Saints and Witches Antagonistic Symbolism

The witch identifies herself with nature in its occult aspect, she is a master of disguise, she creates illusions, she creates spells and spells, but she disconcerts, confuses, veils and reveals her beautiful, enchanting, horrible, magical and even sexual and deadly secrets.

The crystal ball, the circular cauldron, or the witches' magic mirror are symbols of their lunar eye. There are different representations of the witch as an old woman and others as a young and lascivious woman who is also a sorceress of evil, sexual abandonment and carnal pleasure.

Witches according to different accounts can undoubtedly be dangerous and so we have, for example, the story of witchcraft by Apuleius[1], "The Golden Ass" where Lucius, the hero naively wants to do magic, manipulate nature, but the spell of a witch turns him into an ass.

The phrase of St. Catherine of Siena[2], centuries later, shows the antithesis of the evil, the hidden, the irreverent and the anti-divine, where everything is subject to the divine and creation itself is the altar.

 

Everything has been consecrated.

"The creatures of the forest, with their silent reverence, seem to understand. In the deepest corners of nature, where trees whisper secrets and streams sing ancestral melodies, lies the imprint of the divine.

 

The birds take flight in a celestial ballet, their wings spread like prayers to the sky. Foxes and deer, with shrewd eyes and deep gazes, seem to be custodians of an ancient mystery. Fallen leaves on the ground, worn by time, carry with them the memory of past seasons and eternal cycles.

 

In this sacred grove, creation itself becomes an altar. Every leaf, every stone, every blade of grass, everything has been touched by the hand of the Creator. The blood of Christ flows through the invisible rivers that connect all things. The cross, like a luminous beacon, radiates its light on all that exists.

 

So yes, the creatures of the forest know this. In their simplicity and beauty, they proclaim the glory of God. And we, as part of this vast symphony of life, are also called to recognize the consecration that surrounds us. May our hearts open like flowers in the sun, receiving the grace that flows from on high.

 

May in every leaf, in every sigh of the wind, in every heartbeat of our being, remember that everything has been consecrated. And that, like the creatures of the forest, we too may dance to the rhythm of divine providence."

 

Trials against witchcraft began in Europe from the years 1450 to 1700, during which some 100,000 witches died as a result of persecution at the height of priestly supremacy, with the Catholic Church immersed in the idealized worship of the Virgin, turning the witch into its antagonistic symbol, reaching terrifying extremes.  perceiving the witch as the devil's prostitute, which led to fanning the flames at the stake.

 The American continent, on the other hand, was no stranger to the calamities of witchcraft or alleged witchcraft and thus at the end of the 17th century one of the most well-known acts of barbarism and fanaticism occurred. In January 1692, a trial was held in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, one of the then thirteen colonies of the British Empire (today the United States of America since July 4, 1776) against several women accused of practicing witchcraft. The alleged victims were a group of teenagers who began to suffer uncontrollable seizures and spasms during the process. This trial culminated in the deaths of 20 people, a true story, a grim chapter in colonial America.

Throughout history, the main character, almost usually, whether it is witchcraft or sorcery, has been the woman who was seen and detached from political, economic or cultural life in almost all the peoples of the Earth, and, in many cases, her ethnic origin was the most prominent factor for her unequal and discriminatory treatment,  for example, African or mulatto slaves who practiced their own non-Christian, non-orthodox beliefs were considered simply witches or heretics, as was the case in the sixteenth century when the European occupation of America began and the Bahamas and the West Indies were a main destination and example, especially for such African slaves.

This persecution of women in particular, for attributing sorcery or witchcraft to them, although it can be explained, not justified, as part of the activities of the Holy Office in Europe and, later, in the New World of colonization, mainly Spanish, is not sufficient support for it. The approach to which the least attention has been paid is precisely the simple condition of being women, which many authors have overlooked and currently many governments seek through the recognition and establishment of rights in favor of women, in international conventions and treaties, a reconciliation with the dark past of female humiliation.  But the causes that have been filtered and transpolated today, although with different names or definitions, are here.

One theory[3] that gives certain answers holds that the cause of the persecution was due to changes in the development of capitalism as it was a factor in the destruction of the old forms of agriculture and in the consequent dispossession of the land, with impoverished and socially excluded women being the main object of the witch hunts.  which was the perfect pretext to dispossess them of the land and leaving them in a state of misery and begging forbidden as a crime, they had to dedicate themselves to being healers, midwives or fortune tellers, or prostitutes, a noun that painted women as daughters of the devil and their sexuality, dangerous for men, humiliating them in a massive attack on their bodies,  It was organized internationally, sanctioned by law, and blessed by religion. If one was accused, they tore off her clothes, shaved her private parts, pricked them with needles all over her body looking for "the mark of the devil" and often in the presence of several men, from the executioner to local parish priests.

In the case of the saints, on the other hand, being women too, it is impossible to conceive of them the slightest trace of sexuality, lust, concupiscence, or sensuality, except that they are simply women, who culturally and religiously are assimilated almost to angels and, of course, antithesis of witches and sorceresses, whose merits are sanctioned by religion.

¿Has anything changed?

 

Article by Ricardo Palma Herrera

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[1] The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, as quoted  by Augustine of Hippo (St. Augustine), better known as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus), the only Latin novel found so far was written in the second century  AD, and was in fact an adaptation of a Greek original, whose author was possibly Lucius of Patras the most important writer of the second century, much admired both during his lifetime and by posterity. 

  [2] St. Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) was a Dominican laywoman, mystic, writer, diplomat and Doctor of the Church. His life and work are a testimony of faith, of love of God and neighbour, and of commitment to the reform of the Church and peace among peoples. Her writings, which include the Dialogue of Divine Providence, the Prayers and Soliloquies, and numerous letters, are a source of spirituality, theology, and literature.

 [3] Alan Macfarlane in Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England (1970)