Witches’ Flying Ointments
Stacey Hail, MD
University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center
In the AD 700s, witchcraft was associated
with heresy. The Christian church began a
campaign to stamp out heresy by sentencing
witches to death by burning at the stake. In 1230,
many witches were charged with human sacrifice
and Devil worship during the Inquisition.
In medieval demonology, the
witches’ sabbat was a nocturnal
assembly in which demons and
sorcerers celebrated their orgies.
It was based on 8 solar festivals.
The sabbat was attended by the
living who had given their souls
to the Devil. The most common
attribute of accused witches was
their supposed ability to fly great
distances.
One of the ways witches were believed
to fly was by means of an unguent or
ointment given to them by the Devil. It
was a selection of hallucinogenic herbs
prepared and mixed in animal fat. The
ointment was applied to parts of the
body where the skin is thin enough
for the toxins to enter the blood. This
would render the user unconscious to
the observe but all the while the user is
on a fantastic journey. “The Book of the
Sacred Magic of Abremelin the Mage” by
Abraham the Jew in 1458 and “De
Miraclis Rerum Naturalium” by Giovanni
Battista Porta in 1560 were alchemical
works describing these flying ointments.
Flying Ointment Ingredients
Baby Fat
Bat’s Blood
Atropa belladonna
Datura stramonium
Hyoscyamus niger
Mandragora officinarum
Conium maculatum
Aconitum napellus
“It was said that a witch, who wanted
to ride to have sex with the Devil, would
undress, cover herself and even her
anus and genitals with the green witches’
ointment, climb into the kneading trough,
take a broom between her legs and soon
the evening trip would begin”.