Witchcraft

Witchcraft

Introduction

Witchcraft is a term that can evoke the fear of the public due to the relationship that it connotes to the practices of the evil . This fear that is inculcated to the public is also due to the notion that those who practice witchcraft are known to perform magical acts and rituals that can cause harm . These can include sickness and death . Even natural disasters are also blamed to them . Although , knowledge of nature and herbal medicine can be credited to them , the bad luck and negative event that

superstitiously being related to them escalated the repulsion of the people (Bunsen 1995 . This is the main reason for disapproval of the world upon perception of issues in relation to witch and witchcraft

The witches are one of the groups in the society with most dynamic accounts of history . Having the most practiced religion which is paganism during the pre-Christian era to being the most persecuted group in the Medieval Ages contributed to the transformation of witches through time . The hunts for witches were seen to have effects in the development of the society during the early modern era in Europe . This includes the effects on different aspects of the society during that time , the social which includes the interaction between the members of the society and their reaction to the issue economic which deals with the matters related to trade and religious facets that includes the mutual effect of the Church and the witches to each other . This is due to the terror that the events relating to witchcraft had brought to the region during that time , thus , affecting the general processes in the community (Barry 1998

The Influence of the Religious Perspective in the Persecution of Witches

The most evident of the events related to witchcraft is in the religious aspect . There have been mutual effects of the two factions The Church had its effect on the transformation of the witchcraft in the society . On the other hand , witchcraft also had posed threat to the Church . The view regarding the witch has transformed on the basis of the influence of the Christian faith in the society . Prior to Christian view , witches were considered as harmless and that the knowledge that they posses in terms of healing and unconventional practices can be considered essential to the community . This is due to the fact that in the Pagan during the pre-Christian era , religion of the witch dominated (Burr 1912 Peters 1978

In the advent of the influence of the Church in the Middle Ages , the witchcraft was initially considered not to pose any harm to the faith of the people . The 906 AD documents of the church , The Canon Episcopi even denied the existence of such group . This can be considered as one of the reasons why witchcraft was not seen to pose a threat in belief of the people , the fact that the witches are deemed as an unorganized faction . During the era of the increasing influence of...