Do you believe in magic? Magic in the modern day is shown through movies, television, and stories. To us, the idea of magic is a creation of our imagination. To put it into simpler terms, magic isn’t real. As far as we know, magic, sorcery, and witches don’t exist. In today’s society, we evaluate things through evidence and logic. Our generation has the technology and knowledge to confirm whether something is real or simply a myth, or story coming from an imaginative mind. Almost all the time, we’re able to find an explanation for everything that occurs in life. We have grown up in a period where our first response to a questionable event is that there must be a logical explanation. However, when we look back at our history, it’s quite evident that society had a different approach to the idea of magic and witches.
Fifteenth Century Magic, Sorcery, & Witches
The first things that come to our mind when we think of magic and witches are the black pointy hats, spells, potions, black cats, and wands. Our image of witches and magic is influenced by movies and television shows such as the Harry Potter film series. The idea of magic has been turned into a form of entertainment for us rather than something we believe is real. Magic in the fifteenth century was treated quite differently compared to the modern day.
Charms
Source: By unknown(Life time: fifteenth-century) – Original publication: fifteenth-century manuscriptImmediate source: Kieckhefer, Richard (1989). Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-78576-1., PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48714129
During the medieval period, charms and prayers were used as healing treatments. It is assumed that these methods were mostly limited to folk healers, herbalists, midwives, or other ‘lay’ practitioners who would use ‘magical cures.’ Common forms of verbal cures included prayers, blessings, and adjurations. It was difficult to distinguish between magical and religious purposes when using these methods. Any request intended for a sacred figure such as a saint, Christ, Mary, or God was considered a prayer. Unlike prayers, blessings came in the form of wishes for good fortune and were usually directed at patients. When there was a disease or the element responsible, such as a demon, adjurations were commonly known as the verbal treatment for these situations. These verbal cures frequently played a role in magical rituals, even though they were intended for religious purposes. Prayers were considered to be magic when they were used under non-religious circumstances. If blessings were not associated with magic, they were more commonly considered religious. However, since adjurations were mostly based on mythology, it required more attention than the other two. Although, at the time, people were less interested in whether or not these verbal treatments involved magic, and more concerned with whether or not they were successful.
Sorcery
While it was difficult to distinguish between whether something was magical or religious, it was much more challenging to recognize whether it was helpful (white) magic or harmful (black) magic. Medical and protective magic was regarded as beneficial and was referred to as ‘white.’ Sorcery was referred to as ‘black’ since it was regarded as evil. Identifying black magic and white magic was frequently based on one’s point of view. For example, a healer would be accused of purposely injuring a patient if they tried to cure a patient and failed. Magic was only punished in this period if it was ‘black,’ which meant it was the work of a sorcerer with a malicious purpose.
The Witch Trials
Source: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/journey-into-witchcraft-beliefs/
Between the 15th and 18th centuries, a series of witch hunts took place, resulting in the witch trials of the early modern period. There was widespread panic in early modern Europe, and to a smaller extent in European colonies in North America, that evil Satanic witches were functioning as an organized threat to Christianity. Those convicted of witchcraft were depicted as Devil worshippers who practiced sorcery during gatherings known as Witches’ Sabbaths. Many people were ultimately accused of witchcraft and put on trial for the crime, with differing punishments applicable in various places and at various times. Witches were stereotypically, but not solely, women in early modern European culture. Witchcraft was associated with the goddess Diana in Europe, and medieval Christian authors rejected it as “diabolical fantasies.”
Throughout Christian Europe during the medieval period, there was widespread belief in magic. The medieval Roman Catholic Church, which ruled over a section of the continent at the time, classified magic into two types. The first type was natural magic and it was deemed as simply observing God’s created forces in nature, which made it acceptable. However, the second type was demonic magic and it was frowned upon because it was associated with demonology.
The concept of Satan, the Biblical Devil, began to develop into a more threatening form during the medieval period. The idea of the witch in Christianity experienced a relatively significant shift in the fifteenth century. Witches were no longer regarded as sorcerers who had been lured by the Devil into practicing sorcery that rejected God’s powers. They were now considered to be evil Devil-worshippers who had made pacts with him to abandon Christianity and devote their lives to Satanism. As a result, it was assumed that they received new, supernatural powers that allowed them to perform magic on Christians.
Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-long-brutal-history-of-witch-hunts-11614877614
The European witch trials were at their peak between 1560 and 1630, with large-scale hunts beginning in 1609. The largest witch trials in Europe took place during this period, most notably the Trier witch trials (1581–1593), the Fulda witch trials (1603–1606), the Basque witch trials (1609–1611), the Würzburg witch trials (1626–1631), and the Bamberg witch trials (1626–1631). The Witch Trials of Trier in Germany were possibly Europe’s largest witch trials. The persecutions began in the diocese of Trier in 1581 and reached the city itself in 1587, resulting in the murders of around 368 individuals, making it possibly Europe’s largest mass execution during peacetime.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/magic-supernatural-phenomenon/Globalization-of-the-magic-concept
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_European_magic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_the_early_modern_period
October 19, 2021 at 2:31 am
Writing comment from Patrick
Bewitching post. (Sorry). Great content, well told. Good flow and clear prose. Suggest reading out loud to hear when phrasing is awkward, or when you use the passive voice (generally not recommended unless you want to emphasize the action rather than the actor). Better writing than your first post. Good effort.