"Double, double, fatigue and problems ..." to paraphrase the witches' chant in McBeth, Shakespeare's tale of murder and mayhem. Shakespeare adds the witches to this play to raise its supernatural level - creating a deeper layer of mystery, foreboding and of underlying evil. Witches in Shakespeare's time were a terrifying symbol of evil as people pictured witches as demons flying in front of the moon.
For hundreds of years the Christian religion campaigned against witches, maligning them as bad creatures of Satan... During the Salem witch trials. when America was new, the witches were very bad. Now, looking back, we think of same "bad witches" as victims and that the witnesses, judges and ministers were the evil villains! What a change in the world or has there been a change? The world still fights a battle between defining witches as good or evil supernatural beings at least in our popular culture
While we are becoming more of a e secularized world, religious people are clinging to their own world view, where it is necessary to prove the existence of supernatural evil, and the personification of evil (witches and demons), which shows that the supernatural God exists.
We live in a more scientific and secular as well as a spiritual world. What we do with the ancient symbols of the witches and demons? Witches are not bad, they are fun! Our modern day Wiccans refer to themselves themselves as witches, yet religion has nothing to do with "good and evil." They are pagans, who recognize neither God nor the devil.
Still the world has a massive identity crisis when it comes to witches We dress up on Halloween and scare our children with witches. We harken back, in a playful way, when medieval witches rode broomsticks and wore black layered clothing.
By the way, the broomstick was not a witch's mode of transport more likely it was either as a symbol for fertility pole use during ritual dances or as a disguise for wands... And the black clothing was a good way to disguise themselves when they traveled at night, when everything was black, to secret meetings...
I believe that, in the main, this old symbol of evil, has lost its sting! Witches have come to mean fun and good spirits. We glamorize the witch, they are sexy witches, even good witches! Our Trick-or-Treat candy fill up plastic witch cauldrons. Glinda the good witch easily exceeds the Wicked Witch of the West. The bad witch is now a good witch.
About the Author:
Sue Redman is costumer and owner of Costumes Galore in Orange, California. Her website is http://www.costumesgalore.com
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Why Does a Witch Dress Like a Witch?
W.I.T.C.H - Fire!
