“ IN her study of witchcraft in Western Europe Miss Murray has endeavoured to show, first, that the witch-cult was a definite organised religion, and secondly, that it is possible to deduce from the records the character of its ritual. The problem which Miss Murray has set herself is entirely new and has not hitherto been considered, much less attacked. ”

“ If it be conceded that the witches in their accounts of what took place at the Sabbaths were describing, not furtive assemblies for malicious evil practices and unlimited debauchery, but gatherings for performing the rites of an organised religion, their evidence takes on an entirely new significance. ”

“ She argues, reasonably enough, that the wholesale conversions to Christianity in the early days of tribes and peoples were merely superficial and that the bulk of the people continued to follow their old beliefs and to practise their traditional ritual, more or less in secret. ”