Thought I'd lighten the mood a little...

Just got back from this excellent one day workshop and among the many gems of wisdom freely dispensed there was this one -

A witch's familiars (no not her private parts but usually animals appearing to the witch in the form of a cat, toad, ferret etc) and doing her <i>bidding</i> in return for being allowed to suckle from her, may have given rise to the term <i>Old Biddy</i>.

The accompany exhibition is also very interesting and contains, among other things, a dried cat and a little hazel wand.

Sorry, that wasn't as light-hearted as I thought it'd be :-(