DR. MICKI PISTORIUS

Meddling and Peddling Poisons and Potions

In Greek mythology, Medea, princess of Colchis, was regarded as a sorceress, an accomplished “pharmakeía” and is often depicted as a high-priestess of the goddess, Hecate. When Medea was abandoned by her husband Jason in favour of Glauke, princess of Corinth, she took revenge on her rival by sending her a dress and a crown […]

Powerful Princesses and Policial Poisonings

Where the motive of the 17th-century Spana Prosecution poisoners was to rid themselves of their abusive husbands, there exists another class of poisoners – those who use poison for political advancement. Long before the Renaissance trio of Thofiania d’Adamo, Giullia Tofana and Gironima Spana concocted the arsenic-based Aqua Tofana, Rome’s most famous poisoner was Locusta, […]

A Renegade Gang of Roman Renaissance Female Serial Killers?

Ironically the word ‘arsenic’ originates from Greek folk etymology as ‘arsenikon’, a neuter form of the Greek adjective ‘arsenikos’ meaning “male”, or “virile” and over centuries it was arsenic that women have been using to eliminate the males in their lives. In the mid 1600’s a trio of Renaissance Italian woman with a keen sense […]

The Sisterhood of Arsenic and Old Lace – Lethal Old Ladies

A champion for children’s rights and an activist for socio-economic reform, whose own father was committed to a debtor’s prison, was Victorian era author and literary genius, Charles John Huffam Dickens. In one of his lesser-known novels, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens raises the theme of an elderly man, Old Martin, employing […]

Angels of Death- Tipping the Scales of Themis

Themis is the Greek goddess of justice, divine order, law, and custom and her symbol is the Scales of Justice. Her Roman equivalent is Justitia. She personifies divine law – “that which is put in place”. Judges were often referred to as “themistopóloi” – the servants of Themis. Many defence lawyers in Angel-of-Death nursing […]

Micki Pistorius was born on 19 March 1961 in Pretoria to her parents Carl Wilhelm Irene Pistorius and Iolanthe Tancred. Both her parents cultivated an interest in history and encouraged their children to read. As a child Micki always wanted to be a writer. Her childhood was nomadic and she attended several primary schools and […]