# An Examen of Witches/Chapter 14

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Chapter XIV.
Of the Transvection of Witches to the Sabbat.
The fourth point in Françoise Secretain’s confession was that she had countless times been to the Sabbat; and this leads me to speak of the transvection of witches. Ulric. Molit., de Lam. Vair, de Incant. II. 13.There are those who flatly denied the possibility of such a thing; and the Council of Aquileia even decreed that it ​was heresy to believe that witches are conveyed from one place to another in the manner they allege: Navarro, in fact, reckoned such a belief to be a mortal sin.Wier, de praestig. VII. 29. Can. episcop. 26. q. 5. Mall. Malefic. II. 1. Bodin, Demonom. II. 3. Remy, Dem. I. 14. Grilland, de Sortileg. VII. 26. Dan. Dialog. 4. Bodin, ibid.
Nevertheless I have always been well persuaded of the contrary opinion, both because of the authority of those who have maintained this view, and by reason of the confession of nearly all witches that they have been conveyed to the Sabbat. There have even been cases of persons who were not witches, but have, following the example of and at the instigation of witches, rubbed themselves with a certain ointment, and of farmers, who have been transported to as much as a hundred or two hundred leagues from their homes, so that they have had great difficulty in finding their way back again.
But I will come to what I have learned of this matter. Françoise Secretain said that, to go to the Sabbat, she placed a white staff between her legs and uttered certain words, and that she was then conveyed through the air to the witches’ assembly. Rollande du Vernois confessed that she went there on a great black ram which carried her through the air so quickly that she was unconscious of the passage. Thievenne Paget said that the first time the Devil appeared to her, it was in full daylight in the form of a big black man, and that when she had given herself to him he embraced her and raised her in the air and conveyed her to the house in the field of Longchamois where he had carnal intercourse with her, and that he then brought her back to the place from where he had taken her. This field was the place where the witches of Longchamois and Orcieres held their Sabbat. Antide Colas ​said that the night Satan appeared to her as a gigantic man, black-bearded and clothed in black, he carried her to the Sabbat; and that at other times he used to come and take her on his back, and carried her like a cold wind, gripping her by the hair. It would take too long to write down all that other witches have said on this subject. But a fact which even more strongly inclines me to believe in the transvection of witches is that Jesus Christ Himself was carried by the Devil to the pinnacle of the temple of Jerusalem, and then to the top of a mountain; for if this could happen to our Lord, why should it not happen to witches? Acts 8. Ezek. 8. Philostr. Vair, Incant. II. 13. Spin. de strigib. c. 5.I pass over the transportations of St. Philip, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Elijah, Enoch, St. Antide Archbishop of Besançon, St. Ambrose, Pythagoras, the Philosopher of Tyana, and countless others. But I cannot omit Simon Magus, who, in defiance of St. Peter, undertook to fly from the Capitol to the Aventine Hill, and was carried through the air with the help of Satan. It is true that at the end he fell and broke his legs; and this was by divine ordinance that God might be glorified in St. Peter. Exod. 7.Similarly He was purposely glorified in Moses, when his rod was turned into a serpent and devoured those of Pharaoh’s magicians. For it is in this manner that God raises up His enemies to cast them down, to their great confusion and His own honour.
Wier, de praestig. II. 29.Neither shall I forget that, when the sons of France were hostages in Spain, there appeared a German magician who promised to convey these Princes home through the air, but that they would not trust themselves to him. For it was to be feared that, when the royal children were passing over some sea, the same fate might ​overtake them as overtook Dædalus, after whom an arm of the sea was named because he lost his life in falling into it.
And as for the Council of Aquileia, those who admit the transvection of witches have sufficiently refuted its opinion. With regard to Navarro, it seems that he would entirely deny the existence of the Sabbat; but no one can rightly uphold such a denial, since there is nothing more certain than that witches assemble together; for otherwise they could not so perfectly agree in their reports of their Sabbats, even allowing for the fact that there are several Sabbats, held in different places. For we see that they all are unanimous in their accounts of the offerings of candles, the lewd kisses, the dances, the obscene couplings, the banquets, and the beating of water, which take place at their assemblies; and these are everywhere conducted in the same manner, since the Devil is always true to his nature, which is ever no more or less than that of an ape.
Again, how can we contradict those who have found themselves at the Sabbat, although they are not witches? Pierre Vuillermoz, Christofle of Aranthon in Savoy, the brothers Claude, Charloz, and Perrenette Molard have confessed that they were conveyed to the Sabbat near Coirieres at a place called és Combes, and that there they had seen done all that we have just said: yet the eldest of them could not have been more than ten years old. I mention their age to prove that they were not witches, and to show that the Devil had no power or authority to cause them to dream of these kisses and offerings and such matters. Finally, Antoine Tornier and Jacquema Paget have recorded that once, when ​they were coming home from gleaning and were passing along the field of Longchamois, they saw that the Sabbat was being held in that place, and set down their bundles and went and did as the others, and then took up their bundles and returned to their homes. I can hardly think that anyone will maintain that these two women were at that time asleep, and that it was only in their fancy and imagination that they went to the Sabbat.