The Societies Views on Wicca and Witches Today

             In a 1730 newspaper article Benjamin Franklin reports a trial intended to prove the guilt or innocence of two persons accused of witchcraft. The two people agreed voluntarily to be tested if their accusers would also take the same test. Although the "trial" seems ridiculous today, it was considered very serious, indeed, in 1730. Fear of witches and evil spells led the population at that time to take legal action against anyone accused of being a witch or a sorcerer, for although the people were religious, they had not given up their belief in magic and had not yet progressed to science. Franklin's tone, however, does reveal some skepticism on his part and on the parts of some of the people, which indicates a movement toward enlightenment on the subject of witchcraft. In all ages people with common sense have existed, who despite the beliefs of their neighbors are able to see the folly of certain beliefs.

             Nowadays, people who claim to be witches advertise themselves as good people who want to help others. They join WICCA and appear on television. Usually, they point out that they are guilty only of practicing an ancient pagan religion, which seeks to control events and the weather with magic practices. In ancient pagan times, when the weather was good and crops came in abundantly, this "proved" to the people that the pagan priest's magic was powerful. By 1730, however, witches had been strongly denounced by the Church as real and as the essence of evil. People were afraid of witches and what they might do. A whole body of belief about witches was attached to the fear-that they kept cats, for example, as "consorts" and were in league with Satan. Belief in a devil as the source of evil in the world was widespread then. Although some people today still believe there is an actual being called the devil that seduces people into committing sin, most people no longer subscribe to such belief.

Related Essays: