L'autre côté du miroir : mythes sataniques et réalités culturelles aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles - article ; n°2 ; vol.40, pg 288-305

Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations - Année 1985 - Volume 40 - Numéro 2 - Pages 288-305
Behind the Mirror : Satanic Myths and Cultural Realities during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
The sabbat is quite a myth. It was forged by the élites of Europe, on the basis of a mixture of popular cultural realities herein linked together as satanic practices. Woman is placed at the heart of a so-called religion of the devil. She stands behind the mirror, occupying a place in this counter-world which is exactly the same as that occupied by the -witch-hunters in their own world.
However, a witch-craze requires two other conditions : that the myth be spread by zealous local officers, and above all that the middling sort, i.e the local notables, play an active role. The last condition makes all the difference between open and closed villages, regions, districts or states. In the first case people (or a part of them) agree with the Law, which comes from outside. In the second they maintain the old internal balance achieved by large-scale indulgence in private revenge.
This model explains, I think, important contrasts among witch-hunts all over Europe. Such a persecution occurs not only as a part of a religious evolution but mainly of a political movement : the villagers are gradually forced to tie their communities firmly to modernity and progress.
18 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.