Download E-books Secret Societies: Their Mysteries Revealed PDF

Whereas we predict of the medieval and Reformation sessions in Europe because the period of persecution opposed to witches, the perform of witchcraft predates Christianity. initially, the time period pointed out somebody who practiced magic, and either the pre-Christian Greeks and Romans made a contrast among “white” and “black” witchcraft. White magic was once optimistic, and incorporated the power to deliver success or treatment health problems, whereas black witchcraft used to be any mystical motion that triggered damage opposed to others. The Romans declared that any witch or magician who prompted the dying of one other via spells or potions was once topic to an identical capital 189 SECRET SOCIETIES punishment as an individual who dedicated homicide with a sword or poison, a cheap rule on the time. in fact, witchcraft used to be often little greater than an extension of pagan religions that believed their gods have been embodiments of common powers, just like the Druids. a few of these trust cultures assigned powers to not flora similar to the oak and mistletoe, respected by way of Druids, yet to animals—goats, livestock and, particularly in Europe, cats. a great deal of witchcraft during this interval was once as risk free as any own non secular perform. a number of practitioners, although, famous the ability that gathered to a person who can make a believable declare to casting spells and combining potions, actions that generated worry and source of revenue between credible associates. during this atmosphere, witchcraft was once seen as easily one other exchange, just like the perform of drugs, most likely with an equivalent degree of good fortune and failure. the arrival of Christianity replaced every little thing. transparent differences have been made among mystical practices in compliment of the Christian God and comparable actions now not sanctioned by means of the Church. In an ecclesiastical model of the “You’re both with us or opposed to us” doctrine, unsanctioned mystical actions have been linked to devil and condemned for that reason. Of the entire sins outlined by way of Christianity, those normally associated with satanic practices concerned intercourse, and because strength in the Church resided completely with males, who often chanced on themselves tempted through the sight or the passive actions of girls, adult females grew to become the objective of persecution opposed to witches. What larger procedure, in spite of everything, did devil have for tempting a God-fearing guy in the direction of sin than in the course of the wiles of a nubile woman? girls have been perceived as instruments of the satan in his campaign to garner the souls of Christian males and, up to the other issue, this contributed to hundreds and hundreds of years of persecution. The putting, drowning, burning, imprisonment and mutilation of untold millions of ladies during the last millennia had not anything to do with subversive ideology, non secular deviation or racial discrimination. It had every thing to do with gender, and with the centuries-old dominance of fellows over ladies, a dominance that extends past sexuality and monetary effect to incorporate non secular authority. one hundred ninety WICCA And whereas we can be extra tolerant, or even amused, via claims of witchcraft and its practitioners, Christian fundamentalists desire glance no additional than the Bible for justification to abuse somebody suspected of being a witch.