GOD OF THE WITCHES MARGARET ALICE MURRAY, D.Lit. (Fellow of University College, London) AUTHOR OF “THE OSIREION AT ABYDOS”, “THE WITCH CULT IN WESTERN EUROPE”, “EGYPTIAN TEMPLES”, ETC. “Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.”—ISAIAH, li. I. LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & CO., LTD. [1933] FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION THIS bookbeing intended forthe general readeras well as forthe studentofanthropologythe authorityforeach statement is notalways given in the text.Forthe benefitofthose who wish to pursue the studyfurtherthere is a bibliographyforeach chapteratthe end ofthe book.Fora complete bibliographyofEnglish records the readeris referred to Wallace Notestein’s HistoryofWitchcraftin England (Washington,1911).In myWitch Cultin Western Europe (Oxford UniversityPress,1921) the bibliographyis chieflyofthe British Isles,France,Belgium,and Sweden. Though I am concerned with the existence through the Middle Ages ofa primitive religion in Western Europe only,there is no doubtthatthe cultwas spread in earlytimes through Central and Eastern Europe and the NearEast.There itsurvived, underlying,as in the West,the official religion ofthe country,Christianityin Europe,Islam and sometimes Christianityin the East.The literati ofthose countries were ofthe faith there in the ascendant,consequentlythe Old Religion was seldom recorded, forPaganism belonged there as here to the inarticulate uneducated masses who remained formanycenturies untouched by the newreligion.I have notattempted to give everyknown instance ofthe beliefs and ritual ofthe “witches”;all I desire to do is to presentto the readera fairlycomplete viewofthe cultfrom contemporaryevidence.I have also,as occasion arose,compared the Witch-Cultwith otherreligions ofancientand modern times. Mygrateful thanks are due to mysister,Mrs.M.E.Slater,and to Mr.G.A.Wainwrightformuch kind help and manyvaluable suggestions;and to Mr.F.Rutter,Town-clerkofShaftesbury,forthe information which he so kindlyfurnished concerning the Prize Besom. In conclusion,there is one requestI wish to make ofmyreaders.Since myWitch Cultin Western Europe appeared I have received manyletters containing criticisms,some complimentary,some condemnatory,ofthatbook.Ifothercorrespondents honourme with similarprivate criticisms ofthe presentvolume,I askofthem thattheywill sign theircommunications,even when the opinions theyexpress are adverse.Anonymous letters,ofwhich I received a number,reflectno crediton theirwriters. CONTENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I. THE HORNED GOD II. THE WORSHIPPERS III. THE PRIESTHOOD IV. THE RITES V. RELIGIOUS AND MAGICAL CEREMONIES VI. THE DIVINE VICTIM REFERENCES INTRODUCTION MUCH has been written oflate years on the changes,evolution,and continuityofmaterial culture from the Palaeolithic period down to the Roman era when written accounts ofWestern Europe began.The movements ofpeoples,the increase of trade,the advance ofcivilisation,have all been traced with considerable precision.The late Palaeolithic period ofEurope has been linked with the Capsian,which is ofAfrican origin,and the gulfbetween the Palaeolithic and Neolithic civilisations is being rapidlybridged.The material side oflife has received mostattention,forthe concrete remains ofEarlyMan are verynumerous. The pictorial and plastic arts ofthe mostremote periods have also been studied,and from the arts and handicrafts the mental developmentofthe Palaeolithic and Neolithic peoples can be traced.Butthe religion ofthose earlytimes has been entirely neglected,with the exception ofa fewreferences to Mother-goddesses and to burial customs.The studentofearlyreligion begins his subjectin the earlyBronze-age ofthe NearEastand totallyignores Western Europe in the Stone-ages;he ends his studywith the introduction ofChristianity,as the studyofthatreligion is known as Theology.There is,however,a continuityof beliefand ritual which can be traced from the Palaeolithic period down to modern times.Itis onlybythe anthropological method thatthe studyofreligions,whetherancientormodern,can be advanced. The attitude ofall writers towards the post-Christian era in Europe,especiallytowards the Middle Ages,has been thatofthe ecclesiastic,the historian,the artist,the scholar,orthe economist.Hitherto the anthropologisthas confined himselfto the pre- Christian periods orto the modern savage.Yetmedieval Europe offers to the studentofMankind one ofthe finestfields of research.In this volume I have followed one line onlyofanthropological enquiry,the survival ofan indigenous European cult and the interaction between itand the exotic religion which finallyoverwhelmed it.I have traced the worship ofthe Horned God onwards through the centuries from the Palaeolithic prototypes,and I have shown thatthe survival ofthe cultwas due to the survival ofthe races who adored thatgod,forthis beliefcould nothave held its own againstthe invasions ofotherpeoples and religions unless a stratum ofthe population were strong enough to keep italive. Ifthe evidence is carefullyexamined itbecomes clearthatthis stratum consisted ofthe descendants ofthe Palaeolithic, Neolithic,and Bronze-age races,The Palaeolithic people were hunters,the Neolithic and Bronze-age people were pastoral and agricultural.Among all these races the Horned God was pre-eminent,foralike to hunting and pastoral folkanimals were essential forlife.Afterthe general introduction ofagriculture,the Horned God remained as a greatdeity,and was not dethroned even bythe coming ofthe Iron-age.Itwas nottill the rise ofChristianity,with its fundamental doctrine thata non- Christian deitywas a devil,thatthe cultofthe Horned God fell into disrepute. The idea ofdividing the PowerBeyond into two,one good and one evil,belongs to an advanced and sophisticated religion.In the more primitive cults the deityis in himselfthe authorofall,whethergood orbad.The monotheism -ofearlyreligions is very marked,each little settlementok-group ofsettlements having its one deity,male orfemale,whose powerwas co-terminous with thatofhis worshippers.Polytheism appears to have arisen with the amalgamation oftribes,each with its own deity.When a tribe whose deitywas male coalesced with a tribe whose deitywas female,the union ofthe peoples was symbolised in their religion bythe marriage oftheirgods.When bypeaceful infiltration a newgod ousted an old one,he was said to be the son of his predecessor.Butwhen the invasion was warlike the conquering deitywas invested with all good attributes while the god of the vanquished tooka lowerplace and was regarded bythe conquerors as the producerofevil,and was consequentlyoften more feared than theirown legitimate deity.In ancientEgyptthe fall from the position ofa high god to thatofa “devil”is well exemplified in the god Seth,who in earlytimes was as much a giverofall good as Osiris,butlaterwas so execrated that,except in the cityofhis special cult,his name and image were rigorouslydestroyed.In the studyofthe Horned God this factofthe fall from godship to devildom mustbe borne in mind. Little is known ofPalaeolithic Man beyond his flinttools,his painted and sculptured caves,his engraved bones,and a few skulls.He lived in caves in glacial conditions as is shown bythe animals found with him.Itis certain thatthere was some kind of ceremony,religious ormagical,in which a horned man,presumablya god,tookthe leading part.Itis equallycertain thatthere musthave been a worship ofthe female principle,butin the cultofthe Horned God this does notappeartill a much laterstage. Ofthe religion ofthe Neolithic period nothing is known in Western Europe exceptthe burial rites.The gods have leftno recognisable trace,though certain female figures maypossiblyrepresentgoddesses.Butwhen the Bronze-age arose the Horned God is found through all Europe from Eastto West.The fierce tribes who broughtin the Iron-age destroyed the greaterpartof the previous civilisation,and possiblythe previous inhabitants also,exceptthose descendants ofthe Neolithic and Bronze-age folkstill remaining on the moors and downs,where agriculture was unsuitable atthe time and where the valleypeople would be afraid to venture.Powerless though the moormen were againstthe newweapons theyseem to have struckterrorinto the invaders.Ifthere was warbetween the two races itwas a guerilla warfare,in which the Little People had the advantage overthe slow-moving agriculturists.In the end a certain amountofintercourse musthave been established.Whetheritwas due to trade and intermarriage thatthe worship ofthe Horned God was re-introduced among the tillers ofthe soil;or,as is more likely,that the people ofthe Iron-age had acquired the cultin theirown habitatorin theirslowmarch across Europe,itis certain thathe retained his position as a high god. Itis notunlikelythatatthis period the cross was used bythe conquerors as a magical method offrightening and scaring awaythe hill-people.The cross was alreadyin use as a sacred symbol in the Bronze-age in Eastern Europe,and to the Iron-age belongs the WhiteleafCross cutin the chalkofthe Chiltern hills,where itcould exercise its protective poweragainstthe upland dwellers.In all accounts offairies and witches itis onlythe cross thathas poweragainstthem,the mostsacred ofother Christian objects and emblems had no effect.As late as the seventeenth centurySinistrari d’Ameno states thatitis “a most marvellous and incomprehensible factthatthe Incubi do notobeythe Exorcists,have no dread ofexorcisms,no reverence for holythings,atthe approach ofwhich theyare notin the leastoverawed ...Incubi stand all these ordeals “(which drive awayevil 4 spirits)”withouttaking to flightorshowing the leastfear;sometimes theylaugh atexorcisms,strike the Exorcists themselves, and rend the sacred vestments”.[1] He therefore concluded thattheywere mortal and had souls like men.The evidence appears fairlyconclusive thatthe deep-seated dread ofthe cross does notreferto the Christian symbol butdates backto a period several centuries before Christianity. The Roman religion tookno hold on GreatBritain and was little regarded in Gaul.The Romans called the British and Gaulish deities byRoman names,butthe religion was notRomanised,and no Roman god was evercompletelyestablished in the Westof Europe.The old deities continued in full force unaffected byforeign influence.The temple builton the summitofthe Puyde Dome was dedicated to a god called bythe Romans Mercurius,to his worshippers he was known as Dumus;Cernunnos,in spite ofhis Latinised name,was found in all parts ofGaul.Fewofthe names ofthe indigenous deities ofGreatBritain have survived, and the ritual received scantattention from the Roman recorders. When Christianityfirstarrived in GreatBritain itcame in from the Westand established itselfamong the people ratherthan the rulers.Centuries laterothermissionaries entered on the East.The Christian Church had bythis time become more organised,more dogmatic,more benton proselytising.The main attack,therefore,was noton the people buton the royal families,particularlyon the queens whose influence was well understood.Paganism,however,received continual reinforcements in the successive invasions ofheathen peoples;Danes,Norsemen,Angles,Jutes and Saxons poured in and took possession.In judging ofthe historyofearlyChristianityin Britain itmustalways be remembered thatthe people who brought itin on the Eastcoastwere foreigners,who neveramalgamated with the natives.Augustine was Italian,and formore than a centuryno native Britons were advanced to high places in the Church.Theodore ofTarsus,with the aid ofHadrian,the negro, organised the Church in England in the seventh century,Italians and otheraliens held the high offices.The Augustine mission and theirsuccessors concentrated on the rulers,and through them forced theirexotic religion on a stubborn and unwilling people.This is veryclearin the reign ofCanute,whose conversion was hardlytwo generations before the Norman Conquest;in his zeal forhis newreligion he tried to suppress heathenism bylegal enactments. No religion dies outwith the dramatic suddenness claimed bythe upholders ofthe Complete-Conversion theory.The constantinfluxofPagans through several centuries more than counterbalanced the small numberofimmigrantChristians.The countrymusttherefore have been Pagan with Christian rulers and a Christian aristocracy.Aparallel case is thatofSpain under the Moslems.There the rulers were ofone religion,the people ofanother,the popularreligion receiving continual reinforcements from abroad.In the case ofSpain the popularreligion organised bythe civil powerdrove outthe superimposed cult.In England,however,the final conquestwas bythe Normans,whose rulerwas ofthe same religion as thatofthe king whom he defeated;butthe Norman people,like the English,were largelyofthe Old Faith,and the Conquestmade little difference to the relative position ofthe two religions.Therefore though the rulers professed Christianitythe greatmass ofthe people followed the old gods,and even in the highestoffices ofthe Church the priests often served the heathen deities as well as the Christian God and practised Pagan rites.Thus in 1282 the priestofInverkeithing led the fertilitydance round the churchyard;[2] in 1303 the bishop ofCoventry,like othermembers ofhis diocese,paid homage to a deityin the form ofan animal;[3] in 1453,two years before the Rehabilitation ofJoan ofArc,the PriorofSaint-Germain-en-Laye performed the same rites as the bishop ofCoventry.[4] As late as 1613 de Lancre can sayofthe Basses Pyrénées,“the greaterpartofthe priests are witches”,[5] while Madame Bourignon in 1661 records atLille that“no Assemblies were everseen so numerous in the Cityas in these Sabbaths,where came People ofall Qualities and Conditions,Young and Old,Rich and Poor,Noble,and Ignoble,but especiallyall sorts ofMonks and Nuns,Priests and Prelates”.[6] The political aspectofthe organisation is well exemplified in the trial ofthe North Berwickwitches,when atthe instance oftheirGrandmastertheyattempted to kill James VI.Anotherexample is found among the Elizabethan State Papers;[7] “The names ofthe Confederates againstHerMajestywho have diverse and sundrytimes conspired herlife and do dailyconfederate againstherOuld Birtles the greatdevel,Darnallythe sorcerer,Maude Two-good enchantress,the ould witch ofRamsbury”. William the Conquerorrendered waste and desolate nearlyhalfofhis newkingdom;the re-peopling ofthe wilderness seems to have been done in greatmeasure bythe descendants ofthe Neolithic and Bronze-age stockwho were saved from massacre bythe remoteness and inaccessibilityoftheirdwellings.These were the places where the Old Religion flourished;and itwas only byveryslowdegrees thateven a small amountofoutward conformitywith Christianitycould be established,and then onlyby means ofcompromises on the partofthe Church;certain practices were permitted,certain images were retained,though often underdifferentnames. The Reformation appears to have had the same effecton GreatBritain as the Mahommedan conquesthad on Egypt.The Moslems found Christianityestablished in the towns ofthe Nile Valleywhile a debased Paganism still existed among the agricultural population.The religion ofIslam sweptthrough the countrylike a flame,the converts being chieflyfrom the Pagans,notfrom the Christians.In GreatBritain the appeal ofthe Reformation,like the appeal ofthe even more fanatical Islam, was to the Pagan population;butwith this difference,thatin England political conditions broughtin the higherclasses as well. Itwas then thatthe dividing line between Christianityand heathenism became more marked,forthe Old Religion was graduallyrelegated to the lowestclasses ofthe communityand to those who lived in remote parts ata distance from any centre ofcivilisation. The records ofthe Middle Ages showthe ancientgod was known in manyparts ofthe country,butto the Christian recorder he was the enemyofthe NewReligion and was therefore equated with the Principle ofEvil,in otherwords the Devil.This conception,thata god otherthan thatofthe recorded mustbe evil,is notconfined to Christianity,orto the Middle Ages.St.Paul, in the FirstEpistle to the Corinthians,expressed the same opinion when he wrote,“The things which the Gentiles sacrifice,they sacrifice to devils and notto God.Ye cannotdrinkthe cup ofthe Lord and the cup ofdevils;ye cannotbe partakers ofthe Lord’s table and the table ofdevils”.The authorofthe BookofRevelation is equallydefinite when he calls the magnificentaltarofZeus 5 atPergamos “the throne ofSatan”,“I knowthyworks and where thou dwellest,even where Satan’s throne is”.In 1613 Sebastian Michaelis spoke with no uncertain voice,“The Gods ofthe Turks and the Gods ofthe Gentiles are all Devils”.In India,Hindus, Mahommedans and Christians unite in calling the deities ofthe aboriginal tribes “devils”.The gentle peaceable Yezidis ofmodern Mesopotamia,whose god is incarnate in a peacockora blacksnake,are stigmatised as “devil-worshippers”bytheirMoslem fellow-countrymen.As late as the nineteenth centuryChristian missionaries ofeverydenomination,who wentoutto Convert the heathen in anypartofthe world,were aptto speakofthe people among whom theylaboured as worshippers ofdevils,and manyeven believed thatthose to whom theypreached were doomed to hell-fire unless theyturned to the Christian God.The gods ofthe Pagans were often accredited with evil magical powers,which could be mysteriouslycommunicated to the priests. Againstsuch powers ofhell the Christian missionaries feltthemselves strengthened bythe powers ofheaven;and the belief thatthe devil had been defeated bythe Archangel Michael backed bythe whole powerofthe Almightygave them courage in the contest. The studyofanthropologyhas changed much ofthis childish method ofregarding the forms ofreligious beliefwhich belong to anotherrace oranothercountry.To considerIslam,Buddhism orHinduism as the invention ofthe Evil One would be thought ridiculous atthe presentday,even the fetishes and the images ofthe more savage races are treated with respectas being sacred to theirworshippers. Butthough there is no difficultyin realising the factthat“heathen”religions existoutside Europe,there is still a strong feeling among Christians thatChristianityis so essentiallyEuropean thatno otherreligion could have remained afteritwas once introduced.The evidence,however,points to an entirelydifferentconclusion.Until almostthe time ofthe Norman Conquestthe legal enactments showthatthough the rulers mightbe nominallyChristian the people were openlyheathen. Itis possible thatthe Church’s prohibition againstrepresenting the Crucifixion as a lamb on a cross was due to the desire to differentiate the Christian from the heathen god.The lamb,being a horned animal,was liable to be confounded with the horned deityofthe Pagans. The desolation ofthe countrybythe Conquerorwould notincrease the estimation ofChristianityin the eyes ofthe unhappy population,and the old Religion musthave survived ifonlyas a protestagainstthe horrors inflicted bythe worshipperofthe newGod,The numberoftimes thatthe “Devil”is said to have appeared in the reign ofRufus is verysuggestive ofthis. In the thirteenth centurythe Church opened its long drawn-outconflictwith Paganism in Europe bydeclaring “witchcraft” to be a “sect”and heretical.Itwas nottill the fourteenth centurythatthe two religions came to grips.The bishop ofCoventryin 1303 escaped probablybecause he belonged to both faiths,butthe nexttrial was foughtoutto the end.In 1324 the bishop of Ossorytried Dame Alice Kytelerin his ecclesiastical courtforthe crime ofworshipping a deityotherthan the Christian God.The evidence proved the truth ofthe accusation,which the ladyapparentlydid notdeny,butshe was oftoo high rankto be condemned and she escaped outofthe bishop’s hands.Notso herfollowers,who paid atthe stake the penaltyofdiffering from the Church.The nextstep was the investigation into the Old Religion atBerne,given to the world in Nider’s Formicarius.Here again the Church could seize onlythe poorermembers,those ofhigh rankwere too powerful to be sentto theirdeaths and wentfree. The fifteenth centurymarks the firstgreatvictories ofthe Church.Beginning with the trials in Lorraine in 1408 the Church moved triumphantlyagainstJoan ofArc and herfollowers in 1431,againstGilles de Rais and his coven in 1440,againstthe witches ofBrescia in 1457.Towards the end ofthe centurythe Christian powerwas so well established thatthe Church feltthat the time had come foran organised attack,and in 1484 pope InnocentVIII published his Bull against“witches.”All through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the battle raged.The Pagans foughta gallant,though losing,fightagainsta remorseless and unscrupulous enemy;everyinch ofthe field was disputed.Atfirstvictoryoccasionallyinclined to the Pagans,butthe Christian policyofobtaining influence overthe rulers and law-givers was irresistible.Vae victis was also the policyofthe Christians,and we see the priests ofthe Papacygloating overthe thousands whom theyhad consigned to the flames while the ministers ofthe Reformed Churches hounded on the administrators ofthe lawto condemn the “devil-worshippers”.Whatcan have been the feelings with which those unhappyvictims regarded the vaunted God ofLove,the Prince ofPeace,whose votaries condemned them to torture and death?Whatwonderthattheyclung to theirold faith,and died in agonyunspeakable rather than denytheirGod. 6 CHAPTER I THE HORNED GOD The God ofthe old religion becomes the Devil ofthe new.” THE earliestknown representation ofa deityis in the Caverne des Trois Frères in Ariège,and dates to the late Palaeolithic period (plate I).The figure is thatofa man clothed in the skin ofa stag and wearing on his head the antlers ofa stag.The hide of the animal covers the whole ofthe man’s body,the hands and feetare drawn as though seen through a transparentmaterial; thus conveying to the spectatorthe information thatthe figure is a disguised human being.The face is bearded,the eyes large and round,butthere is some doubtwhetherthe artistintended to representthe man-animal with a maskorwith the face uncovered. The horned man is drawn on the upperpartofthe wall ofthe cave,belowand around him are representations ofanimals painted in the masterlymannercharacteristic ofthe Palaeolithic artist.Itseems evidentfrom the relative position ofall the figures thatthe man is dominantand thathe is in the actofperforming some ceremonyin which the animals are concerned. The ceremonyappears to consistofa dance with movements ofthe hands as well as the feet.Itis worth noting thatthough the pictures ofthe animals are placed where theycan easilybe seen bythe spectatorthe horned man can onlybe viewed from that partofthe cavern which is mostdifficultofaccess.This factsuggests thata greatdegree ofsanctitywas attached to this representation,and thatitwas purposelyplaced where itwas screened from the gaze ofthe vulgar. The period when the figure was painted is so remote thatitis notpossible to make anyconjectures as to its meaning except bythe analogyofhistorical and modern instances.Such instances are,however,sufficientlynumerous to renderitfairlycertain thatthe man represents the incarnate god,who,byperforming the sacred dance,causes the increase ofthe kind ofanimal in the disguise ofwhich he appears. Though the stag-man is the mostimportantofthe horned figures ofthe Palaeolithic period,there are manysmaller drawings ofmasked and horned men on small objects ofbone and horn.These figures are usuallyrepresented with the horns ofa goatorchamois,and are dancing singlyorin groups.The mostinteresting example is on plate II,where the horned man is notonlydancing butalso accompanies himselfon a kind ofmusical bow.The onlyPalaeolithic representation ofa human figure found in England is the well-known engraving on bone ofa man masked with a horse’s head,which was discovered in the Pinhole Cave,Derbyshire. The artofthe Palaeolithic period came to a sudden and complete end before the Neolithic era;itwas utterlywiped outin Europe,and seems to have had no influence on laterperiods.The Neolithic people have leftfewartistic remains;theirhuman figures are almostinvariablyofwomen,and the masked man does notappear.Butwhen the Bronze-age is reached the horned human-being is found again,and occurs firstin the Nearand Middle East,i.e.,in Egypt,Mesopotamia and India.In the NearEast the figures maybe eithermale orfemale,and the horns are those ofcattle,sheep orgoats.[1] There are no stag antlers,possibly because the stag did notoccurin those lands orwas so uncommon as notto be ofimportance as a food animal. Horned gods were common in Mesopotamia,both in Babylon and Assyria.The copperhead found in one ofthe gold-tombs at Ur,is veryearly;possiblyearlierthan the firstEgyptian dynasty.Itis abouthalflife-size,and the style and workmanship showan advanced stage ofmetal-working.The eyes were originallyinlaid with limestone orshell forthe white ofthe eye,and lapis lazuli forthe iris.The head wears two horns,a numberwhich ata slightlylaterperiod would indicate thatthe wearerwas an inferior deity;for,during manycenturies,the position ofa deityin the Babylonian pantheon was shown bythe numberofhorns worn. The greatgods and goddesses had seven horns,which is the reason thatthe divine Lamb in the BookofRevelation was said to have seven horns.The two-horned deities ofBabylonia are so numerous thatitis likelythattheywere originallythe deities of the primitive inhabitants,who had to take a lowerplace when the greatgods were introduced;these latterwere given more horns than the godlings to showtheirsuperiorposition.The horns were a sign ofdivinity.When the King orHigh-priest appeared as the god Asshurwith the Queen orHigh-priestess as his consortIshtar,the appropriate numberofhorns was worn on the royal headdresses,the royal pairbeing then regarded as the incarnate deities.When Alexanderthe Greatraised himself above the kings ofthe earth and made himselfa god,he wore horns in sign ofhis divinity,hence his name in the Koran,Dhu’l Karnain The Two-horned.In Egypthis horns were those ofAmon,the supreme god. Agodling,who is found in all parts ofBabylonia and atall periods ofherhistory,is a two-horned male figure,known as Enkidu.He is represented as fighting with animals,orholding a staff,buthis special dutyis to guard the door.He has a man’s head with two horns,his bodyis human,and from the waistdown he is a bull.Sometimes the legs appearto be human,butthe hoofs are always clearlyindicated,and the tail also is a marked feature.In short,he answers to the usual description ofthe Christian devil in having horns,hoofs and a tail.Butin the eyes ofthe earlyBabylonians he was farfrom being a devil,and his image-sometimes the whole figure,sometimes the head only-was worn as a charm againstall evil and ill-luck.He was credited with greatprophylactic powers;so much so thatsuch charms were in use throughoutBabylonia.The evidence shows thatthe greatseven-horned gods ofthe temples,who gave theirspecial protection to the royal family,had little orno appeal forthe people,and thatthe smallerdeities,the little two-horned godlings,were regarded as the real protectors in matters ofeveryday life. Throughoutthe Bronze and Iron ages horned deities are to be found in Egypt.The earliestexample has a woman’s face and the horns ofa buffalo;this is on the slate-palette ofNarmer,[2] who is usuallyidentified with the firsthistoric king ofEgypt.Itis worth noting that,with the exception ofthe god Mentu,the horns ofcattle are worn bygoddesses only,while the gods have the horns ofsheep.The chiefofthe horned gods ofEgyptwas Amon,originallythe local deityofThebes,later,the supreme god of 7 the whole country.He is usuallyrepresented in human form wearing the curved horns ofthe Theban ram.Herodotus mentions thatatthe greatannual festival atThebes the figure ofAmon was wrapped in a ram’s skin,evidentlyin the same waythatthe dancing god ofAriège was wrapped.There were two types ofsheep whose horns were the insignia ofdivinity;the Theban breed had curved horns,butthe ordinarybreed ofancientEgyptian sheep had twisted horizontal horns.The horizontal horns are those mostcommonlyworn byEgyptian gods.One ofthe mostimportantofthese deities is Khnum,the god ofthe district round the FirstCataract;he was a creatorgod and was represented as a human being with a sheep’s head and horizontal horns. Butthe greatestofall the horned gods ofEgyptwas Osiris,who appears to have been the Pharaoh in his aspectas the incarnate god.The crown ofOsiris,ofwhich the horizontal horns were an importantpart,was also the crown ofthe monarch,indicating to all who understood the symbolism thatthe king as god was the giverofall fertility’ In the accounts ofthe divine birth ofthe Egyptian Kings,the future fatherofthe divine child,the Pharaoh,visits the queen as the god Amon wearing all the insignia ofdivinity,including the horns.In this connection itshould also be noted thatdown to the latestperiod ofpharaonic historythe divine fatherwas always the horned Amon. There are two otherlinks between Egyptand the dancing god ofAriège.On a slate palette,which is dated to the period just before the beginning ofEgyptian history,there is represented a man with the head and tail ofa jackal;[3] as in the Ariège example the body,hands and feetare human;he plays on a flute,and like the Palaeolithic god he is in the midstofanimals.The otherlinkis in the ceremonial dress ofthe Pharaoh,who on greatoccasions wore a bull’s tail attached to his girdle.The sed-heb orTail-festival,when the king was invested with the tail,was one ofthe mostimportantofthe royal ceremonies.Asacred dance, performed bythe Pharaoh wearing the bull’s tail,is often represented as taking place in a temple before Min,the god ofhuman generation.The worship ofhorned gods continued in Egyptuntil Christian times,especiallyin connection with the horned goddess Isis. The Indian figures ofthe Horned God,found atMohenjo-Daro,are ofthe earliestBronze-age.There are manyexamples,and in everycase itis clearthata human being is represented,eithermasked orhorned.Sometimes the figure has a human bodywith a bull’s head,sometimes the head and bodyare covered with a hairyskin,probablyindicating a bull’s hide.The mostremarkable is thatofa man with bull’s horns on his head,sitting cross-legged,and like the Ariège figure surrounded with animals (plate III.i). This representation was regarded in historic times as a form ofShiva and is called Pasupati,“Lord ofanimals”.When in relief sculpture Pasupati is three-faced,as here;butin figures in the round he has fourfaces.Such a representation is a naive attempt to showthe all-seeing god,and is found in Europe in the four-faced Janus.Itis still uncertain whetherthe four-faced form arose independentlyin India and Europe,orwhetherone is the prototype ofthe other;ifthe latter,the Indian appears to be the earlier. Though itis notpossible to give an exactdate to the earlylegends ofthe Aegean,itis evidentthatthere also the Horned God flourished throughoutthe Bronze and Iron ages. The bestknown,on accountofthe dramatic legends attached to his cult,was the Minoan bull,the Minotaur,ofCrete.He was in human form with a bull’s head and horns,and was worshipped with sacred dances and human sacrifices.He was said to be the offspring ofa foreign “bull”and the Cretan queen,who atthe marriage appeared in the guise ofa cow,in otherwords,she was robed and masked as an animal like the dancing god ofAriège.The representations ofthe combatbetween Theseus and the Minotaurshowthe latteras entirelyhuman,with a bull’s mask(plate iv.i).Theseus is sometimes represented with the flowing locks ofthe Cretan athlete;this suggests thatthe slaying mayhave been a Cretan custom,the man representing the Minotaur being killed in a battle in which,masked as he was,he could be no match forhis antagonist.Frazerhas pointed outthatMinos wentto Zeus everynine years,and has suggested thatthis was a euphemism forthe sacrifice ofeach ruleratthe end ofthat term ofyears.In the Theseus legend the interval oftime was seven years,butthe restofthe storyso closelyresembles other accounts ofthe sacrifice by.combatthatitcannotbe disregarded;Theseus did notputan end to the custom,he merelyrelieved Athens from sending the yearlyvictims,who,like the children stolen bythe fairies,had to “paythe teind to hell”with theirlives. The sanctityofthe ram in the Aegean in the earlyBronze age is shown in the legend ofHelle and Phrixos.Theywere the children ofthe familywho were setapartas victims when human sacrifice was required.The sacrifice ofHelle was consummated bydrowning,butPhrixos escaped bymeans ofthe divine animal,which he afterwards sacrificed,possiblyas a substitute forhimself.The storyofJason’s expedition suggests thatthe fleece had a divine connotation,and thatits value was greatlyin excess ofthe intrinsic worth ofthe gold. Ofthe horned gods ofthe mainland ofGreece Pan is the bestknown to the modern world,yethe is putone among many, horned deities ofthe eastern Mediterranean (plate IV.2).His universalityis shown byhis name,which points to a time when he was the onlydeityin his own locality.All representations ofhim are necessarilylate,afterthe fifth centuryB.C.;buteven in the earliestforms his characteristics are the same,the long narrowface,the pointed beard,the small horns,and the goat’s legs. Scenes ofhis worship showhim followed bya dancing procession ofsatyrs and nymphs,while he plays on the pipes which bear his name.His appearance should be compared with the little dancing god ofthe Palaeolithic people (plate II),and also with the figure ofRobin Goodfellow(plate X).As a godling beloved ofthe people he is like Enkidu,whom he also resembles in having hoofs.Though ourknowledge ofhim dates onlyto the late Iron-age,his worship is obviouslyofhigh antiquity,and he appears to be indigenous in Greece. Anotherhorned god ofGreece was Bull Dionysos,who,like the MinotaurofCrete,was slain.Dionysos was said to have been broughtinto Greece from the north;his cultwould therefore be a foreign worship,which factshows thatoutside Greece,in the countries which have no written record,the beliefin a homed deityprevailed in the Iron-age and probablyeven earlier. Afewrockcarvings in Scandinavia showthatthe horned god was known there also in the Bronze age.Itwas onlywhen Rome started on hercareerofconquestthatanywritten record was made ofthe gods ofwestern Europe,and those records prove thata horned deity,whom the Romans called Cernunnos,was one ofthe greatestgods,perhaps even the supreme deity, 8 ofGaul.The name given to him bythe Romans means simplyThe Horned.In the north ofGaul his importance is shown on the altarfound underthe cathedral ofNotre Dame atParis.The date ofthe altaris well within the Christian era;on three sides are figures ofminorgods represented as small beings,on the fourth side is the head ofCernunnos (Plate 4),which is ofhuge proportions compared with the otherfigures.He has a man’s head,and like the Ariège figure he wears stag’s antlers,which are furtherdecorated with rings;these maybe hoops ofwithyorbronze currency-rings.Like his Palaeolithic prototype he is bearded.This altarshows that,in accordance with Roman artistic ideas,the divine man was notmasked,he wears the horns and theirappendages fixed on his head.The altarappears to have been dedicated in a temple so sacred thatthe site was re-used forthe principal temple ofthe newfaith.Cernunnos is recorded in writing and in sculpture in the south ofGaul,in thatvery partwhere the Palaeolithic painting ofhim still survives.Itis highlyimprobable thatthe cultofthe Horned God should have died outin south-western Europe in Neolithic times and have remained unknown through the Bronze and Iron ages,onlyto be revived before the arrival ofthe Romans.Itis more logical to suppose thatthe worship continued through the unrecorded centuries,and lasted on as one ofthe principal Gaulish cults till within the Christian era.Such a cultmusthave had a strong hold on the worshippers,and among the illiterate,and in the less accessible parts ofthe countryitwould lingerformany centuries aftera newreligion had been accepted elsewhere. In considering the evidence from Britain the proximityofGaul to this countryand the constantfluxofpeoples from one shore to the other,mustbe taken into account.Whatis true ofGaul is true ofBritain,some allowance being made forthe differences caused bythe effectofanotherclimate on temperamentand on conditions oflife. Ourchiefknowledge ofthe horned god in the British Isles comes from ecclesiastical and judicial records.As these were made exclusivelybyChristians,generallypriests,the religious bias is always verymarked.The worshippers themselves were illiterate and have leftno records oftheirbeliefs exceptin a fewsurvivals here and there.The earliestrecord ofthe masked and horned man in England is in the LiberPoenitentialis[4] ofTheodore,who was Archbishop ofCanterburyfrom 668 to 690,and ruled the Church in England with the assistance ofHadrian the negro.This was a time when—ifwe are to believe the ecclesiastical chroniclers—England was practicallyChristianised,yetTheodore fulminates againstanyone who “goes aboutas a stag ora bull; thatis,making himselfinto a wild animal and dressing in the skin ofa herd animal,and putting on the heads ofbeasts;those who in such wise transform themselves into the appearance ofa wild animal,penance forthree years because this is devilish”. Three centuries laterKing Edgar[5] found thatthe Old Religion was more common than the official faith,and he urges that “everyChristian should zealouslyaccustom his children to Christianity.” The greatinfluxofheathen Norsemen,underSweyn and Canute into England and underRollo into France,musthave been a terrible blowto Christianityin Western Europe,in spite ofthe so-called conversion ofthe rulers.Though the NewReligion steadilygained ground,the Old Religion regained many“converts”,and more than one rulerheld firmlyto the faith ofhis fathers. This was markedlythe case among the EastSaxons,the mostpowerful kingdom in the seventh and eighth centuries.The East Saxon kings musthave been peculiarlyirritating to the Christian missionaries,forthe rise and fall ofthe two religions alternatelyis instructive.In 616 Sebert,the Christian king,died and was succeeded byhis three sons who maintained the Old Religion and drove outthe Christians.The newreligion apparentlygained ground later,forin 654 theirsuccessorwas “converted”.Ten years after,in 664,King Sighere and the greaternumberofhis people threwoffChristianityand returned to the ancientfaith.Even when the king was notaverse to Christianityhe was aptto actin a disconcerting mannerbytrying to serve two masters.Thus, according to Bede,King Redwald had “in the same temple an altarto sacrifice to Christ,and anothersmallerone to offervictims to devils”.Atthe end o fthe ninth centurythe whole ofthe powerful kingdom ofMercia was underthe swayofthe heathen Danes; and Penda,one ofthe greatestofthe Mercian rulers,refused to change his religion and died,as he had lived,a devoutPagan. The same difficulties occurred elsewhere.In NormandyRollo,afterhis conversion,gave greatgifts to Christian churches,but atthe same time sacrificed his Christian captives to his old gods.Scandinavia,always in touch with GreatBritain (Norwayheld the Hebrides till 1263),successfullyresisted Christianitytill the eleventh century.Sweyn,the son ofHarold Bluetooth,was baptised in infancy,butwhen he became a man he reverted to the old faith and waged a religious waragainsthis Christian father;and as late as the end ofthe thirteenth centurya Norwegian king was known as “the Priest-hater”. There is no doubtthatthe records are incomplete and thatifall the instances ofrenunciation ofChristianityhad been as carefullyrecorded as the conversions itwould be seen thatthe rulers ofWestern Europe were notChristian exceptin name for manycenturies afterthe arrival ofthe missionaries.Until the Norman Conquestthe ChristianityofEngland was the very thinnestveneeroveran underlying Paganism;the previous centuries ofChristian archbishops and bishops had notsucceeded in doing more than wrestan outward conformityfrom the rulers and chiefs,while the people and manyofthe so-called Christian priests remained in unabated heathenism. Thatthe worshippers regarded the so-called “Devil”as trulyGod is clearlyseen in the evidence even when recorded bytheir fanatical enemies.In more than one case itis remarked thatthe witch “refused to call him the Devil”,and in manyinstances the accused explicitlycalled him god.The following instances are notexhaustive,theycovera centuryand are taken from the actual trials as well as from the generalisations ofthose writers who heard the evidence atfirst-hand and had themselves tried many cases.Danaeus[6] was such an author,he wrote in 1575 thatthe “witches acknowledge the Devil fortheirgod,call upon him,pray to him,and trustin him”,and thatwhen theygo to the Sabbath “theyrepeatthe oath which theyhave given unto him in acknowledging him to be theirGod”.Ofthe Aberdeen witches,tried in 1596[7] Agnes Wobsterwas accused ofhaving dealings with “Satan whom thou callestthyGod”;Marion Grantconfessed thatChristsondaywas the name ofthe Divine Personage, “Christsondaybade thee call him Lord,and caused thee to worship him on thyknees as thyLord”.Boguet,[8] the Inquisitor,who records with unction thathe tried and executed manywitches in France in 1608,states that“the witches,before taking their repast,bless the table,butwith words full ofblasphemy,making Beelzebub the authorand protectorofall things”.De Lancre,[9] the Inquisitorin the Pays de Labourd (Basses Pyrénées),wrote in 1613 thatthere was “a greatDevil,who is the masterofall, 9 whom theyall adore”;he also recorded the evidence ofone ofhis victims,[10] “the Devil made them believe thathe was the true God”,and he gives as a general statement[11] “ourwitches forthe mostparthold these Demons as Gods”.In Orleans in 1614[25] “theysayto the Devil,we recognise you as ourMaster,ourGod,ourCreator”.AtEdmonton in 1621 Elizabeth Sawyer[12] confessed that“he charged me to prayno more to Jesus Christ,butto him the Devil.”In Lancashire in 1633 MargaretJohnson[13] “Meta spiritordevil in a suitofblacktied aboutwith silkpoints”,he instructed herto call him Mamilion,“and in all hertalkand conference she called the said Mamilion hergod”.Gaule,making a general statementaboutwitch-beliefs and practices in 1646,[14] says thatthe witches “promise to take him fortheirGod,worship,invoke,obeyhim”.Ofthe Essexand Suffolkwitches, whose trials made such a stirin 1646,[15] Rebecca West“confessed thathermotherprayed constantly(and as the world thought, veryseriously) butshe said itwas to the Devil,using these words,Oh myGod,myGod,meaning him and notthe Lord”.Ellen Greenleife also “confessed thatwhen she prayed she prayed to the Devil and notto God”.WidowComan[16] “did acknowledge that she had made an agreementwith him and thathe was herMasterand satatthe righthand ofGod”.The authorofthe Pleasant Treatise ofWitches,whose violenthatred towards those unhappybeings is onlyequalled in bitterness bythatofthe Inquisitors, states in 1673 thatatthe Sabbath “theymake theiraccustomed homage,Adoring and Proclaiming him theirLord”.In the same yearatNewcastle-on-Tyne[17] Ann Armstrong testified thatshe had heard Ann Baites “calling him sometimes herprotector,and othersometimes herblessed saviour”;and that“he was theirprotector,which theycalled theirGod”.The Salem witch,Mary Osgood,in 1692,said[18] that“the Devil told herhe was herGod,and thatshe should serve and worship him”. Such a mass ofevidence shows thattill the end ofthe seventeenth centurythe Old Religion still counted large numbers of members.The issue has been confused,perhaps purposely,bythe use ofthe word Devil in its Christian connotation,forthe name ofthe God,and bystigmatising the worshippers as witches.The consequence is thatthe pagan people are nowregarded as having worshipped the Principle ofEvil,though in realitytheywere merelyfollowing the cultofa non-Christian Deity. The firstrecorded instance ofthe continuance ofthe worship ofthe Horned God in Britain is in 1303,when the Bishop of Coventrywas accused before the Pope ofdoing homage to the Devil in the form ofa sheep.[19] The factthata man in so high a position as a bishop could be accused ofpractising the Old Religion shows thatthe cultofthe Horned God was farfrom being dead,and thatitwas in all probabilitystill the chiefworship ofthe bulkofthe people.Itshould be also noticed thatthis is one of the firstBritish records in which the old God is called the Devil bythe Christian writers ofthe Middle Ages. Itis possible thatthe bishop’s high position in the Christian hierarchysaved him from punishment,forin the case also ofthe LadyAlice Kytelerin 1324 herrankas a noble saved herwhen she was tried before the bishop ofOssoryforherheathen practices.[20] The bishop,however,had sufficientevidence to prove his case and sufficientpowerto burn the lady’s poorerco- religionists,though notherself. Herne the Hunter,with horns on his head,was seen in WindsorForestbythe Earl ofSurreyin the reign ofHenryVIII,and afterthatperiod itwas a favourite accusation againstall political enemies thattheywere in league with “the foul fiend”who appeared to them in human form horned like a bull ora stag.Thus John Knoxwas said to have held converse with the devil in the Cathedral churchyard atSt.Andrews.[21] There is still extanta record thatCromwell made a pactforseven years with the Devil on the nightbefore the battle ofWorcester,and he notonlywon an overwhelming victorybutdied thatverydayseven years laterin the middle ofthe worstthunderstorm within human memory;which was proofpositive ofthe truth ofthe story in the minds ofthe Royalists.[22] On the otherhand the Royalists in Scotland were believed to have sold themselves to the Evil One.The bishops were said to be cloven-footed and to castno shadows,and those justices ofthe peace appointed to trythe political prisoners were seen often talking in a friendlywaywith the Devil.[23] This uninterrupted record ofbeliefin a horned deityShows thatunderlying the official religion ofthe rulers there still remained the ancientcultwith all its rites almostuntouched. In the depositions ofthe witches atthe trials the Horned God is veryprominentatthe greatassemblies.The horns and animal disguise were his “grand array”,butin his ordinaryintercourse with his flockthe Incarnate God appeared in the dress of the period.Here again the congregation would see no difference between theirown and the Christian priest,who also wore special vestments when performing religious ceremonies.This alteration ofcostume is speciallynoted byde Lancre,[24] “Itis always observable thatatanytime when he is aboutto receive anyone to make a pactwith him,he presents himselfalways as a man,in ordernotto scare orterrifythem;forto make a compactopenlywith a goatsmacks more ofthe beastthan ofa reasonable creature.Butthe compactbeing made,when he receives anyone foradoration he usuallyrepresents himselfas a goat”. The evidence thatthe Devil appeared as a man to a possible convertis found continually,and itis veryobvious thathe was actuallya human being.Thus in 1678[25] the Devil appeared as a man to Mr.Williamson,a school-masteratCoupar;he gave Mr. Williamson a dinner,and meeting him again in London treated him again.In 1682[26] Susanna Edwards,a Devonshire witch, stated that“abouttwo years ago she did meetwith a gentleman in a field called the Parsonage Close in the town ofBiddiford. And saith thathis apparel was all black.Upon which she did hope to have a piece ofmoneyofhim.Whereupon the gentleman drawing nearunto this examinant,she did make a curchyorcourtesyunto him,as she did use to do to gentlemen.Being demanded whatand who the gentleman she spoke ofwas,the said examinantanswered and said,Thatitwas the Devil.”These are onlytwo instances outofverymany. The forms in which the disguised god appeared were bull,cat,dog,goat,horse,sheep,and stag.Itis noteworthythatthe goat and sheep do notoccurin the British Isles exceptin the case ofthe Norman Bishop ofCoventry;theybelong almostentirelyto France and Germany.In England,Scotland and the south ofFrance the usual animal disguise was the bull orthe stag;but nowhere is there a record ofthe head ofthe religion appearing as an ass,ora hare,though the hare was the mostcommon transformation ofthe witches;in late times,in France and Germanyhe is occasionallya pig.In Guernseythere is a record ofa peculiardisguise,when in 1617 Isabel Becquet[27] wentto the Sabbath atRocquaine Castle and there sawthe Devil in the form of a dog with two greathorns sticking up,and “with one ofhis paws (which seemed to herlike hands) tookherbythe hand:and 10