Volkhvy

Volkhvy are pagan priests or magicians. Kivelson, Valerie A. "Male Witches and Genderd Categories in Seventeen-Century Russia." Comparative Studies in Society and History. 45.3 (2003): pp 606- 631. ] They have no formal definition other than pagan ideas of the eighteenth century, such as “singing on Sundays, shaving beards, keeping trained bears, drinking in church, swinging on swings, or with criminal offenses such as brigandage and theft.” Volkhvy received their magic by learning it from others.

When volkhvy do “magic” they put spells or curses on people. Their powers are only in the physical world, not in the spiritual world. Casting spells on people, is what is common to volkhvy. Rarely are there stories of devil worship or Satanism associated with this group of people.

Witches do not have a social function in their society, one blends into society and behaving much like anyone else. They may have regular jobs like a bank teller or midwife, and live among the population without much notice.

Volkhvy were part of the witch hunts in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

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