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Antonio,
Pharmakaia was the word used to describe
what people who made potions did.
Many of them were witches.
Doctors also used herbs and diet
but physicians were sworn not to
give herbs for abortion, so people
went to witches for abortion-inducing
herbs and for herbs that would prevent
pregnancy. Along with the herbs came
words and tokens, because that was
the "magic" that the witches
dealt in, so the word, pharmakaia,
became also identified with what
witches did, which we call sorcery.
The Church did not persecute tons
of witches, and there were no Church
witch hunts. Read some good history.
There was some witch hysteria by
Puritans in Massachusetts, and the
governments in Europe punished some
witches, but the myth of thousands
of witches being burned is a myth.
The Church still believes that witchcraft
is evil. It is a sin against the
First Commandment.
It opens one to demonic influence.
Many witches are indeed knowing servants
of Satan. So-called "white witchcraft" is
a modern invention that attempts
to return to a mythical pagan matriarchal
nature religion.
The Crusades were not bad things,
though the inter-Christian sacking
of Constantinople was deplorable.
You have been greatly mislead by
elements of the Black
Legend, myths invented after
the Reformation. [Check out the results
from a
Catholic Answers search on the
topic.]
Mary Ann
[Related
Posting], also:
An Inquisition Primer by Robert
P. Lockwood
from Catholic Answers
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