this woman's story probably transcended its inclusion in the book by Doreen Valiente, The ABC of Witchcraft (published the year 1975), which highlights the ease with which it obtained the testimony of the alleged witch, did not hesitate to confess their magical activities before a jury the year 1662.
Gowdie Isobel, born the year 1627 in Nairn, a town in the Scottish Highlands. Little is known of his life until he was accused of practicing witchcraft, the month of April 1662. Once accused of witchcraft, she admitted having served the Devil for more than 15 years, to start a Coven. In fact, Gowdie is the first person to whom is attributed Coven word to describe a group of "Thirteen people" who practice witchcraft, which is still used in BTW and Wicca.
In the confession of Isobel Gowdie six weeks were extracted thousands of ideas that shaped the folklore known so far about the witches in the British Isles and particularly in Scotland. Gowdie, for example, claimed that the Devil appeared to them "like a calf, a bull, a dog or a deer." (So often used animal forms related to ancient local deities), or met the Coven "toward the end of each quarter" (probably coincide with solstices and equinoxes). In fact, Gowdie even states that "before the Candelaria" (a very important date in the pagan Celtic calendar) carried out important spells and rituals.
must also remember the episode in which the defendant referred to the metamorphosis of the Coven members were able to carry out. The members of the Coven of Auldearn were able to transform into hares, and Gowdie came to take the necessary spells:
I shall go into a hare,
With sorrow and sych and meickle care;
And I shall go in the Devil's name,
Ay while I come home again.
He de convertirme en una liebre,
with sorrow and sigh and great caution;
and I have to go in the name of the Devil,
yes, until he comes home again .
Hare, hare, God send thee care.
I am in a hare's likeness now,
But I Shall Be in a woman's likeness events now.
Hare, hare, may God watch over you.
Now I have aspect of the hare,
woman but I will look now.
But it would be simplistic to say that Coven Gowdie and in Scotland only worship the devil (though its kind of worship had been established as a kind of anti-Christian parody), as she often referred in the course of his statement ( in which there was no need for torture) to a connection with a sort of fairy Fairy Queen. Citing "Witch-Cult in Western Europe" Margaret Murray:
Confession of Isobel Go wdie (1662), demonstrates that the Queen of the Elves yoked was not the woman the head of the covens, because the queen was seen only when the hole of the Fairies, while the maiden was at all coven meetings. "We do not do much without our maid. When we are in the meeting or elsewhere, the maid of each coven sits with the rest, near the Devil. "
therefore Gowdie offers a vision of a coven led by a high priest of dark appearance and a high priestess clear aspect.
All this detail, this drama that identifies the testimony of Isobel Gowdie was obtained, as witnesses, without being subject to any form of torture, but doubt whether Gowdie went through a period of temporary insanity or disposal. In any case, the testimony of Isobel Gowdie has been the cornerstone of folk beliefs about witchcraft, and helped to recreation and repaganización of these rites and beliefs. Finally, Gowdie was not executed (or executing was not recorded), as these judges believed I was not in full power.
Sources:
The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, Margaret Murray
http:// www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article612946.ece
http://www.answers.com/topic/isobel-gowdie
http://www.thewica.co.uk/scottish_roots_of_the_wica.htm
