To get a better understanding of witches and witchcraft it is important that we understand the origins of witchcraft. There were witches before the outcry in Salem. "The beginning of witchcraft has been traced back to the monotheistic faith in the Old Testament times" (US. World News "witches"). Witches back then clung

to the old idolatries of the time period. Back in this time period though witches were not as obvious as they became to be. It wasn't until the Middle Ages did the concept arise that witches existed, but they received a small amount of attention that they were seeking. In this time witches were believed to have received their powers under a formal contract from Satan. It wasn't until the mid 19th century on, that the real outbreaks of students of medieval witchcraft started to express their beliefs publicly. The problem however is not believed to be the witchcraft, but the state of mind of many people that made widespread panic so successful. Historically the real problem in witchcraft has not been in the "witch" per say, but in the "victim's" capacity for self-decision making. The person finds that witchcraft is the way out of a hard time. Little does that person realize that witchcraft is another hard time on it's own. "In addition, many accusation of malicious witchcraft, especially in some societies and early Europe and North America, have been founded and have sprung from irrational fears and social anxieties".

Popular belief in witches was universal in Europe and other parts of the world. "In fact the early Christian centuries the church was relatively tolerant of magical practices". Soon after in the middle ages opposition towards witchcraft had grown dramatically. Witches started believing that all magic and miracles that did not come from "God" per say came from the devil himself. The church upon hearing of this classified witches as individuals in the league with Satan. "St. Thomas Aquinas had already concluded that witchcraft was a reality, that Sat

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Approximate Word count = 1127
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)