The book frames witchcraft as "treason against God" and endorses the practice of witch hunting.
The book is believed to be one of the main sources used by William
Shakespeare in the production of Macbeth. Shakespeare attributed many quotes and rituals found within the book directly to the 'Weird Sisters', yet also attributed the Scottish themes and settings referenced from the trials in which King James was involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemonologie
Although the mother of James was Mary, Queen of Scots, who was Catholic, James was raised as a Protestant. He succeeded his cousin, Elizabeth I, in 1603 and reigned in Scotland, England, and Ireland until his death in 1625.
...the witch hunt instituted a regime of terror on all women, from which emerged the new model of femininity to which women had to conform to be socially accepted in the developing capitalist society: sexless, obedient, submissive, resigned to subordination to the male world, accepting as natural the confinement to a sphere of activities that in capitalism has been completely devalued.
The witch hunts were the means by which women in Europe were educated about their new social tasks and a massive defeat was inflicted on Europe's 'lower classes,' who needed to learn about the power of the state to desist from any form of resistance to its rule.
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Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women by Silvia Federici. PM Press 2018. pp. 32-33.
When I was in Scotland last fall, on a two week trip prior to seeing the RSC production of
Macbeth in Stratford-upon-Avon, I spent some time reading about the history of witch hunting in Scotland. I even did a two hour walk in Edinburgh with an Italian woman guide--who holds a doctorate in Art History from the University of Edinburgh--devoted to the history of witchcraft in Edinburgh. It was a fascinating tour. The Protestant Reformation may have changed some religious practices and beliefs from the Catholic Church, but it did not veer away from the concept or practice of patriarchal dominance.
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