The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in AnthropologyMurray, Margaret Alice
Religion
The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology
Murray, Margaret Alice
Ethnology; Witchcraft -- Great Britain
In the Basses-Pyrénées Marie d'Aspilcouette 'disoit le mesme, pour ce qui
est du membre en escailles, mais elle deposoit, que lors qu'il les vouloit
cognoistre, il quitoit la forme de Bouc, & prenoit celle d'homme.'[715] 'Il
entra dans sa chambre en forme d'ung chat et se changea en la posture d'un
home vestu de rouge.'[716] At an attempt to wreck a ship in a great storm
'the devil was there present with them all, in the shape of a great
horse.... They returned all in the same likeness as of before, except that
the devil was in the shape of a man.'[717] 'The Deivill apeired vnto her,
in the liknes of ane prettie boy in grein clothes.... And at that tyme the
Deivil gaive hir his markis; and went away from her in the liknes of ane
blak doug.'[718] 'He wold haw carnall dealling with ws in the shap of a
deir, or in any vther shap, now and then. Somtym he vold be lyk a stirk, a
bull, a deir, a rae, or a dowg, etc., and haw dealling with ws.'[719] 'Yow
the said Margaret Hamilton, relict of James Pullwart ... had carnall
cowpulatiown with the devil in the lyknes of ane man, bot he removed from
yow in the lyknes of ane black dowg.'[720] The most important instance is
in Boguet's description of the religious ceremony at the Sabbath:
'Finalement Satan apres auoir prins la figure d'vn Bouc, se consume en feu,
& reduit en cendre.'[721]
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.... Ce
qu'il fait principalement au Sabbat, selon que l'ont rapporté Pierre
Gandillon, & George Gandillon, pere & fils, & les autres, lesquels disent
tout vnanimement, qu'en leurs assemblées il y a plusieurs Demons, & que les
vns exercent le mestier de l'homme pour les femmes, & les autres le mestier
des femmes pour les hommes.'[722] 'The Incubus's in the shapes of proper
men satisfy the desires of the Witches, and the Succubus's serve for Whores
to the Wizards.'[723] Margaret Johnson said the same: 'Their spirittes
vsuallie have knowledge of theire bodies.... Shee also saith, that men
Witches usualie have woemen spirittes and woemen witches men
spirittes.'[724] 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.... They had not the least
design of changing, to quit these abominable Pleasures, as one of them of
Twenty-two Years old one day told me. _No_, said she, _I will not be other
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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