Secondary elaboration refers to the ways in which people try to justify and explain the

This article is about witchcraft and its different varieties of practices in different cultures. This article explains how witchcraft exists and plays an essential part in structural and functional aspects of a society. It also sheds the light on the journey of witchcraft from being profane and wicked to acceptable part of a culture.

The Huichol Indians are an indigenous group that lives “in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northwestern Mexico” (Woolcott). The Huichol religion is an animistic religion. According to Dr. Pamela Lindell, animistic religions are “religions that believe that all of nature – humans, animals, plants, rocks, the ocean, etc. - is animated by spirits and souls” (“Professor’s Notes 2” 3). To better understand the Huichol Indians and their religion, this paper examines Huichol myth, symbolism, rituals, religious specialists, and deities from various anthropological perspectives.

Throughout recorded history, man has sought explanations for the various phenomena that occur in every facet of nature, and when no obvious answer is forthcoming, still a theory is often proposed.  These explanatory theories, often taking the form of stories or chronicles, are usually linked to some sort of mysticism or divine intervention.  By ascribing that which he does not understand to the gods’ will at work, man avoids facing up to his own lack of knowledge in a given area, and also draws comfort from assuming that the universe does indeed function under the guidance of divine beings.  Thus the explanatory accounts that man crafts enhance his own security, quelling the fear of chaos that

When learning of witchcraft in the seventeenth century, it is important to understand the faith at the time. Knowing the what the people, at the time,

For my ethnography paper, I analyzed Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America by Sabina Magliocco. This book is part of a series among other ethnography books. Witching Culture is an ethnography about a religious movement in North America. This religious movement is Neo-Paganism and witchcraft, which are basically the same thing. In the book, Magliocco describes how anthropology and folklore are important aspects to the religious movement. She explores the different practices and beliefs of modern Pagans, as well as witches. There were three major themes that stood out to me the most. These themes were the nature of religion, the nature of the religious world, and the types of authority in the book.

2. Why did the defense attorneys for Lila Jimerson and Nancy Bowen, defendants in the 1930 Buffalo, NY murder trials of Clothilde Marchand, use witchcraft as part of their legal strategy to keep their clients from being executed in New York state for Second degree murder? How did these attorneys demonstrate that Henri Marchand, husband of the deceased Mrs. Clothilde Marchand, was involved in this ‘witchcraft scenario’ though he strenuously denied it during the trials? Include material from “The Red Lilac of the Cayugas: Traditional Indian Laws and Culture Conflict in a Witchcraft Trial in Buffalo, New York, 1930” by Sidney Harring in Spellbound, edited by Elizabeth Reis in your essay.

In all of human history, people have written about inhuman beings, many of which include gods, demons, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, and witches. Nowadays mystical beings are seen everywhere in media. Most of society stopped believing in these creatures years ago, but for 17th-century Salem, witchcraft became a living nightmare (Fremon, 1999).

Act of oblivion “Women and Explanations for European Witchcraft Beliefs in the 16th and 17th Century.” (2003)

Humans want an explanation for everything that happens in the world around them and will look long and hard till the get one, but if one cannot find the answer one will simply make one up to fit personal needs. “ with the basis detecting patterns , someone who is inclined to supernatural beliefs has ample opportunity to see evidence foe significant chains of events where there is none” (Hood25).Humans do this with the concept of love, they search for different experiences and stories they have heard or felt in the past to justify the divine power that love has, but in reality it is just falling into what Daniel Kahneman states in his book Thinking Fast and Slow as conformation basis: the operation of associative memory contribute to generation… a deliberate search for confirming evidence (80). Being illiterate to the science of the world means humans will fall too easily to the awe factor of the brain,it makes life more interesting. Having this idea of love in the world gives humans a sense of hope in something and that love is the magic of this

The author did not change my mind about supernatural creatures and witchcraft though. Supernatural creatures and witchcraft is something that I wouldn’t think is believable so the fact that these people went through extreme measures to stop witchcraft is surprising to me. It seemed like the hunters did everything in their power to stop the spread of witchcraft like if it were a virus. It also surprises me that they believe that Satan is walking among us and you can trade your soul for money, power, or even revenge. If that were true then I’m certain that you would be hearing about It daily. I think that witchcraft was all in their head and when the two girls said they were getting “bitten and pinched”, I think they were just coming down with some sort of sickness that no one has experienced yet. People back then took things to the next level without really thinking about what could really be

The modern film The Witch by Robert Eggers is set in the 1630’s in New England and follows a Puritan family in their struggles against witches and witchcraft after being banished from the Commonwealth. The story depicts the fears of witches and witchcraft from a Puritan perspective while drawing on portrayals from the Pagan and Christian tradition of the witch to reinforce this image. The Witch uses Pagan, Christian and Puritan concepts of witches and witchcraft to establish an superstitious atmosphere filled with fear, uncertainty and paranoia; this effect aims to represent a similar psychological state of mind the Puritans had towards witches during the Salem witch crisis. Firstly, the elements The Witch uses to develop this atmosphere are images of common witch familiars and animals that have been attributed to them throughout history. Secondly, witchcraft that have been believed to be performed by witches as well as their association with the devil establishes a sense of superstition. Finally, the personality and physical traits of the witch’s character is used to enhance the fearful atmosphere throughout the film. Appearances of animals and familiars associated with witches occur throughout the film and gives a foreboding sense of what is to come.

I believe we find that appropriate explanation is lost to those who have become

Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Over many years, people have been inquisitive about abnormal behaviours within their societies and beyond. A typical question pertaining to these behaviours is, “why is he behaving this way.” According to DSM-IV-TR, abnormal behaviour is defined as a person who experiences behavioural, cognitive or emotional dysfunction, associated with distress and atypical in his cultural context (Barlow, Durand, 2009). However, the quest for answers and remedies has drifted people from scientific models to traditional ones. One of such models is supernatural.

I don’t know about you, but for me so far, all of our author’s attempts to get an explanation about what witchcraft is has failed. We know that witchcraft is the cause of misfortunes and personal injury sustained by the Azande people through what they believe to be no fault of their own, but I think we have yet to have any understanding of what causes witchcraft itself. Where does it come from, who causes it, and is it in any way like a sort of karma believed to be punishment for bad deeds like in eastern philosophies? I think we need to take a deeper look into witchcraft and what the Azande people are actually talking about, because from what I’ve gathered so far, the Azande believe that witchcraft is an unexplained phenomena of independent events that in no way should have had any reason to take place simultaneously