A patriarchal troll came here to make the astoundingly ignorant assertion that there were no such things as witch burnings. But here's the truth:
The current scholarly consensus is clear: Many people accused of witchcraft, primarily women, were executed by burning in previous centuries.
In much of continental Europe, burning at the stake was used as a punishment for those convicted of witchcraft, particularly from the 15th to 18th centuries.
In countries like Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, and especially in regions under Catholic Habsburg influence, burning was a common execution method. In many cases, the accused were first strangled and then their bodies were burned, particularly in Scotland.
Notable examples include Switzerland (500 burned in Geneva in 1515), Germany, the Spanish Netherlands, and parts of France.
In England and its American colonies (such as during the Salem witch trials), the standard punishment for those convicted of witchcraft was hanging, not burning.
In Scotland, strangulation followed by burning of the body was legally mandated, with approximately 2,500 executions between 1563 and 1727, mainly targeting women.
Modern research estimates that roughly 30,000–60,000 people were executed during the European witch hunts, spanning from the late Middle Ages into the 18th century.
The majority of these executions occurred between 1450 and 1750.
I've long thought this very same thing, Rob, without having your brilliant facility with words to capture it so beautifully and eloquently. It reminds me of men who garner praise for tending their children, when women do it without any fanfare, applause, nor acknowledgement. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
So true-“ the most powerful magic has often been underground”. I love this column Rob- one of my favorite of yours. One of my favorite teachers - an Hawaiian shaman - shared with us that there are Kahunas in “the bush” that most will never know about who help keep it all afloat. I once had a NDE where an answer to a question was that it will take about 150 years to wash this clean. Thank you again.🌟
Let’s say we measured spiritual influence by who shows up for the dying, who tends the land, who maintains ancestral practices, who creates sanctuary for the marginalized, who speaks truth to power at personal cost, and who does the unsexy work of actual liberation.
Your Sacred Heart speaks deep truth and I will be sharing with my Menopausal online class; my Sacred Circle Women’s, we’ll Circle; and I’ll keep the link close at hand for sharing over and over and over!
“ The most dangerous truth-tellers have frequently been the ones the establishment refuses to recognize. The real revolution may be underway, led by people that the patriarchy tries to silence.” …Silenced (under a death threat) for a decade and isolated while my family was deliberately ripped apart to ensure the lies of non-dual teachers would never become public knowledge.
Thank you and HOORAY 🙌 for the de-Lightful Wisdom of Rob Brezsny!! ❣️🌷
The Ultimate Demise of Fundamentalist Spirituality…The Arrogance of Superiority:
One of the most moving newsletters I've read in a good long while. Lying in my bed this morning, fighting the urge to brow beat my disabled Taurus body - this is just what I needed to read. 🙏
Echoing the many insights, observations, gratitudes following I'm adding this:
Our country's first language was violence - fortified by Manifest Destiny & the Dogmas of Discovery penned by popes giving free rein to "name it & claim it" as yours. We've pretty much lived with it although there have been rents in the fabric over time. These times in front of us are decidedly different. The Feminine has well & truly risen! We feel deeply the turbulence of labor pains as We the Women step up to midwife the birth of a radical way of Be-ing for all beings to live in harmony. Will this happen in my lifetime? I don't know. I'm too busy coaching the breathing & the contractions
The other is this note I received this morning from a friend who was responding to a Halloween card I sent:
Dear Diane,
Thank you so much! The card was lovely, but being remembered, even better.
Best wishes, N.
Being remembered, being seen, heard, understood, listened to - those are the metrics of enlightenment.
Let’s say we measured spiritual influence by who shows up for the dying, who tends the land, who maintains ancestral practices, who creates sanctuary for the marginalized, who speaks truth to power at personal cost, and who does the unsexy work of actual liberation.
An eloquent rant on gender bias in general and the media in particular. I was reminded of the extreme prejudice towards women that still exists in Judiasm (and other religions). As you must know women cannot touch the Torah as they are considered "unclean". Women are expected to the Mikvah to bathe at the end of their monthly cycle to cleanse impurity and restore their place in society. In more extreme forms of Judaism the men will not physically touch a woman. I am told they have intercourse through a special sheet with a hole, yet seem not to consider this intimate connection of flesh as "touching". In other cultures women are sent to the "Red Tent" for the duration of menstrual bleeding. It saddens me that these practises still exist, so much for honouring the miraculous power of bringing life.
A patriarchal troll came here to make the astoundingly ignorant assertion that there were no such things as witch burnings. But here's the truth:
The current scholarly consensus is clear: Many people accused of witchcraft, primarily women, were executed by burning in previous centuries.
In much of continental Europe, burning at the stake was used as a punishment for those convicted of witchcraft, particularly from the 15th to 18th centuries.
In countries like Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, and especially in regions under Catholic Habsburg influence, burning was a common execution method. In many cases, the accused were first strangled and then their bodies were burned, particularly in Scotland.
Notable examples include Switzerland (500 burned in Geneva in 1515), Germany, the Spanish Netherlands, and parts of France.
In England and its American colonies (such as during the Salem witch trials), the standard punishment for those convicted of witchcraft was hanging, not burning.
In Scotland, strangulation followed by burning of the body was legally mandated, with approximately 2,500 executions between 1563 and 1727, mainly targeting women.
Modern research estimates that roughly 30,000–60,000 people were executed during the European witch hunts, spanning from the late Middle Ages into the 18th century.
The majority of these executions occurred between 1450 and 1750.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_the_early_modern_period
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/eight-witchcraft-myths/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z79psk7
https://salemwitchmuseum.com/2021/12/17/the-17th-century-world-of-witchcraft/
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/witchhistory.html
https://www.jstor.org/stable/45023168
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1722&context=hon_thesis
https://www.etamu.edu/tamuc-history-professor-busts-myths-about-the-salem-witch-trials/
https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/path-from-jail-to-execution/
https://www.nesl.edu/blog/detail/a-true-legal-horror-story-the-laws-leading-to-the-salem-witch-trials
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1w4edb/how_common_were_witch_burnings_in_the_middle_ages/
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/the-robbins-collection/exhibitions/witch-trials-in-early-modern-europe-and-new-england/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_hunt
https://guides.loc.gov/feminism-french-women-history/witch-trials-witchcraft
https://medievaltorturemuseum.com/blog/the-role-of-torture-in-witch-hunts-and-trials/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/pursuit-of-reality-recent-research-into-the-history-of-witchcraft/41B06ED6E083CF7F5C0173ACE805C1A2
https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/witchcraft/exhibition/dueprocess/torture.html
https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/02/swimming-a-witch-evidence-in-17th-century-english-witchcraft-trials/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/pressed-to-death
I've long thought this very same thing, Rob, without having your brilliant facility with words to capture it so beautifully and eloquently. It reminds me of men who garner praise for tending their children, when women do it without any fanfare, applause, nor acknowledgement. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you so much for naming this. The unsung are often living their spiritual priorities.
Sandra Ingerman the shamanic spiritual teacher and leader can be added to your list. She has changed the lives and empowered thousands!
So true-“ the most powerful magic has often been underground”. I love this column Rob- one of my favorite of yours. One of my favorite teachers - an Hawaiian shaman - shared with us that there are Kahunas in “the bush” that most will never know about who help keep it all afloat. I once had a NDE where an answer to a question was that it will take about 150 years to wash this clean. Thank you again.🌟
Your acknowledgment is tremendously valuable.
I agree
THIS :
Let’s say we measured spiritual influence by who shows up for the dying, who tends the land, who maintains ancestral practices, who creates sanctuary for the marginalized, who speaks truth to power at personal cost, and who does the unsexy work of actual liberation.
YES! 🙏
I love your list! It is a wonderful collection of women I admire.
Thank you.
Your Sacred Heart speaks deep truth and I will be sharing with my Menopausal online class; my Sacred Circle Women’s, we’ll Circle; and I’ll keep the link close at hand for sharing over and over and over!
🙏☀️💖🤗💖🌙🙏
Might be this one…
“Most Likely to Make Patriarchy Uncomfortable.”
“ The most dangerous truth-tellers have frequently been the ones the establishment refuses to recognize. The real revolution may be underway, led by people that the patriarchy tries to silence.” …Silenced (under a death threat) for a decade and isolated while my family was deliberately ripped apart to ensure the lies of non-dual teachers would never become public knowledge.
Thank you and HOORAY 🙌 for the de-Lightful Wisdom of Rob Brezsny!! ❣️🌷
The Ultimate Demise of Fundamentalist Spirituality…The Arrogance of Superiority:
https://leslieread.substack.com/p/the-ultimate-demise-of-fundamentalist
The Mystery of Past Lives:
https://leslieread.substack.com/p/the-mystery-of-past-lives
Warmly,
-Leslie@ integrityintruth.com
Once again, thank you, Rob Brezsny!
Superb list. Thank you for making my morning broodily sun-streaked ❤️
Not only the first list full of wise and wary snark,
but definitely that amazing list of spiritual humans!!!!
One of the most moving newsletters I've read in a good long while. Lying in my bed this morning, fighting the urge to brow beat my disabled Taurus body - this is just what I needed to read. 🙏
Echoing the many insights, observations, gratitudes following I'm adding this:
Our country's first language was violence - fortified by Manifest Destiny & the Dogmas of Discovery penned by popes giving free rein to "name it & claim it" as yours. We've pretty much lived with it although there have been rents in the fabric over time. These times in front of us are decidedly different. The Feminine has well & truly risen! We feel deeply the turbulence of labor pains as We the Women step up to midwife the birth of a radical way of Be-ing for all beings to live in harmony. Will this happen in my lifetime? I don't know. I'm too busy coaching the breathing & the contractions
The other is this note I received this morning from a friend who was responding to a Halloween card I sent:
Dear Diane,
Thank you so much! The card was lovely, but being remembered, even better.
Best wishes, N.
Being remembered, being seen, heard, understood, listened to - those are the metrics of enlightenment.
With gratitude, Rob
THIS :
Let’s say we measured spiritual influence by who shows up for the dying, who tends the land, who maintains ancestral practices, who creates sanctuary for the marginalized, who speaks truth to power at personal cost, and who does the unsexy work of actual liberation.
YES! 🙏
Right on Rob!!
An eloquent rant on gender bias in general and the media in particular. I was reminded of the extreme prejudice towards women that still exists in Judiasm (and other religions). As you must know women cannot touch the Torah as they are considered "unclean". Women are expected to the Mikvah to bathe at the end of their monthly cycle to cleanse impurity and restore their place in society. In more extreme forms of Judaism the men will not physically touch a woman. I am told they have intercourse through a special sheet with a hole, yet seem not to consider this intimate connection of flesh as "touching". In other cultures women are sent to the "Red Tent" for the duration of menstrual bleeding. It saddens me that these practises still exist, so much for honouring the miraculous power of bringing life.