Brutal Myths

Sonya Rapoport and Marie-José Sat

are women the guilty daughters of Eve?

Adam and Eve eating the apple

"She took the fruit thereof and did eat and she gave also unto her husband"
Genesis 3:16
guilty daughter
wounded man stabbed by knives and arrows
"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



the garden of herbal evil


"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.

the embittered man toiling the earth

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.

Pope Innocent VIII

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.

women accused of planting evil herbs

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



Title: The Herbs and Methods
seven methods herbs infect with witchcraft
specific herb witchcraft affects


Click among the herbs from the Garden of Herbal Evil




Tormentil




Hemlock




Cleavers




Henbane




Bugloss




Birthwort




Nightshade



Credits