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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 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.[1]: ix [2] 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".[3] 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.[4][2][5]
In Europe, belief in witchcraft traces back to classical antiquity. In medieval and early modern Europe, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used black magic or maleficium against their own community. Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by their neighbors and followed from social tensions. Witches were sometimes said to have communed with evil beings or with the Devil, though anthropologist Jean La Fontaine notes that such accusations were mainly made against "enemies of the Church".[6] 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,[7]: 7–13 [2]: 519 [8][9]: 31-59 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.[10][11] 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.
Today, followers of certain types of modern paganism self-identify as witches and use the term witchcraft for their beliefs and practices.[12][13][14] Other neo-pagans avoid the term due to its negative connotations.[15]
- ^ Hutton, Ronald (2017). The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. Yale University Press.
- ^ a b c Thomas, Keith (1997). Religion and the Decline of Magic. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 519. ISBN 978-0297002208.
- ^ Russell, Jeffrey Burton; Lewis, Ioan M. (21 June 2023). "Witchcraft". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
Although defined differently in disparate historical and cultural contexts, witchcraft has often been seen, especially in the West, as the work of crones who meet secretly at night, indulge in cannibalism and orgiastic rites with the Devil, or Satan, and perform black magic. 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.
- ^ Singh, Manvir (2 February 2021). "Magic, Explanations, and Evil: The Origins and Design of Witches and Sorcerers". Current Anthropology. 62 (1): 2–29. doi:10.1086/713111. ISSN 0011-3204. S2CID 232214522. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
- ^ Perrone, Bobette; Stockel, H. Henrietta; Krueger, Victoria (1993). Medicine women, curanderas, and women doctors. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0806125121. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- ^ La Fontaine, J. (2016). Witches and Demons: A Comparative Perspective on Witchcraft and Satanism. Berghahn Books. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-1785330865.
- ^ Davies, Owen (2003). Cunning-Folk: Popular Magic in English History. London: Hambledon Continuum. ISBN 978-1-85285-297-9.
- ^ Riddle, John M. (1997). Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. pp. 110–119. ISBN 0674270266.
- ^ Ehrenreich, Barbara; English, Deirdre (2010). Witches, Midwives & Nurses: A History of Women Healers (Second ed.). New York: Feminist Press at CUNY. ISBN 978-1558616905.
- ^ Demetrio, F. R. (1988). Philippine Studies Vol. 36, No. 3: Shamans, Witches and Philippine Society, pp. 372-380. Ateneo de Manila University.
- ^ Tan, Michael L. (2008). Revisiting Usog, Pasma, Kulam. University of the Philippines Press. ISBN 978-9715425704. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ Doyle White, Ethan (2016). Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Liverpool University Press. pp. 1–9, 73. ISBN 978-1-84519-754-4.
- ^ Berger, Helen A.; Ezzy, Douglas (September 2009). "Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 48 (3): 501–514. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2009.01462.x. JSTOR 40405642.
- ^ Kelly, Aidan A. (1992). "An Update on Neopagan Witchcraft in America". In James R. Lewis; J. Gordon Melton (eds.). Perspectives on the New Age. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 136–151. ISBN 978-0791412138.
- ^ Lewis, James (1996). Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft. SUNY Press. p. 376.