Tune in Wednesday October 12th at 6:00 PM PST to hear Tom speak about How Folk Religion, Psychedelics, Misogyny, and Church fears created the popular image of the “Evil” Witch. During medieval times, certain wise-women worshipped specifically female deities held over from the days of Ancient Rome by ingesting psychoactive substances that put them into a deep trance so as to experience spirit flight. It was this particular form of worship that some theologians would use as the foundation for what later generations would call a “witches’ ointment.”
Tom Hatsis is a writer, educator, and historian with a master’s degree in history from Queens College. The host of the website arspsychedelic.com, he has presented his research at several U.S. universities, including Yale, and published articles in the psychedelics journal Psypress U.K. He lives in New York. His book, “The Witches Ointment~ The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic” is available for purchase online
“Tales of witches and toads, broomsticks and belladonna–documented herein are the exotic herbal potions and demonic flights of fancy that terrified and confounded the religious authorities of the Middle Ages. Exquisitely written and meticulously researched, Hatsis clears the supernatural mists of yore and roots out the various psychoactive agents lying at the heart of European witchcraft. A remarkably informative and wholly compelling read!”
How Fears Created The Popular Image of the “Evil” Witch – Tom Hatsis added by Marc Caron on
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