Scourge same period we meet with the private use of the "discipline" by such saintly persons as King Louis IX of France and Elisabeth of Hungary. Semi-literal usages such as "the scourge of God" for Attila the Hun (i.e. "God's whip with which to punish the nations") led to metaphoric uses to mean a severe affliction, e.g. "the scourge of drug abuse". The scourge is described as one of the tools used in Wicca, primarily in the Gardnerian Tradition. The purpose of using the scourge is not to cause pain or to torture, but for purification purposes, particularly for Initiates. The
Scourge scourge is a reminder to the coven members that one must suffer in order to learn. During the Initiation, the Initiate is scourged by the Initiator gently to follow the Three-Fold Law. It is also used during the Drawing Down the Moon Rite by the High Priestess. In the Legend of the Descent of the Goddess, the Goddess is described as being scourged by the God for rebuffing his love when she goes to the Underworld to learn about death. Scourge A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification.