The record of the introduction of the project Contemporary witchcraft 26th September 2013
“From Genesis to the present, the biblical worldview has clashed with the worldview of animism. Animism (or folk religion) is a religion that sees a spirit or spiritual force behind every event, and many objects of the physical world carry some spiritual significance.�
Dr. Patrick Zukeran
Animistic beliefs can be found in most of the religions in the world. 40% of the world population has faith in animism and inside this set there are many wide and narrow paths which lead to various religions and communities. Witches are one of the popular communities in this set and they have been existed throughout the mankind’s history.
Pure witchcraft is all about respecting the nature and worshiping the mother of earth. These people believed harmony and balance in between nature and human are essential. They never believed in another divine as photograph by Peter Goode the nature itself became their only heaven. Aboriginals of this community were called wise people and they used various types of rituals for family protection, at child births, for prosperity and well-being. According to the archaeology in many Asian countries, Eastern culture of the witchcraft goes beyond the Western and touches the roots of the descendants.
As a country which has a great and proud history, blends with a rich culture, Sri Lanka is one of the top places in Asia to start an odyssey. Even though Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country today, this culture goes not only beyond the Buddhism, but also the Sinhala nation.
Before the 5th century BC the people who lived in Sri Lanka believed in animism and they used to worship different elements such as, trees, rocks, sun and moon and many other things. There were three main tribes on that period and “Yaksha” (a tribe who worshiped demons) tribe ruled the country.“Quweni” was a “yakshani” queen who was the wife of King Wijaya, the first recorded king in this island.
photograph by Anjula Rasanga Weerasinghe
Quweni was one of the powerful witches who worshiped demons and she has used witchcraft to gain King Wijaya’s attention and also helped to defeat her own brother who ruled the country in that period. This indicates that Sri Lankan witchcraft has a long history which flows together with the culture.
In this long way of witch history there have been always good and evil as in many other religions in the world. Somewitches worshiped demons while others were interacting with the goddess and this eventually made a huge conflict in the witches’ world. “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus 22:18) King James Version (KJV) “Anyone who, by means of incantations and magic arts, prevents grain or crops of any kind belonging to another from growing, shall be sacrificed to Ceres” (The ancient Roman Laws of the Twelve Tables VII.3) With the rise of the Christianity in Europe people began to criticize and reject the witchcraft mainly due to their fear and misconception about the witches. They acused witches as evil sorcerers and heavily tortured all the suspects until they confess what the authority wanted to hear. Since this tragedy witches went underground for a long period but survived and protected their inheritance. photograph by Ronald Bruce Meyer
photograph by Alison Zavos
Throughout the centuries from generation to generation witchcraft has been descended all over the world but never been the same. Today it has become a contemporary subject commonly known as “Wicca� (repeating the oldest name again) which nearly half of the population of the world is curious about and willing to know.
The record of justification of the project 04th October 2013
In some countries such as Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Maldives and Papua New Guinea there are still legal acts to persecute who practice witchcraft and this clearly indicates \the entire nation’s acceptance of the existence of witchcraft in 21st century.
“A Sri Lankan woman has been arrested on suspicion of casting a spell on a 13-year-old girl during a Saudi family’s shopping trip, and may face death in a country where convicted sorcerers are beheaded.” Daily mirror news, Thursday, 19 April 2012
“A family of five has been beheaded in Sonitpur district, north-east India, by a mob who accused them of witchcraft.” BBC News, Sunday, 19 March 2006
photograph by IANS, India TV News
photograph by deanadelaide
In present day witchcraft is not only popular among the primitive communities but also in most of the developed countries. “In Russia according to a 2008 health ministry report, the government is trying to prevent 10,000 witches from practicing magic including love spells and revenge. In United Kingdom West African churches were performing routine exorcisms on ‘kendoki’, child witches. In United States political campaigns after September 11, 2001 led to an international ‘evildoers’ hunt.” photograph by H.M.J.Herath
By
Malcolm
Gaskill,
PhD
According to the gallup survey 37% of Americans 28% of Canadians and 40% of Britons believe in paranormal and supernatural activities such as haunted houses, astrology and ability to communicate with death people. According to this survey 21% of people from the entire population of United States of America believe in witchcraft.
by Linda Lyons, Education and Youth Editor
This amount goes higher when it comes to Asia. Most of the countries in this region have rich traditional cultures with lots of spiritual beliefs and these people have faith in Eastern witchcraft. In south Asia witchcraft has combined with the existing religions among the people such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism which makes much more sense to the believers..
Contemporary witchcraft which is also known as Wicca shows strong connections to the Hinduism through Ayurveda, chakra, yanthra, manthra and thanthra which are also common in Buddhism. Due to these religious connections and the historical backgrounds in these countries, even today most of the people have faith in Wicca and they tend to seek for better lives through their own believes.
photograph by Shanuka Gayashan
photograph by Paul Stevenson
“Whether or not onebelieves in the existence of spirits and the effectiveness of magic, it’s a fact that witchcraft exists. For millions of people this is an unpleasant reality. Vulnerable people are duped and thousands of people die each year,” By Malcolm Gaskill, PhD
Since we live in a world where more than one third of the population has faith in witchcraft it is important to have a better understanding about this subject more than ever and respect their culture just as any other religions in the world. There are only few places in the world which have dedicated for this community and this scarcity clearly shows the non equality of this culture among the others. Now the time has arrived to convey the original message of witches.
“Harm none, do as you will”
The record of the site location 11th October 2013
Throughout the introduction it is clearly mentioned that the history of the witchcraft goes beyond the 5th century BC in Sri Lanka. From the beginning there were no laws against the witches in this island and they were considered as a part of the community of the population. Even today there are no social barriers for the witches in Sri Lanka and everyone has their own freedom to worship the religion which they believe in.
photograph by The Times of Sri Lanka
Having 2500 Years old written history, today Sri Lanka has become one of the famous destination point in the world. After the end of 3 decades of civil conflict, country rapidly gains its economic stability and positive developments at the moment. The main developments are centered on the tourism industry. Colombo, the capital city of the country holds the highest number of population among the other districts, is undergoing major development projects to meet the demands of the tourism industry.
photograph by Rifqi Amri Putri
Going beyond the history, this facility consists three isolated building complexes each with their own purposes namely the Main temple, Seema Malakaya (i.e. which is mainly use as a monk assembly) and the vocational training center. Both Seema malakaya which is located in the middle of the Beira Lake and the building complex which has used as the vocational training center of the temple have been selected as the site location of the proposed project. Architecturally all three buildings which were mentioned above has been maintained the same design consistency and one of the selected building complex (i.e. vocational training center building) is having a chain of compartments which is designed as hexagonal elements.
Proposed project location is easily accessible for anyone which gives an added advantage for all the stake holders of this project. Being located in the heart of the city, project location is highly surrounded by public gathering spaces for both locals and foreigners. Location is very next to the Beira Lake which offers the ideal atmosphere for design a spiritual place for a group of people who have an eternal bond with the nature. The outdoor landscape surrounding of the lake has been designed as a public gathering space with jogging tracks which runs all around the lake and another isolated Island which is connected to a bridge and people use this as a leisure place.
The bare land which is located in between the �Gangarama� temple and the Beira Lake has already selected by some private sector investors for build a city center with a shopping mall and high-rise service apartment complex mainly focusing on tourists. This will automatically gather number of foreign visitors around that area and will give a value addition to the selected site location. Famous public gathering places like Galle Face Green, Liberty Plaza Shopping mall, Crescat boulevard shopping mall and many other leading hotels are within 3 km area from the selected project location reconfirms the sustainability of the project location as well as the concept.
photograph by Chamitha S.
Seema Malakaya also offers a great uniqueness to the proposed project due to its unique location. It is situated in the middle of the lake and provides the access to the building via a wooden bridge. Associated sub structure which is next to it also having the similar architectural features to its main building. Witchcraft always interacts with the nature. Witches consider the nature as their religion. They worship the mother of earth. Sun and moon will be its main elements. Hence these people need such a location to perform these rituals and spiritual activities. The wooden structure of this selected building establishes a strong connection to the nature as well as the surroundings. Two Selected buildings are in the vicinity of each other’s but separated by water of the lake eventually offers immense design opportunities to the project.
photograph by Chamitha S.
Proposed project site location is located at the vicinity of the famous temple “The Gangaramaya� which is a land mark in Colombo district. The history of the temple goes beyond 100 Years. Although it is a Buddhist temple its culture is having mixed impacts from various cultures all around the world. Building architecture itself indicates the same with a mix development which follows the Sri Lankan, Chinese, Indian and Thailand architectural inputs. Having multi-functional spaces such as the meditation center, Buddhist cultural learning center and the vocational center with a great collection of historical artifacts of various countries, offer much more attraction to the local devotees as well as the foreign visitors of the temple. Although the majority of the Buddhists in Sri Lanka follow Theravada Buddhism, this temple is also having the features of the Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Beyond those separated areas, there are other places which have been allocated to different Eastern cultural gods and worriers. This shows that the place is not only represents the Buddhism, but also a vivid mixture of few other religious believes in this region Self taken photograph
The record of the end use demography 18th October 2013
Aboriginals of the witchcraft, the wise people, were mostly women in those societies whom were midwives, maids and healers. Eventually “the witch” always created the image of a woman in most of the people’s mind.
When the British laws against witchcraft were abolished in 1951, witchcraft which has been underground during the witch hunt period came to the public surface and people got much more opportunities to know about their religion and culture. Both Aleister Crowley and Gerald Gardner are historical male witches famous for their own dedicated work for their community. Beginning from this period the witch community has expanded beyond the typical imaginations of the history. Even though women popularity seems to be high in this group of people, both male and female witches can be seen all around the world and both genders have equal rights inside the community to engage in witchcraft. Due to these reasons my demography will be both men and women who believe in witchcraft and accept it as a religion in today’s society.
photograph by Morgan Drake
According to the site location the same demography will be further more categorized under two main sections as local people and foreign visitors. Since the selected site location is a highly tourist attracted zone believers from all around the world have the opportunity to visit the place.
photograph by Shanuka Gayashan
Even though there is a very specific demography in my project, this space will be design as a public place which is open to everyone who believes in witchcraft. How deep would someone can travel inside this spiritual atmosphere will depend on how much faith does that person has in his mind on this subject. Therefore each and every person of my end user demography will feel this place in a way different than the other. Eventually this place will be ideal for the people who would like to experience the unique connection and the balance in-between the physical and spiritual world through a witch’s eye. Gerald Gardner photograph by segunda-feira
The record of the precedent study 25th October 2013
The Golden Temple, India The “Harmandir Sahib” also known as “The Golden Temple” is a well-known religious place located in “Amritsar, Punjab-India” Construction of this religious space was initiated by fifth photograph by Oleg Yunakov Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan, in 16th Century. This building is selected as a precedent study unit for its successful approach of the location, the concept and the architecture. This place is one of the world’s famous religious temples of the Sikh community which represents the 23.8 Million population of the world. The building has strongly built up architectural connection to the specific spiritual beliefs of these Sikh people which eventually makes this place to the holiest Sikh temple in the world. The main shrine is surrounded by an artificially created lake and all the visitors have to go through the water and get purified before enter to the main shrine. This clearly conveys the idea about the importance of the nature and how it relates to the religion as well. Devotees also believe that entering to the temple by immersing in the water gives them good spiritual powers to be success and mindful in their lives.
Instead of having a single entrance to the building, facility is having multiple accesses from four major directions which indicate the equality of all the human kind and these entrances have designed to welcome all the followers from each corner of the photograph from Wikipedia world. The landing by Jovianeye levels of the each entrance have been raised from the groundlevel to an upper level to show the respect to the religious place. Yet worshippers have to go through steps again which descend towards the holy pool to enter to the main shrine in the middle of the lake. Open sky environment within the building structure creates much more comfortable atmosphere and this gives a huge freedom to the devotees to worship according to their will.
The Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle The first museum of witchcraft was located in Isle of man. Once this place was called witches mill and was converted into a museum for witchcraft together with a restaurant by an English witch, Cecil Williamson. In 1954, Cecil sold this place to one of his mate, Gerald Gardner who is considered as the father of the contemporary witchcraft. He separated the restaurant from the facility and relocated only the museum in Boscastle. Today the museum of witchcraft is the world’s largest dedicated place for the witch community and it welcomes all the people in the world. Even though most of the artifacts belong to the western witch culture, all the visitors get a precious opportunity to learn and experience about the history of the witches with lots of visual evidences. Starting from the history of the traditional western witchcraft visitors can learn up to the modern witchcraft during their journey inside the place.
photograph by Diana Russler
The record of the conclusion 01st November 2013
“We remain vulnerable to fears that secret forces may be working against us, an ‘axis of evil’ conspiring to destroy Western civilization. We are all a little bit superstitious and people who feel under pressure or that they are being threatened tend towards persecution.” By Malcolm Gaskill, PhD
photograph by Luis Ricardo Falero
Pure witchcraft is all about the balance and harmony of the physical and spiritual world and it was not their intention to harm people. By the time passed by some witches used their ability to gain personal advantages and this split the witches’ world into two sections.
Witches who worshiped demons opened a new gate way which is commonly known as black magic and their primary goal was to achieve commercial and other benefits according to their will. This is where the fantasy and myths begin to appear and these misconceptions lead witchcraft to a nonsocial accepted culture due to the fear of most of the people and they believed all the rituals and c eremonies in witchcraft are sex oriented and highly connected with the Satanism.
photograph by Christian Sorrell
photograph by Mandragora
But in the actual Wicca culture there is no separation such as white and black magic. They believe whatever they do whether it is good or evil will always come to them in return at thrice the price. It is much more similar concept to the “Karma” in Theravada Buddhism, one of the theoretical religions in the world.
“All living beings have actions (Karma) as their own, their inheritance, their congenital cause, their kinsman, their refuge. It is Karma that differentiates beings into low and high states.” By Gautama Buddha, Sayings of Buddha It is human nature to be afraid or simply avoid things which are intangible, unseen and beyond our reach. In a world where science and technology rapidly trying to overcome the human kind, it is very clear to understand why most of the people do not have faith in spiritual beliefs. When these people could not find scientific explanations to define any subject matter they simply avoid everything by convincing these things only belong to the primitive photograph byFilip Klein and uneducated societies in the world.
And the other part of the people who believe the existence of the spiritual world and live with the fear and they try to get rid of witchcraft by considering it as a great threat to the human being. Therefore even today thousands of people get killed mostly in Africa and Asia. Now the time has arrived to end this misery and let the world know about the real witches and their culture. These people should have their wisdom to worship the religion which they believe in just as any other religions in the world and lifting up the social barrier which has descended through decades will eliminate the fear and obstacles which these people have been facing for a long time.
photograph by Heather Clark
Therefore it is essential to build a strong social interaction in between witches and the other people who have different perceptions about this religion. Creating a flexible space which is specially devoted for the real contemporary witchcraft as well as all the believes in the world, will change the most of the people’s mythical attitudes about this subject. Eventually creating an equally recognized and socially reputed place for the Wicca people and their believers will be the ultimate goal of this project.
photograph by Jared William Taylo
“Witchcraft is culturally durable, relevant, and potent hard-wired into us all, even those who have consigned it to history’s dustbin with other relics of primitivism,” By Malcolm Gaskill, PhD
A shot record about the book This book has designed from the inspiration of the “book of shadows�, the journal which every witch will continue till their death. The symbol which has design on the front cover conveys the main conceptual idea about witchcraft which is pure Wicca is all about the balance and the strong bond in between the nature and the spiritual world. The symbol has design to show the harmony in these two worlds inside the witch circle. Brass is the substitute metal for gold in Wiccan society. They use it as the symbol of the sun which is the most powerful element in witchcraft and Brass always uses inside their rituals for healing and protection.
Reference and Bibliography
Reference Gaskill, Malcolm, 2010. Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction, 1st ed, New York, Oxford University press Inc. Saletore, R. N., 1981. Indian Witchcraft: A Study In Indian Occultism, 1st ed, New Delhi, Abhinav publications Cunningham, Scott, 2005. The Truth about Witchcraft Today. 11th ed, United States of America, Liewellyn publications De Silva, D. Gooneratne, 1998. On Demonology and Witchcraft in Ceylon. 2nd ed, New Delhi, J. Jetley publications Berger, A. Helen, 2003. Voices from the Pagan Census: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-pagans in the united states. Colombia, University of South Carolina press. Park, G. Kerlin, animism [online] available at: http:// www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/25819/animism Zukeran, Patrick, 2002. The World of Animism. [online] available at: http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/ b.4217649/k.6AD3/The_World_of_Animism.htm Arbel, Ilil, Introduction to Witchcraft. [online] available at: http://www.pantheon.org/areas/featured/witchcraft/ chapter-1.html Taylor, J. William, Branches of Wiccan Beliefs. [online] available at: http://people.opposingviews.com/brancheswiccan-beliefs-7416.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-andfamilies/witchcraft-exists-everywhere-ndash-even-inyou-1927703.html http://www.museumofwitchcraft.com/guide_mow.php http://www.marketfaith.org/animism-in-todays-world-2/
Bibliography Gaskill, Malcolm. Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction, New York, Oxford University press Inc. 2010 Saletore, R. N. Indian Witchcraft: A Study In Indian Occultism, New Delhi, Abhinav publications. 1981 Cunningham, Scott. The Truth about Witchcraft Today. United States of America, Liewellyn publications. 2005 De Silva, D. Gooneratne, On Demonology and Witchcraft in Ceylon. New Delhi, J. Jetley publications. 1998 Berger, A. Helen, Voices from the Pagan Census: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-pagans in the united states. Colombia, University of South Carolina press. 2003