The Witching Hour

The Mayfair emerald necklace symbolizes the family legacy and Lasher’s pact with the witches. Lasher obtains wealth for, and has sexual relations with, the Mayfair women who wear the emerald—including Deirdre. The pact also means producing witches of increasing power over the generations through incest, until the 13^th can make Lasher incarnate. Lasher originally procured the emerald for Deborah, the second generation of Mayfairs, and it was passed down all the way to Rowan, the 13^th witch. However, Rowan dislikes the emerald: “the jewel had reminded her, strangely, of the Catholic statues of Jesus and Mary with their exposed hearts, like the one she’d smashed so angrily in her mother’s bedroom” (900). She associates it with religion, which she—as a neurosurgeon—rejects. Rowan only wears the emerald when she marries Michael. After Lasher puts it on her while she is sleeping, Rowan has the law firm Mayfair and Mayfair keep It.

Suzanne names Lasher for the lashing wind he creates. He not only causes storms at the request of the witches, but also creates them when a male or female witch dies. An example of this includes the “storm” (450) Lasher creates for natural deaths such as when Julien and Mary Beth die, as well as the ones he creates for unnatural deaths when Lionel shoots Stella and when Carlotta kills Antha.