Witchcraft: The Facts

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Witches stirring up brew in cauldron (ABRAHAM SAUR, ein kurtze treue warning, 1582)

Witches stirring up brew in cauldron (ABRAHAM SAUR, ein kurtze treue warning, 1582)

also appear in some shamanic traditions. In Norse mythology, the patriarch god, Odin, drank magic blood from a cauldron of wisdom to obtain divine power. In Greek mythology, the witch goddess, Medea, could restore people to youth in a magic cauldron. The cauldron is linked to the chalice of the Holy Grail, which became incorporated into Christian myth.

In medieval art, literature and folktales, the cauldron was in every witch's house, set over a blazing fire. During the witch hunts, it was believed that witches stirred up vile brews made with ingredients such as bat's blood, decapitated and flayed toads, snakes and baby fat. Before a sABBAT witches prepared their flying ointments and drugs in cauldrons. They often carried their pots to their sabbats, where they used them to boil small children for the feast. Witches could cause storms at sea by dumping the contents of their cauldrons into the ocean (see storm raising). One of the more bizarre cauldrons allegedly belonged to Lady Alice Kyteler, an accused Irish witch of the 14th century. Lady Alice reportedly used the skull of a beheaded robber for mixing up her poisons and potions.

According to one tale with an ironic twist, a 14th-century Scottish wizard was executed in a cauldron. William Lord Soulis, described as a pernicious wizard and perpetrator of "the most foul sorceries," was convicted for various evil crimes and boiled to death in a cauldron (see Hermitage Castle).

The cauldron also was an important tool of the alchemist in the search for formulas to change lead into gold or silver, and mold small gems into big ones.