White witch

“ Now the person who exhorted him to have recourse to the White Witch was his daughter, who was mistress at the school of the parish.
The man eventually recovered, but not through the aid of the White Witch.
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. ”

“ The conjurer is almost invariably beneficent, the witch usually malignant, though the White Witch exercises her powers only for good, if sometimes with a certain mischievousness, while the Grey Witch does good or evil as the fancy takes her, with a certain bias towards evil. The wizard, again, though often confused with the male-witch, is in reality a practitioner of great distinction, possessing supernatural powers of his own attaining, and, like the magician, constraining the Devil rather than serving him. ”

“ Two days after, one of Joan's ale-casks "on the sudden leapt up of itself", and fell on the ground. The cask burst, and all the ale was lost.
Among the secondary causes of witch prosecution, the "healer", or white witch, regularly plays a conspicuous role. When consulted in sickness, she is quick to ascribe the ailment to evil arts, and is often ready enough to name the culprit. There need be no malice in this role of the white witch. She is simply in the same primitive stage of medical science which ascribes every malady to the personal enmity of a sorcerer. ”

“ Lean laughing by the wall.
“A little sup,” she cried, “for me;
The day is hot and dry.”
“Begone!” I said, “you witch's child,”
She laughed a loud goodbye.
And when the butter in the churn
Will never rise, I see
Beside the door the white witch girl
Has got her eyes on me. ”

“ What a nose! What a nose! Snow White. [Appealingly] Please don't laugh at her !
The Queen. Oh, Hex, can't you help me?
The Witch. Afraid not. The only way to be beautiful without magic is to be good. Who are all these fine folks?
Sir Dandiprat. [Strutting forward importantly] Allow me to present . . .
The Witch. [Waving him away] Shoo, shoo! old turkey-cock!
[Meantime the Queen creeps quietly away on the terrace, and is never seen or heard of again. The Witch. [Going to Snow White.] You must be Snow White. However did you come alive? I made a poisoned apple for you. ”

“ And the witch herself assumed the form of the Queen, and decked herself out in the royal robes, and sat among the Court ladies, awaiting the King’s return. And suddenly the tramp of horses’ hoofs was heard, and the barking of dogs, and the witch hastened forward to meet the royal carriages, and, throwing her arms round the King’s neck, kissed him. And in his great joy the King did not know that the woman he held in his arms was not his own dear wife, but a wicked witch.
In the meantime, outside the palace walls, the poor White Duck swam up and down the pond ”

“ White Fairy (touching Witch with wand) Insensate clay awake! Moved by the tears of children, whom thou hast terrified and wronged, I give thee life. Thou canst no longer dwell with spirits. Wake in mortal form!
(Witch begins to show signs of life as White Fairy continues to wave wand.) ”

“ Moreover, the true White Witch is consulted not for maladies only, but for the discovery of who has cast the evil eye, “overlooked” and “ill-wished” some one who has lost a cow, or has been out of sorts, or has sickness in his pig-sty. The mode of proceeding was amusingly described in the Letters of Nathan Hogg, in 1847. Nathan in the form of a story gives an account of what was the general method of the White Witch Tucker in Exeter. ”

“ She sits like a great witch at the gate of the country, showing her alluring white face and hiding her crooked hands and feet under the folds of her wide garments—constantly enticing thousands from far within, and tempting those who come from across the seas to go no farther. ”

“ Black Witch (hysterically) Begone, foul fairy, ere I smite thee dead!
Fairy (Calmly) Do thy worst. Thy worst is less than none.
(Black Witch grows desperate, approaches White Fairy and raises rod to strike her. At this moment B. W. should be to left of Fairy.)
Black Witch With mine omnipotent rod I kill thee!
(Fairy smiles, holds forth her wand. Arms of Black Witch become rigid in mid-air.)
Black Witch (screaming) Fly Erebus and Noctis, Imps of Blackness, for your lives make haste! Away! Away!
[13]
(Exeunt Erebus and Noctis to back passing to the right and behind Witch and Fairy.) ”

“ Occasional newspaper paragraphs show the practice is not extinct in England or the south of Scotland.
In the case of sick beasts, when, e.g., a horse lies down and refuses to rise, or a cow ceases to give milk, or gives only milk mingled with blood, the usual mode of procedure to effect a magic cure is to go to a person of skill (i.e. a white witch) , get a bottle of water prepared by whispering certain words over it, and sprinkle this on the sick beast, or perhaps put a few drops in its ear. Immediately the beast rises without anything being the matter with it. ”

“ But there are still places where witchcraft may be said to exist literally, for there the professors of the art to all intents work miracles, because they are believed in. There is abundance of such faith extant, even in England. I have heard the names of three "white" witch doctors in as many towns in the West of England, who are paid a guinea a visit, their specialty being to "unlock," or neutralize, or defeat the evil efforts of black witches. ”

“ White Fairy (calling) Come Mirth and Jollity! Come, children, come.
(Mirth and Jollity and children, come tripping in with exclamations of childish delight, etc., until they spy the dead Witch; then their cries are hushed, their tripping ceases and they move furtively on tip-toe over to White Fairy glancing at her for explanations.)
White Fairy Black Witch is dead. Her power is [14] gone, and Hallowe’en shall always be a hallowed evening—holy night! redeemed from evil by the power of light. Let men rejoice and women sing. Let children play and dance. ”

“ Her powers are varied, and by no means always common to every individual. Or, again, she has the power to turn herself corporeally into a wolf or a cat—which brings her into line with the were-wolf, just as the cat or wolf may under certain circumstances transform themselves, permanently or otherwise, into a human witch. She may acquire the mind of a wolf without its body; on the other hand, many a beautiful princess has been transformed into a white doe by witchcraft. So with her male colleagues—sorcerer, magician, wizard, warlock, male-witch, diviner, and the rest of the great family. ”

“ And keep the man from harm.
She stood with him beside the fire,
And when she saw my knife.
She flung herself upon his breast
And prayed he'd save her life.
“The woman is a witch,” I cried,
“So cast her off from you”;
“She'll be my wife to-day,” he said,
“Be careful what you do!”
“The woman is a witch,” I said ”

“ I command thee!
(The three resume circling and re-commence the chorus, Erebus and Noctis chanting louder.)
All We’re watching the pot and it’s going to boil,
The air will get hot and this region will spoil,
But that matters not for we——
Black Witch (Interrupting by beating the kettle with rod and screaming furiously) Curses upon thee, dead! black! pot!!
(Enter White Fairy at back of stage at word “pot”. Fairy raises wand. Light appears inside of kettle as Black Witch beats it, to be so timed that the glow appears at instant White Fairy raises wand.) ”

“ Children all glance towards dead Witch then towards Fairy.)
White Fairy What is it, children?
Mirth Good Fairy, we want no one to die.
White Fairy (touching Mirth with wand) Bless you, dear messenger of mine, but the witch is evil and cannot live.
Jollity Can’t you give the witch her life but keep her evil power away from her?
Children (in unison) Please good Fairy, restore the Witch’s life! Please oh! please.
White Fairy (pondering) Your pleas move me. I will restore the witch’s life. In Spirit world she can no longer live. A mortal, she must dwell upon the earth. ”

“ So a stool was brought and old Bartholomew seated upon it. He looked over the audience and at the row of judges. Then he spied Deliverance. “Ay, there her be, worships, there be the witch.” He pointed his trembling finger at her. “Ay, witch, the old man kens ye.”
“When did you last see the prisoner?” asked the chief justice.
[105]
“There her be, worships,” repeated the witness, “there be the witch, wi’ a white neck for stretching. Best be an old throat wi’ free breath, than a lassie’s neck wi’ a rope around it.” ”

“ Again, the wicked stepmother of "Snow-white" in Grimm's story of that name, although regarded as a witch and in the end suffering appropriate punishment for her crimes, has no more claim to take her place beside Circe or Mother Damnable in the pages of history than is due to the apparently fortuitous possession of a magic looking-glass and some knowledge of toxicology.
The witch in fiction might serve a more serious purpose than does the heroine of a problem novel, for not only has the perusal of her incredible pranks served to enlighten many a weary hour ”

“ In “Bushy Bride”, No. xlv, the ugly bride charms the king to sleep, and is at last thrown, with her wicked mother, into a pit full of snakes. In the “Twelve Wild Ducks”, No. viii, the wicked stepmother persuades the king that Snow-white and Rosy-red is a witch, and almost persuades him to burn her alive. In “Tatterhood”, No. xlvii, a whole troop of witches come to keep their revels on Christmas eve in the Queen’s Palace, and snap off the young Princess’s head. It is hard, indeed, in tales where Trolls play so great a part, to keep witch and Troll separate ”

“ Black Witch (Rather amused as if White Fairy were a foe of small consequence.) Ah, ha! White Fairy is now revealed as Jove’s agent to work my ruin and she hath sent Mirth, her messenger, to haunt my footsteps and bedevil me! (chuckles, then calls) Come [8] Erebus, Imp of Blackness, come! Make haste and drive this Mirth away.
(Erebus groans, off stage, left)
(Enter Erebus from left, treading slowly and heavily)
Black Witch What ails thee, Imp of Blackness? ”

“ And they would themselves come to believe in their possession of such powers. And hence on trial, under torture, or after sentence, they would make confession of witchcraft, with strange disordered narratives of 163Satanic leagues and unholy revellings. A woman was called a white witch whose specialty was the cure of disease, or the recovery of lost or stolen property ”

“ And the said Examinate further saith, that about the same time one goodwife Weed gave her a white Cat, telling her, that if she would deny God, and affirme the same by her bloud, then whomsoever she cursed and sent that Cat unto, they should dye shortly after.' [40]
3. The profession of the witch-religion being hereditary, it is not uncommon to find that the familiar descended from mother to daughter. This, like the familiar given by one witch to another, was the domestic familiar. ”

“ A WITCHES' LADDER.
By Dr. Abraham Colles.
THAT the western counties of England have been in the past to the full as noted as other parts of the country for the belief in various forms of superstition is a fact too well known to need comment; but many are not aware to what an extent those beliefs still linger in the popular mind. Many "white" witches are living at the present day and practising their arts of curing, and among the poor are held in high estimation. Much of the knowledge of the older, especially of the black, witchcraft is, however, extinct, or becoming so ”

“ And after Blackman was departed from her, within three or four dayes, Grissell and Greedigut came to her, in the shapes of dogges.' [33] Another witch of the same Coven, Elizabeth Weed, confessed that 'there did appeare unto her three Spirits, one in the likenesse of a young man or boy, and the other two of two Puppies, the one white and the other black.' [34]
2. The gift from a fellow-witch was always a domestic familiar, as to the Devil alone belonged the power of appointing a divining familiar ”

“ Such harmless, or white, witches lived among their neighbours often upon terms of familiarity and good will. They told fortunes, exercised the arts and practices of palmistry and elementary astrology, dealt out simples for a substantial consideration, cast waters and furnished love potions to distressed and disappointed youths and maidens. We learn from The Wise Woman of Hogsden a list of the notable white witches then in fashion. ”

“ From what source they derive this power is not at all clear—probably neither they themselves nor their devotees have ever set themselves the task of unravelling that psychological problem. Such persons would be extremely insulted if they were termed wizards or witches, and indeed they only represent white witchcraft in a degenerate and colourless stage. ”

“ On the window-ledge a little yellow bird sat preening its feathers. It looked at her with its bright, black eyes and continued its dainty toilet undisturbed. Now, this was strange, for as every one knew, the wild canary was a shy bird and flew away at the least approach. The goodwife grew pale, for she feared she was in the presence of a witch, knowing that witches often took upon themselves the forms of yellow birds, that they might by such an innocent and harmless seeming, accomplish much evil among unsuspecting persons. ”

“ Nevertheless, people did not like to meet her if they could help it, and took by preference a round-about way, and when a father with his boys passed her, he whispered to them, "Beware of the old woman. She has claws beneath her gloves; she is a witch." One morning, a handsome young man was going through the forest. The sun shone bright, the birds sang, a cool breeze crept through the leaves, and he was full of joy and gladness. He had as yet met no one, when he suddenly perceived the old witch kneeling on the ground cutting grass with a sickle. ”