So we've all heard of the witch trials and the infamous Pendhill witches way back in the early 17th century!?
Well we will come back to that but for now
The earliest record of a witch, Well the first known witch was written in the bible book 1 of Samuel which was thought to be written between 931BC and 721 BC.
It tells the story of when King Saul saught the witch of Endor to summon the dead prophet Samuels spirit to help him defeat the philistine army she prophesied the death of Saul and his sons who later died in the battle . Saul was overcome with grief and went on to commit suicide.
Witch historia itself took a hold way back in the mid to late 1400's it's believed that in England alone 513 witches we're put on trial, though only 112 were executed!
The last documented execution took place in Devon back in 1685 & the last known witch trials was held in Leicestershire back in 1717. In europe Germany was thought to have the highest execution rate between 1500 &1660 upto 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in europe 80% of those were thought to be in cohoot with the devil & filled with lust.
There was even a book written by two well respected German Dominicans which fueled a witch mania the book was called Malleus Maleficarum which translates the hammer of witches the book was essentially used to identify, hunt & interrogate witches.
The trials of the pendhill witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in history & the best recorded in the 17th Century. 12 were accused that lived in and around pendhill in Lancashire & were charged with the murders of 10 people by use of witchcraft, one of which died in custody & eleven went to trial 9 women & 2 men were found guilty & were executed by hanging one was found not guilty.
Eighty years later in America there was the Salem witch trials this happened in 1692 it began when 9yr old Elizabeth Parris & 11yr old Abigail Williams began suffering from fit's, body contortions & uncontrollable screaming (today it's believed they were poisoned by fungus which caused the fits and delusions). Because more women started exhibiting symptoms mass hysteria ensused, 3 women were accused of witch craft a Sarah Good, Sarah Osborn & Tutuba a enslaved women owned by Parris's father. Tutuba confessed to being a witch & accusing others of black magic.
Bridget Bishop became the first accused witch & was put to death she was hanged at the Salem gallows. 150 were accused & 18 were put to death. Women were the only ones executed 6 men were put to death.
Shaman's also known as Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner who is believed to interact with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct these spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world, for healing or another purpose. It began 30,000 years ago in Siberia. There trance like states and herbal remedies used in there shambolic trances is thought to be witchcraft.
Other religion's that use witchcraft and spells are wicans, which is a kind of like a cult, it's also considered to be a form of new age paganism.
Today's modern day witches cast spells & practice witchcraft in many ways. Infact you could put witch at the end of most things it truely is what you see yourself as. To name a few, the most practised are the following; Kitchen Witch, White Witch, Green Witch, Wiccan Witch, Cottage Witch, Coven/Solitary Witch, Lunar Witch & Crystal Witch. Personally i don't identify as a singular witch but I am mainly a green witch, I've always been into herbilsm from a really young age & I've always been intrigued by it's natural healing properties.
I love herbal healing, spices and teas etc, I also identify as a white witch because I'm an old soul & I believe in the magic of crystal healing.
I can feel peoples energy when I walk into a room. I'm very much an empath and totally at one with nature i believe in love & light and love all living things ( even if i don't quite understand them all).
All witches believe in only using our magic for the greater good & not to use our magic to cause harm to others, with the exception of satanic witches.
I have a book of shadows filled with my favourite spells I make potions & essential oils for various things depending what's needed.
The history of witches is vast, i could go on and on but I'll leave it here for now. Feel free to ask me anything in comments below if there's anything imparticular you would like me to answer or a new topic you would like us to discuss leave us some feedback!! Thanks for reading xx