While Doreen Valiente writes that in Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches full moon rites were known as Esbats in the rest of Europe, she later finds it necessary to specify " full moon Esbat ," to distinguish it from other esbat occasions.

The first major persecution in Europe, when witches were caught, tried, convicted, and burned in the imperial lordship of Wiesensteig in southwestern Germany, is recorded in 1563 in a pamphlet called " True and Horrifying Deeds of 63 Witches ".

Updike's most famous novels – Couples, the Rabbit tetrology, The Witches of Eastwick – were peopled by characters, such as Harry " Rabbit " Angstrom, who were lax-conscienced pleasure-seekers barely troubled by illicit sexual adventure.

Themes seen in " The Nightmare " were repeated in his 1796 painting, " Night-Hag visiting the Lapland Witches.

Hopkins ' witch hunting methods were outlined in his book The Discovery of Witches, which was published in 1647.

The historian Scott E. Hendrix presents a two-fold explanation for why these stories were so commonly told in spite of the fact that sabbats likely never actually occurred in his study " The Pursuit of Witches and the Sexual Discourse of the Sabbat.

Many of the diabolical elements of the Witches ' Sabbath stereotype, such as the eating of babies, poisoning of wells, desecration of hosts or kissing of the devil's anus, were also made about heretical Christian sects, lepers, Muslims, and Jews ( see blood libel ).

The character is inspired by members of the historical all-women Soviet unit known as Night Witches, many of whom were decorated for their World War II service.

Tanya Grotter has an unusual birthmark on her nose, magical powers, an upbringing by " Lopukhoid " ( equivalent to Muggle ) relatives after her parents were killed by an evil sorceress Chuma-del-Tort ( the official translation of Voldemort name in Russian was ' Volan-de-Mort '), and goes to study at the Tibidokhs ( Тибидохс ) School for Behaviorally-Challenged Young Witches and Wizards.

" Stewart asked what Witches who were initiated via our Covens should be called ; after much discussion, he came up with " Alexandrian " which both Alex and I rather liked.

Before this time we were very happy to be called Witches ".

Janet and Stewart Farrar, both of whom were initiated into the Alexandrian tradition by the Sanderses, describe themselves as having left the tradition after the release of Eight Sabbats for Witches.

The Germans were the ones however who gave them the name by which they are best known: The Night Witches ( die Nachthexen ).

It may well be that she didn't overthrow the Wicked Witches of the East and West, despite being more powerful than they were, because she wanted all of Oz to be unified under its rightful ruler, Ozma, first.

Witches were also said to have a heart-shaped mark on their left side ; for a witch of great abilities, the heart-shaped mark would be hairy.

Witches were said to fly mounted on forks, poles, and especially brooms ; in each case, the flying object was first anointed with an unguent provided by the Devil.

Witches were said to make unguents or brews from the flesh of the hanged, from live infants, from black flour or grain, in a cauldron big enough to hold seven witches, cooked over a fire lit by the heat from their furious dancing.

Witches were said to take the form of cats, in order to more easily enter houses and to enable them to take items of clothing, shoes, needles, and so forth.

Witches were said to be able to see the stars through the roof, to see people naked even through their clothing, and to look inside a person and know what organ is making that person ill. ( This last may be related to the traditions of witches as healers.

Witches were said to climb up on top of the clouds, and make it rain or, especially, hail ( which was particularly bad for the crops ).

Witches were said to take toads as counsellors and to initiate to the novices.

The booklet A Tryal of Witches taken from a contemporary report of the proceedings of the Bury St. Edmunds witch trial of 1662 became a model for, and was referenced in the Trials when the magistrates were looking for proof that such evidence could be used in a court of law.

## The Great Rebellion: 1625 – 49 “ Witches were burned, and Jesuits were taken down from the scaffold to be cut to pieces alive.

The attractive village has often been used as a location for films, such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Witches ( 1966 film ), Dance with a Stranger and the opening scenes of the recent remake of The Avengers starring Ralph Fiennes and also some scenes in 101 Dalmatians.

Witches unironically acting with melodrama, of which cackling is an early sign, is often an indication of " going to the bad " and becoming a stereotypically wicked witch.

Witches tend to lead lonely lives ; they are generally feared and respected rather than liked, and often perform their duties with little or no thanks from the populace at large.

Covens in ' traditional ' Wicca ( i. e., those run along the lines described by Gardner and Valiente ) were and still are led pretty much equally by both a priest and a priestess ; but the priestess is often considered " prima inter pares " ( first among equals ); according to the book A Witches ' Bible, by Stewart and Janet Farrar.

Witches often appeared as stock characters in feminist Left theatre, representing the misogynist crone stereotype.

Dr. Bombay apparently served the witch / warlock community under the authority of the Witches Council, since Samantha's Aunt Hagatha once threatened to appeal to the Council to have him replaced, even though it was often mentioned that he was the only doctor available.

Often misnamed the Old Witches Knoll, Win Hill Pike is often used for a Duke of Edinburgh Award station.

* Two Witches, a Finnish Gothic rock band, created a song in the early 1990s called " Mircalla ", inspired by the novel.

Doreen Valiente has called the Horned God " the eldest of gods " in both The Witches Creed and also in her Invocation To The Horned God.

It is commonly called " Wicca ", a term that came to be adopted in the early 1960s, although in the late 1970s and 1980s certain Pagan Witches began to instead use that term purely in reference to specific traditions of the Pagan Craft, and in the contemporary pagan community both definitions are now employed, causing some confusion.

Being an Exact and True account ( by way of Journal ) of the various actions of infernal Spirits or ( Devils Incarnate ) Witches or both: and the great Disturbance and Amazement they gave to George Walton's family at a place called Great Island in the county of New Hampshire in New England, chiefly in throwing about ( by an Invisible hand ) Stones, Bricks, and Brick-Bats of all sizes, with several other things, as Hammers, Mauls, Iron-Crows, Spits, and other Utensils, as came into their Hellish minds, and this for space of a quarter of a year.

There, he discovers a group of Force-sensitive witches called the Witches of Dathomir, banded into two separate groups: a collective of benign, matriarchal clans ; the one he is in contact with being the Singing Mountain Clan, and the witches who have turned to the dark side, called the Nightsisters.

* In Clash of the Titans ( and its 2010 remake ) the Graeae are called the " Stygian Witches ".

This event is called " Burning of the Witches ".

Other notable works include the Henry Bech novels ( 1970 – 98 ), The Witches of Eastwick ( 1984 ), Roger's Version ( 1986 ) and In the Beauty of the Lilies ( 1996 ), which literary critic Michiko Kakutani called " arguably his finest.

In Goethe's Faust, the Brocken is called the Blocksberg and is the site of the Witches ' Sabbath on Walpurgis Night.

In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher ( from The Boys ) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon ( subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled The Punisher War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name ).

The largest is called Pwll-y-wrach, which means ' Witches Pool '.

Faced with challenges from sceptics, Valiente attempted, with some success, to provide evidence for Gardner's claims concerning his initiation, notably by identifying the woman Gardner called ' Old Dorothy ' as Dorothy Clutterbuck in 1980, the woman who was supposed to have performed Gardner's initiation, in an essay published in The Witches ' Way by Janet and Stewart Farrar.

In 2012, Todd Parker and The Witches released a newly re-recorded version of the Tadpoles ' 1989 cassette-only album Beautiful Music For Ugly Children, called Evil Bliss.

) that has come to be called the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches, after the name of one of her early covens.

Centuries ago the country was threatened by the rising dark power of the evil Green Witches until the good magician Turani created a magical object, called the Bracelet, which holds luck and distributes it throughout Aquitania to limit and keep in check the menacing magic of the witches, banning the dangerous parts of the witchcraft and rendering them relatively harmless.

The anime was licensed by AnimeWorks ( Later called Media Blasters ) under the English name: The Adventures of Tweeny Witches with three DVD's being released in 2008.

In 2009 a complete collection called Tweeny Witches True Book of Spells was released.