This article is about worldwide views of witchcraft. For an overview of Neopagan witchcraft, see Neopagan witchcraft. For the modern pagan religion, see Wicca. For other uses, see Witchcraft (disambiguation).
Witchcraft is the use of alleged supernatural powers of magic. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic or supernatural powers to inflict harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning.[1] According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination", but it "has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world".[2] The belief in witchcraft has been found throughout history in a great number of societies worldwide. Most of these societies have used protective magic or counter-magic against witchcraft, and have shunned, banished, imprisoned, physically punished or killed alleged witches. Anthropologists use the term "witchcraft" for similar beliefs about harmful occult practices in different cultures, and these societies often use the term when speaking in English.[3][4][5]
Belief in witchcraft as malevolent magic is attested from ancient Mesopotamia, and in Europe, belief in witches traces back to classical antiquity. In medieval and early modern Europe, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have secretly used black magic (maleficium) against their own community. Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by their neighbors and followed from social tensions. Witches were sometimes said to have communed with demons or with the Devil, though anthropologist Jean La Fontaine notes that such accusations were mainly made against perceived "enemies of the Church".[6] It was thought witchcraft could be thwarted by white magic, provided by 'cunning folk' or 'wise people'. Suspected witches were often prosecuted and punished, if found guilty or simply believed to be guilty. European witch-hunts and witch trials in the early modern period led to tens of thousands of executions. While magical healers and midwives were sometimes accused of witchcraft themselves,[7][4][8][9] they made up a minority of those accused. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment.
Many indigenous belief systems that include the concept of witchcraft likewise define witches as malevolent, and seek healers (such as medicine people and witch doctors) to ward-off and undo bewitchment.[10][11] Some African and Melanesian peoples believe witches are driven by an evil spirit or substance inside them. Modern witch-hunting takes place in parts of Africa and Asia.
Today, followers of certain types of modern paganism identify as witches and use the term "witchcraft" or "pagan witchcraft" for their beliefs and practices.[12][13][14] Other neo-pagans avoid the term due to its negative connotations.[15]
The most common meaning of "witchcraft" worldwide is the use of harmful magic.[16] Belief in malevolent magic and the concept of witchcraft has lasted throughout recorded history and has been found in cultures worldwide, regardless of development.[3][17] Most societies have feared an ability by some individuals to cause supernatural harm and misfortune to others. This may come from mankind's tendency "to want to assign occurrences of remarkable good or bad luck to agency, either human or superhuman".[18] Historians and anthropologists see the concept of "witchcraft" as one of the ways humans have tried to explain strange misfortune.[18][19] Some cultures have feared witchcraft much less than others, because they tend to have other explanations for strange misfortune.[18] For example, the Gaels of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands historically held a strong belief in fairy folk, who could cause supernatural harm, and witch-hunting was very rare in these regions compared to other regions of the British Isles.[20]
Historian Ronald Hutton outlined five key characteristics ascribed to witches and witchcraft by most cultures that believe in this concept: the use of magic to cause harm or misfortune to others; it was used by the witch against their own community; powers of witchcraft were believed to have been acquired through inheritance or initiation; it was seen as immoral and often thought to involve communion with evil beings; and witchcraft could be thwarted by defensive magic, persuasion, intimidation or physical punishment of the alleged witch.[16]
It is commonly believed that witches use objects, words, and gestures to cause supernatural harm, or that they simply have an innate power to do so. Hutton notes that both kinds of practitioners are often believed to exist in the same culture and that the two often overlap, in that someone with an inborn power could wield that power through material objects.[21]
One of the most influential works on witchcraft and concepts of magic was E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande, a study of Azande witchcraft beliefs published in 1937. This provided definitions for witchcraft which became a convention in anthropology.[19] However, some researchers argue that the general adoption of Evans-Pritchard's definitions constrained discussion of witchcraft beliefs, and even broader discussion of magic and religion, in ways that his work does not support.[22] Evans-Pritchard reserved the term "witchcraft" for the actions of those who inflict harm by their inborn power and used "sorcery" for those who needed tools to do so.[23] Historians found these definitions difficult to apply to European witchcraft, where witches were believed to use physical techniques, as well as some who were believed to cause harm by thought alone.[24][25] The distinction "has now largely been abandoned, although some anthropologists still sometimes find it relevant to the particular societies with which they are concerned".[21]
While most cultures believe witchcraft to be something willful, some Indigenous peoples in Africa and Melanesia believe witches have a substance or an evil spirit in their bodies that drives them to do harm.[21] Such substances may be believed to act on their own while the witch is sleeping or unaware.[22] The Dobu people believe women work harmful magic in their sleep while men work it while awake.[26] Further, in cultures where substances within the body are believed to grant supernatural powers, the substance may be good, bad, or morally neutral.[27][28] Hutton draws a distinction between those who unwittingly cast the evil eye and those who deliberately do so, describing only the latter as witches.[18]
The universal or cross-cultural validity of the terms "witch" and "witchcraft" are debated.[19] Hutton states:
[Malevolent magic] is, however, only one current usage of the word. In fact, Anglo-American senses of it now take at least four different forms, although the one discussed above seems still to be the most widespread and frequent. The others define the witch figure as any person who uses magic... or as the practitioner of nature-based Pagan religion; or as a symbol of independent female authority and resistance to male domination. All have validity in the present.[18]
According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions there is "difficulty of defining 'witches' and 'witchcraft' across cultures—terms that, quite apart from their connotations in popular culture, may include an array of traditional or faith healing practices".[29]
Anthropologist Fiona Bowie notes that the terms "witchcraft" and "witch" are used differently by scholars and the general public in at least four ways.[19] Neopagan writer Isaac Bonewits proposed dividing witches into even more distinct types including, but not limited to: Neopagan, Feminist, Neogothic, Neoclassical, Classical, Family Traditions, Immigrant Traditions, and Ethnic.[30]
The word is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce ('witch') and cræft ('craft').[31] The masculine form was wicca ('male sorcerer').[32]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, wicce and wicca were probably derived from the Old English verb wiccian, meaning 'to practice witchcraft'.[33]Wiccian has a cognate in Middle Low Germanwicken (attested from the 13th century). The further etymology of this word is problematic. It has no clear cognates in other Germanic languages outside of English and Low German, and there are numerous possibilities for the Indo-European root from which it may have derived.
Another Old English word for 'witch' was hægtes or hægtesse, which became the modern English word "hag" and is linked to the word "hex". In most other Germanic languages, their word for 'witch' comes from the same root as these; for example GermanHexe and Dutchheks.[34]
In colloquial modern English, the word witch is particularly used for women.[35] A male practitioner of magic or witchcraft is more commonly called a 'wizard', or sometimes, 'warlock'. When the word witch is used to refer to a member of a neo-pagan tradition or religion (such as Wicca), it can refer to a person of any gender.[citation needed]
Beliefs about practices
Preparation for the Witches' Sabbath by David Teniers the Younger. It shows a witch brewing a potion overlooked by her familiar spirit or a demon; items on the floor for casting a spell; and another witch reading from a grimoire while anointing the buttocks of a young witch about to fly upon an inverted besom.
Witches are commonly believed to cast curses; a spell or set of magical words and gestures intended to inflict supernatural harm.[36] Cursing could also involve inscribing runes or sigils on an object to give that object magical powers; burning or binding a wax or clay image (a poppet) of a person to affect them magically; or using herbs, animal parts and other substances to make potions or poisons.[37][38][39][21] Witchcraft has been blamed for many kinds of misfortune. In Europe, by far the most common kind of harm attributed to witchcraft was illness or death suffered by adults, their children, or their animals. "Certain ailments, like impotence in men, infertility in women, and lack of milk in cows, were particularly associated with witchcraft". Illnesses that were poorly understood were more likely to be blamed on witchcraft. Edward Bever writes: "Witchcraft was particularly likely to be suspected when a disease came on unusually swiftly, lingered unusually long, could not be diagnosed clearly, or presented some other unusual symptoms".[40]
A common belief in cultures worldwide is that witches tend to use something from their target's body to work magic against them; for example hair, nail clippings, clothing, or bodily waste. Such beliefs are found in Europe, Africa, South Asia, Polynesia, Melanesia, and North America.[21] Another widespread belief among Indigenous peoples in Africa and North America is that witches cause harm by introducing cursed magical objects into their victim's body; such as small bones or ashes.[21]James George Frazer described this kind of magic as imitative.[a]
In some cultures, witches are believed to use human body parts in magic,[21] and they are commonly believed to murder children for this purpose. In Europe, "cases in which women did undoubtedly kill their children, because of what today would be called postpartum psychosis, were often interpreted as yielding to diabolical temptation".[42]
Witches are believed to work in secret, sometimes alone and sometimes with other witches. Hutton writes: "Across most of the world, witches have been thought to gather at night, when normal humans are inactive, and also at their most vulnerable in sleep".[21] In most cultures, witches at these gatherings are thought to transgress social norms by engaging in cannibalism, incest and open nudity.[21]
Witches around the world commonly have associations with animals.[43]Rodney Needham identified this as a defining feature of the witch archetype.[44] In some parts of the world, it is believed witches can shapeshift into animals,[45] or that the witch's spirit travels apart from their body and takes an animal form, an activity often associated with shamanism.[45] Another widespread belief is that witches have an animal helper.[45] In English these are often called "familiars", and meant an evil spirit or demon that had taken an animal form.[45] As researchers examined traditions in other regions, they widened the term to servant spirit-animals which are described as a part of the witch's own soul.[46]
Necromancy is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for divination or prophecy, although the term has also been applied to raising the dead for other purposes. The biblical Witch of Endor performed it (1 Samuel 28th chapter), and it is among the witchcraft practices condemned by Ælfric of Eynsham:[47][48][49] "Witches still go to cross-roads and to heathen burials with their delusive magic and call to the devil; and he comes to them in the likeness of the man that is buried there, as if he arises from death."[50]
Diorama of a cunning woman or wise woman in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic
Most societies that have believed in harmful or black magic have also believed in helpful magic. Some have called it white magic, at least in more recent times.[51] Where belief in harmful magic is common, it is typically forbidden by law as well as hated and feared by the general populace, while helpful or apotropaic (protective) magic is tolerated or accepted by the population, even if the orthodox establishment opposes it.[52]
In these societies, practitioners of helpful magic provide (or provided) services such as breaking the effects of witchcraft, healing, divination, finding lost or stolen goods, and love magic.[53] In Britain, and some other parts of Europe, they were commonly known as 'cunning folk' or 'wise people'.[53] Alan McFarlane wrote that while cunning folk is the usual name, some are also known as 'blessers' or 'wizards', but might also be known as 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding witches'.[54] Historian Owen Davies says the term "white witch" was rarely used before the 20th century.[55] Ronald Hutton uses the general term "service magicians".[53] Often these people were involved in identifying alleged witches.[51]
Such helpful magic-workers "were normally contrasted with the witch who practiced maleficium—that is, magic used for harmful ends".[56] In the early years of the European witch hunts "the cunning folk were widely tolerated by church, state and general populace".[56] Some of the more hostile churchmen and secular authorities tried to smear folk-healers and magic-workers by falsely branding them 'witches' and associating them with harmful 'witchcraft',[53] but generally the masses did not accept this and continued to make use of their services.[57] The English MP and skeptic Reginald Scot sought to disprove magic and witchcraft altogether, writing in The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), "At this day, it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch' or 'she is a wise woman'".[58] Historian Keith Thomas adds "Nevertheless, it is possible to isolate that kind of 'witchcraft' which involved the employment (or presumed employment) of some occult means of doing harm to other people in a way which was generally disapproved of. In this sense the belief in witchcraft can be defined as the attribution of misfortune to occult human agency".[4]
Emma Wilby says folk magicians in Europe were viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing,[59] which could lead to their being accused as malevolent witches. She suggests some English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons may have been cunning folk whose supposed fairyfamiliars had been demonised.[60]
Hutton says that magical healers "were sometimes denounced as witches, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused in any area studied".[51] Likewise, Davies says "relatively few cunning-folk were prosecuted under secular statutes for witchcraft" and were dealt with more leniently than alleged witches. The Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (1532) of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Danish Witchcraft Act of 1617, stated that workers of folk magic should be dealt with differently from witches.[61] It was suggested by Richard Horsley that 'diviner-healers' (devins-guerisseurs) made up a significant proportion of those tried for witchcraft in France and Switzerland, but more recent surveys conclude that they made up less than 2% of the accused.[62] However, Éva Pócs says that half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers,[63] and Kathleen Stokker says the "vast majority" of Norway's accused witches were folk healers.[64]
A witch bottle, used as counter-magic against witchcraft
Societies that believe (or believed) in witchcraft also believe that it can be thwarted in various ways. One common way is to use protective magic or counter-magic, often with the help of magical healers such as cunning folk or witch-doctors.[51] This includes performing rituals, reciting charms, or the use of talismans, amulets, anti-witch marks, witch bottles, witch balls, and burying objects such as horse skulls inside the walls of buildings.[65] Another believed cure for bewitchment is to persuade or force the alleged witch to lift their spell.[51] Often, people have attempted to thwart the witchcraft by physically punishing the alleged witch, such as by banishing, wounding, torturing or killing them. "In most societies, however, a formal and legal remedy was preferred to this sort of private action", whereby the alleged witch would be prosecuted and then formally punished if found guilty.[51]
Throughout the world, accusations of witchcraft are often linked to social and economic tensions. Females are most often accused, but in some cultures it is mostly males. In many societies, accusations are directed mainly against the elderly, but in others age is not a factor, and in some cultures it is mainly adolescents who are accused.[66]
Éva Pócs writes that reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories. The first three of which were proposed by Richard Kieckhefer, and the fourth added by Christina Larner:[67]
A person was caught in the act of positive or negative sorcery
A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients' or the authorities' trust
A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbors
A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs or occultism.
Witch-hunts, scapegoating, and the shunning or murder of suspected witches still occurs.[68] Many cultures worldwide continue to have a belief in the concept of "witchcraft" or malevolent magic.[69]
Apart from extrajudicial violence, state-sanctioned execution also occurs in some jurisdictions. For instance, in Saudi Arabia practicing witchcraft and sorcery is a crime punishable by death and the country has executed people for this crime as recently as 2014.[70][71][72]
Witchcraft-related violence is often discussed as a serious issue in the broader context of violence against women.[73][74][75][76][77] In Tanzania, an estimated 500 older women are murdered each year following accusations of witchcraft or accusations of being a witch, according to a 2014 World Health Organization report.[78]
Children who live in some regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, are also vulnerable to violence stemming from witchcraft accusations.[79][80][81][82] Such incidents have also occurred in immigrant communities in Britain, including the much publicized case of the murder of Victoria Climbié.[83][84]
Religious perspectives
Ancient Mesopotamian religion
A clay tablet from the Maqlû, outlining an ancient Akkadian anti-witchcraft ritual.
Magic was an important part of ancient Mesopotamian religion and society, which distinguished between 'good' (helpful) and 'bad' (harmful) rites.[85] In ancient Mesopotamia, they mainly used counter-magic against witchcraft (kišpū[86]), but the law codes also prescribed the death penalty for those found guilty of witchcraft.[85] According to Tzvi Abusch, ancient Mesopotamian ideas about witches and witchcraft shifted over time, and the early stages were "comparable to the archaic shamanistic stage of European witchcraft".[87] In this early stage, witches were not necessarily considered evil, but took 'white' and 'black' forms, could help others using magic and medical knowledge, generally lived in rural areas and sometimes exhibited ecstatic behavior.[87]
In ancient Mesopotamia, a witch (m. kaššāpu, f. kaššāptu, from kašāpu ['to bewitch'][86]) was "usually regarded as an anti-social and illegitimate practitioner of destructive magic ... whose activities were motivated by malice and evil intent and who was opposed by the ašipu, an exorcist or incantation-priest".[87] These ašipu were predominantly male representatives of the state religion, whose main role was to work magic against harmful supernatural forces such as demons.[87] The stereotypical witch mentioned in the sources tended to be those of low status who were weak or otherwise marginalized, including women, foreigners, actors, and peddlers.[85]
The Law Code of Hammurabi (18th century BCE) allowed someone accused of witchcraft (harmful magic) to undergo trial by ordeal, by jumping into a holy river. If they drowned, they were deemed guilty and the accuser inherited the guilty person's estate. If they survived, the accuser's estate was handed over instead.[85]
The Maqlû ("burning") is an ancient Akkadian text, written early in the first millennium BCE, which sets out a Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft ritual.[88] This lengthy ritual includes invoking various gods, burning an effigy of the witch, then dousing and disposing of the remains.[89]
Abrahamic religions
Witchcraft's historical evolution in the Middle East reveals a multi-phase journey influenced by culture, spirituality, and societal norms. Ancient witchcraft in the Near East intertwined mysticism with nature through rituals and incantations aligned with local beliefs. In ancient Judaism, magic had a complex relationship, with some forms accepted due to mysticism[90] while others were considered heretical.[91] The medieval Middle East experienced shifting perceptions of witchcraft under Islamic and Christian influences, sometimes revered for healing and other times condemned as heresy.
Jewish attitudes toward witchcraft were rooted in its association with idolatry and necromancy, and some rabbis even practiced certain forms of magic themselves.[92][93] References to witchcraft in the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, highlighted strong condemnations rooted in the "abomination" of magical belief. Christianity similarly condemned witchcraft, considering it an abomination and even citing specific verses to justify witch-hunting during the early modern period.
In Christianity, sorcery came to be associated with heresy and apostasy and to be viewed as evil. Among Catholics, Protestants, and the secular leadership of late medieval/early modern Europe, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch and sometimes led to large-scale witch-hunts. The fifteenth century saw a dramatic rise in awareness and terror of witchcraft. Tens of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women, though in some regions the majority were men.[96][97]:23 In Scots, the word warlock came to be used as the male equivalent of witch (which can be male or female, but is used predominantly for females).[98][99]
The Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for 'Hammer of The Witches') was a witch-hunting manual written in 1486 by two German monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It was used by both Catholics and Protestants[100] for several hundred years, outlining how to identify a witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. It became the handbook for secular courts throughout Europe, but was not used by the Inquisition, which even cautioned against relying on it.[101] It was the most sold book in Europe for over 100 years, after the Bible.[102]
Islamic perspectives on magic encompass a wide range of practices,[103] with belief in black magic and the evil eye coexisting alongside strict prohibitions against its practice.[104] The Quran acknowledges the existence of magic and seeks protection from its harm. Islam's stance is against the practice of magic, considering it forbidden, and emphasizes divine miracles rather than magic or witchcraft.[105] The historical continuity of witchcraft in the Middle East underlines the complex interaction between spiritual beliefs and societal norms across different cultures and epochs.
Prevalence of belief in witchcraft by countrySocio-demographic correlates of witchcraft beliefs
A 2022 study found that belief in witchcraft, as in the use of malevolent magic or powers, is still widespread in some parts of the world. It found that belief in witchcraft varied from 9% of people in some countries to 90% in others, and was linked to cultural and socioeconomic factors. Stronger belief in witchcraft correlated with poorer economic development, weak institutions, lower levels of education, lower life expectancy, lower life satisfaction, and high religiosity.[115][114]
It contrasted two hypotheses about future changes in witchcraft belief:[114]
witchcraft beliefs should decline "in the process of development due to improved security and health, lower exposure to shocks, spread of education and scientific approach to explaining life events" according to standard modernization theory
"some aspects of development, namely rising inequality, globalization, technological change, and migration, may instead revive witchcraft beliefs by disrupting established social order" according to literature largely inspired by observations from Sub-Saharan Africa.
African witchcraft encompasses various beliefs and practices. These beliefs often play a significant role in shaping social dynamics and can influence how communities address challenges and seek spiritual assistance. Much of what "witchcraft" represents in Africa has been susceptible to misunderstandings and confusion, due to a tendency among western scholars to approach the subject through a comparative lens vis-a-vis European witchcraft.[116] For example, the Maka people of Cameroon believe in an occult force known as djambe, that dwells inside a person. It is often translated as "witchcraft" or "sorcery", but it has a broader meaning that encompasses supernatural harm, healing and shapeshifting; this highlights the problem of using European terms for African concepts.[117]
While some 19th–20th century European colonialists tried to stamp out witch-hunting in Africa by introducing laws banning accusations of witchcraft, some former African colonies introduced laws banning witchcraft after they gained independence. This has produced an environment that encourages persecution of suspected witches.[118]
In the Central African Republic, hundreds of people are convicted of witchcraft yearly, with reports of violence against accused women.[119] The Democratic Republic of the Congo witnessed a disturbing trend of child witchcraft accusations in Kinshasa, leading to abuse and exorcisms supervised by self-styled pastors.[120] In Ghana, there are several "witch camps", where women accused of witchcraft can seek refuge, though the government plans to close them.[121]
In west Kenya, there have been cases of accused witches being burned to death in their homes by mobs.[122]Malawi faces a similar issue of child witchcraft accusations, with traditional healers and some Christian counterparts involved in exorcisms, causing abandonment and abuse of children.[123] In Nigeria, Pentecostal pastors have intertwined Christianity with witchcraft beliefs for profit, leading to the torture and killing of accused children.[124]Sierra Leone's Mende people see witchcraft convictions as beneficial, as the accused receive support and care from the community.[125]
Lastly, in Zulu culture, healers known as sangomas protect people from witchcraft and evil spirits through divination, rituals and mediumship.[126] However, concerns arise regarding the training and authenticity of some sangomas.
North America hosts a diverse array of beliefs about witchcraft, some of which have evolved through interactions between cultures.[131][132]
Native American peoples such as the Cherokee,[133]Hopi,[134] the Navajo[5] among others,[135] believed in malevolent "witch" figures who could harm their communities by supernatural means; this was often punished harshly, including by execution.[136] In these communities, medicine people were healers and protectors against witchcraft.[133][134]
The term "witchcraft" arrived with European colonists, along with European views on witchcraft.[131] This term would be adopted by many Indigenous communities for their own beliefs about harmful magic and harmful supernatural powers. Witch hunts took place among Christian European settlers in colonial America and the United States, most infamously the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. These trials led to the execution of numerous individuals accused of practicing witchcraft. Despite changes in laws and perspectives over time, accusations of witchcraft persisted into the 19th century in some regions, such as Tennessee, where prosecutions occurred as late as 1833.
Witchcraft beliefs in Latin America are influenced by Spanish Catholic, Indigenous, and African beliefs. In Colonial Mexico, the Mexican Inquisition showed little concern for witchcraft; the Spanish Inquisitors treated witchcraft accusations as a "religious problem that could be resolved through confession and absolution". Anthropologist Ruth Behar writes that Mexican Inquisition cases "hint at a fascinating conjecture of sexuality, witchcraft, and religion, in which Spanish, indigenous, and African cultures converged".[140] There are cases where European women and Indigenous women were accused of collaborating to work "love magic" or "sexual witchcraft" against men in colonial Mexico.[141] According to anthropology professor Laura Lewis, "witchcraft" in colonial Mexico represented an "affirmation of hegemony" for women and especially Indigenous women over their white male counterparts in the casta system.[142]
Brujería, often called a Latin American form of witchcraft, is a syncretic Afro-Caribbean tradition that combines Indigenous religious and magical practices from the Caribbean, together with Catholicism, and European witchcraft.[144] The tradition and terminology is considered to encompass both helpful and harmful practices.[145] A male practitioner is called a brujo, a female practitioner, a bruja.[145] Healers may be further distinguished by the terms kurioso or kuradó, a man or woman who performs trabou chikí ("little works") and trabou grandi ("large treatments") to promote or restore health, bring fortune or misfortune, deal with unrequited love, and more serious concerns. Sorcery usually involves reference to an entity referred to as the almasola or homber chiki.[146]
In Chinese culture, the practice of Gong Tau involves black magic for purposes such as revenge and financial assistance.[citation needed]Japanese folklore features witch figures who employ foxes as familiars. Korean history includes instances of individuals being condemned for using spells. The Philippines has its own tradition of witches, distinct from Western portrayals, with their practices often countered by indigenous shamans.[citation needed]
Witchcraft beliefs in the Middle East have a long history, and magic was a part of the ancient cultures and religions of the region.[147]
In ancient Mesopotamia (Sumeria, Assyria, Babylonia), a witch (m. kaššāpu, f. kaššāptu) was "usually regarded as an anti-social and illegitimate practitioner of destructive magic ... motivated by malice and evil intent".[87] Ancient Mesopotamian societies mainly used counter-magic against witchcraft (kišpū), but the law codes also prescribed the death penalty for those found guilty of witchcraft.[85]
For the ancient Hittites, magic could only be sanctioned by the state, and accusations of witchcraft were often used to control political enemies.[148]
As the ancient Hebrews focused on their worship on Yahweh, Judaism clearly distinguished between forms of magic and mystical practices which were accepted, and those which were viewed as forbidden or heretical, and thus "witchcraft".[149]
In the medieval Middle East, under Islamic and Christian influences, witchcraft's perception fluctuated between healing and heresy, revered by some and condemned by others.[citation needed] In the present day diverse witchcraft communities have emerged.[citation needed]
The Classical Latin word veneficium meant both poisoning and causing harm by magic (such as magic potions), although ancient people would not have distinguished between the two.[151] In 331BCE, a deadly epidemic hit Rome and at least 170 women were executed for causing it by veneficium. In 184–180 BCE, another epidemic hit Italy, and about 5,000 were executed for veneficium.[151] If the reports are accurate, writes Hutton, "then the Republican Romans hunted witches on a scale unknown anywhere else in the ancient world".[151]
Under the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis of 81BCE, killing by veneficium carried the death penalty. During the early Imperial era, the Lex Cornelia began to be used more broadly against other kinds of magic,[151] including sacrifices made for evil purposes. The magicians were to be burnt at the stake.[150]
Witch characters—women who work powerful evil magic—appear in ancient Roman literature from the first century BCE onward. They are typically hags who chant harmful incantations; make poisonous potions from herbs and the body parts of animals and humans; sacrifice children; raise the dead; can control the natural world; can shapeshift themselves and others into animals; and invoke underworld deities and spirits. They include Lucan's Erichtho, Horace's Canidia, Ovid's Dipsas, and Apuleius's Meroe.[151]
Early modern and contemporary Europe
A 1613 English pamphlet showing "Witches apprehended, examined and executed"
By the early modern period, major witch hunts and witch trials began to take place in Europe, partly fueled by religious tensions, societal anxieties, and economic upheaval. One influential text was the Malleus Maleficarum, a 1486 treatise that provided a framework for identifying, prosecuting, and punishing witches. Witches were typically seen as people who caused harm or misfortune through black magic, and were sometimes believed to have made a pact with the Devil.[152] Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by neighbors and followed from social tensions. Accusations were often made against marginalized individuals, women, the elderly, and those who did not conform to societal norms. Women made accusations as often as men. The common people believed that magical healers (called 'cunning folk' or 'wise people') could undo bewitchment. Hutton says that magical healers were sometimes denounced as witches themselves, "but seem to have made up a minority of the accused in any area studied".[51] The witch-craze reached its peak between the 16th and 17th centuries, resulting in the execution of tens of thousands of people. This dark period of history reflects the confluence of superstition, fear, and authority, as well as the societal tendency to find scapegoats for complex problems. A feminist interpretation of the witch trials is that misogynist views led to the association of women and malevolent witchcraft.[152]
Russia also experienced its own iteration of witchcraft trials during the 17th century. Witches were often accused of sorcery and engaging in supernatural activities, leading to their excommunication and execution. The blending of ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions in Russia's approach to witchcraft trials highlighted the intertwined nature of religious and political power during that time. As the 17th century progressed, the fear of witches shifted from mere superstition to a tool for political manipulation, with accusations used to target individuals who posed threats to the ruling elite.[153]
Since the 1940s, neopagan witchcraft movements have emerged in Europe, seeking to revive and reinterpret ancient pagan and mystical practices. Wicca, pioneered by Gerald Gardner, is the most influential. Drawing inspiration from ceremonial magic, historical paganism, and the now-discredited witch-cult theory, Wicca emphasizes a connection to nature, the divine, and personal growth. Similarly, Stregheria in Italy reflects a desire to reconnect with the country's pagan past. Many of these neopagans self-identify as "witches". Neopagan witchcraft in Europe encompasses a wide range of traditions.[citation needed]
It is estimated that 50–150 alleged witches are killed each year in Papua New Guinea.[156] A local newspaper informed that more than fifty people were killed in two Highlands provinces of Papua New Guinea in 2008 for allegedly practicing witchcraft.[157]
Belief and practice of witchcraft are prevalent in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.[158] Unlike other provinces, Milne Bay and the Samarai Islands see much less violence against both those accused of witchcraft and women in general than other parts of the country.[158] It is suggested the history of witchcraft in the area contributes to a raise in status of women in the area overall.[158]
Witches have a long history of being depicted in art, although most of their earliest artistic depictions seem to originate in Early Modern Europe, particularly the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Many scholars attribute their manifestation in art as inspired by texts such as Canon Episcopi, a demonology-centered work of literature, and Malleus Maleficarum, a "witch-craze" manual published in 1487, by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.[159] Witches in fiction span a wide array of characterizations. They are typically, but not always, female, and generally depicted as either villains or heroines.[160]
Witches' Sabbath– Gathering of those believed to practice witchcraft
Notes
↑ "If we analyze the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called the Law of Similarity, the latter the Law of Contact or Contagion. From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not."[41]
Related Research Articles
Magic, sometimes spelled magick, is the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed in the belief that they can manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces. It is a category into which have been placed various beliefs and practices sometimes considered separate from both religion and science.
A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East. In medieval Europe, witch-hunts often arose in connection to charges of heresy from Christianity. An intensive period of witch-hunts occurring in Early Modern Europe and to a smaller extent Colonial America, took place from about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 60,000 executions. The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia, contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea, and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia, Cameroon and South Africa today.
Christian views on magic vary widely among Christian denominations and among individuals. Many Christians actively condemn magic as satanic, holding that it opens the way for demonic possession. Some Christians simply view it as entertainment. Conversely, some branches of esoteric Christianity actively engage in magical practices.
Black magic traditionally refers to the use of magic or supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes.
The cunning folk were professional or semi-professional practitioners of magic in Europe from the medieval period through the early 20th century. In Britain they were known by a variety of names in different regions of the country, including wise men and wise women, pellars, wizards, dyn hysbys, and sometimes white witches.
Witchcraft has been present throughout the Philippines even before Spanish colonization, and is associated with indigenous Philippine folk religions. Its practice involves black magic, specifically a malevolent use of sympathetic magic. Today, practices are said to be centered in Siquijor, Cebu, Davao, Talalora, Western Samar, and Sorsogon, where many of the country's faith healers reside. Witchcraft also exists in many of the hinterlands, especially in Samar and Leyte; however, witchcraft is known and occurs anywhere in the country.
Asian witchcraft encompasses various types of witchcraft practices across Asia. In ancient times, magic played a significant role in societies such as ancient Egypt and Babylonia, as evidenced by historical records. In the Middle East, references to magic can be found in the Torah and the Quran, where witchcraft is condemned due to its association with belief in magic, as it is within other Abrahamic religions.
Witchcraft in Latin America, known in Spanish as brujería and in Portuguese as bruxaria, is blend of Indigenous, African, and European beliefs. Indigenous cultures had spiritual practices centered around nature and healing, while the arrival of Africans brought syncretic religions like Santería and Candomblé. European witchcraft beliefs merged with local traditions during colonization. Practices vary across countries, with accusations historically intertwined with social dynamics. A male practitioner is called a brujo, a female practitioner is a bruja.
European belief in witchcraft can be traced back to classical antiquity, when magic and religion were closely entwined. During the pagan era of ancient Rome, there were laws against harmful magic. After Christianization, the medieval Catholic Church began to see witchcraft (maleficium) as a blend of black magic and apostasy involving a pact with the Devil. During the early modern period, witch hunts became widespread in Europe, partly fueled by religious tensions, societal anxieties, and economic upheaval. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment.
Witch, from the Old English wiċċe, is a term rooted in European folklore and superstition for a practitioner of witchcraft, magic or sorcery. Traditionally associated with malevolent magic, with those accused of witchcraft being the target of witch-hunts, in the modern era the term has taken on different meanings. In literature, a 'witch' can now simply refer to an alluring women capable of 'bewitching' others. In neopagan religions such as Wicca the term has meanwhile been adopted as the female term for an adherent.
Neopagan witchcraft, sometimes referred to as The Craft, is an umbrella term for some neo-pagan traditions that include the practice of magic. These traditions began in the mid-20th century, and many were influenced by the witch-cult hypothesis; a now-rejected theory that persecuted witches in Europe had actually been followers of a surviving pagan religion. The largest and most influential of these movements was Wicca. Some other groups and movements describe themselves as "Traditional Witchcraft" to distinguish themselves from Wicca.
In the early modern period, from about 1400 to 1775, about 100,000 people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and British America. Between 40,000 and 60,000 were executed, almost all in Europe. The witch-hunts were particularly severe in parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Prosecutions for witchcraft reached a high point from 1560 to 1630, during the Counter-Reformation and the European wars of religion. Among the lower classes, accusations of witchcraft were usually made by neighbors, and women made formal accusations as much as men did. Magical healers or 'cunning folk' were sometimes prosecuted for witchcraft, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused. Roughly 80% of those convicted were women, most of them over the age of 40. In some regions, convicted witches were burnt at the stake, the traditional punishment for religious heresy.
Cunning folk, also known as folk healers or wise folk, were practitioners of folk medicine, helpful folk magic and divination in Europe from the Middle Ages until the 20th century. Their practices were known as the cunning craft. Their services also included thwarting witchcraft. Although some cunning folk were denounced as witches themselves, they made up a minority of those accused, and the common people generally made a distinction between the two. The name 'cunning folk' originally referred to folk-healers and magic-workers in Britain, but the name is now applied as an umbrella term for similar people in other parts of Europe.
Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic is a study of the beliefs regarding witchcraft and magic in Early Modern Britain written by the British historian Emma Wilby. First published by Sussex Academic Press in 2003, the book presented Wilby's theory that the beliefs regarding familiar spirits found among magical practitioners – both benevolent cunning folk and malevolent witches – reflected evidence for a general folk belief in these beings, which stemmed from a pre-Christian visionary tradition.
Witch trials and witch related accusations were at a high during the early modern period in Britain, a time that spanned from the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century.
The Witch trials in Portugal were perhaps the fewest in all of Europe. Similar to the Spanish Inquisition in neighboring Spain, the Portuguese Inquisition preferred to focus on the persecution of heresy and did not consider witchcraft to be a priority. In contrast to the Spanish Inquisition, however, the Portuguese Inquisition was much more efficient in preventing secular courts from conducting witch trials, and therefore almost managed to keep Portugal free from witch trials. Only seven people are known to have been executed for sorcery in Portugal.
The Witch trials in Finland were conducted in connection to Sweden and were relatively few with the exception of the 1660s and 1670s, when a big witch hunt affected both Finland and Sweden. Finland differed from most of Europe in that an uncommonly large part of the accused were men, which it had in common with the witch trials in Iceland. Most of the people accused in Finland were men, so called "wise men" hired to perform magic by people. From 1674 to 1678, a real witch hysteria broke out in Ostrobothnia, during which twenty women and two men were executed.
The belief in witchcraft in the Middle East has a long history. Belief in witchcraft as malevolent magic is attested from ancient Mesopotamia. In ancient Judaism, there existed a complex relationship with magic and witchcraft, with some forms of divination accepted by some rabbis, yet most viewed as forbidden or heretical. In the medieval Middle East, under Islamic and Christian influences, witchcraft's perception fluctuated between healing and heresy, revered by some and condemned by others. Today diverse witchcraft communities have emerged.
The views of witchcraft in North America have evolved through an interlinking history of cultural beliefs and interactions. These forces contribute to complex and evolving views of witchcraft. Today, North America hosts a diverse array of beliefs about witchcraft.
In Africa, witchcraft refers to various beliefs and practices. These beliefs often play a significant role in shaping social dynamics and can influence how communities address challenges and seek spiritual assistance. Much of what "witchcraft" represents in Africa has been susceptible to misunderstandings and confusion, due to a tendency among western scholars to approach the subject through a comparative lens vis-a-vis European witchcraft. The definition of "witchcraft" can differ between Africans and Europeans which causes misunderstandings of African conjure practices among Europeans. For example, the Maka people of Cameroon believe in an occult force known as djambe, that dwells inside a person. It is often translated as "witchcraft" or "sorcery", but it has a broader meaning that encompasses supernatural harm, healing and shapeshifting; this highlights the problem of using European terms for African concepts.
↑ Russell, Jeffrey Burton; Lewis, Ioan M. (2023). "Witchcraft". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023. Although defined differently in disparate historical and cultural contexts, witchcraft has often been seen, especially in the West, as the work of crones who meet secretly at night, indulge in cannibalism and orgiastic rites with the Devil, or Satan, and perform black magic. Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. Yet this stereotype has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world.
↑ Riddle, John M. (1997). Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. pp.110–119. ISBN0674270266.
1 2 Doyle White, Ethan (2016). Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Liverpool University Press. pp.1–9, 73. ISBN978-1-84519-754-4.
1 2 Mills, Martin A. (March 2013). "The opposite of witchcraft: Evans-Pritchard and the problem of the person". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 19 (1): 18–33. doi:10.1111/1467-9655.12001. JSTOR42002806.
↑ Semple, Sarah (June 1998). "A fear of the past: The place of the prehistoric burial mound in the ideology of middle and later Anglo-Saxon England". World Archaeology. 30 (1): 109–126. doi:10.1080/00438243.1998.9980400. JSTOR125012.
↑ Pope, J.C. (1968). Homilies of Aelfric: a supplementary collection (Early English Text Society 260). Vol.II. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p.796.
↑ Grell, Ole Peter; Scribner, Robert W. (2002). Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Reformation. Cambridge University Press. p.45. Not all the stereotypes created by elites were capable of popular reception [...] The most interesting example concerns cunning folk, whom secular and religious authorities consistently sought to associate with negative stereotypes of superstition or witchcraft. This proved no deterrent to their activities or to the positive evaluation in the popular mind of what they had to offer.
↑ Scot, Reginald (1584). "Chapter 9". The Discoverie of Witchcraft. Vol.Booke V.
↑ Stokker, Kathleen (2007). Remedies and Rituals: Folk Medicine in Norway and the New Land. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. pp.81–82. ISBN978-0873517508. Supernatural healing of the sort practiced by Inger Roed and Lisbet Nypan, known as signeri, played a role in the vast majority of Norway's 263 documented witch trials. In trial after trial, accused 'witches' came forward and freely testified about their healing methods, telling about the salves they made and the bønner (prayers) they read over them to enhance their potency.
↑ Hoggard, Brian (2004). "The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic", in Beyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe, Manchester University Press. p. 167[ISBNmissing]
↑ "A Global Issue that Demands Action"(PDF). the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Vienna Liaison Office. 2013. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
↑ Bussien, Nathaly et al. 2011. Breaking the spell: Responding to witchcraft accusations against children, in New Issues in refugee Research (197). Geneva, Switzerland: UNHCR
↑ Cimpric, Aleksandra 2010. Children accused of witchcraft, An anthropological study of contemporary practices in Africa. Dakar, Senegal: UNICEF WCARO
↑ Molina, Javier Aguilar 2006. "The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Social cleansing, religious commerce and the difficulties of being a parent in an urban culture". London: Save the Children
↑ Human Rights Watch 2006. Children in the DRC. Human Rights Watch report, 18 (2)
↑ Bilefsky, Dan (10 May 2009). "Hard Times Give New Life to Prague's Golem". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013. According to Czech legend, the Golem was fashioned from clay and brought to life by a rabbi to protect Prague's 16th-century ghetto from persecution, and is said to be called forth in times of crisis. True to form, he is once again experiencing a revival, and in this commercial age, has spawned a one-monster industry.
↑ Russell, Jeffrey Burton. "Witchcraft". Britannica.com. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
↑ Gibbons, Jenny (1998) "Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt" in The PomegranateArchived 2009-01-26 at the Wayback Machine #5, Lammas 1998.
↑ McNeill, F. Marian (1957). The Silver Bough: A Four Volume Study of the National and Local Festivals of Scotland. Vol.1. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. ISBN978-0862412319.
↑ Sinclair, George (1871). Satan's Invisible World Discovered. Edinburgh.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Jolly, Karen; Raudvere, Catharina; Peters, Edward (2002). Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages. New York: A&C Black. p.241. ISBN978-0485890037. In 1538 the Spanish Inquisition cautioned its members not to believe everything the Malleus said, even when it presented apparently firm evidence.
↑ Okeja, Uchenna (2011). 'An African Context of the Belief in Witchcraft and Magic,' in Rational Magic. Fisher Imprints. ISBN978-1848880610.[pageneeded]
↑ Geschiere, Peter (1997). The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. Translated by Peter Geschiere and Janet Roitman. University of Virginia Press. p.13. ISBN0813917034.
1 2 3 Berger, Helen A., ed. (2005). Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN978-0812219715.
1 2 Kilpatrick, Alan (1998). The Night Has a Naked Soul – Witchcraft and Sorcery Among the Western Cherokee. Syracuse University Press.
1 2 Geertz, Armin W. (Summer 2011). "Hopi Indian Witchcraft and Healing: On Good, Evil, and Gossip". American Indian Quarterly. 35 (3): 372–393. doi:10.1353/aiq.2011.a447052. ISSN0095-182X. OCLC659388380. PMID22069814. To the Hopis, witches or evil-hearted persons deliberately try to destroy social harmony by sowing discontent, doubt, and criticism through evil gossip as well as by actively combating medicine men. ... Admitting [he practiced witchcraft] could cost him his life and occult power
↑ Simmons, Marc (1980). Witchcraft in the Southwest: Spanish and Indian Supernaturalism on the Rio Grande. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN978-0803291164.
↑ Wall, Leon and William Morgan, Navajo-English Dictionary. Hippocrene Books, New York, 1998. ISBN0781802474.
Abusch, Tzvi (2002). Mesopotamian Witchcraft: Toward a History and Understanding of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature. Brill Styx. ISBN978-90-04-12387-8.
Adler, Margot (2006). Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. New York: Penguin Books. OCLC515560.
Ankarloo, Bengt; Clark, Stuart (2001). Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Philadelphia Press. ISBN978-0-8264-8606-6.
Hutton, Ronald (2017). The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. Yale University Press.
Levack, Brian (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America. Oxford University Press.
Pócs, É. (1999). Between the Living and the Dead: A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age. Hungary: Central European University Press. ISBN978-963-9116-19-1.
Reiner, E. (1995). Astral Magic in Babylonia. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN978-0-87169-854-4.
Willis, Deborah (2018). Malevolent Nurture: Witch-Hunting and Maternal Power in Early Modern England. Cornell University Press.
Further reading
Epstein, I. (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children's Issues Worldwide. Greenwood Press. ISBN978-0-313-05559-1.
Ginzburg, Carlo (2004) [1989]. Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath. Translated by Raymond Rosenthal. University of Chicago Press. ISBN978-0-226-29693-7.
Hutton, R. (2006). Witches, Druids and King Arthur. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN978-1-85285-555-0.
Kent, Elizabeth (2005). "Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England". History Workshop. 60: 69–92. doi:10.1093/hwj/dbi034.
Lima, R. (2005). Stages of Evil: Occultism in Western Theater and Drama. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN978-0-8131-2362-2.
Rasbold, K. (2019). Crossroads of Conjure: The Roots and Practices of Granny Magic, Hoodoo, Brujería, and Curanderismo. Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN978-0-7387-5824-4.
Ruickbie, Leo (2004). Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A History. London: Robert Hale. ISBN978-0-7090-7567-7.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
