Review Slides Final 2025: Witchcraft, the Occult, and Popular Culture

Historical Estimates and Data on European Witch Hunts

  • Timeline of Witch Hunts: The primary period for witch hunts in Europe spanned from 1450 to 1750.

  • The Nine Million Figure Myth:   - Gottfried Christian Voigt (1740–1791) proposed an estimate of 9 million executions in his 1791 work, Geschichte des Stifts Quedlinburg (History of Quedlinburg Abbey).   - Voigt’s Calculation Method: He used a 29-year record range from Quedlinburg (1569–1598) where 40 people were executed. He calculated this as 133 executions per century for that specific location.   - Extrapolation: He extrapolated this rate to suggest 866 total executions over a 650-year period for Quedlinburg, then calculated a European total of 858,454 per century, resulting in a 9,442,994 total estimate.   - Historical Rejection: Modern historians reject this nine-million figure because it is based on data from Germany, an area with disproportionately high execution rates. It also ignores chronological fluctuations; witch hunts were not consistent, peaking in the late 16th to early 17th centuries and dying out by the mid-18th.

  • Current Scholarly Estimates:   - Estimated Trials: 100,000 – 110,000.   - Estimated Executions: 40,000 – 60,000.

Defining Witchcraft: Maleficia and Diabolism

  • Two Core Phenomena: In the early modern period, witchcraft was defined by two related practices:   - 1. Maleficia: The practice of harmful or "black" magic.   - 2. Diabolism: The worship of the Devil.

  • Relationship: These often went hand in hand, though individuals could be accused of one without the other.

The Religious and Mythological Construction of Satan

  • Titles and Identity: Satan was known as "the adversary," "the opposer," the Devil, the Prince of Darkness, the Prince of This World, and the Demon.

  • Association: Satan became associated with anyone opposed to Christianity.

  • Depiction and Syncretism:   - Visual 1st-century depictions of Cernunnos (Celtic deity) and 2nd-century depictions of Pan/Faunus (Greek/Roman deities) influenced the look of the Devil.   - By the 13th century, images of Satan stabilized into the recognizable demonic form.

Ritual Components of Diabolism: Pacts and Sabbats

  • The Pact with Satan:   - Devotees were believed to renounce Christianity and undergo a re-baptism by Satan.   - Rewards for the pact included money, power, sex, or magical knowledge.   - The ritual often concluded with an act of submission, such as a backwards bow or "The Obscene Kiss" (kissing Satan’s anus), as illustrated in Francesco Maria Guazzo’s Compendium Maleficarum (1608).

  • The Sabbath/Sabbat:   - Collective worship of Satan characterized by flight and oppositions to normative behavior.   - Ritual Elements: Nighttime meetings, nudity, both heterosexual and homosexual sex, desecration of the cross and communion hosts, inversion of prayers, incest, and the sacrifice of children.   - Source: 16th-century representations appear in the chronicles of Johann Jacob Wick (1522–1588).

Demographics and Societal Perceptions of the "Witch"

  • Gender: Approximately 75% of those tried were women.

  • Theories for Targeting Women:   - 1. Susceptibility to Diabolism: Women were viewed as morally and physically weaker than men, less intelligent, and more carnal/sexual, making them less able to resist Satan's appeals.   - 2. Social Roles: Specific roles made women vulnerable to accusations:     - Cooks and Healers: Accused of poisoning or using amulets/herbs for harm.     - Midwives: Their access to unbaptized infants linked them to diabolical narratives (though some midwives were actually recruited to help hunt witches).

  • Intellectual vs. Peasant Concerns: The educated ruling classes were more concerned with heresy and diabolism; peasants focused primarily on maleficia (harmful magic).

  • Age and Marital Status: Witches were typically over 50, often single, and frequently widows. Widows were viewed as "other" and perceived as sexually experienced yet available. Most accused belonged to lower social classes.

Institutional Texts: The Malleus Maleficarum

  • Authors:   - Heinrich Kramer (Henry Institoris) (1430–1505), a Dominican Inquisitor.   - Jacob Springer (1436/8–1495), a theologian and Inquisitor.

  • Publication: Released in 1486 with 24 or 25 reprintings by 1669.

  • Purpose: It connected the fear of diabolism to common worries about harmful magic (e.g., claiming witches killed unbaptized infants for Sabbat rituals).

The Legal and Judicial Process of Witch Trials

  • Jurisdiction: Most trials were handled by secular courts.

  • Legal Shift: A move from an accusatorial to an inquisitorial system in the 13th century allowed people to be charged based on reputation or rumor.

  • Trial Process: Suspicion led to neighborly confrontation, followed by formal charges from local elites, arrest, and trial by local judges.

  • Evidence and Torture:   - Searching the accused for "witches' marks."   - Torture was not universal but used to extract "secret" information.   - Common Methods: Forced sleeplessness was the most frequent; thumbscrews were also used.

  • Punishment: Execution was the standard guilty verdict.   - England: Hanging and cremation.   - Continental Europe: Live burning.

  • Mass Trials: Primarily occurred in the 16th-17th centuries, centered in Germany, and often resulted from judges forcing witches to name "accomplices" before death.

Skepticism, Social Change, and Theories of Origin

  • Johann Weyer (1515–1588): An early skeptic who argued that incompetent doctors blamed witchcraft to hide their own medical ignorance.

  • Social Change Theories:   - Economy: Inflation and poverty led to competition; single women were easy targets for removal from the resource pool.   - State and Church: The rise of nation-states and the tensions between the Protestant Reformation (begun by Martin Luther in 1517) and the Counter-Reformation created a climate where "confessional states" enforced strict religious tenets. Rebels were branded as witches.

  • Targeted Group Theories:   - Gendercide: The idea that witch hunts were motivated solely by misogyny (fails to explain why men were accused or why it stopped while misogyny persisted).   - Healers/Midwives: The theory that trained male doctors sought to eliminate female competition (lacks evidence as healers often aided in identifying witches).   - Paganism: The theory that witchcraft was a survival of old paganism (lacks historical evidence; supported by problematic scholarship).

Case Studies: Salem and Anthropological Perspectives

  • Salem (1692):   - Total: 19 hanged, 1 pressed to death, 8 condemned, 150+ in prison.   - Evidence types: Spectral Evidence, Touch Test, and Witch Cake (based on the "Doctrine of Effluvia").   - Governor W. Phips ended the court in February 1693, citing that proceedings were too violent and based on "defective" evidence.

  • Anthropology (Stein and Stein):   - Magic: Interfacing with the supernatural for specific outcomes.   - Sorcery: Antisocial, learned magic/skill.   - Witchcraft: An innate, internal capacity.

  • E.E. Evans-Pritchard (1937): Studied the Azande and argued witchcraft is a rational way to explain unfortunate events ("Why me?").

  • African Context/AIDS: AIDS is often interpreted through the lens of witchcraft because of delayed symptoms, weight loss, and the perception of life being "eaten away" by invisible forces.

  • The Kuranko (Sierra Leone):   - Research by Michael D. Jackson during a 1970 encephalitis outbreak.   - Witch Stereotypes: Witches are seen as the opposite of the ideal person (Morgoye); they are greedy, predatory, and secretive.   - Confessions: Jackson argues confessions are a "desperate stratagem for reclaiming autonomy" for women in hopeless situations, allowing them to air grievances.

  • James L. Brain's Mobility Theory: High-mobility societies (hunter-gatherers) rarely have witch beliefs. Societies with low mobility and high property attachment (patrilineal inheritance) are more likely to have witch beliefs because women marry into the family but have no claim to property.

Understanding the Occult and Esotericism

  • Occult (Truzzi): Derived from the Latin occultus (hidden). Defined by anomaly (historical and contextual objects or processes that exceed normative knowledge).

  • Esotericism (Von Stuckrad): Refers to secret knowledge accessible through special methods or mystical experience. Often focuses on elaborate systems of hidden truth (e.g., Neoplatonism, alchemy, astrology).

  • Esotericism vs. Occult: Esoterikos (inward/private) usually refers to secret teachings for elite audiences.

Historical Secret Societies and Magical Orders

  • Rosicrucians: Emerging in early 17th-century Germany.   - Key Texts: Fama Fraternitatis, Confessio, and The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz.   - Mythic Founder: Christian Rosenkreuz (1378–1484), who allegedly traveled to Jerusalem.   - Actual Orders: No evidence of orders before the 1750s.

  • Freemasons: The largest existing secret society.   - Origins: Merged five lodges into the Grand Lodge in 1717. Claim mythic ties to King Solomon's Temple.   - Three Degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason.

  • Magical Orders: Influenced by "Egyptomania" after Napoleon's campaign (1798–1801).   - Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: Founded in 1888 by William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Used "Cipher Manuscripts."   - Aleister Crowley (1875–1947): Former Golden Dawn member; founded A∴A∴ and led the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). Developed Thelema (Book of the Law, Magick, True Will).

Theosophy and Spiritualism

  • Theosophical Society: Founded in 1875 by William Quan Judge, Henry Steel Olcott, and Helena Blavatsky.   - Beliefs: Contact with "Ascended Masters" (Mahatmas). Claimed a perfect original religion (Prisca theologia) existed in the past and is partially preserved in Indian religion.

  • Spiritualism: Linked to the Fox Sisters (Margaret and Kate) in Hydesville, NY.   - Practice: Communication with spirits via rapping, séances, and spirit photography (e.g., Mary Todd Lincoln and the "spirit" of Abraham).   - Role of Women: Spiritualism allowed women to become authoritative mediums.

  • 19th Century Context: Esotericism rose in response to the Industrial Revolution and scientific theories like evolution. It offered social protest, secret capital for men facing the suffrage movement, and an alternative to "feminized" mainstream churches.

Neopaganism, Wicca, and the "Burning Times" Myth

  • The "Burning Times" Myth: A narrative used by modern witches establishing themselves as descendants of early modern victims. It emphasizes female power and nature worship.

  • Bruce Lincoln’s Theory of Myth:   - Fable: No truth claim, not accepted as credible.   - Legend: Truth claim, not accepted as credible.   - History: Truth claim, credible, lacks social group authority.   - Myth: Truth claim + credibility + social authority. (Examples: American Revolution, Jesus narrative).

  • Gerald Gardner (1884–1964): Founder of Gardnerian Wicca.   - Claimed initiation into the New Forest Coven in 1939 by Dorothy Clutterbuck.   - Published Witchcraft Today (1954) after British witchcraft laws were repealed.

  • Margaret Murray (1863–1963): Author of The Witch Cult in Western Europe (1921). Argued witches were pagans organized in covens of 13.

  • Doreen Valiente (1922–1999): Gardner's High Priestess who edited the Book of Shadows, removing much of Crowley’s influence.

  • Spread: Raymond and Rosemary Buckland brought Gardnerian Wicca to New York in 1963.

  • Alexandrian Wicca: Founded by Alex Sanders (1963).

The Wiccan Year and Ritual Practice

  • Covens: Gatherings (traditionally 13) with three degrees of initiation.

  • Theology: Focus on a God and Goddess polarity (e.g., Mother Goddess/Triple Goddess and Horned God/Cernunnos).

  • The Wheel of the Year (8 Sabbats):   - Samhain (Nov 1): Biggest Sabbat; veil between worlds is thinnest.   - Yule (Winter Solstice): Goddess gives birth to the God.   - Imbolc (Feb 2): Goddess’ recovery, fire ritual.   - Ostara (Spring Equinox): God and Goddess attraction.   - Beltane (May 1): Sexual merging of God and Goddess, bonfires.   - Litha/Midsummer (Summer Solstice): Handfasting.   - Lughnasad/Lammas (Aug 1): First harvest, weakening of the God.   - Mabon (Fall Equinox): Death of the God.

  • Ritual Structure: Casting a circle with an athame (ritual blade), calling the quarters, invoking deities, raising energy, and the "cakes and ale" feast.

  • Ethics: The Wiccan Rede ("And if it harm none, do what you will") and the Threefold Law of Return.

Antisemitism, the Aryan Jesus, and the Holocaust

  • Historical Roots: Long history of Christian anti-Jewish sentiment (e.g., Martin Luther’s The Jews and Their Lies).

  • Aryanism: A proto-Indo-European mythic origin. Houston Stewart Chamberlain argued for an "Aryan Jesus" who had no Jewish blood—a negation of Judaism.

  • The Holocaust: Known as the Shoah; resulted in the death of 6 million Jews and 6 million other "undesirables" (homosexuals, mentally handicapped, communists).

  • Quarantine Argument (Arnal): Modern scholarship sometimes uses "Jesus the Jew" as a way to distance true Christianity from the horrors of the Holocaust, labeling Nazi Christian participation as a "perversion" rather than an expression of the religion.

Contemporary Panics and Media Influence

  • Dungeons & Dragons (D&D): Targeted during the 1980s "Satanic Panic."   - Patricia Pulling founded BADD (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons).   - William Schnoebelen: Claimed D&D was a recruitment tool for sorcery.   - Game rebranding: Later editions changed "Devils" to tanar'ri and baatezu to avoid controversy.

  • Satanic Panic (1960s-80s): Fueled by the Manson family, Anton LaVey, and The Exorcist.

  • QAnon: A modern Satanic panic centered on a "Satanic cabal of pedophiles" controlling the world, often incorporating anti-Semitic tropes and COVID-19 misinformation.

  • Media Influence (Berger and Ezzy):   - Witches are ambivalent about media; they like positive portrayals but dislike being seen as "Blessed-Wanna-Bes" (posers).   - Harry Potter: Redefines "witch" and "wizard" as coeducational and positive, though traditionalists (like Focus on the Family) remain wary of the lack of a explicit God/Devil at the center of the magic.