READERS’ FORUM whether or not their practitioners have suffered continued from page 3 oppression. What is authentic is always a matter of cultural construction. in human history, nor to minimize the suffer- Sabina Magliocco ing of those arrested, tortured and killed. How- California State University—Northridge ever, it is important to understand why this episode has become central to the Pagan sacred To the editors: narrative, especially when there are few, if any, I’ve been following the articles in the last documented historical links between contem- few journals about the great witch hunts. As porary Witches and Pagans and the victims of someone who is by no means a scholar, I’ve the witch hunts. found myself in the uncomfortable position of I would hypothesize that one reason for the not being able to defend my gut feeling that popularity of this narrative in the late 20th the entire 9 million women scenario is incor- century is that in the current climate of iden- rect. I was pleased to read Jenny Gibbon’s arti- tity politics, narratives of past oppression are cle in issue #5. She provided a good argument important elements legitimating the identity of as to why basing historical opinions on ‘propa- any minority group. In the 1960s and 70s, ganda’ such as witchhunting manuals can pro- African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, vide faulty conclusions. gays and lesbians, and other minority groups Max Dashu provides at least a partial rebut- made forceful claims to identity and power by tal to Gibbon’s article, but in making her argu- reminding the dominant culture of the very ment that the hunt was a specific dedicated real violations of civil rights they had repeat- campaign against the old religion, Dashu relies edly endured. Somehow, these narratives heavily on the witchhunting manuals about became models for any group claiming a legit- which Gibbons warns us. Further, she suggests imate and authentic identity: victimhood has that the trial records that might support her become a necessary step in constructing position have been intentionally destroyed. I authenticity. Narratives of past oppression may am always uncomfortable with “the dog ate my be functioning to legitimate our current iden- homework” reasoning. It seems too convenient tity; this is one reason why we cling to them so to me, particularly in the light of the more strongly. credible and less inflammatory sources to This may be especially so since most Pagans which Gibbons has referred. are white and middle-class—members of a This is obviously a developing and exciting group which is supposed to have all the privi- area of study. Thanks so much for airing both leges in American society. The trouble with this sides of the issue. I’m hoping that studied dif- paradigm is that it reduces complex power ferences of opinion will result in a complete interactions to one or two variables. Every and defensible history of that turbulent time. group has been at one point or another the Jennifer Alcott victim of some more powerful group; victim- hood is no guarantor of authenticity or spiri- Oberon Zell writes: tual legitimacy. There has been quite a debate raging on Perhaps it would be more fruitful to recog- some of the Pagan lists regarding Jenny Gib- nize that all traditions are legitimate and bons’ article “The Great European Witch authentic, no matter when they have been con- Hunt”, with some people trying to say that, structed or by whom, and regardless of according to modern research, the Inquisition

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hardly bothered the Witches and Pagans, so we sacrifices, to consult demons [ie, other deities shouldn’t keep alluding to it as victims thereof. than Jahveh—OZ], to elicit responses from This has come up particularly because of them …,” then that would certainly indicate to the letter to the Pope, which has been created me that this is a reference to “a rival religion,” by an international joint Committee of con- and a specifically Pagan one at that! I mean, cerned Pagan leaders and liberal Christians, who else besides Pagans and Catholics prays “at and which will be sent to the Vatican along the altars of idols”? So how does the quoted with over a thousand signatures. This letter statement confirm the author’s point, that: respectfully asks the Pope to be sure and “Pope Alexander IV explicitly refused to allow include Witches and Pagans in his planned the Inquisition to investigate charges of witch- Millennial Apology for the Inquisition, craft”? It seems to me that the quote specifi- wherein he has already stated he will be apolo- cally refutes that point! gizing to the Jews, Protestant Christians and Ms Gibbons also states, in bringing down Moslems for the persecution their people suf- the estimated total number of executions for fered under the Inquisition. Witchcraft, that: “To date, less than 15,000 In case you are not already familiar with this definite executions have been discovered in all project, check Circle’s web site for the Lady of Europe and Americas combined.” Following Liberty League: [email protected]. this statement, she lists other recent estimates, Here is a little statement I wrote in reply to of 60,000; 40,000; and 100,000. But even the some of those aforementioned critics: lowest estimate of “less than 15,000” seems to The excellent article to which so many crit- me to be a considerable number. I mean, the ics allude, “The Great European Witch Hunt”, entire country has been in a justifiable uproar by Jenny Gibbons, republished in the Autumn over the recent hate-killings of a handful of gay 1999 issue of PanGaia, contains several inter- men. Suppose the number had been 15,000? esting statements apropros of the criticisms. Would we have thought that this was insignif- One of these statements is on p. 30 of PanGaia: icant, and not worthy of protest? “In 1258 Pope Alexander IV explicitly I don’t wish to comment further on this refused to allow the Inquisition to investigate article at this time, as, according to a note at charges of witchcraft: ‘The Inquisitors, depu- the end of the article in PanGaia, a full rebut- tized to investigate heresy, must not intrude tal has been prepared by Max Dashu, and into investigations of divination or sorcery appears in the August 1999 issue of The Pome- without knowledge of manifest heresy granate: 501 NE Thompson Mill Rd., Corbett, involved.’ ‘Manifest heresy’ meant: ‘praying at OR 97019; [email protected]. the altars of idols, to offer sacrifices, to consult Never Thirst, demons, to elicit responses from them … or if Oberon Zell-Ravenheart [the witches] associate themselves publicly with heretics.’ In other words, in the 13th cen- Jenny Gibbons replies: tury the church did not consider witches I’d like to address a couple of the thought- heretics or members of a rival religion.” ful points that Oberon Zell raises. Well, that’s certainly not the conclusion I First, the citation from Pope Alexander would draw from those quotes. If “knowledge states that the Inquisition cannot investigate of manifest heresy” was required for an Inquisi- charges of sorcery (witchcraft) without evi- torial investigation, and “Manifest heresy” dence that there is heresy (‘incorrect’ interpre- meant: “praying at the altars of idols, to offer tations of Christianity) involved. Obviously,

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lion deaths to be horrified by it. These were people, not statistics. … shouldn’t we Witches be But the question remains, is it an apologizing too? Many of our atrocity that the Catholic Church spiritual ancestors, the wise- bears the sole responsibility for? Recent research shows the answer is women and cunning men … a definite ‘no’. All segments of Euro- accused their neighbors, pean society bear some of the blame; no one’s hands are clean. The Church and watched them die. helped created the stereotypes and reli- gious intolerance that led to the Witch Hunts. But it was secular courts of then, witchcraft and heresy are not the same Europe that killed the vast majority of witches, thing. Magick was not the Inquisition’s prove- not the Church. It was ordinary, everyday nance at this point—only magick practiced by people who sent their neighbors to the stake. If Christian dissidents (Cathars, Albigensians, we ask the Pope to apologize, why shouldn’t we etc). ask the same of all Europeans and Euro-Amer- And this also cannot be a reference to a rival icans? And shouldn’t we Witches be apologiz- Pagan religion, as Mr Zell suggests. The Inqui- ing too? Many of our spiritual ancestors, the sition investigated heretics, and only Christians wise-women and cunning men of Europe and could be heretics. Other religions, like Judaism America, were active witch-hunters who and Islam, were not heresies and therefore not blamed illnesses and misfortunes on ‘black’ the Inquisition’s concern. Non-Christians were witchcraft. They accused their neighbors, and considered infidels, and poorly treated, but watched them die. they were not heretics. This is why the Spanish I thought that the letter to the Pope was government forced Jews to ‘convert’ to Chris- well-written and moderate, and yet I chose not tianity. If it had not done so, the Spanish to sign it. In part this was because I disagree Inquisition would not have had jurisdiction with the history the letter is based on. It over them. If the Church considered witchcraft implies that the Church and Inquisition were a non-Christian religion, then the Inquisition somehow especially guilty, that the Witch could not have touched witches. Hunt was mainly their fault. Second, I do not mean to imply that ‘only’ But more importantly, it reinforces Neo- 15,000 people died in the Witch Hunts. We Paganism’s ‘myth of victimization’—and that’s know of 15,000 definite executions, therefore not just bad history, it’s dangerous history. scholars believe that 40-60,000 people died. As Witches, our biggest obstacle to under- The 15,000 figure is the evidence that schol- standing the Witch Hunt is our insistance that arly estimates are based on, not an estimate we were victimized by it. When we look at the itself. Many trial records have been lost, there- past, we split the world into Good Guys and fore we know the death toll must be higher Bad Guys. There are Bad Guys (witch-hunters, than 15,000. And no one suggests that the doctors, the Church, Christians—people we Witch Hunts were less important if ‘only’ tens don’t identify with). There are Good Guys of thousands of people died. The Great Euro- (women, witches, Pagans—all groups we like). pean Witch Hunt was an atrocity of staggering And the Bad Guys did terrible things to the proportions. We don’t need to have nine mil- Good Guys. We don’t stop to think that this

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DEMONOGRAPHIA (demon graphics) Newly translated from the French of de Plancy’s The Infernal Dictionary by Prudence Priest. Beautifully hand-bound by the studios of Ars Obscura in black goatskin with an embossed baphomet and gold stamping with black cloth slipcase and black satin bookmark. 98pp with fac- simile of original 1863 frontispiece. Signed copies available from the translator for $125 postpaid. Prudence Priest PMB 2154, 537 Jones San Francisco, CA 94102 Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery dualistic world-view is precisely the philosophy Catholic Church before them, resurrected an that allowed the Witch Hunt to occur. We age-old myth of a nocturnal, murderous don’t acknowledge that reality is far more com- Satanic witch-cult. And like the wise-women plex than these dualistic stereotypes. Worse, we and cunning men before us, many Neopagans do not recognize that we were, and may con- accepted this demonology. We knew that we tinue to be, part of the problem. didn’t do the horrific things that Satanic In the 1980s, America went through a witches were accused of. But many of us were dress-rehearsal for the Burning Times: the willing to believe that our neighbors did. Many panics over Satanic ritual abuse. For the most of us (and I include myself in that number) part, the Pagan community failed to notice the believed we ought to use our magic to protect similarities. We began to make all the same our communities from these Devil-worship- mistakes that our ancestors made. Mistakes ping ‘Satanists’. Many of us made all the mis- that, in another time and place, killed tens of takes that created the witch-hunting witches of thousands of people. the Burning Times. During the Witch Hunt, our spiritual And the reason we did this was because our ancestors believed the Church’s demonology. myths blinded us. We saw others as villians, They knew that they were not the Satanic ourselves as victims and so we did not break witches that the Church warned about. But the cycle of fear that fed the satanic panics of they were willing to believe that their neigh- the 1980s, and the witchcraft trials centuries bors belonged to this devil-worshipping con- before. I believe our community must break spiracy. And when people came to them, through the myth of victimization. We need to asking them to lift a curse or divine the name stop seeing the Witch Hunt as what They did of a witch, they did so. Their expertise, their to Us. There was no Them in the Burning confirmation of suspicions of bewitchment, Times. There was only a great Us, and we did led to the convictions and deaths of their terrible things. neighbors. Blaming others achieves nothing. Light a In the 1980s the exact same stereotypes candle for the fallen, and remember them. arose. Fundamentalist Christians, like the Jenny Gibbons

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