The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology

								


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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unpublished trials among the Edinburgh Justiciary Records and also in the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