Artwork that gives further insight into the beliefs and superstitions surrounding Witchcraft

Occasionally, in witch trials, "evidence" was introduced which depended on some primitive folklore or superstitious belief. Other beliefs were concocted during the Inquisition and many of these beliefs are presented here.

BIER RIGHT

Bier Right was based on the belief that a corpse will bleed on the approach of or in the presence of the murderer. This ordeal was employed in some trials when other legal methods of proving guilt had failed.

BLACK MASS

A parody of the Catholic mass which often times involves sexual obscenities, the Black Mass figures prominently in certain popular accounts. However, the Black Mass was not mentioned in witch trials. Rather, the term "Witches Sabbat" was used in describing an illicit gathering of individuals to commit unspeakable atrocities and satanic activities. The term "Black Mass" was invented in the nineteenth century, to be used in conjunction with Satanism (first used in English in 1896).

CHARMS

The distinction between charms and prayers are subtle, at best. Charms were used by Christians in which holy names, saint's and Latin phrases figured prominently. Charms were also used by witches to reinforce the properties of their herbs or amulets and charms were mentioned in the Malleus Maleficarum as a safety precaution against the evils of witchcraft.

CONFESSIONS

In theory, two methods of proof were acceptable for conviction: confession by the accused and denunciation by one witness who did not have to confront the alleged witch. Of course, most confessions were given under torture and a majority of the time the judges present during the torture would manipulate the accused into confessing specific details, people, events and acts.

COVEN

Margaret Murray and Pennethorne Hughes theorized that there was an extensive organization of witches based on "covens". There is no concrete proof that such covens existed as the "evidence" used to support this theory was taken from confessions of tortured witches. Witchcraft was viewed as an obscene parody of Christianity and since a common form of monastic organization or "convent" was thirteen, the demonologists and witch hunters invented a corresponding "convent" of thirteen witches.

DEVIL'S MARK

The Devil's Mark occurs in nearly all witch trials. The devil allegedly sealed the compact with the witch by giving the witch a mark of identification on the body. Finding such marks were the best proof of guilt which, in it self, was sufficient to justify torture. Unfortunately, any slight blemish, pimple, scar or the like was taken for the Devil's Mark, and thus proved the person guilty of making a compact with the devil. Furthermore, a witch was shaved completely during his/her examination and in some cases, the witch was pricked with a sharp instrument on a potential Devil's Mark. It was believed that such marks would not bleed or cause pain upon pricking, but often times the pricking instrument was constructed with a retractable blade, so the person would feel no pain or would not bleed!

DIVINATION

The act of foretelling the future, locating hidden treasure, finding stolen property etc...Divination was part of the pagan practices of ancient Greece and Rome and, consequently, became heretical to Christians. Some types of Divination: Aeromancy - divining by air, Botanomancy - divining by herbs, Crithomancy - divining by grain, Geomancy - divining by earth, Oniomancy - divining by wine and Necromancy - divining by spirits or the dead.

FAMILIARS

The devil, so it was believed, after making a compact with the witch would provide a low-ranking demon in the shape of a small domestic animal to assist in malicious errands. The familiar was believed to be nursed by the witch, by way of a teat, finger or protuberance from the witch's body.

FASCINATION (EVIL EYE)

Every civilization held beliefs that evil can be effected by hostile looks. The Bible mentions the evil eye in Mark VII and it is also mentioned in the Malleus Maleficarum: "that there are witches who can bewitch their judges by a mere look or glance from their eyes, and publicly boast that they cannot be punished".

HAND OF GLORY

A gruesome device sometimes featured in witch trials. The witch would take a severed hand from a hanged man, wrap it in a piece of shroud, squeeze out any remaining blood and pickle the hand in a jar with salt, saltpeter and long peppers. After two weeks, the hand was removed and exposed to the sun until parched, or dried in an oven with vervain and fern and it was used as a candle, each finger lit.

HERESY

Heresy means "free choice" in Greek and was used as the description for any divergence from the Catholic Church. According to Thomas Aquinas and Canon Law, heresy was the "religious error held in willful and persistent opposition to the truth after it has been defined and decreed by the Church in an authoritative manner". The significance of heresy lay in the theory that it was not merely a sin, but a crime punishable by death.

INCUBUS

An incubus, according to many Church Fathers, is an angel who was cast out of heaven because of a lust for women. The incubus often made an appearance in witch trials as a familiar and also a demon who had intercourse with female witches. When the inquisitorial witch trials were in full force, copulation with an incubus was an act expected of a witch. Therefore, women were tortured until such a confession was made.

LIGATURE

Ligature was a state of impotency produced by tying knots in threads or some other material. Ligature is an old superstition which made its way into witchcraft trials as yet one other evil act perpetrated by witches.

LYCANTHROPY

Lycanthropy is when an individual transforms into an animal, takes nocturnal excursions into the countryside, attacks humans and animals to devour their flesh and retransform back into a human being. Individuals who could transform in this way were called "Werewolves" and along with witch trials there were trials for Lycanthropy.

MALEFICIA

Misfortune, calamities, injuries and deaths for which no explanation could be found were known as Maleficia. The common beliefs were that malicious witches caused these occurrences due to their vindictive nature. Events such as: plagues, cattle deaths, inability of a woman to conceive, crop failures and death by lightning were all attributed to the evildoings of witches.

MARE

A demon who would sit on the chest of an individual, causing feelings of suffocation, was called a Mare. The Mare also attacked horses and hanging a stone in the horse's stable would prevent the attack.

METAMORPHOSIS

The ability for a human being to change shape is an ancient belief. The most common metamorphosis in witchcraft was Lycanthropy, or the ability of an individual to change into a wolf. In various witch trials, witches were alleged to appear in the guise of almost any small animal, such as a bird or hare.

NIGHTMARE

A nightmare was usually caused by a demon, succubus or incubus. A classic description of the nightmare appeared in English in 1763 "The nightmare generally seizes people sleeping on their backs, and often begins with frightful dreams, which are soon succeeded by a difficult respiration, a violent oppression on the breast and a total privation of voluntary movement."

NIGHT SPELL

A night spell was a charm against harm and nightmares. In the Compendium Maleficarum, it is suggested that an individual should recite holy psalms and prayer, and use holy relics such as a cross to fend off nightmares.

OINTMENT, FLYING

It was believed that witches commonly used an ointment to help them in flying or metamorphosis. The ointment was allegedly made by boiling unbaptized infants. However, no physical evidence was ever found to confirm this.

OINTMENT, KILLING

Another ointment used by witches, a killing ointment was usually a poison, concocted using many different herbs, animals and corpses. The fat of dead babies was also allegedly used to make such ointments. However, no physical evidence was ever found to confirm this.

PACT WITH THE DEVIL

No witch trial was complete without the allegations that the witch entered into a pact or compact with the devil. The pact pinpointed sorcery as heresy and thereby brought witchcraft under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. The pact was the agreement between the witch and the devil that the witch would enter into service with the devil, renounce Christianity and the Christian god, and commit evil deeds.

POSSESSION

The ability to be possessed by the devil or other evil spirits was a commonly held belief. In witch trials, while the devil could initiate possession by his own will, the demonologists credited the witch with causing possession. Any kind of strange fit (like epilepsy) in a child immediately started a witch hunt. In Europe, possession was especially prevalent in convents.

POTIONS

Like ointments, witches allegedly used various potions for their wicked deeds. Pre-Christian healers often made use of herbal potions for various ailments. However, such things were considered evil and could only be employed by certified doctors, usually men, after the establishment of Christianity. The magical powers of the witches' brew is more a part of literature and folklore, rather than historical witchcraft.

SABBAT

The concept of the sabbat combined old legends of sorcery with new beliefs of heresy: blasphemous parodies of Christian rites. Allegedly, witches met in large numbers at night, in forests, castle ruins or churches to have orgies, conduct banquets in which flesh from corpses or babies was consumed and to praise the devil, who was often present during the sabbats. No evidence was ever found to support the beliefs and activities of sabbats.

SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH DEVILS

During the era of the witch hunts, nothing interested the witch hunters more that the alleged sexual relations between the female witch and the devil. Theologians and demonologists tenaciously pondered how witches had sex with demons, if they could produce offspring from such carnal relations, and the like. It is apparent that those preoccupied with demonic sex were sexually repressed and had an obsession in figuring out how such relations were possible.

SORCERY

Sorcery and witchcraft are similar, but different. Sorcery is a cross-cultural belief in magic and is an attempt to control nature & enlist the aid of spirits, whereas the concept of witchcraft is specifically limited to three centuries, from 1450 - 1750 and was generally believed to be a demonic conspiracy to destroy Christianity.

SPECTRAL EVIDENCE

Since witchcraft was essentially a pact with the devil, physical evidence could not be obtained to prove the witch's guilt. Thus, with the use of torture, admissions by the witch were considered evidence and on such evidence, tens of thousands of individuals were tortured and executed. Spectral evidence was central to the Salem witch hysteria of 1692, in which the "afflicted" girls alleged that the witches would send their spirits out to torment them. Picture

STORM RAISING

Witches were believed to have the ability to raise storms, which was a traditional folklore belief that was adopted by witch hunters as another evil deed added to the long list of evil deeds perpetrated by witches to harm mankind.

SUCCUBUS

A succubus was a female demon bent on seducing men. Like the incubus, the succubus was irresistible and was often times more desirable to human beings. The incubi and succubi or sexual intercourse with demons figured prominently in witch trials after 1430.

TRANSVECTION

An important feature of witch trials was the ability of witches to fly to the sabbat, know as transvection. Common instruments that witches used in their flying were broomsticks, shovels, pitchforks, a piece of wood or a wooden stick. With the use of a flying ointment, witches flew great distances at night to their sabbats. Of course no evidence or eyewitness reports of flying witches (except from individuals under torture) was ever found.

WAXEN IMAGE

Like the voodoo doll, it was believed that damage to a waxen image produced similar damage on the body of the individual of whom the image was made. This belief is universal and timeless, and many cultures still believe in the power of such images.

WITCH

The idea of a witch as a heretic was the catalyst for the thousands of tortures and executions of individuals in Western Europe. The idea that the witch was the embodiment of evil, a woman "old, lame, blear-eyed, pale, foul and full of wrinkles" - Reginald Scott, was the primary reason that more women than men were accused of witchcraft. A few writers and early artists believed that the witch was young and alluring, aimed at seduction. However, the belief in the beautiful witch was by far less common then that of the old hag.

WITCH'S MARK

The witch's mark was an extra breast (polymastia) or an extra teat or nipple (polythelia) used for the sole purpose of nursing the witch's familiar. Most witch's marks were natural physical malformations and was explicit proof that the person bearing such a mark was a witch.

WITCHCRAFT

The belief in witchcraft means different things to different people. During the witch craze, the word "witchcraft" had a very precise meaning: that witches worked in league with Satan, to do evil, and to cause the downfall of the Church and Christianity. Theologians believed that there was a wide-spread conspiracy or underground network of witches, intent on causing harm to others. This belief is not unlike the modern belief in "Satanic Ritual Abuse or SRA". In both cases, there was never any evidence or proof to substantiate these claims, but that doesn't seem to prevent individuals from hunting down supposed evil-doers, even today! Modern practitioners of witchcraft have adopted the names "witchcraft" and "witch" to rehabilitate the words and to honor and remember those individuals who suffered and died in ways that were far worse and immoral then the "crimes" they were accused of committing.