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Witchcraft, as most commonly understood in both historical and present-day communities, is the use of alleged supernatural powers of magic. A witch (from Old English wicce f. / wicca m.) is a practitioner of witchcraft. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic or supernatural powers to inflict harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. Yet this stereotype has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world." The belief in witchcraft has been found in a great number of societies worldwide. Anthropologists have applied the English term "witchcraft" to similar beliefs in occult practices in many different cultures, and societies that have adopted the English language have often internalised the term.

In medieval and early modern Europe, where belief in witchcraft traces back to classical antiquity, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used black magic (maleficium) against their own community, and often to have communed with evil beings, though British anthropologist Jean La Fontaine notes that the "stereotype of evil appears not to have been closely connected to the actions of real people except when it was mobilised against the current enemies of the Church." Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by their neighbors and followed from social tensions. It was thought witchcraft could be thwarted by protective magic or counter-magic, which could be provided by the 'cunning folk' or 'wise people'. Suspected witches were also intimidated, banished, attacked or killed. Often they would be formally prosecuted and punished, if found guilty or simply believed to be guilty. European witch-hunts and witch trials in the early modern period led to tens of thousands of executions. While magical healers and midwives were sometimes accused of witchcraft themselves, they made up a minority of those accused. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment.

Many indigenous belief systems that include the concept of witchcraft likewise define witches as malevolent, and seek healers and medicine people for protection against witchcraft. Some African and Melanesian peoples believe witches are driven by an evil spirit or substance inside them. Modern witch-hunting takes place in parts of Africa and Asia. Some indigenous groups view witchcraft in other ways, including as a method of preserving cultural knowledge.

Today, followers of certain types of modern paganism self-identify as witches and use the term witchcraft for their beliefs and practices. Other neo-pagans avoid the term due to its negative connotations.

Concept

The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have persisted throughout recorded history. According to the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions's 2009 Report there is "difficulty of defining ‘witches’ and ‘witchcraft’ across cultures - terms that, quite apart from their connotations in popular culture, may include an array of traditional or faith healing practices and are not easily defined."

One of the most definitive and influential works on witchcraft and concepts of magic was E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande, a study of Azande witchcraft beliefs published in 1937. This work provided definitions for witchcraft which remain the accepted convention in anthropology into the 21st century. Concepts of malevolent magic similar to those he describes have been found among cultures worldwide, regardless of development. Most societies have believed in, and feared, an ability by some individuals to cause supernatural harm and misfortune to others. This may come from mankind's tendency "to want to assign occurrences of remarkable good or bad luck to agency, either human or superhuman". Structural functionalist historians and anthropologists see the concept of "witchcraft" as one of the ways humans have tried to explain strange misfortune. Some cultures have feared witchcraft much less than others, because they tend to have other explanations for strange misfortune; for example that it was caused by gods, spirits, demons or fairies, or by other humans who have unwittingly cast the evil eye. For example, the Gaels of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands historically held a strong belief in fairy folk, who could cause supernatural harm, and witch-hunting was very rare in these regions compared to other regions of the British Isles.

Historian Ronald Hutton stated that the most common usage of the word "witchcraft" means somebody who works destructive magic. He then outlined five key characteristics ascribed to witches and witchcraft by most cultures that believe in this concept - the use of magic to cause harm or misfortune to others; it was used by the witch against their own community; powers of witchcraft were believed to have been acquired through inheritance or initiation; it was seen as immoral and often thought to involve communion with evil beings; and witchcraft could be thwarted by defensive magic, persuasion, intimidation or physical punishment of the alleged witch.

However, the universal or cross-cultural validity of these descriptions are subject to debate. Hutton continues:

is, however, only one current usage of the word. In fact, Anglo-American senses of it now take at least four different forms, although the one discussed above seems still to be the most widespread and frequent. The others define the witch figure as any person who uses magic ... or as the practitioner of nature-based Pagan religion; or as a symbol of independent female authority and resistance to male domination. All have validity in the present, and to call anybody wrong for using any one of them would be to reveal oneself as bereft of general knowledge, as well as scholarship.

Dr. Fiona Bowie notes that the terms "witchcraft" and "witch" are used differently by scholars and the general public in at least four different ways that must be treated separately. Neopagan writer Isaac Bonewits proposed dividing witches into even more distinct types including, but not limited to: Neopagan, Feminist, Neogothic, Neoclassical, Classical, Family Traditions, Immigrant Traditions, Ethnic.

Evans-Pritchard reserved the term "witchcraft" for the actions of those who inflict harm by their inborn power, and used "sorcery" for those who needed tools to do so. Historians found these definitions difficult to apply to European witchcraft, where witches were believed to use physical techniques, as well as some who were believed to cause harm by thought alone. This distinction "has now largely been abandoned, although some anthropologists still sometimes find it relevant to the particular societies with which they are concerned". It is commonly believed that witches use objects, words, and gestures to use their powers, or that they simply have an innate ability to do so. Hutton notes that both kinds of practitioners are often believed to exist in the same culture and that the two often overlap, in that someone with an inborn power could wield that power through material objects. While most cultures believe witchcraft to be something willful, some Indigenous peoples in Africa and Melanesia believe witches have a substance or an evil spirit in their bodies that grants them power which may act on its own while the witch is sleeping or unaware.

Many cultures worldwide continue to have a belief in the concept of "witchcraft" or malevolent magic. Witch-hunts, scapegoating, and the killing or shunning of suspected witches still occur. Beliefs about illness being caused by witchcraft continues to fuel suspicion of modern medicine, with serious healthcare consequences. HIV/AIDS and Ebola are two examples of often-lethal infectious disease epidemics whose medical care and containment has been severely hampered by regional beliefs in witchcraft. Other severe medical conditions whose treatment is hampered in this way include tuberculosis, leprosy, epilepsy and the common severe bacterial Buruli ulcer.

Etymology

The word is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce ('witch') and cræft ('craft'). The masculine form was wicca ('male sorcerer').

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, wicce and wicca were probably derived from the Old English verb wiccian, meaning 'to practice witchcraft'. Wiccian has a cognate in Middle Low German wicken (attested from the 13th century). The further etymology of this word is problematic. It has no clear cognates in other Germanic languages outside of English and Low German, and there are numerous possibilities for the Indo-European root from which it may have derived.

Another Old English word for 'witch' was hægtes or hægtesse, which became the modern English word "hag" and is linked to the word "hex". In most other Germanic languages, their word for 'witch' comes from the same root as these; for example German Hexe and Dutch heks.

In colloquial modern English, the word witch is generally used for women. A male practitioner of magic or witchcraft is more commonly called a 'wizard', or sometimes, 'warlock'. When the word witch is used to refer to a member of a neo-pagan tradition or religion (such as Wicca), it can refer to a person of any gender.

Claimed practices

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The historical and traditional definition of "witchcraft" is the use of black magic (maleficium) or supernatural powers to cause harm and misfortune to others. Where belief in harmful magic exists, it is typically forbidden by law as well as hated and feared by the general populace, while helpful magic is tolerated or even accepted wholesale by the people, even if the orthodox establishment opposes it.

Witches are commonly believed to cast curses; a spell or set of magical words and gestures intended to inflict supernatural harm. As well as repeating words and gestures, cursing could involve inscribing runes or sigils on an object to give that object magical powers; burning or binding a wax or clay image (a poppet) of a person to affect them magically; or using herbs, animal parts and other substances to make potions or poisons.

A common belief in cultures worldwide is that witches may use forms of sympathetic magic. They tend to use something from their target's body to work magic on them; for example hair, nail clippings, clothing, or bodily waste. Such beliefs are found in Europe, Africa, South Asia, Polynesia, Melanesia, and North America. Another widespread belief among Indigenous peoples in Africa and North America is that witches cause harm by introducing cursed magical objects into their victim's body; such as small bones or ashes.

In some cultures, malevolent witches are believed to use human body parts in magic, and they are commonly believed to murder children for this purpose. In Europe, "cases in which women did undoubtedly kill their children, because of what today would be called postpartum psychosis, were often interpreted as yielding to diabolical temptation".

Witches are believed to work in secret, sometimes alone and sometimes with other witches. Hutton writes: "Across most of the world, witches have been thought to gather at night, when normal humans are inactive, and also at their most vulnerable in sleep". In most cultures, witches at these gatherings are thought to transgress social norms by engaging in cannibalism, incest and open nudity.

Another widespread belief is that witches have a demonic helper or "familiar", often in animal form. Witches are also often thought to be able to shapeshift into animals themselves.

Witchcraft has been blamed for many kinds of misfortune. In Europe, by far the most common kind of harm attributed to witchcraft was illness or death suffered by adults, their children, or their animals. "Certain ailments, like impotence in men, infertility in women, and lack of milk in cows, were particularly associated with witchcraft". Illnesses that were poorly understood were more likely to be blamed on witchcraft. Edward Bever writes: "Witchcraft was particularly likely to be suspected when a disease came on unusually swiftly, lingered unusually long, could not be diagnosed clearly, or presented some other unusual symptoms".

Necromancy is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for divination or prophecy, although the term has also been applied to raising the dead for other purposes. The biblical Witch of Endor performed it (1 Samuel 28th chapter), and it is among the witchcraft practices condemned by Ælfric of Eynsham: "Witches still go to cross-roads and to heathen burials with their delusive magic and call to the devil; and he comes to them in the likeness of the man that is buried there, as if he arises from death."

Religious and legal perspectives

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Ancient Mesopotamian religion

According to Tzvi Abusch, the early stages of the development of witchcraft (ipšū or kišpū) in ancient Mesopotamia were "comparable to the archaic shamanistic stage of European witchcraft". In this early stage, witches were not necessarily considered evil, but took white and black forms and could help others using a combination of magical and medical knowledge. They generally lived in rural areas and sometimes exhibited ecstatic behavior, which was more usually associated with the ašipu (exorcist), whose main function at this stage of development was to battle non-human supernatural forces.

In ancient Mesopotamian religion, witches (m. kaššāpu, f. kaššāptu, from kašāpu ) eventually came to be "regarded as an anti-social and illegitimate practitioner of destructive magic ... whose activities were motivated by malice and evil intent and who was opposed by the ašipu, an exorcist or incantation-priest", who were predominantly male representatives of the official state religion. By the time of the Code of Hammurabi (about 2000 BC), the use of magic to harm others without justification was subject to legal repercussions:

If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcome him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If the holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him.

The ašipu, in their continued efforts to suppress witchcraft, developed an Akkadian anti-witchcraft ritual, the Maqlû, probably composed in the early first millennium BC.

Confucianism

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141 BCE to 87 BCE) in the Western Han Dynasty of China, there were instances where the imperial court took measures to suppress certain religious or spiritual practices, including those associated with shamanism. Emperor Wu was known for his strong support of Confucianism, which was the dominant ideology of the Han Dynasty, and he promoted policies that aimed to consolidate central authority and unify the cultural and social landscape of the empire.

One notable event related to the suppression of shamanism occurred in 91 BCE, when Emperor Wu issued an edict that banned a range of "heterodox" practices, including shamanistic rituals and divination, in favor of Confucianism. The primary target of these measures was the Wuism or Wu (巫) tradition, which involved the worship of spirits and the use of shamanic practices to communicate with them. Wuism was considered by the Confucian elite to be superstitious witchcraft and at odds with Confucian principles.

Emperor Wu's suppression of shamanism was part of a larger effort to centralize power, promote Confucian ethics, and standardize cultural practices. While the ban on shamanistic practices did impact certain communities and religious groups, these measures were not universally applied across the vast territory of the empire. Local variations and practices persisted in some regions despite imperial edicts.

The historical record from that time is limited, and our understanding of these events can be influenced by the perspectives of the Confucian scholars and officials who documented them. As a result, there might be some variations in the interpretation of the exact nature and extent of the expulsion of shamans and other religious practitioners during Emperor Wu's reign.

Abrahamic religions

Witchcraft's historical evolution in the Middle East reveals a multi-phase journey influenced by culture, spirituality, and societal norms. Ancient witchcraft in the Near East intertwined mysticism with nature through rituals and incantations aligned with local beliefs. In ancient Judaism, magic had a complex relationship, with some forms accepted due to mysticism while others were considered heretical. The medieval Middle East experienced shifting perceptions of witchcraft under Islamic and Christian influences, sometimes revered for healing and other times condemned as heresy.

Jewish

Jewish attitudes toward witchcraft were rooted in its association with idolatry and necromancy, and some rabbis even practiced certain forms of magic themselves. References to witchcraft in the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, highlighted strong condemnations rooted in the "abomination" of magical belief. Christianity similarly condemned witchcraft, considering it an abomination and even citing specific verses to justify witch-hunting during the early modern period.

Christian

Historically, the Christian concept of witchcraft derives from Old Testament laws against it. In medieval and early modern Europe, many Christians believed in magic. As opposed to the helpful magic of the cunning folk, witchcraft was seen as evil and associated with the Devil and Devil worship. This often resulted in deaths, torture and scapegoating (casting blame for misfortune), and many years of large scale witch-trials and witch hunts, especially in Protestant Europe, before largely ending during the Age of Enlightenment. Christian views in the modern day are diverse, ranging from intense belief and opposition (especially by Christian fundamentalists) to non-belief. During the Age of Colonialism, many cultures were exposed to the Western world via colonialism, usually accompanied by intensive Christian missionary activity (see Christianization). In these cultures, beliefs about witchcraft were partly influenced by the prevailing Western concepts of the time.

In Christianity, sorcery came to be associated with heresy and apostasy and to be viewed as evil. Among Catholics, Protestants, and the secular leadership of late medieval/early modern Europe, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch and sometimes led to large-scale witch-hunts. The fifteenth century saw a dramatic rise in awareness and terror of witchcraft. Tens of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women, though in some regions the majority were men. In Scots, the word warlock came to be used as the male equivalent of witch (which can be male or female, but is used predominantly for females).

The Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for 'Hammer of The Witches') was a witch-hunting manual written in 1486 by two German monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It was used by both Catholics and Protestants for several hundred years, outlining how to identify a witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. It became the handbook for secular courts throughout Europe, but was not used by the Inquisition, which even cautioned against relying on it. It was the most sold book in Europe for over 100 years, after the Bible.

Islamic

Islamic perspectives on magic encompass a wide range of practices, with belief in black magic and the evil eye coexisting alongside strict prohibitions against its practice. The Quran acknowledges the existence of magic and seeks protection from its harm. Islam's stance is against the practice of magic, considering it forbidden, and emphasizes divine miracles rather than magic or witchcraft. The historical continuity of witchcraft in the Middle East underlines the complex interaction between spiritual beliefs and societal norms across different cultures and epochs.

Ancient Roman world

During the pagan era of ancient Rome, there were laws against harmful magic. According to Pliny, the 5th century BC laws of the Twelve Tables laid down penalties for uttering harmful incantations and for stealing the fruitfulness of someone else's crops by magic. The only recorded trial involving this law was that of Gaius Furius Cresimus.

The Classical Latin word veneficium meant both poisoning and causing harm by magic (such as magic potions), although ancient people would not have distinguished between the two. In 331 BC, a deadly epidemic hit Rome and at least 170 women were executed for causing it by veneficium. In 184–180 BC, another epidemic hit Italy, and about 5,000 were executed for veneficium. If the reports are accurate, writes Hutton, "then the Republican Romans hunted witches on a scale unknown anywhere else in the ancient world".

Under the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis of 81 BC, killing by veneficium carried the death penalty. During the early Imperial era, the Lex Cornelia began to be used more broadly against other kinds of magic, including sacrifices made for evil purposes. The magicians were to be burnt at the stake.

Witch characters—women who work powerful evil magic—appear in ancient Roman literature from the first century BC onward. They are typically hags who chant harmful incantations; make poisonous potions from herbs and the body parts of animals and humans; sacrifice children; raise the dead; can control the natural world; can shapeshift themselves and others into animals; and invoke underworld deities and spirits. They include Lucan's Erichtho, Horace's Canidia, Ovid's Dipsas, and Apuleius's Meroe.

Modern paganism

During the 20th century, interest in witchcraft rose in English-speaking and European countries. From the 1920s, Margaret Murray popularized the 'witch-cult hypothesis': the idea that those persecuted as 'witches' in early modern Europe were followers of a benevolent pagan religion that had survived the Christianization of Europe. This has been discredited by further historical research.

From the 1930s, occult neopagan groups began to emerge who called their religion a kind of 'witchcraft'. They were initiatory secret societies inspired by Murray's 'witch cult' theory, ceremonial magic, Aleister Crowley's Thelema, and historical paganism. The biggest religious movement to emerge from this is Wicca. Today, some Wiccans and members of related traditions self-identify as "witches" and use the term "witchcraft" for their magico-religious beliefs and practices, primarily in Western anglophone countries.

Regional perspectives

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A 2022 study found that belief in witchcraft, as in the use of malevolent magic or powers, is still widespread in some parts of the world. It found that belief in witchcraft varied from 9% of people in some countries to 90% in others, and was linked to cultural and socioeconomic factors. Stronger belief in witchcraft correlated with poorer economic development, weak institutions, lower levels of education, lower life expectancy, lower life satisfaction, and high religiosity.

It contrasted two hypotheses about future changes in witchcraft belief:

• witchcraft beliefs should decline "in the process of development due to improved security and health, lower exposure to shocks, spread of education and scientific approach to explaining life events" according to standard modernization theory
• "some aspects of development, namely rising inequality, globalization, technological change, and migration, may instead revive witchcraft beliefs by disrupting established social order" according to literature largely inspired by observations from Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Prevalence of belief in witchcraft by country
• Socio-demographic correlates of witchcraft beliefs

In the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian state media claimed that Ukraine was using black magic against the Russian military, specifically accusing Oleksiy Arestovych of enlisting sorcerers and witches as well as Ukrainian soldiers of consecrating weapons "with blood magick".

Africa

African witchcraft encompasses various beliefs and practices. These beliefs often play a significant role in shaping social dynamics and can influence how communities address challenges and seek spiritual assistance. Much of what witchcraft represents in Africa has been susceptible to misunderstandings and confusion, thanks in no small part to a tendency among western scholars since the time of the now largely discredited Margaret Murray to approach the subject through a comparative lens vis-a-vis European witchcraft.

While some colonialists tried to eradicate witch hunting by introducing legislation to prohibit accusations of witchcraft, some of the countries where this was the case have formally recognized the existence of witchcraft via the law. This has produced an environment that encourages persecution of suspected witches.

In Cameroon among the Maka people, witchcraft is known as "djambe" and encompasses occult, transformative, killing, and healing aspects. In the Central African Republic, hundreds of people are convicted of witchcraft annually, with reports of violent acts against accused women. The Democratic Republic of the Congo witnessed a disturbing trend of child witchcraft accusations in Kinshasa, leading to abuse and exorcisms supervised by self-styled pastors. Ghana grapples with accusations against women, leading to the existence of witch camps where accused individuals can seek refuge, though the government plans to close them.

In Kenya, there have been reports of mobs burning people accused of witchcraft, reflecting the deep-seated beliefs in the supernatural. Malawi faces a similar issue of child witchcraft accusations, with traditional healers and some Christian counterparts involved in exorcisms, causing abandonment and abuse of children. In Nigeria, Pentecostal pastors have intertwined Christianity with witchcraft beliefs for profit, leading to the torture and killing of accused children. Sierra Leone's Mende people see witchcraft convictions as beneficial, as the accused receive support and care from the community.

Lastly, in Zulu culture, healers known as sangomas protect people from witchcraft and evil spirits through divination and ancestral connections. However, concerns arise regarding the training and authenticity of some sangomas.

Americas

North America

The views of witchcraft in North America have evolved through the interlinking history of views of witchcraft, influenced by a combination of indigenous beliefs, European colonial influences, and historical events. Indigenous communities such as the Cherokee, Hopi, and Navajo historically viewed witches as malevolent figures who could harm their communities, often resulting in severe punishments, including death. These communities also recognized the role of medicine people as healers and protectors against witches.

In colonial America and the United States, views of witchcraft were further shaped by European colonists. The infamous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, along with other witch hunts in places like Maryland and Pennsylvania, exemplified the fear and hysteria surrounding accusations of witchcraft. These trials led to the execution of numerous individuals accused of practicing witchcraft.

Despite changes in laws and perspectives over time, accusations of witchcraft persisted into the 19th century in some regions, such as Tennessee, where prosecutions occurred as late as 1833. These historical events, intertwined with indigenous beliefs, contribute to the complex and evolving views of witchcraft in North America. Today, North America hosts a diverse array of beliefs about witchcraft, including neopagan and Wiccan practices that emerged in the mid-20th century.

Latin America

When Franciscan friars from New Spain arrived in the Americas in 1524, they introduced Diabolism—belief in the Christian Devil—to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Bartolomé de las Casas believed that human sacrifice was not diabolic, in fact far off from it, and was a natural result of religious expression. Mexican Indians gladly took in the belief of Diabolism and still managed to keep their belief in creator-destroyer deities.

Witchcraft was an important part of the social and cultural history of late-Colonial Mexico, during the Mexican Inquisition. Spanish Inquisitors viewed witchcraft as a problem that could be cured simply through confession. Yet, as anthropologist Ruth Behar writes, witchcraft, not only in Mexico but in Latin America in general, was a "conjecture of sexuality, witchcraft, and religion, in which Spanish, indigenous, and African cultures converged." Furthermore, witchcraft in Mexico generally required an interethnic and interclass network of witches. Yet, according to anthropology professor Laura Lewis, witchcraft in colonial Mexico ultimately represented an "affirmation of hegemony" for women, Indians, and especially Indian women over their white male counterparts as a result of the casta system.

The presence of the witch is a constant in the ethnographic history of colonial Brazil, especially during the several denunciations and confessions given to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of Bahia (1591–1593), Pernambuco and Paraíba (1593–1595).

Brujería, often called a Latin American form of witchcraft, is a syncretic Afro-Caribbean tradition that combines Indigenous religious and magical practices from Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao in the Dutch Caribbean, Catholicism, and European witchcraft. The tradition and terminology is considered to encompass both helpful and harmful practices. A male practitioner is called a brujo, a female practitioner, a bruja. Healers may be further distinguished by the terms kurioso or kuradó, a man or woman who performs trabou chikí ("little works") and trabou grandi ("large treatments") to promote or restore health, bring fortune or misfortune, deal with unrequited love, and more serious concerns. Sorcery usually involves reference to an entity referred to as the almasola or homber chiki.

Asia

Asian witchcraft encompasses various types of witchcraft practices across Asia. In ancient times, magic played a significant role in societies such as ancient Egypt and Babylonia, as evidenced by historical records. In the Middle East, references to magic can be found in the Torah, where witchcraft is condemned due to its association with belief in magic.

In Chinese culture, the practice of "Gong Tau" involves black magic for purposes such as revenge and financial assistance. Japanese folklore features witch figures who employ foxes as familiars. Korean history includes instances of individuals being condemned for using spells. The Philippines has its own tradition of witches, distinct from Western portrayals, with their practices often countered by indigenous shamans.

Overall, witchcraft beliefs and practices in Asia vary widely across cultures, reflecting historical, religious, and social contexts.

Europe

Witchcraft in Europe between 500 and 1750 was believed to be a combination of sorcery and heresy. While sorcery attempts to produce negative supernatural effects through formulas and rituals, heresy is the Christian contribution to witchcraft in which an individual makes a pact with the Devil. In addition, heresy denies witches the recognition of important Christian values such as baptism, salvation, Christ, and sacraments. The beginning of the witch accusations in Europe took place in the 14th and 15th centuries, but as the social disruptions of the 16th century took place, witchcraft trials intensified.

In Early Modern European tradition, witches were stereotypically, though not exclusively, women. European pagan belief in witchcraft was associated with the goddess Diana and dismissed as "diabolical fantasies" by medieval Christian authors. Throughout Europe, there were an estimated 110,000 witchcraft trials between 1450 and 1750 (with 1560 to 1660 being the peak of persecutions), with half of the cases seeing the accused being executed. Witch-hunts first appeared in large numbers in southern France and Switzerland during the 14th and 15th centuries. The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670.

It was commonly believed that individuals with power and prestige were involved in acts of witchcraft and even cannibalism. Because Europe had a lot of power over individuals living in West Africa, Europeans in positions of power were often accused of taking part in these practices. Though it is not likely that these individuals were actually involved in these practices, they were most likely associated due to Europe's involvement in things like the slave trade, which negatively affected the lives of many individuals in the Atlantic World throughout the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries.

Early converts to Christianity looked to Christian clergy to work magic more effectively than the old methods under Roman paganism, and Christianity provided a methodology involving saints and relics, similar to the gods and amulets of the Pagan world. As Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe, its concern with magic lessened.

The Protestant Christian explanation for witchcraft, such as those typified in the confessions of the Pendle witches, commonly involves a diabolical pact or at least an appeal to the intervention of the spirits of evil. The witches or wizards engaged in such practices were alleged to reject Jesus and the sacraments; observe "the witches' sabbath" (performing infernal rites that often parodied the Mass or other sacraments of the Church); pay Divine honour to the Prince of Darkness; and, in return, receive from him preternatural powers. It was a folkloric belief that a Devil's Mark, like the brand on cattle, was placed upon a witch's skin by the devil to signify that this pact had been made.

In pre-modern Europe, most of those accused were women, and accusations of witchcraft usually came from their neighbors who accused them of inflicting harm or misfortune by magical means. Macfarlane found that women made accusations of witchcraft as much as men did. Deborah Willis adds, "The number of witchcraft quarrels that began between women may actually have been higher; in some cases, it appears that the husband as 'head of household' came forward to make statements on behalf of his wife". Hutton and Davies note that folk healers were sometimes accused of witchcraft, but made up a minority of the accused. It is also possible that a small proportion of accused witches may have genuinely sought to harm by magical means.

From the sixteenth century on, there were some writers who protested against witch trials, witch hunting and the belief that witchcraft existed. Among them were Johann Weyer, Reginald Scot, and Friedrich Spee. European witch-trials reached their peak in the early 17th century, after which popular sentiment began to turn against the practice. In 1682, King Louis XIV prohibited further witch-trials in France. In 1736, Great Britain formally ended witch-trials with passage of the Witchcraft Act.

Oceania

It has been suggested that this section be split out into another article titled Witchcraft in Oceania. (Discuss) (September 2023)

Cook Islands

In pre-Christian times, witchcraft was a common practice in the Cook Islands. The native name for a sorcerer was tangata purepure (a man who prays). The prayers offered by the ta'unga (priests) to the gods worshiped on national or tribal marae (temples) were termed karakia; those on minor occasions to the lesser gods were named pure. All these prayers were metrical, and were handed down from generation to generation with the utmost care. There were prayers for every such phase in life; for success in battle; for a change in wind (to overwhelm an adversary at sea, or that an intended voyage be propitious); that his crops may grow; to curse a thief; or wish ill-luck and death to his foes. Few men of middle age were without a number of these prayers or charms. The succession of a sorcerer was from father to son, or from uncle to nephew. So too of sorceresses: it would be from mother to daughter, or from aunt to niece. Sorcerers and sorceresses were often slain by relatives of their supposed victims.

A singular enchantment was employed to kill off a husband of a pretty woman desired by someone else. The expanded flower of a Gardenia was stuck upright—a very difficult performance—in a cup (i.e., half a large coconut shell) of water. A prayer was then offered for the husband's speedy death, the sorcerer earnestly watching the flower. Should it fall the incantation was successful. But if the flower still remained upright, he will live. The sorcerer would in that case try his skill another day, with perhaps better success. According to Beatrice Grimshaw, a journalist who visited the Cook Islands in 1907, the uncrowned Queen Makea was believed to have possessed the mystic power called mana, giving the possessor the power to slay at will. It also included other gifts, such as second sight to a certain extent, as well as the power to bring good or evil luck.

Papua New Guinea

A local newspaper informed that more than fifty people were killed in two Highlands provinces of Papua New Guinea in 2008 for allegedly practicing witchcraft. An estimated 50–150 alleged witches are killed each year in Papua New Guinea.

Witchcraft and folk healers

Traditionally, the term "witch" means those attempt to do harmful magic, also known as 'black magic'. Most societies that have believed in harmful magic have also believed in helpful magic. Some have called it 'white magic', at least in more recent times.

In these societies, practitioners of helpful magic, usually known as cunning folk, have traditionally provided services such as breaking the effects of witchcraft, healing, divination, finding lost or stolen goods, and love magic. In Britain, and some other parts of Europe, they were commonly known as cunning folk or wise people. Alan McFarlane wrote that while cunning folk is the usual name, some are also known as 'blessers' or 'wizards', but might also be known as 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding witches'. Historian Owen Davies says the term "white witch" was rarely used before the 20th century. Ronald Hutton uses the general term "service magicians". Often these people were involved in identifying alleged witches.

Such helpful magic-workers "were normally contrasted with the witch who practised maleficium—that is, magic used for harmful ends". In the early years of the witch hunts "the cunning folk were widely tolerated by church, state and general populace". Some of the more hostile churchmen and secular authorities tried to smear folk-healers and magic-workers by falsely branding them 'witches' and associating them with harmful 'witchcraft', but generally the masses did not accept this and continued to make use of their services. The English MP and skeptic Reginald Scot sought to disprove magic and witchcraft, writing in The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), "At this day, it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch' or 'she is a wise woman'". Historian Keith Thomas adds "Nevertheless, it is possible to isolate that kind of 'witchcraft' which involved the employment (or presumed employment) of some occult means of doing harm to other people in a way which was generally disapproved of. In this sense the belief in witchcraft can be defined as the attribution of misfortune to occult human agency".

Emma Wilby says folk magicians in Europe were viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing, which could lead to their being accused as malevolent witches. She suggests some English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons may have been cunning folk whose supposed fairy familiars had been demonised.

Hutton says that healers and cunning folk "were sometimes denounced as witches, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused in any area studied". Likewise, Davies says "relatively few cunning-folk were prosecuted under secular statutes for witchcraft" and were dealt with more leniently than alleged witches. The Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (1532) of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Danish Witchcraft Act of 1617, stated that workers of folk magic should be dealt with differently from witches. It was suggested by Richard Horsley that cunning folk (devins-guerisseurs, 'diviner-healers') made up a significant proportion of those tried for witchcraft in France and Switzerland, but more recent surveys conclude that they made up less than 2% of the accused. However, Éva Pócs says that half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers, and Kathleen Stokker says the "vast majority" of Norway's accused witches were folk healers.

Thwarting witchcraft

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Societies that believed in witchcraft also believed that it could be thwarted in various ways. One common way was to use protective magic or counter-magic, of which the cunning folk were experts. This included charms, talismans and amulets, anti-witch marks, witch bottles, witch balls, and burying objects such as horse skulls inside the walls of buildings. Another believed cure for bewitchment was to persuade or force the alleged witch to lift their spell. Often, people would attempt to thwart the witchcraft by physically punishing the alleged witch, such as by banishing, wounding, torturing or killing them. "In most societies, however, a formal and legal remedy was preferred to this sort of private action", whereby the alleged witch would be prosecuted and then formally punished if found guilty. This often resulted in execution.

Accusations of witchcraft

Throughout the world, accusations of witchcraft are often linked to social and economic tensions. Females are most often accused, but in some cultures it is mostly males. In many societies, accusations are directed mainly against the elderly, but in others age is not a factor, and in some cultures it is mainly adolescents who are accused.

Éva Pócs writes that reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories. The first three of which were proposed by Richard Kieckhefer, and the fourth added by Christina Larner:

1. A person was caught in the act of positive or negative sorcery
2. A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients' or the authorities' trust
3. A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbors
4. A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs or occultism.

Modern witch-hunts

Belief in witchcraft is still found in some societies, where accusations of witchcraft can trigger serious violence, including murder. Such incidents are common in countries such as Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal and Tanzania. Accusations of witchcraft are sometimes linked to personal disputes, jealousy, and conflicts between neighbors or family members over land or inheritance. Witchcraft-related violence is often discussed as a serious issue in the broader context of violence against women. In Tanzania, about 500 old women are murdered each year following accusations of witchcraft or accusations of being a witch. Apart from extrajudicial violence, state-sanctioned violence also occurs in some jurisdictions. For instance, in Saudi Arabia practicing witchcraft and sorcery is a crime punishable by death and the country has executed people for this crime in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Children who live in some regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, are also vulnerable to violence that is related to witchcraft accusations. Such incidents have also occurred in immigrant communities in the UK, including the much publicized case of the murder of Victoria Climbié.

Witches in art and literature

Witches have a long history of being depicted in art, although most of their earliest artistic depictions seem to originate in Early Modern Europe, particularly the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Many scholars attribute their manifestation in art as inspired by texts such as Canon Episcopi, a demonology-centered work of literature, and Malleus Maleficarum, a "witch-craze" manual published in 1487, by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. Witches in fiction span a wide array of characterizations. They are typically, but not always, female, and generally depicted as either villains or heroines.

See also

• Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899 book)
• Feminist interpretations of witch trials in the early modern period
• Flying ointment
• History of goetia
• Kitchen witch
• Witches' Sabbath

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Works cited

• Abusch, Tzvi (2002). Mesopotamian Witchcraft: Toward a History and Understanding of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature. Brill Styx. ISBN 9789004123878.
• Gittins, Anthony J. (1987). "Mende Religion". Studia Instituti Anthropos. 41. Nettetal: Steyler Verlag.
• Janzen, John M.; MacGaffey, Wyatt (1974). "An Anthology of Kongo Religion: Primary Texts from Lower Zaïre". University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology (5). Lawrence.
• Reiner, E. (1995). Astral magic in Babylonia. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0871698544.

Further reading

• Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds. The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692, Volumes I and II. New York: Da Capo Press, 1977.
• Bristol, J. C. (2007). Christians, Blasphemers, and Witches: Afro-Mexican Ritual Practice in the Seventeenth Century. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
• Davies, O. (2013). America Bewitched: The Story of Witchcraft After Salem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Epstein, I. (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children's Issues Worldwide. Greenwood Press.
• Ginzburg, Carlo; Translated by Raymond Rosenthal (2004) . Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226296937.
• Goss, D. K. (2008). The Salem witch trials. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
• Hall, David, ed. Witch-hunting in Seventeenth-century New England: A Documentary History, 1638–1692. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1991.
• Hill, F. (2000). The Salem witch trials reader. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
• Hutton, R. (2006). Witches, Druids and King Arthur. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1852855550
• Hyatt, Harry Middleton. Hoodoo, conjuration, witchcraft, rootwork: beliefs accepted by many Negroes and white persons, these being orally recorded among Blacks and whites. s.n., 1970.
• Kent, Elizabeth. "Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England." History Workshop 60 (2005): 69–92.
• Levack, Brian P. ed. The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America (2013) excerpt and text search
• Lima, R. (2005). Stages of Evil: Occultism in Western Theater and Drama. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0813123622.
• Mann, B. A. (2000). Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas. Peter Lang. ISBN 9780820441535 pp. 319–20.
• Murray, D. (2013). Matter, Magic, and Spirit: Representing Indian and African American Belief. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Narby, J. (1998). The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge. TarcherPerigee.
• Pentikainen, J (1978). "Marina Takalo as an Individual in Oral Repertoire and World View. An Anthropological study of Marina Takalo's Life History". F. F. Communications Turku. 93 (219): 58–76. INIST 12698358.
• Pentikainen, Juha. "The Supernatural Experience." F. Jstor. 26 February 2007.
• Rasbold, K. (2019). Crossroads of Conjure: The Roots and Practices of Granny Magic, Hoodoo, Brujería, and Curanderismo. Llewellyn Worldwide.
• Richards, J. (2019). Backwoods Witchcraft: Conjure & Folk Magic from Appalachia. Weiser Books.
• Ruickbie, Leo (2004) Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A History, London, Robert Hale.
• Williams, Howard (1865). The Superstitions of Witchcraft. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green – via Project Gutenberg.

External links

• Witchcraft on In Our Time at the BBC
• Kabbalah On Witchcraft – A Jewish view (Audio) chabad.org
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Witchcraft

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• Witchcraft
• Religious controversies
• Sociology of religion