After the Christian Church gained control of the Roman
Empire around 600 A.D., it began promoting a new form of public entertainment –
burning Witches at the stake. The
process went something like this: A
vulnerable woman was targeted by the Christian Priests. She was frequently old, infirm, and living
alone on the outskirts of society. These
women were brought before a tribunal of Priests and Bishops and were “put on
trial” for Witchcraft. Because they
were old, defenseless women, they had no defenders and were always sentenced to
the worst possible punishment: Being Burned Alive at the Stake as a public spectacle.
At the appointed time, the entire town would gather in the
public square to watch. A large wooden pole was driven into the ground,
and dry kindling for a fire was arranged at the base of the pole. Then, when the whole town had assembled,
the woman was led to the pole and tied to the pole. Armed guards ensured that she did not escape.
The Priest then said some fine sounding words, accusing the
woman of Witchcraft and blessing her soul.
Then the fire was lit. The old woman shrieked and screamed in pain, and was eventually burned to death in one of the most horrible spectacles
in the history of mankind. The audience
looked on passively, ignoring the woman cries for mercy. She must have cried in absolute
mortal terror and unbelievable pain.
Eventually the old woman stopped screaming and then she died, burned alive.
This horrific spectacle was repeated countless number of
times across Europe and tens of thousands of women were brutally killed by the
Christian church in this manner for at least six hundred years. Six hundred years of horrific terror at the
hands of Christian Priests and bishops.
It was only the advent of the Bubonic Plague in 1347 A.D. that
put an end to this practice. At that
time, the Christian Priests and the Christian prayer proved to be absolutely
useless in the face of the Black Death.
Almost one quarter of the entire population of Europe died of the plague
and society was changed forever. The
Christian Church lost its supposed moral authority and people began openly
mocking the Clergy and the rites. The
population lost its enthusiasm for watching old women being tortured to death
and the practice of burning Witches at the stake ceased to exist.
Copyright © 2019
William Schaeffer
And then a few centuries later, the Christians in the United States did the same thing. The Salem Witch trials.
ReplyDeleteYes, Curiously however, that was probably totally different. There is some evidence that the Salem witch trials were prompted by a shipment of wheat that was
ReplyDeleteinfected" with ergot mold. This is the mold that LSD is made from. Ergot can cause psychedelic hallucinations like LSD. (the dosage is close to the poisonous dosage) It seems that these psychedelic visions prompted many of the reports. ALSO, there is som indication tha a West Indian slave girl knew traditional spirit possesion practices of West African religions and THIS ALSO freaked them out. Not an excuse, and fortuantely the stopped. GOOD POINT in drawing a connection.
I get the feeling that the Burning of Witches in the middle ages was more of a cruel political act to take their property and frighten the constituitents without andy psychedelic or supernautural connection. I studied IFA here in L.A. for a while and learned the traditional drumming. It was an education and Id did not know about that practice before. I STILL do not know WHAT to think really, since I stopped my involvement. It is a big world.