Comments on: Weather Witches http://streetsofsalem.com/2012/10/30/weather-witches/ Fri, 24 May 2013 18:26:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Brodie Waddell http://streetsofsalem.com/2012/10/30/weather-witches/#comment-4168 Mon, 24 Dec 2012 16:49:58 +0000 http://streetsofsalem.com/?p=13778#comment-4168 Wonderful post, Donna. You do a great job of explaining how ‘natural’ (to us) events could be interpreted as magical in a time before scientific meterology or medicine.

I’m not sure I agree with your aside at the start though: in England at least most witch trails were very much focused on ‘harmful magic’ rather than ‘devil worship’. My impression is that the latter was a bit of a top-down imposition from elite demonologists – the average villager was much more worried about witches causing hailstorms or, as I discuss in a post on ‘The Many-Headed Monster’, causing cattle to fall sick.

http://manyheadedmonster.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/a-seventeenth-century-christmas-mince-pies-jollity-and-witchcraft/

]]> By: cecilia http://streetsofsalem.com/2012/10/30/weather-witches/#comment-3894 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:50:30 +0000 http://streetsofsalem.com/?p=13778#comment-3894 I knew that the european witch hunts were widespread but had no idea of the scope.. this kind of history is well hidden from high school students.. wonderful images. I hope this naturally occurring storm will soon ride its own nasty self right out. c

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