Page 31 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Febrary/March 2020 Edition
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Witchcraft, Magic and Satanism 31
Witchcraft, Magic and evidence needed to take investigators to the country sides.
point where charges could be laid and the In 1608, one of the most zealous of the
Satanism perpetrators brought to trial. However, the lot, Judge Pierre de Lancre was sent to La
evidence required by law was never there. Bourre to purge the country of devil
Each year, hundreds of individuals worshippers.
Continued from Page 30
gather around Stonehenge in England at every In the name of Henry IV, King of
summer and winter solstice. They make the France, hundreds of young, attractive, peasant
pilgrimage to Stonehenge to watch the sun rise girls were tortured and burned at the stake.
Kent continued, “The lowest level of evidence
between the large stone arches that were placed The first thing that the inquisitor did
is personal allegation, a person saying that ‘this
in alignment with the stars. with the assistance of a physician, was to strip
happened to me.’’
Among the visitors and pilgrims are men the woman naked, shave her completely naked
Experts and investigators know that the
and women known as Druids, dressed in long from head to toe and look for the mark of the
human memory is a faulty device and that there white robes. devil. For them, that was the first clue that she
are at times, difficulties in the reception,
They harken back to a magical religious was a witch.
processing, and the recall interpretation of
movement of ancient Celtic origin. Obviously, every person has come sort
memories. A person’s memory of an event is
In ancient times, Druids worshipped of mark on their skin if you look closely
one level of evidence, and it is a very low level
gods of nature and believed in reincarnation. enough, but the mark could be anywhere, even
at that. The Druids were persecuted by Roman invaders in a woman’s private areas. So, they would
In many cases there was collaboration
who perceived them as savages, then by the search the woman’s body and inevitably they
from family members. Now again, the issue
church who viewed their practices as heresy. would find one. This mark would confirm that
might be contamination, in one particular case,
By the 16th and 17th centuries, fear of this woman was a witch, that she participated in
Professor Kent received collaboration by a
the devil was spreading worldwide. This was Black Masses, she worshipped the devil and
person who “was not a family member, who the beginning of the modern era. took part in group orgies.
was involved, she said, in the same kind of
The 17th century also marked the According to the thinking of that time,
rituals.”
beginning of humanism but there was still a the mark was proof that she participated in
In this case, Kent said, “it was a very
genuine fear of the devil. Black Masses and the belief that Black Masses
bad police investigation.”
People felt threatened. were being held, proved that she was a witch.
In one instance, a woman gave Kent There was fear that the world was It was a vicious cycle.
access to a hospital so he could pick up medical
coming to an end and someone had to be held Obviously, under torture, a woman
pictures of burns on her cervix that she claimed
accountable for that fear. Someone had to be the would admit to anything, including to have
had been perpetrated by a Satanic leader.
escapee goat and the religious texts at that time participated in Black Masses.
Kent is quick to point out that he does
were all pointing to women. They were the While Pierre de Lancre was busy
not know how the burn marks occurred and allies of the devil. hunting down the devil’s disciples, witch trials
speculates that they could have occurred in
Theological speeches continued but now were being held throughout Europe.
many ways but he claims that these photos are a
it was the secular judicial powers that were In England, Matthew Hopkins was
level of evidence.
hunting down the witches. tasked with clearing the country of all witches.
In another case, Kent said that he had
The hunt continued on into the 17th Between 1644 and 1646, the inquisitor
multiple family members of different ages century before it started to subside. hung about 250 people.
coming forward with accounts.
So, the 16th and 17th centuries were
So as Kent explains, it is not that there is
when the witch-hunts were in full swing. (Continued on Page 50)
no evidence in a lot of these cases but the
Civil inquisitors scoured towns and
