The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

The word occult literally means hidden, not revealed, secret, mysterious. Uncover it and you have magic! Magic is much harder to define. More than parlor tricks, magic means transformation. The art of taking thoughts, intentions and emotions and manifesting them into reality. “The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft,” by Rosemary Ellen Guilley, describes witchcraft as “…sorcery, the manipulation of supernatural forces through the casting of spells and conjuring or invoking of spirits.” The roots of magic go back thousands of years, predating Christianity, Judaism, and recorded history. Ancient cultures all applied magic in their early belief systems. God had not only a masculine aspect but also a feminine one, the Goddess. This represented the balance between heaven and earth, light and dark, male and female. Ancient cultures had wise women that were honored and respected in the community. They were the healers, the midwives, the advisors and the priestesses. Clearly positive figures in the community. How did these beloved and respected figures become transformed into hideous creatures that we think of when we hear the word witch? No figure in mythology or legend has been so despised and yet so misunderstood.



Some historians believe that when the Indo-European Nomads, (warrior people), invaded the Middle East, they brought with them their male gods of war. When the Hebrews settled there in 1300 BC, they perpetuated the one male God. In the Creation story, it was the female who bears responsibility for the fall of mankind. Once benign symbols, the goddess, the tree and the serpent have come to represent evil.



In the Middle Ages, the church, feeling threatened by Pagan religion invented the link between Paganism and Satanism. Any innocent act of naturopathic healing, herbalism, etc. were now interpreted as sinister and the practitioner accused of consorting with the devil.



It was believed during that time that demons walked the Earth creating disease and pestilence. If someone had the knowledge to heal, then surely they had the power to destroy! Most of these healers were women and women were then considered to be evil.



The church convinced followers that witches would gather in the forests at night for secret meetings. It was believed that they would fly through the air, have sex with the devil and plot against the church. Witchcraft had begun to be associated with heresy. Beginning in the 11th century, heretics were usually sentenced to death by burning. More often than not, the victims were burned alive!



The Inquisition against heretics began in the beginning of the 13th century. It lasted for the next several hundred years. It is estimated that 30,000 to nine million people were executed during that time. Most of the activity was in Germany, France and Switzerland in the 15th and 16th centuries.



In his Bull of December 9, 1484, Pope Innocent VIII turned the Inquisition full force against witches in Germany. (I find it incredibly ironic that his name be Innocent!) Two years later, Dominican Inquisitors, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Springer published the Maleus Maleficarim (literally translating into the Witch Hammer) with set forth rules for identifying and punishing witches. The book is based on the Biblical pronouncement in Exodus 22:18, “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.”



The inquisition focused mainly on women. Because traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs hold women accountable for sin, the church found it easy to presume that women were naturally predisposed to the evils of heresy.



The Maleus Maleficarum stated that, “ all witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable.” It went on to state that women were “feeble-brained,” “intellectually like children,” “weak in body, impressionable, lustful, have weak memories and are liars by nature” therefore, “chiefly addicted to Evil Superstitions.” Often the women accused of witchcraft were social outcasts, usually spinsters and widows. Generally older and less attractive, therefore of no use to the men who judged them. Women had few rights during this time and no say so of their destiny. They were merely property.



The witch-hunts in England were a bit different where the Maleus Maleficarum had little effect. It was not translated to English until 98 years after it was written. England had it’s own Protestant Demonologist who turned witch hunting into a profitable profession. Most of the trials in England and Scotland regarded witches who practiced black magic. Those who practiced positive magic were spared. The guilty were hung rather than burned.