Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
Pre-Christian Roman law considered witchcraft real. It wasn't illegal to practice sorcery, but it was illegal to use sorcery to accomplish malicious goals.
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For that matter, witchcraft is still practiced in Romania. Not witchcraft involving worship of Satan, however. This is the older folk variety, concerned with charms, potions and spells, to do things like bring you true love, keep you healthy, or help you make money. The practitioners are recognized professionals, and I recall seeing a proposal that would give them formal status with government licensing and taxes.
You can find that sort of thing in the US, though they may not call themselves "witches". There's a Gypsy fortune telling parlor a couple of blocks from me, and I encountered one in Brooklyn that advertised palm reading, fortune telling, crystalmancy, tea leave readings, tarot readings and kaballah. I rather doubted the last - I know some folks involved in Jewish mysticism, and the kaballah is a lifetime study by itself.
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Dennis