tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/religion-and-witchcraft-26584/articlesReligion and witchcraft – The Conversation2024-03-05T13:59:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2224722024-03-05T13:59:14Z2024-03-05T13:59:14ZCan witches fly? A historian unpacks the medieval invention − and skepticism − of the witch on a broomstick<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578977/original/file-20240229-24-sr8g1w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1417%2C1009&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One of the earliest depictions of flying witches is in a 15th-century text entitled "Le champion des dames," or "The Defender of Ladies."</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Champion_des_dames_Vaudoises.JPG">Martin Le Franc/W. Schild. Die Maleficia der Hexenleut' via Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The image of a witch flying on a broomstick is iconic, but it is not nearly as old as the idea of witchcraft itself, which dates to the <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300238679/the-witch/">earliest days of humankind</a>.</p>
<p>Several theologians, church inquisitors, secular magistrates and other authorities first wrote about such flight in the early 1400s. The earliest known visual depiction of flying witches appears in a 1451 manuscript copy of one such text, “<a href="https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-trial-of-womankind/">Le champion des dames</a>” (“The Defender of Ladies”), by the French poet Martin Le Franc.</p>
<p>Witchcraft accusations at this time were increasingly <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/39656">focused on women</a>. The clothing of the figures in <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/49030810/">Le Franc’s text</a> depicts them as coming from non-elite ranks of medieval society. So do the implements on which they fly. Staffs and brooms were tools for ordinary housework.</p>
<p>The notion that witches could fly served to support the idea that they gathered in large groups <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08910-2.html">called sabbaths</a>. These gatherings, in turn, heightened the supposed threat witches posed to Christian society. </p>
<p>Even after the idea of witches flying on brooms was introduced to European society, it was not readily accepted. Many who wrote about witchcraft at this time, including Le Franc, were quite skeptical about the reality of flying witches.</p>
<p>As it turned out, however, authorities could still perceive a threat even if they believed witches’ flight was imaginary. </p>
<h2>The scope of skepticism</h2>
<p>In my work as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=E0RaQ-oAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of medieval European history</a>, I have researched texts describing <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08910-2.html">witchcraft in the early 1400s</a>. </p>
<p>Some texts fully accepted the idea that witches flew, often on brooms or staffs. One described witches traveling to sabbaths on staffs anointed with a magical ointment and flying into the mountains to gather ice to cause hailstorms.</p>
<p>Other texts, however, were not sure that such flight was real. One noted that accused witches claimed to fly from mountaintop to mountaintop on chairs, but it also hinted that demons might have tricked them into thinking they did. Another text stated that accused witches who claimed to fly were “deluded” by the devil. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574238/original/file-20240207-24-dtpy1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of witch in a red dress flying on a staff, from the 'Champion des dames'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574238/original/file-20240207-24-dtpy1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574238/original/file-20240207-24-dtpy1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574238/original/file-20240207-24-dtpy1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574238/original/file-20240207-24-dtpy1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574238/original/file-20240207-24-dtpy1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574238/original/file-20240207-24-dtpy1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574238/original/file-20240207-24-dtpy1k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Witches were often depicted flying on household implements such as brooms and staffs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Champion_des_dames_Vaudoises.JPG">Martin Le Franc/W. Schild. Die Maleficia der Hexenleut' via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Skepticism about flying witches drew on an early 10th-century church law about women who claimed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/mrw.2021.0009">ride at night on “certain beasts</a>” in the train of the pagan goddess Diana, whom Christian authorities understood to be a demon in disguise. The law declared that such flight was not real, and anyone who thought so had been “seduced by illusions and phantasms of demons.” It prescribed no direct punishment but mandated priests <a href="https://www.faculty.umb.edu/gary_zabel/Courses/Phil%20281b/Philosophy%20of%20Magic/Arcana/Witchcraft%20and%20Grimoires/canon.html">preach against such “infidels</a>.”</p>
<p>Skeptics of magical flight were quite specific in their doubts. Le Franc, for example, declared that anyone who thought that witches could fly <a href="https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-trial-of-womankind/">lacked “common sense</a>.” On the other hand, he fully accepted that magicians, who were generally male, could conjure demons and that “magic arts” had been practiced as far back as ancient Persia.</p>
<p>The story, however, is not so simple as male authorities accepting the reality of magic practiced by men but doubting that women flew on brooms. These same authorities were, in general, taking other aspects of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/ems.2003.0002">witchcraft more seriously</a>.</p>
<h2>Imagining flight</h2>
<p>Did women accused of witchcraft really insist that they flew on brooms? </p>
<p>Scholars have speculated that the ointments often mentioned in accounts of such flight might have functioned as hallucinogens, producing sensations of flying. The most thorough study of these accounts, however, finds that such references <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/mrw.2016.0008">rarely appear in voluntary testimony</a>. They come instead from authorities recording, and often reshaping, what accused witches said.</p>
<p>In the end, allegations of flight and dismissal of its reality may have sprung entirely from the minds of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-invention-of-satanic-witchcraft-by-medieval-authorities-was-initially-met-with-skepticism-140809">legal and religious authorities</a> who codified and condemned the idea of witchcraft. </p>
<p>Their skepticism hardly mattered. Courts could execute convicted witches regardless of whether they believed they could fly. </p>
<p>Although witch-hunting ended – at least in Europe and North America – <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Witch-Hunt-in-Early-Modern-Europe/Levack/p/book/9781138808102">in the 18th century</a>, the image of witches flying on brooms endures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222472/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael D. Bailey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The iconic image of a witch on a broomstick has apocryphal origins. But whether they could actually fly didn’t stop Christian society from persecuting them.Michael D. Bailey, Professor of History, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2160282023-10-26T10:39:21Z2023-10-26T10:39:21ZFive witchcraft myths debunked by an expert<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555782/original/file-20231025-29-zmv3lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C3000%2C1706&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Three women executed as witches in Derneburg Germany in October 1555</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/three-women-executed-witches-derneburg-germany-237235090">Everett Collection</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>About 400 years ago, the European witch hunts were at their peak. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, an estimated <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810872455/Historical-Dictionary-of-Witchcraft-Second-Edition">50,000 people</a>, mostly women, were executed for witchcraft across Europe. They were accused of devil-worship, heresy and harming their neighbours by using witchcraft.
The 1620s was the most intense phase of persecution in places like <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/12801?language=en">Eichstätt</a> in Germany, where almost 300 witches were executed between 1617 and 1631. </p>
<p>The witchcraft trials have endured as a matter of curiosity, entertainment and debate. But despite this interest, popular understandings of the European witch-hunts are riddled with error and misconceptions. So, given it’s the season of the witch, it’s time to dispel some myths.</p>
<h2>1. Witchcraft is a medieval idea</h2>
<p>It isn’t – it’s modern. The Christian church was <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/witchcraft-and-magic-in-europe-volume-3-9780485891034/">sceptical</a> about the reality of witchcraft until the 15th century. Even then, many theologians and clergymen did not believe that witchcraft was a threat. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/263689">first trials</a> of people who were believed to be malevolent worshippers of the Devil who actively caused harm happened in the 15th century. The most intense period of witch hunting ran from about 1560 to about 1630. </p>
<p>Before that there were very few witchcraft trials, because acts of witchcraft were believed to be an <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/witchcraft-and-magic-in-europe-volume-3-9780485891034/">illusion</a> caused by the Devil with the permission of God.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woodcut of witches on broomsticks cavorting with the Devil." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555779/original/file-20231025-21-gw57iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1507%2C1264&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555779/original/file-20231025-21-gw57iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555779/original/file-20231025-21-gw57iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555779/original/file-20231025-21-gw57iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555779/original/file-20231025-21-gw57iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555779/original/file-20231025-21-gw57iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555779/original/file-20231025-21-gw57iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Witches on broomsticks, featured in The History of Witches and Wizards (1720)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/abkab8tq/images?id=hbe9wc8m">The Wellcome Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Witchcraft trials occurred everywhere</h2>
<p>Most witchcraft trials happened in central, western, or northern Europe. These were the areas which were the cradle of the Protestant and Catholic <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/115/2/351/10371?searchresult=1">Reformations</a>, which saw the transformation of the religious geography of Europe. And the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renaissance-quarterly/article/abs/witches-of-durer-and-hans-baldung-grien/5839650C1787984F1CAA1A9CD1B4B06E">northern Renaissance</a> and the <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300260953/the-decline-of-magic/">scientific revolution</a> had transformed how the world was understood. </p>
<p>More than 50% of all trials in Europe happened in Germany. But even there, witch persecution was limited to a few of the very many autonomous and semi-autonomous territories of which it was comprised. </p>
<p>In places like <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/early-modern-european-witchcraft-9780198203889?q=Early%20Modern%20European%20Witchcraft%20Centres&lang=en&cc=gb">Iceland</a> and <a href="https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/a-history-of-magic-and-witchcraft-in-wales/9780752428260/">Wales</a>, there were very few witchcraft trials at all. It seems that local beliefs about magic and witchcraft, alongside the attitudes of clergymen and judges, may be the reasons for this. </p>
<h2>3. The Inquisition tried and executed most witches</h2>
<p>The Roman, Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions, established in the 16th century, were responsible for dealing with matters of heresy. They have become notorious for their rigour in rooting out opposition to Catholic orthodoxy. Yet, they burned very few witch suspects. Across the whole of the <a href="https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/8436?language=en">Iberian</a> and <a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/3515/">Italian</a> peninsulas, the inquisitions executed fewer suspects than were hanged in England.</p>
<p>The Spanish Inquisition put a stop to the witchcraft trials that had spilled over from France in the early 17th century by assuming jurisdiction over witchcraft accusations.</p>
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<img alt="An illustration of witches being burned while a man stokes the fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555777/original/file-20231025-21-87mzxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555777/original/file-20231025-21-87mzxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555777/original/file-20231025-21-87mzxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555777/original/file-20231025-21-87mzxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555777/original/file-20231025-21-87mzxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555777/original/file-20231025-21-87mzxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555777/original/file-20231025-21-87mzxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The execution of alleged witches in central Europe, 1587.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Wickiana3.jpg">Zurich Central Library/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<h2>4. Only women were tried for witchcraft</h2>
<p>It’s true that 80% of those tried and executed for witchcraft were women. Many witch hunters, like those in <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/12801?language=en">Eichstätt</a>, also selected female suspects over male ones, even though the evidence could be very similar. </p>
<p>However, in some places, like <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-studies-in-society-and-history/article/male-witches-and-gendered-categories-in-seventeenthcentury-russia/F9FA9F79E0576D4F0AC5EA29E3EFF59A">Russia</a>, it was men who formed the majority of witch suspects. This was primarily because Russians conceptualised gender very differently to people in western Europe.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether the witch suspects were accused before magistrates or denounced under torture, their female neighbours were the ones most likely to accuse them. </p>
<p>In England, women on the margins of society were more vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft when things went wrong for their neighbours, such as inexplicable deaths or harm. This was the case with Ursley Kemp, one of the two witch suspects of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article/136/578/26/6121677">St Osyth</a>, Essex, who were hanged in 1582. Kemp was a marginal figure in the town, a woman with an illegitimate son making ends meet through her healing skills. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/12801?language=en">Eichstatt</a>, it was a product of the processes of torture. When the suspects (more than 90% of whom were women) had to name names under torture, they gave those of their neighbours. The suspects’ networks were founded on their sex; women named women and the few male suspects named men. </p>
<h2>5. Witches were really the followers of a pagan fertility cult</h2>
<p>This myth was promoted by the Egyptologist <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0015587X.1994.9715877">Margaret Murray</a> in the early 20th century and was then <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Witchcraft_and_Demonism/Tm12ngEACAAJ?hl=en">debunked</a> by the historian C. L'Estrange Ewen almost as soon as it appeared. It was founded on a partial reading of the available witchcraft evidence. </p>
<p>It persisted because Murray wrote the Encyclopaedia Britannica article on witchcraft that remained in print for 40 years, until 1969, and actively supported the new <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-triumph-of-the-moon-9780198870371?q=triumph%20of%20the%20moon&lang=en&cc=gb">Wiccan religion</a> in print in the 1950s. This new religion was founded by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27782244">Gerald Gardner</a> who revived what he believed to be ancient pagan witchcraft in the 1930s. But it has no material connection to any form of historic witchcraft.</p>
<p>Most witches were ordinary Christian women who found themselves accused of witchcraft by their neighbours, or denounced by other suspects under torture.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Durrant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Witchcraft is an enduring source of fascination but also prone to popular misconceptions.Jonathan Durrant, Principal Lecturer in History, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1913312022-10-20T17:35:39Z2022-10-20T17:35:39ZA tale of demonic possession and exorcism in 17th-century New France: Can we know what really happened?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488654/original/file-20221006-22-qz2m4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C147%2C4586%2C2936&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Archival records don't tell the whole story, but they can provide valuable information.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/a-tale-of-demonic-possession-and-exorcism-in-17th-century-new-france--can-we-know-what-really-happened" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>During the autumn of 1660, colonists in and around Québec started to report some very strange occurrences.</p>
<p>In the sky they saw a man enveloped in flame and a canoe of fire. In the air they heard lamentable cries and a thunderous, horrible voice. A teenaged domestic servant said that she was being terrified by demons. </p>
<p>People who tried to chase the malevolent spirits away described phantasmal music as well as stones that detached themselves from walls and flew by themselves. The servant accused a miller of witchcraft. After showing signs of demonic possession, this servant was brought to the hospital where she was treated by nuns. The miller was imprisoned and later executed.</p>
<p>When people learn that <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/possession-of-barbe-hallay--the-products-9780228014041.php?page_id=121178&">my research</a> examines these stories of demonic infestation, they often ask: But what was <em>really</em> happening? </p>
<p>My first answer is simple: I don’t <em>really</em> know. My next answer is better: Whether we believe the stories on a surface level or not, we can learn about the people who told them by asking historical questions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A candle next to a book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489606/original/file-20221013-15-krzynk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489606/original/file-20221013-15-krzynk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489606/original/file-20221013-15-krzynk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489606/original/file-20221013-15-krzynk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489606/original/file-20221013-15-krzynk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489606/original/file-20221013-15-krzynk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489606/original/file-20221013-15-krzynk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reports of supposedly supernatural phenomena provide valuable insight into past societies and our own time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reason and historical sources</h2>
<p>As a historian, I remain “professionally agnostic” about questions that cannot be answered using reason and the historical record: I accept that some things simply cannot be fully explained with the evidence I can access.</p>
<p>But a wise respect for the limits to our knowledge does not mean we cannot know anything at all. </p>
<p>Historical investigation is an exercise in trying to understand the past as best we can from the evidence that remains. As historians have shown with studies of <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199730414/obo-9780199730414-0145.xml">witchcraft</a>, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/3259">demons</a> and <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300114720/the-devil-within/">demonic</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199578160.013.0033">possession</a>, reports of supposedly supernatural phenomena provide valuable insight into past societies and our own time.</p>
<h2>Everyday lives of ordinary people</h2>
<p>The poor and humble are just as worthy of our attention as the rich and famous. “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/25/the-guardian-view-on-ordinary-histories-often-quite-extraordinary">Ordinary histories</a>” can be challenging to research, though, without sources by or about regular folk.</p>
<p>Barbe Hallay, the servant suffering from demonic torments in New France, could not read or write. The only thing we have in her own hand is the “marque” (a sign that she left in place of her signature) on her marriage contract. </p>
<p>People’s concern with demonic possession generated documents that allow us to know more about her life, with glimpses into her experiences as a servant in a manor house and a patient in a hospital. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scotland-has-apologised-for-witchcraft-executions-as-a-historian-i-worry-this-was-a-mistake-179355">Scotland has apologised for witchcraft executions – as a historian, I worry this was a mistake</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Through the approach of <a href="https://sites.duke.edu/microworldslab/what-is-microhistory/">microhistory</a>, which looks up close at a small object of study in order to answer big questions, we can explore the deeper meanings and wider significance of her actions, and the actions of those around her. </p>
<p>How did colonists in New France make decisions? Their thoughts and deeds were shaped by the environment, as well as by ideologies of colonialism, class, gender and religion. </p>
<p>In studying how these forces influenced people in the past, we develop a clearer sense of how we too are subject to forces we might not control, or even perceive.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A ring of keys ." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489605/original/file-20221013-22-sbv0hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489605/original/file-20221013-22-sbv0hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489605/original/file-20221013-22-sbv0hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489605/original/file-20221013-22-sbv0hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489605/original/file-20221013-22-sbv0hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489605/original/file-20221013-22-sbv0hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489605/original/file-20221013-22-sbv0hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Historical documents sometimes allow us to glimpse into the everyday lives of people whose experiences would otherwise be unrecorded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Seeing beyond the surface</h2>
<p>Details of ordinary life appear almost accidentally in records of extraordinary occurrences. We can also consider these occurrences themselves to investigate a society’s underlying beliefs and assumptions.</p>
<p>Marie Regnouard was the <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-histoire-economie-et-societe-2019-4-page-5.htm">seigneuresse</a> (a female head of a <a href="https://earlycanadianhistory.ca/2018/09/24/there-was-no-seigneurial-system/"><em>seigneurie</em></a>) at the estate where Hallay worked. She left a remarkable account of <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/2719175">her efforts to end the demonic torments using a rib bone from a recently deceased Jesuit priest</a>. This account labels her actions as a “deliverance,” a “relief,” and a “healing.” </p>
<p>Such words evoke health care, but the procedure itself resembles a ritual that Regnouard, as a lay woman, would not be expected to perform: an exorcism. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-churchs-views-on-exorcism-have-changed-a-religious-studies-scholar-explains-why-182212">Exorcism, while controversial, has also become more mainstream</a> in some Christian churches. Exorcism can cause <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-07/demonic-possession-exorcism-the-exorcist-demons">real harm</a>. In some cases, it <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/exorcism-bible-camp-could-be-criminal-say-experts-1.6570461">may amount to a criminal offence</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A fire burning" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489611/original/file-20221013-18-nt3ptf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489611/original/file-20221013-18-nt3ptf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489611/original/file-20221013-18-nt3ptf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489611/original/file-20221013-18-nt3ptf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489611/original/file-20221013-18-nt3ptf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489611/original/file-20221013-18-nt3ptf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489611/original/file-20221013-18-nt3ptf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Examining historical accounts prompts us to pay attention not only to what things are called, but also to what they mean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Exorcisms were controversial in the past too. People struggled to discern the <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300114720/the-devil-within/">true causes of disruptive behaviour</a>, and they <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Demonic-Possession-and-Exorcism-In-Early-Modern-France/Ferber/p/book/9780415212656">disagreed about who was qualified to decide</a>. </p>
<p>For early modern people, an exorcism served functions beyond freeing someone from an evil presence. It demonstrated the power of the exorcist, and of whatever spiritual system that exorcist represented. </p>
<p>Why did Regnouard perform a ritual that was an exorcism in all but name? She demonstrated the fulfilment of her duty to care for members of her household (a responsibility widely acknowledged by those around her) and the authority to draw upon both medical and religious knowledge (domains that were contested, especially for women). </p>
<p>In looking beyond the labels of Regnouard’s account to the actions she performed, we remember to pay attention not only to what things are called, but also to what they mean.</p>
<h2>Our demons, ourselves</h2>
<p>We can study what frightens us to learn about ourselves. Just as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197535899.003.0008">popularity of horror films today is probably a symptom of our cultural unrest</a>, historical fears are signs of past anxieties.</p>
<p>French leaders had <a href="https://www.decitre.fr/livres/memoires-de-nouvelle-france-9782868478535.html">planned for New France</a> to become a perfect society. With the <a href="https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2022926?docpos=68">establishment of the Compagnie de Nouvelle-France in 1627</a>, the king and Cardinal Richelieu wrote that New France, with divine help and the example of good behaviour by colonists, would bring people to knowledge of the true God. A few years later, in the words of Jesuit priest Paul Le Jeune, <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-litteratures-classiques1-2011-3-page-155.htm">it was to be</a> “a new Jerusalem blessed by God, composed of citizens destined for heaven.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489599/original/file-20221013-24-tthz1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="17th century map of Quebec showing large ships on the water and a compass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489599/original/file-20221013-24-tthz1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489599/original/file-20221013-24-tthz1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489599/original/file-20221013-24-tthz1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489599/original/file-20221013-24-tthz1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489599/original/file-20221013-24-tthz1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489599/original/file-20221013-24-tthz1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489599/original/file-20221013-24-tthz1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The City of Québec and surroundings in 1691, from ‘Mémoires de l’Amérique septentrionale,’ Baron de Lahontan, 1728.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then the settlers came to realize that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/chr.99.1.1">Indigenous people would not simply assimilate to French norms as some back in France had arrogantly presumed</a>, and trans-Atlantic migrants needed to compromise <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75738-4_9">traditional beliefs</a> and practices for new surroundings. They were isolated during much of the year and <a href="https://www.editionsboreal.qc.ca/catalogue/livres/peuple-etat-guerre-canada-sous-regime-1563.html">vulnerable to attack</a> from other imperial powers and from Indigenous nations who were not allies of the French. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-an-indigenous-delegation-prepares-to-visit-the-vatican-its-worth-revisiting-trudeaus-2017-papal-gift-of-the-jesuit-relations-179258">As an Indigenous delegation prepares to visit the Vatican, it's worth revisiting Trudeau's 2017 papal gift of the Jesuit 'Relations'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>New France was precarious, and the colonists knew it. They did not know exactly if or when a final blow would fall. Such uncertainty can lead <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3524">to deep anxiety</a>. </p>
<p>What were the colonists expressing through their fears of a demonic infestation? Probably many things, with a core of insecurity in the colonial project and anxiety about the unknowable future of New France. In studying their fears of the supernatural realm, we can also learn about the more tangible world around them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191331/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mairi Cowan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>A teenage domestic servant showed signs of possession, and a miller was accused of witchcraft. Considering records of these events helps clarify what we can and cannot know about the past.Mairi Cowan, Associate Professor, Department of Historical Studies and Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1659392021-08-30T12:32:21Z2021-08-30T12:32:21ZWhat is Wicca? An expert on modern witchcraft explains.<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418288/original/file-20210827-33418-iyokh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most Wiccans in the U.S. practice alone, though they congregate in large gatherings to conduct rituals and learn from one another.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah Swinford/EyeEm via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wicca and witchcraft are popping up in pop culture these days, from <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/witchcraft-tiktok">teenage witches on TikTok</a> to a Marvel comic superhero <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/William_Kaplan_(Earth-616)">called Wiccan</a>. It has even led <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/books/peak-witch.html">The New York Times</a> to ask: “When did everyone become a witch?” </p>
<p>Wicca, an alternative minority religion whose adherents, regardless of gender, call themselves witches, began <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-triumph-of-the-moon-9780198827368?cc=us&lang=en&">in the U.K.</a> in the 1940s. Wicca and Witchcraft are part of the larger contemporary pagan movement, which includes druids and heathens among others. All these spiritual paths, as pagans refer to them, base their practices on pre-Christian religions and cultures.</p>
<p>Ever since Wicca arrived in the United States in the 1960s, it has been growing – sometimes by leaps and bounds, and <a href="https://web.b.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=15280268&AN=48881535&h=zOHNnd9jZrOZW5PLYDH23qBaeOIM2a33J%2fJFkOVJAPLbOJeltzwcVHKBRaTAqDF1HEuiCQUPbuQvIVn9EzQf1A%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d15280268%26AN%3d48881535">other times more slowly</a>. It is estimated that there could be around <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/witchcraft-wiccans-mysticism-astrology-witches-millennials-pagans-religion-1221019">1.5 million</a> witches in the U.S. </p>
<p>As I am aware from <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S1kXj-gAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">my own research</a> of more than 30 years, however, not all witches consider themselves Wiccans. Based on my most recent <a href="https://uscpress.com/Solitary-Pagans">survey data</a>, approximately 800,000 Americans are Wiccans. The increasing numbers that have been witnessed in surveys and the growth of groups, such as those on TikTok, suggest that the religion is continuing to grow.</p>
<h2>An independent practice</h2>
<p>The religion differentiates itself from more mainstream religions, such as Christianity, by celebrating a Goddess as well as a God. In addition, Wicca lacks a formal institutional structure such as a church and puts more emphasis on ritual and direct spiritual experience than belief. Adherents refer to themselves as <a href="https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/a-community-of-witches-berger/">practitioners</a>, not believers.</p>
<p>A yearly cycle of rituals, known as sabbats, celebrate the beginning and height of each of the four seasons of the Northern Hemisphere. Each ritual encourages participants to celebrate the changes the seasons bring to nature and to reflect on how those changes are mirrored in their own lives. For example, at <a href="https://wiccaliving.com/wiccan-calendar-beltane/">Beltane</a> – which takes place May 1, at the height of spring – Wiccans celebrate fertility in both the Earth and in people’s lives. The rituals are constructed to not only celebrate the season but to put the participant in <a href="https://uscpress.com/A-Community-of-Witches">direct contact with the divine</a>.</p>
<p>Wiccans have one overriding rule, “Harm none and do as you will,” and no single religious text that they draw beliefs from. Most Wiccans practice alone and are free to develop <a href="https://uscpress.com/Solitary-Pagans">their own unique practice</a>. They are nonetheless in regular contact, networking on the internet and congregating <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520220867/earthly-bodies-magical-selves">at large gatherings</a> to conduct rituals, learn about magical and spiritual practices from one another, and enter what they see as a magical space where they can more readily encounter and embrace divinity. </p>
<h2>A religion for the 21st century</h2>
<p>Although many Wiccans claim to draw inspiration from ancient cultures, such as pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon and Celtic traditions, it can be seen very much as a religion of our times. The Goddess provides a female face for the divine, appealing to feminists and those who seek “girl power.” Wiccans see divinity in nature, which resonates with growing environmental concerns, <a href="https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/do-younger-generations-care-more-about-global-warming/">particularly among the young</a>. </p>
<p>Most Wiccans <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Magic-Witchcraft-and-the-Otherworld-An-Anthropology/Greenwood/p/book/9781859734506">practice magic</a>, which they believe taps into a spirit world often referred to as the “otherworld.” Others think of magic as drawing on an energy field they view as surrounding all of us. They do magic to heal themselves and others or to find a new home or job, among other things, and emphasize that magic must not cause harm. Magic is viewed as changing the practitioners as much as their circumstances, encouraging adherents to pursue self-growth and self-empowerment. </p>
<p>There is currently an increase in the U.S. of those with no formal religious affiliation, with just over a quarter of all Americans considering themselves <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/06/more-americans-now-say-theyre-spiritual-but-not-religious/">spiritual but not religious</a>. As sociologist <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo8540263.html">Courtney Bender</a> has noted, many members of this group tend to avoid formal religious structures but instead participate in occult practices that enhance their self-development – in these ways, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/">echoing spiritual practices</a> of Wiccans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165939/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen A. Berger has previously received funding from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the Association for the Sociology of Religion, and West Chester University. </span></em></p>Interest in Wicca and witchcraft appears to be increasing, but what exactly is Wicca in the first place?Helen A. Berger, Resident Scholar, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048612018-10-19T15:16:39Z2018-10-19T15:16:39ZThe evolution of the medieval witch – and why she’s usually a woman<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241218/original/file-20181018-67185-1e6lsrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silhouette-weather-vane-witch-flying-on-485557525?src=sVqbhcwiajzKFNzZneXhIg-1-9">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Flying through the skies on a broomstick, the popular image of a witch is as a predominantly female figure – so much so that the costume has become the go-to Halloween outfit for women and girls alike. But where did this gendered stereotype come from? Part of the answer comes from medieval attitudes towards magic, and the particular behaviours attributed to men and women within the “crime” of witchcraft. </p>
<p>Taking one aspect of the witch’s characterisation in popular culture – her association with flight – we can see a transformation in attitudes between the early and later Middle Ages. In the 11th century, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Burchard-bishop-of-Worms">Bishop Burchard of Worms</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Popular-Religion-1000-1500-Civilizations/dp/1551116987/ref=dp_ob_title_bk">said of certain sinful beliefs</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Some wicked women, turning back to Satan and seduced by the illusions and phantasms of demons, believe [that] in the night hours they ride on certain animals with the pagan goddess Diana and a countless multitude of women, and they cross a great span of the world in the stillness of the dead of night.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to Burchard, these women were actually asleep, but were held captive by the devil, who deceived their minds in dreams. He also believed that none but the very “stupid and dim-witted” could think that these flights had actually taken place. </p>
<p>But by the end of the 15th century views of magic had changed considerably. While many beliefs about women flying through the skies persisted, the perception of them had transformed from one of scepticism to one of fear. The magic night flight became associated with secret gatherings of witches known as “the sabbath”, involving nefarious acts such as killing babies, taking part in orgies and worshipping the devil. </p>
<p>This suggests that what was originally considered to be a belief held only by women and foolish men was now being taken much more seriously. So what happened to cause such a transformation?</p>
<p>One explanation offered by <a href="https://history.iastate.edu/directory/michael-bailey/">historian Michael D. Bailey</a> is that at some point during the 14th and 15th centuries, religious officials perhaps unwittingly conflated two distinct traditions: “learned” magic and “common” magic. The common kind of magic required no formal training, was widely known, could be practised by both men and women, and was usually associated with love, sex and healing.</p>
<p>By contrast, learned magic came to Europe from the east and featured in the “magic manuals” that circulated among educated men whom <a href="https://www.history.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/affiliated-faculty/richard-kieckhefer.html">Richard Kieckhefer</a> described as members of a “clerical underworld”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241221/original/file-20181018-67179-1x5eruz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241221/original/file-20181018-67179-1x5eruz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241221/original/file-20181018-67179-1x5eruz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241221/original/file-20181018-67179-1x5eruz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241221/original/file-20181018-67179-1x5eruz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241221/original/file-20181018-67179-1x5eruz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241221/original/file-20181018-67179-1x5eruz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Champion des Dames, broom sticks from the 15th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikicommons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, descriptions of humans in flight do appear in these manuals – but in relation to men rather than women. One example is found in a 15th century notebook in which the male author describes riding through the skies on a magically conjured “demon-horse”.</p>
<p>Two key differences between this account and the ones associated with women are that the person flying is an educated male and demons are now explicitly involved in the act. By conflating popular beliefs about the night flights of women with the demon-conjuring magic of the clerical underworld, medieval inquisitors began to fear that women would fall prey to the corruption of demons they could not control. </p>
<h2>Witchcraft and Women</h2>
<p>While men also feature in the infamous 15th century witch-hunting manual Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witches), the work has long been <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/reinvention/issues/volume6issue1/oleary/">recognised as deeply misogynistic</a>. It suggests that women’s perceived lack of intelligence made them submissive to demons. One section reads: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just as through the first defect in their [women’s] intelligence they are more prone to abjure the faith; so through their second defect of inordinate passions … they inflict various vengeances through witchcraft. Wherefore it is no wonder that so great a number of witches exist in this sex. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>By the end of the Middle Ages, a view of women as especially susceptible to witchcraft had emerged. The notion that a witch might travel by broomstick (especially when contrasted with the male who conjures a demon horse on which to ride) underscores the domestic sphere to which women belonged. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241223/original/file-20181018-67170-1a3t2np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241223/original/file-20181018-67170-1a3t2np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241223/original/file-20181018-67170-1a3t2np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241223/original/file-20181018-67170-1a3t2np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241223/original/file-20181018-67170-1a3t2np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241223/original/file-20181018-67170-1a3t2np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241223/original/file-20181018-67170-1a3t2np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The witch hunter’s handbook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikicommons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The perceived threat to established norms inherent in the idea that women were moving beyond their expected societal roles is also mirrored in a number of the accusations levelled against male witches. </p>
<p>In one example, a 13th century <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fswxYJDBLygC&pg=PR6&lpg=PR6&dq=Pope+Gregory+IX:+Vox+in+Rama&source=bl&ots=rQN5LkkSFV&sig=tnlMeyZ1p4pGkvOfIvrStZELm28&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7nfWd5I_eAhVrB8AKHR4LCCs4ChDoATAAegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=Pope%20Gregory%20IX%3A%20Vox%20in%20Rama&f=false">letter by Pope Gregory IX</a> described a gathering of heretics which was very similar to the later descriptions of the witches’ sabbath. It stated that at orgies, if there were not enough women, men would engage in “depravity” with other men. In doing so, they were seen to become effeminate, subverting the natural laws believed to govern sexuality.</p>
<p>Magic was then, in many ways, viewed by the church as an expression of rebellion against established norms and institutions, including gendered identities. </p>
<p>The idea that women might have been dabbling with the demonic magic previously associated with educated males, however inaccurate it may have been, was frightening. Neither men nor women were allowed to engage with demons, but while men stood a chance at resisting demonic control because of their education, women did not. </p>
<p>Their perceived lack of intelligence, together with contemporary notions regarding their “passions”, meant that they were understood as more likely to make pacts of “fidelity to devils” whom they could not control – so, in the eyes of the medieval church, women were more easily disposed to witchcraft than men.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104861/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Farrell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The history of why witchcraft was seen as a woman’s work.Jennifer Farrell, Lecturer in Medieval History, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1023372018-09-03T20:05:37Z2018-09-03T20:05:37ZCan we learn from the past in tackling witchcraft-related violence today?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234211/original/file-20180830-195319-9zuail.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A medieval engraving of the persecution of witches: historians are increasingly demonstrating that belief in witchcraft survived in Western Europe well into the 18th, 19th and even 20th centuries. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Between 1450 and 1750, some 45,000 men, women and children were executed in Western Europe as accused witches. Today, emerging <a href="http://dpa.bellschool.anu.edu.au/experts-publications/publications/5815/ib201731-sorcery-accusation-related-violence-papua-new-guinea%22%22">new research</a> shows that, during the past 20 years, upwards of 600 people were reported killed in witchcraft related attacks in Papua New Guinea, while current estimates are that <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/albinism/pages/witchcraft.aspx">thousands are killed in witchcraft-related violence around the world each year</a>.</p>
<p>Today, it is popularly believed that violence against those accused of “witchcraft” and “sorcery” in the Global South mirrors European witchcraft-persecutions in the past. For example, international media outlets have responded to current accusations of sorcery related violence in Melanesia with headlines such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/feb/20/papua-new-guinea-asia-pacific">“Papua New Guinea ‘Witch’ Murder is a Reminder of our Gruesome Past”</a>. </p>
<p>Various reports similarly state that, unlike in Melanesia today, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/witchhunt-20130415-2huha.html">“Witch-hunts went out of style in Europe some time in the 1700s</a>” and that <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/vdpk3y/witch-hunting-is-a-growing-concern-in-papua-new-guinea-686">“We Europeans also</a> killed lots of witches in the Middle Ages”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234212/original/file-20180830-195316-kl3apk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234212/original/file-20180830-195316-kl3apk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234212/original/file-20180830-195316-kl3apk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234212/original/file-20180830-195316-kl3apk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234212/original/file-20180830-195316-kl3apk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234212/original/file-20180830-195316-kl3apk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234212/original/file-20180830-195316-kl3apk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234212/original/file-20180830-195316-kl3apk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supplied image obtained in 2015 of Mifila, a Papua New Guinea woman reported axed to death after being accused of sorcery in the country’s highlands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anton Lutz/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what exactly are the connections and similarities between these two different contexts? Historians and anthropologists are understandably wary of the colonial overtones of any argument that places present-day Melanesian beliefs and practices in an evolutionary schema – equating them with those of pre-modern Europeans. But does this mean such comparisons should never be made? </p>
<p>Historians today largely attribute the decline in European witchcraft trials to increased scepticism by judges and magistrates about the possibility of proving witchcraft in a state court (even if they continued to believe in the existence of witchcraft). </p>
<p>This scepticism included concern about the veracity of confessions obtained under torture, which was the main source of evidence in many trials (a notable exception here is England in which suspects were not tortured). As torture is widely used in vigilante “trials” of those accused of sorcery in PNG today, we wonder if efforts to end torture might have far-reaching consequences in ending sorcery-related violence.</p>
<p>Although state-sanctioned witchcraft trials did die out in Europe (almost entirely by the 18th century) we now know that belief in witchcraft and associated violence lasted much longer. Indeed, historians are increasingly demonstrating that belief in witchcraft survived in Western Europe well into the 18th, 19th and even 20th centuries (see, for example, Owen Davies’ work on <a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/american-bewitched(e8ab27c3-ff8a-4ac2-a5c1-d1e7197c4643).html">witchcraft in America</a> or his new book on <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-supernatural-war-9780198794554?cc=au&lang=en&">supernatural belief in the First World War</a>). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/witches-both-mad-and-bad-a-loaded-word-with-an-ugly-history-52804">Witches both mad and bad: a loaded word with an ugly history</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For contemporary policymakers, this suggests that overcoming sorcery accusations and related violence may not require first changing entire belief systems, or introducing so-called “rational” ways of thinking into a population. </p>
<p>Instead, it directs attention to considering far more specific questions about what motivates people to accuse and harm those they suspect of witchcraft or sorcery.</p>
<h2>The role of law</h2>
<p>The role of law in addressing contemporary violence related to accusations of sorcery is a contentious one. There are debates for and against creating specific forms of crime to deal with the problem, such as crimes of accusing someone of practising sorcery, or specific types of violence addressed at those accused of witchcraft. For example, <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/president-ram-nath-koivnd-gives-nod-to-assams-anti-witch-hunting-bill-1884328">in India last month a specific anti-witch hunting Bill was enacted</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-witch-hunters-can-teach-us-about-todays-world-75176">What witch-hunters can teach us about today's world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In early modern Europe, the legislation criminalising witchcraft was eventually repealed and replaced in some countries with legislation criminalising those who tried to “trick” or deceive others through pretending to use witchcraft. The historical record indicates that one impact of this legislative change was that it made it much easier for people to talk openly about their scepticism towards witchcraft, and made the public defence of witch beliefs increasingly socially unacceptable in educated circles. </p>
<p>While law alone cannot change belief systems, the early modern experience suggests a potentially valuable role for legislation in facilitating certain types of public discourse about witchcraft, and officially condemning violence as a response towards fears of it.</p>
<h2>Contagious narratives</h2>
<p>History is also replete with examples of stories with a catalysing effect on communities, provoking sporadic “outbreaks” of violence. This suggests that all populations can potentially be susceptible to contagion of new and terrifying narratives, particularly where they resonate with existing prejudices or ways of thinking. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wNGIe5fD5tA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In PNG, and indeed many places across the world today, new or revised narratives of sorcery and witchcraft are infecting populations and leading to what some describe as “epidemics” of violence. These are spread by word of mouth, social media, and in Africa at least, through popular local films.</p>
<p>In tackling their impact on populations, it is important to recognise these as being new or recently modified stories in many places, rather than entrenched cultural traditions. Framing them as foreign can potentially help to undermine arguments that such violence is justified by culture, and can prompt attention to countering their transmission.</p>
<p>There are of course some limitations with taking a comparative approach. Violence against witches in the South Pacific tends to be incited by individuals or communities acting outside the law; whereas early modern Europe executed and tortured witches fully in accordance with legal statutes against witchcraft. </p>
<p>It is crucial to acknowledge these differences and to be very careful not to suggest that witchcraft is the same everywhere, across time and place.</p>
<p>But, at the same time, if it is possible to learn anything at all from the past about how to stop the torture and murder of hundreds of innocent men and women in the world today then these conversations can have a very real impact.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Midena receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miranda Forsyth receives funding from Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development through the Australian Aid program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte-Rose Millar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is estimated that thousands of people are killed in witchcraft-related violence around the world each year. How can we tackle this problem today?Charlotte-Rose Millar, UQ Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandDaniel Midena, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandMiranda Forsyth, Associate professor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/739672017-03-24T09:43:01Z2017-03-24T09:43:01ZDangers of the witch hunt in Washington<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162312/original/image-20170324-4938-idddo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers at hearing on allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As an anthropologist, I know that all groups of people use informal <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/anthropology/social-and-cultural-anthropology/witchcraft-sorcery-rumors-and-gossip">practices of social control</a> in day-to-day interactions. Controlling disruptive behavior is necessary for maintaining social order, but the forms of control vary.</p>
<p>How will President Donald Trump control behavior he finds disruptive? </p>
<p>The question came to me when Trump called the investigation of Russian interference in the election “<a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-russia-focus-political-witch-hunt">a total witch hunt</a>.” More on that later. </p>
<h2>Ridicule and shunning</h2>
<p>A common form of social control is ridicule. The disruptive person is ridiculed for his or her behavior, and ridicule is often enough to make the disruptive behavior stop. </p>
<p>Another common form of social control is shunning, or segregating a disruptive individual from society. With the individual pushed out of social interactions – by sitting in a timeout, for example – his or her behavior can no longer cause trouble.</p>
<p>Ridicule, shunning and other informal practices of social control usually work well to control disruptive behavior, and we see examples every day in the office, on the playground and even in the White House. </p>
<h2>Controlling the critics</h2>
<p>Donald Trump routinely uses ridicule and shunning to control what he sees as disruptive behavior. The most obvious examples are aimed at the press. For example, he refers to The New York Times as “<a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2017/02/new-york-times-ceo-takes-on-trumps-false-failing-claims-234541">failing</a>” as a way of demeaning its employees. He infamously <a href="http://www.people.com/politics/trump-denies-mocking-journalist-disability-watch-video/">mocked a disabled reporter</a> who critiqued him. </p>
<p>On the other side, the press has also used ridicule, calling the president <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/8/1631304/-The-world-has-taken-Donald-Trump-s-measure-toxic-incompetent-and-weak">incompetent</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/opinion/is-it-time-to-call-trump-mentally-ill.html">mentally ill</a> and even making fun of the <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a47296/donald-trump-hand-size-chart/">size of his hands.</a> </p>
<p>Trump has shunned the press as well, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/14/media/donald-trump-media-blacklist/">pulling press credentials</a> from news agencies that critique him. Press Secretary Sean Spicer used shunning against a group of reporters critical of the administration by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/us/politics/white-house-sean-spicer-briefing.html">blocking them from attending</a> his daily briefing. And Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shook off the State Department press corps and headed off to Asia with <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/rex-tillerson-reporters-asia-state-236109">just one reporter invited along</a>. </p>
<p>Again, the practice cuts both ways. The media has also started asking themselves if they should shun Trump’s surrogates – such as Kellyanne Connway – <a href="http://www.gq.com/story/heres-an-idea-stop-putting-kellyanne-conway-on-tv">in interviews</a> or <a href="http://pressthink.org/2017/01/send-the-interns/">refuse to send staff reporters</a> to the White House briefing room.</p>
<h2>Accusations of witchcraft</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161639/original/image-20170320-9114-1hbuhky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161639/original/image-20170320-9114-1hbuhky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161639/original/image-20170320-9114-1hbuhky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161639/original/image-20170320-9114-1hbuhky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161639/original/image-20170320-9114-1hbuhky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161639/original/image-20170320-9114-1hbuhky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161639/original/image-20170320-9114-1hbuhky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Witches persecuted in Colonial era.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2003677981/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what happens when informal means of control don’t work?</p>
<p>Societies with weak or nonexistent judicial systems may control persistent disruptive behavior by accusing the disruptive person of being a witch.</p>
<p>In an anthropological sense, <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/witchcraft-oracles-and-magic-among-the-azande-9780198740292?cc=us&lang=en&">witches</a> are people who cannot control their evil behavior – it is a part of their being. A witch’s very thoughts compel supernatural powers to cause social disruption. If a witch gets angry, jealous or envious, the supernatural may take action, whether the witch wants it to or not. In other words: Witches are disruptive by their very presence.</p>
<p>When people are threatened with an accusation of witchcraft, they will generally <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Navaho-Witchcraft-Clyde-Kluckhohn/dp/0807046973">heed the warning</a> to curb their behavior. Those who don’t are often those who are already marginalized. Their behavior – perhaps caused by mental disease or injury – is something they cannot easily control. By failing to prove they aren’t a “witch” – something that’s not easy to do – they give society a legitimate reason to get rid of them. </p>
<p>When communities and their leaders turn to accusation of witchcraft as a means of social control, it usually leads to executions. From the 15th to the 17th century, as many as 100,000 accused witches were put to death <a href="http://www.routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9781138808102/">in Europe</a>. And in Salem, Massachusetts, 20 people were executed during the notorious <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/">witch trials</a> of 1692 and 1693.</p>
<h2>Modern societies aren’t immune</h2>
<p>While few people today believe in witches that doesn’t mean that modern societies have given up the idea that there are people who are inherently disruptive or even dangerous to society. We might not always use the word “witch,” but the idea of purifying society of uncontrollable evil is still with us. </p>
<p>In the <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html">Jim Crow South</a> blacks were seen as inherently disruptive to white society and formally segregated. In some cases, they were lynched. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143">Holocaust</a> followed the pattern of a modern witch hunt. The Nazis saw Jews as inherently dangerous and disruptive to social order. At first they humiliated and ridiculed them, then they segregated them in ghettos and finally they executed them. </p>
<p>One could argue that Americans are already accusing immigrants and Muslims of being the witches of our time. Both groups are seen by some in power as disruptive to social order by their very presence. Some even see them as inherently <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/442565/muslim-immigration-ohio-state-stabbing-shows-dangers-lets-be-honest">dangerous</a>. Indeed, there are ongoing efforts to separate them from the United States, both by deportation and blocking their entry into the country.</p>
<p>Still, the U.S. has a strong judicial system, so why worry that Americans might turn to accusations of witchcraft – albeit by another name – to control behavior? </p>
<p>The worry is that the Trump administration has shown itself to be highly effective in exploiting informal means of social control to shape public discourse, and has <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-judge-attack-backfire-234649">repeatedly berated</a> the judicial system as ineffective or corrupt. </p>
<p>If the judicial system continues to block the administration’s efforts to control Muslims and immigrants, what will the administration do next?</p>
<p>We need to be mindful of the consequences of identifying people as inherently disruptive to social order, as unable to control an innate evilness, or as being, in anthropological terms, witches. When we start to see witches among us, the end game is death.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Neal Peregrine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A ‘witch hunt’ is what Trump called investigations into his campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election. An anthropologist explains the connection between witch hunts and social control.Peter Neal Peregrine, Professor of Anthropology and Museum Studies, Lawrence UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/738302017-03-12T19:19:19Z2017-03-12T19:19:19ZA murky cauldron – modern witchcraft and the spell on Trump<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159905/original/image-20170308-27327-1ba7yf8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reviving an ancient tradition for a new era of contemporary witchcraft: modern Wiccans holding an event in the United States.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiccan_event_in_the_US_(1).PNG">Ycco/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the ongoing media coverage of the Trump presidency, an unusual story has made headlines. It concerns the actions of witches across America and beyond who performed a collective spell to stop the 45th POTUS from doing harm. At midnight on Friday 24th February, witches enacted “A Spell to Bind Donald Trump”. </p>
<p>The spell, available on the <a href="http://michaelmhughes.com/a-spell-to-bind-donald-trump-and-all-those-who-abet-him-feb-24-mass-ritual/">website</a> of “magical thinker” and Tarot reader Michael M Hughes, bears the hallmarks of traditional witchcraft spanning thousands of years. It sets out the necessary “ingredients” to be gathered; describes the steps required to prepare the components; includes both the ceremonial actions and words to activate it; and advises on the closure of the procedure. It is also a “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/binding-magic-definition-120962">binding spell</a>”, which references ancient occult rituals designed to affect change through “binding” someone or something to another’s will. </p>
<p>The originator of the spell is said to be a member of a private magical order who wants to remain anonymous. Those who participated were <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/745085475641247/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20(READ%20FIRST)/745094595640335/">not only witches</a> but:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>people of various spiritual and religious affiliations, or even none. Many are regular practitioners of magic, but an enormous number have never performed a magical ritual.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Warnings about the Trump spell from both supporters and detractors flew around the Internet. Some <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2017/02/im-not-participating-mass-binding-donald-trump-im-instead.html">experienced witches</a> warned about the potential repercussions of amateurs participating without knowing what they were doing. Witch Queen Leslie McQuade for instance, <a href="http://hermetic-golden-dawn.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/magickwars-crypto-nazi-witches-vs-magi.html">opposed</a> the event, and helped organise a “Magickal resistance to this evil nonsense”.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, Christians attacked the event, regarding it as playing with Satan. But those involved in the spell <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/02/24/are-witches-casting-spell-donald-trump/nmR3ReQV9mJXGL6ojbhoVL/story.html">reassured</a> the public:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is not a hex or curse and it’s not meant to physically harm anyone – it’s to keep them from doing harm.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Ancient witchcraft versus modern witchcraft</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159884/original/image-20170308-14946-hszxur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159884/original/image-20170308-14946-hszxur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159884/original/image-20170308-14946-hszxur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159884/original/image-20170308-14946-hszxur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159884/original/image-20170308-14946-hszxur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159884/original/image-20170308-14946-hszxur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159884/original/image-20170308-14946-hszxur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159884/original/image-20170308-14946-hszxur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ancient Roman curse tablet with the inscription, ‘I curse Tretia Maria and her life and mind and memory and liver and lungs mixed up together, and her words, thoughts and memory; thus may she be unable to speak what things are concealed, nor be able.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Curse_tablet_BM_1934.11-5.1.jpg">Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Magic practitioners from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt once cast spells with little if any regard for the corporeal, mental, emotional or spiritual safety of their targets. Spells were meant to <a href="http://irisonline.org.uk/index.php/features/79-ancient-spellcasting">harm</a>. There were no caveats or apologies. These real, historical practitioners cursed those who had thwarted or harmed them or those close to them. Practitioners were also paid to enact curses for clients. The “curse tablet” pictured here, for example, is a binding spell from ancient Rome designed to conjure a gruesome curse on a victim.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159886/original/image-20170308-27373-fmmx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159886/original/image-20170308-27373-fmmx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159886/original/image-20170308-27373-fmmx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159886/original/image-20170308-27373-fmmx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159886/original/image-20170308-27373-fmmx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159886/original/image-20170308-27373-fmmx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159886/original/image-20170308-27373-fmmx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159886/original/image-20170308-27373-fmmx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rosaleen ‘Roie’ Norton, also known as the ‘Witch of Kings Cross’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosaleen_Norton#/media/File:Roie.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Traversing thousands of years to 20th Century Australia, Kings Cross witch <a href="http://www.nevilldrury.com/nevill-drury-articles-rosaleen-norton-1.htm">Rosaleen Norton</a> (1917-1979) had no qualms about cursing or hexing people. Norton practised old-fashioned Mediterranean and European witchcraft, free of a sense of right and wrong, or good and bad. She operated in an amoral space in which intended outcomes were the primary objective. </p>
<p>English occultist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aleister-Crowley">Aleister Crowley</a> (1875-1947), whose work also paid no heed to moral binaries, was an inspiration for Norton’s magical system. Labelled “<a href="http://lapostexaminer.com/aleister-crowley-wickedest-man-world/2014/07/20">The Wickedest Man in the World</a>” and “<a href="http://listverse.com/2012/09/22/10-facts-about-the-great-beast-aleister-crowley/">The Great Beast 666</a>”, Crowley cursed numerous individuals, including his one-time magical partner, <a href="http://www.richardmcneff.co.uk/page_1240765396008.html">Victor Neuburg</a>. There were also allegations that he cursed the entire town of Hastings (in addition to starting the first world war, sacrificing 75 million people to the Devil, and sinking the Titanic). </p>
<h2>A crisis in contemporary witchcraft?</h2>
<p>The disconnection between the cursing of Trump with its caveats, and the historical employment of spells designed to harm, may suggest a crisis of purpose and identity in contemporary witchcraft.</p>
<p>In short, the anxiety of identifying oneself as a witch appears to be a burden for some. While those involved in the Trump spell did not claim they were anxious about the burden of such an act, their attempts to sanitise the ritual certainly suggests concern. </p>
<p>This begs the questions: Why adhere to a belief system that causes one to worry? Why participate in rituals for which there is a compulsion to apologise? </p>
<p>Adding to this moral confusion, some practitioners of the various forms of occult arts have added other religious beliefs into the cauldron as a means of defence. For example, the spell comes with <a href="https://extranewsfeed.com/a-spell-to-bind-donald-trump-and-all-those-who-abet-him-february-24th-mass-ritual-51f3d94f62f4#.6qkdhmqpt">reassurance from Hughes</a>):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is understood, in this context, that binding does not generate the potential negative blowback from cursing/hexing/crossing, nor does it harm the caster’s karma. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Admittedly, the nature of some contemporary Western witchcraft practices incorporates elements of Asian religions, and so the reference to <a href="http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/karma">karma</a> is not surprising. But is it indicative of the moral and ethical uncertainties associated with modern witchcraft? Does it suggest fuzzy thinking? Does it imply recourse to cultural imperialism – adding karma to the mix – to ensure the public recognises a moral basis for casting a spell? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159911/original/image-20170308-27360-6nwmi5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159911/original/image-20170308-27360-6nwmi5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159911/original/image-20170308-27360-6nwmi5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159911/original/image-20170308-27360-6nwmi5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159911/original/image-20170308-27360-6nwmi5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159911/original/image-20170308-27360-6nwmi5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159911/original/image-20170308-27360-6nwmi5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Modern practitioners at a Wiccan gathering in the United States.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wicca#/media/File:Wiccan_event_in_the_US_(0).PNG">Ycco, Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Witchcraft today is very broad, with numerous variations of beliefs and identities. Types of witchcraft range from <a href="http://witchcraft.com.au/wicca.html">Wicca</a>, <a href="https://neo-paganism.com/">Neo-paganism</a> and <a href="http://magick.me/p/chaos-magick">Chaos Magick</a> (among many more). As scholar Michael York has <a href="http://tranceshamanismbodyandsoul.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/cultural-imperialism-or-productive.html">stated</a> in relation to the New Age Movement that gave rise to contemporary witchcraft:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[it is] a disparate and loosely co-ordinated confederation of contrasting beliefs, techniques and practices. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Because of many different beliefs, contemporary practitioners sometimes struggle for a unifying identity and sense of purpose. This struggle is evident in the responses to the Trump spell, marked by the absence of a unified, authoritative voice to represent the witchcraft community. It is also evident in the mixing of other religious beliefs.</p>
<h2>Witchcraft a recognised religion</h2>
<p>Of course, there is no such thing as an uncontaminated religion that has not taken elements of other belief systems. And witchcraft is now a recognised religion in many countries, sometimes under the broad title “<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/pagans-stake-claim-to-sacred-site/2007/03/09/1173166991754.html">paganism</a>”. The <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/australian-witchcraft-the-truth-is-out-there-20150617-ghq4ur.html">2011 Australian census</a> recorded approximately 40,000 people who identified their religious beliefs as “pagan”, “Wicca” or “witchcraft”. </p>
<p>At a somewhat unexpected extreme end of spiritual eclecticism is modern witchcraft’s borrowings from Christianity. While most of the well-known witches of the last century, like Norton, actively distanced themselves from Christianity, the appeal of Christian values underlines some contemporary witchcraft. </p>
<p>For example, the spell to bind Trump also invited participants to “<a href="https://extranewsfeed.com/a-spell-to-bind-donald-trump-and-all-those-who-abet-him-february-24th-mass-ritual-51f3d94f62f4#.z4odf67mm">say a prayer for protection</a>” and read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+23&version=KJV">Psalm 23</a>. Arizona participant <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39090334">MaryPat Azevedo</a>, regarded the spell as “a unity prayer”. She also explained to the BBC:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A true witch would never cast a spell on anyone without their permission. This prayer is for wellbeing and peace for all beings.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The fact that Christians reacted against the event with prayer services of their own serves to illustrate the complications and blurriness of the actual core belief systems underpinning contemporary witchcraft.</p>
<p>Peace-loving witches who do not seek to harm and who often follow the Wiccan Rede of “<a href="https://wicca.com/celtic/wicca/rede.htm">An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will</a>” are sometimes called “<a href="http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/fluffy.shtml">fluffy bunnies</a>” or “<a href="http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/fluffy.shtml">McWiccans</a>” by followers of the <a href="http://www.dpjs.co.uk/lefthandpath.html">Left-Hand Path</a> tradition who endorse a more amoral and power-focused magic. (The Left-Hand Path may be said to have characterised the workings of both Rosaleen Norton and Aleister Crowley). </p>
<p>Other practitioners opposed the Trump spell on grounds that inadvertently defer to a decidedly Christian value system, promoting themes of love and forgiveness. Even the term “binding spell” caused angst among some of the witches who initiated the project. Binding spells are about power and control. </p>
<p>While this event is an example of the continuing divisions within the USA, it also highlights divisions among global religious communities, not only between witches and Christians, but witches and witches. Still, A Spell to Bind Donald Trump has proven to be a significant political event, with over <a href="http://thechronicleherald.ca/world/1445055-donald-trump-vs.-the-orange-candles">10,000 followers</a> on its original Facebook account. More spells are planned – on 26 March, 24 April and 23 May.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73830/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marguerite Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What does it mean to be a witch today? And what is a ‘binding spell’ trying to achieve?Marguerite Johnson, Associate Professor of Ancient History and Classical Languages, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/570212016-04-15T03:45:41Z2016-04-15T03:45:41ZWhat’s behind children being cast as witches in Nigeria<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118360/original/image-20160412-15871-vx5qdo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Nigeria some children who are branded as witches suffer severe abuse.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stars Foundation/flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/16/africa/child-witchcraft-nigeria/">rescue</a> of a two-year-old <a href="http://www.unilad.co.uk/pics/two-year-old-child-was-abandoned-over-fears-he-was-a-witch/">Nigerian child</a> has attracted extensive social and online media <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/686395324835311/">coverage </a> across the world. Abandoned by his family after being accused of being a witch, the boy was saved by an aid worker who found him in <a href="http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=801816">Uyo</a>, southeast Nigeria. The boy, known as Hope, is said to have been riddled with worms and had to have daily blood transfusions to be revived.</p>
<p>The unfortunate truth is that Hope is one of only a lucky few who survive the neglect, abuse, and physical and mental health insults that arise from the stigma created by child witch hunting in Nigeria.</p>
<p>Belief in witchcraft is central in Nigeria society – particularly in the Niger Delta region. Researchers have especially focused on my people, the Ibibio of southeastern Nigeria. </p>
<p>Anthropological <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3629817">research</a> has shown how most Ibibio believe that certain people are witches. They argue that, through various supernatural feats, these people impoverish, harm or kill their fellow human beings. Other <a href="https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16587149W/Suffereth_not_a_witch_to_live">research</a> shows both urban and rural people in the Ibibio society are entrapped in the deep-rooted fear of witches. It is enshrined in communal consciousness.</p>
<p>Having spent most of my life among the Ibibio in both urban and rural settings, I can bear witness to the truth of these observations. I grew up in Uyo, the town in which Hope was rescued. </p>
<h2>Religion and poverty play a role</h2>
<p>Child health researchers, including psychologists, social workers and economists, believe that the stigmatisation of children as witches in Nigeria is a relatively recent phenomenon. </p>
<p><a href="http://isw.sagepub.com/content/56/1/22.abstract">Some research</a> notes the trend has become widespread since the early to mid-1990s. As a result thousands of children have been accused of being witches. Many have been tortured, or even killed.</p>
<p>Others are subjected to inhumane abuse. They suffer severe beatings, maiming, burns caused by fire, boiling water or acid, poisoning, attempts to bury them alive, abandonment, rape and trafficking. They are denied access to health care and vaccinations. And they are blamed when they become ill and their diseases spread to other members of the family and community. </p>
<p>There are two factors that play a role in child witchcraft being perpetuated in Nigeria: religion and poverty.</p>
<p>One <a href="http://www.sjpub.org/sjpsych/sjpsych-289.pdf">researcher</a> has argued that the religious discourse of the new Christian Pentecostal movement has heightened the belief that child witches exist. The movement generally attributes failure and misfortune to the devil. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118363/original/image-20160412-15864-y2fd6i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118363/original/image-20160412-15864-y2fd6i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118363/original/image-20160412-15864-y2fd6i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118363/original/image-20160412-15864-y2fd6i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118363/original/image-20160412-15864-y2fd6i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118363/original/image-20160412-15864-y2fd6i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118363/original/image-20160412-15864-y2fd6i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some argue that the religious discourse of the Pentecostal movement may fuel beliefs about child witches.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rhys Thom/flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some religious leaders there is the lure of economic gain attached to child witchcraft accusations. The purported capacity to deliver people from the power of witches can generate huge earnings for pastor-prophets who engage in deliverance sessions. <a href="http://isw.sagepub.com/content/56/1/22.full">Research</a> shows that those religious leaders encourage congregants to repeatedly attend church programmes, pay tithes regularly and give offerings and vows, all with the aim of generating more and more income from their followers.</p>
<p>Widespread poverty is another explanatory factor. In 2006 the United Nations Development Programme reported that within the Niger Delta region high rates of poverty and environmental degradation are especially prevalent.</p>
<p>Researchers argue that poverty and other misfortunes are in many parts of Nigeria attributed to metaphysical causes. As a result, child witches are simply an easy target to blame for the economic misfortunes that befall families and communities in this region.</p>
<p>Interestingly, <a href="http://isw.sagepub.com/content/56/1/22.full">research</a> notes that the belief in child witchcraft is also considered to be reflected in and perpetuated by Nigerian popular media. Nollywood, the Nigerian movie industry, has been blamed for making films that have played a role in popularising and disseminating the belief in child witches. Many of the <a href="http://www.nigeriafilms.com/news/3917/16/i-will-never-stop-fighting-witchcrafthelen-ukpabio.html">older movies</a> were produced by Pentecostal churches.</p>
<h2>A glimmer of hope</h2>
<p>Fortunately there has been a turnaround in the past few years. Nigerian Pentecostal churches have started to join the fight against child witchcraft stigmatisation. After a series of <a href="http://www.oyibosonline.com/stakeholders-meet-to-save-child-witches/">meetings</a> promoted by concerned government agencies, several religious and civil liberty organisations are working together to end the trend.</p>
<p>Some are actively helping to create awareness of the issue and mobilise people through sermons, in print media and even through Nollywood. Churches have started to produce movies that highlight the ills of witchcraft accusations, offering hope to victims and their families. </p>
<p>But the case of Hope indicates that there is more to be done.</p>
<p>There is an urgent need for legislative reform to deter future incidents of abuse due to child witchcraft stigmatisation. Nigeria needs laws that prohibit discrimination based on witchcraft beliefs. Even more importantly, the laws need to be effectively enforced so that religious leaders and community members who choose to continue down this treacherous path are brought to book.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it comes down to revitalising the Nigerian economy and bringing people out of poverty. As long as people find it impossible to make ends meet they will continue to look for solutions in the supernatural.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Utibe Effiong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In many parts of Nigeria, children are branded as witches and suffer abuse and even abandonment. Religion and poverty are thought to play a role.Utibe Effiong, Resident Physician at St Mary Mercy Hospital and Research Scientist for the Exposure Research Laboratory, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.