Margaret Alice Murray

“ In fertility cults it is one of the chief features, not only symbolizing the fertilizing power in the whole animate world, but, in the belief of the actors, actually assisting it and promoting its effects.
Such fertility rites are governed by certain rules, which vary in different countries, particularly as to the age of girls, i.e. whether they are over or under puberty. Among the witches there appears to have been a definite rule that no girl under puberty had sexual intercourse with the Devil. ”

“ The witches' habit of speaking of every person of the other sex with whom they had sexual intercourse at the Sabbath as a 'devil' has led to much confusion in the accounts. The confusion has been accentuated by the fact that both male and female witches often used a disguise, or were at least veiled. 'Et pource que les hommes ne cedent guieres aux femmes en lubricité, c'est pourquoy le Demon se met aussi en femme ou Succube. ”

“ The Swedish witches in 1670 confessed that at Blockula 'the Devil had Sons and Daughters which he did marry together'. [70] Giraldus Cambrensis gives an account of a 'spirit' in the form of a red-haired young man, called Simon, who 'was begotten upon the wife of a rustic in that parish, by a demon, in the shape of her husband, naming the man, and his father-in-law, then dead, and his mother, still alive; the truth of which the woman upon examination openly avowed'. [71] ”

“ Yet as the population and therefore the number of worshippers in each 'congregation' increased, it would become increasingly difficult and finally impossible for one man to comply with the requirements of so many women. ”

“ From this record the Devil instructed the witches. It is evident from the confessions and the evidence at the trials that the help of the witches was often required to promote fertility among human beings as well as among animals. The number of midwives who were also witches was very great, and the fact can hardly be accidental. ”

“ Since the days of Reginald Scot it has been the fashion of all those writers who disbelieved in the magical powers of witches to point to the details of the sexual intercourse between the Devil and the witches as proof positive of hysteria and hallucination. This is not the attitude of mind of the recorders who heard the evidence at the trials. 'Les confessions des Sorciers, que i'ay eu en main, me font croire qu'il en est quelque chose: dautant qu'ils ont tous recogneu, qu'ils auoient esté couplez auec le Diable, et que la semence qu'il iettoit estoit fort froide ”

“ According to Jeanne Hervillier, the Devil 'coucha auec elle charnellement, en la mesme sorte & maniere que font les hommes auec les femmes, horsmis que la semence estoit froide. Cele dit elle continua tous les huict ou quinze iours. ... Et vn iour le diable luy demanda, si elle vouloit estre enceinte de luy, ce qu'elle ne voulut pas.' [49] But when the witch was willing to have a child, it is noticeable that there is then no complaint of the Devil's coldness. ”

“ Artificial phalli are well known in the remains of ancient civilizations. In ancient Egypt it was not uncommon to have statues of which the phallus was of a different material from the figure, and so made that it could be removed from its place and carried in procession. The earliest of such statues are the colossal limestone figures of the fertility-god Min found at Koptos, dating to the first dynasty, perhaps b.c. ”

“ Shee also saith, that men Witches usualie have woemen spirittes and woemen witches men spirittes.' [61] The girls under Madame Bourignon's charge 'declared that they had daily carnal Cohabitation with the Devil; that they went to the Sabbaths or Meetings, where they Eat, Drank, Danc'd, and committed other Whoredom and Sensualities. Every one had her Devil in form of a Man; and the Men had their Devils in the form of a Woman. ”

“ Every contemporary writer who gives a general view of the religion and ritual observes the witches' powers over human fertility. Boguet says, 'Ils font encor cacher & retirer les parties viriles, et puis les font ressortir quand il leur plait. ”

“ The problem then was that on the one hand there were a number of women demanding what was in their eyes a thing essential for themselves and their families, and on the other a man physically unable to satisfy all the calls upon him. ”

“ The Devil of Isobel Ramsay's Coven was clearly her husband, [66] but there is nothing to show whether the marriage took place before she became a witch, as in the case of Janet Breadheid of Auldearne, whose husband 'enticed her into that craft'. [67] I have quoted above (p. 179) the ceremony at the marriage of witches in the Basses-Pyrénées. Rebecca Weste, daughter of a witch, married the Devil by what may be a primitive rite; he came to her 'as shee was going to bed, and told her, he would marry her, and that shee could not deny him ”

“ As regards brides, 'En cet accouplement il leur faict perdre vne infinité de sang, et leur faict souffrit mille douleurs.' [42] Widow Bush of Barton said that the Devil, who came to her as a young black man, 'was colder than man, and heavier, and could not performe nature as man.' [43]
The physical coldness of the Devil is vouched for in all parts of Europe. [44]
'Toutes les Sorcieres s'accordent en cela, que la semence, qu'elles reçoiuent du Diable, est froide comme glace: Spranger & les Inquisiteurs, qui en ont veu vne infinité, l'escriuent ainsi. ”

“ For otherwise the Devil threatens to hinder them by all manner of means, that they shall not Marry, nor have Children.' [15]
Glanvil, writing on the Scotch trials of 1590, speaks of 'some Effects, Kinds, or Circumstances of Witchcraft, such as the giving and taking away power from sundry men's Genital-members, For which Jannet Clark was accused.' [16] In the official record Jonet Clark was tried and condemned for 'gewing of ane secreit member to Iohnne Coutis; and gewing and taking of power fra sindrie mennis memberis. ”

“ Que si la semence est ainsi froide, il s'ensuit qu'elle est destituée de ses esprits vitaux, & ainsi qu'elle ne peut estre cause d'aucune generation.' [45]
Isobel Gowdie and Janet Breadheid of Auldearne both said that the Devil was 'a meikle, blak, roch man, werie cold; and I fand his nature als cold within me as spring-well-water'. Isobel continues, 'He is abler for ws that way than any man can be, onlie he ves heavie lyk a malt-sek ”