Mythology and Legend of Natural Disasters - Part One - Volcanoes

Volcano erupting

Since the dawn of time humanity have searched for the reason behind natural phenomena that they have been unable to understand.  Natural disasters - volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods and tsunamis, tornadoes and hurricanes - have occurred throughout history and, without scientific explanations, people have created myths and legends to make sense of these destructive forces of nature.

The word 'volcano' can be traced back to the island of Vulcano in the Mediterranean Sea.  The Romans believed Vulcano to be the chimney of Vulcan's workshop.  Vulcan was said to be the blacksmith of the gods,  as well as the god of fire, and it was believed that the hot fragments and lava, smoke and gas were created as he beat out the thunderbolts for Jupiter, king of the gods, and weapons for the god of war, Mars.

Vulcan, Roman god of fire

In Hawaiian mythology, there is Pele, or 'She-Who-Shapes-The-Sacred-Land'.  The people of Hawaii created the following legend to explain the origin of Pele and volcanoes.

How Pele Came to Hawaii

     Pele's story is that of wander-lust.  She was living in a happy home in the presence of her parents, and yet for a long time she was 'stirred by thoughts of sar-away lands.'  At last she asked her father to send her away. This meant that he must provide a sea-going canoe with mat sails, sufficiently large to carry a number of persons and food for many days.
     "What will you do with your little egg sister?" asked her father.  Pele caught the egg, wrapped it in her skirt to keep it warm near her body, and said that it should always be with her. Evidently in a very short time the egg was changed into a beautiful little girt who bore the name Hii-aka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele (Hiiaka-in-the-bosom-of-Pele), the youngest one of the Pele family.
     After the care of the helpless one had been provided for, Pele was sent to her oldest brother, Ka-moho-alii, the king of dragons, or, as he was later known in Hawaiian mythology, "the god of sharks." He was a sea-god and would provide the great canoe for the journey. While he was getting all things ready, he asked Pele where she was going. She replied, "I am going to Bola-bola; to Kuai-he-lani; to Kane-huna-moku; then to Moku-mana-mana; then to see a queen, Kaoahi her name and Niihau her island." Apparently her journey would be first to Bola-bola in the Society Islands, then among the mysterious ancestral islands, and then to the northwest until she found Niihau, the most northerly of the Hawaiian group.

Pele Awakens by Artnaitve

     The god of sharks prepared his large canoe and put it in the care of some of their relatives, Kane-pu-a-hio-hio (Kane-the-whirlwind), Ke-au-miki (The-strong-current), and Ke-au-ka (Moving-seas).  Pele was carried from land to land by these wise boatmen until at last she landed on the island Niihau. Then she sent back the boat to her brother, the shark-god. It is said that after a time he brought all the brothers and sisters to Hawaii.
     Pele was welcomed and entertained. Soon she went over to Kauai, the large, beautiful garden island of the Hawaiian group. There is a story of her appearance as a dream maiden before the king of Kauai, whose name was Lohiau, whom she married, but with whom she could not stay until she had found a place where she could build a permanent home for herself and all who belonged to her.
     She had a magic digging tool, Pa-oa. When she struck this down into the earth it made a fire-pit. It was with this Pa-oa that she was to build a home for herself and Lohiau. She dug along the lowlands of Kauai, but water drowned the fires she kindled, so she went from island to island but could only dig along the beach near the sea. All her fire-pits were so near the water that they burst out in great explosions of steam and sand, and quickly died, until at last she found Kilauea on the large island of Hawaii. There she built a mighty enduring palace of fire, but her dream marriage was at an end. The little sister Hiiaka, after many adventures, married Lohiau and lived on Kauai.

The Japanese have personified Mount Fuji with the creation of Fuji-San, the sacred spirit mountain, which is a powerful symbol of Japan.  According to a popular Japanese myth, Mount Fuji was a benign mountain when it was created in 286BC.  This, however, changed with the arrival of Kaguyahine or Kaguyahime.

How the Fire of Mount Fuji was Lit - a Japanese Myth

Princess Kaguyahime by Senelfy

Many years ago, an old man discovered a baby on the slopes of Mount Fuji - a little girl whom he called Kaguyahine and raised as if she were his daughter.  She grew into such a beautiful woman that the Emperor himself fell in love with Kaguyahine and married her.   She lived with him for 7 years but after this told him that she wasn't human and had to return to heaven.  So Kaguyahine gave the Emperor a mirror which always showed her face and left for her home in the sky.
The Emperor was heartbroken and began to climb Mount Fuji in an effort to join his wife in heaven, believing that the mountain could take him there.  But, upon reaching the summit, he failed to find Kaguyahine and the love he felt was so immense that it burst from his chest as a brilliant fire which lit the volcano.  And from then on, smoke rose from Mount Fuji.

The Maori of New Zealand also have a collection of legends about there volcanoes.  One such legend relates the tale of Pupuke Moana, a mythical mountain which was said to be located on the shore north of today's Auckland and the island of Rangitoto.

Rangitoto Island

The Tale of Rangitoto Island
 
In the days of yore, in times long passed away, when the mana of our ancestors was in full force, there dwelt a tribe of giants on the coast between the Mauuka (Manukau) Heads and Kaipara Heads.  These folk employed their spare time in playing strange games, and in performing amazing feats that are a wonder to men in these times.  This they were in the habit of throwing huge stones from hill to hill, and casting rocks about for mere sport.  At that time there stood a conical hill north of the Karekare creek, a hill composed of rock that stood near the coastal cliffs.  One of the most famous of these powerful men of old was asked if he could move this hill, whereupon he pulled it up bodily, as you would pull up a plant, carried it across the Titirangi range, across the Waitemata at Takapuna, and deposited it between Takapuna and Motutapu, where it may still be seen, bearing the name of Rangitoto.  The hollow whence the hill was taken still yams open to the gaze of man at Karekare, and the name of that hollow is Te Unuhanga o Rangitoto.

Crater Lake in Oregon was created almost 8,000 years ago by the eruption of Mount Mazama.  Fo the Native American Klamath Indians this event must have been catastrophic and to explain it they
created the legend of Llao and Skell.

Crater Lake, Oregon

Llao, Skell and Crater Lake
 
     Llao, the master of everything living under the earth and water, dwelt in the fiery pit where Crater Lake now lies, and this was the only place he could come to the surface of the earth. Skell was master of all the animals that lived on the earth. Both were in love with the daughter of the chief of the Klamath Indians and both asked for her hand in marriage and were refused because her father was rearing her to be chief of the tribe when he died. Llao felt wronged when he was refused her hand and returned to his home on Llao Rock and brooded. Skell understood and pledged his help to the Indians if they needed it.
     Then Llao commanded the chief to deliver his daughter to him in three days, or seven days of death and destruction would be launched against the Indians. The girl wanted to sacrifice herself for her people, but they wouldn't let her. They tied her in her tent and lay face downward awaiting destruction. Skell started to help the Indians, but Llao, seeing him go, hurled a flaming boulder across the skies and struck him dead. Then Llao's children took Skell's heart from his body and brought it to their father.
     All of Skell's children gathered at a fountain where he drank and bewailed his fate. Llao sent a messenger to them proclaiming himself lord of everything above earth as well as underneath it.
After he left, the coyote said, "Since it is proclaimed that Skell's heart will live and his body live if his heart be returned, let us proceed to the home of Llao and declare ourselves his loyal subjects, awaiting the chance to restore the heart to our master."
     Taunts greeted them as they arrived, and the weasel, brother of Llao, ran to the ballground with Skell's heart and began to toss it into the air. The coyote followed him to the ballground and began to chide him for not being able to throw it far. Other animals tried to toss it too but the coyote chided them all for not being able to throw it high into the air. Finally, Llao became angry at his taunts and stalked out and hurled it far into the air. It soared and soared and finally came to the ground on the far end of the baseball ground. The fox, who was hidden near, snatched it and rushed into the forest. As Llao's children were about to catch the fox, the antelope burst through the throng and took the heart and rushed on with it. The eagle swooped down and, taking the heart from the antelope, flew out of sight with it. A voice of a dove, sounding from a great distance, told them Skell lived again.
     Brooding over this, Llao went to Skell's land and challenged him to a wrestling match. Skell knew that Llao was stronger, but decided to wrestle rather than appear cowardly before his children and the other gods. Llao threw him across his shoulder and started toward his home. When they were only a short distance from Llao's home, Skell said that a louse was biting him and he wanted to scratch. Llao taunted him saying, "What matter a little bite when I am soon going to cut you into pieces and feed you to my children?"
     "But you will grant me this one last wish," pleaded Skell. Llao freed one of his hands and Skell pulled out his knife and cut off Llao's head. Then he sent word to Llao's children that Skell had been killed. They gathered around the pit beneath Lao's throne and ate the pieces of their master as they were thrown down to them. But when their master's head was tossed over, they were grieved and would not touch it. It remains today where it was thrown and is known as Wizard Island. Then the pit grew dark and the children wept, their tears falling into the dark pit which is today known as Crater Lake.

The Aztecs named the volcanoes that surround the Valley of Mexico after their gods.  Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl, which lie to the east of the valley, were once worshipped as deities and inspired the following legend. 

Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl

Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl

When Popocatepetl (Smoking Mountain) returned victorious from war to claim his beloved, his enemies sent word ahead that he had been killed.  Princess Iztacchiuatl (Sleeping Woman) died of grief.  Popocatepetl then built two great mountains.  On one he placed the body of Iztacchiuatl; on the other he stands eternally, holding her funeral torch.

In Iceland, Katla is hidden beneath the Solheimajokull glacier.  To the locals, this volcano is known as the witch Katla, and inspired the following legend.

Katla erupting in 1918

Katla and the Witch

     Once it happened that the Abbot of the Monastery of Thykkvabæ had a housekeeper whose name was Katla, and who was an evil-minded and hot-tempered woman.  She possessed a pair of shoes whose peculiarity was, that whoever put them on was never tired of running.  Everybody was afraid of Katla's bad disposition and fierce temper, even the Abbot himself.  The herdsman of the monastery farm, whose name was Bardi, was often dreadfully ill-treated by her, particularly if he had chanced to lose any of the ewes.
     One day in the autumn the Abbot and his housekeeper went to a wedding, leaving orders with Bardi to drive in the sheep and milk them before they came home.  But unhappily, when the time came, the herdsman could not find all the ewes; so he went into the house, put on Katla's magic shoes, and sallied out in search of the stray sheep.  He had a long way to run before he discovered them, but felt no fatique, so drove all the flock in quite briskly.
     When Katla returned, she immediately perceived that the herdsman had been using her shoes, so she took him and drowned him in a large tubful of curds.  Nobody knew what had become of the man, and as the winter went on, and the curds in the tub sank lower and lower, Katla was heard to say these words to herself: 'Soon will the waves of milk break upon the foot-soles of Bardi!'
Shortly after this, dreading that the murder should be found out, and that she would be comdemned to death, she took her magic shoes, and ran from the monastery to a great ice-mountain, into a rift of which she leaped, and was never seen again.
     As soon as she disappeared, a fearful eruption took place form the mountain, and the lava rolled down and destroyed the monastery at which she lived.  People declared that her witchcraft had been the cause of this, and called the crater of the mountain 'The Rift of Katla.'

Eyjafjallajokulsgos erupting in 2010

That's all for today.  Tomorrow we'll look at earthquakes and their place in the mythology and legend of our ancestors.  Until next time.


http://www.universetoday.com/31365/vulcan-and-volcanoes/
http://www.crystalinks.com/volcanomyth.html
http://www.coffeetimes.com/pele.htm
http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/1265155
http://www.craterlakeinstitute.com/online-library/historic-resource-study/notes4.htm
http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/earth/mhpub/netdays/nemi/witch.htm
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZH19111031.2.10.11

Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes by W. D. Westervelt
Japanese Mythology A TO Z by Jeremy Roberts
National Parks of the Northwest by Martelle W. Trager
Encyclopedia of Volcanoes by Haraldur Sigurdsson, Bruce Houghton, Iazel Rymer, John Stix, Steve, McNutt
Icelandic Legends, Volume 1 by Jon Arnason

The Burning Times

On 9th December, 1484, Pope Innocent VIII published the Bull Summis desiderantibus which condemned the alleged outbreak of witchcraft and heresy in Rhine River valley area.  Pope Innocent had apparently heard that in northern Germany many people of both sexes,
...unmindful of their own salvation and straying from the Catholic Faith, have abandoned themselves to incubi and sccubi, and by their incantations, spells, conjurations and other accursed charms and crafts, enormities and horrid offenses, have slain infants yet in the mother's womb, also the offspring of cattle, have blasted the produce of the earth, the grapes of the vine, the fruits of trees, nay, men and women, beasts of burthen, herb beasts as well as animals of other kinds, vineyards, orchards, meadows, pastureland, corn, wheat and all other cereals; these wretches furthermore torment men and women, beasts of burthen, herd beasts as well as animals of other kinds, with terrible and piteous pains, both enternal and external; they hinder men from performing the sexual act and women from conceiving... over and above this they blasphemously renounce the faith which is theirs by the sacrament of baptism, and at the instigation of the enemy of mankind they do not shrink from committing and perpetrating the foulest abominations and filthiest excesses to the deadly peril of their own souls, whereby they outrage the Divine Majesty and are a cause of scandal and danger to very many...
Wherefore We... decree and enjoin that the aforesaid Inquisitors [James Sprenger and Henry Kramer] be empowered to proceed to the just correction, imprisonment and punishment of any persons, without let or hindrance...

Malleus Maleficarum (Original)

Shortly after Pope Innocent's announcement Sprenger and Kramer pubished what became the standard witch-hunter's manual, the Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches).  This looked at literature on demonology and witchcraft, and suggested guidelines for those prosecuting suspected witches, outlining strategies for the use of torture and lies.  Under their direction, an inquisitor should order his officers to bind the ''witch,'' and ''apply to her some engine of torture.''  However, this should be done under a guise of remorse and reluctance, with someone later asking that the accused be released.  At this point the inquisitor can promise the suspect their life, providing she supplies evidence which would lead to the conviction of other witches.  Obviously the suspect would not escape with her life, but the judge could ease his conscience by appointing another judge to pass sentence on the accused.

Both Sprenger and Kramer were aware that the torture of a witch was dangerous work, and they were careful to give their students safety tips.  It was important, for example, to strip the witch naked and to shave their hair ''from wvery part of her body,'' because ''in order to preserve their power of silence... [witches] are in the habit of hiding some superstitious object in their clothes or in their hair, or even in the most secret parts of their bodies, which must not be named.''  During his search, the inquisitor needed to keep a close eye out of demonic charms and ''witch's marks,'' or for any physical blemish which had been put their by the Devil.  This meant that anything from a birthmark or a mole could provide the inquisitor with damning evidence that you were part of a satanic pact.

 (Original)

After the torture, false promises, and minute examination of your shaved and naked body, you would be taken to a cells where you were given food and water.  At this point it was believed that the witch should be allowed to consort with ''honest persons who are under no suspicion.''  They should speak with the witch informally before they
...advise her in confidence to confess the truth, promising that the Judge will be merciful to her and that they will intercede for her.  And finally let the judge come in and promise that he will be merciful, with the mental reservation that he will be merciful to himself or the State; for whatever is done for the safety of the Sate is merciful.

Witchfinders at work (Original)

By the last few decades of the 15th century, the Catholic Church turned to the promising tradition of ecclesiastical muder for reassurance.  The first sign of the Church's troubles came in around 1176, when a wealthy merchant, Peter Walds, gave away his money and decided to preach clerical poverty as a road to salvation.  His supporters, who became known as Waldenses, also began to preach, much to the disliking of the Catholic Church, who had them excommunicated.  However, the Waldenses continued to preach, declaring the supermacy of the Bible and rejecting the sacraments, the sale of indulgences and Papal authority.

At around the same time, an ancient heresy which was probably the most difficult for the Church to eradicate, once again became popular.  This was called Manicheanism, once embraced by St. Augustine, which explained Good and Evil as two powers which warred against one another with no predictable outcome.  Advanced by the philsopher Mani, with a mixture of Gnosticism, it had come from the east and by the 13th century had reached the southern French region around Albi.  The Albigensians were declared heretics, with a crusade being launched against them in 1208. Pope Innocent III established the first Inquisition in 1233 as a system for the legal investigation of Albigensians crimes, putting the Dominicans, who were popularly considered the Domini canes (the hounds of God), in charge of it.

Another insult to the Papal authority came from John Wyclif, a Yorkshire born priest and scholar, who led the public against the abuse of clerics and declared the supremacy of the Bible over priestcraft and bad translations from Latin into English.  In 1380 and 1382 Wyclif was declared a heretic, but he was allowed to live out his life without prosecution.  However, Wyclif's followers, known as the Lollards, were not so lucky. In 1417, on order of King Henry IV, the statute De Hoeretico Combureendo (On the Burning of Heretics) was confirmed.  While few Lollards were burned, a second wave of suppression in 1431 forced the Lollards into hiding, helping their beliefs to survive until the 16th century.

In what is now the Czech Republic, then Bohemia, John Hus was inspired by Wyclif's ideas and observations.  Hus opposed the suppression of Wyclif's writings and decided to translate Wyclif's Triologus into Czech, denying that the Pope could fulfill his duties as he should and opposing the sale of indulgences.  He firmly believed that the Chuch, in cases of abuse, should be subject to civil supervision.  Hus was declared a heretic in 1410, but was given the protection of King Wenceslaus and, in 1414, was given safe conduct to the Council of Constance in Switzerland.  However, he was arrested there and tried as a heretic.  He refused to renounce the beliefs which the inquisitors tried to convince him were heretical, firmly denying that he followed the a number of the beliefs ascribed to him.  This included some of Wyclif's vaious propositions.  In 1415 Hus was burned at the stake, partially for beliefs which the judges knew he had never held.

After Hus's death the Hussites split into two groups, one of which was more radical and continued to oppose Papal abuse.  This group was called the Taborites, after a castle to which Hus had retreated when he was condemned for heresy, and they went beyone Hus's teachings, denying the real presence of Jesus in the sacraments and looking to replace feudalism with a classless society.  They were defeated at the battle of Lipany in 1434 by an alliance of less extreme Hussites, called the Ultraquists, and Papal forces.  However, this did not stop the ideas of the Taborites and, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg castle church, before later acknowledging his debt to John Hus in the preface of Confession to Faith:
For indeed, while I was yet a Papist, I was for long a most fervent emulator of the Roman traditions.  (The Papists of our times who write against us, are not as serious as I was, but are wholly cold, and are motivated either by hatred or by the desire for profit; they would do the same against the Papists if they could expect from us greater profit or glory.)  But while I was a Papist I hated the Picard Brethren sincerely and from my heart, out of a great zeal for God and religion, and not on account of desire for lucre or glory.  For when by chance I came upon some books by John Hus, and found them to be powerful, and in accordance with the pure word of God, I began to feel terrified why the Pope and the Council had burned such and so great a man.  Terror-stricken I closed the book, fearing that with the honey there might lurk poison by which my simplicity might be infected.  So violently had the name of the Pope and Council fascinated me!
But when it pleased Him who had separated me from my mother's womb to reveal to me that son of perdition... searching out all whom the Pope had condemned and put to death as heretics, I praised them as saints and martyrs.

There really was no limit to the suffering enforced by religious and political fanatics throughout the aftermath of the Reformation.  Lutherans, for example, were totally opposed to Anabaptists on the question of whether children should be baptised, or whether only those old enough to understand it.  The city of Muenster was, during the last phase of its siege, ruled by Lutheran forces, by John Bockelson of Leiden, who was a 26-year-old prophet and self-styled King-Elect of the World.  He issued, in 1535, various orders, including:

Polygamy to be the rule.  This was announced after Bockelson was discovered to be an adulterer.  Bockelson had, in devout conformity with his own ruling, taken 16 wives along with a large number of concubines.  Those opposing this were beheaded and four women refusing to take additional husbands were executed.  Knipperdolling, the executioner, beheaded his own wife when she tried to escape the city.  His excuse? ''The father irresistibly prompted me to do this.''  When one of Bockelson's ''Queens'' asked if it were right for them to gorge themselves while others went hungry, he personally executed her and danced on her corpse, shouting: Gloria in excelsis.
Polandry (a woman's taking more than one husband) to be a capital offense.
All girls over 12 to be forced to marry.
Theft to be a capital offense.

One ten-year-old girl was, due to these new orders, executed when caught stealing a turnip.

After the fall of Muenster, Bockelson, Knipperdolling and a man called Bernard Krechting were paraded through the country in chains for six months.  They were then taken back to Muenster where, in front of a large crowd, they were tortured with red hot pincers, before being executed by a red-hot dagger.  The crowd were apparently somewhat unnerved by Bockleson's screams of agony and the smell of roasting flesh, which filled the market place.  As a final show of disfavour, the bodies of these three were hanged in iron cages from the tower of St. Lambert's Church.

While the witchfinder's powers were practically unlimited, no matter how many were prosecuted and burned, the number of witches continued to increase.  With every confession came yet more names of witches yet to be examined and, with those examinations more names.  After many years of devoted work, even the best of witchfinders must be discouraged, wondering if there might not be more they could do to improve his results.
Even Nicholas Remy, Procurer General, who became known as ''Scourge of Witches'' after dispatching 900 people, five witches a month, became plagued with self-doubt and loathing when it came to children.  While  he sentenced many children who had been ''led away at a tender age by their parents to sin'' to being stripped naked and whipped while they watched their parents being burned to death, Remy ''never thought that the law was fully satisfied by such methods.''  Remy also sentenced a sixteen-year-old to crucifixion for theft (the boy had, after all, ignored three whippings and one branding), but this wasn't compensation enough.  In Wurzburg 300 children as young as three or four confessed to sexual intercourse with demons, with many considering the seven-year-old minimum age for execution to be too lenient.

Henri Boguet, a jurist, was one that believed the minimum age was too lenient condemned 600 to death, personally supervising the torture of an eight-year-old girl.  This man cited the ancient law of Excipiuntur as precedent: a child below the age of puberty who was not moved to tears by its master's death was thereby guilty of a capital offense.

In some places a decree was passed whereby a child below the age of twelve could not be executed, but the law could be patient.  When she was barely seven, Anne Hauldecoeur was imprisoned for witchcraft by the Lieutenant of Bouchain, Charles van der Camere.  She spent the next five years in prison until she reached her twelfth birthday.   On 11th July 1619 she was taken from her cell and executed.

While children were treated badly during this period,  women fared much worse.  The Malleus Maleficarum taught that women were evil, making it much easier to prove their guilt.  Henri Boguet, a torturer of little girls, in his Discours des Sorciers, gave judges a useful outline for the signs which indicated guilt sufficient enough to allow torture:

1.  If the accused generally turns his eyes to the ground during his examination...
2.  If the parents of the accused were witches...
3.  If the accused has a mark upon him...
4.  If the accused is prone uneasily to fall into a mad and trembling rage and blaspheme and use other execrations...
5.  If the accused makes as though to weep, and yet sheds no tears; or evenif he only sheds a very few...
6.  If the accused has no cross on his rosary; or if the cross is defective in some particular...
7.  If the accused has at times been reproached with being a witch, and has let the reproach pass unanswered, without seeking redress...
8.  If he asks to be re-baptised...

From time to time judges were inconcenienced by a witness who testified that the accused had been elsewhere at the time of the sorcery.  There was, however, a solution to this problem, which was admitted by Judge Matthew Hale during England's Bury St. Edmunds witch trials in 1645.  While a person could prove that they were somewhere else at the time of the supposed witchery, it was actually no proof at all.  The person could have projected a specter as a form of alibi.  This was a widely used solution in the Salem witch trials, with Cotton Mather reporting, ''...divers were condemned, against whom the chief evidence was founded in the spectral exhibitions.''

After the Catholic Counter-Reformation in Germany, between 1587 and 1593, Johan von Schoneburg, the Prince-Archbishop of Trier, and his Suffragan Bishop Peter Binsfield burned more than 300 people in 22 villages.  In 1585 they left two villages with only a single female inhabitant between them.  The children of the executed were banished, with their property being confiscated.

The Witch's Bottle

A Bellarmine, also known as a Witch's Bottle, was prevalent in 17^th century England but was used right up to relatively modern times. The use of the Bellarmine can be traced back to the 16^th century when it was likely to contain rusty nails, urine, thorns, hair, menstrual blood and pieces of glass, wood and bone. More modern examples contain items such as rosemary, wine, pins and needles. A Bellarmine was a charm used to break a spell or curse cast upon a person by a witch, or as a sort of spirit trap. The Bellarmine was also believed to be a charm against bad luck in general. 

A 17th century witch's bottle containing hair, fingernails and pins (Original)

 

It is believed by some to have been named after the Catholic inquisitor, Cardinal Bellarmine, who persecuted Protestants and was known as a demon to his victims. This theory has, however, been disproved by M. R. Holmes, who has pointed out that some of these bottles actually pre-date the Cardinal. According to the Museum of Witchcraft, the original name of a Bellarmine was actually Bartmann, which translates to 'Man with a Beard' in German and they were apparently made in Frechen near Cologne in Germany. Wooden Witch Boxes were also a way to trap a witch.

Bellarmines were especially popular in East Anglia, where the belief in witches was strong and were often made of green or blue glass, although those imported from Germany into Britain were more often made from brown or grey salt-glazed stoneware. They ranged in size, from around 3 inches to 9 inches in height. Those larger Bellarmines were also known as Greybeards due to the bearded faces that were etched into them. These bearded faces were believed to scare off evil.

16th/17th century witch's bottle and contents (Original)

Although the Bellarmine was used to break a curse cast by a witch, they were often prepared by a witch or cunning man or woman. To prepare a Bellarmine the victim's hair, urine and nails were placed inside along with thread, pins, material from the victim's clothing, and other items. Urine was a way of making the Bellarmine 'contain' the victim. Sticking pins into a heart soaked in the victim's urine was believed to fool the witch into believing the victim's heart was inside the bottle. Once detected, the witch was believed to enter the bottle to retrieve the victim's heart, only to become impaled on the pins, trapping them inside.

There were several ways to dispose of a Bellarmine. One way was to bury it beneath a house's hearth or threshold. When this method of disposal was used the spell was believed to have been nullified and the witch apparently suffered great discomfort. This counter-spell was believed to be active as long as the Bellarmine remained intact.

However, the most popular method of disposal was to place the Bellarmine on a fire. When the bottle exploded, the spell supposedly rebounded on the witch that cast it, killing them. In Joseph Blagrave's book, Astrological Practise of Physick (1671), he described the use of pins and urine in the charm as a way to 'stop the urine' of the witch, again causing great discomfort. An example of this can be found in the book, Saducimus Triumphatus (Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions – 1681) by Joseph Glanvill who describes the making of a Witch's Bottle and its subsequent use. Apparently the wife of William Brearley, a priest and fellow of Christ's College in Cambridge, fell ill when they stayed in Suffolk and was supposedly haunted by an apparition shaped like a bird. A Bellarmine was prepared for her containing her urine, pins, needles and nails. The bottle was then corked and placed on the fire. The spell was apparently removed and the wizard said to have cast the spell allegedly died.

Bellarmines were also used to prevent witches or their familiars from entering the house by hanging them in the chimney, near doors and windows or plastered into walls above doors. They were also used in commercial buildings, on rail lines, bridges and other structures to ward against evil and to prevent disaster.

James Murrell, one of England's best known cunning men, was famous for his Bellarmines, some of which were made of iron. According to some stories, the local blacksmith encountered difficulties whilst forging the first iron Bellarmine for Murrell. In order to draw the fire, Murrell apparently had to say a prayer. Another local story tells us that a boy was made to drink from this first bottle in ignorance of its true purpose. When he discovered that it was, in fact, a witch's bottle, he went home filled with dread and later died. 

 

Murrell was known to instruct his clients to place their Bellarmine onto the fire, prompting the blacksmith to make a tiny hole in the top of the iron bottles. This enabled the steam to escape, preventing lethal explosions. The steam exiting the Bellarmine caused Murrell to tell his clients that this steam was actually the spirit of the witch escaping.

One story of the supposed victim of a curse involved a young woman who upset an old gypsy. The gypsy placed a curse on her and, when the woman acquired a Bellarmine and placed it on the fire, footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by furious knocking. A woman's voice was heard, pleading 'Stop, you're killing me!' When the bottle exploded, the voice faded and the girl recovered. The gypsy's badly burned body was allegedly discovered three miles from the house of the victim.

Modern witch's bottles by Kitchen Witch

Why not make your own witch's bottle?  Here's how:

 You'll need:

• A small glass jar or bottle with a lid
• Sharp, rusty nails and pins
• Sea Salt
• Red ribbon
• A black candle  

First of all, fill your bottle or jar with the nails and pins.  According to folklore, this is meant to avert bad luck and hardship.
Next, add the sea salt, which is believed to purify.
Finally, add your red ribbon, which is supposed to bring you protection.
Once your bottle or jar is half full, you can either fill the remainer with your own urine, which determines that it belongs to you, or you can use wine.  If you decide to use wine, you can spit in it first, which, as with the urine, identifies that it is yours.
Once this is done, put the lid on, making sure it is properly screwed on, then use your black candle to seal it.  Black is believed to banish negativity, however, if you cannot find a black candle, you can use white, for protection.

Next you need to hide your bottle or jar and there are two choices for where to hide it.You could hide it somewhere in your house, be it behind a cupboard, up a chimney, beneath a doorstep.  It is believed that any malicious magic directed at your home will then go straight into the witch's bottle, rather than to you or others in your house.

And that's it.  Easy.  Your own witch's bottle.

 

The Origins of Witchcraft

The Origins of Witchcraft

Everyone has heard about the witch-hunts and persecution of witches which occurred mostly between the 14^th and 17^th centuries, a period known as the The Early Modern period, but where does our modern perception of witchcraft come from? In fact, where did our 14^th century predecessors get their concept of witchcraft? In other words, where did witchcraft originate and how has it evolved?

The word 'witch' originates from the Anglo-Saxon word 'wicca', which was derived from the word 'wicce' meaning wise. The word 'witch' also means to 'twist' or 'bend', and relates to psychogenesis or telekinesis. The word 'witch' dates back thousands of years, to when people worshipped Mother Earth or Nature as goddesses. Women were revered as creatures of new life. Witchcraft means 'the craft of the wise' and is the oldest religion in the world, remaining in existence through the oral transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next. It was primarily practiced by women as they stayed at home while the men worked. Witchcraft incompassed not ony magic - home medicines and remedies including potions, herbs, stones, oils, and massages were important factors.

Earth Mother by Shere Crossman (Original)

Essentially, witchcraft was created along with human civilization due to fear of the unknown, and because of the role magic was believed to play in making day-to-day life easier. Witches were the mediators between humans and mysterious super powers, such as spirits and angels. When a witch succeeded in solving someone's apparently mysterious problem, it was labelled magic: a process which couldn't be easily explained using logical analysis. Witchcraft was practiced in almost every society and culture across the world, although beliefs and traditions differed from place to place. According to scholars, it predates the majority of well-known religions and goes back to the Paleolithic period.

Archaeological discoveries have shown us how people worshipped the hunter god and fertility goddess during this period. The presence of cave paintings, estimated to be 30,000 years old, which protray a man with the head of a stag, along with another showing a pregnant woman standing in a circle made up of eleven other people, proves that witchcraft is one of the oldest religions in the world. These relics are evidence that witchcraft predates Christianity by thousands of years.

 Dancing Witch Doctor Cave Painting Copy by Abbe' Breuil (Original)

While it was more often practiced by women, men were also witches, although this was less common. Witches were considered highly valuable, providing vital services for the health of the family. They healed the sick and suffering and were respected for how wise they were.  Witches had a range of different uses, being capable of inducing hypnosis, making childbirth and other health problems pain free; they could use telepathy, clairvoyance, intuition, dowsing, crystals, and trance as means of communicating with the dead. At this point, religion and magic were inseparable. However, as people flocked to witches with the health problems, the Christian Church began to feel threatened. 

 

The Wise Woman from Catkin (Original)

While witches and their craft were once respected, it has evolved massively since its creation. As we come to the growth of Christianity, witchcraft changed to suit this new religion, which portrayed the practice of magic as evil and those practicing it as heathens and heretics. Many of the ideas incorporated into the practise of witchcraft were taken from popular folklore, with the development of these beliefs being the responsibility of the Christian intellects of the time, before being filtered back to the common people through indirect means.

When looking at the old beliefs in witchcraft, one of the common elements is involvement with the Devil and demons. During the Middle Ages, the Devil was usually known as Satan, meaning 'the adversary'. Satan did not play a particularly big role in the Old Testament, but he was far more apparent in the New Testament, where he tempted those with a belief in God, trying to get them to turn their backs on their religion. In the New Testament, the war between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan began, each trying to gain control of the souls of mortal men.

You may wonder what this has to do with the evolution of witchcraft and that Christianity has little to do with witchcraft.  However, the growth of Christianity had a great deal to do with the later views on witchcraft. As Christianity spread, it encontered other beliefs and other religions, all of which those following Christianity would try to convert to the 'one true faith.' Those seen to be denying the word of God and to be leading souls away from God were seen to be a part of the Kingdom of Satan.

Before long, Christianity began to demonize the gods belonging to other religions, especially those which had converted to Christianity. Pagan deities were some of the most often used to describe the Devil, along with Roman and Celtic deities. People were taught to fear and hate these deities, with fertility gods most often being recognised as demonic. The Greek deity Pan and the Celtic Cernunnos gave the Christian Devil his goat-like appearance, with the Roman Diana adding the sometimes described woman''s breasts to his description. In the confessions of accused witches, these details were often described, although they were probably prompted by the inquisitor.

 The Persecution of Witches (Original)

In the 12^th and 13^th centuries, demons were creatures of spirit – much like angels, these were the fallen angels. If a demon were to be visible, its body was said to be made from the vapours of the earth, with this control of the air later becoming an imporant theory for the flight of witches.

The Christian religion maintained that only God could cause a miracle. Any claim that the Devil could control creation or free will was considered heretical, and any 'miraculous transformations' were considered to be an illusion, with illusion being one of the Devil's supposed powers over the material world. Where the Devil was considered to have power over the material world, God was believed to provide humans with free will. So, if you were seen as being possessed by demons, it was believed that it was through your own choice. According to Malleus Maleficarum, the Devil could influence a person's choices through bibery and tricks. This meant that accused witches maintained their moral responsibility, especially is a pact with the Devil had been made.

This brings us to another important element in accepted witch traditions. A pact with the Devil meant that not only did you practise harmful magic, you were also considered to be a Devil worshipper. This idea was developed over many centuries, with the earliest documentation of such pacts being by St. Augustine, although the belief didn't become widespread until the descriptions were translated into Latin during the 9^th century. It was, by this point in time, believed that all magic practisioners received their powers from pacts with the Devil, although not all Devil worshippers were granted magical powers. A pact with the Devil was seen as some kind of legal contract with the Devil promising a reward in exchange for the witch's immortal soul. This reward may be a promise of wealth, power, sexual indulgence, or happiness in the afterlife. In some instances the witch would be bestowed with magical powers.

A portrayal of Devil worship and cannibalism committed by witches (Original)

The practice of magic increased in the 12^th and 13^th centuries with the transaltions of Greek and Islamic texts. One popular magical practice was necromancy, or communication with the dead, where demons would be apparently summoned so they could be trapped, meaning the witch could learn from their hidden knowledge. As the practice of magic became more common, so did condemnation of these practices, with demonologists stating that while necromancers may not mean to worship the Devil, their communications with demons must come with a price. They concluded that the witch must need to offer some form of bait for the demon, or do some service for the Devil in exchange for the demons knowledge. This meant that even if the practisioner didn't intend to worship the Devil, anything considered the practice of magic was condemned as evil.

This was not the first condemnation of magic, but a pact with the Devil was an imporant addition to witchcraft traditions, making the label of witch applicable to peasants who practiced magic with little or no understanding of the implications of their actions – a pact with the Devil, whether it was was intentional or not. This connection between magic and heresy was then used to condemn other so called heretics, including those found to be involved in secret, group worship and abnormal, inhumane behaviour. Witchcraft became a sort of religious mockery of Christianity, which was best expressed during the witches' sabbath, the next element in the concept of witchcraft.

At this point there was a shift of focus from the upper-class, educated, male magician to the poor, unknowledgable, female witch. There was a corresponding change in the attributes of the pact, from equal partnership where the magicial could fight for the advantage, to a role of subservience, where the witch submitted voluntarily. This was pointed out by King James VI of Scotland, when he said, ''Witches are servants only, and slaves to the Devil; but the Necromancers are his masters and commanders.''

A gathering of witches was known as the sabbath and was a place for those Devil worshippers to debase themselves, taking part in sexual activities with demons, cannibalism and the murder of innocent infants. In some parts of Europe, including France, Spain and Italy, witches were believed to take part in parodies of the Catholic Mass. When all of these activities were connected they provided fulfilled Christians worst fears. This society of so-called witch lore may have been invented by monks during the 12^th and 13^th centuries as propaganda in the war against other beliefs, such as those held by the Waldensians and Cathars, before being applied to other heretics. These intense accusations became a huge burden for accused witches as knowledge of heretical practices grew.

Belief in the sabbath was not universal, although it was widespread and an important addition to those who hunted witches. The assumption that witches gathered to worship the Devil led to many endless hunts for those connected to the accused witches, and was probably a contributing factor in the scale of the exhaustive searches.

Coven in Flight (Original)

Another belief that was often included in witch lore was the claim that witches were capable of flight. One way of doing this was through the Devil's material control over the air, which could propel a witch for great distances through the air. Another theory was that the Devil used his power of illusion, making the witch believe that they had flown. This second idea was also used in claims that the sabbath itself was an illusion. Regardless, flight was used to explain how witches were able to attend sabbaths which were believed to be held in remote areas. Origins of this concept may go back to pagan beliefs which were still followed by many peasants. One of these beliefs held that women could transform into strigae, or abhorrent screeching owls. Another belief was of the Dianic 'wild hunt, when a witch was said to ride through the countryside on the backs of various beasts.

Metamorphosis was another element in Early Modern witch lore. It was said that a witch was capable of transforming themselves or others into animals, with a particular favourite being the wolf. While this too was supposedly another of the Devil's illusion, it was a common assumption. To us, these beliefs may seem far-fetched but, at the time, they seemed like rational explanations. These beliefs were often challenged, although no one dared to deny the central theme of the Devil, which held the entire movement in one piece.

So, when looking at the origins of witchcraft, one has to understand that it had been present in society since the dawn of time, with witches being considered wise and important. However, with the growth of Christianity, fear of witches and the practice of magic was instilled into the public, pushing them to convert from their life-long religion to the 'one true faith', Christianity. What followed was the accusation and murder of many innocents who had often committed no crime or wrong doing.

Fortunately, with modern witchcraft, respect for this practice has once again grown and is now followed by many people in the modern age, without the fear of persecution. It attracts people from all walks of life, bringing them together in an understanding of the life, nature, evolution and mysteries of the universe through witchcraft. Unlike other religions, witchcraft allows a huge amount of freedom, with the only real rules being that you should harm none unless you wish it to be returned to you three times three, nor should nature be misused the generosity of nature by distrupting its balance. 

Next time: We will take a closer look at the persecution of witches during the Salem Witch Trials.

The Witch's Familiar

The Witch's Familiar

During the Medieval and Early Modern periods, belief in witchcraft was rife and predominant in the evidence used against witches during the witch trials was the familiar, or familiar spirit, although the belief in familiars goes back much further. A familiar was believed to be a supernatural entity, essentially a demon, which assisted witches and cunning folk in the practice of their craft and was said to be given to witches or cunning folk by the devil, although ancient lore says that they came from the Otherworld. The basic idea of a familiar probably emerged due to a need for humans to communicate with the unseen world of spirits, with the familiar first serving as a mediator between the physical and spiritual world. This concept later evolved, with the familiar becoming a companion and ally. With the rise of Christianity, the familiar became a servant, given by the Devil, and was considered to be a 'partner in evil' who helped the witch in casting evil spells. These supernatural entities appeared in many forms; often as an animal but were also believed to appear as human or as a humanoid figure. Cats, especially black cats, were favoured, with the fear of all cats being witches familiars resulting in cat massacres which swept through Medieval Europe. The demon helper was also said to inhabit dogs, toads and other small animals. Some sources also say that 'traditional vessels for such spirits were the cat, mouse, ferret, hare, bat, snake, hound, or bird – particularly a raven or an owl.' 

The Witch's Familiar (Original)

 

This connection between humans and animals can be traced back to Palaeolithic (2.5 million and 20,000 years ago) and Neolithic (4000-2500BC) notions, and can be seen in old shamanic practices associated with animal guides. Cave art, including etchings and drawings, depicts scenes that are believed to represent magical themes, along with artefacts from these periods representing different animals and creatures. Many of the animals represented in these periods are identical to those that have later appeared as familiar spirits, suggesting that they are related to ancient beliefs and practices. 

 

The earliest writings associated with witches and familiars show the similarity of a chthonic nature, with many of them being creatures of woodlands, wetlands, and caves which links them to Underworld themes and deities including Hecate, Diana, Pan and Proserpina. These deities are often associated with certain animals: Diana with the hound, Hecate with the toad, Pan with the goat and Proserpina with the serpent. The various types of familiar are often the same creatures associated with moon goddesses, mother goddesses and ancient chthonic deities. Our ancestors believed the night and the moon to be closely connected to the Otherworld and Spirit World, with folk beliefs holding that supernatural entities of the night lived in the dark and wooded places.

Diana and the Hound (Original)

The physical senses, hearing and sense of smell, are stronger in animals than in humans, and, from an occult perspective, their psychic senses are also stronger. So it is believed that a close relationship with a familiar strengthens the sense of a witch. Witches are said to have taken great care of their familiars. Emile Grillot de Givry, in Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy (1931), describes how witches 'baptised their toads, dressed them in black velvet, put little bells on their paws and made them dance.' The familiar also benefits from this relationship, which supposedly provides the familiar with an expanded view of reality and reinforces the familiar's energy pattern. And so the familiar becomes the mediator between worlds. With both parties benefiting, a connection between the human consciousness and nature's consciousness are said to join, forming a magical consciousness. With both consciousnesses joined, the witch and familiar are said to be capable of opening portals to other realms, accomplishing magical outcomes in both the physical and astral plane. Legends of shapeshifting witches probably originates from these beliefs. In a Lancaster trial written by G. B. Harrison, we are told: 'But the spirits which appear now as men, now as animals, are, at first sight, more difficult to explain until it is remembered that in the witchcraft ritual the members of the coven disguise themselves as animals... (the familiars) are nothing more than the evil humans who were responsible for the whole business.' Owls were often associated with witches, giving us an example of how a witch was believed capable of changing their form. The Romans actually called the owl a 'strix', which translates as 'witch', with another term used during the Middle Ages being 'night hag', referring to the belief that the owl was a witch in bird form. In reality, the familiar is the magical partner and companion of the witch, and vice versa.

Owls were often believed to be a shape-shifted witch (Original)

The oldest idea of the familiar was that it was a spirit animal of an entire species of animal, represented by a single form. This is, in some cultures, called an animal guide or a power animal. These entities can supposedly be used as a link to Nature. This belief is often connected to shamanic practices . One of the earliest signs of the relationship between animal guides and humans can be seen in the Ver Sacrum, a religious practice pre-dating the rise of the Roman Empire which is connected with the Sacred Springtime of the ancient Italic tribes. This rite required the tribe to split up in order to form new colonies, during which their sacred animal was said to guide them. For example, the Sabellians were guided by a bull , the Piceni were guided by a woodpecker and the Lucani were guided by a wolf.

Over time, these supernatural beings, along with fairies, were combined into a common mythos. Jeffrey Burton Russell, author of Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, tells us: 'The small demons that became the Witches' Familiars of the later Middle Ages were originally dwarves, trolls, fairies, elves, kobolds, or the fertility spirits called Green Men...' He goes on to say that black and green were the favoured colours of witches, with green being the colour of the fairies. Richard Baxter, a Puritan cleric, was an earlier figure that viewed familiars as nature spirits. In his treatise, The Certainty of the World of Spirits, which was published in the year of his death, Baxter argued for the belief in 'invisible powers and spirits,' with the belief that familiars, or spirits of some kind, helped witches with the casting of spells and the raising of storms. He was, however, uncertain whether these spirits 'are neither Angels, good or bad,' or whether 'those called Fairies and Goblins are not such.' The fact that fairies were often believed to be familiars of witches shows the survival of Pagan beliefs in later periods.

 Quaker Witch with Demon Familiar (Original)

Another persistent theme within the belief of witchcraft is of the witch being transported to the Sabbat with help from their familiar. Fairy lore shows similarities to this belief with the transportation of humans to the Fairy Realm, which is suggestive of the Otherworld, with the crossing between the mortal and spirit realm with the help of a supernatural entity. Oral tradition tells us of how witches avoided detection by meeting in the astral plane to hold their Sabbats. This was aided with the use of 'flying ointments' which were smeared onto the skin and, within Fairy lore, the use of some magical dust or potion.

Witches often used the induction of trances to connect with other realms and here we can see the

connection of animal spirits as the magical partner of the witch. One ancient technique to induce a trance was to listen to the croaking of frogs. The frogs movement between land and water was possibly suggestive of a supernatural power possessed by the frog, giving it the capabilities to lead the witch to and from the spirit realm. Some folklorists of the 19^th century, such as Charles Leland, have pointed out the addition of bronze frog images that have been used by witches to aid them in the working of spells and magic, indicating a close connection between witches and frogs. Fairies and imps were also said to aid witches to travel 'in spirit' due to the belief that they lived within the spirit realm. They allowed the witch to enter into the Otherworld by locating the doors that link the physical to the spiritual, which is possibly why fairies and witches are often associated in folk beliefs throughout Europe and the UK. 

The Egyptian Dog Anubis (Original)

 

Another familiar believed to help a witch in their travels was the dog which was believed to be a guardian and keeper of the passage between the physical world and the Underworld. While the dog is often seen as a guardian of Underworld treasures, it is actually the guardian of secret knowledge associated with death and resurrection. The Egyptian dog, Anubis, is the attendant of the dead and the soul guide of the spirit land. Dogs are also associated with messenger gods and gods of destruction. The dog is often placed in the company of mother goddesses and healers. Like cats, dogs were regarded as witches' familiars and, according to J. C. Cooper, author of An Illustrated Encyclopaedia on Traditional Symbols, 'represent witches as rain-makers, hence 'raining cats and dogs.''

It was believed that a familiar could be used to trace a witch when dealing with curses and bewitchment. One witch trial held in 1665 for Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, both from Lowestoft, was concerned with the bewitchment of a child. It was noted that 'One of the sick child's blankets was hung up and anything found in it thrown into the fire. A toad obligingly appeared and exploded when put in the fire, after which the suspect was discovered and much scorched.' Medieval Christians believed toads to be 'familiars of witches, symbols of avarice and lust, and tormentors of those in Hell for these and other sins.' European folklore shows that the toad had a much darker position than the frog. The toad was regarded as an emissary of the 'Evil One' in 16^th century England, and was often burned to death as a result. In Norway, opinions were much the same, with the toad being regarded as evil, or as the representation of evil, with unfortunate frogs and toads being thrown onto the bonfire which people had danced around and jumped over on St. John's Eve. Killing toads in this manner was believed to ward off evil spirits and trolls which were active on that night. 

In parts of Scandinavia, familiars were often associated with spirits of the land and nature. Fairies, dwarves, and other supernatural beings were believed to live within the bodies of animals. With the coming of Christianity, the practice of witchcraft went underground due to the assumption that any spirit, other than an angel, had to be a demon. During the witch trials, many domestic animals were killed due to their association with heretics and witches.

Shamanistic beliefs of animal familiars is that they are not physical beings, but are thought-forms or purely spiritual entities. They are said to travel astrally, serving as magical guardians against those who may try to psychically attack the shaman.

In 1318, Pope John XXII is said to have had nine alleged witches prosecuted for assorted magical crimes, including their contact with a familiar with the help of a polished glass. The Church made use of a collection of scriptures from the Old Testament involving familiars, although it is difficult to say what these Christian interpretations of the scriptures may have meant to the ancient Hebrews. The 'Witch of Endor' from the Old Testament (Samuel 28: 3-25) was often used as the foundation of the Church's opinion on familiars. There is, however, nothing within the original language to suggest that the woman in the story was actually a witch. The original script was translated from ba'alath ob, meaning 'mistress of the Ob', to Latin mulierem habentem pythonem, meaning 'a woman possessing an oracle spirit' which was, in the King James version, translated to mean 'possessing a familiar spirit.' The Hebrew word 'ob' was used in reference to sorcerers and necromancers who conjured the dead to answer their questions. The King James Bible translated this to 'familiaris', changing the meaning of the original scripture to that of a 'household servant'. This portrayed such spirits as being the personal servants of a witch or sorcerer. Literal translations of the Bible do not discuss familiars, dealing mainly with those that practice the arts of the occult. For example, the Book of Deuteronomy 18:10-11 tells us to avoid keeping company with a 'fortuneteller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner, spell-caster, a spirit medium, or anyone who seeks oracles from the dead. The Book of Leviticu 20:27 encouraged strict punishment for anyone connected to the occult: 'A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning.' The King James Bible simply replaced these original ideas with the use of the word 'witch'.

Queen Elizabeth, in 1563, declared that anyone proved to have invoked or conjured 'evill and wicked Sprites' would be punished, while King James, in 1604, expanded on this and was more specific, saying: That if any person or persons... shall use practice or exercise any Invocation or Conjuration of any evill and wicked Spirit, or shall consult convenant with entertaine employ feede or rewarde any evill or wicked Spirit (will be punished). Court officials were often keen to convict those that were a part of the occult, often coercing the accused in order to shape the evidence in such a way that made it look as though the suspect was in clear violation of the law. 

 

The Malleus Maleficarum (1486), the witch inquisitor's handbook, gives no actual instruction concerning the familiar in the questioning and trial of a witch. This book does,however, mention familiars, stating that an animal familiar 'always works with her (witch) in everything.' It also cautions inquisitors to never leave the suspect witch alone because the Devil 'will cause her to kill herself', possibly accomplishing this through a familiar. If, during these trials, so much as a fly came in through the window during the questioning of a witch, it was believed to be a familiar. 

 Matthew Hopkins, the Witch Finder General (Original)

 

The main period for the focus of witches having relationships with animal figures was between 1550 and 1650, with Matthew Hopkins, the notorious 'Witch Finder General', using the possession of a familiar as primary evidence to prove a suspect guilty of witchcraft. As a result, many were executed simply for their ownership of an animal, along with their having a strange mark, which was believed to be a nipple used to feed their familiar. The courts often exchanged the term 'familiar spirit' with words such as 'imp', 'devil', and 'demon', so it is not difficult to understand how the oldest beliefs of familiars mutated under the direction of such religious authority.

Despite the widespread belief in familiars, the Salem witch trials gives very few accounts of animal familiars. In 1692, John Bradstreet was accused of 'inciting a dog to afflict.' As a result, the dog was tried and hanged for being a witch.

The Familiar Spirit (Original)

Descriptions of familiar spirits by witches or cunning folk who had been accused of witchcraft had similar characteristics. Despite the supposed supernatural nature of these familiars, the accounts of them are surprisingly ordinary. They often had normal and affectionate names. For example, Bessie Dunlop, one cunning woman accused of witchcraft named her familiar Tom Reid. Another accused witch, the 17^th century Jane Wellis from Huntingdonshire named her familiars Grizell and Gridigut. There are accounts telling us that the familiar often arrived with its name already established, meaning that the witch was not believed to have named the familiar. Matthew Hopkins declared that 'no mortall could invent' such names, which, to him, was suggestive of something diabolical. This indication fits with the beliefs of the time, with many from this era believing that all spirits possessed names, therefore it only made sense that familiars had their own exclusive names. Familiars were described by those that had supposedly witnessed them as clearly defined, three-dimensional....forms, vivid with colour and animated with movement and sound. With their later descriptions of their smoky, undefined forms, they sound more like ghosts. 

 

They were often believed to be malevolent when working for a witch, while they were believed to be benevolent when working for cunning folk, with a witch's familiar being identified as a demon, while the latter are often classified as fairies. A familiar's main purpose is to protect and serve the witch, as they inherit their new skills. Once the relationship between witch and familiar was established, the familiar actually served a variety of purposes. Witch trials show that familiars were believed to inflict injury and to cause death to both animals and humans. They were believed to haunt and harass people, although this was limited to verbally abusing, jeering and/or threatening the victim.

In accounts taken from British cases, witches and cunning folk generally had three different ways in which a familiar would come to them. The first was that the familiar would impulsively appear in front of the individual, inside or outside of the home. For example, Joan Prentice, interrogated for witchcraft in 1589, claimed that she was 'alone in her chamber, and sitting upon a low stool preparing herself to bedward,' when her familiar first manifested before her. A cunning woman from Cornwall, Anne Jeffries, claimed that her familiar appeared when she was 'knitting in an arbour in our garden.'

The second common appearance of the familiar to a magical practitioner was that they were gifted to them, sometimes by a family member or, supposedly, by a powerful spirit. Margaret Ley from Liverpool, questioned in relation to witchcraft in 1667, claimed that her familiar was given to her by her mother when she died. Another example comes from Joan Willimot, a Leicestershire cunning woman questioned in 1618. Willimot claimed that a mysterious figure, who she referred to only as her 'master', 'willed her to open her mouth and he would blow into her a fairy which should do her good. And that she open her mouth, and that presently after blowing, there came out of her mouth a spirit which stood upon the ground in the shape and form of a woman.' Other examples include a trial that took place in Chelmsford in 1556, where the accused confessed to possessing a white-spotted cat called Satan which was passed down from witch to witch and a trial in 1582, where a 12 year old girl admitted to receiving her familiar, a cat, from her grandmother, which she later gave away to a woman named Agnes Waterhouse.

 

In some accounts, witches or cunning folk are said to have experienced difficulties in the practise of their magic until a familiar appeared to them and offered them aid. It has been noted by Emma Wilby, historian and author of Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits, that 'their problems... were primarily rooted in the struggle for physical survival – the lack of food or money, bereavement, sickness, loss of livelihood and so on.' The familiar apparently offered them a way out of this, solving their problems by gifting them with magical powers. Some lore states that a witch received their familiar following their initiation into the Witches' sect Witches and cunning folk often made some form of pact or agreement with their familiar. This would state a length of time for which the familiar remained with the practitioner, varying between weeks and, in some cases, decades. It seems common for witches and cunning folk to summon their familiar when they were in need of assistance, although the methods varied. Joan Cunny from Essex, in 1589, claimed that she had to kneel within a circle and pray to Satan for her familiar to manifest, while, in 1653, the cunning woman, Anne Bodenham, from Wiltshire claimed that she could summon her familiars by reading books. However, in some accounts familiars are said to have had the ability to manifest even when they were unwanted or when they had not been summoned. Elizabeth Chandler, a witch from Huntingsonshire, claimed in 1646 that she had no control over her two familiars, Beelzebub and Trullibub, and is said to have prayed to God that He would 'deliver her therefrom.'

As I have noted briefly above, witches were believed to feed or nourish their familiar. It was believed that the familiar needed the nourishment of breast milk or blood, although some witches are reported to have fed their familiar on bread and milk. However, most theories of the time suggested that a familiar often craved and required blood in order to maintain a physical body, as they were believed to be spirits. While familiars were believed to take blood straight from the witch, witches were sometimes believed to provide other sources to feed the craving of their familiar. In 1324, Alice Kyteler from Kilkenny, Ireland, who was convicted as being a witch, confessed that she sacrificed red cocks to her familiar, providing it with a source of blood. Familiars, according to trial transcriptions, obtained blood by pricking the witches body and sucking out the blood. This was believed to leave a mark, which was identified as the 'witch's mark' or 'devil's mark' by witch hunters. This mark could be anything from a bruise, mole, or any skin abnormality. Most often accused were the elderly, who often had the common dark spots which we attribute to old age. These marks were believed to be insensitive to pain caused by a pin or needle pushed into them.

Outside of the witch trials, it was believed that some magicians and village healers were aided by more benevolent familiars which could diagnose illnesses and sources of bewitchment. They were also used to divine and find lost objects and treasures. During rituals, magicians would conjure these spirits, locking them into bottles, rings and stones which were sometimes sold as charms, with the magician claiming that they would ensure success in whatever the buyer sought. This was not technically illegal, with England's Witchcraft Act of 1604 specifically outlawing evil and wicked spirits.

Modern witches have their own views on familiars and no longer accept the Judeo-Christian opinion of the familiar as either accurate or valid. Familiars are now more often perceived in much the same way as some American Indians view animal guides or power animals. They are now seen as messengers that move between the mortal and spirit realm, healers and powerful allies to those with whom they form a relationship which are gifted to a witch by the Great Spirit. There are, to a modern witch, essentially three types of familiar spirit: the physical, the astral and the artificial. A physical familiar is a pet or animal to which you feel drawn. An astral familiar is considered to be an entity which exists within the spiritual realm. The artificial familiar is one that is created by the practitioner with the use of magic. In modern times, the familiar assists the witch by carrying energy for the use of healing, communicating and spell casting. They are also believed to protect both the home and personal property. Familiars can also defend a witch during astral projection and dream-work, as well as carrying information to or from the spiritual realm.

 

In conclusion, familiars have evolved and changed through the years and, in modern times, have pretty much come full circle back to the beliefs of the ancients. Familiars have been considered to be guides and helpers, aiding a witch, magician or shaman in the practice of their magic. They are said to take many forms, often as animals, with the favourites being cats. They are, however, not limited to being only animals, with many beliefs stating that the familiar is a spirit capable of living within the body of an animal or creature. They can be a readily evolved spirit or can be created through the use of magic by a witch. The evolution of Christianity saw familiars condemned, linking them to demons and the Devil and giving a primary source of evidence against an accused witch. While they have often been linked with evil, cunning folk were also said to possess benevolent familiars which could aid a person with any matter. In this case, the spirit was sometimes bottled and sold. Modern times, however, bring us back to the belief that the familiar exists to protect and aid it's witch by carrying the additional energy needed during healing, communication with other worlds and spell-casting. It is now believed that the familiar spirit connects us to the spirits of nature, much like the beliefs of our ancestors before us.

Next time: We'll take a closer look at the origins of witchcraft.