Second-class power December 22, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: ability, beasts, changes, chapter, charms, companion, epic, future, gods, hero, instructions, knowledge, magic, motif, power, secret, shades, tradition, transform, wisdom
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Magic then is a second-class power, it does not compare to the powers of tradition or of the gods. It has to work in secret to achieve its ends. So, although Circe changes Odysseus’ companions into swine, she has no power over Odysseus himself. Magic is defeatable by other magic. And Odysseus’ magic is more acceptable because a legitimate god confers the wisdom of its use to Odysseus. However, Hermes, can’t protect Odysseus from Circe’s physical charms, and the hero does eventually succumbs to the power of the magic user.
This represents the idea that users of magic are not to be trusted because of the powers they are prepared to pursue and use. This is indicated by the fact that Circe can not only transform men into beasts but is also able to predict the future. This ability is linked in with another magical motif of the Odyssey epic, described in later chapter of the book. Following Circe’s instructions, Odysseus digs a trench, pours out an offering to the dead a drink that consists of honey, milk, wine and water, and slaughters two black sheep in such a way that their blood runs into the ditch. This attracts the shades of the dead in flocks and by drinking the blood they regain, for a short time, the ability to communicate with the living and pass on their knowledge of the future.
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
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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.
Beyond Your Imagination 