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Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Elizabethan Era

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Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Elizabethan Era
Word Count: 496 Zachary Sims Sentences: 15 IRLA 5+8 4/15/13
Witchcraft, Wizardry, & Superstitions During The Elizabethan Era

During the Elizabethan era, humans were still in the age of discovery, and what they could not explain, understand, or thought of as “physical phenomena” the Elizabethans were afraid of. Elizabethans were very paranoid, many believed in superstitions that they feared in everyday life. The everyday fears that the Elizabethans believed in are usually like the superstitions we live with today, such as: saying "God Bless You" following a sneeze (Elizabethans believed that the devil could enter your body when you opened your mouth to sneeze) the blessing warded off the Devil, not walking under ladders (considered bad luck as ladders are associated with the gallows and executions), don’t spill Salt or Pepper (Seen as bad luck) the cost of these spices were extremely expensive during the Elizabethan era, the unluckiness for a black cat to cross your path (Black is the color associated with evil magic, and a cat was strongly associated with a witch's familiar). Many of these superstations lived with the Elizabethans and haunted them every day. Witches that you see in stories or television shows are often portrayed as old crones; hags, they were said to have been like this because they had no man to defend her against her accusations of witchcraft. Witches were also said to have brewed "magic" potions over a
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