Modern Day Witch Hunt in South Africa
The 20th century death toll is as ridiculous as it is long. In November, 1925 a person was shot in Germany as a suspected werewolf. One was killed for sorcery in France, 1977. And between the years 1986 and 1996, over 300 people suspected of witchcraft were killed in South Africa. Not chilled to the bone yet? Listen closely to the last entry on the Witch Killings database: Tikambai Sahu, killed by a mob, Nagpur India, 27 June, 2000.
Issuing these names is a database called “The Burning Times”. I was interested by the fact that “The Burning Times” is not a Wiccan site. Running this site are people devoted to recording acts of inhumanity- in every religion. About their list, these people stated, “Some were guilty. Most were probably innocent and Christian. A few were “satanists”, most were not. Some were just senile. Or too ugly. Or too pretty. Or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. At least one was subsequently made a Saint… We present this list as historical data… and as an object lesson in the ultimate results of intolerance, superstition, and hate-mongering.” Apologies were made that, due to lack of space, the lists I have are not complete. The hundreds of people who were humiliated, beaten, imprisoned, flogged, deported, run out of town and who generally had their lives destroyed but lived are not in my lists.
When seeking that fine line that has existed throughout the recorded history, we can find some clues as to why some commit such inhumane acts. In the Bible it is stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (Exodus XX:18) During the reign of King John, around the year 1200, people were executed for the crime of having made a secret compact with the devil, receiving from him power to ride through the air when going to meetings of kindred spirits. This defined these people, over 90% of them women, as witches. Though a crime which we now recognize as superstition, this view was a recognized crime until 1712 in England, and 1727 in Scotland, when the last executions for witchcraft occurred in those countries. Over a century of trials and executions resulted in a crop of books and pamphlets on witchcraft, mostly compiled by clergymen who had been believers and prosecutors, or by jurists who would naturally defend themselves and their interpretation of the law. One of these works was written by William Perkins in the 1600’s and titled, “Discourses of the Damned Art of Witchcraft”. Perhaps, though, the view of witchcraft was best described by Winfield S. Nevins in 1892 when he wrote, “In early times, witchcraft evidently meant… almost any singular conduct on the part of a person, more especially if that person were an aged female. The crabbedness of old age or misfortune was evidently looked upon as witchcraft. People who we now term… neighborhood gossips… would have been, two or three centuries ago, accused of witchcraft. Witches were persons supposed to have formed some compact with the devil to torment God’s people, and sometimes to cause their death. … Sometimes, as was believed, they took the form of negroes, hogs, birds or cats when going to perform their supernatural deeds.”
The first execution for witchcraft in the new world was at Charlestown, in 1648. Margaret Jones was accused of practicing witchcraft, tried, found guilty, and hanged. Among the evidence against her was “that she was found to have such a malignant touch as many persons, men, women and children, whom she stroked or touched with any affection or displeasure, were taken with deafness, vomitting, or other violent pains or sickness.” Jones was also said to be a healer, though her “medicines” consisted of nothing more than anise-seed and other spices. This, too, worked against the woman when the charge was made that such was her power, she cursed her patients and “accordingly their diseases and hurts continued with relapses against the ordinary course.” In the journals of Govorner Winthrop, it is related that a child visited with Margaret Jones in prison, and was seen in her arms, but when an officer followed the child, it vanished. On the day and hour of Margaret Jones’ death, it is said that a great wind blew in Connecticut which blew down many trees. Of course, the persecution did not end here. Margaret Jones’ husband tried to secure passage to Barbadoes in a ship then at Boston harbor. He was refused passage because he was the husband of a witch. The magistrates were notified and issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Jones, who was thrown into prison.
Upon presenting the historical facts I have gathered to a friend of mine, a Wiccan Priestess, I was greeted by a cool gaze and the question, “Do you really think that’s where it ends? With the killing of witches?” After a quiet negative response from me, she continued, “Why are married couples given tax breaks, but those of us who do not choose to “marry” our partner are not? And why are same-sex marriages illegal when many faiths do not believe that same-sex partnerships are wrong?” Okay, so she’d gotten me there, but she wasn’t finished. “Why is it alright for Christian-oriented groups to accost you at your home with booklets but Pagans must keep their identity out of the mainstream light?” It was here that my friend, a very strong and spiritual person, nearly broke down. She is one of the many pagans that feel they must hide their beliefs.
“I remember my decision to become a Wiccan,” my priestess friend started shakily, “I had studied several faiths before deciding. I just agreed with Wicca more than the other ones, and I was so proud of myself! I felt like telling the world that I was happy, that I’d found something right for me. But when I told my family- my husband, really- he just freaked. He quoted the Bible, spouted off obscene superstitions, and basically humiliated me. I’ve been very selective who I talk to since.”
I have come to the conclusion that the superstitions may be justified in some ways. In any religion there are the “crazies” or “fanatics” that distort public view with outlandish claims. Modern Witchcraft is not to be excluded. There is the case of the Wiccan who claimed to be able to control weather by psychic means, or one individual who offered to kill for a fee by offering services as a “psychic hit-man”. Wicca’s secretive nature perpetuates superstition about “secretive meetings with the Devil”; after all, in our culture, a person is only secretive if they “have something to hide”. So let me dispel some illusions.
Paganism is a broad term that covers a wide variety of non-Christian religions. The word itself refers back to the Latin term “Peganus”, meaning “people of the earth”. In this way, Pagans are generally defined as being anyone who practices an earth religion, including the reverence of the elements. Wicca is encompassed under the term Pagan, and is a religion based on several tenets. One basic tenet is that “All paths to the creative force [the Divine or Supreme Being] are valid and to be respected. No one has a corner on the truth.” Another tenet is what we call the Wiccan rede: An’ it harm none, do what thou wilt. Wiccan spiritual practices include self-acceptance and understanding, and the belief that all of nature is sacred, and entrusted to our protection. Because of this, we see life as a chain, irreversibly linked together from the tiniest grain of sand to the baby we hold in our arms to the air that we breathe. We revere our ancestors, and we revere Magick, that thing which none of can really name, but every person possesses and has the right to use. Insofar as worship of the devil is concerned, the idea becomes ridiculous. Wiccans have no concept of the Devil, or any evil deity. The Devil is a purely Christian concept, never mentioned before the New Testament; the Jewish religion, consequently, also have no concept of the Devil or Hell. Of all things Wiccan, however, perhaps nothing is more distorted than the Pentagram.
A universal symbol of Paganism, the Pentagram is a five pointed star that symbolize the four direction and four elements, with the fifth point as the element of Spirit. The circle around the star symbolized wholeness, a cycle of rebirth. This symbol has now been denounced, mainly by Christians, but was once used by Christians to symbolize the “Five Wounds of Christ”. The pentagram, or star of life, has become distorted by popular thought due in large part to the use of the upside down pentagram used by satanic cults who are more “Anti-Christian” than “Pagan”, as their beliefs do not reflect those of any earth religion. Pagans believe that the pentagram reminds everyone that we have the ability to join Spirit and Earth. This ability is what makes us whole, in both day-to-day living and spiritual thought.
Jared, a Wiccan friend of mine, asked that I share a set of goals which he parrots at me constantly, “Know yourself- Know your Specialty- LEARN- Use your knowledge wisely- Keep your words and thoughts in good order- Achieve balance- LEARN- Celebrate life- Attune yourself with the Earth cycles- Breathe and eat- Exercise- LEARN- Honor the Goddess, the God, and those who will be among us.”
Many Wiccans believe that their faith emerged from the ancient Celtic tribes, at a time when people had to live close to nature for survival. By the light of the storyteller’s fire, and with the play of music, they dreamed magic for their people. In the deep woods they gathered, bringing together mysticism and philosophy, insight and learning. Their spirit emerged from the tides of the sea, the light of the sun, the wind in the Oak, the cry of the deer. “The moon still dances for us now as she did then, and so the wonder of Nature remains as awesome as in those lost days. They may be gone, but the magic is not. It may yet emerge from the earth again, if we remember her and love her again.”
