witchcraft
...d White Magic. Black magic was associated more with the devil and had satanic symbols. People thought that witches caused harm to society by causing accidents, bad luck, illnesses, or death. Witches got a lot of blame if someone fell ill of unknown causes. White magic had Christian symbolism that had more to do with nature and herbs. White magic was believed to be used for such spells as love, health, good luck, and wealth and thus accepted and even revered. The definitive start of the modern witchcraft era began with Gerald Gardner (1884-1964). As an archaeologist, Gardner had accumulated an extensive occult background. Gordon wrote two books, one of which he claimed was to record accurately the history and practice of witchcraft, as he felt it was dying out. Many of today’s researches have come to the conclusion after thoroughly analyzing his work, that Gardner did not discover a pre-existing Witchcraft group. A paper by Gardner published by Ripley's Believe it or Not disclosed that Gardner took the magical resources he acquired, during his travels through Asia and a selection of Western magical texts and created a new religion centered upon the worship of the Mother-Goddess. This was an important beginning in witchcraft, for it is the worship of the Mother-Goddess that has become the focus of modern witchcraft. From Gardner's writings, greatly influenced by Theosophy, Freemasonry, ritual/sex magic, and numerous other occult sources, emerged modern day Wicca. There are a wide variety of beliefs and practices in modern day Wicca. Most Witches perform rituals to mark natural transitions, such the lunar phases, equinoxes, solstices, and traditional agrarian festivals. Witches use ritual to attune to natural rhythms, honor life transitions, and give thanks for the bounty of the Earth. Rituals usually involve the consecration of space (usually a circle or sphere), honoring of the four Elements, invocation of deities, and a meal. While it was once considered essential to be initiated by and practice with a coven (a group of 3-13 members), there is now widespread acceptance of self-initiated "solitaries" in the Craft. Within the Circle, power is raised through meditation, chants, drumming, dance, or song. This power is used for healing or other forms of magic. Additional activities in the Circle include divination, praying, the reading of poetry, or enacting dramas (often retellings of ancient myths). Witches are initiated as priests or priestesses of Wicca; Witches participate in religious ritual without a middleman. Most Witches, to one degree or another, believe divinity resides within and can be accessed through the self, and respect one another accordingly. Persecution of witches started in a large scale during 17th century and died out somewhere in the 18th century. Witchcraft was hated mostly by the Christians and their church. They considered them as diabolical and evil. As always they thought that witches had to do with the devil. Not soon after, the Christian church started a campaign to get rid of these so called witches and started the witch-hunt. It lasted for over 75 years. The witches went on trial for heresy (rejection of the church) and witchcraft. They were burnt at the stake if found guilty. Some other punishments were banishment, imprisonment, and mutilation, but mostly execution. Almost everyone that was accused was tortured and beaten until they confessed. Many people gave their lives to false confession. Almost 80% of the people accused were women. It was believed that the devil succumbed people who were not strong enough to resist him and it was generally accepted in those times that women were not as strong as men. One of the most infamous witch-hunts took place in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. The entire tragic episode began apparently when a few young girls were caught playing with a crystal ball. In an attempt to escape punishment, they claimed to have been bothered by a witch as the reason for the crystal ball. Authorities, of course, made an attempt to seek out and punish the witch or witches responsible for tormenting the girls and the result was little more than a panicked feeding frenzy. . A total of 141 people were arrested, 19 were hanged and one was crushed to death during the Salem Witch Trials. There are many different ways witches have been executed throughout history, of which being burnt at the stake has certainly been the commonest. The idea of burning witches, one of the cruelest forms of execution, is...