[stylist] Harry Potter/Wicca

[justin]

Did those salem women get punished?

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bridgit
Pollpeter
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 11:34 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] Harry Potter/Wicca

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


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