Introduction
Modern readers often dismiss historical witchcraft as mere superstition, leaving you without a coherent framework for understanding centuries of legal records. You struggle to reconcile thousands of trial confessions with materialist assumptions that deny the supernatural. Montague Summers cuts through this skepticism by relying exclusively on primary historical sources and court testimonies.
Witchcraft is the historical and ongoing reality of organized heresy, devil-worship, and malicious magic rather than a surviving primitive religion.
The author systematically examines how diabolism manifests across history and society. You will explore seven major dimensions of this dark phenomenon:
- How does witchcraft descend directly from ancient Gnostic heresies to subvert religious order?
- What precise rituals mark the demonic pact and initiation into the black ledger?
- What actually occurs during the nocturnal gatherings of the Sabbat and the Black Mass?
- How do Scripture, diabolic possession, and modern spiritism intersect with sorcery?
1. The Witch as Heretic and Anarchist
Witchcraft descends directly from ancient Gnostic and Manichean heresies that consciously worshipped evil and sought to overthrow social order. You will find that this dark phenomenon is no surviving primitive religion.
Witchcraft is fundamentally the historical continuation of Gnostic and Manichean heresy, rooted in the conscious worship of the principle of evil.
Origins in Heresy
The core doctrines and practices of medieval witches directly mirror ancient Manichean sects. In 1022, a synod at Orleans condemned heretics who gathered with lanterns, chanted demonic litanies, and worshipped a devil appearing in animal form.
Twelfth-century revolutionary heretics combined theological blasphemy with communistic social anarchy. Tanchelin terrorized Flanders by attacking the priesthood, declaring churches to be brothels, and rejecting the sacraments.
Critique of Modern Theories
Margaret Murray's anthropological theory that witchcraft represents the survival of an ancient Dianic religion is completely erroneous. You must recognize that witches consistently demonstrated malice rather than a benign primitive faith.
The author exposes how Murray misinterprets historical trials and uses numbers like thirteen. Thirteen is the fixed number of members in British covens according to Murray's hypothesis, which the author explains as a parody of Christ and His Apostles.
Mechanics and Practices
The European persecution of witches was part of a continuous legal campaign against organized heresy. Pope Alexander IV issued the first papal bull directly launched against the black art on December 13, 1258.
Pagan Roman emperors and civil authorities legislated against magicians long before the Middle Ages. During the Roman Empire, 2000 popular books of spells were discovered in Rome and publicly burned.
2. The Worship of the Witch and Demonic Pacts
The Devil and other demons were originally created by God as good, spiritual creatures who fell into evil through their own free act. According to the Fourth Lateran Council, Lucifer desired independence and equality with God before being cast down to earth. The Apocalypse of Saint John describes the great battle in heaven where Michael fought against the dragon.
Witchcraft essentially consists of a commerce with evil spirits wherein witches explicitly acknowledge Satan as their god.
Witches enter into pacts where they promise service, pray to the Devil instead of God, and offer him homage. In 1595, Elisabeth Vlamynex of Alost was accused of kneeling before Belzebuth. Lambert Danéau published his Dialogue of Witches in 1575. In 1692, Mary Osgood confessed in America that the devil told her he was her God.
Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Bacon, and Blackstone maintained that denying witchcraft contradicts the revealed Word of God. Blackstone's Commentaries appeared in 1765.
Pacts and Seals
Formal compacts with Satan were traditionally believed to be sealed in the executor's own blood as an irrevocable pledge of loyalty. In imitation of blood-brotherhood customs, witches ratified agreements by writing acts of self-donation in their own blood, sometimes thrown at crossroads.
On May 15, 1671, Joseph Egmund Schultz in Augsburg declared he threw an illuminated parchment written in his blood where three crossroads met at midnight.
Conversion and Renunciation
Sorcerers who entered into pacts with demons could obtain absolution and break their contracts through genuine repentance and specific penances. Theologians outline clear procedures for forsaking black magic, emphasizing that demonic contracts are nullified by repentance. Blessed Gil of Santarem studied the black art after signing a blood contract in Toledo, but later burned his books of spells and became a Dominican. Blessed Gil died at Santarem on May 14, 1205.
You must follow these rules to break a contract:
- Absolutely to abjure and to renounce any formal contract or commerce with demonic intelligences.
- To burn all such books, writings, amulets, talismans, and other instruments as appertain to the black art.
- To burn the written contract if it be in his possession, or rely on penitence if it is held by the demon.
- To repair any harm he has done and make good any loss.
The Witches' Mark
The Witches' Mark served as the definitive physical seal of Satan imprinted on the body, characterized by complete local insensibility to pain and absence of bleeding. In witch trials, professional prickers searched for insensible spots on hidden parts of the body utilizing long pins. On March 10, 1611, Louis Gaufridi was examined by doctors. At the trial of Janet Peaston in 1646, John Kincaid used three-inch pins to find two insensible marks.
You can observe the official examination steps:
- Strip the accused person naked and shave the head and body to prepare for the search.
- Rub the palms over the body to locate potential spell spots or discolored areas.
- Probe the suspected mark with a long brass or steel pin to test for local anaesthesia and bleeding.
3. Demons, Familiars, and Initiation
Initiation into witchcraft involves solemn abjurations, diabolic baptisms, enrollment in black ledgers, and commerce with animal familiars.
Francesco-Maria Guazzo outlined eleven distinct heads forming a complete allegiance to evil in his Compendium Maleficarum. This ritual included an express compact, abjuration of the faith, vassalage oaths on a black book, and demonic baptism.
Initiation Rites
Louis Gaufridi confessed in April 1611 to a formal abjuration formula renouncing all spiritual and temporal good from God. Madeleine de la Palud used an even more detailed declaration renouncing her guardian angel.
During the Sabbat, new initiates were baptized using water, sulphur, and salt, making the sign of the cross backwards. Isabel Goudie of Auldearne stated in 1662 that many witches were baptized in their own blood with names like Able-and-Stout. Novices requested the devil to strike them out of the book of Christ using a claw.
Incubi and Succubi
Great saints and moral theologians overwhelmingly affirmed the genuine possibility of physical commerce between humans and incarnate evil intelligences. Authorities like Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Suarez, and Benedict XIV maintained that demons can act as incubi and succubi. At Bergamo in 1650, a young man named Brignoli confessed that a succubus taking the form of Teresa visited him nightly.
Witches frequently testified that the devil's physical body felt colder than ice. Historical evidence repeatedly condemned the use of artificial phalli, known as the fascinum, during satanic orgies. The Second Council of Châlons-sur-Saône condemned this in 813.
Animal Familiars
Domestic animal familiars, fed with bread, milk, and the witch's blood, were particularly prominent in English witchcraft accusations.
Elizabeth Francis of Chelmsford confessed in 1556 that her grandmother taught her to feed a white-spotted cat named Satan with blood. Matthew Hopkins investigated such practices during his 1645-1647 activities. Mother Munnings faced trial in 1694 for similar dealings with animal familiars.
You can observe the specific care required for these animal spirits:
- Feed the familiar animal with bread and milk.
- Call the familiar by its specific name and keep it in a basket.
- Prick the skin to provide a drop of blood as requested by the familiar for its services.
4. The Sabbat and Eucharistic Blasphemy
The Sabbat serves as a nocturnal gathering featuring inversion homage, ritual dances, feasting without salt, and the sacrilegious Black Mass.
Timing and Travel
Grand Sabbats mocked high Christian holy days and ancient pagan festivals like May Day Eve. Meetings commenced at midnight and lasted until cock-crow because a crowing cock terrified demons. Marie Lamont confessed in 1662 that she attended a midnight meeting and was convoyed home by the devil.
Witches preferred secluded spots like hilltops, forests, and old ruins to avoid detection. Françoise Secretain confessed in 1598 that she placed a white stick between her legs to be borne through the air. Julian Cox reported seeing three persons riding on broom-staves in 1665.
Homage and Dance
Worshippers approached the master of the assembly with their backs turned in a crab-like motion. As a sign of absolute submission, you can trace the infamous rite of absolute submission:
- Kiss the Devil's posterior as the osculum infame.
- Offer black pitch candles that burn with a blue sulphurous flame.
Agnes Sampson confessed that at North Berwick Kirk, the Devil made them kiss his bare buttocks over the pulpit. The Sabbat incorporated degraded versions of traditional dances. At the churchyard, Geillis Duncan played a Jew's harp while John Fian led the ring of dancers.
Witches held elaborate banquets at their gatherings featuring various foods and drinks. The Lancashire witches at Malking Tower in 1613 sat down to a spread of beef, bacon, and mutton. Alice Duke confessed in 1664 that the Devil brought wine, beer, cakes, and meal. Salt was strictly absent from these tables as an emblem of eternity.
The Black Mass
The climax of the Sabbat was a blasphemous parody of the Christian Holy Mass performed by renegade priests. Juan de Echalar confessed during the 1610 Navarrese trials that his coven collected toads to cook in a stewpot with human bones. Helen Guthrie exhumed an unbaptized babe at Forfar in 1661.
Madeleine Bavent confessed that chaplains at Louviers forced her to defile a crucifix and break a consecrated host upon the ground. Thomas Boullé was burned at Rouen on August 21, 1647. You can observe the exact steps required for this ritual profanation:
- Erect an altar with four supports under a tree or upon a flat rock.
- Cover the altar with three linen cloths and place six black candles around an inverted crucifix.
- Sprinkle assistants with brackish water or urine using a black aspergillum.
- Recite the black mass liturgy from a specialized missal while turning the back to the altar.
- Stab and trample the consecrated host and spill the chalice contents in profanation.
5. The Witch in Holy Writ and Antiquity
Scripture and ancient history treat magic not as mere fraud, but as a genuine and potent power derived from antagonistic spiritual forces.
Biblical writers view magic as an intrinsic abomination rather than charlatanism. You find that Moses's opponents Jannes and Mambres possessed genuine supernatural capabilities.
Jannes and Mambres used Egyptian incantations to turn their rods into snakes and bring up frogs. Their power remained inferior to divine miracles.
Biblical Magic
Balaam operated as a sorcerer and soothsayer rather than a scriptural prophet. Balak hired him to curse the Israelites using animal sacrifices.
Balak took Balaam to the high places of Baal and the summit of Peor to perform sevenfold sacrifices on seven altars. He offered seven bullocks and rams.
Necromancy and Divination
The encounter between King Saul and the Witch of Endor is a genuine act of necromancy. Saul consulted a woman possessing an ’ôbh at Endor to raise Samuel.
King Saul disguised himself at night, travelled to the hovel at Endor, and persuaded the witch to raise Samuel, who foretold the king's doom.
Ancient cultures extensively practiced various forms of divination by observing natural phenomena and arrows. You can see how belomancy operated in history:
- Write names of peoples or choices on arrows, place them in a quiver, mix them together, and draw one to see which outcome is selected.
Jacob used sympathetic magic without direct condemnation. You can follow his exact method with cattle:
- Peel green poplar, hazel, and chestnut rods in alternate stripes of white and bark.
- Place the peeled rods in the gutters in the watering-troughs when flocks come to drink so that the animals conceive before them.
6. Diabolic Possession and Modern Spiritism
The Church distinguishes obsession from full internal possession, maintaining strict exorcism protocols while warning against modern spiritism.
The Theory of Possession
You can observe that obsession involves external temptations or sensory illusions such as phantom voices. Possession represents full internal control over the human body. Theologians caution that many suspected obsessions are actually natural psychological ailments or hysteria.
Saint Hilarion and Saint Antony were continually tempted by demons changing into the forms of nude women. Saint Margaret of Cortona was tormented by the devil singing filthy songs in her cell.
Rules of Exorcism
The office of the exorcist is the second of the four minor orders in the Western Church, established formally by early popes. Pope Cornelius noted forty-two acolytes and fifty-two exorcists in the Roman Church, an organization attributed to Pope Saint Fabian during the years 236-251.
The Rituale Romanum outlines strict precautions for priests performing exorcisms to prevent superstition and false diagnoses. You must follow twenty-one detailed introductory heads prefixed to the rite:
- The priest must be of mature age, humble, blameless, courageous, and well-versed in psychological science.
- The priest must carefully examine the case to distinguish genuine possession from natural disease.
- The possessed should prepare via prayer, fasting, confession, and Holy Communion.
- The rite should ideally occur in a church or sacred place without a crowd of curious gazers.
- The priest must speak with command and authority, utilizing scripture and church formulas instead of his own words.
- The Blessed Sacrament must not be brought near the body during exorcism to avoid irreverence.
The bishop bestows the Book of Exorcisms and grants authority to place hands upon the possessed, emphasizing that exorcists must first conquer their own imperfections. You must note these procedural duties during ordination:
- The bishop admonishes the ordinands regarding their duty to cast out devils and minister water.
- The bishop hands each candidate the Book of Exorcisms, Pontifical, or Missal.
- The candidates receive the power to place hands upon energumens whether baptized or catechumens.
- The bishop reads solemn prayers invoking God to grant power and authority to restrain unclean spirits.
Modern Possessions and Spiritism
Joseph and Thiébaut Burner of Illfurt exhibited superhuman strength, spoke multiple languages, and shrieked violently when presented with the Medal of Saint Benedict before being exorcised in 1869. A commemorative stone column erected at Illfurt stands thirty feet high.
Modern spiritism is condemned by the Church as a dangerous recrudescence of ancient witchcraft that invites demonic possession under the guise of comforting communication. The Holy Office has condemned spiritism on four occasions since modern spiritualism began with the rappings experienced by the Fox family at Hydesville in 1848.
7. The Witch in Dramatic Literature
Playwrights from the Tudor era through the Restoration accurately mirrored the social presence of witchcraft, sorcery, and the Faustian legend.
Early and Faustian Drama
The English theatre originated from liturgical practices and mystery plays, where the Devil emerged as a primary villain characterized by grotesque pagan elements. Early guild plays utilized movable scaffolds featuring a horrible hell-mouth equipped with fire and smoke. The theatrical Devil was depicted as black, with goat horns, ass ears, and cloven hoofs, directly inheriting traits from the ancient Greek Satyr.
Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus established the definitive English theatrical treatment of the man who bartered his soul to the Devil for infinite knowledge. The legend of Faust, originating from historical quacks and figures associated with Paracelsus, was popularized in England via Spies's German Volksbuch chap-book. Marlowe's tragedy, first produced around 1588, adhered closely to these chap-book incidents, culminating in Faust's agonizing final speech. Prynne's Histriomastix retailed a story that the Devil appeared on the stage at the Belsavage Playhouse during a performance of Doctor Faustus.
Shakespearian and Realistic Plays
William Shakespeare incorporated witchcraft into historical dramas, comedies, and tragedies, notably in Henry VI, The Tempest, and Macbeth. In Henry VI Part II, Shakespeare dramatized the historical incantation scene where the Duchess of Gloucester employed priests and Margery Jourdemain to raise a spirit and melt a wax image of the king. Margery Jourdemain perished at the stake as a witch after being implicated in raising a spirit in 1441.
The Witch of Edmonton presented the village witch stripped of all romance, depicting her as a wretched crone driven into a demonic pact by neighborly abuse. Authored by Rowley, Dekker, and Ford and produced in 1621, the play dramatized the trial of Elizabeth Sawyer. Elizabeth Sawyer confessed to Henry Goodcole, the Newgate minister, detailing how she blighted corn and sent murrain on cattle after being driven away from gathering dried sticks.
10 Key Ideas
- Witchcraft descends directly from ancient Gnostic and Manichean heresies that consciously worshipped evil and sought to overthrow social order.
- Margaret Murray's anthropological theory that witchcraft represents the survival of an ancient Dianic religion is completely erroneous because witches consistently demonstrated malice.
- Witches enter into pacts where they promise service, pray to the Devil instead of God, and offer him homage.
- The Witches' Mark served as the definitive physical seal of Satan imprinted on the body, characterized by complete local insensibility to pain and absence of bleeding.
- The climax of the Sabbat was a blasphemous parody of the Christian Holy Mass performed by renegade priests.
- Scripture and ancient history treat magic not as mere fraud, but as a genuine and potent power derived from antagonistic spiritual forces.
- Obsession involves external temptations or sensory illusions, whereas possession represents full internal control over the human body.
- The Rituale Romanum outlines strict precautions for priests performing exorcisms to prevent superstition and false diagnoses.
- Modern spiritism is condemned by the Church as a dangerous recrudescence of ancient witchcraft that invites demonic possession under the guise of comforting communication.
- Playwrights from the Tudor era through the Restoration accurately mirrored the social presence of witchcraft, sorcery, and the Faustian legend.