Melina's Witchcraft blog

  In the reading from this week, I came across a passage that talks about Adam and Eve and how that story may have inspired the notion that accused women witches are more dangerous than male witches. It got me thinking about how Eve is portrayed in the story from Genesis and how knowing the story impacts the way we think. And honestly, it makes me really mad. Men assumed women's bodies were weaker and therefore easier to fall to the devil. This thought probably comes from the Bible because, of course, it was Eve who was susceptible to the serpent and ate the apple. This was accepted as a given because the Puritans believed everything in the Bible and could only assume that women were the weaker sex. If it wasn't for this story in the Bible, would there have even been the Salem witch trials? I found this really interesting article relating Genesis and the treatment of women to Maleficious Malificarium attached below.  Washington Post The article relates the treatment of women d...

  Over spring break, I visited Phoenix, AZ and to my surprise, there were so many psychics. With only $10 of cash to my name, I told my friends that if I saw a psychic reading for $10, I would do it and write my blog post about it. So of course when I saw the sign offering psychic readings for $10, I had to do it. The woman told me that I had three questions to ask her but she couldn't tell me any more than what I asked her. My friends and I stepped out of the room and got our questions together before going in. She asked me for my name and birthday and for my three questions. The questions I asked were: 1. How do people perceive me when they first meet me? 2. When will I next fall in love romantically? 3. Will I get the job I want after grad school? When she recited the questions back to me, she flipped over 3 tarot cards for each question and explained what they meant to me. First, she said that my career after school elicited happy and successful cards pointing out that I'm ...

 The Google definition of a cult is "a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object." How is it that the definition of cult includes the word religion, yet we treat cults and religions vastly differently? The Google definition of religion is "the belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods." Both of these definitions contain synonyms for devotion and worship, yet cult beliefs seem more drastic than religious beliefs. Of course, that interpretation will be different for anyone, but I want to examine the relationship between cults and witchcraft as I don't have a clear distinction in my mind yet. I associate cults with having more sinister rituals and witchcraft with illusion and magic. I'd like to point out that the first link that pops up when I search for "What is the difference between cults and witchcraft" is an article published by The Christian Research Institute....

  Everything we've talked about so far this semester regarding strange magic, I have a hard time separating magic from religion. Many religious stories from the Bible demonstrate Jesus and his disciples performing miracles to help those in need. I remember one story where Jesus cured a man of the blindness he had for his whole life. When I first heard this story, I took it for what it was, I was attending a private Christian elementary school at the time anyway. But now in class, we've been discussing the rituals witches would perform or how the cunningfolk would help people. Why is it that our society is more prone to take the Bible for its word, but laugh at magic performed hundreds of years ago? I'm pretty sure that if I was stuck in my small hometown my entire life, I would start searching for ways to keep myself occupied too. This isn't to say I believe in magic, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I don't see much of a difference between people who st...

  While rewatching The Little Mermaid, we initially hear Ursula described as a "demon," "witch," and "villainous". These descriptions leave little room for interpretation. The audience automatically recognizes her as the antagonist from the adjectives that describe her and her offset appearance compared to the other mermaids. Ursula is overweight, has blue skin, and has octopus tentacles instead of a fishtail. This stark contrast sets her apart and "others" her from the rest of the mermaids. Additionally, when Ariel visits Ursula's lair for the first time, it takes her a while to swim there as it is separated from the rest of the community. We often hear many stories with similarities to Ursula. The witch usually has some physical deformation, whether it's green skin, warts on the nose, or other eccentricities. And the witch often lives apart from the rest of society as an outcast.  Furthermore, Ursula has two familiars, the electric eels...