The term witchcraft embraces a wide variety of phenomena. Its meaning varies according to historical and cultural context. The word witch derives from the Old English noun wicca (sorcerer) and the verb wiccian (to cast a spell). The original concept of...

. The term “witchcraft” (Fr. sorcellerie) can be used for maleficent magic or sorcery, but in France from the 1430s onward this and related terms were applied to an alleged “sect” of conspiratorial Devil worshipers bent on...

15,000 B.C. Ancient peoples revere healers, known as witches, who practice magic. 600 A.D. Christian pope Gregory the Great proclaims "all the gods of the heathens are...

Witchcraft (from Old English wiccecræft "sorcery , necromancy"), in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers. A witch (from Old English masculine wicca,...