The word witch has been known to have a negative connotation in life. It comes from the terms wicca or wice which means a male or female witch. There is a negative idea associated with people that are considered witches or those that practice witchcraft. What does it really mean when someone is a witch?
What is a Witch?
A witch is someone that practices doing magic spells or using magic for rituals. This is someone that is connected to their spiritual guides or someone that is a psychic. This person can be a medium, someone that does Tarot readings or someone that worships pagan gods.
A person that worships pagan gods is considered to follow the true traditions of being a witch. This was thought to be satanic worshipping or to be part of the devils works. Witchcraft today includes using candles, meditation, using incense to cleanse areas, using sage, crystals, interpretation of dreams, yoga, and other rituals that have been associated with the pagan worship.
Many believe that witchcraft is just having powers to work with the universe and to attract things that a person wants in their life. Some believe that using witchcraft is just part of using what the Earth has given them to fulfill their spiritual desires.
Knowing a Witch
It is not easy to spot a witch like it was in the early times because it is different than it used to be. Now, most people who are witches will say that they are witches because they are proud of what they can do and what practices they do. No one really just labels people as a witch based on their appearance or what they do. Even if they claim to be one, not everyone will say, “There’s a witch.”
In the late 1600’s, being a witch was a time when they were based on superstition. This was a dangerous time for women because even if a woman had a strong personality, she could be labeled as a witch. If she had a lot of land or a lot of things, then the town would believe her to be a witch. If she was widowed and her husband died of a strange sickness or disease, she would be labeled as being a witch.
Being a witch during those times was dangerous and the community would try to9 prove if she was a witch or not based on what she did. They would test her by giving a dog a witch cake which was a cake made out of flour and baked with urine. If the witch acted like the dog, they would decide that she was a witch and was part of the devil’s work.
The community would use different strategies to find witches in the community such as:
- Seeing if the “witch” weighed the same as a stack of bibles.
- Seeing how many animals that they had.
- Making them know specific prayers by heart.
- Seeing how many times they have been married, divorced or widowed.
- Seeing if they had strange dreams.
- If they talked to themselves.
- Birthmarks
- Scars
- Extra nipples
- Scars that didn’t bleed when poked.
Changes for the Witch
Witchcraft is no longer feared and there are not witch hunts that take place. Witches are seen as popular now and you can see shops and different areas that sell witchcraft tools such as Tarot cards or crystal balls. Witches have a life on social media and have come to the surface.
With witches no longer being feared, they are now considered trendy and the movement is spreading around the world. People know that there are energies in the world and that witches need a place in society.
Some women are chastised for being outspoken but now, some of the greatest leaders are women that are strong willed. In the 1600, these women would be considered witches and would be killed.
Witchcraft can be considered a necessary thing for our society and it shows that women who struggle to be who they are not able to have a voice. There is much more to a witch than casting spells and holding crystals and it is a spiritual standpoint that some women are making.
The transition from witches being feared to becoming trendy is quite fascinating. It’s a testament to how societal perceptions can drastically change over time. The modern acceptance and integration of witchcraft into popular culture is noteworthy.
The historical practices for identifying witches, such as weighing them against a stack of Bibles, seem absurd from a modern perspective. This underscores the importance of rational thinking and evidence-based practices in today’s society.
The explanation of what constitutes a witch and the various practices associated with witchcraft is quite thorough. It helps in demystifying the concept and presenting it in a more relatable manner for contemporary readers.
The article does a good job of differentiating between historical and modern perceptions of witches. The shift from persecution to acceptance highlights significant progress in societal attitudes towards different spiritual and cultural practices.
The historical context provided in the article is enlightening, especially the part on how women with strong personalities were often labeled as witches in the 1600s. It underscores the dangers of superstitions.