The Witch-cult in Western Europe

The Witch-cult in Western
Europe, by

Margaret Alice Murray This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere
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Title: The Witch-cult in Western Europe A Study in Anthropology
Author: Margaret Alice Murray
Release Date: January 22, 2007 [EBook #20411]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE WITCH-CULT IN WESTERN EUROPE
A Study in Anthropology
BY

MARGARET ALICE MURRAY
OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1921
Oxford University Press
London Edinburgh Glasgow Copenhagen New York Toronto
Melbourne Cape Town Bombay Calcutta Madras Shanghai
Humphrey Milford Publisher to the UNIVERSITY

PREFACE
The mass of existing material on this subject is so great that I have not
attempted to make a survey of the whole of European 'Witchcraft', but
have confined myself to an intensive study of the cult in Great Britain.
In order, however, to obtain a clearer understanding of the ritual and
beliefs I have had recourse to French and Flemish sources, as the cult
appears to have been the same throughout Western Europe. The New
England records are unfortunately not published in extenso; this is the
more unfortunate as the extracts already given to the public
occasionally throw light on some of the English practices. It is more
difficult to trace the English practices than the Scotch or French, for in
England the cult was already in a decadent condition when the records
were made; therefore records in a purely English colony would
probably contain much of interest.
The sources from which the information is taken are the judicial
records and contemporary chroniclers. In the case of the chroniclers I
have studied their facts and not their opinions. I have also had access to
some unpublished trials among the Edinburgh Justiciary Records and
also in the Guernsey Greffe.
The following articles have already appeared in various journals, to
whose editors I am indebted for kind permission to republish:
'Organization of Witch Societies' and 'Witches and the number
Thirteen' in Folk Lore; 'The God of the Witches' in the Journal of the

Manchester Oriental Society; 'Child Sacrifice', 'Witches' Familiars',
'The Devil's Mark', 'The Devil's Officers', 'Witches' Fertility Rites',
'Witches Transformations', in Man; and 'The Devil of North Berwick' in
the Scottish Historical Review.
My thanks are due to Georgiana Aitken, W. Bonser, and Mary Slater
for much kind help, also to Prof. C. G. Seligman for valuable
suggestions and advice as to lines of research.
M. A. MURRAY.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.

CONTENTS
PAGE PREFACE 5
INTRODUCTION 9
I. CONTINUITY OF THE RELIGION 19
II. THE GOD 28
1. As God 28
2. As a Human Being 31
3. Identification 47
4. As an Animal 60
III. ADMISSION CEREMONIES 71
1. General 71
2. The Introduction 76
3. The Renunciation and Vows 77

4. The Covenant 79
5. The Baptism 82
6. The Mark 86
IV. THE ASSEMBLIES 97
1. The Sabbath. Method of going. The site. The date. The hour 97
2. The Esbat. Business. The site. The time. 112
V. THE RITES 124
1. General 124
2. Homage 126
3. The Dances 130
4. The Music 135
5. The Feast 138
6. Candles 144
7. The Sacrament 148
8. Sacrifices: Of animals. Of children. Of the God 152
9 Magic Words 162
VI. THE RITES, continued 169
1. General 169
2. Rain-making 172
3. Fertility 173

VII. THE ORGANIZATION 186
1. The Officer 186
2. The Covens 190
3. Duties 194
4. Discipline 197
VIII. THE FAMILIARS AND TRANSFORMATIONS 205
1. The Divining Familiar 205
2. The Domestic Familiar 208
3. Methods of obtaining Familiars 222
4. Transformations into Animals 230
APPENDIX I.
Fairies and Witches 238
APPENDIX II.
Trial of Silvain Nevillon. Taken from De Lancre's L'Incredulité et
Méscréance 246
APPENDIX III.
A. Covens and Names of Members 249
B. Index of Witches' Names, with Notes 255
APPENDIX IV.
Notes on the Trials of Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais 270
APPENDIX V.

Some Notes on 'Flying' Ointments. By Prof. A. J. Clark 279
BIBLIOGRAPHY 281
GENERAL INDEX 286

INTRODUCTION
The subject of Witches and Witchcraft has always suffered from the
biassed opinions of the commentators, both contemporary and of later
date. On the one hand are the writers who, having heard the evidence at
first hand, believe implicitly in the facts and place upon them the
unwarranted construction that those facts were due to supernatural
power; on the other hand are the writers who, taking the evidence on
hearsay and disbelieving the conclusions drawn by