Witchcraft Research Paper

When most people think of witches they think of the stereotype being old ladies that ride brooms and cast spells on people. But have you ever taken the time to research about them and really learn about what they believe in? Well up and till now I haven’t really taken the time either but I have found out some very interesting information about witches and that they are much more than ladies who ride brooms and cast spells on people.
Witchcraft is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers, often to cause harm to members of a community or their property. There are other uses of the term that distinguishes bad witchcraft and good witchcraft. A witch is different from a sorcerer in that they do not need physical tools or actions to curse
somebody but can curse someone with just words or thought alone. In anthropology, European witchcraft is seen by historians as an ideology for explaining misfortune. Beliefs in witchcraft and witch hunts are found in many cultures worldwide today, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Christianity and Islam witchcraft was viewed as evil and fears about it rose and sometimes led to large scale witch hunts. Christians believed that Christianity was a battle against the devil and his army of witches. Tens or hundreds of thousands of people were executed and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands taken away because of being accused of witches. Most of these people were women but some were also men.
A form of modern witchcraft is called Wicca.
People who perform Wicca are known as Wiccans or Witches. Wicca is typically a religion that worships a God and a Goddess who are traditionally viewed as Horned God and Triple Goddess. The Horned God is associated with nature, wilderness, sexuality, hunting and the life cycle. While this figure is not equal to the Christian figure of Satan a small percentage of Wiccans refer to the Horned God to names given to Satan as “Lucifer” or the “devil”. Sometimes the God is viewed as the Green Man, a traditional figure in European art and architecture, and they often interpret him as being associated with the natural world. The Triple Goddess is portrayed as a Maiden goddess, a Mother goddess, and a Crone goddess. Each of these have different associations, namely virginity, fertility and
wisdom.
Many Wiccans believe in magic. They believe magic to be a law of nature, as yet misunderstood or disregarded by contemporary science. Most do not view it as being supernatural, but being a part of the “super powers that reside in the “natural”. Some believe that it is making full use of the five senses hat achieve surprising results, and others do not know how magic works, just believing that it does because they have observed it to be so.
Wiccans cast “spells” or workings during ritual practices, usually held in a sacred circle.
Most Wiccan spells include spells for healing, protection, fertility, or to banish negative influences. This magic is referred to “white magic” which is contrasted to black magic, which they associate with evil and Satanism. Some modern Wiccans have stopped using the terms “white magic” and “black magic” because black should not necessarily have any associations with evil.
Al though most Wiccans believe in reincarnation, some believe that the soul reincarnates to the same species over many lives and others believe that the soul reincarnates through different species. Usually Wiccans who believe in reincarnation believe that the soul rests between lives in the Otherworld or Summerland. Many Wiccans also believe that you can contact the spirits in the other world through mediums or Ouija Boards. Despite some beliefs of the after life, Wicca does not place emphasis on it, but focusing on the current one instead.
Through all of this information I hope that you have really opened up your mind about what witches really are. I know it really helped me open up my mind and some of the information I found out were things I never would have thought that witches would believe in. They are more than just people who ride brooms, cast spells on people, and believe in thee
devil.