VI. Samuel Preston testified that about two years ago, having some difference wi
ID: 3500442 • Letter: V
Question
VI. Samuel Preston testified that about two years ago, having some difference with Martha Carrier, he lost a cow in a strange preternatural, unusual matter and about a month after this, the said Carrier, having again some difference with him, she told him he had lately lost a cow and it should not be long before he lost another, which accordingly came to pass: for he had a thriving and well-kept cow, which without any known cause quickly fell down and died VII. Phebe Chandler testified that about a fortnight before the apprehension of Martha Carrier on a Lordsday, while the Psalm was singing in the Church, this Carrier then took her by the shoulder and, shaking her, asked her where she lived. She made her no answer, although as Carrier, who lived next door to her father's house, could not in reason but know who she was. Quickly after this, as she was at several times crossing the fields, she heard a voice that she took to be Martha Carrier's, and it seemed as if it was over her head. The voice told her she should within two or three days be poisoned. Accordingly, within such a little time, one-half of her right hand became greatly swollen and very painful, as also part of her face: where of she can give no account how it came. It continued very bad for some days; and several times since, she has had a great pain in her breast and been so seized on her legs that she has hardly been able to go. She added that lately, going well to the House of God, Richard, the son of Martha Carrier, looked very earnestly upon her and immediately her hand, which had formerly been poisoned as is abovesaid, began to pain her greatly, and she had a strange burning at her stomach, but then was struck deaf, so that she could not hear any of the prayer or singing till the two or three last words of the Psalm. VIII. One Foster, who confessed her own share in the witchcraft for which the prisoner indicted, affirmed that she had seen the prisoner at some of their witch meetings and that it was this Carrier who persuaded her to be a witch. She confessed that the devil carried them on a pole to a witch meeting, but the pole broke and she hanging about Carrier's neck, they both fell down, and she then received an hurt by the fall, whereof she was not at this very time recovered. stood IX. One Lacy, who likewise confessed her share in this witchcraft, now testified that she and the prisoner were once bodily present at a witch meeting in Salem Village; and that she knew the prisoner to be a witch and to have been at a diabolical sacrament and that the prisoner was the undoing of her and her children by enticing them into the snare of the devil. X. Another Lacy, who also confessed her share in this witchcraft, now testified that the prisoner was at the witch-meeting in Salem Village, where they had bread and wine administered unto them.Explanation / Answer
Martha Carrier was accused of witchcraft. In witchcraft, people magically bring about changes in the energy to bring about the desired alterations. This energy can be environmental (obtained from natural objects like stones and herbs ). The energy can also be derived from the witch or a God or Goddess or the Earth or Universe, and conducted via the witch. Witches function by casting spells in a ritualistic way. Witchcraft helps in inculcating the feeling of control over others or a situation. It also helps in performing a psychological function of reducing stress in modern practitioners. Many people do not believe in the existence of witchcraft, as a logical and scientific practice. They think magic only exists in fairy tales and is beyond scientific explanations. They consider it to be illogical.
It is important to note that accusations of witchcraft are only connected to personal conflicts and jealousy. Accusations of witchcraft take place when a person is caught performing positive or negative sorcery, a sorcerer looses his client's trust, a person made his neighbours disdainful towards himself and a person attained the label of being a witch, due to her actions and the related outcomes. Martha Carrier was identified as a witch, due to her actions and the related outcomes. When she said that Phebe Chandler will be poisoned within two to three days, the poisoning actually took place (like one half of Chandler's right hand being actually swollen and becoming painful).
A logical explanation for Martha Carrier's behavior can be a form of psychological disorder. A psychological disorder refers to a set of behavioral symptoms that bring about impairment in normal functioning. Religion and spirituality start occupying an important place in the lives of those affected with schizophrenia, which is a chronic condition involving impairments in decisions-making, managing emotions, brooding clearly, etc. There exists many non-medical explanations for the occurrence of schizophrenia. These non-medical explanations are related to obsession by witches and jinns or ghosts or evil spirits, supernatural forces, sorcery, spirit imposition, divine acromony, planetary effects, wrong conducts of the past, family problems and problems related to self, financial problems, etc. Martha Carrier may have been deluded. Delusions indicates a type of pathology, and are false or fixed beliefs, maintained even in the presence of contradicting evidences. Martha may be holding false beliefs about devils and would be practicing witchcraft as a complusion, commanded by the devil. The events taking place after Martha's predictions of one's dark future may be nothing but unfortunate or there may be some medical reasons behind those events (like cow deaths and Phebe Chandler's poisoning).
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