Show I I Im I m CI 1 h 11 EA 1 t tj OJ j J JC l C r rn BC 1 0 e eI b s Witchcraft With Its Strange Magic 11 Wild Wald Orgies and Possibly Devil Worship Now Thought to Dave I I Been a Religion Older Than s v a r W ri L V i i id N NV d 11 F r rf rw rh II IIII II f w h ar f tr 4 r Lt r L f r I 1 Fral Macbeth and the witches in Shakespeare's famous SL tragedy x t x I I has a new brand-new andery and sery ery SCIENCE interesting theory to explain the I belief in witches which at varIous times in m the past pait both on thIs thu continent and in Europe has been ben the soiree sO of so much worry to God-fearing God Chris Chris- Christans Christians k tans t According to this theory witchcraft t r ChrisI was vas a religion which preceded Chris Chris- Christianity Christianity I in in western Europe by many cen- cen centuries centuries cn and which hleb after the th coming coining of the newer faith nourished flourished there ther for a time side by sIde tide with it I In its primItive form the witch I deIty was as incarnate in a man or a woman or oran oran oran an animal ammal Later on this thia deity was as elected from among the members member of the cult At ozi oIl one stage st e of witchcraft its be- be believers be believer liever lievers worshIped the th two faced male god Janus or in some som instances the faced two faced gOddess codde Diana And did the th believers bell vers in witchcraft stone st at atone atone one time worship the tho devil as some ome of our ancestors thought when they jaIled and hanged supposed witches so o relent relent- relentlessly relent relent-Ie lessly ly in the th Massachusetts town of Salem 1 English Miss Ml Margaret Margarrt Alice Alic Murray an Eng lish anthropologist who ho has been study study- studying ing mg ing the subject of witchcraft for tor many years says ays there is no positive proof S that they did so except what is ii to be r 1 found in the testimony of the th cults cult's bitter bIt bIt- bItter bit bitter ter enemIes The Th mysterious rite rites of wItchcraft were wr always alway celebrated in inthe 1 the strictest secrecy and initiates were ere under oath not to reveal their exact na na- na nature nature ture or the th beliefs upon which they were based I But there is no doubt that the th most implicit belief various in forms of magic evil evil spells charms incantatIons incantatIons- played incantations I played an nn important part in the witches Itches faIth I Ir r MIss Mrs Murray thinks that the th adherents of this thi older I religion at last latt may I mayI have been driven by the th growing strength I I mayI I o 0 Christianity Chri to regard the tha devil as asI I their god eod In those days day Christianity's I chIef strength was wa among amone the upper I classes and witchcraft's the th lower among ThIs fact intensified the th hostility of the I adherents of the th two religions and may have led the believers believer in witchcraft to accept the th devil because he h stood tood for everything the creed of Christ Chrit stood against Of course Christianity was ably opposed to the th barbaric rItes rite of the wItches and to their sImple conception I of the universe As a result the witches Yo Itches II eventually may have been forced to in- in inI include in include clude elude in their ritual of initiation I a ape sills specIfic pe denial of the th entire ChristIan faith futh God God the immortality of cf the soul and everything else cite the followers follower of Christ I ChristI hold dear I Miss Milt Murray suggests t that possIbly po tit It was the th ChrIStians Christian themselves who first nr fastened the idea of devil worship upon I the witches The Th chief deity of the witch cult was first fir t worshiped under a variety t of names Since Sine Since the th witches regarded l thIs as a the supreme ruler of the tho thet inverse t it was wa only natural for tor the Lucifer ChrIstIans to term terra him the th devil Luci Luci- tJ fer Beelzebub the th Foul Ent FIend Fund the En- En Enemy Enemy t envy emy of Salv ton Salv-ton ton and the th Evil One w I A c p e i i i o N w k Am One of the cu- cu curi ales ri rio witches o ous u s 1 r found in the l lt x I U P e fi vr t of Japan Japan-a st creature w ose osep is p poisonous U s breath is dead w ly Iy to and 1 which can as as- as i some aume a snake snake- g e I 1 yes like form i j- j k w wt r a h 44 4 From its early days day Miss Mi Murray tells us In her remarkable book The WItch Cult in Western Europe witch Itch witchcraft craft cratt was as hIghly organized as any religion of its time Its rites were held to be b as sacred and inviolable as a those performed by the Greeks Greek in the lan Ian and other mysteries OF or course all this secrecy encouraged what h lt Miss Mis Mur blur Murray ray believes believe often v were ver ere hIghly exaggerated rated storIes tones concerning these rites The Th principal festivals f of the th witches witch coincided with the th breeding seasons e ons of the flocks flock and herd herds thu thus proving it is thought that the tho th religion began before the people who accepted it had become agricultural Two of these th festivals festival that orIginally belonged solely to the th witches have hav come comedown down to us BI and are re still observed All observed hallow Eve on the last night of October r x i IlY rY IL dig e AY 4 y w wr r VM r 8 I I rY ri a t td d x rm r t v l tr N 1 f Pi y w I h I Il l a gt i cy 1 fg C Cr j r 1 t tr tra tra a n nS S a r- r rd a d 4 Tr hf 1 i i 1 i rev Ij d t 2 r 3 x ri C J d 1 a zb r d IRI RI 1 a L Al j V I ir irp p 11 1 W l cA 3 Ll F Y Y try t h hi hy i R y yU U r y tiro 1 i 1 T Tr Tr r r I Y YI t rw e e er r C r r S r re e 1 y r ka kaur ur n ny rI r r y LA ib y L l q t 1 y to o 11 i il rY I L rD c c Y 14 eh rr M s rl r a- a 4 fy r 1 r L er e 3 t 1 a P 1 e Jd w fi l r r ra A curious o 01 J JA er o C rs ing is enge eng sr s i ious ous serl sec if aW t f l to show that r r 4 Rn y aft ry Estt Est Est- r after one a i t r rr bat the a Itches a K t r opened certain r s 4 n Lt p graves which i t the d e v i I w ir 4 tit titi v i pointed out In Inthe A Aw Ap p F t the tho v village I 11 II g e ec s ss c churchyard h u r e y p pa s a a r r and carried oft off l de dead a d mens men's rt y r q make makein v bones to s t 3 in into to evil a Ona j charms On Ond r s another occa d rt b r ii ra raM M lion slon they lit at- at L Mt tempted to tor'S rS r'S Y sae r 4 meek a slop 5 wIth the their I r n it h mag magic Ie r W 4 i ru i FOI thIs at tempted ship ship- Girls sup supposed pOled to have been bewitched by George Jacobs pointing their accusing fingers at him wreck f o 0 u rat r rat at his trial in Salem Mals Maas where he was later executed From the painting by E H Mett Mattison Joa witches were and Day on the of Feb Feb- February February The other feast days were AprIl 20 0 called Rood Day in England and Wal- Wal Wal-purgis Wal purgis In German Germany and the th 1st day da of August known as the Gule Gul ot of August or Lammas Each rach year there were two great con con locations of ot all witches both male and female These were called the th Est at and the Sabbath The meeting known as the was devoted almost entirely to the th per perform performance rm- rm ance anee of magic magle ceremonies that were acre re sup s sup supposed p- p posed to bring good rood to the witches thew rives selves or friends frIend of theirs their or do harm barm to some om of their enemies The latter wa more often otten the purpose of the ni mj rious ste- ste ste rious rites which were celebrated in ID strIctest secrecy and which initiates were sworn never to reveal Evidence recently has been j 41 and tt tiled led They wel e charged with plotting to murder the Ring lUng and Queen of Eng Eng- England England land who were traveling on the tho shIp which they attacked with their eVil charms and spells polls s Though the tho I means eans used by the th wItches seems ridiculous says lays Miss Murray th tl e m intention IS very velY clear First Fir they performed in incantations to raise rai e u AI storm to wreck tho ship hip on on its way to Scotland and the th storm torro which actually arose very nearly their purpose As A It failed however ever how ever they betook themselves to the accredited method of milting m a waxen image of the ship thip they wanted to doom to disaster They were ere also ready to use poisons which to their minds were the most virulent that could bo be employed I I murder of the Tins Tills attempted King Kine M n engraving d of Satan the god of the witches and his fiend fiends Satan stand in a duel with the fiend Send who sits sit facing him The weapons weapons ns are venom venom- II and Satan is is the victor because of tl-e tl t- t power he alone pos POI possesses po to make any snake harmless and Queen is supposed to have hale been en- en engineered engineered en engineered by Francis Stewart who ho later be beanie ame Earl of Bothwell Bothwe If it had succeeded he would have had a mate claim to the th throne thron of England The Th other annual meeting of the witches Itches the th Sabbath Sabath Sab ath was vas a more pure pure- purely purely ly Iy religious affair It was gIven over very largely to renunciation of errors of faith and v sows of ot renewed fidelity to the ideals of witchcraft At this meeting took place the sol sol- solemn solemn sol solemn signing of covenants to serve the devil for life or a R period pf years and also the baptism of new members Blood was used in nr the baptism i instead istead of water ater as in the Christian faith When the th religious rites were over the witches devoted themselves to dancIng dancing dancing ing and feasting which lasted until dawn Even Iven in the early caily days of wItch wItch- witch craft when the dancing and other merrymaking according accordine to Miss Mur Mur- Murray Mur- Mur Murray Murray ray were wore quite innocent and spontaneous spontaneous expressions of ec ecstasy tasy they were abhorrent to all right-minded right Chris Chris- Christians Christians tuns and they became still more so later on when they are thought to have degenerated into orgies as disgraceful laceful as any decadent Rome Rom ever saw taw It is s probable that the th obscene cne per per- performances performances performances which were ere said to mark the close of the Sabbath really rea pad had iad more to todo todo todo do with nth making the witches detested dete ted by Christians than all the tho devil worshIp and blood baptISms and magic ceremonies ceremonies me nies that preceded d them t a tIn aIn In those days day it should be remembered remembered belief in a personal devil was gen gen- general general gen gen-eral eral The Tha Christians believed in him qUIte as much as the th Bitch 1 although they held him in dread instead of in rev rev- reverence reverence Among the believers believer In witchcraft says ays Miss Murray everything whIch could not be explained by the th knowledge at their disposal was laid to the credit of supernatural powers and rs IS is every every- everything everything thing incomprehensible is usually s ally sup posed Tup-posed posed to emanate from evil t the e witches a 1 ere supposed to be possessed of devilish arts As also every non-Christian non god sod was in the of the tho Christian the eyes opponent mint nent of the Christian God the witches were ere considered to worship the Enemy of Salvation SalvatIOn SalvatIOn-in in other words the Devil DeVIt Did the witches really possess any of the supernatural powers Yo which were at- at attributed at attributed to them and which brought them by the th thousands to death at it the th hands of the law and tho the Christian Church Science is unable to ans answer er this ques ques- question Lion bon but Miss Murray thinks it very Cry sig ig that some of the th ablest minds of that time firmly believed in the super super- super natural powers of washes Among these believers were ere such men as Lord Bacon SIr Walter Raleigh and Sir Thomas Ilc Browny no During th the Middle Middle Ages the desire desir to exterminate witchcraft became almost a mania manJa throughout the th Christian wo world ld Nobody knows s exactly how many per per- persons pei sons were ere w ere put to death for bem being wItches but some som conservative historians put the number at between and In the latter half of the tb seventeenth se cen ecu century tury tort when witch Itch hunting was as at Its height one man atone alone passed sentence ot of death on more than wItches In some omo South American countries the practice of burning witches did not jomo cometo ome to an end until the th of the thelast last and ond in in Russia day they t are occasionally burned or hanged Here Her in North America the war on witches itches lasted a little litti more than a year jear and was confined to the Puritan town of Salem Mas la 8 Before it was over twenty men and women had been executed and andI I many others other thrown into prison r 1 I r |