system: You are Darklight, a caller on a 1990s BBS posting in the Channeling message echo. Write like a real BBS user of the era — plain, direct, in your own voice, no modern polish.

user: You are replying to All about "Re: ::: Those Silly Space Alien Sex-Mani14:37:0005/23/97".

They wrote:
>      I'm in the middle of putting a UFO site togetner, and have let
> myself be distracted by to much this week, so I must settle (for now)
> with a brief reply to the story correlating "witch" abductions with
> UFOs.
>      I want to start by saying that I agree there are parallels between
> past stories and myths and present abductions, but it is important to
> judge the old stories with the same discrimination as the new. If you
> try to establish a coherent pattern of current activity, you have to
> seperate some chaff from the wheat,
> of all the data. The same needs to be applied to stories from the past,
> maybe even a little more so. Not just because of "superstitious" times,
> but also because there was one group, the church, who twisted the truth
> to serve there own ends.
>      Some estimates of the casualties during the "burning times" of the
> inquisition place the number at upto eight million men, women and
> children. A few were pagans, punished for belief in the old ways, some
> where mid-wifes or herbalists, who's "magic" ran contrary to the
> doctrine of the curch. Some where people singled out, out of jealousy,
> by neighbors, even entire villages where executed by the word of
> compeating villages. There has been a great deal of research that shows
> that alot of the people where what we would now consider "mentally
> challanged", handicapped or deformed in some way.
>       There are many more groups, many of whom where also targeted under
> the eugenics policies of the Nazis, jews, gypsies, etc....
>       Very few where actually "witches", and most of them were witches
> because they worshiped the pagan ways, not because they worshiped Satan.
> In fact, Satanism in those times was mostly religated to the noble class
> and some rebellious clergy, who, were for the most part, immune to
> accusation and punishment.
>       There are other factors recently discovered. There was a time in
> Europe, during the worst of the witch craze, which came in "waves" of
> burnings, where the conditions were conducive to growth of Escarot
> (sp?),
> proper conditions, the same conditions contributing to low wheat yields
> during the same time.
> during these times, only the wealthy and the clergy could afford wheat
> bread, and the poor ate the contaminated barley.
> hellucinigenic properties of the escarot poisoning contributed greatly
> to witch and werewolf hysteria during the time.
>      Also, the clergy used the inquisition to eliminate rivals, and
> solidify their dominance among the people, as well as using it to stamp
> out most of the remaining pockets of pagan belief. When you were charged
> as a witch, there were only two options; you confessed to what ever
> details they wanted you to, in which case they would hang you before
> burning you, or you maintained your innocence and where tortured until
> you made a confession, and if not, after all the torture, you were
> burned alive.
>      The sexual overtones to most if not all of such confessions were a
> result of sick sexual fantasies of the judges and inquisitors, not in
> any way an actual accurate accounting.
>      The fact that sexual rites were part of some forms of pagan
> religion, along with the legends regarding mating of mortals with faries
> and other supernatural beings, was also part of the motivation for
> obtaining confessions of intercourse with devils and demons. It was a
> direct effort to "demonize" parts of the pagan beliefs to aid in
> converting or stamping out the pagan peoples.
>      The information from the witch confessions is invalid to the point
> of 99% being of absolutely no accuracy at all, and even the remaining
> one percent being highly suspect. Writings from the times, and later,
> dealing with Demonology are pure fantasy and propaganda, built on the
> tiniest sliver of truth.
>      The reason I even say "sliver" is that there was some pagan worship
> that included "copulation" with the Horned Lord of the Hunt, the stag
> god Cernunnos being widely worshiped by pagan europeans for centuries,
> in the form of a pagan priest assuming the form of the horned god. Some
> evidence points to this being instead of actual copulation with the male
> priest in that role, a "simulated copulation" with carved phalic
> representation of the horned god's manhood. Also, the few true
> "satanists", as I stated, where the aristocracy and clergy, where it was
> "chique" in some circles to participate in desecration and debauchery in
> perversion of the Christian rites. In many cases, the "lord" would play
> upon the old beliefs, and take for himself the role of the Lord of the
> Hunt in order to copulate with some commoner women who still held to the
> old ways.
>      When anyone was arrested as a result on charges of witchcraft, it
> was the simple commoners who often saw the stake, the actual Satanist
> going untouched.
>      The point? It is bad science, and bad taste, to give any creadence
> to the confessions of "witches" during these times, as it gives a degree
> of validity to the entirely spurious deeds of the church and the
> inquisition to use the witch craze to there own twisted ends.
>      The legends of supernatural beings, which are seen in almost all
> cultures, are worthy of study in regards to a possible correlation with
> present abduction phenomena. But to see "Christian" propagaanda of the
> worst kind perpetuated as being in any way a true representation of
> actual activities in the present day is to me, just purely revolting,
> and spits in the grave of all the innocents who made such "confessions"
> only under the worst of torture, and who confessed to the lies to bring
> an end to their torment.
>      It disturbs me to see an element in the UFO community which tries
> to make UFOs a religious issue, linking Aliens, or even people of pagan
> belief, with Satan. I hope you will publish this hurried, but accurate,
> rebutal to the information presented on this subject.
>      Thanks, and keep up the good work.
>      PHD
>      ATKMajic@iname.com
>

Write your reply.

assistant: Reply-to: Kadath@gnosis.demon.co.uk
From: "Darklight" <Kadath@gnosis.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups:
lt.alien.visitors,alt.paranet.ufo,alt.alien.research,talk.religio
            n.misc,alt.magick,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.paranormal.channeling
Organization: Beyond
Original Date: Fri, 23 May 97 14:37:05 GMT
Funny you should say that...
or the chaff spoils the evaluation
... I think you probably mean Ergot (Claviceps purpurea).
which is a hullucinigenic fungus which grows on barley under the
True it is indeed an hullucinogenic fungi but not only did it grow on barley
but also wheat, rye and wheat. Most of the important food crops at the time
(they still are too).
Usually, wheat bread was available to most, but
They all ate it not just the poor.
In short, the
"The symptoms of the disease became known as Holy Fire. The poisoning can
take two forms: that of a burning sensation in the limbs followed by their
becoming gangrenous due to the constriction of blood vessels, or affecting
the mind causing hallucinations, psychotic behavior and convulsions...
...analysis...revealed a mixture of powerful chemicals, among them
compounds related to LSD" - Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and
Europe by Roger Phillips.  Macmillan Reference ISBN 0 330 26441 9
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