchcraft may be value-neutral, or perhaps even used for good. The African practice led to the term witch doctor. The African practice led to several related religious in the Americas. See Voudun, Obeah, Candomble, Santería.
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Witchcraft and the paranormal
It is not easy to draw a clear distinction between magic
and witchcraft. Both are concerned with the producing of effects beyond the natural powers of man by agencies other than the
Divine (occultism). But in witchcraft, as commonly understood, there is involved
the idea of a diabolical pact or at least an appeal to the
intervention of the spirits of evil. In such cases this supernatural aid is
usually invoked either to compass the death of some obnoxious person, or to awaken the passion of love in those who are the
objects of desire, or to call up the dead, or to bring calamity or impotence upon enemies, rivals, and fancied oppressors. This
is not an exhaustive enumeration, but these represent some of the principal purposes that witchcraft has been made to serve at
nearly all periods of the world's history.
In the traditional European belief, not only of the dark ages, but of
post-Reformation times, the witches
or wizards addicted to such practices entered into a compact with Satan, adjured Jesus Christ and the sacraments, observed "the witches' sabbath" - performing infernal rites which often took
the shape of a parody of the Mass or the offices of the Church - paid Divine honour to the Prince of Darkness, and in return received from him preternatural powers, such as those of riding through the air on a broomstick, assuming different shapes at will, and tormenting their chosen victims, while an imp or "familiar
spirit" was placed at their disposal, able and willing to perform any service that might be needed to further their nefarious
purposes.
Another belief is that those who practice witchcraft are being vague and deceptive. This view holds that while those who
practice witchcraft may have the intention of helping people, in the end they are working against the will of God. Both "good"
and "bad" witchcraft are condemned. In addition, one who practices witchcraft need not necessarily contact any supernatural
beings. They may simply be using moods, lighting, and manipulating the situation to give the appearance of contact with
the dead. They may even use ventriloquism to make it seem as if a being
has entered a room. An example cited is the biblical story of the witch
of En Dor (I Samuel 28) who, when she was successful in bringing up Samuel from the dead, screamed out in surprise and fear.
Some use this passage to imply that the witch did not really expect a being to appear and was shocked and afraid when a being did
appear. The conclusion is that in the past she had simply faked the appearances.
Modern science has found no evidence to support the claims witchcraft makes about the world or its own efficacy. Witchcraft as
practiced by some Neopagans is, however, very similar to and supported by the findings of psychology. This is, however, a minority practice and not what is usually meant by the term
Witchcraft.
See also
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