Granny's herb garden; why she REALLY had chamomile tea and juniper berries

men were kept 'out' of it for good reason.

hehe........ a woman's reasoning. We made the mistake of thinking an education actually educated men...... we were wrong;)

sarc/

i actually have a son who has learned well....... there is potential;)

You're right on with your assessment. This was about the time the Comstock Law was passed. Comstock was a Catholic who objected to women being able to get information about their own reproductive functions or birth control. The Comstock law was used to prosecute Margaret Sanger for teaching poor women how to avoid pregnancy.

The RCC influence was behind Comstock. The Pope made a deal with Napoleon around this time to declare abortion a sin in return for Napoleon's help repelling the enemy. Until then, the Papal states were vast. But this pope was reduced to a siege within the Vatican walls by those who founded the nation of Italy. Napoleon was concerned about France's falling birth rate, which is why he wanted abortion outlawed. This political pact to save the Vatican is still haunting women today because of the RCC's fight against abortion.

Until that pact, the RCC not only approved of abortion, they regulated it, stating that it was okay for forty days for a male fetus and okay for eighty days for a female fetus. Let's not forget that the RCC was thoroughly against this "foolish experiment" in freedom and democracy in our country.

This timing went hand in hand with men taking over the medical field. Until medical schools were established, which forbade women's enrollment, women were free to practice. But schools needed government licensing to encourage enrollment. Since women couldn't go to med school, they couldn't get a government license. The entire intent was to create a monopoly on medical care, with men reaping both the control and the profit.

It's also about this time that the pharmacological companies began to be founded. They used women's herbal remedies (and still do) for their pills. To get a monopoly, they needed to stop women from being able to use them in the natural form.

Medical abortion was originally outlawed under the realization that men's medicine was causing too many deaths for women. It had nothing to do with the rights of the fetus. Men didn't wash their hands before any operation because they didn't believe their dirty hands would cause infection. Bacteria was not yet known nor were viruses. This was about the time of the Civil War, where it took a woman, Clara Barton, to clean up the military medical practices.

It was and still is all about big business.

Natural abortificants were recorded thousands of years ago in the very first written documents. That means they were common before writing was invented.

Then why did they allow me, the most evil man to ever live, to enter the world?

Was I born out of season?

I just posted an article about the Witch Hunts in Europe because Halloween is fast upon us and what Christians (and too many others) believe about witches comes from that rancid document.

The entire document is filled with misogyny and is specifically aimed at women, especially "midwives" who used herbs to help women through pregnancy and childbirth.

Here's their statement about midwives: "No one does more harm to the Catholic Faith than midwives."

The Malleus Maleficarum: The Official Catholic Manual for Witch Hunting

Here's the an excerpt of one section:

Part I, Question XI

That Witches who are Midwives in Various Ways Kill the Child Conceived in the Womb, and Procure an Abortion; or if they do not this Offer New-born Children to Devils.

The Canonists treat more fully than the Theologians of the obstructions due to witchcraft; and they say that is is witchcraft, not only when anyone is unable to perform the carnal act, of which we have spoken above; but also when a woman is prevented from conceiving, or is made to miscarry after she has conceived. A third and fourth method of witchcraft is when they have failed to procure an abortion, and then either devour the child or offer it to a devil.

Loretta Kemsley

I just watched a movie on Netflix that features the mid-wife conversation, is was "The Business of Being Born", it was very interesting.

Also, on the subject of the witch trials, what do you think of the ergot connection?

The ergot theory is interesting. It might explain certain demented minds in certain locales at certain times, but would it apply over many centuries in many areas and in all cases of the demonization of women's powers? Probably not.

For instance, would it apply to the Hebrews and their paranoia about the powers of a menstruating woman? They believed if she entered their temples, her magical powers would so far outstrip the men's magical powers, their rituals would be in vain, so she wasn't allowed inside the temple. They also believed if a menstruating women walked too close to a man, she could strike him dead. Do you think that ergot was the cause of those superstitions? (BTW, the menstruating woman was feared all over the world with many, many cultures banning her from the village. There are still some cultures who enforce this practice).

If you read the Malleus Maleficarum, it does not seem to be written from a delusional mind, even though it is filled with superstitions that would be silly if they did not carry such tragic consequences. The authors called on centuries of misogyny to write their screed. Did ergot cause all of that over the centuries?

How about the witchcraft trials in America centuries later? Were they too caused by ergot?

There are too many cultures, too many areas and too many eras for ergot to be the sole cause even if it somehow contributed.

But let us say for arguments sake it did. Why weren't their delusions focused on others? Why "witches"? Delusions tend to be very individual. One would think this person's delusion would be about this guy or group of guys and that person's delusion would be about this gal or group of gals. But they weren't. If they were all delusional, then they all shared the same delusion. What would be the chances of that?

and I especially dislike politicans who use abortion issues as a campaign tool.

God! Me too!

Talk about something that has been made way, way too political!

It's terrible.