1. 
   Zarban 2011.Jul.18 6pm

   Terrific work from the Down in Front guys. They’re big fans of the books and yet don’t love the films unconditionally. Great fun that puts the first film in context with the series without many spoilers. I think this is the nerdiest Down in Front of all.

   I think the “witches ride broomsticks” thing comes from female masturbation. Hence, the straw sticks out in front.

   0:53:45 Anthony starts in with the “who would win” questions that eventually tires the rest of the panel out.
2. 
   fardawg 2011.Jul.19 8am

   Riding on broomsticks has a murky past. They were (and still are) used in ritual dance and the cleansing of magic circles. They seem to have also been used in rituals where a narcotic ointment was applied to it that caused women to believe they were flying. The concept of women flying was also borrowed from ancient pagan mythology where they flew with goddesses. There is definitely a sexual connotation to it, but it is more complicated and tied into pagan religion.
3. 
   Zarban 2011.Jul.19 10am

   Don’t take the word of websites created by modern-day “witches” about the history of witchcraft.
4. 
   fardawg 2011.Jul.19 11am

   I didn’t. There are accounts from the witch trials regarding the use of brooms (not that they’re all that reliable, but I believe there is a grain of truth and they are the major source of the legend). There are many modern day rituals that have their origin in ancient pagan ideas that carried over with immigrants (see “pow-wowing”) and were twisted into modern practice. Where did you get the masturbation idea?
5. 
   Zarban 2011.Jul.19 2pm

   I was mostly joking, which is probably how that idea got started in the first place. To my knowledge, there are NO reliable accounts of “witchcraft” in all of history. Everything is speculation, third-hand accounts of pagan religions, and tortured confessions.

   “There are many modern day rituals that have their origin in ancient pagan ideas”

   They may claim that, but I’m pretty sure it’s true only for Haitian voodoo and some Native American, African, and Australian rituals. The Catholic church absolutely broke the back of pagan religious practice all over Europe.
6. 
   fardawg 2011.Jul.19 8pm

   “The Catholic church absolutely broke the back of pagan religious practice all over Europe.”

   Actually, they absorbed a lot of them too.

   “Everything is speculation, third-hand accounts of pagan religions, and tortured confessions.”

   That’s why I said it was murky.

   “…I’m pretty sure it’s true only for Haitian voodoo and some Native American, African, and Australian rituals.”

   “Pow-wowing” (Amish folk magic — not condoned by the vast majority of them, however) has roots in European rituals.

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