That sounds like an interesting arguement. There has been some interesting work about how chidren differ from adults as thinkers eg Woolley, Jaqueline D. Thinking About Fantasy Annual Progress In Child Psychiatry and Child Development1998 Psychology Press 1999. From my own experience, even in the non-swinging sixties in the midlands of the UK divination, ouija, haunted sites etc. were part of a world in which adults had little part. This was something that kids engaged with from perhaps 9/10 upwards.
Some of the 'games' like throwing apple peel to devine future lovers' initials were probably introduced by adults in formal settings. I suspect that these traditions had been learnt by them in a similar way ie. introduced by adults who wanted the tradition to continue.
First contact with ouija boards was perhaps intitiated as a result of information garnered form the television.
Cheers
Chris
----- Original Message -----
From: Sabina Magliocco
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 9:51 PM
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Child witches in Europe and the northern hemisphere
In _Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture_ (U. Kentucky Press, 2003), Bill Ellis argues that the occult has always been a source of power for adolescents and women in Western cultures. He argues persuasively that many historical instances suggest that teenagers played and experimented with witchcraft and the occult as a means of obtaining power with which to oppose the authority of adults. This trend, of course, continues in the activities of teens today, who tell legends, visit allegedly haunted sites, play with Ouija boards, and experiment with "dark" elements in popular culture. His arguments may be of use to you.
Best,
Sabina
Sabina Magliocco
Professor and Chair
Department of Anthropology
California State University - Northridge
18111 Nordhoff St.
Northridge, CA 91330-8244
"Burning the candle at both ends lights up my life."
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mary Christine Erikson
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 12:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Child witches in Europe and the northern hemisphere
In a message dated 11/29/2007 2:56:44 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
In the example of the Edict of Grace the psychopathology of the children who
confessed has been described as 'attention seeking.' But seeing the
confession as almost a behavioural phenotype seems to me to be awfully
simplistic and requires much greater elaboration. I feel that one would
argue against the behaviour being exclusively 'attention seeking.'
has it ever occurred to anyone, that a lot of witch like activity was
going on? perhaps these children were grabbing an opportunity to
cut loose of the confusing double life they were leading, one religion
by day and another by night or on certain days.
if you cross reference your studies on this, to folk and anthropology
and probably some archaeology, you should find evidence of some
kind of holdover pagan plus Christian heresy hybrid activity going
on. A more multidiscipline approach would be in order here.
Recently this year, a fellow I think on this egroup or on something
that was linked to from a post here, published some research on
East Anglian folk traditions of witchcraft and cunning practice, and
stated that he had no recourse to witch trial originated material,
as he didn't trust it, but strictly relied on now current local traditions.
And he reluctantly, as he said, had to admit that there was a big
similarity between the practices admitted in trials and those spoken
of by locals into it. I think this is also a source for the Chumbley
reconstruction of traditional (in the sense of pre Gardnerian or non
Gardnerian) witchcraft.
Mary Christine Erikson
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