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
1 comment so far
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 …
Famous mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras December 22, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: ancient, animals, appearance, contradictory, control, documents, examples, fact, famous, figure, interpretation, magical, mathematician, messenger, philosopher, powers, traditions
add a comment
Magical powers were also attributed to the famous mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, as recorded in the days of Aristotle. The traditions concerning Pythagoras are somewhat complicated due to the fact that the number of survived documents are often contradictory in their interpretation of the figure of Pythagoras.
Some of the magical acts attributed to him included being seen at the same hour in two cities. Or a white eagle permitting him to stroke it. A river greeting him with the words “Hail, Pythagoras!” Ancient Greeks also claimed that he could predict, that a dead man would be found on a ship entering a harbor.
Another examples of magical powers of Pythagoras are even wilder. He predicted the appearance of a white bear and declaring it was dead before the messenger reached him bearing the news. And once he bit a poisonous snake to death. These stories hint that Pythagoras was a divine man, and had ability to control animals and to transcend space and time.
Read more …
Shamanic contacts with the spirit world October 24, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: history, spirit, human, ancient, traditions, contact, world, development, magic, information, aboriginal, tribes, shamanic, communities, excitement, paintings, magical, formulations, sources, shamans, adepts, priests, rituals, religions, rites, sacrifice
add a comment
Ancient history provides us with a lot of information about magic. Appearing from aboriginal tribes in Australia and Maori tribes in New Zealand to rainforest tribes in South America, bush tribes in Africa and ancient Pagan tribal groups in Europe and the British Isles, some form of shamanic contact with the spirit world seems to be nearly universal in the early development of human communities. I was observing with excitement at the office of my local web analytics company photos of the ancient cave paintings in France and Germany, that were widely speculated to be early magical formulations, intended to produce successful hunts. While going through other sources I could not help noticing, that much of the Babylonian and Egyptian pictorial writing characters appear derived from the same sources.
Although indigenous magical traditions persist to this day, very early on some communities transitioned from nomadic to agricultural civilizations, and with this shift, the development of spiritual life mirrored that of civic life. Just as tribal elders were consolidated and transformed into kings and bureaucrats, so too were shamans and adepts devolved into priests and a priestly caste. This shift is by no means in nomenclature alone. While the shaman’s task was to negotiate between the tribe and the spirit world, on behalf of the tribe, as directed by the collective will of the tribe, the priest’s role was to transfer instructions from the deities to the city-state, on behalf of the deities, as directed by the will of those deities. This shift represents the first major usurpation of power by distancing magic from those participating in that magic. It is at this stage of development that highly elaborate rituals, setting the stage for formal religions, began to emerge, such as the funeral rites of the Egyptians and the sacrifice rituals of the Babylonians, Persians, Aztecs and Mayans.
European cultural traditions September 12, 2008
Posted by egabriel in Supernatural.Tags: celts, contact, cultural, culture, festival, halloween, holidays, immigrants, myth, physical world, spirits, story, traditions, versions
add a comment
No matter what you say, I think that Halloween is one of the greatest holidays ever. We are already missing it and wait for the next one. I heard more versions about the origin of a Halloween than fingers on both my hands and my toes. Some are no more than a myth. But this story that I found in archives of funeral home directory, seems to be closer to truth than others. So, here it is.
I read that Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland. And that Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world.
Read more …
