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
The renunciation of previous errors of faith and the vows of fidelity to
the new belief are part of the ceremony of admission of any convert to a
new religion. The renunciation by the witches was explicit, but the records
are apt to pass it over in a few words, e.g. 'I denied my baptism,' 'I
forsook God and Christ,' 'Ils renient Dieu, la Vierge, et le reste,' 'Vne
renonciation expresse à Iesu-Christ & à la foy'; but occasionally the words
are given in full. Mackenzie, quoting from Del Rio, gives the formula thus:
'I deny God Creator of Heaven and Earth, and I adhere to thee, and believe
in thee.'[241] The actual formula is still extant in the case of the priest
Louis Gaufredy, tried before the Parliament of Aix in 1611:
'Ie Louys Gaufredy renonce à tous les biens tant spirituels que
corporels qui me pourroyent estre conferez de la part de Dieu, de la
vierge Marie & de tous les Saincts de Paradis, pareillement de mon
patron S. Iean Baptiste, S. Pierre, S. Paul, & S. François, & de me
donner de corps & d'ame à Lucifer icy present auec tous les biens que
ie feray à iamais: excepté la valeur du Sacrement pour le regard de
ceux qui le recevront: Et ainsi le signe et atteste.'[242]
Jeannette d'Abadie, aged sixteen, said that she was made to 'renoncer &
renier son Createur, la saincte Vierge, les Saincts, le Baptesme, pere,
mere, parens, le ciel, la terre & tout ce qui est au monde'.[243] The
irrevocability of this renunciation was impressed upon the Swedish witches
in a very dramatic manner: 'The Devil gave them a Purse, wherein there were
shavings of Clocks with a Stone tied to it, which they threw into the
water, and then were forced to speak these words: _As these Shavings of the
Clock do never return to the Clock from which they are taken, so may my
Soul never return to Heaven._'[244]
The vows to the new God were as explicit as the renunciation of the old.
Danaeus says, 'He commaundeth them to forswere God theyr creator and all
his power, promising perpetually to obey and worship him, who there
standeth in their presence.'[245] The English witches merely took the vow
of fealty and obedience, devoting themselves body and soul to him;
sometimes only the soul, however, is mentioned: but the Scotch witches of
both sexes laid one hand on the crown of the head, the other on the sole of
the foot, and dedicated all that was between the two hands to the service
of the Master.[246] There is a slight variation of this ceremony at
Dalkeith in 1661, where the Devil laid his hand upon Jonet Watson's head,
'and bad her "give all ower to him that was vnder his hand", and shoe did
so'.[247]
In Southern France the candidates, after renouncing their old faith,
'prennent Satan pour leur pere et protecteur, & la Diablesse pour leur
mere'.[248] At Lille the children called the ceremony the Dedication,[249]
showing that the same rite obtained there.
4. _The Covenant_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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