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The main sacrificial attribute of a witch: she is a woman.
1) The victim attribute is usually a bright phenomenological difference from the anthropological norm – hair color, the presence of birthmarks, some visible flaws, etc. In relation to witches, insensitivity to pain, low weight, age differences, etc. were added here. “Intercourse with the devil” (flying on a broomstick and animals, participating in sabbaths, contracting and actually having sex with demons and the devil) is more of a central point of accusation against witches (along with conspiracies, the evil eye, causing harm, etc.) in Christian times, but not a sign. In this regard, it does not differ fundamentally from men's ones. Therefore, the fact of predominantly female sinfulness was crucial and at the same time distinguishing a witch from a witcher for inquisitors.
2) Here you just need to take into account that the persecution of witches is not an exclusively Christian topic. Women have been excluded and sacrificed before and in other cultures. In these almost four dark ages, we can talk about the imposition of different types of exclusion – intra-community and church-state. As a result, the old belief in witchcraft became quite difficult to distinguish from the Satanic myth. The first one without the second one is possible, the last one is not. This led to a monstrous confusion and substitution, on which even very large researchers of witches in the 19th and 20th centuries sank. Foucault), and the founders of a number of already modern cults (Wicca, as the most striking example), where the stigma of “witch” is defined positively. But in this way, the persecutors of Christians have an additional motive and at the same time a historical alibi: “you see, they themselves confess.” This is a complex enough phenomenon to be fully analyzed here. But the main explanation for me is the reflex of self-defense against male violence and innocent female skills – to folk medicine, pedagogy, etc. There are all sorts of reasons to establish a new religion or declare a matriarchy here. But what does it have to do with women as victims of inquisitors, intercourse with demons, etc.? In my opinion, this is only a reversed version of the traditional persecuting structure a la Girard.
3) Any sacrificial signs are quite random in terms of their origin, but they acquire a necessary, even fatal character at a specific historical moment, when a privileged victim is chosen for them – a “scapegoat”. The question of the origin of victim traits should not replace the really essential problem of the reasons for the reproduction of the persecuting structure and the stereotypes that it uses for its permanent functioning in history, regardless of who is now acting as the mentioned “goat” – a Jew, a woman or a gay man.
Excerpt from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The main difference is that a Witch, if she really is a Witch, will never be a scapegoat. Even if you manage to burn it (which, in principle, is rare… much more often, those who “as it turned out, have nothing to do with it” will have to pay very, very dearly for her death. And not only directly to those who will burn, but also to their descendants… including remote ones… nations… states, redigious egregors, anyone who will be involved in at least some sideways. Although we are not really evil:) but running over us is very harmful to the health of those who run over us:)