SRS 1110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Modern Paganism, Witch-Hunt, Entheogen

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: SRS 1110
• Professor: Shelley Rabinovitch

Document Summary

Many contemporary pagans believe that the burning times was an actual historical period placed somewhat fuzzily in the time between the 12th and 18th centuries. According to the latest research, fifteen thousand executions were actually recorded during this time, most of which occurred in the fifty years between the 1580s and the 1630s, the period now known as the great european witch hunt. Is a secret initiatory religion organized around ritual enactment of a particular myth. These rituals are sometimes enhanced by rigorous trials such as fasting, flogging, and or surprise on beholding sacred objects or the use of entheogens, which cause a shift in an initiate"s state of consciousness. When anthropologists speak of witchcraft they generally refer to individuals who have an innate ability to do evil. The term of witchcraft is also used to refer to other religious phenomena. Witchcraft has been changed by various christian churches to reflect an association with satan.