By: Chris Bisson 
As Hallowe’en approaches, one begins to see images of long-nosed green women riding broomsticks plastered everywhere. Most people know these figures as witches. However, there is much more to the culture of witches and witchcraft than these sad tropes. Despite its common association with fairy tale lore or hollywood horror films, witchcraft persists today. To most people, a “witch hunt” is a turn of phrase which signifies an absurd and corrupt trial of a false enemy. However, actual witch hunts are a very real and violent worldwide phenomenon. It is this misunderstanding, hatred, and violence that calls for greater public awareness of what witchcraft actually is and what it is not.
Witchcraft is a very broad identity and practice. Some people self-identify as witches through religious observance of Wicca or other modern revivals of European paganism. Other religions, such as Vodun, Santeria, and various Indigenous religious cultures around the world that involve shamanistic rituals, remain tacitly associated with “witchcraft.” However, some find themselves caught in the grips of the sort of moral panic or religious paranoia that occurred in the European Middle Ages. Many persecuted at the hands of religious zealots are often not even self-identified witches.
Reports have emerged over the past decade of Evangelical Christian groups in Tanzania, Nigeria, and Kenya killing and mutilating individuals suspected of causing illness or crop failure through paranormal means. Such violence has even been reportedly triggered by the perception of “strange stares,” or the divination of Christian soothsayers — people who can predict the future — for the presence of “black magic.”
What has resulted is a migration of women from their villages to refugee camps in order to escape being targeted for their suspected witchcraft. The situation remains highly reminiscent of other historically fervent evangelistic communities experiencing moral panic in places such as Salem, Massachusetts or East Anglia, U.K. in the 17th century.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, the United States, Canada, and South Africa went through the Satanic Panic, where Christian groups alleged heavy metal music, Dungeons and Dragons, and Wicca to be the satanic causes of various murders, suicides, and child abductions.
Steven Barnes, for example, was released after serving 19 years in a New York prison and exonerated of the charge of raping and murdering high school girl Kimberly Simon when DNA evidence proved that he was in no way connected to the crime. The trial that resulted in his conviction in 1985 focused on his participation in a “satanic” coven, and failed to accept the testimony of other members of his coven that supported his innocence.
To this day, many self-identifying witches or Wiccans have lost jobs, had houses vandalized, and faced physical assault as a result of their religion. This bigotry continues to exist, resulting in many witches, Wiccans, and neo-pagans to remain in the broom closet for fear of shame, ridicule, and persecution.
Wicca and many other forms of neo-paganism are accepted and registered as religions in both the United States and Canada. Statistics Canada indicated in 2001 that 20,520 citizens reported observing a “pagan” religion, though it is suspected that many pagans do not disclose their faith. Census information in the U.S. suggests that there were 750,000 pagans in 2008.
Neo-pagan groups and individuals are extremely diverse. There are, however, a few common traits. According to Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America, most neo-pagans worship nature, ancestors and the changing of the seasons. Another uniting commonality that may surprise many Christians is that neo-pagans have no concept of Satan in their faith.
Samhain [pronounced: sow-ain] is what, through Christianity and secular consumer culture, has become known as Halloween. For neo-pagans, it is the celebration of the end of the growing season and the time to honor the dead.
Observance of Samhain often involves making offerings to the dearly departed. It is also the time when one dresses up in scary costumes to ward off malevolent or trickster spirits.
As Halloween approaches, and the tropes of evil witches pop up in shop windows and candy bags everywhere, consider that there are those who do in fact identify as witches (not just women). Consider that the ignorance witches and neo-pagans experience allows violent witch hunts to hurt even non-witches and forces people to practice secretly for fear of public shame and ridicule. Witches are benevolent, nature-worshiping people who celebrate the seasons and believe that the Earth is sacred and magical.
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 6, No. 2 (Oct/Nov 2013).
