What is Witches' Sabbath?
[[File:Francisco de Goya y Lucientes - Witches' Sabbath - WGA10007.jpg|thumb|[[Francisco de Goya]], ''The Witches' Sabbath'', 1789]] The term '''Witches' Sabbath''' was used to describe the belief that there were people, called [[witch]]es, who regularly met for secret gatherings. The name is used for the gathering. One part of the name refers to the [[Sabbath]], the day of rest in [[Judaism]] and other [[Abrahamic religion]]s. The term was in common use in the [[Middle Ages]]. At that time, the [[Jews]] were shown as evil in many European countries. It was believed that the witches killed people in secret [[ritual]]s or [[poison]]ed [[well]]s during the Witches Sabbath. From about the 14th century, the [[Inquisition|Holy Inquisition]] used this belief to organise [[pogrom]]s against people it called [[heretic]]s. The [[Catholic Church]] developed a whole set of ideas about witches. According to this theory, the Witches Sabbath is one of the five elements that characterize a witch. The other elements are [[Transvection (flying)|witches' flight]], a [[pact]] with the [[devil]], the idea that they entered into a [[sexual intercourse|sexual]] relationship with the devil, and that they used [[black magic]] to harm people. The idea of a [[conspiracy theory]] was thematised more and more in the fifteenth century. People feared a [[secret society]] or [[sect]] of witches and warlocks (male witches) that would do harm. {{religion-stub}} [[Category:Witchcraft]]