Gideon Penman

    Gideon Penman, minister of Crichton, married in September 1651 to Jean Livingston, a daughter of {Rev} William Livingston. Click for Jean Livingston's Family.


 
Thanks to distant cousin Garry (Penman) Satherley for the information that Gideon Penman 
was said to be a figure in witch-dance fertility rites.  Details are as follows:
     "GIDEON PENMAN of Hagbrae, son William Penman; educated at University of Edinburgh; M.A. (23rd July 1636); licensed by the Presbytery of Dalkeith 3rd May 1638; admitted (assistant) 2nd July 1639; presented to the vicarage by Francis, second Earl of Buccleuch; collated 18th, and instituted 30th March 1641. An Act of Parliament was passed in his favour, 15th March 1661, for payment of bygone stipend. Deposed for adultery, 4th March 1675. He was ordered to be apprehended for witchcraft, 4th Aug. 1678, and imprisoned for the same, 3rd Oct. 1678. He married (1) (contract 19th Feb. 1642) Martha, eldest daughter of James Scott of Hagbrae: (2) Sept. 1651, Jean, daughter of William Livingston, minister of Lanark, and had issue - George of Hagbrae; James; William, merchant, Edinburgh; and a daughter who married David Ker, merchant, Edinburgh." 
(Reverend Hugh Scott: Fasti ecclesiae Scoticanae: the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland. Vo l.: Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. - Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1914, page 312)


 
   More graphic details can be found in The Witch-Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Alice Murray, 1863 - 1963. (The dates are correct; she lived to be one hundred years of age.)  Ms. Murray was an archeologist and a specialist in Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptology. An ardent feminist, she claimed that the persecution of witches was an attack of the patriarchal establishment on ancient, woman-centered religions. Ms. Murray claimed these ancient religions were rooted in European Pagan fertility cults that extended back to the Palaeolithic era.  This caused a deal of controversy among her peers and her opinions were ridiculed.
    For more on Margaret Alice Murray and her work, try an internet search on "Margaret Alice Murray" and "The Witch-Cult in Western Europe". (Include the quote marks.)		 witch

Here is what Margaret Alice Murray reported on Gideon Penman:

     "Another Scotch example is Mr. Gideon Penman, who had been minister at Crighton. He usually 'was in the rear in all their dances, and beat up all those that were slow'"
Margaret Alice Murray:  The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1921. Ch. V
     "Mr. Gideon Penman (1678), who had once been minister at Crighton, went to the Sabbaths, where the Devil spoke of him as 'Mr. Gideon, my chaplain'. The witches said that 'ordinarily Mr. Gideon was in the rear in all their dances, and beat up those that were slow'. This Mr. Gideon seems to be the same person as the 'warlock who formerly had been admitted to the ministrie in the Presbyterian times, and now he turnes a preacher under the devill.--This villan was assisting to Satan in this action' [giving the sacrament]' and in preaching."

--- and ---

     "The former minister of Crighton, Mr. Gideon Penman, acted as the Devil's chaplain; 'ordinarily Mr. Gideon was in the rear in all their dances, and beat up all those that were slow.'"

Margaret Alice Murray:  The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1921. Ch. VII

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