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Pagan cults & evil practicesThe origins of witchcraft date back to times when drawings were found in caves revealing that from the beginning of time magic rituals involving animals, birth and death have been associated with evil doing and witchcraft. Tribes and communities each had their own form of leader such as high priest or priestess, sorcerer or wizard or witch. The sole functions of these were to assist the tribe or village with weather conditions causing poor crops, disease, wars, birth and deaths. Many of these practices involved the use of elaborate rituals or ceremonies and included the use of certain objects and plants which had carefully been passed down over time. It was the Romans who associated Christians with magic and witchcraft believing them to take part in rituals involving sexual orgies, worshipping a god who had the head of an ass and who were said to make sacrifices using babies. The empress Theodora ordered the death of over one hundred thousand members of what was believed to be a sect or cult, however after the 6th and 7th centuries were past the witch hunts died down and there were only a handful of executions for practicing witchcraft until the beginning of the 12th century. When the church became the official cult in Europe, the Christian monks and priests began trying to eradicate any religion or belief that wasn't Christian or part of the churches beliefs. Witches and wizards became sworn enemies of the church and those who followed Christian beliefs; it was the theologians of the Middle Ages who created the appalling witch massacres that occurred in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The popular image of the devil or Satan as being horned with the hoofs of a goat was brought about by the early missionary church of the European horned god who was known in Greece as pan, to the Nordic people as Thor and to the ancient Gauls as cernununos. The Jewish and Muslim religions were also considered as demons and heretics as these too opposed the church and their beliefs, as were the pre Christian cults of South America and India. Christianity was therefore imposed upon the world and it is thought that only by sheer force on such a scale has the church maintained its dominance on religion for so many centuries. Interesting facts * A study into the victims of witch trials has shown that among the poor people, rich people were also condemned as witches; it was so easy to accuse and destroy reputations as tangible proof was claimed for the evidence of witchcraft. It is thought that very often jealousy and rivalry were the prime motives for making accusations. * Over 90% of all people accused during the witch-hunts were woman and many of these were old women, it is thought that the church believed that the devil could easily seduce women into joining him and so they were persecuted on this belief alone. * The church itself used witchcraft in major accusations against other religions and followers of those religions, the albigensians of France were drowned in their own blood on the orders of pope innocent III. When King Philip le bel of France tried to take over the vast knight's templar wealth and dispose of his allies the templar's were captured and tortured. They subsequently confessed to worshipping an idol by the name of bapomet who was said to take on the form of a cat. Perhaps the most famous was Joan of ark who it was thought became such a political threat to the hierarchy of power and being a woman, she was accused and burnt as a witch. |
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