A Brief History of Witchcraft & witches…… By NR THOMPSON A brief introduction to Witchcraft & Witches wiCHˌkraft NOUN the practice of magic, especially for evil purposes; the use of spells. religious practice involving magic and affinity with nature, usually within a pagan tradition. bewitching or fascinating attraction or charm. In the modern era, some use witch to refer to benign, positive, or neutral practices of modern paganism, such as divination or spell craft, but this is primarily a modern, western, popular culture phenomenon. Belief in witchcraft is often present within societies and groups whose cultural framework includes a magical world view. The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have persisted throughout recorded history. To be a Witch today need to be part philosopher, part chemist, part botanist and part geologist, but Witches and Witchcraft have been present or central at various times and in many diverse forms among cultures and religions worldwide, including both primitive and highly advanced cultures, and continue to have a key role in many cultures today. To most African, and Indigenous communities in the Americas, the term is commonly associated with those who use supernatural means to cause harm to the innocent. Whereas in the Philippines, Witches are believed to have powers that cause harm to others, but that magic only woks on "wrongdoers". Historically, the predominant concept of witchcraft in the Christian Western world derived from Old Testament, a conflict between good and evil, where witchcraft was evil and often associated with the Devil and Devil worship. This view culminated in incrimination, torture and even death, to hundreds of thousands in the large-scale witch hunts and trials in the medieval period, especially in Protestant Europe and principally due to male ego. 1 Christian views in the modern day are diverse and cover the gamut from intense opposition, as with Christian fundamentalists, to non-belief, and even approval by some churches. From the mid-20th century, witchcraft, sometimes called contemporary witchcraft to clearly distinguish it from older beliefs, became the name of a branch of modern paganism. It is most notably practiced in the Wiccan and modern witchcraft traditions, and it is no longer practiced in secrecy. The western mainstream Christian view is far from the only societal perspective about witchcraft. Many cultures worldwide continue to have widespread practices and cultural beliefs that are loosely translated into English as witchcraft, although the English translation masks a very great diversity in their forms, beliefs and practices, and. During the Age of Colonialism, many cultures across the globe were exposed to the modern Western world, usually accompanied, and often preceded by intensive Christian missionary activity. In these cultures, beliefs that were related to witchcraft and magic were influenced by the prevailing Western concepts of the time. Witch-hunts, killing or shunning of suspected witches still occur in the modern era. Suspicion of modern medicine due to beliefs about illness being due to witchcraft also continues in many countries to this day, with serious healthcare consequences. HIV/AIDS and Ebola virus disease are two examples of often-lethal infectious disease epidemics whose medical care and containment has been severely hampered by regional beliefs in witchcraft. Terminology The word Witchcraft is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce (witch) and cræft (craft). The word Witch also spelled Wicca or wycca in Old English and was originally masculine. Folk etymologies link witchcraft to the English word’s wit, wise, wisdom Germanic root *weit-, *wait-, *wit-: Indo-European root *weid-, *woid-, *wid. In anthropological terminology, witches differ from sorcerers in that they do not use physical tools or actions to curse: their maleficium is perceived as extending from some intangible inner quality, and one may be unaware of being a witch, or may have been convinced of their nature by the suggestion of others. 2 Historians of European witchcraft have found the anthropological definition difficult to apply to European witchcraft, where witches could equally use (or be accused of using) physical techniques, as well as some who really had attempted to cause harm by thought alone. Spell Casting The most widely known characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell, spell being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of runes or sigils on an object to give that object magical powers: by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image (poppet) of a person to affect them magically, by the recitation of incantations, by the performance of physical rituals, by the employment of magical herbs as amulets or in potions, by gassing at mirrors, swords, for purposes of divination or scrying, and by many other means. Entomology The Latin incantare, which means to consecrate with spells, to charm, to bewitch, to ensorcel, forms the basis of the word enchant, with deep linguistic roots going back to the Proto-Indo-European kan- prefix. So, it can be said that an enchanter or enchantress casts magic spells or utters incantations. The words that are like incantations such as enchantment, charms and spells are the effects of reciting an incantation. To be enchanted is to be under the influence of an enchantment, usually thought to be caused by charms or spells. Magic words or words of power are words which have a specific, and sometimes unintended, effect. They are often nonsense phrases used in fantasy fiction or by stage prestidigitators. Frequently such words are presented as being part of a divine, adamic, or other secret or empowered language. Certain comic book heroes use magic words to activate their powers. Examples of traditional magic words include Abracadabra, Alakasam, Hocus Pocus, Open Sesame and Sim Sala Bim. Please is also a magic word 3 In Babylon, incantations were used in rituals examples of which can be found in a series of Mesopotamian incantations called Šurpu which begins enūma nēpešē ša šur-pu tušu, when you perform the rituals for ‘Burning. These were compiled in the middle Babylonian period, 1350–1050 BCE, from individual incantations of much greater antiquity. They consisted of a long confessional of sins, ritual offences, unwitting breaches of taboos and offences against the moral or social order. its admonishments extend to nine clay tablets. The Maqlû or burning, the longest and most important magical ritual against witchcraft from ancient Mesopotamia. refers to the destruction of the effigy of a sorcerer by burning or melting a doll or poppet of the sorcerer made of wax, bitumen, wood, dough, or clay. Written in Akkadian the incantation text in its mature form, composed in the early first millennium BC, comprises eight tablets of a hundred incantations and a ritual tablet, giving the opening words and directions for the ceremony In Asia, the charming of snakes has been used in invocations for millennia and are still used today. The udug, later known in Akkadian as the utukku, were an ambiguous class of demons from ancient Mesopotamian mythology who were sometimes thought of as good and occasionally as evil. There are surviving ancient Mesopotamian texts giving instructions for exorcising the evil udug are known as the Udug Hul texts. These texts emphasise the evil udug's role in causing disease and the exorcist's role in curing the disease. In traditional fairy tales’ magical formulas are sometimes attached to an object. When the incantation is uttered, that object helps transform another object, i.e., the magic wand used by wizards, witches, and fairy-godmothers. One such spell used by Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, using her wand, to turn a pumpkin into a coach is with the phrase Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, a nonsense rhyme which echoes of more serious historical incantations. 4 Modern Interpretations The performance of magic almost always involves the use of language, words are frequently used to access or guide magical power it has been argued that the connection between language and magic is due to the intersection of religion and language in which language is viewed not just as a means for referring to or communicating with the sacred realm but as an actual manifestation of a sacred power. Some of the most sophisticated understandings of language as a sacred power entail the belief that it was a fundamental force in the creation of the cosmos. A belief in the inherent ability of words to influence the universe, and that this belief is an extension of our basic use of language to describe our surroundings, and that the knowledge of the correct phrases, appropriate axioms, and an advanced form of speech, gives us a power above our own, normally, limited field of personal influence. Magical speech is therefore a ritual act and is of equal or even greater importance to the performance of magic than non-verbal acts. Not all speech is considered magical. Only certain words and phrases or words spoken in a specific context are considered to have magical power. Magical language is distinct from scientific language because it is emotive, and it converts words into symbols of emotions, whereas in scientific language words are tied to specific meanings and refer to an objective external reality. Magical language is therefore particularly adept at constructing metaphors that establish and link magical rituals to the world. The language of magic is sacred and used for an entirely different purpose to the language used in everyday life. The two forms of language are differentiated through word choice, grammar, and style, or the use of phrases or forms such as prayers, spells, ballads, blessings, and chants. For example. Sacred forms of language often employ archaic words and phrases to invoke the purity or truth of a religious or a cultural golden age. The use of Hebrew in Judaism is an example. Another potential source of the power of words is their secrecy and exclusivity. Much sacred language is differentiated enough from common language that it is incomprehensible to most of the population, and it can only be used and interpreted by specialised practitioners, magicians, priests, shamans, and mullahs, in this respect, it has been argued that magical languages violate the primary function of language, communication. Yet believers of magic are still able to use and to value the magical function of words by believing in the inherent power of the words themselves. 5