This essay will compare the different
views, religiously, socially and culturally of witchcraft in different areas of
the world, including America, Europe and Africa. It will explore the
explanations given by the persecutors and the communities involved. The story of modern witchcraft was first
published in 1960 by Gerald Gardner, who wrote a biography which included his
encounters with witches and a coven that claims to be a surviving coven from
the ancient witchcraft religion, and he reveals that the witchcraft religious
rituals consists of dancing to promote fertility, coming of age events (such as
the start of menstruation) and eating consecrated food and drink. The witches
believed that when naked more magical power is released from the body so the
rituals were often erotic, worshipping nature, coming of age and the body. Hutton
states that ‘no academic historian has ever taken seriously Gardner’s claim to
have discovered a genuine survival of ancient religion’ (Hutton, 1999, pg 206).
No one believed Gardner as the religion he described was nothing like the
‘traditional English witchcraft beliefs’ (Hutton, 1999, pg 206). This essay
will investigate academic articles, books and the Witch Child (2006) documentary on contemporary modern beliefs of
witchcraft in various countries, and determine the cause of the problems in the
countries that have the most severe representations of witchcraft.
Hutton states that the foundation myth
for modern pagan witchcraft is ‘the belief that it represents a modern regrowth
of a surviving ancient religion which was persecuted in the witch trials of the
early modern period.’ (Hutton, 2007, pg 121) the witch trials drove the
religion underground and according to the myth it resurfaced in the
mid-twentieth century. The most well known witches abandoned this ancient myth.
For example, Starhawk interpreted and founded the Reclaiming Witchcraft
community and others followed in San Francisco, California, America. Salomonsen
states that,
The public appearance of ritualizing
women, men and children in urban areas in the western world is no longer
unusual. For example, an occasional Sunday walker in Lincoln Park in San
Francisco, California, may one day have observed the following: thirteen women
of many ages, all dressed up in red party clothes, are gathered for the ritual
celebration of a teenage girls menstruation. As it happens, these women belong
to the Reclaiming Witchcraft Community.
(Salomonsen, 2002, pg 33)
This
is now seen as just a religious event, no children sacrificed and no criminal
activity or child abuse involved, just a group of people with the same views,
celebrating an important event. Hutton states that, Jarcke and Mone, two German
scholars conceded that ‘Witchcraft was an illusion’ (Hutton, 2007, pg 122),
they also believed that witches that had been tried ‘in the early modern period
had been practitioners of a surviving pagan religion.’ (Hutton, 2007, pg 122)
they state how the religion was ‘disgusting and blood sacrifice’ (Hutton, 2007,
pg 122) and that the church was right to commit the acts they did. Hutton
discusses how Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan believed the
The end of the belief in witchcraft
has marked a vital stage in human progress, and responsibility for the
prosecution of alleged witches in the early modern period lay squarely with the
Roman Catholic Church, which to liberals of his generation had become the most
obvious force for the reaction and obscurantism in Europe.
(Hutton, 1999, pg
132)
The
Roman Catholic Church seemed to have an overwhelming control over communities
in the periods in which the witch trials were at their height. Christianity
seems to be scared of the natural world and they deny evolution. Witches could
be seen in the same light a scientists as they mix substances together to make
potions and spells, this scientific side of witchcraft worries the Church, as
anything that shows God as not the creator is heresy, also the fact that
witchcraft not only worships a God but also a Goddess, this is also another
element that angers the church as women have never been the base for religious
beliefs.
Christianity
spread across the world, particularly to America and Africa and is growing very
popular in Sub- Saharan Africa, unlike in Britain. In the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Evangelical churches have been established, and mixed with Christianity
is mixed with African traditional beliefs. Kindoki- witchcraft has always been
part of the African’s traditional beliefs in the Congo and other countries in
sub-Saharan Africa, and since it has mixed with Christianity it has worsened.
They now believe that witchcraft has the power to possess people, especially
children, and believe that any misfortune a family or community suffers is down
to witchcraft. They perform exorcisms called Deliverance. Deliverance is
performed by pastors of the church and involves fasting, with no food or water
for days.
Cross-cultural issues are involved as
African traditional practices would be considered child abuse in the UK, and
this is a problem, as we cannot interfere with Africa and the problems that
they are experiencing. Evangelical churches (which include the traditional
African beliefs) are flourishing in Africa and opening all over the world and
especially in the UK, and America. Recently in the UK, a child was starved,
beaten and abused by her Christian family in London; they believed that she was
possessed by Kindoki. The pastor who was regarded as the leader, ‘helps’ with
the deliverance of the ‘possessed’ child, insisting deliverance. All over the
UK these Churches are flourishing and over half of the church goers in the UK
have their origins in Africa. (Witch Child, 2006) In the west we have religion
and our everyday way of life, for Africans religion is a way of life. So just
as in the Congo these evangelical churches believe in Kindoki and Deliverance,
some parents even send their children back to Africa to go through Deliverance.
An example of this is, Dr Richard Hopkins an expert in African traditional
beliefs, documented his travels to Africa in search of a young London boy that
had been sent back to Africa for Deliverance by his Mother after she has
started to attend one of these evangelical churches in London.
Traditional healers use natural
medicines to get rid of the Kindoki, they use no form of abuse and person is
unharmed. Before the Evangelical churches arrived there were no exorcisms or
exclusions of people that were accused of witchcraft, only old women were
accused before if the community had experienced bad fortune. When these
churches arrived exorcism became frequent and children were being accused and
murdered or made to go through Deliverance, due to accusations of witchcraft.
Some churches even make the parents pay for their child’s release. The world is
now experiencing the beliefs that have been created in Africa, due to these
evangelical beliefs. Witchcraft is still extremely dangerous in Africa but in
the western part of the world it seems to be flourishing. Salomonsen states
that, Starhawk in San Francisco, argues that
‘Western culture suffers from severe
social and spiritual disease, she argues that a revival of paganism and goddess
worship is necessary to heal people, save the planet and restore cultural
sanity’
(Salomonsen, 2002, pg 97)
In
America there are two branches of witchcraft ‘utopian’ and ‘generic’. Utopian
witches interpret witchcraft the same way as Starhawk as a ‘religious and
social gospel for the emancipation and rescue of the world.’ (Salomonsen, 2002,
pg 97). Utopian witchcraft represents an ideal society who all have the same
view. Generic witchcraft is ‘solely a position of personal belief. They have
chosen this religion for ideological reasons.’ (Salomonsen, 2002, pg 97) both
branches of witchcraft describe their religion as a spiritual path. Utopian
witches break all bonds with previous Christian and Jewish religions but
generic witches still claim parts of another religion. For example,
Susan is of Jewish decent. Although
she holds on to the ethnic side of her Jewish identity, she claims to have
broken all bonds with Jewish religion. To her, witchcraft represents something
totally new, a religion path for the future.
(Salomonsen, 2002, pg 99-100)
The
beliefs that a god or goddess created the world and the Holy Spirit (or
goddess) are not taken from ancient paganism but from Christian and Jewish
theology. Hutton state that Jules Michelet declared that witches were pagans,
but their religion was good. ‘It honoured women, loved the natural world, was
rooted in the common people, and upheld religious and political freedoms
against the repressive powers of the medieval church and state.’ (Hutton, 2007,
pg 122-123) Witchcraft was said to be a surviving religion in England and from
England spread through the rest of the modern western world and to sub-Saharan
Africa. Hutton states how people have invented many stories as to why witches
were stereotypically female. This shows how the stereotyping of women was
Assimilated to early modern ideological
and social systems. It is itself much older, because ancient Greek and Roman,
and early medieval Irish, German and Welsh witches are also stereotypically
female. Furthermore, it buckles against the fact that in areas such as Iceland,
Normandy, Estonia and (initially) Finland, the majority of those accused were
male. These were societies that had the same religious, political and social
structures as these which mainly accused women.
(Hutton, 2007, pg 123)
Briggs
states that everyone assumes women are witches, even though historical accounts
show that considerable numbers of men were also accused, he describes how the ‘Malleus Maleficarum is routinely quoted
to establish that witch-hunters were women-haters.’ (Briggs, 2002, pg 224)
Pierre de Lancre also states that the devil can possess women easily as they
are more “imbecile”. Briggs continues to mention how women and witchcraft was
already standard from in the decades of the witch trials. Most women accused of
witchcraft were widowed women with no surviving children. The accusations of
these accused women had the modest tendency to coincide with menopause or the
end of childbearing. Women usually testified against and accused each other
especially when they had misfortune. For example, sickness or death in the
family. Briggs states ‘men might echo these changes, but often placed greater
emphasis on the loss of animals, so crucial to peasant wealth and status.’
(Briggs, 2002, pg 229). Accusations of witchcraft, gave the community an explanation
for the events and a hope of relief and possible solution.
Similar occurrences happen in Africa.
Gerry Mshana et al (2006) wrote an article on the causation beliefs of Aids in
northern Tanzania. In sub-Saharan Africa, illnesses such as infertility,
accidents, or mental disorders are frequently believed to be caused by
witchcraft. Older women were generally believed to be witches. For example,
when a young girl drowned the older women of the community were made to sit in
the sun, were taunted by the men and family. A traditional healer said that the
‘child had been killed by witchcraft, and he told the old women to stop killing
other people’s children.’ (Mshana et al, 2006, pg 49) Traditional healers and
church pastors would also be the identifiers of the accused witches. People who
believed they or a member of their family were possessed, would go to the
pastor or traditional healer for help and guidance. Some people within the
community research believed that witchcraft causes an AIDS-like illness that is
supposedly brought on by witchcraft the person is ill for 7 days and then dies.
AIDS takes years to show symptoms and kill a person. No-one believed that
witchcraft actually caused AIDS, but caused a person to have a short AIDS-like
illness that resulted in death, yet if they had not believed in this myth they
would have been treated medically, and would have survived. Mshana states that
While belief in witchcraft and a
‘false’ AIDS is found amongst most age groups in rural Mwanza, traditional healers
seem to play an important authoritative role in reinforcing such beliefs.
(Mshana et al, 2006, pg 55)
Again
these traditional healers are the leaders of the community, just as the pastors
are the leaders of the evangelical churches that have been established. People
go to them for advice, and they believe what they tell them is the right thing
to do and God’s will. The association of witches with nature stands them in
good stead in a modern age which commenced with the ‘Romantic cult of nature
and has gone on to reckon with a full-scale ecological crisis.’ (Hutton, 2007,
pg124) Witches had to perform their
rituals outside away from populations in woods, fields and mountain areas, they
used natural substances in spells and potions, in my opinion not ‘magic’ but
the ‘magic of science’. Traditional healers use natural substances for exorcism
on the people possessed by witches, yet this is not considered as witchcraft,
even though witches do just the same.
Christianity seemed to be the main
catalyst for the witch trials and still to this day especially in Sub-Saharan
Africa the persecution and death of accused witches continues, and has even
worsened, as now children are being murdered and abused through the accusations
of witchcraft and possession. Christianity and science have never had a good
relationship. For example, the evolution or creation argument, and as
witchcraft worships nature and women (goddess) whom are the vessels for life,
this angers the church. Witchcraft uses spells and potions made from natural
substances- like science. Witchcraft is harmless and I agree with Hutton when
he states
The story of the developing world
today is one of how the European elites, which until recently ruled of most of
south Asia, Africa and Latin America, have failed to educate native populations
out of the same beliefs. The process of decolonization since the 1940s has
brought about a huge resumption of witch-hunting in those parts of the world.
The most extreme manifestations of this are now apparent in Ghana, Cameroon and
Malawi, where laws against witchcraft have now been formally reintroduced.
(Hutton, 2007, pg 127)
The
problems are also serious in the Congo, Nigeria and Tanzania. The witch hunting
is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa in this present day but is starting to
spread to the western world, due to the flourishing evangelical churches.
Hutton states that ‘put that way, the area of the modern world in which witches
are not hunted is contracting
sharply. Even the developed part of it, however, is not immune.’ (Hutton, 2007,
pg 128).
Witches celebrate the seasons, and
the cycles of the moon Ezzy Douglas states that ‘witchcraft rituals emphasise
experience and are often erotic in their imagery.’ (Douglas, 2000, pg 15).
Leading figures in the witchcraft movements; Gardner and Starhawk for example,
have publicised themselves positively. Whereas there are those who publicise
themselves for financial gain for example the known witch Fiona Horne promotes
her music, television appearances and even organic food on her own website.
Witchcraft seems to have been widely accepted in the western world. Dr Richard
Hopkins is a sociologist and advisor to the police aswell as an expert in
African tradition; he visited Kinshasa in the Congo, Africa in search of a
London boy and encountered many forms of witchcraft accusations, death threats,
rituals, deliverance and physical abuse towards children. Evangelical churches
seem to be spreading African beliefs and there have been horrifying incidents
in London including the Victoria Climbie and child B cases, in which the
children had been accused of witchcraft, resulting in the child’s death. These
extreme cases only happened after the parents and families of the children
started to attend an evangelical church. As Dr Hoskins documentary suggests these
churches have “reformed and reshaped Christianity in their own culture and
context. Religion is a way of life for Africans, so if the traditional healer
or pastor tells them they must banish the demon inside the child they follow
their advice. The current problems in Africa are slowly travelling throughout
the western world. As we thought the animosity towards witchcraft had
dissipated, this is not the case. Religion has a strong hold on the social and
cultural beliefs of witchcraft that Christianity has played a major role in
whether catholic, protestant or evangelical, and I believe that this will
always be the case.
References
Briggs,
R., (2002) Witches and Neighbours: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft.
(Second Edition.) USA: Blackwell Publishers Inc.
Douglas,
E., (2006) 'White Witches and Black Magic: Ethics and Consumerism in
Contemporary Witchcraft', Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 21, No. 1, pg
15–31.
Hutton,
R., (1999) The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Hutton,
R., (2007) ‘The Status of Witchcraft in
the Modern World’, The
Pomegranate, Vol 9, number 2, pg 121-131.
Mshana et
al, (2006) ‘She was Bewitched and Caught an Illness Similar to AIDS’: AIDS and
Sexually Transmitted Infection Causation Beliefs in Rural Northern Tanzania’,
Culture, Health and Sexuality, Vol 8, number 1, pg 45-58
Salomonsen,
J., (2002) Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London:
Routledge
Online Resources
BBC News,
(2006) Race bias claim over
witchcraft. [ONLINE] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5244306.stm (Accessed 03/04/10)
Filmography
Witch Child, (2006) BBC2. UK: BBC2
By Lea Weller BA
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