After having abandoned themselves to such foul fleshly pleasures the witches fall to feasting and banqueting. In their banquets they have various kinds of meats, which differ according to the locality and the rank of those who are assembled. In our own district the table was covered with butter, cheese and flesh; Clauda Jamguillaume, Jacquema Paget and some others said that there was a great cauldron on the fire from which they all helped themselves to meat. Their drink is sometimes wine and sometimes water: Antoine Tornier said that she drank wine from a wooden cup, but the others mentioned nothing but water. But there is never any salt; for salt is a symbol of immortality, and is held in bitter abhorrence by the Devil. Levit. 2.
Mark 9.Moreover, God commanded that salt should be mingled with every sacrifice or oblation which is offered to Him; and therefore it is used in Baptism, which is a sovereign antidote against the power of the Devil. It may also be said that, since salt is symbolical of wisdom, God in His hidden purpose does not allow it to be used at the Sabbat, so that the witches may know that all that they do is sheer folly.
Some have written that in the same way they never use bread; Remy, Demonol. I. 16.but Christofle of the village of Aranthon has testified to the contrary, saying that she had eaten bread, meat and cheese at the Sabbat.
But all witches are agreed that there is no taste at all in the dishes of which they eat at the Sabbat, and that the meat is nothing but horseflesh. And nearly all declare that when they leave the table they are as hungry as when they went to it. Antide Colas said that the food was cold; Clauda Vuillat, of the village of Mirebeau, that