The Season of the Witch

'Hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo'

Some folks may have heard about the witches of the Brocken, who on Walpurgisnacht, mount their broomsticks, pet dogs, goats or husbands and fly out into the dead of night to a plateau on the Brocken Mountain deep in the dark forests of the Harz Mountains. Here a huge bonfire rages through the night, and on this plateau, known as the Hexentanzplatz, the witches await the arrival of their master, the Devil.

Well so the old folk lore goes anyway. On the 1st of May, postcards, beer steins, and wooden carvings glorify the season of the witch. Little old ladies cheerfully pressure shoppers into pointy black hats, tarot cards, and devilish horns that glow in the dark. But back in ancient pre Christian times, it was all a bit more involved than just the tourist attraction it has morphed into, where visitors today dance the night away and scream at the spirits of winter. Today May 1st draws crowds to the tiny village of Schierke, and the towns folk do a roaring trade a la Harry Potter. But do real witches gather on the crowded Brocken on Walpurgisnacht...?


Oh, I have no doubt that the Wiccans and New Agers flock there in droves to have a get together, just as the modern 'druids' congregate at Stonehenge. But reality is less exciting nowadays to what it was in the very far distant past, where the real 'magic' took place!

As a spring festival, May Eve was originally dedicated to Walpurga, a fertility goddess of woods and springs, who, as legend would have it, rewarded human helpers with gifts of gold. And, just like Holda, Walpurga is also associated with spindles and thread (the hand tools of women for weaving). These commonplace items took on a magical significance on May Eve, when they were used for divination and love spells. In E.L. Rochholz's 1870 folklore study, he describes Walpurga as a white lady with flowing hair, wearing a crown and fiery shoes. She carries a spindle and a three-cornered mirror that foretells the future. In the layer cake of northern European mythology, the symbols strongly suggest connection to the Three Norns, or Fates. These demigoddesses spun and wove the web of life, casting prophecies into their triangular Well of Wyrd, which watered the tree of life.

The truth is, it is based on very ancient fertility rites that have been Christianize and watered down to nothing. Under Christian influence, Walpurga's rite of spring was transformed into a day to drive out the forces of pagan darkness, rather than the darkness of winter. A Saint Walburga, now remembered on May 1, emerged in the eighth century to battle with the old goddess. As it did with the Celtic fire goddess Brigi. The medieval church often elevated the elder deities to sainthood in its attempts to suppress paganism and stifle older rituals....but why?

Things have changed a lot from those long ago times and few people today understand anything about its original meaning! Life is not a struggle anymore, where people are personally, and absolutely dependent on the earth and the land for their survival. For the Celts and the Teutons, the coming of Spring was a very important time. They celebrated the earths awakening from it's winter sleep, and again to new life which provides food for the people. The earth was prepared for the sowing of the crop, they wanted a long sunny summer season to ripen their grain and the fruits in the orchards, fatten their pigs and bring new life forth from there flocks and herds...And most important to the cycle of life, young maidens were prepared for the 'sowing of a crop' so to speak, and they took husbands! Married women had to bring forth the next generation, because not only did bad crops over the summer season mean hardships and possibly even death over the winter, more importantly, a family without strong young sons and daughters to help plough the fields and tend the crops was pretty much in for a lean and not so prosperous time...and a woman alone without a man and family was dead on her feet!


..and herein lies the secret of the witches...Why did mainly women go to these celebrations? Why are there rumors of wild sex orgy's on witches sabbath? What's with the old crone image?...Stories don't just spring up out of nothing..It all had little to do with hocus pocus...and more to do with just pocus!

According to Hans Baldung Grien (ca 1484-1545) and Pierre de Rostegny, aka De Lancre (1553-1631), (who were writing about these pagan rites during the Christian period remember), human flesh was eaten during Sabbaths, preferably children, and also human bones stewed in a special way. It was also said by some authors that salt, bread and oil were prohibited because the Devil hated them, while other testimonies told about delicious dishes. Other descriptions add that human fat, especially of non-baptized children, was used to make a magic potion that enabled the witches to fly. It was also believed that witches could fly by themselves, ride a broom, or be carried by demons to the place of the meeting.


The most common belief on which authors agreed is that Satan was present at the Sabbath, often as a goat (poor beastie!) or satyr, and many agreed that more creepy demons were present. Another belief said that sometimes a person could offer his/her own body to be possessed by some demon serving as a medium. It was believed that the Sabbath commenced at midnight and ended at dawn, beginning with a procession, continuing with a banquet, then a Black Mass, and culminating with an orgy in which non-marital or sexual intercourse with demons in male or female form was practiced. Consumption of hallucinogens and sometimes alcohol was often reported.


Horrific stuff hey...would you go into the Black Forest at night after being told that such a goat god was in there with a covern of witches? Well, there are some grains of truth in there, but please note...I said GRAINS... nothing like the horror portrayed! It was no wonder the populace wanted to see these dreadful witches burned at the stake...But forget not, that most of the recounting of such goings on at witches sabbath were obtained under great torture and all dating to Christian times, so all thanks goes to the dominant Christian Catholic church for a lot of this this, which viewed those old pagan religions with alarm.


The real truth is not nearly as dramatic, but never the less interesting, and pretty raunchy stuff...! The claimed dates of the main Sabbaths seem to correspond to those of the most important pre-Christian heathen festivals, and Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons and Druids practiced these rites in the forests and mountains of Europe. This is how it really went.


In a time when raising a family was the main purpose of life, women who were having a battle to fall pregnant, or miscarried, or were considered barren, would consult the old mid wives, who held a very import station in society back in those times. They were the Deliverers of life and there role was considered magical and something of a mystery to the menfolk! As women gave birth, they sought and received care from supportive others. At an unknown point in the cultural evolution, some experienced women became designated as the 'wise women' to be in attendance at birth. Thus, the profession of midwifery began. Indeed, as historians have noted, midwifery has been characterized as a social role throughout recorded history, regardless of culture or time.


They were the ones women turned to, to consult to find solutions to the female problems, and as I have stated above, everything depended on the cycle of birth and life, the family and children that bound man and woman together. Giving birth was the successful end and beginning of a new life, but failure to fall pregnant in the first place was a catastrophe that could see a wife discarded by her man for a woman who was able to produce healthy babies. This could subject the unfortunate first wife to a life of poverty and starvation! Never did it occur to menfolk that maybe they were shooting blanks, and who was going to point fingers at the man?

So the old crones would be consulted by desperate women, and so would start the secret events of the 'wise ones', who would secretly find strong, robust and healthy young men who they drew into their plans, men who were willing to play an anonnymous, honorable and important role... of sperm donor..!
In the dead of night the women would gather in the secret places of the dark forests, surrounded by tales of demons and devils, and these young bucks who the old crones managed to procure, would don masks, and yes...masks of beasts with horns and antlers, which are symbolic, and a male symbol of virility. They became Cernunnos 'The Horned God'. They masked themselves so that no woman could identify who they were, as they were merely playing a role of service to these women, and any progeny spawned of Walpurgisnacht would be the product of 'magic', and go on to be raised as the children of other men...and so these strapping young men with raging horns would go about copulating with the lusty maidens of the village desperate for their sperm!


The old women would prepare a feast, giving the men and women potions of mead and wine to keep their nerves steady and relax them. Teas, soups and stews of magic mushrooms and other herbs and plants which served to make the experience seem surreal and other worldly...I suppose much the same as one would do today when you're planning on seducing someone and need to make it easier!


This was never about porn and lust, it was about procreation, the real 'magic' in it all being the spark of life and later new birth of a perfect human baby! But it all had to be kept secret to protect those involved, the old 'wise ones' who made a living out of 'matchmaking' and 'birthing', the stud men who were having sex with other mens wives, the women who were having sex with strange masked men, and the children that were born as a result of those nights...and so too was born the horror stories of witches, demons and devils. First the myth of demons and devils was created to scare any prying and peeping eyes that might wander into the dark forests to spy on the proceedings of the 'witches' and 'gods', and later out of speculation derived from the recounting of what spies who had braved the darkness and the unknown had seen... strange and bizarre things, unspeakable acts, moaning and screaming in the firelight!
Of course these tales grew tails, and especially during the Christian era where sex was burdened with hang-up's, considered something shameful and not even to be mentioned by married people, a fertile breeding ground for all sorts of wondrous beliefs about the charms and spells of witches and the occult sprang up!


Progressing on into modern times, we have a revival of interest in ancient mysticism, the occult and whatever grabs the imagination, all the doings of the Inquisition are poo pooed and looked upon with warranted horror...but now, as far as belief is concerned, anything goes, and all has again been corrupted to lead people to renewed belief in the super natural powers of a witch! There are people today going though all sorts of ritual knowing very little about it, in a belief that they will gain something tangible out of it all. Truth be told, "Modern Witchcraft", commonly called "Wicca", is the iron tit of bullshit that has so many Western women today 'spellbound'. It was started in England with an English civil servant, amateur anthropologist, writer, and occultist by the name of Gerald Gardener. Gardener set up his following only as early as 1949, with the publication of his "High Magic's Aid", and "Witchcraft Today", where he blends the old "Mother Goddess Religion" with the teachings of Margaret Maori, "The witchcraft in Eastern Europe", and "The God of the Witches" (1933), borrowing practices from his friend, the freak, British 'Satanist' Aleister Crowley, and ideas from Hinduism, Theosophy, Freemasonry and Rosicrucians...


In America, it was revived by Rosemary and Raymond Buckland and Sybil Leek in the 1960s who took it one step higher, thereby creating a vast source of inspiration with great packaging and marketing in the movies and on TV. This has grown into a huge industry that has aided in the popularity of witchcraft, which in turn has seen Neo Paganism officially recognized as a religion by the IRS, with tax exemption to the Church and School of Wicca! Talk about a great business plan!!


The truth is no longer something out of this world, the unknown meant to scare. When one considers that what happens beneath the sheets between almost every man and woman, it leaves one aghast that the unknown facts have been the spawn of tales of horror and magic that have lasted over the passage of time!