Tools of the trade

At her disposal the witch has a formidable battery of apparatus, objects fashioned with occult secrecy, numbers and formulas, herbs and brews, rare juices and liquids, mandrake, blood, and milk: mystic diagrams and geometric figures, circles and pentacles. Reinforced by such aids, she can consummate invisibility and rejuvenation, transformations, alterations in weather conditions - especially the downfall of rain.

Well-known evidences of witchcraft are: pots, ligatures, locks, feathers, and such like, that, in accordance with the pact entered into with the demon, the magician uses to harm a victim by means of witchcraft.

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Aiguillette
Also known as the ligature, an aiguillete was a knotted loop of thread used by witches to cause castration or impotence, barrenness, or discontented marriages.

16th-century France held a strong phobia of the aiguillette.

"It was believed that at the instant when a priest blessed a new marriage, the witch slipped behind the husband, knotted a thread and threw a coin on the ground while calling the Devil. If the coin disappeared, which all believed to mean that the Devil took it and kept it until Judgement Day, the couple was destined for unhappiness, sterility and adultery."

In Languedoc, couples were so afraid of the aiguillette that fewer than ten percent of weddings took place publicly in church. Instead, the couple, the parents, and the priest celebrated the sacrament secretly.

"At least one physician, Thomas Platter, concluded that the panic was so bad that there was a local danger of depopulation."

Athame
An athame is a witch's personal magical knife. It is traditionally double-bladed with a black hilt, and fashioned of iron or steel. The blade may be magnetic, and magical symbols are enscribed on the hilt. An athame was presented to a new witch on the evening of her initiation. This magical knife was used to draw magic circles, mix sacred salt and water at the Sabbat, and to control summoned spirits.

A woodcut in the 1555 edition of History of the Northern Peoples depicts a witch controlling a mob of energetic demons. In one hand, she holds a sheaf of magical herbs aloft. In the other hand, she wields her gleaming athame.

Brooms
Go to Broomsticks.

Cauldron
The cauldron was a common tool of sorcerers and witches. Usually an iron pot, it was the receptacle in which philtres, ointments, and poisons were brewed. Sometimes the cauldrons were made of something other than iron. Lady Alice Kyteler, a 14th-century Irish witch, "used the skull of a beheaded robber for mixing up her poisons and potions." In medieval folktales, literature, and art, every witch's house had a cauldron set over a blazing fire. Within the cauldron, you might find concoctions made of baby fat, snakes, bat's blood, and decapitated and flayed toads. The cauldron was also an important tool for alchemists in their never-ending searches for formulas to transmute lead into gold, and small gems into large gems.

Before going to a sabbat, witches prepared their flying ointments and other drugs in their cauldrons. Then, they often carried their cauldrons with them to the sabbat in order to boil small children for a feast. Witches could dump the contents of their cauldrons into the ocean to cause a storm at sea.

According to one tale with an ironic twist, a 14th-century Scottish wizard was executed in a cauldron. William Lord Soulis, described as a pernicious wizard and perpetrator of "the most foul sorceries," was convicted for various evil crimes and boiled to death in a cauldron.

Dolls
Dolls have been used in magical rites for uncountable years. It comes as no surprise then that witches were said to have used them as well. Typically, these dolls were created by putting some of the victim's nail clippings or hair into the material from which the doll was fashioned. Also effective were bits of stolen or discarded clothing were soaked in "vital juices" like blood or sweat.

Although in folk magic these dolls could be used for love spells, witches tended to use them for murder. In 1649 in St. Albans, Elizabeth Knott and John Palmer were put to death for killing a woman by roasting a doll on a fire.

Elf Arrows
Elf arrows are Stone Age arrowhead-shaped flints found throughout Europe, the British Isles, and northern Africa. Medieval witches were thought to have used these as weapons against people and animals. As a common target of witches, cattle are killed by elf arrows. The term elf-shot is still applied to sick animals in some Celtic areas. However, stricken cattle can be saved if:

- They are touched with the arrow
- The arrows is dipped in water
- The water is given to the cattle to drink.

If a person was shot with an elf arrow, she or he would come down with fatal and mysterious supernatural sicknesses. In 1560 Scotland, accusations of witchcraft were brought against

Catherine Ross, Lady Fowllis, and her son-in-law, Hector Munro. The two were part of a goup of witches who conspired to kill Ross's husband and Marjory Campbell, Lady Balnagowan, so that Ross and Lord Balnagowan could marry. The witches were charged with "the making of two clay pictures, one for the destruction of the young Lady Balnagowan, and getting them enchanted, and shooting of elf-arrow heads at the said persons." Apparently the witches' plot was uncovered before the victims were killed.

Grimoire
Go to Grimoire.

Hand of Glory
Go to Hand of Glory.

Pins
Many superstitions existed regarding pins. For example, stray pins should always be picked up, otherwise, a witch will take them and used them in magic. Witches were rumoured to throw bent pins inot their brews to break and cast evil spealls. Witches blessed friends with prosperity and happiness by plucking a lemon at midnight and reciting an incantation while sticking the fruit full of different coloured pins.

In cases of demonic possession, victims often vomit up pins and other bizarre objects (allotriophagy). But they were sometimes used against witches as well.

Quirin
Also called a quirus, a quirin is a folkloric stone found in the nests of lapwings and hoopoes. Qirins were said to have the powers of a truth serum. Highly valued by both magicians and witches, the stone was placed beneath the sleeoping people's pillows. This caused the victims confess their rogueries.

Speculum
Go to Speculum.

Witch's Hat
Go to Witch's Hat.