Women set out offering tables for the Three Sisters or the "good women," chanted over herbs, and healed children by passing them through 'elf-bores.' Spinning and weaving were ceremonial acts with divinatory or protective power, as bishops' scoldings reveal. Witches and Pagans looks at women's sacraments in early medieval Europe, a subject that has been buried deep for centuries. Veneration of the Fates persisted under many titles, as the Norns, sudice, fatas and f es, Wyrd or the Three Weird Sisters. They include Berthe P dauque, also known as the "Swan-footed Queen," whose spinning began at the proverbial beginning of time. Archaeological finds of their ritual staffs show that many symbolize the distaff, a spinner's wand that connects with wider European themes of goddesses, fates, witches, and female power. She shows that the old ethnic names for "witch" signify 'wisewoman, ' 'prophetess, ' 'diviner, ' 'chanter, ' 'herbalist, ' and 'healer.' She fleshes out the oracular ceremonies of the Norse v lur ("staff-women"), their incantations and "sitting-out" on the land seeking vision. In this compelling exploration of language, archaeology, and early medieval literature, Max Dashu illuminates hidden cultural heritages.
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