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SCOTTISH WITCHCRAFT (PART I)

SCOTTISH WITCHCRAFT I. Nothing could save her... Her wisdom, her ancestral knowledge, the legacy of her ancestors, her advice, her intuition, her ability to heal the sick... Everything for which the rest of the people came to her, to cure their illnesses, to appease their souls, so that she could help them find within themselves what they were not able to find. But ignorance, fear, envy, ignorance and cowardice were the cause of their betrayal. Scotland is one of the wildest and most beautiful lands with a lot of folklore and history. But it was also one of the fiercest witch-hunting countries. Those women and men (yes, there were also many accused men) who since ancient times were the wise persons of the village, those respected guides began to be looked at with different eyes. It all began around 1590, when King James I married Anne of Denmark by proxy. She left for Scotland, but because of bad weather she got lost and had to turn back. Then James went in search of Anne, and on their way back to Scotland many men of the king's escort lost their lives due to storms and bad weather. Upon arriving in Scotland the continuous rumors about a spell cast against the newlyweds and the king's obsession that someone was trying to kill him, caused James to begin his particular persecution against the witches. But we must go back a long time, because since 1563 the accusation and witch hunt was present. We don't know for sure how many women and men were caught, tried and executed over almost 200 years, but some say that almost 4000 people were accused in Scotland and possibly almost 3000 of them executed. Most of the cases are not documented and some are confusing, so we cannot know for sure how much wisdom was lost to time, how much knowledge burned to ashes...Perhaps the accusers thought the fire would silence their consciences, but it didn't. To be continued..




 
 
 

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