2. Witchcraft Practices and beliefs that have been termed "witchcraft" do not constitute a single identifiable religion, since they are found in a wide variety of cultures, both present and historical; however these beliefs do generally involve religious elements dealing with spirits or deities, the afterlife, magic and ritual. Witchcraft is generally characterised by its use of magic. "Witchcraft" is also used to be referred to as the practice of magic in an exclusively inimical sense. This use of the term is most often found in accusations against individuals who are suspected of causing harm in the community by way of supernatural means. Belief in witches of this sort has been common among most of the indigenous populations of the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. On occasion such accusations have led to witch hunts. Under the monotheistic religions of the Levant (primarily Christianity, and Islam), witchcraft came to be associated with heresy, rising to a fever pitch among the Catholics, Protestants, and secular leadership of the European Late Medieval/Early Modern period and sometimes leading to witch hunts. Throughout this time, the concept of witchcraft came increasingly to be interpreted as a form of Devil worship. From then a witch-hunting manual was created and was called Malleus Maleficarum.

3. Malleus Malefiarum The Malleus Maleficarum was written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, and was first published in Germany in 1487. The main purpose of the Malleus was to systematically deny all arguments against the reality of witchcraft, deny those who expressed even the slightest skepticism about its reality, to prove that witches were more often women than men, and to educate magistrates on the procedures that could find them out and convict them. The Malleus Maleficarum asserts that three elements are necessary for witchcraft: the evil-intentioned witch, the help of the Devil, and the Permission of God. The treatise is divided up into three sections. The first section denies critics who denied the reality of witchcraft, thereby hindering its prosecution. The second section describes the actual forms of witchcraft and its remedies. The third section is to assist judges confronting and combating witchcraft. However, each of these three sections has the prevailing themes of what is witchcraft and who is a witch.

4. The Three Main Elements Section I Section I argues that because the Devil exists and has the power to do astounding things, witches exist to help, if done through the aid of the Devil and with the permission of God. The Devil’s power is greatest where human sexuality is concerned, for it was believed that women were more sexual than men. Loose women had sex with the Devil, thus paving their way to become witches. To quote the Malleus “all witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable.” Section II In section II of the Malleus Maleficarum, the authors turn to matters of practice by discussing actual cases. This section first discusses the powers of witches, and then goes into recruitment strategies. It is mostly witches as opposed to the Devil who do the recruiting, by making something go wrong in the life of a respectable matron that makes her consult the knowledge of a witch, or by introducing young maidens to tempting young devils. This section also details how witches cast spells and remedies that can be taken to prevent witchcraft or help those that have been affected by it. Section III Section III is the legal part of the Malleus that describes how to prosecute a witch. The arguments are clearly laid for the lay magistrates prosecuting witches. Institoris and Sprenger offer a step-by-step guide to the conduct of a witch trial, from the method of initiating the process and assembling accusations, to the interrogation (including torture) of witnesses, and the formal charging of the accused. Women who did not cry during their trial were automatically believed to be witches.

5. Stages of Witches Trials Stage # 1: The Accusation Stage # 2: The Examination of the Accuser Stage # 3: Gathering Preliminary Evidence Stage # 4: The Witch is Arrested Stage # 5: Hiring a Lawyer Stage # 6: Torture Stage # 7: Interrogation Stage # 8: Free Confession Stage # 9: Sentencing and Execution Stage #10: Appeal Stage #11: Payment

6. Witch-hunt The period of witch trials in Early Modern Europe came in waves and then subsided. There were early trials in the 15th and early 16th centuries, but then the witch scare went into decline, before becoming a big issue and peaking in the 17th century. Some scholars argue that a fear of witchcraft started among intellectuals who believed in maleficium; that is, bad deeds. Witchcraft became associated with wild Satanic ritual parties in which there was much naked dancing, orgy sex, and cannibalistic infanticide. Witch-hunts were seen across early modern Europe, but the most significant area of witch-hunting in modern Europe is often considered to be southwestern Germany. Witch-hunts first appeared in large numbers in southern France and Switzerland during the 14th and 15th centuries. The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670. The first major persecution in Europe, that caught, tried, convicted, and burned witches in the imperial lordship of Wiesensteig in southwestern Germany, is recorded in 1563 in a pamphlet called “True and Horrifying Deeds of 63 Witches” Burning of three witches in Baden, Switzerland (1585), by Johann Jakob Wick. Estimates of the numbers of women, men and children executed for participating in witchcraft vary wildly depending on the method used to generate the estimate. The total number of witch trials in Europe which are known for certain to have ended in executions is around 12,000

7. Last Execution During early 18th century, the practice subsided. The last execution for witchcraft in England took place in 1716, when Mary Hicks and her daughter Elizabeth were hanged. Jane Wenham was among the last subjects of a typical witch trial in England in 1712, but was pardoned after her conviction and set free. The Witchcraft Act of 1734 saw the end of the traditional form of witchcraft as a legal offence in Britain, those accused under the new act were restricted to people who falsely pretended to be able to procure spirits, generally being the most dubious professional fortune tellers and mediums, and punishment was light. Helena Curtens and Agnes Olmanns were the last women to be executed as witches in Germany, in 1738.

8. Christians Views on Magic Beliefs regarding magic have been around for centuries, and are to be found in many human societies. They were common in the society of the Roman empire into which the Christian faith emerged. Christian responses differed from the surrounding society in that Christians believed that since Christ by his death and resurrection had won a victory over all forces of evil, neither witchcraft nor sorcery had the power to harm Christians. The practice of witchcraft and sorcery were sins that Christians needed to repent of, confess and forsake. Among Eastern Christians belief in witchcraft was regarded as deisdemonia -- superstition. In the West, however, by the 9th and 10th centuries, belief in witchcraft began to be seen as heresy. Towards the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Early Modern period, belief in witchcraft became sanctioned by the Church, and witches were seen as directly in league with the Devil. This marked the beginning of a period of witch-hunts which lasted about 200 years, and in some countries, particularly in North-Western Europe, thousands of people were accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death. During the Age of Enlightenment, belief in the powers of witches and sorcerers to harm began to die out in the West due to the disbelief was based on a belief in rationalism and empiricism.

9. Later Years Not all witches were assumed to be harmful practicers of the craft. In England, there were witch doctors, also known as a cunning man, white witch, or wiseman. The term "witch doctor" was in use in England before it came to be associated with Africa. Toad doctors were also credited with the ability to undo evil witchcraft. (Other folk magicians had their own purviews. Girdle-measurers specialised in diagnosing ailments caused by fairies, while magical cures for more mundane ailments, such as burns or toothache, could be had from charmers.) "In the north of England, the superstition lingers to an almost inconceivable extent. Lancashire abounds with witch-doctors, a set of quacks, who pretend to cure diseases inflicted by the devil... The witch- doctor alluded to is better known by the name of the cunning man, and has a large practice in the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham."

10. The Modern World However in the modern world today, “witches” are becoming more popular and are warming up to the media and also fame.

11. In commemoration of all the witches in the world.