Looking for something new? How about our ‘Witchfinder’s Torment’, a dark fragrance oil handmade with bergamot and elderberry flowers. This oil comes in 10ml glass vials and is only available on our website for £6.50 -

“Matthew Hopkins was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament.

Within Roman Law, witchcraft was crimen exceptum: a crime so foul that all normal legal procedures were superseded. Because the Devil was not going to "confess", it was necessary to gain a confession from the human involved.

The roots of the 17th-century witch-hunting craze are found 200 years before. The Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of The Witches), published by Catholic German monks in 1486, instructed how to identify a witch, put them on trial, and punish them. It was the second most popular book at the time after the Bible. Malleus recommended torture to secure confession, that secular courts prosecute witches for heresy, and the death penalty for the convicted. Witchcraft was forbidden but, crucially, it didn’t declare witchcraft to be real, just a delusion. The publication of Malleus stepped up the brutality and punishment in the 15th century. “