Should witch senators be burned?

Staring straight into the lens of a campaign camera, Christine O'Donnell says, "I'm not a witch." Perhaps for the first time in American political history (at least for the first time since the late 17th century), a Delaware Republican...

Staring straight into the lens of a campaign camera, Christine O'Donnell says, "I'm not a witch."

Perhaps for the first time in American political history (at least for the first time since the end of the 17th century), a Republican from Delaware is forced to resort to such means in order to maintain her chances of getting into the US Senate. The hype began with a video filmed in 1999 in which she admits that she "dabbles in witchcraft." And her assurances that she "never participated in the covens" had about the same resonance as Bill Clinton's words that he "did not drag on."

Spells, magical potions, and pagan rituals are rarely practiced in the corridors of power, but many people around the world consider them an important part of their lives. Occult symbolism can be seen everywhere, especially now, on the eve of Halloween and the Mexican Day of the Dead following it.

Located in New York's Bronx, the innocently named Natural Foods Company specializes in herbs, amulets, charms, and voodoo dolls used in Afro-Cuban beliefs and cults such as Santeria, Voodoo, and Wicca.

Cecilia Oliver was brought here by her boyfriend issues. “He constantly argues with me,” she says. “And I want him to obey me always and in everything.” Having delved into the problem, an employee of the "Company of natural products", a minister of the cult of Santeria, Mario Allai, offered Cecilia a piece of paper with the text of a magical love spell, which she should put under the insole of her boyfriend's boot.

Admirers of such occult religions often complain that they are confused with Satanists. At the same time, for example, followers of the Wicca cult claim that worship of the forces of nature is at the center of their practice.

"There's a lot going on against Wicky," said David Steinmetz, a professor of Christian history at Duke University's Divinity School in North Carolina. “From what the Bible says about witchcraft to the history of witch trials in our country.”

However, today in most countries witches are not drowned, burned or tortured. Most, but not all.

This year's HBO documentary "Save the Possessed African Children" documented the persecution faced by those suspected of witchcraft. The film follows the work of Gary Foxcroft, founder of the charity Stepping Stone Nigeria. The filmmakers accompany Foxcroft on a tour of the Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom, where many children are threatened by a brutal "exorcism" procedure. As in Salem, Massachusetts, at the end of the 17th century, all it takes to be a victim is a preacher's vocal suspicion that a child is possessed. The "treatment" used in such cases may include dousing the child with acid, burying him alive, burning him at the stake, or banishing him from his family.

Occult practices persist throughout Africa and do not disappear even under the pressure of larger religions. For example, in Benin, a Voodoo cultist named Dah Aligbonon Akpochihala preaches on the radio. “When my program is on the radio, people stay up,” the preacher himself proudly says. “They are eager to hear my word.”

Aligbonon recently published a pamphlet in which he defends Voodoo from attacks and accusations of Satanism. According to him, the Voodoo cult is based primarily on the "law of nature."

Christine O'Donnell is at the tail end of the race, and on November 3 it will become clear whether she succeeded in dispelling the fears of Delaware voters. But it is already clear that she has given many American comedians a topic for witticisms. In a recent edition of Saturday Night Live, a humorous show, the actress parodying Christine O'Donnell says innocently, "I'm not a witch." Then the camera pulls back to show the entourage of skeletons and skulls, and the actress continues, now with an angry and frenzied expression: “And even if you are a witch, you wouldn’t want to get in my way, would you?”