research-and-development

Demonology

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:35:33 +0100

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Demonology

In Christianity and Islam, sorcery came to be associated with heresy and apostasy and to be viewed as evil. Among the Catholics, Protestants, and secular leadership of the European Late Medieval/Early Modern period, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch, and sometimes led to large-scale witch-hunts. Throughout this time, it was increasingly believed that Christianity was engaged in an apocalyptic battle against the Devil and his secret army of witches, who had entered into a diabolical pact. In total, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women, though in some regions the majority were men.^[10]^[11]^[12] Accusations of witchcraft were often combined with other charges of heresy against such groups as the Cathars and Waldensians.

The Malleus Maleficarum, an infamous witch-hunting manual used by both Catholics and Protestants,^[13] outlines how to identify a witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. This book was not given the official Imprimatur of the Catholic Church, which would have made it approved by church authorities.

In the modern Western world, witchcraft accusations have often accompanied the satanic ritual abuse moral panic. Such accusations are a counterpart to blood libel of various kinds, which may be found throughout history across the globe.

Witchcraft

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:19:39 +0100

Witchcraft

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

witches by Hans Baldung Grien (Woodcut, 1508)

witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch (from Old English wicca masculine, wicce feminine) is a practitioner of witchcraft. Historically, it was widely believed in early modern Christian Europe that witches were in league with the Devil and used their powers to harm people and property. Particularly, since the mid-20th century, "bad" and "good" witchcraft are sometimes distinguished, the latter often involving healing. The concept of witchcraft as harmful is normally treated as a cultural ideology, a means of explaining human misfortune by blaming it either on a supernatural entity or a known person in the community.^[1]

Beliefs in witchcraft, and resulting witch-hunts, are both found in many cultures worldwide, today mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., in the witch smellers in Bantu culture), and historically notably in Early Modern Europe of the 14th to 18th century, where witchcraft came to be seen as a vast diabolical conspiracy against Christianity, and accusations of witchcraft led to large-scale witch-hunts, especially in Germanic Europe.^[2]

The "witch-cult hypothesis", a controversial theory that European witchcraft was a suppressed pagan religion, was popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the mid-20th century, Witchcraft has become the self-designation of a branch of neopaganism, especially in the Wicca tradition following Gerald Gardner, who claimed a religious tradition of Witchcraft with pre-Christian roots.^[3]

[edit] Definitions of witchcraft

In anthropological terminology, a "witch" differs from a sorcerer in that they do not use physical tools or actions to curse; their maleficium is perceived as extending from some intangible inner quality, and the person may be unaware that they are a "witch", or may have been convinced of their own evil nature by the suggestion of others. This definition was pioneered in a study of central African magical beliefs by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, who cautioned that it might not correspond with normal English usage.

Historians of European witchcraft have found the anthropological definition difficult to apply to European and British witchcraft, where "witches" could equally use (or be accused of using) physical techniques, and some really had attempted to cause harm by thought alone.

As in anthropology, European witchcraft is seen by historians as an ideology for explaining misfortune; however, this ideology manifested in diverse ways. Reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories:

A person was caught in the act of positive or negative sorcery
A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients' or the authorities' trust
A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbours
A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs

Éva Pócs in turn identifies three varieties of witch in popular belief:

The "neighbourhood witch" or "social witch": a witch who curses a neighbour following some conflict.
The "magical" or "sorcerer" witch: either a professional healer, sorcerer, seer or midwife, or a person who has through magic increased her fortune to the perceived detriment of a neighbouring household; due to neighbourly or community rivalries and the ambiguity between positive and negative magic, such individuals can become labelled as witches.
The "supernatural" or "night" witch: portrayed in court narratives as a demon appearing in visions and dreams.

"Neighbourhood witches" are the product of neighbourhood tensions, and are found only in self-sufficient serf village communities where the inhabitants largely rely on each other. Such accusations follow the breaking of some social norm, such as the failure to return a borrowed item, and any person part of the normal social exchange could potentially fall under suspicion. Claims of "sorcerer" witches and "supernatural" witches could arise out of social tensions, but not exclusively; the supernatural witch in particular often had nothing to do with communal conflict, but expressed tensions between the human and supernatural worlds; and in Eastern and Southeastern Europe such supernatural witches became an ideology explaining calamities that befell entire communities.

Paranormal Research

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:34:02 +0100

     Paranormal research has became very popular as of recent years. One of the first shows that really opened up
more people to the possibilities and interests was Ghost hunters. Afterwards other shows started coming out and suddenly masses was either wanting to go on a hunt or join existing groups in this field.
Now days we have seen teams that have been around from 20+ years to new teams forming all the time.

     One thing that we have witnessed as a team is that everyone has their different views and approaches to researching and/or investigating. Each person finds directions that works well for them and focus in those directions. But by educating the General public has to be taken very seriously otherwise it can cause a lot of problems for people.

One of the biggest things we have noticed and may be the most damaging is stating theories as actual facts.
Each person has their own opinions/theories and apply that to how they conduct themselves in their research.

(That we feel is a key part in the research it's self.)

Utah homes

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:30:44 +0100

what percentage of all Utah homes do you think is actually haunted?

sageing or clearing a home

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:14:34 +0100

When sageing or clearing a home, do you think it just moves to another residence and continues it's behavior? or hide Or does it just "vanish"?

Who we are

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:43:45 +0100

The thought process behind paranormal can vary from team to team. What they need to catch. How many cases can they do. Or even who gets to a new location first. I've found myself in that situation before and now regret it. We've realized as a team that it's not all about recognition. It's about doing what's right for that one person who is truly in need of help.

We would rather that people who is more concerned about the welfare of the friend.
We also would like to see that explanations of "Happenings" are explained in a realistic way.
Stating theories as fact can not only be harmful to our friends it is also
harmful to the community. We once worked in a community that was all about that but sadly we grew apart.

So I'm here to say that if your more focused on getting movie deals or your story in a magazine then Congratulations and we wish you the very best.

As far as ourselves then i say, Let's get started. come together and share information. No secrets will be kept here and lets focus on the best thing for our friends.

Josh Elmer
TIPA Research