The Influence Of Family: Witchcraft In Ecuador

and Mrs. Moss. As soon as Ashley got to their foster home, I was overcome by apprehension. The tone that Ashley used was quite compelling into making me believe that she truly was in danger. The way that Ashley had described Mrs. Moss clenching her teeth while talking to Ashley right when they had met one another and calling her Miss Smarty instead of calling her by Ashley. I also didn’t understand why Mrs. Moss had thrown most of Ashley’s possessions into a shed and locking it, never giving it to Ashley for as long as Ashley had been living with Mrs. Moss. While i went on reading the rest of this paragraph, I soon realized why the chapter had been titles The Wicked Witch, explaining Mrs. Moss truly was that. At one point on page 68, Ashley is fed rotten milk with lucky charms. She is disgusted by this and runs to the bathroom to throw it up. Missing the toilet she hits the carpet. “You’ve ruined the carpet!” Mrs. Moss screeches, and grips ahold of Ashley's hair and pushes her face into her own throw up, instead of having Ashley clean it up as soon as it has happened. Another incident was on page 73, when Ashley is forced to run 25 laps around the front yard of the Moss' house because she goes over to the boys side of the yard. When Ashley trips, Mrs. Moss yells, “get up Ashley!” Ashley replied with “I can’t! I hurt myself.” Mrs. Moss then gripped a chunk of Ashley's hair and jerked Ashley towards herself. Getting pulled inside, Ashley is received a greater and more arduous punishment of squatting for 20 minutes. When Ashley could not hold herself up and rests her fingertips on the ground to stay at balance, Mrs. Moss grabs a slotted spoon from a crockery pot and began pummeling Ashley’s butt, creating imprints on her. causing her to bite onto her cheek, drawing blood. Ashley is then sent to her room without any food for the

There are countless reports throughout history of occurrences where society feared one another, but rarely were there occurrences where society felt feared and confident of one another. There was once a society that feared accusation, but trusted their struggles would disappear with the help of another. Witchcraft was the incredible yet terrifying thing that was responsible for this great uproar in some societies. According to the text Identity, Race and Power, witchcraft is a belief system that serves as a method of social control by directing anger towards others (Miller et al. 2013:214).. Throughout history the individuals with political power would use witchcraft as an excuse to maintain order throughout a given society. Looking at particular societies in Malta and South Africa this paper seeks to provide evidence as to how witchcraft operates to maintain a sense of “order”.

The purpose of this book was to examine the history and social life of Salem Village to try to figure out what was the cause of the events that occurred there. I believe that the authors achieved their objective at least they did to me. Boyer and Nissenbaum's explanation for the outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Salem hinges on an understanding of the economic,

Witchcraft is a religion. Wicca is one type of Witchcraft, but the term "Wicca" is occasionally applied to Witchcraft in overall. In the United States, most people who practice this religion call themselves Witches or Wiccans. It is an earth-based religion and in some ways is similar to Native American spirituality. Wicca (sometimes called Wicce, The Craft, or The Old Religion) is based on an ancient religion of love for life and nature. The religion of Witchcraft or Wicca is recognized by most state governments, the federal government, and the United States Armed Forces. The courts have recognized the right of even prisoners to practice this religion on an equal basis with other religions. In ancient times, people appreciated the great forces of Nature and celebrated the seasons’ cycles and the moon. They saw spirituality in the sun and moon and in the Earth Herself. Basically, in all life.

In Rosalyn Schanzer book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem a story is told about a time when Salem, Massachusetts was flooded with witchcraft accusations. In 1692 Betty Parris and Abigail Williams started having mysterious fits. After a doctor examined the girls he diagnosed them with being bewitched! The people started a hunt for all witches in the new land. The first cause are the accusations, the second cause, the fits and the third cause is anger.

Those who claimed to know the future and weren’t prophets were convicted of blasphemy and witchcraft and were punished. It was considered witchcraft because fortune-telling required a direct relationship between a human or witch and unholy spiritual powers. During the Middle Ages, witchcraft in ecclesiastic or church courts was presided over by church-appointed officials. This may have caused biased opinions and also links to religion being a cause of the harsh punishment. In medieval judicial proceedings, torture was sometimes used as a means of extracting information concerning witchcraft, and confessions were not uncommon. Historical evidence states that many confessed out of fear of being tortured and not because they were truly guilty.

During the 1600’s there were many opinions and lifestyle changes because of witches, this time period is slightly before and during the Salem Witch Trials. In any group of people with large numbers, there are always going to be outcast, whether it’s just a birthmark or a personality tweak. That’s just life. Well in the 1600’s if you were born with red hair and freckles and both ur parents were brunette and brown eyes, then you were considered and outcast and possibly even referred to as a witch. If you were socially awkward in any way or any kind of a social outcast then you would fall into the category of a witchcraft person. If accused of being a with many things were possible to happen, killed banished. Neither are very good alternatives but it is a choice. Most people think of a witch as an older women with a huge wart, tall black hat, and riding on a broom. However this is not

The notion of witchcraft has been around long before the witch trials in Early Modern Europe. Different cultures have different images and stereotypes on what a witch is and what “magical” abilities he or she may possess. Many people however, did not look at these “magical” men and women as bad until the Holy Roman Empire began to look negatively on those people who were different, and opposed the norm set by the elites. Driven by fear, those living under the control of the Holy Roman Empire would began to blame other people for diabolical actions, or malicious activities. Women and some men, were tortured and tested in cruel ways in attempt of finding evidence or gaining a confession that the accused was a witch. Laws about how which were persecuted

“For us it is not lawful to introduce any doctrine of our own choosing, neither may we choose some doctrine which someone else has introduced by his own choice.” (Peters, 1980, p. 30). As early as the second century CE, Christian writers, such as Tertullian (ca. 160 – ca. 200 CE), began defining what it was to be a heretic and what heresy could lead to (Peters, 1980, p. 29). Medieval churchmen believed there was much to fear from heresy, but the practice of witchcraft was especially troubling, as their greatest fears of heresy could be summoned by means of magic.

Reginald Scot explores the common perceptions towards witches in the late sixteenth century, which he claims they were commonly old, lame, full of wrinkles, poor (Levack 2004: ?), although not necessarily solitary (Larner 1984: 72). Scot claims that their appearance often caused alarm among many in the community and caused the neighbours to find truth in witches utterings. One could argue women were often ascribed with such stereotypes, for they were both physically and politically weakened, and were unable to distance themselves from accusations (levack 1984: 127). It is apparent the oppression of these women could represent an attempt to maintain hegemony in a patriarchal society in the late sixteenth century. Coincidentally, most women accused of sorcery often lived out of the constraints of male authority, where they would live alone, perhaps for the rest of her life.

A group of young girls started to accuse several women of participating in witchcraft, or even worse that they were being possessed by the devil. But this is only an effect of where it all truly began, when these girls mentioned before, whose names were Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams, started to display strange behavior which consisted of them making odd sounds abnormal screams, and contorting their bodies or in some cases throwing objects. After this occurrence both girls started to claim that an invisible being was scratching and biting them. After them many young girls started to act similarly. This event unleashed a series of merciless and callous trials, which claimed where for the hunting down of the malicious beings that corrupted their community. Most of the people accused, declared themselves as not guilty, and pleaded their innocence till their death, which was in fact a cause of such harsh

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

Witchcraft exists. Whether we choose to believe or not, its existence in worldwide cultures is undeniable. Its form takes many shapes that can be determined by the religion, economics, politics, and folk beliefs in each individual culture where it may take place. Its importance in our own, American, history should not go understated: Witches were a major dilemma for people who lived in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, and as a result women (and men) were hanged due to undeniable belief in the power of Witchcraft. Today, belief in magic and witches has diminished with the increasingly secular nature of our culture, but we must accept there was a time when witches “existed”. While American culture has drifted away from ideas such as witchcraft, others have certainly not, with the primary example being Africa. Witchcraft in African culture accounts for many of the issues found within many of the continents communities. Correcting these issues, at least for a time, usually results in a community being “fixed” (examples are made in Adam Ashford’s account of witchery, Madumo, a Man Bewitched and the anthropological accounts being used for this essay). What is fascinating; however, are the parallels that can be made between witchcraft in different cultures. In a previous essay I touched on this topic by incorporating my definition of witchcraft as “a cultural means of being able to create particular moral boundaries by means of ‘magic’ thinking” (Brian Riddle, 2015). In this essay, I

The witchcraft crisis through colonial New England is visualized through the work of Mary Beth Norton and Carol F. Karlsen. The scholars demonstrate deep understanding in the subject, and both present valid information through their overall theses. In order to understand the complete story of witchery in the seventeenth-century, these two books intrigue the reader in what the authors want to present. Although, their research seems bias, both historians similarly delve into the topic with an open mind, and successfully uncover information that has not be presented before. Not only does Norton’s In the Devil’s Snare and Karlsen’s The Devil in the Shape of a Woman both represent the study of witchcraft through feminist ideals, Karlsen’s

During the seventeenth-century of New England many Puritans had the mindset of believing in super natural behaviors, which were unexplainable by natural law or phenomena, such as witchcraft. Witchcraft can be defined by the use of sorcery or magic to communicate with the devil. Because witchcraft accusations were so dangerous in their society, it was punishable by death, although hard to convict on such little physical evidence. Witches in New England were hanged from either scaffolds or trees. The Puritans attitudes and assessments of witchcraft were rational, although various groups of New Englanders viewed witchcraft differently.