Witchcraft, herbalists and midwives

If a woman survived childbearing in the middle ages, she may well live longer than her husband. Even today, women tend to live longer than men. Probably many midwives were widows, living alone, vulnerable, and easy targets for blame and revenge. Some of these lonely women may have sought solace in their herbs, going on herb induced ‘trips’. Concoctions of herbs might be swallowed, or made into an ointment and rubbed into the skin. The base of the ointment was fat, maybe pig’s fat, but rumour had it the fat of stillborn babies was best. Stillborn babies were not buried in a churchyard, but in the countryside somewhere. The midwife was likely to know where. How easy it would be for her to dig up the tiny body and use the fat for her flying ointment!


The hallucinogenic effects of the drugs would mimic flight through the air, phallic objects – such as a stick of wood, or broomstick – and some sort of orgy or sexual encounter.

Or so it’s said. More on this next time.