About Witches and Witchcraft

 Witchcraft, which is defined as the use of various types of magical or supernatural powers to influence people or objects, either for good or ill, has been practiced for many centuries in many places around the world, such as Europe, South America, and Africa.  Witchcraft has historically mostly been seen as something that is evil, with the classic version of it being the witches of medieval Europe who cast spells on people with evil results such as causing them to get sick or kill others.  Witches have also sometimes been seen as good, such as in the case of European “white witches” who used their powers to reverse the effects of an evil spell, or witch doctors who cure diseases.  But at least up until fairly recently, the principal attitude of society toward witchcraft has been one of revulsion and fear, and one result of this attitude has been the phenomenon of witch hunts, in which thousands of people have been killed.

 The amount of people believing that witches and witchcraft are real, in the sense that witches not only do certain things such as using incantations, casting spells, and making potions, but that these things also really do have magical powers to influence people, has undergone an interesting evolution.  With the great majority of people believing up until the 19th century, then the number of believers steeply declining in the developed world during the 19th and 20th century with the rise of science, while still remaining high in less developed countries.  The number of believers rose again recently in developed countries with the rise in respect for indigenous religious practices and the emergence of New Age philosophies. 

 There is a stark contrast today with regard to modern day witches and witchcraft, with it still being viewed in the Third World largely as a force for evil.   However in the developed world it is portrayed in a positive light in the media, such as with portrayals of benevolent Caribbean voodoo practitioners and Native American shamans.  There is considered to be a romanticized version of it is practiced by middle class people, as in the case of the neopagan Wiccan religion.  There are still witch hunts in the Third World to this day; witch killing cases have been reported in countries like Tanzania, Uganda, and Ghana, and there was a report that fifteen suspected witches had been killed in the month of February 2003 alone in Nigeria.  The common denominator with both of these views of witchcraft is the belief that witches have actual powers, and I would argue that this belief is both incorrect, with no scientific evidence to support it, and harmful, because of the fear the belief generates. 

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