ON SORCERERS AND SORCERESSES, OR WITCHES.
The empire of the devil nowhere shines forth with more lustre than in
what is related of the Sabbath (witches' sabbath or assembly), where
he receives the homage of those of both sexes who have abandoned
themselves to him. It is there, the wizards and witches say, that he
exercises the greatest authority, and appears in a visible form, but
always hideous, misshapen, and terrible; always during the night in
out-of-the-way places, and arrayed in a manner more gloomy than gay,
rather sad and dull, than majestic and brilliant. If they pay their
adoration in that place to the prince of darkness, he shows himself
there in a despicable posture, and in a base, contemptible and hideous
form; if people eat there, the viands of the feast are dirty, insipid,
and destitute of solidity and substance--they neither satisfy the
appetite, nor please the palate; if they dance there, it is without
order, without skill, without propriety.
To endeavor to give a description of the infernal sabbath, is to aim
at describing what has no existence and never has existed, except in
the craving and deluded imagination of sorcerers and sorceresses: the
paintings we have of it are conceived after the reveries of those who
fancy they have been transported through the air to the sabbath, both
in body and soul.
People are carried thither, say they, sitting on a broom-stick,
sometimes on the clouds or on a he-goat. Neither the place, the time,
nor the day when they assemble is fixed. It is sometimes in a lonely
forest, sometimes in a desert, usually on the Wednesday or the
Thursday night; the most solemn of all is that of the eve of St. John
the Baptist: they there distribute to every sorcerer the ointment with
which he must anoint himself when he desires to go to the sabbath, and
the spell-powder he must make use of in his magic operations. They
must all appear together in this general assembly, and he who is
absent is severely ill-used both in word and deed. As to the private
meetings, the demon is more indulgent to those who are absent for some
particular reason.
As to the ointment with which they anoint themselves, some authors,
amongst others, John Baptista Porta, and John Wierius,[209] boast that
they know the composition. Amongst other ingredients there are many
narcotic drugs, which cause those who make use of it to fall into a
profound slumber, during which they imagine that they are carried to
the sabbath up the chimney, at the top of which they find a tall black
man,[210] with horns, who transports them where they wish to go, and
afterwards brings them back again by the same chimney. The accounts
given by these people, and the description which they give of their
assemblies, are wanting in unity and uniformity.
The demon, their chief, appears there, either in the shape of a
he-goat, or as a great black dog, or as an immense raven; he is seated
on an elevated throne, and receives there the homage of those present
in a way which decency does not allow us to describe. In this
nocturnal assembly they sing, they dance, they abandon themselves to
the most shameful disorder; they sit down to table, and indulge in
good cheer; while at the same time they see on the table neither knife
nor fork, salt nor oil; they find the viands devoid of savor, and quit
the table without their hunger being satisfied.
One would imagine that the attraction of a better fortune, and a wish
to enrich themselves, drew thither men and women. The devil never
fails to make them magnificent promises, at least the sorcerers say
so, and believe it, deceived, without doubt, by their imagination; but
experience shows us that these people are always ragged, despised, and
wretched, and usually end their lives in a violent and dishonorable
manner.
When they are admitted for the first time to the sabbath, the demon
inscribes their name and surname on his register, which he makes them
sign; then he makes them forswear cream and baptism, makes them
renounce Jesus Christ and his church; and, to give them a distinctive
character and make them known for his own, he imprints on their bodies
a certain mark with the nail of the little finger of one of his hands;
this mark, or character, thus impressed, renders the part insensible to
pain. They even pretend that he impresses this character in three
different parts of the body, and at three different times. The demon
does not impress these characters, say they, before the person has
attained the age of twenty-five.
But none of these things deserve the least attention. There may happen
to be in the body of a man, or a woman, some benumbed part, either
from illness, or the effect of remedies, or drugs, or even naturally;
but that is no proof that the devil has anything to do with it. There
are even persons accused of magic and sorcery, on whom no part thus
characterized has been found, nor yet insensible to the touch, however
exact the search. Others have declared that the devil has never made
any such marks upon them. Consult on this matter the second letter of
M. de St. Andre, Physician to the King, in which he well develops what
has been said about these characters of sorcerers.
The word sabbath, taken in the above sense, is not to be found in
ancient writers; neither the Hebrews nor the Egyptians, the Greeks nor
the Latins have known it.
The thing itself, I mean the _sabbath_ taken in the sense of a
nocturnal assembly of persons devoted to the devil, is not remarked in
antiquity, although magicians, sorcerers, and witches are spoken of
often enough--that is to say, people who boasted that they exercised a
kind of power over the devil, and by his means, over animals, the air,
the stars, and the lives and fortunes of men.
Horace[211] makes use of the word _coticia_ to indicate the nocturnal
meetings of the magicians--_Tu riseris coticia_; which he derives from
_Cotys_, or _Cotto_, Goddess of Vice, who presided in the assemblies
which were held at night, and where the Bacchantes gave themselves up
to all sorts of dissolute pleasures; but this is very different from
the witches' sabbath.
Others derive this term from _Sabbatius_, which is an epithet given to
the god Bacchus, whose nocturnal festivals were celebrated in
debauchery. Arnobius and Julius Firmicus Maternus inform us that in
these festivals they slipped a golden serpent into the bosoms of the
initiated, and drew it downwards; but this etymology is too
far-fetched: the people who gave the name of _sabbath_ to the
assemblies of the sorcerers wished apparently to compare them in
derision to those of the Jews, and to what they practiced in their
synagogues on sabbath days.
The most ancient monument in which I have been able to remark any
express mention of the nocturnal assemblies of the sorcerers is in the
Capitularies,[212] wherein it is said that women led away by the
illusions of the demons, say that they go in the night with the
goddess Diana and an infinite number of other women, borne through the
air on different animals, that they go in a few hours a great
distance, and obey Diana as their queen. It was, therefore, to the
goddess Diana, or the Moon, and not to Lucifer, that they paid homage.
The Germans call witches' dances what we call the sabbath. They say
that these people assemble on Mount Bructere.
The famous Agobard,[213] Archbishop of Lyons, who lived under the
Emperor Louis the Debonair, wrote a treatise against certain
superstitious persons in his time, who believed that storms, hail, and
thunder were caused by certain sorcerers whom they called tempesters
(_tempestarios_, or storm-brewers), who raised the rain in the air,
caused storms and thunder, and brought sterility upon the earth. They
called these extraordinary rains _aura lavatitia_, as if to indicate
that they were raised by magic power. In this place the people still
call these violent rains _alvace_. There were even persons
sufficiently prejudiced to boast that they knew of _tempetiers_, who
had to conduct the tempests where they choose, and to turn them aside
when they pleased. Agobard interrogated some of them, but they were
obliged to own that they had not been present at the things they
related.
Agobard maintains that this is the work of God alone; that in truth,
the saints, with the help of God, have often performed similar
prodigies; but that neither the devil nor sorcerers can do anything
like it. He remarks that there were among his people superstitious
persons who would pay very punctually what they called _canonicum_,
which was a sort of tribute which they offered to these
tempest-brewers (_tempetiers_), that they might not hurt them, while
they refused the tithe to the priest and alms to the widow, orphan,
and other indigent persons.
He adds that he had of late found people sufficiently foolish enough
to spread a report that Grimaldus, Duke of Benevento, had sent persons
into France, carrying certain powders which they had scattered over
the fields, mountains, meadows, and springs, and had thus caused the
death of an immense number of animals. Several of these persons were
taken up, and they owned that they carried such powders about with
them and though they made them suffer various tortures, they could not
force them to retract what they had said.
Others affirmed that there was a certain country named Mangonia,
where there were vessels which were borne through the air and took
away the productions; that certain wizards had cut down trees to carry
them to their country. He says, moreover, that one day three men and a
woman were presented to him, who, they said, had fallen from these
ships which floated in the air. They were kept some days in
confinement, and at last having been confronted with their accusers,
the latter were obliged, after contesting the matter, and making
several depositions, to avow that they knew nothing certain concerning
their being carried away, or of their pretended fall from the ship in
the sky.
Charlemagne[214] in his Capitularies, and the authors of his time,
speak also of these wizard tempest-brewers, enchanters, &c., and
commanded that they should be reprimanded and severely chastised.
Pope Gregory IX.[215] in a letter addressed to the Archbishop of
Mayence, the Bishop of Hildesheim, and Doctor Conrad, in 1234, thus
relates the abominations of which they accused the heretic
_Stadingians_. "When they receive," says he, "a novice, and when he
enters their assemblies for the first time, he sees an enormous toad,
as big as a goose, or bigger. Some kiss it on the mouth, some kiss it
behind. Then the novice meets a pale man with very black eyes, and so
thin that he is only skin and bones. He kisses him, and feels that he
is cold as ice. After this kiss, the novice easily forgets the
Catholic faith; afterwards they hold a feast together, after which a
black cat comes down behind a statue, which usually stands in the room
where they assemble.
"The novice first of all kisses the cat on the back, then he who
presides over the assembly, and the others who are worthy of it. The
imperfect receive only a kiss from the master; they promise obedience;
after which they extinguish the lights, and commit all sorts of
disorders. They receive every year, at Easter, the Lord's Body, and
carry it in their mouth to their own houses, when they cast it away.
They believe in Lucifer, and say that the Master of Heaven has
unjustly and fraudulently thrown him into hell. They believe also that
Lucifer is the creator of celestial things, that will re-enter into
glory after having thrown down his adversary, and that through him
they will gain eternal bliss." This letter bears date the 13th of
June, 1233.
Footnotes:
[209] Joan. Vier. lib. ii. c. 7.
[210] A remarkably fine print on this subject was published at Paris
some years ago; if we remember right, it was suppressed.
[211] Horat. Epodon. xviii. 4.
[212] "Quaedam sceleratae mulieres daemonum illusionibus et
phantasmatibus seductae, credunt se et profitentur nocturnis horis cum
Diana Paganorum dea et innumera multitudine mulierum equitare super
quasdam bestias et multa terrarum spalia intempestae noctis silentio
pertransire ejusque jussionibus veluti dominae obedire."--Baluz.
Capitular. fragment. c. 13. Vide et Capitul. Herardi, Episc. Turon.
[213] Agobard de Grandine.
[214] Vide Baluzii in Agobard. pp. 68, 69.
[215] Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xvii. p. 53, ann. 1234.