today's blog is about culture, as almost always u.u 💚
The fight between good and evil has been present in human history for a long time. Over time, characters have emerged to justify dark events. It is the case of witches.
Around the year 500 a belief emerged that convinced many people: the demons would be supernatural beings who descended from the heavens and had sexual relations with women, which would result in the birth of witches. The legend followed in modern history so strongly that even today it was believed that witches are women who do evil.
Witch hunt
Beginning in the 14th century, seeing the influences that the Renaissance was exerting on the people, the Catholic Church sought to increase its influence on society using the fight against the devil as its main tool. The faithful, who felt the effects of poverty on their skin (black plague, wars, hunger, etc.), did not take long to buy the idea. Texts with guidelines on exorcism and how to identify a possession came to be drafted and published. Not for nothing, people considered witches were burned in the public square.
Exorcism cases
In 1614, the Catholic Church produced the Rituale Romanum, a liturgical book that contained several Catholic rituals, including exorcism. It was used until the late 20th century, when there was a revision. At the same time that the devil hunt intensified, cases of possession also seemed to pop up everywhere - and in many different ways. Children, youth, adults and even nuns were considered to be possessed.
Manipulation
In 1632, the Ursuline Order convent in Loudun, France, was the scene of strange events. Twenty-seven nuns were identified with the disease in their bodies, eight of whom underwent sessions of hiding. The case was known throughout the country, until one of the sisters accused a parish priest for collective hysteria, which resulted in his conviction.
Many of the cases of this time considered possession are true mysteries today, since, at that time, scientific knowledge was lacking to identify diseases and disorders that today would rule out any type of demonic manifestation, such as collective hysteria, depression, bipolarity, double personality, schizophrenia and syndrome de Tourette (neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor or vocal tics).
In the Middle Ages, witches were all those women who used nature to heal, thus being considered healers. They had superior intelligence and their power could be used for good as well as for evil.
Some women considered witches, stood out in humanity. Like these, many other women had their lives ended because they were seen as the daughters of the devil:
Alice Kyteler: was the first woman convicted of witchcraft in Ireland;
La Voisin: lived in France in the mid 1600s, practiced divination and created poison potions;
Witches can be understood in the field of imagery, as they are part of symbolic sets that regulate human existence.
Human relations, say sociologists, are guided by symbolic powers. They have great influence on the worldview and the reality of people. Witches have always been and will be a link between myth and reason or between fiction and reality, as they are in the field of popular imagination that is disseminated by the culture and customs of a people and that, above all, establish a relationship and consequences in actions of human thought.
Researchers eager for their archaeological searches found symbols and illustrations in caves that demonstrate human worship of fertility goddesses even in the Neolithic period. Since the emergence of the first civilizations, man sought to worship gods who mixed protection, respect and divinity. Perhaps it was a way to comfort the search for what was not understood or what did not exist and which was looking for an answer.
Isobel Gowdie: Executed by witchcraft in 1662, she confessed to being part of a group of wizards.
An important detail is that, differently from what feminists claim, it was not just women considered witches in the Middle Ages. Because of the Church's aversion to the persecution of witches, women who were healers and healers were extremely respected in medieval society. Accusations of witchcraft reached the Catholic clergy, such as the case of Pope Boniface VIII, accused of apostasy and witchcraft, in 1303, and the case of a French bishop executed for attempting to kill Pope John XXII using witchcraft. Such cases occurred in the Low Middle Ages (1300–1600), as Europe was infested by witches and rumors began to arise that there were people conspiring against Christian society and spreading plagues.
One of the most important names in history is Madame Blavatsky, Daughter of nobles, Ukrainian Helena Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, has presented psychic gifts since she was a child.
Writer, theologian and philosopher, Elena Petrovna von Hahn (30 July 1831 - 8 May 1891) had a refined education and from a very early age was rebellious and independent.
In the book The Key to Theosophy, Blavatsky discusses the methods used to obtain “superhuman knowledge”. According to her, “the ancient theosophists, as well as the modern ones, maintain that the infinite cannot be known by the finite, that is, perceived by the finite; but that the divine essence can be communicated to the Spiritual Ego in a state of ecstasy. ”
Theosophy has become, although very contested, one of the most successful systems of eclectic thought in recent history, uniting old and new forms and providing bridges between several different worlds such as ancient wisdom and modern pragmatism, East and West, traditional society and reforms social. The Theosophical Society exists in various parts of the world.
witches has always been everything that was opposed to an absolute and unique belief.
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