The Image of Witches:1692 Compared to Today

There are many different images of witches. Some are beautiful and some are horribly ugly. Some are nice and some are evil. In 1692, Salem, M.A., witches were considered evil, seductive, devil worshiping people, mostly women. Back in the 1600's people didn't have TV's and never imagined a witch as an old, ugly women with green skin, a tall, black, pointy hat, a magic broomstick, and a black cat. Witches, to them, were people who dressed the way a person of their time dressed, but worked black magic spells and acted strangely.

Today the images of witches have been exaggerated, with the aid of Hollywood. Many movies, such as "The Wizard of OZ," "The Witches," and "Macbeth" show witches as ugly and evil women. Movies such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "I Married a Witch" show witches as beautiful but seductive, vain, and evil witches, who, under their beauty and charm, are hideously ugly. Other movies like "Practical Magic" show witches as good and beautiful women who are not associated with the devil.

In modern day Salem, there are many self-proclaimed witches who protest Salem's logo of a witch on a broomstick. One of these self-proclaimed witches living in Salem, M.A., is a women named Laurie Cabot. She protest Salem's logo and says that witches are not ugly, old women who fly around on broomsticks and practice black magic. Instead, she says that witches worship Mother Earth, goddess of fertility, life, and nourishment, and do not worship the devil. As it is written in Lori Lee Wilson's book, "The Salem Witch Trials," Laurie Cabot says that witches believe "that magic lies in their power to join themselves spiritually with Mother Earth, with all nature, and with each other through practice of meditation." They also believe that "this spiritual bond with nature and their goddess can actually have a physical influence on such things as weather and health."