Belief in magic was another factor that widened the social gap between the lower and elite classes. Similar to James, the English elite believed in witchcraft and encouraged witch hunts, but the English elite did not participate in the “witch hunt” hysteria as the lower classes did. However, belief in witchcraft within the elite class, in contrast, created a new topic of intellectual debate. The idea of ​​dark magic and witchcraft “was part of a popular subculture, separate and distinct from the hermeticism and mystical beliefs that were seen to be current in intellectual circles at this time.” Even as the elite ignored the paranoia that erupted with witchcraft, the fear of the common people refused to be resolved. This led James I and Parliament to enact the Witchcraft Act of 1604, stating that witchcraft is a crime punishable by death and the “practice or exercise of any witchcraft, enchantment or enchantment wherein any person shall be killed, destroyed, wasted , worn out, tormented, or lame in body.” Furthermore, other judicial processes involving witchcraft trials were also introduced. It is now established how both men and women practiced magic, but the question of why women as a gender were singled out in particular in the persecution of witchcraft is still vague. “The most well-documented characteristic of those people prosecuted for witchcraft is that they were predominantly, if not predominantly, women.” Many wonder where the idea that women specifically commit dark magic originated. The idea of ​​the English witch encompassed a progression of beliefs and ritual practices common among pagans. This idea stems from the fact that “the early Christian Church insisted that… middle of paper… cosomatic intercourse, as a process known as “observation, in the course of which the suspect was kept awake, sometimes for two or three nights in a row, in the hope of being betrayed by her visiting family members. "Familiar" was an interchangeable spirit that would perform the witch's evil magic for her. Familiars were often thought of as a spirit, animal, or fairy. “More importantly, the familiar was the witch's second 'self,' acting for her and embodying her power; harming a familiar would hurt the witch it served, along with the general 'rough treatment psychological pressure, allied to prying questions, helps explain why witches were so inclined to confess." The physiological mistreatment of these women by their communities often led to their eventual “confession,” as a desperate way to stop the tormenting.