Study of the occult arts October 16, 2009
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: fascination, magic, occult, practices, renaissance, ritual, sorcery, superstition
add a comment
Well, times for magic were certainly changing during Renaissance. Magic saw a resurgence in hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of ceremonial magic. The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, saw the rise of science. Chemistry was substituting alchemy, astronomy was slowly dethroning the Ptolemaic theory of the universe assumed by astrology. There was the some development of the germ theory of disease, that restricted the scope of applied magic and threatened the belief systems it relied on. A nice gentleman wrote to us recently, explaining that there was seven arts of magic prohibited by canon law during the period of Renaissance: necromancy, geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy, spatulamancy. Here we go, I named them all! I even published an article for my web analytics company, explaining in details which means what.
Both bourgeoisie and nobility in the 15th and 16th century showed great fascination with these arts, which exerted an exotic charm by their ascription to Arabic, Jewish, Gypsy and Egyptian sources. There was great uncertainty in distinguishing practices of vain superstition, blasphemous occultism, and perfectly sound scholarly knowledge or pious ritual. The intellectual and spiritual tensions erupted in the Early Modern witch craze, further reinforced by the turmoils of the Protestant Reformation, especially in Germany, England, and Scotland.
Study of the occult arts was intellectually respectable in the Renaissance, and remained so far into 17th century. At the peak of the witch trials, there was a certain danger to be associated with witchcraft or sorcery, and most learned authors take pains to clearly renounce the practice of forbidden arts. Thus, Agrippa while admitting that natural magic is the highest form of natural philosophy unambiguously rejects all forms of ceremonial magic. Indeed, the keen interest taken by intellectual circles in occult topics provided one driving force that enabled the witch hunts to endure beyond the Renaissance and into the 18th century. As the intellectual mainstream in the early 18th century ceased to believe in witchcraft, the witch trials subsided almost instantaneously.
Superstition as fear of the gods February 7, 2009
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: events, superstition, traditions, nature, minds, wisdom, Supernatural, practices, spells, magical, rites, antiquity, evil, divine, charms, humanity, superstitious, creations, fear, taboos, consultation, sorcerers, witches, prayers, agents, intervention, herbs, roots, secrets
add a comment
In the late antiquity people were certainly extremely superstitious. I am talking not only about simple people but also about the great minds like Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, Apuleius and the like, whose creations I had a chance to read in my web analytics company. These writers define superstition as fear of the gods that leads to the need to resort to magical rites and taboos, the consultation of professional sorcerers and witches, charms and spells, and unintelligible language in prayers addressed to the gods. Not just simple people, but even highly educated people of that time took for granted other magical practices, such as hurting someone by the evil eye. They also believed in daemons that serve as agents or links between gods and human beings and are responsible for many supernatural events in human life that are commonly attributed to divine intervention. Some daemons are good, some are evil, but even the good ones, in moments of anger, can do harmful acts.
It seems that great mind of that time were also convinced of the powers of certain herbs or roots as revealed to humanity by the gods. They argued that the divine powers in their concern for the welfare of humanity wish for humanity to discover the secrets of nature. For example, in their wisdom the gods sought to bring humans gradually closer to their status; which certainly many magical traditions seek.
Read more …
Horrors and powers of witchcraft November 4, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: audience, claims, concept, constellation, controlling, cosmos, destruction, future, hating, horrors, influencing, knowledge, magic, magical, power, practices, spells, texts, version, witch, witchcraft, works
add a comment
In Seneca’s version Medea’s power of hating, which she can switch on and intensify at will is still the dominant theme, but Medea is now given a full cupboard of horrors from which to select the most efficient means of magical destruction. Her magic can even, apparently affect the cosmos, as she claims that she can force down the constellation of the Snake.
Seneca’s nephew Lucan in his work surpassed his uncle in portraying the horrors and powers of witchcraft. In his play, just before the decisive battle of Pharsalus, in which Julius Caesar defeats the forces of Pompey, the two armies are moving through Thessaly, the country of witchcraft in Lucan’s work. Here one of Pompey’s sons consults a famous witch called Erictho about the outcome of the future battle. Erictho is the most powerful of witches, and because she is so powerful she is presented as being quite loathsome and disgusting. Such are her powers that she can even compel some of the lesser gods to serve her and even cause them to shudder at her spells. As exaggerated as these plays are they demonstrate knowledge of magical practices found in the Greek magical texts. These works also shows that Roman audience must have easily understood the concept of magic in a negative sense but also in the sense of being a practice aimed at influencing or controlling the forces of the cosmos, even the gods themselves.
Direct evidence November 4, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: affiliations, amulets, ancient, base, bronze, city, conclusion, dish, elements, evidence, forms, formulas, incantations, kit, letters, magic, magical, mixture, nail, papyri, period, permanence, powers, practices, remains, rings, rituals, scientists, spells, stones, Supernatural, symbols, table, testimonies, tools, type, universality
add a comment
Thus amulets were actually often a mixture of various formulas from Babylonian, Egyptian, and Greek elements that were worn by those of most affiliations so as to protect against other forms of magic. It is interesting to note that amulets are actually often abbreviated forms of the formulas found in the magical papyri.
Magical tools were thus very common in magical rituals. They were just as important as the spells and incantations that were repeated for each magical ritual. Direct evidence of this – a magician’s kit, probably dating from the third century CE, was discovered in the remains of the ancient city of Pergamon in Asia Minor. The find consisted of a bronze table and base covered with symbols, a dish, a large bronze nail with letters inscribed on its flat sides, two bronze rings, and three black polished stones inscribed with the names of supernatural powers. What emerges then, from this evidence, is the conclusion that a type of permanence and universality of magic had developed in the the Hellenistic period if not earlier. Most scientists agree that although many testimonies about magic are relatively late, the practices they reveal are much older.
The timing for festival October 24, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: ancient, attempts, books, calendar, changes, class, cleansing, conceptual, culture, cycles, divinities, druids, elements, festivals, fire, holidays, magic, moon, movies, nature, part, people, plants, polytheism, polytheists, practices, priests, records, reverence, seasons, signs, societies, stars, sun, symbol, system, wizards, works, writers, year
add a comment
Speaking of magic, the ancient wizards of the island of Britain also developed an interesting conceptual system of magic. We know these wizards from books and movies as druids. The earliest records of the name Druidae is found on the works of Greek writers such as Sotion of Alexandria, who was cited by Diogenes Laertius in the third century of our era. During my research for funeral home directory I learned that in old Celtic polytheism the word druid denotes the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies. These priests existed through much of Western Europe and in Britain and Ireland until they were suppressed and, practically destroyed by ancient Roman government and, later, Christianity. Druidic practices were a huge part of the culture of all Celtic tribal peoples not only in Britain but also in Continental Europe. These druids combined the duties of priest, arbitrator, healer, scholar, and magistrate. I read about many modern attempts at reconstructing or reinventing Druidism, that are called Neo-druidism. So, let me describe who were druids in the past.
The druids were polytheists, but they also revered elements of nature, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars, looking to them for signs and seasons. They also treated with reverence other natural elements, such as the oak, certain groves of trees, tops of hills, streams, lakes and certain other plants, especially mistletoe and holly. Fire was regarded as a symbol of several divinities and was associated with the sun and cleansing. Druid calendar year was governed by the lunar, solar, vegetative and herding cycles. The four main holidays include Imbolc to denote the first signs of spring, Beltane to recognize the fullness of life after spring, Lughnasadh to celebrate the ripening of first fruits and the many-skilled deity Lugh, and Samhain to recognize the end of harvest and the lowering of the barrier between the world of the living and that of the dead. The timing for these four festivals would have been determined by the presence of a full moon and the seasonal changes in the natural world. In modern times, Imbolc has been transformed into Groundhog Day, elements of Beltane have been absorbed into Easter, and Samhain has become Halloween.
Human ability to control the natural world October 15, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: ability, ancient, ascetics, belief, competition, conceptual, control, cultures, curses, events, forms, history, human, influence, magic, magician, means, meditation, miracles, mystical, objects, paranormal, people, perspective, phenomenon, powers, practices, sorcery, spells, spirituality, Supernatural, system, terms, texts, wizards, world
add a comment
I was always interested in the ancient belief in magic from the perspective of history. It was always amazing to learn how different cultures tried to attach to natural phenomenon supernatural powers. After all, magic, sometimes also known as sorcery, was formed as the whole conceptual system that asserted human ability to control the natural world, including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena, through mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. The term can also refer to the practices employed by a person asserting this influence, and to beliefs that explain various events and phenomena in such terms. Even today, as well as in the past, in many cultures, magic is under pressure from, and in competition with, scientific and religious conceptual systems. As a web analyst I had to go through so many Internet documents to understand how ancients view magic. I learned many things about magic when I was doing a new salvo of researches for local funeral home directory too.
So, let’s start with the land of magic, India. All in all, it has been often stated that India is a land of magic, both supernatural and mundane. Hinduism is one of the few religions that has sacred texts like the Vedas that discuss both white and black magic. There are Vedas that deals with mantras that can be used for both good and bad. The word mantrik in India literally means “magician” since the mantrik usually knows mantras, spells, and curses which can be used for or against forms of magic. Many ascetics after long periods of penance and meditation are alleged to attain a state where they may utilize supernatural powers. However, many say that they choose not to use them and instead focus on transcending beyond physical power into the realm of spirituality. Many wizards, called siddhars are said to have performed miracles that would ordinarily be impossible to perform.
