The Crooked Path: An Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft

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The Russian word ведьма ( ved'ma) literally means 'knower', and was the primary word for a malevolent witch. [112] Where does one begin learning about Trad Craft? I decided to reach out to some of the most prominent Trad Craft authors and practitioners of our day to ask them which books they’d recommend to beginners who are interested in learning about Trad Craft. Daniel Schulke

Mihaela Drăgan, an influential Roma actress and writer, challenges stereotypes and empowers Roma women through her concept of "Roma Futurism". This visionary movement envisions a future where Roma witches embrace modernity while preserving their cultural heritage. Social media platforms have enabled Roma witches to amplify their reach, reshaping their image and expanding their influence. [134] [135] Other countries [ edit ]The Canon Episcopi, which was written circa 900 AD (though alleged to date from 314 AD), once more following the teachings of Saint Augustine, declared that witches did not exist and that anyone who believed in them was a heretic. The crucial passage from the Canon Episcopi reads as follows: A rise in the practice of necromancy in the 12th century, spurred on by an influx of texts on magic and diabolism from the Islamic world, had alerted clerical authorities to the potential dangers of malefic magic. [69] Sorcery came to be associated with heresy and apostasy and to be viewed as evil. This elevated concern was slowly expanded to include the common witch, but clerics needed an explanation for why uneducated commoners could perform feats of diabolical sorcery that rivaled those of the most seasoned and learned necromancers, whose magic required the rigorous application of study and complex ritual. [70] During the pagan era of ancient Rome, there were laws against harmful magic. [16] According to Pliny, the 5th century BC laws of the Twelve Tables laid down penalties for uttering harmful incantations and for stealing the fruitfulness of someone else's crops by magic. [16] "The clause forbidding evil incantations does not forbid incantations per se, but only incantations taking the form of song intended to harm" ( mala carmen). [16] The only recorded trial involving this law was that of Gaius Furius Chresimus in 191 BC. He was acquitted of using spells to draw the fruitfulness of other fields into his own. [16]

During the 20th century, interest in witchcraft rose in Britain. From the 1920s, Margaret Murray popularized the ' witch-cult hypothesis': the idea that those persecuted as 'witches' in early modern Europe were followers of a benevolent pagan religion that had survived the Christianization of Europe. This has been discredited by further historical research. [4] :121 [122] The witch-cult hypothesis has influenced literature, being adapted into fiction in works by John Buchan, Robert Graves, and others. It greatly influenced Wicca, a new religious movement of modern Paganism that emerged in mid-twentieth-century Britain and claimed to be a survival of the pagan witch cult. Since the 1960s, Carlo Ginzburg and other scholars have argued that surviving elements of pre-Christian religion in European folk culture influenced Early Modern stereotypes of witchcraft, but scholars still debate how this may relate, if at all, to the Murrayite witch-cult hypothesis.

Mastering Witchcraft – Paul Huson: I suspect many people will mention this book because it is one of the few genuinely entry-level, practical guides to witchcraft from a not-specifically-Wiccan angle. Basically I’ve chosen things that I think initially position a new reader to feeling the ambience of traditional craft, then to understanding it better and then on to taking practical steps to learning non-Wiccan forms of witchcraft practice. However, because what I’ve chosen do not belong to a particular tradition of Old Craft it would be arguable to some if they class as such. But in my mind these are the closest things on the market to position a new individual both at the ‘heart, head and hands’ levels. William Shakespeare wrote about the infamous " Three Witches" in his tragedy Macbeth during the reign of James I, who was notorious for his ruthless prosecution of witchcraft. [78] Becoming king of Scotland in 1567 and of England in 1603, James VI and I brought to Scotland and England continental explanations of witchcraft. He set out the much stiffer Witchcraft Act 1603, which made it a felony under common law. His goal was to focus fear on female communities and large gatherings of women. He thought they threatened his political power so he laid the foundation for witchcraft and occultism policies, especially in Scotland. The point was that a widespread belief in the conspiracy of witches and a witches' Sabbath with the devil deprived women of political influence. Occult power was supposedly a womanly trait because women were weaker and more susceptible to the devil. [91]

Persecution continued through the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, and the Protestants and Catholics both continued witch trials with varying numbers of executions from one period to the next. The "Caroline Code", the basic law code of the Holy Roman Empire (1532) imposed heavy penalties on witchcraft. As society became more literate (due mostly to the invention of the printing press in the 1440s), increasing numbers of books and tracts fueled the witch fears. Choosing just five books to recommend from the vast array of published material is an impossible task. Even narrowed down into specific genres makes it no less achievable. There are so many factors to consider, particularly with regard to the level of experience and subjectivity of the reader. After perusing at least a dozen or so possibilities, I was finally able to narrow it down to the number requested, only when I re-considered the brief, which specified books on traditional witchcraft. Had that request been for traditional folklore, witchcraft, sorcery, trance-work, spell-craft etc, then the list would be very different. The five texts I have chosen are firm favourites of mine and amongst some of the most instructive, providing an understanding of what traditional Witchcraft is properly about. They are not easy reads by any means, nor are they generic. They are all chosen to challenge and provoke your beliefs – in some cases, to stretch you beyond them. None of them provide information on rituals, coven-craft, these are books that will shape your perceptions on your craft, from which you will understand then, how to craft your rites. In the early 14th century, many accusations were brought against clergymen and other learned people who were capable of reading and writing magic; Pope Boniface VIII (d. 1303) was posthumously tried for apostasy, murder, and sodomy, in addition to allegedly entering into a pact with the Devil (while popes had been accused of crimes before, the demonolatry charge was new). The Templars were also tried as Devil-invoking heretics in 1305–14. The middle years of the 14th century were quieter, but towards the end of the century, accusations increased and were brought against ordinary people more frequently. [78] Marginal decorations of " des vaudoises" in Le champion des dames, by Martin Le France, 1451 It was commonly believed that individuals with power and prestige were involved in acts of witchcraft and even cannibalism. [48] Because Europe had a lot of power over individuals living in West Africa, Europeans in positions of power were often accused of taking part in these practices. Though it is not likely that these individuals were actually involved in these practices, they were most likely associated due to Europe's involvement in things like the slave trade, which negatively affected the lives of many individuals in the Atlantic World throughout the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries. [48] Claude Lecouteux’s amazing book “ Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies” likewise proves (as far as I’m concerned) that the witches of the pre-modern period weren’t just making things up, and like “ The Visions of Isobel Gowdie“, proves how central soul-flight or “shimmering” as we call it, was central to the Witch’s vocation and to the reality of Witching.Then there are books that may be described as “practical” guides- books where people talk about working tools, and rituals, and suchlike. I could fairly answer this question if asked to give five books from four different areas of knowledge. But since you have asked for just five, I gave them as best I could. This amazing book proves, to my satisfaction, that Isobel Gowdie wasn’t just a crazy woman lying to her judges and interrogators for attention. It proves that she was part of a witch-cult, and reveals how pre-modern witchcraft existed, how it operated, right in the heart of rural society. It has the power to terrify us, and it should, because the depths of what Isobel experienced are still alive and operating secretly right now. Singh, Manvir (2021-02-02). "Magic, Explanations, and Evil: The Origins and Design of Witches and Sorcerers". Current Anthropology. 62 (1): 2–29. doi: 10.1086/713111. ISSN 0011-3204. S2CID 232214522. Archived from the original on 2021-07-18 . Retrieved 2021-04-28. Oxford English Dictionary, the Compact Edition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 1971. p.2955. Scholars of religious studies classify Wicca as a new religious movement, [141] and more specifically as a form of modern Paganism. [142] Wicca has been cited as the largest, [143] best known, [144] most influential, [145] and most academically studied form of modern Paganism. [146] Within the movement it has been identified as sitting on the eclectic end of the eclectic to reconstructionist spectrum. [147]