Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Witchcraft is the use of alleged supernatural powers of magic.A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic or supernatural powers to inflict harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. [1]
The terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, [4] [5] in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. The term occult sciences was used in the 16th century to refer to astrology , alchemy , and natural magic , which today are considered pseudosciences .
An ancient symbol of a unicursal five-pointed star circumscribed by a circle with many meanings, including but not limited to, the five wounds of Christ and the five elements (earth, fire, water, air, and soul). In Satanism, it is flipped upside-down. See also: Sigil of Baphomet. Rose Cross: Rosicrucianism / Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Occult power was supposedly a womanly trait because women were weaker and more susceptible to the devil. [102] In Wales, witchcraft trials heightened in the 16th and 17th centuries, after the fear of it was imported from England. [103] There was a growing alarm of women's magic as a weapon aimed against the state and church.
Wicca (English: / ˈ w ɪ k ə /), also known as "The Craft", [1] is a modern pagan, syncretic, earth-centered religion.Considered a new religious movement by scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during the first half of the 20th century, and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant.
Wiccan morality is expressed in a brief statement found within a text called the Wiccan Rede: "An it harm none, do what you will."("An" is an archaic word meaning "if".) The Rede differs from some other well-known moral codes (such as Christian or Islamic notion of sin) in that, while it does contain a prohibition, it is largely an encouragement to act fre
Page from the Greek Magical Papyri, a grimoire of antiquity. A grimoire (also known as a "book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook") is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities ...
The Wiccan Rede / ˈ r iː d / is a statement that provides the key moral system in the new religious movement of Wicca and certain other related witchcraft-based faiths.A common form of the Rede is "An ye harm none, do what ye will" which was taken from a longer poem also titled the Wiccan Rede.