Witchcraft: A Societal Deviant
Author's Note: This essay was the first of three assigned by my former Sociology instructor, Leonard (a proponent for "values" and a conformist of cloying political correctness), in the Fall Semester of 1999 at WWTC. Leonard had simply assigned our class an essay on the topic of any societal deviant of our choice.
��� Witchcraft is commonly defined as a type of active sorcery contained in cultural folklore. Nevertheless, there is no scientific evidence to prove nor disprove the validity of existence of powers generated through this practice. The concept of witchcraft differs from culture to culture, typically applying beliefs and practices in relation with the natural world to a religion. It is also known as the Craft, the Wisecraft, the Old Religion, and most commonly, Wicca. Historically associated with evil, practitioners of witchcraft also associate it with good. Many Wiccans contend that they practice their craft for beneficial reasons rather than for harm. The focus of Wicca involves worship of several deities, both male and female, each with multiple masculine and feminine characteristics. An emphasis is placed on the female or Goddess side of a deity.
��� The word �witch� is derived from the Old English term Wicca which stems from the Germanic root wic meaning �to blend or turn.� Through the utilization of magic, witches are believed to bend or alter events, substances, or other beings. Both females and males who practice witchcraft can be referred to as �witches.� However, male witches were known in archaic times as �warlocks� or �wizards.�
��� Ancient uses of witchcraft in society included hunting and theoretical sorcery. As Christianity spread through Europe during the Inquisition and the Middle Ages, witchcraft was linked with Satan and individuals suspected of being witches were persecuted and often burned alive by Christian congregations. The church considered witchcraft a delusion and viewed it as heresy. Those suspected of practicing the Wisecraft were accused of many transgressions including murder, voodoo, and poisoning. Their homes were freely searched by church officials for ointments, herbs, and poppets (voodoo dolls) believed to be used for sinister purposes. Suspects� bodies were examined for marks which appeared suspicious or Satanic; pins were jabbed in the skin of suspects because people assumed such marks on witches to be insensible to pain. Both Catholics and Protestants participated in the torture, imprisonment, hanging, excommunication, lynching, or beheading of suspected victims. Women and men alike were assaulted by others seeking scapegoats to accuse of witchcraft. Among the groups specifically targeted were elderly women, nuns, monks, mayors, aristocrats, jugglers, and property owners. Entire families and villages were often exterminated.
��� One of the most infamous witch hunts in American history was the Salem witch trials of the late-1600s. High tension continuously mounted among the Puritan population which was being increasingly challenged by Quakers and the Church of England. This anxiety led to chaos. Pre-adolescent hysteria of young girls became attributed to demonic possession. Dreams or hallucinations by villagers or by the young girls themselves were accepted as valid evidence in court. As a result, at least 19 alleged witches were hanged in Salem, and one was pressed to death for refusing to testify during her trial. Eventually, the governor of Massachusetts colony sanctioned the witch trials by discrediting spectral evidence alone as a just cause for conviction. In 1711 he awarded monetary reparations to the victims� families.
��� In the mid-1900s contemporary witchcraft developed in Britain. It spread primarily to English-speaking countries. The Wiccan religion itself has no official central authority, although followers do loosely organize themselves in groups called covens. The composition of covens vary, as some consist of only women, others consist of only men, and still others contain a mixed gender assembly. There are also witches who practice alone as solitaries. Gerald Gardner, a British author, is said to have joined a coven in 1939 Britain. Gardner strongly wished to see the Old Religion reestablished as a generational practice. Fearing that witchcraft was dying out, Gardner published books in the 1950s containing information gathered from his coven. In addition, Gardner intertwined concepts from other religions, such as European folklore and Eastern magic, into his compilations. Gardner may very well have borrowed material from his friend, fellow British writer Aleister Crowley, who had completed writings on ceremonial magic and spiritualism. Although witchcraft was frequently connected to anti-Semitism by skeptics during the mid-1900s, Gardner�s books, Witchcraft Today (1954) and The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959) gained popularity in the 1960s due to feminism and anti-establishment. The Wiccan concept of power possessed by the Goddess appealed to many feminists, while other rebels reveled in Wicca�s non-Christian loose structure. Despite claims from historians and cynics that Gardner had exaggerated the content of his writings, Wicca spread quickly from Britain to the U.S., Canada, Asia, Australia, and the rest of Europe.
��� Modern-day witches incorporate the practical application of theoretical magic for spell-casting and spiritual growth. Wiccans direct their spiritual beliefs at aiming to connect a person to a God or Goddess on a soul level by performing magic for good instead of malice. When engaging in magical acts, witches follow the Wiccan Rede (similar to the Golden Rule), which states, �An` it harm none, do what ye will.� Additionally, witches believe in the Threefold Law of Karma which conveys that magic will return to its sender magnified three times. Therefore, exerting evil magic for wicked purposes only hurts the sender.
��� Wicca involves the recreation of Pagan, folk, and magical rites. Elements from many religions and cultures are combined in the Craft, including but not limited to Greek, Roman, and Sumerian mythologies and rites as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, and rites of early North American tribal nations. Much of witchcraft reflects the principle that it is highly a fertility religion celebrating the natural world and seasonal cycles pertinent to agricultural societies. Witchcraft acknowledges Goddess as the feminine side of the deity called God, often with a God or Goddess existing as separate but equal beings. Consequently, Wiccans worship both Goddess and God in numerous personifications, for example, such as through different Gods and Goddesses of ancient Rome and Greece. Religious rites are chronologically tied to the cycle of the moon which symbolizes the power of the Goddesses, namely Artemis (known in Roman mythology as Diana), the Greek goddess of the moon. Representative of seasons of the year, religious holidays are called sabbats. There are four major sabbats during the year: Imbolc (Feb. 1), Belthane (April 30), Lugnasadh or Lammas (July 31), and Samhain (Oct. 31). Large numbers of witches practice in secrecy, for instance, in forests or fields under the light of the moon, or in their private homes. Witches may practice in secret because they believe it�s tradition or to avoid persecution from non-Wiccans. This secrecy makes it extremely difficult to estimate or determine for certain exactly how many individuals practice witchcraft as a religion.
��� Witchcraft in society causes much controversy. Many Christians object to Wicca because it�s a religion based on witchcraft. Some people automatically associate any form of witchcraft with the following of or conformity to evil powers. Others accuse Wicca of being tied to modern cults revolving around promiscuity, crime, and illegal drug use. Followers of Wicca deny such often unfounded allegations.
��� As a faithful polytheist in a vast sea of monotheists and atheists, I can identify with many of the components taught and believed by modern-day Wiccans. I do not base my acceptance of others on their religion, and I have sympathy for the masses of non-Christians who were persecuted for centuries and who are still patronized even today by some who follow mainstream monotheism and atheism. I view the societal deviant of witchcraft as a positive one, a non-violent and spiritual expression of one�s self devoted to supernatural factors and principles which might be based on reality. We have no way of knowing how much of each religion is true, so I see it as pointless and senseless for one person to persecute another based on difference of religion. Wiccans believe in a variety of benign and spiritual concepts which are every bit as meaningful as other mainstream religions.
Collier�s Encyclopedia
Volume 23 Pgs. 549-551
P.F. Collier, Inc., 1993
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