Witchcraft And Religion

One of the many old belief systems is witchcraft and sorcery. It is often believed that

Furthermore, Witches were commonplace all over the world with different stigmas and stereotypes attached to them from each respectful culture that contained them (Girard, 1986). It was not until the rise of the Catholic Church that witches soon became associated with black magic and the Devil, leading to mass prosecutions. In the Middle Ages there was a popular belief that demons walked the Earth, leaving disease and devastation in their wake. The church, feeling threatened by the ideologies of Witchcraft, decided to link the old Pagan religion with that of Satanism (Levack, 1987). By doing so, they were able to gather favor from the masses by taking advantage of the fear of the Devil by the public and using it to prosecute those who

She accuses multiple people of witchcraft and even states how she was forced to dance "for the Devil...[see] him... and [kiss] his hand" (88) to protect herself.

In “The Wonders of the Invisible World,” Cotton Mather states that one form of witch craft was satanic practicing. “… yet many of the persons represented, being examined, several of them have been convicted of a very damnable witchcraft: yea, more than one [and] twenty have confessed, that they have signed unto a book, which the devil showed them, and engaged in his hellish

In a discourse from On Witchcraft, Mather defines witchcraft and shows how the Bible supports the existence of witchcraft as valid. According to Mather, witchcraft is "the doing of strange (and for the most part ill) things by the help of evil

Witchcraft was defined for the masses by the publication of the Malleus Maleficarium also known simply as the Handbook. Written by two Dominican friars in 1486 it’s purpose was to be used as a handbook to identify, capture, torture, and execute suspected witches. Opinions stated as facts and written in the Malleus Maleficarium, “handbook”, were based their faith, church doctrine, and the Bible. No doubt a religious masterpiece in it’s time this handbook is a neatly woven together a group of beliefs, experiences, wisdom of ancient writers, religious ideas, and God inspired writings that justify it’s purpose. Written by and used by Catholics this handbook proved useful for Protestants as well. Based on biblical interpretation and ideas the handbook provided Protestant Church leaders biblical authority to prosecute witchcraft as well. Translated into today’s vernacular phrases such as, “everybody knows that women are feeble minded” or “everybody knows that women are more superstitious than men” and “all women have slippery tongues” are included in the handbook and presented to the reader as foregone conclusions. Specific

Witchcraft to the Puritan people is seen as becoming close to the devil in exchange for certain powers to do evil. ( “The Events and Causes of the Salem Witch Trials”) Puritans got their belief of witchcraft from the bible. The Leviticus 19:31 says" Do not turn to mediums or seek out spirits, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God." (“Bible Verses About Witchcraft”). 2 Chronicles 33:6 says "He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practised divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and

It is difficult to pin point when and where witchcraft originated, but there are multiple claims that it has been around since 500B.C and is said to have been in Europe. Attitudes towards this ‘magic’ changes depending on era and area, but in ancient Egypt where some of the earliest examples originated, magic was something that only gods and kings possessed, therefore civilians had a great respect for the practice. This is different to early modern Europe. Christianity was a large part of their society and witchcraft was often seen as ‘the devil’s work’ thus meaning those who practiced witchcraft were ‘Satanists.’

Witchcraft wasn't new to the world, it had been occurring in Europe for hundreds of years. From the 14th-16th century, 40,000- 50,000 individuals in Europe were executed for the suspicion of witchcraft. Religion was very pertinent to the people of this era. Anything that was written in the bible or created by the church was law, it says in Exodus 22:18, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." By the year of 1231, Pope Gregory IX declared that it was legal to expose and punish any belief different from Roman Catholic doctrine. Pope Innocent the VIII deemed witchcraft a heresy, with the punishment being death. Everyone followed this decree as witchcraft was wrongful in the eyes of the church. ("Search")

Society was intolerable of witchcraft in any way, although a multitude of people acknowledged it as logic and a way of life. If someone contradicted with what was ordinarily accepted, they were said to be associated with the devil. The devil’s assistance was always available to those who were willing to pay a price. The dissemination of witchcraft in England was affected by the production inflation of Bibles which incorporated knowledge about witchcraft, the need for someone to hold accountable for plagues and disasters, and having access to medicines and herbs with techniques that have been passed down through generations.

When the group of girls were acting strange and got accused of being witches, everyone started pointing fingers. There was the paranoia that any person could be a part of a conspiracy that was created by the devil caused false accusations to be spread around. This paranoia was used to make false accusations on many innocent citizens because people were trying not to take the focus away from themselves. There was research that was done on those that were accused and what it showed was that most of the accusations were against middle-age women who had few or no children and were widowed. The accused witches “were of low social position, and because of some domestic conflicts, they were accused of other crimes and were considered abrasive” (Brinkley, 86). by other people around them. Once a person was accused of being under the influence of the devil, which is a big offence, they would start to be treated differently from the rest. It wasn’t the actual presence of Satan that caused this chaos, but the anxiety and fear of him that did.

Witchcraft has origins within the bible, where it states that they "shall surely be put to death."5 Those Christians involved in the witch-hunt "believed that God had an enemy called the Devil, who was very powerful. They believed that witches made a pact or agreement with the Devil and agreed to worship and serve him."4 The practices that

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

Based upon Augustine and Aquinas, Kramer gives a conventional description of the crime of witchcraft: “witches could not themselves harm anyone through magic, but their abilities derived from a contract with a demon, which in turn was empowered by God” (Behringer 720). Although the premise of the contract is not discussed in detail, there is the explicit pact, which may be the literal signing of a contract and specific subjugation to the devil and the implicit pact, which is carried out whenever magic is practiced. By selling ones soul, one comes under the control of the devil, who is consequently under the control of God. Even though still under God’s ultimate control, allegiance to the devil is very much the opposite of allegiance to God.

Witchcraft and Satanism. Two things that are different, yet some people say they are basically the same thing. Witchcraft and Satanism are two beliefs that do share some qualities, but they are more far detailed in their own unique, scary ways. To start, the definition of Witchcraft is the belief or use of magic and sorcery (Merriam, 1), and Satanism is the ideological belief and worship of Satan, which is categorized by people who are against the Christian community (Merriam, 1). Now moving onto to the history of witchcraft and Satanism.