This is well known custom and should be present in any self-respecting pagan’s Book of Shadows or Grimoire. It is impossible to tell however, whether Shakespeare was influenced by pagan lore, or was, given his rewriting of Puck, pagan lore was influenced by the playwright. Given that this is a way in which those who are magically inclined wish well on someone, and the ancient roots of paganism, it could well be the former, used in a society still profoundly touched by magic. This playful and magical play is evidence that Shakespeare used magic as a story facilitator, but more than this, he enjoyed folklore, and held more magical knowledge than one would have originally thought. However, with the change in sovereignty, came a change in the perception of magic. This can be distinguished in Macbeth. Yates says of Macbeth, that ‘the magic is bad, an evil necromancy’ and that ‘few escape from this black night of Hell’.

Hunter considers the prologue of Macbeth to be ‘the most ‘non natural prologue unique in all Shakespearian drama. The drumming in the first scene is ‘irresistibly conspiratorial hovering between a ritual and a threat.’ He labelled it a ‘diabolical tattoo’. This stark alteration in Shakespeare’s use of magic in Macbeth echoes King James’ paranoia regarding witchcraft. The witch’s claim that she will cause a ‘tempest’ when slighted by a sailor’s wife, for instance, can be likened to the accusations James made during witch trials in Scotland. The witches are shown as conspiratorial, whereas previously, they were commonly displayed as a solitary practitioner or in the ‘cunning man’ status related to the ‘wise woman’ of the village. This woman or man would offer assistance in medicine and midwifery  to the people in their community. Macbeth shows the witches in coven form, with wicked purpose. 

Willis claims that the witches ‘incite Macbeth to murder’. On the contrary, ‘the weird sisters do not plant the seeds of evil in Macbeth’. It is crucial to remember; they have no power over the innocent; that they are not without human passions.’ Indeed, Macbeth controls, moreover, threatens, the witches during the necromancy ritual later in the play,

"I will be satisfied: deny me this, And an eternal curse fall on you!"(4.1.104-114)

It is Macbeth who ultimately, fuelled by the arrogance of believing he is immortal, presides over the ‘foul anomalies ‘that are Shakespeare’s weird sisters. They warn him ‘Seek to know no more!’ (4.1.103-114), but Macbeth continues, despite their counsel, proceeding to blame them for the horrific vision of Banquo and his offspring which he requested to witness. They initially predict Macbeth’s future, and do not ‘incite’ any action. All that follows is by the actions or request of Macbeth himself. This comparison between the witches’ sisterhood and Macbeth’s behaviour: ‘the sisterly community in which the witches exist revolving around ‘dance, the moon, pre-visions’ is a co-operation that is the feminine opposite of Macbeth’s male egomania’ is crucial to distinguishing what might lie beneath the anti-witchcraft surface of Macbeth.

The ‘Scottish Play’, and its portrayal of witchcraft, is alike that given by King James in Daemonologie. The devil send witches to joint [disjoin] bodies and to make powders thereof, mixing such other things there-amongst as he gives unto them. This is why although the witches are all pursuing ‘separate labours’, they meet on the battlefield with a ‘common purpose’, other that that of meeting Macbeth. Willis writes that ‘no one
in Shakespeare’s time would have had any doubt about the motive’. The witches are portrayed as collecting body parts for spells, specifically those unholy sources or from outside consecrated ground, which are used in the witch’s cauldron later in the play,

"Liver of blaspheming Jew;
 Gall of Goat and slips of Yew,
 Silvered in the moon’s eclipse;
 Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips;
 Finger of birth-strangled babe,
 Ditch-delivered by a drab"
(4.2.26-107)

The body parts are collected from battlefields, the foreign element suggests this, and a ‘drab’ or prostitute has a child who is without baptism, and therefore unable ‘to be buried in consecrated ground’. It is important to express at this point, that there is no real evidence of body parts being used in spells during pre-Christian Paganism. Pagan spells contain many ingredients which could be deemed unpleasant. This includes toenails, hair, body fluids, including the sexual and even excrement. The ‘most powerful magical ingredient on earth’ is considered to be menstrual blood. The connection between ‘menstruation and the lunar cycle’ was noted by John Dee, who kept a ‘detailed coded record’ of his wife Jane’s periods, he also used ‘horse manure and menstrual blood’ during his work.