10-18-2015, 07:58 AM
(10-17-2015, 10:33 PM)irukandji Wrote:Not wanting to be too nit picky, but when you say "the church dominated by men" thought some women were in league with the devil, that sure sounds like the churches of Europe to me. The middle and early modern times were full of witch trials in both Catholic and Protestant areas. In current times, few witches are killed in Europe, but the practice continues in other areas, even when the religion is not dominated by men, and belief in "the devil", as opposed to evil spirtis, does not really exist. Magic is "real" for many people in the modern world, along with belief in evil spirits.(10-17-2015, 09:09 AM)eric Wrote: This belief has nothing to do with the European churches, it is local old time religion.
No one said it did.
(10-17-2015, 09:09 AM)eric Wrote: Generally the culprits are in league with evil spirits, dark things that go bump in the night. The witch/wizard has no power on their own, they know how to connect with the evil spirits and direct their power. Sometimes you go to another person who is also in contact with the spirit world and pay for a counter spell to protect yourself, sometimes you save the time and money and just kill the witch/wizard.
I understood the origins differently. There were women in ancient times who were healers, which included midwives. They were skilled in their knowledge of remedies and painkillers. The church, headed by men, was not pleased with women having such knowledge and viewed it as sorcery. The women were called witches and persecuted for imaginary ties with the devil. More than likely these women were pagans in the eyes of the church, and that was just one more thing the church could use to torment them.
I have no doubt that there probably were some witches out there who took to evil instead of good. They belonged to the devil and may have been marked as his. That brings me to wonder if the hexenbiests we see are truly evil and "marked" with the u-shaped birthmark under their tongues.
The greenish hexenbiest spirit might be an emblem or an amplifier in which to do their magic. Or, it could be a refce to the power of evil itself. Lord of the Rings, Heavy Metal, and the Wizard of Oz are three movies I can think of right away where the color of green is associated with evil.