Witches at a protest against Donald Trump in St. Paul, Minnesota, 2018.
Fibonacci Blue
So often used to condemn women through history, feminism is reclaiming the word ‘witch’ in the 21st century. Some men also want to get in on the act.
A Halloween ghost.
Werner Reischel/Flickr.com
Ghost stories are often about the departed seeking justice for an earthly wrong. Their sightings are a reminder that ethics and morality transcend our lives.
Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina in the new Netflix series.
Netflix
The new Sabrina joins a host of other witches in pop culture, a witch revival that reflects more radical feminist politics.
Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald.
Jaap Buitendijk, photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The latest film from the wizarding world JK Rowling echoes ancient themes of covens and devil worship.
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.
Wikimedia Commons
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?
Rural China sheds light on the role of witchcraft in society.
Ruth Mace
Most anthropologists believe that witch labelling has evolved to get people to conform. But new research suggests an alternative explanation.
Shutterstock
Tales of levitation tend to belie stark inequalities and various forms of violence (often upon women).
EPA/Filip Singer
Independent, powerful feminist role models or a warning to women not to overstep the mark? Witches have been many things over the years.
How do leaders find authority as discerners of evil?
Wellcome Library, London.
Witch-finders of early modern Europe and modern Africa made themselves indispensable by showing people a threat of a growing crisis of threatening evil.
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.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
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.
The Love Witch
This is a thought-provoking, odd, shocking and beautiful movie about feminism, fantasy and film history.
Paranormal or just plain ordinary?
Joe Techapanupreeda/Shutterstock
The truth about the paranormal – just in time for Halloween.
Bokeh Blur Background Subject/www.shutterstock.com
A podcast on darkness: from why it makes us scared, to what kind of nightlife can thrive in the modern city and an update on the hunt for dark matter.
Older women are often identified and witches and persecuted.
DIFD/Flickr
It is particularly dangerous to be an elderly person in Tanzania’s rural areas and villages. Legislation exists to protect this group, but it’s not being translated into reality.
Gwoeii/Shutterstock.com
A recent survey suggests that a third of UK parents avoid reading their children scary stories. Is this a worrying trend?
You shall not pass!
Shutterstock
They were the security systems of the post-medieval world.
Helen Sloan / HBO
It looks as if the story of the red priestess Melisandre is only just getting started. But is she a prophet, or a witch?
A photograph from The Sabbat Cycle’s Austin stop, where a screening of ‘The Witch’ was held, followed by a satanic ritual.
The Satantic Temple
What, exactly, are the political goals of The Satanic Temple, which formed in 2013? A religion professor attended a recent satanic ritual to find out.
In Nigeria some children who are branded as witches suffer severe abuse.
Stars Foundation/flickr
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.
The Witch, film poster.
The Witch/Instagram
Were evil witches really stealing children in the 17th century?