INITIATION - WITCHCRAFT - GOLDEN ASS Lucian witnessed the witch rubbing unguents on to her body, in order to have the power to fly. In consequence of this breach of privacy (the equivalent of a breach of the initiation law) Lucian was transformed into an ass. The story which follows is an initiation tale, recounting various indignities and outrages, but final initiation in the mysteries of the goddess Isis. From a 19th century Italian edition of Lucius Apuleius, The Golden Ass. Note the owl as standard symbol of witchcraft.