The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Complete A–Z for the Entire Magical World. Judika Illes

The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Complete A–Z for the Entire Magical World

Return of the King and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Shelob, the female spider in the Tolkien book, particularly evokes some kind of terrible, primal, chthonic goddess. Her hunger and ferocity transform her into a veritable guardian spirit, albeit not for Frodo.

Black Widows truly are dangerous. Once you know what they look like, they’re hard to mistake: shiny, glossy black spiders, the females wear a red hour-glass shape on their underside. Their color scheme and venomous potential, combined with their conjugal habits, make Black Widows the spiders most identified with witchcraft, their name synonymous with femmes fatales.

Mating habits of spiders are pretty unique, too. Their mating terrifies and fascinates people, often especially men. Having consummated the relationship, the female spider, usually the larger of the two, often attempts to consume the male, quite frequently succeeding. (There’s one male who won’t kiss and tell!)

Spiders have been used as metaphors for the dangers of sex, both literally and also in terms of sex being the trap that leads to the death of men’s immortal souls.

Because spiders give birth to huge quantities of young at one time they are also ancient emblems of fertility and female generative power. Spiders are associated with birth, death, sex, immortality, destiny, and the acquisition of wealth, power, and magical knowledge. Because spiders (and spinners) are understood to spin and cut the threads of life, many deities take the form of spiders or are allied with them.

Spider goddesses include:

Askhe-tanne-mat, the Ainu spider goddess, manifests as a long-fingered woman who guides babies through the birth canal.

Female spider deities are heroines of Native North American spirituality; variously known by names like Spider Woman or Old Spider Grandmother they rescue people from disaster, sponsor culture heroes and perform miraculous actions like providing people with fire.

Morticia of the Addams Family, whose tight black spider gown is intended to evoke the magical Black Widow (although Morticia verges on the saintly!)

In Hungarian tradition, spider webs are the gossamer thread spun by fairies. In Germanic areas, spider webs are considered threads from Mother Holle’s spindle. (See DIVINE WITCH: Hulda.)

Chinese mythology looks at both sides of the spider controversy. Spiders are sacred to the saintly Weaving Maiden, the romantic guardian spirit of young women. On the other hand, female spiders, bored with male spiders and seeking to up the ante, transform into the shape of beautiful women. Men, Chinese folklore warns, should you meet a mysterious, seductive maiden, be on your guard! She may be a spider transformed into a girl, out to ensnare you.

Spiders show up in classic Halloween iconography; fake spider webs decorate haunted Halloween houses. Halloween witch costumes frequently may as well be spider costumes. (Several years ago a witch dress named Spiderella was popular.) A spider-witch plays the role of the Weird Sisters in Akira Kurosawa’s film interpretation of Macbeth, Throne of Blood.

Perhaps in remembrance of their former sacred status, it’s believed unlucky to kill spiders. To do so is to risk losing wealth and spiritual protection.

See also WOMEN’S MYSTERIES: Spinning. Transformation

Transformation

There are various forms of transformation:

Witches and sorcerers willingly transform into animals and back to their original form.

Animals willingly transform into people and back to their original form.

People are victimized, most frequently by witches, and forcibly transformed into animals. Under a spell, they lack the power to transform back at will but need magical assistance.

Werewolf literally means “man-wolf,” however there is some evidence that the word was originally used to indicate “one who knows how to change form.” That said, that word’s historical nuances and implication have cause werewolves to be unique phenomena, somewhat different from standard shape-shifting. Werewolves are discussed in depth together with wolves. See Wolves and Werewolves.

People Who Transform Willingly into Animals

Witches are famed worldwide for the ability to transform into different shapes at will, in popular terminology: shape-shifting. According to story, legend, and myth, this ability is accomplished literally. Whether witches would agree with that assessment is subject to lots of debate. In general, stories about shape-shifting are told by observers, not the witches. Of course, those very same stories frequently describe witches as secretive and evasive, so what can you expect?

According to many witches, channeling the spirit of an animal is what is significant rather than literal transformation. Others would suggest that transformation is real but occurs on a shamanic or dream level.

Whether transformation is literal, soul-journey or something else, real witches consider their magical abilities to be sacred and private and will, thus, rarely brag. How, then, do other people know of these transformations? Easy, legend says: they’ve been witnessed or even experienced. Although countless stories recount tales of transformation, there are basically only a few themes:

The story-teller actually witnessed the process of transformation. Thus Lucius Apuleius saw the witch Pamphile change into an owl (a strix or strega).

Having witnessed the transformation or otherwise picked up some fragments of magical knowledge, the story-teller attempts to copy the witch and transform, too. Sometimes it works, although usually not too well—as with Lucius Apuleius, who only manages to turn himself into an ass.

In the most common theme, an animal, initially understood as a real animal, is somehow injured. Sometimes a human is then found to have an identical injury, betraying her as a witch.

Sometimes an injured or killed animal is discovered with something, usually an item of jewelry, that betrays their human identity.

The classic tale of the transforming witch involves Lady Sybil of Bernshaw Tower in Lancashire, a beautiful heiress who loved to walk to Eagle Crag where she would gaze into the wooded gorge below. The power of the woods lured her; she became a witch. Beautiful, brilliant, and independently wealthy, Lady Sybil took to rambling through the ravines of Cliviger Gorge in the form of a white doe. She attracted the attention of a man named Lord William, variously identified as either being of Hapton Tower or Townley Castle. He became obsessed with her and requested her hand in marriage but she refused.

Not taking “no” for an answer, Lord William hired Mother Hellston, local witch, to prepare a spell for him. She advised him to capture the white doe and hold it captive within Hapton Tower. She gave William an enchanted silk cord and loaned

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