TWT #3: Witchcraft After the Witch Trials
Jenny
jenny@panix.com
Thu Jul 27 15:18:28 2000
Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra's essay "Witchcraft After the Witch-Trials" (appears in Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark's _Witchcraft and Magic in Europe:  the 18th and 19th Centuries_ (1999)) may not be the liveliest essay you'll ever read.  But it's a wonderful guide to witchcraft after the Burning Times.  G-H lists and describes the studies that have been done on traditional European witchcraft in the 19th (and parts of the 20th) century.  The result is sometimes dry, but an incredible road-map to the academic research available.*p*Here are some of the highlights from various countries:*p*1. The Netherlands*p*Malign "witches" tend to be women, "unwitchers" men.  A neighboring witch is generally considered malign, whereas a "foreign" one is considered beneficent.  In Drenke there was strong evidence of family witchcraft, where a male "un-witcher" passed his lore down to his son (or, occasionally, his daughter).  Men tended to be "blessers", who cast protective spells and broke curses.  Women tended to do more divination.*p*Most later cases arose from conflicts between women.  Both the accuser and the accused "witch" tended to be women, and the specialist who was called in to fix the problem was a man.  The social status of witches changed after the Burning Times.  During the Great Witch Hunt, lower class women tended to be accused of witchcraft.  In the 18th century, however, this switched and suddenly most "witches" were upper- or middle-class women accused by poorer women.*p**p*2. Belgium*p*As in the Netherlands, malign "witches" tended to be women, good "un-witchers" tended to be men.  Little research has been done on Belgian witchcraft, however there are records of very active lynching going on up until the end of the 19th century.  Also Belgian witchcraft was quite literate.  A number of books on "white magick" existed and were widely used by male witches.*p**p*3. France*p*France flips the "normal" gender relations on their head.  After the Burning Times, most malign witches were men, most "un-witchers" or benevolent witches women.  Curses were generally believed to be aimed at the (male) head of the family, and were usually blamed on family members or neighbors.*p*In Belgium, lynching increased as witch-trials dropped.  In France this was not true:  both lynching and trials decreased at the same time.*p*Again, there's strong evidence that witches were literate.  The "Grand Albert", a grimoire of ceremonial magick, was widely used by French witches.  There are some people today who argue that Wicca "must" be a modern invention, because Wicca's magickal system is so similar to that of ceremonial magick.  However studies like these show that "folk" and "ceremonial" magick have been merging for centuries.  There is no clear, sharp division between "high" and "low" magick, as some people suggest.*p*(to be continued...)*p*Jenny*br*