WITCHES AND THE NUMBER THIRTEEN.
by m. a. murray.
In tabulating the evidence in the trials for witchcraft, certain facts come to light which are not visible at first. They are not brought out by direct or leading questions, but appear incidentally and are passed unnoticed by both the contemporary recorder and the modern commentator. As examples of such facts it is interesting to note that the “Devil” never appeared as a goat in Great Britain though that was his usual disguise in France; he is found as a horse, never as an ass; and though witches were often transformed into hares, the “Devil” never took that form. Again, the divining familiar is common to all Europe, but the domestic familiar occurs only in England, and is limited there almost entirely to the eastern counties.
The most clearly marked of all these hitherto-unnoticed details is found in the organisation. According to Cotton Mather “the witches are organised like Congregational Churches,” and on investigation his words are proved fairly accurate. There was first a chief who presided over the whole community; then there was a small body of persons who correspond to the “elders” of a church, and lastly there was the general congregation. It is the study of this small body or company of “elders” which yields some interesting results. These companies were called “covens” in Great Britain, a word which is derived from the same root as “convene,” and I have adopted it as a technical term to describe a band of male and female
