The Witch Cult in Western Europe

Murray's Witch Cult in Western Europe 1921, written during a period she was unable to do field work in Egypt, laid out the essential elements of her thesis that a common pattern of underground pagan resistance to the Christian Church existed across Europe. The pagans organized in covens of thirteen worshippers, dedicated to a male god and held ritual sabbaths. Murray maintained that pagan beliefs and religion dating from the neolithic through the medieval period, secretly practiced human sacrifice until exposed by the witchhunt starting around 1450.

"The Witch-Cult in Western Europe" is a 1921 anthropological book by Margaret Murray. At the time of its publication, it gained attention due to the success of Frazer's "Golden Bough." However, Murray's theories were widely discredited. Her central hypothesis, known as the witch-cult hypothesis, suggests that the accusations made against "witches" in Europe were actually based on a real, though clandestine, pagan religion that worshiped a horned god.

Murray's Witch Cult in Western Europe 1921, written during a period she was unable to do field work in Egypt, laid out the essential elements of her thesis that a common pattern of underground pagan resistance to the Christian Church existed across Europe. The pagans organized in covens of thirteen worshippers, dedicated to a male god and held ritual sabbaths. Murray maintained that pagan beliefs and religion dating from the neolithic through the medieval period, secretly practiced human sacrifice until exposed by the witchhunt starting around 1450.

Murray's Witch Cult in Western Europe 1921, written during a period she was unable to do field work in Egypt, laid out the essential elements of her thesis that a common pattern of underground pagan resistance to the Christian Church existed across Europe. The pagans organized in covens of thirteen worshippers, dedicated to a male god and held ritual sabbaths. Murray maintained that pagan beliefs and religion dating from the neolithic through the medieval period, secretly practiced human sacrifice until exposed by the witchhunt starting around 1450.

"The Witch-Cult in Western Europe" is a 1921 anthropological book by Margaret Murray. At the time of its publication, it gained attention due to the success of Frazer's "Golden Bough." However, Murray's theories were widely discredited. Her central hypothesis, known as the witch-cult hypothesis, suggests that the accusations made against "witches" in Europe were actually based on a real, though clandestine, pagan religion that worshiped a horned god.