[stylist] Harry Potter/Wicca

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Ashley,

Most people labeled witches in the past were given this title because
they didn't confirm to societal standards at the time, and it was often
used to get rid of a person not afraid to express ideas and opinions
contrary to the status quo. It was an erroneous label used for others to
gain something.

In the case of the Salem witch trials, it initially started after a
group of young girls claimed that certain women were witches. It's not
certain why they did this, but they brought a convincing case, at the
time, to those in authority. Later, they would admit to fabricating the
whole thing but not until the trials were long underway.

Because the practice of witchcraft was considered heretical and evil,
and at the time, Christianity was a ruling force, arresting so-called
witches, placing them on trial and hanging or burning them was a legal
practice. There are various reasons as to why this was allowed and why
people went along with it, whether they truly believed the claims or
not.

As mentioned above, women who didn't conform to certain ideals or who
preferred to live more independently, which included expressing a sexual
side, were often labeled witches but also labeled prostitutes. This was
a common label given to women who nowadays would make up a large number
of people. Obviously our concepts of what constitutes right and wrong
living for women has changed, or at least is more accepted, but in the
past, the world was a different place.

So most people accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death were not
actually practicing witches but were persecuted because of a different
way of life or for believing something different than the majority of
the population or simply because someone wanted them out of the way.

This goes back a little further than the Salem witch trials, but one
example that comes to mind is Anne Boleyn, Henry the eighth's second
wife. When he wanted to get rid of her to marry another, he claimed she
had seduced him through witchcraft, which had become a popular belief
about Anne at the time because she was not well liked among the
populist. Later, it would be recorded that she had marks of a witch such
as a sixth finger or a mole, which were long-held beliefs at the time
proving someone was a witch. It's pretty widely accepted nowadays that
these were fabricated stories made up posthumously as there is no proof
of these so-called witches marks on the body of Anne Boleyn from her
time, which had she had them, would have been noted and commented upon
during her lifetime.

Bridgit
Message: 6
Date: Fri, 17 May 2013 16:37:09 -0400
From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Harry Potter/Wicca?
Message-ID: <662065F3BBFE4668915DE4932751AE65 at OwnerPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

Lori,
good question. What is wicca and how is that different than witchcraft?
I know wicca is still practiced a little as a religion. But is
witchcraft? I thought that died out  in the 1800s.

Speaking of witches, why were some women called witches and what brought

about the Salem witch trials?
I thought I read somewhere that they acted odd because of some disease
that 
was not diagnosed at the time.
But at the time, people thought they were evil.

If anyone can recommend a book about witch history, the Salem trials or 
wicca that would be good. Its an area in which I haven't learned much
about. I like nonfiction or historic fiction. Both would give me a sense
of the 
practices although historical fiction is of course false details but has
its 
roots in truth.

Ashley