From the dawn of time to today to today the myth of the witch has been able to speak about him.
For good or bad, the witch has always aroused in man everything that frightens him in the opposite sex
that is the woman.
A fear that he did not know how to control and that led him to atrocities. But the resourceful witch has
managed to survive through
the ages and is now an emblematic symbol in the fight for women and their emancipation
The beginnings of witchcraft are not easy to identify and it is impossible to know the exact date of the
birth of this practice. However, certain medical and knowledge
of some individuals may appear, to some, as magic. From this came the first "healers" and these talents
would have been considered an ability, even a power. This belief from thousands of years before the
arrival of
would be the birth of the concept of witches and wizards. A large majority of cults prior to monotheism
thought that the elements such as the sun, water or earth were entities that had their own uses and it
seemed natural to want to personify these elements. They therefore had a special relationship with
nature. According to some hypotheses, women were the most represented in these personifications. It was
therefore easy to leave these rites to the women.
Over time, people and religion evolve, but traditions endure. As early as , it is
possible to find traces of witchcraft and magic. The goddess Hecate in Greek mythology is one of the
divinities that represents the moon and she is especially considered to be the mistress of all
witchcraft and magic.
A period of history dating from the invention of writing around 3300 - 3200
BC until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476.
We can also mention Circe, a witch who appears in the famous epic and where she
succeeds in making Odysseus' crew drink a beverage that will enable her to transform all those who have
drunk the drink into pigs. Even in , we can find
traces of sorcerers who are present in the epic of Moses. Thus, beliefs begin to
spread and the
does not fail to mention witches. They are then considered as abject beings, outcasts. Later on, the
and even
the would once
again affirm the ban on witchcraft. The Koran recognises the existence of magic and sorcery but
considers it an offence against Allah. Practitioners of witchcraft are therefore sinners. It was in
that sorcerers and
witches experienced real persecution. Pope John XXII's launched an
offensive against those he considered rebels and enemies of the Church. The Pope announced that witches
were dealing with death and making a pact with Hell. Once witchcraft and the Devil were associated, it
was not long before the real witch-hunt and accusations began. The final blow came with the arrival of
the in .
Famous Greek epic by the Aede (poet) Homer featuring Odysseus.
The witch is then seen as a danger, death and disease for Christians.
The followers of witchcraft are also depicted as practising sexual acts with demons in order to acquire more magic, in this case black magic.demons in order to acquire more magic, in this case black magic. They would therefore be found at owhere they would pay tribute to Lucifer or Satan.
Later, a new invention; the Devil's Mark would be introduced as proof of the pact made with the Devil. of the pact made with the Devil. It is simply a mark on the body. This physical detail will be used in various witchcraft trials to prove their guilt.
In addition, they are said to have the power to fly around on broomsticks.
This is obviously a tool found in every home and is associated with women due to the misogyny of the time.
They are also capable of transforming themselves into animals such as ravens, rats, cats and even rabbit.
Incidentally, the lucky rabbit's foot is said to come from the belief that
belief that it is in fact a witch's hand that was cut off when it was transformed into a rabbit and did not
transformed into a rabbit and therefore no longer has its powers.
A noisy, nocturnal assembly of
witches and wizards. This term comes from the word Shabbat, which is the day of rest for the Jews
their prayer.
It was not until the 16th century that a new view of witches was heard.
Doctors sought to demystify the beliefs of witches. They no longer worshipped demons,
they were just crazy and no longer aware of reality and could therefore be cured.
Unfortunately, this myth of the witch is too deeply rooted in people's minds.
In in America, accusations of
accusations of witchcraft begin to be heard in a
in a small but well-known village called Salem.
Twenty-five people were executed. This landmark event shows that the belief in witches is not
witches is not extinct
and is still very much alive. Especially since these stories of witchcraft were brought to the
new continent by the colonists.
It was in that
England abolished its law against witchcraft. This did not prevent
from hanging witches until 1808.
In the 18th century, the change the deal for witches. The nobles and the
bourgeois began to take an interest in these
practices, but above all, in the civil code, witches and sorcerers are simply considered
and witches are simply considered as swindlers.
Until then, the image of the witch and the sorcerer was assimilated to people who turned to the devil and practised
devil and practising rites.
The belief in the old and ugly witch is said to have originated in the folk tales that rained down in the early
the beginning of the 19th century.
Many believe that this image of the witch is due to the writings of the Grimm brothers.
Their tales take up codes from the Middle Ages, such as the idea that the witch ate young children
or even cooked them to make herself !
This image of the old witch would refer to a time when witchcraft was out of fashion and
and therefore, if there were any witches or wizards left
they must have been too old to practice.
As the witch took on a new dimension and became more of a fear among children than adults, an author by the name of
adults, an author by the name of
publishes an essay in > 1862*
called "The Witch". Through his writing, he attempts to
the witch as a victim of society.
And it was sixty years later, in , that another book comes out,
"The Witch-Cult in
Western Europe", written by
and will challenge beliefs about witches. She explains that witchcraft is an age-old belief
belief that has managed to hold on through the ages.
She explains how witchcraft is an age-old belief that has managed to survive throughout the ages, and she reveals more about witches than she ever did about religious oppression and other revelations.
The book was so successful that twenty years later, Gerald Gardner, a writer
, will release two
books illegally in England including
"Book of Shadows", translated as the first book of witchcraft rituals.
witchcraft rituals.
In England
will recognise the religion of witches called
.
Thus more and more people claim to be members of the Wicca religion, which is a direct descendant of the beliefs of the witches persecuted during the
from the beliefs of the witches persecuted during
the Middle Ages but also before the arrival of the Christians.
Today, although the witch of the time is still present thanks to the tales and adaptations
adaptations, it must be admitted that the image of
image of witches has evolved in a positive way. The success of books like Harry Potter,
series and films like American Horror Story,
Salem or even in animation with Kiki the Little Witch, show facets of the witch that are far from the clichés we
far from the clichés that have been attributed to her.
Medication with a pasty consistency that is applied to the skin.
applied to the skin.
