Thread and Witchcraft

Disclaimer

This is NOT a page about Wiccans or neo-pagans, and I do not advocate the belief that Wiccans are Satan-worshippers and/or baby-killers. I am well aware that they are not. This is a starting point for historical research into the great witch craze of 1100-1700 AD. And please, don't ask me for spells.

Thread

Items as mundane and ubiquitous as thread were purported to have been used by witches.

The child Mongeotte Pivert, whose confessions led to the deaths of several members of her family, alleged that her father set snares for neighbours' cattle to pass over, then took the threads home and warmed them by the fire before rubbing the backs of his own cattle to obtain more milk. This was one of the fairly rare occasions when modest prosperity rather than poverty was supposed to mark off the witch" (Briggs 87).

See also aiguillette.

Lost?

Thread and Witchcraft is copyright 1997-1998 to Shantell Powell.