Paganism and Witchcraft revered nature but were not organized religions. Wicca involved divination and discovering knowledge through supernatural means in a non-hierarchical society. Christianity grew and deemed Witchcraft as evil Satan worship, influencing societies to persecute Witches, especially women. The Malleus Maleficarum manual described interrogating and torturing accused Witches using tests and instruments to obtain confessions during the peak persecution periods between 1550-1650 before views gradually changed.

1. PAGANISM AND
WITCHCRAFT
ARATHI
GRACE
REJIN
JOEL
ANJANA

2. Paganism
• Literal translation “country dweller"
• Reverence for nature and natural order of life.
• Not religion per say due to absence of
doctrine.
• Rejects monotheism.

3. Wiccan Tradition
• Wiccan tradition appreciates nature
• A system of belief
• Being a witch is to be a seeker, teacher and guide.
• Witchcraft believed not as the worship of Satan as
it is viewed today.

4. Wiccan tradition to
Witchcraft

5. What was Wiccan Tradition?
• wicce or wicca
• synonymous to “divination”
• earthly religion
• foretell future
• discover knowledge with the aid of supernatural powers
• society without hierarchy
• humanity without domination and fear
Advent of Christianity
• Edict of Milan 313 – legalized Christianity
• Monotheism

6. Christian view on Wicca tradition
• Wiccan- witchcraft –evil worship
• Society of anti-human practices like infanticide, incest,
cannibalism etc.
• Church’s contempt for women as cause of all sin (Eve’s
sin)
• Christianity persuaded society to believe women are
more inclined to evil witchcraft and devil worship
especially old women, beautiful women, midwives
• Witchcraft considered monotheist (worshipping Satan),
Parody of Church. (Wiccan tradition however was
polytheistic)

7. WHO WERE THE WITCHES?

8. • Historically, the word "Witch" simply referred to
someone with magickal power. Any magick-user
might be called a Witch regardless of their
religion. There were Catholic Witches,
Protestant Witches, and Pagan Witches.
• Unfortunately, historians use the word "Witch"
quite differently than most people do. When
historians talk about Witches, they generally
mean "magickal criminals” or “diabolists”

9. • Anyone could be accused of Witchcraft. Not even the Pope
was safe.
• Most Witches were women. Women made up
approximately 80% of the accused.
• Men were more common in the early trials, comprising a
third of those accused before 1500.
• Accused Witches came from all religions. The majority
appear to have been Christians, a smaller number were
Pagan or Christo-Pagan.

10. • A significant number of Witches were healers, mid-wives,
Elderly people, unmarried women and widows
• so mid-wives, magicians, diviners, healers, and scholars
were accused.
• Satan was the father of heresy -- so Pagans, Christo-
Pagans, and Christian heretics were killed.
• Satan encouraged all evils, especially sexual ones -- so
gays, sexually independent women, criminals, and
"loose" or beautiful women fell under suspicion.
• All suffering and ugliness was of the Devil, and that made
the elderly, the plain, and the handicapped suspect.

11. Christian influence on witch hunting
9th century: witches did not exist .. all witch craft as flying, curses, hexes and such were seen as
delusions and hallucinations. Penalties for healing was mild such as fasting- bread and water.
12th century: Cathar movement. were declared heretics. Genocide against them. Pope Innocent
IV papal bull ad exstirpanda.. authorizing use of torture during inquisition.
13th century: The popular concept of Witches as evil sorcerers is expanded to include belief that
they swore allegiance to Satan, had sexual relations with the Devil, kidnapped and ate
children, etc
Black death. Conspiracy theories. lepers, Jews, Muslims and Witches were accused of poisoning
wells and spreading disease.
14th century
Major witch hunts
Roman Catholic church created an imaginary evil religion, using stereotypes that had circulated
since pre-Christian times
Historians have speculated that this religiously inspired genocide was motivated by a desire by
the
Church to attain a complete religious monopoly they had to invent Witches and demons in order
to explain the existence of evil in the world. This debate, about how an all-good and all-
powerful God can coexist in the world with evil is now called Theodicy

12. 15th century
Accelerated witch hunts
By choosing to give their souls over to the devil witches had committed crimes
against man and against God. The gravity of this double crime classified
witchcraft as crimen exceptum, and allowed for the suspension of normal rules
of evidence in order to punish the guilty."
Children's testimony was accepted. Essentially unlimited torture was applied to
obtain confessions. The flimsiest circumstantial evidence was accepted as proof
of guilt.
Martin Luther: This triggered the Protestant Reformation. In Roman Catholic
countries, the courts continue to burn witches. In Protestant lands, they were
mainly hung. Some Protestant countries did not allow torture
Circa 1550 to 1650: Trials and executions reached a peak during these ten decades,
which are often referred to as the "burning times." They were mostly
concentrated in eastern France, Germany and Switzerland. Witch persecutions
often occurred in areas where Catholics and Protestants were fighting
De Praestigiis Daemonum"(Shipwreck of souls)—Witches did not exist. Satan
promoted the belief that it did rejected confessions obtained from torture.
Recommended that medical treatment instead of it.

13. 16th century.
Friedrich Spee von Langenfield, a Jesuit priest, wrote
"Cautio criminalis" (Circumspection in Criminal Cases).
He condemned the witch hunts and persecution in
Wurzburg, Germany. He wrote that the accused confessed
only because they were the victims of sadistic tortures.
17th century witch hunting slowly died down. Very few
trials. Execution was stopped.
18th century -19th century
Linking neo pagan religions and nature based religions
which went against Christianity to Satan worshipping
witches.

14. Malleus maleficarum (hammer of the
witches)
It is a fascinating study of the authors' misogyny and sexual frustration. It describes the
activities of Witches, the methods of extracting confessions.
Heinrich Kramer, a German Catholic clergyman
The Malleus Maleficarum asserts that three elements are necessary for witchcraft: the evil
intentions of the witch, the help of the Devil, and the Permission of God. The treatise is
divided into three sections, each one aimed at different audiences.
1. The first section is aimed at clergy and tries to refute critics who deny the reality of
witchcraft, thereby hindering its prosecution. Theology and philosophical viewpoint on
witchcraft. Must be real since the devil was real.
2. The second has no specific audience and seems to exist simply to lay the foundation for the
next section. It describes the actual forms of witchcraft and its remedies. The powers, how
they cast spells and how to protect oneself from witchcraft and sorcery.
3. The third section is to assist judges confronting and combating witchcraft, and to aid the
inquisitors by removing the burden from them. How to conduct witch trials, methods of
interrogation and torture.
Widespread due to advent of Gutenberg printing press.
Soon considered to be false.

15. Methods of Persecution

16. Swimming test
• Derived from “trial by water”

17. • Prayer test
• Touch test
• Witch’s mark
• Pricking and scratching tests

18. INSTRUMENTS
• Bootikens

19. • The pear

20. • Turcas
Followed by sticking pins or needles into
the raw and exposed skin of the fingers.

21. • Pincers
• Crushing
• Stoning

22. • Strappado
• Burning
• Hanging

23. References
• http://www.patheos.com/Library/Pagan
• http://www.paganspath.com/magik/pagan.
• https://wicca.com/celtic/wicca/wicca.htm
• http://www.witchway.net/wicca/what4.html
• Ellerbe, H. (n.d.). The witch hunts : the end of magic and
miracles. Retrieved from The Nazaren Way of Essenic studies:
http://www.nazareneway.com/dark_side_of_christian_histor
y.htm
• Spring Wolf. (2008, November). The creation of modern
witchcraft. Retrieved from Spring Wolf :
http://www.paganspath.com/magik/createwitchcraft.htm
• Taniquetil, A. (1999). History of modern wicca. Retrieved
from Sacred Well Congregation: sacredwell.org/wicca.html