{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"startTime":5.115,"endTime":11.407,"body":"Over 30 years ago, I wrote a book with the cumbersome title of the Pagan"},{"startTime":11.407,"endTime":13.925,"body":"Religions of the Ancient British Isles."},{"startTime":14.235,"endTime":21.021,"body":"That was before I started making books sound more catchy towards its end, I made"},{"startTime":21.021,"endTime":27.807,"body":"a series of parallels between those ancient religions and the modern pagan religion of wicker,"},{"startTime":27.807,"endTime":29.165,"body":"modern pagan witchcraft."},{"startTime":29.865,"endTime":36.306,"body":"One of the differences which I suggested was that quote, no known cult in the"},{"startTime":36.306,"endTime":42.748,"body":"ancient world was carried on by devotees who all worshiped regularly in the nude as"},{"startTime":42.748,"endTime":45.325,"body":"some traditions of WIC and do."},{"startTime":45.385,"endTime":51.748,"body":"Now, the whole of the rest of this talk essentially consists of a series of"},{"startTime":51.748,"endTime":53.445,"body":"reflections on that statement."},{"startTime":54.815,"endTime":58.97,"body":"The Gresham College lecture that you're listening to right now is giving you knowledge and"},{"startTime":58.97,"endTime":63.125,"body":"insight from one of the world's leading academic experts making it takes a lot of"},{"startTime":63.125,"endTime":67.28,"body":"time, but because we want to encourage a love of learning, we think it's well"},{"startTime":67.28,"endTime":67.835,"body":"worth it."},{"startTime":68.775,"endTime":71.755,"body":"We never make you pay for lectures, although donations are needed."},{"startTime":72.055,"endTime":73.595,"body":"All we ask in return is this."},{"startTime":74.185,"endTime":76.635,"body":"Send a link to this lecture to someone you think would benefit."},{"startTime":77.015,"endTime":80.898,"body":"And if you haven't already, click the follow or subscribe button from wherever you are"},{"startTime":80.898,"endTime":81.675,"body":"listening right now."},{"startTime":82.735,"endTime":84.355,"body":"Now, let's get back to the lecture."},{"startTime":87.125,"endTime":92.256,"body":"On the one hand, I believe that I shall show in detail why it remains"},{"startTime":92.256,"endTime":93.625,"body":"correct on the other."},{"startTime":94.345,"endTime":100.865,"body":"I also intend to expose it as an entirely inadequate consideration of the subject."},{"startTime":102.425,"endTime":107.785,"body":"I intend to start by looking at the place of ritual nudity and wicker itself."},{"startTime":108.665,"endTime":114.745,"body":"Wickens themselves have provided two principle justifications for the practice."},{"startTime":115.605,"endTime":122.533,"body":"One which I have often read in print, is the body naturally releases a field"},{"startTime":122.533,"endTime":125.305,"body":"of magical energy, which clothes obstruct."},{"startTime":126.085,"endTime":132.172,"body":"The other, which I have heard more often in speech, is that it reinforces a"},{"startTime":132.172,"endTime":135.825,"body":"feeling of equality and democracy within a Wiccan group."},{"startTime":136.415,"endTime":139.625,"body":"Neither seem entirely satisfying to me."},{"startTime":140.465,"endTime":147.54,"body":"I think that the first is probably a self-fulfilling justification in that people who are"},{"startTime":147.54,"endTime":154.615,"body":"used to being naked to work ritual magic would very probably feel disempowered if made"},{"startTime":154.615,"endTime":161.69,"body":"to do so in robes or another dress, nor do I have any means of"},{"startTime":161.69,"endTime":168.765,"body":"evaluating the practical success of groups who practice magic nude as opposed to those who"},{"startTime":168.765,"endTime":174.425,"body":"do not whatever one's own views on the literal reality of magic."},{"startTime":174.895,"endTime":182.654,"body":"Whether it is seen as a symbolic system, a means of self transformation or an"},{"startTime":182.654,"endTime":190.413,"body":"operative practical tool, there is something disturbing about the concept that clo magicians are somehow"},{"startTime":190.413,"endTime":191.965,"body":"automatically second rate."},{"startTime":192.465,"endTime":200.134,"body":"It would consign to the also rams of magical history, the most famous and sophisticated"},{"startTime":200.134,"endTime":207.803,"body":"societies for the practice of ritual magic known to history, including the hermetic order of"},{"startTime":207.803,"endTime":212.405,"body":"the golden dawn, the stellar Matthew, and the emus."},{"startTime":212.875,"endTime":218.947,"body":"Both my sense of justice and my common sense urge me against such a conclusion"},{"startTime":218.947,"endTime":223.805,"body":"as for the idea that ritual nudity is in some way democratic."},{"startTime":224.465,"endTime":230.136,"body":"It runs up against the fact that many wick and covens have been among the"},{"startTime":230.136,"endTime":232.405,"body":"most intensely hierarchical groups on earth."},{"startTime":232.955,"endTime":235.965,"body":"This is not necessarily a bad thing in itself."},{"startTime":236.505,"endTime":241.292,"body":"In many ways it suits the nature of the work which they do, but it"},{"startTime":241.292,"endTime":244.165,"body":"does make the notion of equality seem rather odd."},{"startTime":245.845,"endTime":251.085,"body":"I would propose that nudity has two other practical benefits for wickens."},{"startTime":251.865,"endTime":257.939,"body":"One is that it powerfully reinforces the sense of a Wiccan circle as a place"},{"startTime":257.939,"endTime":259.964,"body":"apart from the everyday world."},{"startTime":260.704,"endTime":268.558,"body":"The combination of candlelight, incense and liturgy all work towards that end and nudity gives"},{"startTime":268.558,"endTime":275.365,"body":"a very obvious visual symbol that the normal persona has been stripped away."},{"startTime":275.875,"endTime":283.428,"body":"Many magical and esoteric groups have preparatory exercises before ceremonies to move people into an"},{"startTime":283.428,"endTime":290.982,"body":"altered state of consciousness like breathing exercises, meditations, guided visualizations simply to remove one's clothes"},{"startTime":290.982,"endTime":298.536,"body":"and step into candlelight and incense is a jolt from the everyday to a different"},{"startTime":298.536,"endTime":302.565,"body":"world that is very effective and very easy."},{"startTime":303.465,"endTime":309.034,"body":"The other benefit is that to make it work, it does demand a high degree"},{"startTime":309.034,"endTime":312.005,"body":"of mutual trust and comfort within the group."},{"startTime":312.785,"endTime":318.38,"body":"If it produces tension and discomfort instead, then it is an excellent litmus test of"},{"startTime":318.38,"endTime":320.245,"body":"a group which has problems."},{"startTime":320.935,"endTime":327.282,"body":"Conversely, if the group gets on well, but the experience of nudity enhances a slight"},{"startTime":327.282,"endTime":333.63,"body":"atmosphere of nervousness, then this tendency to put people slightly on edge can actually be"},{"startTime":333.63,"endTime":338.285,"body":"quite good in calling forth more powerful ritual performances from them."},{"startTime":339.075,"endTime":345.154,"body":"None of these reflections, however, explain what ritual nudity is doing in wicker in the"},{"startTime":345.154,"endTime":345.965,"body":"first place."},{"startTime":347.365,"endTime":353.595,"body":"A straightforward answer to this question, which I have sometimes heard, is that it reflects"},{"startTime":353.595,"endTime":359.826,"body":"the personal tastes of the individual who is certainly the first great publicist of the"},{"startTime":359.826,"endTime":363.565,"body":"religion and perhaps the main force in its conception."},{"startTime":363.825,"endTime":364.805,"body":"Gerald Gardner."},{"startTime":365.615,"endTime":372.209,"body":"There is no doubt that he was a convinced naris with an ardent belief in"},{"startTime":372.209,"endTime":377.485,"body":"the physical, social and magical employments of nudity and left to itself."},{"startTime":377.915,"endTime":381.005,"body":"This could indeed make a complete explanation."},{"startTime":381.945,"endTime":383.485,"body":"It appears trivial."},{"startTime":383.485,"endTime":390.066,"body":"However, when we stand back and look at this aspect of wicker in relation to"},{"startTime":390.066,"endTime":396.647,"body":"all its other characteristics as manifested from when it first appears at the end of"},{"startTime":396.647,"endTime":397.525,"body":"the 1940s."},{"startTime":398.635,"endTime":406.742,"body":"Here, ritual nudity takes its place as just one feature of a package adding up"},{"startTime":406.742,"endTime":409.445,"body":"to a powerfully counter-cultural mystery."},{"startTime":409.765,"endTime":416.445,"body":"Religion reversing most of the norms of mid 20th century Western society."},{"startTime":417.325,"endTime":426.546,"body":"Wicker gave a particular value and emphasis to precisely those phenomena which that society had"},{"startTime":426.546,"endTime":429.005,"body":"traditionally feared or subordinated."},{"startTime":429.425,"endTime":436.931,"body":"The night, the moon, the feminine magic, wild nature, paganism and the figure of the"},{"startTime":436.931,"endTime":444.438,"body":"witch, it was part of this package that nudity commonly used in Western culture as"},{"startTime":444.438,"endTime":451.944,"body":"a symbol of shame or weakness was turned into one of confidence and power within"},{"startTime":451.944,"endTime":452.445,"body":"Wicker."},{"startTime":453.825,"endTime":459.791,"body":"Its blatant presence in ritual was just one example of the way in which at"},{"startTime":459.791,"endTime":464.565,"body":"the middle of the 20th century, Wicker crashed the barriers of convention."},{"startTime":465.385,"endTime":470.965,"body":"All this is to make the point again that wicker is very unusual."},{"startTime":471.745,"endTime":477.48,"body":"The problem now is to settle the question of how unusual it actually is in"},{"startTime":477.48,"endTime":478.245,"body":"this respect."},{"startTime":478.815,"endTime":484.838,"body":"There is no doubt that it wasn't the context of 20th century culture, but did"},{"startTime":484.838,"endTime":486.445,"body":"it have ancient prototypes?"},{"startTime":487.845,"endTime":492.245,"body":"A scholar moving into this area has few recent signposts."},{"startTime":493.115,"endTime":499.174,"body":"Most of the research into ritual nudity in general and in ancient Europe and the"},{"startTime":499.174,"endTime":505.233,"body":"Near East in particular was for some reason carried out by German academics in the"},{"startTime":505.233,"endTime":506.445,"body":"decades around 1900."},{"startTime":507.345,"endTime":514.266,"body":"The main book on the subject by Jay Hicken published in 1911 must have been"},{"startTime":514.266,"endTime":519.804,"body":"one of the last academic works to be written entirely in Latin."},{"startTime":520.664,"endTime":526.903,"body":"The learned author was clearly terrified that if he used any living language that his"},{"startTime":526.903,"endTime":533.142,"body":"subject matter might corrupt the unsophisticated and impressionable as one of the people around the"},{"startTime":533.142,"endTime":539.381,"body":"early 20th century who did not read Latin was Gerald Gardner, the concerned German who"},{"startTime":539.381,"endTime":541.045,"body":"clearly missed the point."},{"startTime":542.505,"endTime":548.165,"body":"The ancient material shows up some immediate problems of interpretation."},{"startTime":548.905,"endTime":555.927,"body":"It is true that sculptures, vases and wall paintings across the ancient Mediterranean and Middle"},{"startTime":555.927,"endTime":559.205,"body":"East show a lot of naked people."},{"startTime":560.145,"endTime":563.085,"body":"The trouble is the near impossibility."},{"startTime":563.185,"endTime":571.707,"body":"In many cases of distinguishing literal re mythological scenes in Greek and Roman artistic convention,"},{"startTime":571.707,"endTime":575.685,"body":"most gods like Hercules on the screen."},{"startTime":576.275,"endTime":581.445,"body":"Some goddesses, many heroes are many nymphs were shown naked."},{"startTime":582.035,"endTime":585.965,"body":"This was specifically to distinguish them from ordinary humans."},{"startTime":586.825,"endTime":594.103,"body":"The rulers of Sumerian city states thousands of years earlier are sometimes shown kneeling unc"},{"startTime":594.103,"endTime":596.045,"body":"clad before a deity."},{"startTime":596.625,"endTime":603.261,"body":"It may be a literal scene of worship, but it may be an artistic expression"},{"startTime":603.261,"endTime":607.685,"body":"of the comparative loneliness and humility of the human worshiper."},{"startTime":608.995,"endTime":616.454,"body":"When all this is taken into account, there is no unequivocal evidence that any ancient"},{"startTime":616.454,"endTime":623.913,"body":"pagan religion of the European or near eastern world held rights in which all participants"},{"startTime":623.913,"endTime":625.405,"body":"were regularly naked."},{"startTime":626.145,"endTime":631.56,"body":"It is not even certain that just one or two nude people had a regular"},{"startTime":631.56,"endTime":633.005,"body":"pace place in ceremonies."},{"startTime":633.715,"endTime":639.19,"body":"Sometimes when it does seem as though proof can be obtained of this, it dissolves"},{"startTime":639.19,"endTime":640.285,"body":"on closer inspection."},{"startTime":641.185,"endTime":648.032,"body":"For example, some Roman writers describe the young men who ran around Rome every February"},{"startTime":648.032,"endTime":651.685,"body":"at the Feast of the Lu as nude."},{"startTime":652.345,"endTime":658.55,"body":"The more detailed descriptions of the custom, however, make claim that they wore goat skin"},{"startTime":658.55,"endTime":664.756,"body":"jock straps, which must have added to something of the challenges of the part in"},{"startTime":664.756,"endTime":670.962,"body":"the ritual where stark nudity is described in a ceremony it's associated with special rites"},{"startTime":670.962,"endTime":673.445,"body":"of passage rather than regular events."},{"startTime":674.305,"endTime":681.796,"body":"For example, the Man who lights the funeral pyre of the dead Viking chief in"},{"startTime":681.796,"endTime":689.288,"body":"ia LAN's famous description of a Vikings funeral in Russia in the night that the"},{"startTime":689.288,"endTime":692.285,"body":"nine twenties walks backward and unclothed."},{"startTime":692.825,"endTime":698.486,"body":"The fact that he reverses the normal direction as well as the normal mode of"},{"startTime":698.486,"endTime":704.148,"body":"dress indicates that at that moment he is being set aside from the rest of"},{"startTime":704.148,"endTime":709.81,"body":"humanity and the general nature of the world to precipitate the dead man into a"},{"startTime":709.81,"endTime":710.565,"body":"different realm."},{"startTime":712.665,"endTime":719.235,"body":"So am I saying that ritual nudity had no place in the ancient world save"},{"startTime":719.235,"endTime":725.806,"body":"as an artistic metaphor or for very occasional special events like that funeral on the"},{"startTime":725.806,"endTime":726.245,"body":"vulgar?"},{"startTime":727.065,"endTime":733.825,"body":"No, because the summary above misses out one important area in which it does seem"},{"startTime":733.825,"endTime":739.685,"body":"to have had a regular and functional part on initiation into mystery religions."},{"startTime":740.455,"endTime":746.511,"body":"There is reasonably good evidence that in some, at least the init was naked at"},{"startTime":746.511,"endTime":752.165,"body":"the time of induction in into the religion and reclothed on completing the process."},{"startTime":753.375,"endTime":761.128,"body":"There is here a clear apparent metaphor for rebirth in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic"},{"startTime":761.128,"endTime":761.645,"body":"world."},{"startTime":762.265,"endTime":767.525,"body":"It would've been a particularly strong and familiar point of resonance."},{"startTime":768.025,"endTime":774.72,"body":"The custom of a bath followed by dressing in new robes was not merely the"},{"startTime":774.72,"endTime":781.415,"body":"usual purification of somebody about to engage in any religious right, but of anybody about"},{"startTime":781.415,"endTime":786.325,"body":"to celebrate their coming of age ought to get married again."},{"startTime":786.325,"endTime":790.925,"body":"However, some care is needed in interpreting the evidence."},{"startTime":791.905,"endTime":797.809,"body":"Not all the texts which have been taken at times to support the idea of"},{"startTime":797.809,"endTime":800.565,"body":"nude initiation can do so beyond doubt."},{"startTime":801.385,"endTime":808.365,"body":"For example, the Greek playwright aristophanes has a character in a comedy speak the line."},{"startTime":808.915,"endTime":813.445,"body":"It's the custom for novices to enter unclothed nudge nudge."},{"startTime":814.275,"endTime":820.216,"body":"This may be a reference to religious mysteries, but you have to remember that one"},{"startTime":820.216,"endTime":826.158,"body":"of the signs of coming of adolescence in a Greek boy was that he was"},{"startTime":826.158,"endTime":832.099,"body":"allowed to put off all the girlish clothes of childhood and strip naked to participate"},{"startTime":832.099,"endTime":837.645,"body":"in the adult male world of the gymnasium where Greek adult males exercise naked."},{"startTime":838.545,"endTime":844.485,"body":"In some places, the novice youths were therefore called the EK Dino."},{"startTime":845.335,"endTime":849.085,"body":"Those who undress, and this could be Aristophanes point."},{"startTime":849.965,"endTime":857.474,"body":"Likewise, the great Greco-Roman philosopher Plaus asserts at one point that those who would rise"},{"startTime":857.474,"endTime":864.984,"body":"through the degrees of the holy mysteries must cast aside their clothes and go forward"},{"startTime":864.984,"endTime":865.485,"body":"naked."},{"startTime":866.465,"endTime":871.786,"body":"It may be taken literally or it may be a reference to the need for"},{"startTime":871.786,"endTime":873.205,"body":"spiritual purity and candor."},{"startTime":874.125,"endTime":880.8,"body":"A similar case attends the women's mysteries celebrated at the sanctuary of Artemis at brow"},{"startTime":880.8,"endTime":887.475,"body":"Ron in Greece, which were rites of passage for young women approaching the age of"},{"startTime":887.475,"endTime":888.365,"body":"marriage vs."},{"startTime":888.565,"endTime":890.805,"body":"Paintings associated with the brow."},{"startTime":891.055,"endTime":897.814,"body":"Ronia suggests that for some of the time the girls were naked, but again, these"},{"startTime":897.814,"endTime":904.573,"body":"scenes may have a mythological significance when all these citations have been entered and cautions"},{"startTime":904.573,"endTime":905.925,"body":"entered against them."},{"startTime":906.375,"endTime":913.005,"body":"There remain two pieces of good evidence for nude initiation into mystery religions."},{"startTime":913.745,"endTime":920.143,"body":"One which is on the screen is a set of wall paintings at a raum,"},{"startTime":920.143,"endTime":926.541,"body":"one of the temples of the mystery God RAs In Italy, they show an initiation"},{"startTime":926.541,"endTime":932.939,"body":"into RA's religion and in every one of the paintings the init is naked and"},{"startTime":932.939,"endTime":935.925,"body":"blindfolded and the in initiator is clothed."},{"startTime":937.665,"endTime":946.428,"body":"Two other and stunning pieces of evidence consists of ancient Judaic and early Christian baptism"},{"startTime":946.428,"endTime":948.765,"body":"under the Roman Empire."},{"startTime":948.835,"endTime":955.082,"body":"Both Jews and Christians were noted for their extraordinary dislike of the human body and"},{"startTime":955.082,"endTime":957.165,"body":"their aversion to its display."},{"startTime":957.825,"endTime":961.485,"body":"The Greek gymnasium in particular disgusted them."},{"startTime":962.155,"endTime":970.368,"body":"This makes it all the more remarkable that contemporary testimony strongly suggests that converts to"},{"startTime":970.368,"endTime":978.581,"body":"Judaism were baptized, nude and makes it absolutely certain that Christians were baptism in the"},{"startTime":978.581,"endTime":984.605,"body":"early churches was very much a reception into a mystery religion."},{"startTime":985.425,"endTime":991.959,"body":"The postulant had to prepare for two years and enter into an intensive period of"},{"startTime":991.959,"endTime":995.445,"body":"fasting and prayer during the final seven weeks."},{"startTime":996.425,"endTime":1002.789,"body":"The actual right was a private one among a circle of inis in which the"},{"startTime":1002.789,"endTime":1009.154,"body":"postulant removed all her or his clothes was anointed in holy oil and immersed in"},{"startTime":1009.154,"endTime":1012.125,"body":"water and then dressed anew in white."},{"startTime":1013.025,"endTime":1018.251,"body":"It was directed that in the case of a woman, another female should do the"},{"startTime":1018.251,"endTime":1022.085,"body":"anointing, which had to be at several points of the body."},{"startTime":1022.905,"endTime":1027.483,"body":"If there was no other woman available, however, the priest had to do it."},{"startTime":1028.255,"endTime":1035.787,"body":"There is a cautionary tale of a Palestinian monk called Conan Conan, the bashful who"},{"startTime":1035.787,"endTime":1043.32,"body":"had to baptize a particularly beautiful woman and could not find a female Christian to"},{"startTime":1043.32,"endTime":1044.325,"body":"help him."},{"startTime":1045.105,"endTime":1052.558,"body":"He fled in panic only to be intercepted by John the Baptist, come down from"},{"startTime":1052.558,"endTime":1060.011,"body":"heaven, who helpfully signed his genitals with the cross three times and so made him"},{"startTime":1060.011,"endTime":1061.005,"body":"permanently impotent."},{"startTime":1061.735,"endTime":1065.125,"body":"After that, he got on just fine with his job."},{"startTime":1066.115,"endTime":1072.605,"body":"It's hard to imagine that such a customer would be incorporated into a religion which"},{"startTime":1072.605,"endTime":1079.096,"body":"loathed and feared nudity as much as early Christianity unless it were regarded as an"},{"startTime":1079.096,"endTime":1082.125,"body":"indispensable part of initiation to mystery faiths."},{"startTime":1083.265,"endTime":1091.052,"body":"All this data seems to be tending to a conclusion that ritual nudity had a"},{"startTime":1091.052,"endTime":1098.84,"body":"place in ancient European religion at certain key moments of transformation, but that any other"},{"startTime":1098.84,"endTime":1106.627,"body":"real for it is unproven and that it vanished from the western religious tradition at"},{"startTime":1106.627,"endTime":1114.415,"body":"the end of the ancient world once again, however, the conclusion would be premature for"},{"startTime":1114.415,"endTime":1120.645,"body":"it ignores the association between mixed sex, nude rights and Christian heresy."},{"startTime":1121.315,"endTime":1128.919,"body":"Such rights were a recurrent theme of denunciations by orthodox churchmen of deviant sorts of"},{"startTime":1128.919,"endTime":1136.524,"body":"Christian from the second to the 17th centuries it must be admitted it wasn't a"},{"startTime":1136.524,"endTime":1138.045,"body":"very common theme."},{"startTime":1138.635,"endTime":1149.02,"body":"Christian heretics were mostly and persistently accused of devil worship, cannibalism, sexual orgies, incest, and"},{"startTime":1149.02,"endTime":1150.405,"body":"child sacrifice."},{"startTime":1151.225,"endTime":1156.168,"body":"It must be thought that in that catalog nudity would be such a tame or"},{"startTime":1156.168,"endTime":1158.805,"body":"incidental item as to be hardly worth mentioning."},{"startTime":1159.835,"endTime":1166.279,"body":"This can nonetheless be argued the opposite way, that in those few cases where it"},{"startTime":1166.279,"endTime":1171.005,"body":"is included, it may be the more significant or perhaps believable."},{"startTime":1171.825,"endTime":1178.801,"body":"The trouble with those cases is that neither of them are supported by the two"},{"startTime":1178.801,"endTime":1185.778,"body":"sorts of source material which give us insight into the genuine beliefs of the unorthodox"},{"startTime":1185.778,"endTime":1192.754,"body":"writings which they produce themselves or confessions provided by them under interrogation and deposit hidden"},{"startTime":1192.754,"endTime":1193.685,"body":"legal records."},{"startTime":1194.755,"endTime":1203.822,"body":"Instead, the all allegations invariably consist of accusations made against them by orthodox churchmen determined"},{"startTime":1203.822,"endTime":1212.285,"body":"to blacken their reputations and who may have had no firsthand knowledge of them."},{"startTime":1213.075,"endTime":1218.78,"body":"Thus, in the ancient world, the Adam Amna was said to live and worship naked"},{"startTime":1218.78,"endTime":1224.485,"body":"a a nudist colony and the Brazilian is to read the Bible in the nude."},{"startTime":1225.185,"endTime":1233.788,"body":"The enes and the barbell gnostics were likewise said to have unclothed ceremonies after that"},{"startTime":1233.788,"endTime":1242.391,"body":"we have to wait almost a thousand years for the accusation to reappear, but it"},{"startTime":1242.391,"endTime":1242.965,"body":"does."},{"startTime":1243.025,"endTime":1250.719,"body":"In the case of the 14th century French sect, the tur who were supposedly given"},{"startTime":1250.719,"endTime":1258.413,"body":"to nakedness and licentiousness, another group calling themselves the men of intelligence condemned by the"},{"startTime":1258.413,"endTime":1266.108,"body":"bishop of Korey and Flanders in 1411 were said to preach inner enlightenment by the"},{"startTime":1266.108,"endTime":1270.725,"body":"Holy Spirit and go naked and practice free love."},{"startTime":1271.065,"endTime":1278.005,"body":"As a result, there's nothing to prove whether any of this is sociology or fantasy."},{"startTime":1279.025,"endTime":1285.485,"body":"The most notorious holy natures of the entire Middle Ages, where the Adam Knights of"},{"startTime":1285.485,"endTime":1291.945,"body":"Bohemia who appeared in 1420 as a sect which believed that the Catholic mass was"},{"startTime":1291.945,"endTime":1298.405,"body":"wrong and that all true believers needed was a simple meal together as a sacrament."},{"startTime":1298.935,"endTime":1305.853,"body":"Their enemies accused that some of them when wandering through hills and forests threw off"},{"startTime":1305.853,"endTime":1310.005,"body":"their clothes to recapture the primitive innocence of Eden."},{"startTime":1310.745,"endTime":1317.093,"body":"It must be noted, this isn't actually ritual nudity and may itself have been a"},{"startTime":1317.093,"endTime":1323.442,"body":"libel will never know because to attack the Catholic mass in 1420 was to play"},{"startTime":1323.442,"endTime":1329.791,"body":"in the top league of medieval heretics and almost all of the mites were wiped"},{"startTime":1329.791,"endTime":1331.485,"body":"out within a year."},{"startTime":1332.275,"endTime":1339.965,"body":"Nonetheless, for the next four centuries, the mites were to be the classic naked worshipers"},{"startTime":1339.965,"endTime":1347.656,"body":"in the Western European imagination, TROs it out every time that conservative Christians wanted examples"},{"startTime":1347.656,"endTime":1351.245,"body":"of the dreadful consequences of religious toleration."},{"startTime":1352.465,"endTime":1359.985,"body":"One of those occasions was during the English revolution of the 1640s and in July,"},{"startTime":1359.985,"endTime":1367.005,"body":"1641 accusations were made in English newspapers that Adam Mites had appeared in England."},{"startTime":1368.245,"endTime":1374.886,"body":"Suspicion may be fostered of these reports by the fact that the most detailed eyewitness"},{"startTime":1374.886,"endTime":1381.085,"body":"account of their activities insisted they were meeting in large numbers in London parks."},{"startTime":1382.105,"endTime":1384.485,"body":"Nobody else seems to have seen them there."},{"startTime":1384.715,"endTime":1388.965,"body":"However, and by the end of the year, people had stopped looking for them."},{"startTime":1389.445,"endTime":1396.325,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e probably the most exciting thing ever alleged against Kensington Gardens in Hyde Park \u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":1397.025,"endTime":1404.096,"body":"The whole catalog of ancient and medieval Christian heresy therefore proves that ritual nudity was"},{"startTime":1404.096,"endTime":1411.167,"body":"an occasional charge used by the Orthodox against their enemies, but not whether any of"},{"startTime":1411.167,"endTime":1413.525,"body":"those enemies actually practiced it."},{"startTime":1414.825,"endTime":1421.956,"body":"It is not surprising therefore that it became associated with the deluxe heresy of the"},{"startTime":1421.956,"endTime":1425.285,"body":"later middle ages and early modern period."},{"startTime":1425.865,"endTime":1433.449,"body":"The new religion alleged religion imagined religion of satanic witchcraft, which some churchmen and magistrates"},{"startTime":1433.449,"endTime":1441.033,"body":"came to believe in and to accuse people of having joined from the early 15th"},{"startTime":1441.033,"endTime":1442.045,"body":"century onward."},{"startTime":1443.225,"endTime":1449.538,"body":"It is not, however, a charge much made by the demonologist who wrote about the"},{"startTime":1449.538,"endTime":1452.485,"body":"witch religion over the next 300 years."},{"startTime":1453.115,"endTime":1461.369,"body":"Neither the for aria nor the male malefic harum in the 15th century, let alone"},{"startTime":1461.369,"endTime":1469.623,"body":"the later witch hunting manuals of Jean boda Martin del Rio Bou Nico or Pierre"},{"startTime":1469.623,"endTime":1472.925,"body":"de make much reference to it."},{"startTime":1473.745,"endTime":1477.965,"body":"Nor does it feature much in the confessions made by alleged witches."},{"startTime":1479.085,"endTime":1486.565,"body":"Interestingly, when it does, it echoes the ancient tradition of in initiation into mysteries."},{"startTime":1487.185,"endTime":1493.472,"body":"In 1480, a woman interrogated at Breia in northern Italy claims that when she made"},{"startTime":1493.472,"endTime":1497.245,"body":"her pact with the devil, she offered homage nude."},{"startTime":1497.605,"endTime":1503.708,"body":"A kneeling by contrast, the nudity of witches is a very prominent feature of the"},{"startTime":1503.708,"endTime":1509.405,"body":"art of the period, especially that of northern Europe and above all of Germany."},{"startTime":1510.595,"endTime":1517.883,"body":"From the opening of the 16th century onwards, artists regularly portrayed witches casting spells and"},{"startTime":1517.883,"endTime":1521.285,"body":"attending the witches Sabbath as an clad."},{"startTime":1522.075,"endTime":1529.54,"body":"This may again have been a reflection of the fact that most of the alleged"},{"startTime":1529.54,"endTime":1537.005,"body":"practices of witches on which demonologist concentrated devil worship, cannibalism orgies did not lend themselves"},{"startTime":1537.005,"endTime":1541.485,"body":"to respectable representation in high class works of art."},{"startTime":1542.665,"endTime":1549.525,"body":"To paint or draw witches nude was an easy shorthand for representing their essential depravity."},{"startTime":1550.345,"endTime":1557.206,"body":"It may matter more however that to portray witches was one of the very few"},{"startTime":1557.206,"endTime":1564.067,"body":"socially sanctioned ways in which artists in Protestant Germany in particular could express the female"},{"startTime":1564.067,"endTime":1564.525,"body":"nude."},{"startTime":1565.785,"endTime":1574.217,"body":"It must be significant in this context that the first notable artist to represent the"},{"startTime":1574.217,"endTime":1581.525,"body":"nude was ura, who used poses ultimately from ancient depictions of pagan goddesses."},{"startTime":1582.345,"endTime":1588.21,"body":"The latter were not normally considered fit subjects in the northern Protestant world and therefore"},{"startTime":1588.21,"endTime":1590.165,"body":"witches could take their place."},{"startTime":1592.985,"endTime":1599.532,"body":"It probably counts for something too that the artist who really turned naked witches into"},{"startTime":1599.532,"endTime":1600.405,"body":"a genre."},{"startTime":1601.625,"endTime":1609.083,"body":"Dara's pupil, Hans Baldon Green is one of his works on the screen, use them"},{"startTime":1609.083,"endTime":1616.045,"body":"to convey a sense of linkage between the female body, sexuality, corruption, and death."},{"startTime":1616.795,"endTime":1622.83,"body":"This may just have been green's thing, but it may have been provoked by the"},{"startTime":1622.83,"endTime":1625.245,"body":"epidemic of syphilis then sweeping Europe."},{"startTime":1627.255,"endTime":1634.933,"body":"There is also, however, a slight possibility that the same image was rooted in popular"},{"startTime":1634.933,"endTime":1635.445,"body":"tradition."},{"startTime":1636.505,"endTime":1643.03,"body":"The only occasions in which it appears in works of demonology is when anecdotes reported"},{"startTime":1643.03,"endTime":1645.205,"body":"by common people are printed."},{"startTime":1646.325,"endTime":1653.106,"body":"A classic case is Martine del Rio who repeats a story of how near Cali"},{"startTime":1653.106,"endTime":1659.888,"body":"in 1587, a soldier shot, a naked woman outta a cloud should been hit in"},{"startTime":1659.888,"endTime":1666.669,"body":"the thigh by his musket ball and proved to be middle aged, plump, drunk, and"},{"startTime":1666.669,"endTime":1673.451,"body":"wildly indignant and refused to answer any questions as she limped off the tradition, which"},{"startTime":1673.451,"endTime":1680.232,"body":"features in such popular anecdotes is always of people traveling to and from the witches"},{"startTime":1680.232,"endTime":1680.685,"body":"Sabbath."},{"startTime":1681.875,"endTime":1687.17,"body":"It's possible that this is simply because witches were supposed to fly to the Sabbath"},{"startTime":1687.17,"endTime":1692.466,"body":"from their beds and most Europeans of the time slept naked, or it could be"},{"startTime":1692.466,"endTime":1697.761,"body":"that many witches were supposed to get to the Sabbath by rubbing a magic flying"},{"startTime":1697.761,"endTime":1701.645,"body":"ointment on their nude bodies and therefore took off at once."},{"startTime":1702.925,"endTime":1710.945,"body":"Whatever its origins and its reason the artistic tradition of the nude witch became established"},{"startTime":1710.945,"endTime":1718.965,"body":"and persistent, it is possible that this is simply, uh, part of the male gaze."},{"startTime":1719.665,"endTime":1726.184,"body":"As such, it features in the 19th century in the work of such prominent figures"},{"startTime":1726.184,"endTime":1732.704,"body":"as Goya and it's still found at the present day the question of whether early"},{"startTime":1732.704,"endTime":1739.223,"body":"modern witches actually worked naked is rendered a known sec with her by the total"},{"startTime":1739.223,"endTime":1744.005,"body":"absence of evidence for any actual witch religion in the period."},{"startTime":1744.745,"endTime":1750.925,"body":"The Satanic cult of the demonologist does seem to have been a complete fantasy."},{"startTime":1752.425,"endTime":1760.081,"body":"The one possible emergence into reality seems to be in the affair of the poisons"},{"startTime":1760.081,"endTime":1767.737,"body":"in late 17th century France when the king's mistress Madam Desal allegedly allowed a black"},{"startTime":1767.737,"endTime":1775.393,"body":"mass to be performed over her naked body in order to secure her power over"},{"startTime":1775.393,"endTime":1776.925,"body":"her royal lover."},{"startTime":1777.395,"endTime":1783.592,"body":"Even that's still a long way from a tradition of ritual nudity among worshipers and"},{"startTime":1783.592,"endTime":1786.485,"body":"once again, it may never have happened."},{"startTime":1787.625,"endTime":1793.85,"body":"The only text before the 20th century, in fact, which makes nudity a general rule"},{"startTime":1793.85,"endTime":1799.245,"body":"for witches at their rituals is the very late and utterly unique one."},{"startTime":1799.435,"endTime":1802.365,"body":"Charles Godfrey Leland's Raia."},{"startTime":1803.115,"endTime":1810.148,"body":"This states unequivocally and famously to witches that as the sign that you are truly"},{"startTime":1810.148,"endTime":1816.245,"body":"free, you shall be naked in your rights, both men and women also."},{"startTime":1817.225,"endTime":1826.081,"body":"It is notoriously hard, however, to determine how far raia actually reflects a genuine peasant"},{"startTime":1826.081,"endTime":1830.805,"body":"folklore tradition, let alone a genuine witch religion."},{"startTime":1831.465,"endTime":1837.27,"body":"As a result, this strange work of the 1890s cannot yet be used as any"},{"startTime":1837.27,"endTime":1839.205,"body":"conclusive evidence for the matter."},{"startTime":1840.595,"endTime":1843.845,"body":"Once again, our quarry seems to elude us."},{"startTime":1844.665,"endTime":1852.141,"body":"It may, however, make the European context planer to broaden the scope of this study"},{"startTime":1852.141,"endTime":1857.125,"body":"still further to consider the rest of the world here."},{"startTime":1857.185,"endTime":1860.925,"body":"The ancient European pattern does seem to be reproduced."},{"startTime":1861.625,"endTime":1869.8,"body":"Ritual nudity is restricted to special individuals playing particular roles such as undergoing rites of"},{"startTime":1869.8,"endTime":1872.525,"body":"passage or to exceptional moments."},{"startTime":1873.545,"endTime":1879.173,"body":"The nakedness of Indian fake ears like the one on the screen, setting them apart"},{"startTime":1879.173,"endTime":1882.925,"body":"from the conventional human world is one aspect of this."},{"startTime":1883.385,"endTime":1891.16,"body":"Though it could perhaps be termed symbolic nudity rather than ritual nudity, as it's not"},{"startTime":1891.16,"endTime":1898.936,"body":"confined to worship two naked men, personifying spirits presided over sacrificial rights among the coastal"},{"startTime":1898.936,"endTime":1902.565,"body":"tribes of what is now British Columbia."},{"startTime":1904.225,"endTime":1912.325,"body":"In Samoa, a sacred virgin would appear nude for the right by which she made"},{"startTime":1912.325,"endTime":1920.425,"body":"her transition to a married woman after in the Marza islands also in the Pacific,"},{"startTime":1920.425,"endTime":1928.525,"body":"women would dance naked at the funeral of a chief apparently as representations of life"},{"startTime":1928.525,"endTime":1929.605,"body":"and vitality."},{"startTime":1930.695,"endTime":1933.485,"body":"Other examples all seem to be of this order."},{"startTime":1934.495,"endTime":1940.072,"body":"There are sometimes rumors of cults in India, which involve naked worship, but none of"},{"startTime":1940.072,"endTime":1945.649,"body":"these seem to be so far confirmed and seem also to be confined to members"},{"startTime":1945.649,"endTime":1946.765,"body":"of one sex."},{"startTime":1948.025,"endTime":1954.082,"body":"The most famous one is uh, attached to the worship of a South Indian goddess"},{"startTime":1954.082,"endTime":1958.525,"body":"and her temple called re Camba, but that is an ordeal."},{"startTime":1959.035,"endTime":1960.285,"body":"It's not an act of worship."},{"startTime":1960.915,"endTime":1967.039,"body":"It's confined to individuals who were until the Indian government banned it in the 1990s,"},{"startTime":1967.039,"endTime":1973.163,"body":"expected to run five miles across country to her temple in order to fulfill a"},{"startTime":1973.163,"endTime":1975.205,"body":"vow or obtain a wish."},{"startTime":1975.795,"endTime":1977.805,"body":"It's not an act of ritual worship."},{"startTime":1978.475,"endTime":1984.481,"body":"It's uh, an act which is regarded as dangerous, risky, and unpleasant, and performed as"},{"startTime":1984.481,"endTime":1987.685,"body":"a means of showing sacrifice to the goddess."},{"startTime":1988.945,"endTime":1991.965,"body":"The pattern seems to hold in world religion."},{"startTime":1992.055,"endTime":1999.957,"body":"There appear to be no certain historical examples of religious traditions practiced by worshipers of"},{"startTime":1999.957,"endTime":2003.645,"body":"both sexes regularly meeting in the nude."},{"startTime":2004.465,"endTime":2010.577,"body":"It seems that a consistent picture is being constructed here for humanity as a whole"},{"startTime":2010.577,"endTime":2014.245,"body":"until wicker bucks the trend, it might be concluded."},{"startTime":2014.365,"endTime":2021.295,"body":"Therefore, that wicker boldly goes where none have gone before either by taking a Christian"},{"startTime":2021.295,"endTime":2028.225,"body":"stereotype of bad behavior and giving it positive and sacred connotations, showing the good in"},{"startTime":2028.225,"endTime":2035.155,"body":"it or by investing the whole of its workings with the intensity commonly associated with"},{"startTime":2035.155,"endTime":2042.085,"body":"ary rites of passage or both, it might be concluded, but it can't be for."},{"startTime":2042.085,"endTime":2048.711,"body":"There's an entire dimension to the subject which I've missed out and which I must"},{"startTime":2048.711,"endTime":2052.245,"body":"confront as the final part of this exploration."},{"startTime":2053.425,"endTime":2060.328,"body":"It takes as its starting point the fact that in every inhabited continent of the"},{"startTime":2060.328,"endTime":2067.232,"body":"world, there are peoples who have believed in the figure to which the English traditionally"},{"startTime":2067.232,"endTime":2074.135,"body":"give the name of which in the bad sense of the world, that as a"},{"startTime":2074.135,"endTime":2081.039,"body":"human being who works secret and malevolent magic against other members of the same community,"},{"startTime":2081.039,"endTime":2087.942,"body":"from motives of pure malice and that a hidden tradition passed on by inheritance in"},{"startTime":2087.942,"endTime":2092.085,"body":"initiation or contact with powers all over the world."},{"startTime":2092.324,"endTime":2099.374,"body":"Likewise, peoples who have believed in this figure have also commonly believed that witches work"},{"startTime":2099.374,"endTime":2099.845,"body":"naked."},{"startTime":2100.635,"endTime":2108.252,"body":"This is found among tribes all over tropical Africa from Zimbabwe and the trans vol"},{"startTime":2108.252,"endTime":2115.87,"body":"to Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, although not apparently in West Africa in the recent past"},{"startTime":2115.87,"endTime":2121.965,"body":"anthropologists studying those beliefs sometimes suggested a rational explanation as I did."},{"startTime":2121.965,"endTime":2127.327,"body":"In the case of the European witch is Sabbath, that as these tribal peoples usually"},{"startTime":2127.327,"endTime":2132.69,"body":"slept naked and as witches travel from beds at night, they go as they have"},{"startTime":2132.69,"endTime":2133.405,"body":"been sleeping."},{"startTime":2134.385,"endTime":2142.635,"body":"The African beliefs also, however, included other aspects of the witch stereotype, which favor a"},{"startTime":2142.635,"endTime":2144.285,"body":"less functional explanation."},{"startTime":2144.955,"endTime":2151.23,"body":"Thus, the witches concerned were believed to ride on baboons or hyenas to walk on"},{"startTime":2151.23,"endTime":2157.506,"body":"their hands, not their feet, to paint their black skins white and to eat corpse"},{"startTime":2157.506,"endTime":2157.925,"body":"flesh."},{"startTime":2158.745,"endTime":2166.45,"body":"All these mythological actions are reversals of accepted human behavior and the nudity of witches"},{"startTime":2166.45,"endTime":2174.156,"body":"in these societies in which complete social nudity is unacceptable, was unacceptable and is represents"},{"startTime":2174.156,"endTime":2176.725,"body":"the same effect at work."},{"startTime":2178.265,"endTime":2185.695,"body":"We are also customer, which is also customarily regarded as operating at night and naked"},{"startTime":2185.695,"endTime":2193.125,"body":"among the Troian islanders of the southwestern Pacific, the Navajo of the southwestern United States."},{"startTime":2193.785,"endTime":2196.805,"body":"The Arabs are many of the peoples of India."},{"startTime":2197.545,"endTime":2203.282,"body":"In Bengal, a would be witch who lacked a teacher was expected to go to"},{"startTime":2203.282,"endTime":2206.725,"body":"the cremation ground at midnight, take off her clothes."},{"startTime":2207.195,"endTime":2215.132,"body":"Bengali witches were stereotypically female and commence a right to gain power over spirits, even"},{"startTime":2215.132,"endTime":2223.07,"body":"in northeastern Siberia, not one of the world's regions apparently friendly to nudity the Chukchi"},{"startTime":2223.07,"endTime":2226.245,"body":"people who had shamans to work."},{"startTime":2226.245,"endTime":2235.067,"body":"Magical operations expected a shaman wanting to utter a curse to perform naked and in"},{"startTime":2235.067,"endTime":2242.125,"body":"the moonlight healing operations by contrast or indoor events requiring special clothing."},{"startTime":2243.475,"endTime":2249.558,"body":"Once again, it seems possible to work to towards a conclusion that all over the"},{"startTime":2249.558,"endTime":2255.641,"body":"world there is an ancient belief that which is in the bad sense work naked"},{"startTime":2255.641,"endTime":2261.725,"body":"as part of their general symbolic function of breaking the rules of conventional human behavior."},{"startTime":2262.455,"endTime":2270.127,"body":"Again, too, it seems possible to credit wicker with inventing those symbolic functions with positive"},{"startTime":2270.127,"endTime":2272.685,"body":"qualities and their worldwide description."},{"startTime":2273.285,"endTime":2282.507,"body":"Distribution strengthens its claims to be a counter-cultural religion, par excellence redeeming traditionally despised aspects"},{"startTime":2282.507,"endTime":2289.885,"body":"of human potential and once again, such a conclusion would be pme."},{"startTime":2290.945,"endTime":2296.621,"body":"The most revealing way of putting this image of the witch into perspective is to"},{"startTime":2296.621,"endTime":2300.405,"body":"take a sideways step into the broader world of magic."},{"startTime":2302.195,"endTime":2310.165,"body":"Here I'm putting my weight behind a holy traditional distinction between religious and magical activities,"},{"startTime":2310.165,"endTime":2318.136,"body":"one used by many anthropologists and most ancient historians till recently, but first formulated by"},{"startTime":2318.136,"endTime":2325.045,"body":"the ancient Greeks and built into subsequent western culture in acts of religion."},{"startTime":2325.545,"endTime":2332.81,"body":"The human being is essentially a supplicant according to this definition, seeking to ask the"},{"startTime":2332.81,"endTime":2340.076,"body":"divine for favors and then wholly dependent on the divine will for results in acts"},{"startTime":2340.076,"endTime":2341.045,"body":"of magic."},{"startTime":2341.425,"endTime":2348.343,"body":"The human being has some measure of operative control over the result at the least"},{"startTime":2348.343,"endTime":2355.261,"body":"by an arcane understanding of the mechanisms of the natural world and at most by"},{"startTime":2355.261,"endTime":2356.645,"body":"compelling superhuman entities."},{"startTime":2357.905,"endTime":2364.445,"body":"In holding to this distinction, I don't deny that religion and magic represent different points"},{"startTime":2364.445,"endTime":2368.805,"body":"on a spectrum rather than two distinct and opposed phenomena."},{"startTime":2369.765,"endTime":2374.94,"body":"I do not deny that magical acts often take place in religious context and vice"},{"startTime":2374.94,"endTime":2375.285,"body":"versa."},{"startTime":2376.085,"endTime":2383.027,"body":"I certainly don't suggest that magic should be seen as in some way inherently inferior"},{"startTime":2383.027,"endTime":2389.045,"body":"to religion or that this dichotomy should necessarily applied to extra European cultures."},{"startTime":2390.245,"endTime":2397.833,"body":"I just find it a distinction which works well in certain contexts and one of"},{"startTime":2397.833,"endTime":2405.422,"body":"those contexts is that of ritual nudity acts of magic after all represent ritual applied"},{"startTime":2405.422,"endTime":2413.011,"body":"to special and extra extraordinary occasions requiring a shift of consciousness or a redefinition of"},{"startTime":2413.011,"endTime":2417.565,"body":"being every bit as much as rites of passage."},{"startTime":2418.505,"endTime":2425.122,"body":"It should therefore not be surprising to find that nudity plays a very prominent part"},{"startTime":2425.122,"endTime":2426.005,"body":"in magic."},{"startTime":2427.065,"endTime":2432.803,"body":"It is found in the Bible where both a king sa and a prophet is"},{"startTime":2432.803,"endTime":2438.542,"body":"equal, are portrayed as removing their clothing in order to obtain the gift of second"},{"startTime":2438.542,"endTime":2438.925,"body":"sight."},{"startTime":2439.665,"endTime":2446.091,"body":"It is found in ancient Greek and Roman literature where certain potent herbs are specified"},{"startTime":2446.091,"endTime":2450.805,"body":"as to be picked by a naked person operating at night."},{"startTime":2451.895,"endTime":2458.729,"body":"Pliny the Roman natural historian describes a cure for an abscess consisting of a poltus"},{"startTime":2458.729,"endTime":2463.285,"body":"applied by a nude virgin speaking a charm to Apollo."},{"startTime":2464.545,"endTime":2467.605,"body":"It is plain in the medieval and early modern period too."},{"startTime":2468.345,"endTime":2474.141,"body":"In particular, nudity was employed by young women in solitary spells and charms by which"},{"startTime":2474.141,"endTime":2479.938,"body":"they sought to win a husband or to learn the identity of a good future"},{"startTime":2479.938,"endTime":2480.325,"body":"partner."},{"startTime":2481.255,"endTime":2488.15,"body":"These are recorded in a series of 16th and 17th century spell collections, and one"},{"startTime":2488.15,"endTime":2495.045,"body":"example was given by Martin Luther, the great German reformer himself in his table talk."},{"startTime":2495.955,"endTime":2503.022,"body":"This context makes it very significant, if not very surprising, that when nudity does feature"},{"startTime":2503.022,"endTime":2510.089,"body":"in the confessions of people accused of witchcraft, it is usually in the description of"},{"startTime":2510.089,"endTime":2512.445,"body":"acts of solitary spell casting."},{"startTime":2512.975,"endTime":2516.325,"body":"Women tried for sorcery in late 14th century."},{"startTime":2516.655,"endTime":2522.565,"body":"Italy gave accounts of such acts by starlight and involving candles in dishes."},{"startTime":2523.425,"endTime":2529.871,"body":"One of the women accused of witchcraft at Aberdeen in 1597 was seen by a"},{"startTime":2529.871,"endTime":2536.318,"body":"neighbor allegedly engaged in a writeup upon her own farmland at harvest time of pulling"},{"startTime":2536.318,"endTime":2542.765,"body":"up her clothes over her head and walking backwards while casting stones back and forth."},{"startTime":2545.075,"endTime":2553.632,"body":"This account rings true because of the parallel operations recorded in the European folklore collections"},{"startTime":2553.632,"endTime":2556.485,"body":"of the last 200 years."},{"startTime":2557.275,"endTime":2562.725,"body":"Once again, solitary acts by young women interested in their marital prospects."},{"startTime":2562.845,"endTime":2568.78,"body":"A prominent one of the most commonly quoted at the present consisted of running over"},{"startTime":2568.78,"endTime":2573.925,"body":"the stone circle of the Midlands, the roll right stones on midsummer night."},{"startTime":2574.435,"endTime":2576.565,"body":"Sometimes they were collective."},{"startTime":2577.285,"endTime":2583.129,"body":"A rainmaking spell recorded in Romania consisted of the floating of a harrow, an agricultural"},{"startTime":2583.129,"endTime":2587.805,"body":"tool in a brook at midnight by a group of naked women."},{"startTime":2588.915,"endTime":2595.283,"body":"Finally, such associations are also found across the extra European world in Ben Gaul drought"},{"startTime":2595.283,"endTime":2601.651,"body":"was said to be ended if nude women dragged a plow across a field after"},{"startTime":2601.651,"endTime":2608.02,"body":"dark, remembering that the same region a woman was supposed to undress to become a"},{"startTime":2608.02,"endTime":2608.445,"body":"witch."},{"startTime":2609.035,"endTime":2612.005,"body":"This is fairly obviously an act of good witchcraft."},{"startTime":2612.895,"endTime":2618.805,"body":"There are parallel male rights elsewhere in the globe in Peru and Indonesia."},{"startTime":2619.505,"endTime":2627.389,"body":"Men and boys would assemble naked by knight in plantations of fruit or spice trees"},{"startTime":2627.389,"endTime":2635.273,"body":"and conduct races or incantations supposed to encourage the crops among the pondo people of"},{"startTime":2635.273,"endTime":2636.325,"body":"South Africa."},{"startTime":2637.235,"endTime":2643.956,"body":"Anybody wishing to protect a house from lightning was expected to perform the spell while"},{"startTime":2643.956,"endTime":2644.405,"body":"unclothed."},{"startTime":2645.545,"endTime":2651.623,"body":"It might be wise to suppose that different symbolic systems may be an operation across"},{"startTime":2651.623,"endTime":2653.245,"body":"this range of examples."},{"startTime":2653.945,"endTime":2660.908,"body":"In many of them, the connotations of sexuality or fertility involved in nudity may have"},{"startTime":2660.908,"endTime":2662.765,"body":"been important even there."},{"startTime":2662.765,"endTime":2670.274,"body":"However, the general sense of an empowerment of an ordinary human being by the act"},{"startTime":2670.274,"endTime":2677.784,"body":"of removing the garments by which she or he is usually recognized and familiar seems"},{"startTime":2677.784,"endTime":2678.285,"body":"apparent."},{"startTime":2679.115,"endTime":2684.646,"body":"This is not very far from one function of nudity, which I have suggested in"},{"startTime":2684.646,"endTime":2687.965,"body":"er of separating the participant from the everyday world."},{"startTime":2688.585,"endTime":2693.045,"body":"It is probably in fact identical in this perspective."},{"startTime":2693.195,"endTime":2699.567,"body":"Therefore, the place of nudity in wicker is dependent not so much on its character"},{"startTime":2699.567,"endTime":2705.94,"body":"as a countercultural religion apparent, though that is, but on its character as a magical"},{"startTime":2705.94,"endTime":2706.365,"body":"religion."},{"startTime":2707.065,"endTime":2715.845,"body":"As I've argued elsewhere, wicker self-consciously dissolves the traditional human distinction between religion and magic."},{"startTime":2716.785,"endTime":2723.835,"body":"In this perspective also, there is a litmus test we can apply, which is to"},{"startTime":2723.835,"endTime":2730.885,"body":"find another religion in the modern world which has deliberately fused magic and religion and"},{"startTime":2730.885,"endTime":2732.765,"body":"see what happens there."},{"startTime":2734.075,"endTime":2742.034,"body":"Another one in which the whole group of participants regularly operated naked and it is"},{"startTime":2742.034,"endTime":2742.565,"body":"voodoo."},{"startTime":2743.565,"endTime":2752.583,"body":"A detailed account, for example, of the Midsummer night ritual, the famous voodoo Queen Marie"},{"startTime":2752.583,"endTime":2761.602,"body":"Lavo held in Louisiana in 1872 clearly shows that the entire congregation undressed for the"},{"startTime":2761.602,"endTime":2762.805,"body":"main ceremonies."},{"startTime":2763.545,"endTime":2770.685,"body":"So it seems there is an equation, religion plus lots of magic equals nudity."},{"startTime":2771.625,"endTime":2775.885,"body":"So wicker is not unique in this respect, even though it's unusual."},{"startTime":2777.915,"endTime":2784.278,"body":"What I have tried to suggest in the last 45 minutes is that the examples"},{"startTime":2784.278,"endTime":2790.642,"body":"of wicker and n voodoo can be used as a means of opening up the"},{"startTime":2790.642,"endTime":2794.885,"body":"human religious and magical psyche to reveal that ritual nudity."},{"startTime":2795.505,"endTime":2802.463,"body":"So peripheral to religion has actually been central to many views of magic after all,"},{"startTime":2802.463,"endTime":2809.421,"body":"and has a place in the human experience of how to step from one world"},{"startTime":2809.421,"endTime":2812.205,"body":"to another in a ritual act."},{"startTime":2812.805,"endTime":2814.165,"body":"I rest my case."},{"startTime":2819.615,"endTime":2820.205,"body":"Thank you."},{"startTime":2824.255,"endTime":2826.005,"body":"Thank you very much, professor Hutton."},{"startTime":2826.105,"endTime":2830.695,"body":"Um, so perhaps, uh, a first question perhaps I I I might have on the,"},{"startTime":2830.695,"endTime":2835.285,"body":"on the gender balance, I would say of, uh, female and compared to male nudity."},{"startTime":2835.745,"endTime":2842.325,"body":"Um, has female nudity perhaps been more prevalent in history, uh, compared to male nudity?"},{"startTime":2842.825,"endTime":2846.725,"body":"And if not, or if so, um, do they operate in different way?"},{"startTime":2846.755,"endTime":2851.285,"body":"Does do they, um, in a way serve different, different purposes?"},{"startTime":2851.585,"endTime":2852.525,"body":"Do we know about these?"},{"startTime":2852.665,"endTime":2858.79,"body":"The straightforward answer is no \u003claugh\u003e that, uh, ritual nudity is not gendered worldwide and"},{"startTime":2858.79,"endTime":2864.916,"body":"through history, except in specific places and societies, but that is true of so many"},{"startTime":2864.916,"endTime":2871.042,"body":"other things, like who is a witch in some societies globally, which is a stereotypically"},{"startTime":2871.042,"endTime":2877.167,"body":"female in like Europe, much of it in many others, they're stereotypically male in some"},{"startTime":2877.167,"endTime":2882.885,"body":"they're old in some they're young in some they're rich and some they're poor."},{"startTime":2883.225,"endTime":2884.365,"body":"And so it is that ritual."},{"startTime":2884.765,"endTime":2890.738,"body":"Nudity is gendered one way or the other in particular societies, but overall, there is"},{"startTime":2890.738,"endTime":2893.925,"body":"no listing towards one side or the other."},{"startTime":2894.555,"endTime":2894.845,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":2894.855,"endTime":2895.525,"body":"Thank you very much."},{"startTime":2895.645,"endTime":2900.879,"body":"I I think you began to touch on this towards the end, but isn't this"},{"startTime":2900.879,"endTime":2906.113,"body":"nakedness thing, this kind of primeval force, which is all about fertility and childbirth and"},{"startTime":2906.113,"endTime":2911.348,"body":"procreation and male prowess, hunters and warriors, and so you see it in Venus figurines"},{"startTime":2911.348,"endTime":2915.885,"body":"or in cave art or rock art that shows naked hunters and warriors."},{"startTime":2916.295,"endTime":2917.885,"body":"Isn't isn't that what it's all about really?"},{"startTime":2918.035,"endTime":2921.685,"body":"It's, it's that sort of prime evil fertility and prowess thing."},{"startTime":2922.145,"endTime":2923.805,"body":"I'm being terribly negative tonight."},{"startTime":2923.825,"endTime":2925.245,"body":"The answer is no, \u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":2925.585,"endTime":2929.605,"body":"Uh, we don't actually know what a lot of these prehistoric images mean."},{"startTime":2930.305,"endTime":2937.791,"body":"Uh, the Venus figurines, IE the images of, uh, naked women from the European and"},{"startTime":2937.791,"endTime":2941.285,"body":"Asian old Stone Age could be deities."},{"startTime":2942.115,"endTime":2945.085,"body":"They could be used in healing rights for women."},{"startTime":2945.595,"endTime":2951.085,"body":"They could be representations of priestesses, they could be works of art."},{"startTime":2951.305,"endTime":2956.903,"body":"We just do not know it could be any of those things and more, and"},{"startTime":2956.903,"endTime":2962.501,"body":"the Victorians and the Edwardians were mad about fertility as being the basis of, uh,"},{"startTime":2962.501,"endTime":2968.099,"body":"indigenous and pagan religions, and in fact, they are confined to only a, it is"},{"startTime":2968.099,"endTime":2971.085,"body":"confined to only a small portion of them."},{"startTime":2971.825,"endTime":2977.57,"body":"And in many of these nude rituals, there seems to be no obvious connection with"},{"startTime":2977.57,"endTime":2979.485,"body":"fertility or sexuality at all."},{"startTime":2979.985,"endTime":2985.967,"body":"The lowest common denominator is transforming oneself into a magical space by getting rid of"},{"startTime":2985.967,"endTime":2986.765,"body":"one's clothes."},{"startTime":2987.435,"endTime":2993.401,"body":"It's a stepping from one world to another, from one identity to another in a"},{"startTime":2993.401,"endTime":2999.367,"body":"very striking, jarring and, uh, counter-cultural way, a way that shocks people into realizing they're"},{"startTime":2999.367,"endTime":2999.765,"body":"different."},{"startTime":3001.265,"endTime":3006.438,"body":"Um, we've got a question online from someone asking about baptism and, and and Judaism"},{"startTime":3006.438,"endTime":3011.611,"body":"and early Christianity, if they could not be explained just by the fact that bathing"},{"startTime":3011.611,"endTime":3015.405,"body":"being a new to activity and baptism being birthing off impurity."},{"startTime":3015.905,"endTime":3022.24,"body":"Yes, that is correct, but, uh, the common ritual found throughout the ancient mystery religions,"},{"startTime":3022.24,"endTime":3028.576,"body":"including RAs, which involved no bathing Mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e, but involve putting off clothes and them"},{"startTime":3028.576,"endTime":3033.645,"body":"being dressed anew and going through the heart of the right arm."},{"startTime":3033.835,"endTime":3036.725,"body":"Clad is a very clear metaphor for rebirth."},{"startTime":3037.425,"endTime":3044.778,"body":"Um, there is no reason whatsoever why people being bathed and cleanse couldn't have done"},{"startTime":3044.778,"endTime":3052.131,"body":"so in a simple garment, but they had to be completely naked and anointed to"},{"startTime":3052.131,"endTime":3059.485,"body":"cleanse them, and that was a part of the process of recreation of somebody's identity."},{"startTime":3060.465,"endTime":3067.627,"body":"My question is wouldn't require putting on a new personality or rebirth, um, require putting"},{"startTime":3067.627,"endTime":3074.79,"body":"on some gear or some jewelry or some robe in addition to just getting naked"},{"startTime":3074.79,"endTime":3079.565,"body":"because, um, just getting naked can, can also be okay."},{"startTime":3079.565,"endTime":3084.625,"body":"You, it's like an dressing for the night or go bathing or go swimming and,"},{"startTime":3084.625,"endTime":3087.325,"body":"uh, so that does nothing to my personality."},{"startTime":3087.355,"endTime":3093.236,"body":"Yeah, but just, um, so that's, I'm, I'm not, uh, convinced yet by just getting"},{"startTime":3093.236,"endTime":3094.805,"body":"naked without putting No,"},{"startTime":3094.995,"endTime":3095.965,"body":"It's, you're absolutely right."},{"startTime":3096.225,"endTime":3097.685,"body":"Uh, and it's not just getting naked."},{"startTime":3097.985,"endTime":3103.906,"body":"The being re clad in new garments that are loaded with symbolic significance is a"},{"startTime":3103.906,"endTime":3105.485,"body":"vital part of it."},{"startTime":3106.025,"endTime":3112.082,"body":"Uh, I was simply hunting for ritual nudity, so I homed it on that stage"},{"startTime":3112.082,"endTime":3118.139,"body":"of a long and complex process of initiation, but the fact that it is so"},{"startTime":3118.139,"endTime":3124.197,"body":"common in the ancient world and permeates even religions like Judaism and Christianity, I think"},{"startTime":3124.197,"endTime":3125.005,"body":"is significant."},{"startTime":3126.375,"endTime":3126.805,"body":"Thank you."},{"startTime":3127.025,"endTime":3129.805,"body":"Um, another question from online before you, sir."},{"startTime":3129.805,"endTime":3134.415,"body":"We'll, we'll get \u003claugh\u003e, um, uh, someone is asking you about the, um, Roman Festival"},{"startTime":3134.415,"endTime":3139.026,"body":"of Luca, and if you could expand on, on the, the, the nudity and how"},{"startTime":3139.026,"endTime":3141.485,"body":"it operated in, in Rome at that time."},{"startTime":3141.795,"endTime":3143.805,"body":"Well, it wasn't complete nudity."},{"startTime":3144.115,"endTime":3147.125,"body":"It's, it consists of a bunch of noble young men."},{"startTime":3147.125,"endTime":3150.567,"body":"This is an elite thing on for the city, for the, it was a great"},{"startTime":3150.567,"endTime":3151.485,"body":"honor to do it."},{"startTime":3151.625,"endTime":3157.802,"body":"So the, these are toffs, uh, who stripped down to a goatskin jockstrap meet together"},{"startTime":3157.802,"endTime":3163.98,"body":"in a primeval cave, uh, on one of the Roman hills that had been preserved"},{"startTime":3163.98,"endTime":3170.158,"body":"for this and go around, uh, the streets running around, uh, hitting women, uh, it"},{"startTime":3170.158,"endTime":3175.925,"body":"seems politely, uh, with strips of goat skin to encourage them to be fertile"},{"startTime":3176.565,"endTime":3176.645,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":3178.015,"endTime":3184.308,"body":"There, there was a, a Roman phobia, particularly around the end of, uh, the Republican"},{"startTime":3184.308,"endTime":3187.245,"body":"era about the population of Romans declining."},{"startTime":3187.265,"endTime":3187.845,"body":"Oh, declining."},{"startTime":3187.905,"endTime":3188.205,"body":"All right."},{"startTime":3188.425,"endTime":3194.245,"body":"And so, uh, great lengths were encouraged in order to make the Romans have more"},{"startTime":3194.245,"endTime":3198.125,"body":"children, like bachelor taxes was, uh, was one of them."},{"startTime":3198.385,"endTime":3202.838,"body":"But also just trying to get Romans who wanted to produce babies to produce them"},{"startTime":3202.838,"endTime":3207.291,"body":"faster and more easily was another obvious recourse, and that was what Luther Cario was"},{"startTime":3207.291,"endTime":3207.885,"body":"all about."},{"startTime":3208.955,"endTime":3214.419,"body":"Just thinking about the, the sort of shock factor of, of the ritual, uh, nudity,"},{"startTime":3214.419,"endTime":3219.883,"body":"is there any evidence that in, in, in societies where it doesn't generate the shock"},{"startTime":3219.883,"endTime":3225.347,"body":"factor such I'm thinking, you know, typically, uh, modern Germany or something that, uh, they"},{"startTime":3225.347,"endTime":3226.805,"body":"have an alternative for?"},{"startTime":3226.905,"endTime":3228.565,"body":"Uh, for ritual nudity?"},{"startTime":3228.795,"endTime":3229.085,"body":"It's"},{"startTime":3229.085,"endTime":3229.845,"body":"A very good question."},{"startTime":3230.055,"endTime":3234.245,"body":"Again, uh, I do not have a clear answer to it."},{"startTime":3234.825,"endTime":3241.5,"body":"Uh, there are peoples in the world who have habitually gone naked, uh, especially in"},{"startTime":3241.5,"endTime":3248.175,"body":"parts of South America and there, there are a few other places, but, uh, it's,"},{"startTime":3248.175,"endTime":3254.405,"body":"uh, those peoples do not seem to regard nudity as magical as a result."},{"startTime":3254.425,"endTime":3262.451,"body":"But there are very few human societies who have traditionally practiced social nudity, and it's"},{"startTime":3262.451,"endTime":3270.478,"body":"surprising to us in fully clothed societies how little it takes for certain indigenous societies"},{"startTime":3270.478,"endTime":3276.365,"body":"in the past to regard themselves as clothed and not naked."},{"startTime":3276.985,"endTime":3283.946,"body":"Uh, for example, uh, in the early 19th century among the expanding Zulu empire, the"},{"startTime":3283.946,"endTime":3290.908,"body":"Zulu people among, uh, well, the Zulu men were regarded as being fully dressed and"},{"startTime":3290.908,"endTime":3292.765,"body":"fit for polite society."},{"startTime":3293.305,"endTime":3299.164,"body":"If the genitals, uh, alone were covered or even if, uh, the main item in"},{"startTime":3299.164,"endTime":3305.023,"body":"them was sheathed fully, they're regarded as being able to go out and present themselves"},{"startTime":3305.023,"endTime":3305.805,"body":"without shock."},{"startTime":3306.265,"endTime":3308.845,"body":"But if they were fully undressed, it was shocking."},{"startTime":3309.905,"endTime":3315.605,"body":"So humans establish different boundaries at different points for what's regarded as nakedness."},{"startTime":3316.075,"endTime":3319.245,"body":"There's something similar in parts of Pap Puni Guinea again."},{"startTime":3320.415,"endTime":3320.845,"body":"Thank you."},{"startTime":3321.265,"endTime":3325.405,"body":"Um, another question, this is, uh, related to wika."},{"startTime":3325.765,"endTime":3330.455,"body":"A neo paganism is, um, it's, um, the practice, the ritual nudity of, of wika"},{"startTime":3330.455,"endTime":3332.645,"body":"is often referred as being sky cla."},{"startTime":3333.345,"endTime":3339.75,"body":"Um, is this a translation from the Jane tradition, N ga Skylar meaning, uh, with"},{"startTime":3339.75,"endTime":3340.605,"body":"nude monks?"},{"startTime":3340.905,"endTime":3341.125,"body":"Yes."},{"startTime":3341.235,"endTime":3341.765,"body":"Spot on."},{"startTime":3342.285,"endTime":3342.885,"body":"Absolutely correct."},{"startTime":3343.505,"endTime":3349.278,"body":"Uh, wicker, or let's be precise, Gerald Gardner lifted some of its, well, a few"},{"startTime":3349.278,"endTime":3355.051,"body":"of its most evocative to terminology from the Indian subcontinent, but then Gerald was very"},{"startTime":3355.051,"endTime":3360.825,"body":"well read in Indian and far Eastern religions 'cause he spent most of his life"},{"startTime":3360.825,"endTime":3362.365,"body":"out there in Malaysia."},{"startTime":3362.905,"endTime":3363.125,"body":"Hi."},{"startTime":3363.125,"endTime":3363.325,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":3363.425,"endTime":3364.885,"body":"Um, is there, sorry."},{"startTime":3364.885,"endTime":3365.325,"body":"I'll do that."},{"startTime":3365.605,"endTime":3370.605,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":3365.985,"endTime":3371.473,"body":"Is there any evidence, um, that practicing naked also had an element of having nothing"},{"startTime":3371.473,"endTime":3372.205,"body":"to hide?"},{"startTime":3372.665,"endTime":3376.96,"body":"So if you do believe that what you are doing has very real effects on"},{"startTime":3376.96,"endTime":3381.256,"body":"the world around you, this idea that you are, you are naked so that you"},{"startTime":3381.256,"endTime":3385.552,"body":"uh, don't have any ill intent or any ulterior motive that could be otherwise hidden"},{"startTime":3385.552,"endTime":3386.125,"body":"by clothing,"},{"startTime":3386.805,"endTime":3387.925,"body":"I think that's a very good point."},{"startTime":3388.165,"endTime":3389.765,"body":"I think it's entirely possible."},{"startTime":3390.155,"endTime":3396.396,"body":"It's hard for me to pinpoint specific sources that explicitly enunciate that, but I think"},{"startTime":3396.396,"endTime":3397.645,"body":"it's extremely compelling."},{"startTime":3398.925,"endTime":3403.005,"body":"Truthfulness, \u003claugh\u003e, there's a gentleman over there."},{"startTime":3403.575,"endTime":3404.285,"body":"Thank you very much."},{"startTime":3404.315,"endTime":3409.201,"body":"Just kind of following up on that actually in the, um, in Tibetan Buddhism like"},{"startTime":3409.201,"endTime":3414.088,"body":"should practice the charnel ground practice, like you were talking about with the Bengali, uh,"},{"startTime":3414.088,"endTime":3418.975,"body":"es is usually performed in the nude and uh, that is very much about nudity"},{"startTime":3418.975,"endTime":3422.885,"body":"being associated with the natural state and the symbolism of na naturalness."},{"startTime":3423.225,"endTime":3426.693,"body":"And that kind of seems in contrast to what you're saying about nudity as something"},{"startTime":3426.693,"endTime":3426.925,"body":"otherworldly."},{"startTime":3427.465,"endTime":3429.925,"body":"Uh, I just wonder what you think about that in terms of religious context."},{"startTime":3431.045,"endTime":3432.445,"body":"I think it's probably quite correct."},{"startTime":3432.805,"endTime":3437.525,"body":"I think it's another aspect of another dimension of the ritual use of nudity."},{"startTime":3438.225,"endTime":3444.02,"body":"Uh, I'm very shaky on indigenous beliefs in other parts of the world outside Europe"},{"startTime":3444.02,"endTime":3446.725,"body":"because they're so don much of it."},{"startTime":3447.425,"endTime":3450.445,"body":"And, uh, so really I'm just cherry picking."},{"startTime":3450.475,"endTime":3451.565,"body":"Well, not even cherry picking."},{"startTime":3451.565,"endTime":3457.725,"body":"Cherry picking means you select the most convenient or the most attractive items, really."},{"startTime":3457.925,"endTime":3462.397,"body":"I select the items I run into in the course of reading and the amount"},{"startTime":3462.397,"endTime":3466.87,"body":"that I can read in depth on any one next to European culture is going"},{"startTime":3466.87,"endTime":3467.765,"body":"to be limited."},{"startTime":3468.345,"endTime":3470.245,"body":"So I confess my limitations there."},{"startTime":3471.385,"endTime":3477.122,"body":"Uh, thank you very much, professor, professor, uh, Hutten and uh, please join us for"},{"startTime":3477.122,"endTime":3480.565,"body":"professor uh, Ronald Hutton next lecture, uh, on the."}]}