d Northern and Western Europe. Successive invasions
drove them to the less fertile parts of each country which they inhabited,
some betook themselves to the inhospitable north or the equally
inhospitable mountains; some, however, remained in the open heaths and
moors, living as mound-dwellers, venturing out chiefly at night and coming
in contact with the ruling races only on rare occasions. As the conqueror
always regards the religion of the conquered as superior to his own in the
arts of evil magic, the dwarf race obtained the reputation of wizards and
magicians, and their god was identified by the conquerors with the
Principle of Evil. The identification of the witches with the dwarf or
fairy race would give us a clear insight into much of the civilization of
the early European peoples, especially as regards their religious ideas.

The religious rites varied according to circumstances and the requirements
of the people. The greater number of the ceremonies appear to have been
practised for the purpose of securing fertility. Of these the sexual ritual
has been given an overwhelming and quite unwarranted importance in the
trials, for it became an obsession with the Christian judges and recorders
to investigate the smallest and most minute details of the rite. Though in
late examples the ceremony had possibly degenerated into a Bacchanalian
orgy, there is evidence to prove that, like the same rite in other
countries, it was originally a ceremonial magic to ensure fertility. There
is at present nothing to show how much of the Witches' Mass (in which the
bread, the wine, and the candles were black) derived from the Christian
ritual and how much belonged to the Dianic cult; it is, however, possible
that the witches' service was the earlier form and influenced the
Christian. The admission ceremonies were often elaborate, and it is here
that the changes in the religion are most clearly marked; certain
ceremonies must have been introduced when another cult was superimposed and
became paramount, such as the specific renunciation of a previous religion
which was obligatory on all new candidates, and the payment to the member
who brought a new recruit into the fold. The other rites--the feasts and
dances--show that it was a joyous religion; and as such it must have been
quite incomprehensible to the gloomy Inquisitors and Reformers who
suppressed it.

Much stress has always been laid by the sceptical writers on the undoubted
fact