“I shall go into a hare, with sorrow and sych and meickle care. And I shall go in the Devil's name, ay while I come home again.”

 

Freely given to us during the trials of Isobel Gowdie in 1662, this rhyme is arguably the most popularly cited incantation in modern times in reference to historical witchcraft. The detailed accounts of her initiation and the magic taught to her by the Devil in the kirkyaird of Nairne, all confessed without the use of torture, is a treasure trove of information that is invaluable to historians and modern practitioners alike.

 

At this time in Scotland, various socio-political events happened that put Gowdie in direct opposition with the secular courts and the church, especially with the ever-popular book Daemonologie written in 1597, by Scotland's own King James.  the interactions between the orthodoxy of the Christian church combined with the fairy beliefs of rural Scottish common-folk made for a hot-bed of Witchcraft accusations, and in Isobel Gowdie's case, her testimony of her relationship with the Devil, interactions with the Fairy Queen and King, and the magical workings and incantations she learned from these figures, sealed her fate. 

 

- Class Description for The Mighty Dead Class Series: In a Hare’s Likeness by Devin McElderry