THIS was the reality that faced people who were suspected of practicing black magick just a short time ago:
Swimming Test
As part of the infamous “swimming test,” accused witches were dragged to the nearest body of water, stripped to their undergarments, bound and then tossed in to to see if they would sink or float. Since witches were believed to have spurned the sacrament of baptism, it was thought that the water would reject their body and prevent them from submerging. According to this logic, an innocent person would sink like a stone, but a witch would simply bob on the surface. The victim typically had a rope tied around their waist so they could be pulled from the water if they sank, but it wasn’t unusual for accidental drowning deaths to occur.
Witch swimming derived from the “trial by water,” an ancient practice where suspected criminals and sorcerers were thrown into rushing rivers to allow a higher power to decide their fate. This custom was banned in many European counties in the Middle Ages, only to reemerge in the 17th century as a witch experiment, and it persisted in some locales well into the 18th century. For example, in 1710, the swimming test was used as evidence against a Hungarian woman named Dorko Boda, who was later beaten and burned at the stake as a witch.
Tell me again how you can’t afford a 12" obsidian sphere or a $300 book, and therefore can’t do any magick and how life sucks?
“Oh, but it really does!”
Then let’s look at another:
Pricking and Scratching Tests
If witch-hunters struggled to find obvious evidence of “witch’s marks” on a suspect’s body, they might resort to the ghastly practice of “pricking” as a means of sussing it out. Witch-hunting books and instructional pamphlets noted that the marks were insensitive to pain and couldn’t bleed, so examiners used specially designed needles to repeatedly stab and prick at the accused person’s flesh until they discovered a spot that produced the desired results. In England and Scotland, the torture was eventually performed by well-paid professional “prickers,” many of whom were actually con men who used dulled needlepoints to identify fake witch’s marks.
Along with pricking, the unfortunate suspect might also be subjected to “scratching” by their supposed victims. This test was based on the notion that possessed people found relief by scratching the person responsible with their fingernails until they drew blood. If their symptoms improved after clawing at the accused’s skin, it was seen as partial evidence of guilt.
Source
Still pissed that you actually have to read more than a 40 character Tweet to learn how to make thing happen in accordance with will?
Giles Corey was an 81-year-old man who had been accused of witchcraft. When he was confronted about it, he did not plead guilty or innocent. He stood mute whenever he was asked how he wished to plead. The interrogation for a response was different than any other Salem or surrounding communities had seen. They stripped him down and made him lay naked on the concrete floor. They continued on by placing heavy weights and rocks on his body, adding more and more each day. They fed him an alternating diet between three morsels of the worst bread one day, and placing three pails of water as close to the prison door as possible. This continued on until Corey died, but he never pleaded guilty or innocent throughout the entire process.
Source
Still think it sucks, as you sit on your safe fat arse scrolling through this repository of personal experience and research?
Among the best-known individuals to be executed by burning were Jacques de Molay (1314), Jan Hus (1415), St. Joan of Arc (30 May 1431), Savonarola (1498) Patrick Hamilton (1528), John Frith (1533), William Tyndale (1536), Michael Servetus (1553), Giordano Bruno (1600) and Avvakum (1682). …
If the fire was large (for instance, when a large number of prisoners were executed at the same time), death often came from smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning before flames actually caused harm to the body. If the fire was small, however, the convict would burn for some time until death from heatstroke, shock, loss of blood or the thermal decomposition of vital body parts. Several records report that victims took over 2 hours to die.
Source
“Several records report that victims took over 2 hours to die.”
Ever watched an IS video and really seen how long it can take someone to burn to death?
How long they keep writhing?
THAT was what our forebears risked - all those grimoire authors whose works are FAR too wordy and obscure for most people to bother reading in their entirety, and all the unnamed witches and psychics who helped keep the magick alive on our plane.
I would strongly advise anyone feeling hard done to while sitting browsing this forum at their leisure to consider this, and also, to consider the many people on here right now for whom persecution of various kinds is a modern reality, not a historical myth., and for whom exchange rates, lack of religious freedoms, or other geographical circumstances make purchasing courses, crystals, and whatever else a dream.
- This isn’t a moderation post, or a rule, or anything - just a call for sanity and for taking a moment to appreciate EXACTLY what we have here - how precious it is, and how fortunate we are.
Generations before us could only have dreamed of the power and freedom that can be acquired for the asking, and for the price of a little work, a little focus, and a little self-discipline.
).
) now and again, doing a little reality check is a good thing. 
I feel the frustration aimed at me and others
Fortunately ultimate Darkness didn’t mind at all that i ended up using the unopened pack of birthday candles that has been sitting in the kitchen cupboard for the last six months, as it turns out ultimate Darkness is very understanding about these things.
Oof. Great post