THE ENCYCLOPEDIA of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca Third EDITION
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THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca THIrD EDITION Also by Rosemary Ellen Guiley The Encyclopedia of Angels, Second Edition The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Third Edition The Encyclopedia of Magic and Alchemy The Encyclopedia of Saints The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca THIrD EDITION Rosemary Ellen Guiley The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca, Third Edition Copyright © 1989, 1999, 2008 by Visionary Living, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any f orm or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informati on storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For informa tion contact: Facts On File, Inc. An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Guiley, rosemary. The encyclopedia of witches, witchcraft and wicca / rosemary Ellen Guiley. 3rd e d. p. cm. rev. ed. : The encyclopedia of witches and witchcraft . 1999. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-7103-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8160-7103-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. WitchcraftEncyclopedias. 2. WitchesEncyclopedias. I. Guiley, rosemary. Encyclopedia of witches and witchcraft. II. Title. BF1566.G85 2008 133.4'303dc22 2008008917 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk qu antities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Text design by Cathy rincon Cover design by Salvatore Luongo Printed in the United States of America VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper and contains 30 percent postconsumer recycled content. For Jo Clark Contents ACkNOWLEDGmENTS ix INTrODUCTION xi EnTriEs AZ 1 BIBLIOGrAPHY 407 INDEx 415 ACknowledgments For the third edition of this encyclopedia, I would like es-Foxwood, Christopher Penczak, raven Digitalis, Gavin pecially to thank the following individuals for their help: Bone, Janet Farrar, Gavin and Yvonne Frost, Isaac Bone- Laurie Cabot, Selena Fox, raymond Buckland, Z Buda-wits, Deborah Lipp and Carl W eschke. pest, marion Weinstein, Oberon Zell-ravenheart, Orion ix IntroduCtIon Centuries ago, the inquisitors and witch-hunters who executed witches as servants of the Devil believed they were doing a service to God and humanity. They envisioned a society free of witchcraft, which they viewed as heresy, a scourge, an evil and a blight. They would be astonished today to find that Witchcraftwith a capital Whas become one of the fastest-growing religions in Western culture. How did this 180-degree turn take place? The road from sorcery to spirituality is a colorful one, full of secrets, twists, rituals and compelling personalities. In its short half century as a religion, Witchcraft has a history rivaling that of any of the worlds great faiths in drama, intrigue, pathos and triumph. Witchcraft has taken its place in the ecumenical religious theater. Traditionally, witchcraftwith a small wis a form of sorcery, concerned with spells and divination. The magical witch, the sorcerer witch, was not practicing a religion of witchcraft, but was practicing a magical art, passed down through families or taught by adepts. Witches have never enjoyed a good reputation. Almost universally since ancient times, witchcraft has been associated with malevolence and evil. Witches are thought to be up to no good, interested in wreaking havoc and bringing misery to others. Individuals who used the magical arts to divine and to heal often took great pains to call themselves something other than witch. In Christianity, witchcraft became interpreted as serving the Devil in his plan to subvert and destroy souls. A witch hysteria mounted in Europe, Britain and even the American colonies and was seized upon by the church as a way of eliminating rival religious sects, political enemies and social outcasts. From the 14th to 18th centuries, thousands of peopleperhaps hundreds of thousands were tortured, jailed, maimed and executed on charges of witchcraft. many of them were innocent, framed by personal enemies or tortured into confessions. They told lurid stories of signing pacts with the Devil in blood, of being given demons in the form of animal familiars that would do their malevolent bidding and of attending horrid feasts called sabbats, where they would kiss the anus of the Devil and roast babies for a meal. None of these tales was ever substantiated by fact, but they served as sufficient evidence to condemn those who confessed to them. The accused also admitted to doing evil to their families, friends, neighbors, rivals and enemies. How much of that was true is uncertain. Folk magic practices were part of everyday life, and casting a spell against someone, especially to redress a wrong, was commonplace. Since most confessions were extracted under fear and torture, it is likely that a great deal of untruth and exaggeration spilled out. In the American colonies, the Puritans were obsessed with evil and believed the Devil had followed them across the ocean from England to destroy them. No wonder this paranoia erupted into witch hunts, including those in Salem, massachusetts, in 1692, when the tales of hysterical girls were enough to send people to their deaths. The stigma upon witchcraft left by the Inquisition and witch hunts lingers to this day, perpetuated by lurid films xi xii The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca and novels of baby-eating hags and Satan worshipers gathered in candlelit circles intoning ominous chants. Witchcraft as a religion was born in Britain after World War II and came out of the closet when the anti-witchcraft laws there were repealed in 1953. It is argued that Gerald B. Gardner, the man who more or less invented the religion, should have chosen another term besides witchcraft for the mix of pagan, ceremonial magic and occult material he assembled. Perhaps witchcraft sounded secretive, exotic and forbidden. It certainly struck the right chord with the public, who suddenly could not get enough of witches. Gardner may not have envisioned a worldwide religious movement, but that is what unfolded, first with the export of Witchcraft to the United States, Canada and Europe, and then around the world. The Gardner tradition, as it became known, quickly mutated into offshoots. A spiritual tradition that reinvented pagan deities and rituals, combined with folk magic and ceremonial magic, proved to be what many people wanted. Alienated by the dry, crusty rituals and somber dogma of patriarchal mainstream Christianity and Judaism, people were hungry for a spirituality that was fresh and creative. Witchcraft as well as reborn Paganism, reconstructions of pre-Christian and non-Christian traditionsoffered just that, along with independence, autonomy, a connection to Nature and direct contact with the Divine. No need for meddling priests, ministers and clergy to guard the gates to the Godheador the afterlife. Another appeal was the top billing given to the feminine aspect of deitythe Goddess. And, sensuality was honored and celebrated, not punished. Witchcraft the religion, along with its Pagan cousins, flourished in the blooming New Age counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s and then took hold on the edges of mainstream society. In the years since its birth, Witchcraft has solidified some in uniform codes, values and core beliefs. But at heart it remains fluid, constantly evolving in practice and interpretation. Practitioners find Witchcraft empowering and believe it provides a powerful spiritual path on a par with all other mystical, spiritual and religious paths. Dozens and dozens of Witchcraft and Pagan traditions exist, and new ones are born all the time. Witchcraft and Paganism have survived the first tests of time. The movements took hold in the baby boom generation. Now, the children and grandchildren of those people are growing up Wiccan and Pagan, and new young people are attracted to the fold in increasing numbers. But there remains that pesky word witchcraft, which still evokes Satan, evil and black magic to many outsiders. For decades now, Witches have argued about whether or not Witch ought to be replaced with a term that doesnt come with so much negative baggage. Some have adopted the terms Wicca and Wiccan to describe themselves and their religion and also to distinguish who they are and what they do from folk magic. Today, most Witches stand firm by the terms Witch and Witchcraft, believing that the public can and should be reeducated about both. They have made headway, for Witchcraft/Wiccan churches are recognized legally, Witch holidays have gained some official recognition, and, in the United States, Wiccan military veterans have won the right to have the pentacle, their religious symbol, placed on their tombstones. The different kinds and definitions of witchcraft present a challenge in putting together an encyclopedia. First, there is witchcraft the magical art, which deals with sorcery, spell-casting for good or ill, healing and divination. Then there is the Inquisition witchcraft, the alleged Devil worship. And then there is Witchcraft the religion. All three overlap, and all three are covered in this volume. most of the topics deal with the history and evolution of witchcraft in the West, though there are entries of cross- cultural interest. I have used a lower-case w to describe folk and Inquisition witches and witchcraft, and a capital W to refer to the modern religion. I have also used the terms Wicca and Wiccan for the modern religion. Likewise, a lowercase p in pagan and paganism are used for pre- and non-Christian references, while a capital P refers to modern religious traditions.