Witchcraft Research Paper

A few centuries ago in Europe, the fear of witchcraft led to witch hunts and executions. These occurred mostly in France, Germany, northern Italy, and Switzerland. “Tens of thousands of people in Europe and European colonies died,” and “millions of others suffered from torture, arrest, interrogation, hate, guilt, or fear,”. It is estimated that the early modern witch trials claimed the lives of nine million Europeans, 80% of whom were women which led early feminists such as Margaret Murray, Mary Daly and Barbara Ehrenreich, among others, to wonder: “Was the witch-hunt an intentional woman-hunt”. Back then, women were accused of being witches since Accusations of witchcraft required no evidence of guilt. The trials were “intended only to produce

It is important to understand the meaning of witchcraft to be able to identify what caused the massive witch-hunt in Europe. During the medieval to the early modern period witchcraft was identified as the practice of harmful, black or maleficent magic caused by a witch (Levack, 1987, p. 4). They also describe them as evildoers that associate with the Devil, kidnap children, and murder others. These accusations were untrue rumors made by the Catholic Church to promote Christianity and punish those who did not follow the church beliefs. (Levack, 1987, p. 7)

Hunting for witches has been going on for more than four centuries (from the 14th to the 17th century) and was a deeply rooted social phenomenon. It was born in feudalism and lasted until the "age of reason". It took different forms at different times and places, but never lost the essential character of the terrorist campaign of the ruling class against the female population. The witches were perceived as a political, religious and sexual threat to both Protestant and Catholic churches, and to the

The author’s purpose in writing this article was to inform the reader of the rise and decline of witch prosecutions, along with their lasting effects on the society. The author’s central argument is that historians do not usually focus on

During the late fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, thousands of individuals were persecuted as witches. It was thought that these individuals practiced black magic and performed evil deeds, the deeds of the devil. This all happened during a time of great change in Europe, during the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the consolidation of national governments. They were persecuted for a variety of reasons, but three major ones were religious reasons, social prejudices, and the economic greed of the people. Religious leaders such as Martin Luther and John Calvin influenced the ideas of their followers. Religion dominated the time period and it’s easy to see how many opinions

There are countless different assumptions about witches. The majority of individuals in the sixteenth and seventeenth century presumed that God and Satan were real (Lambert 1). They also assumed that “witches” were in allegiance with Satan and made a vow to bow down and serve him (Lambert 1). Furthermore, another common belief was

Were the witch-hunts in pre-modern Europe misogynistic? Anne Llewellyn Barstow seems to think so in her article, “On Studying Witchcraft as Women’s History: A Historiography of the European Witch Persecutions”. On the contrary, Robin Briggs disagrees that witch-hunts were not solely based on hatred for women as stated in his article, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community”. The witch craze that once rapidly swept through Europe may have been because of misconstrued circumstances. The evaluation of European witch-hunts serves as an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue of misogyny.

The evidence of witchcraft and related works has been around for many centuries. Gradually, though, a mixture a religious, economical, and political reasons instigated different periods of fear and uncertainty among society. Witchcraft was thought of as a connection to the devil that made the victim do evil and strange deeds. (Sutter par. 1) In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth century, the hysteria over certain causes resulted in prosecution in the Salem Witch Trials, European Witchcraft Craze, and the McCarthy hearings. These three events all used uncertain and unjustly accusations to attack the accused.

There has been a plethora of research conducted that supports the notion that witch-craft trials occurred in Scotland primarily during the 16th and 17th centuries in England and Scotland and had an impact on the way people chose to live their lives during this time period. Witches were seen as people who had turned their backs on God and Christianity and entered a pact with the Devil. Due to this belief, people were quick to prosecute potentially witches to keep the community safe. Furthermore, there were many different elements of life that had an impact on witch-craft trials and their outcomes, such as the state/national government, local officials and arguably most importantly, the church. Specifically during the Civil War we saw an increase

The term witchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that “witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society and with women themselves”. Witchcraft also confronts us too with violence against women. Even through some men were executed as witches during the witch hunts, the numbers were far less then women. Witches were generally thought to be

Witch hunts blazed across Europe over the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries not just killing innumerable innocent people, but stripping women of much of the power they had once held, and changing society's perceptions of women all together. The economic hardships, religious rivalries, and troubled politics of the time made accusing your neighbors of witchcraft convenient. Where there was war and poverty, or merely bad luck, peasants would assume witchcraft and rush to blame an old, defenseless woman in trials which involved unbelievable cruelty and horrible sadism. As religion and the Catholic Church began to complement and perpetuate the increasing hysteria, European society as a whole could do nothing but

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

"I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!" The Wicked Witch of the West...

Many of us move to Witchcraft from some type of Judeo-Christian history. It was the Us vs. Them attitude that a lot of Christians have. Those Christians think that you are either with them, or you are just wrong.

Wiccan practices and witch practices also differ in regard to what they value. Wiccans worship their gods and goddesses through rituals. Priests and priestesses speak as the gods and goddesses dressed in masks to equally represent sexuality to create wholeness. The purpose of the masks is to “present metaphors for understanding the nature of the cosmos and our proper relationship to it” (Scarboro, Campbell, Stave 44). Since the deities are perceived as being superior, worshipping them through ritual serves as a way to become closer to them. During rituals, Wiccans also impersonate their gods and goddesses, but there are guidelines as to who can impersonate. “A woman may impersonate either the God or the Goddess, but a man may only impersonate the God” (Gardner). The impersonation reflects their belief that by speaking as the god or goddess, they are acknowledging the divinity of the deities and are striving to live by their tellings. However, in witchcraft, deities are seen as characters and as aspects of nature; therefore, witches do not have priests or priestesses to speak as the gods or goddesses. Instead, “Witches choose a ‘Craft name,’ usually that of a mythological figure but sometimes one from literature, or nature, or one they create themselves, by which they are known in the coven” (Scarboro, Campbell, Stave 45). Since witches choose a craft name, they do not value gods and goddesses as highly as Wiccans do because instead of speaking on behalf of the deities, they