Such notions, however, are more identifiable among the Classic Maya and in Late Postclassic Central Mexico where both regions have an extensive amount of information to draw from.

Feathers from which birds went to make Aztec Maya headdresses.

Coltman for writing specially for Mexicolore this fascinating article on the importance of witchcraft and sorcery in ancient Mexico, practices at once dangerous and destructive, benevolent and caring.

Born and raised Southern Californian, Jeremy is currently working on his doctorate in anthropology at University of California, Riverside.

Perhaps this note in question should briefly mention an incident or two in the long history of belief in and persecution of accused witches in Medieval Europe and Colonial America.

One such incident involved Pope Innocent VIII issuing a papal bull on December 5th, 1484, thus giving support to Heinrich Kramer to begin investigations into witchcraft and sorcery in the German countryside.

This resulted in the despicable 1487 publication of the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches), a virtual guide to identify, accuse, and condemn suspected witches.

One would like to assume we live in a world today that looks back on such events as archaic remnants of the past.

The world continues to be plagued by witch hunts that are no less abhorrent than they were in the middle ages.

For instance, a special unit of the religious police in Saudi Arabia is dedicated to seeking out sorcerers, the penalty often resulting in long prison sentences and execution.

In Nigeria, children are accused of bringing misfortune through witchcraft and are tortured, killed, and left homeless.

In parts of Africa, the AIDS epidemic and recent Ebola outbreak are thought to be caused by witchcraft.

Asking about such questions can earn an anthropologist the fastest ticket out of town.

Indeed, one must take extra care to not over sensationalize a topic that can have potentially serious consequences for living people.

As anthropologists, we must remember that the words witchcraft and sorcery are Western constructions, loaded terms with historical baggage that carry a slew of negative connotations.

So if we continue to use these largely negative terms, what exactly is our justification for doing so and what do we exactly mean by witchcraft and sorcery.

Evans Pritchard in his classic work on witchcraft among the Azande of Africa.

A similar distinction has been made in rural Tlaxcala and elsewhere in Mexico.

The words continue to be used interchangeably and we are still far from a consensus as to what the differences are.

It is a complicated subject and falls under much scrutiny along with other words that have proven problematic such as the word shaman.

For the sake of clarity, these terms will be used to refer to maleficent magic that is used to harm others.

However, it must be remembered that witchcraft and sorcery equal power and like all power, it could be manipulated in positive or negative ways.

In fact, there is a fine line between acts of sorcery and witchcraft and those of curing in that those that have the power to kill and harm also possess the power to cure and heal.

The owl represents dark shamanic forces (Click on image to enlarge).

Brujeria Pronunciation