Feminine Evil and Witchcraft

Abstract

The brief Reflection looks at the history of witches in both early modern Europe and the New World. Thousands of women were condemned as witting or unwitting sources of physical and metaphysical evil. Witches were blamed for a variety of misfortunes including illness, crop failure, and the deaths of babies or mothers during childbirth. Evils committed by witches were objects of lurid fascination attributed to demonic forces, documented by monks, priests, and church authorities. Eroticized accusations reflected profound misogyny and suspicion toward those who did not conform to the patriarchal norms of church and society. Many of these witches were put to death in horrible ways, thereby adding rather than subtracting from the evils in the world.