Keegan's Reflections on Witchcraft & Life

The time has come! The ultimate reflection! I cannot believe the semester is coming to a close. Not only that, my time at TCU is coming to a close. When I enrolled as a freshman 4 years ago, I would not have predicted that I would be taking a course on witches, witchcraft, and witch hunts to wrap up my undergraduate experience. Nonetheless, here I am, and I am sincerely grateful for this course. As I write below, one of my favorite parts about this course has been the opportunity to take time to reflect in these blog posts. I personally thoroughly enjoy writing (and thinking), but I don't take enough opportunities to translate the latter into the former. I spend more time contemplating various ideas and thoughts in my head and rarely put pen to paper. However, this course has forced me to write, and I am thankful for that opportunity. In this final reflection (or final essay), I will present and discuss five things that I have learned this semester and my reactions to those things....

When considering what to write in this blog, I had more difficulty than for previous posts. For my tenth and final blog, I am going to reflect on five pieces of information that I have found interesting or relevant from the semester. Therefore, this blog is my final unprompted piece-- how, then, should I use it? What have I not yet taken time to consider or reflect on thoroughly? From my perspective, the most fitting topic for this ninth blog should be on Salem itself. Specifically, I want to reflect on the captivating, timeless allure of Salem. I do not believe that I have anything particularly novel to add to the discussion (as historians have examined and reflected upon this subject for years), but I nonetheless want to take more time myself to consider the reasons for its such enduring effect. My gut reaction is that the atrocities committed at Salem account for its steady allure. Stories of a man being crushed by stones and women being hung at the gallows occupy a particular place...

I think people living in the present day are always more critical of those in the past than themselves. There are two questions I want to explore. 1. Why do I hold this belief? 2. If true, why does this pattern exist? To try and answer the first question, I notice the tendency in myself to look with disdain on centuries of human civilization past and then to brush off the stains of the present. I've been thinking about this reality recently while reading our literature for class. In elementary school, we were introduced to a time period often referred to as "The Wild West." Insert images of guns blazing, outlaws robbing casinos, cowboys dying in duels, mine shafts exploding from within, bandits running wild in the streets. Insert images of those old Cowboy movies you've seen. It's the time period when the eastern United States was growing cities and commerce, but the western United States was crazed with the gold rush. Civilization in the east; lawlessness in the ...

How can you be in a class about the Salem Witch Trials and not talk about the Puritans? Come on, it's unavoidable. Not only were Puritan ministers and officials involved in the trials themselves & not only were the townsfolk those who believed in Puritan doctrine, but can we talk about the elephant in the room: the Puritan beliefs and way of life just seem freaking whack! Let's be honest, no one reads the literature associated with the Salem Witch Trials and is captivated by the Puritans. No! Sure, some of that reaction can be attributed to the context (the killing of innocent people), but I hypothesize that much of that response can be attributed to an outrage or discomfort with the Puritans just in general. We've got to be real: the worldview of the Puritans stands in absolute contrast to the beliefs and lives of modern-day American society. I think some of us struggle so much with the Puritans because we don't even have a category in our brains for them! OK. End ...

In this blog, I want to contemplate Dr. Williams' short saying "I believe in the power of belief." I think there is a lot to unpack even in that short statement. Now, I don't have a particular structure or even end-goal in mind as I write this blog. Instead, I am just going to write out and process through the thoughts that come to mind. Upfront, I think that Dr. William's remark is profound. As I said just above, though it is only seven words and seems straightforward on the surface, I think there are many different angles of analysis that can be taken. I think it is an astute observation to notice that regardless of what people are believing, the sole fact that they do sincerely believe  something is a forceful action. When someone actually believes  in a cause or a movement or an ideology or a political system or a religion, that person's telos , so to speak, is fundamentally changed. Their orientation, their "end goal," their vision of "the ...

In this blog, I want to take a quick hiatus from deep, intellectual topics. Well, I will try my best to take a quick hiatus from deep, intellectual topics. Actually, I will try my best to not get super "deep," but I don't think I can avoid being at least a tad bit intellectual. I don't want to make promises I can't keep : D As the title of this blog indicates, I want to take a brief moment to offer my appreciation for A History of Magic, Witchcraft & the Occult . I want to offer up this appreciation from the perspective of a business major in Neeley but also just as a student, a thinker, someone who doesn't naturally spend a lot of time reading or researching history. Now, I want to share my gratitude for A History of Magic, Witchcraft & the Occult  for its content specifically and more generally. Specifically, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about the progression of magic since the beginning of human civilization up until now. I think it is fascinat...