On Witches

...fornicators. From this you can clearly see that the word Mechashephim A Hebrew term used in the Bible, often translated as "sorcerers" or "witches." is used for various crimes in the Bible. Furthermore, in the other places cited above, you will find that they are mostly numbered among conjurers, interpreters of dreams, augurs, and men of that sort; from this, one may conclude they share a common way of acting. However, our "witches" original: "lamiae" are ignorant of all such forbidden modes of divination. Therefore, if you do not wish to view that word as referring to poisoners, you may—as far as I am concerned—refer it to the ill-omened magicians I mentioned, who should indeed be punished according to the laws. For such people were exiled from Israel or subjected to punishment, just as I said before concerning those who deluded Pharaoh with their tricks. Exodus 7. Similarly, the German name Zauberer German for "sorcerer" or "magician" is twisted quite loosely and indiscriminately. Almost everyone shudders at this name and prepares the executioner's rods without an exact inquiry into the circumstances of the whole case, much less a proper understanding of it. They use that one and the same name, Zauberer, to call a professional magician, a deceiver or illusionist—frequently even a learned one—who uses forbidden books or the instructions of demons, employing words, characters, figures, seals, amulets, fumigations, ceremonies, and other such trash. They also use it for a poisoner who intentionally employs poison, and for a "witch" original: "Lamia" who, because of the weakness of her mind and a fantasy corrupted by the devil, is so deluded that she believes she has done things she only experienced in a dream, or which the nature of things does not even allow. Certainly, no others ought to be condemned by the Law of Moses than those whom Moses and that era recognized. But the "witches" commonly so-called, whom I am about to describe, were not even known in the time of Christ, much less that of Moses; rather, all the enchanters mentioned in Scripture were infamous magicians. From this it happens that whenever there is mention of "witches" or poisoners, people immediately—misled by the ambiguity of the German word—point to Pharaoh's illusionists or enchanters, who are vastly different from our "witches" and poisoners. Come then, let us now look more closely at the "witches" themselves.

WHAT A WITCH IS.

Chapter V.

I give the name Lamia The author uses this Latin term for a "witch," specifically one he considers to be mentally ill rather than a criminal magician. to a woman who—because of a deceptive or imaginary pact entered into with a demon—is thought to perform various evils through her own choice, or by the impulse and instigation of a demon and with his help. These evils are supposed to be achieved by her mere thought or curse, or by some ritual that is actually useless and unfit for the task intended: such as setting the air on fire with unusual lightning, shaking the earth with terrifying thunder, striking with an unusual abundance of damaging hail, stirring up tempests, transferring a fertile crop from one field to another or destroying it, causing or curing unnatural diseases in humans and beasts, wandering very far away in just a few hours, leading dances with demons, feasting, acting as a succubus A demon in female form intended to have sexual intercourse with men; here, the author refers to the woman's delusion of such acts., changing men into beasts, and displaying a thousand other monstrous mockeries of reality. I see these things commonly attributed to the "witch," chiefly on the authority of poets; but truly:

To painters and to poets
The power to dare anything was always granted.

A famous quote from the Roman poet Horace's "Art of Poetry."

Therefore, I shall endeavor to demonstrate that she is for the most part an old woman, dull-witted, unlearned, and without any books; she is deluded by the illusions of a demonic spirit, her fantasy alone being so imbued and corrupted by the devil with phantom images that she constantly confesses to having done things she could not do, which never existed in the nature of things, and which nature itself does not permit. I will show this after I have first set forth the manner of their profession and the "pact," which is always stubbornly thrown in their faces and urged far too seriously as a perpetual decree of an irrevocable sentence.

THE MANNER OF THE WITCHES' PROFESSION

As all the institutions of the demon are completely inconsistent, and are found to be varied and full of lies, so also is the profession...