2. Murray Thesis Murray thesis Horned God Evidence for paganism Murray’s method

3. The evidence & Literalist approaches Evidence - court records, confessions, witness testimonies, etc… Literalist - takes this as direct, literal evidence for the existence of witchcraft or pagan cults

4. Sr. Madeleine, a possessed nun “Since my conversion there is a Sabbat held every day, but before, it was kept but three times in the week,beginning at eleven of the clock at night and continuing until three of the clock after midnight.”

5. Sr. Madeleine, cont’d “Where, being assembled, the hags and witches, who are people of a sordid and base condition, and whose trade and custom is to murder infants, and to bring them to the sabbat,after they have been buried in their grave, are the first to come to adore the Prince of the Synagogue … next they go and worship the devil who is seated in a throne like a prince.

6. Guazzo, Compendium Maleficium (1626) “When these member of the devil have met together, they generally light a foul and horrid fire. The devil is president of the assembly and sits on a throne, in some terrible shape, as of a goat or a dog; and they approach him to adore him, but not always in the same manner. Sometimes they bend their knee like suppliants, and sometimes they … kick their legs high up so their heads are bent back and their chins pointed to the sky”

7. Murray “The evidence proves that underlying the Christian religion was a cult practiced by many classes of the community, chiefly, however, by the more ignorant or those in the less thickly inhabited parts of the country. It can be traced back to pre-Christian times, and appears to be the ancient religion of Western Europe.” [51 (12)] “I have not attempted to disentangle the various cults; I am merely content to point out that it was a definite religion with beliefs, ritual, and organization as highly developed as any other cult in the world” [51 (12)]

8. Horned God: Caverne des Trois Freres, Ariege Paleolithic

9. Body, hands and feet are human Plays on flute or is amongst other animals Ceremonial dress Sacred dance

10. Limborch History of the Inquisition (1692) “it is easy to extort a confession from such who are innocent by the cruelty of these tortures,with which the Inquisitors punish without end of measure, those they suspect, as the very plagues of human nature, even of crimes they had never thought of and of which they have never heard so much as the description.”

11. The challenge for Murray’s critics “No explanation is offered by the objectors as to how the Inquisitors arrived at the form of questionary, nor is any regard given to the injunction to all Inquisitors to acquaint themselves with all the details of any heresy which they were commissioned to root out; they were to obtain the information form those who would recant and use it against the accused.” [53 (16)]

12. Uniformity of evidence “Had the testimony of the witches varied widely it would have been prima facie evidence that there was no well-defined religion underlying their ritual. But the very uniformity of their confessions points to the reality of the occurrence.”[53 (16)]