The Female Demonic Witch: History, Heresy, and the Invention of a Myth

Join the Sisters of Horsforth WI for an evening with Dr Debora Moretti, PhD Witchcraft Historian and Archaeologist of Folk Magic and Ritual. Dr Debora Moretti’s talk The Female Demonic Witch: History, Heresy, and the Invention of a Myth explores what transformed the witch from a feared practitioner of harmful magic into an enemy of Christian society—and why did that transformation lead to the persecution of thousands? The European witch hunts were far more than an eruption of superstition. Beginning in the late Middle Ages, a disturbing new idea took shape: that witches were not simply individuals who used magic to cause harm, but members of a heretical conspiracy who had made pacts with the Devil. This powerful reimagining of the witch helped create the religious and legal conditions for large-scale persecution. This lecture traces the emergence of the demonic witch and asks why this new image proved so compelling. Bringing together theology, law, social anxieties, and ideas about gender and power, it reveals how learned theories could escape the pages of scholarly texts and have devastating consequences in the lives of ordinary people. In doing so, the lecture explores a larger and unsettling question: how can ideas about hidden enemies become instruments of fear, authority, and persecution? Sisters of Horsforth WI are inviting friends to join them for a small charge of £5 + booking fee to hear the above talk. Doors open at 6:30pm for a 7:00pm start - there is a bar to purchase drinks. Refunds will be given up to 7 days prior to the date of the event.