Margaret Alice Murray

“ The Swedish witches (1669) said:
'He set us on a Beast which he had there ready, and carried us over Churches and high walls ... he gives us a horn with a Salve in it, wherewith we do anoint our selves; and then he gives us a Saddle, with a Hammer and a wooden nail, thereby to fix the Saddle; whereupon we call upon the Devil, and away we go ... For their journey they said they made use of all sorts of Instruments, of Beasts, of Men, of Spits and Posts. What the manner of their Journey is, God alone knows ... Blockula is scituated in a delicate large Meadow whereof you can see no end. ”

“ In an immense majority of cases the means of locomotion are not even mentioned, presumably therefore the witches went on foot, as would naturally be the case in going to the local meeting or Esbat, which was attended only by those who lived near. ”

“ The Swedish witches (1669) seem to have used the same site for both kinds of meetings; Blockula seems to have been a building of some kind, set in a meadow which was entered by a painted gate; within the building were rooms and some kind of chapel for the religious service. [52] The New England recorders (1692) did not enter into much detail, but even among them the fact is mentioned that there was 'a General Meeting of the Witches, in a Field at Salem-Village'. [53]
In modern times the identification of stones or of certain places with the Devil or with witch meetings is very noticeable. ”

“ The Somerset witches (1664) varied in this respect. Those of Wincanton met in different places: Elizabeth Style 'hath been at several general meetings in the night at High Common, and a Common near Motcombe, at a place near Marnhull, and at other places'.—Alice Duke 'hath been at several meetings in Lie Common, and other places in the night'. But the Brewham Coven appear to have met commonly at Hussey's Knap in Brewham Forest. ”

“ We went two seuerall tymes abowt; and all we of the Coven went still wp and downe with the plewghe, prayeing to the Divell for the fruit of that land.' [91]
The greater number of meetings were occupied with business of a magical character with the intention of harming certain specified persons; though any other kind of business was also transacted. The North Berwick witches opened the graves which the Devil indicated in order to obtain the means of making charms with dead men's bones; on another occasion they attempted to wreck a ship by magic. ”

“ De Lancre himself notes that the Sabbath must be held near a lake, stream, or water of some kind. [46] Bodin, however, gives a better clue, 'Les lieux des assemblees des Sorciers sont notables, & signalez de quelques arbres, ou croix.' [47] The croix is clearly the Christian form of the standing stone which is a marked feature in many descriptions of the Sabbath; and Bodin's statement recalls one of the laws of Cnut in the eleventh century, 'We earnestly forbid every heathenism: heathenism is, that men worship idols ”

“ The same facts were elicited from the Kinross-shire witches; Robert Wilson 'confessed ye had ane meeting with the Devill at the Stanriegate, bewest the Cruick of Devon ... the Devil appointed them to meet at the Bents of Balruddrie'.—Margaret Huggon confessed 'that ye was at another meeting with Sathan at the Stanriegate, bewest the Cruik of Devon ... lykeways ye confessed ye was at another meeting with Satan at the Heathrie Knowe be-east the Cruik of Devon, where the Gallows stands ... ”

“ Boguet's experience (1598) is more dramatic than that of Danaeus: 'Les autres y vont, tantost sur vn Bouc, tantost sur vn cheual, & tantost sur vn ballet, ou ramasse, sortans ces derniers de leurs maisons le plus souuent par la cheminee ... Les vns encor se frottent auparauant de certaine graisse, & oignement: les autres ne se frottent en aucune façon.' [35] He also records the actual evidence of individual witches: Françoise Secretain said 'qu'elle avoit esté vne infinité de fois au Sabbat & assemblee des Sorciers ... & qu'elle y alioit sur vn baston blanc, qu'elle mettoit entre ses iambes. ”

“ Human beings were also said to be ridden upon in other places besides Sweden. Agnes Spark of Forfar (1661) said she 'hard people ther present did speake of Isabell Shirie, and say that shoe was the devill's horse, and that the divill did allwayes ryde upon hir, and that shoe was shoad lyke ane mare, or ane horse'. ”

“ Margaret Johnson, of the second generation of Lancashire witches, in 1633 said 'shee was not at the greate meetinge at Hartford in the Forrest of Pendle on All Saintes day'. [64] Isobel Gowdie (Auldearne, 1662) does not enter into her usual detail, but merely states that 'a Grand Meitting vold be about the end of ilk Quarter'. ”

“ At another meeting 'they all daunced togither a whyle, and then went to Mary Rynd's house and sat doune together at the table ... and made them selfes mirrie; and the divell made much of them all, but especiallie of Mary Rynd, and he kist them all'. [85] Elspet Bruce of the same Coven, 'by turning the sive and sheires, reased the divell, who being werry hard to be laid againe, ther wes a meiting of witches for laying of him ... and at this meiting they had pipe-music and dauncing'. ”

“ Isobell Gowdie (1662) was fully reported as regards the methods of locomotion used by the witches, though in other places her evidence is unfortunately cut short:
'I haid a little horse, and wold say, "Horse and Hattock, in the Divellis name!" And than ve vold flie away, quhair ve vold, be ewin as strawes wold flie wpon an hie-way. We will flie lyk strawes quhan we pleas; wild-strawes and corne-strawes wilbe horses to ws, an ve put thaim betwixt our foot, and say, "Horse and Hattok, in the Divellis name!" ... ”

“ I have shown below (pp. 130, 178) that there is reason to believe these festivals were connected with the breeding seasons of the flocks and herds. The chief festivals were: in the spring, May Eve (April 30) , called Roodmas or Rood Day in Britain and Walpurgis-Nacht in Germany ”

“ The belief that the witches actually rode in the air seated on some concrete object, such as an animal, a human being, or a stick, is both ancient and universal, and is reflected in the ecclesiastical and civil laws, of which the earliest is the decree of the ninth century, attributed to the Council of Ancyra. 'Certeine wicked women following sathans prouocations, being seduced by the illusion of diuels, beleeve and professe, that in the night times they ride abroad with Diana, the goddesse of the Pagans, or else with Herodias, with an innumerable multitude, vpon certeine beasts ... ”

“ The Forfar witches (1661) claimed to have wrecked a ship. [97] Isobel Gowdie (1662) is as usual very dramatic in her account; on one occasion the witches met to make a charm against the minister of Auldearne, Mr. Harie Forbes: 'Satan wes with ws and learned ws the wordis to say thryse ower. Quhan we haid learned all thes wordis from the Divell, we fell all down wpon owr kneis, with owr hear down ower owr showlderis and eyes, and owr handis lifted wp, and owr eyes stedfastlie fixed wpon the Divell ”

“ Où ils se mettent à dancer à l'entour d'vne pierre, qui est plantée audit lieu, sur laquelle est assis vn grand homme noir.' [48] At Poictiers in 1574 four witches, one woman and three men, said that they went 'trois fois l'an, à l'assemblee generale, où plusieurs Sorciers se trouuoyêt prés d'vne croix d'vn carrefour, qui seruoit d'enseigne'. [49] At Aberdeen in 1596 the witches acknowledged that they danced round the market cross and the 'fische croce' on All-Hallow-eve; and also round 'ane gray stane' at the foot of the hill at Craigleauch. ”

“ This same year, betwixt the oatseid and bearseid, she was at a thrid meiting in the church yeard of Forfar in the holfe thereof, about the same tyme of the night as at the [former] meitings, viz. at midnight.—About the beginning of the last oat seid tyme, Isabell Syrie did cary hir [Jonet Howat] to the Insch within the loch of Forfar, shoe saw at this tyme, about threteen witches with the divill, and they daunced togither ... ”

“ Spelling modernized. ↑ Boguet, p. 104. ↑ Potts, G 4. ↑ Whitaker, p. 216. ↑ Pitcairn, iii, p. 604. ↑ Horneck, pt. ii, p. 320 ↑ Bodin, Fléau, p. 178. ↑ Scot, pp. 41, 184. Scot is as usual extraordinarily inaccurate in his statements. The correct formulae, as given by Wierus, will be found in Appendix V, with notes on the ingredients by Prof. A. J. Clark. ↑ Boguet, p. 96. ↑ De Lancre, Tableau, p. 148. ↑ H. G. van Elven, La Tradition, 1891, p. 215. ”

“ Lea, iii, p. 536. ↑ From a trial in the Greffe, Guernsey. ↑ Danaeus, ch. iv ↑ Boguet, p. 104. ↑ Id., pp. 9, 104. ↑ A marginal note against the word ramasse gives 'autrement balait, & en Lyonnois coiue'. ↑ Boguet, pp. 9, 97, 104. ↑ Cannaert, p. 49. ↑ Pitcairn, iii, pp. 604, 608, 613. ↑ Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 194. ↑ Howell, vi, 660; J. Hutchinson, Hist. of Massachusetts Bay, p. 31. ↑ Cotton Mather, p. 158; Burr, p. 244. See also J. Hutchinson, ii, pp. 35-6. ↑ Burr, p. 418. ↑ De Lancre, Tableau, p. 65. ↑ Id. ib., p. 72. ↑ Bodin, Fléau, p. 181. ↑ De Lancre, Tableau, p. 123. ↑ Bodin, p. 187. ”