I thought a lot about what my first blog entry should be about. I am not into the supernatural all that much but I am obsessed with "Harry Potter". So I thought what would be better to write about than Witchcraft. I Googled "Witchcraft" and I found that the most helpful website was Wikipedia. They had an entire page on this topic along with an entire history on witchcraft and witches from the beginning and they even split it up according to different regions and religions.
There is more than one type of witchcraft practices. The lesser known is good magic. Good magic also known as white magic is associated with healing people or helping a community. Witches who practiced white magic were more commonly known as sorcerers, Wise Men, Blessers or Unbinding. They were used to give prophecies, and to help the community ward off evil spirits such as Vampires and the Devil. They would also help women become fertile. Although this type of witchcraft is considered good and helpful, there were lots of people, especially in the religious community, who thought otherwise.
The more commonly known use for Witchcraft is for the dark side. Other practices of witchcraft are those who take over ones mind, or body and make them do things against their will. They also would cause illness and death. They were known to take away peoples personal belongings. Basically anything that could go wrong and did was due to witchcraft. In Medieval/Early Modern period, it has been said that Christians where in an apocalyptic battle against the devil who was known to have a secret army of witches. The "Malleus Malefic arum" was a witch hunting manual. The book said that most witches were female and evil.
I learned that not all witchcraft is used for cursing or harming people, it's also used for good. Whether you think witches used witchcraft for good or evil, for healing or to cause harm or help or destroy a community, it is still such a fascinating topic.
To get more in depth information about witchcraft click Here!
Picture credit goes to *Into the Darkness*
I hope you enjoyed my first entry =]
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