Witchcraft Research Paper

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

Salem Witch Trials- Salem Witch Trials are a series of persecutions and hearings for people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. These trials resulted in the execution of 20 people. There was one huge hearing in 1692 in Salem town. This trial resulted in 19 executed, and 8 condemned.

Nineteen people were hung, four people died in jail, and one man was pressed to death during the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692. (Document A) Because of actors and attention seekers, neighbor conflicts, and gender, marital status, and age, many people were executed. (video notes) The Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692 was a tragic period of time when many innocent people lost their lives and people lived in fear. (video notes) In England, Pope Innocent VIII had declared heresy to witchcraft. (video notes) Since then, witch hunts had been held for over 300 years. (video notes) During this time, around 40,000-50,000 people were executed due to witchcraft accusations. (video notes) The most tragedies happened in the small community of Salem. (video notes) This was known as the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692. (video notes) So what caused these innocent people to die?

Witchcraft is a term which sprouts many different meanings. As stated above, it is attributed to witches. But what is a witch? Probably an evil haggish-like women who has signed a pact with the devil if we think of it in the English sense. So witchcraft must be evil doings; putting curses on people to make their life miserable, using wicked spells to transform humans to frogs etc. But does this hold true to everyone's idea of what witchcraft is.People's believes on the subject of witchcraft might differ between different cultures.

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.’

Most modern concepts are much more used to the idea that Witchcraft is focused on learning how to be a witch with the more advanced users learning spells for love and other magic spells that are satanic and evil in nature. Thanks to popular television and movie shows, Wicca has become synonymous to Witchcraft, most of the time exchanging the two ideas. Fact is, Witchcraft is but a mere part of the Wiccan religion, and it is a religious belief that focuses on the understanding of an individual regarding earth and nature which affirms and recognizes the divinity in all living things. It basically teaches individuals that while external forces matter, it does not constitute to our own being and therefore is not to be blamed for anything that is happening to us individually. It teaches responsibility for our actions, therefore ensuring a harmonious balance between the earth and

Witchcraft is the use of magical powers. Witchcraft is often regarded as “black” magic. The article called “The Salem Witch Trials: 1692-1693” states that “[s]ince the early fifteenth century, so-called witch panics had periodically swept across Europe, causing witch hunts, accusations, trials and executions” (“Salem” 1). Although some children and males were accused, the greater part of the arraigned individuals were female (“Salem” 1). A debatable amount of around forty thousand individuals were implicated and executed as witches between fourteen hundred and seventeen hundred and fifty (“Salem” 1). Although the causes of the witchcraft hysteria are debatable, there are three widespread and favored explanations for the hysteria within

Nineteen were hung, one was pressed and tortured to death, hundreds were imprisoned, and five had died while waiting to be trialed in prison. They were just a victim of being someone’s personal vendetta. The witch trials were revolved around a group of women that were said to of witnessed witchcraft. These young women were thirsting after their enemies to get the type of justice they thought to believe was reasonable for things certain people had done in the past that enraged them. Witch hunts like these root back far, all the way back to New England. During the 17th century europe was swarmed with accusations of

Idea of witches date back to the Renaissance and the period in history known as the witch craze.

High numbers of executions for crimes of witchcraft in Europe primarily took place over 160 years, from 1500 up through 1660 and finally ending in about the 1680s. During this period in time, England reached a total of 1,000 executions for crimes of witchcraft. This is a significantly lower number than the 26,000 deaths in Germany and the 10,000 deaths in France at this time. The English legal system helped to significantly lower the number of executions for the crime of witchcraft in England over the 160 year period known as the witch craze.

Flaming sermons, bewitched girls, accusations being thrown here and there, and executions terrified colonists during the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials are well known, but they are not the first in America and are very small compared to other witch hunts. In 1648 Margaret Jones was hanged for witchcraft in Massachusetts (Brooks). In Europe 110,000 people were questioned during the 1300s to the 1700s, and 40,000 to 60,000 people were executed (New World Encyclopedia).

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

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

Tyagi stated on his website on witchcraft that up to 90% of the people executed probably were not witches. They were innocents who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, or have some abnormal traits or habits, or even just being the wrong person could be a sufficient reason. It was not until after the Salem witch trials that people really started to see how foolish the entire witch-hunt was. By then, the entire witchcraft population had been either killed or scared off by the hunters.

When something bad happens, people hardly ask how it occurred but who did it. It is believed that every misfortune is caused by humans or spirits. There might be exceptions when it comes to global catastrophes, but personal or family problems are always caused by someone. If the individual or the clan cannot find personal faults that would justify a correction from the ancestors, witchcraft is suspected. The offender is someone known because these powers do not function anonymously. There has to be contact between the witch and the victim.