The Female Demonic Witch: History, Heresy, and the Invention of a Myth

An evening talk by witchcraft historian Dr Debora Moretti on how the demonic witch myth emerged and fuelled Europe's witch hunts.

The Sisters of Horsforth WI host an evening lecture by Dr Debora Moretti, a witchcraft historian and archaeologist of folk magic and ritual. The talk traces how, from the late Middle Ages, the witch was reimagined from a practitioner of harmful magic into a heretic in league with the Devil, creating the religious and legal conditions for large-scale persecution. Drawing on theology, law, social anxieties and ideas about gender and power, it asks how theories about hidden enemies became instruments of fear and persecution. Doors open at 6:30pm for a 7:00pm start, with a bar available; the event lasts around three hours.