History of Witches - The Devil's Handmaidens: How the Church Invented the Witch-Satan Connection

Witches Before Christianity: No Devil, No Hellfire

Long before the Church’s rise, magic was a neutral (and often respected) part of life:

• Babylonian priest-magicians invoked gods for healing and protection.

• Greek and Roman witches used spells and herbal lore for love, fertility, or justice.

• Celtic druids and seers communed with nature spirits and ancestors.

These systems had their own gods and spirits—but no figure like the Christian Devil existed.

Even in early folklore, witches weren’t evil—just powerful. Some were feared, yes—but not because they worshipped demons. That idea came much later, and it came with an agenda.

How the Church Created a New Enemy

As Christianity spread, the Church needed to eliminate spiritual competition. What better way than to reframe magical and spiritual traditions as Satanic?

Between the 12th and 15th centuries, theologians began building a doctrine that connected witches with the Devil.

Key turning points:

• Pope Gregory IX’s Vox in Rama (1233 CE): Declared that witches worshipped the Devil in secret rituals.

• Thomas Aquinas (13th century) wrote that demons worked through witches to corrupt human souls.

• Pope Innocent VIII’s Summis desiderantes affectibus (1484 CE): Gave full Church support to witch trials, claiming witches had made pacts with the Devil.

“Some have abandoned themselves to devils... and by their incantations, spells, and other accursed charms, destroy the offspring of women and the animals of the earth.”
— Pope Innocent VIII, 1484

Thus, witches were no longer just heretics or healers—they were agents of Hell.

😈 The Devil Pact Myth: Designed to Terrify

The Church’s propaganda claimed that witches:

• Swore loyalty to the Devil

• Took part in sabbats (secret, nighttime gatherings)

• Engaged in sexual rites with demons

• Received "familiar spirits" in animal form (black cats, toads, owls)

These weren’t historical truths—they were fear-fueled inventions, often extracted from people under torture.

One of the most damaging texts was the Malleus Maleficarum (1487), a handbook for identifying, torturing, and executing witches. It insisted that women were more likely to become witches because of their “weaker” faith and sexuality. (Yes, seriously.)

Historical Sources That Fueled the Satanic Witch Myth

• Canon Episcopi (circa 900s): Originally said witchcraft was illusion, not real—later twisted to justify belief in devil pacts.

  • The Canon Episcopi, an early Church text from the 10th century (circa 900s), initially maintained that the belief in witches riding at night with pagan goddesses was a mere illusion or phantasm, a trick of the devil, rather than a physical reality. It therefore urged bishops to teach that such notions were foolish and heretical. However, despite its original intent to dismiss the literal reality of witchcraft, this canon was later tragically reinterpreted and distorted by theologians like those who authored the Malleus Maleficarum. They selectively focused on the "diabolical illusion" aspect to argue that if the devil could create such illusions, he could also empower witches through a pact, thus ironically contributing to the justification of the belief in real, devil-worshipping witches and the subsequent brutal witch hunts.

• Malleus Maleficarum (1487): Claimed witches were Devil-worshippers who threatened Christianity.

  • Published in 1487, the Malleus Maleficarum, or "Hammer of Witches," served as an authoritative and infamous treatise that fundamentally redefined the understanding of witchcraft, asserting that witches were not merely practitioners of harmful magic but active Devil-worshippers who posed a direct and existential threat to Christianity. Rejecting earlier theological skepticism about the reality of witchcraft, the text meticulously detailed alleged satanic pacts, diabolical powers, and malevolent acts of witches, presenting them as agents of the Devil determined to undermine the Church and society. This grim portrayal solidified the image of the witch as an enemy of God and humanity, providing the theological and legal justifications that fueled centuries of brutal witch hunts across Europe.

• Jean Bodin’s Démonomanie des sorciers (1580): Claimed witches made contracts with Satan in exchange for magical power.

  • Jean Bodin's Démonomanie des sorciers (1580) was a highly influential and widely disseminated treatise that asserted the absolute reality of witchcraft and, crucially, argued that witches gained their magical powers through a direct and explicit contract with Satan. Bodin, a respected jurist and political theorist, vehemently rejected skeptical views on witchcraft, claiming it was an exceptional crime of lèse-majesté against God Himself. His work emphasized the diabolical pact as the source of a witch's abilities, detailing how these agreements empowered individuals to inflict harm, engage in shapeshifting, and perform other malevolent acts, thereby providing a robust legal and theological justification for the widespread and brutal prosecution of accused witches during the European witch hunts.

• Confessions from trials (Salem, Germany, Scotland): Often featured forced statements about Satan, sabbats, and devil marks—all coerced under duress.

  • Confessions extracted during witch trials across various regions, including Salem, Germany, and Scotland, frequently contained remarkably similar narratives about encounters with Satan, participation in nocturnal sabbats, and the presence of devil marks on the body. These detailed and often bizarre statements, however, were almost universally obtained under extreme duress, through torture, sleep deprivation, psychological manipulation, or the threat of further torment. Far from being voluntary admissions, these "confessions" reflected the leading questions of their interrogators and the prevailing demonological beliefs of the time, serving to validate the authorities' pre-existing notions of witchcraft and providing the "evidence" necessary to secure convictions, rather than revealing genuine occult practices.

Why the Church Needed Witches to Be Evil

This Devil-witch connection wasn’t just religious—it was political.

• It gave the Church moral justification to persecute women, pagans, midwives, herbalists, and nonconformists.

• It allowed the Church to control the narrative about magic, miracles, and divine authority.

• It created a clear enemy—the witch—who symbolized everything the Church claimed to protect people from.

In short: they didn’t just invent the Devil’s witch—they weaponized her.

The Modern Witch’s Reclamation

Today, many of us are reclaiming the word witch—but with truth, not fear.

• We honor earth-based wisdom that predates the Church.

• We reject the Satanic smear placed on ancient traditions.

• We see through the manipulation that turned wise women into monsters.

To be a witch today is to stand in your power, reclaim your lineage, and burn truth like incense through the fog of false history.

🌕 They Called Us Devils—But We Were Healers

The next time someone mentions “witches worshipping the Devil,” tell them this:
That story was written by those who feared our power. And we’re not afraid anymore.

🕯️ Keep the Fire Lit with The Witch Club Creations

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The Church may have buried the truth—but witches rise.

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