The New Witch: Your Guide to Modern Witchcraft, Wicca, Spells, Potions, Magic, and More

By MARIE D. JONES

Celebrate the Modern Witch!

Good energy. Sacred spaces. Healing, harmony and balance. Honoring Earth and nature. Developing your sixth sense. Tapping into your natural talents and creativity. Unlocking your potential. Being your best self. Connecting your soul to life, nature, and all living creatures. Harnessing the power of natural magic, The New Witch: Your Guide to Modern Witchcraft, Wicca, Spells, Potions, Magic, and More bridges the ancient pagan ways of our ancestors and today’s digital world to help you live a happy life to its fullest.

Embracing the past and honoring the future, The New Witch focuses on the harmony between the “new way” of technology and the “old way” of living. It brings together the brave new world of gadgets and social networks with the wise nature-based traditions of our ancestors by offering ideas on how to combine the old with the new for a more successful, fulfilling practice. Discover and learn about …

Finding tools and items for spells and rituals

Amplifying the good and dispelling the bad

“High Magic” versus “Low Magic”

Getting grounded, alert, and aware for spell casting

Finding substitutions for items you might not have available

Learning the astrological correspondences of candle colors

Recharging your own energy

Building your intuitive muscles

Adding love in your life

Calming anxiety

Lifting your vibration

Improving sleep

Learning the connection between the Moon’s phases and Moon magic

Understanding the benefits (and detriments) of technology

And much more!

Rediscovering the past and aligning it for today’s world, The New Witch offers a look at fresh, new ways to make the old craft fun, exciting, inspiring, and workable on any budget. It covers everything from spell casting to ritual work to divination methods to herbal medicine in today's world, plus tips on social networking, making a podcast, finding tools of the craft online, finding and creating products to sell, and more. You’ll discover how to bring balance and harmony to modern life through the inherent magic found in nature. With many photos, illustrations and graphics, this tome is richly illustrated. Its helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness. It's the Field Guide for the Modern Witch!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Visible Ink Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781578597284

MARIE D. JONES

Marie D. Jones is the author of over twenty nonfiction books, including Visible Ink Press’The Disaster Survival Guide: How to Prepare For and Survive Floods, Fires, Earthquakes and More, Earth Magic: Your Complete Guide to Natural Spells, Potions, Plants, Herbs, Witchcraft, and More, and The New Witch: Your Guide to Modern Witchcraft, Wicca, Spells, Potions, Magic, and More, as well as Mind Wars: A History of Mind Control, Surveillance, and Social Engineering by the Government, Media and Secret Societies. A former radio show host herself, she has been interviewed on more than two thousand radio programs worldwide, including Coast-to-Coast AM, The Shirley MacLaine Show, and Midnight in the Desert. She has also been interviewed for and contributed to dozens of print and online publications. She makes her home in San Marcos, California, and is the mom to one very brilliant son, Max.

Book preview

Never hope to find wisdom at the high colleges alone: consult old women, gypsies, magicians, wanderers, and all manner of peasant folk, and learn from them, for these have more knowledge about such things than all the high colleges.

—Paracelsus (1493–1541)

There is a responsibility that comes with being a witch, and it is to have an open heart, and to spread magic, not fear.

—Corinne De Winter

You are the most powerful and magical being. You have no need for trinkets and tools to empower your casting or ritual. You’re an energy that when you BELIEVE taps directly to source. Tools can help...but we rely too heavily on the props of the craft. The truth is it all comes from within. You could stand in your bare-naked butt if you chose to and be the most powerful conduit of magical power.…

—Phiona Hutton, Sisters of the Mist

A Witch is born out of the true hunger of her times.

—Ray Bradbury, Long After Midnight

Photo Sources

ANELKAOS (Wikicommons): p. 9.

Kyle Cassidy: p. 15.

Walter Crane: p. 52.

Dedda71 (Wikicommons): p. 62.

Anselm Feuerbach: p. 228.

Glynn Vivian Art Gallery: p. 48.

Heron Herodias: p. 31.

Midnightblueowl (Wikicommons): pp. 50, 100.

William Rimmer: p. 74.

Guillaume Seignac: p. 47.

Shutterstock: pp. 2, 4, 12, 14, 17, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, 35, 41, 44, 58, 66, 68, 70, 72, 78, 80, 90, 92, 93, 94, 96, 98, 103, 106, 108, 113, 118, 120, 123, 130, 134, 138, 141, 142, 144, 151, 152, 153, 156, 157, 163, 166, 167, 171, 172, 174, 176, 177, 180, 184, 185, 187, 189, 192, 193, 196, 197, 202, 203, 208, 213, 216, 220, 222, 223, 226, 233, 236, 238, 240, 243, 245, 249, 250, 253, 256, 258, 263, 265, 268, 270, 277, 279.

Stepping-Stones of American History (W. A. Wilde Company, 1904): p. 11.

Ethan Doyle White: p. 20.

Zoharby (Wikicommons): p. 7.

Public domain: pp. 5, 28, 82, 85, 140, 147.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Photo Sources

Introduction

The Old Ways: A Brief History of Witchcraft and Wicca

Which Witch Is Which?

Gods and Goddesses

What Witches Do and Believe

Potions, Elementals, and Correspondences

The Wheel of the Year

Amulets and Talismans

Setting Up Your Altar

Candles, Crystals, and Gemstones

Casting the Sacred Circle

Divining the Future Path

Moon Magic: Working with the Phases of the Moon

The Power of Rituals

Wortcunning: Kitchen Witchery

Symbols, Sigils, and Power Animals

Technology and Witchcraft

Living Green with Gaia

Easy Spells

Easy Potions

Witchcraft Today

Appendix A: Gods and Goddesses

Appendix B: Stones and Their Powers

Appendix C: Useful Resources

Further Reading

Index

Acknowledgments

Marie would like to acknowledge Roger Jänecke, publisher extraordinaire of Visible Ink Press, who is just wonderful to work with. He and his company are an author’s dream, and I am so grateful to be writing for them. Editor Kevin Hile, you are amazing. You make my writing shine and are so great to work with.

Lisa Hagan, my agent extraordinaire, is not only a fantastic mentor and agent but a dear friend. How lucky is that for a writer? Thank you for everything you do for me!

To my mom, Milly, who is my number one cheerleader as well as my mom and has to put up with me being a crazy writer, and my sister and best friend, Angella, who never fails to support anything I do no matter what it is. To my brother, John, and my extended family: thank you for being there! To my dear friends Wendy, Stephanie, Therese, and Jan—my girls—what would I do without you guys? To all of my friends, followers, fans: I’d be nowhere without you guys and gals! To my writer and filmmaking colleagues: you inspire and motivate me every day! You know who you are, and I thank you for everything.

To every radio host who ever interviewed me, thank you. To all those who purchased my books, thank you. To every publication or TV show that featured me and my work, thank you. It’s hard being a writer because you are one of so many out there trying to stay relevant, and these people keep me relevant and known to audiences. That is no small feat, and I am grateful.

To my dad, John, who passed on years ago, for instilling in me a love of science and the natural world, and to all of my grandparents who passed on: you are loved and thought of.

To every pet I ever had that had to put up with me working so much and not always being there to play: I apologize and love all of you.

But nothing I do would matter at all if it weren’t for my son, Max. He is my Sun, my Moon, and my stars, and I am beyond blessed to have such a bright, insightful, sharp, scathingly funny, talented kid. Everything I do is for Max, and I hope it’s enough.

Introduction

Most religious and spiritual traditions go through growing pains as they change and evolve over years, even centuries. Ideals and beliefs transform into something more fitting with modern times, even as they try to hold on to older traditions and rituals in an ever-changing landscape. Scientific knowledge and the rise of technology no doubt add to the need for belief systems to get with the times or fall by the wayside. If people can’t relate to it, they won’t believe in it.

When it comes to witchcraft and Wicca, these traditions have found a way to continue to embrace primitive roots and beliefs while modernizing alongside the growing affinity for technology, social networking, and the shifting ways of relating to others that now include screens of all sizes.

Witchcraft and Wicca have found the sweet spot of honoring the old ways in a new way that resonates with people who just twenty or fifty years ago would never have even considered looking at these traditions, or walking the path of Earth-based belief systems. These old systems have found incredible new life and are growing more popular by the day. Why? Perhaps it is because they offer a return to the natural world and a newfound respect of Mother Nature while allowing for growth, expansion, and enlightenment via the most cutting-edge methods by which human beings now relate to other human beings.

One look at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram shows that witchcraft and Wicca feel right at home in the wild world of social networking, and have succeeded in drawing new eyes and minds to explore and experience the world of witchery enough to decide to either join or turn away from it. Never before in history has so much information been so accessible to so many people.

Perhaps that is why witchcraft and Wicca are growing like crazy while more traditional systems stagnate, struggling to find a way to keep up with the passage of time and the current needs of the people they serve. Witchcraft and Wicca offer a way, a tradition that is both formal and free, with different sub-paths to choose from depending on individual beliefs and preferences. The technology-driven world might seem in direct opposition to the nature-loving world of witchcraft, but the two have so much to offer each other when it comes to spreading knowledge and sharing information all over the world.

When it comes to witchcraft and Wicca, there simply is no out with the old, in with the new because both go hand in hand and both complement each other. The old is as revered as the new, for without the deep and ancient roots, the fresh and green treetops would never exist to touch the sky. It all serves to make up the tree of life. The new witch of today is a bridge between the ancient pagan ways of our ancestors, and the future of humanity.

Witchcraft is a return to the self, yet also a deeper connection to the soul of the world itself. Witches revere life and the planet we live on. Witches do not harm or kill people as some would try to have you believe because they are not empty or void of a strong inner spirit. They cultivate that inner spirit and their bonds with the natural world. They do their best to put out good vibes and healing.

If you are already a practicing witch who wants to expand his or her horizons, or a new witch who isn’t sure where to go or what to do, come along on this journey. You are welcome here. There is no judgment or persecution. All are welcome as long as they respect themselves, others, and the planet and do no harm. Being a witch is more than just tossing runes or putting crystals on an altar. It’s more than casting a spell for a healing or an increase in finances. It’s more than dancing under the full moon with others of like mind. It’s a way of life and one that just might help save the world.

As a witch on Instagram stated: A witch is someone who works with Nature, not against it. A witch has respect and awe for Nature, not disregard and contempt. A witch uses the gifts of nature with gratitude and reverence, not abusing it and destroying it for selfish gain.

Wiccans strongly believe in magic that can be manipulated through the form of witchcraft, according to Witchcraft and Witches, … with spells being cast through the form of ritual practices often using a set of tools.… The practice of spells is a conscious act seeking both inward and outward transformation, and is inextricably linked with the Wiccan notion of what is spiritual and how they understand their relationship with all beings, the Earth, and the Cosmos.

I am a student of nature and the Mother Earth, says another witch on Instagram. What she knows, I wish to learn.

As students of the Arts Magical, it is noted in Exploring the Pagan Path: Wisdom from the Elders, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about the world around us. If we are to impose our will upon the universe, we ought to have a decent understanding of the natural order of things.… Our power lies in our connection to deity, a link that requires constant maintenance.

Notice a pattern here? Not one of these practicing witches talks about evil or the Devil or making blood sacrifices. Not one talks about being better than others or even judging others, and instead they try to encourage others to see their own magical abilities and nurture them. Not one encourages using spells to gain power over others. Not one promotes harm to anyone or anything, knowing that karmic law applies to witches in a big way and that doing harm knocks their own spirits off balance and out of harmony.

The witches of old would be so proud and excited to see what this new witch is up to. They would be amazed at how adept the new witch is at fitting in with the world at large, while embracing and staying true to the Craft. And they would be thrilled to watch how the new witch combines ancient knowledge and wisdom with the cutting-edge world of the internet and social networking to set the record straight about what witches are and do despite hundreds of years of bad PR. As one Wiccan on Facebook commented in a Wicca group, There are so many trolls on the public group pages making awful comments about us. I used to get angry until I realized they were just uneducated and ignorant. The information about who we are and what we do is out there for public consumption. It takes courage and the ability to admit you may have been wrong to go read it! But I truly believe in making that information readily available to everyone. Not everyone will understand or accept us, but at least the information is out there for the few who will.

The new witch is an influencer and a revolutionary, using the world wide web of information to spread the word about what it really means to exercise a deep connection with Earth.

The Old Ways:

A Brief History of Witchcraft and Wicca

Witch. Mage. Magus. Sorcerer. Warlock. Enchantress. Wizard. Magician. They go by many names, but they are all the same. They are men and women who make magic, bend reality, and work in alignment with the laws and forces of the natural world. The old ways aren’t called that without good reason. What we know of today as witchcraft and its many variations began at the dawn of humanity when our ancestors struggled to find their place in the greater natural world. Filled with awe, wonder, and fear, they looked around at the expansive sky and sea, the long stretches of forest, desert, or rolling hills and the living things that surrounded them, and tried to figure out whether they had any control of it all. Was external reality, the macrocosm, the grand scale of things somehow linked to their own existence, or were human beings on their own, alone and separate, with the singular goal of just staying alive? Just by questioning their existence, our ancestors paved the way for belief systems that exist in some form or another to this day.

The word comes from the Old English words wicca, meaning male sorcerer or male witch; wiccian, meaning to bewitch; and wicce, meaning sorceress or female witch. The word also has Germanic roots and may also have roots in the Gothic word weihs, meaning sacred, and the Indo-European word weik, meaning to curve or bend. Witches are said to be those who could bend the will of nature to do their bidding. The later Middle English word wicche referred to both genders of witches, although later, male witches often were labeled as wizards or warlocks, but whatever the gender identity, today’s witch is a witch.

Dictionaries still tend to describe a witch as someone who is evil and a consort of the Devil or a sorceress, soothsayer, or wicked warlock. Oh, and, of course, an ugly, old hag with warts and a pointy hat. These descriptions are right out of fairy tales and folklore and not indicative at all of the real meaning of a witch.

Unlike the way they are portrayed in fairy tales and other stories, witches are not evil magic users. Rather, they are performing a craft that celebrates a oneness with the natural world.

A witch is someone who practices witchcraft, a modern form of paganism that reveres, celebrates, and worships the divine feminine alongside the masculine and the natural world. A witch is a person who works with the gifts of the natural world, such as herbs and plants, to heal and help. A witch is someone who calls upon the deities and the forces of nature to assist him or her in spellcasting and intention work. A witch is a neighbor, parent, child, friend, or colleague who considers Mother Earth a goddess in her own right and has a knack for bending the forces of nature to bring about desired change.

Those who practice witchcraft act as intermediaries between the gods and goddesses and the energies they represent, drawing down the power of the Moon and the Sun harnessing the winds, rain, and seas; and aligning themselves with nature and their environment to work together with awe and respect. Witches may dress like everyone else, look like everyone else, and act like everyone else, with the exception of their love of crystals, gemstones, candles, runestones, beautiful altarpieces, flowers, and animals. Witches know about herbs and can tell you which one to take for what ailment. They can tell you how to find your spirit guide or animal guide and why asking for what you want during a full Moon works better than a waning Moon. They celebrate many of the same holidays and several different ones in conjunction with the seasons, the Moon phases, and the Wheel of the Year.

Witches love to grow things, dance, chant, and sing. Not all, but most. They understand that whatever they do or put out into the universe comes back to them threefold, so they strive to put out good and positive things. However, they can get angry, hostile, and pissy, just like anyone else.

Witches live and operate close to nature and haven’t forgotten its gifts even as they embrace modern technology and social networking. They walk between worlds, live in two different times, and bring the best of the old ways into their new days.

Many Gods to One God

Our primitive ancestors did not comprehend the scientific reasons for why nature acted as it did and took it upon themselves to imbue everything around them with a higher power or spirit nature. When it rained or snowed, they didn’t understand the mechanisms behind weather and climate patterns. All they saw was stuff coming down from the sky that either helped them or hurt them. When food was aplenty, they felt good. When food was scarce, they felt fear. Eventually, they observed that food was always around and grew in cycles, just as they did, from birth to fullness, only to die and return to the earth.

Obviously, the forces at play seemed to be out of the range of human capability and control and thus had to be the stuff of superpowers. That created the need for deities. Gods and goddesses to represent the things that man couldn’t control. Everything had a spirit or essence, and everything was alive, even rocks and dirt. What was not readily understood took on a life of its own and an aura of magic that morphed into specific deities that represented said objects in the larger scheme of things. Though we know today how to scientifically explain away much of what nature and life throws at us, for early humans, it had to have been confusing, even terrifying. It sometimes made us feel powerless and small, but only because we took what nature did personally.

Animism emerged and gave everything a living essence, or a soul, including animals, creatures, humans, and natural forces, even giving recognition to rocks, waterfalls, and mountains. Inanimate things were deified and given souls because the hidden, implicate world of spirit permeated all things, was in all things, and ran through all things. A literal Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. The word animism came from animismus, which was described by German scientist Georg Ernst Stahl in 1708 as the theory that the vital principle of nature was the soul and that everything had a soul, animate and inanimate. Shamans traveled between the worlds of the physical and spiritual to perform healings on the body and the soul, often with animals and spirits to guide them. Earth traditions and paganism focused on the laws of nature and humanity’s place within the web of existence and understood that all was connected and intertwined. They respected their place in the microcosm of the macrocosm and believed that what happened on the smaller scale was mirrored in the cosmic. They recognized that nature had a built-in Cycle of Life, death, and rebirth that could always be counted on but never altered and that the cycle applied to everything alive—human, animal, bird, or plant.

To our ancestors, nature was filled with spirits and deities we could never understand but whose actions affected our lives.

As humans further evolved, the idea that inanimate objects had a life essence or soul dropped away as we learned more about science and biology, leaving the living to the realm of gods and goddesses in a polytheistic system, each with their own characters and attributions. Just as they were interpreted in nature as good or bad, their associated deities were labeled good or bad, creative or destructive. Soon, humans began to see themselves as separate from their surroundings and learned they could control certain aspects of their world. They could hunt food, build fires and homes, kill enemies, and grow new life. They felt more powerful and closer to the deities they once cowered beneath in fear (sometimes they even fancied themselves gods, but that never worked out well). Still, humans couldn’t control or have a say in certain things like the weather, when death came to visit, or whether every pregnancy would result in a thriving new life. Thus, they still had need of gods more powerful than they were to look up to, make pleas to, blame bad things on, share their fears and hopes with, and honor, hoping those same gods would look down upon humanity and take pity.

A philosopher, chemist, and doctor, Georg Ernst Stahl (1659–1734) was a proponent of vitalism, which says that living organisms differ from inanimate things because they contain a certain nonphysical element.

Eventually, a belief in duality prevailed as our ancestors observed that a lot of things came in polar opposites: things like night and day, cold and hot, large and small, dark and light, fertile and infertile, safe and dangerous, edible and poisonous, and all things were then to be categorized as either good/beneficial or bad/detrimental. The good was represented by one particular god. The bad—well, the Devil, or something like him—reigned supreme in that corner. The modern Western traditions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity focused on this dualism with a monotheistic belief in one god (and eventually one Big Bad Devil to represent what was before a horde of demonic beings), while Eastern traditions like Hinduism continued the more polytheistic belief in many gods. Monotheism became the prevalent religious tradition as the Church became more powerful and vocal, with a focus on a male god and a more subservient role for women, who could not be important members of the Church, but those who continued to honor many gods and goddesses simply did so more in the shadows, especially those who called themselves witches.

As we evolved in our religious and spiritual understandings, we also learned from the earth. We learned what plants, flowers, and herbs could cure illnesses of every sort and which would poison someone to death. We learned that mixing certain herbs was even more powerful for healing purposes. We learned that certain times of the year, when the Moon and planets were in specific positions, were best for sowing, and other times were best for reaping. We learned how to work with the forces and laws of nature, and not against them, to assure a good hunt or good crops that would feed our families.

The more we immersed ourselves in our surroundings, the more our ancestors came to realize that everything they needed to survive and thrive was to be found in nature, and all they had to do was learn to recognize it. Witches were and are nothing more than people who get their connection with nature and make great and positive use of it. These people may come across as magic or supernatural, but the reality is that they are just examples of people living fully in their own magic and the magic already present in nature. Someone had to start up the wheel, trying different herbs and plants, killing prey and making notice of what was good and what made the whole tribe sick. Our ancestors were the first witches, cooking up concoctions to help one tribe member overcome a virus and making a poultice to treat another’s deep leg wound. Our ancestors bent nature to their will to help them survive and find food and shelter and the best places to build their homes and grow their crops.

This included women, who were as much a part of the evolution of humanity as men, and they made witchcraft look easy in everything they did from giving birth to raising a child to cooking and killing prey to keeping their man happy sexually, but they also demanded the same respects, just as the goddess taught them to.

Rise of the Witch

Witches bent the forces of nature to their own will and were sorcerers, but it was usually for good. Links to the Devil are always unfounded, as the one that states that witches are creatures of the Devil because they get periods. Of course, scientific understanding later taught humans that menstruation was a totally necessary and natural part of preparing a woman’s body to grow and give birth to a child, but until then, the blood that came each month, often in tandem with other women and following specific phases of the Moon, was considered dirty, bad, or evil.

Many cultures around the world that have not been influenced by monotheistic religions like Christianity still maintain matriarchal societies, such as the Mosuo people of China.

Prior to the rise of Christianity, women were pretty equal in many ways with men. They could own land and grow things. They could hold positions of power and leadership. Gods and goddesses were honored, and women could preach, perform religious rites, even exorcisms, and talk about religion and politics openly without apprehension. The old ways were inclusive, and women went about their business as wise healers and trusted midwives using local herbs and making all kinds of concoctions to help others. They were doctors, nurses, and midwives. They were teachers, preachers, and givers of advice.

According to scholars, Neolithic villages were described as motherhoods that were organized around the activities and concerns of women. In her article for the October 2008 issue of Freethought Today, Barbara G. Walker writes, Women’s power to create life, apparently out of their own substance, and to respond with fearful and mystical blood cycles to the phases of the Moon, made them creatures of magic in the eyes of primitive men, who knew themselves unable to match such powers. This goes back to primitive times, when women were revered, and continued even into the Bronze Age, when fatherhood became more recognized and kingships appeared. The feminine divine was still considered of paramount importance, Walker writes, and the early kings of Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt, Phoenicia, and other ancient lands knew they could not properly rule unless they were a part of the hieros gamos, or holy marriage, with the goddess incarnate as the queen.

As patriarchy grew, women continued to hold a place of high honor among the spiritual realm of oracles and diviners, such as the oracles at Delphi and Eleusis and the sybils of ancient Rome. The Greek goddess Hecate was also an oracle and powerful goddess of magic and midwifery and could make things happen just by speaking them into being, thus the use of spells in witchcraft. Sadly, the rise of Christianity and the usurping of the power of logos was the beginning of the end for the times of the goddess. Yahweh, the male god, claimed to create reality with logos, the speaking of the word, but it was a gift first associated with the feminine divine.

As Christianity rose to power, women continued to worship goddesses, such as Hecate, in private, hidden away so as not to be punished or shamed. The spread of Christianity, a patriarchal, god-based religion, spelled the death of the former goddess traditions, at least in public. Up until the fourteenth century, nobility would often hire witches for midwifery, healing, and other uses, but during the Renaissance, the Witchcraft Act was instituted, banning all witchcraft and associated practices. With the arrival of the Middle Ages, witches were now considered anti-Christian as the shadow of the Church was cast long and wide.

Persecution of Witches Begins

As the Catholic Church sought to increase power and influence, one of the ways it did so was to either absorb or wipe out earlier pagan traditions, which often revered the feminine alongside the masculine. Many of the beliefs, rites, traditions, and rituals were hijacked and altered to stick within the narrow guidelines of the Church. Holidays were literally stolen, and celebrations were labeled evil and Satanic unless they could be somehow shifted into something appropriate for the Church to claim and exploit. Women were sent way down the ladder to second-class, even third-class citizens, who were now nothing but pieces of property to be owned and used by men. They could no longer preach or teach, talk politics, be healers, or lead rituals and rites.

Between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries, the Inquisitions of the Catholic Church resulted in a four-hundred-year holocaust during which millions of people died, including children, at the hands of an angry Catholic Church hell-bent on controlling the masses and eradicating those who didn’t come around. Eighty to ninety percent of those persecuted and killed were women, and the outright attack on women’s sexual nature was behind it all. The Church hated women, unless they were saintly like the Virgin Mary or objects owned by men as sisters, wives, aunts, daughters, and grandmothers. They could be nothing more. The Inquisitions didn’t even take the time to separate the innocent from the guilty. To them, everyone was guilty, and the mass murder was totally acceptable in the eyes of God. They truly believed that they were just and right, even as they slaughtered entire villages and killed babies and pregnant women.

During the Spanish Inquisition and other oppressions committed by the Catholic Church from 1400 to 1800, thousands of women accused as witches (and men accused of being wizards) were put to death.

Heretics, eccentrics, and skeptics of the Church also died at the hands of the Catholic armies of salvation. They were marched before judges and deemed guilty no matter what they said, then tortured and put to death, often burned at the stake in a public square to scare others into submission. The rest were rounded up and killed or burned in their own beds as the Christian soldiers tore through their villages with bloodlust in their eyes and hearts.

The goddess was herself put on trial, executed and replaced with one god. The feminine was pushed beneath the masculine and forced to stay there or risk torture and certain death. Female sexuality was demonized and shunned. Anything that didn’t jive with the new Church goals was cast out as evil, coming from the Devil, and worthy of extreme judgment, punishment, and death. The Inquisitions and witch trials were born in this mindset, where mass torture and executions were the way the Church rid the world of the old religion to make way for the new, sending those who escaped the grip of witch hysteria into hiding.

Millions of men, women, and children were said to have been tortured and killed at the hands of righteous Christian witch hunters, often for doing nothing more than having a rash or using a particular flower to make a healing tea. God forbid you had a deformity, disability, or illness. That meant you were touched by the Devil and surely had to die, but first, they would get their kicks torturing you. Even if you confessed, they killed you anyway. Witch hunters were high on power and in no way represented the ways of the man, Jesus Christ, they claimed to follow. They killed innocent people in droves simply because they had the power and could get away with it and because they wanted total control over the populations, which meant making sure the last vestiges of paganism were done away with.

Witch hunts and trials existed throughout the world, with those in Europe among the bloodiest and most vicious. In the late 1670s in Salzburg, Austria, witch trials were especially focused on men and young boys, who were rounded up off the streets and sent to dungeons beneath great