WITCHCRAFT: WHAT IS IT REALLY? For my final project, I choose the non-ordinary topic of witchcraft. I was not and am not, interested in researching this to learn how to become a witch and to practice the craft. My intent in doing this project stemmed from the fact that I am a Christian. This class has showed me how to have a more open mind, and how gaining knowledge provides understanding. I wanted to see what is fact and what is false about the myths and stereotypes about witches and witchcraft. To fully explore this subject I have found information on the history of witchcraft and its evolution into the religion of Wicca that is practiced today. I have also looked into how the media today and in the past has presented witches and the type of propaganda that they use that further in the falsehoods that still are present about the craft. Another aspect of my project is two interviews that I conducted with people associated with witchcraft, Meghan Lewis and Carol Karlsen.Witchcraft the religion is quite old. Practices have said to be dated back to Neolithic “Stone Age” cave painting, but it is hard to be completely certain if the pictures have been interpreted properly. Witchcraft is known to have grown out of pre-Christian pagan beliefs. The beliefs have developed over the years, being taken from various sources. The idea of witchcraft took a major turn around the end of the mid-evil period. Around the 1500’s the religion of witchcraft no longer become accepted. The Catholic Church in Europe began inquisitions and the persecutions of people they believed to be witches. Before this time the definition of a witch had a person such as a healer or sorcerer/sorceress. Often the people who were known as witches were “wise folk” or “good witches.” They were often old, and believed that their knowledge of herbs used in medicine was due to their age. Starting in about the thirteenth ce...
