WITCH-CRAFT* is merely the form that the belief in the arts of magic assumed under the action of certain notions introduced by Christianity,— The powers supposed to be possessed by the witches, and the rites and incantations by which they acquired those powers, were substantially the same as belonged to the devotees of the Greek Hecate (q v.), the Striga and Venefica of the ancient Romans, and the Vala or wise woman of the Teutonic pagans. But when, along with the knowledge of the one true God, the idea of a purely wicked spirit, the enemy of God and man, was introduced, it was natural that all supernatural powers not proceeding directly from the true God, should be ascribed to him. This gave an entirely new aspect to such arts: they became associated with heresy; those who practiced them must be in compact with the devil, ands have renonnced God and the true faith. Previously, if a witch was punished, it was because she had been guilty of poisoning, or at least was believed to have poisoned or wrought some other actual mischief. Now, however, such power was only the power to work evil ; and merely to be a witch was in itself a sin and crime that filled the pious mind with horror. This feeling, zealously fostered, first by the Catholic clergy, and then no less by the Protestant, rose to a frenzy that for four centuries filled Europe with the most shocking bloodshed and cruelty.
Almost all the various notions and practices noticed under the heads MAGIC, Dnanca 'PION, INCANTATION, AUGURIES, CHARM, TALISMAN, ORDEAL, FETICHISM, EVIL EYE, etc., are embodied more or less prominently in the huge mass of superstitions which formed the creed of witchcraft in its full development. A reference, therefore, to those heads, and to the kindred subjects of ASTROLOGY and ALCHEMY, saves the necessity of entering into descriptive details of what witchcraft was. What was new and distinctive in the witchcraft of Christendom was the theory of magical arts which it involved. The doctrine of the devil (q.v.), as finally elaborated in the middle ages, established in the world a rival dominion to that of the Almighty. The arch-fiend and his legions of sub ordinate demons (q.v.) exercised a sway, merely permitted, no doubt, but still vast and indefinite, not only over the elements of nature, but over the minds and bodies of men— all except those who had been admitted by baptism into the number of the "redeemed" (see ATONEMENT), and continued to be guarded by the faith and rites of the church. The faithful could not be led into evil against their will, nor essentially injured in per son; but not even they were altogether exempt from diabolic annoyance, for the immunity does not seem to have extended to their belongings. As a strictly logical sequence of this assumed constitution of things, it followed, that those mortals who had the gifts of producing supernatural effects of any kind (and that such gifts had been possessed by individuals in all ages and countries, was not for a moment questioned), must derive their power from the prhice of darkness and be acting as his agents— always excepting, of course, those miraculous powers which the church herself claimed to exercise in the name of heaven. Moreover, as the universally coveted powers of fortune-telling, and of controlling the elements for your own benefit or the hurt of your enemies, could not be supposed to be bestowed by a being of the devil's character except as a quid pro quo, and as the object dearest to the devil's heart—the very aim and end, in fact, of his struggle with the kingdom of light—was to win back as many as possible of the souls that had been redeemed from his dominion by the death of Christ, it was natural to conclude that the price he would demand for his gifts would be a renuncia tion of Christianity and entrance into }his service. Hence it came to be the established
belief, that in order to acquire the porTers of witchcraft, the person must formally sell his or her soul to the devil. The idea of a covenant with the arch-enemy was not involved in the early and heathen conception of magic. Originally magic was identical with the lowest form of religion, that is, Fetichism (q.v.). It was grounded on the idea i that certain natural objects and certain rites and observances had, in themselves, a mysterious power of producing wonderful effects; and the art of the magician consisted in the knowledge of these mysterious powers, and in the skill to combine and direct them to special purposes. The effects were not conceived as being produced by the interference of any conscious being—god or devil. On the contrary, a human being could, through magical means, acquire control over supernatural beings. The Hindus carry this notion so far, that they represent some of their sages as practicing austerities and performing sacrifices and other rites, until they can control the gods themselves, and even threaten their destruction along with that of the universe (see ViswliNtrraA). The higher kind of European magic in the middle ages, was mixed up with what physical science there then was; and the most noted men of the time were addicted to the pur suit, or were at least reputed to be so. So far from deriving their power from the kingdom of darkness, the scientific magician, by the mere force of his art, could compel the occasional services of the arch-fiend himself, and make inferior demons the involun tary slaves of his will. A. belief, however, had early existed that individuals in desper ate circumstances had been tempted to purchase, at the price of their souls, the help of the devil to extricate them from their difficulties (see THEOPHILUS); and hence a sus picion began to grow that many magicians, instead of seeking to acquire their power by the laborious studies of the regular art, had acquired it in this illegitimate way. At last, as the system of dualism above mentioned became more perfect, the art of magic was wholly diabolized, and a compact with the evil one was thought to be the sole charter of supernatural powor. See FAUST. This transformation took place earlier and more completely (about the 13th c.) in regard to those lower forms of the magical art which constitute witchcraft proper, and which have from ancient times been considered the special province of women.. The chief cause of the prominent part assigned to the female sex in this matter is noticed in the article MAGIC. In addition, it may be observed, that their more excitable temperament renders them peculiarly liable to those ecstasies (q.v.) which have been associated with the gift of divination from the priestess of the ancient heathen oracle down to the medium of modern spiritualism. Further, when witchcraft came to be prosecuted as heresy, the part assigned to woman in the Scripture account of the fall led to her being looked upon as specially suited to be the tool of the devil. Founded on this circumstance, a constant element of the creed of witchcraft came to be the belief in a carnal intercourse between witches and evil spirits. The devil was supposed to tempt them in the shape of a wooer, and the unholy com pact was consummated in carnal fashion.