Temple of the Dark Moon
THE BETHANY WITCH The following story came from Weaving the Web by Moon Fox. Bethany is a small community in the Barossa Valley (famous for its wines), about an hour's drive Among the early settlers of Bethanien there was a little girl. An orphan whose parents had passed through the veil when she was quite young. She was left a property, a vineyard which she tended and where she made her home when she was much older. A traveller came to the Barossa Valley, who was quite taken by her and we may not ever know if the feeling was mutual. He (apparently) was keen to marry her for many reasons including the fact that in German custom a wife's property then becomes held by the husband. Not long after the marriage, the husband was quite displeased with his new wife, complaining that she was not obedient nor resemblant of a 'decent' wife. He was also very traumatised by her regular is appearances every Full Moon. In light of this persistent rebelliousness by his wife, he decided to discuss the matter with the local pastor who in turn advised him to try and keep her constantly pregnant so that she could not fornicate with the devil, if indeed she was a wytch. She did not take very kindly to his forceful advances which gave him even more fuel for anger. So to master his control of the situation, he began beating her and whipping her 'til her buttocks bled' whenever she refused. This torment became too much and eventually she ran away for a time to the place that she held sacred. Upon her return, she was said to have drawn some markings in the dirt whilst her husband was working at the plough thereby placing a curse on him to immobilise him. He begged her to let him free but her fear of his retribution was too great. When he became ill at the plough, she took pity on him and set him free, and took care of him in his sick bed. Not long after, he also passed through the veil from his severe case of pneumonia. The people of the village then became suspicious of her and concluded that the stories they'd heard of her being a wytch must have been true. They held a meeting where the pastor, after listening to the concerns of his parish decided to place the judgement in the Lord's hands. So, the accused wyitch was dragged kicking and screaming to the dam. There the Lord would decide whether she was innocent or guilty as when a wytch does not drown she is one of the devil's lot and if she does drown she is found innocent of any evil doing. The brothers of the community held her head underneath the water for as long as it took to cleanse her soul. Then a 'proper' Christian burial was held for her as she had been forgiven for her sins. The folk present at the funeral say that she cried out from her grave. © Temple of the Dark Moon (unless otherwise stated)
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north of Adelaide, South Australia.
