The self-styled Witchfinder General [Hopkins] arrested and tortured as many as three hundred women across Eastern England. ibid.
The last execution for witchcraft in England was in 1682. ibid.
We regard witchcraft as part of the history of our cultural heritage. Steve Biko
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Exodus 22:18
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.
Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Deuteronomy 18:10-12
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. I Samuel 15:23
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. II Kings 17:17
Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. II Kings 23:24
And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. II Chronicles 33:6
God as now generally conceived of is only the last witch. Samuel Butler
Most witches don’t believe in gods. They know that the gods exist, of course. They even deal with them occasionally. But they don’t believe in them. They know them too well. It would be like believing in the postman. Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad
Weave the circle, tightly sewn,
Let nothing evil or unknown
Enter within. Stay without
On pain of death, we cast you out. Yasmine Galenorn, Blood Wyne
Lips to lips, mouth to mouth,
Comes the speaker of the shrouds,
Suck in the spirit, speak the words,
Let secrets of the dead be heard. Yasmine Galenorn, Witchling
Though it was bright sunshine everyone felt suddenly cold. The only two people present who seemed to be quite at their ease were Aslan and the Witch herself. It was the oddest thing to see those two faces – the golden face and the dead-white face so close together. Not that the Witch looked Aslan exactly in his eyes; Mrs Beaver particularly noticed this. C S Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
One never knows how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her – is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? It is the very least question of definitions. Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
When I consider the Question, Whether there are such Persons in the World as those we call Witches? My Mind is divided between the two opposite Opinions; or rather (to speak my Thoughts freely) I believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing as Witchcraft; but at the same time can give no Credit to any Particular Instance of it. Joseph Addison, The Spectator 117
Most people think witches are a coven of lesbians dancing naked in the forest celebrating the semen stolen from imprisoned hypnotized males, which they then use to inseminate one another using turkey basters in order to create a legion of demon babies. Well, that’s only part of it. We are also active in community outreach programs. Amy Sedaris & Paul Dinello & Stephen Colbert, Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not 2003
Are you a good witch or a bad witch? The Wizard of Oz 1939 starring Judy Garland & Ray Bolger & Frank Morgan & Jack Haley & Bert Lahr & Billie Burke & Margaret Hamilton & Clara Blandick & Charley Grapewin & Terry the dog, director Victor Fleming
Only bad witches are ugly. ibid.
Ding dong the wicked witch is dead! ibid. Munchkins’ song
In the beginning was the moon Diana. Sad, silent, alone she wandered, the waves her sighs and tears of solitude. She searched everywhere for a companion but found only reflections of herself. Lonely, Diana desired another: that desire became the dawn. And from the dawn came the son Lucifer, the god of light. This is the witches’ legend of Creation. Diana and Lucifer also created man. They gave him the world and taught him to hunt, kill and be content that he might better worship them. Legend of the Witches, director Malcolm Leigh, 1969
Those already initiated perform a ritual called Drawing Down of the Moon. ibid.
Pagan symbols, gods and images covered the new churches. ibid.
To seal their allegiance to the cult at the end of the ceremony – in this case a black mass – the priest was obliged to have intercourse with the female initiates. ibid.
Helen Duncan: The psychic or fraudster: the last woman to be jailed under the witchcraft laws … during the Second World War. Portillo’s State Secrets IX, BBC 2015
In 1692 mass hysteria and rampant paranoia swept the New England countryside. Citizens in the small village of Salem were being accused of casting spells, of consorting with the devil, of being witches. This persecution was a relatively new phenomenon in America. In Search of History s3e3: Salem With Trials, History 1998
Torturing suspected witches was justified in the eyes of the [English] law. ibid.
Thousands of innocent lives were lost. ibid.
The first witch trial in Massachusetts was not in Salem, it was in Charlestown in 1648. ibid.
On January 16th 1697 a day of public fasting was held in Salem to ask God’s forgiveness for past sins. ibid.
The SS files were packed with executions and torture. But these were not records of Nazi atrocities, they were ancient documents hundreds of years old relating to the trial and persecution of witches. Nazi Underworld s1e1: Hitler’s Henchmen, National Geographic 2011
Britain is a hugely diverse religious society. But of all the faiths practised here only one is truly British: modern pagan witchcraft, otherwise known as Wicca. Wicca is one of the fastest growing religions in the world. Ronald Hutton, Britain’s Wicca Man, Together 2018
Developed in the 1940s by a middle-aged nudist from the New Forest called Gerald Gardner. ibid.
What kind of man in 1930s England decides to become a witch? ibid.
‘What we are witnessing in the wake of the public enactment of these alchemical psychodramas, whose spiritual consequences for mankind are far more momentous than most have thus far guessed, is a process of global occult initiation.’ Truthstream Media: Does Society Realise It Is Being Initiated? Michael A Hoffman
Ideas that used to be considered occult are now not just being normalised to the general public but proselytized. ibid.
Witchcraft has gone totally mainstream … 2018 was declared the Year of the Witch. ibid.
Yes, witches are semen-stealers. What We Do in the Shadows s1e10: Ancestry, Nadja, BBC 2019
The woman calls herself a witch. She claims to be performing an ancient ceremony of candle magic. The power of the planets has been petitioned, and as the paper burns, a spell is cast. This rite of witchcraft is being practised in Salem Massachusetts: a place where people believed to be witches were once put to death. In Search of s5e13 … Salem Witches, 1980
People who are always praising the past
And especially the times of faith as best
Ought to go and live in the Middle Ages
And be burnt at the stake as witches and sages. Stevie Smith, The Past, 1957
It’s chilling to learn that in the vast un-policed jungles of Papua New Guinea men and women are still killed for suspected witchcraft. Piers Gibbon, Cannibal Island
I’ve heard the screams of this women – screams I can never forget as the women were tortured, their flesh burned forced to confess they are witches. Uncensored with Michael Ware s1e3: Witch Hunt, National Geographic 2017
A country ruled and fuelled and subconscious governed by a belief in magic. ibid.
Do you believe in witches riding brooms in Tennessee? … November 2nd 2021: Suddenly he sees something that makes him pump his brakes, take out his smartphone and film this … What could this be? The Proof is Out There s3e7