d' retains its older meaning of 'fate' (it was originally a noun) - they are referred to as 'the weird sisters, that is . . . the goddesses of destiny'. However Shakespeare may well not have known this older meaning of the word, which survived only in the North, furthermore, the activities described by the witches at the beginning of Act1 Scene1 are characteristic of the traditional witches of popular belief, rather than of goddesses of destiny. In all respects they do actually conform to the popular belief regarding witchcraft at the time: they have no power of their own, but gain it by selling their souls to the devil. This is reinforced when Banquo calls the witches the following:
             "The instruments of darkness"
             Shakespeare's witches refer even to the apparitions that they raise as:
             Incidentally, it was believed at the time that the devil taught witches to steal unbaptised children, which explains the significance of the appearance of the apparitions to some extent.
             The trio of witches' interactions with Macbeth play a vital role in his thinking about his own life, both before and after the murder of Duncan. Banquo and Macbeth both recognize them as something supernatural, part of the landscape but not fully human inhabitants of it:
             "That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' earth"
             ...