It is obvious that the term witchcraft is used for the principal means by which humans have been thought to work magic, that is , to bring about practical changes by their own will and employing supernatural means. Witchcraft actually needs to be distinguished from religion , in which humans are totally dependent upon divine beings to grant their wishes, and sorcery, in which supernatural skills are acquired by a process of study, usually involving books. Witchcraft was regarded partly as an innate power and partly as something that was handed on , by a wholly or largely unwritten tradition. Actually , persons who had “sinned” against accepted ideas of moral conduct were sometimes accused as witches.

To continue with, in England they used different techniques for witchcraft. The English would burn witches at the stake(Internet). This method involved using mable material such as wood or hay around the base of the stake. They would light the hay with the person tied by rope at stake. If a pig’s spirit came out, they were a witch. If not, the person was not a witch. The English also had another method of determining whether or not someone was not a witch. They would bind the suspect’s hand with rope and tie rocks onto their feet, then throw them into a deep clear pool. If they too survive they would be killed any away(Internet).

Today most people no longer believe in witchcraft. But some simple primitive persons still cling to their belief in evil, mysterious powers. Such people believe that a man who practices witchcraft calls upon spirits. Actually, witchcraft still exist in several parts of the world. In the part of Africa which lies south of the Sahara desert, the terms Witch and Witchcraft were names given by early Christian missionaries and anthropologists to what might be called Native sorcerers : persons who are believed to use destructive black magic to engage in physic attacks on other people. The South Africans have witches whom they respect named Witch Doctors. Witch doctors cure diseases within the tribe with herbal medicines, which are totally natural. Azande tribe is well-known for its witchcraft. Azande men believe that all the things that happen to their tribe is a result of witchcraft(Marwick 235). It is actually a theory of causation because everything that is caused is result of witchcraft . Witchcraft is also, as Azande people claim , a theory of responsibility because diseases are a result of people’s actions. Azande people were also known as the Nyam-Nyam belonging to the Sudanic language group and inhabiting the basins of the Uele and Ubangi rivers in Zaire(Encarta).

In Ireland they had another method that was similar to the English. The person involved would be tied to a stake that was embedded in the sand on the coast line. She was left there for the tide. If the accused survived she found innocent(Russell 145). Actually, as history has shown In England and in Ireland people used special techniques in order to find out who the witch was because they believe that all their misfortune was a result of witchcraft. They truly believed that the cause of all the events was a result of the specific theory.

To continue with, witches believe in freedom and in reincarnation of some sort, whether it be the eastern version as the transmigration of souls or Ancestral Incarnation(Marwick 254). Witches do not have a specific concept of sin. There is no heaven or hell that souls will go to based on their worldly actions. Wrong doing is governed and determined by the individual conscience. With the belief in the Law of return , one’s actions will determine one’s future. The individual is therefore responsible for his or her own fate, based on what he or she chooses to do internally and externally in the world( theory of causation and responsibility). Witches have one law of actions and ethics. It is called Wiccan law which is a guideline to action , not a mandate(Marwick 264).

Early people who believed in witchcraft a

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