Witchcraft and Witches: Home

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Images of witches have appeared in various forms throughout history—from evil, wart-nosed women huddling over a cauldron of boiling liquid to hag-faced, cackling beings riding through the sky on brooms wearing pointy hats. In pop culture, the witch has been portrayed as a benevolent, nose-twitching suburban housewife; an awkward teenager learning to control her powers and a trio of charmed sisters battling the forces of evil. The real history of witches, however, is dark and, often for the witches, deadly.

Witchcraft was a genuine concern for colonial Virginians. The colony’s English settlers brought with them a strong belief in the devil’s power and his presence in the New World.

The history of witchcraft is complex, and often raises more questions than it answers. Where did witches come from? And did they always arrive on broomsticks? We asked Professor Diane Purkiss to take us inside the minds of ordinary people and intellectuals in medieval and early modern England to reveal how the figure of the witch was born.

What constitutes “witchcraft” and how its practitioners have been viewed throughout the centuries in the western world has changed dramatically. From folk practices, to church hysteria and persecution, to female empowerment, the term “witch” evokes a long and sordid history.

Witch trials are not a thing of the past. Indeed, charges of witchcraft and trials of suspected witches are increasing.

Wicca, an alternative minority religion whose adherents, regardless of gender, call themselves witches, began in the U.K. in the 1940s. Wicca and Witchcraft are part of the larger contemporary pagan movement, which includes druids and heathens among others. All these spiritual paths, as pagans refer to them, base their practices on pre-Christian religions and cultures.

Art mirrors society, so this tour of witchcraft in Western art will tell us a lot about our past. We will look at representations of witches from old hags to beautiful seducers and end with the modern witch.

As far as popular fascinations go, few have endured for as long, or created as robust a bibliography, as witches. While the word “witch” has its etymological roots (wicce) in Old English, the concept has antecedents much older and geographically widespread.

The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later.

Twenty-four people died during the Salem witch trials, though many more were accused of witchcraft.

Questions about the Salem Witch Trials answered.

An internet encyclopedia on mythology, folklore, and religion.
If you're interested in witchcraft throughout the world, start here to find regional search terms.

Across time and space, women have been both honored and persecuted for their supposed magical powers. These six examples of witches from around the world prove that magic comes in many forms.

Information about and beautiful photographs of magical practices in the Philippines, Haiti, and Romania.

In most societies, old age is associated with wisdom, and the elderly are cherished and revered, but in certain northern parts of Ghana, it is linked to witchcraft.

Isangomas and inyangas are the two main types of indigenous or traditional healers in South Africa.
(Note: These types of healers used to be referred to as "witch doctors.")

Magic and mantic arts are endemic in Chinese life and prominent in the religions of China, both in popular religion and in Buddhism and Daoism. The same is true of Korea and Japan, where indigenous beliefs have been overlaid by the cultural influence of China.

In Northeastern India, there is a city with a mythological history even deeper than the Brahmaputra River that runs through it. Nicknamed “The Land of Black Magic,” the untouched, secluded village of Mayong holds one of the oddest magical backstories on the planet.

Japanese folklore is full of magical creatures, of tales of persons with mystical abilities. These people aren't referred to as witches per se. The word "witch" comes from European vocabulary, a single title to encompass all manner of people suspected to have mystical powers.

Far from B-movie cliches, vodou is spiritual system and a way of life but even in Haiti, where it became an official religion, it faces prejudice and hostility

Haitian Vodou (also written as Vaudou, Vodun, Vodoun, and Voodoo) is a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Practitioners are called "vodouists" or "servants of the spirits".

From Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería, to Brujería, Brazilian Candomblé and Umbanda, the religious and spiritual practices in the Latin American and Afro-Caribbean communities are vast. Two particular rituals set the foundations of what we know today as santiguos (healing blessings), despojos (spiritual cleansings), spells, offerings, divination, charms, amulets, and brebajes (concoctions).

Did members of a powerful society of warlocks actually murder their enemies and kidnap children?

Sorcery and witchcraft in Slavic folklore and mythology were based on “the intervention” of gods, spirits, and natural forces by the common people (who often believed that they were able to control these “supernatural” forces).

A fearsome witch of Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is said to kidnap, roast, and eat children in the woods of Eastern Europe.

In this series, we explore the witch in comic books and highlight those characters that subscribe to some of the more traditional tropes assigned to this enduring figure.

We've rounded up a baker's dozen (that's a lucky 13) of pop culture's most iconic witches for days when you're witchful thinking. Hopefully, this overview will help avoid confusing questions like "Which witch is which?"

Evil sorcerers, lovable goofs, and dead-raising magicians — witches and wizards of pop culture come in all shapes and sizes (including the Jedi variety, which we’ve controversially decided to include). We have selected the top wizards and witches across film, television, video games, comics, and books and ranked them according to powers + power in pop culture.

Isn’t it high time that the witches of cinema also get the acclaim they deserve? A great witch movie is inherently compelling because it’s driven by a person — a woman, usually — who refuses to behave the way that society demands.

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