BeyondWeird Home  Neopaganism  Murray Index 


The Witch-Cult in Western Europe

by Margaret Alice Murray

[1921]

Illustration: The Dorset Ooser

The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, which appears on the Internet for the first time here at BeyondWeird, is the first of several publications wherein Margaret Murray expounded her controversial literal interpretation of the Witch trial evidence. Not for the squeamish or the linguistically challenged, the book presents extensive quotes from courtroom documents and other texts describing the alledged going-ons inside the Witch-Cult. Important Note: nothing described in this book should be taken as representative of contemporary Neopagan practice. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe has long passages in archaic English, French and German with the original spelling preserved. Readers who want to get an overview of Murrays' ideas without wading through this admittedly opaque work should start with her popularization, God of the Witches. This book is in the public domain in the United States.

Introduction 32,595 bytes
Chapter I Continuity of the Religion 23,184 bytes
Chapter II The God 124,323 bytes
Chapter III Admission Ceremonies 74,852 bytes
Chapter IV The Assemblies 71,622 bytes
Chapter V The Rites 117,835 bytes
Chapter VI The Rites (continued) 43,450 bytes
Chapter VII The Organization 47,830 bytes
Chapter VIII Familiars and Transformations 85,204 bytes
Appendix I Fairies and Witches 28,192 bytes
Appendix II Trial of Silvain Nevillon and Gentien le Clerc at Orleans, 1614-15 11,574 bytes
Appendix III Names of Witches 165,443 bytes
Appendix IV Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais 22,980 bytes
Appendix V Flying Ointments 5,036 bytes
Bibliography 15,543 bytes
Addendum 1,201 bytes