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unmarried, married, and widows. It is unscientific to disbelieve everything,
as Scot does, and it is equally unscientific to label all the phenomena as
the imagination of hysterical women. By the nature of things the whole of
this evidence rests only on the word of the women, but I have shown above
(pp. 63-5) that there were cases in which the men found the Devil cold, and
cases in which the women found other parts of the Devil's person to be cold
also. Such a mass of evidence cannot be ignored, and in any other subject
would obtain credence at once. But the hallucination-theory, being the
easiest, appears to have obsessed the minds of many writers, to the
exclusion of any attempt at explanation from an unbiassed point of view.
Students of comparative and primitive religion have explained the custom of
sacred marriages as an attempt to influence the course of nature by magic,
the people who practise the rite believing that thereby all crops and herds
as well as the women were rendered fertile, and that barrenness was averted.
This accounts very well for the occurrence of 'obscene rites' among the
witches, but fails when it touches the question of the Devil's coldness. I
offer here an explanation which I believe to be the true one, for it
accounts for all the facts; those facts which the women confessed
voluntarily and without torture or fear of punishment, like Isobel Gowdie,
or adhered to as the truth even at the stake amid the flames, like Jane
Bosdeau.
In ancient times the Sacred Marriage took place usually once a year; but
besides this ceremony there were other sexual rites which were not
celebrated at a fixed season, but might be performed in the precincts of the
temple of a god or goddess at any time, the males being often the priests or
temple officials. These are established facts, and it is not too much to
suppose that the witches' ceremonies were similar. But if the women believed
that sexual intercourse with the priests would increase fertility, how much
more would they believe in the efficacy of such intercourse with the
incarnate God of fertility himself. They would insist upon it as their
right, and it probably became compulsory at certain seasons, such as the
breeding periods of the herds or the sowing and reaping periods of the
crops. Yet as the population and therefore the number of worshippers in each
'congregation' increased, it would become increasingly difficult and finally
impossible for one man to comply with the requirements of so many women.[1]
The problem then was that on the one hand there were a number of women
demanding what was in their eyes a thing essential for themselves and their
families, and on the other a man physically unable to satisfy all the calls
upon him. The obvious solution of the problem is that the intercourse
between the Chief and the women was by artificial means, and the evidence in
the trials points clearly to this solution.
Artificial phalli are well known in the remains of ancient civilizations. In
ancient Egypt it was not uncommon to have statues of which the phallus was
of a different material from the figure, and so made that it could be
removed from its place and carried in procession. The earliest of such
statues are the colossal limestone figures of the fertility-god Min found at
Koptos, dating to the first dynasty, perhaps B.C. 5500.[2] But similar
figures are found at every period of Egyptian history, and a legend was
current at the time of Plutarch to account for this usage as well as for the
festival of the Phallephoria.[3] Unless the phallus itself were the object
of adoration there would be no reason to carry it in procession as a
religious ceremony, and it is easily understandable that such a cult would
commend itself chiefly to women.[4]
[1. The Deuill your maister, beand in liknes of ane beist, haid carnall
[deal] with ilk ane of you.'-Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 149.
2. Petrie pp. 7-9; Capart, p. 223.
3. Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, xviii, 5.
4. On the other hand, the female generative organs were also adored, and
presumably by men. This suggestion is borne out by the figures of women with
.
the pudenda exposed and often exaggerated in size. Such figures are found in
Egypt, where they were called Baubo, and a legend was invented to account
for the attitude; and similar figures were actually known in ancient
Christian churches (Payne Knight, Discourse on the Worship of Priapus).]
The phallus of a divine statue was not always merely for adoration and
carrying in procession; the Roman bride sacrificed her virginity to the god
Priapus as a sacred rite. This is probably the remains of a still more
ancient custom when the god was personated by a man and not by an image. The
same custom remained in other parts of the world as the jus primae noctis,
which was held as an inalienable right by certain kings and other divine
personages. As might be expected, this custom obtained also among the
witches.
'Le Diable faict des mariages au Sabbat entre les Sorciers & Sorcieres, &
leur joignant les mains, il leur dict hautement
Esta es buena parati
Esta parati lo toma.
Mais auant qu'ils couchent ensemble, il s'accouple auec elles, oste la
virginité des filles.'--Ieannette d'Abadie, aged sixteen, 's'accusoit elle
mesme d'auoir esté depucellee par Satan.'[1]
The occasional descriptions of the Devil's phallus show without question its
artificial character:
In 1598 in Lorraine 'es sagte die Alexia Dragaea, ihre Bulschafft hätte
einen [Glied] so starcken etc allezeit gehabt, wenn ihm gestanden, und so
gross als ein Ofengabel-Stiel, dessgleichen sie zugegen zeigte, denn
ohngefehr eine Gabel zugegen war, sagte auch wie sie kein Geleuth weder
Hoden noch Beutel daran gemerckt hat'.[2]
'Iaquema Paget adioustoit, qu'elle auoit empoigné plusieurs fois auec la
main le membre du Demon, qui la cognoissoit, et que le membre estoit froid
comme glace, long d'vn bon doigt, & moindre en grosseur que celuy d'vn
homme. Tieuenne Paget et Antoine Tornier adioustoient aussi, que le membre
de leurs Demons estoit long et gros, comme l'vn de leurs doigts.'[3] 'Il a
au deuant son membre tiré et pendant, & le monstre tousiours long d'vn
coudée.--Le membre du Demon est faict à escailles comme vn poisson.--Le
membre du Diable
[1. De Lancre, Tableau, pp. 132, 404.
2. Remigius, pt. i, p. 19.
3. Boguet, pp. 68-9.]
s'il estoit estendu est long enuiron d'vne aulne, mais il le tient
entortillé et sinueux en forme de serpent.--Le Diable, soit qu'il ayt la
forme d'homme, on qu'il soit en forme de Bouc, a tousiours vn membre de
mulet, ayant choisy en imitation celuy de cet animal comme le mieux pourueu.
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Il l'a long et gros comme le bras.--Le membre du Diable est long enuiron la
moitié d'vne aulne, de mediocre grosseur, rouge, obscur, & tortu, fort rude
& comme piquant.--Ce mauuais Demon ait son membre myparty, moitié de fer,
moitié de chair tout de son long, & de mesme les genitoires. Il tient
tousiours son membre dehors.--Le Diable a le membre faict de corne, ou pour
le moins il en a I'apparence: c'est pourquoy il faict tant crier les
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