Practices to which the witchcraft label have historically been applied are those which influence another person's mind, body or property against his or her will, or which are believed, by the person doing the labelling, to undermine the social or religious order. Some modern commentators consider the malefic nature of witchcraft to be a Christian projection. The concept of a magic-worker influencing another person's body or property against his or her will was clearly present in many cultures, as there are traditions in both folk magic and religious magic that have the purpose of countering malicious magic or identifying malicious magic users. Many examples can be found in ancient texts, such as those from Egypt and Babylonia. Where malicious magic is believed to have the power to influence the mind, body or possessions, malicious magic users can become a credible cause for disease, sickness in animals, bad luck, sudden death, impotence and other such misfortunes. Witchcraft of a more benign and socially acceptable sort may then be employed to turn the malevolence aside, or identify the supposed evil-doer so that punishment may be carried out. The folk magic used to identify or protect against malicious magic users is often indistinguishable from that used by the witches themselves.
WITCHCRAFT vs. RELIGIONThe practice of Wicca is controversial, primarily because many Christians find the idea of a religion based on witchcraft objectionable. Some Christians associate any form of witchcraft with the worship of evil powers. Others fear that Wicca might be tied to modern cults.
Wicca is a re-creation of pagan, folk, and magical rites. Its primary sources are Babylonian, Celtic, Egyptian, ancient Greek, Roman, and Sumerian mythologies and rites. Wicca also borrows from other religions and mythologies, including Buddhism, Hinduism, and the rites of American Indians.
Essentially, Wicca is a fertility religion that celebrates the natural world and the seasonal cycles that are central to farming societies. It acknowledges the Goddess as the feminine side of a deity called God. Witches worship both Goddess and God in various personifications, including ancient gods and goddesses. Rites are tied to the cycles of the moon, which is the symbol of the power of the Goddess, and to the seasons of the year. Religious holidays are called sabbats. There are four major sabbats: Imbolc (February 1), Beltane (April 30), Lugnasadh or Lammas (July 31), and Samhain (October 31).
Author H. S. Versnel writes: "Anthropologists in particular have argued that no meaningful contrast between religion and magic can be gained from this approach and that our notion 'magic' is a modern-western biased construct which does not fit representations of other cultures."[
MAGIC AND MISCONSTRUED CONCEPTS
The term ‘witchcraft’ has been used to refer narrowly to the practice of magic in an exclusively inimical sense. Depending on whether or not a community accepts magical practice as something that is legitimate and beneficial, then there is typically a clear separation between “witches” (in an unfavourable sense) and the terms used to describe legitimate practitioners. The use of this term is often found to be an accusation towards individuals who are suspected of causing harm. Belief in this stereotype is common amongst most of the indigenous populations of the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia and America.
Depending on the values of a society, witchcraft may be regarded with varying levels of respect or suspicion, and in other cases totally ambivalent, whereby witchcraft is considered as neither good or evil.
False ideas about witch hunts persist today, they mainly occurred during the era of the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. Not all persons accused of witchcraft were women, there were “witches” of all ages and sexes. Many innocent people have lost their lives because of the widespread belief of the malicious nature of magic, predominantly amongst the Africans whereby witchcraft is the cause of their many misfortunes. In Tanzania alone, between the years 1997 and 2000, Diwan states that there were approximately 400 alleged witches killed. The execution of these innocent lives not only “demonstrates how dangerous and destructive witchcraft beliefs can be, but it also reflects a defect in society and the collapse of modern values” (Diwan, 2001). The concept of witchcraft has been misused rather broadly and carelessly. The description if witchcraft in Africa has been subject to much distortion, as it has also been within Europe. Belief in witchcraft as sorcery exists around the world and varies from culture to culture, historically it has been associated with evil, however some societies believe witches also use magic for food, health and wealth whereas scholars define witchcraft as “the belief that humans are capable of invoking, practising, and exercising a psychic force for the primary force of hurting, killing and engaging in malevolent activities” (REFERENCE).
PERCEPTION WITHIN DIFFERENT CULTURES
The problem of defining witchcraft is made difficult due to the fact that the concepts underlying the word changes according to time and place. Defining witchcraft depends entirely upon individual belief and there are many different beliefs to be had.
Different cultures do not share a coherent pattern of witchcraft beliefs, some societies regard a witch to be a person with inherent supernatural powers, but in the west it is considered more commonly to be an ordinary persons free choice to learn or practice magic with the help of the supernatural. Also when discussing witchcraft, it can not be factually stated to be either good or evil as that topic is totally dependant on which culture it is in reference to.
In Africa witchcraft covers a variety of activities as it “is not so much a ‘belief’ about the real world as it is a patent feature of it, a force that is both self evident and solemnly real” (H.Moore, 2001). Todd Sanders states that witchcraft in Africa is a set of discourses on morality, sociality and humanity on human frailty.
WITCHRAFT AND MODERNITY
Witchcraft can be found within so many of today’s societies as it has been said that witchcraft is “dynamic and engaged with the world and is for this reason eminently modern” (Geschiere 1997: 13). As the powers of witchcraft are ambivalent, they can easily reinvent themselves in novel situations. Anthropologists have been concerned with witchcraft as a response to social change, and writings on witch-cleansing movements in many ways anticipated recent developments by focusing on the region-wide spread and movement of witchcraft (Mitchel 1965). Thus it appears that for many anthropologists, witchcraft has long been engaged with modernity, if not exactly a part of it (Richards, 1935). Anthropologists have long known that witchcraft does not wither under ‘modernity’: in fact, as they have frequently noted, witchcraft beliefs and practices are often mustered to ‘resist’ changes and are creatively refashioned to suit new situations (H.L. Moore 2001). Modernity is not simply the logical outcome of an inevitable unfolding of structures and ideas , rather it turns out to be cultural all along (T. Sanders 2001). Thus, if modernity is based upon the reinvention of culture, as so many cultures for so long have incorporated witchcraft into their lifestyle it would be hard for witchcraft to disappear from a culture indefinitely.
What is also important to note is that witchcraft in itself is believed in, but that it can be used to explain virtually any illness which is sudden, whose cause is mysterious or cannot be cured by modern medical science and technology.
CONCLUSION“What is witchcraft and why is belief in witchcraft so widespread?”, such a question would seem no more or less pressing than one that asks why any other feature of our contemporary world might wax or wane. In Africa witchcraft and the belief of witchcraft are a form of historical consciousness – a form of social diagnostics. In this sense, it is possible to incorporate the resemblance of witchcraft to other forms of social, economic and political diagnostics, which try to explain the bigger questions that cannot be answered such as, why is the world the way it is? Why is it changing and why is the world the way it is? Why is it changing and why in this particular manner? The major concerns of witchcraft are value of growth consumption, power, the impact of the world on the lives of individuals and communities – al of which are also main concerns to social sciences.
Witchcraft, depending upon the culture with which it is referred to can be seen as a great number of different things, it is used to cover a variety of activities. To many it is a religion by which people live their lives, and to others it is considered reasoning, giving answers to things unknown and a form of hope, others consider it to be a lifestyle. Whether considered a good or bad influence, it is present in most societies in one form or another, to question it’s prevalence in today’s society would be comparable to questioning that of Christianity or any other religion. Whilst there are questions unanswered there will always be a form of explanation or different methods of reaching answers, wether they are identifiable or easy to relate to by certain individuals or not, it is essential to understand that histories within different cultures have a method to explain certain phenomena. In the western community witchcraft is perceived to many as something that can incorporate both good and bad, but with a history of misconstrued concepts and literature a false picture has been painted. It is also considered to be a persons free choice to learn and practice magic with the help of the supernatural in the west whereas elsewhere, it is believed to be inherent supernatural powers.
With such a wide range of concepts such as magic, sorcery, religion, folklore, theology, technology, and diabolism, witchcraft is open to a hugely vast and diverse community throughout the world, and by doing so allows it to carry itself through the past, the present and undoubtedly the future, up until different answers, theories and beliefs are made/concluded. No matter what the outcome, with a history as conflicted and widespread, there will always be an interest in witchcraft – whether large or small.
APPENDICES
Any appendices should appear after the text of your term paper.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation.
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Geschiere, P (1997) The modernity of Witchcraft : Politics and the occult in postcolonial Africa, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.