Podcast Summary: Flipping Tables, Ep. 29 – "Burn the Witch!!"
Host: Monte Mader
Date: August 20, 2025

Episode Overview

Monte Mader, a former alt-right evangelical, delivers a compelling and deeply-researched exploration of the history and legacy of the witch trials in Europe and early America, with a focus on the weaponization of theology, the roots of misogyny in Western religion, and the direct links between past witch hunts and modern attacks on female autonomy. The episode weaves together historical analysis, commentary on Christian doctrine, and contemporary parallels, creating a thorough deconstruction of how persecution of so-called “witches” was really a campaign against powerful and independent women.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Weaponization of "Witch" (00:00–09:15)

• Monte opens with a chilling quote from the Malleus Maleficarum (1487):
  "What else is woman but a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil."
  (Heinrich Kramer, 00:00)
• Women labeled as witches were often healers, midwives, or simply nonconforming, independent women.
• Monte argues this was not simple hysteria but "weaponized theology":

  “This wasn’t just mass panic. It was weaponized theology. It was the church declaring war on what they claimed were witches. But it was really just women.” (00:01:28)

2. Deconstruction Journey & Personal Context (09:16–17:00)

• Monte describes her upbringing in conservative, alt-right Christianity where anything related to witchcraft, Halloween, or the occult was strictly forbidden.
• She deconstructed her faith, leading to a reassessment of occult imagery and the historically anti-female roots of anti-witch narratives.
• Key point: Many "occult" things demonized by the church (such as tarot and plant medicine) have benign or therapeutic histories, and church prohibitions were less about the supernatural and more about controlling women.

3. History and Science Behind Demonized Practices (17:01–23:00)

• Origins of tarot (15th-century Italy as a card game), and its later association with the occult was added centuries later.
• Psychological and physiological effects of rituals—tarot, Ouija, prayer—all serve to ground and calm the nervous system.
• The origins of the Ouija board (a parlor game patented in 1891 during the U.S. spiritualism boom).
• Plant medicines like ayahuasca and psilocybin, now known to have therapeutic effects, are still stigmatized due to long-standing religious and social biases.

4. Women as Healers, Spiritual Leaders & the Roots of Persecution (23:01–40:15)

• Categories of persecuted women:
  • Priestesses and oracles (e.g., Oracle of Delphi)
  • Herbalists and healers (e.g., Bitty Early, 1798–1874)
  • Midwives and birth attendants (e.g., Walpurga Hausmanen, executed in 1587)
  • Folk magicians and cunning women (e.g., Anna Roelofess, burned in 1663)
• Midwives especially targeted due to their knowledge of reproduction and independence from church and male oversight; threatened both religious and male professional authority.
• Notable quotation:
  "The campaign against the witches is the first instance of modern science’s war on women’s knowledge."
  (Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, Witches, Midwives and Nurses, 1973; cited at 36:15)

5. Christianity Co-opting Pagan Traditions (40:16–54:00)

• Christianity appropriated rituals, holidays, and symbols from pagan societies to ease conversion (e.g., Christmas, Easter, Halloween).
  • Christmas aligns with the Roman Saturnalia and Mithraic traditions (Jesus not actually born in December).
  • Easter derives from pagan goddess Ostara and fertility symbols.
  • Halloween (originally Samhain) became All Hallows’ Eve.
• Communion and baptism were also originally pagan rituals, later Christianized.

6. Rise of Misogyny: From Paganism to Christianity (54:01–01:09:30)

• Classical Greece and Rome, then Christianity, began associating women with irrationality, danger, and evil.
• Women linked with sin (Eve as source of the Fall), exclusion from spiritual leadership, and scapegoating for social ills.
• “Ladies who went to church growing up, how many times did you hear a preacher talk about women who gossip, the sin of gossip, versus…consent, rape, or domestic violence? …A refusal to address the sexual sin of men, while blaming female victims for receiving sin against them sexually.” (01:05:00)
• By Middle Ages, church doctrine and legal systems targeted women’s autonomy—especially medical and spiritual authority.

7. The Malleus Maleficarum and the Witch Trials (01:09:31–01:20:20)

• The Malleus Maleficarum (1487) transformed witch-hunting into an institutionalized campaign, explicitly targeting women as susceptible to the devil for their supposed moral weakness and lust.
• Quote:
  "All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is, in a woman, insatiable."
  (Malleus Maleficarum, cited at 01:12:30)
• Witch trials provided means for male authorities to seize land, enforce social compliance, and eliminate dissenters, often under the banner of eradicating heresy.

8. American Witch Trials – Salem and Beyond (01:20:21–01:44:30)

• In Puritan Massachusetts, "burn the witch" became “hang the witch” (burning was European).
• Salem Witch Trials resulted in 200+ accusations, 19 hangings, one pressing-to-death (Giles Corey), and 5 deaths in jail.
• Notable quotes and stories:
  • "The image of the witch was of the image of a woman who could not be governed." (Carol Carlson, 01:35:50)
  • Land disputes often motivated accusations (e.g., the Putnam family's manipulation of their daughter Ann Putnam Jr. to settle scores; Giles Corey’s resistance).
• Public opinion shifted only when powerful men’s families were accused.

9. Witch Trials as Template for Patriarchal Control—and Modern Parallels (01:44:31–end)

• The persecution of witches was both a religious and a political campaign to rob women of influence, education, and property.
• Echoes of witch-hunt logic persist in today’s “culture wars”:
  • “Witch trial: women are emotionally unstable and easily deceived by Satan. Modern far right: women are too emotional to be president.”
  • “Witch trials: female sexuality is dangerous and demonic. Modern far right: purity culture, slut shaming, anti-LGBT rhetoric.”
  • “Independent women are threats… anti-feminist backlash, trad wife trend.”
  • “Male authority must be absolute… male headship theology, destruction of the nuclear family.”
• "If men are truly superior, then they don't need to disadvantage everyone else. It's the insecurity that causes you to want to disenfranchise others." (01:55:15)
• The origins of words like “slut” (from 1402, originally meaning "messy" or "lower class") show the deep history of misogynist slurs being used as tools of class and social policing.
• Modern anti-abortion rhetoric recycles accusations from witch trials, painting women’s autonomy as murder and spiritual warfare.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "This wasn't about spiritual purity. It had everything to do with subjugating women." (02:04:08)
• "History shows us that, no, you aren't crazy, you aren't hysterical, you aren't evil, ladies." (02:06:25)
• Monte recounts being shamed at age nine for wearing a sleeveless shirt—highlighting the lasting trauma of purity culture. (02:07:00)
• The story of the "W.I.T.C.H." oracle deck: "Woman In Total Control of Herself." (02:08:45)
• "The truth will always hold up to scrutiny… ultimately almost all of these arguments come down to money, control, and power." (02:10:10)

Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:00–09:15: Historical framing of the witch as a tool for patriarchal control
• 09:16–17:00: Monte’s personal experience with evangelical teachings about evil and the occult
• 17:01–23:00: Rational/psychological backgrounds of demonized practices (tarot, Ouija, plant medicine)
• 23:01–40:15: The social roles of women before the witch trials and their persecution as witches
• 40:16–54:00: Pagan origins of Christian ritual and holidays
• 54:01–01:09:30: The construction of misogyny in Christian doctrine and ecclesiastical law
• 01:09:31–01:20:20: The Malleus Maleficarum, witch trials across Europe
• 01:20:21–01:44:30: Salem Witch Trials—a deep dive; property, power, and the politics of accusation
• 01:44:31–END: The legacy of witch trials, links to today’s Christian Right, and the persistent co-opting of anti-woman rhetoric

Conclusion & Takeaways

Monte closes by urging listeners to scrutinize ideologies that call for the subjugation or demonization of any group, especially those cloaked in religious or traditional language:
"When we see ideologies peddled to us as morality without any justification or as the voice of God, always look at where that ideology comes from." (02:09:10)

She frames the history of the witch trials—as deliberate, not accidental—as essential for understanding contemporary struggles for female autonomy and resistance to authoritarian religious dogmas.

Tone, Style, and Language

Monte’s tone throughout is passionate, informed, and direct; blending humor (“Which biblical marriage are you talking about?… the one where David kidnapped Bathsheba from her home…?”) with seriousness and urgency. She anchors big-picture history in personal stories and modern parallels, speaking candidly to listeners—particularly women deconstructing religious trauma or confronting cultural misogyny.

This summary captures the episode’s structure, the major arguments, illustrative examples, and Monte’s original voice as she dismantles the constructed myth of the “witch” and its reverberations in today’s culture wars.