Fat of the Sorcerers
Fat of the Sorcerers
It was believed at one time that the devil made use of human fat for his sorceries. Witches rubbed themselves with an ointment made from this fat in order to go to the Sabbat, a gathering of members of their witchcraft group. Other ingredients of the witch unguent were said to be blood of the lapwing and bat, soot, aconite, and deadly nightshade. Francesco-Maria Guazzo, author of Compendium Maleficarum (1608) states that the witch unguent was made from a thick stew of boiled children, preferably unbaptized. This was a fantastic allegation made earlier by Sylvester Prierias, in 1521. It was claimed that this ointment gave witches the power of transvection, flying through the air.
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Fly (river) , fly1 / flī/ • v. (flies / flīz/ ; past flew / floō/ ; past part. flown / flōn/ ) [intr.] 1. (of a bird or other winged creature) move through the air… Flying Lemur , flying lemur (Cynocephalus) See CYNOCEPHALIDAE. Flying Dragon , flying dragon (Draco volans) See AGAMIDAE. gadfly , gadfly •ally, phalli •Adlai • gadfly • blackfly • damselfly •sandfly • barfly • mayfly •Eli, Ely •greenfly • bacilli • multiply • styli •whitefly • w… Botfly , bot·fly / ˈbätˌflī/ • n. (pl. -flies) a stout hairy-bodied fly with larvae that are internal parasites of mammals, in particular: ∎ a fly (Gasterophi… tsetse fly , tsetse fly Any of several species of blood-sucking flies that live in Africa. Larger than a housefly, it has a grey thorax and a yellow to brown abdo…
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Fat of the Sorcerers