Witchcraft

Wicca and paganism have become more increasingly popular in the last fifteen to twenty years. In pop culture, there has been a resurgence of shows and movies about witchcraft, some of them with a positive idea of wiccanism, and some portraying a more negative image. These shows and movies include Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, the Craft, and Practical Magic have become really popular. All of this added publicity about witchcraft has led to an increased interest across the world in wiccanism.

Historically, wiccan beliefs come from the spiritual beliefs of the Celtic people. The Celts lived in Europe and Britain from 700 BC and 100 AD. They were talented artists, musicians, and storytellers. They knew the best ways to farm their land, and they were also fiercesome warriors and represented a real threat to their enemies, the Romans. The Celts were also very spiritual. They believed in many manifestations of the divine creator in nature, and worshiped a main God and Goddess. They also believed in reincarnation.

Celtic religious beliefs eventually became what is now known as Paganism. The word Pagan means country dweller in Latin. Over the centuries, paganistic beliefs and rituals blended with the beliefs of other European groups, leading to magical practices such as creating potions and concoctions, and casting spells; and so witchcraft was born. The word witchcraft means to twist or bend. The word wiccan comes from the word wicce, meaning wise. Thousands of years ago, witches were respected because their spells and incantations helped people recover from sickness and ease pain.

Centuries later, after the birth of Christianity, witchcraft became seen as a threat. Most of the witches were poor older females who wanted to practice their own brand of spirituality. Since Christianity is a patriarchal religion, many of these women felt marginalized by the fact that they could not worship with their husbands. After all, a woman might make a man's thoughts lusty. Nevertheless, many of the women who did turn to witchcraft often suffered severe consequences.

The first recorded instance of a person being convicted of witchcraft happened in France in 1022. Throughout the Middle Ages, thousands upon thousands of innocent women, men, and children were convicted of witchcraft and killed. Witchcraft was seen as such a threat because the prevailing ideas of the day taught that you should not interfere with what God sees fit to afflict upon you. Performing a spell to change or "bend" fate is employing the help of the devil to combat God's will.

Yet, for many marginalized women, witchcraft was a viable way of expressing their personal spirituality. In the Christian church at the time, sex was synonymous with wickedness and beauty was evil. Eve was to be blamed for getting Adam kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and women were seen as evil temptresses. In the thirteenth and fourteenth century, no one was exempt from being accused of witchcraft. Eustace the Monk was drowned because he was said to have magical powers, and Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake despite his service in the Holy Wars for Devil worship. King Henry V of England accused his stepmother Joan of Navarre of trying to kill him using an incantations. She was imprisoned for four years because of it. Religious laws of the time dictated that after an accused witch was killed, their property was divided up and kept by the witch's accuser and the judge. This law can most certainly be blamed as part of the reason that there were 150 years of witchcraft trials in Europe, during which the death toll ran into the millions.

In the modern era, the Wiccan religion has experienced many new incantations. In the seventies, witchcraft mixed with the feminist movement to form Dianic Wicca. Dianic Wicca ignored the male Horned God of wiccan spirituality, instead focusing only on the Goddess. Most of these covens were women-only, and some were designed specifically for lesbians. Any woman could practice Dianic Wicca and did not need a specific rite of initiation. In the last fifteen to twenty years, Wicca has become to play an important role in American pop culture. Modern witchcraft has become particularly appealing to teenagers who have found that for them, Wiccanism answers questions that organized religion doesn't. Since most covens will not allow people under the age of 18 to join them, many teenagers create their own pagan groups. However, Wicca's popularity has also been controversial. In 2001, after being bullied for her beliefs in Wicca, 12 year old Tempest Smith comitted suicide.

Wicca is more than just the practice of magic. The Wicca religion involves the worship of a God and Goddess and also venerates the divine prescence in nature. Since the God and Goddess are on equal footing in the Wicca religion, witchcraft has a special appeal for women. Wiccans employ spells, incantations, prayers and rituals in their worship. Contrary to popular opinion, however, witches are not supposed to use spells to manipulare or control someone else. Wiccans abide by a code of conduct called the Wiccan Rede, which prohibits a witch to use their craft for black magic.

Many of the spells are designed to invoke a positive energy around the person doing the spells. One Wiccan spell at the beginning of many rituals is circle casting, which is to help protect those in the circle from negative energies. Consecration spells invoke the elements of the earth using salt, water and incense. These materials stand for the five elements of nature. The prayer usually goes something like, "Mother Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Spirit, I ask thee to cleanse my body of all negative energies." Witches believe that many spells are most powerful when done when the moon is waxing, or when it is full. Rites are done for things such as luck, protection, and increased fertility.

Wiccanism is sure to continue to play a major role in the spirituality of individuals across the globe for decades and centuries to come because it offers unique ways to cope with the difficulties of life.