The God of the Witches Author:Margaret Alice Murray Witchcraft has a perpetual fascination for the human mind. Witches appear in the folklore of all nations, and the speculation about them is endless. Were they, in truth, some kind of supernatural beings who once lived on earth, or evil people, or, as much modern interpretation has tried to suggest, merely mentally ill? In this book, an eminent B... more »ritish anthropologist, using the tools of her trade, suggests a theory different from all of these: witches, says Dr. Murray, were the followers of the ancient pagan cult of the horned god--the oldest of all known gods--who were forced to go underground when Christianity swept over Europe as the official religion. From an intensive study of the practices of the worship of the horned god, and of the evidence given at witch trials in Europe, England, and the American colonies, Dr. Murray demonstrates that the witches were in fact devout pagans, many of whom died bravely for their faith. In doing this she also shows where many of our folk customs originally came from, the real significance of Maypole and horn dances, the genesis of such figures as Puck and Robin Goodfellow, and the factual basis for the belief in fairies. "No religion," writes Dr. Murray, "dies out with the dramatic suddenness claimed by the upholders of the Complete-Conversion theory....The records of the Middle Ages show that the ancient god was known in many parts of the country, but to the Christian recorder he was the enemy of the New Religion and therefore equated with the Principle of Evil, in other words the Devil."« less