Miller,Jonet
Case Reference: C/EGD/785
| Case Ref | C/EGD/785 |
|---|---|
| Accused | Jonet Miller |
| Case Start Date | 22/4/1656 |
| Case Date | 10/4/1658 |
| Common Name | Miller,Jonet |
|---|
| Type | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | — | ✓ |
| Demonic | — | ✓ |
| Fairies | — | ✓ |
| Folk Healing | ✓ | ✓ |
| White Magic | — | ✓ |
Notes: No specific details about Miller but according to Dumfries presbytery records it appears she was noted as a 'witch woman' but seems to have given advice about folk healing. Her draft dittay shows that she was a recognised healer who travelled far and wide. Her witchcraft reputation seems to have come from failed healing attempts and because she told people to keep her cures from the ministers. Lots of fairry stuff. The church and others might have been threatened by her advice to her patients to keep her cures a secret. This may have lead people to believe that what she was doing was wrong?
Says she convenit [convened] with the Devil in her dream. She confessed to having a familiar, but it was not described as an an animal and it could have been a familiar spirit? She claimed that the Devil gave her power to heal. After her husband, [died?] she worried about her livelihood that is when the Devil came to her. The Devil allowed her to hear the threatenings of other witches and see the diseases at great distance.
| Type | Text |
|---|---|
| Anti-baptism | while drinking to him |
| Paction | |
| Devil's Mark | back |
| Servant | |
| Want nothing |
Devil Appearances
| Type | Text |
|---|---|
| Male | as her husband |
| Male | a man of midle stature 40 years old, flaxen hair |
| Elphane/Fairyland | — |
|---|---|
| Food/Drink | — |
| Verbal Formulae | ✓ |
| Ritual Acts | ✓ |
| Familiars | — |
| Shape Changing | — |
|---|---|
| Dreams/Visions | — |
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | ✓ |
| Sympathetic Magic | ✓ |
| Riding Dead | — |
Notes: Foxtree leaves (foxglove) used to cure sickness. The consulter was told to take her mother to a certain place, wash her and use foxtree leaves, and leave the sickness at the place where she got it. She diagnosed an illness as possibly related to the fairries having taken his tongue, if this was true she could be no help to him. But he should try foxtree leaves and S. running water. She gripped a child and told them to keep it close and away from the minister. Diagnosed a child with 'Ferrie blast'. She did a cure where the victim had to sit between three fires. A ritual with smoke and fire to get a man out of a witch's grip. Again told to keep it close especially from the minister. Advised to keep the bible near for a cure for distempter. She said a man became ill after digging up a thorn tree. She diagnosed bewitchings as caused by Kirkcudbright and Dumfries witches (told the victims to get 3 stopings of straw from the witches' roof and burn them).
Elf/Fairy Elements
- Thorn Tree
- Fairy Blast
Ritual Objects
- Plant
- Salve
- Water
- Fire
- Smoke
- Belt
- Straw
Religious Motifs
- Prayer
- Three
- Bible
Harm
| Human Illness | — |
|---|---|
| Human Death | — |
| Animal Illness | — |
| Animal Death | — |
| Female Infertility | — |
| Male Impotence | — |
Methods
| Aggravating Disease | — |
|---|---|
| Transferring Disease | ✓ |
| Laying On | — |
| Quarreling | — |
| Cursing | — |
| Poisoning | — |
Healing / Other
| Removal of Bewitchment | — |
|---|---|
| Recognised Healer | ✓ |
| Healing Humans | ✓ |
| Healing Animals | ✓ |
| Midwifery | — |
| Property Damage | — |
| Weather Modification | — |
Disease Notes: She denied doing any malefice, but said she could 'take off' diseases (i.e. cure). Healing ritual recorded in Dumfries presbytery records. She advised taking sick person to the place they got illness and carry out ritual in order to cure them.
White Magic
- Prophesy
- Prayer
- Counter-magic
| Source | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court Books | JC10/1 fo. 217v-219r,223v, 236v | |
| Dumfries Presbytery records | CH2/1284/1, p 122. | Reference to the accused being consulted by 2 people from Dumfries presbytery for healing. They were referred to their own kirk sessions to be rebuked as consulters. |
| Process Notes | JC26/24 | |
| Process Notes | JC26/25 | |
| McDowall, W 'History of the burgh of Dumfries' (Edinburgh, 1867), p. 375. The project did not check Larner's reference to this printed secondary source as part of the research |