- published: 29 May 2015
- views: 1603
Witchcraft (also called witchery or spellcraft) broadly means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised individually by designated social groups, or by persons with the necessary esoteric secret knowledge. Witchcraft is a complex concept that varies culturally and societally; therefore, it is difficult to define with precision and cross-cultural assumptions about the meaning or significance of the term should be applied with caution. Witchcraft often occupies a religious, divinatory or medicinal role, and is often present within societies and groups whose cultural framework includes a magical world view. Although witchcraft can often share common ground with related concepts such as sorcery, the paranormal, magic, superstition, necromancy, possession, shamanism, healing, spiritualism, nature worship and the occult, it is usually seen as distinct from these when examined by sociologists and anthropologists.
The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have existed throughout recorded history. They have been present or central at various times, and in many diverse forms, among cultures and religions worldwide, including both "primitive" and "highly advanced" cultures, and continue to have an important role in many cultures today. Scientifically, the existence of magical powers and witchcraft are generally believed to lack credence and to be unsupported by high quality experimental testing, although individual witchcraft practices and effects may be open to scientific explanation or explained via mentalism and psychology.
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The Burning Times
The Terror of History: The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe, UCLA
Witch Hunts in Britain
Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe: A Discussion with Brian Levack
The Truth Behind Serbia's Notorious Witchcraft Subculture
14. Witchcraft and Magic
Luther and the Protestant Reformation: Crash Course World History #218
Reformation Video 5- Witchcraft 10-26-14
*** In 1486 a book was published in Latin, it was called Maleus Mallificarum and it very soon outsold every publication in Europe bar the Bible. It was written by Heinrich Kramer, a Dominican Priest and a witchfinder. "Magicians, who are commonly called witches" he wrote, "are thus termed on account of the magnitude of their evil deeds. These are they who by the permission of God disturb the elements, who drive to distraction the minds of men, such as have lost their trust in God, and by the terrible power of their evil spells, without any actual draught or poison, kill human beings.""Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" says Exodus, and in the period of the Reformation and after, over a hundred thousand men and women in Europe met their deaths after being convicted of witchcraft.Why did...
This documentary takes an in-depth look at the witch hunts that swept Europe just a few hundred years ago. False accusations and trials led to massive torture and burnings at the stake and ultimately to the destruction of an organic way of life. The film questions whether the widespread violence against women and the neglect of our environment today can be traced back to those times. Part two of a series of three films on women and spirituality, which includes Goddess Remembered and Full Circle. Directed by Donna Read - 1990
The Terror of History: The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe Lecturer: Professor Teofilo Ruiz http://www.history.ucla.edu/people/faculty?lid=869& Feb. 28, 2007 UCLA History Alumni page: http://www.history.ucla.edu/people/alumni Professor Ruiz, UCLA department chair and Premio del Rey prize for best book in Spanish history before 1580 for his Crisis and Continuity: Land and Town in Late Medieval Castile, was speaker for the UCLA History Alumni Faculty Lecture, cohosted by the UCLA Alumni Association and UCLA Department of History. Ruiz spoke to an audience of more than 80 history department alumni and guests. Watch his lively and engaging presentation.
The period of witch trials in Early Modern Europe were a widespread moral panic suggesting that malevolent Satanic witches were operating as an organized threat to Christendom during the 15th to 18th centuries.[2] Those accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being worshippers of the Devil, who engaged in such acts as malevolent sorcery at meetings known as Witches' Sabbaths. Many people were subsequently accused of being witches, and were put on trial for the crime, with varying punishments being applicable in different regions and at different times. While early trials fall still within the Late Medieval period, the peak of the witch hunt was during the period of the European wars of religion, peaking between about 1580 and 1630. The witch hunts declined in the early 18th century. In Gr...
Why are witches shown as old women with warts? Were witches always seen as evil? Why did most Western people stop believing in witchcraft? Find out here!
In this video, author Brian Levack discusses interesting facts and misconceptions about witch-hunting, highlights current research in the field, and explains the best primary sources for studying the Early Modern period. Levack’s textbooks, 'The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe' and its fully integrated companion text 'The Witchcraft Sourcebook', are the perfect resources for both students and scholars of European witch-hunts. For more information, visit Routledge.com: http://bit.ly/1S5PvHF and http://bit.ly/1R745K1
In Serbia, Vlach magic - the spiritual rituals of the Vlach people - has been linked to mass killings and crimes of passion by the Serbian media. Galeb Nikacevic went to some of the most remote villages in Eastern Serbia to take part in Vlach magic rituals and discern truth from sensationalism. WATCH NEXT: Joshua Oppenheimer On Redefining History Through Film: VICE Autobiographies: http://bit.ly/20OX3nX Click here to subscribe to VICE: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/VICE-Videos Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideos Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice Read our Tumblr: http://vicemag.tumblr.com Follow us on Inst...
Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors and Stuarts (HIST 251) In this lecture, Professor Wrightson discusses witchcraft and magic. He begins with the context of magic beliefs in this period, introducing the 'cunning folk' who had reputations as healers and were often consulted. He then considers the specific problem of witchcraft, the use of magic to do harm, and its identification by the late medieval church as a form of anti-Christian cult. He examines the distinctive nature of both witchcraft beliefs and the history of witchcraft prosecution in England (as compared with both Scotland and continental Europe), outlining the typical circumstances of a witchcraft accusation and what these might suggest about the rise and fall of concern with witchcraft. Fi...
In which John Green teaches you about the Protestant Reformation. Prior to the Protestant Reformation, pretty much everyone in Europe was a Roman Catholic. Not to get all great man, but Martin Luther changed all that. Martin Luther didn't like the corruption he saw in the church, especially the sale of indulgences, so he left the church and started his own. And it caught on! And it really did kind of change the world. The changes increased literacy and education, and some even say the Protestant Reformation was the beginning of Capitalism in Europe. Get the new Crash Course World History Character poster here: http://store.dftba.com/products/crashcourse-characters-poster You can directly support Crash Course at https://www.patreon.com/crashcourse Subscribe for as little as $0 to keep up...
I've tried and tried
to capture you
what more can one
mere mortal do?
My love potion
boils and bubbles
poison darts
red poison apples
kafe' kasita
non kafela
Gutrune takes Siegfried
from Brunhilde
enula compana
on St. James' eve
a dash of orange
and ambergis
incantate:
Miss Mary Mack
Mack Mack
all dressed in black
My love philtre
will entrance you
it will pomp and
circumstance you
anusin, atelin
amulet
Angelique takes Barnabas
from Josette
with spiders ten
frae lockens blue
eye of newt
will stew and brew
incantate
this magic spell
Miss Lucy's in heaven
and the steamboat's in hell
Enchantra Endora Tabitha
Esmerelda Clara Hagatha
My love potion
boils and bubbles
poof! goes all my
toil and troubles
blueberry wine
and gladiola
Circe takes Glaucus
away from Sylla
coriander, vervain
and ginger root
damiana, henbane
and badger's foot
incantation
with magic black
and silver buttons
all down her back
Enchantra Endora Tabitha