witches.. what witches??

[asiaticdarkperson]

So I read this book about a seventeenth century witch hunt in connecticut, by richard godbeer. The book is entirely a historical account of the events surrounding a young girl's strange illness which led to two women being tried in court.

The book begins by describing Katherine Branch'es symptoms which were basically hallucinations and seizures, but not delusions; the girl experienced "fits" where her eyes would become glazed and transfixed and she would see visions that were sometimes horrifying. When she regained normal consciousness she could hardly remember what she had said and done.

Then the book describes how neighbours, basically the entire population of stamford connecticut, visited the girl to see her symptoms up close. The town were divided; some believed Kate was faking her symptoms, but the majority agreed that she was indeed bewitched.

Apparently in those days in New England witches were very common and people usually knew all the witches in their towns. It seems they weren't thought of as "sorcerers" but rather "cunning folk" who could tell the future and heal sick children, but who could also cause illness.

At some point the bewitched girl named half a dozen women whom she claimed to see in visions as witches who were tormenting her and who wanted her to become a witch. About this same time a priest went to see Katherine. The priest told her that witchcraft comes from the devil and advised her to fight for dear life, for if she succumbed and became a witch her soul would be eternally damned.

After the priest's visit other influental people of the area went to see the girl and in no time at all two women were arrested on charges of witchcraft. A trial was arranged where everyone who had any testimony regarding the alleged witches were asked to come forward. It seems a large number of people went to the authorities with stories of the accused women's supernatural powers.

These people claimed that after they had a disagreement with the accused, their cattle died mysteriously or their crops wilted the next day, etc. etc. I thought the stories were quite convincing that something was going on; basically, the consensus was that these people were in fact witches and there was no questioning that, but there were also those who came forward in support of the witches. A petition was signed and still exists with 80 or so names on it in support of the women.

The women were both acquitted in the end after a long trial, because there was no concrete evidence against them, even though one of the women appeared to have a "witches teat" from which she fed her blood to familiar spirits. LMAO

I thought the book portrayed, quite nicely, the mentality and the lifestyle of actual people in 17th century new england. It's a great book of history IMO. If you read for pleasure, then you probably won't enjoy this work very much. But if you read for information like I do then I'd say this book has a wealth of priceless information; facts.

I didn't really mean to review the book here but I do have a diagnosis for Kate's condition. I've come across a number of people with the same symptoms in my life time, including myself.

I met a 19 year old boy on a psychedelics forum last year. This kid, who was in his first year of college, had ordered some mimosa hostilis root bark over the internet and extracted pure DMT. Just after I first met him on the forum, like two days after, he took a very large dose of DMT on his own and almost immediately afterwards started suffering pretty much the exact same symptoms as Katherine Branch as described in the book.

This kid saw visions of demon like entities who asked him to go with them to their world. He went to a mental clinic and had himself committed. They released him after a week with some powerful antipsychotic medicine. He took the drugs for the two week period recommended by the doctor, and then he stopped. His symptoms hadn't gotten any better.

The year before that I met a 20 year old girl who was diagnosed with epilepsy like a week after I first met her. She suffered basically the same symptoms, even though she had never taken any kind of drug in her life. She would suddenly collapse with seizures; you could always tell when she was going to have a fit beforehand when her pupils dilated enormously and her eyes glazed over. Then she'd start convlusing and seeing dreams and visions that she claimed were absolutely real to her and that she had no control over.

Another symptom which was common to the boy and the girl, and also myself, is in dreams. The boy described it as and I quote from memory: "It's like I'm awake the entire night. I can walk around my room with my body sleeping on my bed, or I can go to strange dream scenarios. But it's like I'm totally awake."

The girl further described the same situation: "I can't tell the difference between when I'm awake and when I'm dreaming anymore. They are one and the same."

My own symptoms were perhaps a little more terrifying than these guys. I've described them briefly in some previous threads.

The boy was diagnosed with some kind of vague schizo-affective HPPD; the doctors couldn't understand how this kid was having hallucinations, when he wasn't delusional at all. The girl was diagnosed with epilepsy on the grounds that her brainwave patterns changed during and after her seizures. She was beginning to develop an identity disorder; she was two different people before and after each seizure.

[asiaticdarkperson]

So here's what I have to say.

First off, the boy whose name was Akvan, was convinced by the senior members on the forum (like 20 of em) to stay away from me and to seek professional help. These guys actually assured Akvan that if he listened to me his condition could only get worse.. All of this is logged and exists on the forum to this day. Akvan is missing today and no one, not even his parents know where he is. The girl however is living a normal life; suffice to say she learned to overcome the seizures and hallucinations through strength, and not by drugs.

Anyway, I believe in every human population on earth, a small percentage of people have a natural predisposition for lucid dreaming. I've discussed lucid dreaming a little bit here, and there's information about it all over the net. Note, lucid dreaming is a scientifically proven phenomenon.

Today in the Amazon rainforest, among the tribes deep in the jungle there exists an age long tradition of shamanism. This practice is perhaps as old as mankind itself IMO. In each of these rainforest tribes there are usually 3 living shamans at any given time. They are a young (~16 year old) initiate, a ~40 year old shaman and an old shaman who is usually above 60. Sometimes there's 4 shamans living with the tribe at one time and this is considered to be great, magnificent luck by the tribes people. The fourth is usually a shaman who is over 90 years old, and while it is not rare for these shamans to live that long -- usually when a new initiate arrives, the oldest shaman wanders off into the forest and disappears forever.

In these tribes any boy (or rarely girl) can become a shaman if they show interest. All they have to do is hang out with the older shamans and they will learn the trade. But usually the new shamans are picked by nature; that is, young boys who fall ill with special symptoms are interpreted as destined to be a shaman. The older generation takes the boy under their wing and teaches him what is what. There's usually an enormous amount of Ayahuasca, Epena or Yopo involved in this teaching method. Only after the boy learns to overcome his affliction will he become a shaman; a healer capable of healing others.

Apparently, in New England and New Spain witches and brujas were just about as common as could be before the inquisitions. After the witch hunts ended it seems witches became very rare, and after a few generations people started to believe that witchcraft was just a myth. Today in our culture almost everyone who would have become a brujo in the past, becomes a mental patient instead.

I think the priests who claimed "sorcery" is the work of Satan were idiots who had no idea what they were talking about. They should have said "All is the work of God" and dealt with the matter seriously and intelligently IMO.

It's not like anyone chooses to be epileptic or schizophrenic. It just happens and I think today we know that Satan or the devil doesn't exist. So this is just the natural condition of a small percentage of mankind IMO

But rest assured, unless these people are treated by a shaman they will end up incurable mental patients.

[asiaticdarkperson]

I forgot to mention that Akvan and the girl are both Iranians and residents of Tehran. The girl is my aunt's assistant's sister. And I met up with Akvan in the street like 5 times.