Mid “Witchery”

A intelligent woman was asked to present the bollocks to the argonna and predict its fortune. A impertinent wo custody, or witch was the priestess who instructed women in blood, birth, and the joke of it altogether. The French word for accouche economic consumption operator wise woman. According to the Britannica encyclopaedia the art of att stop overing women in vaginal birth is called midwifery. Midwives and their praxiss date back as removed as ancient biblical, Greek and roman letters times. Before the emergence of obstetrics, midwives and their practices were not considered an all-important(prenominal) part of the medical establishment.In its beginning midwives had no formal pedagogy and relied unaccompanied on experience and the teachings from induce to daughter inwardly the profession. Wise women were the healers of the ancient world, it was during this time that wise women and witch became synonymous. In the beginning of enter history people lived in minusc ular groups as a tribe. Within the tribes men were in charger of the survival of the group. He was the protector and the hunter. Womens roles revolved rough their effect to give birth. They were the nurtures of the family and the healers of both the physical and the spiritual.Women were a sacred part of the group and this arose to the venerate of the paragondess. (Aisles, 1-7) There were many goddesses and myths associated with birth. One of the Greeks or so sacred Goddesss was Artemisia (also cognize as the popish Goddess Diana). When Artemisia was born she assisted her mother in the birth of her twin brother Apollo. She became the protector of women and made decisions regarding who would live and die during birth. ( encyclopedia un original Artemisia) Hake was an Egyptian Goddess. She had a frogs head which was a symbol of life and fertility.She was also know as the Goddess of the last stages of birth. Although the word midwife did not exist at that time, the pipeline of a midwife held the title of the servants of Hake. (Hake Encyclopedia Mythical) The Celtic Goddess Brigit is very interesting because she went from ethnic mythology to Christianity and sainthood. Brigit was known as the Goddess with three aspects. She was a the patroness for blacksmiths, for poetry, and for healing and fertility. Brigit has a seasonal worker holiday on the calendar of pagan righteousness called Iambic which is celebrated on February first.It is a rejoicing to usher in the spring. Christians genuine Brigit as a surrogate mother to Christ and miscellanyd the pagan Iambic to Candelas. She was buttocksnonaded as SST. Brigit. (Brigit Encyclopedia Mythical) During the Goddess era, myths revolved around the goddesses who answered women. Women Goddesss were the mothers of all. Shrines and temples were erected to the worshiping of these women. but all the good that surrounds women and their knowledge comes to an end with the emergence of a patriarchal God. Christia nity changed the stead of women as Gods.Eve, in the bible is solely responsible for all the evil in the world. In Genesis, it is Eve that is tempted by the ophidian and gravels shame upon herself and Adam with a penalization to last for eternity and all generations. God says I will greatly enlarge your pangs in haltering in pang you shall bring forth babyren, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Gene. 36 With Christianity in the forefront of spirituality and religion comes one of the darkest times for women. Midwives were on that point to help women with the difficulties of childbearing.They helped teach women techniques that would help move on the birth and keep the mothers as booming as possible. Since the pains of childbirth was on that point punishment for sins, anyone who helped in eased this pain were considered to be working with demon. Women working with Satan were witches. In 1486 the church used a platter written by Jacob cus toms duty and Heimlich Kramer called the Mallets Maleficent or better known as The Witches Hammer. It was and instructional account book for witch hunters. Midwives had two chapters devoted to them and their practices.The practice of child birth was pay off to change according to the church. (Summers) No one does more(prenominal)(prenominal) harm to the Catholic faith than midwives (CTD. In Rehiring and English 13). Midwifery was now be moved to the medical profession. Everything that women taught and used during child birth was now being scrutinized. instead of litigating the knowledge women healers possessed, it was set in front the total eradication of midwives altogether. The church set a course to rid night club of magic. While boosting professional physicians the acts committed by untrained midwives was now a dispirited billet arrangement to hold.Life and death had a value that belonged to God and professional physicians. The churchs position held that professionali sm placed on the doctor hurl him on the side of God, while the womanish midwife became the personification of evil. In the book Witches, Midwives, and Nurses A history of Women Healers, the author makes this bidding When faced with the misery of the poor, the perform off-key to the dogma that experience in this world is fleeting and unimportant. But there was a double standard at work, for the Church was not against medical care for the speeding class.Kings and nobles had their court physicians who were men, sometimes raze priests. The real issue was control Male velocity class healing under the tribute of the Church was acceptable, female healing as part of a peasant underprivileged was not. (Rehiring and English 13) The clergy noticed that women regarded midwives to an important status and plotted to get it stopped. Rehiring and English 11-12) With the Mallets in hand, the church was armed and ready for war. Midwives were watched most and if a child died a midwife coul d be charged at sacrificing that childs consciousness to the devil.It became important for midwives to have witnesses and control of all situations. Midwives were given a chance to betoken documents stating that they would not perform rituals or use magic in anyway. These women found regard by following rules of men and training under them. These women Joined in on the witch hunts and became the ones to help search come forth midwives who were found o be witches. 80 percent of witches were women and a third of those women were in fact midwives. Approximately sixty kB women were executed as witches for three century.Cones) The domain of the witch trials is more then can be expressed and midwives are only one representation of the women accused of witchcraft. It is more notable that the witch trials were some ghostly authority over woman and the call out of women by men. It has been over three deoxycytidine monophosphate years since the Salem Witch trials. It is Americas c rush history of witch hunts. Today there are many powerful women around the world. These women hold important positions in business, hospitals and even government offices. Midwifery has made a come back in the playing area of obstetrics.Many doctors offices offer midwife services to clients. Women are interested in the experience of having a midwife rejoice in their celebration of life. But even with all of the accomplishments women have made they still struggle for passable rights. In 1992 Pat Robertson wrote in a fund raising letter, The feminist agendum is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to pass around their husbands, kill heir children, practice witchcraft, demolish capitalism, and become lesbians. There again is the billing of witchcraft.