hi tom could you ask your guest apx how many witchs were put on trial from northeastern ct?
thanks scott from plainfield ct

What’s the name of the classical song that opened Hour 2?

Hi tom,

I’ve read that seeing witches “riding their broomsitcks” was actually witches jumping around a balefire and jumping over their brooms as a form of sympathetic magic to insure the crops grew as high as their jumps.

Not much discussion here about the anti-feminist aspect of this topic. Did rise of witch hunting in the Middle Ages correspond with the rise of the cult of the Virgin? If so, might it not follow that the female witch was the dark twin of the spotless virgin? Witch hunting seems to reflect a global cultural strain of treating women as either “pure” or “dibolical.” We see that theme manifest for example, in certain cultures in which a woman who has been raped becomes a pariah and might even be stoned. Our own culture contains this same black/white dichotomous image of women as sluts or saints.

Would your guest address the idea of doctors in the middle ages prosecuting mid-wives as witches because of the competition folk healers were to the budding medical profession.

I am an academic, a witch and also one of the founders of The Witches’ Voice, a non-profit organization that does networking and news sharing online. I wonder if Mr. Demos could discuss the accusations of witchcraft and the occult in the West Memphis Three case…or any other contemporary criminal case where witchcraft was an issue.

Tom,
What’s the deal with the witchhunter that visited Sarah Palin’s church and prayed over her to protect her from witches? (It’s on youtube if you haven’t seen it.)

Denny

For the guest:

The spike in witch-hunting seemed to coincide with the protestant reformation. Did it mostly happen in protestant countries?

Smahain Greetings, Tom,

Yes, you may have indeed spoken to a modern day witch – Margot Adler – NPR reporter. her book is “Drawing Down the Moon” an account of a modern day woman traveling the Wiccan / magickal path.

Modern Day Witches do exist, this Witch for example doesn’t reside in backwoods VA but in the “Witch City” of Salem, MA. (Yes, I know, how cliche’)

Wicca *is* a modern day creation as an earth based religion based on a combination of Golden Dawn Western magickal systems and European folkloric beliefs and practices. Modern day Witches are many layered…..In faat, an associate of mine and I created an educational tour here in Salem back in 1996 that taught about the general history of Modern Day Witchcraft and some of its roots as well as the myths and folkloric beliefs surrounding the topic of Witches and Witchcraft. This is a fascinating topic that perhaps you should touch upon in another show?

Hold on – this man never mentioned the anti-feminist aspect of Witch hunting? Oh my….

Okay, must focus on one thing at a time….thanks for a great show, I’m glad my husband pointed me in your direction today while getting prepared for Samhain festivities this evening.

Happy Hallowe’en / Blessed Samhain (-pronounced: Sow-when – it’s Irish Gaelic)

Most sincerely,
-Mulysa

Where the priest failed, the Witch was called…

Excellent comment, Peg.

BB

What about cultures where “witchcraft” is tolerated or emcompassed within the local religion? My grandmother and great aunt were from Ireland. Their “talents” were not hidden and didn’t seem to conflict with their Roman Catholicism. And friends and neighbors knew they were both see-ers, able to see things about others.

A evangelical man I know accused Obamma of being the anti Christ. We also hear if he is elected he will bring the end of the world, doom to Israel, As well as high taxes. But the reality is he is just a man not a demon or witch.

Hi. I’ve been bipolar since I was born, and I’ve also had trouble with EQ. I had to study people to ennable myself to really be able to fit in socially. I was also intelligent. Basically, I was very different. At one point, in a part of rural North Carolina, I was accused by my classmates of being a witch. It was terrifying. I had come from the north, and was different. It wasn’t just my classmates, but the teachers as well who contributed to my treatment. When I was not accused as a witch, I was persecuted anyway for being different (in general, by the teachers and students of the whole school). Later in my life, in my teenage years, I was persecuted again for being different – to the point where I skipped school just to get away from it (a case of the ‘mean girls’ scenario. I am not a witch, but because of my history I can sympathize with people accused as witches from the past. To this day, I am terrified (even as I’ve learned pride) for my differences and what people will do to me because of them.

It would have been nice to hear more emphasis upon contemporary cases of witchcraft persecution; Mr. Demos seems unaware of the fact that modern witches are still much very a target of prejudice in right wing conservative communities. The Harry Potter books and films have been banned in many communities, schools, etc. by parents, teachers, and church leaders because they’re seen as some sort of fast track to evil.
Demos’ historical books are wonderful, but he is wrong that the current “witchhunts” are mostly political or otherwise metaphorical in nature…

My witch ancestor from Salem was Mary Estes who was one of a group of women who were married to brothers. They all worked very hard on the family farm and were very successful. Mary had been trained in the use of herbs for medicinal purposes. The Putnams accused the women of the family of being witches because ‘how else could they be so successful.’ and ’she heals people with her potions’.

Interesting subject. Something besides politics.

Jealousy was the reason my family history uses to explain the trial of Mary Estes. People who work hard and are successful will always invoke jealousy from those who are not. People who have knowledge of things outside the common realm are treated with suspicion.

I find it laughable and archaic that modern people still use and respect the word “evil” as if the term had any leverage. Humans have more access to real knowledge today than ever in history, we know why things work the way they do. There is nonsense and there is rationality, there is false and there is true, there is health and there is disease, there is life and there is death, but “good” and “evil” are emotional, subjective words.

I think of this as I listen to the religious community around me get up in arms in defense of California’s proposition 8. They have so thoroughly invested their own sense of well-being into a particular view of the world, they literally cannot stand to see anything other version of reality gain ground. It is true, people fear what they cannot understand.

About WICCA – I once had a high school senior Sociology student whose mother belonged to WICCA. He became very angry when I disqualified his assigned research on major world religions, because I did not regard WICCA as a “religion”. Was I naive, mistaken? Would anyone knowledgable about WICCA please correct my “insensitivity” or ignorance. This discussion might lead into what qualifies as a religion or belief system.

Humans have more access to real knowledge today than ever in history, we know why things work the way they do. There is nonsense and there is rationality, there is false and there is true, there is health and there is disease, there is life and there is death, but “good” and “evil” are emotional, subjective words.

So what? Humans are an emotional, subjective species.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too! If you are going to extoll the virtues of rationality then you have to acknowledge, rationally, that all the serious, scientific research in the last few decades in neuroscience, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology and behavioral economics points to the same conclusion: human beings are not very rational; our brains are not wired up for rational thinking, when we are able to do it we are less efficient than we are with social or emotional thinking. I’ve already cited research references to this in other postings here.

Humans are not robots; we’re not Vulcans – we are the way we are and we got this way over millions of years of evolution. Humans will always “think” with their emotions, based on social cues from others first, and employ facts and logic only with much difficulty and effort.

My wife is a classical pianist so the analogy I would use would be classical piano. Some people can play a little classical piano; a very few people can play it well; and a tiny handful can do it really well. But most people would struggle to play even a few notes. Same thing with thinking rationally and not emotionally – it doesn’t come naturally to humans but some people can do pretty well and a few can do it very well. But it’s unrealistic (dare I say irrational?) to think that most people will ever play Rachmaninov or Liszt competently.

About WICCA – I once had a high school senior Sociology student whose mother belonged to WICCA. He became very angry when I disqualified his assigned research on major world religions, because I did not regard WICCA as a “religion”. Was I naive, mistaken? Would anyone knowledgable about WICCA please correct my “insensitivity” or ignorance. This discussion might lead into what qualifies as a religion or belief system.

With all due respect, I think you’re lucky the child’s parents didn’t bring some sort of legal or adminstrative action against you!

And you spell Wicca all-cap’s like it’s an acronym or something? And on top of that, when the child submitted the paper you couldn’t be bothered to do a little research on your own so you have to ask here in a discussion forum? I’m sorry, but some of this makes me question your professionalism.

I’m not a member of any religion, but even I know that Wicca is a real religion. It’s a form of neopaganism founded by Gerald Gardner that’s been around since the 1950’s and it’s estimated that there are several hundred thousand followers in the US.

So, my head is bent low in repentance. To clarify, the student never submitted a paper on Wicca but was only starting his research in the school library. While I had heard of the group at that time, I thought it was similar to the Druids that occupy Stonehenge every year at the Summer Soltice….a cult? We had class discussion about cults, sects, and denominational religions.
While the mother did not sue me, mercifully, the student reported me to the principal who brought me “on the carpet” for
offending the beliefs of a student. Mea colpa!

While the mother did not sue me, mercifully, the student reported me to the principal who brought me “on the carpet” for
offending the beliefs of a student. Mea colpa!

Excellent. We need to recognize that the US is a multi-religious society, and that “religious diversity” is more that just “Catholic, Protestant and Jew” and that even adding Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist, barely scratches the surface. Recently a Sikh student was expelled from school for wearing a ceremonial dagger (”kirpan”) to school even though this is a traditional part of the Sikh religion. Eastern Orthodox followers routinely run afoul of the idea that all Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25th. Members of native American religious are not allowed to practice various rites in their practices because of either environmental or drug laws, and the list goes on and on!

I don’t practice or adhere to any religion but I recognize the importance of religious belief and ritual in people’s lives and, as a non-religionist, I still often find myself more knowledgable about various religions than other people and I often find myself defending religious freedom from the ignorant.

What’s the name of the classical song that opened Hour 2?

Posted by seth, on October 31st, 2008 at 11:13 am EDT

It was “A Night On Bare Mountain” by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, You might enjoy,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_0GekZl7YA

Apologies, I have corrected the production notes accordingly. “A Night on Bald Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky. Also See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Ca_edg6RE

To Isernia,

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24wiccan.html

Please see the above NY Times article referring to Veterans Affairs recognizing Wicca (see also reference to Mr. Bush’s comments on the subject – a true constitutionalist, he is – not).

Peace,
trans…

I have to disagree with Prof. Demos remarks that in pre-modern times witchcraft was fantasy created by those who were “victims” of it. Witchcraft was very real, although none in that time would have admitted it, just a few today are out of the broom closet. Witchcraft, paganism, Wicca are all decendents of Goddess religions- those that were practiced long before Christianity. They are nature religions, with the Goddess as the figurehead, assisted by the God, in a slightly lesser role. In must be noted that virtually all of the variations worship both the Goddess and the God, noting the need for balance in the Universe, and the workings of things, but the Goddess was (is) the primary. When Christianity became the standard for religions many of the pagan holidays and goddesses/gods were subsumed. Halloween, known in Wicca as Samhain, became All Hallows Eve when people refused to stop paying homage to their deceased relatives.
I would challenge that Prof. Demos’s research is incomplete, to be fair, in part because there are few modern day witches who are willing to speak about their beliefs, for fear of the kinds of retaliations that Ide spoke about. Rather than write off witchcraft as a fantasy created by the victims, I would offer that the “victims” created stories when things could not be explained, which were at least grounded in fact. Perhaps the neighbor was a bit odd, maybe the local medicine woman could not save the young child, leading her to be cast as “working with the devil”.