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not for the general public.
The derivation of the word Sabbath in this connexion is quite unknown. It has clearly nothing to do with the
number seven, and equally clearly it is not connected with the Jewish ceremonial. It is possibly a derivative
of s'esbattre, 'to frolic'; a very suitable description of the joyous gaiety of the meetings.
1. Sabbath
Locomotion.
-The method of going to the meetings varied according to the distance to be traversed. In an immense
majority of cases the means of locomotion are not even mentioned, presumably therefore the witches went on
foot, as would naturally be the case in going to the local meeting or Esbat, which was attended only by those
who lived near. There are, however, a few instances where it was thought worth while to mention that the
worshippers walked to the meeting. Boguet (1598), who yields to none in his accounts of magical means of
going to the Sabbath, says, 'les Sorciers nea{n}tmoins vont quelquefois de pied au Sabbat, ce qui leur aduient
principalement, lors que le lieu, où ils font leur assemblée, n'est pas guieres eslongné de leur habitation', and
rites in confirmation the evidence of George and Antoinette Gandillon and their father Pierre, Clauda
Ianprost, Clauda Ian-guillaume, Iaquema Paget, Gros Iaques, the two brothers Claude and Claude Charloz,
Pierre Willermoz, l'Aranthon, Pernette Molard, Ianne Platet, and Clauda Paget.[1] Iaquema Paget's account of
how she and Antoine Tornier went to a
[1. Boguet, pp. 106-7.]
meeting on their way home. from the harvest field (see p. 121), proves that they were on foot. The
Lang-Niddry witches (1608) clearly walked, they 'convenit thame selffis at Deanefute of Lang-Niddry . . .
thaireffir thay past altogidder to the said Beigis hous in Lang-Nydry [where they drank]; and thaireftir come
IV. THE ASSEMBLIES 58
 The Witch Cult in Western Europe
with all thair speid to Seaton-thorne be-north the zet; quhair the Devill. callit for the said Christiane Tod,
and past to Robert Smartis house, and brocht hir out.... And thay thaireftir past altogidder, with the Devill, to
the irne zet of Seatoun . . . And thaireftir come all bak agane to the Deane-fute, quhair first thai convenit.'[1]
The distance from Lang Niddry to Seaton Castle is under a mile. Isaac de Queyran (1609), a young fellow of
twenty-five, told de Lancre that those living at a distance flew home through the air, the near ones returned
on foot.[2] Berthélemy Minguet of Brécy was tried in 1616: 'Enquis, de quelle façon sa femme fut au Sabbat
la premiere fois. Respond, qu'elle y fut transportée par le Diable, lequel la rapporta apres le Sabbat, & que la
seconde fois qu'elle y a esté, elle y fut de son pied avec luy, & s'en retourna de son pied, & qu'elle n'y a
iamais esté que ces deux fois.'[3] Helen Guthrie of Forfar (1661) said that 'herselfe, Isobell Shyrie, and Elspet
Alexander, did meit togither at ane aile house near to Barrie, a litle befor sunsett, efter they bade stayed in the
said house about the spaice of ane houre drinking of thrie pintis of ale togidder, they went foorth to the
sandis, and ther thrie other women met them, and the divell wes there present with them all . . . and they
parted so late that night that she could get no lodging, but wes forced to lye at ane dyk syde all night'.[4]
Christian Grieve, of Crook of Devon (1662), acknowledged I that ye came to the foresaid meeting
immediately after your goodman and the rest went to bed, and that ye locked the door and put the key under
the same, and that ye and the said Margaret Young your neighbor came foot for foot to the foresaid meeting
and that ye stayed at the foresaid meeting about the space of two hours and came back again on your foot,
and the foresaid Margaret Young
[1. Pitcairn, ii, pp. 542-3.
2. De Lancre, Tableau, p. 148.
3. Id., L'Incredulité. P. 808.
4. Kinloch, pp. 122-3.]
with you, and found the key of the door in that same place where you left it, and declared that neither your
husband nor any other in the house was waking at your return'.[1] At Lille (1661) the girl Bellot, then aged
fifteen, said that 'her Mother had taken her with her when she was very Young, and had even carried her in
her Arms to the Witches Sabbaths or Assemblies'.[2] At Strathdown (eighteenth century) the witches went
along the side of the river Avon to Craic-pol-nain, fording the river on foot.[3]
In the cases cited above there is nothing in the least bizarre or extraordinary, but there are other methods
recorded of reaching the distant meetings. Sometimes the obvious means was by riding on a horse;
sometimes the witches were accused, or claimed the power, of flying through the air, of riding in the air on a
stick, of riding on animals or human beings, which latter were sometimes in their own natural form and
sometimes enchanted into the form of animals.
The following instances are of those who rode to or from the meetings on horseback. Agnes Sampson of
North Berwick (1590) said that the Devil in mans likeness met her going out in the fields from her own house
at Keith, betwixt five and six at even, being her alone and commanded her to be at North-berwick Kirk the
next night: And she passed there on horse-back, conveyed by her Good-son, called Iohn Couper'.[4] Boguet
(1608) mentions, in passing, the fact that the witches sometimes rode on horses.[5] The Lancashire witches
(1613), after the meeting at Malking Tower, 'went out of the said House in their owne shapes and likenesses.
And they all, by that they were forth of the dores, gotten on Horseback, like vnto foals, some of one colour,
some of another.[6] This was the usual mode of locomotion among the Lancashire witches, for Margaret
Johnson (1633) said that at the meeting at Hoarstones 'there was, at yt tyme, between 30 and 40 witches, who
did all ride to the said meetinge'.[7] Isobell Gowdie (1662) said, 'I haid a little horse, and wold say, " Horse
[1. Burns Begg, p. 239.
IV. THE ASSEMBLIES 59
 The Witch Cult in Western Europe
2. Bourignon, Vie, p. 211; Hale, p. 29.
3. Stewart, p. 174.
4. Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 239. Spelling modernized.
5. Boguet, p. 104.
6. Potts, G4.
7. Whitaker, p. 216.]
and Hattock, in the Divellis name!"[1] The most detailed account is from Sweden (1669):
'Another Boy confessed too, that one day he was carried away by his Mistriss, and to perform the journey he
took his own Father's Horse out of the Meadow where it was, and upon his return she let the Horse go in her
own ground. The next morning the Boys Father sought for his Horse, and not finding it, gave it over for lost;
but the Boy told him the whole story, and so his Father fetcht the Horse back again.'[2]
We now come to the marvellous and magical means of locomotion. The belief in the power of witches to ride
in the air is very ancient and universal in Europe. They flew either unsupported, being carried by the Devil, or
were supported on a stick; sometimes, however, an animal which they rode passed through the air. The flying
was usually preceded by an anointing of the whole or part of the body with a magical ointment. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]