mother, and I place myself at every point in thy power and in thy hands, recognising no other God, for thou art my God and I am thy slave."[1] They then placed one hand on the crown of the head, the other hand to the sole of the foot, and devoted all that was between the two hands to the service of the master. After this the Devil baptised the candidate with water in his own name, and gave her a new name by which she was afterwards known in the society; those who could write signed a covenant with him, those who could not write were marked on some part of the body.[2] There are several variants of this ceremony, some of which may be local, others point to a more primitive origin. E.g. in France[3] the witch children at the age of nine prostrated themselves to the ground before the Devil, who flashed fire before their eyes and asked, "What do you wish? Will you be mine?" They answered, "Yes." He asked again, "Do you come of your own free will?" They answered, "Yes." Then he said, "Do as I wish and as I do." Then they repeated the renunciation after the Queen of the Sabbath, kissed the Devil in any part of his person which he directed, and were marked by pricking with a sharp instrument like a pin, the skin being torn to the effusion of blood; the mark in most districts was on the left side or left shoulder, and the pain was often very great. Another variant occurred at Dalkeith (1661)[4] when Janet Watson was admitted; "the Devil laid his hand upon her head and bad her give all over to him that was under his hand." The variant, which to my mind shows a more primitive form, is that in use at Auldearne near Nairn.[5] Both Isobel Gowdie and Janet Breadheid voluntarily confessed to the
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Organisations of Witches in Great Britain.
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