Margaret stepped forward. Andrew took her arm and gave her a questioning look.
“Isobel is my friend,” she said. He nodded
She began to walk across the tollbooth yard.
The yard had never seemed so wide. Margaret took another step. “Isobel,” she called.
Isobel saw her and almost smiled.
They walked toward one another.
Author’s Notes
Bitter Magic began with curiosity about the Covenanters. I was looking through a book my grandfather wrote about the Presbyterian ministers in our family history and saw that in the 17th century many of these ministers were “Covenanters.” What were Covenanters? I wondered.
In 1638, thousands of Scots, incensed by King Charles I’s attempt to suppress Presbyterianism, rallied at Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh to sign the “Solemn League and Covenant.” This document declared the religious independence of Scotland from the English king and his bishops, and its signers were labeled “Covenanters.” They became a military as well as a religious/political (inseparable terms) force, and as the Scottish Reformation grew, the Scots and English, Catholics and Protestants, vied for power in bloody battles.
These Covenanters were passionate in their fight for religious freedom and self-rule, but in the late 1600s, they were also caught up in the witch craze. Although they were rebelling against the Catholic religion, they embraced the aspect of Catholic theology that labeled some women “witches”—demons in human form that had to be obliterated.
At this time, most people were living rural agrarian lives, and most adhered to the ancient customs and traditions that drew on their connections to the earth, its seasons, plants, and animals, as did other agrarian cultures throughout the world. In Scotland, the Catholic Church had to some extent incorporated these traditions, but to the new Protestants, these beliefs were superstitious or heretical, and the leaders, most often women, were targeted as witches.
Here were two different ways of knowing–the rational, as manifest in ideals of freedom and justice, vs. the intuitive, with connection to earth, body awareness, and healing–that collided in a pivotal time in history. Not coincidentally it was a time when male power was supplanting female.
I became fascinated with this conflict; I could see the roots of it in our own time, and in particular, in my own spiritual life.
As a child of the seventies and a staunch feminist, I had been inspired by the Earth-based spirituality of Starhawk, the Wiccan author. Then, as my spiritual path evolved, in the eighties I went to theological seminary.
In seminary I thrilled to the genius and clarity of the Presbyterian theology that had inspired the creators of the U.S. Constitution. This was rational, western theology at its best, I thought. But the body-centered intuitive way of knowing was missing from it, and this was where feminist theology came in. In the seventies and eighties feminist theologians were enthusiastically reclaiming intuition as knowledge. Feminist theology begins with lived experience, women’s connection to the earth and the body, rather than the rational mind. I was inspired by the Christian mystics like Julian of Norwich and Hildegard of Bingen, whose theologies had been marginalized by the church, but who, like yogic philosophers, Native Americans, and Wiccans, understood the Divine to be embodied in nature.
I identified with both ways of knowing: western theology that delights in the knowledge of the mind; and the grounded discernment of the mystics.
When I discovered the story of Isobel Gowdie in the heart of Covenanter territory, I was hooked. Here, at a turning point in history, were these two different worldviews in a battle for authority, two different roots of my own history. I dug into the research.
Coming from a liberal twenty-first century perspective, I struggled to understand the Covenanters. We now tend to see those Reformation Christians, because of the witch craze, as ignorant and evil. And we assume that the “witches” were good, herbalists and healers. But maybe, I thought, there was more to it on both sides.
Some of the Covenanters, like Harry Forbes, did indeed fit the stereotype: they lived in fear and justified horrible crimes against innocent people. But others, like Katharine Collace and Alexander Brodie, were earnest, caring, educated individuals who struggled to comprehend their world and their faith.
The cunning women had more than one dimension, too. Like Isobel, they did heal and uplift their communities, but they could also resort to vengeance and harm against their neighbors.
I also struggled to understand Isobel’s tales of flying with the fairies and visiting the Queen in her underground abode. What did she mean when she claimed to travel in that “otherworld”? I never got an answer to that question, but studying the research about psychics, shamans, astral travel, and trance experience was a fascinating journey.
Throughout history, there have been people who have had (or claimed to have had) supernatural powers and the ability to communicate with the dead. Shamans, sorcerers, necromancers, and witches have been alternately revered and feared. In 1590, when King James VI of Scotland and I of England accused over seventy people of using witchcraft to cause a storm that destroyed his fleet, the fears and the persecutions mushroomed. Many of the people accused by James were tortured to confess, and some were executed. James then published the treatise Daemonologie to prove that magicians, sorcerers, and witches were demons in human form, and a perilous threat to Christianity. In 1604, he made witchcraft a felony punishable by death.
Thus, at a time when the majority of people believed in an otherworld of fairies, charms, and rituals, ensued an era of fear and persecution. The esteemed folk doctors and healers, mostly women, were now accused and devalued as witches.
The seventeenth century was also a time of great change in Europe. Scotland was moving into reduced dependence on agriculture and greater emphasis on trade. Ideas were flowing more freely, and the Age of Reason was beginning. The Scottish Reformation, while it brought many benefits to society, also ushered in the idea that religion and theology should be based upon reason. Traditional folk beliefs that depended on intuition, extrasensory perception, and belief in a deep connection to the Earth and nature were all deemed superstition. They had to be abolished. And, since the leaders of traditional belief systems were most often female, women were judged to be, if not witches, at least irrational. Only men, who were deemed rational, could be trusted as rulers, leaders, and ministers.
By 1735, when the witchcraft law was finally repealed, almost 4,000 people, mostly women, in Scotland alone had been accused, and roughly sixty-seven percent of them had been executed for witchcraft.
Characters
Most of the characters in this book were real people. I have tried to remain true to their life situations while incorporating them into a work of historical fiction, which is always a blend of fact and imagination.
Isobel Gowdie
In April and May of 1662, the four confessions of Isobel Gowdie were recorded by John Innes, notary, in Auldearn, Scotland. Scholars believe that Isobel was probably convicted and executed, but there is no record of this, and I have used that lack of knowledge to put a different spin on the verdict.
Most of Isobel’s charms and rhymes in Bitter Magic came directly from her confessions, as did her accounts of flying with the fairies, rituals for healing, black magic, and her intercourse with the devil, though I modernized some of the language.
Isobel did claim that she could “raise the wind.” There was no catastrophic sandstorm in 1662, but in 1684, further up the coast, there was a similar storm that buried estates and changed the landscape, and many people believed that witches had caused it.
Isobel’s confessions followed, to some extent, a well-known formula in witch confessions: the black mass, coven meetings, intercourse with the devil, and more. We don’t have records of her interrogators’ questions, but they probably knew and could have articula
ted those formulae for her to repeat. But some scholars believe that Isobel was not, in fact, tortured or forced to confess; her confessions digressed from the formula, and were so fantastical and imaginative that questions multiplied. Had the things she related really happened? Was she a shaman? A visionary? A psychic/astral traveler? Psychotic? A witch? Read Emma Wilby’s fascinating study in The Visions of Isobel Gowdie for an analysis of theories from then and now. I put some of these into the mouths of her trial commissioners.
Women who had some power in the community, the “cunning women,” were healers and herbalists. They also often had a strong sense of social justice. Raids on tenants’ stores by oppressive landlords were common, and cunning women did sometimes use the only power they had to fight back: black magic. I think of Isobel’s revenge rituals as, among other things, a pre-feminist fight for justice.
Hugh Gilbert
Isobel’s husband’s real name was John Gilbert. I changed his name, since there were so many other men named John in the story. His character, their spousal relationship, and their children were my inventions.
John Hay
The Laird of Park and Lochloy was married to Alexander Brodie’s niece, and did have two daughters. In historical documents, he is portrayed as continually in debt, often borrowing money to stay afloat. Tensions were high between Hay and his tenants—particularly Isobel, whom he believed (and as she confessed) was out to kill him. He also believed that Agnes Grant had caused the death of his father and brother. Agnes Grant (who was not, in reality, Isobel’s mother) was tortured and executed as a witch.
Margaret Hay
The real names of John Hay’s daughters were not recorded. Margaret is my invention, as is Lucy.
Elizabeth Brodie
John Hay’s wife was the niece of Alexander Brodie. I could find no record of her first name, so I called her Elizabeth.
Katharine Collace
Katharine was a real person and earnest Covenanter who served as a tutor to John Hay’s two daughters. Katharine did lose nine children to death, and, as she expressed in her diary, struggled with wrenching feelings of despair and distance from God. She also found the courage to go on through faith and comfort in her mystical experiences of Christ. In her diary, she voices regret about her marriage to John Ross and her admiration for her mentor, Thomas Hog (or Hogg). Katharine hints that Harry Forbes “took a liberty” with her. Other sources report that Harry’s wife told Katharine to leave the area. There is no evidence that Katharine was involved in the trial of Isobel Gowdie.
Alexander Brodie
The Laird of Brodie, also an ardent Covenanter, was one of the commissioners who escorted King Charles II from Breda in the Netherlands to Scotland for his coronation. In his diary, he expresses respect and friendship for Katharine Collace. Like her, he practiced the spiritual disciplines of confession, self-degradation, and repentance, a ritual practice among the Covenanters. Brodie also writes of his disgust at the ungodliness of Harry Forbes’s family. Brodie was a powerful and respected laird in the community, and he did have a daughter named Grissel. It is true that, in his youth, Brodie joined a gang of fanatic anti-papist youth who vandalized the Elgin Cathedral in an effort to destroy “graven images.”
Harry Forbes
“Mister Harry” was minister of the Auldearn Church from 1655 to 1663. He had very little money, struggled with solvency, and was a fervent Covenanter and witch hunter who targeted Isobel. He was, indeed, “sick in bed” for a time. His illness didn’t result from falling off a horse, but Isobel did perform the ritual curse to keep him “sick and sore.” Like many of the ministers of his time, Mister Harry was resented and disliked by his parishioners because of his strict moral code. At the same time, he was known to be having an adulterous affair with a servant girl.
Julia
Harry’s wife, whose real name is unknown, apparently knew about his affair(s) with the servant and suspected Katharine of this as well. She did command Katharine to leave the area.
Andrew Massie
Andrew is my invention. Edward Massie was an ardent Covenanter who helped escort King Charles II back from Scotland and could have had a nephew Andrew’s age. Many of the occupying English soldiers courted local Scottish girls.
Hugh Rose
Hugh was the minister at Nairn and served on Isobel’s witch trial commission.
Henrietta Rose
Hugh Rose had a family, but Henrietta is my invention.
Isobel’s Coven
In her confessions, Isobel mentions Elspeth Nychie, who taught her witchcraft—and many other names, some of whom I used in this story (including the “maid,” Jane Martin).
Trial Commissioners
Most of the named commissioners in Bitter Magic were those of real people on Isobel’s commission, though what they said and believed was my invention.
Places
Inshoch Castle
Inshoch was the seat of the Hay family, the Lairds of Park and Lochloy. Toward the end of the 1600s, the Hays lost the castle due to overwhelming debt, and it passed into the hands of Alexander Brodie. Apparently, it has not been inhabited since that time. It is now in ruin, but you can still see the castle shape and one of the towers in the ruins. Inshoch sits on land now owned by James and Doreen Campbell. When I was performing my research in the Moray area, I visited these ruins. James and Doreen graciously welcomed me to the site, served me tea, and provided me with a great deal of castle history and lore about Isobel, who was known in the area as “the witch of Auldearn.” You can find the story of this visit, with photos, in my blog under “The Kindness of Strangers” (nancykilgore.com).
Kilrock Castle
In reality, the name is Kilravock (pronounced Kilrock). Kilravock has been owned and occupied by the Rose family since the 1500s. The castle is now owned by a Christian trust established in 1971 by Elizabeth Rose, the 25th Baroness.
Brodie Castle
The historic home of the influential Brodie family, this well-preserved castle is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
Darnaway Castle
Darnaway, one of the grandest castles in this region of Scotland, is the seat of the Earls of Moray. Someone like Margaret probably did attend a ball in its great hall. Built in the 1500s, it is the one remaining original section of Darnaway. The castle has remained in the same family for centuries and is still a private residence owned by John Stuart, the 21st Earl of Moray.
Cawdor Castle
Cawdor is the legendary home of Shakespeare’s Thane of Cawdor in Macbeth. Shakespeare adjusted the facts to fit his story (when the real Macbeth reigned, Cawdor wasn’t built yet), as have I. Cawdor Castle, where some members of the Campbell family still live, is administered by the National Trust of Scotland.
Downie Hill
Downie Hill is a real place and in the same area Isobel indicated in Bitter Magic. It is now known as one of the many Iron Age dun forts dotting the Scottish landscape. When I visited the area, I had a lot of fun searching for Isobel’s fairy mound, that even some of the locals had not heard of. When I finally found it, accompanied by my friend Morag, we traipsed up the bracken-covered hill in the middle of a wood (the Downie Wood, of course) and discovered a real sense of deep and magical peace, though we didn’t see any fairies. In Search of Isobel, a story about this adventure, was published in The Bottle Imp by the Association of Scottish Literary Studies. https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2018/12
/in-search-of-isobel/.
The Farmtown (or fermtoun)
This is where Isobel and the other farmworkers lived, on the estate of the Laird of Park and Lochloy. Its ruins are thought to be near Loch Loy.
Old Scots Language Terms
An da shealladh – second sight, (in/of two sights)
burn – small river or fresh water
corp creadh
– human figures of clay or wax used for ritual magic
duyning – fading or wasting away
kill or kil – riverbed (in the context of Isobel’s confession); little chapel
lith – limb or joint
machair – grassy plain where cattle graze
mickle(or muckle) – large
nith – ill will, envy, hatred, enmity, abject, abhorrent
stickle – little stick
stour – dust
wighting and dighting – making ready (fashioning) and weighing
For Further Reading
Black, Ronald, ed. The Gaelic Otherworld: John Gregorson Campbell’s Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands, 1900 and 1902. Edited by Ronald Black. Edinburgh, Scotland: Birlinn Limited, 2014.
A classic compendium of folklore and the supernatural by a nineteenth-century scholar.
Brodie, Alexander of Brodie and Brodie, James of Brodie. The Diary of Alexander Brodie of Brodie and of His Son, James Brodie of Brodie, MDCLXXX–MDCLXXXV. Aberdeen, Scotland: Printed for the Spalding Club, 1863. Reprinted Middletown, DE, 2016.
This 560-page journal was transcribed from the handwritten and printed in 1740. In it, Brodie mentions his daily activities and encounters, but it is primarily a spiritual journal in the 17th-century style: a pious examination of one’s acts and flaws, including prayers and pleas to God. He refers to Isobel Gowdie as “Park’s witch.”
Brodie-Innes, J.W. The Devil’s Mistress. London: 1915. Electronic edition published by Black Heath Editions, 2014.
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