Witches Then and Now: Clarifying Confusions in Minds of Africans -By Leo Igwe

Many Africans are confused and conflicted in their witchcraft ideas; they hold mistaken views and beliefs regarding the existence and nonexistence of witches. Their confusion reveals a lack of proper understanding of European ‘witches’ in early modern times and now. I often get into arguments and debates with some Africans on different platforms who demonstrate a lack of knowledge and insight into the idea of witchcraft. In this piece, I make one more attempt to clarify issues.

Recently, I made a post on a WhatsApp group of a Lagos-based institute deploring a report by a Kenyan media platform that a chicken turned into a tortoise. Someone commented: “Good afternoon Sir, In my childhood years, we woke up one morning to see a dark skinny woman on the peak of a high-tension electric pole. She was not dead. She was alive and talking. There was no social media awareness at the time, as we have now. However, it was covered by the local news outlet. Upon investigation, the woman claimed she was on an intercontinental mission. Do you think witches do not exist? Pardon my asking Sir, I am only curious. I have read most of your posts and persistent advocacy; albeit, I do not quite understand your objective, please. Do you aim to protect witches, however, evil; or undermine the negative acts of witchcraft and wizardry? Do you seek to protect those wrongly accused of witchcraft activities? Please pardon my asking, Sir. It is for clarity only”.

In response to the comment, I referred him to a BBC article on how history’s brutal witch trials resonated today. The article was based on a new book: How to Kill the Witch by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi. The book recounted how witch hunts started in Scotland. King James blamed the devil, and his agents, the witches, for the bad weather he experienced while returning with his wife from Denmark. His (mis)interpretation of this encounter led to accusations of witchcraft and witch hunts in Scotland with at least 4, 000 persons accused and thousands of people executed.

That was from the 1560s to the 1700s. Today, victims, that is those accused, tortured, and executed in Europe and America are being memorialized. At the same time, these days witchy things, WitchTok, WitchCore, and witch romance fiction are gaining popularity across Europe and the rest of the Western world. Neopagan and modern witch practices are on the rise. These practices include nature worship, tarot, magic, rituals with herbs crystals, and other Wiccan religious expressions.

Unfortunately, many Africans confuse, the ‘ancient’ witches, that is, witches accused and executed in early modern Europe, and modern ‘witches’, tarot reading, nature worshipping practitioners. Or better, Africans mix up ‘witches’ of Europe then and ‘witches’ of Europe now. They are entirely different. This distinction is necessary in providing the requested clarification. First, most people in Africa are fixated on the ‘ancient’ witch, that is the European witch-then. The imaginary agent of the devil that causes harm, death, accident, and other misfortunes. They conflate the ancient witch-then idea, and the modern witch, the witch-now notion. For Africans, witch na witch as they say in pidgin English. All witches are the same thing. Meanwhile, there is a fundamental difference between the European witch-then belief and the European witch-now manifestation.

Many people in Africa still allude to the fact that Europeans and Americans have their witches to justify the pervasive ancient, witch-then idea and the ongoing witch hunts in the region. They are oblivious that the cultural and conceptual carpet has shifted. Europe has moved away from witch-then cosmology to the modern witch-now idea. Their inability to understand this shift beclouds their minds and conscience including what they see and deem as real or a fact, and what could be done to any supposed witch.

For instance, in that message, the woman (It’s often women) seen on the peak of a high-tension power pole must have climbed to reach there. Or how else? How is that related to witchcraft? The person may have some mental health issues and therefore needs some help. It is only a mind trapped in an ancient witch-then idea, not, a modern or witch-now notion, that would impute witchcraft under such circumstances. Meanwhile, as the request has shown there was no CCTV at the time to show exactly what happened, how and when the woman climbed and reached the pole. So the account is questionable. Such accounts based on hearsay abound.

Interestingly, the inquirer stated that the woman confessed saying that she was on an international mission. Come on. Is that not absurd? International mission from which nation to which nation? And for what? So how and why did she end up on an electric pole? Was the pole the destination of her international trip and mission? Can we Africans stop embarrassing ourselves? Can we stop making ourselves a laughingstock? How does this account indicate an exercise or manifestation of some occult or spiritual power? So, do I think the ancient European-then witch exists? No, it does not because nobody flies out spiritually at night to suck blood in covens or magically cause harm to their neighbors or their estate.

Do I think that modern witches exist? Of course yes, they do. Like other religious practitioners, modern witches engage in nature worship, tarot, magic, and rituals with herbs and crystals. My objective is to get Africans to abandon the ancient witch-then idea and witch-hunting; to protect and defend victims of accusation and persecution. The witch-then idea is wreaking havoc in families and communities. Innocent persons mainly women children and elderly persons are accused of perpetrating harm, of causing sickness, accidents, and death through magical means. The accused are beaten to death, buried alive, or murdered in cold blood. People with dementia and other mental health problems are accused and abused in the name of witchcraft. My organization, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches exists to combat these abuses; and empower and rehabilitate victims of witch hunts and ritual attacks. There are no witches who perpetrate evil acts as popularly believed. They only exist in the minds of believers, and accusers not in real life.

In addition, my objective is to dispel myths, superstitions, and misconceptions of witches in the minds of 21st-century Africans.
Like 21st-century Europeans, I want Africans to make a cultural shift away from ancient witch-then imaginaries and witch-hunting. Europe then witch did not exist. It was an imaginary. The modern Europe witch exists. It is a reality but does not have the power, the harmful magical facility that Africans associate with it. My goal is to rally all thinking Africans against witch hunts, and the widespread witch-then mindset that enable and sanctify witch hunting. My objective is to defend, protect, and empower victims of witch hunts across the region.

Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches