Double Double, Toil and Trouble!

[C505]

I have heard that Shakespeare was into witchcraft and occultism. Just look at Macbeth with the witches and the cauldron , "Tooth of wolf" is an herb found in England. Perhaps Shakespeare did leave a summoning ritual of the shade Hecate ( Hecate became a dark spirit of witchcraft in the middle ages, not a goddess) in his play. Tell me what you all think... Possibly a real ritual?

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

[akimbomoss]

Imagine going through all the trouble to get those ingredients and the spell backfires. What a bad ROI that would be. [twisted]

[Desecrated]

When it comes to the witches in Shakespeare he was using Malleus Maleficarum and books like that as an inspiration.

[magari]

The three witches, or the three fates are also related to Greek mythology.

They were the Moirai or Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.

[Desecrated]

The three witches, or the three fates are also related to Greek mythology.

They were the Moirai or Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.

Yes they are, but it is important to remember that most of the magical knowledge of ancient Greek is fairly modern. The Greek papyri wasn't found until 1820 and didn't come out as a translation before 1840. Almost 300 years after Shakespeare.

So he was only using the imagery of Greek philosophy without having much of it's substance.
This is mostly evident in a midsummers dream which is one of the shakespeare plays with the most supernatural elements, but it lacks the mystic and occult elements of 18th and 19th century writings.