The American Minervan

Tag: witches

  • Goetia and Witchcraft: Origin of the “Witch” and Magic

    Goetia and Witchcraft: Origin of the “Witch” and Magic

    The term “Witch” in old Anglo-Saxon glossaries is tied to wicce, meaning “pythoness, divinatricem.” As in this, and in early forms, it referred to specific kinds of magical craft. In the Laws of Ælfred (c.890), wicce is seen as the craft of women — “wise (skilled) women in the art of magic”; and in the old German, wiccan…