BOOK_55 - Witchcraft, the Sixth Sense

What is witchcraft?

The real meaning of the word is the 'Craft of the Wise'. The Anglo-Saxon word 'wicca', or wise one, changed during the centuries – which is the natural fate of words – and became 'witch'. And with the change of the word, the popular conception of witchcraft changed also, so that a witch, once a respected and esteemed member of the community, became a near-outcast, from whom respectable men and women shuddered away.

Nowadays the attitude to the Craft is beginning to change once more, as it is to the metaphysical generally. Looking back in history, we can see that the most terrible persecutions of witches was an admission of the strength of belief in their powers. With the advance of what some would call materialism and some common-sense, witchcraft was taken less and less seriously, and as this happened, measures in force against it became less and less stringent. In 1735, under George II, the Witchcraft Act was passed. Its essence was that witchcraft did not exist, and that anyone who pretended to possess supernatural powers should be prosecuted. Finally, in 1951, the last of the Witchcraft Acts was taken off the Statute Book.

Witchcraft, the Sixth Sense 210 pages....