Derivation of the Word "Witchcraft"

Roughly in the ordinal Century, certain priests (the only ones who had the intelligence or training to read) began to hold back notice of these people for the very simple reason that members of their pickle could often be found going to these wiccans for medicines, poultices, and often advice.

along about the very(prenominal) time, the English and French nobility, in connivance with the Catholic (or Mother Church) began a series of Crusades in which they confine out to protect the Church from the Godless heathens, (usually Muslims). At the same time that these crusaders (including the Rosicrucians) were bringing people's souls, they found that there was a enormous deal of profit to be made from also saving their property. Most of this property which was "saved" by the Crusaders was turned over, for estimable keeping, to the Catholic Church (Gies & Bunn, 1997).

The history of the Catholic Church is basically a history of Popes striving to control all aspects of charitable behavior. If, for instance, a person was having a problem of every(prenominal) sort, the perform wanted that person to come to one of their priests for aide. And most Popes were scared of those wiccans who used the Tarot, or the Ouija board, or any other method acting to determine a person's time to come, since this went against a basic teaching of the church. One's future was predetermined. One would either go to hell, and live with Satan for committing any one of a number of "sins" ("venal sins" -- those of the

The church has a long history of weighty heretics, and to see why it helps to see where the word "heresy" comes from. In the Greek language, there is a word "hairesis" which means " guiltless choice." Therefore, a "heretic" is one who chooses what to believe. It was the problem of "heresy" that prompted queen mole rat James in 1604 to bring together a mathematical group of scholars from around the world to come up with the one accept Bible. (There were close to 200 different versions of the Bible at the time, and the problems of interlingual rendition were causing splits in the Church, and between States and the Church.)

Barstow, A. (1994), Witchcraze: A New biography of the European Witch Hunts, New York: Pandora Press

Lea, H.C.

(1954), The Inquisition of the Middle Ages: Its establishment and Operation, New York: Citadel Press

The bottom line of that document is that "believe in witches" is a sin. However, it was still no sin, therefore no crime, to be a witch.

This led to the development of "heresies" (crimes against God), and there were approximately 400 of them that were used in the trials. They ranged from wearing bright colors, speaking loudly, missing mass and arguing with authority, to having sex, and even laughing. The argument was that anyone who did any of the heresies was either a witch or under the work of witches, and therefore had to be punished.

Now the world had become more(prenominal) simple, philosophically, and all activity was a battle between the forces of bully (guess who) and the forces of Evil (guess who.) Anyone who was not a good Christian (still undefined) was straight off committing a crime against the state by allowing an atmosphere of un-faith (which some called "reason.") (Kors, 1973).

Don't forget, however, that all of the above acts of torture, and hundreds of others, were done during the questioning phase of the trial. The philosophical system of the trial was that you are guilty until confirmed guilty by your confession. The torture was done according to the official proce
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