12 WOMAN AS WITCH 



animals. The witch who, according to the Augsburg 

 tradition, threw off her clothes, mounted a black horse 

 and drove the Huns from before the town, or the witch 

 of Beutelsbach, who led out a bull crowned with flowers 

 in solemn procession to be buried alive, and so cured 

 the cattle plague, must have possessed this friendly 

 character. In such traditions the witch resumes her 

 old position as the wise woman, the medicine woman, 

 the leader of the people, the priestess accompanying the 

 victim to the altar. Such a white witch or folk-leader 

 was Joan of Arc. In her trial for sorcery we read that 

 in the neighbourhood of Domfrein was an ancient oak 

 dedicated to a fay in other words, the sacrificial oak 

 of an old mother-goddess and by this oak a spring 

 the goddess's spring, which recurs so often in May Day 

 ceremonies. At this oak by night the witches and evil 

 spirits used to congregate, especially on Thursdays, and 

 dance and sing round it, crowning the oak and spring 

 with garlands of flowers and herbs. According to the 

 extant accounts of the trial, Joan admitted that she 

 knew of this oak and of the ceremonies attached to it. 

 Looking back now, we are not inclined to doubt this ; 

 we see in the oak and well only the sacred spot of 

 an old mother-goddess, and in the ceremonies that went 

 on just the fossils of an old worship such as may still 

 be found in hundreds of German villages preserved as 

 peasant customs. The point to be noted is that these 

 customs are precisely those which are attributed to 

 the midnight witch -gatherings. Witch -gatherings and 

 peasant ceremonies are relics of ancient, social, and re- 

 ligious rites which were not only considered at one time 



