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Cishet

2019-07-08T18:36:42Z

IrlPeterParker: added a definition

{{Wiktionary redirect}} {{Short pages monitor}}
Cishet (pronounced SIS-SHET) is a word denoting to or describing a person who is identifies as their gender asigned at birth, or in otherwords their gender aligns with their sex.

Witchcraft

2019-02-10T17:03:22Z

IrlPeterParker: Clarified the rules

{{Redirect|Witch|other uses|Witchcraft (disambiguation)|and|Witch (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|Practice of and belief in magical skills and abilities either alone or in groups}}
[[File:Baldung Hexen 1508 kol.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|''Witches'' by [[Hans Baldung]]. Woodcut, 1508]]
'''Witchcraft''' or '''witchery''' broadly means the practice of and belief in [[magic (paranormal)|magical]] skills and abilities exercised by solitary practitioners and groups. ''Witchcraft'' is a broad term that varies culturally and societally, and thus can be difficult to define with precision,<ref name="Russell">[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LsjagvvkveEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA2&dq=witchcraft+definition&ots=aw4oz13kOS&sig=2CWBjLB2TIsUt1aNz_nyUPxOf5E&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=witchcraft%20definition&f=false Witchcraft in the Middle Ages], Jeffrey Russell, p.4-10.</ref> and [[cross-cultural]] assumptions about the meaning or significance of the term should be applied with caution. Witchcraft often occupies a religious [[divination|divinatory]] or medicinal role,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and is often present within societies and groups whose [[cultural framework]] includes a magical [[world view]].<ref name="Russell" />

==Concept==
[[File:John William Waterhouse - Magic Circle.JPG|thumb|upright|''[[The Magic Circle (Waterhouse painting)|The Magic Circle]]'' by [[John William Waterhouse]], 1886]]

Like any religion there is a set of rules, These rules are few but simple, be kind, do no harm and do not advertise the use of witchcraft as it is a sacred practice.The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have persisted throughout recorded history. They have been present or central at various times and in many diverse forms among cultures and religions worldwide, including both "primitive" and "highly advanced" cultures,<ref>Bengt Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies", University of Philadelphia Press, 2001, p xiii: ''"Magic is central not only in 'primitive' societies but in 'high cultural' societies as well"''</ref> and continue to have an important role in many cultures today.<ref name="ReferenceA">Bengt Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies", University of Philadelphia Press, 2001</ref> Scientifically, the existence of magical powers and witchcraft are generally believed to [[pseudoscience|lack credence]] and to be unsupported by high-quality [[scientific method|experimental testing]], although individual witchcraft practices [[Medical explanations of bewitchment|and effects]] may be open to [[scientific knowledge|scientific explanation]] or explained via [[mentalism]] and [[Psychological theories of magic|psychology]].

Historically, the [[Christian views on magic|predominant concept of witchcraft in the Western world]] derives from [[Old Testament]] [[biblical law|laws]] against witchcraft, and entered the mainstream when belief in witchcraft gained Church approval in the [[Early Modern Period]]. It posits a [[Theosophy (Boehmian)|theosophical]] [[conflict between good and evil]], where witchcraft was generally [[evil]] and often associated with [[Devil in Christianity|the Devil]] and [[Devil worship]]. This culminated in deaths, [[torture]] and [[scapegoating]] (casting blame for human misfortune),<ref>{{cite web|author=Jeffrey Burton Russell |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/646051/witchcraft |title=Witchcraft – Encyclopædia Britannica |website=Britannica.com |accessdate=2013-06-29}}</ref><ref>Pócs 1999, pp. 9–12.</ref> and many years of large scale [[Witch trials in the early modern period|witch-trials]] and [[witch-hunting|witch hunts]], especially in [[Protestant]] Europe, before largely ceasing during the European [[Age of Enlightenment]]. Christian views in the modern day are diverse and cover the gamut of views from intense belief and opposition (especially from Christian [[fundamentalist]]s) to non-belief, and in some churches even approval. From the mid-20th century, witchcraft – sometimes called contemporary witchcraft to clearly distinguish it from older beliefs – became the name of a branch of [[modern paganism]]. It is most notably practiced in the [[Wiccan]] and modern witchcraft traditions, and no longer practices in secrecy.<ref>[[Margot Adler|Adler, Margot]] (1979) ''Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today''. Boston: Beacon Press. pp. 45–47, 84–5, 105.</ref>

The Western mainstream Christian view is far from the only societal perspective about witchcraft. Many cultures worldwide continue to have widespread practices and cultural beliefs that are loosely translated into English as "witchcraft", although the English translation masks a very great diversity in their forms, magical beliefs, practices, and place in their societies. During the [[History of colonialism|Age of Colonialism]], many cultures across the globe were exposed to the modern Western world via [[colonialism]], usually accompanied and often preceded by intensive [[Christianity and colonialism|Christian missionary activity]] ''(see "[[Christianization#Colonial era (16th−19th centuries)|Christianization]]")''. Beliefs related to witchcraft and magic in these cultures were at times influenced by the prevailing Western concepts. Witch hunts, scapegoating, and killing or shunning of suspected witches still occurs in the modern era,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Pearlman |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/papuanewguinea/9987294/Papua-New-Guinea-urged-to-halt-witchcraft-violence-after-latest-sorcery-case.html |title=Papua New Guinea urged to halt witchcraft violence after latest 'sorcery' case |publisher=Telegraph.co.uk |date=2013-04-11 |accessdate=2013-06-29}}</ref> with killings both of victims [[Murder for body parts#Medicine murder|for their supposedly magical body parts]], and of suspected witchcraft practitioners.

Suspicion of modern medicine due to beliefs about illness being due to witchcraft also continues in many countries to this day, with tragic [[healthcare]] consequences. [[HIV/AIDS]]<ref>{{cite web |title=HIV in Africa: Distinguishing disease from witchcraft |date=18 February 2008 |work=thestar.com |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/2008/02/18/hiv_in_africa_distinguishing_disease_from_witchcraft.html }}</ref> and [[Ebola virus disease]]<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28625305 Ebola outbreak: 'Witchcraft' hampering treatment, says doctor], BBC News, 2 August 2014, citing a doctor from [[Médecins Sans Frontières]]: ''"A widespread belief in witchcraft is hampering efforts to halt the Ebola virus from spreading"''</ref> are two examples of often-lethal [[infectious disease]] [[epidemic]]s whose medical care and [[Isolation (health care)|containment]] has been severely hampered by regional beliefs in witchcraft. Other severe medical conditions whose treatment is hampered in this way include [[tuberculosis]], [[leprosy]], [[epilepsy]] and the common severe [[bacterium|bacterial]] [[Buruli ulcer]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publichealthinafrica.org/index.php/jphia/article/view/jphia.2011.e10/html_19 |title=Social stigma as an epidemiological determinant for leprosy elimination in Cameroon – Nsagha – Journal of Public Health in Africa |work=publichealthinafrica.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theghana-italynews.com/index.php/component/k2/item/955-ebola-human-rights-group-warns-disease-is-not-caused-by-witchcraft|title=Ebola: Human Rights Group Warns Disease Is Not Caused By Witchcraft|date=3 September 2014|accessdate=31 October 2017|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903134240/http://www.theghana-italynews.com/index.php/component/k2/item/955-ebola-human-rights-group-warns-disease-is-not-caused-by-witchcraft|archivedate=3 September 2014|df=}}</ref> [[Public healthcare]] often requires considerable education work related to [[epidemology]] and modern health knowledge in many parts of the world where belief in witchcraft prevails, to encourage effective [[preventive healthcare|preventive health measures]] and treatments, to reduce [[victim blaming]], [[shunning]] and [[stigmatization]], and to prevent the [[Murder for body parts#Medicine murder|killing of people]] and [[endangered species|endangering of animal species]] for body parts believed to convey magical abilities.

== Etymology and definitions ==
{{Further|Witch (word)}}
The word ''witch'' is of uncertain origin. There are numerous etymologies that it could be derived from. One popular belief is that it is "related to the English words wit, wise, wisdom [Germanic root *weit-, *wait-, *wit-; Indo-European root *weid-, *woid-, *wid-]," so "craft of the wise."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/12416396|title=Power in the Name: The Origin and Meaning of the Word "Witch"|first=Michael|last=Dilts|publisher=}}</ref> Another is from the [[Old English]] wiccecræft, a compound of "wicce" ("witch") and "cræft" ("craft").<ref>{{cite web|last=Harper |first=Douglas|title=witchcraft (n.)|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=witchcraft&allowed_in_frame=0|work=Online Etymology Dictionary |accessdate=29 October 2013}}</ref>

In [[anthropology|anthropological]] terminology, witches differ from sorcerers in that they don't use physical tools or actions to curse; their [[maleficium (sorcery)|maleficium]] is perceived as extending from some intangible inner quality, and one may be unaware of being a witch, or may have been convinced of his/her nature by the suggestion of others.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cohn |first=Norman |authorlink=Norman Cohn |title=Europe's Inner Demons |pages=176–9 |date=1975 |isbn=978-0-465-02131-4}}</ref> This definition was pioneered in a study of central African magical beliefs by [[E. E. Evans-Pritchard]], who cautioned that it might not correspond with normal English usage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans-Pritchard |first=Edward Evan |title=Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande |date=1937 |pages=8–9 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-874029-2}}</ref>

Historians of European witchcraft have found the anthropological definition difficult to apply to European witchcraft, where witches could equally use (or be accused of using) physical techniques, as well as some who really had attempted to cause harm by thought alone.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Keith |authorlink=Keith Thomas (historian) |date=1997 |title=Religion and the Decline of Magic |pages=464–5 |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-297-00220-8}}; Ankarloo, Bengt and Henningsen, Gustav (1990) ''Early Modern European Witchcraft: Centres and Peripheries''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1, 14.</ref> European witchcraft is seen by historians and anthropologists as an [[ideology]] for explaining misfortune; however, this ideology has manifested in diverse ways, as described below.<ref name="Pocs">Pócs 1999 pp. 9–10. The first three categories were proposed by [[Richard Kieckhefer]], the fourth added by Christina Larner.</ref>

== Overview ==

=== Alleged practices ===
[[File:A Witch.jpg|thumb|''A Witch'', 1902, by [[Edward Robert Hughes]]]]
Historically the witchcraft label has been applied to practices people believe influence the mind, body, or property of others against their will—or practices that the person doing the labeling believes undermine social or religious order. Some modern commentators{{who|date=April 2011}} believe the malefic nature of witchcraft is a Christian projection. The concept of a magic-worker influencing another person's body or property against their will was clearly present in many cultures, as traditions in both folk magic and religious magic have the purpose of countering malicious magic or identifying malicious magic users. Many examples appear in early texts, such as those from [[ancient Egypt]] and [[Babylonia]]. 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.

{{quote|It is argued here that the medical arts played a significant and sometimes pivotal role in the witchcraft controversies of seventeenth-century New England. Not only were physicians and surgeons the principal professional arbiters for determining natural versus preternatural signs and symptoms of disease, they occupied key legislative, judicial, and ministerial roles relating to witchcraft proceedings. Forty six male physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries are named in court transcripts or other contemporary source materials relating to New England witchcraft. These practitioners served on coroners' inquests, performed autopsies, took testimony, issued writs, wrote letters, or committed people to prison, in addition to diagnosing and treating patients. Some practitioners are simply mentioned in passing.<ref>Gevitz, N. ""The Devil Hath Laughed at the Physicians": Witchcraft and Medical Practice in Seventeenth-Century New England." Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, vol. 55 no. 1, 2000, pp. 5–36. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/15172.</ref>}}

There has also existed in popular belief the concept of [[white witch]]es and white witchcraft, which is strictly benevolent. Many neopagan witches strongly identify with this concept, and profess [[ethical code]]s that prevent them from performing magic on a person without their request.

Where belief in malicious magic practices exists, such practitioners are typically forbidden by law as well as hated and feared by the general populace, while beneficial magic is tolerated or even accepted wholesale by the people – even if the orthodox establishment opposes it.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=QqPbJQkSo8EC&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=alleged+practices+witchcraft#v=onepage&q=alleged%20practices%20witchcraft&f=false|title=Witches, Druids and King Arthur|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|date=2006-09-15|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781852855550|language=en}}</ref>

==== Spell casting ====
{{See also|Magic (paranormal)}}

Probably the most widely known characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a [[spell (paranormal)|spell]], "spell" being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary, the Compact Edition'', Oxford University Press, p. 2955, 1971.</ref> Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of [[runes]] or [[sigil (magic)|sigils]] on an object to give it magical powers; by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image ([[poppet]]) of a person to affect him or her magically; by the recitation of [[incantation]]s; by the performance of physical [[ritual]]s; by the employment of magical [[herb]]s as amulets or [[potion]]s; by gazing at mirrors, swords or other specula ([[scrying]]) for purposes of divination; and by many other means.<ref>for instance, see [[Georg Luck|Luck, Georg]], ''Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds; a Collection of Ancient Texts'', Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985, 2006; also Kittredge, G. L., ''Witchcraft in Old and New England'', New York: Russell & Russell, 1929, 1957, 1958; and Davies, Owen, ''Witchcraft, Magic and Culture, 1736–1951'', Manchester University Press, 1999.</ref>

==== Necromancy (conjuring the dead) ====
Strictly speaking, "[[necromancy]]" is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for [[divination]] or [[prophecy]] – although the term has also been applied to raising the dead for other purposes. The biblical [[Witch of Endor]] performed it (1 Sam. 28), and it is among the witchcraft practices condemned by [[Ælfric of Eynsham]]:<ref>
{{Cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0263675103000115|first=Sarah|last=Semple|journal=Anglo-Saxon England|title=Illustrations of damnation in late Anglo-Saxon manuscripts|date=2003|volume=32|pages=231–245|postscript=|url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/3709/1/3709.pdf?DDD6+DDC65+drk0sjs}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|first=Sarah|last=Semple|jstor=125012|title=A Fear of the Past: The Place of the Prehistoric Burial Mound in the Ideology of Middle and Later Anglo-Saxon England|journal=World Archaeology|date= 1998|volume= 30|issue=1|pages=109–126|postscript=|doi=10.1080/00438243.1998.9980400 }}</ref><ref>
{{Cite journal|first=J.C.|last=Pope|title=Homilies of Aelfric: a supplementary collection (Early English Text Society 260)|publisher=Oxford University Press| volume=II|date=1968|page=796|postscript=}}, lines 118–125, from the second manuscript in an appendix to ''De Auguriis'', lesson XVII from Ælfric's "Lives of the Saints".</ref> "Witches still go to cross-roads and to heathen burials with their delusive magic and call to the devil; and he comes to them in the likeness of the man that is buried there, as if he arise from death."<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Audrey L.|last=Meaney|title=Aelfric and Idolatry|journal=Journal of Religious History|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120036238/abstract|
volume=13|issue=2|date=1984|pages=119–35|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9809.1984.tb00191.x|postscript=}}, source of English translation from Anglo-Saxon.</ref>}}

==== Demonology ====
{{main|Demonology}}
In [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]], sorcery came to be associated with [[heresy]] and [[apostasy]] and to be viewed as evil. Among the [[Catholics]], Protestants, and [[secular]] leadership of the [[Europe]]an Late [[Medieval]]/[[Early Modern]] period, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch and sometimes led to large-scale [[witch-hunt]]s. The key century was the fifteenth, which saw a dramatic rise in awareness and terror of witchcraft, culminating in the publication of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' but prepared by such fanatical popular preachers as Bernardino of Siena.<ref>For this dramatic rise in witchcraft consciousness during the fifteenth century and Bernardino's critical role in it, see Chapter 2 (pp. 52–108) Franco Mormando, ''The Preacher's Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social Underworld of Early Renaissance Italy''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-226-53854-0}}.</ref> Throughout this time, it was increasingly believed that Christianity was engaged in an apocalyptic battle against the Devil and his secret army of witches, who had entered into a [[Deal with the Devil|diabolical pact]]. In total, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women, though in some regions the majority were men.<ref name="gibbons"/><ref>Barstow, Anne Llewellyn (1994) ''Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts'' San Francisco:Pandora. p. 23.</ref> In early modern [[Scots language|Scots]], the word [[Warlock]] came to be used as the male equivalent of [[witch (word)|witch]] (which can be male or female, but is used predominantly for females).<ref>McNeill, F. Marian, ''The Silver Bough: A Four Volume Study of the National and Local Festivals of Scotland'', Glasgow: William Maclellan,1957, vol 1; also Chambers, Robert, ''Domestic Annals of Scotland'', Edinburgh: 1861, and Sinclair, George, ''Satan's Invisible World Discovered'', Edinburgh, 1871</ref> From this use, the word passed into [[Romanticism|Romantic]] literature and ultimately 20th-century [[Warlock (disambiguation)|popular culture]]. Accusations of witchcraft were often combined with other charges of heresy against such groups as the [[Cathars]] and [[Waldensians]].

The ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]],'' (Latin for "Hammer of The Witches") was a witch-hunting manual written in 1486 by two German monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It was used by both Catholics and Protestants<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0IAjBexFTgC&lpg=PA27&dq=malleus%20maleficarum%20protestant&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q=malleus%20maleficarum%20protestant&f=false |title=The Emergence of Modern Europe: C. 1500 to 1788|publisher= Britannica Educational Publishing |page=27 |accessdate=2013-06-29|isbn=9781615303434 |date=2011-01-15 |editor-last1= Campbell|editor-first1=Heather M. }}</ref> for several hundred years, outlining how to identify a witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. The book became the handbook for secular courts throughout Renaissance Europe, but was not used by the Inquisition, which even cautioned against relying on the work,<ref>'In 1538 the Spanish Inquisition cautioned its members not to believe everything the Malleus said, even when it presented apparently firm evidence.', Jolly, Raudvere, & Peters(eds.), 'Witchcraft and magic in Europe: the Middle Ages', page 241 (2002)</ref> and was later officially condemned by the Catholic Church in 1490.

In the modern Western world, witchcraft accusations have often accompanied the [[satanic ritual abuse]] [[moral panic]]. Such accusations are a counterpart to [[blood libel]] of various kinds, which may be found throughout history across the globe.

==== White witches ====
{{Main|White witch}}
{{Further|Folk religion|Magical thinking|Shamanism}}
[[File:Rila Monastery wall painting.jpg|thumb|A painting in the [[Rila Monastery]] in [[Bulgaria]], condemning witchcraft and traditional [[folk magic]]]]
Throughout the [[early modern period]], the [[Early Modern English|English]] term "witch" was not exclusively negative in meaning, and could also indicate [[cunning folk]]. As Alan McFarlane noted, "There were a number of interchangeable terms for these practitioners, 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding' witches, blessers, wizards, sorcerers, however 'cunning-man' and 'wise-man' were the most frequent."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmfuwq0mQMUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q=+interchangeable+terms+for+these+practitioners,+&f=false|title=Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study|first=Alan|last=Macfarlane|date=31 October 1999|publisher=Psychology Press|accessdate=31 October 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9780415196123}}</ref> The contemporary [[Reginald Scot]] explained, "At this day it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch' or 'she is a wise woman'".<ref>{{cite book |last=Scot |first=Reginald |authorlink=Reginald Scot |date=1584 |title=The Discoverie of Witchcraft |volume=Booke V |chapter=Chapter 9}}</ref> Folk magicians throughout Europe were often viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing,<ref>Wilby, Emma (2006) ''Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits''. pp. 51–4.</ref> which could lead to their being accused as "witches" in the negative sense. Many English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons seem to have been cunning folk whose [[fairy]] [[familiar spirit|familiar]]s had been demonised;<ref>Emma Wilby 2005 p. 123; See also [https://books.google.com/books?id=lmfuwq0mQMUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA127#v=onepage&q=white%20witches%20black%20witches&f=false Alan Macfarlane p. 127 who notes how "white witches" could later be accused as "black witches".]</ref> many French ''devins-guerisseurs'' ("diviner-healers") were accused of witchcraft,<ref>Monter () ''Witchcraft in France and Switzerland''. Ch. 7: "White versus Black Witchcraft".</ref> and over one half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers.<ref>Pócs 1999, p. 12.</ref>

Some of the healers and diviners historically accused of witchcraft have considered themselves mediators between the mundane and spiritual worlds, roughly equivalent to [[shamanism|shamans]].<ref>As defined by [[Mircea Eliade]] in ''Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy'', Bollingen Series LXXVI, Pantheon Books, NY NY 1964, pp. 3–7.</ref> Such people described their contacts with fairies, spirits often involving out-of-body experiences and travelling through the realms of an "other-world".<ref name="Ginzburg 1990 Part 2, Ch. 1">Ginzburg (1990) Part 2, Ch. 1.</ref>
Beliefs of this nature are implied in the folklore of much of Europe, and were explicitly described by accused witches in central and southern Europe. Repeated themes include participation in processions of the dead or large feasts, often presided over by a horned male deity or a female divinity who teaches magic and gives prophecies; and participation in battles against evil spirits, "vampires", or "witches" to win fertility and prosperity for the community.

=== Accusations of witchcraft ===
[[Éva Pócs]] states that reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories:<ref name="Pocs" />
# A person was caught in the act of positive or negative [[Maleficium (sorcery)|sorcery]]
# A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients' or the authorities' trust
# A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbours
# A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs or [[Occultism]]

She identifies three varieties of witch in popular belief:<ref name="Pocs" />
* The "neighbourhood witch" or "social witch": a witch who curses a neighbour following some conflict.
* The "magical" or "sorcerer" witch: either a professional healer, sorcerer, seer or midwife, or a person who has through magic increased her fortune to the perceived detriment of a neighbouring household; due to neighbourly or community rivalries and the ambiguity between positive and negative magic, such individuals can become labelled as witches.
* The "supernatural" or "night" witch: portrayed in court narratives as a demon appearing in visions and dreams.<ref>Pócs 1999 pp. 10–11.</ref>
"Neighbourhood witches" are the product of neighbourhood tensions, and are found only in self-sufficient serf village communities where the inhabitants largely rely on each other. Such accusations follow the breaking of some social norm, such as the failure to return a borrowed item, and any person part of the normal social exchange could potentially fall under suspicion. Claims of "sorcerer" witches and "supernatural" witches could arise out of social tensions, but not exclusively; the supernatural witch in particular often had nothing to do with communal conflict, but expressed tensions between the human and supernatural worlds; and in Eastern and Southeastern Europe such supernatural witches became an ideology explaining calamities that befell entire communities.<ref>Pócs 1999 pp. 11–12.</ref>

====Violence related to accusations====
Belief in witchcraft continues to be present today in some societies and accusations of witchcraft are the trigger of serious forms of violence, including murder. Such incidents are common in places such as [[Burkina Faso]], [[Ghana]], [[India]], [[Kenya]], [[Malawi]], [[Nepal]] and [[Tanzania]]. Accusations of witchcraft are sometimes linked to personal disputes, jealousy, and conflicts between neighbors or family over land or inheritance. Witchcraft-related violence is often discussed as a serious issue in the broader context of [[violence against women]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genevadeclaration.org/fileadmin/docs/Co-publications/Femicide_A%20Gobal%20Issue%20that%20demands%20Action.pdf |title=A Global Issue that Demands Action |publisher=the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Vienna Liaison Office |date=2013 |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1129&context=djcil#H2N1 |title=CONFLICT BETWEEN STATE LEGAL NORMS AND NORMS UNDERLYING POPULAR BELIEFS: WITCHCRAFT IN AFRICA AS A CASE STUDY |publisher=DUKE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE & INTERNATIONAL LAW, Vol 14:351 |date=2005 |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mrc.ac.za/crime/witchhunts.pdf |title=WITCH HUNTS IN MODERN SOUTH AFRICA: AN UNDER-REPRESENTED FACET OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE |publisher=MRC-UNISA Crime, Violence and Injury Lead Programm |date=June 2009 |accessdate=2014-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425074549/http://www.mrc.ac.za/crime/witchhunts.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-25 |dead-url=yes |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humanrights.asia/opinions/columns/AHRC-ETC-056-2011 |title=NEPAL: Witchcraft as a Superstition and a form of violence against women in Nepal — Asian Human Rights Commission |publisher=Humanrights.asia |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Mensah Adinkrah |url=http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/10/4/325.abstract |title=Witchcraft Accusations and Female Homicide Victimization in Contemporary Ghana |journal=Violence Against Women |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=325–356 |date=2004-04-01 |accessdate=2014-06-07|doi=10.1177/1077801204263419 }}</ref>

In Tanzania, about 500 older women are murdered each year following accusations against them of witchcraft or of being a witch.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_campaign/en/chap5.pdf |title=World Report on Violence and Health |publisher=[[World Health Organization]] |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref> Apart from extrajudicial violence, there is also state-sanctioned violence in some jurisdictions. For instance, in Saudi Arabia practicing witchcraft and sorcery is a crime [[punishable by death]] and the country has executed people for this crime in 2011, 2012 and 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/13/world/meast/saudi-arabia-beheading/ |title=Saudi woman beheaded for 'witchcraft and sorcery' - CNN.com |publisher=Edition.cnn.com |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18503550 |title=BBC News – Saudi man executed for 'witchcraft and sorcery' |publisher=Bbc.com |date=2012-06-19 |accessdate=2014-06-07|work=BBC News }}</ref><ref name="di Giovanni">{{cite news|first=Janine|last=di Giovanni |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/24/when-it-comes-beheadings-isis-has-nothing-over-saudi-arabia-277385.html |title=When It Comes to Beheadings, ISIS Has Nothing Over Saudi Arabia |work=Newsweek |date=14 October 2014 |accessdate=17 October 2014}}</ref>

Children in some regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, are also vulnerable to violence related to witchcraft accusations.<ref>Bussien, Nathaly et al. 2011. Breaking the spell: Responding to witchcraft accusations against children, in New Issues in refugee Research (197). Geneva, Switzerland: UNHCR</ref><ref>Cimpric, Aleksandra 2010. Children accused of witchcraft, An anthropological study of contemporary practices in Africa. Dakar, Senegal: UNICEF WCARO</ref><ref>Molina, Javier Aguilar 2006. The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Social cleansing, religious commerce and the difficulties of being a parent in an urban culture. London: Save the Children</ref><ref>Human Rights Watch 2006. Children in the DRC. Human Rights Watch report, 18 (2)</ref> Such incidents have also occurred in immigrant communities in the UK, including the much publicized case of the [[murder of Victoria Climbié]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17255470 |title=BBC News – Witchcraft murder: Couple jailed for Kristy Bamu killing |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=2012-03-05 |accessdate=2014-06-08|work=BBC News }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Dangerfield |first=Andy |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17006924 |title=BBC News – Government urged to tackle 'witchcraft belief' child abuse |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=2012-03-01 |accessdate=2014-06-08|work=BBC News }}</ref>

=== Contemporary witchcraft ===
{{Further|Neoshamanism|Modern paganism}}
Modern practices identified by their practitioners as "witchcraft" have grown dramatically since the early 20th century. Generally portrayed as revivals of pre-Christian European [[ritual]] and [[spirituality]], they are understood to involve varying degrees of [[Magic (paranormal)#Varieties of magical practice|magic]], [[shamanism]], [[folk medicine]], [[spiritual healing]], calling on [[elemental]]s and [[spirit]]s, veneration of ancient [[Pantheon (religion)|deities]] and [[archetype]]s, and attunement with the forces of nature.

The first [[Neopagan]] groups to publicly appear, during the 1950s and 60s, were [[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gerald Gardner]]'s [[Bricket Wood coven]] and [[Robert Cochrane (witch)|Roy Bowers]]' [[Clan of Tubal Cain]]. They operated as [[initiation|initiatory]] [[secret society|secret societies]]. Other individual practitioners and writers such as [[Paul Huson]]<ref>[[Paul Huson|Huson, Paul]] ''[[Mastering Witchcraft]]: a Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens'', New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1970.</ref> also claimed inheritance to surviving traditions of witchcraft.<ref>Clifton, Chas S., ''Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America'', Lanham, MD: Altamira, 2006, {{ISBN|0-7591-0202-3}}.</ref>

==== Wicca ====
{{Main|Wicca}}
During the 20th century, interest in witchcraft in [[English language|English-speaking]] and European countries began to increase, inspired particularly by [[Margaret Murray]]'s theory of a [[Witch-cult hypothesis|pan-European witch-cult]] originally published in 1921, since discredited by further careful historical research.<ref>Rose, Elliot, ''A Razor for a Goat'', [[University of Toronto Press]], 1962. Hutton, Ronald, ''The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles'', [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge, Mass.]]: [[Blackwell Publishers]], 1993. Hutton, Ronald, ''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', [[Oxford University Press]], 1999.</ref> Interest was intensified, however, by [[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gerald Gardner's]] claim in 1954 in ''[[Witchcraft Today]]'' that a form of witchcraft still existed in [[England]]. The truth of Gardner's claim is now disputed too, with different historians offering evidence for<ref>{{cite book |last=Heselton |first=Philip |authorlink=Philip Heselton |title=Wiccan Roots |isbn=978-1-86163-110-7|year=2000 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Heselton |first=Philip |authorlink=Philip Heselton |title=Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration |isbn=978-1-86163-164-0}}</ref> or against<ref>Kelly, Aidan, ''Crafting the Art of Magic'', [[Llewellyn Worldwide|Llewellyn Publications]], 1991.</ref><ref>Hutton, Ronald, ''Triumph of the Moon'', Oxford University Press, 1999.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ruickbie |first=Leo |authorlink=Leo Ruickbie |title=Witchcraft Out of the Shadows |isbn=978-0-7090-7567-7|year=2004 }}</ref> the religion's existence prior to Gardner.

The Wicca that Gardner initially taught was a witchcraft religion having a lot in common with Margaret Murray's hypothetically posited cult of the 1920s.<ref>Murray, Margaret A., ''The Witch-Cult in Western Europe'', Oxford University Press, 1921.</ref> Indeed, Murray wrote an introduction to Gardner's ''Witchcraft Today'', in effect putting her stamp of approval on it. Wicca is now practised as a religion of an [[Initiation|initiatory]] [[secret society]] nature with positive ethical principles, organised into autonomous [[coven]]s and led by a High Priesthood. There is also a large "Eclectic Wiccan" movement of individuals and groups who share key Wiccan beliefs but have no initiatory connection or affiliation with traditional Wicca. Wiccan writings and ritual show borrowings from a number of sources including 19th and 20th-century [[ceremonial magic]], the medieval grimoire known as the [[Key of Solomon]], [[Aleister Crowley]]'s [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] and pre-Christian religions.<ref>Hutton, R.,''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', Oxford University Press, pp. 205–252, 1999.</ref><ref>Kelly, A.A., ''Crafting the Art of Magic, Book I: a History of Modern Witchcraft, 1939–1964'', Minnesota: [[Llewellyn Publications]], 1991.</ref><ref>Valiente, D., ''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', London: Robert Hale, pp. 35–62, 1989.</ref> Both men and women are equally termed "witches." They practice a form of [[Duotheism|duotheistic]] [[universalism]].

Since Gardner's death in 1964, the Wicca that he claimed he was initiated into has attracted many initiates, becoming the largest of the various witchcraft traditions in the Western world, and has influenced other Neopagan and occult movements.

=====Witchcraft, Feminism, and Media=====
Wiccan literature has been described as aiding the empowerment of young women through its lively portrayal of female protagonists. Part of the recent growth in Neo-Pagan religions has been attributed to the strong media presence of fictional works such as the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] and [[Harry Potter]] series with their depictions of witchcraft.<ref name=tosenberger>{{cite journal|last=Tosenberger|first=Catherine|title=Neo-Paganism for teens|url=http://jeunessejournal.ca/index.php/yptc/article/view/81/63|journal=Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures|volume=2.2|year=2010|pages=172–82}}</ref> Widespread accessibility to related material through internet media such as chat rooms and forums is also thought to be driving this development. Wiccan beliefs are currently often found to be compatible with liberal ideals such as the [[Green movement]], and particularly with [[feminism]] by providing young women with means for empowerment and for control of their own lives.<ref name=jarvis>{{cite journal|last=Jarvis|first=Christine|title=Becoming a woman through Wicca: Witches and wiccans in contemporary teen fiction|journal=Children's Literature in Education|volume=39|issue=1|year=2008|pages= 43–52|doi=10.1007/s10583-007-9058-0|url=http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/4140/2/CLE_Jarvis_Wicca_article_2.pdf}}</ref><ref name=merskin>{{cite journal|last=Merskin|first=Debra|title=Joining Forces: Teen Girl Witches and Internet Chat Groups|url=http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/7/1/3/0/p171306_index.html |journal=Proceedings of the International Communication Association|date=2007-05-23}}</ref> This is the case particularly in North America due to the strong presence of feminist ideals.<ref name=tosenberger/> The 2002 study [[Enchanted Feminism|Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco]] suggests that Wiccan religion represents the second wave of feminism that has also been redefined as a religious movement.<ref name=jarvis/>

==== Stregheria ====
{{Main|Stregheria}}
Stregheria is an [[Italy|Italian]] witchcraft religion popularised in the 1980s by [[Raven Grimassi]], who claims that it evolved within the ancient [[Etruscan mythology|Etruscan religion]] of Italian peasants who worked under the [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic]] upper classes.

Modern Stregheria closely resembles [[Charles Leland]]'s controversial late-19th-century account of a surviving Italian religion of witchcraft, worshipping the Goddess [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], her brother [[Dianus]]/[[Lucifer]], and their daughter [[Aradia]]. Leland's witches do not see Lucifer as the evil [[Satan]] that Christians see, but a benevolent god of the Sun and Moon).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism|first1=Shelley|last1=Rabinovitch|first2=James|last2=Lewis|year=200}}</ref>

The ritual format of contemporary Stregheria is roughly similar to that of other Neopagan witchcraft religions such as [[Wicca]]. The [[pentagram]] is the most common symbol of religious identity. Most followers celebrate a series of eight festivals equivalent to the Wiccan [[Wheel of the Year]], though others follow the ancient Roman festivals. An emphasis is placed on [[ancestor worship]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stregheria.com/FAQ.html|website=Stregheria.com|title=Stregheria.com FAQ}}</ref>

==== Traditional witchcraft ====
{{Main|Traditional witchcraft}}
Traditional witchcraft is a term used to refer to a variety of contemporary forms of witchcraft. Pagan studies scholar Ethan Doyle White described it as "a broad movement of aligned magico-religious groups who reject any relation to Gardnerianism and the wider Wiccan movement, claiming older, more "traditional" roots. Although typically united by a shared aesthetic rooted in European folklore, the Traditional Craft contains within its ranks a rich and varied array of occult groups, from those who follow a contemporary Pagan path that is suspiciously similar to Wicca to those who adhere to [[Luciferianism]]".{{sfn|Doyle White|2011|pp=205–206}} According to British Traditional Witch Michael Howard, the term refers to "any non-Gardnerian, non-Alexandrian, non-Wiccan or pre-modern form of the Craft, especially if it has been inspired by historical forms of witchcraft and folk magic".<ref>[[#How11|Howard 2011]]. p. 15.</ref> Another definition was offered by Daniel A. Schulke, the current Magister of the Cultus Sabbati, when he proclaimed that ''traditional witchcraft'' "refers to a coterie of initiatory lineages of ritual magic, spellcraft and devotional mysticism".<ref>[[#Sch06|Schulke 2006]].</ref> Some forms of traditional witchcraft are the [[Feri Tradition]], [[Cochrane's Craft]] and the Sabbatic craft.<ref>[[#How11|Howard 2011]]. p. 17.</ref>

=== Contemporary witchcraft, Satanism and Luciferianism ===
{{main|Satanism|Satanism and Witchcraft}}
[[File:Baphomet.png|thumb|[[Eliphas Levi|Eliphas Lévi's]] Sabbatic goat (known as The Goat of Mendes or [[Baphomet]]) is one of Satanism's most common symbols.]]

[[Satanism]] is a broad term referring to diverse beliefs that share a symbolic association with, or admiration for, [[Satan]], who is seen as a liberating figure. While it is heir to the same historical period and pre-Enlightenment beliefs that gave rise to modern witchcraft, it is generally seen as completely separate from modern witchcraft and Wicca, and has little or no connection to them.

Modern witchcraft considers Satanism to be the "dark side of Christianity" rather than a branch of Wicca: – the character of Satan referenced in Satanism exists only in the theology of the three Abrahamic religions, and Satanism arose as, and occupies the role of, a rebellious counterpart to Christianity, in which all is permitted and the self is central. (Christianity can be characterized as having the diametrically opposite views to these.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smokyhole.org/wicca/satvnp.htm|title=Satanism vs. Neo-Pagan Witchcraft|work=holysmoke.org}}</ref> Such beliefs become more visibly expressed in Europe after the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], when works such as [[John Milton|Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' were described anew by [[Romanticism|romantics]] who suggested that they presented the biblical Satan as an [[allegory]] representing crisis of faith, [[individualism]], [[free will]], [[wisdom]] and [[Enlightenment (spiritual)|enlightenment]]; a few works from that time also begin to directly present Satan in a less negative light, such as ''[[Letters from the Earth]]''. The two major trends are [[theistic Satanism]] and [[Satanism#Atheistic Satanism|atheistic Satanism]]; the former venerates Satan as a supernatural [[patriarchal]] [[deity]], while the latter views Satan as merely a symbolic embodiment of certain human traits.<ref name="Point of Inquiry Interview">{{cite web|last=Gilmore|first=Peter|title=Science and Satanism|url=http://www.pointofinquiry.org/peter_h_gilmore_science_and_satanism/|work=Point of Inquiry Interview|accessdate=9 December 2013|date=2007-08-10}}</ref>

Organized groups began to emerge in the mid 20th century, including the [[Ophite Cultus Satanas]] (1948)<ref name=JamesRLewis>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=James R.|title=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions|date=2002|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=978-1573922227|page=553|url=https://books.google.com/?id=lk8_ARNz-dYC&pg=PA553&lpg=PA553&dq=Ophite+Cultus+Satanas+arthur+sloane#v=onepage&q=Ophite%20Cultus%20Satanas%20arthur%20sloane&f=false}}</ref> and [[The Church of Satan]] (1966). After seeing [[Margaret Murray]]'s book ''The God of the Witches'' the leader of Ophite Cultus Satanas, Herbert Arthur Sloane, said he realized that the horned god was Satan (''Sathanas''). Sloane also corresponded with his contemporary [[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gerald Gardner]], founder of the Wicca religion, and implied that his views of Satan and the horned god were not necessarily in conflict with Gardner's approach. However, he did believe that, while "gnosis" referred to knowledge, and "[[Wicca]]" referred to wisdom, modern witches had fallen away from the true knowledge, and instead had begun worshipping a [[fertility god]], a reflection of the creator god. He wrote that "the largest existing body of witches who are true Satanists would be the [[Yezedees]]". Sloane highly recommended the book ''The Gnostic Religion'', and sections of it were sometimes read at ceremonies.<ref>''Black Magic, Satanism, Voodoo'', by Dr. Leo L. Martello, 1972 (Interview with Sloane on pp. 31–34, ''Our Lord Sathanas'')</ref> It was estimated that there were up to 100,000 Satanists worldwide by 2006, twice the number estimated in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanism.htm|accessdate=March 24, 2013|date=March 2006|title=Religious Satanism, 16th century Satanism, Satanic Dabbling, etc|publisher=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance|author=B.A. Robinson}}</ref> Satanistic beliefs have been largely permitted as a valid expression of religious belief in the West. For example, they were allowed in the [[British Royal Navy]] in 2004,<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/10/24/uk.devilworship/index.html Royal Navy to allow devil worship] ''[[CNN]]''</ref><ref>Carter, Helen. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/oct/25/military.religion The devil and the deep blue sea: Navy gives blessing to sailor Satanist]. ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/3948329.stm Navy approves first ever Satanist] ''[[BBC News]]''</ref> and an appeal was considered in 2005 for religious status as a right of prisoners by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/politics/22religion.html?pagewanted=print&position=|title=Inmates Who Follow Satanism and Wicca Find Unlikely Ally|author=Linda Greenhouse|publisher=New York Times|date=March 22, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0321/p03s02-usju.html|title=Before high court: law that allows for religious rights|journal=Christian Science Monitor|date=2005-03-21}}</ref> Contemporary Satanism is mainly an American phenomenon,<ref name="crsi">{{cite book |title= Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology |date= 2009 |publisher= Ashgate Publishing |isbn= 978-0-7546-5286-1 |author= Jesper Aagaard Petersen |chapter= Introduction: Embracing Satan}}</ref> although it began to reach [[Eastern Europe]] in the 1990s around the time of the fall of the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="crs8">{{cite book |last= Alisauskiene |first= Milda |title= Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology |date= 2009 |publisher= Ashgate Publishing |isbn= 978-0-7546-5286-1 |editor= Jesper Aagaard Petersen |chapter= The Peculiarities of Lithuanian Satanism}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title =Satanism stalks Poland |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/778438.stm |publisher= BBC News |date= 2000-06-05}}</ref>

[[Luciferianism]], on the other hand, is a belief system<ref>{{cite web|url=http://altreligion.about.com/od/alternativereligionsaz/a/How-Luciferians-Differ-From-Satanists.htm|title=How Luciferians Differ From Satanists|author=Catherine Beyer|work=[[About.com]] Religion & Spirituality|accessdate=16 September 2015}}</ref> and does not revere the [[devil]] figure or most characteristics typically affixed to [[Satan]]. Rather, [[Lucifer]] in this context is seen as one of many morning stars, a symbol of enlightenment,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://altreligion.about.com/od/mythologicalfigures/a/Lucifer.htm|title=Lucifer (Who Is He?) – Lucifer versus Satan|author=Catherine Beyer|work=[[About.com]] Religion & Spirituality|accessdate=16 September 2015}}</ref> independence and human progression. [[Madeline Montalban]] was an English witch who adhered to a specific form of Luciferianism which revolved around the veneration of Lucifer, or Lumiel, whom she considered to be a benevolent angelic being who had aided humanity's development. Within her Order, she emphasised that her followers discover their own personal relationship with the angelic beings, including Lumiel.{{sfn|Philips|2012|pp=26, 85–86}} Although initially seeming favourable to Gerald Gardner, by the mid-1960s she had become hostile towards him and his Gardnerian tradition, considering him to be "a 'dirty old man' and sexual pervert."{{sfnm|1a1=Howard|1y=2010|1p=7|2a1=Philips|2y=2012|2p=69}} She also expressed hostility to another prominent Pagan Witch of the period, [[Charles Cardell]], although in the 1960s became friends with the two Witches at the forefront of the [[Alexandrian Wicca]]n tradition, [[Alex Sanders (Wiccan)|Alex Sanders]] and his wife, [[Maxine Sanders]], who adopted some of her Luciferian angelic practices.{{sfn|Philips|2012|pp=69–70}} In contemporary times luciferian witches exist within traditional witchcraft.{{sfn|Doyle White|2011|pp=205–206}}

== Historical and religious perspectives ==
===Near East beliefs===
The belief in sorcery and its practice seem to have been widespread in the [[Ancient Near East]] and [[Nile Valley]]. It played a conspicuous role in the cultures of [[ancient Egypt]] and in [[Babylonia]]. The latter tradition included an [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] anti-witchcraft ritual, the [[Maqlû]]. A section from the [[Code of Hammurabi]] (about 2000 B.C.) prescribes:

{{quote|If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcome him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If the holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him.<ref>''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' [http://www.bible-history.com/isbe/W/WITCH%3B+WITCHCRAFT/ article on Witchcraft], last accessed 31 March 2006. There is some discrepancy between translations; compare with that given in the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15674a.htm article on Witchcraft] (accessed 31 March 2006), and the [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hamframe.htm L. W. King translation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916163034/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hamframe.htm |date=2007-09-16 }} (accessed 31 March 2006).</ref>}}

===Abrahamic religions===
==== Hebrew Bible ====
{{Main|Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible}}
According to the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia: {{quote|In the Holy Scripture references to sorcery are frequent, and the strong condemnations of such practices found there do not seem to be based so much upon the supposition of [[fraud]] as upon the abomination of the magic in itself.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15674a.htm |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Witchcraft |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1912-10-01 |accessdate=2013-10-31}}</ref>}}
[[File:Wickiana3.jpg|thumb|left|Execution of alleged witches in Central Europe, 1587]]
The [[King James Version]] uses the words "witch", "witchcraft", and "witchcrafts" to translate the [[Masoretic Text|Masoretic]] {{hebrew|כָּשַׁף}} ''kāsháf'' ({{IPA-he|kɔˈʃaf}}) and {{hebrew|קֶסֶם}} (''qésem'');<ref>{{bibleverse||Nahum|3:4|}}; {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|15:23|}}; {{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|33:6|}}; {{bibleverse|2|Kings|9:22|}}; {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|18:10|}}; {{bibleverse||Exodus|22:18|}}</ref> these same English terms are used to translate {{lang|grc|φαρμακεία}} ''pharmakeia'' in the [[Greek New Testament]]. Verses such as {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|18:11–12|}} and {{bibleverse||Exodus|22:18|}} ("Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live") thus provided scriptural justification for Christian [[witch-hunt|witch hunters]] in the [[early modern period]] (see [[Christian views on magic]]).

The precise meaning of the Hebrew {{hebrew|כָּשַׁף}}, usually translated as "witch" or "sorceress", is uncertain. In the [[Septuagint]], it was translated as ''pharmakeía'' or ''pharmakous''. In the 16th century, [[Reginald Scot]], a prominent critic of the witch trials, translated {{Hebrew|כָּשַׁף}}, φαρμακεία, and the [[Vulgate]]'s [[Latin]] equivalent ''veneficos'' as all meaning "poisoner", and on this basis, claimed that "witch" was an incorrect translation and poisoners were intended.<ref>Scot, Reginald (c. 1580) ''The Discoverie of Witchcraft'' Booke VI Ch. 1.</ref> His theory still holds some currency, but is not widely accepted, and in {{bibleverse||Daniel|2:2|}} {{hebrew|כָּשַׁף}} is listed alongside other magic practitioners who could interpret dreams: magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans. Suggested derivations of {{hebrew|כָּשַׁף}} include "mutterer" (from a single root) or ''herb user'' (as a compound word formed from the roots ''kash'', meaning "herb", and ''hapaleh'', meaning "using"). The Greek φαρμακεία literally means "herbalist" or one who uses or administers drugs, but it was used virtually synonymously with ''[[Magic (paranormal)|mageia]]'' and ''[[Goetia|goeteia]]'' as a term for a sorcerer.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dickie |first=Matthew |title=Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World |pages=33–35 |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-24982-9}}</ref>

The Bible provides some evidence that these commandments against sorcery were enforced under the Hebrew kings:
{{quote|And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I [[prithee|pray thee]], divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?<ref>I Samuel 28.</ref>}}

Note that the Hebrew word {{hebrew|אֹב}} ''ob'', translated as ''familiar spirit'' in the above quotation, has a different meaning than the usual English sense of the phrase; namely, it refers to a spirit that the woman is familiar with, rather than to [[familiar spirit|a spirit that physically manifests itself in the shape of an animal]].

==== New Testament ====
{{See also|Christian views on magic}}
The [[New Testament]] condemns the practice as an abomination, just as the Old Testament had ([[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] 5:20, compared with [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 21:8; 22:15; and [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] 8:9; 13:6). The word in most New Testament translations is "sorcerer"/"sorcery" rather than "witch"/"witchcraft".

==== Judaism ====
{{See also|Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible}}
[[Halakha|Jewish law]] views the practice of witchcraft as being laden with [[idolatry]] and/or [[necromancy]]; both being serious theological and practical offenses in [[Judaism]]. Although [[Maimonides]] vigorously denied the efficacy of all methods of witchcraft, and claimed that the Biblical prohibitions regarding it were precisely to wean the Israelites from practices related to [[idolatry]]. It is acknowledged that while magic exists, it is forbidden to practice it on the basis that it usually involves the worship of other gods. [[Rabbi]]s of the Talmud also condemned magic when it produced something other than illusion, giving the example of two men who use magic to pick cucumbers (Sanhedrin 67a). The one who creates the illusion of picking cucumbers should not be condemned, only the one who actually picks the cucumbers through magic.

However, some of the rabbis practiced "magic" themselves or taught the subject. For instance, [[Rabbah]] created a person and sent him to [[Rav Zeira]], and [[Hanina]] and [[Hoshaiah]] studied every Friday together and created a small calf to eat on [[Shabbat]] (Sanhedrin 67b). In these cases, the "magic" was seen more as divine miracles (i.e., coming from [[God]] rather than "unclean" forces) than as witchcraft.

Judaism does make it clear that Jews shall not try to learn about the ways of witches ([[Book of Deuteronomy]] 18: 9–10) and that witches are to be put to death ([[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 22:17).

Judaism's most famous reference to a medium is undoubtedly the [[Witch of Endor]] whom [[Saul]] consults, as recounted in [[Books of Samuel|1 Samuel]] 28.

==== Islam ====
Divination, and [[Magic (paranormal)#In Islam|magic]] in Islam, encompass a wide range of practices, including [[black magic]], warding off the [[evil eye]], the production of [[amulet]]s and other magical equipment, [[evocation]], [[cleromancy|casting lots]], and [[astrology]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=-lZ3QgAACAAJ|title=Magic and Divination in Early Islam|last=Savage-Smith|first=Emilie|date=2004|publisher=Ashgate/Variorum|isbn=9780860787150|language=en}}</ref> Muslims do commonly believe in magic (''sihr'')<ref>[https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_DUM_2460 “Magic”, in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition'', Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Accessed 5 August 2018] First published online: 2012 - First print edition: {{ISBN|9789004161214}}, 1960-2007</ref> and explicitly forbid its practice.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-4-other-beliefs-and-practices|title=Chapter 4: Other Beliefs and Practices|date=2012-08-09|work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|access-date=2018-08-05|language=en-US}}</ref> ''Sihr'' translates from [[Arabic]] as sorcery or black magic. The best known reference to magic in Islam is [[surah]] [[al-Falaq]] of the [[Quran|Qur'an]], which is known as a prayer to God to ward off black magic:{{Original research inline|date=August 2018}}
{{quote|Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the Dawn From the mischief of created things; From the mischief of Darkness as it overspreads; From the mischief of those who practise secret arts; And from the mischief of the envious one as he practises envy. (Qur'an 113:1–5)}}

Also according to the Qur'an:<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|last=Leaman|first=Oliver|publisher=Routledge|others=Leaman, Oliver, 1950-, Credo Reference|year=2011|isbn=9781780343686|location=Abingdon, Oxon [England]|pages=381|oclc=764567609}}</ref>
{{quote|And they follow that which the devils falsely related against the kingdom of Solomon. Solomon disbelieved not; but the devils disbelieved, teaching mankind sorcery and that which was revealed to the two angels in Babel, Harut and Marut ... And surely they do know that he who trafficketh therein will have no (happy) portion in the Hereafter; and surely evil is the price for which they sell their souls, if they but knew. (Qur'an 2:102)
}}

Islam distinguishes between God-given gifts, which can heal sickness, and [[Demonic possession#Islam|possession]], and sorcery. Good supernatural powers are therefore a ''special gift from [[God in Islam|God]]'', whereas sorcery or black magic is achieved through help of [[jinn]] and [[Shaitan|demons]]. In the Qurʾānic narrative, the [[Solomon in Islam|Prophet Sulayman]] had the power to speak with animals and command jinn, and he thanks God for this نعمة (i.e. gift, privilege, favour, bounty), which is only given to him with God's permission.{{Cite Quran|27|19}}<ref>''Tafsir Ibn Kathir'' for surah 21, verse 19</ref> The [[Muhammad|Prophet Muhammad]] was accused of being a magician by his opponents.{{Cite Quran|10|2}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1374|title=Magic - Oxford Islamic Studies Online|website=www.oxfordislamicstudies.com|language=en|access-date=2018-08-05}}</ref>

It is a common belief that jinn can possess a human,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Islamic masculinities|last=Ouzgane|first=Lahoucine|date=2006|publisher=[[Zed Books]]|isbn=9781848131514|location=London, UK|pages=89|oclc=654873315}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20357997|title=British Asians turn to exorcists|last=Nye|first=Catrin|date=2012-11-19|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-08-08|language=en-GB}}</ref> thus requiring [[Exorcism#Exorcism in Islam|exorcism]] (''ruqya'')<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dentist-stabbed-faith-healer-death-7789872|title='Possessed' dentist stabbed faith healer to death at black magic centre|last=fox|first=aine|date=2016-04-19|work=mirror|access-date=2018-08-08}}</ref> derived from the Prophet's ''[[sunnah]]'' to cast off the jinn or devils from the body of the possessed. The practice of seeking help from the jinn is prohibited and can lead to possession. The ''ruqya'' contains verses of the Qur'an as well as prayers specifically targeted against demons. The knowledge of which verses of the Qur'an to use in what way is what is considered "magic knowledge."{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}}

A ''[[hadith]]'' recorded in {{hadith-usc|bukhari|8|76|479}} states: "Seventy thousand people of my followers will enter Paradise without accounts, and they are those who do not practice Ar-Ruqya and do not see an evil omen in things, and put their trust in their Lord." [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya]], a [[Islamic scholar|scholar]], commented on this ''hadith'', stating: That is because these people will enter Paradise without being called to account because of the perfection of their Tawheed, therefore he described them as people who did not ask others to perform ruqyah for them. Hence he said "and they put their trust in their Lord." Because of their complete trust in their Lord, their contentment with Him, their faith in Him, their being pleased with Him and their seeking their needs from Him, they do not ask people for anything, be it ruqyah or anything else, and they are not influenced by omens and superstitions that could prevent them from doing what they want to do, because superstition detracts from and weakens Tawheed".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Zad al-Ma'ad|last=al-Jawziyya|first=Ibn Qayyim|publisher=|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=1/475|trans-title=Provisions of the Hereafter}}</ref>

[[Ibn al-Nadim]] hold, [[exorcist]]s gain their power by their obedience to God, while sorcerers please the demons by acts of disobedience and sacrifices and they in return do him a favor.<ref>Amira El-Zein ''Islam, Arabs, and Intelligent World of the Jinn'' Syracuse University Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-815-65070-6}} page 77</ref> Being pious and strictly following the teachings of the Qur'an can increase the probability to perform magic or miracles, that is distinguished from witchcraft, the latter practised in aid with demons.<ref name="ReferenceB">Moiz Ansari ''Islam And the Paranormal: What Does Islam Says About the Supernatural in the Light of Qur'an, Sunnah And Hadith'' iUniverse 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-595-37885-2}} page 173</ref>

A ''hadith'' recorded in {{Hadith-usc|bukhari|7|71|671}} narrates that one who has eaten seven [[Ajwa dates]] in the morning will not be adversely affected by magic in the course of that day.<ref>{{Cite book|title=THE PROPHETIC MEDICINE|last=al-Jawziyya|first=Ibn Qayyim|publisher=|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=54, 55, 225}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/386249|title=Dates in the Holy Qur’an & the Sunnah of the Prophet|date=2011-08-02|work=Arab News|access-date=2018-08-05|language=en}}</ref>

Students of the history of religion have linked several magical practises in Islam with pre-Islamic Turkish and East African customs. Most notable of these customs is the [[Zār]].<ref>Geister, Magier und Muslime. Dämonenwelt und Geisteraustreibung im Islam. Kornelius Hentschel, Diederichs 1997, Germany.</ref><ref>Magic and Divination in Early Islam (The Formation of the Classical Islamic World) by Emilie Savage-Smith (Ed.), Ashgate Publishing 2004.</ref>

== By region ==

=== Africa ===
{{redirect distinguish|Djambe|Djembe}}
{{further|Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa}}

[[File:Shona witch doctor (Zimbabwe).jpg|thumb|[[Shona people|Shona]] witchdoctor ([[n'anga]]) in [[Zimbabwe]]]]
[[File:The Kolloh-Man (January 1853, X, p.6) - Copy.jpg|thumb|The Kolloh-Man (January 1853, X, p.6)<ref name="Juvenile1853">{{cite journal|title=The Kolloh-Man|journal=The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|date=January 1853|volume=X|page=6|url=https://archive.org/details/wesleyanjuvenil19socigoog|accessdate=29 February 2016}}</ref>]]
In Southern African traditions, there are three classifications of somebody who uses magic. The ''[[tagati]]'' is usually improperly translated into English as "witch", and is a spiteful person who operates in secret to harm others. The ''[[sangoma]]'' is a diviner, somewhere on a par with a [[fortune teller]], and is employed in detecting illness, predicting a person's future (or advising them on which path to take), or identifying the guilty party in a crime. She also practices some degree of medicine. The ''inyanga'' is often translated as "witch doctor" (though many Southern Africans resent this implication, as it perpetuates the mistaken belief that a "witch doctor" is in some sense a ''practitioner'' of malicious magic). The ''inyanga''{{'}}s job is to heal illness and injury and provide customers with magical items for everyday use. Of these three categories the ''tagati'' is almost exclusively female, the ''sangoma'' is usually female, and the ''inyanga'' is almost exclusively male.

Much of what witchcraft represents in Africa has been susceptible to misunderstandings and confusion, thanks in no small part to a tendency among western scholars since the time of the now largely discredited [[Margaret Murray]] to approach the subject through a comparative lens vis-a-vis European witchcraft.<ref>{{cite book|last=Okeja|first=Uchenna|title="An African Context of the Belief in Witchcraft and Magic," in Rational Magic|date=2011|publisher=Fisher Imprints|isbn=978-1-84888-061-0}}</ref> Okeja argues that witchcraft in Africa today plays a very different social role than in Europe of the past—or present—and should be understood through an African rather than post-colonial Western lens.

Complimentary remarks about witchcraft by a native Congolese initiate: "From witchcraft ... may be developed the remedy (''kimbuki'') that will do most to raise up our country."<ref>Janzen & MacGaffey 1974, p. 54b (13.9.12).</ref> "Witchcraft ... deserves respect ... it can embellish or redeem (''ketula evo vuukisa'')."<ref>Janzen & MacGaffey 1974, p. 54b (13.9.14).</ref> "The ancestors were equipped with the protective witchcraft of the clan (''kindoki kiandundila kanda''). ... They could also gather the power of animals into their hands ... whenever they needed. ... If we could make use of these kinds of witchcraft, our country would rapidly progress in knowledge of every kind."<ref>Janzen & MacGaffey 1974, pp. 54b-55a (13.9.16).</ref> "You witches (''zindoki'') too, bring your science into the light to be written down so that ... the benefits in it ... endow our race."<ref>Janzen & MacGaffey 1974, p. 55b (13.10.8).</ref>

==== Cameroon ====

In eastern Cameroon, the term used for witchcraft among the [[Maka people|Maka]] is ''djambe''<ref>Geschiere, Peter; "''The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa''" (1997) University of Virginia Press. {{ISBN|0-8139-1703-4}} (paperback). Translated by Geschiere, Peter & Roitman, Janet from the originally published in French: "''Sorcellerie et politique en Afrique – La viande des autres''" (1995).</ref> and refers to a force inside a person; its powers may make the proprietor more vulnerable. It encompasses the occult, the transformative, killing and healing.<ref>''idem'' (Geschiere, 1997, p.13)</ref>

==== Central Africa ====
In some [[Central Africa]]n areas, malicious magic users are believed by locals to be the source of [[terminal illness]] such as [[AIDS]] and [[cancer]]. In such cases, various methods are used to rid the person from the bewitching spirit, occasionally [[physical abuse|physical]] and [[psychological abuse]]. Children may be accused of being witches, for example a young niece may be blamed for the illness of a relative. Most of these cases of abuse go unreported since the members of the society that witness such abuse are too afraid of being accused of being accomplices. It is also believed that witchcraft can be transmitted to children by feeding. Parents discourage their children from interacting with people believed to be witches.{{dubious|date=August 2018}}{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

Every year, hundreds of people in the [[Central African Republic]] are convicted of witchcraft.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2010/02/04/the-dangers-of-witchcraft/ |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2010-03-26 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312100813/http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2010/02/04/the-dangers-of-witchcraft/ |archivedate=2010-03-12 |df= }}</ref>

[[Anti-balaka|Christian militias]] in the Central African Republic have also kidnapped, burnt and buried alive women accused of being 'witches' in public ceremonies.<ref name="Esslemont 2015">{{Cite news | last=Esslemont | first=Tom | title=Witch burning rebels stoke Central African Republic violence | newspaper=Reuters | date=26 November 2015 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-centralafrica-witchcraft/witch-burning-rebels-stoke-central-african-republic-violence-idUSKBN0TF03920151126 | access-date=2 August 2018}}</ref>

==== Democratic Republic of the Congo ====
{{As of|2006}}, between 25,000 and 50,000 children in [[Kinshasa]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], had been accused of witchcraft and thrown out of their homes.<ref>{{cite news|author=Richard Dowden in Kinshasa |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/12/theobserver.worldnews11 |title=Thousands of child 'witches' turned on to the streets to starve | World news |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date= |accessdate=2016-09-15}}</ref> These children have been subjected to often-violent abuse during [[exorcism]]s, sometimes supervised by self-styled religious pastors. Other pastors and Christian activists strongly oppose such accusations and try to rescue children from their unscrupulous colleagues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/september/27.62.html|title=Kolwezi: Accused of witchcraft by parents and churches, children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being rescued by Christian activists|website=Christianity Today|date=September 2009}}</ref> The usual term for these children is ''enfants sorciers'' (child witches) or ''enfants dits sorciers'' (children accused of witchcraft). In 2002, [[USAID]] funded the production of two short films on the subject, made in Kinshasa by journalists Angela Nicoara and Mike Ormsby.

In April 2008, in Kinshasa, the police arrested 14 suspected victims (of [[penis snatching]]) and [[Magician (paranormal)|sorcerers]] accused of using black magic or witchcraft to steal (make disappear) or shrink men's penises to extort cash for cure, amid a wave of panic.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bavier |first=Joe |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2319603620080423?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=22&sp=true |title=Penis theft panic hits city.. |newspaper=Reuters |date=2008-04-23 |accessdate=2016-09-15}}</ref>

According to one study, the belief in magical warfare technologies (such as "bulletproofing") in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo serves a group-level function, as it increases group efficiency in warfare, even if it is suboptimal at the individual level.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Nunn |first=Nathan |authorlink=Nathan Nunn |last2=Sierra |first2=Raul Sanchez de la |date=2017 |title=Why Being Wrong can be Right: Magical Warfare Technologies and the Persistence of False Beliefs |journal=[[American Economic Review]] |volume=107 |issue=5 |pages=582–87 |doi=10.1257/aer.p20171091 }}</ref> The authors of the study argue that this is one reason why the belief in witchcraft persists.<ref name=":2" />

==== Ghana ====
In [[Ghana]], women are often accused of witchcraft and attacked by neighbours.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://graphic.com.gh/dailygraphic/page.php?news=10405 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108050152/http://graphic.com.gh/dailygraphic/page.php?news=10405 |archivedate=2011-01-08 |title=My Mum is Not A Witch |accessdate=2016-09-15}}</ref> Because of this, there exist six [[witch camp]]s in the country where women suspected of being witches can flee for safety.<ref name="Camps">{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19437130 | title=Ghana witch camps: Widows' lives in exile | publisher=BBC | accessdate=September 1, 2012| work=BBC News | date=September 2012 | last1=Whitaker | first1=Kati }}</ref> The witch camps, which exist solely in Ghana, are thought to house a total of around 1000 women.<ref name="Camps"/> Some of the camps are thought to have been set up over 100 years ago.<ref name="Camps"/> The Ghanaian government has announced that it intends to close the camps.<ref name="Camps"/>

Arrests were made in an effort to avoid bloodshed seen in [[Ghana]] a decade ago, when 12 alleged penis snatchers were beaten to death by mobs.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9701/18/briefs/ghana.penis.html ''7 killed in Ghana over 'penis-snatching' episodes''], CNN, January 18, 1997.</ref> While it is easy for modern people to dismiss such reports, Uchenna Okeja argues that a belief system in which such magical practices are deemed possible offer many benefits to Africans who hold them. For example, the belief that a sorcerer has "stolen" a man's penis functions as an anxiety-reduction mechanism for men suffering from impotence while simultaneously providing an explanation that is consistent with African cultural beliefs rather than appealing to Western scientific notions that are tainted by the history of colonialism (at least for many Africans).<ref>{{cite book|last=Okeja |first=Uchenna |title="An African Context of the Belief in Witchcraft and Magic," in Rational Magic|date=2011|publisher=Fisher Imprints|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1-84888-061-0}}</ref>

==== Kenya ====
It was reported on May 21, 2008 that in [[Kenya]], a mob had burnt to death at least 11 people accused of witchcraft.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Reuters Editorial |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL21301127 |title=Mob burns to death 11 Kenyan "witches" |newspaper=Reuters |date=2008-05-21 |accessdate=2016-09-15}}</ref>

==== Malawi ====
In [[Malawi]] it is also common practice to accuse children of witchcraft and many children have been abandoned, abused and even killed as a result. As in other African countries both African traditional healers and their Christian counterparts are trying to make a living out of exorcising children and are actively involved in pointing out children as witches.<ref>Byrne, Carrie 2011. Hunting the vulnerable: Witchcraft and the law in Malawi; Consultancy Africa Intelligence (16 June):</ref> Various secular and Christian organizations are combining their efforts to address this problem.<ref>Van der Meer, Erwin 2011. The Problem of Witchcraft in Malawi, Evangelical Missions Quarterly (47:1, January): 78–85.</ref>

According to [[William Kamkwamba]], witches and wizards are afraid of money, which they consider a rival evil. Any contact with [[cash]] will snap their spell and leave the wizard naked and confused. So placing cash, such as [[Malawian kwacha|kwacha]] around a room or bed mat will protect the resident from their malevolent spells.<ref>Kamkwamba, William. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Harper Collins. 2009. Page 14.</ref>

==== Nigeria ====
In [[Nigeria]], several Pentecostal pastors have mixed their evangelical brand of Christianity with African beliefs in witchcraft to benefit from the lucrative witch finding and exorcism business—which in the past was the exclusive domain of the so-called witch doctor or traditional healers. These pastors have been involved in the torturing and even killing of children accused of witchcraft.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humantrafficking.org/publications/593|title=Stepping Stones Nigeria 2007. Supporting Victims of Witchcraft Abuse and Street Children in Nigeria|website=humantrafficking.org|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017185346/http://humantrafficking.org/publications/593|archivedate=2012-10-17|df=}}</ref> Over the past decade, around 15,000 children have been accused, and around 1,000 murdered. Churches are very numerous in Nigeria, and competition for congregations is hard. Some pastors attempt to establish a reputation for spiritual power by "detecting" child witches, usually following a death or loss of a job within a family, or an accusation of financial fraud against the pastor. In the course of "exorcisms", accused children may be starved, beaten, mutilated, set on fire, forced to consume acid or cement, or buried alive. While some church leaders and Christian activists have spoken out strongly against these abuses, many Nigerian churches are involved in the abuse, although church administrations deny knowledge of it.<ref>Houreld, Katharine (2009) [http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/church-burns-witchcraft-children/story-e6frev00-1225788721635 Church burns 'witchcraft' children]. Associated Press.</ref>

==== Sierra Leone ====
Among the Mende (of [[Sierra Leone]]), trial and conviction for witchcraft has a beneficial effect for those convicted. "The witchfinder had warned the whole village to ensure the relative prosperity of the accused and sentenced ... old people. ... Six months later all of the people ... accused, were secure, well-fed and arguably happier than at any [previous] time; they had hardly to beckon and people would come with food or whatever was needful. ... Instead of such old and widowed people being left helpless or (as in Western society) institutionalized in old people's homes, these were reintegrated into society and left secure in their old age ... . ... Old people are 'suitable' candidates for this kind of accusation in the sense that they are isolated and vulnerable, and they are 'suitable' candidates for 'social security' for precisely the same reasons."<ref>Gittins 1987, p. 199.</ref>

In [[Kuranko language]], the term for witchcraft is ''suwa'ye''<ref>West, Harry G. "''Ethnographic Sorcery''" (p.24); 2007. The University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0-226-89398-3}} (pbk.), {{ISBN|0-226-89398-7}} (pbk.)</ref> referring to "extraordinary powers".

==== Tanzania ====
In [[Tanzania]] in 2008, President [[Jakaya Kikwete|Kikwete]] publicly condemned [[witchdoctor]]s for killing [[Albinism|albinos]] for their body parts, which are thought to bring good luck. 25 albinos have been murdered since March 2007.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7518049.stm Living in fear: Tanzania's albinos], BBC News.</ref> In Tanzania, albinos are often murdered for their body parts on the advice of witch doctors in order to produce powerful amulets that are believed to protect against witchcraft and make the owner prosper in life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/blogs/?p=348|title=Wicasta 2011. Albino Child Kidnapped By Witch Doctors For Tribal Sacrifice (23 September)|website=malleusmaleficarum.org}}</ref>

=== Americas ===
==== Caribbean ====

Brua is an Afro-Caribbean religion and healing tradition that originates in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, in the Dutch Caribbean. A healer in this culture is called a ''kurioso'' or ''kuradó'', a man or woman who performs ''trabou chikí'' (little works) and ''trabou grandi'' (large treatments) to promote or restore health, bring fortune or misfortune, deal with unrequited love, and more serious concerns, in which sorcery is involved. Sorcery usually involves reference to the ''almasola'' or ''homber chiki'', a devil-like entity. ''Transcultural Psychiatry'' published a paper called "Traditional healing practices originating in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao: A review of the literature on psychiatry and Brua" by Jan Dirk Blom, Igmar T. Poulina, Trevor L. van Gellecum and Hans W. Hoek of the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278016204|title=Traditional healing practices originating in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao: A review of the literature on psychiatry and Brua|first1=Jan Dirk|last1=Blom|first2=Igmar|last2=T. Poulina|first3=Trevor|last3=L. van Gellecum|first4=Hans|last4=Hoek|date=1 June 2015|journal=Transcultural Psychiatry|volume=52|issue=6|pages=840–860|via=ResearchGate|doi=10.1177/1363461515589709|pmid=26062555}}</ref>

==== Colonial North America ====
[[File:Matteson Examination of a Witch.jpg|thumb|''Examination of a Witch'' by [[T. H. Matteson]], inspired by the [[Salem witch trials]]]]
In 1645, [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], experienced America's first accusations of witchcraft when husband and wife Hugh and Mary Parsons accused each other of witchcraft. At America's first [[witch trial]], Hugh was found innocent, while Mary was acquitted of witchcraft but sentenced to be hanged for the death of her child. She died in prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.masslive.com/history/index.ssf/2011/05/springfields_375th_from_puritans_to_presidents.html |title=Springfield's 375th: From Puritans to presidents |publisher=Masslive.com |accessdate=2013-10-31}}</ref> From 1645–1663, about eighty people throughout England's [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay Colony]] were accused of practicing witchcraft. Thirteen women and two men were executed in a witch-hunt that lasted throughout [[New England]] from 1645–1663.<ref name=Fraden>Fraden, Judith Bloom, Dennis Brindell Fraden. ''The Salem Witch Trials''. Marshall Cavendish. 2008. p. 15.</ref>

The [[Salem witch trials]] followed in 1692–93. These witch trials were the most famous in [[British North America]] and took place in the coastal settlements near [[Salem, Massachusetts]]. Prior to the witch trials, nearly 300 men and women had been suspected of partaking in witchcraft, and 19 of these people were hanged, and one was “pressed to death”.<ref>{{cite book|title=America: A Narrative History|year=2013|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-393-91265-4|page=85|author=George Brown Tindall|edition=Brief Ninth Edition, Volume One|author2=David Emory Shi |editor=Jon Durbin. Retrieved 10/3/2013}}</ref> The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in [[Essex County, Massachusetts|Essex]], [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk]] and [[Middlesex County, Massachusetts|Middlesex]] Counties of colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, with even more accused who were not formally pursued by the authorities. The two courts convicted 29 people of the capital felony of witchcraft. Nineteen of the accused, 14 women and 5 men, were hanged. [[Giles Corey|One man]] who refused to enter a plea was crushed to death under heavy stones in an attempt to force him to do so. At least five more of the accused died in prison.

Despite being generally known as the "Salem" witch trials, the preliminary hearings in 1692 were conducted in a variety of towns across the province: Salem Village (now [[Danvers, Massachusetts|Danvers]]), [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem Town]], [[Ipswich, Massachusetts|Ipswich]], and [[Andover, Massachusetts|Andover]]. The best known trials were conducted by the Court of [[Oyer and Terminer]] in 1692 in Salem Town.{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/education|title=Salem Witch Museum|website=www.salemwitchmuseum.com|access-date=2018-03-23}}</ref> All 26 who went to trial before this court were convicted. The four sessions of the Superior Court of Judicature in 1693, held in Salem Town, but also in Ipswich, Boston, and Charlestown, produced only 3 convictions in the 31 witchcraft trials it conducted. Likewise, alleged witchcraft was not isolated to New England. In 1706 [[Grace Sherwood]] the "Witch of Pungo" was imprisoned for the crime in [[Princess Anne County, Virginia]].

In Maryland, there is a legend of Moll Dyer, who escaped a fire set by fellow colonists only to die of exposure in December 1697. The historical record of Dyer is scant as all official records were burned in a courthouse fire, though the county courthouse has on display the rock where her frozen body was found. A letter from a colonist of the period describes her in most unfavourable terms. A local road is named after Dyer, where her homestead was said to have been. Many local families have their own version of the Moll Dyer affair, and her name is spoken with care in the rural southern counties.<ref>David W. Thompson, "Sister Witch: The Life of Moll Dyer" (2017 Solstice Publishing) {{ISBN|978-1973105756}}</ref>

Accusations of witchcraft and wizardry led to the prosecution of a man in Tennessee as recently as 1833.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.topix.com/forum/city/jamestown-tn/TPAPB6U4LVF0JDQC8/p2|title=Old Stories|work=Topix}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1wvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA67|title=History of Fentress County, Tennessee|last1=Hogue|first1=Albert Ross|year=1916}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Touring the East Tennessee Backroads |first=Carolyn |last=Sakowski|page=212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLBrUbj02IcC&pg=PA212|isbn=9780895874764 |year=2007 }}</ref> ''[[The Crucible]]'' by Arthur Miller is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the [[Salem witch trials]] that took place in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] during 1692–93.

==== Diné / Navajo ====
In [[Navajo people|Diné culture]], witches are seen as the polar opposite of [[medicine man|ceremonial people]]. While spiritual leaders perform "[[Navajo song ceremonial complex|sings]]" for healing, protection and other beneficial purposes, all practices referred to as "witchcraft" are intended to hurt and curse. Witches are associated with harm to the community and transgression of societal standards, especially those relating to family and the dead.

The ''yee naaldlooshii'' is the type of witch known in English as a "[[skin-walker]]". They are believed to take the forms of animals in order to travel in secret and do harm to the innocent.<ref name=Dictionary>Wall, Leon and William Morgan, ''Navajo-English Dictionary''. Hippocrene Books, New York City, 1998 {{ISBN|0-7818-0247-4}}.</ref> In the [[Navajo language]], ''{{lang|nv|yee naaldlooshii}}'' translates to "with it, he goes on all fours".<ref name=Dictionary/> While perhaps the most common variety seen in horror fiction by non-Navajo people, the ''{{lang|nv|yee naaldlooshii}}'' is one of several varieties of Navajo witch, specifically a type of ''{{lang|nv|’ánti’įhnii}}''.<ref name=Dictionary/>

Corpse powder or corpse poison ({{lang-nv|{{spell-nv|áńt’į́}}}}, literally "witchery" or "harming") is a substance made from powdered corpses. The powder is used by witches to curse their victims.<ref name="PerroneStockel1993">{{cite book|last1=Perrone|first1=Bobette|last2=Stockel|first2=H. Henrietta|last3=Krueger|first3=Victoria|title=Medicine women, curanderas, and women doctors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApJayEh43ZcC&pg=PA189|accessdate=8 October 2010|date=1993|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2512-1|page=189}}</ref> The effect of the ''{{spell-nv|áńt’į́}}'' is a curse and disease, usually indicated by an immediate action to administration of the poison, like fainting, swelling of the tongue, or [[Trismus|lockjaw]]. Sometimes, however, the victims simply [[wasting|wastes away]], as from a normal disease.

Traditional Navajos usually hesitate to discuss things like witches and witchcraft with non-Navajos.<ref name=Keene>Keene, Dr. Adrienne, "[http://nativeappropriations.com/2016/03/magic-in-north-america-part-1-ugh.html Magic in North America Part 1: Ugh.]" at ''[[Native Appropriations]]'', 8 March 2016. Accessed 9 April 2016: "What happens when Rowling pulls this in, is we as Native people are now opened up to a barrage of questions about these beliefs and traditions ... but these are not things that need or should be discussed by outsiders. At all. I’m sorry if that seems "unfair," but that's how our cultures survive."</ref>

==== North America (Mexico) ====
{{See also|Brujería}}
Witchcraft was also an important part of the social and cultural history of late-Colonial Mexico, during the [[Mexican Inquisition]]. Spanish Inquisitors viewed witchcraft as a problem that could be cured simply through confession. Yet, as anthropologist [[Ruth Behar]] writes, witchcraft, not only in Mexico but in Latin America in general, was a "conjecture of sexuality, witchcraft, and religion, in which Spanish, indigenous, and African cultures converged."<ref>Behar, Ruth. ''Sex and Sin, Witchcraft and the Devil in Late-Colonial Mexico.'' American Ethnologist, 14:1 (February 1987), p. 34.</ref> Furthermore, witchcraft in Mexico generally required an interethnic and interclass network of witches.<ref>Lavrin, Asunción. ''Sexuality & Marriage in Colonial Latin America.'' Reprint ed. Lincoln, NB.:University of Nebraska Press, 1992, p. 192.</ref> Yet, according to anthropology professor Laura Lewis, witchcraft in colonial Mexico ultimately represented an "affirmation of hegemony" for women, Indians, and especially Indian women over their white male counterparts as a result of the [[casta]] system.<ref>Lewis, Laura A. ''Hall of mirrors: power, witchcraft, and caste in colonial Mexico.'' Durham, N.C.:Duke University Press, 2003, p. 13.</ref>

In modern history, notoriety has been awarded to a place called [[Catemaco#The "witches" of Catemaco|Catemaco]], in the state of Veracruz, which has a history of witchcraft, and where the practice of witchcraft by contemporary ''brujos'' and ''brujas'' thrives.

In Mexico City, people who practice brujería, [[Santería]], voodoo, ocultism and magic may find items, herbs and supplies at the ''[[mercado de Sonora]]''.

==== South America ====
In [[Chile]] there is a tradition of the [[Kalku]] in [[Mapuche religion]]; and the [[Warlock of Chiloé|Warlocks of Chiloé]] in the folklore and [[Chilote mythology]].

The presence of the witch is a constant in the [[ethnographic]] [[history]] of [[colonial Brazil]], especially during the several denunciations and confessions given to the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] of [[Bahia]] (1591–1593), [[Pernambuco]] and [[Paraíba]] (1593–1595).<ref>{{pt icon}} João Ribeiro Júnior, ''O Que é Magia'', p.48-49, Ed. Abril Cultural.</ref>

=== Asia ===
{{Main|Asian witchcraft}}

==== India ====
Belief in the supernatural is strong in all parts of [[India]], and [[lynching]]s for witchcraft are reported in the press from time to time.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Jaipur_Woman_thrashed_for_witchcraft/articleshow/3578363.cms|title=Jaipur woman thrashed for witchcraft|publisher=[[The Times of India]]|date=2008-10-08|accessdate=2008-10-11}}</ref> Around 750 people were killed as witches in [[Assam]] and [[West Bengal]] between 2003 and 2008.<ref name=Witch>[http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article2609335.ece Witchcraft is given a spell in India's schools to remove curse of deadly superstition]. The Times. November 24, 2008</ref> Officials in the state of [[Chhattisgarh]] reported in 2008 that at least 100 women are maltreated annually as suspected witches.<ref>[http://news.sky.com/story/657468/fifty-witches-beaten-by-mob Fifty 'Witches' Beaten By Mob]. Sky News. December 22, 2008</ref> A local activist stated that only a fraction of cases of abuse are reported.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7317378.stm Indian villagers 'killed witch']. BBC News. March 27, 2008</ref> In [[Indian folklore|Indian mythology]], a common perception of a witch is a being with her feet pointed backwards.

==== Nepal ====
Apart from other types of [[Violence against women]] in [[Nepal]], the malpractice of abusing women in the name of witchcraft is also really prominent. According to the statistics in 2013, there was a total of 69 reported cases of abuse to women due to accusation of performing witchcraft. The perpetrators of this malpractice are usually neighbors, so-called [[witch doctor]]s and family members.<ref>{{cite journal |author= |date= |title= Violence against Women/Girls Assessing the Situation of Nepal in 2013|url=http://inseconline.org/pics/1394188608.pdf |journal= |volume= |issue= |pages=56 |doi= |access-date= 2018-04-03}}</ref> The main causes of these malpractices are lack of education, lack of awareness and superstition. According to the statistics by INSEC,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.insec.org.np/|title=Informal Sector Service Center – For Human Right & Social Justice|website=www.insec.org.np}}</ref> the age group of women who fall victims to the witchcraft violence in Nepal is 20–40.<ref>{{cite journal |author= |date= |title= A Study on Violence due to Witchcraft Allegation and Sexual Violence|url=http://www.whrin.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Witchcraft-report-INSEC.pdf |journal= |volume= |issue= |pages=32 |doi= |access-date= 2018-04-03}}</ref>

==== Japan ====
[[File:Okabe - The cat witch.jpg|thumb|Okabe – The cat witch, by [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]]]]

In Japanese folklore, the most common types of witch can be separated into two categories: those who employ [[snake]]s as familiars, and those who employ foxes.<ref>Blacker, Carmen. The Catalpa Bow : A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan. New York: Routledge Curzon, 1999. 51–59.</ref>

The fox witch is, by far, the most commonly seen witch figure in Japan. Differing regional beliefs set those who use foxes into two separate types: the ''kitsune-mochi'', and the ''tsukimono-suji''. The first of these, the ''kitsune-mochi'', is a solitary figure who gains his fox familiar by bribing it with its favourite foods. The ''kitsune-mochi'' then strikes up a deal with the fox, typically promising food and daily care in return for the fox's magical services. The fox of Japanese folklore is a powerful trickster in and of itself, imbued with powers of shape changing, possession, and illusion. These creatures can be either nefarious; disguising themselves as women in order to trap men, or they can be benign forces as in the story of "The Grateful foxes".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://academia.issendai.com/foxtales/japan-grateful-foxes.shtml |title=The Grateful Foxes – Japanese foxtales |publisher=Academia.issendai.com |accessdate=2013-06-29}}</ref> However, once a fox enters the employ of a human it almost exclusively becomes a force of evil to be feared. A fox under the employ of a human can provide many services. The fox can turn invisible and find secrets its master desires. It can apply its many powers of illusion to trick and deceive its master's enemies. The most feared power of the ''kitsune-mochi'' is the ability to command his fox to possess other humans. This process of possession is called [[Kitsunetsuki]].

By far, the most commonly reported cases of fox witchcraft in modern Japan are enacted by ''tsukimono-suji'' families, or "hereditary witches".<ref>Blacker, Carmen ''Catalpa Bow'' p. 56.</ref> The ''Tsukimono-suji'' is traditionally a family who is reported to have foxes under their employ. These foxes serve the family and are passed down through the generations, typically through the female line. ''Tsukimono-suji'' foxes are able to supply much in the way of the same mystical aid that the foxes under the employ of a ''kitsune-mochi'' can provide its more solitary master with. In addition to these powers, if the foxes are kept happy and well taken care of, they bring great fortune and prosperity to the ''Tsukimono-suji'' house. However, the aid in which these foxes give is often overshadowed by the social and mystical implications of being a member of such a family. In many villages, the status of local families as ''tsukimono-suji'' is often common, everyday knowledge. Such families are respected and feared, but are also openly shunned. Due to its hereditary nature, the status of being ''Tsukimono-suji'' is considered contagious. Because of this, it is often impossible for members of such a family to sell land or other properties, due to fear that the possession of such items will cause foxes to inundate one's own home. In addition to this, because the foxes are believed to be passed down through the female line, it is often nearly impossible for women of such families to find a husband whose family will agree to have him married to a ''tsukimono-suji'' family. In such a union the woman's status as a ''Tsukimono-suji'' would transfer to any man who married her.

==== Philippines ====
Witchcraft in [[the Philippines]] is often classified as malevolent, with practitioners of black magic called ''[[Mangkukulam]]'' in [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] and ''[[Mambabarang]]'' in [[Cebuano language|Cebuano]]; there are also practitioners of benevolent, white magic, in addition to some who practise both. ''Mambabarang'' in particular are noted for their ability to command insects and other invertebrates to accomplish a task, such as delivering a curse to a target.

Magic and witchcraft in the Philippines varies considerably across the different [[Ethnic groups of the Philippines|ethnic groups]], and is commonly a modern manifestation of [[History of the Philippines (900-1521)|pre-Colonial]] spirituality interwoven with [[Catholicism in the Philippines|Catholic]] religious elements such as the invocation of [[saints]] and the use of [[pseudo-Latin]] prayers (''oración'') in spells, and ''[[anting-anting]]'' (amulets).

Practitioners of traditional herbal-based medicine and divination called ''[[albularyo]]'' are not considered witches. They are perceived to be either quack doctors or a quasi-magical option when western medicine fails to identify or cure an ailment that is thus suspected to be of supernatural, often malevolent, origin. [[Feng shui]], an influence of [[Filipino Chinese]] culture, is also not classified as witchcraft as it is considered a separate realm of belief altogether.

==== Saudi Arabia ====
{{Main|Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia|Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia|Human rights in Saudi Arabia}}
[[Saudi Arabia]] continues to use the [[death penalty]] for [[Magic (paranormal)#In Islam|sorcery]] and witchcraft.<ref name= Miethe>{{cite book |title=Punishment: a comparative historical perspective |last=Miethe |first=Terance D. |author2=Lu, Hong |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-60516-8 |page=63}}</ref> In 2006 [[Fawza Falih|Fawza Falih Muhammad Ali]] was condemned to death for practicing witchcraft.<ref>"Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'", 14 February 2008 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7244579.stm BBC NEWS]</ref> There is no legal definition of sorcery in Saudi, but in 2007 an Egyptian pharmacist working there was accused, convicted, and executed. Saudi authorities also pronounced the death penalty on a Lebanese television presenter, [[Ali Hussain Sibat]], while he was performing the ''[[hajj]]'' (Islamic pilgrimage) in the country.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8598134.stm | title=Death 'looms for Saudi sorcerer' | date=2010-04-01 | work=BBC News | first=Sebastian | last=Usher}}</ref>

In 2009 the Saudi authorities set up the Anti-Witchcraft Unit of their [[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice]] police.<ref>{{cite web|title = Saudi Arabia's 'Anti-Witchcraft Unit' breaks another spell|url = http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Saudi-Arabias-Anti-Witchcraft-Unit-breaks-another-spell|website = The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com|accessdate = 2015-09-14}}</ref>

In April 2009, a Saudi woman Amina Bint Abdulhalim Nassar was arrested and later sentenced to death for practicing witchcraft and sorcery. In December 2011, she was beheaded.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/150648#.TucuOVK26_F |title=Saudi Authorities Behead Woman for 'Sorcery' – Middle East – News |publisher=Israel National News |accessdate=2013-06-29}}</ref> A Saudi man has been beheaded on charges of sorcery and witchcraft in June 2012.<ref>"[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18503550 Saudi man executed for 'witchcraft and sorcery']", BBC News, June 19, 2012</ref> A beheading for sorcery occurred in 2014.<ref name="di Giovanni"/>

==== Syria and Iraq====
{{See also|Human rights in ISIL-controlled territory}}
In June 2015, Yahoo reported: "The [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|Islamic State]] group has beheaded two women in Syria on accusations of "sorcery," the first such executions of female civilians in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday."<ref>"[https://news.yahoo.com/first-beheads-two-women-syria-monitor-073538672.html IS beheads two civilian women in Syria: monitor]". Yahoo News. 30 June 2015.</ref>
ISIS decapitated a man in Iraq over sorcery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3345702/Man-accused-sorcery-paraded-baying-crowd-including-children-decapitated.html|title=Man accused of 'sorcery' is decapitated|website=Dailymail.co.uk|accessdate=31 October 2017|date=2015-12-04}}</ref>

==== Tocharians ====
An expedition sent to what is now the [[Xinjiang]] region of western [[China]] by the [[PBS]] documentary series ''[[Nova (TV series)|Nova]]'' found a fully clothed female [[Tocharians|Tocharian]] mummy wearing a black conical hat of the type now associated with witches in Europe in the storage area of a small local museum, indicative of an [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] priestess.<ref>Nova, "China's Tocharian Mummies", 38:40–39:10.</ref>

=== Europe ===
{{Main|European witchcraft|Witch trials in Early Modern Europe}}
[[File:Die Hexe (Albrecht Dürer).jpg|thumb|left|[[Albrecht Dürer]] circa 1500: Witch Riding Backwards On A Goat]]
[[File:Sejdmen.jpg|thumb|During the Christianisation of Norway, King [[Olaf Trygvasson]] had male [[völva]]s (shamans) tied up and left on a [[skerry]] at [[tide|ebb]].]]Witchcraft in Europe between 500–1750 was believed to be a combination of sorcery and heresy. While sorcery attempts to produce negative supernatural effects through formulas and rituals, heresy is the Christian contribution to witchcraft in which an individual makes a pact with the Devil. In addition, heresy denies witches the recognition of important Christian values such as baptism, salvation, Christ and sacraments.<ref>{{Cite book|title=European Witchcraft|last=Monter|first=E. William|year=1969|isbn=|location=New York|pages=vii–viii}}</ref> The beginning of the witch accusations in Europe took place in the 14th and 15th centuries; however as the social disruptions of the 16th century took place, witchcraft trials intensified.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book|title=European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300–1500|last=Kiekhefer|first=Richard|publisher=Routledge|year=201|isbn=|location=|page=102}}</ref> [[File:Persecution of witches.jpg|thumb|[[Death by burning|Burning]] of witches. Current scholarly estimates of the number of people executed for witchcraft vary between about 40,000 and 100,000.<ref>
[[Brian P. Levack]] (''The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe'') multiplied the number of known European witch trials by the average rate of conviction and execution, to arrive at a figure of around 60,000 deaths. [[Anne Lewellyn Barstow]] (''Witchcraze'') adjusted Levack's estimate to account for lost records, estimating 100,000 deaths. [[Ronald Hutton]] (''Triumph of the Moon'') argues that Levack's estimate had already been adjusted for these, and revises the figure to approximately 40,000.</ref> The total number of witch trials in Europe known for certain to have ended in executions is around 12,000.<ref>
{{cite web |title = Estimates of executions | url=http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/remembrance/current.htm }} Based on [[Ronald Hutton]]'s essay ''Counting the Witch Hunt''.</ref>]]
In Early Modern European tradition, witches were stereotypically, though not exclusively, women.<ref name="gibbons">Gibbons, Jenny (1998) "Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt" in [http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/POM ''The Pomegranate''] #5, Lammas 1998.</ref><ref>Drury, Nevill (1992) ''Dictionary of Mysticism and the Esoteric Traditions'' Revised Edition. Bridport, Dorset: Prism Press. "Witch".</ref> European pagan belief in witchcraft was associated with the goddess [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] and dismissed as "diabolical fantasies" by medieval Christian authors.<ref>[[Regino of Prüm]] (906), see Ginzburg (1990) part 2, ch. 1 (89ff.)</ref> [[Witch-hunt]]s first appeared in large numbers in southern France and Switzerland during the 14th and 15th centuries. The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest [[Germany]] were from 1561 to 1670.<ref>H.C. [[Erik Midelfort]], Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany 1562–1684, 1972,71</ref>

It was commonly believed that individuals with power and prestige were involved in acts of witchcraft and even cannibalism.<ref name="auto">Thornton, John. "Cannibals, Witches, and Slave Traders in the Atlantic World." The William and Mary Quarterly 60, no. 2 (2003): 282.</ref> Because Europe had a lot of power over individuals living in West Africa, Europeans in positions of power were often accused of taking part in these practices. Though it is not likely that these individuals were actually involved in these practices, they were most likely associated due to Europe's involvement in things like the slave trade, which negatively affected the lives of many individuals in the Atlantic World throughout the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries.<ref name="auto"/>

The familiar witch of [[folklore]] and popular [[superstition]] is a combination of numerous influences. The characterization of the witch as an evil magic user developed over time.

Early converts to Christianity looked to Christian clergy to work magic more effectively than the old methods under Roman paganism, and Christianity provided a methodology involving saints and relics, similar to the gods and amulets of the Pagan world. As Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe, its concern with magic lessened.<ref>Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. (2000) "The Emergence of the Christian Witch" in ''History Today'', Nov, 2000.</ref>

The Protestant Christian explanation for witchcraft, such as those typified in the confessions of the [[Pendle witches]], commonly involves a [[deal with the Devil|diabolical pact]] or at least an appeal to the intervention of the spirits of evil. The witches or wizards engaged in such practices were alleged to reject [[Jesus]] and the [[sacrament]]s; observe "[[Witches' Sabbath|the witches' sabbath]]" (performing infernal rites that often parodied the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] or other sacraments of the Church); pay Divine honour to [[Satan|the Prince of Darkness]]; and, in return, receive from him [[preternatural]] powers. It was a folkloric belief that a Devil's Mark, like the brand on cattle, was placed upon a witch's skin by the devil to signify that this pact had been made.<ref>Drymon, M.M. Disguised as the Devil: How Lyme Disease Created Witches and Changed History, 2008.</ref> Witches were most often characterized as women. Witches disrupted the societal institutions, and more specifically, marriage. It was believed that a witch often joined a pact with the devil to gain powers to deal with infertility, immense fear for her children's well-being, or revenge against a lover. They were also depicted as lustful and perverted, and it was thought that they copulated with the devil at the Sabbath.

The Church and European society were not always so zealous in hunting witches or blaming them for misfortunes. [[Saint Boniface]] declared in the 8th century that belief in the existence of witches was un-Christian. The emperor [[Charlemagne]] decreed that the burning of supposed witches was a pagan custom that would be punished by the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]]. In 820 the [[Bishop of Lyon]] and others repudiated the belief that witches could make bad weather, fly in the night, and change their shape. This denial was accepted into [[Canon law]] . Other rulers such as [[Coloman, King of Hungary|King Coloman of Hungary]] declared that witch-hunts should cease because witches (more specifically, [[strigoi|strigas]]) do not exist.
[[File:Torturing and execution of witches in medieval miniature.jpg|thumb|Burning witches, with others held in Stocks, 14th century]]
The Church did not invent the idea of witchcraft as a potentially harmful force whose practitioners should be put to death. This idea is commonplace in pre-Christian religions. According to the scholar Max Dashu, the concept of medieval witchcraft contained many of its elements even before the emergence of Christianity. These can be found in [[Bacchanalia]]s, especially in the time when they were led by priestess [[Paculla Annia]] (188BC–186BC).

[[File:Goya - Caprichos (68).jpg|thumb|left|[[Francisco Goya]]'s ''[[Los Caprichos]]'': ''¡Linda maestra!'' ("The Follies: Beautiful Teacher!") – witches heading to a [[Witches' Sabbath|Sabbath]]]]

Powers typically attributed to European witches include turning food poisonous or inedible, flying on broomsticks or pitchforks, casting spells, cursing people, making livestock ill and crops fail, and creating fear and local chaos.

====United Kingdom====
{{Further|Witch trials in early modern Scotland}}

However, even at a later date, not all witches were assumed to be harmful practicers of the craft. In England, the provision of this curative magic was the job of a [[witch doctor]], also known as a [[cunning folk|cunning man]], [[white witch]], or wise man. The term "witch doctor" was in use in England before it came to be associated with Africa. [[Toad doctors]] were also credited with the ability to undo evil witchcraft. (Other folk magicians had their own purviews. [[Girdle-measurers]] specialised in diagnosing ailments caused by fairies, while magical cures for more mundane ailments, such as burns or toothache, could be had from [[Charmer (folklore)|charmer]]s.)

{{quote|In the north of England, the superstition lingers to an almost inconceivable extent. Lancashire abounds with witch-doctors, a set of quacks, who pretend to cure diseases inflicted by the devil ... The witch-doctor alluded to is better known by the name of the cunning man, and has a large practice in the counties of [[Lincolnshire|Lincoln]] and [[Nottinghamshire|Nottingham]].<ref>[[Charles Mackay (author)|Mackay, C.]], ''[[Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds]]''.</ref>}}

Historians [[Keith Thomas (historian)|Keith Thomas]] and his student [[Alan Macfarlane]] study witchcraft by combining historical research with concepts drawn from anthropology.<ref>Keith Thomas, ''Religion and the Decline of Magic'' (1971).</ref><ref>Jonathan Barry, "Introduction: Keith Thomas and the problem of witchcraft" in Jonathan Barry et al. eds., ''Witchcraft in early modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief'' (1996) pp. 1–46</ref><ref>Alan Macfarlane, ''Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study'' (1970).</ref> They argued that English witchcraft, like African witchcraft, was endemic rather than epidemic. Older women were the favorite targets because they were marginal, dependent members of the community and therefore more likely to arouse feelings of both hostility and guilt, and less likely to have defenders of importance inside the community. Witchcraft accusations were the village's reaction to the breakdown of its internal community, coupled with the emergence of a newer set of values that was generating psychic stress.<ref>Clarke Garrett, ""Women and witches: Patterns of analysis." ''Signs'' 3#2 (1977): 461–470. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173296 JSTOR]</ref>

[[File:Daemonologie1.jpg|thumb|Illustration of witches, perhaps being tortured before [[James VI and I|James VI]], from his ''[[Daemonologie]]'' (1597)]]
In Wales, fear of witchcraft mounted around the year 1500. There was a growing alarm of women's magic as a weapon aimed against the state and church. The Church made greater efforts to enforce the canon law of marriage, especially in Wales where tradition allowed a wider range of sexual partnerships. There was a political dimension as well, as accusations of witchcraft were levied against the enemies of Henry VII, who was exerting more and more control over Wales.<ref>Kathleen Kamerick, "Tanglost of Wales: Magic and Adultery in the Court of Chancery circa 1500." ''Sixteenth Century Journal'' 44#1 (2013) pp25-45.</ref>

The records of the Courts of Great Sessions for Wales, 1536–1736 show that Welsh custom was more important than English law. Custom provided a framework of responding to witches and witchcraft in such a way that interpersonal and communal harmony was maintained, Showing to regard to the importance of honour, social place and cultural status. Even when found guilty, execution did not occur.<ref>Sally Parkin, "Witchcraft, women's honour and customary law in early modern Wales." ''Social History'' 31.3 (2006): 295–318.</ref>

Becoming king in 1603, [[James I]] Brought to England and Scotland continental explanations of witchcraft. His goal was to divert suspicion away from male [[homosociality]] among the elite, and focus fear on female communities and large gatherings of women. He thought they threatened his political power so he laid the foundation for witchcraft and occultism policies, especially in Scotland. The point was that a widespread belief in the conspiracy of witches and a witches' Sabbath with the devil deprived women of political influence. Occult power was supposedly a womanly trait because women were weaker and more susceptible to the devil.<ref>Thomas Lolis, "The City of Witches: James I, the Unholy Sabbath, and the Homosocial Refashioning of the Witches’ Community." ''CLIO'' (2008) 37#3 pp 322–337.</ref>

In 1944 [[Helen Duncan]] was the last person in Britain to be imprisoned for fraudulently claiming to be a witch.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/toil-and-trouble-the-last-witch-789353.html|title=Toil and trouble: the last witch?|last=McSmith|first=Andy|authorlink=Andy McSmith|date=29 February 2008|work=[[The Independent]]|accessdate=1 June 2012|location=London}}</ref>

=====21st century=====
In the [[United Kingdom]] children believed to be witches or seen as possessed by evil spirits can be subject to severe beatings, traumatic [[exorcism]], and/or other abuse. There have even been child murders associated with witchcraft beliefs. The problem is particularly serious among immigrant or former immigrant communities of African origin but other communities, such as those of Asian origin are also involved. Step children and children seen as different for a wide range of reasons are particularly at risk of witchcraft accusations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.protectingchildren.org.uk/cp-topics/cultural-themes/witchcraft/ |title=Witchcraft – Child protection – Child abuse – Child rights |website=Protectingchildren.org.uk |date= |accessdate=2016-09-15 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302063932/http://www.protectingchildren.org.uk/cp-topics/cultural-themes/witchcraft/ |archivedate=2017-03-02 |df= }}</ref> Children may be beaten or have chilli rubbed into their eyes during exorcisms.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-36300200 Witchcraft child abuse cases investigated by Met rise by over 50% ''BBC'']</ref> This type of abuse is frequently hidden and can include torture.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/08/more-cases-ritual-child-abuse-linked-witchcraft-beliefs-reported-police Rise in cases of [[ritual child abuse]] linked to witchcraft beliefs reported, say police] ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref> A 2006 recommendation to record abuse cases linked to witchcraft centrally has not yet been implemented. Lack of awareness among social workers, teachers and other professionals dealing with at risk children hinders efforts to combat the problem.<ref name="bbc11/10/2015"/>
{{quote|The Metropolitan Police said there had been 60 crimes linked to faith in London so far [in 2015]. It saw reports double from 23 in 2013 to 46 in 2014. Half of UK police forces do not record such cases and many local authorities are also unable to provide figures. The NSPCC said authorities "need to ensure they are able to spot the signs of this particular brand of abuse". London is unique in having a police team, Project Violet, dedicated to this type of abuse. Its figures relate to crime reports where officers have flagged a case as involving abuse linked to faith or belief. Many of the cases involve children. (...) An NSPCC spokesman said: "While the number of child abuse cases involving witchcraft is relatively small, they often include horrifying levels of cruelty. "The authorities which deal with these dreadful crimes need to ensure they are able to spot the signs of this particular brand of abuse and take action to protect children before a tragedy occurs."<ref name="bbc11/10/2015">{{Cite news|last=Evans |first=Ruth |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34475424 |title='Witchcraft' abuse cases on the rise |publisher=[[BBC News]] |accessdate=2016-09-15|date=2015-10-11 }}</ref>}}
There is a 'money making scam' involved. Pastors accuse a child of being a witch and later the family pays for exorcism. If a child at school says that his/her pastor called the child a witch that should become a child safeguarding issue.<ref name="bbc11/10/2015"/>

==== Italy ====
As in most European countries, women in Italy were more likely suspected of witchcraft than men.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice, 1550–1650|last=Martin|first=Ruth|year=1989|isbn=|location=Oxford, UK|page=235}}</ref> Women were considered dangerous due to their supposed sexual instability, such as when being aroused, and also due to the powers of their menstrual blood.<ref name=":1" />

In the 16th century, Italy had a high portion of witchcraft trials involving love magic.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=European Witch Trials: Their Foundation in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300–1500|last=Kiekhefer|first=Richard|year=2001|isbn=|location=|page=57}}</ref> The country had a large number of unmarried people due to men marrying later in their lives during this time.<ref name=":3" /> This left many women on a desperate quest for marriage leaving them vulnerable to the accusation of witchcraft whether they took part in it or not.<ref name=":3" /> Trial records from the Inquisition and secular courts discovered a link between prostitutes and supernatural practices. Professional prostitutes were considered experts in love and therefore knew how to make love [[potion]]s and cast love related spells.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Early Modern Italy: A Social History|last=Black|first=Christopher F.|year=2001|isbn=|location=London|page=115}}</ref> Up until 1630, the majority of women accused of witchcraft were prostitutes.<ref name=":0" /> A courtesan was questioned about her use of magic due to her relationship with men of power in Italy and her wealth.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome: Trials before the Papal Magistrates|last=Cohen|first=Elizabeth S. and Thomas V.|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1993|isbn=|location=Toronto|pages=189–195}}</ref> The majority of women accused were also considered "outsiders" because they were poor, had different religious practices, spoke a different language, or simply from a different city/town/region.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Aspiring Saints: Pretense of Holiness, Inquisition, and Gender in the Republic of Venice, 1618–1750|last=Schutte|first=Anne Jacobson|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2008|isbn=|location=Baltimore|page=99}}</ref> Cassandra from Ferrara, Italy, was still considered a foreigner because not native to Rome where she was residing. She was also not seen as a model citizen because her husband was in Venice.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome: Trials before the Papal Magistrates|last=Cohen|first=Elizabeth S. and Thomas V.|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1993|isbn=|location=Toronto|pages=201–238}}</ref>

From the 16th-18th centuries, the Catholic Church enforced moral discipline throughout Italy.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Nefarious Crimes, Contested Justice: Illicit Sex, and Infanticide in the Republic of Venice, 1557-1789|last=Ferraro|first=Joanne Marie|page=3}}</ref> With the help of local tribunals, such as in Venice, the two institutions investigated a woman's religious behaviors when she was accused of witchcraft.<ref name=":0" />

==== Spain ====
{{Main|Akelarre (witchcraft)|Catalan mythology about witches|Galicians|Galicia (Spain)}}
Franciscan friars from New Spain introduced Diabolism, belief in the devil, to the indigenous people after their arrival in 1524.<ref name="credoreference2005">{{cite web|title=Diabolism in the New World|url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/abcibamrle/diabolism_in_the_new_world|publisher=ABCCLIO|accessdate=February 10, 2013|date=2005}}</ref>
Bartolomé de las Casas believed that human sacrifice was not diabolic, in fact far off from it, and was a natural result of religious expression.<ref name="credoreference2005"/>
Mexican Indians gladly took in the belief of Diabolism and still managed to keep their belief in creator-destroyer deities.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cervantes|first1=Fernando|author2=Kenneth Mills |title=The Hispanic American Historical Review|journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review|date=1996|pages=789–790|jstor=2517981|volume=76|issue=4|doi=10.2307/2517981}}</ref>

[[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] is nicknamed the "Land of the Witches" due to its mythological origins surrounding its people, culture and its land.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://listverse.com/2017/02/21/10-fascinating-mysteries-of-the-ancient-state-of-galicia/ | title=10 Fascinating Mysteries of the Ancient State of Galicia| date=2017-02-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/powerful-woman-known-maria-solina-most-famous-witch-galicia-007333 | title=The Powerful Woman Known as Maria Solina - the Most Famous Witch of Galicia}}</ref>

=== Oceania ===

==== Cook Islands ====
In pre-Christian times, witchcraft was a common practice in the [[Cook Islands]]. The native name for a sorcerer was ''tangata purepure'' (a man who prays).<ref>{{cite book|author=Jasper Buse|date=1995|title=Cook Islands Maori Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT2ENAHoS28C&pg=PA372|publisher=Cook Islands Ministry of Education|page=372|isbn=9780728602304}}</ref> The prayers offered by the ''ta'unga'' (priests)<ref>{{cite book|author=Jasper Buse|date=1995|title=Cook Islands Maori Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT2ENAHoS28C&pg=PA471|publisher=Cook Islands Ministry of Education|page=471|isbn=9780728602304}}</ref> to the gods worshiped on national or tribal ''[[marae]]'' (temples) were termed ''karakia'';<ref>{{cite book|author=Jasper Buse|date=1995|title=Cook Islands Maori Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT2ENAHoS28C&pg=PA156|publisher=Cook Islands Ministry of Education|page=156|isbn=9780728602304}}</ref> those on minor occasions to the lesser gods were named ''pure''. All these prayers were metrical, and were handed down from generation to generation with the utmost care. There were prayers for every such phase in life; for success in battle; for a change in wind (to overwhelm an adversary at sea, or that an intended voyage be propitious); that his crops may grow; to curse a thief; or wish ill-luck and death to his foes. Few men of middle age were without a number of these prayers or charms. The succession of a sorcerer was from father to son, or from uncle to nephew. So too of sorceresses: it would be from mother to daughter, or from aunt to niece. Sorcerers and sorceresses were often slain by relatives of their supposed victims.<ref>{{cite book|author=William Wyatt Gill|author-link=William Wyatt Gill|date=1892|title=The south Pacific and New Guinea, past and present; with notes on the Hervey group, an illustrative song and various myths|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/southpacificnewg00gill#page/20/mode/2up|chapter=Wizards|publisher=Sydney: Charles Potter, Government Printer|page=21}}</ref>

A singular enchantment was employed to kill off a husband of a pretty woman desired by someone else. The expanded flower of a [[Gardenia taitensis|Gardenia]] was stuck upright—a very difficult performance—in a cup (i.e., half a large coconut shell) of water. A prayer was then offered for the husbands speedy death, the sorcerer earnestly watching the flower. Should it fall the incantation was successful. But if the flower still remained upright, he will live. The sorcerer would in that case try his skill another day, with perhaps better success.<ref>{{cite book|author=William Wyatt Gill|date=1892|title=The south Pacific and New Guinea, past and present; with notes on the Hervey group, an illustrative song and various myths|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/southpacificnewg00gill#page/20/mode/2up|chapter=Wizards|publisher=Sydney: Charles Potter, Government Printer|page=22}}</ref>

According to [[Beatrice Grimshaw]], a journalist who visited the Cook Islands in 1907, the uncrowned [[Makea Takau Ariki|Queen Makea]] was believed to have possessed the mystic power called ''[[mana]]'', giving the possessor the power to slay at will. It also included other gifts, such as [[second sight]] to a certain extent, the power to bring [[luck|good or evil luck]], and the ability already mentioned to deal death at will.<ref>{{cite book|author=Beatrice Grimshaw|author-link=Beatrice Grimshaw|date=1908|title=In the Strange South Seas|chapterurl=https://archive.org/stream/instrangesouths00grimgoog#page/n112/mode/2up|chapter=A Mystic Power|publisher=London: Hutchinson & Co.|pages=71–72}}</ref>

==== Papua New Guinea ====
A local newspaper informed that more than 50 people were killed in two [[Highlands Region|Highlands]] provinces of [[Papua New Guinea]] in 2008 for allegedly practicing witchcraft.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/08/png.witchcraft/index.html Woman suspected of witchcraft burned alive] CNN.com. January 8, 2009.</ref> An estimated 50–150 alleged witches are killed each year in Papua New Guinea.<ref>"[https://news.vice.com/article/papua-new-guineas-sorcery-refugees-women-accused-of-witchcraft-flee-homes-to-escape-violence Papua New Guinea's 'Sorcery Refugees': Women Accused of Witchcraft Flee Homes to Escape Violence]". [[Vice News]]. January 6, 2015.</ref>

=== Russia ===
Among the [[Russian language|Russian]] words for ''witch'', ведьма (ved'ma) literally means "one who knows", from Old Slavic вѣдъ "to know").<ref>See also Ryan, W.F. ''The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia'', [[Pennsylvania State University Press]], 1999.</ref> Another frequent term is колдунья (koldun'ya), ''sorcerer'' being колдун (koldun).

==== Spells ====
Pagan practices formed a part of Russian and Eastern Slavic culture; the Russian people were deeply superstitious. The witchcraft practiced consisted mostly of earth magic and herbology; it was not so significant which herbs were used in practices, but how these herbs were gathered. Ritual centered on harvest of the crops and the location of the sun was very important.<ref>Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 524.
</ref> One source, pagan author Judika Illes, tells that herbs picked on Midsummer's Eve were believed to be most powerful, especially if gathered on Bald Mountain near Kiev during the witches' annual revels celebration.<ref>
Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004,) page 252.</ref> Botanicals should be gathered, "During the seventeenth minute of the fourteenth hour, under a dark moon, in the thirteenth field, wearing a red dress, pick the twelfth flower on the right."<ref name="Judika Illes 2004 page 847">Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 847.</ref>

Spells also served for midwifery, shape-shifting, keeping lovers faithful, and bridal customs. Spells dealing with midwifery and childbirth focused on the spiritual wellbeing of the baby.<ref name="Judika Illes 2004 page 847"/> Shape-shifting spells involved invocation of the wolf as a spirit animal.<ref>
Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 623.</ref> To keep men faithful, lovers would cut a ribbon the length of his erect penis and soak it in his seminal emissions after sex while he was sleeping, then tie seven knots in it; keeping this talisman of knot magic ensured loyalty.<ref>Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 797.
</ref> Part of an ancient pagan marriage tradition involved the bride taking a ritual bath at a bathhouse before the ceremony. Her sweat would be wiped from her body using raw fish, and the fish would be cooked and fed to the groom.<ref>Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 705.</ref>

Demonism, or black magic, was not prevalent. Persecution for witchcraft, mostly involved the practice of simple earth magic, founded on herbology, by solitary practitioners with a Christian influence. In one case investigators found a locked box containing something bundled in a kerchief and three paper packets, wrapped and tied, containing crushed grasses.<ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal|jstor=3879463|title=Male Witches and Gendered Categories in Seventeenth-Century Russia|first=Valerie A.|last=Kivelson|date=1 January 2003|journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History|volume=45|issue=3|pages=606–631}}</ref> Most rituals of witchcraft were very simple—one spell of divination consists of sitting alone outside meditating, asking the earth to show one's fate.<ref>
Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 313.</ref>

While these customs were unique to Russian culture, they were not exclusive to this region. Russian pagan practices were often akin to paganism in other parts of the world. The Chinese concept of ''chi'', a form of energy that often manipulated in witchcraft, is known as bioplasma in Russian practices.<ref>Janet and Stewart Farrar, A Witches Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook (Washington, Phoenix Publishing, Inc.) 1984. Page 316.
</ref> The western concept of an "evil eye" or a "hex" was translated to Russia as a "spoiler".<ref>Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 586.</ref> A spoiler was rooted in envy, jealousy and malice. Spoilers could be made by gathering bone from a cemetery, a knot of the target's hair, burned wooden splinters and several herb Paris berries (which are very poisonous). Placing these items in sachet in the victim's pillow completes a spoiler. The Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and the ancient Egyptians recognized the evil eye from as early as 3,000 BCE; in Russian practices it is seen as a sixteenth-century concept.<ref>Raymond Buckland, The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-Paganism (Detroit: Visible Ink) 2002. Page 160.
</ref>

==== Societal view of witchcraft ====
The dominant societal concern those practicing witchcraft was not whether paganism was effective, but whether it could cause harm.<ref name="jstor.org"/> Peasants in Russian and Ukrainian societies often shunned witchcraft, unless they needed help against supernatural forces. Impotence, stomach pains, barrenness, hernias, abscesses, epileptic seizures, and convulsions were all attributed to evil (or witchcraft). This is reflected in linguistics; there are numerous words for a variety of practitioners of paganism-based healers. Russian peasants referred to a witch as a ''chernoknizhnik'' (a person who plied his trade with the aid of a black book), ''sheptun''/''sheptun'ia'' (a "whisperer" male or female), ''lekar''/''lekarka'' or ''znakhar''/''znakharka'' (a male or female healer), or ''zagovornik'' (an incanter).<ref>
Christine D. Worobec, 1995. "Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices in Prerevolutionary Russian and Ukrainian Villages." Russian Review 54, no. 2: 165. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed November 21, 2013).</ref>

Ironically enough, there was universal reliance on folk healers – but clients often turned them in if something went wrong. According to Russian historian Valerie A. Kivelson, witchcraft accusations were normally thrown at lower-class peasants, townspeople and Cossacks. People turned to witchcraft as a means to support themselves. The ratio of male to female accusations was 75% to 25%. Males were targeted more, because witchcraft was associated with societal deviation. Because single people with no settled home could not be taxed, males typically had more power than women in their dissent.<ref name="jstor.org"/>

The history of Witchcraft had evolved around society. More of a psychological concept to the creation and usage of Witchcraft can create the assumption as to why women are more likely to follow the practices behind Witchcraft. Identifying with the soul of an individual's self is often deemed as "feminine" in society. There is analyzed social and economic evidence to associate between witchcraft and women.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Peterson|first1=Mark|title=Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England|journal=ProQuest|date=1998|volume=67|issue= 1|pages=192–194|doi=10.2307/3170836|jstor=3170836}}</ref>

==== Witchcraft trials ====
[[File:"A true and just recorde of the information"; title page Wellcome M0012987.jpg|thumb|''A true and iust Recorde, of the Information, Examination and Confession of all witches...'']]

Witchcraft trials occurred frequently in seventeenth-century Russia, although the "great witch-hunt" is believed{{by whom|date=January 2014}} to be a predominantly Western European phenomenon. However, as the witchcraft-trial craze swept across Catholic and Protestant countries during this time, Orthodox Christian Europe indeed partook in this so-called "witch hysteria." This involved the persecution of both males and females who were believed to be practicing paganism, herbology, the black art, or a form of sorcery within and/or outside their community. Very early on witchcraft legally fell under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical body, the church, in Kievan Rus' and Muscovite Russia.<ref>
Russell Zguta, "Witchcraft Trials in Seventeenth-Century Russia," American Historical Review 82, no. 5 (December 1977), 1190.</ref> Sources of ecclesiastical witchcraft jurisdiction date back as early as the second half of the eleventh century, one being [[Vladimir the Great]]'s first edition of his State Statute or ''Ustav'', another being multiple references in the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'' beginning in 1024.<ref>Zguta, 1190.</ref>
[[File:Nothing could be done about it LACMA 63.11.24.jpg|thumb|Goya's drawing of result of a presumed witch's trial: " [so she must be a witch]"<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Inquisition Unmasked: Being an Historical and Philosophical Account of that Tremendous Tribunal, Founded on Authentic Documents; and Exhibiting the Necessity of Its Suppression, as a Means of Reform and Regeneration, Written and Published at a Time when the National Congress of Spain was about to Deliberate on this Important Measure|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aqRCAAAAYAAJ|publisher = Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy|date = 1816-01-01|first = Antonio|last = Puigblanch}}</ref>]]
The sentence for an individual found guilty of witchcraft or sorcery during this time, and in previous centuries, typically included either burning at the stake or being tested with the "ordeal of cold water" or ''judicium aquae frigidae''.<ref name="Zguta, 1189">Zguta, 1189.</ref> The cold-water test was primarily a Western European phenomenon, but was used as a method of truth in Russia prior to, and post, seventeenth-century witchcraft trials in Muscovy. Accused persons who submerged were considered innocent, and ecclesiastical authorities would proclaim them "brought back," but those who floated were considered guilty of practicing witchcraft, and burned at the stake or executed in an unholy fashion. The thirteenth-century bishop of Vladimir, Serapion Vladimirskii, preached sermons throughout the Muscovite countryside, and in one particular sermon revealed that burning was the usual punishment for witchcraft, but more often the cold water test was used as a precursor to execution.<ref name="Zguta, 1189"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/cold-water-ordeal.html|title=Cold Water Ordeal|website=Infoplease.com|accessdate=31 October 2017}}</ref>

Although these two methods of torture were used in the west and the east, Russia implemented a system of fines payable for the crime of witchcraft during the seventeenth century. Thus, even though torture methods in Muscovy were on a similar level of harshness as Western European methods used, a more civil method was present. In the introduction of a collection of trial records pieced together by Russian scholar Nikolai Novombergsk, he argues that Muscovite authorities used the same degree of cruelty and harshness as Western European Catholic and Protestant countries in persecuting witches.<ref>
Zguta, 1187.</ref> By the mid-sixteenth century the manifestations of paganism, including witchcraft, and the black arts—astrology, fortune telling, and divination—became a serious concern to the Muscovite church and state.<ref name="Zguta, 1191">Zguta, 1191.</ref>

Tsar [[Ivan the Terrible|Ivan IV]] (reigned 1547–1584) took this matter to the ecclesiastical court and was immediately advised that individuals practicing these forms of witchcraft should be excommunicated and given the death penalty.<ref name="Zguta, 1191"/> Ivan IV, as a true believer in witchcraft, was deeply convinced{{citation needed|date=January 2014}} that sorcery accounted for the death of his wife, [[Anastasia Romanovna|Anastasiia]] in 1560, which completely devastated and depressed him, leaving him heartbroken.<ref>Zguta, 1193.</ref> Stemming from this belief, Ivan IV became majorly concerned with the threat of witchcraft harming his family, and feared he was in danger. So, during the [[Oprichnina]] (1565–1572), Ivan IV succeeded in accusing and charging a good number of boyars with witchcraft whom he did not wish to remain as nobles. Rulers after Ivan IV, specifically during the [[Time of Troubles]] (1598–1613), increased the fear of witchcraft among themselves and entire royal families, which then led to further preoccupation with the fear of prominent Muscovite witchcraft circles.<ref>Zguta, 1193–94.</ref>

After the Time of Troubles, seventeenth-century Muscovite rulers held frequent investigations of witchcraft within their households, laying the ground, along with previous tsarist reforms, for widespread witchcraft trials throughout the Muscovite state.<ref>Zguta, 1195.</ref> Between 1622 and 1700 ninety-one people were brought to trial in Muscovite courts for witchcraft.<ref>Zguta, 1196.</ref> Although Russia did partake in the witch craze that swept across Western Europe, the Muscovite state did not persecute nearly as many people for witchcraft, let alone execute a number of individuals anywhere close to the number executed in the west during the witch hysteria.

== Witches in art ==
Witches have a long history of being depicted in art, although most of their earliest artistic depictions seem to originate in Early Modern Europe, particularly the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Many scholars attribute their manifestation in art as inspired by texts such as ''Canon Episcopi'', a demonology-centered work of literature, and ''Malleus Maleficarum'', a "witch-craze" manual published in 1487, by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.<ref>Simons, Patricia. "THE INCUBUS AND ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART." Source: ''Notes in the History of Art'' 34.1 (2014): 1–8.</ref>

''Canon Episcopi'', a ninth-century text that explored the subject of demonology, initially introduced concepts that would continuously be associated with witches, such as their ability to fly or their believed fornication and sexual relations with the devil. The text refers to two women, Diana the Huntress and Herodias, who both express the duality of female sorcerers. Diana was described as having a heavenly body and as the "protectress of childbirth and fertility" while Herodias symbolized "unbridled sensuality". They thus represent the mental powers and cunning sexuality that witches used as weapons to trick men into performing sinful acts which would result in their eternal punishment. These characteristics were distinguished as Medusa-like or Lamia-like traits when seen in any artwork (Medusa's mental trickery was associated with Diana the Huntress's psychic powers and Lamia was a rumored female figure in the Medieval ages sometimes used in place of Herodias).<ref>Lorenzi, Lorenzo. ''Witches. Exploring the iconography of the sorceress and enchantress''. (2005).</ref>

One of the first individuals to regularly depict witches after the witch-craze of the medieval period was [[Albrecht Dürer]], a German Renaissance artist. His famous 1497 engraving ''[[The Four Witches]]'', portrays four physically attractive and seductive nude witches. Their supernatural identities are emphasized by the skulls and bones lying at their feet as well as the devil discreetly peering at them from their left. The women's sensuous presentation speaks to the overtly sexual nature they were attached to in early modern Europe. Moreover, this attractiveness was perceived as a danger to ordinary men who they could seduce and tempt into their sinful world.<ref name=":1" /> Some scholars interpret this piece as utilizing the logic of the ''Canon Episcopi'', in which women used their mental powers and bodily seduction to enslave and lead men onto a path of eternal damnation, differing from the unattractive depiction of witches that would follow in later Renaissance years.<ref>Stumpel, Jeroen. “The Foul Fowler Found out: On a Key Motif in Dürer's ‘Four Witches.’” Simiolus: ''Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art'', vol. 30, no. 3/4, 2003, pp. 143–160., www.jstor.org/stable/3780914.</ref>

Dürer also employed other ideas from the Middle Ages that were commonly associated with witches. Specifically, his art often referred to former 12th- to 13th-century Medieval iconography addressing the nature of female sorcerers. In the Medieval period, there was a widespread fear of witches, accordingly producing an association of dark, intimidating characteristics with witches, such as cannibalism (witches described as "[sucking] the blood of newborn infants"<ref name=":1" />) or described as having the ability to fly, usually on the back of black goats. As the Renaissance period began, these concepts of witchcraft were suppressed, leading to a drastic change in the sorceress' appearances, from sexually explicit beings to the 'ordinary' typical housewives of this time period. This depiction, known as the 'Waldensian' witch became a cultural phenomenon of early Renaissance art. The term originates from the 12th-century monk Peter Waldo, who established his own religious sect which explicitly opposed the luxury and commodity-influenced lifestyle of the Christian church clergy, and whose sect was excommunicated before being persecuted as "practitioners of witchcraft and magic".<ref name=":1" />

Subsequent artwork exhibiting witches tended to consistently rely on cultural stereotypes about these women. These stereotypes were usually rooted in early Renaissance religious discourse, specifically the Christian belief that an "earthly alliance" had taken place between Satan's female minions who "conspired to destroy Christendom".<ref name=":12">Hoak, Dale. "THE EUROPEAN WITCHCRAZE REVISITED, PT 2, WITCH-HUNTING AND WOMEN IN THE ART OF THE RENAISSANCE." ''History Today'' 31.FEB (1981): 22–26.</ref>

Another significant artist whose art consistently depicted witches was Dürer's apprentice, Hans Baldung Grien, a 15th-century German artist. His chiaroscuro woodcut, ''Witches'', created in 1510, visually encompassed all the characteristics that were regularly assigned to witches during the Renaissance. Social beliefs labeled witches as supernatural beings capable of doing great harm, possessing the ability to fly, and as cannibalistic.<ref name=":12" /> The urn in ''Witches'' seems to contain pieces of the human body, which the witches are seen consuming as a source of energy. Meanwhile, their nudity while feasting is recognized as an allusion to their sexual appetite, and some scholars read the witch riding on the back of a goat-demon as representative of their "flight-inducing [powers]". This connection between women's sexual nature and sins was thematic in the pieces of many Renaissance artists, especially Christian artists, due to cultural beliefs which characterized women as overtly sexual beings who were less capable (in comparison to men) of resisting sinful temptation.<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Referenced works ==
* [[Alan Macfarlane]], [https://books.google.com/books/about/Witchcraft_in_Tudor_and_Stuart_England.html?id=lmfuwq0mQMUC Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England], Psychology Press, 1999 (orig. 1970)
* ''[[University of Kansas]] Publications in Anthropology'', No. 5 = John M Janzen and Wyatt MacGaffey: ''An Anthology of Kongo Religion: Primary Texts from Lower Zaïre''. Lawrence, 1974.
* ''Studia Instituti Anthropos'', Vol. 41 = Anthony J. Gittins: ''Mende Religion''. Steyler Verlag, [[Nettetal]], 1987.
* {{cite book |last=Thompson |first=David W. |title=Sister Witch: The Life of Moll Dyer |year=2017 |publisher=Solstice Publishing |isbn=978-1973105756}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Ashforth|first=Adam|title=Madumo, A Man Bewitched|date=2000|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-02971-9|title-link=Madumo, A Man Bewitched}}
* Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds. ''The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692, Volumes I and II''. New York: De Capo Press, 1977.
* {{cite thesis|type=M.A. Thesis|last=Easley|first=Patricia Thompson|title=A Gobber Tooth, A Hairy Lip, A Squint Eye: Concepts of the Witch and the Body in Early Modern Europe|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2646/|date=August 2000|publisher=UNT Digital Library}}
* {{cite book|last=Favret-Saada|first=Jeanne |author-link=Jeanne Favret-Saada |title=Deadly Words: Witchcraft in the Bocage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFeuQgAACAAJ|date=December 1980|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-29787-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Favret-Saada|first=Jeanne |author-link=Jeanne Favret-Saada |title=Désorceler|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uu5KPgAACAAJ|date=2009|publisher=L'Olivier|isbn=978-2-87929-639-5}}
* Gaskill, Malcolm. "Masculinity and Witchcraft in Seventeenth-century England." In ''Witchcraft and Masculinities in Early Modern Europe'', edited by Alison Rowlands, 171-190. New York: Palgrave-McMillan, 2009.
* {{cite book|last=Geschiere|first=Peter|title=The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa = Sorcellerie Et Politique En Afrique — la viande des autres|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZW0CVu0W6DcC|origyear=Translated from French Edition (1995 Karthala)|date=1997|publisher=University of Virginia Press|isbn=978-0-8139-1703-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Ginzburg|first=Carlo|authorlink=Carlo Ginzburg|author2=Translated by Raymond Rosenthal |title=Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eV0ZhvAkHC0C|origyear=Originally published in Italy as Storia Notturna (1989 Giulio Einaudi)|date=June 2004|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-29693-7}}
* Goss, D. K. (2008). ''The Salem witch trials''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
* Gouges, Linnea de ''From Witch Hunts to Scientific Confidence; The Influence of British and Continental Currents on the Consolidation of the Scandinavian States during the 17th Century'' Nisus Publications, 2014.
* Hall, David, ed. ''[https://www.dukeupress.edu/witch-hunting-in-seventeenth-century-new-england Witch-hunting in Seventeenth-century New England: A Documentary History, 1638–1692]''. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1991.
* [[Lizanne Henderson|Henderson, Lizanne]], [http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/7708/ ''Witch-Hunting and Witch Belief in the Gàidhealtachd''], Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland Eds. Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin and Joyce Miller. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007
* Hill, F. (2000). ''The Salem witch trials reader''. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
* Hutton, Ronald (1999) ''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', Oxford, OUP.
* Hyatt, Harry Middleton. ''Hoodoo, conjuration, witchcraft, rootwork: beliefs accepted by many Negroes and white persons, these being orally recorded among Blacks and whites.'' s.n., 1970.
* Kent, Elizabeth. "Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England." ''History Workshop'' 60 (2005): 69–92.
* {{cite book|last=Lindquist|first=Galina|title=Conjuring Hope: Magic and Healing In Contemporary Russia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTvYcjeyq3oC|accessdate=20 May 2013|date=2006|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-057-1}}
* Levack, Brian P. ed. ''The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America'' (2013) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Lum96_FPZp0C excerpt and text search]
* Moore, Henrietta L. and Todd Sanders 2001. ''Magical Interpretations, Material Realities: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa'' London: Routledge.
* Notestein, Wallace. A history of witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718. New York : Crowell, 1968
* Pentikainen, Juha. "Marnina Takalo as an Individual." C. [[JSTOR]]. 26 February 2007.
* Pentikainen, Juha. "The Supernatural Experience." F. Jstor. 26 February 2007.
* {{cite book |last=Pócs |first=Éva |authorlink=Éva Pócs |date=1999 |title=Between the Living and the Dead: A perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age |location=Budapest |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-9116-19-1}}
* Ruickbie, Leo (2004) ''Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A History'', London, Robert Hale.
*Stark, Ryan J. "Demonic Eloquence," in ''Rhetoric, Science, and Magic in Seventeenth-Century England'' (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), 115–45.
*{{cite book|last= Williams |first= Howard |authorlink= Howard Williams (humanitarian) |title= The Superstitions of Witchcraft |publisher= [[Longman|Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green]] |location= [[London]] |year= 1865 |website= [[Project Gutenberg]] |url= http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22822/22822-h/22822-h.htm}}
* Worobec, Caroline. "Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices in Prerevolutionary Russia and Ukrainian Villages." Jstor. 27 February 2007.

== External links ==

{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Witchcraft}}
{{EB1911 poster|Witchcraft}}
* {{In Our Time|Witchcraft|p004y2b0|Witchcraft}}
* [http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=325263 Kabbalah On Witchcraft – A Jewish view (Audio)] chabad.org
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=220&letter=W&search=Witchcraft Jewish Encyclopedia: Witchcraft]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17203 ''Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands''], 1886, by John Linwood Pitts, from [[Project Gutenberg]]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17209 ''A Treatise of Witchcraft''], 1616, by Alexander Roberts, from Project Gutenberg
* [http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/ University of Edinburgh's Scottish witchcraft database]
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/w&r/WR_007_1974.pdf 'Witchcraft and Statecraft, A Materialist Analysis of the European Witch Persecutions']

{{witchcraft}}
{{Fantasy fiction}}
{{Stock characters}}
{{Paganism}}

[[Category:Witchcraft| ]]
[[Category:Anthropology of religion]]
[[Category:Cultural anthropology]]
[[Category:Supernatural legends]]
[[Category:Magical thinking]]
[[Category:Occult]]
[[Category:Superstitions]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Religious behaviour and experience]]
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[[Category:Nature and religion]]
[[Category:Religious controversies]]
[[Category:Folk religion]]
[[Category:Religion and medicine]]
[[Category:Reclaimed words]]
[[Category:Left-Hand Path]]

Witchcraft

2019-02-10T16:59:09Z

IrlPeterParker:

{{Redirect|Witch|other uses|Witchcraft (disambiguation)|and|Witch (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|Practice of and belief in magical skills and abilities either alone or in groups}}
[[File:Baldung Hexen 1508 kol.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|''Witches'' by [[Hans Baldung]]. Woodcut, 1508]]
'''Witchcraft''' or '''witchery''' broadly means the practice of and belief in [[magic (paranormal)|magical]] skills and abilities exercised by solitary practitioners and groups. ''Witchcraft'' is a broad term that varies culturally and societally, and thus can be difficult to define with precision,<ref name="Russell">[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LsjagvvkveEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA2&dq=witchcraft+definition&ots=aw4oz13kOS&sig=2CWBjLB2TIsUt1aNz_nyUPxOf5E&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=witchcraft%20definition&f=false Witchcraft in the Middle Ages], Jeffrey Russell, p.4-10.</ref> and [[cross-cultural]] assumptions about the meaning or significance of the term should be applied with caution. Witchcraft often occupies a religious [[divination|divinatory]] or medicinal role,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and is often present within societies and groups whose [[cultural framework]] includes a magical [[world view]].<ref name="Russell" /> With any religion there are sets of rules. The main three are, be kind, do no harm and do not advertise that you are a witch.

==Concept==
[[File:John William Waterhouse - Magic Circle.JPG|thumb|upright|''[[The Magic Circle (Waterhouse painting)|The Magic Circle]]'' by [[John William Waterhouse]], 1886]]

The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have persisted throughout recorded history. They have been present or central at various times and in many diverse forms among cultures and religions worldwide, including both "primitive" and "highly advanced" cultures,<ref>Bengt Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies", University of Philadelphia Press, 2001, p xiii: ''"Magic is central not only in 'primitive' societies but in 'high cultural' societies as well"''</ref> and continue to have an important role in many cultures today.<ref name="ReferenceA">Bengt Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies", University of Philadelphia Press, 2001</ref> Scientifically, the existence of magical powers and witchcraft are generally believed to [[pseudoscience|lack credence]] and to be unsupported by high-quality [[scientific method|experimental testing]], although individual witchcraft practices [[Medical explanations of bewitchment|and effects]] may be open to [[scientific knowledge|scientific explanation]] or explained via [[mentalism]] and [[Psychological theories of magic|psychology]].

Historically, the [[Christian views on magic|predominant concept of witchcraft in the Western world]] derives from [[Old Testament]] [[biblical law|laws]] against witchcraft, and entered the mainstream when belief in witchcraft gained Church approval in the [[Early Modern Period]]. It posits a [[Theosophy (Boehmian)|theosophical]] [[conflict between good and evil]], where witchcraft was generally [[evil]] and often associated with [[Devil in Christianity|the Devil]] and [[Devil worship]]. This culminated in deaths, [[torture]] and [[scapegoating]] (casting blame for human misfortune),<ref>{{cite web|author=Jeffrey Burton Russell |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/646051/witchcraft |title=Witchcraft – Encyclopædia Britannica |website=Britannica.com |accessdate=2013-06-29}}</ref><ref>Pócs 1999, pp. 9–12.</ref> and many years of large scale [[Witch trials in the early modern period|witch-trials]] and [[witch-hunting|witch hunts]], especially in [[Protestant]] Europe, before largely ceasing during the European [[Age of Enlightenment]]. Christian views in the modern day are diverse and cover the gamut of views from intense belief and opposition (especially from Christian [[fundamentalist]]s) to non-belief, and in some churches even approval. From the mid-20th century, witchcraft – sometimes called contemporary witchcraft to clearly distinguish it from older beliefs – became the name of a branch of [[modern paganism]]. It is most notably practiced in the [[Wiccan]] and modern witchcraft traditions, and no longer practices in secrecy.<ref>[[Margot Adler|Adler, Margot]] (1979) ''Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today''. Boston: Beacon Press. pp. 45–47, 84–5, 105.</ref>

The Western mainstream Christian view is far from the only societal perspective about witchcraft. Many cultures worldwide continue to have widespread practices and cultural beliefs that are loosely translated into English as "witchcraft", although the English translation masks a very great diversity in their forms, magical beliefs, practices, and place in their societies. During the [[History of colonialism|Age of Colonialism]], many cultures across the globe were exposed to the modern Western world via [[colonialism]], usually accompanied and often preceded by intensive [[Christianity and colonialism|Christian missionary activity]] ''(see "[[Christianization#Colonial era (16th−19th centuries)|Christianization]]")''. Beliefs related to witchcraft and magic in these cultures were at times influenced by the prevailing Western concepts. Witch hunts, scapegoating, and killing or shunning of suspected witches still occurs in the modern era,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Pearlman |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/papuanewguinea/9987294/Papua-New-Guinea-urged-to-halt-witchcraft-violence-after-latest-sorcery-case.html |title=Papua New Guinea urged to halt witchcraft violence after latest 'sorcery' case |publisher=Telegraph.co.uk |date=2013-04-11 |accessdate=2013-06-29}}</ref> with killings both of victims [[Murder for body parts#Medicine murder|for their supposedly magical body parts]], and of suspected witchcraft practitioners.

Suspicion of modern medicine due to beliefs about illness being due to witchcraft also continues in many countries to this day, with tragic [[healthcare]] consequences. [[HIV/AIDS]]<ref>{{cite web |title=HIV in Africa: Distinguishing disease from witchcraft |date=18 February 2008 |work=thestar.com |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/2008/02/18/hiv_in_africa_distinguishing_disease_from_witchcraft.html }}</ref> and [[Ebola virus disease]]<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28625305 Ebola outbreak: 'Witchcraft' hampering treatment, says doctor], BBC News, 2 August 2014, citing a doctor from [[Médecins Sans Frontières]]: ''"A widespread belief in witchcraft is hampering efforts to halt the Ebola virus from spreading"''</ref> are two examples of often-lethal [[infectious disease]] [[epidemic]]s whose medical care and [[Isolation (health care)|containment]] has been severely hampered by regional beliefs in witchcraft. Other severe medical conditions whose treatment is hampered in this way include [[tuberculosis]], [[leprosy]], [[epilepsy]] and the common severe [[bacterium|bacterial]] [[Buruli ulcer]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publichealthinafrica.org/index.php/jphia/article/view/jphia.2011.e10/html_19 |title=Social stigma as an epidemiological determinant for leprosy elimination in Cameroon – Nsagha – Journal of Public Health in Africa |work=publichealthinafrica.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theghana-italynews.com/index.php/component/k2/item/955-ebola-human-rights-group-warns-disease-is-not-caused-by-witchcraft|title=Ebola: Human Rights Group Warns Disease Is Not Caused By Witchcraft|date=3 September 2014|accessdate=31 October 2017|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903134240/http://www.theghana-italynews.com/index.php/component/k2/item/955-ebola-human-rights-group-warns-disease-is-not-caused-by-witchcraft|archivedate=3 September 2014|df=}}</ref> [[Public healthcare]] often requires considerable education work related to [[epidemology]] and modern health knowledge in many parts of the world where belief in witchcraft prevails, to encourage effective [[preventive healthcare|preventive health measures]] and treatments, to reduce [[victim blaming]], [[shunning]] and [[stigmatization]], and to prevent the [[Murder for body parts#Medicine murder|killing of people]] and [[endangered species|endangering of animal species]] for body parts believed to convey magical abilities.

== Etymology and definitions ==
{{Further|Witch (word)}}
The word ''witch'' is of uncertain origin. There are numerous etymologies that it could be derived from. One popular belief is that it is "related to the English words wit, wise, wisdom [Germanic root *weit-, *wait-, *wit-; Indo-European root *weid-, *woid-, *wid-]," so "craft of the wise."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/12416396|title=Power in the Name: The Origin and Meaning of the Word "Witch"|first=Michael|last=Dilts|publisher=}}</ref> Another is from the [[Old English]] wiccecræft, a compound of "wicce" ("witch") and "cræft" ("craft").<ref>{{cite web|last=Harper |first=Douglas|title=witchcraft (n.)|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=witchcraft&allowed_in_frame=0|work=Online Etymology Dictionary |accessdate=29 October 2013}}</ref>

In [[anthropology|anthropological]] terminology, witches differ from sorcerers in that they don't use physical tools or actions to curse; their [[maleficium (sorcery)|maleficium]] is perceived as extending from some intangible inner quality, and one may be unaware of being a witch, or may have been convinced of his/her nature by the suggestion of others.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cohn |first=Norman |authorlink=Norman Cohn |title=Europe's Inner Demons |pages=176–9 |date=1975 |isbn=978-0-465-02131-4}}</ref> This definition was pioneered in a study of central African magical beliefs by [[E. E. Evans-Pritchard]], who cautioned that it might not correspond with normal English usage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans-Pritchard |first=Edward Evan |title=Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande |date=1937 |pages=8–9 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-874029-2}}</ref>

Historians of European witchcraft have found the anthropological definition difficult to apply to European witchcraft, where witches could equally use (or be accused of using) physical techniques, as well as some who really had attempted to cause harm by thought alone.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Keith |authorlink=Keith Thomas (historian) |date=1997 |title=Religion and the Decline of Magic |pages=464–5 |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-297-00220-8}}; Ankarloo, Bengt and Henningsen, Gustav (1990) ''Early Modern European Witchcraft: Centres and Peripheries''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1, 14.</ref> European witchcraft is seen by historians and anthropologists as an [[ideology]] for explaining misfortune; however, this ideology has manifested in diverse ways, as described below.<ref name="Pocs">Pócs 1999 pp. 9–10. The first three categories were proposed by [[Richard Kieckhefer]], the fourth added by Christina Larner.</ref>

== Overview ==

=== Alleged practices ===
[[File:A Witch.jpg|thumb|''A Witch'', 1902, by [[Edward Robert Hughes]]]]
Historically the witchcraft label has been applied to practices people believe influence the mind, body, or property of others against their will—or practices that the person doing the labeling believes undermine social or religious order. Some modern commentators{{who|date=April 2011}} believe the malefic nature of witchcraft is a Christian projection. The concept of a magic-worker influencing another person's body or property against their will was clearly present in many cultures, as traditions in both folk magic and religious magic have the purpose of countering malicious magic or identifying malicious magic users. Many examples appear in early texts, such as those from [[ancient Egypt]] and [[Babylonia]]. 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.

{{quote|It is argued here that the medical arts played a significant and sometimes pivotal role in the witchcraft controversies of seventeenth-century New England. Not only were physicians and surgeons the principal professional arbiters for determining natural versus preternatural signs and symptoms of disease, they occupied key legislative, judicial, and ministerial roles relating to witchcraft proceedings. Forty six male physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries are named in court transcripts or other contemporary source materials relating to New England witchcraft. These practitioners served on coroners' inquests, performed autopsies, took testimony, issued writs, wrote letters, or committed people to prison, in addition to diagnosing and treating patients. Some practitioners are simply mentioned in passing.<ref>Gevitz, N. ""The Devil Hath Laughed at the Physicians": Witchcraft and Medical Practice in Seventeenth-Century New England." Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, vol. 55 no. 1, 2000, pp. 5–36. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/15172.</ref>}}

There has also existed in popular belief the concept of [[white witch]]es and white witchcraft, which is strictly benevolent. Many neopagan witches strongly identify with this concept, and profess [[ethical code]]s that prevent them from performing magic on a person without their request.

Where belief in malicious magic practices exists, such practitioners are typically forbidden by law as well as hated and feared by the general populace, while beneficial magic is tolerated or even accepted wholesale by the people – even if the orthodox establishment opposes it.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=QqPbJQkSo8EC&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=alleged+practices+witchcraft#v=onepage&q=alleged%20practices%20witchcraft&f=false|title=Witches, Druids and King Arthur|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|date=2006-09-15|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781852855550|language=en}}</ref>

==== Spell casting ====
{{See also|Magic (paranormal)}}

Probably the most widely known characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a [[spell (paranormal)|spell]], "spell" being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary, the Compact Edition'', Oxford University Press, p. 2955, 1971.</ref> Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of [[runes]] or [[sigil (magic)|sigils]] on an object to give it magical powers; by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image ([[poppet]]) of a person to affect him or her magically; by the recitation of [[incantation]]s; by the performance of physical [[ritual]]s; by the employment of magical [[herb]]s as amulets or [[potion]]s; by gazing at mirrors, swords or other specula ([[scrying]]) for purposes of divination; and by many other means.<ref>for instance, see [[Georg Luck|Luck, Georg]], ''Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds; a Collection of Ancient Texts'', Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985, 2006; also Kittredge, G. L., ''Witchcraft in Old and New England'', New York: Russell & Russell, 1929, 1957, 1958; and Davies, Owen, ''Witchcraft, Magic and Culture, 1736–1951'', Manchester University Press, 1999.</ref>

==== Necromancy (conjuring the dead) ====
Strictly speaking, "[[necromancy]]" is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for [[divination]] or [[prophecy]] – although the term has also been applied to raising the dead for other purposes. The biblical [[Witch of Endor]] performed it (1 Sam. 28), and it is among the witchcraft practices condemned by [[Ælfric of Eynsham]]:<ref>
{{Cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0263675103000115|first=Sarah|last=Semple|journal=Anglo-Saxon England|title=Illustrations of damnation in late Anglo-Saxon manuscripts|date=2003|volume=32|pages=231–245|postscript=|url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/3709/1/3709.pdf?DDD6+DDC65+drk0sjs}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|first=Sarah|last=Semple|jstor=125012|title=A Fear of the Past: The Place of the Prehistoric Burial Mound in the Ideology of Middle and Later Anglo-Saxon England|journal=World Archaeology|date= 1998|volume= 30|issue=1|pages=109–126|postscript=|doi=10.1080/00438243.1998.9980400 }}</ref><ref>
{{Cite journal|first=J.C.|last=Pope|title=Homilies of Aelfric: a supplementary collection (Early English Text Society 260)|publisher=Oxford University Press| volume=II|date=1968|page=796|postscript=}}, lines 118–125, from the second manuscript in an appendix to ''De Auguriis'', lesson XVII from Ælfric's "Lives of the Saints".</ref> "Witches still go to cross-roads and to heathen burials with their delusive magic and call to the devil; and he comes to them in the likeness of the man that is buried there, as if he arise from death."<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Audrey L.|last=Meaney|title=Aelfric and Idolatry|journal=Journal of Religious History|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120036238/abstract|
volume=13|issue=2|date=1984|pages=119–35|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9809.1984.tb00191.x|postscript=}}, source of English translation from Anglo-Saxon.</ref>}}

==== Demonology ====
{{main|Demonology}}
In [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]], sorcery came to be associated with [[heresy]] and [[apostasy]] and to be viewed as evil. Among the [[Catholics]], Protestants, and [[secular]] leadership of the [[Europe]]an Late [[Medieval]]/[[Early Modern]] period, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch and sometimes led to large-scale [[witch-hunt]]s. The key century was the fifteenth, which saw a dramatic rise in awareness and terror of witchcraft, culminating in the publication of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' but prepared by such fanatical popular preachers as Bernardino of Siena.<ref>For this dramatic rise in witchcraft consciousness during the fifteenth century and Bernardino's critical role in it, see Chapter 2 (pp. 52–108) Franco Mormando, ''The Preacher's Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social Underworld of Early Renaissance Italy''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-226-53854-0}}.</ref> Throughout this time, it was increasingly believed that Christianity was engaged in an apocalyptic battle against the Devil and his secret army of witches, who had entered into a [[Deal with the Devil|diabolical pact]]. In total, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women, though in some regions the majority were men.<ref name="gibbons"/><ref>Barstow, Anne Llewellyn (1994) ''Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts'' San Francisco:Pandora. p. 23.</ref> In early modern [[Scots language|Scots]], the word [[Warlock]] came to be used as the male equivalent of [[witch (word)|witch]] (which can be male or female, but is used predominantly for females).<ref>McNeill, F. Marian, ''The Silver Bough: A Four Volume Study of the National and Local Festivals of Scotland'', Glasgow: William Maclellan,1957, vol 1; also Chambers, Robert, ''Domestic Annals of Scotland'', Edinburgh: 1861, and Sinclair, George, ''Satan's Invisible World Discovered'', Edinburgh, 1871</ref> From this use, the word passed into [[Romanticism|Romantic]] literature and ultimately 20th-century [[Warlock (disambiguation)|popular culture]]. Accusations of witchcraft were often combined with other charges of heresy against such groups as the [[Cathars]] and [[Waldensians]].

The ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]],'' (Latin for "Hammer of The Witches") was a witch-hunting manual written in 1486 by two German monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It was used by both Catholics and Protestants<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0IAjBexFTgC&lpg=PA27&dq=malleus%20maleficarum%20protestant&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q=malleus%20maleficarum%20protestant&f=false |title=The Emergence of Modern Europe: C. 1500 to 1788|publisher= Britannica Educational Publishing |page=27 |accessdate=2013-06-29|isbn=9781615303434 |date=2011-01-15 |editor-last1= Campbell|editor-first1=Heather M. }}</ref> for several hundred years, outlining how to identify a witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. The book became the handbook for secular courts throughout Renaissance Europe, but was not used by the Inquisition, which even cautioned against relying on the work,<ref>'In 1538 the Spanish Inquisition cautioned its members not to believe everything the Malleus said, even when it presented apparently firm evidence.', Jolly, Raudvere, & Peters(eds.), 'Witchcraft and magic in Europe: the Middle Ages', page 241 (2002)</ref> and was later officially condemned by the Catholic Church in 1490.

In the modern Western world, witchcraft accusations have often accompanied the [[satanic ritual abuse]] [[moral panic]]. Such accusations are a counterpart to [[blood libel]] of various kinds, which may be found throughout history across the globe.

==== White witches ====
{{Main|White witch}}
{{Further|Folk religion|Magical thinking|Shamanism}}
[[File:Rila Monastery wall painting.jpg|thumb|A painting in the [[Rila Monastery]] in [[Bulgaria]], condemning witchcraft and traditional [[folk magic]]]]
Throughout the [[early modern period]], the [[Early Modern English|English]] term "witch" was not exclusively negative in meaning, and could also indicate [[cunning folk]]. As Alan McFarlane noted, "There were a number of interchangeable terms for these practitioners, 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding' witches, blessers, wizards, sorcerers, however 'cunning-man' and 'wise-man' were the most frequent."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmfuwq0mQMUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q=+interchangeable+terms+for+these+practitioners,+&f=false|title=Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study|first=Alan|last=Macfarlane|date=31 October 1999|publisher=Psychology Press|accessdate=31 October 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9780415196123}}</ref> The contemporary [[Reginald Scot]] explained, "At this day it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch' or 'she is a wise woman'".<ref>{{cite book |last=Scot |first=Reginald |authorlink=Reginald Scot |date=1584 |title=The Discoverie of Witchcraft |volume=Booke V |chapter=Chapter 9}}</ref> Folk magicians throughout Europe were often viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing,<ref>Wilby, Emma (2006) ''Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits''. pp. 51–4.</ref> which could lead to their being accused as "witches" in the negative sense. Many English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons seem to have been cunning folk whose [[fairy]] [[familiar spirit|familiar]]s had been demonised;<ref>Emma Wilby 2005 p. 123; See also [https://books.google.com/books?id=lmfuwq0mQMUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA127#v=onepage&q=white%20witches%20black%20witches&f=false Alan Macfarlane p. 127 who notes how "white witches" could later be accused as "black witches".]</ref> many French ''devins-guerisseurs'' ("diviner-healers") were accused of witchcraft,<ref>Monter () ''Witchcraft in France and Switzerland''. Ch. 7: "White versus Black Witchcraft".</ref> and over one half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers.<ref>Pócs 1999, p. 12.</ref>

Some of the healers and diviners historically accused of witchcraft have considered themselves mediators between the mundane and spiritual worlds, roughly equivalent to [[shamanism|shamans]].<ref>As defined by [[Mircea Eliade]] in ''Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy'', Bollingen Series LXXVI, Pantheon Books, NY NY 1964, pp. 3–7.</ref> Such people described their contacts with fairies, spirits often involving out-of-body experiences and travelling through the realms of an "other-world".<ref name="Ginzburg 1990 Part 2, Ch. 1">Ginzburg (1990) Part 2, Ch. 1.</ref>
Beliefs of this nature are implied in the folklore of much of Europe, and were explicitly described by accused witches in central and southern Europe. Repeated themes include participation in processions of the dead or large feasts, often presided over by a horned male deity or a female divinity who teaches magic and gives prophecies; and participation in battles against evil spirits, "vampires", or "witches" to win fertility and prosperity for the community.

=== Accusations of witchcraft ===
[[Éva Pócs]] states that reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories:<ref name="Pocs" />
# A person was caught in the act of positive or negative [[Maleficium (sorcery)|sorcery]]
# A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients' or the authorities' trust
# A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbours
# A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs or [[Occultism]]

She identifies three varieties of witch in popular belief:<ref name="Pocs" />
* The "neighbourhood witch" or "social witch": a witch who curses a neighbour following some conflict.
* The "magical" or "sorcerer" witch: either a professional healer, sorcerer, seer or midwife, or a person who has through magic increased her fortune to the perceived detriment of a neighbouring household; due to neighbourly or community rivalries and the ambiguity between positive and negative magic, such individuals can become labelled as witches.
* The "supernatural" or "night" witch: portrayed in court narratives as a demon appearing in visions and dreams.<ref>Pócs 1999 pp. 10–11.</ref>
"Neighbourhood witches" are the product of neighbourhood tensions, and are found only in self-sufficient serf village communities where the inhabitants largely rely on each other. Such accusations follow the breaking of some social norm, such as the failure to return a borrowed item, and any person part of the normal social exchange could potentially fall under suspicion. Claims of "sorcerer" witches and "supernatural" witches could arise out of social tensions, but not exclusively; the supernatural witch in particular often had nothing to do with communal conflict, but expressed tensions between the human and supernatural worlds; and in Eastern and Southeastern Europe such supernatural witches became an ideology explaining calamities that befell entire communities.<ref>Pócs 1999 pp. 11–12.</ref>

====Violence related to accusations====
Belief in witchcraft continues to be present today in some societies and accusations of witchcraft are the trigger of serious forms of violence, including murder. Such incidents are common in places such as [[Burkina Faso]], [[Ghana]], [[India]], [[Kenya]], [[Malawi]], [[Nepal]] and [[Tanzania]]. Accusations of witchcraft are sometimes linked to personal disputes, jealousy, and conflicts between neighbors or family over land or inheritance. Witchcraft-related violence is often discussed as a serious issue in the broader context of [[violence against women]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genevadeclaration.org/fileadmin/docs/Co-publications/Femicide_A%20Gobal%20Issue%20that%20demands%20Action.pdf |title=A Global Issue that Demands Action |publisher=the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Vienna Liaison Office |date=2013 |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1129&context=djcil#H2N1 |title=CONFLICT BETWEEN STATE LEGAL NORMS AND NORMS UNDERLYING POPULAR BELIEFS: WITCHCRAFT IN AFRICA AS A CASE STUDY |publisher=DUKE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE & INTERNATIONAL LAW, Vol 14:351 |date=2005 |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mrc.ac.za/crime/witchhunts.pdf |title=WITCH HUNTS IN MODERN SOUTH AFRICA: AN UNDER-REPRESENTED FACET OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE |publisher=MRC-UNISA Crime, Violence and Injury Lead Programm |date=June 2009 |accessdate=2014-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425074549/http://www.mrc.ac.za/crime/witchhunts.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-25 |dead-url=yes |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humanrights.asia/opinions/columns/AHRC-ETC-056-2011 |title=NEPAL: Witchcraft as a Superstition and a form of violence against women in Nepal — Asian Human Rights Commission |publisher=Humanrights.asia |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Mensah Adinkrah |url=http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/10/4/325.abstract |title=Witchcraft Accusations and Female Homicide Victimization in Contemporary Ghana |journal=Violence Against Women |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=325–356 |date=2004-04-01 |accessdate=2014-06-07|doi=10.1177/1077801204263419 }}</ref>

In Tanzania, about 500 older women are murdered each year following accusations against them of witchcraft or of being a witch.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_campaign/en/chap5.pdf |title=World Report on Violence and Health |publisher=[[World Health Organization]] |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref> Apart from extrajudicial violence, there is also state-sanctioned violence in some jurisdictions. For instance, in Saudi Arabia practicing witchcraft and sorcery is a crime [[punishable by death]] and the country has executed people for this crime in 2011, 2012 and 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/13/world/meast/saudi-arabia-beheading/ |title=Saudi woman beheaded for 'witchcraft and sorcery' - CNN.com |publisher=Edition.cnn.com |accessdate=2014-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18503550 |title=BBC News – Saudi man executed for 'witchcraft and sorcery' |publisher=Bbc.com |date=2012-06-19 |accessdate=2014-06-07|work=BBC News }}</ref><ref name="di Giovanni">{{cite news|first=Janine|last=di Giovanni |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/24/when-it-comes-beheadings-isis-has-nothing-over-saudi-arabia-277385.html |title=When It Comes to Beheadings, ISIS Has Nothing Over Saudi Arabia |work=Newsweek |date=14 October 2014 |accessdate=17 October 2014}}</ref>

Children in some regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, are also vulnerable to violence related to witchcraft accusations.<ref>Bussien, Nathaly et al. 2011. Breaking the spell: Responding to witchcraft accusations against children, in New Issues in refugee Research (197). Geneva, Switzerland: UNHCR</ref><ref>Cimpric, Aleksandra 2010. Children accused of witchcraft, An anthropological study of contemporary practices in Africa. Dakar, Senegal: UNICEF WCARO</ref><ref>Molina, Javier Aguilar 2006. The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Social cleansing, religious commerce and the difficulties of being a parent in an urban culture. London: Save the Children</ref><ref>Human Rights Watch 2006. Children in the DRC. Human Rights Watch report, 18 (2)</ref> Such incidents have also occurred in immigrant communities in the UK, including the much publicized case of the [[murder of Victoria Climbié]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17255470 |title=BBC News – Witchcraft murder: Couple jailed for Kristy Bamu killing |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=2012-03-05 |accessdate=2014-06-08|work=BBC News }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Dangerfield |first=Andy |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17006924 |title=BBC News – Government urged to tackle 'witchcraft belief' child abuse |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=2012-03-01 |accessdate=2014-06-08|work=BBC News }}</ref>

=== Contemporary witchcraft ===
{{Further|Neoshamanism|Modern paganism}}
Modern practices identified by their practitioners as "witchcraft" have grown dramatically since the early 20th century. Generally portrayed as revivals of pre-Christian European [[ritual]] and [[spirituality]], they are understood to involve varying degrees of [[Magic (paranormal)#Varieties of magical practice|magic]], [[shamanism]], [[folk medicine]], [[spiritual healing]], calling on [[elemental]]s and [[spirit]]s, veneration of ancient [[Pantheon (religion)|deities]] and [[archetype]]s, and attunement with the forces of nature.

The first [[Neopagan]] groups to publicly appear, during the 1950s and 60s, were [[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gerald Gardner]]'s [[Bricket Wood coven]] and [[Robert Cochrane (witch)|Roy Bowers]]' [[Clan of Tubal Cain]]. They operated as [[initiation|initiatory]] [[secret society|secret societies]]. Other individual practitioners and writers such as [[Paul Huson]]<ref>[[Paul Huson|Huson, Paul]] ''[[Mastering Witchcraft]]: a Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens'', New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1970.</ref> also claimed inheritance to surviving traditions of witchcraft.<ref>Clifton, Chas S., ''Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America'', Lanham, MD: Altamira, 2006, {{ISBN|0-7591-0202-3}}.</ref>

==== Wicca ====
{{Main|Wicca}}
During the 20th century, interest in witchcraft in [[English language|English-speaking]] and European countries began to increase, inspired particularly by [[Margaret Murray]]'s theory of a [[Witch-cult hypothesis|pan-European witch-cult]] originally published in 1921, since discredited by further careful historical research.<ref>Rose, Elliot, ''A Razor for a Goat'', [[University of Toronto Press]], 1962. Hutton, Ronald, ''The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles'', [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge, Mass.]]: [[Blackwell Publishers]], 1993. Hutton, Ronald, ''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', [[Oxford University Press]], 1999.</ref> Interest was intensified, however, by [[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gerald Gardner's]] claim in 1954 in ''[[Witchcraft Today]]'' that a form of witchcraft still existed in [[England]]. The truth of Gardner's claim is now disputed too, with different historians offering evidence for<ref>{{cite book |last=Heselton |first=Philip |authorlink=Philip Heselton |title=Wiccan Roots |isbn=978-1-86163-110-7|year=2000 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Heselton |first=Philip |authorlink=Philip Heselton |title=Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration |isbn=978-1-86163-164-0}}</ref> or against<ref>Kelly, Aidan, ''Crafting the Art of Magic'', [[Llewellyn Worldwide|Llewellyn Publications]], 1991.</ref><ref>Hutton, Ronald, ''Triumph of the Moon'', Oxford University Press, 1999.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ruickbie |first=Leo |authorlink=Leo Ruickbie |title=Witchcraft Out of the Shadows |isbn=978-0-7090-7567-7|year=2004 }}</ref> the religion's existence prior to Gardner.

The Wicca that Gardner initially taught was a witchcraft religion having a lot in common with Margaret Murray's hypothetically posited cult of the 1920s.<ref>Murray, Margaret A., ''The Witch-Cult in Western Europe'', Oxford University Press, 1921.</ref> Indeed, Murray wrote an introduction to Gardner's ''Witchcraft Today'', in effect putting her stamp of approval on it. Wicca is now practised as a religion of an [[Initiation|initiatory]] [[secret society]] nature with positive ethical principles, organised into autonomous [[coven]]s and led by a High Priesthood. There is also a large "Eclectic Wiccan" movement of individuals and groups who share key Wiccan beliefs but have no initiatory connection or affiliation with traditional Wicca. Wiccan writings and ritual show borrowings from a number of sources including 19th and 20th-century [[ceremonial magic]], the medieval grimoire known as the [[Key of Solomon]], [[Aleister Crowley]]'s [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] and pre-Christian religions.<ref>Hutton, R.,''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', Oxford University Press, pp. 205–252, 1999.</ref><ref>Kelly, A.A., ''Crafting the Art of Magic, Book I: a History of Modern Witchcraft, 1939–1964'', Minnesota: [[Llewellyn Publications]], 1991.</ref><ref>Valiente, D., ''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', London: Robert Hale, pp. 35–62, 1989.</ref> Both men and women are equally termed "witches." They practice a form of [[Duotheism|duotheistic]] [[universalism]].

Since Gardner's death in 1964, the Wicca that he claimed he was initiated into has attracted many initiates, becoming the largest of the various witchcraft traditions in the Western world, and has influenced other Neopagan and occult movements.

=====Witchcraft, Feminism, and Media=====
Wiccan literature has been described as aiding the empowerment of young women through its lively portrayal of female protagonists. Part of the recent growth in Neo-Pagan religions has been attributed to the strong media presence of fictional works such as the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] and [[Harry Potter]] series with their depictions of witchcraft.<ref name=tosenberger>{{cite journal|last=Tosenberger|first=Catherine|title=Neo-Paganism for teens|url=http://jeunessejournal.ca/index.php/yptc/article/view/81/63|journal=Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures|volume=2.2|year=2010|pages=172–82}}</ref> Widespread accessibility to related material through internet media such as chat rooms and forums is also thought to be driving this development. Wiccan beliefs are currently often found to be compatible with liberal ideals such as the [[Green movement]], and particularly with [[feminism]] by providing young women with means for empowerment and for control of their own lives.<ref name=jarvis>{{cite journal|last=Jarvis|first=Christine|title=Becoming a woman through Wicca: Witches and wiccans in contemporary teen fiction|journal=Children's Literature in Education|volume=39|issue=1|year=2008|pages= 43–52|doi=10.1007/s10583-007-9058-0|url=http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/4140/2/CLE_Jarvis_Wicca_article_2.pdf}}</ref><ref name=merskin>{{cite journal|last=Merskin|first=Debra|title=Joining Forces: Teen Girl Witches and Internet Chat Groups|url=http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/7/1/3/0/p171306_index.html |journal=Proceedings of the International Communication Association|date=2007-05-23}}</ref> This is the case particularly in North America due to the strong presence of feminist ideals.<ref name=tosenberger/> The 2002 study [[Enchanted Feminism|Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco]] suggests that Wiccan religion represents the second wave of feminism that has also been redefined as a religious movement.<ref name=jarvis/>

==== Stregheria ====
{{Main|Stregheria}}
Stregheria is an [[Italy|Italian]] witchcraft religion popularised in the 1980s by [[Raven Grimassi]], who claims that it evolved within the ancient [[Etruscan mythology|Etruscan religion]] of Italian peasants who worked under the [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic]] upper classes.

Modern Stregheria closely resembles [[Charles Leland]]'s controversial late-19th-century account of a surviving Italian religion of witchcraft, worshipping the Goddess [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], her brother [[Dianus]]/[[Lucifer]], and their daughter [[Aradia]]. Leland's witches do not see Lucifer as the evil [[Satan]] that Christians see, but a benevolent god of the Sun and Moon).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism|first1=Shelley|last1=Rabinovitch|first2=James|last2=Lewis|year=200}}</ref>

The ritual format of contemporary Stregheria is roughly similar to that of other Neopagan witchcraft religions such as [[Wicca]]. The [[pentagram]] is the most common symbol of religious identity. Most followers celebrate a series of eight festivals equivalent to the Wiccan [[Wheel of the Year]], though others follow the ancient Roman festivals. An emphasis is placed on [[ancestor worship]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stregheria.com/FAQ.html|website=Stregheria.com|title=Stregheria.com FAQ}}</ref>

==== Traditional witchcraft ====
{{Main|Traditional witchcraft}}
Traditional witchcraft is a term used to refer to a variety of contemporary forms of witchcraft. Pagan studies scholar Ethan Doyle White described it as "a broad movement of aligned magico-religious groups who reject any relation to Gardnerianism and the wider Wiccan movement, claiming older, more "traditional" roots. Although typically united by a shared aesthetic rooted in European folklore, the Traditional Craft contains within its ranks a rich and varied array of occult groups, from those who follow a contemporary Pagan path that is suspiciously similar to Wicca to those who adhere to [[Luciferianism]]".{{sfn|Doyle White|2011|pp=205–206}} According to British Traditional Witch Michael Howard, the term refers to "any non-Gardnerian, non-Alexandrian, non-Wiccan or pre-modern form of the Craft, especially if it has been inspired by historical forms of witchcraft and folk magic".<ref>[[#How11|Howard 2011]]. p. 15.</ref> Another definition was offered by Daniel A. Schulke, the current Magister of the Cultus Sabbati, when he proclaimed that ''traditional witchcraft'' "refers to a coterie of initiatory lineages of ritual magic, spellcraft and devotional mysticism".<ref>[[#Sch06|Schulke 2006]].</ref> Some forms of traditional witchcraft are the [[Feri Tradition]], [[Cochrane's Craft]] and the Sabbatic craft.<ref>[[#How11|Howard 2011]]. p. 17.</ref>.

=== Contemporary witchcraft, Satanism and Luciferianism ===
{{main|Satanism|Satanism and Witchcraft}}
[[File:Baphomet.png|thumb|[[Eliphas Levi|Eliphas Lévi's]] Sabbatic goat (known as The Goat of Mendes or [[Baphomet]]) is one of Satanism's most common symbols.]]

[[Satanism]] is a broad term referring to diverse beliefs that share a symbolic association with, or admiration for, [[Satan]], who is seen as a liberating figure. While it is heir to the same historical period and pre-Enlightenment beliefs that gave rise to modern witchcraft, it is generally seen as completely separate from modern witchcraft and Wicca, and has little or no connection to them.

Modern witchcraft considers Satanism to be the "dark side of Christianity" rather than a branch of Wicca: – the character of Satan referenced in Satanism exists only in the theology of the three Abrahamic religions, and Satanism arose as, and occupies the role of, a rebellious counterpart to Christianity, in which all is permitted and the self is central. (Christianity can be characterized as having the diametrically opposite views to these.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smokyhole.org/wicca/satvnp.htm|title=Satanism vs. Neo-Pagan Witchcraft|work=holysmoke.org}}</ref> Such beliefs become more visibly expressed in Europe after the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], when works such as [[John Milton|Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' were described anew by [[Romanticism|romantics]] who suggested that they presented the biblical Satan as an [[allegory]] representing crisis of faith, [[individualism]], [[free will]], [[wisdom]] and [[Enlightenment (spiritual)|enlightenment]]; a few works from that time also begin to directly present Satan in a less negative light, such as ''[[Letters from the Earth]]''. The two major trends are [[theistic Satanism]] and [[Satanism#Atheistic Satanism|atheistic Satanism]]; the former venerates Satan as a supernatural [[patriarchal]] [[deity]], while the latter views Satan as merely a symbolic embodiment of certain human traits.<ref name="Point of Inquiry Interview">{{cite web|last=Gilmore|first=Peter|title=Science and Satanism|url=http://www.pointofinquiry.org/peter_h_gilmore_science_and_satanism/|work=Point of Inquiry Interview|accessdate=9 December 2013|date=2007-08-10}}</ref>

Organized groups began to emerge in the mid 20th century, including the [[Ophite Cultus Satanas]] (1948)<ref name=JamesRLewis>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=James R.|title=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions|date=2002|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=978-1573922227|page=553|url=https://books.google.com/?id=lk8_ARNz-dYC&pg=PA553&lpg=PA553&dq=Ophite+Cultus+Satanas+arthur+sloane#v=onepage&q=Ophite%20Cultus%20Satanas%20arthur%20sloane&f=false}}</ref> and [[The Church of Satan]] (1966). After seeing [[Margaret Murray]]'s book ''The God of the Witches'' the leader of Ophite Cultus Satanas, Herbert Arthur Sloane, said he realized that the horned god was Satan (''Sathanas''). Sloane also corresponded with his contemporary [[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gerald Gardner]], founder of the Wicca religion, and implied that his views of Satan and the horned god were not necessarily in conflict with Gardner's approach. However, he did believe that, while "gnosis" referred to knowledge, and "[[Wicca]]" referred to wisdom, modern witches had fallen away from the true knowledge, and instead had begun worshipping a [[fertility god]], a reflection of the creator god. He wrote that "the largest existing body of witches who are true Satanists would be the [[Yezedees]]". Sloane highly recommended the book ''The Gnostic Religion'', and sections of it were sometimes read at ceremonies.<ref>''Black Magic, Satanism, Voodoo'', by Dr. Leo L. Martello, 1972 (Interview with Sloane on pp. 31–34, ''Our Lord Sathanas'')</ref> It was estimated that there were up to 100,000 Satanists worldwide by 2006, twice the number estimated in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanism.htm|accessdate=March 24, 2013|date=March 2006|title=Religious Satanism, 16th century Satanism, Satanic Dabbling, etc|publisher=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance|author=B.A. Robinson}}</ref> Satanistic beliefs have been largely permitted as a valid expression of religious belief in the West. For example, they were allowed in the [[British Royal Navy]] in 2004,<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/10/24/uk.devilworship/index.html Royal Navy to allow devil worship] ''[[CNN]]''</ref><ref>Carter, Helen. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/oct/25/military.religion The devil and the deep blue sea: Navy gives blessing to sailor Satanist]. ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/3948329.stm Navy approves first ever Satanist] ''[[BBC News]]''</ref> and an appeal was considered in 2005 for religious status as a right of prisoners by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/politics/22religion.html?pagewanted=print&position=|title=Inmates Who Follow Satanism and Wicca Find Unlikely Ally|author=Linda Greenhouse|publisher=New York Times|date=March 22, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0321/p03s02-usju.html|title=Before high court: law that allows for religious rights|journal=Christian Science Monitor|date=2005-03-21}}</ref> Contemporary Satanism is mainly an American phenomenon,<ref name="crsi">{{cite book |title= Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology |date= 2009 |publisher= Ashgate Publishing |isbn= 978-0-7546-5286-1 |author= Jesper Aagaard Petersen |chapter= Introduction: Embracing Satan}}</ref> although it began to reach [[Eastern Europe]] in the 1990s around the time of the fall of the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="crs8">{{cite book |last= Alisauskiene |first= Milda |title= Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology |date= 2009 |publisher= Ashgate Publishing |isbn= 978-0-7546-5286-1 |editor= Jesper Aagaard Petersen |chapter= The Peculiarities of Lithuanian Satanism}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title =Satanism stalks Poland |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/778438.stm |publisher= BBC News |date= 2000-06-05}}</ref>

[[Luciferianism]], on the other hand, is a belief system<ref>{{cite web|url=http://altreligion.about.com/od/alternativereligionsaz/a/How-Luciferians-Differ-From-Satanists.htm|title=How Luciferians Differ From Satanists|author=Catherine Beyer|work=[[About.com]] Religion & Spirituality|accessdate=16 September 2015}}</ref> and does not revere the [[devil]] figure or most characteristics typically affixed to [[Satan]]. Rather, [[Lucifer]] in this context is seen as one of many morning stars, a symbol of enlightenment,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://altreligion.about.com/od/mythologicalfigures/a/Lucifer.htm|title=Lucifer (Who Is He?) – Lucifer versus Satan|author=Catherine Beyer|work=[[About.com]] Religion & Spirituality|accessdate=16 September 2015}}</ref> independence and human progression. [[Madeline Montalban]] was an English witch who adhered to a specific form of Luciferianism which revolved around the veneration of Lucifer, or Lumiel, whom she considered to be a benevolent angelic being who had aided humanity's development. Within her Order, she emphasised that her followers discover their own personal relationship with the angelic beings, including Lumiel.{{sfn|Philips|2012|pp=26, 85–86}} Although initially seeming favourable to Gerald Gardner, by the mid-1960s she had become hostile towards him and his Gardnerian tradition, considering him to be "a 'dirty old man' and sexual pervert."{{sfnm|1a1=Howard|1y=2010|1p=7|2a1=Philips|2y=2012|2p=69}} She also expressed hostility to another prominent Pagan Witch of the period, [[Charles Cardell]], although in the 1960s became friends with the two Witches at the forefront of the [[Alexandrian Wicca]]n tradition, [[Alex Sanders (Wiccan)|Alex Sanders]] and his wife, [[Maxine Sanders]], who adopted some of her Luciferian angelic practices.{{sfn|Philips|2012|pp=69–70}} In contemporary times luciferian witches exist within traditional witchcraft.{{sfn|Doyle White|2011|pp=205–206}}

== Historical and religious perspectives ==
===Near East beliefs===
The belief in sorcery and its practice seem to have been widespread in the [[Ancient Near East]] and [[Nile Valley]]. It played a conspicuous role in the cultures of [[ancient Egypt]] and in [[Babylonia]]. The latter tradition included an [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] anti-witchcraft ritual, the [[Maqlû]]. A section from the [[Code of Hammurabi]] (about 2000 B.C.) prescribes:

{{quote|If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcome him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If the holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him.<ref>''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' [http://www.bible-history.com/isbe/W/WITCH%3B+WITCHCRAFT/ article on Witchcraft], last accessed 31 March 2006. There is some discrepancy between translations; compare with that given in the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15674a.htm article on Witchcraft] (accessed 31 March 2006), and the [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hamframe.htm L. W. King translation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916163034/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hamframe.htm |date=2007-09-16 }} (accessed 31 March 2006).</ref>}}

===Abrahamic religions===
==== Hebrew Bible ====
{{Main|Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible}}
According to the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia: {{quote|In the Holy Scripture references to sorcery are frequent, and the strong condemnations of such practices found there do not seem to be based so much upon the supposition of [[fraud]] as upon the abomination of the magic in itself.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15674a.htm |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Witchcraft |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1912-10-01 |accessdate=2013-10-31}}</ref>}}
[[File:Wickiana3.jpg|thumb|left|Execution of alleged witches in Central Europe, 1587]]
The [[King James Version]] uses the words "witch", "witchcraft", and "witchcrafts" to translate the [[Masoretic Text|Masoretic]] {{hebrew|כָּשַׁף}} ''kāsháf'' ({{IPA-he|kɔˈʃaf}}) and {{hebrew|קֶסֶם}} (''qésem'');<ref>{{bibleverse||Nahum|3:4|}}; {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|15:23|}}; {{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|33:6|}}; {{bibleverse|2|Kings|9:22|}}; {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|18:10|}}; {{bibleverse||Exodus|22:18|}}</ref> these same English terms are used to translate {{lang|grc|φαρμακεία}} ''pharmakeia'' in the [[Greek New Testament]]. Verses such as {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|18:11–12|}} and {{bibleverse||Exodus|22:18|}} ("Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live") thus provided scriptural justification for Christian [[witch-hunt|witch hunters]] in the [[early modern period]] (see [[Christian views on magic]]).

The precise meaning of the Hebrew {{hebrew|כָּשַׁף}}, usually translated as "witch" or "sorceress", is uncertain. In the [[Septuagint]], it was translated as ''pharmakeía'' or ''pharmakous''. In the 16th century, [[Reginald Scot]], a prominent critic of the witch trials, translated {{Hebrew|כָּשַׁף}}, φαρμακεία, and the [[Vulgate]]'s [[Latin]] equivalent ''veneficos'' as all meaning "poisoner", and on this basis, claimed that "witch" was an incorrect translation and poisoners were intended.<ref>Scot, Reginald (c. 1580) ''The Discoverie of Witchcraft'' Booke VI Ch. 1.</ref> His theory still holds some currency, but is not widely accepted, and in {{bibleverse||Daniel|2:2|}} {{hebrew|כָּשַׁף}} is listed alongside other magic practitioners who could interpret dreams: magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans. Suggested derivations of {{hebrew|כָּשַׁף}} include "mutterer" (from a single root) or ''herb user'' (as a compound word formed from the roots ''kash'', meaning "herb", and ''hapaleh'', meaning "using"). The Greek φαρμακεία literally means "herbalist" or one who uses or administers drugs, but it was used virtually synonymously with ''[[Magic (paranormal)|mageia]]'' and ''[[Goetia|goeteia]]'' as a term for a sorcerer.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dickie |first=Matthew |title=Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World |pages=33–35 |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-24982-9}}</ref>

The Bible provides some evidence that these commandments against sorcery were enforced under the Hebrew kings:
{{quote|And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I [[prithee|pray thee]], divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?<ref>I Samuel 28.</ref>}}

Note that the Hebrew word {{hebrew|אֹב}} ''ob'', translated as ''familiar spirit'' in the above quotation, has a different meaning than the usual English sense of the phrase; namely, it refers to a spirit that the woman is familiar with, rather than to [[familiar spirit|a spirit that physically manifests itself in the shape of an animal]].

==== New Testament ====
{{See also|Christian views on magic}}
The [[New Testament]] condemns the practice as an abomination, just as the Old Testament had ([[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] 5:20, compared with [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 21:8; 22:15; and [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] 8:9; 13:6). The word in most New Testament translations is "sorcerer"/"sorcery" rather than "witch"/"witchcraft".

==== Judaism ====
{{See also|Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible}}
[[Halakha|Jewish law]] views the practice of witchcraft as being laden with [[idolatry]] and/or [[necromancy]]; both being serious theological and practical offenses in [[Judaism]]. Although [[Maimonides]] vigorously denied the efficacy of all methods of witchcraft, and claimed that the Biblical prohibitions regarding it were precisely to wean the Israelites from practices related to [[idolatry]]. It is acknowledged that while magic exists, it is forbidden to practice it on the basis that it usually involves the worship of other gods. [[Rabbi]]s of the Talmud also condemned magic when it produced something other than illusion, giving the example of two men who use magic to pick cucumbers (Sanhedrin 67a). The one who creates the illusion of picking cucumbers should not be condemned, only the one who actually picks the cucumbers through magic.

However, some of the rabbis practiced "magic" themselves or taught the subject. For instance, [[Rabbah]] created a person and sent him to [[Rav Zeira]], and [[Hanina]] and [[Hoshaiah]] studied every Friday together and created a small calf to eat on [[Shabbat]] (Sanhedrin 67b). In these cases, the "magic" was seen more as divine miracles (i.e., coming from [[God]] rather than "unclean" forces) than as witchcraft.

Judaism does make it clear that Jews shall not try to learn about the ways of witches ([[Book of Deuteronomy]] 18: 9–10) and that witches are to be put to death ([[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 22:17).

Judaism's most famous reference to a medium is undoubtedly the [[Witch of Endor]] whom [[Saul]] consults, as recounted in [[Books of Samuel|1 Samuel]] 28.

==== Islam ====
Divination, and [[Magic (paranormal)#In Islam|magic]] in Islam, encompass a wide range of practices, including [[black magic]], warding off the [[evil eye]], the production of [[amulet]]s and other magical equipment, [[evocation]], [[cleromancy|casting lots]], and [[astrology]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=-lZ3QgAACAAJ|title=Magic and Divination in Early Islam|last=Savage-Smith|first=Emilie|date=2004|publisher=Ashgate/Variorum|isbn=9780860787150|language=en}}</ref> Muslims do commonly believe in magic (''sihr'')<ref>[https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_DUM_2460 “Magic”, in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition'', Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Accessed 5 August 2018] First published online: 2012 - First print edition: {{ISBN|9789004161214}}, 1960-2007</ref> and explicitly forbid its practice.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-4-other-beliefs-and-practices|title=Chapter 4: Other Beliefs and Practices|date=2012-08-09|work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|access-date=2018-08-05|language=en-US}}</ref> ''Sihr'' translates from [[Arabic]] as sorcery or black magic. The best known reference to magic in Islam is [[surah]] [[al-Falaq]] of the [[Quran|Qur'an]], which is known as a prayer to God to ward off black magic:{{Original research inline|date=August 2018}}
{{quote|Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the Dawn From the mischief of created things; From the mischief of Darkness as it overspreads; From the mischief of those who practise secret arts; And from the mischief of the envious one as he practises envy. (Qur'an 113:1–5)}}

Also according to the Qur'an:<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|last=Leaman|first=Oliver|publisher=Routledge|others=Leaman, Oliver, 1950-, Credo Reference|year=2011|isbn=9781780343686|location=Abingdon, Oxon [England]|pages=381|oclc=764567609}}</ref>
{{quote|And they follow that which the devils falsely related against the kingdom of Solomon. Solomon disbelieved not; but the devils disbelieved, teaching mankind sorcery and that which was revealed to the two angels in Babel, Harut and Marut ... And surely they do know that he who trafficketh therein will have no (happy) portion in the Hereafter; and surely evil is the price for which they sell their souls, if they but knew. (Qur'an 2:102)
}}

Islam distinguishes between God-given gifts, which can heal sickness, and [[Demonic possession#Islam|possession]], and sorcery. Good supernatural powers are therefore a ''special gift from [[God in Islam|God]]'', whereas sorcery or black magic is achieved through help of [[jinn]] and [[Shaitan|demons]]. In the Qurʾānic narrative, the [[Solomon in Islam|Prophet Sulayman]] had the power to speak with animals and command jinn, and he thanks God for this نعمة (i.e. gift, privilege, favour, bounty), which is only given to him with God's permission.{{Cite Quran|27|19}}<ref>''Tafsir Ibn Kathir'' for surah 21, verse 19</ref> The [[Muhammad|Prophet Muhammad]] was accused of being a magician by his opponents.{{Cite Quran|10|2}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1374|title=Magic - Oxford Islamic Studies Online|website=www.oxfordislamicstudies.com|language=en|access-date=2018-08-05}}</ref>

It is a common belief that jinn can possess a human,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Islamic masculinities|last=Ouzgane|first=Lahoucine|date=2006|publisher=[[Zed Books]]|isbn=9781848131514|location=London, UK|pages=89|oclc=654873315}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20357997|title=British Asians turn to exorcists|last=Nye|first=Catrin|date=2012-11-19|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-08-08|language=en-GB}}</ref> thus requiring [[Exorcism#Exorcism in Islam|exorcism]] (''ruqya'')<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dentist-stabbed-faith-healer-death-7789872|title='Possessed' dentist stabbed faith healer to death at black magic centre|last=fox|first=aine|date=2016-04-19|work=mirror|access-date=2018-08-08}}</ref> derived from the Prophet's ''[[sunnah]]'' to cast off the jinn or devils from the body of the possessed. The practice of seeking help from the jinn is prohibited and can lead to possession. The ''ruqya'' contains verses of the Qur'an as well as prayers specifically targeted against demons. The knowledge of which verses of the Qur'an to use in what way is what is considered "magic knowledge."{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}}

A ''[[hadith]]'' recorded in {{hadith-usc|bukhari|8|76|479}} states: "Seventy thousand people of my followers will enter Paradise without accounts, and they are those who do not practice Ar-Ruqya and do not see an evil omen in things, and put their trust in their Lord." [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya]], a [[Islamic scholar|scholar]], commented on this ''hadith'', stating: That is because these people will enter Paradise without being called to account because of the perfection of their Tawheed, therefore he described them as people who did not ask others to perform ruqyah for them. Hence he said "and they put their trust in their Lord." Because of their complete trust in their Lord, their contentment with Him, their faith in Him, their being pleased with Him and their seeking their needs from Him, they do not ask people for anything, be it ruqyah or anything else, and they are not influenced by omens and superstitions that could prevent them from doing what they want to do, because superstition detracts from and weakens Tawheed".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Zad al-Ma'ad|last=al-Jawziyya|first=Ibn Qayyim|publisher=|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=1/475|trans-title=Provisions of the Hereafter}}</ref>

[[Ibn al-Nadim]] hold, [[exorcist]]s gain their power by their obedience to God, while sorcerers please the demons by acts of disobedience and sacrifices and they in return do him a favor.<ref>Amira El-Zein ''Islam, Arabs, and Intelligent World of the Jinn'' Syracuse University Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-815-65070-6}} page 77</ref> Being pious and strictly following the teachings of the Qur'an can increase the probability to perform magic or miracles, that is distinguished from witchcraft, the latter practised in aid with demons.<ref name="ReferenceB">Moiz Ansari ''Islam And the Paranormal: What Does Islam Says About the Supernatural in the Light of Qur'an, Sunnah And Hadith'' iUniverse 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-595-37885-2}} page 173</ref>

A ''hadith'' recorded in {{Hadith-usc|bukhari|7|71|671}} narrates that one who has eaten seven [[Ajwa dates]] in the morning will not be adversely affected by magic in the course of that day.<ref>{{Cite book|title=THE PROPHETIC MEDICINE|last=al-Jawziyya|first=Ibn Qayyim|publisher=|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=54, 55, 225}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/386249|title=Dates in the Holy Qur’an & the Sunnah of the Prophet|date=2011-08-02|work=Arab News|access-date=2018-08-05|language=en}}</ref>

Students of the history of religion have linked several magical practises in Islam with pre-Islamic Turkish and East African customs. Most notable of these customs is the [[Zār]].<ref>Geister, Magier und Muslime. Dämonenwelt und Geisteraustreibung im Islam. Kornelius Hentschel, Diederichs 1997, Germany.</ref><ref>Magic and Divination in Early Islam (The Formation of the Classical Islamic World) by Emilie Savage-Smith (Ed.), Ashgate Publishing 2004.</ref>

== By region ==

=== Africa ===
{{redirect distinguish|Djambe|Djembe}}
{{further|Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa}}

[[File:Shona witch doctor (Zimbabwe).jpg|thumb|[[Shona people|Shona]] witchdoctor ([[n'anga]]) in [[Zimbabwe]]]]
[[File:The Kolloh-Man (January 1853, X, p.6) - Copy.jpg|thumb|The Kolloh-Man (January 1853, X, p.6)<ref name="Juvenile1853">{{cite journal|title=The Kolloh-Man|journal=The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|date=January 1853|volume=X|page=6|url=https://archive.org/details/wesleyanjuvenil19socigoog|accessdate=29 February 2016}}</ref>]]
In Southern African traditions, there are three classifications of somebody who uses magic. The ''[[tagati]]'' is usually improperly translated into English as "witch", and is a spiteful person who operates in secret to harm others. The ''[[sangoma]]'' is a diviner, somewhere on a par with a [[fortune teller]], and is employed in detecting illness, predicting a person's future (or advising them on which path to take), or identifying the guilty party in a crime. She also practices some degree of medicine. The ''inyanga'' is often translated as "witch doctor" (though many Southern Africans resent this implication, as it perpetuates the mistaken belief that a "witch doctor" is in some sense a ''practitioner'' of malicious magic). The ''inyanga''{{'}}s job is to heal illness and injury and provide customers with magical items for everyday use. Of these three categories the ''tagati'' is almost exclusively female, the ''sangoma'' is usually female, and the ''inyanga'' is almost exclusively male.

Much of what witchcraft represents in Africa has been susceptible to misunderstandings and confusion, thanks in no small part to a tendency among western scholars since the time of the now largely discredited [[Margaret Murray]] to approach the subject through a comparative lens vis-a-vis European witchcraft.<ref>{{cite book|last=Okeja|first=Uchenna|title="An African Context of the Belief in Witchcraft and Magic," in Rational Magic|date=2011|publisher=Fisher Imprints|isbn=978-1-84888-061-0}}</ref> Okeja argues that witchcraft in Africa today plays a very different social role than in Europe of the past—or present—and should be understood through an African rather than post-colonial Western lens.

Complimentary remarks about witchcraft by a native Congolese initiate: "From witchcraft ... may be developed the remedy (''kimbuki'') that will do most to raise up our country."<ref>Janzen & MacGaffey 1974, p. 54b (13.9.12).</ref> "Witchcraft ... deserves respect ... it can embellish or redeem (''ketula evo vuukisa'')."<ref>Janzen & MacGaffey 1974, p. 54b (13.9.14).</ref> "The ancestors were equipped with the protective witchcraft of the clan (''kindoki kiandundila kanda''). ... They could also gather the power of animals into their hands ... whenever they needed. ... If we could make use of these kinds of witchcraft, our country would rapidly progress in knowledge of every kind."<ref>Janzen & MacGaffey 1974, pp. 54b-55a (13.9.16).</ref> "You witches (''zindoki'') too, bring your science into the light to be written down so that ... the benefits in it ... endow our race."<ref>Janzen & MacGaffey 1974, p. 55b (13.10.8).</ref>

==== Cameroon ====

In eastern Cameroon, the term used for witchcraft among the [[Maka people|Maka]] is ''djambe''<ref>Geschiere, Peter; "''The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa''" (1997) University of Virginia Press. {{ISBN|0-8139-1703-4}} (paperback). Translated by Geschiere, Peter & Roitman, Janet from the originally published in French: "''Sorcellerie et politique en Afrique – La viande des autres''" (1995).</ref> and refers to a force inside a person; its powers may make the proprietor more vulnerable. It encompasses the occult, the transformative, killing and healing.<ref>''idem'' (Geschiere, 1997, p.13)</ref>

==== Central Africa ====
In some [[Central Africa]]n areas, malicious magic users are believed by locals to be the source of [[terminal illness]] such as [[AIDS]] and [[cancer]]. In such cases, various methods are used to rid the person from the bewitching spirit, occasionally [[physical abuse|physical]] and [[psychological abuse]]. Children may be accused of being witches, for example a young niece may be blamed for the illness of a relative. Most of these cases of abuse go unreported since the members of the society that witness such abuse are too afraid of being accused of being accomplices. It is also believed that witchcraft can be transmitted to children by feeding. Parents discourage their children from interacting with people believed to be witches.{{dubious|date=August 2018}}{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

Every year, hundreds of people in the [[Central African Republic]] are convicted of witchcraft.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2010/02/04/the-dangers-of-witchcraft/ |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2010-03-26 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312100813/http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2010/02/04/the-dangers-of-witchcraft/ |archivedate=2010-03-12 |df= }}</ref>

[[Anti-balaka|Christian militias]] in the Central African Republic have also kidnapped, burnt and buried alive women accused of being 'witches' in public ceremonies.<ref name="Esslemont 2015">{{Cite news | last=Esslemont | first=Tom | title=Witch burning rebels stoke Central African Republic violence | newspaper=Reuters | date=26 November 2015 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-centralafrica-witchcraft/witch-burning-rebels-stoke-central-african-republic-violence-idUSKBN0TF03920151126 | access-date=2 August 2018}}</ref>

==== Democratic Republic of the Congo ====
{{As of|2006}}, between 25,000 and 50,000 children in [[Kinshasa]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], had been accused of witchcraft and thrown out of their homes.<ref>{{cite news|author=Richard Dowden in Kinshasa |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/12/theobserver.worldnews11 |title=Thousands of child 'witches' turned on to the streets to starve | World news |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date= |accessdate=2016-09-15}}</ref> These children have been subjected to often-violent abuse during [[exorcism]]s, sometimes supervised by self-styled religious pastors. Other pastors and Christian activists strongly oppose such accusations and try to rescue children from their unscrupulous colleagues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/september/27.62.html|title=Kolwezi: Accused of witchcraft by parents and churches, children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being rescued by Christian activists|website=Christianity Today|date=September 2009}}</ref> The usual term for these children is ''enfants sorciers'' (child witches) or ''enfants dits sorciers'' (children accused of witchcraft). In 2002, [[USAID]] funded the production of two short films on the subject, made in Kinshasa by journalists Angela Nicoara and Mike Ormsby.

In April 2008, in Kinshasa, the police arrested 14 suspected victims (of [[penis snatching]]) and [[Magician (paranormal)|sorcerers]] accused of using black magic or witchcraft to steal (make disappear) or shrink men's penises to extort cash for cure, amid a wave of panic.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bavier |first=Joe |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2319603620080423?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=22&sp=true |title=Penis theft panic hits city.. |newspaper=Reuters |date=2008-04-23 |accessdate=2016-09-15}}</ref>

According to one study, the belief in magical warfare technologies (such as "bulletproofing") in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo serves a group-level function, as it increases group efficiency in warfare, even if it is suboptimal at the individual level.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Nunn |first=Nathan |authorlink=Nathan Nunn |last2=Sierra |first2=Raul Sanchez de la |date=2017 |title=Why Being Wrong can be Right: Magical Warfare Technologies and the Persistence of False Beliefs |journal=[[American Economic Review]] |volume=107 |issue=5 |pages=582–87 |doi=10.1257/aer.p20171091 }}</ref> The authors of the study argue that this is one reason why the belief in witchcraft persists.<ref name=":2" />

==== Ghana ====
In [[Ghana]], women are often accused of witchcraft and attacked by neighbours.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://graphic.com.gh/dailygraphic/page.php?news=10405 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108050152/http://graphic.com.gh/dailygraphic/page.php?news=10405 |archivedate=2011-01-08 |title=My Mum is Not A Witch |accessdate=2016-09-15}}</ref> Because of this, there exist six [[witch camp]]s in the country where women suspected of being witches can flee for safety.<ref name="Camps">{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19437130 | title=Ghana witch camps: Widows' lives in exile | publisher=BBC | accessdate=September 1, 2012| work=BBC News | date=September 2012 | last1=Whitaker | first1=Kati }}</ref> The witch camps, which exist solely in Ghana, are thought to house a total of around 1000 women.<ref name="Camps"/> Some of the camps are thought to have been set up over 100 years ago.<ref name="Camps"/> The Ghanaian government has announced that it intends to close the camps.<ref name="Camps"/>

Arrests were made in an effort to avoid bloodshed seen in [[Ghana]] a decade ago, when 12 alleged penis snatchers were beaten to death by mobs.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9701/18/briefs/ghana.penis.html ''7 killed in Ghana over 'penis-snatching' episodes''], CNN, January 18, 1997.</ref> While it is easy for modern people to dismiss such reports, Uchenna Okeja argues that a belief system in which such magical practices are deemed possible offer many benefits to Africans who hold them. For example, the belief that a sorcerer has "stolen" a man's penis functions as an anxiety-reduction mechanism for men suffering from impotence while simultaneously providing an explanation that is consistent with African cultural beliefs rather than appealing to Western scientific notions that are tainted by the history of colonialism (at least for many Africans).<ref>{{cite book|last=Okeja |first=Uchenna |title="An African Context of the Belief in Witchcraft and Magic," in Rational Magic|date=2011|publisher=Fisher Imprints|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1-84888-061-0}}</ref>

==== Kenya ====
It was reported on May 21, 2008 that in [[Kenya]], a mob had burnt to death at least 11 people accused of witchcraft.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Reuters Editorial |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL21301127 |title=Mob burns to death 11 Kenyan "witches" |newspaper=Reuters |date=2008-05-21 |accessdate=2016-09-15}}</ref>

==== Malawi ====
In [[Malawi]] it is also common practice to accuse children of witchcraft and many children have been abandoned, abused and even killed as a result. As in other African countries both African traditional healers and their Christian counterparts are trying to make a living out of exorcising children and are actively involved in pointing out children as witches.<ref>Byrne, Carrie 2011. Hunting the vulnerable: Witchcraft and the law in Malawi; Consultancy Africa Intelligence (16 June):</ref> Various secular and Christian organizations are combining their efforts to address this problem.<ref>Van der Meer, Erwin 2011. The Problem of Witchcraft in Malawi, Evangelical Missions Quarterly (47:1, January): 78–85.</ref>

According to [[William Kamkwamba]], witches and wizards are afraid of money, which they consider a rival evil. Any contact with [[cash]] will snap their spell and leave the wizard naked and confused. So placing cash, such as [[Malawian kwacha|kwacha]] around a room or bed mat will protect the resident from their malevolent spells.<ref>Kamkwamba, William. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Harper Collins. 2009. Page 14.</ref>

==== Nigeria ====
In [[Nigeria]], several Pentecostal pastors have mixed their evangelical brand of Christianity with African beliefs in witchcraft to benefit from the lucrative witch finding and exorcism business—which in the past was the exclusive domain of the so-called witch doctor or traditional healers. These pastors have been involved in the torturing and even killing of children accused of witchcraft.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humantrafficking.org/publications/593|title=Stepping Stones Nigeria 2007. Supporting Victims of Witchcraft Abuse and Street Children in Nigeria|website=humantrafficking.org|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017185346/http://humantrafficking.org/publications/593|archivedate=2012-10-17|df=}}</ref> Over the past decade, around 15,000 children have been accused, and around 1,000 murdered. Churches are very numerous in Nigeria, and competition for congregations is hard. Some pastors attempt to establish a reputation for spiritual power by "detecting" child witches, usually following a death or loss of a job within a family, or an accusation of financial fraud against the pastor. In the course of "exorcisms", accused children may be starved, beaten, mutilated, set on fire, forced to consume acid or cement, or buried alive. While some church leaders and Christian activists have spoken out strongly against these abuses, many Nigerian churches are involved in the abuse, although church administrations deny knowledge of it.<ref>Houreld, Katharine (2009) [http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/church-burns-witchcraft-children/story-e6frev00-1225788721635 Church burns 'witchcraft' children]. Associated Press.</ref>

==== Sierra Leone ====
Among the Mende (of [[Sierra Leone]]), trial and conviction for witchcraft has a beneficial effect for those convicted. "The witchfinder had warned the whole village to ensure the relative prosperity of the accused and sentenced ... old people. ... Six months later all of the people ... accused, were secure, well-fed and arguably happier than at any [previous] time; they had hardly to beckon and people would come with food or whatever was needful. ... Instead of such old and widowed people being left helpless or (as in Western society) institutionalized in old people's homes, these were reintegrated into society and left secure in their old age ... . ... Old people are 'suitable' candidates for this kind of accusation in the sense that they are isolated and vulnerable, and they are 'suitable' candidates for 'social security' for precisely the same reasons."<ref>Gittins 1987, p. 199.</ref>

In [[Kuranko language]], the term for witchcraft is ''suwa'ye''<ref>West, Harry G. "''Ethnographic Sorcery''" (p.24); 2007. The University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0-226-89398-3}} (pbk.), {{ISBN|0-226-89398-7}} (pbk.)</ref> referring to "extraordinary powers".

==== Tanzania ====
In [[Tanzania]] in 2008, President [[Jakaya Kikwete|Kikwete]] publicly condemned [[witchdoctor]]s for killing [[Albinism|albinos]] for their body parts, which are thought to bring good luck. 25 albinos have been murdered since March 2007.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7518049.stm Living in fear: Tanzania's albinos], BBC News.</ref> In Tanzania, albinos are often murdered for their body parts on the advice of witch doctors in order to produce powerful amulets that are believed to protect against witchcraft and make the owner prosper in life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/blogs/?p=348|title=Wicasta 2011. Albino Child Kidnapped By Witch Doctors For Tribal Sacrifice (23 September)|website=malleusmaleficarum.org}}</ref>

=== Americas ===
==== Caribbean ====

Brua is an Afro-Caribbean religion and healing tradition that originates in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, in the Dutch Caribbean. A healer in this culture is called a ''kurioso'' or ''kuradó'', a man or woman who performs ''trabou chikí'' (little works) and ''trabou grandi'' (large treatments) to promote or restore health, bring fortune or misfortune, deal with unrequited love, and more serious concerns, in which sorcery is involved. Sorcery usually involves reference to the ''almasola'' or ''homber chiki'', a devil-like entity. ''Transcultural Psychiatry'' published a paper called "Traditional healing practices originating in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao: A review of the literature on psychiatry and Brua" by Jan Dirk Blom, Igmar T. Poulina, Trevor L. van Gellecum and Hans W. Hoek of the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278016204|title=Traditional healing practices originating in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao: A review of the literature on psychiatry and Brua|first1=Jan Dirk|last1=Blom|first2=Igmar|last2=T. Poulina|first3=Trevor|last3=L. van Gellecum|first4=Hans|last4=Hoek|date=1 June 2015|journal=Transcultural Psychiatry|volume=52|issue=6|pages=840–860|via=ResearchGate|doi=10.1177/1363461515589709|pmid=26062555}}</ref>

==== Colonial North America ====
[[File:Matteson Examination of a Witch.jpg|thumb|''Examination of a Witch'' by [[T. H. Matteson]], inspired by the [[Salem witch trials]]]]
In 1645, [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], experienced America's first accusations of witchcraft when husband and wife Hugh and Mary Parsons accused each other of witchcraft. At America's first [[witch trial]], Hugh was found innocent, while Mary was acquitted of witchcraft but sentenced to be hanged for the death of her child. She died in prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.masslive.com/history/index.ssf/2011/05/springfields_375th_from_puritans_to_presidents.html |title=Springfield's 375th: From Puritans to presidents |publisher=Masslive.com |accessdate=2013-10-31}}</ref> From 1645–1663, about eighty people throughout England's [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay Colony]] were accused of practicing witchcraft. Thirteen women and two men were executed in a witch-hunt that lasted throughout [[New England]] from 1645–1663.<ref name=Fraden>Fraden, Judith Bloom, Dennis Brindell Fraden. ''The Salem Witch Trials''. Marshall Cavendish. 2008. p. 15.</ref>

The [[Salem witch trials]] followed in 1692–93. These witch trials were the most famous in [[British North America]] and took place in the coastal settlements near [[Salem, Massachusetts]]. Prior to the witch trials, nearly 300 men and women had been suspected of partaking in witchcraft, and 19 of these people were hanged, and one was “pressed to death”.<ref>{{cite book|title=America: A Narrative History|year=2013|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-393-91265-4|page=85|author=George Brown Tindall|edition=Brief Ninth Edition, Volume One|author2=David Emory Shi |editor=Jon Durbin. Retrieved 10/3/2013}}</ref> The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in [[Essex County, Massachusetts|Essex]], [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk]] and [[Middlesex County, Massachusetts|Middlesex]] Counties of colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, with even more accused who were not formally pursued by the authorities. The two courts convicted 29 people of the capital felony of witchcraft. Nineteen of the accused, 14 women and 5 men, were hanged. [[Giles Corey|One man]] who refused to enter a plea was crushed to death under heavy stones in an attempt to force him to do so. At least five more of the accused died in prison.

Despite being generally known as the "Salem" witch trials, the preliminary hearings in 1692 were conducted in a variety of towns across the province: Salem Village (now [[Danvers, Massachusetts|Danvers]]), [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem Town]], [[Ipswich, Massachusetts|Ipswich]], and [[Andover, Massachusetts|Andover]]. The best known trials were conducted by the Court of [[Oyer and Terminer]] in 1692 in Salem Town.{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/education|title=Salem Witch Museum|website=www.salemwitchmuseum.com|access-date=2018-03-23}}</ref> All 26 who went to trial before this court were convicted. The four sessions of the Superior Court of Judicature in 1693, held in Salem Town, but also in Ipswich, Boston, and Charlestown, produced only 3 convictions in the 31 witchcraft trials it conducted. Likewise, alleged witchcraft was not isolated to New England. In 1706 [[Grace Sherwood]] the "Witch of Pungo" was imprisoned for the crime in [[Princess Anne County, Virginia]].

In Maryland, there is a legend of Moll Dyer, who escaped a fire set by fellow colonists only to die of exposure in December 1697. The historical record of Dyer is scant as all official records were burned in a courthouse fire, though the county courthouse has on display the rock where her frozen body was found. A letter from a colonist of the period describes her in most unfavourable terms. A local road is named after Dyer, where her homestead was said to have been. Many local families have their own version of the Moll Dyer affair, and her name is spoken with care in the rural southern counties.<ref>David W. Thompson, "Sister Witch: The Life of Moll Dyer" (2017 Solstice Publishing) {{ISBN|978-1973105756}}</ref>

Accusations of witchcraft and wizardry led to the prosecution of a man in Tennessee as recently as 1833.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.topix.com/forum/city/jamestown-tn/TPAPB6U4LVF0JDQC8/p2|title=Old Stories|work=Topix}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1wvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA67|title=History of Fentress County, Tennessee|last1=Hogue|first1=Albert Ross|year=1916}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Touring the East Tennessee Backroads |first=Carolyn |last=Sakowski|page=212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLBrUbj02IcC&pg=PA212|isbn=9780895874764 |year=2007 }}</ref> ''[[The Crucible]]'' by Arthur Miller is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the [[Salem witch trials]] that took place in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] during 1692–93.

==== Diné / Navajo ====
In [[Navajo people|Diné culture]], witches are seen as the polar opposite of [[medicine man|ceremonial people]]. While spiritual leaders perform "[[Navajo song ceremonial complex|sings]]" for healing, protection and other beneficial purposes, all practices referred to as "witchcraft" are intended to hurt and curse. Witches are associated with harm to the community and transgression of societal standards, especially those relating to family and the dead.

The ''yee naaldlooshii'' is the type of witch known in English as a "[[skin-walker]]". They are believed to take the forms of animals in order to travel in secret and do harm to the innocent.<ref name=Dictionary>Wall, Leon and William Morgan, ''Navajo-English Dictionary''. Hippocrene Books, New York City, 1998 {{ISBN|0-7818-0247-4}}.</ref> In the [[Navajo language]], ''{{lang|nv|yee naaldlooshii}}'' translates to "with it, he goes on all fours".<ref name=Dictionary/> While perhaps the most common variety seen in horror fiction by non-Navajo people, the ''{{lang|nv|yee naaldlooshii}}'' is one of several varieties of Navajo witch, specifically a type of ''{{lang|nv|’ánti’įhnii}}''.<ref name=Dictionary/>

Corpse powder or corpse poison ({{lang-nv|{{spell-nv|áńt’į́}}}}, literally "witchery" or "harming") is a substance made from powdered corpses. The powder is used by witches to curse their victims.<ref name="PerroneStockel1993">{{cite book|last1=Perrone|first1=Bobette|last2=Stockel|first2=H. Henrietta|last3=Krueger|first3=Victoria|title=Medicine women, curanderas, and women doctors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApJayEh43ZcC&pg=PA189|accessdate=8 October 2010|date=1993|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2512-1|page=189}}</ref> The effect of the ''{{spell-nv|áńt’į́}}'' is a curse and disease, usually indicated by an immediate action to administration of the poison, like fainting, swelling of the tongue, or [[Trismus|lockjaw]]. Sometimes, however, the victims simply [[wasting|wastes away]], as from a normal disease.

Traditional Navajos usually hesitate to discuss things like witches and witchcraft with non-Navajos.<ref name=Keene>Keene, Dr. Adrienne, "[http://nativeappropriations.com/2016/03/magic-in-north-america-part-1-ugh.html Magic in North America Part 1: Ugh.]" at ''[[Native Appropriations]]'', 8 March 2016. Accessed 9 April 2016: "What happens when Rowling pulls this in, is we as Native people are now opened up to a barrage of questions about these beliefs and traditions ... but these are not things that need or should be discussed by outsiders. At all. I’m sorry if that seems "unfair," but that's how our cultures survive."</ref>

==== North America (Mexico) ====
{{See also|Brujería}}
Witchcraft was also an important part of the social and cultural history of late-Colonial Mexico, during the [[Mexican Inquisition]]. Spanish Inquisitors viewed witchcraft as a problem that could be cured simply through confession. Yet, as anthropologist [[Ruth Behar]] writes, witchcraft, not only in Mexico but in Latin America in general, was a "conjecture of sexuality, witchcraft, and religion, in which Spanish, indigenous, and African cultures converged."<ref>Behar, Ruth. ''Sex and Sin, Witchcraft and the Devil in Late-Colonial Mexico.'' American Ethnologist, 14:1 (February 1987), p. 34.</ref> Furthermore, witchcraft in Mexico generally required an interethnic and interclass network of witches.<ref>Lavrin, Asunción. ''Sexuality & Marriage in Colonial Latin America.'' Reprint ed. Lincoln, NB.:University of Nebraska Press, 1992, p. 192.</ref> Yet, according to anthropology professor Laura Lewis, witchcraft in colonial Mexico ultimately represented an "affirmation of hegemony" for women, Indians, and especially Indian women over their white male counterparts as a result of the [[casta]] system.<ref>Lewis, Laura A. ''Hall of mirrors: power, witchcraft, and caste in colonial Mexico.'' Durham, N.C.:Duke University Press, 2003, p. 13.</ref>

In modern history, notoriety has been awarded to a place called [[Catemaco#The "witches" of Catemaco|Catemaco]], in the state of Veracruz, which has a history of witchcraft, and where the practice of witchcraft by contemporary ''brujos'' and ''brujas'' thrives.

In Mexico City, people who practice brujería, [[Santería]], voodoo, ocultism and magic may find items, herbs and supplies at the ''[[mercado de Sonora]]''.

==== South America ====
In [[Chile]] there is a tradition of the [[Kalku]] in [[Mapuche religion]]; and the [[Warlock of Chiloé|Warlocks of Chiloé]] in the folklore and [[Chilote mythology]].

The presence of the witch is a constant in the [[ethnographic]] [[history]] of [[colonial Brazil]], especially during the several denunciations and confessions given to the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] of [[Bahia]] (1591–1593), [[Pernambuco]] and [[Paraíba]] (1593–1595).<ref>{{pt icon}} João Ribeiro Júnior, ''O Que é Magia'', p.48-49, Ed. Abril Cultural.</ref>

=== Asia ===
{{Main|Asian witchcraft}}

==== India ====
Belief in the supernatural is strong in all parts of [[India]], and [[lynching]]s for witchcraft are reported in the press from time to time.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Jaipur_Woman_thrashed_for_witchcraft/articleshow/3578363.cms|title=Jaipur woman thrashed for witchcraft|publisher=[[The Times of India]]|date=2008-10-08|accessdate=2008-10-11}}</ref> Around 750 people were killed as witches in [[Assam]] and [[West Bengal]] between 2003 and 2008.<ref name=Witch>[http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article2609335.ece Witchcraft is given a spell in India's schools to remove curse of deadly superstition]. The Times. November 24, 2008</ref> Officials in the state of [[Chhattisgarh]] reported in 2008 that at least 100 women are maltreated annually as suspected witches.<ref>[http://news.sky.com/story/657468/fifty-witches-beaten-by-mob Fifty 'Witches' Beaten By Mob]. Sky News. December 22, 2008</ref> A local activist stated that only a fraction of cases of abuse are reported.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7317378.stm Indian villagers 'killed witch']. BBC News. March 27, 2008</ref> In [[Indian folklore|Indian mythology]], a common perception of a witch is a being with her feet pointed backwards.

==== Nepal ====
Apart from other types of [[Violence against women]] in [[Nepal]], the malpractice of abusing women in the name of witchcraft is also really prominent. According to the statistics in 2013, there was a total of 69 reported cases of abuse to women due to accusation of performing witchcraft. The perpetrators of this malpractice are usually neighbors, so-called [[witch doctor]]s and family members.<ref>{{cite journal |author= |date= |title= Violence against Women/Girls Assessing the Situation of Nepal in 2013|url=http://inseconline.org/pics/1394188608.pdf |journal= |volume= |issue= |pages=56 |doi= |access-date= 2018-04-03}}</ref> The main causes of these malpractices are lack of education, lack of awareness and superstition. According to the statistics by INSEC,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.insec.org.np/|title=Informal Sector Service Center – For Human Right & Social Justice|website=www.insec.org.np}}</ref> the age group of women who fall victims to the witchcraft violence in Nepal is 20–40.<ref>{{cite journal |author= |date= |title= A Study on Violence due to Witchcraft Allegation and Sexual Violence|url=http://www.whrin.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Witchcraft-report-INSEC.pdf |journal= |volume= |issue= |pages=32 |doi= |access-date= 2018-04-03}}</ref>

==== Japan ====
[[File:Okabe - The cat witch.jpg|thumb|Okabe – The cat witch, by [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]]]]

In Japanese folklore, the most common types of witch can be separated into two categories: those who employ [[snake]]s as familiars, and those who employ foxes.<ref>Blacker, Carmen. The Catalpa Bow : A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan. New York: Routledge Curzon, 1999. 51–59.</ref>

The fox witch is, by far, the most commonly seen witch figure in Japan. Differing regional beliefs set those who use foxes into two separate types: the ''kitsune-mochi'', and the ''tsukimono-suji''. The first of these, the ''kitsune-mochi'', is a solitary figure who gains his fox familiar by bribing it with its favourite foods. The ''kitsune-mochi'' then strikes up a deal with the fox, typically promising food and daily care in return for the fox's magical services. The fox of Japanese folklore is a powerful trickster in and of itself, imbued with powers of shape changing, possession, and illusion. These creatures can be either nefarious; disguising themselves as women in order to trap men, or they can be benign forces as in the story of "The Grateful foxes".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://academia.issendai.com/foxtales/japan-grateful-foxes.shtml |title=The Grateful Foxes – Japanese foxtales |publisher=Academia.issendai.com |accessdate=2013-06-29}}</ref> However, once a fox enters the employ of a human it almost exclusively becomes a force of evil to be feared. A fox under the employ of a human can provide many services. The fox can turn invisible and find secrets its master desires. It can apply its many powers of illusion to trick and deceive its master's enemies. The most feared power of the ''kitsune-mochi'' is the ability to command his fox to possess other humans. This process of possession is called [[Kitsunetsuki]].

By far, the most commonly reported cases of fox witchcraft in modern Japan are enacted by ''tsukimono-suji'' families, or "hereditary witches".<ref>Blacker, Carmen ''Catalpa Bow'' p. 56.</ref> The ''Tsukimono-suji'' is traditionally a family who is reported to have foxes under their employ. These foxes serve the family and are passed down through the generations, typically through the female line. ''Tsukimono-suji'' foxes are able to supply much in the way of the same mystical aid that the foxes under the employ of a ''kitsune-mochi'' can provide its more solitary master with. In addition to these powers, if the foxes are kept happy and well taken care of, they bring great fortune and prosperity to the ''Tsukimono-suji'' house. However, the aid in which these foxes give is often overshadowed by the social and mystical implications of being a member of such a family. In many villages, the status of local families as ''tsukimono-suji'' is often common, everyday knowledge. Such families are respected and feared, but are also openly shunned. Due to its hereditary nature, the status of being ''Tsukimono-suji'' is considered contagious. Because of this, it is often impossible for members of such a family to sell land or other properties, due to fear that the possession of such items will cause foxes to inundate one's own home. In addition to this, because the foxes are believed to be passed down through the female line, it is often nearly impossible for women of such families to find a husband whose family will agree to have him married to a ''tsukimono-suji'' family. In such a union the woman's status as a ''Tsukimono-suji'' would transfer to any man who married her.

==== Philippines ====
Witchcraft in [[the Philippines]] is often classified as malevolent, with practitioners of black magic called ''[[Mangkukulam]]'' in [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] and ''[[Mambabarang]]'' in [[Cebuano language|Cebuano]]; there are also practitioners of benevolent, white magic, in addition to some who practise both. ''Mambabarang'' in particular are noted for their ability to command insects and other invertebrates to accomplish a task, such as delivering a curse to a target.

Magic and witchcraft in the Philippines varies considerably across the different [[Ethnic groups of the Philippines|ethnic groups]], and is commonly a modern manifestation of [[History of the Philippines (900-1521)|pre-Colonial]] spirituality interwoven with [[Catholicism in the Philippines|Catholic]] religious elements such as the invocation of [[saints]] and the use of [[pseudo-Latin]] prayers (''oración'') in spells, and ''[[anting-anting]]'' (amulets).

Practitioners of traditional herbal-based medicine and divination called ''[[albularyo]]'' are not considered witches. They are perceived to be either quack doctors or a quasi-magical option when western medicine fails to identify or cure an ailment that is thus suspected to be of supernatural, often malevolent, origin. [[Feng shui]], an influence of [[Filipino Chinese]] culture, is also not classified as witchcraft as it is considered a separate realm of belief altogether.

==== Saudi Arabia ====
{{Main|Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia|Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia|Human rights in Saudi Arabia}}
[[Saudi Arabia]] continues to use the [[death penalty]] for [[Magic (paranormal)#In Islam|sorcery]] and witchcraft.<ref name= Miethe>{{cite book |title=Punishment: a comparative historical perspective |last=Miethe |first=Terance D. |author2=Lu, Hong |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-60516-8 |page=63}}</ref> In 2006 [[Fawza Falih|Fawza Falih Muhammad Ali]] was condemned to death for practicing witchcraft.<ref>"Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'", 14 February 2008 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7244579.stm BBC NEWS]</ref> There is no legal definition of sorcery in Saudi, but in 2007 an Egyptian pharmacist working there was accused, convicted, and executed. Saudi authorities also pronounced the death penalty on a Lebanese television presenter, [[Ali Hussain Sibat]], while he was performing the ''[[hajj]]'' (Islamic pilgrimage) in the country.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8598134.stm | title=Death 'looms for Saudi sorcerer' | date=2010-04-01 | work=BBC News | first=Sebastian | last=Usher}}</ref>

In 2009 the Saudi authorities set up the Anti-Witchcraft Unit of their [[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice]] police.<ref>{{cite web|title = Saudi Arabia's 'Anti-Witchcraft Unit' breaks another spell|url = http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Saudi-Arabias-Anti-Witchcraft-Unit-breaks-another-spell|website = The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com|accessdate = 2015-09-14}}</ref>

In April 2009, a Saudi woman Amina Bint Abdulhalim Nassar was arrested and later sentenced to death for practicing witchcraft and sorcery. In December 2011, she was beheaded.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/150648#.TucuOVK26_F |title=Saudi Authorities Behead Woman for 'Sorcery' – Middle East – News |publisher=Israel National News |accessdate=2013-06-29}}</ref> A Saudi man has been beheaded on charges of sorcery and witchcraft in June 2012.<ref>"[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18503550 Saudi man executed for 'witchcraft and sorcery']", BBC News, June 19, 2012</ref> A beheading for sorcery occurred in 2014.<ref name="di Giovanni"/>

==== Syria and Iraq====
{{See also|Human rights in ISIL-controlled territory}}
In June 2015, Yahoo reported: "The [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|Islamic State]] group has beheaded two women in Syria on accusations of "sorcery," the first such executions of female civilians in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday."<ref>"[https://news.yahoo.com/first-beheads-two-women-syria-monitor-073538672.html IS beheads two civilian women in Syria: monitor]". Yahoo News. 30 June 2015.</ref>
ISIS decapitated a man in Iraq over sorcery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3345702/Man-accused-sorcery-paraded-baying-crowd-including-children-decapitated.html|title=Man accused of 'sorcery' is decapitated|website=Dailymail.co.uk|accessdate=31 October 2017|date=2015-12-04}}</ref>

==== Tocharians ====
An expedition sent to what is now the [[Xinjiang]] region of western [[China]] by the [[PBS]] documentary series ''[[Nova (TV series)|Nova]]'' found a fully clothed female [[Tocharians|Tocharian]] mummy wearing a black conical hat of the type now associated with witches in Europe in the storage area of a small local museum, indicative of an [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] priestess.<ref>Nova, "China's Tocharian Mummies", 38:40–39:10.</ref>

=== Europe ===
{{Main|European witchcraft|Witch trials in Early Modern Europe}}
[[File:Die Hexe (Albrecht Dürer).jpg|thumb|left|[[Albrecht Dürer]] circa 1500: Witch Riding Backwards On A Goat]]
[[File:Sejdmen.jpg|thumb|During the Christianisation of Norway, King [[Olaf Trygvasson]] had male [[völva]]s (shamans) tied up and left on a [[skerry]] at [[tide|ebb]].]]Witchcraft in Europe between 500–1750 was believed to be a combination of sorcery and heresy. While sorcery attempts to produce negative supernatural effects through formulas and rituals, heresy is the Christian contribution to witchcraft in which an individual makes a pact with the Devil. In addition, heresy denies witches the recognition of important Christian values such as baptism, salvation, Christ and sacraments.<ref>{{Cite book|title=European Witchcraft|last=Monter|first=E. William|year=1969|isbn=|location=New York|pages=vii–viii}}</ref> The beginning of the witch accusations in Europe took place in the 14th and 15th centuries; however as the social disruptions of the 16th century took place, witchcraft trials intensified.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book|title=European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300–1500|last=Kiekhefer|first=Richard|publisher=Routledge|year=201|isbn=|location=|page=102}}</ref> [[File:Persecution of witches.jpg|thumb|[[Death by burning|Burning]] of witches. Current scholarly estimates of the number of people executed for witchcraft vary between about 40,000 and 100,000.<ref>
[[Brian P. Levack]] (''The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe'') multiplied the number of known European witch trials by the average rate of conviction and execution, to arrive at a figure of around 60,000 deaths. [[Anne Lewellyn Barstow]] (''Witchcraze'') adjusted Levack's estimate to account for lost records, estimating 100,000 deaths. [[Ronald Hutton]] (''Triumph of the Moon'') argues that Levack's estimate had already been adjusted for these, and revises the figure to approximately 40,000.</ref> The total number of witch trials in Europe known for certain to have ended in executions is around 12,000.<ref>
{{cite web |title = Estimates of executions | url=http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/remembrance/current.htm }} Based on [[Ronald Hutton]]'s essay ''Counting the Witch Hunt''.</ref>]]
In Early Modern European tradition, witches were stereotypically, though not exclusively, women.<ref name="gibbons">Gibbons, Jenny (1998) "Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt" in [http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/POM ''The Pomegranate''] #5, Lammas 1998.</ref><ref>Drury, Nevill (1992) ''Dictionary of Mysticism and the Esoteric Traditions'' Revised Edition. Bridport, Dorset: Prism Press. "Witch".</ref> European pagan belief in witchcraft was associated with the goddess [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] and dismissed as "diabolical fantasies" by medieval Christian authors.<ref>[[Regino of Prüm]] (906), see Ginzburg (1990) part 2, ch. 1 (89ff.)</ref> [[Witch-hunt]]s first appeared in large numbers in southern France and Switzerland during the 14th and 15th centuries. The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest [[Germany]] were from 1561 to 1670.<ref>H.C. [[Erik Midelfort]], Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany 1562–1684, 1972,71</ref>

It was commonly believed that individuals with power and prestige were involved in acts of witchcraft and even cannibalism.<ref name="auto">Thornton, John. "Cannibals, Witches, and Slave Traders in the Atlantic World." The William and Mary Quarterly 60, no. 2 (2003): 282.</ref> Because Europe had a lot of power over individuals living in West Africa, Europeans in positions of power were often accused of taking part in these practices. Though it is not likely that these individuals were actually involved in these practices, they were most likely associated due to Europe's involvement in things like the slave trade, which negatively affected the lives of many individuals in the Atlantic World throughout the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries.<ref name="auto"/>

The familiar witch of [[folklore]] and popular [[superstition]] is a combination of numerous influences. The characterization of the witch as an evil magic user developed over time.

Early converts to Christianity looked to Christian clergy to work magic more effectively than the old methods under Roman paganism, and Christianity provided a methodology involving saints and relics, similar to the gods and amulets of the Pagan world. As Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe, its concern with magic lessened.<ref>Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. (2000) "The Emergence of the Christian Witch" in ''History Today'', Nov, 2000.</ref>

The Protestant Christian explanation for witchcraft, such as those typified in the confessions of the [[Pendle witches]], commonly involves a [[deal with the Devil|diabolical pact]] or at least an appeal to the intervention of the spirits of evil. The witches or wizards engaged in such practices were alleged to reject [[Jesus]] and the [[sacrament]]s; observe "[[Witches' Sabbath|the witches' sabbath]]" (performing infernal rites that often parodied the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] or other sacraments of the Church); pay Divine honour to [[Satan|the Prince of Darkness]]; and, in return, receive from him [[preternatural]] powers. It was a folkloric belief that a Devil's Mark, like the brand on cattle, was placed upon a witch's skin by the devil to signify that this pact had been made.<ref>Drymon, M.M. Disguised as the Devil: How Lyme Disease Created Witches and Changed History, 2008.</ref> Witches were most often characterized as women. Witches disrupted the societal institutions, and more specifically, marriage. It was believed that a witch often joined a pact with the devil to gain powers to deal with infertility, immense fear for her children's well-being, or revenge against a lover. They were also depicted as lustful and perverted, and it was thought that they copulated with the devil at the Sabbath.

The Church and European society were not always so zealous in hunting witches or blaming them for misfortunes. [[Saint Boniface]] declared in the 8th century that belief in the existence of witches was un-Christian. The emperor [[Charlemagne]] decreed that the burning of supposed witches was a pagan custom that would be punished by the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]]. In 820 the [[Bishop of Lyon]] and others repudiated the belief that witches could make bad weather, fly in the night, and change their shape. This denial was accepted into [[Canon law]] . Other rulers such as [[Coloman, King of Hungary|King Coloman of Hungary]] declared that witch-hunts should cease because witches (more specifically, [[strigoi|strigas]]) do not exist.
[[File:Torturing and execution of witches in medieval miniature.jpg|thumb|Burning witches, with others held in Stocks, 14th century]]
The Church did not invent the idea of witchcraft as a potentially harmful force whose practitioners should be put to death. This idea is commonplace in pre-Christian religions. According to the scholar Max Dashu, the concept of medieval witchcraft contained many of its elements even before the emergence of Christianity. These can be found in [[Bacchanalia]]s, especially in the time when they were led by priestess [[Paculla Annia]] (188BC–186BC).

[[File:Goya - Caprichos (68).jpg|thumb|left|[[Francisco Goya]]'s ''[[Los Caprichos]]'': ''¡Linda maestra!'' ("The Follies: Beautiful Teacher!") – witches heading to a [[Witches' Sabbath|Sabbath]]]]

Powers typically attributed to European witches include turning food poisonous or inedible, flying on broomsticks or pitchforks, casting spells, cursing people, making livestock ill and crops fail, and creating fear and local chaos.

====United Kingdom====
{{Further|Witch trials in early modern Scotland}}

However, even at a later date, not all witches were assumed to be harmful practicers of the craft. In England, the provision of this curative magic was the job of a [[witch doctor]], also known as a [[cunning folk|cunning man]], [[white witch]], or wise man. The term "witch doctor" was in use in England before it came to be associated with Africa. [[Toad doctors]] were also credited with the ability to undo evil witchcraft. (Other folk magicians had their own purviews. [[Girdle-measurers]] specialised in diagnosing ailments caused by fairies, while magical cures for more mundane ailments, such as burns or toothache, could be had from [[Charmer (folklore)|charmer]]s.)

{{quote|In the north of England, the superstition lingers to an almost inconceivable extent. Lancashire abounds with witch-doctors, a set of quacks, who pretend to cure diseases inflicted by the devil ... The witch-doctor alluded to is better known by the name of the cunning man, and has a large practice in the counties of [[Lincolnshire|Lincoln]] and [[Nottinghamshire|Nottingham]].<ref>[[Charles Mackay (author)|Mackay, C.]], ''[[Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds]]''.</ref>}}

Historians [[Keith Thomas (historian)|Keith Thomas]] and his student [[Alan Macfarlane]] study witchcraft by combining historical research with concepts drawn from anthropology.<ref>Keith Thomas, ''Religion and the Decline of Magic'' (1971).</ref><ref>Jonathan Barry, "Introduction: Keith Thomas and the problem of witchcraft" in Jonathan Barry et al. eds., ''Witchcraft in early modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief'' (1996) pp. 1–46</ref><ref>Alan Macfarlane, ''Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study'' (1970).</ref> They argued that English witchcraft, like African witchcraft, was endemic rather than epidemic. Older women were the favorite targets because they were marginal, dependent members of the community and therefore more likely to arouse feelings of both hostility and guilt, and less likely to have defenders of importance inside the community. Witchcraft accusations were the village's reaction to the breakdown of its internal community, coupled with the emergence of a newer set of values that was generating psychic stress.<ref>Clarke Garrett, ""Women and witches: Patterns of analysis." ''Signs'' 3#2 (1977): 461–470. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173296 JSTOR]</ref>

[[File:Daemonologie1.jpg|thumb|Illustration of witches, perhaps being tortured before [[James VI and I|James VI]], from his ''[[Daemonologie]]'' (1597)]]
In Wales, fear of witchcraft mounted around the year 1500. There was a growing alarm of women's magic as a weapon aimed against the state and church. The Church made greater efforts to enforce the canon law of marriage, especially in Wales where tradition allowed a wider range of sexual partnerships. There was a political dimension as well, as accusations of witchcraft were levied against the enemies of Henry VII, who was exerting more and more control over Wales.<ref>Kathleen Kamerick, "Tanglost of Wales: Magic and Adultery in the Court of Chancery circa 1500." ''Sixteenth Century Journal'' 44#1 (2013) pp25-45.</ref>

The records of the Courts of Great Sessions for Wales, 1536–1736 show that Welsh custom was more important than English law. Custom provided a framework of responding to witches and witchcraft in such a way that interpersonal and communal harmony was maintained, Showing to regard to the importance of honour, social place and cultural status. Even when found guilty, execution did not occur.<ref>Sally Parkin, "Witchcraft, women's honour and customary law in early modern Wales." ''Social History'' 31.3 (2006): 295–318.</ref>

Becoming king in 1603, [[James I]] Brought to England and Scotland continental explanations of witchcraft. His goal was to divert suspicion away from male [[homosociality]] among the elite, and focus fear on female communities and large gatherings of women. He thought they threatened his political power so he laid the foundation for witchcraft and occultism policies, especially in Scotland. The point was that a widespread belief in the conspiracy of witches and a witches' Sabbath with the devil deprived women of political influence. Occult power was supposedly a womanly trait because women were weaker and more susceptible to the devil.<ref>Thomas Lolis, "The City of Witches: James I, the Unholy Sabbath, and the Homosocial Refashioning of the Witches’ Community." ''CLIO'' (2008) 37#3 pp 322–337.</ref>

In 1944 [[Helen Duncan]] was the last person in Britain to be imprisoned for fraudulently claiming to be a witch.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/toil-and-trouble-the-last-witch-789353.html|title=Toil and trouble: the last witch?|last=McSmith|first=Andy|authorlink=Andy McSmith|date=29 February 2008|work=[[The Independent]]|accessdate=1 June 2012|location=London}}</ref>

=====21st century=====
In the [[United Kingdom]] children believed to be witches or seen as possessed by evil spirits can be subject to severe beatings, traumatic [[exorcism]], and/or other abuse. There have even been child murders associated with witchcraft beliefs. The problem is particularly serious among immigrant or former immigrant communities of African origin but other communities, such as those of Asian origin are also involved. Step children and children seen as different for a wide range of reasons are particularly at risk of witchcraft accusations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.protectingchildren.org.uk/cp-topics/cultural-themes/witchcraft/ |title=Witchcraft – Child protection – Child abuse – Child rights |website=Protectingchildren.org.uk |date= |accessdate=2016-09-15 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302063932/http://www.protectingchildren.org.uk/cp-topics/cultural-themes/witchcraft/ |archivedate=2017-03-02 |df= }}</ref> Children may be beaten or have chilli rubbed into their eyes during exorcisms.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-36300200 Witchcraft child abuse cases investigated by Met rise by over 50% ''BBC'']</ref> This type of abuse is frequently hidden and can include torture.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/08/more-cases-ritual-child-abuse-linked-witchcraft-beliefs-reported-police Rise in cases of [[ritual child abuse]] linked to witchcraft beliefs reported, say police] ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref> A 2006 recommendation to record abuse cases linked to witchcraft centrally has not yet been implemented. Lack of awareness among social workers, teachers and other professionals dealing with at risk children hinders efforts to combat the problem.<ref name="bbc11/10/2015"/>
{{quote|The Metropolitan Police said there had been 60 crimes linked to faith in London so far [in 2015]. It saw reports double from 23 in 2013 to 46 in 2014. Half of UK police forces do not record such cases and many local authorities are also unable to provide figures. The NSPCC said authorities "need to ensure they are able to spot the signs of this particular brand of abuse". London is unique in having a police team, Project Violet, dedicated to this type of abuse. Its figures relate to crime reports where officers have flagged a case as involving abuse linked to faith or belief. Many of the cases involve children. (...) An NSPCC spokesman said: "While the number of child abuse cases involving witchcraft is relatively small, they often include horrifying levels of cruelty. "The authorities which deal with these dreadful crimes need to ensure they are able to spot the signs of this particular brand of abuse and take action to protect children before a tragedy occurs."<ref name="bbc11/10/2015">{{Cite news|last=Evans |first=Ruth |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34475424 |title='Witchcraft' abuse cases on the rise |publisher=[[BBC News]] |accessdate=2016-09-15|date=2015-10-11 }}</ref>}}
There is a 'money making scam' involved. Pastors accuse a child of being a witch and later the family pays for exorcism. If a child at school says that his/her pastor called the child a witch that should become a child safeguarding issue.<ref name="bbc11/10/2015"/>

==== Italy ====
As in most European countries, women in Italy were more likely suspected of witchcraft than men.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice, 1550–1650|last=Martin|first=Ruth|year=1989|isbn=|location=Oxford, UK|page=235}}</ref> Women were considered dangerous due to their supposed sexual instability, such as when being aroused, and also due to the powers of their menstrual blood.<ref name=":1" />

In the 16th century, Italy had a high portion of witchcraft trials involving love magic.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=European Witch Trials: Their Foundation in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300–1500|last=Kiekhefer|first=Richard|year=2001|isbn=|location=|page=57}}</ref> The country had a large number of unmarried people due to men marrying later in their lives during this time.<ref name=":3" /> This left many women on a desperate quest for marriage leaving them vulnerable to the accusation of witchcraft whether they took part in it or not.<ref name=":3" /> Trial records from the Inquisition and secular courts discovered a link between prostitutes and supernatural practices. Professional prostitutes were considered experts in love and therefore knew how to make love [[potion]]s and cast love related spells.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Early Modern Italy: A Social History|last=Black|first=Christopher F.|year=2001|isbn=|location=London|page=115}}</ref> Up until 1630, the majority of women accused of witchcraft were prostitutes.<ref name=":0" /> A courtesan was questioned about her use of magic due to her relationship with men of power in Italy and her wealth.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome: Trials before the Papal Magistrates|last=Cohen|first=Elizabeth S. and Thomas V.|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1993|isbn=|location=Toronto|pages=189–195}}</ref> The majority of women accused were also considered "outsiders" because they were poor, had different religious practices, spoke a different language, or simply from a different city/town/region.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Aspiring Saints: Pretense of Holiness, Inquisition, and Gender in the Republic of Venice, 1618–1750|last=Schutte|first=Anne Jacobson|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2008|isbn=|location=Baltimore|page=99}}</ref> Cassandra from Ferrara, Italy, was still considered a foreigner because not native to Rome where she was residing. She was also not seen as a model citizen because her husband was in Venice.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome: Trials before the Papal Magistrates|last=Cohen|first=Elizabeth S. and Thomas V.|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1993|isbn=|location=Toronto|pages=201–238}}</ref>

From the 16th-18th centuries, the Catholic Church enforced moral discipline throughout Italy.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Nefarious Crimes, Contested Justice: Illicit Sex, and Infanticide in the Republic of Venice, 1557-1789|last=Ferraro|first=Joanne Marie|page=3}}</ref> With the help of local tribunals, such as in Venice, the two institutions investigated a woman's religious behaviors when she was accused of witchcraft.<ref name=":0" />

==== Spain ====
{{Main|Akelarre (witchcraft)|Catalan mythology about witches|Galicians|Galicia (Spain)}}
Franciscan friars from New Spain introduced Diabolism, belief in the devil, to the indigenous people after their arrival in 1524.<ref name="credoreference2005">{{cite web|title=Diabolism in the New World|url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/abcibamrle/diabolism_in_the_new_world|publisher=ABCCLIO|accessdate=February 10, 2013|date=2005}}</ref>
Bartolomé de las Casas believed that human sacrifice was not diabolic, in fact far off from it, and was a natural result of religious expression.<ref name="credoreference2005"/>
Mexican Indians gladly took in the belief of Diabolism and still managed to keep their belief in creator-destroyer deities.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cervantes|first1=Fernando|author2=Kenneth Mills |title=The Hispanic American Historical Review|journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review|date=1996|pages=789–790|jstor=2517981|volume=76|issue=4|doi=10.2307/2517981}}</ref>

[[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] is nicknamed the "Land of the Witches" due to its mythological origins surrounding its people, culture and its land.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://listverse.com/2017/02/21/10-fascinating-mysteries-of-the-ancient-state-of-galicia/ | title=10 Fascinating Mysteries of the Ancient State of Galicia| date=2017-02-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/powerful-woman-known-maria-solina-most-famous-witch-galicia-007333 | title=The Powerful Woman Known as Maria Solina - the Most Famous Witch of Galicia}}</ref>

=== Oceania ===

==== Cook Islands ====
In pre-Christian times, witchcraft was a common practice in the [[Cook Islands]]. The native name for a sorcerer was ''tangata purepure'' (a man who prays).<ref>{{cite book|author=Jasper Buse|date=1995|title=Cook Islands Maori Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT2ENAHoS28C&pg=PA372|publisher=Cook Islands Ministry of Education|page=372|isbn=9780728602304}}</ref> The prayers offered by the ''ta'unga'' (priests)<ref>{{cite book|author=Jasper Buse|date=1995|title=Cook Islands Maori Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT2ENAHoS28C&pg=PA471|publisher=Cook Islands Ministry of Education|page=471|isbn=9780728602304}}</ref> to the gods worshiped on national or tribal ''[[marae]]'' (temples) were termed ''karakia'';<ref>{{cite book|author=Jasper Buse|date=1995|title=Cook Islands Maori Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT2ENAHoS28C&pg=PA156|publisher=Cook Islands Ministry of Education|page=156|isbn=9780728602304}}</ref> those on minor occasions to the lesser gods were named ''pure''. All these prayers were metrical, and were handed down from generation to generation with the utmost care. There were prayers for every such phase in life; for success in battle; for a change in wind (to overwhelm an adversary at sea, or that an intended voyage be propitious); that his crops may grow; to curse a thief; or wish ill-luck and death to his foes. Few men of middle age were without a number of these prayers or charms. The succession of a sorcerer was from father to son, or from uncle to nephew. So too of sorceresses: it would be from mother to daughter, or from aunt to niece. Sorcerers and sorceresses were often slain by relatives of their supposed victims.<ref>{{cite book|author=William Wyatt Gill|author-link=William Wyatt Gill|date=1892|title=The south Pacific and New Guinea, past and present; with notes on the Hervey group, an illustrative song and various myths|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/southpacificnewg00gill#page/20/mode/2up|chapter=Wizards|publisher=Sydney: Charles Potter, Government Printer|page=21}}</ref>

A singular enchantment was employed to kill off a husband of a pretty woman desired by someone else. The expanded flower of a [[Gardenia taitensis|Gardenia]] was stuck upright—a very difficult performance—in a cup (i.e., half a large coconut shell) of water. A prayer was then offered for the husbands speedy death, the sorcerer earnestly watching the flower. Should it fall the incantation was successful. But if the flower still remained upright, he will live. The sorcerer would in that case try his skill another day, with perhaps better success.<ref>{{cite book|author=William Wyatt Gill|date=1892|title=The south Pacific and New Guinea, past and present; with notes on the Hervey group, an illustrative song and various myths|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/southpacificnewg00gill#page/20/mode/2up|chapter=Wizards|publisher=Sydney: Charles Potter, Government Printer|page=22}}</ref>

According to [[Beatrice Grimshaw]], a journalist who visited the Cook Islands in 1907, the uncrowned [[Makea Takau Ariki|Queen Makea]] was believed to have possessed the mystic power called ''[[mana]]'', giving the possessor the power to slay at will. It also included other gifts, such as [[second sight]] to a certain extent, the power to bring [[luck|good or evil luck]], and the ability already mentioned to deal death at will.<ref>{{cite book|author=Beatrice Grimshaw|author-link=Beatrice Grimshaw|date=1908|title=In the Strange South Seas|chapterurl=https://archive.org/stream/instrangesouths00grimgoog#page/n112/mode/2up|chapter=A Mystic Power|publisher=London: Hutchinson & Co.|pages=71–72}}</ref>

==== Papua New Guinea ====
A local newspaper informed that more than 50 people were killed in two [[Highlands Region|Highlands]] provinces of [[Papua New Guinea]] in 2008 for allegedly practicing witchcraft.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/08/png.witchcraft/index.html Woman suspected of witchcraft burned alive] CNN.com. January 8, 2009.</ref> An estimated 50–150 alleged witches are killed each year in Papua New Guinea.<ref>"[https://news.vice.com/article/papua-new-guineas-sorcery-refugees-women-accused-of-witchcraft-flee-homes-to-escape-violence Papua New Guinea's 'Sorcery Refugees': Women Accused of Witchcraft Flee Homes to Escape Violence]". [[Vice News]]. January 6, 2015.</ref>

=== Russia ===
Among the [[Russian language|Russian]] words for ''witch'', ведьма (ved'ma) literally means "one who knows", from Old Slavic вѣдъ "to know").<ref>See also Ryan, W.F. ''The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia'', [[Pennsylvania State University Press]], 1999.</ref> Another frequent term is колдунья (koldun'ya), ''sorcerer'' being колдун (koldun).

==== Spells ====
Pagan practices formed a part of Russian and Eastern Slavic culture; the Russian people were deeply superstitious. The witchcraft practiced consisted mostly of earth magic and herbology; it was not so significant which herbs were used in practices, but how these herbs were gathered. Ritual centered on harvest of the crops and the location of the sun was very important.<ref>Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 524.
</ref> One source, pagan author Judika Illes, tells that herbs picked on Midsummer's Eve were believed to be most powerful, especially if gathered on Bald Mountain near Kiev during the witches' annual revels celebration.<ref>
Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004,) page 252.</ref> Botanicals should be gathered, "During the seventeenth minute of the fourteenth hour, under a dark moon, in the thirteenth field, wearing a red dress, pick the twelfth flower on the right."<ref name="Judika Illes 2004 page 847">Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 847.</ref>

Spells also served for midwifery, shape-shifting, keeping lovers faithful, and bridal customs. Spells dealing with midwifery and childbirth focused on the spiritual wellbeing of the baby.<ref name="Judika Illes 2004 page 847"/> Shape-shifting spells involved invocation of the wolf as a spirit animal.<ref>
Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 623.</ref> To keep men faithful, lovers would cut a ribbon the length of his erect penis and soak it in his seminal emissions after sex while he was sleeping, then tie seven knots in it; keeping this talisman of knot magic ensured loyalty.<ref>Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 797.
</ref> Part of an ancient pagan marriage tradition involved the bride taking a ritual bath at a bathhouse before the ceremony. Her sweat would be wiped from her body using raw fish, and the fish would be cooked and fed to the groom.<ref>Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 705.</ref>

Demonism, or black magic, was not prevalent. Persecution for witchcraft, mostly involved the practice of simple earth magic, founded on herbology, by solitary practitioners with a Christian influence. In one case investigators found a locked box containing something bundled in a kerchief and three paper packets, wrapped and tied, containing crushed grasses.<ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal|jstor=3879463|title=Male Witches and Gendered Categories in Seventeenth-Century Russia|first=Valerie A.|last=Kivelson|date=1 January 2003|journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History|volume=45|issue=3|pages=606–631}}</ref> Most rituals of witchcraft were very simple—one spell of divination consists of sitting alone outside meditating, asking the earth to show one's fate.<ref>
Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 313.</ref>

While these customs were unique to Russian culture, they were not exclusive to this region. Russian pagan practices were often akin to paganism in other parts of the world. The Chinese concept of ''chi'', a form of energy that often manipulated in witchcraft, is known as bioplasma in Russian practices.<ref>Janet and Stewart Farrar, A Witches Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook (Washington, Phoenix Publishing, Inc.) 1984. Page 316.
</ref> The western concept of an "evil eye" or a "hex" was translated to Russia as a "spoiler".<ref>Judika Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts (Element: London, 2004), page 586.</ref> A spoiler was rooted in envy, jealousy and malice. Spoilers could be made by gathering bone from a cemetery, a knot of the target's hair, burned wooden splinters and several herb Paris berries (which are very poisonous). Placing these items in sachet in the victim's pillow completes a spoiler. The Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and the ancient Egyptians recognized the evil eye from as early as 3,000 BCE; in Russian practices it is seen as a sixteenth-century concept.<ref>Raymond Buckland, The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-Paganism (Detroit: Visible Ink) 2002. Page 160.
</ref>

==== Societal view of witchcraft ====
The dominant societal concern those practicing witchcraft was not whether paganism was effective, but whether it could cause harm.<ref name="jstor.org"/> Peasants in Russian and Ukrainian societies often shunned witchcraft, unless they needed help against supernatural forces. Impotence, stomach pains, barrenness, hernias, abscesses, epileptic seizures, and convulsions were all attributed to evil (or witchcraft). This is reflected in linguistics; there are numerous words for a variety of practitioners of paganism-based healers. Russian peasants referred to a witch as a ''chernoknizhnik'' (a person who plied his trade with the aid of a black book), ''sheptun''/''sheptun'ia'' (a "whisperer" male or female), ''lekar''/''lekarka'' or ''znakhar''/''znakharka'' (a male or female healer), or ''zagovornik'' (an incanter).<ref>
Christine D. Worobec, 1995. "Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices in Prerevolutionary Russian and Ukrainian Villages." Russian Review 54, no. 2: 165. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed November 21, 2013).</ref>

Ironically enough, there was universal reliance on folk healers – but clients often turned them in if something went wrong. According to Russian historian Valerie A. Kivelson, witchcraft accusations were normally thrown at lower-class peasants, townspeople and Cossacks. People turned to witchcraft as a means to support themselves. The ratio of male to female accusations was 75% to 25%. Males were targeted more, because witchcraft was associated with societal deviation. Because single people with no settled home could not be taxed, males typically had more power than women in their dissent.<ref name="jstor.org"/>

The history of Witchcraft had evolved around society. More of a psychological concept to the creation and usage of Witchcraft can create the assumption as to why women are more likely to follow the practices behind Witchcraft. Identifying with the soul of an individual's self is often deemed as "feminine" in society. There is analyzed social and economic evidence to associate between witchcraft and women.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Peterson|first1=Mark|title=Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England|journal=ProQuest|date=1998|volume=67|issue= 1|pages=192–194|doi=10.2307/3170836|jstor=3170836}}</ref>

==== Witchcraft trials ====
[[File:"A true and just recorde of the information"; title page Wellcome M0012987.jpg|thumb|''A true and iust Recorde, of the Information, Examination and Confession of all witches...'']]

Witchcraft trials occurred frequently in seventeenth-century Russia, although the "great witch-hunt" is believed{{by whom|date=January 2014}} to be a predominantly Western European phenomenon. However, as the witchcraft-trial craze swept across Catholic and Protestant countries during this time, Orthodox Christian Europe indeed partook in this so-called "witch hysteria." This involved the persecution of both males and females who were believed to be practicing paganism, herbology, the black art, or a form of sorcery within and/or outside their community. Very early on witchcraft legally fell under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical body, the church, in Kievan Rus' and Muscovite Russia.<ref>
Russell Zguta, "Witchcraft Trials in Seventeenth-Century Russia," American Historical Review 82, no. 5 (December 1977), 1190.</ref> Sources of ecclesiastical witchcraft jurisdiction date back as early as the second half of the eleventh century, one being [[Vladimir the Great]]'s first edition of his State Statute or ''Ustav'', another being multiple references in the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'' beginning in 1024.<ref>Zguta, 1190.</ref>
[[File:Nothing could be done about it LACMA 63.11.24.jpg|thumb|Goya's drawing of result of a presumed witch's trial: " [so she must be a witch]"<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Inquisition Unmasked: Being an Historical and Philosophical Account of that Tremendous Tribunal, Founded on Authentic Documents; and Exhibiting the Necessity of Its Suppression, as a Means of Reform and Regeneration, Written and Published at a Time when the National Congress of Spain was about to Deliberate on this Important Measure|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aqRCAAAAYAAJ|publisher = Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy|date = 1816-01-01|first = Antonio|last = Puigblanch}}</ref>]]
The sentence for an individual found guilty of witchcraft or sorcery during this time, and in previous centuries, typically included either burning at the stake or being tested with the "ordeal of cold water" or ''judicium aquae frigidae''.<ref name="Zguta, 1189">Zguta, 1189.</ref> The cold-water test was primarily a Western European phenomenon, but was used as a method of truth in Russia prior to, and post, seventeenth-century witchcraft trials in Muscovy. Accused persons who submerged were considered innocent, and ecclesiastical authorities would proclaim them "brought back," but those who floated were considered guilty of practicing witchcraft, and burned at the stake or executed in an unholy fashion. The thirteenth-century bishop of Vladimir, Serapion Vladimirskii, preached sermons throughout the Muscovite countryside, and in one particular sermon revealed that burning was the usual punishment for witchcraft, but more often the cold water test was used as a precursor to execution.<ref name="Zguta, 1189"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/cold-water-ordeal.html|title=Cold Water Ordeal|website=Infoplease.com|accessdate=31 October 2017}}</ref>

Although these two methods of torture were used in the west and the east, Russia implemented a system of fines payable for the crime of witchcraft during the seventeenth century. Thus, even though torture methods in Muscovy were on a similar level of harshness as Western European methods used, a more civil method was present. In the introduction of a collection of trial records pieced together by Russian scholar Nikolai Novombergsk, he argues that Muscovite authorities used the same degree of cruelty and harshness as Western European Catholic and Protestant countries in persecuting witches.<ref>
Zguta, 1187.</ref> By the mid-sixteenth century the manifestations of paganism, including witchcraft, and the black arts—astrology, fortune telling, and divination—became a serious concern to the Muscovite church and state.<ref name="Zguta, 1191">Zguta, 1191.</ref>

Tsar [[Ivan the Terrible|Ivan IV]] (reigned 1547–1584) took this matter to the ecclesiastical court and was immediately advised that individuals practicing these forms of witchcraft should be excommunicated and given the death penalty.<ref name="Zguta, 1191"/> Ivan IV, as a true believer in witchcraft, was deeply convinced{{citation needed|date=January 2014}} that sorcery accounted for the death of his wife, [[Anastasia Romanovna|Anastasiia]] in 1560, which completely devastated and depressed him, leaving him heartbroken.<ref>Zguta, 1193.</ref> Stemming from this belief, Ivan IV became majorly concerned with the threat of witchcraft harming his family, and feared he was in danger. So, during the [[Oprichnina]] (1565–1572), Ivan IV succeeded in accusing and charging a good number of boyars with witchcraft whom he did not wish to remain as nobles. Rulers after Ivan IV, specifically during the [[Time of Troubles]] (1598–1613), increased the fear of witchcraft among themselves and entire royal families, which then led to further preoccupation with the fear of prominent Muscovite witchcraft circles.<ref>Zguta, 1193–94.</ref>

After the Time of Troubles, seventeenth-century Muscovite rulers held frequent investigations of witchcraft within their households, laying the ground, along with previous tsarist reforms, for widespread witchcraft trials throughout the Muscovite state.<ref>Zguta, 1195.</ref> Between 1622 and 1700 ninety-one people were brought to trial in Muscovite courts for witchcraft.<ref>Zguta, 1196.</ref> Although Russia did partake in the witch craze that swept across Western Europe, the Muscovite state did not persecute nearly as many people for witchcraft, let alone execute a number of individuals anywhere close to the number executed in the west during the witch hysteria.

== Witches in art ==
Witches have a long history of being depicted in art, although most of their earliest artistic depictions seem to originate in Early Modern Europe, particularly the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Many scholars attribute their manifestation in art as inspired by texts such as ''Canon Episcopi'', a demonology-centered work of literature, and ''Malleus Maleficarum'', a "witch-craze" manual published in 1487, by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.<ref>Simons, Patricia. "THE INCUBUS AND ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART." Source: ''Notes in the History of Art'' 34.1 (2014): 1–8.</ref>

''Canon Episcopi'', a ninth-century text that explored the subject of demonology, initially introduced concepts that would continuously be associated with witches, such as their ability to fly or their believed fornication and sexual relations with the devil. The text refers to two women, Diana the Huntress and Herodias, who both express the duality of female sorcerers. Diana was described as having a heavenly body and as the "protectress of childbirth and fertility" while Herodias symbolized "unbridled sensuality". They thus represent the mental powers and cunning sexuality that witches used as weapons to trick men into performing sinful acts which would result in their eternal punishment. These characteristics were distinguished as Medusa-like or Lamia-like traits when seen in any artwork (Medusa's mental trickery was associated with Diana the Huntress's psychic powers and Lamia was a rumored female figure in the Medieval ages sometimes used in place of Herodias).<ref>Lorenzi, Lorenzo. ''Witches. Exploring the iconography of the sorceress and enchantress''. (2005).</ref>

One of the first individuals to regularly depict witches after the witch-craze of the medieval period was [[Albrecht Dürer]], a German Renaissance artist. His famous 1497 engraving ''[[The Four Witches]]'', portrays four physically attractive and seductive nude witches. Their supernatural identities are emphasized by the skulls and bones lying at their feet as well as the devil discreetly peering at them from their left. The women's sensuous presentation speaks to the overtly sexual nature they were attached to in early modern Europe. Moreover, this attractiveness was perceived as a danger to ordinary men who they could seduce and tempt into their sinful world.<ref name=":1" /> Some scholars interpret this piece as utilizing the logic of the ''Canon Episcopi'', in which women used their mental powers and bodily seduction to enslave and lead men onto a path of eternal damnation, differing from the unattractive depiction of witches that would follow in later Renaissance years.<ref>Stumpel, Jeroen. “The Foul Fowler Found out: On a Key Motif in Dürer's ‘Four Witches.’” Simiolus: ''Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art'', vol. 30, no. 3/4, 2003, pp. 143–160., www.jstor.org/stable/3780914.</ref>

Dürer also employed other ideas from the Middle Ages that were commonly associated with witches. Specifically, his art often referred to former 12th- to 13th-century Medieval iconography addressing the nature of female sorcerers. In the Medieval period, there was a widespread fear of witches, accordingly producing an association of dark, intimidating characteristics with witches, such as cannibalism (witches described as "[sucking] the blood of newborn infants"<ref name=":1" />) or described as having the ability to fly, usually on the back of black goats. As the Renaissance period began, these concepts of witchcraft were suppressed, leading to a drastic change in the sorceress' appearances, from sexually explicit beings to the 'ordinary' typical housewives of this time period. This depiction, known as the 'Waldensian' witch became a cultural phenomenon of early Renaissance art. The term originates from the 12th-century monk Peter Waldo, who established his own religious sect which explicitly opposed the luxury and commodity-influenced lifestyle of the Christian church clergy, and whose sect was excommunicated before being persecuted as "practitioners of witchcraft and magic".<ref name=":1" />

Subsequent artwork exhibiting witches tended to consistently rely on cultural stereotypes about these women. These stereotypes were usually rooted in early Renaissance religious discourse, specifically the Christian belief that an "earthly alliance" had taken place between Satan's female minions who "conspired to destroy Christendom".<ref name=":12">Hoak, Dale. "THE EUROPEAN WITCHCRAZE REVISITED, PT 2, WITCH-HUNTING AND WOMEN IN THE ART OF THE RENAISSANCE." ''History Today'' 31.FEB (1981): 22–26.</ref>

Another significant artist whose art consistently depicted witches was Dürer's apprentice, Hans Baldung Grien, a 15th-century German artist. His chiaroscuro woodcut, ''Witches'', created in 1510, visually encompassed all the characteristics that were regularly assigned to witches during the Renaissance. Social beliefs labeled witches as supernatural beings capable of doing great harm, possessing the ability to fly, and as cannibalistic.<ref name=":12" /> The urn in ''Witches'' seems to contain pieces of the human body, which the witches are seen consuming as a source of energy. Meanwhile, their nudity while feasting is recognized as an allusion to their sexual appetite, and some scholars read the witch riding on the back of a goat-demon as representative of their "flight-inducing [powers]". This connection between women's sexual nature and sins was thematic in the pieces of many Renaissance artists, especially Christian artists, due to cultural beliefs which characterized women as overtly sexual beings who were less capable (in comparison to men) of resisting sinful temptation.<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Referenced works ==
* [[Alan Macfarlane]], [https://books.google.com/books/about/Witchcraft_in_Tudor_and_Stuart_England.html?id=lmfuwq0mQMUC Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England], Psychology Press, 1999 (orig. 1970)
* ''[[University of Kansas]] Publications in Anthropology'', No. 5 = John M Janzen and Wyatt MacGaffey: ''An Anthology of Kongo Religion: Primary Texts from Lower Zaïre''. Lawrence, 1974.
* ''Studia Instituti Anthropos'', Vol. 41 = Anthony J. Gittins: ''Mende Religion''. Steyler Verlag, [[Nettetal]], 1987.
* {{cite book |last=Thompson |first=David W. |title=Sister Witch: The Life of Moll Dyer |year=2017 |publisher=Solstice Publishing |isbn=978-1973105756}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Ashforth|first=Adam|title=Madumo, A Man Bewitched|date=2000|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-02971-9|title-link=Madumo, A Man Bewitched}}
* Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds. ''The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692, Volumes I and II''. New York: De Capo Press, 1977.
* {{cite thesis|type=M.A. Thesis|last=Easley|first=Patricia Thompson|title=A Gobber Tooth, A Hairy Lip, A Squint Eye: Concepts of the Witch and the Body in Early Modern Europe|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2646/|date=August 2000|publisher=UNT Digital Library}}
* {{cite book|last=Favret-Saada|first=Jeanne |author-link=Jeanne Favret-Saada |title=Deadly Words: Witchcraft in the Bocage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFeuQgAACAAJ|date=December 1980|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-29787-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Favret-Saada|first=Jeanne |author-link=Jeanne Favret-Saada |title=Désorceler|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uu5KPgAACAAJ|date=2009|publisher=L'Olivier|isbn=978-2-87929-639-5}}
* Gaskill, Malcolm. "Masculinity and Witchcraft in Seventeenth-century England." In ''Witchcraft and Masculinities in Early Modern Europe'', edited by Alison Rowlands, 171-190. New York: Palgrave-McMillan, 2009.
* {{cite book|last=Geschiere|first=Peter|title=The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa = Sorcellerie Et Politique En Afrique — la viande des autres|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZW0CVu0W6DcC|origyear=Translated from French Edition (1995 Karthala)|date=1997|publisher=University of Virginia Press|isbn=978-0-8139-1703-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Ginzburg|first=Carlo|authorlink=Carlo Ginzburg|author2=Translated by Raymond Rosenthal |title=Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eV0ZhvAkHC0C|origyear=Originally published in Italy as Storia Notturna (1989 Giulio Einaudi)|date=June 2004|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-29693-7}}
* Goss, D. K. (2008). ''The Salem witch trials''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
* Gouges, Linnea de ''From Witch Hunts to Scientific Confidence; The Influence of British and Continental Currents on the Consolidation of the Scandinavian States during the 17th Century'' Nisus Publications, 2014.
* Hall, David, ed. ''[https://www.dukeupress.edu/witch-hunting-in-seventeenth-century-new-england Witch-hunting in Seventeenth-century New England: A Documentary History, 1638–1692]''. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1991.
* [[Lizanne Henderson|Henderson, Lizanne]], [http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/7708/ ''Witch-Hunting and Witch Belief in the Gàidhealtachd''], Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland Eds. Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin and Joyce Miller. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007
* Hill, F. (2000). ''The Salem witch trials reader''. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
* Hutton, Ronald (1999) ''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', Oxford, OUP.
* Hyatt, Harry Middleton. ''Hoodoo, conjuration, witchcraft, rootwork: beliefs accepted by many Negroes and white persons, these being orally recorded among Blacks and whites.'' s.n., 1970.
* Kent, Elizabeth. "Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England." ''History Workshop'' 60 (2005): 69–92.
* {{cite book|last=Lindquist|first=Galina|title=Conjuring Hope: Magic and Healing In Contemporary Russia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTvYcjeyq3oC|accessdate=20 May 2013|date=2006|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-057-1}}
* Levack, Brian P. ed. ''The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America'' (2013) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Lum96_FPZp0C excerpt and text search]
* Moore, Henrietta L. and Todd Sanders 2001. ''Magical Interpretations, Material Realities: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa'' London: Routledge.
* Notestein, Wallace. A history of witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718. New York : Crowell, 1968
* Pentikainen, Juha. "Marnina Takalo as an Individual." C. [[JSTOR]]. 26 February 2007.
* Pentikainen, Juha. "The Supernatural Experience." F. Jstor. 26 February 2007.
* {{cite book |last=Pócs |first=Éva |authorlink=Éva Pócs |date=1999 |title=Between the Living and the Dead: A perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age |location=Budapest |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-9116-19-1}}
* Ruickbie, Leo (2004) ''Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A History'', London, Robert Hale.
*Stark, Ryan J. "Demonic Eloquence," in ''Rhetoric, Science, and Magic in Seventeenth-Century England'' (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), 115–45.
*{{cite book|last= Williams |first= Howard |authorlink= Howard Williams (humanitarian) |title= The Superstitions of Witchcraft |publisher= [[Longman|Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green]] |location= [[London]] |year= 1865 |website= [[Project Gutenberg]] |url= http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22822/22822-h/22822-h.htm}}
* Worobec, Caroline. "Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices in Prerevolutionary Russia and Ukrainian Villages." Jstor. 27 February 2007.

== External links ==

{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Witchcraft}}
{{EB1911 poster|Witchcraft}}
* {{In Our Time|Witchcraft|p004y2b0|Witchcraft}}
* [http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=325263 Kabbalah On Witchcraft – A Jewish view (Audio)] chabad.org
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=220&letter=W&search=Witchcraft Jewish Encyclopedia: Witchcraft]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17203 ''Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands''], 1886, by John Linwood Pitts, from [[Project Gutenberg]]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17209 ''A Treatise of Witchcraft''], 1616, by Alexander Roberts, from Project Gutenberg
* [http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/ University of Edinburgh's Scottish witchcraft database]
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/w&r/WR_007_1974.pdf 'Witchcraft and Statecraft, A Materialist Analysis of the European Witch Persecutions']

{{witchcraft}}
{{Fantasy fiction}}
{{Stock characters}}
{{Paganism}}

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