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[–] NervousHorse 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

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[–] darkmuffin ago 

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[–] NervousHorse ago 

It's the same link as on the title.

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[–] darkmuffin 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

I'm going to reread this when I'm not drunk, but what I've taken from it, as someone who was "formally trained" in witchcraft is ... this author does not understand what they're writing about. From an anthropological standpoint, it's interesting. But it is kinda sorta really missing several crucial things.

For instance:

Anthropologists established that ideas about witchcraft were more often found in agricultural communities, where people could not resolve social tension by leaving because they could not abandon their land. There are fewer elaborated ideas about witchcraft in nomadic communities where groups form and reform easily.

Modern witchcraft (and most historical witchcraft) comes from a distinctly European heritage. In fact, witchcraft is largely considered to be a form of European shamanism. What is Europe known for? Farming. Feudal society. Empires and territories. The land plays a huge part in all of these things. Even well before the Church happened, a lot of the mythology focused on the land, fairytales/folklore has a special relationship with the land. I suspect this is why witch cults such as Wicca are land (or earth) based. It's because they are all based off of European myths, and European ideology concerning the earth/land.

So all this quote is really saying is that European shamanism is not found really outside of Europe. Okay, and.... ?

tl;dr: Witchcraft is (broadly) the European form of shamanism. Please go to Wiki about Native American, Mongolian and Siberian shamanism to understand more about this topic.