The word ‘Witchcraft’ has been derived from the word ‘Wicca’
meaning ‘the wise one’. Witchcraft has been seen as a magical phenomenon, a
pagan worship or religion, sorcery, devil worship, and others, at different periods in our
world history.
Thousands of years ago, people lived much more primitive
lives than we have in our technological society today. Without the luxury
of modern medicine and treatments, when a person was sick, ill or in pain there
was little that could be done about it. Becoming ill was much more
dangerous in those ancient days, and the ramifications of any sickness were
frequently much more serious. But some women and even men learned the
value of healing herbs, and other types of homeopathic treatments. These
people were actually very wise when it came to their knowledge of herbal
remedies. These astute women, skilled in the art of natural medicine,
also sometimes functioned as midwives and assisted in the delivery of babies,
using various plant-based medicines to ease the pain and suffering experienced
during childbirth.
The earliest records of the concept and practice of
witchcraft can be traced to the early days of humankind when witchcraft was
seen as magical a phenomenon that was invoked for magical rites which ensured
good luck, protection against diseases, and other reasons.
However, it was not until 1000 AD that the practice of
Witchcraft and witches invoked the wrath of priests, Christianity, and members
of the society. Witchcraft, seen as a religion of the ancient and traditional
pagan religion which worships the feminine, earthly, and masculine aspects of
God, was considered as anti-Christian and a heresy.
Held to be against the declarations and beliefs of the Church, witches were
considered as evil, making pacts and connections with the Devil. It was even
believed that witches engaged in practices such as flying, invisibility,
killing, taming black wolves and cats to spy on people, and others. The belief in the existence of witches was
strengthened particularly after Pope Innocent VIII issued a declaration in the
1498 confirming their existence in society, and inquisition increased, although
in 1200, killing of witches had already become authorized by Pope Gregory IX. The
Inquisition thus began after 1200 on orders of the Church to discover the
witches or heretics who were believed to be evil and against the Church.
Full-fledged killing of witches was, however, recorded in the 1500s and 1600s. The first crusade against witches was held in
1022 AD when a witch was burned to death.
In Salem
in 1692, 150 people were tried as suspects of practicing witchcraft. Unlike
Europe, where those tried and convicted of witchcraft (those that survived
being piled on with the increasing weight of stones or dunked in a river to see
if they swam or sank), in Salem, those convicted of witchcraft and executed,
were done so by hanging.
People suspected as witches were usually burned at stakes,
and those pleading their innocence were either stoned to death or even
sometimes thrown in water to prove their innocence. Witches usually faced
severe and painful deaths or punishments.
Unlike the cases in Salem,
Massachusetts, where women had
been accused unjustly and declared guilty, then hung, another commonwealth, Virginia
handled the witchcraft thing much better. To curb runaway charges of witchcraft
like in New England,
the Virginia General Assembly passed in 1662, “An Act for Punishment of
Scandalous Persons.” It stated that women who acted peculiar and scandalous and
caused their husbands to bring suits against those accusing their wives of
witchcraft, after judgment had been passed, the woman would be punished by
ducking. If the slander was enormous, the damages were adjusted at a greater
amount then five hundred pounds of tobacco.
So except for Witches are as much a part of Virginia’s history and
folklore as anywhere else. There were homes in Virginia that have witch
doors—crosses carved on the paneled doors to keep the witches away—and people
made witch bottles to protect them against witches—though the bottles were used
mainly in the Tidewater area. An Indian idol, “Okee,” was considered to be a
“devil-witch” by John Smith himself after the colonists landed at Jamestown and settled it.
In 1654, according to author and historian Richard Beale Davis, there was a
conviction of witchcraft in Virginia that
resulted in an execution on a ship bound for Jamestown.
This would have been long before the witchcraft trials at Salem. At that time, witches were believed to
conjure up storms at sea, along with causing widespread illness among the
passengers. When a severe storm happened and threatened the vessel commanded by
Captain Bennett, he ordered the death of a woman named Catherine Grady, all
because she was a “witch at sea.”
Today, no one is hung or burned at the stake for witchcraft.
In the United States
people can do whatever religion they want to believe in, long as they don’t do
harm to others. We’ve came a long way from our tribal ancestors who sat around
a campfire or a bonfire and huddled in fears of evil spirits, demons and
witches.
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