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WITCHCRAFT: EIGHT MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS

1. Witches were burned at the stake Not in English-speaking countries. Witchcraft was a felony in both England and its American colonies, and therefore witches were hanged, not burned. However, witches’ bodies were burned in Scotland, though they were strangled to death first.

2. Nine million witches died in the years of the witch persecutions About 30,000–60,000 people were executed in the whole of the main era of witchcraft persecutions, from the 1427–36 witch-hunts in Savoy (in the western Alps) to the execution of Anna Goldi in the Swiss canton of Glarus in 1782. These figures include estimates for cases where no records exist.

3. Once accused, a witch had no chance of proving her innocence Only 25 percent of those tried across the period in England were found guilty and executed.

4. Millions of innocent people were rounded up on suspicion of witchcraft The total number of people tried for witchcraft in England throughout the period of persecution was no more than 2,000. Most judges and many jurymen were highly sceptical about the existence of magical powers, seeing the whole thing as a huge con trick by fraudsters. Many others knew that old women could be persecuted by their neighbours for no reason other than that they weren’t very attractive.

5. The Spanish Inquisition and the Catholic Church instigated the witch trials All four of the major western Christian denominations (the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglican churches) persecuted witches to some degree. Eastern Christian, or Orthodox, churches carried out almost no witch-hunting. In England, Scotland, Scandinavia and Geneva, witch trials were carried out by Protestant states. The Spanish Inquisition executed only two witches in total. 6. King James I was terrified of witches and was responsible for their hunting and execution More accused witches were executed in the last decade of Elizabeth I’s reign (1558–1603) than under her successor, James I (1603–25).The first Witchcraft Act was passed under Henry VIII, in 1542, and made all pact witchcraft (in which a deal is made with the Devil) or summoning of spirits a capital crime. The 1604 Witchcraft Act under James could be described as a reversion to that status quo rather than an innovation. In Scotland, where he had ruled as James VI since 1587, James had personally intervened in the 1590 trial of the North Berwick witches, who were accused of attempting to kill him. He wrote the treatise Daemonologie, published in 1597. However, when King of England, James spent some time exposing fraudulent cases of demonic possession, rather than finding and prosecuting witches. 7. Witch-hunting was really women-hunting, since most witches were women In England the majority of those accused were women. In other countries, including some of the Scandinavian countries, men were in a slight majority. Even in England, the idea of a male witch was perfectly feasible. Across Europe, in the years of witch persecution around 6,000 men – 10 to 15 per cent of the total – were executed for witchcraft. In England, most of the accusers and those making written complaints against witches were women. 8. Witches were really goddess-worshipping herbalist midwives Nobody was goddess-worshipping during the period of the witch-hunts, or if they were, they have left no trace in the historical records. Despite the beliefs of lawyers, historians and politicians (such as Karl Ernst Jarcke, Franz-Josef Mone, Jules Michelet, Margaret Murray and Heinrich Himmler among others), there was no ‘real’ pagan witchcraft. There was some residual paganism in a very few trials. The idea that those accused of witchcraft were midwives or herbalists, and especially that they were midwives possessed of feminine expertise that threatened male authority, is a myth. Midwives were rarely accused. Instead, they were more likely to work side by side with the accusers to help them to identify witch marks. These were marks on the body believed to indicate that an individual was a witch (not to be confused with the marks scratched or carved on buildings to ward off witches).

- Diane Purkiss, Professor of English Literature at Keble College, University of Oxford

#historical accuracy #history #renaissance #witchcraft #misconceptions #medieval history

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#kara no kyoukai #type moon #touko aozaki #mikiya kokutou #shiki ryougi #lololool

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“Violence for Violence is the rule of beasts”

Woolly mammoths

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#paleoart #mammoth #cenozoic #mammuthus #paleocene #artists on tumblr

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Endling Noun. An individual living thing that is the last survivor of its species or subspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomes extinct.

(Elasmotherium sibiricum)

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#paleoart #cenozoic #elasmotherium #artists on tumblr

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Leaellynasaura amicagraphica remake.

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#paleoart #dinosaurs #leaellynasaura #cretaceous #artists on tumblr

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The king of the siberian forests meets the queens of the siberian steppes.

About 10,000 years ago in the Russian Far East, a tiger walks along the limits of his forested territory beyond which a herd a woolly mammoths marches by.

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#paleoart #cenozoic #sabertooth tiger #tiger #mammoth #artists on tumblr

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Big Bro Zagreus and Baby Sis Melinoë 🥺❤️

#hades #zagreus #melinoe #hades game #fanart #artists on tumblr

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tiktok is such an awful app, it's almost designed to feed you misinformation and expose you to insane discourse. unlike beloved tumblr, the app that feeds me misinformation and exposes me to insane discourse

#lololool #tumblr shit #misinformation

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really recommend getting a partner with a different religion than you and very little knowledge of your religion because the opportunities for explaining things to each other are just exquisite

#religion #history of religion #history #historical accuracy #historically accurate #misinformation #historical misconceptions #archaeology #long post #medieval christianity #middle ages #medieval europe

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what's the purpose in scrutinizing the loli thing really, I say live and let live. It's a known character trope from Japanese media, and like it or not there exist a target audience for that particular thing which FGO caters to to get them whale money. I don't like it either, but nothing I can do except to avoid the fanarts and try to bury the purpose and design principle of those characters on the back of my mind, or even as far as avoiding using them at all, bc I still like other aspects of FGO and still wanna engage with it. I guess what I want to say is, we're basically walking into Type Moon's house, we should learn what we're getting into and decide if we can handle it.

I'm glad I had a chance to mull over this after seeing this ask on mobile first before I got back to my laptop, because it would have been so easy to be like 'sksksksk you're wrong and you're a LOSER here's the REAL TEA SIS' or 'sksksks maybe you're a fucking pedo AjlHFJHFJSJ fuck this guy LMAO', but like... that wouldn't help anything. That'd be a shit response. It'd shut down any sort of discussion, and it'd probably keep other people from trying to engage me too.

You asked me a legitimate question, and you deserve a legitimate response. I want this blog to be a place where I can discuss things with people (and also apparently where people can feel comfortable sending thirst asks to me), so whether I agree with it or not, I want to give everyone's thoughts a fair shake and not immediately belittle someone. So, here's what I think.

While your opinion is valid- some people don’t want to be constantly critical, and that’s fine. However, the idea of just ignoring things and simply saying ‘live and let live’ is a mindset that I can't fundamentally agree with, and here's why.

Putting a cut, because this gets long.

Do you know what other major design archetype in Japanese media got a pass for years, because people just went 'well it is what it is' and 'Japanese people don't know better/have different values'? Blackface and minstrel imagery. And you know what happened when people began genuinely scrutinizing it, and pointing out how it was wrong? It changed. The designs changed, as new manga artists entered the field, and older ones were scrutinized, interpretations of black people began to make a positive shift. I mean... there are still some issues depending on where you look, but I'd prefer Nitocris or Rock Lock to whatever the hell was going on with Mr. Popo.

And this isn't like Japan and Japanese media doesn't know better. The entire country isn't made out of pedophiles, they have age of consent laws. Actually, they're pretty similar to American age of consent laws, where the legal definition of a 'child' is 'anyone less than the age of 18'. The popularization of 'loli' and 'lolicon culture' is primarily in otaku circles, finding places in anime and manga, but that doesn't mean that sexualizing children in media has to happen. It's okay to, y'know... complain about it, because it's still pretty morally reprehensible.

Like, you CAN'T look at more than half the scenes in Prisma Illya and go 'yeah sure that's probably fine', or 'I don't like it, but I'll just ignore it'.

If scrutinizing how people of different races are represented in common Japanese media led to positive change, then why not start some scrutiny about how constantly showing kids in their underwear is kind of disgusting on several levels?

Regarding FGO in particular, designs aren't benefitting from this. In fact, they're making things worse by trying to pander. Let's look at a Servant I personally like- Sitonai. Lorewise, she's an Ainu heroine, and as obscure as she was- she was badass. She slew a giant serpent that was preying on the weak and taking sacrificed maidens, and her tale is essentially one that sparks inspiration in young girls. So, we look at her ascensions. They're pretty well-designed. She has her hunting dog-turned-bear, she's wearing clothing that seem warm and have a passing resemblance to the Ainu, she has the sword that she used to slay the Serpent.

...And so what would you expect her FA to be? Her riding triumphantly on her bear, like she does in her Noble Phantasm? No? Maybe it's her standing in the cavern of the Serpent, lamenting the deaths of the other girls like she did in her story? ...No. Well, following her ascensions, there has to be something to do with her sword, her bear, or maybe it'll be a reference to the Fate/Stay Night Illya, since we have the Prisma Illya in the game already? Maybe it'll reference Freja and/or Louhi, as they're major aspects of her as an Alter-Ego?

...No. It's her, half-naked in a tent. With droopy eyes and... some sort of tiny, pink bra that doesn't mesh with any of the Ainu-based clothing before, and a cloth that's slipping down her waist. The only real reference to the tale of 'Sitonai' is the hunting dog. And so, I keep her locked on her 3rd ascension art, because while that's bursting with creative potential and incredibly good design and color- her FA is a massive disappointment in my eyes.

And why? Why did they do that- taking the chance to represent the obscure tale of Sitonai, and instead giving an ascension where she looks vulnerable and barely dressed?

That's a rhetorical question. It's for the lolicons, obviously.

Why does Kama have an ascension that's based on child Sakura, despite being linked with Mara, a demon devoted to lust, sin and sex? Why are people in the fanbase so, so obsessed with that one ascension, when she has two more- one resembling the teenage Sakura from Fate/Stay Night (which you'd expect would be the most popular for nostalgia reasons), and one that's more adult?

Also a rhetorical question. It's still the lolicons.

And the thing is, there are things you can do, however minor. Talk with people, share your opinions, find likeminded individuals and eventually- if you make a big enough fuss about it- maybe things will start to change for the better. Fanbases, creations, and media thrive off discussions- not cancelations, not hatred, but being willing to point out both the good and bad so that the good can continue, and the bad can find less purchase. I don't make these posts because I think that someone at Type-MOON is going to read them and immediately start changing stuff. I make these posts to start up discussions, share my own thoughts, and learn what other people think. This is literally just some tumblr blog about an anime franchise, but I also want to contribute to the FGO fanbase on here by adding my own thoughts, no matter how little weight they actually carry in the grand scheme of things. If I just kept to myself, ignored things, and tried to push other aspects to the side under the premise of 'it is what it is', then I seriously wouldn't be able to enjoy myself anymore.

Listen, I complain about Type-MOON a lot, because there's a lot to gripe about, but it's also because I want things to get better. FGO has a terrible gacha, so I'll gladly complain about that under the hopes it'll improve. FGO's writing has hit a few low points, but I've also adored the narratives of Lostbelts 4, 5, and 6. I didn't really like Tsukihime, but I'm also incredibly excited to see how the remake handles things, since I know now that Nasu has improved significantly as a writer.

As a more tangible example with Type-MOON: I've griped about how Nero is handled in FGO a lot compared to Extra, and apparently I'm not alone, seeing as Studio BB and Nasu are planning to bring her character closer to her roots in Fate/Extra Record. There's a chance that scrutinizing things won't make any impact at all, but it is guaranteed to do more than just ignoring it because you don't want to face the negatives under the impression it'll hamper your enjoyment.

My main point being: Pointing out what's wrong and loving what's right aren't mutually exclusive concepts.

The idea of 'live and let live' is easy. It's simple, inoffensive, but it also doesn't engage. And while that's fine for some people, and that may be fine for you, that's just not the type of person I am.

Again, I don't criticize these things because I think I'll end up in front of some movement, or I think all of my opinions are fact, or that I'm a moral paragon. I just find that if I'm willing to point out what I dislike, and focus on what I enjoy as well, I'll enjoy the things that Type-MOON puts out so much more in the long run, especially if they continue to increase in quality.

This is getting long, so let me cap things off with this:

Using your analogy, if I walked into someone's house and they had pictures of half-naked children taped on all the walls, you know damn well I'd call them out on it.

#fgo #fate grand order #long post #fate/grand order #fate/go #nasu talks

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This isn’t really a complaint about FGO as much as an observation, but there’s something about the fact that Ritsuka/Guda/Whoever has so many Servants as opposed to just one makes the Master-Servant relationship kind of rougher compared to other relationships in the series.

This is a lot of rambling, but spoilers for a little bit of Hollow Ataraxia and some Lostbelt details up to 6.

Keep reading

#fgo #fate grand order #long post #essay #so true #nasu talks #fate series

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I’m excited for the Fujimaru Doesn’t Understand shorts because it’s like if Learning with Manga was actually funny

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My last words to my killer before I die.

#mahoutsukai no yoru #witch on the holy night #mahoyo #lololool

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Fate/Grand Order x Witch on the Holy Night collaboration event later this month

#fate grand order #witch on the holy night #mahoyo #guess we will finally get an answer on that mysterious line by Fujino

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I don’t have a lot of words right now but Steven Attewell, who you all reading this probably know as @racefortheironthrone , just passed away. He was a very great writer, friend, and person, and it’s a horrible loss.

#racefortheironthrone #steven attewell #rip #rest in peace #may his memory be a blessing #asoiaf fandom #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire

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the songs Beyoncé writes about that man are crazy it's like watching someone build the sistine chapel for a possum they found in a gas station parking lot

#lololol #truuuue #so true

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"If you call for gruesome, violent revolution where you live but you can't make eye contract with a delivery driver, I want you to remember this scene."

Surprisingly raw line from MandaloreGaming's review of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs of all things.

#politics #political #amnesia a machine for pigs #mandalor