One of the false claims against Cannabis Witchcraft has been the claim that cannabis and Witchcraft in general are supposedly the cause of milk cows going dry and failing to produce milk.
In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued an edict entitled Summis desiderantes affectibus alleging that many men and women in collusion with the Devil supposedly caused disease and pestilence, harmed harvests and cattle, and perpetuated other heinous crimes.
Martin Luther, when interpretting Exodus 22:18, claimed that with the help of the Devil, Witches could steal milk simply by thinking of a cow.
In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther taught that Witchcraft was a sin against the second commandment and prescribed the Biblical death penalty for it in a “table talk”.
On 25 August 1538 there was much discussion about witches and sorceresses who steal chicken egss out of nests, or steal milk and butter. Doctor Luther said “One should so no mercy to these [women]; I would burn them myself, for we read in the Law that the priests were the ones to begin the stoning of criminals.”
The original Latin and German text:
25, Augusti multa dicebant de veneficis et incantatricibus, quae ova ex gallinis et lac et butyrum furarentur. Respondit Lutherus: Cum illis nulla habenda est misericordia. Ich wolte sie selber verprennen, more legis, ubi sacerdotes reos lapidare incipiebant.”
