How and Why to Talk about Witchcraft? Discourses on Witchcraft and Uses of Bewitchment Narratives in 21st Century Rural Eastern Slovenia

Abstract

The article, based on fieldwork conducted in rural Eastern Slovenian region, discusses specifics of various discourses-Christian, rational, New Age, and, in particular, witchcraft discourse-that the inhabitants of the region use in discussing witchcraft. It shows the occasions in everyday life in which the witchcraft discourse may be mobilised and strategically used by people for their own benefit. Later, it compares the discourse used by traditional magic specialists in the unwitching procedure, performed when misfortune is ascribed to bewitchment, with the discourse used by a contemporary New Age therapist in therapy performed for the same reason. The author argues that in basic elements they resemble each other, the main difference being that the key underlying premise of the traditional unwitcher, i.e. that the source of misfortune threatens from the outside, loses its importance in the New Age therapy. In this, the main arena of counteraction against the perpetrator is transferred from the outside to the inside, to one's own body and mind.

‘No “wise” men or women but real doctors!'

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Communication of Tradition(s): Narrative Templates of Magical Healing in Urban Shamanism

“…The notion of witchcraft is treated by folklorists and anthropologists as an analytical category, although there have been debates about its theoretical value. Many researchers pointed out that folk beliefs have diverse meanings that are produced in accordance with specific socio-cultural settings; in real life, witchcraft can mean different things to different people and varied notions of 'witches' can co-exist within the same community (see, for example, Jerotijević, 2010Jerotijević, , 2015Jerotijević, , 2017Mencej, 2008Mencej, , 2016Mencej, , 2017aMencej, , 2017b. Thus, as Stewart and Strathern have noted, "it is not worthwhile to make and adhere to any rigid definitional distinctions.…”

Čarovništvo – diskurz ali praksa?

“…Navkljub uradni potrditvi, da gre za zastrupitev, je naša sogovornica za nesrečo okrivila sosedo, »ki zna« -kar je izraz, ki v čarovniškem diskurzu na našem območju tipično označuje »čarovnico« (cf. Mencej 2016Mencej , 2017. Podobno je tudi svojo sosedo, za katero je trdila, da ji je zastrupila krave in kokoši ter celo nastavila strup v jajca, imela za čarovnico.…”