The Crooked Path: An Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft

Product Information

Collins, Derek (2001). "Theoris of Lemnos and the Criminalization of Magic in Fourth-Century Athens". The Classical Quarterly. 51 (2): 477–493. doi: 10.1093/cq/51.2.477. The Tsardom of Russia also experienced its own iteration of witchcraft trials during the 17th century. Witches were often accused of practicing sorcery and engaging in supernatural activities, leading to their excommunication and execution. The blending of ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions in Russia's approach to witchcraft trials highlighted the intertwined nature of religious and political power during that time. As the 17th century progressed, the fear of witches shifted from mere superstition to a tool for political manipulation, with accusations used to target individuals who posed threats to the ruling elite. But “ Call of the Horned Piper” has the perfect simplicity, the perfect length, the perfect folkloric darkness that conjures a real spell of memory in some people who read it. It establishes a spiritual aesthetic that by itself can channel the right kind of spiritual forces into a person’s enlivened imagination and life. I know it had that impact on me.

It was commonly believed that individuals with power and prestige were involved in acts of witchcraft and even cannibalism. [48] 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. [48]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. [50] A particularly rich source of information about witchcraft in Italy before the outbreak of the Great Witch Hunts of the Renaissance are the sermons of Franciscan popular preacher, Bernardino of Siena (1380–1444), who saw the issue as one of the most pressing moral and social challenges of his day and thus preached many a sermon on the subject, inspiring many local governments to take actions against what he called "servants of the Devil". [102] As in most European countries, women in Italy were more likely suspected of witchcraft than men. [103] Women were considered dangerous due to their supposed sexual instability, such as when being aroused, and also due to the powers of their menstrual blood. [104] The latter part of this book does utilize many recognizable Wiccan elements, but somehow even they don’t seem offensive or “too borrowed” in light of the overall dark majesty that this book communicates. They seem to fit in, somehow. The mythos of the Watchers, which is given by Huson in the first part of the book, is likewise strangely seductive and fitting. It presents an alternative paradigm to the God/Goddess duality you see in so much modern witchcraft- an alternative paradigm which is more in keeping or more in sympathy, at least to my mind, with the dark spiritual ecology that is at the heart of real witchcraft. Shani Oates 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. [37] 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. [38] A 1555 German print showing the burning of witches. Current scholarly estimates of the number of people executed for witchcraft in Europe vary between 40,000 and 100,000. [a] The number of witch trials in Europe known to have ended in executions is around 12,000. [42]

The witch-cult hypothesis has influenced literature, being adapted into fiction in works by John Buchan, Robert Graves, and others. It greatly influenced Wicca, a new religious movement of modern Paganism that emerged in mid-twentieth-century Britain and claimed to be a survival of the pagan witch cult. Since the 1960s, Carlo Ginzburg and other scholars have argued that surviving elements of pre-Christian religion in European folk culture influenced Early Modern stereotypes of witchcraft, but scholars still debate how this may relate, if at all, to the Murrayite witch-cult hypothesis. In the 16th century, Italy had a high portion of witchcraft trials involving love magic. [105] The country had a large number of unmarried people due to men marrying later in their lives during this time. [105] This left many women on a desperate quest for marriage leaving them vulnerable to the accusation of witchcraft whether they took part in it or not. [105] Trial records from the Inquisition and secular courts discovered a link between prostitutes and supernatural practices. Professional prostitutes were considered experts in love and therefore knew how to make love potions and cast love related spells. [104] Up until 1630, the majority of women accused of witchcraft were prostitutes. [103] A courtesan was questioned about her use of magic due to her relationship with men of power in Italy and her wealth. [106] The majority of women accused were also considered "outsiders" because they were poor, had different religious practices, spoke a different language, or simply from a different city/town/region. [107] Cassandra from Ferrara, Italy, was still considered a foreigner because not native to Rome where she was residing. She was also not seen as a model citizen because her husband was in Venice. [108] While the common people were aware of the difference between witches, who they considered willing to undertake evil actions, such as cursing, and cunning folk who avoided involvement in such activities, the Church attempted to blot out the distinction. In much the same way that culturally distinct non-Christian religions were all lumped together and termed merely "Pagan", so too was all magic lumped together as equally sinful and abhorrent. The earliest written reference to witches as such, from Ælfric's homilies, [68] portrays them as malign. Contemporary Italian witchcraft is not monolithic, [131] as individual practitioners may draw from various sources, adapt rituals to modern contexts, and blend traditional practices with modern influences. [132] While some Streghe focus on healing, protection, and divination, others emphasize honoring ancestors and connecting with local spirits. The resurgence of Italian witchcraft reflects a broader global trend of seeking spiritual authenticity, cultural preservation, and a deeper connection to the mystical aspects of life. [133] Romania and the Roma [ edit ] The first is ‘ Witchcraft and Religion’ by Christina Larner. Ms Larner is a personal favourite; her books cover the very roots of belief, faith, culture and the historical criminalisation of witchcraft. She studies gender roles and social diversity in relativistic and ethnocentric terms, raising questions on primitivism, revisionism and cultural appropriation – a very topical volume.Throughout these traditions, practitioners may refer to themselves as witches and engage in rituals, magic, and spiritual practices that reflect their connection to nature, deity, and personal growth. These British-developed traditions have since been adopted and adapted outside of Britain. I remain very fond of Marian Green’s classic ‘ A Witch Alone’ which encourages a deeply personal exploration of the old magical arts of the working witch alongside a relationship with the lore of one’s own landscape. 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, [54] and Friedrich Spee. [55] 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. [56] Legal codes [ edit ] The Visions of Isobel Gowdie, however, is the single book that I would keep if my whole library had to vanish tomorrow night. It is, in essence, a doctoral degree between two covers in the study of “dark shamanism”- shamanic-type cultural operations and spiritual experience that deal with death and the realities beyond this life- and how that very universal aspect of primal human spirituality was operating in 17th century Scotland.

Neighborhood witches" are the product of neighborhood tensions, and are found only in village communities where the inhabitants largely rely on each other. Such accusations follow the breaking of some social norm, such as the failure to return a borrowed item, and any person part of the normal social exchange could potentially fall under suspicion. Claims of "sorcerer" witches and "supernatural" witches could arise out of social tensions, but not exclusively; the supernatural witch often had nothing to do with communal conflict, but expressed tensions between the human and supernatural worlds; and in Eastern and Southeastern Europe such supernatural witches became an ideology explaining calamities that befell whole communities. [35] The history of witchcraft had evolved around society. More of a psychological concept to the creation and usage of witchcraft can create the assumption as to why women are more likely to follow the practices behind witchcraft. Identifying with the soul of an individual's self is often deemed as "feminine" in society. There is analyzed social and economic evidence to associate between witchcraft and women. [ relevant?] [115] Goya's drawing of result of a presumed witch's trial: "[so she must be a witch]" [116] One pivotal text that shaped the witch-hunts was the Malleus Maleficarum, a 1486 treatise that provided a framework for identifying, prosecuting, and punishing witches. The burgeoning influence of the Catholic Church [ citation needed] led to a wave of witch trials across Europe. Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by neighbours and followed from social tensions. Accusations often targeted marginalized individuals, including women, the elderly, and those who did not conform to societal norms. Women made accusations as often as men. The common people believed that magical healers (called ' cunning folk' or 'wise people') could undo bewitchment. These magical healers were sometimes denounced as harmful witches, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused. The witch-craze reached its peak between the 16th and 17th centuries, resulting in the execution of tens of thousands of people. This dark period of history reflects the confluence of superstition, fear, and authority, as well as the societal tendency to find scapegoats for complex problems. If anyone, deceived by the Devil, shall believe, as is customary among pagans, that any man or woman is a night-witch, and eats men, and on that account burn that person to death... he shall be executed. [58] The earliest known portrait of Saint Augustine in a 6th-century fresco, Lateran, Rome Main article: Cunning folk Diorama of a cunning woman or wise woman in the Museum of Witchcraft and MagicRussell, Jeffrey Burton. "Witchcraft". Britannica.com. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013 . Retrieved June 29, 2013. 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". [4] :24-25 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. [27] 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. [28] However, Éva Pócs says that half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers, [29] and Kathleen Stokker says the "vast majority" of Norway's accused witches were folk healers. [30] Accusations of witchcraft [ edit ] While Western Europe often employed harsh torture methods, Russia implemented a more civil system of fines for witchcraft during the seventeenth century. This approach contrasted with the West's cruelties and represented a significant difference in persecution methods. Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible, was deeply convinced that witchcraft led to the death of his wife, spurring him to excommunicate and impose the death penalty on those practicing witchcraft. This fear of witchcraft persisted during Ivan IV's rule, leading to the accusation of boyars with witchcraft during the Oprichnina period, followed by increased witchcraft concerns during the Time of Troubles. [117]

Scholars of religious studies classify Wicca as a new religious movement, [141] and more specifically as a form of modern Paganism. [142] Wicca has been cited as the largest, [143] best known, [144] most influential, [145] and most academically studied form of modern Paganism. [146] Within the movement it has been identified as sitting on the eclectic end of the eclectic to reconstructionist spectrum. [147] Such magic-workers "were normally contrasted with the witch who practised maleficium—that is, magic used for harmful ends". [23] In the early years of the witch hunts "the cunning folk were widely tolerated by church, state and general populace". [23] Some of the more hostile churchmen and secular authorities tried to smear folk-healers and magic-workers by branding them 'witches' and associating them with harmful 'witchcraft', [4] :x-xi but generally the masses did not accept this and continued to make use of their services. [24] 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 '". [25] 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 "witches" in the negative sense. She suggests some English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons may have been cunning folk whose supposed fairy familiars had been demonised. [26] The last persons known to have been executed for witchcraft in England were the so-called Bideford witches in 1682. The last person executed for witchcraft in Great Britain was Janet Horne, in Scotland in 1727. [95] The Witchcraft Act 1735 abolished the penalty of execution for witchcraft, replacing it with imprisonment. This act was repealed by the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951.My final choice is a charming little book, ‘ The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies’ by Robert Kirk. Published originally in 17th century Scotland, this remarkable study reveals the vibrant realms of the ‘other’ that spill over into our own, creating havoc and mischief. Laced with folklore and popular superstition, the author, a Scottish minister ‘roamed the highlands of Scotland for stories of wraiths, elves and ‘other agents of the spirit world.’ His enchanting account preserves for us the nature of belief and how witchcraft traditions were absorbed into common folk practises. Nigel Pearson Historians and anthropologists see the concept of "witchcraft" as one of the ways humans have tried to explain strange misfortune. [4] :10 [5] 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. [4] :10 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. [4] :245-248