From the earliest recorded use of the term 'witch' to about the mid-19th century, witches were universally associated with evil, under the belief that the witch's magical powers were granted by Satan in exchange for the witch's soul. A few folk tales, however, refer to kindly witches. Many extraordinary claims were made about the powers of witches, which include the ability to fly, to transform oneself or others into animals or other shapes, and to curse one's enemies. On the other hand, these powers were associated with folklore monsters lo ...

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European witchcraft, European witchcraft - History of European witchcraft, European witchcraft - Typical practices, European witchcraft - Witchcraft and the Church, European witchcraft - Beginnings, European witchcraft - Middle Ages

Read more here: » European witchcraft: Encyclopedia II - European witchcraft - History of European witchcraft

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European witchcraft, European witchcraft - History of European witchcraft, European witchcraft - Typical practices, European witchcraft - Witchcraft and the Church, European witchcraft - Beginnings, European witchcraft - Middle Ages

Read more here: » European witchcraft: Encyclopedia II - European witchcraft - Witchcraft and the Church

The characterization of the witch in Europe is not derived from a single source. Popular neopagan beliefs suggest that witches were female shamans who were made into malicious figures by Christian propaganda. This is an oversimplification and presumes that a recognizable folklore figure must derive from a single historical precedent (a female, maligned magic-worker). The familiar witch of folklore and popular superstition is a combination of numerous influences. The characterization of the witch, rather than being a caricature of a Pa ...

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Witchcraft, Witchcraft - Practices typically considered to be witchcraft, Witchcraft - Etymology, Witchcraft - European witchcraft, Witchcraft - Middle Eastern witchcraft, Witchcraft - Ancient Middle Eastern and Near Eastern beliefs, Witchcraft - Witchcraft in the Tanakh Hebrew Bible Old Testament, Witchcraft - Witchcraft in the New Testament, Witchcraft - Jewish views of witchcraft, Witchcraft - African witchcraft, Witchcraft - Theories of Neopagan witchcraft, Witchcraft - Additional Reading

Read more here: » Witchcraft: Encyclopedia II - Witchcraft - European witchcraft

The term witchcraft (and witch) is a controversial one with a complicated history. Witchcraft is viewed differently in different cultures around the globe. Used with entirely different contexts, and within entirely different cultural references, it can take on distinct and often contradictory meanings. Each culture has its own particular body of concepts dealing with magic, religion, benevolent and harmful spirits, and ritual; and these ideas d ...

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Witchcraft - Practices typically considered to be witchcraft Witchcraft - Etymology Witchcraft - European witchcraft Witchcraft - Middle Eastern witchcraft
Witchcraft - Ancient Middle Eastern and Near Eastern beliefs Witchcraft - Witchcraft in the Tanakh Hebrew Bible Old Testament Witchcraft - Witchcraft in the New Testament Witchcraft - Jewish views of witchcraft
Witchcraft - African witchcraft Witchcraft - Theories of Neopagan witchcraft Witchcraft - Additional Reading

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In Christian folklore, the Sabbath (also known as "Witch's Sabbath") was a gathering supposed to have been celebrated by Satanists, witches and warlocks to honor the Devil, offend God, Jesus, the sacraments, the cross, and perform unholy rites. European records tell of innumerable cases of persons being accused or tried for taking part Sabbath gatherings, from the Middle Ages to the 17th century or later. However, there are no reliable reports on what actually happened during a Sabbath; and much of what was written about them m ...

Including:

Sabbath witchcraft - The Sabbath in history Sabbath witchcraft - What has been said about the Sabbath
Sabbath witchcraft - Ritual elements Sabbath witchcraft - Location Sabbath witchcraft - Dates
Sabbath witchcraft - What is actually known about the Sabbath Sabbath witchcraft - Origins and connections
Sabbath witchcraft - Hallucinogens Sabbath witchcraft - Old heathen rituals Sabbath witchcraft - Shamanism and African rituals
Sabbath witchcraft - The Sabbath in art

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} The term witch trial generally refers a legal action taken during a period in European history from around 1450 to the mid-18th century, during which it was common for accusations of malicious, harmful, and Satanic witchcraft to be taken seriously, often resulting in loss of reputation, imprisonment, torture, and execution of the accused in Europe and to a lesser extent the European colonies. Scholarly estimates of the numbers of people executed for witchcraft during this period range around 40,000, with high estimates reachi ...

Including:

Witch trial - History
Witch trial - Early Trials Witch trial - Middle Ages Witch trial - Early Modern Witch trial - 18th century
Witch trial - Number of executions Witch trial - Proceedings
Witch trial - Authorities Witch trial - Theology Witch trial - The Arrest Witch trial - The Process Witch trial - The Interrogations Witch trial - The Sentence
Witch trial - Gender issues Witch trial - Some Related Quotes Witch trial - Protest against witch trials Witch trial - Sources

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A witch-hunt was traditionally a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, which could lead to a witchcraft trial involving the accused person. Today such events are recognised as a type of moral panic. Witchhunts still occur in the modern era, in the sense that ignorant or uneducated people, isolated peoples, or people living a traditional lifestyle may persecute people that they believe are witches. The term is now widely used in a modern sense to refer to any search for a perceived or hidden enemy, with the same connotations of ...

Including:

Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe
Witch-hunt - Evidence Witch-hunt - Execution
Witch-hunt - The Burning Times Witch-hunt - Africa Witch-hunt - Other parts of the world Witch-hunt - Sociology Witch-hunt - Modern usage
Witch-hunt - George Orwell Witch-hunt - Arthur Miller
Witch-hunt - Modern witchhunts
Witch-hunt - Religious deprogramming
Witch-hunt - Day care sex abuse
Witch-hunt - Involuntary commitment Witch-hunt - Political confirmation

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Levitation is the process by which an object is suspended against gravity, in a stable position, by a force without physical contact. This can be achieved through jets of gas pushing upwards against the object (as in air hockey), or pushing downwards from the object (as in helicopters, VTOL aircraft, and hovercraft). A sphere can be stably levitated in a stream of air without any type of control system, if conditions are right. These effects are due to Bernoulli's principle. This was merchandised as a toy, circa 1960. Objects with the right properties can be levitated without even indirect contac ...

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The characterization of the witch in Europe is not derived from a single source. Popular neopagan beliefs suggest that witches were female shamans who were made into malicious figures by Christian propaganda. This is an erroneous oversimplification and presumes that a recognizable folklore figure must derive from a single historical precedent (a female, maligned magic-worker). The familiar witch of folklore and popu ...

See also:

European witchcraft, European witchcraft - History of European witchcraft, European witchcraft - Typical practices, European witchcraft - Witchcraft and the Church, European witchcraft - Beginnings, European witchcraft - Middle Ages

Read more here: » European witchcraft: Encyclopedia II - European witchcraft - Typical practices

As claimed by the historian Max Dashu, as early as the second century BC, major elements of European witchcraft as described by persecutioners in the Middle Ages were already taking place, and subsequently used to suppress it as a subversive religion: secret nocturnal meetings the leaders were women they commonly initiated their children into the cult ecstatic festivities with music, dancing and cries, followed by orgies same-gender sexual practices allegiatio ...

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Paculla Annia, Paculla Annia - Rites, Paculla Annia - Witch-hunt, Paculla Annia - References:

Read more here: » Paculla Annia: Encyclopedia II - Paculla Annia - Witch-hunt

Witch-hunt - Religious deprogramming. Hundreds of members of the Unification Church who were caught and harangued by deprogrammers complained of interrogation technique similar to that reported during the European witchhunts. Deprogrammers would tell the detainee that he had been "brainwashed" by the "cult" and threaten to hold him indefinitely unless he "realized" he had been brainwashed. Opponents of deprogramming claim that this parallels the tactic of accusing a prisoner of witchcraft and torturing them until ...

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Witch-hunt, Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe, Witch-hunt - Evidence, Witch-hunt - Execution, Witch-hunt - The Burning Times, Witch-hunt - Africa, Witch-hunt - Other part of the world, Witch-hunt - Sociology, Witch-hunt - Modern usage, Witch-hunt - George Orwell, Witch-hunt - Arthur Miller, Witch-hunt - Modern witchhunts, Witch-hunt - Religious deprogramming, Witch-hunt - Day care sex abuse, Witch-hunt - Involuntary commitment, Witch-hunt - Political confirmation

Read more here: » Witch-hunt: Encyclopedia II - Witch-hunt - Modern witchhunts

In 188 BC, Paculla admitted men for the first time to participate - although it is now believed that men had participated before that. The first men to be initiated were her sons, Minius and Herennius Cerrinius. She also had ordered the festivities to take place by night instead of by day, and instead of three days in a year, five days of initiation in each month were appointed. Finally, participants of the ceremonies were all sorts: men and women, young and old, noble and common people, free and slaves, in a freedom of wine and sex. Everyth ...

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Paculla Annia, Paculla Annia - Rites, Paculla Annia - Witch-hunt, Paculla Annia - References:

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The following section is a story as reported by the two women. Sibillia reported that from the age of sixteen, each Thursday evening she was invited to Madonna Oriente's secret festivities. According to Pierina de' Bugatis, these were usually held in the tidy, clean and elegant houses of the rich. If the house was tidy, it was blessed. There were always numerous participants, both alive and already dead, including those that were beheaded or hanged and that were ashamed to raise their head due to this. Besides people, a pair of each animal s ...

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Madonna Oriente, Madonna Oriente - The story, Madonna Oriente - Interrogation and persecution, Madonna Oriente - Goddess of the Moon

Read more here: » Madonna Oriente: Encyclopedia II - Madonna Oriente - The story

In 1384, Sibillia was interrogated for the first time. The interrogator, friar Ruggero from Carate, did not believe her story and had her sent home with only a light penance: for three Sundays, she had to stand at a Churches' door during the mass with two large yellow crosses and three fingers sewn on her dress. The first time by the Franciscans at the Vercellina door of Saint Francis, the second time by the Augustinian church of Saint Mark and for the third time by the Dominican church of Saint Eustorgius. She also had to stop going to the ...

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Madonna Oriente, Madonna Oriente - The story, Madonna Oriente - Interrogation and persecution, Madonna Oriente - Goddess of the Moon

Read more here: » Madonna Oriente: Encyclopedia II - Madonna Oriente - Interrogation and persecution

Madonna Oriente is the Italian translation of the Latin words "Domina Oriens". It has been demonstrated that this name was used to denote the Moon (Lewis & Short). This means that the ladies were believing in the goddess of the Moon under one of its names. It is not clear whether there were indeed more members of her circle. Otherwise, the Moon goddess had many different names in different cultures. In Greek mythology, she is called Artemis, in the Roman one Diana and in German tradition Holda. Nevertheless, the participants of the rites of Madonna Oriente still viewed themselves as good Christians. In the ey ...

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Madonna Oriente, Madonna Oriente - The story, Madonna Oriente - Interrogation and persecution, Madonna Oriente - Goddess of the Moon

Read more here: » Madonna Oriente: Encyclopedia II - Madonna Oriente - Goddess of the Moon

Gardner claimed to have been initiated in 1939 into a tradition of religious witchcraft that he believed to be a continuation of European Paganism. Doreen Valiente, one of Gardner's priestesses, later identified the woman who initiated Garder as Dorothy Clutterbuck in a book published by Janet and Stewart Farrar. This identification was based on references Valiente remembered Gardner making to a woman he called "Old Dorothy". Scholar Ronald Hutton instead argues in his Triumph of the Moon that Gardner's witchcraft tradition was largel ...

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Gerald Gardner, Gerald Gardner - Life, Gerald Gardner - Wicca, Gerald Gardner - Etymology, Gerald Gardner - Bibliography, Gerald Gardner - Notes and references

Read more here: » Gerald Gardner: Encyclopedia II - Gerald Gardner - Wicca

In a more sympathetic reading, a considerable patchwork of Pagan survivals can be seen throughout European history, and Murray's work did much to alert attention to this previously concealed history of European religion. Isolated individuals or groups certainly did practice Pagan customs and rituals that were not part of ordinary Christian dogma, as signs of such beliefs can be seen in Church arc ...

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Margaret Murray, Margaret Murray - Brief Biography, Margaret Murray - Murray's Witchcraft theories, Margaret Murray - Problems with Murray's Theories, Margaret Murray - Later Books, Margaret Murray - The influence of Murray's thesis on modern academic thought, Margaret Murray - The legacy of her thinking

Read more here: » Margaret Murray: Encyclopedia II - Margaret Murray - The influence of Murray's thesis on modern academic thought

For several centuries, dominantly Christian societies believed that Satan was acting through human and animal servants. These beliefs can be seen as a reaction to emerging alternatives to the Christian hierarchical order, such as the worldly knowledge and cultural practices brought into a relatively backward Europe from the Middle East by those returning from the Crusades. It had been proposed that the witch-hunt developed in Europe after the Cathars and the Templar Knights were exterminated and the Inquisition had to turn to persecut ...

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Witch-hunt, Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe, Witch-hunt - Evidence, Witch-hunt - Execution, Witch-hunt - The Burning Times, Witch-hunt - Africa, Witch-hunt - Other part of the world, Witch-hunt - Sociology, Witch-hunt - Modern usage, Witch-hunt - George Orwell, Witch-hunt - Arthur Miller, Witch-hunt - Modern witchhunts, Witch-hunt - Religious deprogramming, Witch-hunt - Day care sex abuse, Witch-hunt - Involuntary commitment, Witch-hunt - Political confirmation

Read more here: » Witch-hunt: Encyclopedia II - Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe

"The Burning Times" is an English term referring to the time of the Great European Witchhunts (1450-1750). Its first recorded use is by Gerald Gardner in the 1950s and was probably created by him according to Ronald Hutton (344). Gardner used the phrase in reference to his claim that Wicca was an ancient persecuted religion, relying in turn heavily on the work of Margaret Murray. Gardner believed Wiccans should remember their forebears who were burned by the Church. In fact, witches in England were never burnt, but were hanged; burning of he ...

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Witch-hunt, Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe, Witch-hunt - Evidence, Witch-hunt - Execution, Witch-hunt - The Burning Times, Witch-hunt - Africa, Witch-hunt - Other part of the world, Witch-hunt - Sociology, Witch-hunt - Modern usage, Witch-hunt - George Orwell, Witch-hunt - Arthur Miller, Witch-hunt - Modern witchhunts, Witch-hunt - Religious deprogramming, Witch-hunt - Day care sex abuse, Witch-hunt - Involuntary commitment, Witch-hunt - Political confirmation

Read more here: » Witch-hunt: Encyclopedia II - Witch-hunt - The Burning Times

In many African societies the fear of witches drives periodic witchhunts during which specialist witch finders identify suspects, even today, with death by mobs often the result. Audrey I. Richards, in the journal Africa relates an instance when a new wave of witchfinders, the Bamucapi, appeared in the villages of the Bemba people. They dressed in European clothing, and would summon the headman to prepare a ritual meal for the village. When the villagers arrived they would view them all in a mirror, and claimed they could ident ...

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Witch-hunt, Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe, Witch-hunt - Evidence, Witch-hunt - Execution, Witch-hunt - The Burning Times, Witch-hunt - Africa, Witch-hunt - Other part of the world, Witch-hunt - Sociology, Witch-hunt - Modern usage, Witch-hunt - George Orwell, Witch-hunt - Arthur Miller, Witch-hunt - Modern witchhunts, Witch-hunt - Religious deprogramming, Witch-hunt - Day care sex abuse, Witch-hunt - Involuntary commitment, Witch-hunt - Political confirmation

Read more here: » Witch-hunt: Encyclopedia II - Witch-hunt - Africa