Witches have gotten a really bad reputation for as long as they’ve been practicing their religion. Ever since the first mention of witches, they have always been considered “evil” or “associated with the Devil”. It’s time to provide a history of how they might have gotten their negative reputation and clear up the misconception around witchcraft.

One of the oldest mentions of witches is in the Bible, in Exodus 22:18, which states that “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Other passages warn against contacting the dead through divination, chanting, or using witches. 

Much later, from the 1400s to 1600s, witch hunts became common, and nearly eighty thousand suspected witches were killed, eighty percent of them being women. They usually confessed under extreme torture to associating with the Devil or being filled with lust and were put to death by hanging or burning at the stake. This practice was most common in Germany. Two German Dominicans even wrote a guide on how to identify, hunt, and interrogate witches in 1486, called “Malleus Maleficarum”. The hunt for witches was spurred on even more by this book, which labeled witchcraft as heresy and assigned people to condemn witches to their deaths.

As Protestants moved to the New World, so did the hysteria around witches. It started in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, where the most infamous witch trial would take place. Two girls began to suffer from fits, body contortions, and uncontrolled screaming; when more women began to show these symptoms, chaos ensued. While it is now believed that this was a result of poisoning by a mushroom, people then believed that it was the work of witches, which led to the hanging of Bridget Bishop on June 10 in the Salem gallows. She was the first of eighteen people to be put to death during the Salem witch trials, along with one hundred fifty other accused individuals. Such practices were also common in Massachusetts, but less so in the Virginia colony. 

To this day, witchcraft, whether it be called wicca, magick, paganism or any other name, is still practiced by thousands of people. The main intention of using witchcraft is changing one’s world for the better through self-improvement and empowerment rather than causing harm to others; a point that is highly emphasized. This is typically achieved through connecting with nature, the universe, or any gods or goddesses one might believe in. There are also many different ways of practicing, from divination (tarot reading, palm reading, tea leaf reading, etc.) to varying forms of spell-casting and rituals.

It’s fascinating learning about the origins of witchcraft and how the religion has developed over time. Recognizing the purpose of witchcraft as it was used in both ancient and modern times might shed light on the fact that the people that practice it are not as evil as they are made out to be, regardless of the tainted past they have.