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Hi Morgan; I have asked him about this. I know many witches here in Melbourne but these are definitely not the kind of witch he means. I asked him why he feared these witches and it is because he is worried that they will use black magic against him. It seems to be in the form of charms which he worries that they will bury near his home to bewitch him. He is interested in things like the Goetia which he sees as a more powerful magick than that which is used by witches. He found me via my website http://ankhafnakhonsu.net/ and it took a couple of months to convince him that I was a very normal person like himself. He is very naive and quite polite and sees the study of magick as a defensive tool. This makes it hard for him to see that I view magick very differently as a means of self development. He is also very interested in magick to bring money and women- very traditional objectives. My correspondences with him have been very interesting. I hope that helps to shed some light on it for you Morgan. :) David > Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:39:40 +1100 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Sorcery definitely not happening. > To: [log in to unmask] > > Hi David, > I would be interested to know what your Lagonian (?) friend defines as a > witch, and how he sees it as different from the magic he does. > > Morgan Leigh > PhD Candidate > School of Sociology & Social Work > University of Tasmania > > On 23/02/2013 2:05 PM, David Mattichak wrote: > > Hi Morgan; > > > > I am not really surprised that this is happening in Papua New Guinea- it > > is probably the wildest place on earth and the modern world has really > > only touched the edge of its ancient ways. I have been told that Port > > Moresby, where almost all Westerners are in the country, is one of the > > most violent and dangerous cities anywhere. > > > > At the same time I see some parallels with West Africa too where > > attacking witches is still very common. Over the past few months I have > > been corresponding with a fellow magician who lives in Lagos and his > > main concerns are finding magick that he can use to protect himself from > > 'witches'. > > > > We have to stop seeing these things as primitive superstitions and > > address them as real aspects of the cultures in which they are seen as > > being important before we can begin to understand what is going on let > > alone do anything about it. Unfortunately Papua New Guinea seems to be > > another example of the destructive and degenerative influence that > > western culture has upon native peoples in 'underdeveloped' countries. > > > > Thanks for the link, always an interesting topic. > > > > David > > > >> Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:10:26 +1100 > >> From: [log in to unmask] > >> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Sorcery definitely not happening. > >> To: [log in to unmask] > >> > >> Oops, obviously it is The Global Mail not The Conversation... > >> > >> > >> > >> On 23/02/2013 11:13 AM, Morgan Leigh wrote: > >> > http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/what-to-do-about-witchcraft/563/ > >> > > >> > Here's an interesting story from The Conversation about killings of > >> > alleged witches and sorcerers in Papua New Guinea. The story naively > >> > assumes that sorcery doesn't exist and that people are just to dumb to > >> > know that people die from disease. Thus the prescribed cure is to > >> > educate people in western understandings of things and the problem will > >> > surely go away. I do not discount the possibility of blaming others as a > >> > coping mechanism for the death of loved ones, but it is sad to see > >> > western cultural imperialism being imposed on another people because the > >> > westerners can't conceive of the possibility of sorcery actually > > existing. > >> > > >> > Morgan Leigh > >> > PhD Candidate > >> > School of Sociology & Social Work > >> > University of Tasmania > >> >