Original subtitles

Mother, I'm afraid.

I'm right here, near you.

Don't be afraid.

Why is it so dark?

Because the day is resting.

The sun has gone to bed, like we have.

- Even the sun? - Yes, even the sun.

During the night, all living things go to sleep.

They close their eyes so they won't see the dark.

Come on, now, try to close your little eyes.

But after, will I be able to open them again?

Yes, as soon as the dawn begins to brighten the sky.

Then, we'll see what the new day has in store for us.

What is the new day going to bring us?

Man: No one can know...

what is still hidden...

in the womb of the light.

We have to wait...

for the birth of the new day.

Not till then shall we discover all the splendors,

the wonders that accompany the sunrise.

There are but few who truly know,

who see what is there.

Can you see, Grandfather?

On occasions my eyes open.

And when they do, I know that God

has touched me on the shoulder.

Could you help me to see?

You are a child, my boy.

That makes my help unnecessary.

The good Lord on high, reveals His glories openly

to the young and innocent...

the way he would have revealed it

to the first man who looked upon Creation,

with awe...

and infinite wonder.

Grandfather: Thus it was,

from the very beginning of time,

when the good Lord created

the sky, the sun, the stars...

and all the vastness of the Earth.

But, before Creation,

there was blackness,

black darkness yet untouched by light...

and the darkness was over the deep.

The darkness of the void and the unknown...

because, as yet, nothing existed,

not even the awareness of the darkness and the void.

But, behold,

the Spirit of God was already

breathing over the waters.

And God said, -Let there be light.-

And there was light.

The Lord God saw that the light was good,

and divided the light from the darkness.

The light, God called -day,- and the darkness, -night.-

Evening came, morning came...

and that was the first of the days.

-Behold,- the Lord said,

-let the firmament exist.-

I n the firmament, God separated

the waters that are of the Earth

from the waters that are above the skies.

And the Almighty saw that it was good.

And evening came, and morning came

to complete the second day.

On the third day the Creator summoned all the waters

that are under the heavens

so that the dry land appeared.

And the Earth produced vegetation and plants

of every species, and all kinds of fruit-bearing trees,

each one with its own seed.

And thus it came to be

that from that day forth the Earth began to produce

vegetation and all kinds of plants and fruit-bearing trees

of every species,

each producing its own seed

to spread over the whole Earth.

And again evening came,

and morning came, the third day.

On the morning of the fourth day,

Almighty God said, -Let there be two great lights

in the vault of the heavens,

one for the night, and one for the day,

to serve as a sign for the seasons,

for the days, and for the years.-

And behold, the Lord God said,

-Let the waters teem with living beings,

and let birds fly above the Earth

under the vault of the heavens.-

The Lord God created all the living creatures

that frolic in the waters,

each according to its own species,

and all the winged creatures, each according to its species.

And evening came, and morning came,

the fifth day.

On the sixth day, the Almighty said,

let the Earth produce living creatures,

cattle, creeping things and wild animals,

each one according to its species.

The Creator blessed them, and said,

-Be fruitful and multiply.

Fill with life the heavens and the oceans,

And let the Earth be filled with living beings

of every species.-

When the Creator made Heaven and Earth,

no wild bushes, no herbs of the field had sprung up,

because God had not yet sent rain upon the Earth,

and there was no human being to work in the fields.

I nstead, water flowed out of the ground

and moistened all the surface of the soil.

Out of the Earth the Lord God fashioned man,

making him out of the soil God had created.

The Creator breathed into his nostrils the breath of life...

and the man became a living being.

Thus the Lord God determined to create man

in His own image.

God wanted them in the image of God.

He created humankind, male and female.

He created them in the very likeness of God.

Then God blessed them and said,

-Be fruitful and multiply.

Fill the Earth and rule over all of Creation.-

And thus it was.

An evening came, and morning came,

the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the Earth were brought to completion

and all the creatures that inhabit the Earth.

And then the Creator blessed the seventh day

and made it holy,

because on that day God had completed

all the work of the Creation.

Then, the soil brought forth life,

and the trees produced fruit,

enticing to look at and good to eat.

And the Lord sat the man in the middle of the garden

so that he might cultivate it and take care of it.

And then the Lord God gave the man this command:

-All the fruit that grow here are for you.

And you may freely eat of them.

But of all these only one you shall not touch,

the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

If you eat of that fruit

you will know what is good and what is evil.

And of that knowledge, you shall die.-

Boy: So many stars!

Man: Look! That one is Ishtar.

It is the star of the morning.

But every dawn it's the last to fade.

Why is the bright star called Ishtar?

Everything that lives and moves in the Creation

has been given its own name,

like the sun, and all the creatures

that live in its light.

From the time of the Creation,

the Creator saw that the man was alone on the Earth.

And so God thought, -I will make the man a helper,

who will be like him.-

And then the Lord,

who had already created out of dust

the animals of the fields and all the birds of the air,

brought them in front of Adam, one by one,

in order that he might name each one.

And whatever Adam called each and every living creature,

that was to be its name.

Even fire?

And the fire, too, and the mountains.

Boy: And the rocks, grandfather?

- And the plants? - And the plants.

Grandfather: With all their fruit,

each thing had its own name.

But the man could not find a helper

similar to himself.

So the Lord God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep

on the ground.

The Lord approached...

as Adam lay there...

and took one of Adam's ribs from him.

And from this rib God fashioned the woman,

and brought her to Adam.

Then Adam said,

-Behold...

this one at last is flesh of my flesh...

and bone of my bone...

life from my life.-

She is to be called, -Woman,-

because she was made from the man.

That is why the man will leave his father and his mother,

and will be united with his wife,

and the two...

will become one flesh.

Now both of them were naked,

the man and the woman.

But because they were innocent,

they felt no shame.

The serpent was the most subtle of all the wild creatures

that God had created.

And behold, he said to the woman,

-Did God really say you shall not eat

of the fruit of any of the trees in the garden?-

The woman said to the serpent,

We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,

but the Lord God said,

'You shall not eat of the fruit

of the tree in the middle of the garden,

nor shall touch it, or you shall die.'

But the serpent flattered the woman saying,

-No, you will not die at all.

I n fact, God knows that the day you eat of that fruit

your eyes will be opened

and you will become like God,

for you will know good and evil.-

And thus the woman saw that the fruit of the tree

was good to eat and pleasing to the eye

and enticing for the knowledge it would give.

And so she took the fruit and ate it.

Then she gave some to the man who was with her.

And he, too, ate of the fruit.

Adam and the woman hid themselves behind the trees

because their eyes were opened

and both of them realized they were naked.

And so the Lord God Almighty summoned Adam

and said to him, -Why are you hiding?-

Adam answered, -I heard the sound of Your footsteps

and I was afraid

because now I am naked and alone.-

And the Lord God said,

-Who told you that you were naked?

Have you perhaps eaten of the fruit of the tree

that I forbade you to eat?-

Adam answered, -The woman gave me that fruit

and I ate some of it.

And now...

now I know fear.

I am alone.

Now I know good and evil.-

Then the Lord God said to the woman,

-Why have you done this?-

The woman answered,

-The serpent tempted me

and I ate of the fruit.-

And so the Lord God said to the serpent,

-Because you have done this

you shall be cursed among all the beasts.

You shall crawl in the dust on your belly

because it was you who caused her to eat.

For all eternity

there will be enmity between you and the woman,

between your offspring and hers

and so until the end of time her descendants

will crush your head, and you will strike their heel.-

To the man God said,

-Because you disobeyed me

the Earth will be full of suffering for you.

You will earn your bread by the sweat of your brow

until you return to the ground

because out of the ground you were made.

Dust you are, and to dust you shall return.-

And again the Lord God said,

-Behold, now man and woman have become like me,

equal to me because they know good and evil.

And so they must not be allowed to reach out their hands

and take the fruit of the Tree of Life

and eat it, and live forever.-

And the Lord God expelled Adam and the woman from the garden

so that they would work the soil from which they were made.

And at the east of the Garden of Eden,

God placed the Cherubim,

armed with the fiery, flashing sword

to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

Adam named the woman -Eve-...

because she was the mother of all those who live.

Their firstborn son,

they named -Cain.-

When Eve gave birth to him, she said,

-Behold,

I have received a gift from the Lord.

With God,

I have created a human being.-

And so it was.

And after Cain,

the woman gave birth to Abel, his brother.

Abel, the second son, was a shepherd and kept flocks.

- J ust like us? - Yes, just like us.

But Cain worked in the fields, planting the earth.

Grandfather: I n the course of time

Cain offered part of his crop to the Lord.

Abel sacrificed to the Most High

the finest of the newborn lambs of his flock.

The Lord God looked with favor on Abel's offering.

He was not pleased with Cain's.

Cain was envious of his brother. He became angry.

His face was downcast and he withdrew into himself.

Aagh!

Waah!

Waah!

The Lord God sought out Cain and said to him,

-Why are you so full of anger?

And why is your face so downcast?

If you were doing what is right,

surely you ought to hold your head high.

But if you are acting wrongly, look,

the Evil One is crouching at the door,

hungry to get you.

Wicked thoughts and temptations assail you...

but you can be the master of them.-

Aaaah!

I n spite of the Lord God's warning,

Cain raised his hand against his brother, Abel,

and killed him.

The Lord God again sought out Cain

and said to him,

-Where is Abel, your brother?-

Cain, afraid and in hiding, replied,

-I do not know.

Am I my brother's keeper?-

The Lord said, -What have you done, Cain?

The voice of your brother's blood is crying out

from the depths of the Earth.

From this day forth you must leave forever the ground

which witnessed your brother's death at your hands.

Thus, when you till the earth,

it will not easily yield up its fruits to you.

You shall be a restless wanderer

and you will not cease

to hide yourself from Me forever.-

Cain said, -This punishment is greater than I can bear.

Behold, You banish me from this place

and from Your holy presence

and I must hide from Your face for the rest of my days,

far from You.

I must live in danger,

for whoever meets me on the road will surely kill me.-

But the Holy One did not want Cain's death, and said,

-Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.-

And the Lord, in His love, put a mark on Cain to protect him,

so that no one coming across him would kill him.

Cain withdrew from the presence of the Holy One

nd settled in the land of Nod, to the east of Eden.

Then Cain united himself to his wife,

and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch.

And Cain founded a city and a new civilization.

And he called the city, -Enoch,- after his son.

And these are the descendants of Cain:

Enoch fathered Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael.

Mehujael fathered Methushael,

who, in turn, fathered Lamech.

Lamech married two women, Adah and Zillah.

The second wife, Zillah, gave birth to Tubal-cain,

the craftsman, ancestor of all those who work

with copper and all other metals.

Tubal-cain's sister was Naamah,

whose name means -The one loved by all.

The one who is seduced

by the comforts and pleasures of urban living.-

And Lamech said,

Lamech: All of you, hear my voice!

Listen to what I am about to say!

I killed a man who attacked me!

A boy, in a moment of rage!

Sevenfold vengeance for Cain,

but for Lamech, seventy-seven fold!

So now it happens

that violence spreads itself wider and wider among men.

Behold, from action to action,

from insult to insult,

humankind shapes its own history.

Some are perpetrators of violence,

some are its victims.

Some come out of the East, others come out of the West.

But in all this movement, all this confusion,

which is the right direction?

Then Adam, the father of all peoples,

was joined again to his wife.

She gave birth to a male child,

and she named him -Seth,- because,

she said, -God has granted me other offspring

in the place of Abel, whom Cain has killed.-

And Seth had a son whom he called Enosh.

It was at that time that people began to invoke

the name of the Lord.

Then Enosh fathered Kenan,

and Kenan fathered Mahalalel.

Mahalalel fathered Jared, and Jared, Enoch.

Enoch fathered Methuselah, who fathered Lamech.

And Lamech fathered Noah.

Grandfather: Loyalty has disappeared from among human creatures.

Neighbor lies to neighbor,

the poor are oppressed by the arrogance of the rich,

and the evildoer in his heart thinks,

-No one, not even the Lord, will hold me accountable.-

The Lord God looks down from the heavens

at the children of Adam

to see if a single one is still wise,

if a single one still seeks God.

But many have become corrupt.

Many have proven faithless and violent.

They are guilty of all manner of sins.

Not one of them does what is right.

All are seeking their own advantage.

Why, O Lord, do you keep so distant?

Why do You hide Yourself

in time of trouble?

Hear Me, all you nations and peoples.

Listen to Me, all you who inhabit the Earth,

people, high and low, rich and poor alike.

Do not be overawed or jealous

when some of you become rich

and live in ever greater splendor.

When they die, they will take nothing with them.

Their wealth will not go down with them.

H umankind, in all its splendor, cannot last.

H uman beings will never be able to repay to God

their own ransom,

no matter how powerful they become.

They will see that the wise also die,

just as the fool and the brute,

and leave their wealth behind for others.

The tomb is their home forever,

their dwelling place until the end of time,

even though they give their names to vast palaces,

and properties.

You who eat from the work of your hands,

blessed are you for you walk in the ways of the Lord.

Your wife will be a fruitful vine

in the inner places of your house,

and your children round your table

like shoots of an olive tree.

Even the sparrow finds a home,

the swallow, a nest to place its young.

Blessed are they,

who dwell in the house of the Lord.

Woman: Tell me, then...

O loved one of my soul,

where will you lead your flocks to graze?

Where will you stop to rest at noon?

For sick with love I am.

Your right hand is under my head

and the other embraces me.

On my bed, in the night,

I searched for the one whom my heart loves.

I searched for him, but did not find him.

Before the day breeze rises,

before the shadows flee,

return, my love.

Leap joyously,

like a gazelle,

like a young stag on the mountain of sweet fragrances.

Kiss me with the sweetest kisses of your mouth.

Your love is sweeter than any nectar.

Your name is an inebriating perfume.

Your banner on me is love.

Grandfather: -Show respect for my Creation,-

says the Lord.

-Revere everything that lives

in My holy place.

But unless you honor My laws

and live your days according to My commandments,

you will know the terrors I can inflict.

No light shall enter your eye.

You shall suffer fever and disease

and your days shall pass in agony.

I n vain will you wait to reap what you have planted.

Your enemies will gather the harvest.

And if, in spite of this, you refuse to listen to Me,

I will continue to chastise you

and will punish you seven times over for your sins.

I will break your proud strength

and I will make the sky like scorching iron for you,

and your soil like flesh without a shield.

Then you will seek refuge in your cities,

but there I will send plague and pestilence,

and you shall fall into the clutches of death.

And if, in spite of this, you will not listen to Me,

and continue to go against Me,

I will go against you in fury

and punish you seven times over

for your sins.

You shall eat the flesh of your children.

I will destroy your higher places.

I will smash your incense altars,

and I will pile your corpses on your foul idols.-

Grandfather: Then the Most High saw that human wickedness

was great on the Earth,

and that the violent heart of humankind contrived

nothing but evil schemes.

The Lord God regretted having made human beings on the Earth.

The Holy One was grieved at heart and said,

-I will rid the face of the Earth

of the human beings I created,

and of all the domestic animals, the crawling creatures,

and the birds of the air.

All, I will exterminate them,

because I regret having created them.-

And so the Creator God spoke to Noah,

-I have decided that the end has come for all living things,

for the Earth is full of lawlessness and violence

because of them.

So now I will destroy them

and the entire Earth.-

Then the Lord God said to Noah,

-I am going to send the flood, the waters on Earth,

to destroy all living things

with the breath of life under heaven.

Everything on Earth is to perish,

but with you, Noah, I will make a pact.

With you I will establish my covenant.

Behold, you will build an ark.

You will make it out of resinous wood.

You will divide it into compartments

and caulk it with pitch, inside and out.

You will fashion a roof for the ark

raising it a cubit higher than the rest.

You will build the ark with three decks,

lower, middle, and higher,

and one side of the ark, you will make a door.-

This is the story of Noah.

Noah was a good man, just and honest,

and he walked with the Lord.

Noah fathered three sons,

Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And so Noah did exactly as the Lord had commanded him.

Then the Lord God said to Noah,

-Go aboard the ark and with you take your sons,

your wife, and wives of your sons.

From all living creatures, from all animals,

you will take into the ark two of each species

to save their lives with yours.

There must be a male and female

of the birds, the cattle,

and of all the creatures that crawl on the Earth,

according to their species.

Two of each will go aboard with you,

so that they might live.-

Again the Lord God said,

-Take with you provisions of every kind

and lay in a store of them.

They will be nourishment for you and the others in the ark.-

And Noah did this

exactly as God had commanded him.

Grandfather: Seven days later the waters of the flood

appeared on the Earth.

All the springs of the great deep burst through

and the cataracts of the heavens opened wide.

On the same day Noah entered the ark with his three sons,

Shem, Ham and Japheth, his wife

and the wives of his three sons.

These people and the animals,

each according to his species, all came to Noah in the ark.

And thus it was, as God had commanded.

And then the Lord God closed the door behind him.

Noah: The Lord God Almighty summons the Earth,

from the West to the East,

and the heavens proclaim His justice.

Our God is coming to sit in judgement.

Before Him, devouring fire,

around Him, raging tempests.

Behold, the Holy One comes and the Holy One speaks,

-I am the Lord God,

your God.

Not for your sacrificial offerings does your God reproach you.

Nor for the solemn ceremonies you ever performed

to the Almighty.

But do not offer me a bull of your herd,

nor the goat you prize over others.

They're already mine.

All the beasts of the forest,

the animals that graze on the earth,

they're mine already.

I know every bird that flies to the highest summit,

and all living creatures of the sea.

They are mine also.

Does God eat, perchance,

the cattle you give your Lord,

or drink blood from your sacrificial goats?

Offer thanksgiving.

Let it be your sacrifice to the Holy One.

I n this way...

fulfill the vows you've made

to the Most High.

Grandfather: The flood lasted for 40 days and 40 nights.

The water swelled, lifting the ark

until it floated off the ground.

The waters rose higher and higher on the surface of the Earth

until they covered the highest mountains under the heavens.

And so it was that all living things on Earth perished.

Every being with the least breath of life in its nostrils, died.

Everything on the face of the Earth was exterminated:

Human beings, birds, animals, domestic and wild,

and creeping things.

Only Noah was saved,

and with him, those in the ark.

Then the Creator remembered Noah

and all the animals that were in the ark with him.

And so the Lord God Almighty sent a wind across the Earth,

and the waters began to subside. The springs of the deep

and the cataracts of the heavens were stopped up.

And the rains ceased.

And thus the waters began to withdraw from the earth.

And after 150 days

the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

I n the tenth month,

on the first day of the month,

dry land began to appear.

And in the distance,

the peaks of the mountains were to be seen.

Another 40 days passed,

and Noah released a raven

who flew back and forth,

because the waters had not yet receded

from the face of the earth.

Then Noah released a dove,

but the dove, too, returned to Noah in the ark,

for there was still water on the surface of the earth.

Noah waited another seven days...

and once again sent out the dove...

from the ark.

I n the evening the dove came back to him.

And behold, in its beak,

was a fresh olive branch.

And so Noah realized that the waters were receding

from the earth.

Noah waited another seven days.

Then, he set free the dove.

And this time, it returned to him no more.

And so the Most High blessed Noah and his family

and said to them,

-As long as Earth endures,

seed time and harvest,

cold and heat, summer and winter,

day and night will never cease.

I will now set my bow in the clouds.

This is the sign of the covenant

I am establishing between Myself and the Earth.

The bow will be on the clouds and I shall see it.

And I shall remember the eternal covenant

established between God and every living being.

Every living thing that has life and moves

will be yours to eat.

Behold, I give you everything,

as in the past I gave you the green fruits of the field.

But there is one exception:

You must not eat flesh with its life,

that is to say, with its blood in it.

And I will hold you accountable for your own life blood, too.

The Lord of life will demand an accounting

of every living creature.

The Creator of life will demand it of all human beings.

Whoever sheds human blood will be accountable for it

because the Lord has made man and woman in His own image.-

In the beginning was the moon, Diana.

Sad, silent, alone she wandered.

The waves: her sighs and tears of solitude.

She searched everywhere for a companion,

but found only reflections of herself.

Lonely, Diana desired a lover.

That desire became the dawn.

And from the dawn came the sun, Lucifer, the God of Light.

The moon, Diana, and the sun, Lucifer, loved each other.

The fruit of this love,

were the sky and the Earth, water, and fire,

forests and plants, birds, fishes, and animals.

This is the witches' legend of creation.

Diana and Lucifer also created man.

They gave him the world

and taught him to hunt, kill, and be content

that he might better worship them.

To these powerful gods

man erected huge monuments and temples of stone,

thousands of them,

aligned along the paths of their gods across the sky.

To the gods,

for the chiefs, great warriors, poets, musicians, and artists,

a stone was raised.

A stone which has given them greater immortality than their gods.

Many of these groups of stones, like Stonehenge,

were complex observatories,

predicting what once was thought

the unpredictable, fickle wandering of their gods.

Man, now able to predict,

soon sought to control the gods.

They entrusted this control to priests.

To choose these priests,

the witches, a name which comes from the Anglo-Saxon word -Wicca-,

meaning -wise-, hold a severe initiation ceremony.

Those already initiated

perform a ritual called -Drawing Down of the Moon.-

Since the Moon is a woman, Diana,

the chief of the witches, is a priestess.

This ceremony calls down and concentrates Diana's power in this priestess,

and through her, the Circle and those dancing in it.

Away from the Circle, the initiate, blindfolded,

is prepared for the Ordeals which he must undergo

before becoming a witch.

- Michael. - His name is called,

and he must follow,

regardless of where he is asked to go or what he is asked to do.

This voice both serves as a guide, and although he does not know it...

- Michael! - ...to protect him from death.

On his way to the Circle...

...the initiate is to be made aware through his own experience

of the four elements which make up the universe.

- Water... - Michael.

...air, earth, and fire.

The first is water.

Michael!

Michael!

Michael!

As well as the elements,

the initiate is made acutely aware of himself.

- Naked, blind... - Michael!

...alone,

he's confronted with some of Man's basic fears.

Of nakedness, drowning,

falling, pain.

If he cannot master them and himself,

he will be considered incapable of wisdom and will not be initiated.

Michael!

Fear of falling.

Air.

Fear of being lost.

- Entombed. - Michael!

Earth.

Michael!

Fire.

Fear of pain.

The pain borne, he is challenged...

kissed...

and brought into the Circle.

Before being given any secrets,

the initiate is as bound as he must keep those secrets.

He is presented to the gods of the East, South, West, and North,

that they may approve him.

Symbolic whipping lets him understand

that from now, he is subject to the discipline of the cult.

In spite of this, he is told,

-In other religions, you would kneel...-

-...while I would tower above you.-

-But in ours, we are taught to be humble-.

-It is we who kneel to welcome you-.

-As the knife is to man...-

-...so is the cup to woman-.

-Let them be united in truth-.

The sacred objects which he will be taught to use, are presented.

The sword, with which all magic circles are formed.

The white-handled knife,

with which all magic objects are carved.

The sensor of incense.

The cords to bind, and by knotting, to work magic.

Once again, he is shown to the gods.

Now unbound, as a full initiate.

With dawn and the passing of Diana,

the ceremony comes to an end.

All traces obscured.

The cords that bound him, burnt.

The initiates are taught the knowledge

reserved for their control of power by the priests.

The magical properties of natural objects.

The healing properties of herbs.

As well as healing,

some of those herbs were found to induce trances and hallucinations.

Given to a trained witch priestess,

these trances and hallucinations can be controlled.

The methods used to trigger off the witch's powers of divination varied.

Animals and birds were also used.

The cock in this circle is watched,

and meaning is given to the position and order

in which it pecks the grain.

Sacrifice to appease the gods,

and examination of the entrails to forecast the future.

Into this blend of magical science and religion came another.

Christianity.

Where it could not destroy the previous beliefs,

Christianity adopted physically and spiritually

the temples and rites of the older religions.

Churches built on Pagan mounds.

Pagan stones in their walls.

The interiors and exteriors of these churches

were covered with the extravagant, beautiful whirls and knots

of pre-Christian imagination.

Sex, fertility, and their attendant rites,

so important to the continuity of life,

could not be banished by the new religion,

however desirable the promised rewards of death.

This small font has been made from a pagan sacred stone.

Pagan symbols, gods and images

covered the new churches,

many of them carved on stones which had once been worshipped outside.

One of the most extraordinary of these converted stones

is this huge menhir

which has been carved apparently with Christian symbols,

but only apparently.

Persecution made the disguise necessary.

Note the prominent positions of the sun and moon

on either side of the mother goddess

for whom the Virgin Mary now substitutes.

The crossed swords on the left.

The ladder of progress up to the sun, Lucifer.

The whip beside it.

All symbols of witchcraft, not Christianity.

The Christian Church also has its initiation ceremony,

which, in many of its aspects, resembles those of older religions.

The initiates into the Christian faith are baptised,

confirmed and given communion in a single service.

Baptism.

Symbolic death by drowning, followed by rebirth.

-I baptise you...-

-...in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost-.

-Amen-.

-I baptise you...-

-...in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost-.

"-men-.

The priest gives a candle.

-I give you this sign...-

-...to show that you have passed from darkness to light-.

-That henceforth you may shine as light in the world to the glory of God-.

-He has received you by baptism into his church-.

-We therefore welcome you into the Lord's family...-

-...as fellow members of the body of Christ-.

-The cup of blessing which we bless...-

-...is it not a sharing of the blood of Christ?-

-The bread which we break-.

-Is it not a sharing of the body of Christ?-

-The blood of Christ-.

-The blood of Christ-.

-The body of Christ-.

-The body of Christ-.

-The body of Christ-.

-The blood of Christ-.

-The blood of Christ-.

-The blood of Christ-.

-The blood of Christ-.

-The blood of Christ-.

Cannibalism, in primitive societies, is not always motivated by hunger,

but through a desire to absorb the qualities of those being eaten.

Christianity continued quietly,

slowly assimilating and being assimilated by the people,

old and new religions, mingling and tolerating,

until 1066 when William, born of a witch,

symbol of Lucifer on his banner,

conquered and unified England under a single ruler.

The Bayeux Tapestry, which tells the story of this invasion,

shows how pervasive were the old ideas.

An apparent cross on the shield with its swirling arms

is a symbol of the sun, Lucifer.

Harold is made to swear on two altars,

one Pagan, one Christian,

neither sufficient by itself.

Consultation with a witch priestess.

Astrological significance of a comet.

Many fertility figures.

Under William, the subtly dispersed,

but immensely influential ecclesiastical power,

was faced with a mighty undisguised Pagan temporal power.

The dynasty of the Plantagenet was powerful enough

to be beyond the grasp of the church,

but among the people, the church had more power.

Some of the old beliefs,

such as Robin Hood's witch coven, 12 merry men and a priestess,

Maid Marian, the Virgin Mary, Mother Goddess, escaped into Legend.

But that other maid,

the maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc,

not disguising her beliefs as a witch, was destroyed.

That the Pagan rulers nevertheless feared the power of the church

is shown by the story

of how the order of the Knights of the Garter was formed.

The Countess of Salisbury,

dancing with Edward III, dropped her garter

which Edward swiftly picked up,

put around his own leg and said,

-Honi soit qui mal y pense,-

-evil be to he who evil thinks-.

But the garter is the insignia of a witch.

Edward not only saved the countess from the church.

He also created the order of 13 knights,

with himself as their leader,

and for the Prince of Wales, another 13.

On his cloak are 168 small garters

which, with the one on his own leg, makes 13 times 13 covens.

Apart from the decorations on churches

and magical ceremonies inside houses,

Pagan rites, witchcraft, took place quite openly.

These were known as the Witches' Sabbath.

Witches were said to fly to the Sabbath,

and used for this a flying ointment, here being rubbed over a young woman.

Generally, deserted places were used,

but to these places would come many hundreds of people.

Records say that for the four big seasonal Sabbaths of the Year,

thousands would attend.

It must be remembered that witches were the priests and priestesses

of a religion believed in and practised by the whole population,

before the arrival of Christianity.

Like the two altars in the Bayeux Tapestry,

some priests belonged to both religions,

and there are accounts of Christian priests

reprimanded for being at a Witches' Sabbath.

The witches, who were later tortured for it,

all confessed to the joy and pleasure. they got at these meetings.

There would be dancing in circles, musicians, a feast.

They would meet their friends, and whole families would come.

The image of a witch as being a toothless old woman

was just as likely to be a laughing child or a beautiful young girl.

At some of the Sabbaths,

especially in spring, with its natural connection with fertility

fertility rites took place,

and although, as admitted, everyone enjoyed these rites,

their ritual intent does not warrant the degrading description of sexual orgy.

When the persecution of the witches grew more intense,

informers and chance witnesses were killed.

Presiding over all these Sabbaths,

was their chief priest or devil, depending on the point of religion.

He often wore a goat's mask, a symbol of virility for the fertility rites.

As a finale to the Sabbath,

Christianity made much of the infamous kiss

in which, as a sign of submission,

the new initiate was asked to kiss the priest's behind.

Perhaps the intensity of the attacks by the Christians

forced ever more stringent and binding oaths of faith on the Pagans.

But if the Pagans had some doubtful rites and qualities,

the repressive laws and ferocious tortures practised on them by the Christians,

were even more barbaric.

Listen to what the official records, meticulously kept...

say was done to a pregnant girl suspected of being a witch.

The hangman binds the girl and places her on the rack.

When she did not confess, the torture was repeated.

He cut off her hair,

poured brandy over her head and set light to it.

He placed sulphur in her armpits and burned it.

Her hands with tied behind her.

She was hauled up to the ceiling and suddenly dropped down.

This was repeated for two hours,

until the hangman and his helpers went to lunch.

When they returned,

her feet and hands were tied behind her back.

Brandy was poured over her again and lit.

After this, she was again placed on the rack.

A spiked board was placed on her back

and she was again hauled up to the ceiling.

The hangman then whipped her with a horse whip.

All this was done on the first day,

in the Name of Christ.

This torture...

ending in death

for many hundreds of thousands of initiated witches,

priests and priestesses of the old religion,

or simply those who believed in something other

than the dogmas of Christianity,

aroused an upsurge of hate and desire for revenge.

Witch magic was directed against the persecutors,

or sometimes to put their victims out of misery

or before the victims could confess.

The Circle is cast,

purified, and an image is made of the person who is to be killed.

A skewer or a nail is pierced through the head of the image,

along the marrow or spine, to the heel of the left foot.

Then from the head to the right foot.

The seven planetary metals are made red-hot

and put into the water.

Herbs, sacred woods and sperm are added.

This liquid of life is poured into the image which is then sealed.

The priestess lies in the form of a pentacle, her head to the South

and her feet to the North.

These are the directions from which come the necessary powers.

A ritual conception and birth of the image is performed.

The cord, coming from the mouth of the priestess,

tied around the image and the priest,

represents the umbilical cord

or the astral link between Heaven and Earth.

The image is drowned.

Despite persecution, and although often not recognised as such,

witchcraft beliefs are still about today.

- A pocket full of posies... - ...in children's games.

A-tishoo, a-tishoo, we all fall down.

...in superstitions.

The horned God, symbolised by the horseshoe, touching sacred wood.

A new Moon turning money.

Effects of the sun, moon and planets on our lives.

In Cornwall, one of the last strongholds of witchcraft,

is a museum whose collection shows the persistent hold it has on people.

Letters such as this...

and images like this one...

are received by Cecil Williamson from people who have been bewitched.

They ask for help,

which when he can, he gives.

He started his collection with these remains of a famous witch in the Isle of Man.

They had been burnt with her and buried with her for 300 years.

Her cauldron.

The pestle in which she ground the magic powders.

The griddle on which with these tongs, she placed the spells and charms to bake.

Boiling water from this kettle scalded the potion she made for her many clients.

These are the remains of the last witch to be executed in England.

The large nails, used to keep her down in the grave, lie beside her.

In another part of the Museum, are the modern witches and their instruments.

This witch, with her familiar, a jackdaw,

lives and practises in the New Forest.

Many of the objects used for altars, casting spells and working magic,

come from all over the world, India being a favourite source.

Rams' horns are always a recurrent theme: here converted into miniature altars.

Musical instruments, particularly bells, are often used.

The magic transmitted on the waves of sound.

The ram again, surrounded with all the paraphernalia of a Magic Circle.

The Witch's cradle.

On this, intoxicating fumes billowing up from the burner underneath,

a witch is laid naked alone.

She waits for Lucifer, an offering to him from her coven.

To seal their allegiance to the cult at the end of a ceremony,

in this case a Black Mass,

the priest was obliged to have intercourse with the female initiates.

Unable to cope with the numbers,

in the dim lighting an artificial phallus was used.

Many witches at their trials confessed

that the devil was cold and painful.

One of the most fascinating sections of the museum,

a monument to the intensity of hate

and the recourse to witchcraft for its implementation,

is this one, modern images.

Images of the hated victim.

Pins slowly and viciously stuck into the limbs and parts

where pain is to be inflicted.

Baptism from the bottles of holy water on either side

creates greater bondage to the victim.

The figures can be made from white wax,

obtainable at any chemist's or better, the traditional beeswax and pitch.

Hair or nail clippings from the victim,

like the holy water, help the connection to the image.

Sometimes, organs from animals are made to substitute for the victim.

These are pierced and mutilated.

These images are of every shape and size, realistic and symbolic.

A shoe with a knot of wool, to trip up the owner.

A victim's glove stuffed and pinned.

The bird sacrifice in this shoe is intended to bring death.

Hate.

Hate.

Hate.

Hate.

Hate.

This doll was knitted, and with every stitch,

the victim's name was called aloud, her photograph stuck on and pierced.

Someone who's suffered in hospital wants revenge on their nurse.

A husband's mistress.

The women's branch of the Armed Forces is a rich source of these images.

Photography has provided a modern way of capturing the spirit of the victim,

yet still the old methods of pinning and burning are used.

But magic and witchcraft today are far from being confined to museums.

This is a Black Mass,

in which the place, form and vestments of a Christian mass are used.

Hail, Lucifer, from the abodes of night.

Pour forth thy store of Praise.

I lowly bend before thee, I adore thee to the end.

With loving sacrifice thy shrine adorned.

My lips are to thy feet.

My prayer upon the rising incense smoke that borne

then descend to aid me,

who without thee, am lonely and forlorn.

It must be noted that in this ceremony

there is no crude desecration of symbols.

Instead, they are transformed.

Lucifer is not the devil, but the bringer of light.

-Bring light into our darkness, O, Lord-, is a Christian request.

Here, an expected difference from the Christian mass takes place.

The female element being so important to witchcraft,

a priestess is brought to the altar.

The Scarlet Woman brings the wine.

To Lucifer, the sun, the priestess of Diana, the moon, is presented.

The rose, her blood, the lily, her flesh.

Now worshipping Diana, the priest adds his own life force to the blood.

Piercing the wafer, now the body of Diana with his knife,

she is again presented to Lucifer.

The blood and flesh are brought away from the Christian altar

to the witch's circle.

Psychic power, conjured up by the mass,

is heightened by the addition of sexual energy.

In some religions, thought to be the most powerful, the most holy.

But does this power, this magic, the practical claims of witchcraft,

have any reality other than in the mind?

As part of a scientific investigation into these claims,

this haunted house has become the centre of operations.

I was going into the big bedroom one day,

heard a rustle of silk and looked out

and saw a nice old lady, in a lovely red silk dress,

all hand-painted.

- A nice little old lady. - Oh.

And I was all dumbstruck, just to the right of the window.

But where she went after that, I don't know.

A girl, claiming to be sensitive to these unknown forces,

is left alone in the most haunted room.

Pictures have been hurled from the wall and the furniture turned upside down.

Equipment to detect a whole spectrum of known forces is brought inside.

One of the most common features of haunting

is a sudden drop in temperature and intense cold.

So, where this sensation has been felt, sensitive thermometers are placed.

Another girl is to be left alone in this bedroom.

Interestingly, as in witchcraft, women play a major part.

More thermometers and other detectors are installed in the room with her,

and connected to recording instruments outside.

A ghost is supposed to begin its walk from this room...

continue down this corridor...

up the stairs...

...finally arriving in the bedroom.

Some strange, inexplicable results have been obtained and are being studied.

As well as collecting scientific data, direct contact with spirits is sought.

With this redesigned Ouija board,

some extraordinary messages have been spelled out.

Assuming the reality of these events,

one of the most important things to do

is to find out which people are sensitive to them and how why they are sensitive.

Tests have been devised using dice and cards.

The subject tries to write down which dice will come up,

or which card the tester is looking at.

Their scores are kept and compared with chance guessing.

Some scores have been so high,

that they cannot be explained away by chance alone.

Some other, at present unknown factor, is at work.

The metronome serves both to diminish the effect of sudden distracting noises,

and also to give an undertow of rhythm.

Rhythm plays a large part in magic.

The rhythm of sound, drums, feet on the ground, voices,

the rhythm of light, flickering of flames,

reflections in water, the sun through trees...

These rhythms are isolated in the laboratory and their effects on people studied.

This whirling spiral, with or without sound,

produces on people a kind of trance state, often observed in magic.

The dancer's going round and round.

The stroboscope has a similar effect

to the flickering of flames, the fascination of fire.

Witches have a ritual called scrying,

in which a member of the coven looks into a mirror and sees the future.

-Hear you all, saints of the true church of old-time...-

-...now essentially present...-

-...that of you we claim heirship-.

-With you, we claim communion-.

-From you, we claim benediction in the name of Lucifer-.

Modern witches combine old and new techniques,

to get the scryer into the right frame of mind.

Recorded music, projectors, stroboscopes,

incense, robes, mystical passes,

incantations.

These cords may be broken by a child.

And these same cords, duly twisted, may bind a giant.

-As this incense rises, so let your praise of Lucifer-.

-Hail, Lucifer-.

-Then shall the winds gather themselves together...-

-...and bear you up, as it were a little heap of dust...-

-...in a sheet that has four corners-.

-And they shall give it to the guardian of the Abyss-.

Totally naked, then totally enclosed.

Now again, totally naked,

the scryer is brought to the stroboscope in the altar.

His senses are constantly switched from one extreme to the other,

so that he may come to the mirror

with all normal preconceptions swept from his mind.

Pass over this in silence,

for here is the initiate, enmeshed in the power which fructifies the Earth.

The god imposes his law upon man.

-Pass through darkness, Diana's midnight...-

-...to the light, Lucifer, the sun.-

-If you take but one step in this path...-

-...you must arrive inevitably at the end-.

-This path is beyond life and death-.