Sonya Rapoport and Marie-José Sat

"She took the fruit thereof and did eat and she gave also unto her husband"
Genesis 3:16


"Because thou has harkened unto the voice of thy wife,
And hast eaten of the tree...;
In toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." Genesis 3:17

"Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee,
And thou shall eat the herb of the field." Genesis 3:18

Man toiled in the field thereafter in anger and resentment against the woman who gave him of the tree. His bitter sweat seasoned the herbs he planted and he fed himself of his own Misery.

XVth century Europe had been plagued with years of religious and civil wars. Resentment of the dangerous woman reached its peak in gruesome witch trials. Pope Innocent VIII denounced an epidemic of Demonology, a contagious infection spread through Bitter Herbs.

In 1487 Innocent VIII endorsed the Malleus Maleficarum: The Hammer of Witches, a witch-hunting manual written by two Inquisition monks. It accused women of destroying men by planting Bitter Herbs throughout the field.

The field soon became a Garden of Herbal Evil where Bitter Herbs germinated Brutal Myths about women in the hearts of men.

Click among the herbs from the Garden of Herbal Evil

Tormentil

Hemlock

Cleavers

Henbane

Bugloss

Birthwort

Nightshade

Credits