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The Battalion
Page 3 • Monday, October 27, 2003
wichcmit
Ivan Flores * THE BATTALION
By Katie Wigginton
THE BATTALION
Most episodes of the 1960s and 70s popular sit
com “Bewitched” play out in a typical fashion.
Samantha twinkles her nose in a cheery fashion to
finish sweeping the kitchen. Her mother Endora
pops in the scene to say hello to her daughter, and
goes on to jokingly caste cast a lighthearted spell on
Sam’s mortal husband Darren.
Some 30 years later, at the end of a narrow hall
in an office blanketed with classic art paintings
and scholarly literature, Hilaire Kallendorf, assis
tant professor in the Department of Modern and
Classical Languages and avid scholar on witchery
and exorcism, reads a scribbled demonic letter
dating back to the Renaissance era written in
human blood.
Throughout the ages, witchcraft, sorcery and
“modem witchcraft” of the Wiccan religion have
become eminent parts of what is considered to be
scary. Their history is vast, dating from prehistoric
years of the Renaissance of England, to the colonial
days of America up to the increasing obsession
with a little boy named Harry Potter.
The fact remains throughout the fairy tales,
hooks and cinema, that the representation of witch
es their skill and their celebration of Halloween has
been falsely portrayed.
According to Brandy Hamblet, a senior interna
tional studies major as well as co-chair of The
Pagan Student Association on campus, the Wiccan
religion is a form of worship to the Earth and the
gods and goddesses that make it plentiful through
harvests and seasons.
While they do perform aspects of magic, it is
considered a skill that requires careful study. There
is no worship to Satan, no hex rallies, and it is not
just women who practice.
The exercise of witchcraft, while incredibly and
closely linked to the Wiccan religion, is actually not
a religion at all. It simply involves “using natural
energies within yourself to make changes around
you,” Hamblet said.
While some people are fascinated by the acts of
witchcraft, others follow their history and removal.
“I enjoy studying the positive side of removing
demons and exorcism which inevitably led me to
study about witchcraft,” Kallendorf said. “In study
ing numerous cases pertaining to exorcism and
witchcraft from the 1600s in England, it was just a
forbidden period, which didn’t allow room to rem
edy the problem.”
Kallendorf said the banning of all witchcraft and
occult books forced the practicing witches of the
time to be secretive about their crafts. When mem
bers of the community were noticing empty places
in the church pews, the outcasts, presumed to be
witches, were sought out and burned alive.
This ritual became the community’s and
church’s way of exterminating the demonic and
devil-like qualities that possessed these fascinating
yet repulsive cultural icons , Kallendorf said.
As a Wiccan, witch, or both, the stereotype of
the devil connected to witchcraft, dragged by sto
ries of witches participating in orgies with the
Devil, appear to be fiction traveling around a
campfire.
Next stop, Salem, Ma. in 1692.
Dr. Dennis Berthold, professor for the English
Department, is a specialist in the study of the Salem
Witch Trials and the images of witchcraft reflected
through the literature of the time. Berthold said the
historic event stands as the last gasp of belief in
witchcraft.
“I became intrigued about witchcraft through
my reading and studying of writers like Hawthorne,
Poe and the witchery connections throughout their
writing,” Berthold said.
Although Berthold said he has found reasonable
evidence to prove that some of the women accused
during the trial were in fact practicing witches, a
large majority were were assumed witches under
various pretenses and ostracized for being different.
“A widowed woman who didn’t remarry was
considered a witch.” Berthold said. “Anybody who
was not participating in church ceremonies was
considered to be practicing magic, and even a
preacher within the community that did not con
fess to being a witch was assumed to be so and
executed by burning.”
Berthold said another case of misinterpreted
witchcraft occurred when a particular African toy
doll brought over by children of slaves called a pop
pet was presumed to be an essential piece of witch
craft. The toy was used as evidence to condemn
whoever owned it in her possession.
While women were being falsely accused, the
backlash of Salem’s actions started to surface when
Robert Calef, a member of the community, wrote a
thesis damning the Puritans for their behavior fol
lowing the trials in 1701.
One of the governing officials of the town,
Samuel Sule, admitted to being wrong about the
women and men accused of practicing witchcraft.
To Hamblet, the Wiccan religion abides by one
rule and that is to bring harm to no one.
However, the fast forward movement from
print to film continues to act out a witch of a dif
ferent nature — meet Harry Potter.
“While I am entertained by the Harry Potter
books, there is no authenticity to magic or the use
of witchcraft in it. It is more about the use of the
imagination and kids growing up, not Satan,” said
Candace Benefiel, a graduate student who is
studying English.
Benefiel said, over time, the conventional idea
of the appearance of a witch has changed dramati
cally.
“The image of the witch has definitely changed
from the pointy hat and crooked nose you see in
“The Wizard of Oz “ to a normal attractive person
like the TV show “Charmed,” Benefiel said.
The film industry, as well as literature, certainly
takes the cake in negatively portraying the image of
the witch and the accompanying craft of magic.
Benefiel said movies and literature dating back
from the Grimm’s tale of “Hansel and Gretel” to
movies such as “The Witches of Eastwick” and the
popular Anne Rice novels portray witches and
witchcraft inaccurately and negatively.
“The Wiccan religion and their believers are
peaceful and emphatic people,” Benefiel said.
“They are harmless.”
However, the popularity of the supernatural
seems to be the main attraction for continued mon
etary success in the business of film and literature.
“Unfortunately, the witch as a cultural figure
will always be wholly malevolent or wholly inno
cent due to the constant stream of stereotypes from
society,” Kallendorf said.
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