Witches in the Ancient World

ofwoodandbone:

ofwoodandbone:

estellaj:

ofwoodandbone:

Witches were not revered, loved, or respected in ‘Pagan Times’. Magic was widely used in the ancient world, and more open for sure, but that didn’t change much when Christianity came around. Magic was still used, but the names were changed. Witches, however, were always detested.

I’ve noticed people trying to pin in back to Rome when it converted to Christianity, so let’s start there.

When Rome was still ruled by pagans, witchcraft was outlawed. The use of it was severely censured and could result in death. Practices like necromancy, maleficium, and the like were not accepted or tolerated. When it converted to Christianity, the law stayed the same. As they colonized, they brought it with them. But the fear of witches did not begin with the Romans.
The fear and detesting of witches was widespread in the ancient world.
Close by, pagan Greece had sects of witches who were feared by the locals. Their mysterious rituals involving mandrakes, crossroads, and ghosts caused a fair amount of alarm.
In the Ancient Near East, high magic flourished. Magic involving the stars, spirits, deities, and the like was popular. However, sorcerers and witches were not welcome. Charms and spells against witches were made out of clay, written on, and buried.
In the Americas (pre-colonization), witches were feared and hated. Still within indigenous communities, witches hold a bad reputation. To insinuate that someone is a witch is to make a very big accusation. 
In the British Isles, you’ll hear lovely tales and myths of wizards, but witches are always given a tone of darkness. Wizards helped kings, aided in battles, found missing object, etc. Witches cursed heroes, stalled them, gave them obstacles, etc. 
There is, of course, the argument of cunning folk, now called ‘white witches’. However, there was almost always a distinction made between cunning folk and witches. The people who called them witches were few and far between (and most likely disagreed with the cunning person’s use of magic). Cunning folk were the enemy of witches. They used spell and charm to attack and derail witch attacks. The Benandanti of Italy are a good example of this. Though they rode through the air on stalks of Fennel, cast spells, and attended secret meetings in spirit, they are not called witches.

This is what I referred to before when I said there was a difference between magic and witchcraft. A rectangle is a square, but a square isn’t a rectangle. Similarly, witchcraft is magic, but not all magic is witchcraft.
Historically, witchcraft has always been a shadowy thing. It’s dark, secretive, dangerous, etc. It’s practiced on the edge of society. Magic is found all over in the ancient world, not just on the fringe. However, if you called a magician a witch, you would’ve either made them laugh or spit.

The word was ‘reclaimed’ relatively recently. Its meaning changed. It was taken from its darker background. Instead, it became associated with pagan elements, some ceremonial practices, and other forms of magic. 

That isn’t to say that the modern definition is a false one. Simply put, it means that it’s modern. It did not mean the same thing thousands of years ago, and for certain circles, it doesn’t mean the same thing now.

Witches have always been feared, according to the history and folklore left behind for us to see. Magic over time was called evil by many different faiths, despite the fact that it flourished in the very walls of the churches and temples they were taught in. It lived on in different names. Witches, for the most part, did not change their name. Many things were relabeled as witchcraft. 

As far as history goes, try not to get it from witchcraft books. Read anthropological essays and journals. Read books written by historians who are passionate about the subject. Always double check facts. Put them to the test.

I took an anthropology of religion class last year in college and I think it really clarified some of these ideas.

Anthropology uses the term “witchcraft” in a very specific way. I can’t remember the exact wording, but it refers to people who use supernatural powers to cause negative change or harm against others. This is the definition applied to all cultures by the anthropological field. This does not reflect how those cultures would define witchcraft themselves however. Sometimes with cultures that practice witchcraft, there is a distinction made between “good” and “bad” ways of using witchcraft. Sometimes they give these different uses different names as well. Other times it is considered the same thing and is practiced by an entire community as part of their daily lives.

That being said, witchcraft as an idea is much more complex than we could easily define. This was stressed in my class during numerous occasions.

How we define religion, spiritual practices, and the supernatural are foggy and arbitrary. For example, “pagan religion” was not even considered a religion by pagans, but an essential part of their culture, until contemporary anthropologists and historians perceived it as such. The Celts, previous to Christianity, had no conception of “religion” by modern definition. It was simply what they did and believed. It was deeply connected to their community identity and perception of how nature works.

So saying that “witchcraft” was seen as “bad” by “people” is very vague to the point of inaccuracy. There is no real definition for witchcraft (beside the chosen working definition in anthropology). Over history certain groups have defined different practices as being considered part of witchcraft. They have applied these definitions to outside cultures and their practices, often without their consent. Being able to define these practices as witchcraft allows for them to pass moral judgement upon them. I would like to point out that the Greek clay petitions were not outlawed in ancient Greece or seen as immoral. They were part of their daily practice. The Greeks were advanced enough to understand that revenge, cursing, rage, and envy are part of nature. It was part of Greek identity and the identities of the deities they worshipped. Was murder seen as bad? Yes. But understanding the use of magic, which was assisted by the gods and fate, to get revenge on another was common. Also I would like to point out the some of the “feared” methods of witchcraft involving crossroads and mandrakes are referring to the goddess Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft in Greek culture. She was demonized in later years by the Romans but initially she was revered by the Greeks as a goddess of prosperity and protection. She was the honored goddess of the crossroads. Christianity brought with it a new understanding of morality which inevitably changed how different cultures viewed and defined practices now defined as “witchcraft” and “the occult”. Practices that a community may not have deemed as witchcraft such as divination, devil worship, cursing, or necromancy, would be included under that umbrella and would be perceived differently. Along with that changed perception is the rewriting of history. Pagan artifacts and any forms of existing writing, were destroyed or altered to reflect new Christian beliefs. Folklore and music began to include Christian elements. Thus distinctions were made between the romanticized but forgotten practices of the past and the now demonized practices of “witchcraft”. Some practices which originated with paganism were adopted under Christianity and deemed as holy gifts from God in the correct context (medieval herbalism for example). While their original context within pagan folk magic was demonized.

Witchcraft, as we know it now, is largely eclectic because all of these practices from different cultures were unified under the term “witchcraft” by Christianized morals, when originally they were seen as something different within their culture of origin. Saying “witchcraft” is almost dangerous because in each culture and time period you are referring to something completely different, and you are using a term they did not always consent to. The modern witch community is reclaiming the term as a whole and the practices under the Christianized definition. This also sets the modern witch community up to cultural appropriation because cultures not wanting to associate with the witchcraft community have been viewed as participants by outside cultures because of their practices.

But the bottom line is this, many communities who practice witchcraft (self defined) see it as a gray practice that can be used to maintain justice within their community or to gain a better understanding of the world. Many of said cultures are non white. It would be irresponsible to pass our ethnocentric perception of witchcraft and morality upon them and insist what they are doing is wrong. We cannot talk to pagan communities of the past. We cannot with certainty say what they believed about certain practices because traces of their beliefs have been mostly lost to time. We have to keep in mind the strong influences which were impacting their history and point of views. It would be equally irresponsible to assume they viewed pre-Christianized witchcraft as evil especially when the little evidence we do have suggests otherwise.

Also I sincerely did not mean any accusation towards Christians or their religion! I support all Christian witches but wanted to give some context to historical changes in these terms.

If any of you want to read more about paganism and witchcraft in anthropology feel free to message me and I’ll set you up with some videos and a great textbook on the topic!

Yes, there are outside influences, always, but I’m referring to a community’s view on its own people, not foreign ideas that were placed upon them. 

No, non white cultures absolutely do not see witchcraft as a morally grey thing. Speak to the American Indigenous about witches. See what happens. 
Watch what happens when someone says the word ‘witch’ in Africa, Brazil, Mexico, etc. They all have clear histories laid out that condemn such practices. Those histories sometimes go farther than when Christianity was imported and spread. 
Plato mentions his distaste for the witches in Greece on more than one occasion I believe. 
The evidence of Pre Christian witchcraft as being thought of as dangerous or dark is there to see in the narratives and tales left behind. It’s not difficult to find. 
I also find it odd that paganism is being brought into the discussion, because witchcraft and paganism are two very different things, one classically viewing the other as dangerous (though I’ve already stated that numerous times). Witches were thought to manipulate and abuse the gods, not work with them and love them. This is also something that Plato writes about. 

I can’t speak for Greece, but pagan Rome outlawed maleficium, which is harm to any through the use of magic or magico-religious ritual. They didn’t allow it and it was punishable by death. 

The image and idea of a witch and what they can do stays fairly consistent, through religious conversions and from culture to culture. This is something that is a nearly universal, almost timeless, idea. 

The use of magic from culture to culture varies, but it’s present. I’m not talking about magic. I’m talking about witchcraft. The definition between the two is very clear. Witchcraft is a specific sect of magicians, doing very specific things, while magic in general is used widely without a set group of practitioners. Magic itself wasn’t demonized until later in time. There existed christian folk practitioners who worked for their communities, and this too goes across multiple cultures. Later, the idea of it being acceptable faded, and everything was lumped under the term witchcraft. 

But the growth of the modern witchcraft movement and the use of foreign methods and ideas not related to witchcraft has little to do with christianity and more to do with the people who built the movements. They like the Eastern practices and philosophies and often enjoyed New Age movements, which borrowed heavily (stolen, really) from Eastern societies, as well as tribal cultures. They incorporated the same ideas and practices. 

Of course, historical research is imperfect because we can’t speak to those times in the past, but we have evidence that either confirms or heavily suggests theories of how witchcraft was perceived in eras before christianity. Anthropology has given us definitions for a reason. They aren’t to be discarded. 

Anthropologists also agree that folklore is more close to the belief of the people than standardized myth, and so when we look for history, folklore is one place that we look to find it. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: a single course, book, and speaker does not make a strong argument. So many of those things are polluted with outdated theories (because even as we speak now, they change) and arguments. 

I almost didn’t respond to this because I’m so tired of the same narrative being driven, but as soon as non white witchcraft was brought up, I felt compelled to. Until you’ve spoken to those people about what witchcraft was, is, and has been for hundreds of years, do not presume to know them through a history book. If you even tried to bring it up in a Native community, everyone would avoid you like the plague. It’s been that way since before Christians came over. 

Witchcraft and magic are not the same. This idea is made quite clear by the historians and anthropologists who have studied these things (and yes, even study the modern witch movements now). The thought that they are, being pushed upon groups of people who have made it clear, is damaging and deeply worrisome. 

Not trying to be a dick but without any sources this is just a long word rant with zero proof on how ancient cultures viewed anything. Please source things like this, it prevents the spread of misinformation within the pagan community.

Jesus, I’m not preaching to the pagan community, I’m trying to correct misinformation that spread within the witchcraft community. 
They’re. Not. The. Same. 

I literally would not be able to cite all of these because of how vastly known this knowledge is among anthropologists. I’d have to cite every scholarly piece written on witchcraft over the past 20 years. We’ll start with a few websites and articles. 

I’ve already cited Plato as saying not so great things about witches, so there’s one.

And there are too many tribes of natives to source all of them, so I’ll list a few.
This is an article that mentions witchcraft within the Six Nations communities.
In the Navajo-English dictionary, the word yee naaldlooshii means ‘witch’ or ‘skin-walker’. They are defined as people who can turn into animals and secretly travel places to do harm to others. 
In the book, Yuchi Folklore: Cultural Expression in a Southeastern Native American Community, witches are said to be the darker counterparts of doctors or medicine men. 
The beliefs among all of these are found in nearly every tribe across the US. 

In the book, African Folklore: An Encyclopedia, the sub-Saharan African belief about witchcraft is discussed, where it is said to be a ‘corrupted form of personal power’. 

In ‘Mexican-American Folklore’, it is said that mal puesto, an insanity hex, is placed by a bruja, or a witch. It can be removed by a curandera, or a folk magic healer. 

The book, Children of Cain, might do well as a bit of a history lesson about witchcraft in the British Isles.

The charms found in the Ancient Near East are on display at the Penn Museum, which should be able to be located in their archives. 

The Roman law against maleficium can be googled and found easily, as it was law. 

Shall I go on? 
The evidence is quite literal everywhere, even on bloody Google. It’s not hard to find. This is from the Ancient World all the way up to the Early Modern Period. The funny thing is, most of these reference people working magic and other people being fine with it. It’s when witches enter the picture that things get ugly. 

The beliefs coming from the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome against witchcraft and magical harm are enough to put the whole ‘Christians demonized witchcraft’ to rest. Pagans knew what it was.