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How Witchcraft Changed Essay

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institutional view if witchcraft changed.Satanism and heresy were joined together and became inextricable, whereone was found so too was the other. Those who were heretics were also inleague with the devil. When witches became associated with Satanism itbecame part of the understanding of witchcraft that all witches, knowingly or unknowingly, formed a pact with the Devil. This was to become the main issuewith witchcraft, the devil pact. This pact was dwelt upon by academics andclergy; maybe it’s not surprising that the first instance of sex between witchesand the devil as an initiation ritual was made by those under the monasticvows. This made witches inseparable from the devil, bound to his purposeand under his authority. This also would have an impact on the understandingof magic in general, especially village healers.The sectarian strife caused by the reformation, especially within Germany,helped to greatly increase the number of executions for …show more content…

Until thenwitchcraft for the most part was a rare crime and rarely did a conviction stickupon the suspect. Conviction rates for witchcraft were less than 30% thoughexecution was always the sentence given. With heresy and Satanism nowlinked in the minds of the early modern age, and witchcraft inextricably andpermanently linked with Satanism, it was not long until witchcraft and heresywas also linked.It was easy for people on every side of the arguments and conflicts to say thatthe others were witches or linked with Satan. Not only did this discredit their opposition but it also set a new level of fear for witchcraft. The more theleaders of the people spoke about it and charged others with it the morepeople in general became fearful of it. This in turn led to a rise in the number of prosecutions for witchcraft. In Germany, the country most stricken withsectarian strife, the execution rate for witchcraft between 1500 and 1565

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At some point during the 15th century, Witchcraft was a normal part of everyday life. Witches accompanied religious ministers to help the ill or to deliver a baby. They were regarded as having spiritual power in their communities. When something went wrong, no one questioned the ministers or the power of the witchcraft. Instead, they questioned whether the witch intended to inflict harm or not.

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“As the magician molted into the witch, she also became predominately female, inherently more wicked and more susceptible to satanic overtures.” Says Schiff. They were extremely wicked, casted spells and curses on whoever crossed their paths, and used their abhorrent magic to make pregnancies last for three years. They turned others into hybrids man didn’t even think possible. Women were mainly the ones accused because they had a standard. If they acted below those standards it wasn’t necessarily worrisome but if they acted above them it was awfully suspicious.

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Witchcraft was a very serious crime and if you were thought to be involved, you were likely to be killed. In The Single Greatest Witch Hunt in American History, For Real, many families were blamed for being involved with witchcraft and one guy, Thomas Brattle who was working for the government, blamed many innocent families of being involved with witchcraft and all of them were killed because they gave in to the higher authority. Although these two stories share the same concept, they aren't the only two that share

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In medieval times, there was a widespread belief among Christians and others that witches had made deals with the devil to harm people. This led to the execution of tens of thousands of suspected witches, with the majority being women. It caused a "witchcraft craze" across Europe, highlighting the influence of superstition and fear during that dark period of history (Blumberg). To add on, showing the impact of hysteria, one editor claimed that “many in the community who viewed the unfolding events as travesties remained mute”, they felt this way because they were “afraid that they would be punished for raising objections to the proceedings” (Wallenfeldt). This fear arose because if they were to be punished, they would be “accused of witchcraft themselves” and could be hanged as well (Wallenfeldt).

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The 1600s were a very religious and superstitious time. People’s faith in God was strong, however it also brought them great fear of devil. It was easy to accuse anyone who did not follow social standards of conspiring with the devil and practicing witchcraft. Once somebody had been accused of being a witch mass hysteria and panic ensued.

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