As for the witches, they came in three shades. The white witches claimed to be good. They mostly came from the nunnery — sisters or their students. They used herbs and special prayers and didn’t go in for curses or spells. They were healers mainly but if someone needed a bit of good luck a sister would recommend putting a posy on the doorstep and chanting some prayer the sister gave the person. Then there was always the teenaged girl who came sobbing and pleading for help. She would immediately be diagnosed as a brokenhearted soul whose boyfriend had rejected her. The witch provided a great deal of sympathy along with firmness. The girl had to recognize that she might never have this boy’s affections but if he was just sampling an assortment of the local females then certain aromatic herbs along with a delicious meal using the recipe the witch provided might yet win the heart of the young man.
We had the gray witches who probably didn’t deserve a witch title. They claimed to have magical powers but no one saw them practicing any witchcraft. They tended to get together in covens in which gossip and backbiting took precedence over casting spells and curses but probably did more harm than curses and spells.