Maleficarum Modernus-- A Survey of Witchery in the 21st Century

reply to post by Klassified


The other people references the bible. More specifically the story of Cain and Able. Cain goes to dwell in the land of Nod. There he gets a wife and has a son Enoch.

But wait at that point there should only be Adam, Eve, Cain and Able....right?

So where did this wife come from? and her people? It's never really clarified.

These are the other people. I am a Norse Heathen. I have met many people who believe that those who still hear the call of the Old Gods are descended from those of the Land of Nod. It is an interesting belief, one I would not be surprised if it were correct.

Good morning,

I am going through the Malleus in an online edition, I thought it would be fun to pull out some of the indicium (indications that one is a witch) so that we can see if we can make a check-off list for ourselves. So far I have the "witch-mark" and the familiar covered.

Meanwhile, I have been twisting a little over how contradictory my post above may have seemed about "Christian witches" and thought that I would post this bit from the Malleus.This particular indicium states that...

"Witches commonly perform their Spells through the Sacraments of the Church.

"Secondly, it is to be noted that in all their methods of working injury they nearly always instruct witches to make their instruments of witchcraft by means of the Sacraments or sacramental things of the Church, or some holy thing consecrated to God...

For a similar reason they are wont to practise their witchcraft at the more sacred time of the year, especially at the Advent of Our Lord, and at Christmas. "

www.malleusmaleficarum.org...

More than anything, I think that that particular indicium goes a long way to illustrate the deadly circular logic of those persecuting witches. Not even Christians are safe from the hunt, it doesn't matter how devout you are, all it takes is for someone to put the word "witch" together with your name and you are dead meat in 17th century Europe.

Also, I found this one, this indicium can help to flush out witch-archers.

First off everyone knows that witch-archers shoot arrows at the crucifix on Good Friday.

"For first, on the Sacred Day of the Passion of Our Lord, that is to say, on Good Friday, as it is called, during the solemnization of the Mass of the Presanctified they shoot with arrows, as at a target, at the most sacred image of the Crucifix. Oh, the cruelty and injury to the Saviour!"

Everyone knows that. But did you know this...

Fifthly, they can shoot an arrow with such precision as to shoot a penny from a person’s head without hurting his head, and they can continue to do this indefinitely. Sixthly, in order to gain this power they have to offer homage of body and soul to the devil. We shall give some instances of this sort of practice.

How did they test that?

reply to post by Bybyots


I think if you look at the size of a penny in those days you will find it to be the size of a Canadian Loonie or Toonie . My brother once wanted me to shoot a grape of of his head with my bow ... lol all I had to do was practice practice practice ...peace

reply to post by Eidolon23


Positively amazing write-up. Great job and you get bonus points for posting a Diamanda song!

Bringing together the similarities of witchcraft and mainstream religions is a very important point to make and one that cannot be denied. The key operational difference between them is whether or not it's a priest class system or a path geared towards the individual.

reply to post by wildtimes


It's to bad there isn't more documentation, because if you want a keen vision of the old ways it would be the wisdom of the Scots-Irish that settled the area and the Cherokee, now you might get some info if you looked for it, but it is pretty much passed down, my mothers people came out of the Appalachians, and I always knew you were born with it, but the familiars made sense to me.

Witchcraft, Sorcery, Voodoo, Shamanism, Priesthoods and Prophets...
They all have one thing in common; They practice what in modern terms might be called ethereal politics and management...

Spells...Incantations...Mantras...Prayers... What are they, but a vocalization of your needs, wants and desires within this physical realm....

Writing and repeating the words till they are engrained in your mind.

Ritual... Ceremony... Dance... Fetish and Idols...
The physical manifestations of these same wants, needs and desires...

Practicing these things with single minded determination...will bring about your wishes if they are not apposed...

From my own experiences, I can tell you that they do often work...

Word and Deed, in their simplest form... A quantifiable intent...

What you need, want and desire most is felt by the ether... The spirits hear you and begin to listen... Your words set a mood or change a view, aiding in the endeavor... Your actions prepare a scene, with airs and items of focus, further cementing your minds suspension of belief in what is, while enforcing belief in what is desired...
If your are sincere and take great care, the spirits may help you get the result you desire...
If there are others of disimilar or contrary belief to your own, it becomes a spiritual struggle unto the highest court...depending upon the strength of will and communal support...

But all of this is just a result of the individuals choice in mind within the creation; which one must at some time make...

Are you part of the mind of Love or Hate? Self or Other?

Both are valid parts of the whole picture...

In my mind, Love is the better choice for us...

You see, from my perspective, in evolution, we have already been through the side of self, the side of the animal, and our future in mind will be best served in community, family and compassionate care...

The path of Self, in my intuitive opinion, is one of eventual solitude ending in a new cosom via final salvation...a return to innocense...

To the op.
An excellent expose on the diversity in ethereal practices...I learned about people and activities I was not aware of...Thank you...

I still wonder how Christianity took over Europe.

How did the written language of ancient Europe get lost.

I watched a very good documentary on Wicca from the UK recently called A Very British Withcraft which tells the story of how the Wiccan faith first took its modern form during the mid to late 20th century.

There was this really cool eccentric old guy whose named slips my mind, now deseaced, who popularized Wicca and basically wrote down the tennets and designed the rituals, based in part at least on earlier folk and pagan belief.

Really interesting, I suggest you check it out. My memory is # but I'm 100% sure the title of the docu was A Very British Witchcraft.

That old fella who I mentioned above was a member of the Home Guard during WWII as were several other men in his coven at the time. The story goes that the army took them deep into the woods, and the whole coven did their biggest ritual ever and directed something called a cone of will or cone of energy or something at Berlin while chanting 'You may not cross the channel,' or something to that effect.

The docu mentions that man other covens in the UK under threat of German invasion performed similar rituals.

Interesting story and it does seem plausable, Churchill himself had a keen interest in the occult.

I don't buy into the whole withcraft thing, but I do find it interesting.

Magic, from what I understand, is built on a singular premise in regards to manifesting an intent of the will and that is that for everything there is always a price to be paid or a "sacrifice".

The cross of Jesus Christ as a Great Work or Magnum Opus may then be seen as a supreme work of magic by a great Magus whereby everything that is based in reason and logic, and love (the action of reason) is preserved, and, whereby everything that is base, evil, ignorant and unworthy, is sacrificed and turned away at right angles to itself, leaving only the Supreme Love of God as the creative dynamic of Life and Creation, and Resurrection (evolutionary dynamic of growth and of life meeting life).

It's like a great trick or a ruse or even a great joke, revealed at the expense of all that is worthless, fruitless, perishable, and what makes it so powerful, and formative, is that as a resolution to the problem of evil, by the time the joke is told the evil has already been blindsided and it's too late. One can only either groan, or laugh, in response to really understanding it or "grokking" of it most fully.

White magic is based on mutuality and a win/win/win in service to the greatest possible good. Black magic is based on selfishness and a win/lose zero sum gain. Black magic lost.

What we hate, loath and despise is black magic, of the kind rendered large in a global psy-op ritual sacrifice on September 11th, 2001.

It isn't formative and it doesn't work, and ultimately it kills the spirit of both abuser and victim. Whoever delves in it deserves what they get and that includes any who've tried to take Christ prisoner and hold him hostage, while performing blood sacrifices, rites, oaths, covenants etc. in his name.

Illustration: (Salvation Army Headquarters Insignia, believe it or not)


/rant over.

Best Regards,

NAM aka Bob


"...sacrificed, on the alter, of freedom."
~ Rudolf Guiliani, September 11th memorial, 2003 or '04.

"I ask for mercy, not sacrifice."
~ Jesus Christ

reply to post by Monger

Astyanax
reply to post by Eidolon23

 

Two questions remain open, though, in this spectacularly informative thread.

1. Do you believe in witchcraft?
   
   
2. Does it work?

There is a lot of magick in this world.
Have a look at Dennis Wiers, Trance: from magic to technology

willproject.org...


And try it yourself. For instance Jan Fries, Visual Magick is a good read for beginners.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Stormdancer777

if you want a keen vision of the old ways it would be the wisdom of the Scots-Irish that settled the area and the Cherokee,

Interesting you would say that. My mother's ancestors were predominantly Scots-Irish.....
and I arrived at about age 33 at a piece of land that was part of the Hopewell culture. One of my many 'metaphysical' experiences was when I was riding my filly down by the river, and a Native American wise-woman made herself known to me....

Not long before that, I had been digging a garden plot in the front yard, and unearthed a stone-age 'scraper' type of knife made of flint. I took it to the local 'natural history museum' for our county, and the lady confirmed it was about 25,000 years old......

I was advised by the Native American wise woman that I had been led to that place to help 'join' the two traditions:
Celtic Paganism and Native American Shamanism. I called our little scrap of land "Kavalon."


I will never forget that day.

wildtimes

I was advised by the Native American wise woman that I had been led to that place to help 'join' the two traditions:
Celtic Paganism and Native American Shamanism. I called our little scrap of land "Kavalon."


I will never forget that day.

And then?! What!

You just leave us hanging there.

I'd be interested because those two cultures are actually my early influences in witchcraft from my both sides of my family. I've since wandered to more root-level craft but I admit that part of that wandering was because I found it difficult to reconcile my two cultural influences.

reply to post by optimus primal


Isn't the whole evolution of the entire "story" that of one God replacing another? Yahweh was an amalgam of Gods (plural) in many ways, as well as a point of differentiation, especially relative to the powers and principalities of ancient Egypt whose sacred sciences are surely the standard bearer of all thing "magickal".

I think the ancients understood something about mankand and our "place" in the grand scheme of things which modern Wicca in part wishes to recapture.

The orientation though in terms of the black magic and the so-called "casting" of spells represents a misunderstanding on the part of modern Wiccans, I suspect, where what the ancients were concerned primarily with was the originating first/last cause as it relates to the generative principal, and trying to get into alignment with that "line" which is a line of continual succession unto a "first father" of creation (look to the Native Circle of the Sacred Fire - always dancing around it clockwise never counter-clockwise) whose self-evident intelligent design has given rise to everything we see, us included, by intention and thus by an original act of the original will, and maybe even as a great sacrifice (not unlike the cross as a mirror image.. torn apart, broken down, differentiated and reintegrated, moving through death and into resurrection, "I am the resurrection and the life"), for the sake of love between a lover and beloved other in order so that our mutual experience can be made possible (what love is this?!).

The fundamental problem that we're having today, aside from a complete misunderstanding and lack of awareness of our true place in the universe/cosmos/nature, is that of an attempted hijacking of "God" by the monotheistic religions of the world who probably do not know the half of the true story and the real history, which threads back through ancient India, Sumeria/Babylonia, Ancient Egypt and even Greece to a lessor degree since Greece appropriated it's best and brightest from Egypt through Plato, but, where we Christians may have it right (in the final analysis) is in the idea of Jesus the historical person being a type of human historical crossroads unto himself, as (simultaneously); a Jewish Mystic, a Magus (think Babylonian and Persian Astrologers/Astronomers) and one-time-only Bodhisattva (ancient India) all in one, who's Magnum Opus or Great Work was really a type of Cosmic Theodolite or lens (see my avatar for clues) as "the true measure of a man".


He thus sums up the ancients AND the pagan beliefs and understandings by his Magnum Opus or Great Work of All Ages.

Therefore, on behalf of the Christ (Christ consciousness, God or Cosmic Awareness) with Christ in me and me in him, I humbly ask that all yea wiccans out there find it in your heart to forgive the ignorance of those who simply did not know, "forgive them father for they know not what they do" even as I absolutely forgive the false persecution of atheists and wiccans towards Christians and Christianity (to distinguish it from true Christ I call it "Churchianity"), because neither are (were) they aware of what it is they are persecuting, at core and at bottom, or at heart. We were wrong. On all sides. Didn't have a clue (duh).

Just imagine, however.. if we DO possess, here on Earth, "the true measure of a man" (and woman) who's Great Work or what I like to call "Superdeterministic Cosmological Magnum Opus" really IS meaningful and significant, not however for dogmatic and doctrinal reasons (Churchy reasons) but only for compelling reasons, and a logic that cannot be surpassed, even in time and history as the ultimate "passover". Let us consider it as the act of a true Magus, capable of standing over human history in a single perfect act of the will and the freedom to choose, (if that isn't "Majick" what is?) who's "original intent" transcends human history, while quite literally preceding it, even from before "the very foundation of the world" (said like Jesus), like a perfectly timed schedule that Jesus read in the starry skies like some sort of instruction intended for none other than he himself (ie: full moon Passover lunar eclipse at the half life, the northern cross laying down in spring and summer and picking itself up every year in winter on the northern horizon. "If yea be my disciple you too must pick up your cross and follow me" [hey it's only fair])..


Wouldn't it be funny in the end if East meets West where the Christian and the Pagan both can embrace and hold hands, with love, in a sacred circle under the starry skies, and come to know the truth that sets us free, namely that it was all for us from the very get go, shared from beginning to end the whole of it all as an inheritance prepared for us from before the very foundation of the world, um.. in the name of Jesus Christ son of man son of God, amen. (seemed appropriate)

Where humor and truth meet there's the knowledge of personal experience and that's the magic(k), but it's only magic when it's understood, comprehended, eaten or grokked and then freely shared, as food. If a Shaman isn't a good cook and a good story teller AND comedian of the highest order, then he or she is no Shaman at all.

"If I were to seek only my own glory then that would be no glory, at all."
~ Jesus Christ the wonderful wiz who was (who is and who is to come)

"God is spirit and truth who seeks communers who commune (pray - trancedance) in spirit and in truth."
~ Jesus paraphrased.

"Apart from me you can do nothing."


We both, both Pagan and Christian, possess what the other guy is really looking for, imho. And that that's funny in this instance also signifies that it's true, which makes it all the funnier. imho.

Best regards, and may God Bless You.

NAM aka Bob, Modern Urban Shaman, Christian Mystic, Card Carrying Member of the Messianic Wing of the Mad Pride Movement.

wildtimes
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

Those hicks in shacks and mountain medicine women, wise women and healers.Ozark witches, and Appalachian Granny Witches.

Yes, I know. I'm familiar with more than one 'witch.' And more than one 'coven'. (Not "A FAMILIAR", just, acquainted and aware of their behaviors - from personal experience.)

No broom flying -

The very commonly held notion that witches fly is a cover story for the wizard "bird men"....they do the flying and are commonly transvestite, very long hair feminine males but not all certainly.

reply to post by NewAgeMan



Let me say, if you will, that Jesus was very clear when accused of working magic by a power other than the one at work in him. His accusers were dealt a stern warning.

reply to post by Logarock


Yes he was only working his magic according to God, because he was working in perfect alignment with the one who sent him (first father of creation). He was doing what he was seeing, and following the instructions given him. Poor guy, he was framed on every side by a seemingly inescapable "box" of human history and prophecy. Talk about courage, perseverance and insight!

You misunderstand what I mean by "Magus". Only a trained Magus could have discerned it and carried it out, quite literally, to a t (and beyond).

When Jesus returned to Judea and Jewish society by John's anticipation (according to schedule), he was armed to the teeth, big time, (including the Greek-oriented art of debate) and ready to fulfill the destiny given him from the time before time.

And, it's only appropriate that he got the last laugh in threading the needle and exiting the belly of the beast never to return, even employing the art of disguise on the road to Emmaus both to have some fun with his friends, protect himself (what they can do to a guy once they can try a second time). and to teach (on breaking the bread they suddenly recognized him).

He was a Magus, a master in many more ways than one who did everything for all the right reasons (white magic or win/win/win), fulfilled his destiny to a t, and, as the last who's first where the first are last, held in reserve the very best of the best in/for the resurrection life where "the more that sorrow and suffering has carved into one's being the more joy they can contain."

The cross wasn't the last word, you see. It didn't get him. Now THAT is just totally awesome, and FUNNY!

optimus primal
reply to post by Klassified

 

The other people references the bible. More specifically the story of Cain and Able. Cain goes to dwell in the land of Nod. There he gets a wife and has a son Enoch.

But wait at that point there should only be Adam, Eve, Cain and Able....right?

So where did this wife come from? and her people? It's never really clarified.

These are the other people. I am a Norse Heathen. I have met many people who believe that those who still hear the call of the Old Gods are descended from those of the Land of Nod. It is an interesting belief, one I would not be surprised if it were correct.

In the beginning, Lilith and Adam are made from the same dust. They engage in sexual intercourse but Lilith objects to the position, saying "I am made of the same earth, why should I be treated as inferior?" She escapes from Adam by uttering the sacred name of YHWH and flies away to the desert. YHWH sends three angels to bring her back but she refuses. So, in her place Chawah is made from Adam's side to be subordinate to him. In both legends, Lilith flies off to the desert where she is free.

The Chronicle of Caine
Book of Nod

In The First of Times, Cain explains that he sacrificed his brother, Abel, out of love. His "Father" cast Cain out, to wander in darkness in the Land of Nod. In The Coming of Lilith, Cain expresses his sadness of being left in the darkness, cold and hungry. Then enters Lilith, who tells Cain that she was Adam's first wife, the original wife of his father. She takes him in and cares for Cain. In Lilith's Magick, Cain wishes to have the gifts of power that Lilith has. After some persistence, the hesitant Lilith begins the Awakening ceremony by cutting herself with a knife and bleeding into a bowl for him to drink. Cain partakes.

She is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh

The Sumerian Gilgamesh Epic includes the story of the hero Gilgamesh and the Huluppu tree. In this legend we already see some patriarchal influence, where the Goddess Inanna insists on a throne being made for her from this special tree and the hero is eager to cut it down in order to do this. But in the tree are three beings - a bird at the crown, a "snake who knows no charm" at the base, and in the center, Lilith had built herself a house. She is called a "desolate maid". When Gilgamesh chops down the tree, all these beings leave it, and Lilith flies off to the desert.

Lilith is still worshiped in the modern era in the form of Beltane/Mayday rituals which take place from May 1st-5th. The midnight hour on April 30th starts the ‘pagan’ festivities known as ‘Lilith’s Eve’, in dedication to this demoness.

Questions: What is Stonehenge and did Merlin ever really exist?

Eidolon23

And what, if not positivism, monotheism, or atheism, can bring this malignant cycle to a close? It has been part of us for so long, and is tied so inextricably to our deepest woes that it may be we will take it with us wherever we go-- to space or oblivion.

Certainly not, there will be a time it might become criminal and judged worldwide, we only need proper laws to be enforced upon doers of such matters.

We would need too a special kind of police against the witchcraft practitioners to ensure it does get what it truly deserve.




Thruthseek3r