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    #16
    Re: Shamanism/ Animism

    Originally posted by Celtic Tiger View Post
    I'd mentioned this in my previous post:

    "Now, one thing that I have heard is that the word translated as 'witch' or 'sorcerer' can also be translated as 'poisoner.' I wish that I could give you a source on that, but it was something that was related to me in a conversation twenty years ago and the source was not discussed."

    Have you ever heard that? Or anything to that effect? And if so, do you know the source?
    The way I heard it, it was specifically a 'poisoner of wells', not just your random, everyday poisoner.

    Here's a couple of pretty decent breakdowns of the Hebrew variation on Exodus 22:18, and none of the translations seem to indicate poisoning of any sort was going on:

    Multilingual Scripture text

    Suffer a Witch article
    The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

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      #17
      Re: Shamanism/ Animism

      Originally posted by perzephone View Post
      The way I heard it, it was specifically a 'poisoner of wells', not just your random, everyday poisoner.

      Here's a couple of pretty decent breakdowns of the Hebrew variation on Exodus 22:18, and none of the translations seem to indicate poisoning of any sort was going on:

      Multilingual Scripture text

      Suffer a Witch article
      So in other words, the prohibition of 'shalt not suffer a witch to live' is related to the behavior of the practitioner and not to the general being a practitioner.

      Another observation is that many of the prohibitions and exclusions found in the Bible make a greater degree of sense within the culture that they were addressed to. The problem as I see it is the effort to force modern society to conform to the societal norms of either an ancient nomadic people or to an ancient sect of followers of an offshoot of Judaism in a long dead empire.

      Thank you for the links! They are appreciated.

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        #18
        Re: Shamanism/ Animism

        Originally posted by Celtic Tiger View Post
        So in other words, the prohibition of 'shalt not suffer a witch to live' is related to the behavior of the practitioner and not to the general being a practitioner.
        It's kind of a 'yes and no'. Ancient shamans, medicine men/women, oracles, priests & priestesses, etc. didn't just have day jobs where they came to work, did some magic for 8 hours & went home to be nice, normal, everyday people. If they performed spiritual duties, they were seen as people conversant with the spirit world. You can't do spellwork unless you are a spellcaster. They were on call all the time. How do you separate the practice from the practitioner? There are still countries that kill people for witchcraft - usually without a trial, a stiff warning or penalizing them with legal fees.

        Another observation is that many of the prohibitions and exclusions found in the Bible make a greater degree of sense within the culture that they were addressed to. The problem as I see it is the effort to force modern society to conform to the societal norms of either an ancient nomadic people or to an ancient sect of followers of an offshoot of Judaism in a long dead empire.
        Joseph Campbell addresses that very problem in his Mythos lectures

        Thank you for the links! They are appreciated.
        Anytime!
        The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

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          #19
          Re: Shamanism/ Animism

          I think there's also sometimes a problem of applying our modern understanding of a word backwards. So what we call a Witch isn't necessarily what they mean by Witch. Modern use of the word often includes people doing herbalism, shamanic style work, folk magic or ceremonial magic but it pretty much meant 'worker of malevolent magic'. The malevolence is central to the definition of the word as it was used. Of course anyone known to use any sort of magic might be suspected of using it for malevolent ends, but it wasn't the magic that made the witch it was the malevolence.
          * * *
          You can find some of my creative writing at http://libbyscribbles.com

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            #20
            Re: Shamanism/ Animism

            I am late to the party, I see...

            As a Shamanic practioner AND an animist, I can tell you that your Spirit animal doesn't care if you're a Christian or not.

            Just my 2 cents.

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              #21
              Re: Shamanism/ Animism

              Originally posted by Spiritwalker68 View Post
              I am late to the party, I see...

              As a Shamanic practioner AND an animist, I can tell you that your Spirit animal doesn't care if you're a Christian or not.

              Just my 2 cents.
              Only Christians seem to care if you're Christian or not. And even that is not universal by any means.

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