..and the consequences: "Witchcraft beliefs around the world: An exploratory analysis [2022-11]"
> Country-level variation in the prevalence of witchcraft beliefs is systematically linked to a number of cultural, institutional, psychological, and socioeconomic characteristics.
> Among the documented potential costs of witchcraft beliefs are; disrupted social relations, high levels of anxiety, pessimistic worldview, lack of entrepreneurial culture and innovative activity.
Anyone who wants a great single-volume reference for this kind of thing should check out The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rossell Hope Robbins. Extraordinary collection.
You can browse a copy here: https://archive.org/details/the-encyclopedia-of-witchcraft-a...
I'm not sure why, but collecting and looking at occult material that is old/rare is extremely fascinating to me.
There's two really, really cool museums on this stuff: - England: https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/visit/ - Iceland: https://galdrasyning.is/en/
I think there's two big mistakes at play:
1/ when an opportunistic person accuses an innocent person of being a witch 2/ when an academic person dismisses this type of devilry as fiction
You're a wizard, Harry!
Well this finally explains how Vito Arujau beat RBY so easily.
Carl Sagan did a great job describing the witch trial phenomenon in "The Demon Haunted World". It discusses how unchecked beliefs without any evidence can wreak havoc on society. If you were accused of witchcraft your only choices were:
1. to deny it and be burned at the stake
2. admit it, implicate others and be put to death in a gentler way
I admire the ones who stood for reason and were brave enough to endure the consequences.