Witches

‘What’s the matter? I have to be a witch, I have to be a mortal, I have to be a teenager and I have to be a girl all at the same time.’

      Sabrina doesn’t even know the half of it. From the Salem witch trials to Sabrina: the teenage witch witches have captivated the minds of numerous people. Throughout time they have been depicted as old women seeking revenge; or ugly green and covered in warts. Though like everything the idea of them had to come from somewhere! 

     A witch, according to the internet, is a woman thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones, popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak and pointed hat and flying on a broomstick. However, back when the term first came about they were believed to be pagans that did the Devils work. Due to their supposed alliance with him they would be able to tap into power given to them by him. Most of the time, the witches would be seen to have sexual encounters with the Devil in exchange for these gifts. Some even called them wife of the Devil. Ranging from looking at the Druids of Ireland to Tituba, African Slave of Salem, these people who were profound practitioners of nature and magic have been called witches since the dawn of their existence. 

      Witches  truly rose to fame during the Salem witch trials. In 1962 two girls by names of Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams began having uncontrollable fits. Their body’s would contort while they would scream uncontrollably. For the time no one was able to understand what was wrong with them. The only explanation would have to be witchcraft. These encounters all started when Abigail brought a group of girls to the forest with the African Slave Tituba. Supposedly they then danced around a bonfire while asking Satan for whatever their desires were.

Thus beginning one of the most infamous witch hunts in history. A slave who had been accused of witchcraft before names Tituba was blamed as well as a few other women. As a result by the end of the year 150 women were accused and 18 were put to death due to their offenses. 

      Shifting over to the popular concept of a witch, black pointy hats and green skin will do the trick. From the popular film, “The Wizard of Oz”, the Wicked Witch of the West became a staple in the imagery of a witch. Riding on her broomstick doing whatever evil she can, the idea of a witch was one of malicious intent. As time went by, the general concept of a witch branched out into so many different stereotypes. Breaking the norm, television shows such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed had altered the green skinned evil being of magic idea to a more subtle fun loving idea. Even dating a little further back shows like “I Married A Witch” and “Bewitched” created a home friendly happy public image of the term witch. 

      Opening up this new channel of interpretation, witchcraft became popularly known as a way of life and something that is mysterious but attractive. Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer opened the vessel to seeing witches as women of power who are one with nature. Touching back to the pagan roots this helped understand the origins of the actual people our ancestors would consider witches. Salem doesn’t sound like the true story of a witch now that we turn the page towards an age of acceptance in pop culture of witchcraft. Some may have said it was a trend of revamping the image of witches until recently when Netflix displayed in “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” their version of the comics, Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In the same year the FX Television show American Horror Story had released their season called Apocalypse. In this season they bring back the very popular witches of their earlier season called Coven. All of these shows may have different realms and supernatural abilities with their witches but all show women of great power. Bringing back the concepts presented in Charmed, the CW released their own version of the show called by the same name. Touching into Latino X culture and their perspective on witches helped the show get a new zest that the 90’s version wasn’t able to thrive in this new age. 

      Religions such as Wicca have been established which actually are witchcraft based religions. Using rituals and ceremonies revolves around nature, the religion has priests and priestesses connecting with their coven through the elements and forces of nature. Creating a Duality between their God, called the Horned God, and their Female Counterpart called the Triple Goddess they use things in nature to understand the divine. The Triple Goddess revolves around the moon while the Horned God en habits nature. 

      Starting to become a newly accepted term and way of life, witchcraft pushes the boundaries of those who would persecute the unique people of society. Modern witches have so many terms and ways of life being that witchcraft is an umbrella term of something so much bigger. Main concepts of potions, spells, rituals, and magic still flow through this universe of witchcraft and magic. So maybe you have a little inkling to indulge in the craft. Maybe you just want to learn about the pop culture of witches from Hocus Pocus to the Craft. Either way, the term witch started as an ostracized being and shifted to a more socially acceptable way of life.