Witchcraft has been part of my life since i was born, Both parents were classed as high priests and preistess, Dad was condsidered pendragon to certain societies. Having these traditions in our family for centuries, over the years we have heard stories about the great Annie Macdonald who was a seerer and great visionary. The stories about Major Thomas Weir the wizard of West Bow and other generations leading to gyspies who also carry these gifts.

I thought it was suitable to do a few pages on paganism, magic alchemy, wicca and new trends, Where it all started with early religion to the witch trails across the globe and how its all connected to this website and history.

Between 1563 and 1763 Scotland was a country in flux and the resulting paranoia fueled the Scottish Witch Trials.

Belief in witchcraft was common during the Middle Ages, but the leaders of the Catholic church were largely skeptical, seeing it as folklore rather than something sinister. Lawyers were only interested in cases were harm was alleged to have taken place and some high-profile political cases have been recorded including the case of John Stewart, Earl of Mar for allegedly using sorcery against his brother King James III in 1479. Cases like this were few in number. However, as Scotland was plunged into the turbulence of the Early Modern Era, attitudes began to change, new laws were formed, and Scotland found itself in the grip of several witch trials and hunts.

The passing of the Witchcraft Act of 1563 made witchcraft or consulting with witches, capital offences. As a result, it is estimated that 4,000 to 6,000 people were tried for witchcraft and that more than 1,500 people were executed. Approximately 75% of those accused were women.  Often there were waves of witch trials, notably those of 1590-91, 1597, 1628-31, 1649-50 and 1661-62. In 1736, the unified British Parliament repealed the 1563 Act.

The Witchcraft Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 1563. Few, if any acts, passed by the Scottish Parliament have had such deadly consequences. It was a time of great change in Scotland: a time when your religion affiliation could make or break a monarch or send you to your death. Lutheran ideas had reached Scotland by 1525, plunging the nation into the Reformation. Under the watchful eye of John Knox, Scotland eventually became a Protestant country. Knox initially was a follower of Luther but later adopted the ideology of John Calvin. Both Luther and Calvin held the belief that witchcraft was a crime of such a serious nature that it merited the death penalty. It seems likely that John Knox played a role in drafting the Scottish Witchcraft Act and was influenced by the beliefs of his role models.

In August 1560, the legal machinery was put in place by the Scottish Parliament, making Scotland officially a Protestant country. However, what this legislation did not do, was set down what powers the church might be granted with respect to those who disobeyed the tenets of this new-found faith. Indeed, the new church had barely come to terms with its new powers and the implications for governing its congregations. The big question they were facing was what constituted ungodliness. It would soon become apparent that the new regime viewed the world solely in black and white.

Significantly, the Witchcraft Act did not define what formed an act of witchcraft, nor did it mention the ‘demonic pact’. Initially, those enforcing the Witchcraft Act were more concerned with putting an end to superstition and a belief in magic. Magic was the ritualistic use of an object or words in the form of a spell to achieve a desired outcome. This could be in the form of healing, fortune-telling, love potions, finding lost or stolen goods, and protective or good-luck charms. It was believed that illness was caused by malign spirits which could be removed by transferring it to another person or object. Of course, if someone could perform ‘good’ magic, then the converse had to also be true: magic could be used to cause harm.

Between 1560 and 1590, there was a slow trickle of witchcraft cases. The death penalty was not always meted out. Tibbie Smart was burnt on the cheek and banished for committing various acts of sorcery and charming. In May 1558, Agnes Fergusson was put in the ‘pit’ for being a witch.

However, the year 1590 was to see a dramatic change in how Scotland dealt with its alleged witches. The Scottish witch trials would begin in earnest.

James VI went to Denmark to collect his bride, Anne, daughter of Fredrick II. On their return journey to Scotland a most ungodly storm began. As the swell began to batter the fleet, the fearful Danish admiral declared that the cause of the storm was witchcraft. He believed that it was caused by the wife of an administrator he had insulted. It seemed that James’ vessel was jostled more than the others. The fleet limped back towards the shore and took refuge off the coast of Norway. James had recently met with a Danish Lutheran theologian and expert on demonology, Neils Hemmingsen. His recent education about the dangers of witchcraft convinced the King that the accusations must be true. Soon after witch hunts were launched in both Scotland and Denmark.

In Denmark, Anna Koldings was burnt at the stake along with twelve other people at Kronberg, Helsinor. Meanwhile, in Tranent, outside Edinburgh, a serving girl, Gelies Duncan was accused of witchcraft by her employer. Someone made a connection between the two cases and under prolonged torture named accomplices including Agnes Sampson, John Fian and Euphemia McLean. The accused were scourged until they confessed that they had plotted against the King. James took an active part in the interrogation of the suspects, which were sentenced to death. This became known as the North Berwick Witch Trials.

This proved to be the catalyst in changing the mind-set of the Scottish people towards witchcraft. Witch hunts had already begun throughout Europe, where the idea of the diabolical witch had originated. James wrote a treatise called ‘Daemonology’ which emphasised the concept that witches had entered into a pact with the devil.

The idea that witches formed a pact with the devil was to change the way that Scottish witch trials were conducted during the course of the 1600s. Witches were believed to have practised ‘malefice’ or malicious magic after entering into a pact with the devil. This pact involved renouncing their baptism and subsequently worshipping and copulating with the devil. The devil was said to leave his mark on those entered into this vile agreement. Sometimes the mark was visible whereas at others it was invisible to the naked eye but could be identified as an area on the body, insensitive to pain and did not bleed. This could be found by pricking the accused with a needle.

Originally, this job was done by members of the clergy but in time the lucrative job of being a broder or witch-pricker developed. As the prickers were paid by the number of positive cases they identified, it was in the pricker’s best interest to find as many witches as possible. Many of the witch-prickers became charlatans, using needles were the blade could be retracted into a wooden shaft so it would appear that the accused could not feel pain or bleed from certain spots on their body.

By the late 1600s many of the witch-prickers were denounced and arrested as frauds including John Kincaid and John Dick. John Dick was truly living a double life, for when ‘he’ was arrested, it turned out that he was a woman, Christian Caddell. Interestingly, once the witch-prickers were identified as fraudsters, the number of witch hunts tailed off.

In Scotland, most witches were hung or strangled before their body was burnt. Burning their mortal remains was an important part of their punishment. It ensured that the devil could not resurrect their bodies for his nefarious purposes. However, sometimes a witch would be burnt at the stake or in the case of the witches in Forres, they would be put in barrels filled with spikes and rolled down the Cluny Hill.  The barrel would then be set on fire where it rested. A stone lies at the base of Cluny Hill today, marking where one such execution took place.

As civil war raged in England, the independent kingdom of Scotland was forcibly incorporated into a commonwealth with England in 1652.Now occupied by Cromwell’s troops, the Privy council and courts were disbanded. English judges were put in place and there was a sharp decline in the number of witchcraft cases. With the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, Scotland once more gained her freedom and her judicial independence. This prompted a flood of over 600 cases of people charged with witchcraft. The Privy council were alarmed at the rapid rise in trials and banned the use of judicial torture and insisted on the necessity of its commission for an arrest or prosecution.

Largely due to the work of Sir George MacKenzie, the Lord Advocate, standards of evidence were raised. Sir George believed in the existence of witchcraft and that those found guilty should face the death penalty. However, he felt that many innocent people had been sent to death. Although not opposed to the use of torture under certain conditions, he felt that it was inappropriate to elicit confessions from people accused of witchcraft. He felt that many of the local authorities trying witches did not have the appropriate knowledge of the crime and that often the witnesses used were not qualified to participate.

Then in 1662, the witch prickers were exposed as frauds, thus removing a major source of evidence against those accused of witchcraft. The British parliament repealed the 1563 Act in 1736, imposing fines or imprisonment on people who claimed to be able to use magical powers.

1537: Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis accused of witchcraft by King James V but executed for treason.

1563: The Witchcraft Act was introduced during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, making Witchcraft and consorting with witches a capital offence.

1576: Bessie Dunlop of Lynne was executed on Castle Hill, Edinburgh. She had been found guilty of receiving herbs from the Queen of the Faeries and consorting with a group of eight women witches and four men.

1577-78: The first real witch hunt occurred in Easter Ross. Six men and twenty-six women were charged with witchcraft including Kenneth Ower (Coinneach Odhar), who might be the person more commonly known as the Brahan Seer. Some of the accused witches were sentenced and executed at Chanonry Point on the Black Isle. Several others arrested at the time, survived, only to face further witchcraft allegations in the high-profile trial of Katherene Ross, Lady Munro of Fowlis in 1590.

1590: While travelling back from Denmark with his bride, James VI of Scotland had to endure a terrible storm. The Danish captain declared that it could only because by witchcraft. This event was to change how Scotland would deal with witches over the next hundred years. The Scottish witch trials began in earnest

1590-2: The North Berwick witch trials took place implicating 70 people.

1591: King James VI published a pamphlet ‘The Newes from Scotland’. In it were details of some of the tortures which awaited those accused of witchcraft.

1594: Allison Balfour, from Steness in Orkney, was accused of witchcraft. Unusually, this case was instigated purely on the authority of Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney without a Commission of Justiciary.

There had been an ongoing feud between Patrick Stewart, also known as Black Patie and his brother John.  John had allegedly approached Balfour on how to poison his brother. While there was no evidence to support the claim that Balfour supplied the poison, she was accused of using witchcraft to help the younger brother. She was brutally tortured for a period of forty-eight hours to extract a confession. Her legs were encased in an iron device called caschielawes and heated until her flesh began to burn. She lost consciousness on serval occasions, only for the torture to recommence each time she revived.

Her husband, Taillifer, was tortured in front of her using long irons, or iron plates laid on top of his body. Stones weighing upwards of 700lb were placed on the plates, effectively crushing the body underneath.

Then her seven-year-old daughter was tortured, her tiny fingers being crushed in an implement called a pinniewinkle. This was too much for the demented mother. She confessed to the crimes. She was taken to the Gallow Ha’ in Kirkwell. There, as she was about to be executed she protested her innocence and detailed how her family had been tortured. Alas, it was to no avail. The poor woman was strangled and then burnt on the 16th December 1594.

1596: One of the most interesting cases in Aberdeen happened a couple of years later in 1596 and concerned a whole family. The mother, Jane Wishart, was brought to trial and eventually convicted on 18 points of witchcraft, although the total number of charges brought against her exceeded 30. These charges included casting a spell on a fisherman who then took to his bed and ‘lay bedsick for one month’. One of the charges related to an incident when five men caught her coming out of the home of Adam Mair, one of her neighbours, at two in the morning. The men promptly woke up Adam’s wife to tell her about the incident. Later that day at about two or three o’clock in the afternoon, two of the men were found drowned in the Auld Wattergang at the Links where they had gone to wash themselves. Two others who had seen Janet leave her neighbour’s house subsequently offered to testify against her. Even Janet’s son-in-law, John Allan, testified against her following an incident when he hit his wife and was chastised by Janet. Immediately thereafter, a brown dog started to come into his bedroom and attack him, although it left his young wife alone. Apparently, eight days before Janet was apprehended, a great rumbling noise was heard coming from her house which frightened her next-door neighbour who thought his house might collapse. This, too, was attributed to Janet’s supernatural powers and formed one of the accusations on which she was convicted.

Janet’s son, Thomas Leyis, was charged and found guilty of being a ringleader. He was convicted on three accounts of witchcraft. Both Janet and Thomas were strangled and burnt as witches.

On the 22nd of March the same year John Leyis (Janet’s husband) and their three daughters, Elspet, Janet and Violet were also accused of witchcraft. They were absolved on all counts of witchcraft but found guilty of being accomplices to Janet and Thomas. As a result, they were banished from Aberdeen and were forbidden to come within 10 miles of the burgh.

1597: Scotland’s second great witch hunt took place when Margaret Aitken, known as the Great Witch of Balwearie, offered to identify other witches in exchange for her life. Over a period of several months, she travelled the country implicating strangers, until her expertise was called into question when she pointed the finger at several people she had previously cleared. Alas, by this time as many as 400 had already been tried with over half of the accused executed for witchcraft.

1597: King James published his book Daemonology. In this dissertation he offered up a theory as to ‘the cause that there are twentie women given to that craft, where ther is one man’. His rationale was ‘for as that sexe is frailer than men is, so it is easier to be intrapped in these grosse snares of the Devil, as was over will prove to be true, by the Serpent’s deceiving of Eva at the beginning, which makes him the homlier with that sexe sensine.’

1605 (approximately): William Shakespeare writes the play Macbeth. Playing to the King’s obsession (James was now James I of England), he includes the addition of three very famous Scottish witches – the weird or ‘weyward’ sisters – made their debut appearance in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In this work MacBeth encounters ‘three women in strange and wild apparell, resembling creatures of elder world’ who predict that he will become King of Scots.

1614: In a particularly gruesome case in Edinburgh, Robert Erskine, along with his sisters Annas and Issobell, was beheaded at the Mercat Cross after being found guilty of consulting with witches and ‘poisoning and treasonable murder’.

1649: In February of this year a brewer from Dunfermline was able to prove his innocence after accusations were brought forward implicating him of using magic to improve the quality of his beer.

1652: Scotland is forcibly incorporated into Oliver Cromwell’s commonwealth. During the English occupation of Scotland, the number of Witchcraft trials declines.

1661: Kathrin Key and Margaret Liddell were tried for witchcraft. Kathrin had previously been accused by the local minister, Lawrence Oliphant of killing her child. Did Kathrin set fire to the manse as part of an ongoing feud between the pair?

1661–62: Scotland’s final great witch hunt saw hundreds of more witch trials over a period of sixteen months. In total, more than 650 people were tried, mostly women of low to middling status. The hunt started in April in Midlothian and East Lothian, where 206 people were accused. Thereafter it rapidly spread across the country largely due to the influence of witch prickers like John Kincaid. However, the precise number of executions is unknown because so many different courts were involved.

1662: Isobel Gowdie was one of the victims of the witch hunt of 1661-62. Perhaps her confessions are the most remarkable of all the confessions recorded during the Scottish Witch trials. Gowdie, allegedly confessed about her dealings with the devil, under seemingly little duress. However, it should be noted that what we would classify as torture nowadays, is somewhat different to what legally constituted torture in the past. Perhaps the most commonly used form of torture during a witch trial was sleep deprivation. It was a really effective means of allowing those gathering evidence against an accused witch to get a positive result. After several days of sleep deprivation, the subject begins to hallucinate.

Isobel had apparently performed acts of malefice against her landlord, the Laird of Park, by making clay images to curse his children. She spoke at great length about her encounters with the devil and also her visits under the Downie Hill, near Auldearn, where she met the Queen of the Fairies. It is from her testimony that the word ‘coven’ has come into the English vocabulary. She went on to implicate many other people in her testimony.

1662:  Christian Caddell disguised herself as ‘John Dick’ to become Scotland’s only female witch pricker.

1662: The Witch prickers were exposed as frauds.

1663: Christian Caddell’s true identity was discovered. She was sent to work in the plantations in Barbados as an indentured servant. Ironically, on the very day she boarded the ship, the last of her victims were being executed in Forres.

1670: After confessing to ‘supernatural intelligence’ relating to the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Worcester twenty years earlier, Thomas Weir was incarcerated in an old leper colony at Greenside beneath Edinburgh’s Calton Hill. As a distinguished former soldier, his confessions were at first ignored until they became so wild and treasonous the authorities were forced to take action. Eventually they decided to strangle and burn him at the Gallowlee on the Leith road. He publicly confessed to having a n incestuous relationship with his sister. She was later burned at Grassmarket.

1679: By now, scepticism was growing among the general public about witchcraft. However, in Bo’ness five women and a man, were said to have been in the Devil’s company as they drunk ale and the women were accused of copulating with the devil.  The group were charged with attempting to harm a man, Andrew Mitchell, but the records are scant about their success. All six were executed on Corbiehill.

1697: The Paisley witches, Margaret Lang, John Lindsay, James Lindsay, John Reid, Catherine Campbell, Margaret Fulton and Agnes Naismith were condemned to hang and then burn on Gallow Green for bewitching Christian Shaw, the eleven-year-old daughter of the Laird of Bargarran. The last mass execution of witches saw six of them executed while a seventh killed himself in advance. A curse supposedly voiced by one of the six was for years afterwards blamed for every ill that befell the town until Christian Shaw finally admitted the whole thing was a hoax.

1705: In Fife Janet Cornfoot, the ‘Witch of Pittenweem’, was accused of bewitching the local blacksmith’s apprentice. She was locked in the town’s tolbooth after being flogged by the local minister. She managed to escape but was recaptured by a mob, who promptly dragged her down to the beach where they beat her up and stoned her.  She was left for dead beneath a door weighed down by heavy stones and trampled by horses.

1720: The twelve-year-old son of James, 7th Lord Torphichen, alleged that he had been bewitched by an old woman in Calder. He claimed that afterwards he fell into a trance ‘from which no horse-whipping could rouse him till he chose his own time to revive’ and could float above the ground. Five locals were arrested and thrown into jail. However, by the time they came to trial so much time had elapsed that they were merely publicly rebuked and allowed to go free.

1727: Janet Horne was the last person to be publicly executed as a witch in Scotland. Accused by her neighbours of riding to the devil on her daughter’s back, and unable to repeat in Gaelic the Lord’s Prayer at her trial, she was put to death in Dornoch. Her body was burned alive in a wooden barrel filled with flaming tar.

1736: Scotland’s Witchcraft Act was finally repealed.. The crime of witchcraft was henceforth abolished and replaced by a new crime of ‘pretended witchcraft’, carrying a maximum penalty of one year’s imprisonment.

1944: Helen Duncan, a middle-aged medium from Callander in Perthshire, became the last person to be jailed under the 1735 Witchcraft Act, after claiming to have conjured up the spirit of a sailor killed when HMS Barham had been torpedoed three years earlier. To maintain national morale the ship’s loss to a German U-boat had been kept secret. The authorities, fearful that she might reveal details of the forthcoming D-Day landings as well, took immediate action. She was found guilty of ‘pretending to raise spirits from the dead’ and sentenced to nine months in HMP Holloway in north London. In 1951 the antiquated legislation was finally repealed in favour of a new and more appropriate Fraudulent Mediums Act.

Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others.[1][2] A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used malevolent magic against their own community, and often to have communed with evil beings. It was thought witchcraft could be thwarted by protective magic or counter-magic, which could be provided by cunning folk or folk healers. Suspected witches were also intimidated, banished, attacked or killed. Often they would be formally prosecuted and punished, if found guilty or simply believed to be guilty. European witch-hunts and witch trials in the early modern period led to tens of thousands of executions. In some regions, many of those accused of witchcraft were folk healers or midwives.[3][4] European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment.

Contemporary cultures that believe in magic and the supernatural often believe in witchcraft.[5][6] Anthropologists have applied the term "witchcraft" to similar beliefs and occult practices described by many non-European cultures, and cultures that have adopted the English language will often call these practices "witchcraft", as well.[6][7][8][9] As with the cunning-folk in Europe, Indigenous communities that believe in the existence of witchcraft define witches as the opposite of their healers and medicine people, who are sought out for protection against witchcraft.[10][11][12] Modern witch-hunting takes place in parts of Africa and Asia.

A theory that witchcraft was a survival of a European pagan religion (the witch-cult hypothesis) gained popularity in the early 20th century, but has been discredited. A newer theory is that the idea of "witchcraft" developed to explain strange misfortune, similar to ideas such as the evil eye.

In contemporary Western culture, most notably since the growth of Wicca from the 1950s, some modern pagans and followers of New Age belief systems may self-identify as "witches", and use the term "witchcraft" for their self-help, healing or divination rituals.[13][14][10][15][16] Others avoid the term due to its negative connotations.[17]

The Magic Circle by John William Waterhouse, 1886

The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have persisted throughout recorded history. It has been found at various times and in many forms among cultures worldwide,[6][18] and continues to have an important role in some cultures today.[19] Most societies have believed in, and feared, an ability by some individuals to cause supernatural harm and misfortune to others. This may come from mankind's tendency "to want to assign occurrences of remarkable good or bad luck to agency, either human or superhuman".[20] Historians and anthropologists see the concept of "witchcraft" as one of the ways humans have tried to explain strange misfortune.[20][21] Some cultures have feared witchcraft much less than others, because they tend to have other explanations for strange misfortune; for example that it was caused by gods, spirits, demons or fairies, or by other humans who have unwittingly cast the 'evil eye'.[20] For example, the Gaels of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands historically held a strong belief in fairy folk, who could cause supernatural harm, and witch-hunting was very rare in these regions compared to other regions of the British Isles.[22]

Ronald Hutton outlined five key characteristics ascribed to witches and witchcraft by most cultures that believe in the concept. Traditionally, witchcraft was believed to be the use of magic to cause harm or misfortune to others; it was used by the witch against their own community; it was seen as immoral and often thought to involve communion with evil beings; powers of witchcraft were believed to have been acquired through inheritance or initiation; and witchcraft could be thwarted by defensive magic, persuasion, intimidation or physical punishment of the alleged witch.[23]

Historically, the predominant concept of witchcraft in the Western world derives from Old Testament laws against witchcraft, and entered the mainstream when belief in witchcraft gained Church approval in the Early Modern Period. It is a theosophical conflict between good and evil, where witchcraft was generally evil and often associated with the Devil and Devil worship. This culminated in deaths, torture and scapegoating (casting blame for misfortune),[24][25] and many years of large scale witch-trials and 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 by Christian fundamentalists) to non-belief, and even approval in some churches. 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 it is no longer practiced in secrecy.[26]

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 Age of Colonialism, many cultures across the globe were exposed to the modern Western world via colonialism, usually accompanied and often preceded by intensive Christian missionary activity (see "Christianization"). In these cultures beliefs that were related to witchcraft and magic were influenced by the prevailing Western concepts of the time. Witch-hunts, scapegoating, and the killing or shunning of suspected witches still occur in the modern era.[27]

Suspicion of modern medicine due to beliefs about illness being due to witchcraft also continues in many countries to this day, with serious healthcare consequences. HIV/AIDS[28] and Ebola virus disease[29] are two examples of often-lethal infectious disease epidemics whose medical care and 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 bacterial Buruli ulcer.[30][31]

Further information: Witch (word)

The word is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce ('witch') and cræft ('craft').[32] The masculine form was wicca ('male sorcerer').[33]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, wicce and wicca were probably derived from the Old English verb wiccian, meaning 'to practice witchcraft'.[34] Wiccian has a cognate in Middle Low German wicken (attested from the 13th century). The further etymology of this word is problematic. It has no clear cognates in other Germanic languages outside of English and Low German, and there are numerous possibilities for the Indo-European root from which it may have derived.

Another Old English word for 'witch' was hægtes or hægtesse, which became the modern English word "hag" and is linked to the word "hex". In most other Germanic languages, their word for 'witch' comes from the same root as these; for example German Hexe and Dutch heks.[35]

In colloquial modern English, the word witch is generally used for women. A male practitioner of magic or witchcraft is more commonly called a 'wizard', or sometimes, 'warlock'. When the word witch is used to refer to a member of a neo-pagan tradition or religion (such as Wicca), it can refer to a person of any gender.[36]

Preparation for the Witches' Sabbath by David Teniers the Younger. It shows a witch brewing a potion overlooked by her familiar spirit or a demon; items on the floor for casting a spell; and another witch reading from a grimoire while anointing the buttocks of a young witch about to fly upon an inverted besom

Where belief in malicious magic practices exists, 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.[37]

In some definitions, witches differ from sorceresses in that they do not need to use tools or actions to curse; their maleficium is believed to flow from some intangible inner quality, may be unaware of being a witch, or may have been convinced of their nature by the suggestion of others.[38] This definition was pioneered in 1937 in a study of central African magical beliefs by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, who cautioned that it might not match English usage.[39] Historians have found this definition difficult to apply to European witchcraft, where witches were believed to use physical techniques, as well as some who were believed to cause harm by thought alone.[7]

See also: Magic (supernatural)

Probably the best-known characteristic of a witch is her ability to cast a spell—a set of words, a formula or verse, a ritual, or a combination of these, employed to do magic.[40] Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of runes or sigils on an object to give that object magical powers; by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image (poppet) of a person to affect them magically; by the recitation of incantations; by the performance of physical rituals; by the employment of magical herbs as amulets or potions; by gazing at mirrors, swords or other specula (scrying) for purposes of divination; and by many other means.[41][42][43]

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 Samuel 28th chapter), and it is among the witchcraft practices condemned by Ælfric of Eynsham:[44][45][46] "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 arises from death."[47]

Main article: Cunning folkFurther information: Folk religion, Magical thinking, and ShamanismA painting in the Rila Monastery in Bulgaria, condemning witchcraft and traditional folk magic

Traditionally, the terms "witch" and "witchcraft" had negative connotations. Most societies that have believed in harmful witchcraft or 'black' magic have also believed in helpful or 'white' magic.[48] In these societies, practitioners of helpful magic provided services such as breaking the effects of witchcraft, healing, divination, finding lost or stolen goods, and love magic.[49] In Britain they were commonly known as cunning folk or wise people.[49] Alan McFarlane writes, "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".[50] Ronald Hutton prefers the term "service magicians".[49] Often these people were involved in identifying alleged witches.[48]

Hostile churchmen sometimes branded any magic-workers "witches" as a way of smearing them.[49] Englishman Reginald Scot, who sought to disprove witchcraft and magic, wrote in The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), "At this day it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch' or 'she is a wise woman'".[51] Folk magicians throughout Europe were often viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing,[8] which could lead to their being accused as "witches" in the negative sense. Many English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons may have been cunning folk whose supposed fairy familiars had been demonised;[52] many French devins-guerisseurs ("diviner-healers") were accused of witchcraft,[53] over half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers,[54] and the "vast majority" of Finland's accused witches were folk healers.[55] Hutton, however, says that "Service magicians were sometimes denounced as witches, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused in any area studied".[48]

Further information: § By regionWitchcraft beliefs around the world in the present[56]Socio-demographic correlates of witchcraft beliefs[56]

A 2022 study reported estimated contemporary prevalence and psychological associations with belief in witchcraft around the world, which (in their latest data) varied between 9% and 90% between nations and is still a widespread element in worldviews globally. It for example shows associations with low "innovative activity", "weak institutions", lower life expectancy, lower life satisfaction and high religiosity.[57][56]

It contrasted two hypotheses about future changes to this belief (or element of beliefs):[56]

• witchcraft beliefs should decline "in the process of development due to improved security and health, lower exposure to shocks, spread of education and scientific approach to explaining life events" according to standard modernization theory
• "some aspects of development, namely rising inequality, globalization, technological change, and migration, may instead revive witchcraft beliefs by disrupting established social order" according to literature largely inspired by observations from Sub-Saharan Africa

A witch bottle, used as counter-magic against witchcraft

Societies that believed in witchcraft also believed that it could be thwarted in various ways. One common way was to use protective magic or counter-magic, of which the cunning folk were experts.[48] This included charms, talismans and amulets, anti-witch marks, witch bottles, witch balls, and burying objects such as horse skulls inside the walls of buildings.[58] Another believed cure for bewitchment was to persuade or force the alleged witch to lift their spell.[48] Often, people would attempt to thwart the witchcraft by physically punishing the alleged witch, such as by banishing, wounding, torturing or killing them. "In most societies, however, a formal and legal remedy was preferred to this sort of private action", whereby the alleged witch would be prosecuted and then formally punished if found guilty.[48] This often resulted in execution.

Alleged witches being accused in the Salem witch trials

Éva Pócs writes that reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories:[21]

1. A person was caught in the act of positive or negative sorcery
2. A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients' or the authorities' trust
3. A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbors
4. A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs or Occultism

She identifies three kinds of witch in popular belief:[21]

• The "neighborhood witch" or "social witch": a witch who curses a neighbor following some dispute.
• 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 neighboring household; due to neighborhood or community rivalries, and the ambiguity between positive and negative magic, such individuals can become branded as witches.
• The "supernatural" or "night" witch: portrayed in court narratives as a demon appearing in visions and dreams.[59]

"Neighborhood witches" are the product of neighborhood tensions, and are found only in 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 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 whole communities.[60]

The historian Norman Gevitz has written:

[T]he 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.[61]

Main articles: Witch-hunt and Witch trials in the early modern periodA 1613 English pamphlet showing "Witches apprehended, examined and executed"

In Christianity, sorcery came to be associated with heresy and apostasy and to be viewed as evil. Among the Catholics, Protestants, and secular leadership of the European Late Medieval/Early Modern period, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch and sometimes led to large-scale witch-hunts. 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.[62] 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.[63][64] In early modern Scots, the word warlock came to be used as the male equivalent of witch (which can be male or female, but is used predominantly for females).[65][66][67]

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[68] 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.[69] It is likely that this caused witch mania to become so widespread. It was the most sold book in Europe for over 100 years, after the Bible.[70]

European witch-trials reached their peak in the early 17th century, after which popular sentiment began to turn against the practice. Friedrich Spee's book Cautio Criminalis, published in 1631, argued that witch-trials were largely unreliable and immoral.[71] In 1682, King Louis XIV prohibited further witch-trials in France. In 1736, Great Britain formally ended witch-trials with passage of the Witchcraft Act.[72]

Main article: Modern witch-hunts

Belief in witchcraft continues to be present today in some societies and accusations of witchcraft are the trigger for serious forms of violence, including murder. Such incidents are common in countries 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 members over land or inheritance. Witchcraft-related violence is often discussed as a serious issue in the broader context of violence against women.[73][74][75][76][77] In Tanzania, about 500 old women are murdered each year following accusations of witchcraft or accusations of being a witch.[78] Apart from extrajudicial violence, state-sanctioned violence also occurs 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.[79][80][81]

Children who live in some regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, are also vulnerable to violence that is related to witchcraft accusations.[82][83][84][85] Such incidents have also occurred in immigrant communities in the UK, including the much publicized case of the murder of Victoria Climbié.[86][87]

Main article: Wicca

During the 20th century, interest in witchcraft rose in English-speaking and European countries. From the 1920s, Margaret Murray popularized the 'witch-cult hypothesis': the idea that those persecuted as 'witches' in early modern Europe were followers of a benevolent pagan religion that had survived the Christianization of Europe. This has been proven untrue by further historical research.[88][89]

From the 1930s, occult neopagan groups began to emerge who called their religion a kind of 'witchcraft'. They were initiatory secret societies inspired by Murray's 'witch cult' theory, ceremonial magic, Aleister Crowley's Thelema, and historical paganism.[90][91][92] They do not use the term 'witchcraft' in the traditional way, but instead define their practices as a kind of "positive magic". The earliest group was Gerald Gardner's 'Bricket Wood coven'. Gardner claimed that it was the continuation of a pre-Christian religion, but this is disputed by academics.[93][94][95][96][97] The 'witchcraft' that Gardner taught, later known as 'Wicca', had a lot in common with Margaret Murray's hypothetical 'witch cult'.[98] Indeed, Murray wrote an introduction to Gardner's Witchcraft Today (1954), in which he outlines some of the beliefs of his group. Another group, founded in the 1960s, was Robert Cochrane's 'Clan of Tubal Cain'. Other lone practitioners and writers such as Paul Huson[13] claimed to have inherited surviving traditions of 'witchcraft'.[14]

Various forms of Wicca are now practised as a religion with positive ethical principles, organised into autonomous covens and led by a High Priesthood. A survey published in 2000 cited just over 200,000 people who reported practicing Wicca in the United States.[99] There is also an "Eclectic Wiccan" movement of individuals and groups who share key Wiccan beliefs but have no formal link with traditional Wiccan covens. Some Wiccan-inspired neopagans call their beliefs and practices "traditional witchcraft" or the "traditional craft" rather than Wicca. 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".[100] It includes the Feri Tradition, Cochrane's Craft and the Sabbatic Craft.[101] While some Wiccans call themselves 'witches', others avoid the term due to its negative connotations.[17]

An Italian neopagan religion similar to Wicca emerged in the 1970s, known as Stregheria. While Wicca was inspired by Murray's supposed 'witch cult', Stregheria closely resembles Charles Leland's controversial account of an Italian 'pagan witchcraft' religion, which he wrote about in Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899). Its followers worship the Goddess Diana, her brother Dianus/Lucifer, and their daughter Aradia. They do not see Lucifer as the evil Satan that Christians see, but a benevolent god of the Sun.[102] Most followers celebrate eight festivals equivalent to the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, though others follow the ancient Roman festivals. An emphasis is placed on ancestor worship and balance.[103]

Some of the recent growth in Wicca has been attributed to popular media such as Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Harry Potter series, with their depictions of "positive witchcraft", which differs from the historical, traditional, and Indigenous definitions.[10] A case study, "Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches", found that the portrayal of 'positive witchcraft' in popular culture is one reason young people are choosing to become Wiccans or self-identify as 'witches'.[15] The Internet is also thought to be driving growth in Wicca.[15]

Wiccans often consider their beliefs to be in line with liberal ideals such as the Green movement, and particularly with feminism, by providing young women with what they see as a means for self-empowerment, control of their own lives, and a way of influencing the world around them.[104][105] Feminist ideals are prominent in some branches of Wicca, such as Dianic Wicca, which has a tradition of women-led and women-only groups.[10] The 2002 study Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco suggests that some branches of Wicca include influential members of the second wave of feminism, which has also been redefined as a religious movement.[104]

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 anti-witchcraft ritual, the Maqlû. A section from the Code of Hammurabi (about 2000 BC) prescribes:

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.[106]

Christianity

Main article: Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible

According to the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia:

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.[107]

Saul and the Witch of Endor (1828) by William Sidney Mount.

The King James Version uses the words witch, witchcraft, and witchcrafts to translate the Masoretic כָּשַׁף‎ kāsháf (Hebrew pronunciation: [kɔˈʃaf]) and קֶסֶם‎ (qésem);[108] these same English terms are used to translate φαρμακεία pharmakeia in the Greek New Testament. Verses such as Deuteronomy 18:11–12[109] and Exodus 22:18 ("Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"[110]) thus provided scriptural justification for Christian witch hunters in the early modern period (see Christian views on magic).

The precise meaning of the 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 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.[111] His theory still holds some currency, but is not widely accepted, and in Daniel 2:2[112] כָּשַׁף‎ is listed alongside other magic practitioners who could interpret dreams: magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans. Suggested derivations of 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 mageia and goeteia as a term for a sorcerer.[113]

The Bible provides some evidence that these commandments against sorcery were enforced under the Hebrew kings:

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 pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit,[a] 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?[114]

See also: Christian views on magic

The New Testament condemns the practice as an abomination, just as the Old Testament had.[115] The word in most New Testament translations is sorcerer/sorcery rather than witch/witchcraft.

See also: Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible

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. Rabbis 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.[116] 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, Rava (amora) created a golem and sent it to Rav Zeira, and Hanina and Hoshaiah studied every Friday together and created a small calf to eat on Shabbat.[117] 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[118] and that witches are to be put to death.[119]

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

Main article: Islam and magicSee also: Islam and astrology and Superstitions in Muslim societies

Divination and magic in Islam encompass a wide range of practices, including black magic, warding off the evil eye, the production of amulets and other magical equipment, evocation, casting lots, and astrology.[120]

Legitimacy of practising witchcraft is disputed. Most of Islamic traditions distinguishes magic between good magic and black magic. al-Razi and Ibn Sina, describe that magic is merely a tool and only the outcome determines whether or not the act of magic was legitimate or not.[121] Al-Ghazali, although admitting the reality of magic, regards learning all sorts of magic as forbidden.[121] Ibn al-Nadim argues that good supernatural powers are received from God after purifying the soul, while sorcerers please devils and commit acts of disobedience and sacrifes to demons.[122] Whether or not sorcery is accessed by acts of piety or disobedience is often seen as an indicator whether magic is licit or illicit.[123] Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, a disciple of Ibn Taimiyya, who became the major source for Wahhabism, disregards magic, including exorcisms, entirely as superstition.[124] Ibn Khaldun brands sorcery, talismans, and prestidigitation as forbidden and illegal.[125] Tabasi did not subscribe to the rationalized framework of magic of most Ash'arite theologians, but only offered a wide range of rituals to perform sorcery. Yet he agrees that only magic in accordance with sharia is permissible.[121] Most of Islamic traditions distinguishes magic between good magic and black magic. Miracles belong to licit magic and are considered gifts of God.

The reality of magic is confirmed by the Quran. The Quran itself is said to bestow magical blessings upon hearers and heal them, based on al-Isra.[126] Solomon had the power to speak with animals and jinn, and command devils, which is only given to him with God's permission.[Quran 27:19][127] Surah Al-Falaq is used as a prayer to God to ward off black magic and is, according to hadith-literature, revealed to Muhammad to protect him against Jann the ancestor of the jinn[128] Muhammad was falsely accused of being a magician by his opponents.[Quran 10:2][129] The idea that devils teach magic is confirmed in Al-Baqara. A pair of fallen angels named Harut and Marut is also mentioned to tempt people into learning sorcery.

Scholars 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.[130][131]

This section should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. See why. (August 2021)

Further information: Witchcraft accusations against children in AfricaSee also: Azande witchcraftThe Kolloh-Man[132]

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.[133]

While some colonialists tried to eradicate witch hunting by introducing legislation to prohibit accusations of witchcraft, some of the countries where this was the case have formally recognized the reality of witchcraft via the law. This has produced an environment that encourages persecution of suspected witches.[134]

In eastern Cameroon, the term used for witchcraft among the Maka is djambe[135] 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.[136]

Every year, hundreds of people in the Central African Republic are convicted of witchcraft.[137] Christian militias in the Central African Republic have also kidnapped, burnt and buried alive women accused of being 'witches' in public ceremonies.[138]

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.[139] These children have been subjected to often-violent abuse during exorcisms, 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.[140] 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 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.[141]

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.[142] The authors of the study argue that this is one reason why the belief in witchcraft persists.[142]

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.[143] Witchcraft [...] deserves respect [...] it can embellish or redeem (ketula evo vuukisa)."[144] 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.[145] You witches (zindoki) too, bring your science into the light to be written down so that [...] the benefits in it [...] endow our race.[146]

Main article: Witchcraft in Ghana

In Ghana, women are often accused of witchcraft and attacked by neighbours.[147] Because of this, there exist six witch camps in the country where women suspected of being witches can flee for safety.[148] The witch camps, which exist solely in Ghana, are thought to house a total of around 1000 women.[148] Some of the camps are thought to have been set up over 100 years ago.[148] The Ghanaian government has announced that it intends to close the camps.[148]

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.[149] 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).[150]

It was reported that a mob in Kenya had burnt to death at least 11 people accused of witchcraft in 2008.[151]

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.[152] Various secular and Christian organizations are combining their efforts to address this problem.[153]

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 kwacha around a room or bed mat will protect the resident from their malevolent spells.[154]

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.[155] Over the past decade,[when?] 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.[156]

In May 2020, fifteen adults, mostly women, were set ablaze after being accused of witchcraft, including the mother of the instigator of the attack, Thomas Obi Tawo, a local politician.[134]

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."[157] In Kuranko language, the term for witchcraft is suwa'ye[158] referring to 'extraordinary powers'.

In Tanzania in 2008, President Kikwete publicly condemned witchdoctors for killing albinos for their body parts, which are thought to bring good luck. 25 albinos have been murdered since March 2007.[159] 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.[160]

Native to the Zulu people, witches called sangoma protect people against evil spirits. They usually train for about five to seven years. In the cities, this training could take only several months.

Another type of witch are the inyanga, who are actual witch doctors that heal people with plant and animal parts. This is a job that is passed on to future generations. In the Zulu population, 80% of people contact inyangas.[161]

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.[162] From 1645 to 1663, about eighty people throughout England's 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 to 1663.[163] 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".[164]

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), Salem Town, Ipswich, and Andover. The best known trials were conducted by the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 in Salem Town.[165][citation needed][166] 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.

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.[167]

Margaret Mattson and another woman were tried in 1683 on accusations of witchcraft in the Province of Pennsylvania. They were acquitted by William Penn after a trial in Philadelphia. These are the only known trials for witchcraft in Pennsylvania history.

Some of Margaret's neighbors claimed that she had bewitched cattle.[168] Charges of practicing witchcraft were brought before the Pennsylvania Provincial Council in February 1683 (under Julian calendar).[16

Margaret Toothaker (1682-??) – The daughter of Roger and Mary Allen Toothaker, Margaret was born in Billerica, Massachusetts, on January 31, 1682, the youngest of nine children. Margaret was just ten years old when she was arrested along with her mother, Mary Allen Toothaker, for witchcraft. The complaint, made by Joseph Houlton and Jonathan Walcott of Salem Village on May 28, 1692, allegedly that she and her mother had afflicted Mary Walcott and Abigail Williams. No records of any examination of her survive, but she is referred to in several court records. Interestingly, her name never appears. Rather, she was referred to repeatedly as the daughter of her father or mother or even as a cousin, but never as an individual. Her father, Roger Toothaker, who was also accused, died in prison shortly after Margaret’s arrest. Margaret Toothaker was the only child of two accused parents, witches. The ten-year-old appears never to have been indicted but remained in prison with her mother, Mary, for over seven months. Her mother was tried in January 1693 and found not guilty. Margaret was released with her mother. In the meantime, the Toothaker homestead had been burned by Indians. Margaret and her mother returned to the remains of their home. But, their turmoil would not yet be over. On August 5, 1695, Indians attacked their small town of Billerica. Some 15 people were killed, including Mary Allen Toothaker. Margaret, who was 12 years old at the time, was kidnapped and never seen again.

Mary Allen Toothaker (1642?-1695) – The wife of Roger Toothaker, who was already in prison on a charge of witchcraft, Mary would also be arrested, along with her ten-year-old daughter, Margaret. Mary was born in about 1642 in Andover to Andrew and Faith Ingalls Allen. She grew up to marry Roger Toothaker on June 9, 1665, and the couple would eventually have nine children. Her husband, a folk healer who claimed to be able to hunt and get rid of “witches,” was arrested for witchcraft in May 1692. Soon, Mary and her ten-year-old daughter, Margaret, would also be accused. Upon a complaint made by Joseph Houlton and Jonathan Walcott of Salem Village on May 28, 1692, for allegedly afflicting Mary Walcott and Abigail Williams. Both were brought in and imprisoned in Salem Towne. When questioned, she would admit that her husband, Roger Toothaker, had skills in practicing countermagic against witches and confirmed that her daughter, Martha Toothaker Emerson, had killed a witch. Mary would also be accused by her seven-year-old niece, Sarah Carrier, and Elizabeth Johnson Jr.

Just a few weeks later, on June 16th, Mary’s husband, Roger Toothaker, died in prison. Six days later, Mary’s daughter, Martha Toothaker Emerson, was arrested and jailed. On July 30th, Mary Toothaker was examined and confessed to practicing witchcraft. She was deathly afraid of Indians because their homestead was far from the center of town. Stating that she had many dreams of fighting with them, she had yielded to the Devil, who promised her they would not hurt her. She said she had signed the Devil’s book and had been a witch for about two years. She would also admit to attending a witches’ meeting where others were present and that the Reverend George Burroughs was the leader. She implicated Mary Green and Hannah Varnum Tyler Brumidge of Haverhill and Ann Alcock Foster of Andover, as well as others.

Mary had good reason to be afraid of the Indians. Just two days after her examination, on August 1st, her hometown of Billerica was attacked, and six people were killed. A couple of days later, the Indians returned and burned down the deserted Toothaker farm. On August 5th, 1692, Mary’s sister was condemned by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, and on August 10, she was hanged at Salem Towne. In the meantime, Mary and her daughters remained in prison. The Superior Court of Judicature finally tried her at Charlestown at the end of January 1693. Both she and her daughter, Martha Emerson, were found not guilty. Mary’s daughter, Margaret Toothaker, was never tried but was also released. Mary and Margaret returned to their burned-out home. Mary Toothaker had been through hell. But, her terror was not yet over. On August 5, 1695, her worst fear came true when Indians attacked the small town of Billerica again. Some 15 people were killed, including Mary Allen Toothaker. Her daughter, Margaret, who was 12 years old, was kidnapped and never seen again.

Folk healer

Roger Toothaker (1634-1692) – A doctor, Roger Toothaker, was charged with witchcraft and died in prison. He was born in England on November 27, 1634, and while just a baby, he traveled with his parents to America. When he was only four years old, his father, also named Roger, died in 1638, and a year later, his mother remarried a man named Ralph Hill. The couple settled in Billerica. When Roger grew up, he served as an assistant to another physician and later became a doctor himself, though he had no formal training. In about 1660, he was given a lot of land by his stepfather, Ralph Hill, located in the northern part of Billerica. On June 9, 1665, he married Mary Allen, daughter of Andrew and Faith Allen of Andover and sister of Martha Allen Carrier. The couple would eventually have nine children.

Roger Toothaker was known to have practiced a natural form of medicine, making him more of a “folk healer.” He also claimed that he specialized in detecting and punishing witches. For several years before the Salem witch trials began in 1692, Toothaker had bragged to locals that he had taught his daughter, Martha Emerson, wife of Joseph Emerson, his trade and that she had killed a witch by boiling her urine in a pot overnight. Despite his claims of being a “witch hunter,” or perhaps, because of them, a warrant for his arrest was issued in May 1692 for allegedly having afflicted Elizabeth Hubbard, Ann Putnam, Jr., and Mary Walcott of Salem Village. Roger was then sent to prison in Boston. Later that month, another complaint would be filed against his wife, Mary Allen Toothaker, and their ten-year-old daughter, Margaret, who were imprisoned in Salem Towne. Roger Toothaker died in the Boston jail on June 16, 1692, before he could come to trial. Though a full inquiry was conducted into his death, and it was determined he died of natural causes, many found it suspicious. After his death, his grown daughter, Martha Toothaker Emerson, would also be arrested. The rest of his family would spend some time in prison, but all were spared the hangman’s noose.

© Kathy Alexander/LegendsOfAmerica, updated January 2023.

NDV: Again my views of the Wiccan and New Age movements are also well known. Wicca, the so-called "Old Religion" is no more than sixty years old and the New Age movement is nothing more than a baseless, cynical marketing ploy geared towards extracting money from the gullible.
Abbe Devere, This goes for any site that say they are healers or vatars for the greek goddess kunniwobblahhhhhh and was initiated by ishta and have come to earth to do awars work lol, Then hilariously they charge you annd people pay for that shit its brilliant, almost as good a lol factor with some of the fans, i say this in reference to the types of people i have to block. 

Read the book for some of Dads funny wit on his well researched perspective of the occults.

by Rodney Orpheus

(An earlier draft of this article first appeared in Pentacle Magazine, Summer 2009)

Ordo Templi Orientis was founded at the beginning of the twentieth century in Germany under the leadership of Theodor Reuss, who recruited Aleister Crowley to the Order around 1912. Both men had been heavily involved in spiritual pursuits for many years previously, Reuss within the Theosophical Society and various esoteric Freemasonic groups, and Crowley within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Yoga, and Buddhism. Their vision was to form a new magical Order that would synthesise the Eastern mystical current informing Theosophy with the Western mystical current derived from Rosicrucian and other European sources, and thus O.T.O., or Order of the Temple of the East, was born.

The original rituals of the Order were derived from Freemasonry, but Crowley expanded and rewrote much of O.T.O.’s teachings; in particular writing the Gnostic Mass, which became the main public ritual of the Order, and which is still practiced regularly all over the world. After Reuss’ death in 1921 Crowley became the international head of O.T.O., a position he held until his own death in 1947.

Crowley had been quite the bon vivant during his lifetime. He travelled the world, dining with the cream (and sometimes the dregs) of literary society. He was frequently in demand as an after-dinner speaker, but by the mid-1940s he was becoming increasingly frail (he was in his seventies by then after all) and he wasn’t getting about much. However he still loved to entertain, and his diaries from this late period of his life are filled with notes on an almost daily basis about people who were coming to have tea with him. Notable figures who visited him included Captain Grady McMurtry, a young American O.T.O. member based in England during World War II, who would later become head of the Order in the 1960s; and Dion Fortune, already a well-known occult author, who was a great admirer of Crowley – she had given his Magick in Theory & Practice a glowing review, and acknowledged his influence in the introduction to her own work The Mystical Qabalah.

A third notable visitor was Gerald Gardner, later to be celebrated as the founder of the modern witchcraft movement. Gardner had made the acquaintance of a friend of Crowley’s, the well-known stage magician Arnold Crowther (later to be husband of leading witch Patricia Crowther), and Crowther brought him to visit Crowley on Mayday in 1947. Crowley’s diary records:

Thurs 1 Miss Eva Collins. Dr G.B. Gardner Ph.D Singapore. Arnold Crowther prof. G. a Magician to tea. Dr. G. R.Arch.

Extrapolating from Crowley’s shorthand:

Thursday 1 [May] Miss Eva Collins. Dr. G.B. Gardner Ph.D Singapore. Arnold Crowther professional G[entleman?] a Magician to tea. Doctor Gardner Royal Arch.

The “Royal Arch” mentioned may have been a reference to Gardner introducing himself as a Royal Arch Freemason, or it may allude to Crowley having initiated Gardner on that day to the IV° (Fourth Degree) of Ordo Templi Orientis, which is also known as the Degree of the Holy Royal Arch of Enoch.

At that time it was possible for Freemasons and Co-Masons to affiliate directly to O.T.O. at the same Degree they held in Masonry. If the note means that Gardner had introduced himself to Crowley as a Royal Arch Mason during this first meeting, which was the equivalent to the IV°  of O.T.O., then it would also have been easy for Gardner to affiliate directly to that Degree in O.T.O. Either way, it can be safely assumed that Gardner was elevated to the IV° of O.T.O. sometime during his contact with Crowley in May.

Apart from that we have no record of what they spoke about, but it appears that they certainly hit it off, since Gardner visited Crowley on several occasions over the next weeks:

Wed 7 Dr Gardner about 12. Tell him phone Wel 6709.Wed 14 G.B.G.Tues 27 Gardner here

Wel 6709 was the phone number of another of Crowley’s students, Order member and book collector Gerald Yorke. Crowley wrote to Yorke on 9th May:

This week I have had Dr. Gardner […] here. I would be grateful if you would send to him one of the 4 copies of the Equinox of the Gods, which he has purchased.

The Equinox of the Gods was an expanded edition of Crowley’s Book of the Law which O.T.O. had recently published. At some point Gardner also purchased a copy of Crowley’s Blue Equinox which contained much O.T.O. material, as well as several other works of Crowley, and he may well have bought these from Yorke in the same batch.

Crowley knew that he didn’t have long to go in this world, and was desperate to ensure the survival of the O.T.O.’s teachings. It seems that he saw Gardner as a man who could keep the Order alive in Britain, which would explain why he so quickly arranged his initiation into O.T.O.

Crowley also issued Gardner a charter to allow him to initiate further new members to the introductory Minerval Degree of Ordo Templi Orientis:

Do what thou wilt shall be the law
We Baphomet X° Ordo Templi Orientis Sovereign Grand Master General of all English Speaking Countries of the Earth do hereby Authorise our beloved son Scire, (Dr. G.B. Gardner,) Prince of Jerusalem, to constitute a camp of the Ordo Templi Orientis in the degree of Minerval
Love is the law, Love under Will
Witness my hand and seal,
Baphomet X°

(Baphomet was Crowley’s magical name within O.T.O. The Tenth Degree or X° signifies his position as a Grand Master of the Order. Prince of Jerusalem, or Perfect Initiate, is a mystical title of members who have passed through the IV° initiations.)

Another British occultist interested in O.T.O. during this period was W.B. Crow. He seems to have been running a small magical group and wrote to Crowley asking how they could be initiated into the Order. Crowley replied on 30th May, 1947:

I suggest that you refer all your following in the London district to Dr.Gardner so that he may put them properly through the Minerval degree, and some of them at least might help him establish the camps for the higher degrees up to Perfect Initiate or Prince of Jerusalem.

(The Minerval Degree is the introductory or 0° of the Order.)

A couple of weeks later, on the 14th June, it seems that Crowley raised Gardner directly to the VII° (Seventh Degree) of O.T.O., issuing him a receipt for 10 guineas, which was the fee for that initiation. This is significant in light of Crowley’s letter to W.B. Crow, since the O.T.O. system requires an initiator to be at least VII° in order to initiate new members to the Degree of Prince of Jerusalem. The implication is that Crowley and Gardner had discussed their plans further and had agreed that Gardner should be elevated in order to ensure his ability to initiate up to that Degree.

On 30th June, Crowley wrote to his second-in-command, the Order’s Treasurer General, Karl Germer:

England in particular is beginning to look up very brightly: we are getting a Camp of Minerval started during the summer if plans go as at present arranged.

So there appears to be no doubt that Gardner was actively involved in O.T.O. at this point in time, and that Crowley held high hopes for the outcome. In the past some have suggested that Crowley only initiated Gardner to get his money, but these letters to third parties show that Crowley was genuinely enthusiastic about having Gardner working within the Order.

Unfortunately both Crowley and Gardner were to suffer severe health problems shortly after this flurry of activity, and it appears that the planned Camp of Minerval never materialised. A few months later, on 1st December 1947, Crowley died. His papers were turned over to his literary executors in preparation for boxing up and shipping to O.T.O. Headquarters in New York. However Gardner wrote to Vernon Symonds on 24th December (note that I have preserved Gardner’s original spelling):

Alister gave me a charter making me head of the O.T.O. in Europe. Now I want to get any papers about this, that Alister had, he had some typescript Rituals. I know. I have them too, but I don’t want his to fall in to other peoples hands, I’ll buy them off the Executors at a reasonable price, together with any other relics they may be willing to sell.

Assuming this to be true (and given the other evidence there’s no reason to doubt it) we thus know that Gardner possessed copies of at least some of the O.T.O initiation ritual texts in 1947. Gardner also contacted Lady Frieda Harris, the artist who had painted the Crowley Thoth Tarot pack, who was a IV° member of O.T.O. Lady Harris on 2nd January 1948 wrote to Karl Germer, who had become the overall head of the Order on Crowley’s death, to inform him about the situation in the U.K.:

G.B.Gardiner, 282 Strathmoore Circle Memphis 12 Tenn. is head of the O.T.O. in Europe – Dr. W.B.Crow, 227 Glenfield Road Western Park Leicester has authority from A.C. to work the O.T.O. & the Gnostic Catholic Church. Would you write to him. Also Noel Fitzgerald 24 Belsize Road N.W6. seems to have been asked to initiate Mr. Gardiner & may be a member.

From the date and tone of this letter it appears that she may have been quoting information given to her directly by Gerald Gardner the previous month – I am assuming that Gardner had told her that he was head of O.T.O. for Europe, and we know that Gardner had been in contact with W. B. Crow. The mention of Noel Fitzgerald, who was a high-ranking IX° member of the British O.T.O., as possibly being Gardner’s initiator is interesting. It was commonplace during this period for Crowley to initiate new members by putting them through all of the initiation rituals of the early Degrees of O.T.O. in one day, or over the space of a few weeks, and it is tempting to speculate that Noel Fitzgerald may have assisted Crowley in this. Internal evidence from Gardner’s witchcraft initiation rituals show similarities to particular points of O.T.O. initiation rites that would not be obvious through simply reading the text, but become quite obvious during performance of the rituals; so it is possible that Gardner was physically put through at least the Minerval initiation of O.T.O. and that these were not just “paper Degrees”.

Karl Germer appears to have accepted Gardner’s claim to be running the Order in England, and the two men met in New York to discuss O.T.O. affairs on 19th March 1948.

In December 1950 Gardner wrote to John Symonds, Crowley’s literary executor:

I tried to start an order, but I got ill and had to leave the country. After his [Crowley’s] death, word was sent to Germer that I was head of the Order in Europe, and Germer acknowledged me as such, but owing to ill health so far haven’t been able to get anything going. I’ve had some people interested, but some of them were sent to Germany with the army of occupation, and others lived far away, and so nothing happened. Actually, I haven’t all the rituals. The K.T. ritual has been lost; Gerald Yorke thinks it may never have been written. I have up to Prince of Jerusalem. You don’t know about the lost degrees, I suppose?

(The K.T. ritual mentioned was the Knights Templar initiation, or VI° of O.T.O. It had been written, but Gardner had not been given a copy of it by Crowley, since Gardner did not hold the Degree necessary to perform it.)

So evidence shows that at least up until this date Gardner still considered himself an active member of O.T.O., that he was in possession of the texts of the preliminary initiation rituals of O.T.O. and had been planning on continuing to perform initiations. However we know from Gardner’s own “Book of Shadows” that he had already written the first drafts of his witchcraft initiations in 1949, a year earlier. Therefore it seems that he was either planning on running both witchcraft and O.T.O. initiations, or that he wanted to get hold of the other O.T.O. ritual texts to use as source material for the writing he was doing for the witch cult. Perhaps if he had received copies of the other O.T.O. initiation rituals witchcraft might have ended up with more than three Degrees!

What does seem clear from the despondent tone of the letter is that Gardner didn’t realistically see much hope of his O.T.O. Camp succeeding. We have no record of any other O.T.O. correspondence from him after this date, and in March of 1951 Karl Germer asked a German member, Frederic Mellinger, to take over the leadership of the Order in Europe, and issued a charter to a young British member, Kenneth Grant, to form a new Camp in England to replace Gerald Gardner’s. Unfortunately this new Camp was rather short-lived too, since it was closed and Grant expelled four years later; Noel Fitzgerald was put in charge of the British section of O.T.O. from 1955 onwards, a position he held until his death.

Doreen Valiente, an early collaborator of Gardner, would later write that she had a confrontation with him about the use of Crowley material in Gardner’s Book of Shadows:

He explained this to me by saying, firstly, that as the holder of a Charter from Crowley himself to operate a Lodge of the OTO, he was entitled to use it; secondly, that the rituals he had received from the old coven were very fragmentary and that in order to make them workable he had been compelled to supplement them with other material. He had felt that Crowley’s writings, modern though they were, breathed the very spirit of paganism and were expressed in splendid poetry.

Gardner’s 1950 letter to Symonds also stated about Crowley that:

He was very interested in the witch cult & had some idia of combinding it in with the Order, but nothing came of it, he was fascinated with some snaps of the Witches Cottage….I enclose a Copy of my book, High Magics Aid, A.C. read part of the M.S. & highly approved, he wanted me to put the Witch part in full.

This is significant, in that Gardner himself states that Crowley was conscious of, and encouraged, him to use witchcraft ideas alongside O.T.O. teachings, and that he pushed Gardner to emphasise witchcraft in his work. This is unsurprising, since Crowley had for many years been advocating the use of lunar, solar, and seasonal nature-based rituals. As far back as 1914 he had written to C.S. Jones of the North American O.T.O. about a ritual of Isis that his Lodge had performed:

I hope you will arrange to repeat this all the time, say every new moon or every full moon, so as to build up a regular force. You should also have a solar ritual to balance it, to be done at each time the Sun enters a new sign, with special festivity at the Equinoxes and solstices.

In this way you can establish a regular cult; and if you do them in a truly magical manner, you create a vortex of force which will suck in all the people you want. The time is just ripe for a natural religion. People like rites and ceremonies, and they are tired of hypothetical gods. Insist on the real benefits of the Sun, the Mother-force, the Father-force, and so on, and show that by celebrating these benefits worthily the worshippers unite themselves more fully with the current of life. Let the religion be Joy, but with a worthy and dignified sorrow in death itself, and treat death as an ordeal, an initiation… In short, be the founder of a new and greater Pagan cult.

Here Crowley explains how he envisaged an O.T.O body conducting its practical operations: pagan rituals built around the natural cycle of the year. It’s a position that is also made extremely clear within his text of the Gnostic Mass, written around the same period as the previous letter; for example within the section of the Mass known as The Collects, which call upon The Sun, The Moon, The Earth, The Lord, The Lady etc. So we can see that this vision of a natural religion had been part of Crowley’s approach to Ordo Templi Orientis for over thirty years before he met Gerald Gardner – no wonder the two men hit it off so well right from their first meeting!

In their study of the early witchcraft movement Wicca: Magickal Beginnings David Rankine & Sorita D’Este show conclusively that much of Gardner’s original Book of Shadows was derived from Crowleyan and O.T.O. sources, particularly the Gnostic Mass. For example, the ritual of Drawing Down the Moon, written in 1949, contains these lines spoken by the Magus:

I Invoke and beseech Thee, O mighty Mother of all life and fertility. By seed and root, by stem and bud, by leaf and flower and fruit, by Life and Love, do I invoke Thee to descend into the body of thy servant and High Priestess

Compare this to the speech of the Priest to the Goddess in the O.T.O. Gnostic Mass, written by Crowley for Ordo Templi Orientis over three decades earlier:

O circle of Stars whereof our Father is but the younger brother, marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space, before whom Time is Ashamed, the mind bewildered, and the understanding dark, not unto Thee may we attain, unless Thine image be Love. Therefore by seed and root and stem and bud and leaf and flower and fruit do we invoke Thee.Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat; O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!

Or the Charge of the Goddess from Gardner in 1949:

I love you: I yearn for you: pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous. I who am all pleasure, and purple and drunkenness of the innermost senses, desire you. Put on the wings, arouse the coiled splendor within you. Come unto me, for I am the flame that burns in the heart of every man, and the core of every Star. Let it be your inmost divine self who art lost in the constant rapture of infinite joy. Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy and beauty.

This is taken largely from the speech of the Goddess in the O.T.O. Gnostic Mass:

But to love me is better than all things; if under the night-stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in splendour and pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy. I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich head-dress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me! To me! To me! Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you. I am the blue-lidded daughter of sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky. To me! To me!

Gardner’s February Eve Sabbat ritual from 1949 contains the section:

Dread Lord of death and Resurrection, life and the giver of life, Lord within ourselves, whose name is Mystery of Mysteries, encourage our hearts. Let the light crystalize in our blood, fulfilling us of resurrection, for there is no part of us that is not of the gods.

which is also obviously derived from a section of the O.T.O. Gnostic Mass:

Thou that art One, our Lord in the Universe the Sun, our Lord in ourselves whose name is Mystery of Mystery, uttermost being whose radiance enlightening the worlds is also the breath that maketh every God even and Death to tremble before Thee – By the Sign of Light appear Thou glorious upon the throne of the Sun.
Make open the path of creation and of intelligence between us and our minds. Enlighten our understanding.
Encourage our hearts. Let thy light crystallize itself in our blood, fulfilling us of Resurrection.

There are innumerable other excerpts from Crowley’s works included within Gerald Gardner’s other early rituals, particularly initiation rituals; so it appears clear that when Gardner was first formulating these rituals of his early witchcraft movement, the influence of Crowley and O.T.O. was a considerable one. O.T.O. scholar Bill Heidrick has alleged that as much as 80% of the text of Gardner’s early witchcraft rituals may have been derived from Crowley’s writings.

I think it is important that we do not see this use of Crowley material as simply plagiarism on the part of Gerald Gardner. He was clearly considered to be an active and important member of O.T.O. at one point (albeit relatively briefly), and both Aleister Crowley and his successor Karl Germer granted him full authority to initiate new people into the Order and involve them in its teachings. However after Crowley’s death Gardner seemingly felt that he was unable to fully utilise the O.T.O. structure, but did feel that the ritual teachings were important and could be inspirational to a whole new generation – hence his motivation to re-use them for his witch cult revival.

The growth of modern witchcraft has shown that Crowley’s vision of the revival of natural religion was a correct one, and that Gardner shared that vision and applied it successfully. As such, I think that it behooves us to re-examine the relationship between Ordo Templi Orientis and witchcraft and treat it as one that can be both complementary and fruitful, as it has been right from the beginning.

References:

Apiryon, T. & Helena, 2001. Mystery of Mystery: A Primer of Thelemic Ecclesiastical Gnosticism 2nd ed., Red Flame.

Blecourt, W.D., Fontaine, J.D.L. & Hutton, R., 2001. Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 6 (History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe), Athlone Press.

Crowley, A, 1947 Diaries & Letters Warburg Institute & O.T.O. Archives

Crowley, A., 1919. The Equinox III, 1, Detroit MI: Universal Pub. Co.

Davis, M., From Man to Witch: Gerald Gardner 1946-1949. Available at: http://www.geraldgardner.com/Gardner46-49.PDF [Accessed May 19, 2009].

Fortune, D., 1935. The Mystical Qabalah, London: Williams and Norgate.

Heidrick, W., 1994 alt.magick: Wicca and OTO. Available at: http://www.luckymojo.com/esoteric/religion/neo-paganism/9412.wiccoto.bh [Accessed May 20, 2009]

Orpheus, R., A Timeline of O.T.O. Succession After Crowley’s Death. Available at: http://rodneyorpheus.com/writings/occult/a-timeline-of-oto-succession-after-crowleys-death/[Accessed May 19, 2009].

Rankine, D. & D’Este, S., 2008. Wicca Magickal Beginnings: A Study of the Possible Origins of This Tradition of Modern Pagan Witchcraft and Magick 2nd ed., Avalonia.

Starr, M.P., 2003. The Unknown God: W.T. Smith and the Thelemites 1st ed., Teitan Press.

Valiente, D., 1989. The Rebirth of Witchcraft.

Rodney Orpheus is well-known musician, writer, and lecturer. He is the author of the acclaimed Abrahadabra: Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic Magick and Grimoire of Aleister Crowley.

PUBLISHED DATE14 JULY 2020

AUTHOR ASHLEY

London’s British Museum is one of the most revered institutions of it’s kind in the world. Originally founded in 1753, the museum’s current collection consists of an impressive eight million objects (though the ethical ownership of some items are up for debate). Among the collection are a number of curious artefacts belonging to sixteenth-century occultist and mathematician John Dee. Housed in the historical Enlightenment Room, Dee’s Magic Mirror, Crystal Ball, and Magic Discs might not visually catch the eye of the average visitor, but despite somewhat plain exteriors their history and the life of their former owner explore an interesting perspective on the relationship between science, spirituality, and the occult during the Elizabethan period.

John Dee, advisor of Queen Elizabeth I and court astronomer had many academic interests including mathematics, astrology, alchemy, divination, Hermeticism, and his key role in navigation during the expansion of the ‘British Empire’ (a term he coined). A graduate and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Dee was said to have one of the largest libraries in England during his lifetime which was broadly considered a center for learning by scholars all over Europe.

Though his studies are considered occult oriented fringe science today, Dee was a devout Christian and a respected, albeit controversial, figure within the scientific community during the reign of Elizabeth I. Dee believed that numbers held the secrets to the universe and he explored this through the creation of his glyph which represented unity between the sun, the moon, the elements, and fire. Queen Elizabeth I was impressed enough with Dee’s knowledge and devotion to his Christian beliefs that she bestowed upon him the revered task of selecting her coronation date. During her reign Dee acted as her astrological and scientific advisor and tutor, but his esteemed position within her court did not transfer over to her successor, King James I.

In his later life, Dee turned passionately towards his supernatural interests alongside his associate and spirit medium Edward Kelley. The two began laborious attempts at communicating with angels between 1582 and 1589 through Enochian, a language said to have been revealed to Dee and Kelley by the angels themselves. Dee’s private Journals as well as his text Liber Loagaeth (‘Book of Speech from God’) reveal written recordings of these conversations as well as extensive examples of the Enochian script. He hoped conversing with angels would provide answers to the extreme divide between the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformed Church of England, and the Protestant movement in England while achieving a global pre-apocalyptic unity.

Collector’s during the Enlightenment period (1715 – 1789) were interested in both ancient and modern religious objects including amulets, charms, and other items used in ritual practice. While collectors were particularly intrigued by the ancient religions of the Greeks, Romans, Indians, and Egyptians, they were also interested in the different forms of magic and occult worship occurring at home in Britain. The following objects, once belonging to John Dee, are currently on display in The British Museum’s Enlightenment Gallery. A number of these artefacts were given to the Museum by collector Sir Robert Cotton who acquired them following Dee’s death at the beginning of the seventeenth-century.

Perhaps the strangest object on display in John Dee’s collection is his magic mirror, a somewhat sinister looking black void. The Magic Mirror, made out of obsidian (volcanic glass), originates from Mexico and was brought to Europe sometime between 1527 and 1530. The mirror was previously used by Aztec priests to conjure visions and make prophesies. Dee and Kelley would have used the mirror similarly when conversing with angels during seances performed together throughout England and Continental Europe between 1583 and 1589.

The object on the left is the mirror’s wooden case, covered in a decorative tooled leather. Following Dee’s death, the mirror and case eventually found their way into the possession of Horace Walpole, antiquarian and art historian best known for his eccentric London residence Strawberry Hill and for writing the first gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto. The inscription on the case quotes the poem Hudibras by Samuel Butler and is believed to have been inscribed by Walpole.

The object in the display case with the least available information is John Dee’s crystal ball. Made of rock crystal, the crystal ball is very small measuring only 5.2cm in diameter. This was another tool used by Dee for communicating with angels through the practice of crystallomancy or scrying (the use of a crystal ball for divination). Though there isn’t extensive information on this particular crystal ball, more has been written on a similar crystal ball belonging to Dee in the collection of London’s Science Museum.

The most elaborately decorated objects from Dee’s collection are his three Magical Discs, produced sometime in the late sixteenth-century. Made from wax and engraved with detailed inscriptions and symbols, the disks would have been used in conjunction with Dee’s magic mirror for communication and decoding purposes. The larger of the three discs is referred to as the ‘Seal of God’ and, according to instructions in a manuscript written by Dee (MS Sloane 1388 at The British Library), it would have been placed in the center of a sweetwood table decorated with Enochian inscriptions. Four smaller discs, two of which are displayed with the Seal of God, would have been placed under the legs of the table. Dee’s sweetwood table no longer exists but a marble copy based on his illustrations was created a century after his death and can be seen on display at the History of Science Museum in Oxford. The marble copy is thought to have belonged to William Lilly (1602-1681), the author of popular astrological almanacs who shared Dee’s interest in angels as well as spirits and fairies.

Though its uncertain if these discs were ones Dee personally used during his seances, they appear to follow a diagram that he recorded through a conversation with the archangel Uriel on 10 March 1582.

While the objects belonging to John Dee are certainly a fascinating addition to the British Museum’s collection, The Enlightenment Gallery itself is one of the most beautiful and timeless sections of the museum today.

Originally meant to house the library of King George III, the Enlightenment Gallery is the oldest remaining areas of the museum. The room and collection examines how eighteenth-century humans understood and explored the world around them through the act of collecting, cataloguing, and displaying objects.

The Enlightenment Gallery, according to The British Museum, highlights the seven major disciplines of the Enlightenment: the natural world, the birth of archaeology, art and civilisation, classifying the world, ancient scripts, ritual and religion, and trade and discovery. These disciplines can be seen at work within the large gallery’s many display cases, wall-lined bookshelves displaying ornate books and sculptures, and other interesting objects from the collections of some of history’s most fascinating individuals.

Unable to visit The British Museum in person? Take a virtual tour of the Enlightenment Gallery from the comfort of your home on their website here.