Chapter XXIV.

Witchcraft.

Minor gods--Saint and Satyr--Tutelaries--Spells--Early Christianity
and the poor--Its doctrine as to pagan deities--Mediæval
Devils--Devils on the stage--An Abbot's revelations--The fairer
deities--Oriental dreams and spirits--Calls for Nemesis--Lilith
and her children--Neoplatonicism--Astrology and Alchemy--Devil's
College--Shem-hammphorásch--Apollonius of Tyana--Faustus--Black Art
Schools--Compacts with the Devil--Blood covenant--Spirit-seances in
old times--The Fairfax delusion--Origin of its devil--Witch, goat,
and cat--Confessions of Witches--Witchcraft in New England--Witch
trials--Salem demonology--Testing witches--Witch trials in
Sweden--Witch Sabbath--Mythological elements--Carriers--Scotch
Witches--The cauldron--Vervain--Rue--Invocation of Hecaté--Factors
of Witch persecution--Three centuries of massacre--Würzburg
horrors--Last victims--Modern Spiritualism