In the olden times, why did they burn witches at the stake?
First of all, put all popular romantic images of “ancient witches” ala the modern Wiccans, Harry Potter, Bewitched, and the Wizard of Oz out of your mind. When your read “witch” in any pre-19the century source, or in regard to a non-Christian or pre-Christian culture, think “voodoo priest/priestess” or something like the witch/villainess from “Sleepy Hollow”. Prior to the 15th Century in Europe, and in all pagan/animistic societies, a “witch” is a person who wallows in “spiritual uncleannes”, especially everything relating to death, disease, decay and disgust, so as to 1) better attract and associate with “unclean spirits”, and 2) use his/her “spiritual pollution” as a way of actually blackmailing the bright/high gods and spirits: “do what I want or I’ll desecrate your holy places just by walking by them.” All societies that believe a person can put a spell, hex, or curse on someone THAT WORKS, or that people can summon and communicate with spirits of the dead, condemn witchcraft (both
this is why they burned witches back then: THE BURNING TIMES: The time line: the Dark Ages to now The Witch hunt timeline Prior to the 9th century CE: There was a widespread popular belief that evil Witches existed. They were seen as evil persons, primarily women, who devoted their lives to harming and killing others through black magic and evil sorcery. The Catholic church at the time officially taught that such Witches did not exist. It was a heresy to say that they were real. “For example, the 5th century Synod of St. Patrick ruled that ‘A Christian who believes that there is a vampire in the world, that is to say, a witch, is to be anathematized; whoever lays that reputation upon a living being shall not be received into the Church until he revokes with his own voice the crime that he has committed.’ A capitulary from Saxony (775-790 CE) blamed these stereotypes on pagan belief systems: ‘If anyone, deceived by the Devil, believes after the manner of the Pagans that any man or woman
