Ideas and Personalities of Witchcraft

Ideas and Personalities of Witchcraft

Introduction

Witchcraft, in history, has been recognized as most prevalent cultural phenomenon in many societies from east to west (Angeles, 2000). It is a fact that people generally prefer to keep themselves away from witchcraft due to its negative nature or image (Kieckhefer, 1989). However, it has also been seen that there are many people in every culture who share stories related to witchcraft despite staying away of it. Witchcraft, through its historical journey, has been spreading throughout the world along with its ideas concerning cultural or regional as well as religious basis. In addition, it can be seen in ancient Greece where people used to consider all type of magic with the help of spirits. In addition, it has also been seen that many cultures tried to connect witchcraft with religion as they believe that evil or bad spirits are controlled by Satan (Evans-Pritchard, 1937). The idea of diabolism also emerged in the medieval period, which explains that witchcraft revolves around the agreement between witch and Satan.

Discussion

Many researchers believe that witchcraft depends on the objective characteristics and actions of witches who usually possess physical disgrace (Harkness, 2011). Similarly, some researchers also claim that medieval witchcraft was based on the concept that there is no witch but it is just a personal fear. In fact, witchcraft can be seen as a composition of concepts organically grown over the years or centuries. It is also believed in many cultures that witches bring bad luck to people and their neighbors, horrific tragedies to their lives and everyone who is near to them (Harkness, 2011). People also claim that all troubled situations including hardships, sickness and even natural disasters are associated with witches. Another idea, found in the medieval as well as fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, ...