Pocket Guide To Witchcraft

Chapter One: History

To start off, I think it's always good to know the very basics. The history of witches like we used to know them, began around 1570 in Germany with the witch hunts. Even though around the 13th century there were occasional hunts, the maximal turning point was in the early modern area. The reason why many accused mostly woman of this phenomena, is rather simply; they blamed them for unexplainable events like weather changes, which quickly spread with fear. And with the growing fear, it didn't take much for an accusation and barely any prove. The Christian church took it upon themselves to create an act of safety restriction with the inquisition, which they also called the conversion of the apostates and to prevent them from any more declension. It was also the competition between the protestants and Christians, which sparked the hunt. Generally speaking, it was most frequent in Germany, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands, however the majority of 40% happened in Germany. One of many cities which is still famous, is for example Augsburg in Bavaria.

Between 1692 and 1693, the widely known Salem Witch Trials started. The arrests happened between Salem, Salem village (today Danvers), Andover and Topsfield. When a group of girls claimed to be possessed by the devil, they accused several local women of witchcraft. They all showed similar symptoms and began having fits, violent contortions and sudden outburst of screaming. A local doctor then diagnosed them with bewitchment. With that, a wave of hysteria and fear spread out. Grand juries were conducted by a specifically formed superior court of judicature, and the first witch, that was convicted, was Bridget Bishop. She was hung at the Gallows Hill in Salem Town. Several accused witches confessed guilty, hoping to save themselves as they claimed that the other were active witches alongside with them, in the service of the devil. In that time, witchcraft was equal to any other crime. Few people involved with the process, such as minister Cotton Mather, warned about the missing evidence. However, his warning went largely unheard. His son later joined him, claiming that it would be better if ten witches escaped than one innocent people be condemned. The trials continued until early 1693, with dwindling intensity the remaining witches in prison were then let free. In 1697 the general court declared a day of fasting for the tragedy of the trials. Looking between different sources, they were about 150-200 people, both women and men, accused. Thirty of them were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging. A man, Giles Corey, refused to plead and was pressed to death, while at least five others died in jail.

In 1954 Gerald Gardner found a new witch religion; Wicca. Wicca is a neo-pagan, nature-believing religion based off the witchcraft related religions in Europe. He based it off the foundations of Margaret Murray. They believe in an equal god and goddess, generally believing in the divine.

From this point the popularity of witches also blossomed with the invention of TV and movies. Many frequents examples helped to get people in touch with the very simple forms of magic. For example; Harry Potter or Sabrina Spellman. Today there a many sub-beliefs of witchcraft, which I will not cover here. In case your further interested; there is lots of information in the internet.

I will be naming a few sources, which I used and can recommend;

For the historical aspect, I used:

Wikipedia, History.com, jw.org, thoughtco.com, eBooks I bought from Gillian Nolan and Cassandra Larsen.

Also, to recommend on Instagram and Youtube:

Harmony Nice (harmonybeatrix on instagram) and Annie Alexandra (Youtube: Hearthfire Fox), Shonnetta (Youtube: Shonneta's Divine Tarot)  and Annabel Margaret (Youtube: The Green Witch).