Bewitching

“ Should anyone think himself witched, all that he has got to do is to procure “witch’s butter,” and then thrust a pin into it. It was thought that this pin penetrated the wicked witch, and every pin thrust into the fungus went into her body, and thus she was forced to appear, and undo her mischief, and be herself relieved from bodily pain by relieving others.
13. A conjuror’s charm could master a witch’s spell.
It was thought that when a person was under a witch’s spell he could get relief and punish the witch by procuring a charm from a conjuror. ”

“ At times I feel a creeping influence coming over me, prompting all evil thoughts and unheard-of deeds, and I question within myself, "Is not this the power of witchcraft?" and I sicken, and loathe all that I do or say, and yet some evil creature hath the mastery over me, and I must needs do and say what I loathe and dread. Why wonder you, mother, that I, of all men, strive to learn the exact nature of witchcraft, and for that end study the word of God? ”

“ To this order of the black pair the bride was resolved to pay particular attention. As soon as they were embarked in their riddles, and had wriggled themselves, by means of their brooms, into a proper depth of water, ‘Go,’ says he, ‘in the name of the Best.’ A horrid yell from the witches announced their instant fate,—the magic spell was now dissolved—crash went the riddles, and down sank the two witches, never more to rise, amidst the shrieks and lamentations of the Old Thief and all his infernal crew, whose combined power and policy could not save them from a watery end. ”

“ I heard the other day one of those impudent under-housemaids say I was like a witch, and I said to myself, 'I wish I was a witch, for then I could cast an evil spell on that there major!'—He's no officer, let alone no gentleman, but he'll come to a bad end—never you fear—that sort of grab-all generally do. ”

“ At these words the bird flew away, proving it beyond doubt to be possessed by an evil spirit, for it is known that a witch cannot bear to hear the name of the Lord. The goodwife was yet more affrighted to see the bird fly in the woods in the direction in which the strawberry patch lay. There Deliverance probably was. What power could avail against the witch casting a malignant spell upon her? She leaned out of the window, calling,—
“Deliverance, Deliverance, come into the house! There be a witch abroad. Deliverance, oh, Deliverance!” ”

“ Before leaving the subject of mediums I must allude again to witchcraft. To those who believe in spirits, good or evil, which can take possession of us and make us do their will, and can throw about bricks and sand and furniture in our material world, there is nothing remarkable in epidemics of bewitchery, especially as the witch-finders were more fortunate than our spiritualists in having the unanimous support of the most eminent authorities of their day. ”

“ A wicked witch-woman who wanted to marry him had, he said, spelled him until a beautiful maiden of her own free will should do him a favour.
"But," he said, "the danger is not all over. You have broken the enchantment by night; that by day has yet to be overcome." ”

“ There are also divers kinds of sportive and delusive Transformations, performed by those that use the Art of Leger-de-main or Juggling, wherein they pretend and seem to transubstantiate one thing into another, when by the agility of their hands, and the gesture of their face and body, they do but draw your eyes and attention another way, while they do but nimbly convey another thing in its place. And he that taketh these for Conjurers or Witches, and their Tricks for diabolical or Witchcraft, are surely under a devilish delusion, and are most strangely bewitched. ”

“ Wrath, ill nature, spleen, and revenge, are those with whom her ladyship has been in league for many months: she has even fallen into the common weakness of unfortunate women, who have recourse to silly fellows called conjurers; or perhaps in imitation of her mother, her ladyship wanted a very witch; she would give any thing to converse with a real witch; at last she took up with a wizard, an ignorant creature, who pretends to deal with the stars, and, by corresponding with thief-catchers, helps people to their goods, when they have been stolen. ”

“ And if any cursed witch or enchanter should bewitch him, all that sorrow and mischance shall turn to himself through virtue of that stone. And no wild beast dare assail the man that beareth it on him. ”

“ The dark superstitions which once held sway over every part of rural England still haunt these wild wastes. The people yet believe in witchcraft, and think that the person bewitched has the right and the power to kill the witch by certain enchantments. ”

“ The reformation and revolution broke the enchanter's wand; and, when the cloud passed from the bloody stage, instead of seeing before us a magician full of the glories of his art and almost deceived himself, by the splendor of his incantations, we beheld a meagre and pitiful creature, who though blind and palsied, still retained for a while, the power of witch-like mischief. ”

“ At another time they are elevated far above their natural pitch, full of raptures, and high conceits, and think themselves kings and queens; now if witch stories are in their heads, or witchcraft in their imaginations, why may they not think themselves bewitched, or fancy themselves witches or wizards, as well as kings and queens?’
A witch, in her personal character, was commonly an uncouth old woman, or hag. ”

“ They stretched the man out on the rack. They did not stretch the rack out, as we are doing. When men went witch-burning they may have seen witches everywhere—because their minds were fixed on witchcraft. ”

“ What is still more strange, I, too, regard the word of this snow-blown witch—whoever the hag may be—and can no more eject her prophecies from my head than can the scared victim of them.
This business of superstition—a weakness for the supernatural—belongs with our bone and blood. Reason is no shield from its assaults. ”

“ But the majority agreed that the former was the right version of the story—for was she not a witch, an old hating witch, whose delight was to do mischief? One said he had heard that she took the shape of a young woman sometimes, as beautiful as an angel, and then was most dangerous of all, for she struck every man who looked upon her stone-blind. ”

“ Men crowded upon each other, like hounds on the scent, only to obtain a glimpse of the beautiful witch, or to catch a tone of her voice. Like sportsmen who had brought down a splendid bird in their search after common game, the rabble gloried in the queenliness and grace of its victim. The public had become tired of hanging withered old crones on the witch-gallows, and wanted exactly a creature like that, to give piquancy and zest to their terrible hunt after human life. ”

“ On every stick there's a witch astride, The string you see to her leg is tied. She will do a mischief if she can, But the string is held by a careful man, And whenever the evil-minded witch Would cut come caper, he gives a twitch. ”

“ He ascended the platform reserved for the judges, and seated himself. Then he laid the Bible on his knees, and folded his arms across his breast.
A pitiful wailing arose in the back of the house, and the sound of a woman’s voice hushing some one.
A man’s voice in the audience cried out, “Let the witch be hanged. She be tormenting her victim.”
“I be no witch,” cried Deliverance, shrilly. “Dear Lord, give them a sign I be no witch.” ”

“ I says to myself, ‘Well, old lady, if you are not a witch, there never was one.’ She washed her stocking, mumbling and chewing, and when she had finished she threw it behind her, and sat hugging her knees, and glaring at me in a way that made my flesh crawl. ”

“ If you want to stop a witch lay a straw across her path. She cannot step over it.”
To draw blood above the mouth from the person who has caused any witchery is the accredited mode of breaking the spell. ”

“ The witch planted her tub of drink in a dark lane, through which she knew the Lord of Pengerswick must pass, and near to it she sat, croning over her crock of broth. The witch-woman had not long to wait; amidst the hurrying winds was heard the heavy tramp of the enchanter’s mare, and soon she perceived the outline of man and horse defined sharply against the line of lurid light which stretched along the western horizon. On they came; the witch was scarcely able to contain herself—her joy and her fears, struggling one with the other, almost overpowered her. ”

“ The persons who had the power of turning themselves into hares were believed to be abroad and very active, together with the whole demon world, on the eve of May-day of the Old Style. And a middle-aged man from the parish of Andreas related to me how he came three or four times across a woman, reputed to be a witch, carrying on her evil practices at the junction of cross-roads, or the meeting of three boundaries. ”

“ She said, "There must be witchcraft in it; look out to-morrow morning early, and see if anything stirs about in the room: if it does, throw a white cloth at once over it, and then the witchcraft will be stopped." ”

“ An old beggar-woman, whose gray hair, skinny face and bleared eyes, flashing from the bottom of deep sockets, made her a fitting picture of a Lapland witch, came up and touched our hands, which she could barely reach as we sat on the dromedaries, which saved us the horror of having her kiss them. ”

“ We have seen that all the opponents of witchcraft so far examined struggle to maintain a position that is strategically indefensible, either because they admit too much, or because they ignore certain difficulties, or because they are frankly eccentric. ”

“ If the human character of the witchery does not betray itself by a pretty anachronism!—some intermingling of the costumes of the sixteenth century with those of the seventeenth, a sacrifice of history to the beauty of woman,—the illusion remains unbroken. ”

“ Witches were not the feeble-minded, but the strong-minded --- the evil mesmerists, the rulers of the elements. Many a raid on a witch, right or wrong, seemed to the villagers who did it a righteous popular rising against a vast spiritual tyranny, a papacy of sin. ”

“ I know a farmer, a God-fearing, sensible man, and thriving in his farm and piling up money, to whom recourse is continually had to stanch wounds, and to cure abscesses, by striking the place and reciting certain mystic sentences.
A witch, white or black, must communicate the secret of power to one of an opposite sex before he or she can die—that is well known. ”

“ But beside all this, there lies in the physical temperament of the other sex a peculiar susceptibility of derangement of the nervous system, a predisposition to all the varieties of trance, with its prolific sources of mental illusion—all tending, it is to be observed, to advance the belief and enlarge the pretensions of witchcraft. ”

“ Of course, one woman had suspected another to be a witch. She prevailed upon a gentleman to send for the suspected person, and having accused her in his presence, left him to admonish her with due severity, and to persuade her to renounce the devil and all his works. While he was thus engaged, and she was stoutly denying the accusation brought against her, a weasel or lobster suddenly made its appearance. ”

“ And she cared for them, and with them abode the coming of the old man. Now it came to pass on the sixth day, that the witch saw he was drawing nigh, and she bade the Sun burn him with its rays. And the Sun shone forth, and the old man was burned and thirsty. Then said the witch to the Rain, "Rain upon this man." And the Rain rained until the man was like to be drowned. Then the witch bade that the Sun should scorch him once more, and again the Rain that it should ram upon him, and then once more the Sun, that it should burn the man. ”

“ The next minute you are a witch, laughing at the man's little weaknesses, putting your finger on them as accurately as if you could read his soul, holding them up to your ridicule and—what's much worse—to his own. ”

“ Instead of boiling it, some people nail the heart to the highest rafter of the house, or lay it on the edge of the hearth, in order that it may dry up, no doubt because the same thing happens to the witch. ”

“ When the king and Wilhelm and the rest of the cavalcade came into the castle yard and stood before the witch, she grinned and showed her black gums and demanded to know why they had come.
"We have a youth here who would solve your three riddles," said the king.
Then the old witch laughed, "Ha, ha, ha!" and the gnomes, ghouls, and all the rest of the enchantress' followers took up the refrain and laughed till the air was very dense with sulphurous fumes.
"Well, if the youth is resolved, let him see the doom that awaits him," said the witch, and she waved her stick. ”

“ Now that most of the imaginary inhabitants of Man and its coasts have been rapidly passed in review before you, I may say something of others whom I regard as semi-imaginary, real human beings to whom impossible attributes are ascribed; I mean chiefly the witches, or, as they are sometimes called in Manx English, butches. [8] That term I take to be a variant of the English word witch, produced under the influence of the verb bewitch, which was reduced in Manx English to a form butch, especially if one bear in mind the Cumbrian and Scotch pronunciation of these words, as wutch and bewutch. ”

“ She was with a number of other girls, foolish and frivolous, who went to consult an old woman who had the reputation of being a witch, and who was supposed to have the power of making them see their future husbands. ”