The Modern Guide to Witchcraft Read Online Free PDF

the course of events from ancient times to the modern day, let’s begin by examining the early practice of witchcraft in Europe.
    Not everyone agrees about the evolution of witchcraft in Europe. Some historians believe it developed out of the old fertility cults that worshipped a mother goddess. Others think that the idea of witchcraft was all superstition—when people could not explain an unpleasant event, they blamed it on someone whom they labeled a witch. Still other researchers say witchcraft stemmed from a wide variety of practices and customs including Paganism, Hebrew mysticism, Celtic tradition, and ancient Greek folklore.
    As people traveled from one country to another, they influenced the beliefs and practices of the native culture. When the Vikings and the Romans invaded the British Isles, for example, their legends, gods, and goddesses mixed with those of the indigenous people. Traders and travelers, too, brought stories and ideas to the lands they visited. All this cross-pollination had an impact on the way witchcraft evolved.
    Additionally, because most people in earlier centuries couldn’t read or write, magickal traditions were handed down through generations by oral teaching. The few literate individuals probably recorded information according to their own views. Therefore, it’s difficult to figure out what’s true and what’s fantasy regarding long-ago witchcraft.
    Fairy-Tale Witches
    Witches show up frequently in our favorite fairy tales, where they’re sometimes referred to as fairy godmothers. Certain of these witches can’t resist putting enchantments on humans, turning them into hideous beasts (“Beauty and the Beast”) or frogs (“The Frog Prince”), or condemning them to unpleasant plights (“Sleeping Beauty”). Others, however, such as the one in “Cinderella,” wave their magick wands and make wishes come true. Some of these fairy-tale witches derive from old goddesses in ancient myths, such as the witch in “Hansel and Gretel” who originated in the Baltic fertility goddess Baba Yaga. In old French romance stories, witches and women who practiced magick were called “fairies.”
CRIMINALIZING WITCHCRAFT
    During the eighth and ninth centuries, the powers-that-be started laying down laws against witchcraft and linking age-old practices with evil doing. As the Christian Church gained power, it attacked the “old religion,” which was based in nature and folk traditions. For example, the common people had a custom of leaving offerings for spirits—until 743, when the Synod of Rome declared it a crime. In 829, the Synod of Paris passed a decree against reciting incantations (simple verbal spells for good luck) and idolatry (worshipping the old gods and goddesses). By 900, Christian scholars were promoting the idea that the devil was leading women astray. These events helped prepare the scene for the fury of the Inquisition.
    Between the 1100s and 1300s, the Church continued to hammer away at witches. Christian zealots presented a picture of witches as evil creatures who cavorted with the devil, ate children, and held wild orgies to seduce innocents. Witchcraft became a crime against God and the Church. In 1317, Pope John XXII authorized a religious court, known as the Inquisition, to go after anyone who was believed to have made a pact with the devil.
    Thousands of trials proceeded. Punishments included burning, hanging, and excommunication. The interrogation process involved torturing people to get them to confess the “truth”—that is, to force them to admit to whatever the inquisitor wished—and to point a finger at other witches.
    “In 1484, the Papal Bull of Innocent VIII unleashed the power of the Inquisition against the Old Religion. With the publication of the
Malleus Maleficarum
, ‘The Hammer of the Witches,’ by Dominicans Kramer and Sprenger in 1486, the groundwork was laid for a reign of terror that was to hold all of Europe in its grip until well into the