Witchcraft and Medicine
Among primitives, the priestly sorcerer receives, in a particular natural or induced state (shamanism, alcoholic intoxication, mediumship), a so-called "light of revelation" for therapeutic purposes; in folk medicine, those capable of "marking" certain illnesses are born under particular conditions. Initially, the healer is merely the intermediary between divinity and man, a priest standing between the deity and the patient; later, he arrogates to himself the power over good and evil, transforming into a magician and deriving his power from special rites or maneuvers. As such, he is found among both primitive peoples and modern rural inhabitants. Among primitives, the sorcerer, at the head of the entire village population, is the center of actual rites to drive out demons in cases of epidemic or illness affecting a member of the community; at other times, secretly or publicly, he performs rites or ceremonies to inflict illnesses.
In folk medicine, alongside the religious element, the magical element is also present; thus, certain individuals are believed to possess the power both to inflict and remove evil, to cause and cure illnesses. Witches acquire this power by birth or initiation and apply it through "spells," generally with a criminal intent, either by acting directly on the victim (jettatura) or on some object or figure representing them (transference). With the same methods, they can undo what they have done.
Alongside the practice tied to "spells," witchcraft also involved the creation of amulets, talismans, and potions promising youth, honors, love, wealth, but especially healing. Peasants and common folk, when official medical science seemed inadequate, resorted (and still do!) to the witch, who knew the virtues of simple remedies and administered herbal juices, particularly those with soothing effects, such as solanaceous plants. Witches, besides having a remedy for every ailment, also possessed deadly ones and knew how to manipulate poisons; they also served as midwives and gynecologists, often not for benevolent purposes. For every occasion, they had a remedy, from abortifacients to chastity potions or aphrodisiacs. Illnesses attributed to witchcraft were assigned particular characteristics, especially the inability to fit into a characteristic nosographic framework and presenting extraordinary symptomatology in their development, inexplicable by common pathogenesis, such as dietary disorders, traumatic, toxic, or infectious causes, etc. This includes inexplicable and progressive wasting (one of the most characteristic forms of "spells") or loss of sexual faculty or memory. Such witchcraft-related pathology, as is clear, is not susceptible to experimental control; it remains unacceptable and definable in a scientific manner, taking on a vague and questionable physiognomy that lends itself well to subjective and fantastic interpretation. On the other hand, such pathology must be distinguished from disorders and illnesses actually caused by subtly administered toxic substances, suggestion, or staged by crude tricks.
Witchcraft took on particularly sinister hues in the Middle Ages, when it was judged not for its psychopathic aspects but only from a religious standpoint as a grave sin of impiety and demonolatry. Currently, this medieval form of witchcraft is considered a toxic psychosis, often collective, linked to the abuse of narcotic substances through inhalation, friction, or beverages. Indeed, in a closed environment saturated with narcotic fumes, witches would anoint their entire bodies with ointments based on these substances, sometimes also ingesting them in the form of potions and decoctions. Such toxic substances used by witches included monkshood, mandrake, belladonna, henbane, opium, Indian hemp (hashish), and other substances now identified as narcotics (v.). Thus, in a state of delirium, witches genuinely believed they had attended "sabbaths" and, upon awakening, were ready to swear to the reality of what they had seen in their delirium, even to the point of ending their lives at the stake.
Witchcraft and Madness
Type of Eskimo sorcerer (pagan). Mission of the Grey Nuns of Montreal - Chesterfield.
The initiation ceremony involved a pact with the devil, signed in one's own blood on a virgin parchment made from the skin of a child, in an environment saturated with narcotics, in an atmosphere of the anatomy of the satanic nightmare. In such circumstances, the devil would allegedly grant, in exchange for the soul of the consecrated witch and her submission to his will, an initial period of happiness and wealth. On the other hand, the witch would acquire power superior to any human power through particular ceremonies involving bloody sacrifices culminating in ritual murders, with a liturgy in honor of Satan, mimicking the rituals of divine cults; often, an apostate priest was required for such rites. Crime thus merged with the most vile sacrilege. In reality, their work, apart from any supposed diabolical intervention, was often capable of remarkable effects, as they were knowledgeable about human nature, the powers of physical substances, and the virtues of herbs.
Popular tradition depicted witches in art as ugly, repulsive old women; conversely, they were generally very beautiful women, rich from their often shady and illicit earnings. Regarding the moral judgment of witchcraft, see MAGIC. - See pl. C.
Gustavo M. Apolloni