Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1875 — Witchcraft [ARTICLE]

Witchcraft

Tbe belief in witchcraft so prevalent 4vinr the middle ages illustrates with terrible force the influence that* fanatical delusion can exercise over the mind# of Imuii beings. And it also shows how be placed on the IfctiUMmy of ahy number of witnesses in times of Brest popular excitement, when multi toora will be found to honestly believe in alleged facts which have no other foundation than their own excited imaginations. The absorb superstition concerning witchcraft prevailed as late as tbetteglnning of t|e seventeenth century. The power it exercised over the popular mind is almost incredible. If anyone flelt an unaccountable illness in any part ofjji# body, or suffered any misfortune In hi# family attain; or if a storm arose and eaused anv damage by sea or land; if cattleMieft suddenly, or, in short, if any event or cimnrietancc occurred out of the routine of daily experience, the cause assigned was witchcraft. Not only the common people were victims of this delusion; the educated pur tions of the community were also believers in It-! The clergy themselves trembled before the supposed power of witches. Church and State were alarmed for their safety. Three of the Popes issued bulls, to put down the practice of witchcraft, and James the VI. of Scotland, afterward King of England, in the first year of his reign issued the following edict:' “Anyone that shall use, practice or exercise Any invocation of any evil or wicked spirit, or consult or covenant with, entertain or employ, feed or reward anyevil or wicked spirit, to or for any purpose, etc.; such offenders, duly and lawfully attainted and convicted, shall suffer death.” The persecution that ensued was frightftil. Inquisitors were appointed, a regular form of trial hud down, ami a course of examination arranged by which those go illy of the prae tice of yritgierafl might be discovered and convicted. The vietpisof onß terrible initiation were chiiflj women, usually sen# helpless old crone whose age and infirmity should have protected from all suspicion of ability to work either good or evil to her neighbors. A squinting eye or squeaking voice, a crooked tooth oj a hairy lip, were sufficient to lay a poor old woman open to the suspicion of witchcraft : anil such poor creatures were selected and subjected to the most horrible tests ttiat could be devised by the inquisitors, who were armed with the fall power of the law.

The witches were supposed to be women who had fallen under the power of the devil, who had appeared to them in the form of a lover, and won them to his service by the exercise of his arts. A bargain was supposed to have been made, usually in writing, and aimed in the witch’s own blood. She was 'then rebaptized, receiving a new name, required to trample on the cross, renouncing Cliristianaand belief in God in a formula parted from the renunciation of the devil in the ceremony of Christian baptism. A mark was then impressed on some part of her body, w hich remained forever after insensible, and was one of the means of discovery employed by the witch-finders. The witch thus became entirely the servant of her master the devil, aau his assistant iin Ae work dearest topis heart—that of winning back souls that had been redeemed from his dominion by Christ. In this way the persecution of witches gained additional vehemence from the heat of religious fervor. To the witch was given power to work all manner, of mischief, to raise storms, blast crops, inflict racking pains on an enemy, and cause men and women to pine away in sickness. If a witch attempted to do good the devil was enraged, and chastised her. They were powerless also to serve their own interests in any way, and always remained wretched and miserable. A prominent feature in witchcraft was the belief in meetings held at night by witches and devils, called the' Witches’ Sabbaths. First anointing her feet and shoulders with a salve’ made from the fat of murdered and unbaptized children, the witch mounted a broomstick, distaff, tike, or something of the same nature, and, making her exit by the ehimney, rode through the air to the plaqaqCyendezvDus. If her own particular demon lover came to fetch her, he sat on the stiff before and she behind him, or he came In the shape of a goat,and carried her oflf on his back. At the place of assembly the archdevil, in the shape of a large goat with a black, human countenance, sat on a high chair, and the witches and demons paid homage to him by kneeling before him and kissing his feet. The feast was lighted up with torches, all kindled at a light burning between the horns of the great goat. Among the viands there was no bread or salt, and they drank out of ox hoofs and horses’ skulls. After eating and drinking they danced to music played on a bagpipe with a horse’s head for a bag and a cat’s tail for & chanter. In dancing they tamed their backs toward one another. Between tee dances they related to one another what mischief they had done, taxi planned more. At the close of the revel the great goat burned himself into ashes, which were given to the witches to raise storms with.

During the reign of James the First numerous official investigations into alleged cases of witchcraft were made by the Rbghimself, who was very much interested in the subject, and is said to have derived great pleasure from questioning old women in regard to their dealings with Satan. In the year 1590 James made a ▼oyage to Denmark to bring home his appointed bride, the Princess Anne. Soon after his arrival a tremendous witch conspiracy against the happy conclusion of his homeward voyage was discovered, in which the principal agents appear to have been people of considerable social importance. The King had all the accused brought before himself for examination, and even superintended the tortures applied to them to induce confession. One of them. Mrs. Agnes Sampson, declared tftkt the great object with Satan and his emissaries was to destroy the King; that they had held a great convention at North Berwick for no other end, and that they m. endeavored to effect their, aim on many occasions, and particul&rlv by raising a storm when James came across from Denmark. The witches demanded of the devil why he bore such a hatred to the King, who answered that the King was the greatest enemy he had in the world. On this occasion thirty persons were executed, and these proceedings gave occasion, no doubt, to the famous work on demonology shortly after published by the King. Some of the stones told of the mischief done by witches would be very if it were not for the horrible torture and bloodshed that nearly always chsncd to the unfortunate persons suspected. The following story comes from A blacksmith of Sarrowfoot had two apprentices, brothers; both were steady lads, and, when bound to him, fine, healthy follows. After a few months, however, the younger of the two began to grow pale and min, and show signsof declining health. The elder brother questioned him,

and he confessed that, he bad fallen in lovte -with hvs master's wife, who was a witch, though no one suspected it, and through her ill usage he should soon be brought to the grave. In aa agony of tetteme sobbed out that every night she came to his bedside, threw a bridle over him and changed him into a horse. Then, seated on his back, she urged him on for miles and miles over wild moors to the rendezvous where she and her vile companions held their hideous feasts. There he was comj*elled to remain until morning, when she rode him home. Thus his nights were passed, and he complained that her treatment of him was rapidly killing him. That night his brother toon his place. At the usual time the lady came, bridle in hand, and flung it over the elder brother’s head. He was immediately changed Into a fine hunting horse. The lady mounted him and started for the t resting-place, which on this occasion happened to be the cellar of a neighboring laird. While she and her companions were regaling themselves with claret and sack the hunter was left in a spare stall in the stable. By rubbing his head against the wall he fluidly loosened the bridle and succeeded in getting it off, u]>on which he immediately recovered his human form. Holding die magic bridle in bis hand, he waited quietly until the witch appeared, then flung it dextrously over her head, when lo! she was changed into a fine gray mare, lie mounted her and dashed off over ditch and hedge, until lie suddenly perceived that she had lost a shoe. He then took her to a blacksmith, hail the missing shoe replaced and a new one put on the other fore-foot •Then he rode her up and down a plowed field until she was nearly worn out, and quietly took her home and pulled off the bridle just lie fore her husband awoke. The honest blacksmith arose, utterly ignorant of what had been going but his wife complained of being very i]j, almost dying. The doctor was sent for. When lie came he wished to feel the patient's pulse, but she refused to show her hands. jEseulapius was perplexed ; but the husband, vexed by her obstinacy, pulled oft' the bed-clotlics, and the horse-shoes were found tightly nailed to lier hands. On examination her sides were found to be raw and bruised by the kicks given her by the apprentice boy during his ride. The brothers now came forward anil told their story. On the following day the witch was tried by the magistrates of Selkirk and condemned to be burned to death on a stone at Bullslieugli—a sentence which was promptly carried into effect. It is added that the boy was at last restored to health by eating butter made from the milk of cows fed in the church yards, a sovereign remedy for consumption brought on by being witch-ridden. Germany was the first country to become aroused to the folly of this popular delusion concerning witchcraft, and to protest against the atrocities which it occasioned! A crusade against it was headed by a physician named Weier, who demonstrated t’he absurdity anil impossibility of the prevalent notions as early as the middle of the sixteenth century. But so great was the difficulty of uprooting the stupid superstition that persons were executed for witchcraft in Switzerland as late as 178& The laws against it were not repealed in England until 1736. The common people in some parts of Great Britain still believe in the power of witches, and in 1863 a reputed wizard was drowned in a pond at tho village of Hedingfiam, In Essex.— Harper's Weeldy.