But how do flying witches relate to astral doubles?
If we look back through time at accounts of “flying witches”, there’s a pattern. This pattern has been identified by scholars – witches used psychotropic plants to induce trance. At that point, they were able to “fly” to their sabbath to meet with other witches and their master. This flying might very well have been the separation of their astral doubles, as theorized by Claude Lecouteux. Emma Wilby, a writer and scholar on Scottish witchcraft, also relates the flying witch to the shaman, and their similar abilities to move in and out of their bodies into the other realms.
