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It was considered that all witches and warlocks had made a pact with one of the demons, usually Satan. According to demonology, there is a specific month, day of the week, and hour to call each demon, so the invocation for a pact has to be done at the right time.
- Who Are The Witches of Greek Mythology?
- Ancient Greece and Witches
- The Witches in Greek Mythology
- To Fear Or to Worship?
When I say that witches go way back, I’m not talking about how William Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters from Macbethchampioned the lasting image of witches in the early 1600s. Nor am I referring to the real-life “great age of witch trials” which started in the 1500s. No — to answer that, you would have to dig deeper. As we know, witcheshave been enthral...
Witches appear in a lot of ancient cultures. But Ancient Greece was arguably the most notable cradle of the concept. When we try to picture witches, we often conjure words like magic, powers, sin, cunning, wicked, hag,lust, or woman. And parts of the reason for that can be found in the way ancient Greeks used to perceive things. In the words ofAris...
Hecate
No witchcraft-practicing being in Greek mythology was ever more venerated than the goddess of witchcraft, herself, Hecate. First mentioned in the 7th century BCE in Hesiod’s Theogony, Hecate — also spelled Hekate — was said to be the daughter of the nymphAsteria with the TitanPerses. She was the chief goddess of magic and spells, as well as the priestess of ghosts, necromancy, the moon, and the night. She was also known for her varying form depending on the story. A few examples of this would...
Circe
A witch, a sorceress, an herbalist, a temptress — Circewas all of that. And she was once also described as “the most beautiful of all mortal women” — despite her having the blood of an actual god flowing in her. Most sources write that Circe was the daughter of the sun god Helios — with eitherthe ocean nymph Perse or the goddess of witchcraft Hecate. Nevertheless, she was best known for her dualistic role in Odysseus’ journey as told by the Odyssey, where she demonstrated her mastery in magic...
Medea
A character related to both Hecate and Circe, Medea was believed to be a witch with the gift of seeing into the future. While some scholars place her as a priestess of Hecate, others identify her as either Circe’s niece or sister. That said, what sets Medea apart from the former two is the image she conjures — often hailed as “the complete opposite of what a woman should be”. This label could be better understood through Medea’s part in Greek myth. This prophecy-carrying witch first came into...
While those make up the more famous names, there are still several — albeit lesser-known — witches in Greek mythology that also deserve to be mentioned. Witches, like the Graeae — otherwise known as the Grey Sisters or the Stygian Witches, composed of Deino, Enyo, and Pemphredo — who were believed to share one eye and one tooth between them. The Te...
In Western folk mythology, a crossroads can be used to summon a demon or devil in order to make a deal. This legend can be seen in many stories. For example, the 1587 Historia von D. Johann Fausten, describes the character Faust inscribing magic circles at a crossroads in order to summon the devil.
Witches were often viewed as dangerous sorceresses or sorcerers in a pact with the Devil, capable of causing harm through black magic. [1] A feminist interpretation of the witch trials is that misogynist views of women led to the association of women and malevolent witchcraft.
Jul 26, 2016 · For the Greeks magic (mageia or goeteia) was a wide-ranging topic which involved spells and evil prayers (epoidai), curse tablets (katadesmoi), enhancing drugs and deadly poisons (pharmaka), amulets (periapta) and powerful love potions (philtra).
- Mark Cartwright
Those accused of being diabolic witches were thought to have signed a pact with Satan, to worship him, attend Sabbaths, and devise ways to harm humans through maleficia. Witches functioned as an inversion of Christian society, whereby they and their actions…
Sep 27, 2024 · However, it was only in the subsequent early modern period that Europeans increasingly conflated witchcraft with Satanism, the worship of the Devil, and engaged in the extensive criminal prosecution for witchcraft, thus generating later references to a “great witch hunt” or “witch craze.”
