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• Witchcraft (55)

Encyclopedia: Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of alleged supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. While mythological witches are often supernatural creatures, historically many people have been accused of witchcraft, or have claimed to be witches. Witchcraft still exists in a number of belief systems, with many modern practitioners.

The term "witchcraft" can have positive or negative connotations depending on cultural context; for instance, in post-Christian European cultures it has historically been associated with evil and the Devil, while most contemporary people who self-identify as witches see it as beneficent and morally positive.

Translations

How to say "Witchcraft" in other languages:

	(Chinese)	女巫
	(Japanese)	魔女
	(German)	Hexe
	(Spanish)	Brujería
	(French)	Sorcière
	(Italian)	Stregoneria

Search results

Angita

In early Roman mythology, Angita was a goddess of healing, magic and witchcraft...

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Makutu

In Polynesian mythology, Makutu is a difficult type of witchcraft which requires three tests to become proficient in...

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Ezekiel Cheever

Ezekiel Cheever is a character in Arthur Miller's play about witchcraft hysteria in Salem, The... Proctor for witchcraft, regarding the poppet which was placed in the Proctor house so that it would look like that she was practising witchcraft against Abigail Williams...

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Stregheria

Stregheria is an antiquated word for witchcraft in the Toscano dialect of the Italian language. It was popularized by C.G. Leland's book entitled Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches published in 1890. Today, the term stregheria is used primarily by Wiccans. The modern word for "witchcraft" in the...

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1692

begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. June 10 - Salem Witch Trials: three women hanged for witchcraft. August 19 - Salem Witch Trials: three women and four men are hanged for witchcraft. September 19 - Salem Witch Trials: a man is pressed to...

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Airmed

In Goidelic mythology, the goddess Airmed was one of the Tuatha de Danaan, the goddess of witchcraft and healing. With Miach, she is the daughter of Dian Cecht; the two sisters once healed Nuada...

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Ellen Cannon Reed

The late Ellen Cannon Reed was the most widely known priestess of the Isian Tradition of Witchcraft. She lived in southern California and wrote widely (most famously the book The Witches' Qabalah...

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Macumba

Macumba is an Afro-Brazilian religion, common in many parts of Brazil. In some regions, notably Rio de Janeiro, it is closely akin, if not identical, to Candomblé. However, Macumba is also a distinct cult, more akin to European witchcraft...

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Summis desiderantes

Summis desiderantes affectibus is a papal bull issued on December 5, 1484 by Pope Innocent VIII. It condemned an alleged outbreak of witchcraft and heresy in the region of the Rhine River valley... to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany. This papal bull led to one of the severest witchhunts in...

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Dorothy Clutterbuck

near Christchurch, England, whom Gerald Gardner claimed had initiated him into witchcraft. Cited as an early influence on modern witchcraft, she was identified by Gardner as his initiator into witchcraft (not "Wicca") in 1939. He claimed she was head of a New Forest coven until her death. Some, such...

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