Inside
the Legend: Malleus Maleficarum
WITCHES
Welcome
to Sturbridge, Massachusetts home of the desperate housewives
from Hell all following the teachings of the demonic Tammi.
All bit- excuse me- witches, but same difference right?
Anyways, a witch is a hag who is deluded into making a
pact with the devil through persuasion so that she can
perform mischievous magic for her own benefit.
Often
times women who are believed to have a sixth finger is
seen as a sign that she may be a witch.
Witchcraft,
as I’m sure we all know from Bewitched, Sabrina,
Harry, etc. you get the point, is the magical manipulation
of supernatural forces through the use of spells and the
conjuring of spirits. Witches can have the abilities of
shape shifting, clairvoyance, invisibility, flying, and
the ability to kill at a distance. During the medieval
ages and the renaissance, it was defined as evil magic,
heresy and devil-worship. Despite what Hogwarts may be
trying to teach, that’s still the case today.
SPELLS
All
spells have a specific kind of formula, which might use
incantations, various potions, images, and implements.
These elements are designed to gather magical power and
direct it towards a specific purpose such as bewitching
someone or something to cause some kind of change. These
formulas can be spoken over an herbal brew, but typically
the best spell incantations are performed at elaborate
and mysterious ceremonies of ritual magic.
LEGENDARY
WITCHES
So,
now that you know the basics it’s important to note
that there have been several obsessed women throughout
the ages similarly to the Coven we ran across in Massachusetts.
Caroline
of Brunswick felt that she was constantly being neglected
by her husband, so what does she do? What every evil crackpot
does. She decides to make a wax effigy of him, sticks
pins and thorns into it and only then does she cement
the act by melting it in a palace fireplace.
Marie
Laveau was the most renowned voodoo queen in North America,
the appeal was their magical powers to control one’s
lovers, enemies… and sex life. Sounds like another
naughty desperate housewife gone psychopath. She was often
told all the secrets by women and was able to use these
to increase her dastardly powers.
Florence
Newton, also known as “the Witch of Youghal,”
was accused of bewitching people into fits and then killing
them. Elizabeth Sawyer, “the Witch of Edmonton”
was accused of bewitching her neighbor’s children
and cattle because they refused to buy her broom sticks!
AFRICA
In
Africa, the Tswana tribe believed that there are two types
of witches those who come out during the day and those
who come out during the night. Day Sorcerers, as they
were called, used their magic to inflict harm through
the use of herbs and other various medicines; while Night
Witches were mainly old women who gathered in small groups
and then proceeded to travel about bewitching the unfortunate.
Sam
forget to include the most disturbing aspect about these
old crowes, ready for a nightmare inducing fact? These
old hags rode around on broom sticks completely naked,
smeared in only white ashes and the blood of the dead.
You ask me, that’s the most disturbing image known
to man! Getting shivers already just thinking about it…
AMERICA
Witchcraft
came to America with the first settlers, but never really
became big due to the fact that they were threatened by
persecution and death.
The
first ever execution and trial took place in Connecticut
and continued for several years to come. Few of these
ever came to the attention of the public. But the most
infamous was the Salem Witch Trials.
It
was the most traumatic witch-hunt in the history of man
and resulted in multiple deaths. The story goes that at
the time there was a strong belief in the devil among
the factions of Salem Village fanatics. The recent small
pox epidemic and threat of warring tribes did nothing
to ease their fears. In 1689, the villagers won the right
to establish their own church and chose Reverend Samuel
Parris, a former merchant, as their minister.
Paris
had a nine-year old daughter, Betty. Betty and her cousin
Abigail Williams delighted in the mesmerizing tales spun
by a Barbados slave who spoke of the future. These girls
invited several of their friends to share in this forbidden
diversion.
All
eight girls, between the ages of 11-20, began to show
signs of being possessed by a demon. It was believed they
may have been inadvertently affected by these tales. They
contorted themselves, cowered under chairs and shouted
nonsense. Soon several other girls, as a result of this
hysteria, started to show signs of being possessed such
as Mary Warren a servant from the house of Elizabeth and
John Proctor. Naturally the puritans turned to the supernatural,
there was only one answer- witch craft!
Finding
witches became an unhealthy crusade that would soon harm
more people than originally intended. People and the public
caught on soon enough and became highly alarmed because
any one of them could be accused of witchcraft!
Tituba,
the Barbados slave, came forward in 1692 and confessed
that the devil had come to her and bided her to serve
him. Villagers were spellbound by her tales of black dogs,
red cats, and a white-haired man who had her sign the
devil’s book. There were several undiscovered witches,
she said, and they all yearned to destroy the Puritans!
To
get out of their bad doings the girls started naming people
as witches. All in all they had named 150 people from
all backgrounds.
THE
WITCH COUNTRY
The
English Village of Canewdon was referred to as “the
Witch Country” because many of the witches from
this county were renowned for their power to halt machinery
and wagons by a single penetrating look or by turning
themselves into wheels, and at various times were accused
of sending plagues of lice and other unpleaseant creatures
against their enemies.
England
also had the first witch in the records to be executed,
Agnes Waterhorse, her daughter Joan and Elizabeth Francis
were trialed and put to death on July 1566.
GRIMORIE
A
grimoire is a weighty and nearly impenetrable book of
black magic written in dead languages. Some superstitions
claim that grimoires must be in manuscript and in red
ink, bound in black or human skin.
Two
of the most famous grimories are the Key of Solomon and
the Lesser Key of Solomon, also known as The Greater Key
and The Lemegeton. Some people believed these were written
by King Solomon himself, whereas others believed they
were written by demons and given to the king.
Another
grimoire is the Grimoire of Honorius, a catalogue of fallen
angels and how to raise them, “it not only instructed
priests in the arts of demonology but virtually ordered
them to learn how to conjure and control demons, as part
of their job.”
In
Neo-Pagan, the Book of Shadows is the personal hand-written
book of a modern neo-pagan coven or witch. Many covens
have a group Book of Shadows, while solitaries keep one
for themselves.
Another
grimorie is “the Necromicon.” Wait- the Necromonicon?
Yep. The one and the only. A book supposed to have been
written by the black wizard Abdul Al-Hazred who lived
in Sanaa in Yemen 700 AC. The book is also referred to
as “the whispers of demons.” It’s a
compilation of spells, recipes and other texts taken from
older grimories. Where’s Ash when you need him?
SABBATS
Sabbats
were often held in remote and quiet places such as ruins
and remnants of ancient temples, mountaintops, forests
and abandoned churches. They always occurred at night
on special occasions such as October 31st, Samhain, the
feast of the Ancestors and Witch’s New Year; the
pagan cults believed that the two worlds, the physical
and the spiritual, drew closer on this date and that ghosts
and apparitions of the dead could roam about the physical
plane.
Other
Sabbats include: March 22 (Eostre), August 1 (Lammas),
December 22 (Yule), May 1 (Beltaine), September 21 (Mabon),
Feburary 1 (Imbolc), and June 22 (Litha).
HOW
ONE BECOMES A DEMON
Anyways,
now that I’ve got Sam out of the room it’s
time for me to finally spill my guts. And no, I don’t
mean that in a literal sense. My clock is ticking and
my time is running out. Sam’s trying to prepare
himself for my death by making himself more like me- show
no mercy, wipe the evil suckers out of here before they
cause any more damage. The one guiding him is this demon
named Ruby. Thought that was bad enough. But, guess what?
My luck keeps getting worse by the minute. Turns out Ruby
and most of the other demons once were human. Yep, that’s
right. Human. All of them. The whole god damn lot went
to hell, forgot what it felt like and turned against mankind.
Except Ruby, somehow maintained her certain sense of humanity-
but demons are known to lie…
I’m
going to hell soon… I, well you get the point.
Inside
the Legend by Dean5339
