Behind the Folklore - Malleues Maleficarum

by crystalrach

For Folklore Main Page Click Here

MALLEUS MALEFICARUM
The Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for "The Hammer of Witches", or "Hexenhammer" in German) is a famous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, two Inquisitors of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487. The main purpose of the Malleus was to systematically refute arguments claiming that witchcraft does not exist, refute those who expressed skepticism about its reality, to prove that witches were more often women than men, and to educate magistrates on the procedures that could find them out and convict them.


WITCHES/WITCHCRAFT
Witchcraft, in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers.
A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. While mythological witches are often supernatural creatures, historically many people have been accused of witchcraft, or have claimed to be witches. Witchcraft still exists in a number of belief systems, and indeed there are many today who identify with the term "witch".
The majority of Europeans historically accused of witchcraft were women, and in legends and popular culture the stereotype is female; however males were also often referred to as witches.

Practices and beliefs that have been termed "witchcraft" do not constitute a single identifiable religion, since they are found in a wide variety of cultures, both present and historical; however these beliefs do generally involve religious elements dealing with spirits or deities, the afterlife, magic and ritual. Witchcraft is generally characterised by its use of magic.

As there is a lot of lore on witches and witchcraft, I recommend reading more at Wikipedia.


OTHER REFERENCES
Dean: I saw Hellraiser, I get the gist.
Hellraiser was a 1987 horror movie, based on a novel by Clive Barker

Tammy: Nice dic work, Magnum.
Referencing the TV series Magnum P.I., starring Tom Selleck

Dean: It's like Fatal Attraction all over again.
Referencing the 1987 movie with Glenn Close as a woman who has a brief affair with married businessman Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) and then becomes obsessed with him when he breaks it off and starts terrorizing him and his family.

Dean: Looking for some craggy old Blair bitch in the woods?
Referencing The Blair Witch Project (1999), a movie supposedly made from footage found in the woods, chronicling three student filmmakers filming their trek through the woods to make a documentary about the legendary Blair Witch.

Sources: Wikipedia, TV.com