*Witchcraft Beliefs: Ancient

Macfarlane: definitions of witchcraft

Baroja: Ancient magic & religion

intention

good vs. evil magic

women & maleficent magic (witchcraft?)

Apuleius: first-hand evidence

Baroja: Germanic & Slavonic Witchcraft

*Macfarlane

Confusion about terminology

 

For English, no static definition of ‘witch’

 

elite vs. vulgar conception

*Reginald Scot

Witchcraft is “sometimes evil, as when thereby man or beast, grasse, trees, or corne, etc., is hurt: sometimes good, as whereby sick folkes are healed…and true men come to their goods.” [321 (45)]

*Many faces of witchcraft

Witchcraft could be good or bad

it was necessary for the performance of rituals or spells

“none is said to perform the matter, except she be a witch.”(Scot, 1584) [321 (45)]

vulgar conceptions saw witchcraft as inherent and necessary for any type of magic

elite, as we know, classified it as an intentional, evil state

*Competing conceptions

punish all witches, it is an essentially evil means

punish only those who intend evil ends

*Universality of Witchcraft

“The essentially world-wide distribution of a number of beliefs about witches…gives probability to [the view] that a complex of certain witchcraft beliefs was part of a generalized paleolithic culture which, in some sense, forms the ultimate basis of all known cultures.” [witchcraft historian, C. Kluckhohn]

*Baroja: Graeco-Roman witchcraft

Magic for good: produce rain, prevent storms, drive away clouds, calm winds, make animals and plants prosper, increase fortune, cure sickness

Magic for ill: ruin enemy’s crops, kill livestock, strike down an enemy, cause death or disgrace to a rival

*Good Magic

“Even the austerest Roman authors included magic formulae for obtaining useful and beneficial results in their work. Treatises on agriculture and medicine and the offices used by priests for certain cults and rites contain collections of spells”(74)

*Bad Magic

spells meant to do harm always illegal

“it was generally felt that [harmful spells] were more usually used by a particular type of person and in very specific circumstances.”(74)

unclear whether they believed in power of individuals to perform magic(invocation or spells) or just to supplicate help of demonic powers

*Maleficent witches: women

met at night to perform maleficia

passed knowledge on to young

predominantly goddess cults: with erotic implications

 

not fertility cults

*Sexual women & witchcraft

“a particular type of woman with a violently sensual and frustrated nature, who is bent on doing evil, in possession of recondite knowledge, and a vassal or dependent of a feminine goddess associated with terror and the night.”(78)

*Apuleius

women: witches

threats mainly to men

night time

shape-changing

necromancer: man, performing helpful magic

*Germanic and Slavonic Witchcraft

Germanic and Slavonic tribes

Germanic: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Goths,

settled what is now much of northern Europe and France, Spain, and England

these were cultures dominated by Rome

therefore, a blend of traditions takes place

Slavonic tribes: settled largely the what is now the Baltic area, and Greece

*Magic and social order

“The practice of magic in these tribes corresponded to their logical and social order (the ‘logos’ and the ‘ethos’).”(91)

 

maleficent magic flourished during times of tension and benevolent magic flourishes during times of calm

*Familial trait

Scandinavia: magical activities thought to be traits of particular families

 

ancestral lines traceable for soothsayers, witches and magicians

therefore,these seen as inherited abilities

*Women and magic

women had more special magical powers

while venerated in the society, women were also open to suspicion

 

“fear as well as respect and veneration was sometimes felt for women; fear of the spells of which they were held to be capable.”(92)

*Fear of Women

“circean complex”

 

“Flee from the dangers of sleeping in the arms of a witch; let her not hold you close to her…you will refuse to eat and shun the company of other men, and you will feel sad when you go to your bed.”(92)

*The Libbusa Uprising

Krok of Bohemia

Libussa - skilled in witchcraft

inspires Wlasca (maid) to band women together against men

*Wlasca

“I know all [Libussa’s] secrets; the skill in spells and the art of augury… If you will join with me and help me I believe we may get complete control over the men.”(95)

*Seid

this is maleficent magic

 

“witchcraft, or magic for evil ends, is the constant subject of criticism as one of the most anti-social activities possible.”

*Germanic Gods

witchcraft (maleficent magic) was practiced by the gods

 

“A vis magica exists which fascinates or coerces ‘them’ just as it controls the strong and meek in the world.”(93)

legal designations

in other areas, witchcraft was illegal but not sex-specific

*In Germanic provinces, it was illegal and the law specified women

8th - 9thc

Childeric III, 743 A.D.

we find after this time increasing focus on wiping out all forms of witchcraft and Paganism

Church, as we know, maintained aloof stance on witchcraft around this time

period one of transition, cultural instability (or regeneration)