What Do You Know About Magic? Not the One You See in Cartoon Shows

Witchcraft is something we learn from cartoon and the imaginary of writers who take us as kids to another world. Usually, in cartoons, we see the good side of magic that helped Cinderella become a princess until midnight and there is the witchcraft that helped the witch to put a spell on the apple so Snow White could choke and die once, she bites on the poisoned apple. As kids, we could tell that magic can be both good and bad but we never knew that it exists in reality.  

Growing in a conservative and ''Muslim'' society showed me mostly the dark side of magic and I was beyond the words can describe by how bad people can actually be. Magic is used in every horrible way possible. It can be used to turn anyone's life into hell just because there is a person out there who holds a grudge against someone and hates their guts. Conservative societies have so much to tell and they are not as conservative as they may seem or tell. As the saying says ‘’Don’t judge the book by its cover’’. The bad some people commit in these societies can make you even question humanity.  

Some use witchcraft to break off the spell someone may have put on another person. Some were spelled so they wouldn’t get married and others so they wouldn’t have a good life and they can suffer their entire life. One of the things that is widely spread in the Libyan society is the misconception that women must be casted and the term used in Arabic is ‘’Tasfeeh’’ so they can protect their hymns from breaking before getting married when in fact, they end up having reverse consequences and it is one of the worst things that can happen to young girls who end up going through it without realizing.  

It is what their grandmothers and great grandmothers inherited through generations and married women end up doing the same to their daughters just because of pressure without knowing the injustice and hurt they would cause to their daughters when they grow older. It is a violation of children and it caused many troubles within young girls.  

Even with the spread of education, traditions still win over it and they are still considered the things that guide societies until today. As the saying says ‘’Some things just never change’’. It is an ignorant act to use witchcraft to spread harm and it is horrendous and unbelievable to hear a new story about witchcraft every single day committed by sick people. You can notice that I am using the term ‘witchcraft’ rather than ‘magic’ because witchcraft is horrible and it is never used to do good to others but rather hurt people instead.  

Nevertheless, witchcraft is never discussed in public and once it is mentioned, it is considered bad. It is one of the taboo subjects in the MENA region. Sometimes I wonder what makes people use it to harm others and that evil exists but without evil, there will be no balance in our world? The question is when will be stop hearing of stories about witchcraft?  

It is merely a product of poor awareness as such societies are considered terribly closed. Religion is used to cure and solve such acts but sometimes, people refuse to even solve this problem by religion just so people wouldn’t know. Arabic societies care so much about reputation and they always worry about what people would say rather than how they feel about themselves and people steer the wheel of life. Sometimes, I wonder if erasing traditional practices is the answer to eliminate witchcraft practices.