People all over the world have grown up cowering under the false Representation of the witch. Belinda Smith, High Priestess to the Silver Serpent Coven, and known as Becca to her coven kin, presents a Description of what most people think of when they hear the word "witch": "Parents were telling...
How hideous she looked with her green skin (she was sick form being held in confinement), her clawed hands (from her fingers being broken and then healing in unnatural positions), her long stringy hair (from falling out due to malnutrition), and her hunched back (from being tortured)." This common image is exemplified by the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (Stein 8).
It is the typical idea of a witch most people have in mind. Society also tends to believe that witchcraft is the archetype of evil. "Wicca is a modern religion that draws upon satanic occult rituals and ceremonies, including blood offerings and human sacrifice" (Roleff 29). Over centuries of erroneous beliefs, the terms "witchcraft" and "devil-worship" became synonymous.
The established work of 1484 titled Malleus Malificarum, or "The Witch's Hammer", was a guide that piloted society into the Burning Times (Cabot 62). This piece of literature, commissioned by Pope Innocent VIII, justified the torture and execution of accused witches. Malleus Malificarum provided the greatest amount of the perceived wickedness of all witches, claiming that they participated in night rides with Satan, performed human and animal sacrifices, and seduced men into sinful activities.
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