Spellbound: Witches, Witchcraft, and Witch Hunts Blogs

     In my recent readings from A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult , I explored the concepts of Voodoo, harmful plants, and Ouija boards. These subjects caught my attention because they challenged multiple misconceptions that I had and encouraged me to think more thoroughly about how people from different cultures approach the supernatural.      The most surprising topic was discovering that Voodoo is a religion, not just a practice of curses or using dolls to harm people, which was unfortunately what I thought it was. Before this, I mainly associated Voodoo with negative depictions in movies, but the book introduced me to Voudon, the real religion with origins in West Africa that developed in Haiti. It combines African beliefs with Catholicism, which was forced onto enslaved people by the French. What fascinated me most was finding out that possession in Voudon is seen as a positive experience, where spirits (lwa) communicate with the living. I...

       In this week's reading (pages 122-189), looking into divination and demonology through "A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult" was eye-opening. I always saw supernatural elements in pop culture, such as items in stores like Earthbound, every time I go to the mall or in movies, but it was refreshing to understand the more in-depth historical and cultural backgrounds of these objects and practices. Reading about different divination tools and the origins of demonology gave me a familiar and completely new understanding.       One of the most enjoyable parts of the assigned reading was discovering spirit boards, generally known as Ouija boards. While I’ve seen these used in movies, like in the popular Spanish horror movie "Verónica," and consistently associated them with demonic scenes and poltergeists, spirit boards are mostly connected with psychological factors. According to the text, spirit boards spell out words to create message...

     While reading A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult , I learned how connected misogyny and supernatural beliefs have been even before the Salem Witch Trials. This reading and my general interest in demons, gems, and crystals, have given me a better understanding of how gender, power, and the mystic have intertwined.      Demons and witches were described as dangers to societal order, with women at the center of these fears. There was a shift of religious change during the medieval period. The increase of Christianity and Islam also increased the demonization of magic practitioners that were used to be accepted. Individuals who had held societal power were progressively marginalized since their practices were then characterized as evil, or "maleficium" (p. 62). Additionally, there was a gender attribute where women were commonly suspected of witchcraft, and their actions were seen as countering male-dominated religious and social hierarchies....