Category: Malleus In Culture

According to writer Anusua Mukherjee, a lot more than just legislation is needed to curb the frequent incidents of witch-hunting in Odisha, India. She cites the Malleus Maleficarum in a recent article for The Telegraph newspaper in Calcutta, India.

According to Mukherjee;

The Witch Hammer, 1486, speaks in the authoritative voice of a book of law – in terms convincing in their precision, it lays down the rules with which the process of “justice”, involving the identification, prosecution and systematic elimination of witches (almost always women), is to be conducted.

She brings the influence of the Malleus Maleficarum into a contemporary context;

Not surprisingly, the book sat on every magistrate’s desk during the Inquisition and was referred to repeatedly in molesting, torturing and killing women by branding them the devil’s accomplices. The methodology it codified – singeing the woman with a red hot iron to extract confessions, stripping her, shaving her body – does not really sound so medieval when considered in the context of contemporary Indian reality.

She then illustrates examples of how the tactics set forth in the Malleus Maleficarum are sometimes applied in a modern world.

Here, the common people’s continuing lack of access to the formal justice system in remote and not-so-remote areas means that any powerful person, starting from the local MP, the village headman, to an ojha (healer) or a quack, can mimic the voice of law to serve his interests, as the author of Malleus Maleficarum did.

If in Birbhum in West Bengal, the kangaroo court led by the village morol allegedly sentenced the 20-year-old girl to a gang-rape because it had judged her guilty of indiscretion, in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, a 45-year-old widow was recently killed by two men who had been led to believe that she was a witch responsible for the death of their relatives.

The places and the details of the crime differ but the victim is invariably a woman, usually from an impoverished background, whose fraught position in terms of gender, class and economy makes it easy for her community to eliminate her by giving her a convenient name – whether of a person of loose morals or of a witch.

 

A LEGO aficionado named Brick Vader is displaying a LEGO textural study in his medieval witchhunting diorama, titled “Malleus Maleficarum”. The diorama is rather well done, even if it is a little disturbing that a terrible period of history has become fodder for a LEGO diorama. The surprise studs in the forward segments of the wall are a nice touch. And the leaning chimney is neat. Now you just have to ponder the next obvious question. Which is, of course, “why?” Perhaps the world needs LEGO Malleus Maleficarum diorama.

Links

• View More Pictures

We came across a nice write-up about the Malleus Maleficarum on About.com by Jone Johnson Lewis. It provides a nice summation of the Malleus Maleficarum, along with extra information to give it some historical context. We very much liked the content and structure of the article, and highly recommend to anyone who, due to course worse or just general curiosity, would like a more detailed summation of the Malleus Maleficarum than what we have provided here on this web site.

Excerpts:

The Malleus Maleficarum, written in 1486 – 1487 in Latin, is also known as “The Hammer of Witches,” a translation of the title. Its writing is credited to two German Dominican monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. The two were also theology professors. Sprenger’s role is now thought by some scholars to have been largely symbolic rather than active.

The Malleus Maleficarum was not the only document about witchcraft written in the medieval period, but it was the best known of the time, and, because it came so soon after Gutenberg’s printing revolution, was more widely distributed than previous hand-copied manuals. The Malleus Maleficarum represents not the beginning of witch persecutions, but came at a peak point in European witchcraft accusations and executions. It was a foundation for treating witchcraft not as a superstition, but as a dangerous and heretical practice of associating with the Devil, and thus a great danger to society and to the church.

Links

• Malleus Maleficarum – The European Witch Hunters’ Manual @ About.com

Author Jessica Valenti referenced the Malleus Maleficarum in her article on The Nation’s web site last September 24, 2012. The article was titled Feminism’s War on Penises and examined the lunacy of people like Rush Limbaugh, who responded to an Italian study that reports penises are 10 percent smaller than they were fifty years ago by contending that feminism, feminazis and “chickification” are the cause.

She has a point. The Malleus Maleficarum was uniquely obsessed with what Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger referred to as the “virile member”, and specifically addressed how witches might use their powers to rob men of their penises (or at the very least make it appear that they had done so).

Examples:

Part II, Question II, Chapter IV – Remedies prescribed for those who by Prestidigitative Art have lost their Virile Members

Part II, Question I, Chapter VII – How, as it were, they (witches) Deprive Man of his Virile Member.

Part I, Question IX – Whether Witches may work some Prestidigatory Illusion so that the Male Organ appears to be entirely removed and separate from the Body.

Valenti goes on to say in her article;

Back in the day when our sisters-in-arms – witches – were being persecuted, the Malleus Maleficarum (kind of a witch-hunter’s guidebook) warned readers of the ways in which we could hide or steal penises. Sadly, feminists traded this important magical power to sea sirens who – to this day – use cold bodies of water to take their prey via shrinkage.

In more modern times, without our witchy powers to take the penis by force, feminists have been forced to use more secretive methods. There’s no reason to hide it anymore… the soybean is our current weapon of choice. You didn’t actually think the feminist/vegetarian link was a coincidence, did you?! I mean, tofu is disgusting – of course we had an ulterior motive there. One brave man figured us out – “Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality” – but we have the government on our side. So no worries, sisters!

Unfortunately, there are too many men who—despite their penchant for tattooed hipster girls—won’t submit to eating soybean products, so feminists have had to create an additional strategy: we are fucking the hard-ons right off of you. That’s right. You may not know it, but men’s penises actually wilt in the presence of a sexually independent woman.

Valenti warns, “Rush Limbaugh may have let the world know what feminists are actually up to, but his truth-telling will not stop us. Because if our soy/sex plan doesn’t work out, we can always send our underground army of harpies. Don’t make us do it, guys.”

References

• Feminism’s War on Penises by Jessica Valenti

After recent revelations from pop starlet Kesha that she had sex with a ghost (most likely a publicity stunt, what with Halloween coming up soon), we thought maybe we should look at what the Malleus Maleficarum has to say about the possibility of having sex with incorporeal spirits and demons.

First, though, let’s look at what Kesha said.

Speaking to Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS FM radio show, the 25-year-old singer talked about the inspiration behind her new song “Supernatural”.

“It’s about experiences with the supernatural… but in a sexy way,” she told Seacrest. “I had a couple of experiences with the supernatural. I don’t know his name! He was a ghost! I’m very open to it.”

The singer added that her new album “Warrior” is based around the theme of the spiritual quest she recently embarked upon to improve her music.

“The theme of this record is magic. I went on a spirit journey by myself. No security guard. No managers. I just went around the world and lived on a boat,” she explained. “I was in Africa rehabilitating baby lions. I went diving with great white sharks, and just went on this crazy spirit quest. I got hypnotized, and I just really wanted this record to be really positive, really raw, really vulnerable and about the magic of life.”

The Malleus Maleficarum, of course, has plenty to say upon the subject. Indeed, as any student of the text is aware of, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger were rather obsessed with the subject of “congress” with incubi and succubi. The Malleus does not so much discuss whether it’s possible, but rolls on the assumption that it goes on all the time.

“As to the method in which witches copulate with Incubus devils, six points are to be noted. First, as to the devil and the body which he assumes, of what element it is formed. Second, as to the act, whether it is always accompanied with the injection of semen received from some other man. Third, as to the time and place, whether one time is more favourable than another for this practice. Fourth, whether the act is visible to the women, and whether only those who were begotten in this way are so visited by devils. Fifth, whether it applies only to those who were offered to the devil at birth by midwives. Sixth, whether the actual venereal pleasure is greater or less in this act.” ~ Part II, Question I, Chapter IV

The Malleus also goes into some detail about how such “perfidies” are committed.

“A Succubus devil draws the semen from a wicked man; and if he is that man’s own particular devil, and does not wish to make himself an Incubus to a witch, he passes that semen on to the devil deputed to a woman or witch; and this last, under some constellation that favours his purpose that the man or woman so born should be strong in the practice of witchcraft, becomes the Incubus to the witch.” ~ Part II, Question I, Chapter IV

It also addresses the issue of whether or not impregnation is the aim.

If a witch is old or sterile, “then he naturally associates with the witch without the injection of semen, since it would be of no use, and the devil avoids superfluity in his operations as far as he can. But if she is not sterile, he approaches her in the way of carnal delectation which is procured for the witch. And should be disposed to pregnancy, then if he can conveniently possess the semen extracted from some man, he does not delay to approach her with it for the sake of infecting her progeny.”  ~ Part II, Question I, Chapter IV

So. Is Kesha’s claim that she had a sex with a ghost possible? According to the Malleus Maleficarum, it most certainly is. It’s just a question of the means and the motive.

Having had sex with a ghost, it’s probably a given that Kesha is bound for eternal torment in Hell or something equally unpleasant. Unless, of course, she repents – unlikely given her statement that “I’m very open to it”. But she should, perhaps, find some comfort in the fact that, whatever the Malleus Maleficarum might say, she is unlikely to be arrested, interrogated and tortured by the authorities for her transgressions (at least for having sex with a ghost). And as far as we can tell, she’s probably not in any immediate danger of being burned at the stake as a witch, although she might want to stay away from some countries in Africa (especially those with a fondness for machetes) until this is no longer being talked about.

Sources

• Atheist Nexus – “Time, Once Again, For The Malleus Maleficarum”
• Huffington Post – “Ke$ha Says She Had Sex With A Ghost”

Been accused of witchcraft? We were alerted to a wonderful chart that was posted to the Lapham’s Quarterly web site. Lapham’s Quarterly is an excellent magazine of history and ideas. The chart they posted is a handy reference flowchart that details how to “avoid the ultimate punishment with this guide from the 1486 witch-hunting manual, the Malleus Maleficarum“. Needless to say, we found it fascinating (and kind of funny, in a twisted sort of way).

Links

• Original posting @ Lapham’s Quarterly
• Referenced posting @ Dating Jesus

I just read a very interesting article by Clyde Lewis on the Ground Zero Media, in which he references the Malleus Maleficarum and makes some interesting connections to it and discusses the truth about predatory programming. It’s worth the read, in respect to some of the societal shifts which seem to be in the news of late.

~ Wicasta

From Clyde Lewis;

Vampires have always been a matter of interest for me. There are many things that I know about the “real vampires” because I was completely immersed in the subject by accident when my uncle bought me a copy of “Creepy” magazine back in the 1970’s. I remember that one of the stories dealt with a beggar who was offered eternal life if he killed someone and drank their blood. He would kill and kill and was not able to partake of the unholy communion. He just disappeared and it was eventually revealed that the story was based on folklore of a hunchback that was maltreated at a flop house. He actually killed his victims near the White chapel district and rivaled that of another infamous killer Jack the Ripper.

While “The Ripper” ritualistically murdered his victims and while many speculate that they were ritualized in a Masonic way, a real satanic panic has begun with the arrival of the so called Zombie Apocalypse stories that have been reported in the news.
While the mainstream media is trying hard to convince the consensus that all of this new cannibal feasting is due to a designer drug called bath salts it is becoming a bit more apparent that we are seeing a new form of programming. We are seeing anew curse that is being employed by the darkest of agents wanting to force the public into fearing a plague or worse.

The occult is a convenient scapegoat when there seems to be nowhere else to go and no matter what you may think about the occult, there are dark forces that are easily summoned to attach a program or an entity that is so chaotic that it can manifest as a demon, when it is really a product of an induced dissociative disorder.

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March 12, 2012 4:44 PM
Letter to the editor, JDNews.com.

The Republican war on women’s health culminated, in 2011, with nearly 1,000 anti-abortion bills in state legislatures and continual attacks on the federal level — especially against Planned Parenthood. Criminalizing contraception has always been a goal. The war on contraception is war against women.

The war against women is rooted in Genesis 3:16, where the biblical god punishes Eve and all women with the pains of childbirth and subjugation to men. Women were to be forever punished for introducing original sin into the world. Church Fathers condemned women in the harshest terms imaginable. Subjugation explains why most anti-abortionists are men.

“Malleus Maleficarum” (Hammer of the Witches), a book endorsed and recommended by Pope Innocent VIII, in 1484, caused thousands of women to be burned at the stake: “What else is a woman but a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil of nature, painted with fair colours.”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton said, “The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women’s emancipation.”

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Dr. Christopher Mackay, noted scholar and author of “The Hammer of Witches”, a modern translation of the Malleus Maleficarum, wrote just before Christmas and let us know about an interview he did about the Malleus Maleficarum on “paranormal” radio show on December 16th.

From the web site:

Come join us and our guest Christopher Mackay as we discuss one of the most influential books on witchcraft’s “Burning Times”…The Maleus Maleficarum or ” The Witches Hammer” It was this “how to” book that recorded how to spot a witch, get them to confess, and the following judicial process.

If you want to listen to the interview, check out the podcast at:

http://blackcatlounge.podomatic.com

It’s also available for free on iTunes (just search under Dr. Mackay’s name).

by Sam de Brito

There are lots of scary books in the world, with almost anything written by Stephen King or Sarah Palin pretty much unreadable if you’re afraid of the dark and camping somewhere isolated.

Of course, there’s another type of scary: certain “holy” books that, in my opinion, people do themselves an injustice by taking too literally (and killing non-believers in the name of).

And then there are truly terrifying tomes; books such as Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Manifesto of the Communist Party and the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, all of which inspired the murders of millions of people.

While Hitler’s screed helped spread his genocidal anti-Semitism and Marx and Engels’s work was used as a blueprint for numerous brutal regimes, the less well known Malleus Maleficarum – latin for “The Hammer of Witches” – is only slightly less blood-soaked.

Published in 1487, Malleus Maleficarum was written by Heinrich Kramer, a German Inquistor of the Catholic Church and, in the centuries following his death, it became the Do-It-Yourself guide for how to identify, torture and kill a witch …

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