Enchanted Europe: Superstition, Reason, and Religion, 1250-1750Since the dawn of history people have used charms and spells to try to control their environment, and forms of divination to try to foresee the otherwise unpredictable chances of life. Many of these techniques were called superstitious by educated elites. For centuries religious believers used superstition as a term of abuse to denounce another religion that they thought inferior, or to criticize their fellow believers for practising their faith