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𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣
𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝 (2016)

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one of the things that i enjoyed the most with this reading is that it involves many elements of mythology, religion, history, and culture of many places around the world, and i think it’s really well done, so while i was reading i came out with the idea of doing this thread

so we can learn more about those elements in this series that aren’t explored that deeply
so gather around my children, bc we're going to learn about demons, witches, folklore, and much more, so even if you don't know who the hell is wanda maximoff, you might want to stay

let's get started

𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚 #1
"𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙨"

the first reference is on the 2nd page of this issue, and it is a verse from the bible

"𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖙 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖘𝖚𝖋𝖋𝖊𝖗 𝖆 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖊"
this quote is part of king james version of the bible, and nowadays many people believe it is highly responsible for the witch-burnings in europe and later in america, between 1450 and 1750

but this practice may have the result of a mistranslation
really?
really

the original hebrew word used in exodus for "witch" is 𝙢𝙚𝙠𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙥𝙝𝙖, but as y'all know the exodus was written a long long long time ago, so we can't truly know what it meant back in those days, so it leaves us only with the modern interpretation

eliezer ben yehuda, considered the father of modern hebrew translated mekhashepha as "witch", is his dictionary.
later the root of the word, 𝙠𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙝, was translated as “mutterings” by merrill f. unger, biblical scholar and theologian, in his book biblical demonology

he too interpreted mekhasheph as "witch" specifically, "one who practices magic by using occult formulas, incantations, and mystic mutterings."
however, kenneth kitchen a bible scholar translates the root as “to cut” and thinks it might refer to cutting herbs

that interpretation of mekhashepha comes closer to what is said in the septuagint, the translation of hebraic traditions into greek that was written by jewish sages in around the 3rd century b.c.e.
in the septuagint, mekhashepha was translated into pharmakeia,

and that translates to "herbalist" or "poisoner"
so might exodus refer to herbalists or poisoners, instead of witches? yes, it's possible
in deuteronomy 18:9-10, mekhashepha are mentioned in a list of those whose practices yahweh considers to be abominations.

this list includes necromancers, those who cast spells, those who summon spirits, and practitioners of divination, among others. while this doesn't make them sorcerers, it puts them in the same category.
this could be because they were associated with pagan practices,

and not because they practiced magic.

but deuteronomy was written in a different time than exodus, during that period prophets were attempting religious reforms, such as eliminating "god's wife" asherah it was during that period that the meaning could have changed

but by the time we get to the latin vulgate bible, mekhasheph was translated as maleficos and this translation inspired the title of the witch-hunting manual malleus malificarum, "the hammer of witches.”

nevertheless,the term “maleficius” means evildoers, and should not be translated as “witch” or “sorcerer”. it'd only refer to a witch or sorcerer if the individual used magic for evil.
so in summary, even now with or without a definitive translation, it's hard to know whether

exodus refers to herbalist, poisoners or people who used magic to harm others, but we do know that “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” is far from accurate, and even if it isn't the only reason behind witch-burnings,

we can't deny that it did have an important part in one of the most heinous chapters of modern history.

the original article was written by elizabeth sloane and you can find it here https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/thou-shalt-not-suffer-a-witch-to-live-a-murderous-mistranslation-1.5443682

𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚
𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙣

during the second half of the 17th century, in france, large government-supported printing presses eliminated most of the small shops, and an oligarchy of employers controlled the industry. with this, the situation of workers deteriorated,

since many wanted to learn the printing craft, but there were fewer and fewer places to find work.
the conditions of the apprentices were infamous: they got up before dawn, they were overworked, mistreated by other employees insulted by the owner, and they only received leftovers

old meat, almost rotten, that even the boss's cats rejected with disgust.
the situation of the rest of the workers was not very different: they were fired very frequently and without remorse, regardless of whether they had worked diligently, had families to support, or became ill

according to nicolas contant - author of the original testimony - after a tiring day and a disgusting meal, the only thing workers looked forward was a peaceful sleep. however, over the dirty shed in which he tried to sleep every night, so many cats gathered and their meows

and fights kept them awake. they thought that their situation was unfair and wanted the boss and his family to experience the same discomfort.

so they decided that jerónimo - one of the apprentices who could perfectly imitate the gestures of people and the sounds of animals - walked to the ceiling where the bosses slept and imitated the cats' fightings, after several nights of "cat concert", the bosses thought the cats

were haunted and ordered the employees to get rid of every cat they found, except for grise, the boss's wife's cat, and who they fed with roasted poultry. of course, the first thing the employees did was find grise, kill her, and hide her well

while the employees rejoiced in the death and torture of the animals, the boss' wife appeared with a terrified scream, not because she cared much about the scene, but because she thought her beloved grise was in the mound of corpses.

she demanded to know where was her pet, but serious as death they replied: "no, that would be an offense to the house, and we highly respect it." due to the magnitude of the scandal, the owner of the printing house soon appeared, also not terrified by the massacre,

but because the workers had abandoned their workstations
soon the owners realized that they were facing a "symbolic" rebellion: the massacre was a message for them, a "subtle" way of expressing their discontent with the treatment the workers received; but they could not object,

because were they not executing their own orders? helpless, the bosses let employees wrap up their bloody party.

the workers used cats as a symbol to mock the owner, by killing the woman's favorite cat, they "accused her of being a witch"; by "representing a trial", they demonstrated that they knew how the law worked and, by executing the massacre,

they confirmed that it was only a matter of time before the social dissatisfaction went from killing animals to people,in 1789, paris was the main scene of an unprecedented rebellion, people felt more confident than ever to change their living conditions.

full article here https://algarabia.com/desde-la-redaccion/la-gran-matanza-de-gatos%E2%80%A8/

𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧𝙢

in the island of mull, scotland, since pagans times, cats were used in abominable rituals, and history says these rituals were held until the 17th century
𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧𝙢 means "summon evil spirits" and it requires the sacrifice of black cats

to the devil, therefore, he would grant the torturers two wishes, lachlan maclean and allan mac echan were the last scots to practice the ritual, which consisted of roasting live cats , it started between friday and saturday, at midnight, and lasted four days and nights,

they imp*led cats on a spit and slowly burned them,so their shrieks of pain would be audible to the dark spirits they wanted to summon, once the cat died it was immediately replaced with another, so there was barely a moment of silence between their cries of pain

after some time the cats were said to start flying over the place where the ritual was being held,calling out "lachain oer" or "injurer of cats", they didn't stop, finally a huge black demon cat would materialize and tell the men to stop, they didn't

after the 4 days passed they were free to demand their wishes of wealth or prosperity

𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙣
sonneillon is the demon of hatred and was the fourth prince of thrones, who tempts men to hate. insidious, hateful by nature, and thriving by festering hatred, the demon has one goal: to destroy positivism.

sonneillon imposes hatred on humans in order to create havoc and furor among society, is also said to be the fierce enemy of the cherubim, angelic beings responsible for opening human beings to love. Since they are bound cosmically with one another,

if soneillon successfully tears apart the lovers that a cherub unites, the cherub will weaken and ultimately die.

𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙣

the morrígan, or “phantom queen,” was a fearsome celtic deity and irish goddess of death,destiny and battle.
appearing before great battles as the goddess of fate, the morrígan offered prophecy and favor to heroes and gods alike. as the phantom queen,

she circled the battlefield as a conspiracy of ravens to carry away the dead. she was at once both a single deity and a triple goddess, made up of ireland’s most powerful goddesses. she was also a shapeshifter and was married to the dadga (the great god).

woaaah,many people have been noticing my thread in the past hour ahaha,i think i'll post the second part tonight

if you made it to this point congratulations you're awesome and ily
so i didn't post it "tonight" bc your girl is a sleep-deprived uni student
anyways, i decided that i'm gonna divide this thread by issues, i think that way it's less messy n easier for y'all to keep reading