Witchcraft has historically been defined as the art or ability to harm others by supernatural means (in contrast to purported neutral or benevolent shamanism, folk magic, or other magico-religious divination and healing). My talk will examine this alleged phenomenon, its scope, possible origins and social impact across a range of cultures and eras.
Graham Darling was raised by anthropologists, and kept a lifelong interest in human ways as he studied those of Nature. Following other degrees in Biology and Biochemistry, he obtained his doctorate in Chemistry at the University of Ottawa under Jean Fréchet, developing new functional polymers as tools for organic synthesis. He then did postdoctoral work on microlithographic resists at IBM Almaden in Silicon Valley under Grant Willson, before joining the Department of Chemistry at McGill University. Eventually he was recruited to develop a water-processable printing plate with Creo, before that BC company was bought out by Kodak. Presently he does R&D consulting under the auspices of Active Materials Inc in Burnaby.
As Graham D Darling, he has published over 30 articles in refereed science journals and holds a dozen patents. As Graham J Darling, he has taken to writing as fiction what the world isn't ready for as fact; his first story has appeared in the anthology Sword & Mythos to rave reviews. In the persona of Doctor Carus, a scholar of alchemy of the year 1300, he demonstrates medieval science and technology as a historical re-enactor with the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), and to its local bulletin "The North Wind", has contributed a regular column, "Ask Doctor Carus".
All are welcome to attend. Join us at 10 am for BYO coffee, tea, and socializing. At 10:30 am we start our presentation and discuss topics of interest to our members.
The BC Humanist Association was formed in 1984 and we have a regular attendance of over 30 people at our Sunday meetings.