Summer Olympic Games

The 2016 Games and subsequent events are to-be-determined. Not all Witches (people who practice witchcraft) consider themselves Wiccan or Neopagan, and vice versa. The 2012 Summer Olympics are to be held in London, United Kingdom. Psychology and medical research have shown that beliefs have an effect on one's perception of reality, and that beliefs and perception appear to effect behaviorial and other quantifiable physical changes; one well known example is the placebo effect. The 2008 Summer Olympics are to be held in Beijing, China. For neopagans who take a purely psychological approach to witchcraft, the power of a ritual is in the way its symbolism speaks to the unconscious mind. The games were appreciated for their excellent quality, from the point of view of their organisation, hospitality, the excellence of the competition, and the image transmitted worldwide. Thus, to affect change on a higher, spiritual level, a practitioner may employ rituals and symbolism that speak to the 'lower' mind.

Yet, none of those fears became a reality. A common theme amongst philosophies that describe three aspects of self is the idea that the unconscious acts as an intermediary between the consciousness and the superconsciousness. Greece spent at least $7.2 billion on the Games, including $1.5 billion on security alone -- an enormous sum that will take many years, if not decades, to pay off. It differs from Starhawk's model in that it assigns a place for the physical body in and of itself as part of a "whole" human being's spiritual existence. Also, as these were the first games after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, there were many fears about terrorist attacks taking place. This is also similar to the Eastern Christian trichotomy of the Greek words σώμα (soma), ψυχή (psyche), and νους (nous), wherein the soma is the living body, psyche is the "mind" as we normally use the term, and nous is the faculty capable of apprehending the Divine. Many doubted the city would be ready to host the games in time. Many similar models exist in the fields of psychology and magic, such as the ego, id and superego of Freud, or the Qabalistic concept of three parts of the self, being the Ruach (intellect and ego), the Nephesch (body, lower instinct and subconscious) and the Neschamah (the highest divine self).

2004 saw the games return to their birthplace, in Athens, Greece. Wiccan author Starhawk, in her book Spiral Dance, describes these as the Talking Self (the conscious mind), the Younger Self (the unconscious mind) and the Higher Self (the soul, also called the Divine Self); the unconscious (Younger Self) is non-verbal and does not understand speech, but understands and responds to symbolism. Eric "the Eel" Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, had a memorably slow 100 m freestyle swim that showed that, even in the commercial world of the twentieth century, some of de Coubertin's original vision still remained. Many neopagan witches subscribe to a model of three parts of the self, or three aspects of consciousness. The 2000 Games were held in Sydney, Australia, and showcased individual performances by local favourite Ian Thorpe in the pool, Briton Steve Redgrave who won a rowing Gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and Cathy Freeman, whose triumph in the 400 m united a packed stadium and provided a bridge between white and aboriginal Australians. Others believe instead that the power of witchcraft comes about primarily through psychological and psychosomatic effects, rather than any divine or paranormal means. (In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, was captured.). This view also implies ethical considerations, for harming another is, at a certain level, harming oneself.

The atmosphere at the Games was marred however when a bomb exploded during the celebration in Centennial Park. Some subscribe to the idea that all of reality is at some level interconnected, forming a single universal 'self' or 'oneness', and that by becoming conscious of this connection people can directly influence things around them. television. Their belief is sometimes very similar to the belief of Christians in prayer, that the Divine will acknowledge and grant answers to a ritual given in a Deity's name. The latter event took place not at the boxing ring but in the basketball arena, at the demand of U.S. Some neopagans believe that witchcraft should be used for good, and eschew any evil usages (See the Wiccan Rede and the Rule of Three (Wiccan)). There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali, clearly affected by Parkinson's disease, lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for the one he had discarded in 1960. Of these three categories the thakatha is almost exclusively female, the sangoma is usually female, and the inyanga is almost exclusively male.

This was popularly felt to be an appropriate recompense for the previous national disgrace involving Ben Johnson. The inyanga's job is to heal illness and injury and provide customers with magical items for everyday use. Canadians savoured Donovan Bailey's record-breaking gold medal run in the 100-metre dash. The inyanga is often translated as "witch doctor" (though many Southern Africans resent this implication, as it perpetuates the mistaken belief that a "witch doctor" is in some sense a practitioner of witchcraft). In the stadium in 1996, the highlight was 200 m runner Michael Johnson annihilating the world record in front of a home crowd. She also practices some degree of medicine. It was also widely rumoured that the Coca-Cola company was highly influential in the 1996 Games being hosted by their home city of Atlanta, Georgia. The sangoma is a diviner, somewhere on a par with a fortune teller, and is employed in detecting illness, predicting a person's future (or advising them on which path to take), or identifying the guilty party in a crime.

By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had itself become a commercial concern; allegations of corruption rocked the International Olympic Committee, in particular with reference to Salt Lake City's bid to host the Winter Olympic Games. The thakathi is usually translated into English as "witch", and is a spiteful person who operates in secret to harm others. basketball's "Dream Team." 1992 also saw the reintroduction to the Games of several smaller European states which had been incorporated into the USSR since World War II. In Southern African traditions, there are three classifications of somebody who uses magic. In evidence there was increased professionalism amongst Olympic athletes, exemplified by U.S. Combining Roman Catholic beliefs and practices and traditional West African religious beliefs and practices are several syncretic religions in the Americas, including Voudun, Obeah, Candomblé, and Santería. The 1992 Barcelona Games were cleaner, although not without incident. The term witch doctor, often attributed to African inyanga, has been misconstrued to mean "a healer who uses witchcraft" rather than its original meaning of "one who diagnoses and cures maladies caused by witches".

On the bright side, drug testing and regulation authorities were catching up with the cheating that had been endemic in athletics for some years. African Christians typically accept Christian dogma as do their counterparts in Latin America and Asia. This decision in particular would lead to a total overhaul of the judging process before the next games. Africans have a wide range of views of traditional religions. This culminated in local light-middleweight Park Si-hun being awarded the gold medal despite being conclusively outboxed in the final by American Roy Jones, Jr. See also: Christian views on witchcraft. There was an additional scandal in the boxing ring, where Korean fighters were awarded dubious decisions by the judges. Several references on these subjects include Ellen Cannon Reed's book "The Witches Qabala: The Pagan Path and the Tree of Life", "The Hebrew Goddess", by Raphael Patai, and the forthcoming book "Magickal Judaism: Blending Pagan and Jewish Practice", by Jennifer Hunter.

The outcry reached its zenith when Ben Johnson, the Canadian winner of the men's 100 m sprint, was discovered to be a steroid user and disqualified. These individuals and groups either borrow from existing Jewish magical traditions or reconstruct rituals based on Judaism and NeoPaganism. Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed the games. (See "The Witches Qabalah", in the list of references below.) These practitioners tend to identify with Judeo-Paganism (also known as Jewish Paganism), and/or practice Jewitchery, or Jewish Witchcraft. The 1988 Seoul games were sadly tainted when many of the athletes failed mandatory drug tests. Some Neopagans study and practice forms of magery based on a syncretism between classical Jewish mysticism and modern witchcraft. Again, the games lost a measure of their appeal by the absence of one of the superpowers. Since the Enlightenment, most Jewish people have abandoned a belief in the Kabbalah, although it is currently becoming popularized by some Jewish groups such as Chabad-Lubavitch and Jewish Renewal.

The games were again viable, but had become more commercial. It should be noted that some Orthodox Jews study Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric mysticism) which contains magical elements; however, their practices use terminology that varies greatly from witchcraft. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era. For instance, Rabbi Rabbah created a person and sent him to Rabbi Zera, and Rabbi Hanina and Rabbi Oshaia studied every Sabbath evening together and created a small calf to eat (Sanhedrin 65b). In 1984 the Soviet Union, and 14 Eastern Europe countries, reciprocated by boycotting the Los Angeles games. However, some of the Rabbis practiced magic themselves. This contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country. The one who creates the illusion of picking cucumbers should not be condemned, only the one who actually picks the cucumbers through magic.

Notably, Great Britain and Greece did not withdraw. Rabbis of the Talmud also condemned magic when it produced something other than illusion, giving the example of two men who use magic to pick cucumbers (Sanhedrin 67a). Following the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany and Japan, boycotted the 1980 games held in Moscow. According to Traditional Judaism, it is acknowledged that while magic exists, it is forbidden to practice it on the basis that it usually involves the worship of other gods. The Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci won the women's individual all around gold medal with a succession of perfect scores, thus giving birth to a gymnastics dynasty in Romania. Jewish law views the practice of witchcraft as being laden with idolatry and/or necromancy; both being serious theological and practical offenses in Judaism. There was also a boycott by African nations to protest a recent tour of apartheid South Africa by a New Zealand rugby side. There is some debate, however, as to whether the word used in Galatians and Revelation, Pharmakeia, is properly translated as "sorcery", as the word was commonly used to describe malicious use of drugs as in poisons, contraceptives, and abortifacients.

For a time, it seemed that the Olympics might no longer be a viable financial proposition. Supposing that the belief in witchcraft were held to be an idle superstition, it would be strange that the suggestion should nowhere be made that the evil of these practices only lay in the pretending to the possession of powers which did not really exist. There was no such tragedy in Montreal in 1976, but bad planning led to the Games' cost far exceeding the budget. The prohibitions of sorcery in the New Testament leave the same impression (Galatians 5:20, compared with Revelation 21:8; 22:15; and Acts 8:9; 13:6). Some memorable athletic achievements did occur during these Games, notably the winning of a record seven gold medals by United States swimmer Mark Spitz, and the winning of three gold medals by 16-year-old Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut. From Leviticus 20:27: "A man or woman in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die: they shall stone them: Their blood be upon them", we should naturally infer that the divining spirit was not believed to be a mere imposture. After much debate, it was decided that the Games would continue, but proceedings were obviously dominated by these events. However, the witch responds with shocked surprise at the manifestation, denoting that the witch had actually expected something different -- presumably either nothing real at all or a lying ("familiar") spirit.

In the firefight that followed, 15 people, including the remaining nine Israeli athletes and all but one of the terrorists, were killed. The whole narrative of Saul's visit to the witch of En Dor (I Samuel 28) implies belief in the reality of the witch's evocation of the shade of Samuel. Eventually the captors, still holding their hostages, were offered safe passage and taken to an airport, where they were ambushed by German security forces. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live".) Many bible scholars have noted that in the original hebrew the word "M'khasephah"(translated in the King James as "witch") means "someone who malevolently uses spoken curses to hurt people", which the modern Wiccan Rede specifically forbids of its practitioners to do. When the Israelis refused to make concessions, a tense stand-off ensued while negotiations continued. (See Deuteronomy 18:11-12; Exodus 22:18, "wizards thou shalt not suffer to live" - A.V. The terrorists demanded that Israel release numerous Arab prisoners. In the Bible references to witchcraft are frequent, and the strong condemnations of such practices which we read there do not seem to be based so much upon the supposition of fraud as upon the "abomination" of the magic in itself.

An extreme Palestinian terrorist group named Black September invaded the Olympic village and held several members of the Israeli weightlifting team hostage, and killed two of them. In modern Hindi, a witch is called chudail or Daayan, and is greatly feared even today as a potential harm by many of the illiterate villagers. Politics again intervened at Munich in 1972, with lethal consequences. One of the four holy Vedas of the Hindus, the Atharva Veda, itself contains semi-magical incantations, chiefly against such sorcerors meaning harm to the Aryan peoples. Politics took centre stage in the medal ceremony for the men's 200-metre dash, where Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a protest gesture on the podium against the segregation in the USA; their political act was condemned within the Olympic Movement, but was praised in the American Civil Rights Movement. In the Vedic Age, witches were recognized and called yoginīs (masc.: yogin), and wrongful magic was called abhichāra. The 1968 Games also saw the introduction of the now-universal Fosbury flop, a technique which won American high jumper Dick Fosbury the gold medal. It is there prescribed,.

In a previously tight competition, US athlete Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 m, destroying the world record and, in the words of fellow competitor and then-reigning champion Lynn Davies, "making the rest of us look silly." Beamon's world record would stand for 23 years. It will be sufficient to quote a short section from the Code of Hammurabi (about 2000 B.C.). No event was affected more than the long jump. Both in ancient Egypt and in Babylonia it played a conspicuous part, as existing records plainly show. Performances at the 1968 Mexico City games were affected by the altitude of the host city. The belief in witchcraft and its practice seem to have been widespread in the past. The 1964 Games were thus a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics. See for example:.

These games were the first to be broadcast live on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites, and helped introduce the world to colour television. Powers typically attributed to European witches include turning food poisonous or inedible, flying on broomsticks, casting spells, and creating fear and local chaos. The 1964 Games held in Tokyo are notable for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. Present-day beliefs about the witches of history attribute to them elements of the folklore witch, the charmer, the cunning man or wise woman, the diviner and the astrologer. Other performers of note in 1960 included Wilma Rudolph, a gold medallist in the 100 m, 200 m and 4x100 m relay events. The long-term result of this amalgamation of distinct types of magic-worker into one is the considerable present-day confusion as to what witches actually did, whether they harmed or healed, what role (if any) they had in the community, whether they can be identified with the "witches" of other cultures and even whether they existed as anything other than a projection. The 1960 Rome Games saw the arrival on the world scene of a young light-heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, who would later throw his gold medal away in disgust after being refused service in a whites only restaurant in his home town. The important distinction is that there are records of the populace reporting alleged witches to the authorities as such, whereas cunning folk were not so incriminated; they were more commonly prosecuted for accusing the innocent or defrauding people of money.

The 1956 Melbourne Games were largely successful, barring a water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which political tensions caused to end as a pitched battle between the teams. When a person was known to be a witch, the populace would still seek to employ their healing skills; however, as was not the case with cunning-folk, members of the general population would also hire witches to curse their enemies. Pacing himself by chatting with the other leaders, Zátopek led from about half way, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio both of wins and Olympic records. In addition, it appears that much of the populace was willing to approach either of these groups for healing magic and divination. Having first won both the 10,000 and 5,000 metre races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Records from the Middle Ages, however, make it appear that it was, quite often, not entirely clear to the populace whether a given practioner of magic was a witch or one of the cunning-folk. At the 1952 Games in Helsinki, Finland made a legend of an amiable Czech army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek, who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Such "cunning-folk" did not refer to themselves as witches and objected to the accusation that they were such.

Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals on the track, emulating Owens' achievement in Berlin. Girdle-measurers specialised in diagnosing ailments caused by fairies, while magical cures for more mundane ailments, such as burns or toothache, could be had from charmers.). The first post-war Games were held in 1948 in London, with both Germany and Japan excluded. (Other folk magicians had their own purviews. The Games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled due to World War II. Toad doctors were also credited with the ability to undo witchcraft. The tale of Hitler snubbing Owens at the ensuing medal ceremony is a fabrication. The term "witch doctor" was in use in England before it came to be associated with Africa.

In particular, the black sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals. In England, the provision of this curative magic was the job of a witch doctor, also known as a cunning man, white witch, or wise woman. The result, Olympia, was a masterpiece, despite Hitler's theories of Aryan racial superiority being repeatedly shown up by non-Aryan athletes. These can be found in Bacchanalias, especially in the time when they were led by priestess Paculla Annia (188-186). The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games. According to the scholar Max Dashu, the concept of medieval witch contained many of its elements even before the emergence of Christianity. The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by the German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. This idea is commonplace in pre-Christian religions and is a logical consequence of belief in magic.

Louis games. The Church did not invent the idea of witchcraft as a potentially harmful force whose practitioners should be put to death. This was in stark contrast to 1932 when the Los Angeles games were affected by the Great Depression, which contributed to the fewest competitors since the St. Other rulers such as King Coloman of Hungary declared that witch-hunts should cease because witches do not exist. The 1928 Amsterdam games were notable for being the first games which allowed females to compete at track & field athletics, and benefitted greatly from the general prosperity of the times alongside the first appearance of sponsorship of the games, from Coca-Cola. This denial was accepted into Church law until it was reversed in later centuries as the witch-craze gained force. "The Flying Finn", won three team gold medals and the individual 1,500 and 5,000 metre runs, the latter two on the same day. In 820 the Bishop of Lyon and others repudiated the belief that witches could make bad weather, fly in the night, and change their shape.

This record only stood until 1924, when the Paris Games would involve 3,000 competitors, the greatest of whom was Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. The emperor Charlemagne decreed that the burning of supposed witches was a pagan custom that would be punished by the death penalty. The 1920 Antwerp games in war-ravaged Belgium were a subdued affair, but again drew a record number of competitors. Boniface declared in the eighth century that belief in witches is unchristian. The scheduled Berlin Games of 1916 were cancelled following the onset of World War I. St. They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. Down through history, the Catholic Church and European society have not always been obsessed with hunting witches and blaming them for bad occurrences.

Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this breach of amateurism. The witches or wizards addicted to such practices were alleged to adjure Jesus and the sacraments, observe "the witches' sabbath" - performing infernal rites which often took the shape of a parody of the Mass or the offices of the Church - pay Divine honour to the Prince of Darkness, and in return receive from him preternatural powers. The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,500 competitors to Stockholm in 1912, including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Traditional European witchcraft beliefs, such as those typified in the confessions of the Pendle Witches, commonly involve a diabolical pact or at least an appeal to the intervention of the spirits of evil[3]. He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials, but later he was disqualified and the gold medal was awarded to John Hayes, who had trailed him by around 30 seconds. In place of the old Pagan magic methodology, the Church placed a Christian methodology involving saints and divine relics — a short step from the old Pagan techniques of amulets and talismans. At the end of the 1908 marathon the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress, and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. While Christianity competed with Pagan religion, this concern was paramount, only lessening in importance once Christianity was the dominant religion in most of Europe.

At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six different distances. ^[2] The advent of Christianity suggests that potential Christians, comfortable with the use of magic as part of their daily lives, expected Christian clergy to work magic of a form superior to the old Pagan way. The marathon had been 40 km for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. The characterization of the witch, rather than being a caricature of a Pagan priestess, developed over time. This distance was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. The familiar witch of folklore and popular superstition is a combination of numerous influences. The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). This is an oversimplification and presumes that a recognizable folklore figure must derive from a single historical precedent (a female, maligned magic-worker).

Anyway, they certainly positively contributed to the success of future games after the less successful 1900 and 1904 Games. Popular neopagan beliefs suggest that witches were female shamans who were made into malicious figures by Christian propaganda. These games are not currently recognised as being Olympic Games by the IOC, though most historians do see them as such. The characterization of the witch in Europe is not derived from a single source. As it also turned out to be the last, the reason for the games is now sought in the "tenth birthday" of the games. Most people would call male witches sorcerers, wizards, or warlocks; however, modern self-identified witches and Wiccans continue to use the term witch for all who practice witchcraft. There followed a smaller games in Athens in 1906, the first of an alternating series of games to be held in Athens. Colloquially, the term witch is applied almost exclusively to women, although in earlier English the term was applied to men too.

In contrast with Paris 1900, the word Olympic was abused for many contests, such as those for school boys or for Irish-Americans. [1]. Louis, USA, due in part to the lengthy transatlantic boat trip required of the European competitors, and the integration with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's fair, which again spread the event out over an extended period. Many neo-pagan sources assert that because the root wik- is associated with words meaning "to bend", the original meaning of the word was "one who bends the natural order" (by using magic). Numbers declined again for the 1904 Games in St. Other possible connections include the Old English wigle (divination), the Proto-Germanic *wikkjaz (necromancer), the Gothic weihs (holy), and the English words victim (in its original meaning for someone killed in a religious ritual) and wicked. It is still disputed which events exactly were Olympic, since few or maybe even none of the events were advertised as such at the time. Low German contains wicker (soothsayer).

The Games were integrated with the Paris World's fair and lasted over 5 months. Contraction of witega ('wise man, prophet') is possible. Four years later (in 1900) the Paris games attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 11 women, who were allowed to compete for the first time, in croquet and tennis. That the word derives directly from Old English is hard to doubt, but the origins of the Old English words are more problematic. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organised before. The origins of the term witch are highly disputed. The first games, held in Athens in 1896, attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Methods are many and differ from witch to witch.

The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre Fredi, Baron de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. Sometimes quite simple and mundane actions can constitute the physical casting of a spell, and it is a common belief amongst modern witches that the intention behind the actions is at least as important as the actions themselves. . Spells can be cast by many methods, including meditation, burning of candles, chanting or reciting incantations, performing physical rituals and making herbal preparations. The football World Cup attracts more global interest, as measured by the larger television audience. Probably the most obvious characteristic of a witch is their ability to cast spells. Though the most diverse sporting event in the world, the Olympics are perhaps not the most popular. Necromancy, the conjuring of the spirits of the dead, is also regarded as a typical witchcraft practice; the Biblical 'Witch' of Endor is supposed to have performed it, and it is among the witchcraft practices condemned by Aelfric.

The special case of Taiwan was handled by having it compete as Chinese Taipei, to avoid the issue of Taiwanese independence. Witchcraft practices (in the common, malefic sense) are typically forbidden by law where belief in them exists (as well as being hated and feared by the general populace) while 'folk magic' is tolerated or even accepted wholesale by the people, even if the orthodox establishment objects to it. In general only recognised nations are represented, but a few non-sovereign countries are allowed to take part. Many neopagan witches identify with this concept, and profess strong ethical codes that prevent them from attempting magic on someone without that person having requested it or at least given permission. National anthems and flags accompany the medal ceremonies, and tables showing the number of medals won by each country are widely used. There has also existed in popular belief the concept of white witches and white witchcraft, which is strictly benevolent. Competitors are entered by a National Olympic Committee (NOC) to represent their country of citizenship. The folk magic used to identify or protect against witches is often indistinguishable from that used by the witches themselves.

Medals are awarded in each event, with gold for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition which started in 1904. Folk magic of a more benign and socially acceptable sort may then be employed to turn the malevolence aside, or identify the supposed witch so that punishment may be carried out. Olympic victory is widely considered to be the most prestigious achievement in sports. Where witchcraft is believed to have the power to influence the body or possessions, witches can become a credible cause for disease, sickness in animals, bad luck, sudden death, impotence and other such misfortunes. The Olympics are the most prestigious of such events in the world. Many examples can be found in ancient texts, such as those from Egypt and Babylonia. The Summer Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event held every four years, organised by the International Olympic Committee. The concept of a magic-worker influencing another person's body or property against his or her will was clearly present in many cultures before the introduction of monotheism, as there are traditions in both folk magic and religious magic that have the purpose of countering witchcraft or identifying witches from those times.

2012 - Games of the XXX Olympiad - London, United Kingdom. Some modern commentators, especially neopagan ones, consider the malefic nature of witchcraft to be a Christian projection. 2008 - Games of the XXIX Olympiad - Beijing, China / Sha Tin, Hong Kong, China (Equestrian events). Practices to which the witchcraft label have been historically applied are those which influence another person's body or property against his or her will, or which are believed, by the person doing the labeling, to undermine the social or religious order. 2004 - Games of the XXVIII Olympiad - Athens, Greece. A great deal of confusion and conflict has arisen from attempts by one group or another to canonize their particular definition of the term. 2000 - Games of the XXVII Olympiad - Sydney, Australia. Recently, witchcraft has taken on a distinctly positive connotation among Wiccans and other Neopagans as the ritual element of their religious beliefs.

1996 - Games of the XXVI Olympiad - Atlanta, United States. Such accusations are a counterpart to blood libel of various kinds, which may be found throughout history across the globe. 1992 - Games of the XXV Olympiad - Barcelona, Spain. In the modern Western world, witchcraft accusations have often accompanied the Satanic Ritual Abuse hysteria. 1988 - Games of the XXIV Olympiad - Seoul, South Korea. Accusations of witchcraft were frequently combined with other charges of heresy against such groups as the Cathars and Waldensians. 1984 - Games of the XXIII Olympiad - Los Angeles, United States. Throughout this time, the concept of witchcraft came increasingly to be interpreted as a form of Devil worship.

1980 - Games of the XXII Olympiad - Moscow, Soviet Union (now Moscow, Russia). Under the monotheistic religions of the Levant (primarily Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), witchcraft came to be associated with heresy, rising to a fever pitch among the Catholics, Protestants, and secular leadership of the European Late Medieval/Early Modern period. 1976 - Games of the XXI Olympiad - Montréal, Canada. On occasion such accusations have led to witch hunts. 1972 - Games of the XX Olympiad - Munich, West Germany (now Munich, Germany). Belief in witches of this sort have been common among the indigenous populations of the world, including Africa, Asia and the Americas. 1968 - Games of the XIX Olympiad - Mexico City, Mexico. This use of the term is most often found in accusations against individuals who are suspected of causing harm in the community by way of supernatural means.

1964 - Games of the XVIII Olympiad - Tokyo, Japan. If the community accepts magical practice in general, then there is typically a clear separation between witches (in this sense) and the terms used to describe legitimate practitioners. 1960 - Games of the XVII Olympiad - Rome, Italy. Witchcraft is also used to refer, narrowly, to the practice of magic in an exclusively inimical sense. 1956 - Games of the XVI Olympiad - Melbourne, Australia / Stockholm, Sweden (Equestrian events). Such religions consider their own ritual practices to be not at all magical, but rather simply variations of prayer. 1952 - Games of the XV Olympiad - Helsinki, Finland. According to some religious doctrines, all forms of magic are labeled witchcraft, and are either proscribed or treated as superstitious.

1948 - Games of the XIV Olympiad - London, United Kingdom. Members of some religions have applied the term witchcraft in a pejorative sense to refer to all magical or ritual practices other than those sanctioned by their own doctrines, though this has become less common, at least in the Western world. 1944 - Games of the XIII Olympiad - London, United Kingdom- Cancelled due to the still raging World War II. Depending on the values of the community, witchcraft in this sense may be regarded with varying degrees of suspicion and hostility, or with ambivalence, being neither intrinsically good nor evil. 1940 - Games of the XII Olympiad - Helsinki, Finland - Cancelled following the onset of World War II. Sometimes witchcraft is used to refer, broadly, to the practice of magic, and has a connotation similar to sorcery. 1936 - Games of the XI Olympiad - Berlin, Germany. Each culture has its own particular body of concepts dealing with magic, religion, benevolent and harmful spirits, and ritual; and these ideas do not find obvious equivalents in other cultures.

1932 - Games of the X Olympiad - Los Angeles, United States. . 1928 - Games of the IX Olympiad - Amsterdam, Netherlands. Used with entirely different contexts, and within entirely different cultural references, it can take on distinct and often contradictory meanings. 1924 - Games of the VIII Olympiad - Paris, France. Witchcraft is viewed differently in different cultures around the globe. 1920 - Games of the VII Olympiad - Antwerp, Belgium. The term witchcraft (and witch) is a controversial one with a complicated history.

1916 - Games of the VI Olympiad - Berlin, Germany - Cancelled following the onset of World War I. A witch is a (sometimes specifically female) person who engages in witchcraft. 1912 - Games of the V Olympiad - Stockholm, Sweden. Witchcraft, in various historical, religious and mythical contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers. 1908 - Games of the IV Olympiad - London, United Kingdom. flying ointments. 1906 - Intercalated Games - Athens, Greece. witchcraft trials.

Louis, United States. witchhunts. 1904 - Games of the III Olympiad - St. Malleus Maleficarum. 1900 - Games of the II Olympiad - Paris, France. Use of poppets. 1896 - Games of the I Olympiad - Athens, Greece. Astrology, reading of horoscopes.

Includes Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling. Divination - by tarot, runes, etc. Wrestling - every edition except 1900