What do you think?
Rate this book
Witch Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology
This is an intensive study of the witch cult in Great Britain. The author uses French and Flemish sources to obtain a clearer understanding of the ritual and beliefs, as the witch cult appears to be the same throughout western Europe. The sources from which the information used within are the judicial records and contemporary chroniclers. In the case of the chroniclers, the author studied their facts, not their opinions.
306 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1921
138 people are currently reading
2037 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Alice Murray
95 books64 followersEgyptologist and Anthropologist. Known mostly for her theories on the Witch Cult which the witch trials were an attempt to destroy a pre-Christian surviving religion.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 17, 2014
This book is written by Anthropologist Margaret Murray to outline the survival, beliefs, and rituals of a pre-Christian witchcraft-centric "old religion." Unfortunately Murray subjectively interpreted the confessions of witch trials and manipulated and cited her findings out of context to support her theory of an old pre-christian religion based around a horned god and a goddess that survived the persecution of witch trials in europe. While her work is not accepted by modern historians, Murray's thesis has had great influence in the modern perception of the witch and has lead to the beliefs and practices of newer neopagan religions, especially including Gerald Gardner's Wicca. The value in this book is not that it is historically accurate, but rather as a starting point of which to understand where much of the source material for modern day Pagan religions draw from.
August 5, 2012
This was a superb book! Finally reading it gave me perspective on not only the controversial issues it touches on (the possibility of a real, widespread survival of pre-Christian Paganism and its suppression during the Witch Hunts), but also the controversy which has surrounded the book itself since its publication.
Personally, I believe Murray's work to have been treated with undue criticism, then and now. Though this book has gained more respectability in recent times, the scoffing that went up around it tarnished not only the worthy parts of it but Murray's reputation in general. When reading it, I saw many excellent ideas fleshed out with substantial evidence for support. She shows her work with extensive annotations for all the transcripts and quotes used. Yes, sometimes she did speculate, but she was always clear that it *was* speculation. If a reader desired another viewpoint, all the evidence was there for him/her to make one.
From a personal perspective: Reading the exact words of the accused and the way many spoke so passionately about their beliefs was heartening. I think a lot of us have the image of tortured souls saying any wild thing that came to mind to appease the Inquisitors. That was not always the case. Many of the quotes (especially by the wonderfully bold Isobel Gowdie) showed fearlessness, honesty, and the kind of bluntness only possible with a person who doesn't see anything shameful in their actions. Despite the tragic end of many who are quoted, I salute their efforts. I am proud to carry on the tradition of this attitude in my own practice, whether or not a person believes the victims of the Witch Hunts to be fellow witches.
As for the tone of the book, it varies between slightly dry and absolutely riveting. I like my books meaty so I was well satisfied with this one. Prepare yourself, however, for text in French, German, and a smattering of Latin. In my edition, there were no translations for these parts (I am unsure if other editions might have remedied this). Happily, the surrounding text often sums up these quotes for we English speakers.
Personally, I believe Murray's work to have been treated with undue criticism, then and now. Though this book has gained more respectability in recent times, the scoffing that went up around it tarnished not only the worthy parts of it but Murray's reputation in general. When reading it, I saw many excellent ideas fleshed out with substantial evidence for support. She shows her work with extensive annotations for all the transcripts and quotes used. Yes, sometimes she did speculate, but she was always clear that it *was* speculation. If a reader desired another viewpoint, all the evidence was there for him/her to make one.
From a personal perspective: Reading the exact words of the accused and the way many spoke so passionately about their beliefs was heartening. I think a lot of us have the image of tortured souls saying any wild thing that came to mind to appease the Inquisitors. That was not always the case. Many of the quotes (especially by the wonderfully bold Isobel Gowdie) showed fearlessness, honesty, and the kind of bluntness only possible with a person who doesn't see anything shameful in their actions. Despite the tragic end of many who are quoted, I salute their efforts. I am proud to carry on the tradition of this attitude in my own practice, whether or not a person believes the victims of the Witch Hunts to be fellow witches.
As for the tone of the book, it varies between slightly dry and absolutely riveting. I like my books meaty so I was well satisfied with this one. Prepare yourself, however, for text in French, German, and a smattering of Latin. In my edition, there were no translations for these parts (I am unsure if other editions might have remedied this). Happily, the surrounding text often sums up these quotes for we English speakers.
September 26, 2014
Thoroughly unconvincing as actual history, and thoroughly entertaining as an exercise in world-building. I only wish Murray hadn't left such great swathes of her source material in its original Ye Olde French.
July 18, 2013
A little slice of history. I wish I could see this literature study redone with better scholarship.
September 4, 2023
Llegue a este libro por Lovecraft y realmente me agrado todo lo que leí. Son declaraciones de hace más de 300 años por mujeres que delante de un juez explican a detalle recetas, conjuros, avistamientos o cercanías con el colorado.
Todo está relacionado con la Iglesia cristiana y feminismo. Se habla de un machismo qué en esos tiempos creo era muy normal aunque todo este tema no deja de ser hipócrita por el hecho de que una mujer no podía ser inteligente, capaz o autosuficiente porque era considerada bruja.
Algunos podrán encontrar el libro un poco lento pero recuerden que es una investigación de Margaret M., antropologa y todo el libro está lleno de declaraciones por las juzgadas y leyendas qué rondaban en esos tiempos.
Todo está relacionado con la Iglesia cristiana y feminismo. Se habla de un machismo qué en esos tiempos creo era muy normal aunque todo este tema no deja de ser hipócrita por el hecho de que una mujer no podía ser inteligente, capaz o autosuficiente porque era considerada bruja.
Algunos podrán encontrar el libro un poco lento pero recuerden que es una investigación de Margaret M., antropologa y todo el libro está lleno de declaraciones por las juzgadas y leyendas qué rondaban en esos tiempos.
May 19, 2012
Interesting and very pleasant.
August 9, 2020
I read this book because my favorite author, H.P. Lovecraft, regularly dropped it into lists of "forbidden and occult books" in his many horror stories. Being one of the real books, mixed in with his own imaginary ones, I felt it worth a read to see what it was all about.
The book is an anthropological attempt to prove that an actual "witch cult", an ancient religion if you will, existed and persisted throughout Europe through the late 1600s and that the thousands of years of "witch hunts" were not merely Christian persecution of ugly women, hated women or etc, but that they were actually uncovering evidence of this cult. The cult is NOT supposed to be worshipers of Satan at all, but the Christian bias of the legal recorders of the trials apparantly have been (according to the author) the reason that this so-called cult was labeled Satanic, rather than just being the fertility religion she claims it is.
All in all, the book fails on so many levels. As a scientist myself, I found myself shaking my head repeatedly at the leaps in logic. The evidence simply was not there.
By the way, to those "modern pagans" who claim that all ancient religions have a "mother/goddess" slant to them, you're gonna be REALLY disappointed. Every scrap of evidence (what little there is) uncovered by the author points 100% to a male god oriented fertility cult. For those looking for evidence that “witches” worshiped a female deity, you will not find that here.
Also, she makes the annoying assumption that readers of her book, written in English, also read French and German. Lots of French and German quotes with NO translation, and thus effectively cutting away at her own lines of evidence.
Although presented as an academic work, is somewhat shoddy in its logic and leaps to conclusions.
The extremely long quotes, in Old (OLDE) English, for the purposes of shoring you her defense, rather make it dull and dreary and tedious. She would have done better to summarize, and translate into modern English.
What is most strikingly hard to get at is the actual workings of the supposed witch-Cult. Dr Murray uses the recorded testimonies of trials as written, which she (believably) claims come with the Christian bias of the judges and recorders. Yet she does this SO much that one begins to think that the witch cult really did worship Satan, rather than her hypothesis which is that these people worshiped “a man” sometimes dressed as an animal, sometimes not. But still, she does NOT draw a fresh picture of the cult. She leaves standing the Christian-biased picture and fails utterly to say “now here is what was probably REALLY going on...”. In order to correct this, I find the easiest way to actually get useful information out of the book is to read her 1-2 paragraph analysis (when it can be found) then skip the 5-10 pages of quotes she over-provides to shore up her conclusions. For instance, she concludes that some witch’s marks were tattoos, which is an interesting theory, but provides then 10 pages of quotes to shore this up. Why not one or two quotes, and then a long list of the other places to find such info?
Final notes: her evidence that there was a dwarf race in Europe which gave rise to tales of fairies is weak, yet she stands on it, dedicating an entire appendix to it.
Speaking of appendices, the appendix on Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais was enlightening, but not wholly convincing, of the existence of the witch cult. And just for fun, the appendix for recipes for “flying potions”‘should entertain the curious.
All in all, a shoddy academic work and one of little real value.
The book is an anthropological attempt to prove that an actual "witch cult", an ancient religion if you will, existed and persisted throughout Europe through the late 1600s and that the thousands of years of "witch hunts" were not merely Christian persecution of ugly women, hated women or etc, but that they were actually uncovering evidence of this cult. The cult is NOT supposed to be worshipers of Satan at all, but the Christian bias of the legal recorders of the trials apparantly have been (according to the author) the reason that this so-called cult was labeled Satanic, rather than just being the fertility religion she claims it is.
All in all, the book fails on so many levels. As a scientist myself, I found myself shaking my head repeatedly at the leaps in logic. The evidence simply was not there.
By the way, to those "modern pagans" who claim that all ancient religions have a "mother/goddess" slant to them, you're gonna be REALLY disappointed. Every scrap of evidence (what little there is) uncovered by the author points 100% to a male god oriented fertility cult. For those looking for evidence that “witches” worshiped a female deity, you will not find that here.
Also, she makes the annoying assumption that readers of her book, written in English, also read French and German. Lots of French and German quotes with NO translation, and thus effectively cutting away at her own lines of evidence.
Although presented as an academic work, is somewhat shoddy in its logic and leaps to conclusions.
The extremely long quotes, in Old (OLDE) English, for the purposes of shoring you her defense, rather make it dull and dreary and tedious. She would have done better to summarize, and translate into modern English.
What is most strikingly hard to get at is the actual workings of the supposed witch-Cult. Dr Murray uses the recorded testimonies of trials as written, which she (believably) claims come with the Christian bias of the judges and recorders. Yet she does this SO much that one begins to think that the witch cult really did worship Satan, rather than her hypothesis which is that these people worshiped “a man” sometimes dressed as an animal, sometimes not. But still, she does NOT draw a fresh picture of the cult. She leaves standing the Christian-biased picture and fails utterly to say “now here is what was probably REALLY going on...”. In order to correct this, I find the easiest way to actually get useful information out of the book is to read her 1-2 paragraph analysis (when it can be found) then skip the 5-10 pages of quotes she over-provides to shore up her conclusions. For instance, she concludes that some witch’s marks were tattoos, which is an interesting theory, but provides then 10 pages of quotes to shore this up. Why not one or two quotes, and then a long list of the other places to find such info?
Final notes: her evidence that there was a dwarf race in Europe which gave rise to tales of fairies is weak, yet she stands on it, dedicating an entire appendix to it.
Speaking of appendices, the appendix on Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais was enlightening, but not wholly convincing, of the existence of the witch cult. And just for fun, the appendix for recipes for “flying potions”‘should entertain the curious.
All in all, a shoddy academic work and one of little real value.
July 23, 2021
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20411
On one hand, this is a really good summary of Western European witchcraft from the 10th to 18th centuries, using a lot of quotes from contemporary witches...
...on the other hand, there's some pretty wild theories thrown into the mix, like this example from the first appendix on "fairies and witches"...
...so you have to be careful separating the wheat from the chaff with this book. There's also a layer of Christian projections on top of the witchcraft, which makes you wonder how much of the quotes are actual quotes and how much is interpretations and revisions by whomever was doing the chronicling...
I came to it because H. P. Lovecraft kept referencing it in his short stories publicised in Weird Tales Magazine, and according to Wikipedia Charles Leland's idea of an 'old religion' and Murray's surviving pagan cult would inspire subsequent 20th century modern witchcraft movements like Wicca, and they heavily influenced writers such as Robert Graves, whose book The White Goddess also influenced Wicca.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wit...
We earnestly forbid every heathenism: heathenism is, that men worship idols; that is, that they worship heathen gods, and the sun or the moon, fire or rivers, water-wells or stones, or forest trees of any kind; or love witchcraft, or promote morth-work in any wise.
-- 11th cent. Laws of King Cnut (1017-1035)
On one hand, this is a really good summary of Western European witchcraft from the 10th to 18th centuries, using a lot of quotes from contemporary witches...
The sources from which the information is taken are the judicial records and contemporary chroniclers. In the case of the chroniclers I have studied their facts and not their opinions. I have also had access to some unpublished trials among the Edinburgh Justiciary Records and also in the Guernsey Greffe.
...on the other hand, there's some pretty wild theories thrown into the mix, like this example from the first appendix on "fairies and witches"...
The dwarf race which at one time inhabited Europe has left few concrete remains, but it has survived in innumerable stories of fairies and elves. Nothing, however, is known of the religious beliefs and cults of these early peoples, except the fact that every seven years they made a human sacrifice to their god [...] and that like the Khonds they stole children from the neighbouring races and brought them up to be the victims.
...so you have to be careful separating the wheat from the chaff with this book. There's also a layer of Christian projections on top of the witchcraft, which makes you wonder how much of the quotes are actual quotes and how much is interpretations and revisions by whomever was doing the chronicling...
'The Devil on his Part articles with such Proselytes, concerning the Shape he is to appear to them in, the Services they are to expect from him, upon the Performance of certain Charms or ceremonious Rites.' From this statement and from the facts revealed in the trials it would seem that the Devil appointed to the witch, on her admission, some kind of animal or animals by which she should divine, and which therefore represented himself for the time being, for he claimed the power, as God, to know and reveal the future. This explanation accounts for the fact that the witches always spoke of such animals as the Devil and believed that they could foretell the future by his means.
I came to it because H. P. Lovecraft kept referencing it in his short stories publicised in Weird Tales Magazine, and according to Wikipedia Charles Leland's idea of an 'old religion' and Murray's surviving pagan cult would inspire subsequent 20th century modern witchcraft movements like Wicca, and they heavily influenced writers such as Robert Graves, whose book The White Goddess also influenced Wicca.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wit...
July 31, 2021
While Discredited, Still A Great Read
While reading, I found out that a lot of what Alice Murray had hypothesized about the witch cult in terms of its origins and the truth of what was given as testimony and confessions could and should not have been.interpreted as the truth due to the method of how the confessions were acquired. Obviously any confession of a witch who was then likely executed was probably gained under torture and should not be taken as fact, but once you get passed that, this is an amazing collection of trial transcripts and testimony.
A lot of the transcripts are taken from 15th & 16th century trials of men and women convicted of witchcraft (or in at least one case acquitted due to lack of evidence and that the person actually deemed to have healed sick people). Just the fact that transcripts of actual dictation from that time period was amazing to me. It does take a while to get used to a lot of the varied spelling of of words (for example qu instead of w, so "quhyle" for"while") and a lot of what was written sounds like it was written phonetically. There are also a number of confessions in French, German, and a few in Latin that I had to skip because I am not fluent in any of those languages, let alone when written phonetically. I recommend reading the confessions out loud as it makes it easier to decipher what was being said and written.
The appendices should not be skipped as the last appendix deals with Joan of Marc's trial and how Murray believes it could relate to her theories about the witch cult, but it is still worth the read.
(I apologize for all the typos here, I typed this out on a Kindle and proofreading is difficult, to say nothing of typing with your thumbs).
While reading, I found out that a lot of what Alice Murray had hypothesized about the witch cult in terms of its origins and the truth of what was given as testimony and confessions could and should not have been.interpreted as the truth due to the method of how the confessions were acquired. Obviously any confession of a witch who was then likely executed was probably gained under torture and should not be taken as fact, but once you get passed that, this is an amazing collection of trial transcripts and testimony.
A lot of the transcripts are taken from 15th & 16th century trials of men and women convicted of witchcraft (or in at least one case acquitted due to lack of evidence and that the person actually deemed to have healed sick people). Just the fact that transcripts of actual dictation from that time period was amazing to me. It does take a while to get used to a lot of the varied spelling of of words (for example qu instead of w, so "quhyle" for"while") and a lot of what was written sounds like it was written phonetically. There are also a number of confessions in French, German, and a few in Latin that I had to skip because I am not fluent in any of those languages, let alone when written phonetically. I recommend reading the confessions out loud as it makes it easier to decipher what was being said and written.
The appendices should not be skipped as the last appendix deals with Joan of Marc's trial and how Murray believes it could relate to her theories about the witch cult, but it is still worth the read.
(I apologize for all the typos here, I typed this out on a Kindle and proofreading is difficult, to say nothing of typing with your thumbs).
January 1, 2022
This book used to be required reading in the 1970s when I started my pagan studies. This book at the time, was considered cutting edge, and was a major building block of many pagan and witches early learning and formation of their beliefs.
Later, new information, more scientific studies, and more rigorous archeology showed her primary premise was wrong. So I recommend the reader look at this book for what it is, a major piece of history of the pagan revival. It will explain where slot of pagan concepts came from, and why, if someone does not stay current with new discoveries and research they may hold many of her ideas as "truth".
In this modern day and age of information overload, its hard for people to understand these older books offer were the only thing available, and at the time, was considered accurate. Therefore, many of the books following, based on the premise and hypothesis in this book carry the same errors.
By reading this book, you are going to the source of the ideas and concepts in order to recognize them for when they show up in other books and papers that followed until they were shown to be erroneous.
Later, new information, more scientific studies, and more rigorous archeology showed her primary premise was wrong. So I recommend the reader look at this book for what it is, a major piece of history of the pagan revival. It will explain where slot of pagan concepts came from, and why, if someone does not stay current with new discoveries and research they may hold many of her ideas as "truth".
In this modern day and age of information overload, its hard for people to understand these older books offer were the only thing available, and at the time, was considered accurate. Therefore, many of the books following, based on the premise and hypothesis in this book carry the same errors.
By reading this book, you are going to the source of the ideas and concepts in order to recognize them for when they show up in other books and papers that followed until they were shown to be erroneous.
January 13, 2024
I thought this was going to be fun, even if it’s been widely discredited. Even as an academic text it’s an absolutely exhaustive/exhausting list of every instance of the topics that she claims to be covering, leading to having to read so many variants of X said Y. It also doesn’t translate any of the quotes (SOME OF WHICH ARE IN 16TH CENTURY FRENCH) so every page is a nightmare to get through.
Ignoring the innate flaw in using inquisitor’s notes of confessions as fact, she doesn’t even make the point of an ancient fertility cult that she purports to be doing. There is so much variation in the “evidence” that she’s gathered that all she has collected is that the made up stories about witchcraft couldn’t even remain consistent.
I didn’t think it would be possible to make a book detailing the inner workings of purported witchcraft to be boring. Unlike some anthropologists I could name, at least I can admit when I’m wrong.
Ignoring the innate flaw in using inquisitor’s notes of confessions as fact, she doesn’t even make the point of an ancient fertility cult that she purports to be doing. There is so much variation in the “evidence” that she’s gathered that all she has collected is that the made up stories about witchcraft couldn’t even remain consistent.
I didn’t think it would be possible to make a book detailing the inner workings of purported witchcraft to be boring. Unlike some anthropologists I could name, at least I can admit when I’m wrong.
April 26, 2021
Interesting as an historical document shining a light on early 20th century scholarship, and useful as a collection of cherry-picked passages from transcripts of witch trials, but completely unreliable as historical scholarship. There is nothing to be reliably learned here about Witches in Europe. And why on earth did Murray consistently quote a German translation of someone who wrote in Latin, while she happily quoted untranslated those who wrote in French, Scotish Gaelic, and Scotish Dialect?
November 21, 2022
Great study and convincing overarching theory which adds a lot to the discussion surrounding witchcraft and the academic and historical interpretations of. It was occasionally irritating that she would quote an entire section in German or French and provide no glimpse of a translation, and I imagine even more so for contemporaneous readers. Along with this, the methods used by Murray are questioned, as she creatively reads historical and legal accounts of witches to further her theory. Overall a useful book and certainly worth its praise, but flawed in certain areas.
March 16, 2023
This is a non-fiction anthropology book that is occasionally mentioned in Cthulhu Mythos fiction. It has been on my to-read back burner for some time and I finally gave it a try.
Did not finish. I found this heavy going. The author provides many quotes from 17th and 18th century witch trial court proceedings, generally in old English or old French. The first chapter was about the Devil and there seemed to be about a hundred statements from accused witches and various others how he dresses. I found all of this hard to understand and tedious.
Did not finish. I found this heavy going. The author provides many quotes from 17th and 18th century witch trial court proceedings, generally in old English or old French. The first chapter was about the Devil and there seemed to be about a hundred statements from accused witches and various others how he dresses. I found all of this hard to understand and tedious.
December 6, 2021
As a book that is deeply grounded in primary sources, which cites and displays those sources liberally - fantastic. If you just want to pick up knowledge about the European witch trials, you'll absolutely get some from this book!
As a book of anthropology, fully ungrounded and batshit, holy hell how was this such a foundational theory for so long?!
As a book of anthropology, fully ungrounded and batshit, holy hell how was this such a foundational theory for so long?!
August 26, 2024
Good but a bit hard to read
The old English is difficult to follow in this book. Some of the author's conclusions feel a bit stretched but others are fascinating. There is a lot of repetition. However, it is fascinating to read accountings of witch trials from across western Europe.
The old English is difficult to follow in this book. Some of the author's conclusions feel a bit stretched but others are fascinating. There is a lot of repetition. However, it is fascinating to read accountings of witch trials from across western Europe.
October 12, 2025
A pioneering work of anthropology, while it had largely been discredited by subsequent research. Is influence on subjects such as Wicca, neo paganism, to begin referred by H.P Lovecraft in several of his stories to a source for Robert Eggers "The VVitch it still contains a wealth of information and imagery.
January 26, 2021
Interesting, but of limited use to current practitioners of witchcraft. Murray's ideas about how much credence to give testimony at witch trials seem skewed. There are many fascinating tidbits, especially in the French passages, but they are buried in lists of names and questionable analysis.
July 27, 2020
Very informative and a extensive bibliography. If the works could be found, it would be easy to commence further research based on Ms. Murray's collaboration.
Read
January 23, 2024Menos mal que existe la evolución.
May 25, 2025
Wonderfully bonkers.
July 23, 2025
Antropologico. Appassionante. Pagano.
March 6, 2014
It's a good source for quotes and starting points for further research, as it is well-organized and -categorized alongside being at least two-thirds direct quotes and passages. But it is fairly difficult to read. The quotes are not translated, so you see: Middle English, non-standardized Early Modern English, Scotch, French (Early Modern?), and German (I do not know German, so I can't guess what period of the language). You also get to read Us as Vs and Js as Is. Otherwise, I find this subject very interesting and appreciate that Murray approaches it as an actual historical cult rather than a bunch of people's corroborating flights of fancy.
May 24, 2022
"El culto de la brujería en la Europa occidental" de Margaret Alice Murray escrito en 1921, llegue a este libro por el "Anillo de Tolkien" de David Day, tiene una hipótesis bastante interesante, donde la brujería sería un culto pre cristiano...como una religión, matriarcal, con símbolos cultos, fiestas, etc. Lo que no logra sincronizar con el cristianismo sería lo que la Iglesia nombra brujería. Hasta ahí todo bien, muy interesante....peeeero 🤷🏻♀️, no hay nada que demuestre esta hipótesis, no es un libro bien escrito, y aburre tanto dato (que debo admitir me saltè olimpicamente) , no lo recomiendo a menos que les guste el dato duro o investiguen del tema.
June 11, 2013
Interesting!
January 8, 2015
I was only reading this because of its being so influential. I couldn't finish. Despite the subject matter, it was agonizingly boring. Yes, even though I speak French.
August 15, 2020
Shame on AmAzon
This is not a functional kindle book—it is a poorly done scan of the book. Shame on Amazon for selling such a poor quality product. Don”t buy.
This is not a functional kindle book—it is a poorly done scan of the book. Shame on Amazon for selling such a poor quality product. Don”t buy.
July 30, 2011
Great.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews