Magic and the Supernatural in the Ancient World
Discussion Questions
Feb. 10: Modern Witchcraft
Derek Pepiak: dpepiak@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- Satanists believe that there is only black magic. Do they say this
because they believe that magic can't be used for good or because, since
they feel all magicians expect to benefit from magical manipulation, the
selfish aspect of magic prevents it from being good?
- Satanists are described as people of low self-esteem, people whose
impulses and behavior bring shame and doubt. If society hadn't looked
down upon these people, would they have become Satanists? I guess what
I'm asking is this: is finding a place of acceptance the main reason an
individual becomes a Satanist?
- In his article, Truzzi says that many Satanists are atheists. How
can this be, if (in a separate article), it was stated that the Satanic
cult recognized that had there been no Christianity, there would be no
Satanism?
Tobin Cataldo: tcatald@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- Discuss the relevance and importance of the four major foci in
the occult.
- How is the use of the sexual key in the practice of an occult?
- What is evil in the mind of the Satanic initiate?
Nicholas Katsaounis: nkatsao@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- How does the emic perspective and definition of satanism differ from the
etic perspective and definition?
- What problems arise from the anthropological perspective of urban
witchcraft?
- Does the magic performed by the practitioner truly create an effect or is
the effect the product of psychological harassment such as the case of the guy
who tried to exploit Le Vay's cult.
- What is the connection of magic to the culture shock?
Nicholas Backer: nbacker@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- I believe that one of the major sociological explanations for the
belief in witchraft in Europe, which was not mentioned in class, was
the tradition of the people to never question the church's
preachings-especially in public. Doing so would cause on e to be labeled
a heretic, so I feel that this lack of individual questioning and thinking
caused the continent to get wrapped up in the witchraze.
- In P. Stevens' article on urban witchcraft beliefs, I feel that
one major reason for a belief in hexing, above many others, is lack of
education. He fails to mention this point which I think is quite
important.
- E. Moody states in his article "Urban Witchcraft," that many who
join satanic groups have low self-esteem and are seeking answers. I am
wondering whether he is limiting this to just satanic groups. I think
that an individual who is unsure of him/herself and who seeks answers to
problems in life not only flock toward a satanic group, but a more
"normal" and accepted religion, and also occult groups that deal very
little with religion.
Michelle D Arens: marens@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- What do we think of Stevens's definition of witchcraft and sorcery as
social problems?
- Is satanism a religion?
- The Truzzi article on the occult revival into mainstream youth culture
was written in 1972. What similarties can we seen in youth culture today?
What has changed?
Jason Lapkin: dweinbe@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- How can a "witch" prove their connection with the supernatural to
those who are uninitiated?
- What are some of the motivating factors to convert to the more
esoteric magic-based religions such as Wika?
- Who are most commonly accused of practicing "witchcraft?" Why?
- Why is witchcraft experiencing a revival in present day United
States?
Thomas Brabham: tbrabha@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- Steven's pointed out that witch's powers were evil somatic powers.
Were these powers given to them by a god supposedly or did they just have
this certain gift? (i.e. Did they give credit to a certain god thanking
them for their powers.
- Steven's treated people who thought magical forces were acting against
them. It seemed to me that he didn't even believe in it. To clarify, he
would explain to his patients that the forces would either have run-out of
power by now or that a certain person did not have enough knowledge to do
that magic, etc. . , so that they would stop worrying about these things.
It was like he had an intelligent way of convincing his patients that
these "powers" were not working right now. Did he believe in what he was
doing or not?
- Moody pointed out that most of the people in the satanic religion had
some complications in family life, low self-esteem, etc. My question is
do you think they really believed in what they were doing or were they
doing this to have some sort of power in their lives?
Robert Fraser: rfraser@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- How does culture shoch or stress from the everyday society have that
large an impact on whether or not an individual believes in witches or
not?
- Is witchcraft growing at a fast rate in present day America? And if
so, why is it groing so fast?
- Witchcraft is almost always paired with Satanism. Why are the two so
closely intertwined?
Jay Munsch: wmunsch@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
- What ritual practices take place in Modern witchcraft?
- Explore the differences between the belief systems in Wicca (i hope i
spelled that correctly) and other neo-pagan religions.
- What causes the trend toward paganism?