Witchcraft - The Basics

Witchcraft is practice of magic or sorcery by those outside the religious mainstream of a society.
T he practice of witchcraft should not be associated with evil or the infliction of harm, nor with Devils.

Belief in traditional witchcraft, in the sense of sorcery, remains alive in India, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere.
A belief in the possibility of something akin to evil or "Black magic" witchcraft can still be found among some conservative Christians.

Simple sorcery, or the use of magic accessible to ordinary people, such as setting out offerings to helpful spirits or using charms, can be found in almost all traditional societies and many accusations of malicious witchcraft especially, in some primal societies and in early modern Europe and North America have been unfounded and have sprung from irrational fears and social anxieties.

Witchcraft In history

In the early Christian centuries, the church was relatively tolerant of magical practices.
Those who were proved to have engaged in witchcraft were required only to do penance.
But in the late Middle Ages opposition to alleged witchcraft hardened as a result of the growing belief that all magic and miracles that did not come, from God came from the Devil and were therefore manifestations of evil.

Those who practiced simple sorcery, such as village wise women, were increasingly regarded as being in league with Satan.
A lurid picture of witches emerged in the popular mind, including covens, over which Satan ruled, pacts with the Devil; flying broomsticks; and animal familiars.

The popular image of witchcraft, was born, and given shape by the inflamed imagination of inquisitors and was confirmed by statements obtained under torture.

The late medieval and early modern picture of witchcraft can be attributed to several causes.
The church's experience with such dissident religious movemenents, who believed in a radical dualism of good and evil, led to the belief that certain people had allied themselves with Satan.

As a result the Inquisition was established by a series of papal decrees between 1227 and 1235.
Pope Innocent IV authorized the use of torture in 1252, and Pope Alexander IV gave the Inquisition authority over all cases of sorcery involving heresy, although most actual prosecution of witches was carried out by local courts.
At the dawn of the Renaissance the "witch craze" that possessed Europe from about 1450 to 1700,
was in full swing and thousands of people, were executed on the basis of "proofs" or "confessions" of witchcraft, or sorcery practiced through allegiance to Satan, obtained by means of cruel tortures.

In the years of the witch-hunting mania, people were encouraged to inform against one another.
Professional witch finders identified and tested suspects for evidence of witchcraft and were paid a fee for each conviction.
All witches were supposed to have somewhere on their bodies a mark, made by the Devil, that was insensitive to pain; if such a spot was found, it was regarded as proof of witchcraft.
Other proofs included additional breasts, the inability to weep, and failure in the water test.
During the water test, a woman was thrown into water; if she sank, she was considered innocent, but if she stayed afloat, she was found guilty.

The Salem Witchtrials

One of the last outbreaks of witch-hunting took place in colonial Massachusetts in 1692, when belief in witchcraft was already declining in Europe.
Twenty people were executed in the wake of the Salem witch trials,
which took place after a group of young girls became hysterical while playing at magic and it was said that they had become bewitched.
The witch hunt which followed was due mainly to deep divisions between the church and a controversial minister.
Personal differences in a small, isolated community in which religious beliefs, including belief in the reality of witchcraft were deeply held.
By the time the hysteria had run its course, little enthusiasm for the persecution of witches remained in Massachusetts or elsewhere.

Modern Witchcraft

In the second half of the 20th century, a self-conscious revival of pre-Christian paganism occurred in the United States and Europe. The foundation of this revival was witchcraft, or wicca.
Wicca is interpreted simply as the nature and fertility religion.
This form of witchcraft with its feeling for nature, its colorful rituals, harmonized well with the cultural mood of the 1960s and grew rapidly during that decade.
Modern witchcraft continued to prosper during the subsequent decades.

Wicca perceives itself as a religion based on the broad themes of ancient pre-Christian paganism, although it is not drawn directly from paganism, as wicca shuns some features of the old paganism, such as animal sacrifice.
Increasingly, wicca draws from many pagan traditions, with the result that the distinctions between witchcraft, occultism, neopaganism, have become blurred.

Modern witchcraft is entirely different from Satanism or the "black magic" witchcraft imagined by the persecutors of past centuries.
Major wiccan themes include love of nature, equality of male and female, appreciation of the ceremonial, a sense of wonder and belief in magic, and appreciation of the symbolism and psychological realities behind the gods.

Belief in traditional witchcraft, in the sense of sorcery, remains alive in India, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere. A belief in the possibility of something akin to diabolical witchcraft can still be found among some conservative Christians.
The function of the so-called witch doctor or medicine man in many societies is to counter the power of evil witchcraft through good magic.
Shamans may also heal through comparable means by performing rites that expel spirits or by retrieving lost and stolen souls.
Characteristically, they do this with the aid of helping spirits or gods invoked through incantations and rites.

Famous Witches in history :

Mother Shipton

Mother Shipton a 15th Century Yorkshire witch.
She was said to have powers of healing and spell-casting, and her prophecies about modern time such as those of airplanes and cars, scientific inventions, new technology, wars and politics has come true.

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, was not charged for practising witchcraft but for denying the authority of the church.

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