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Magic, Witchcraft, Pagans &Christians

A study in the suppression of belief and the rise ofChristianity

Case Studies in Religion: Magic & Witchcraft

Gary R. Varner



Magic, Witchcraft, Pagans & Christians

2

Copyright © 2010 by Gary R. Varner

This work may not be reproduced in any manner without thewritten consent of the publisher and copyright holder.

ISBN: 978-0-557-39932-1

Visit the author’s website:www.authorsden.com/garyrvarner

Cover illustration St. Paul at Ephesus by Gustave Doré

An OakChylde BookPrinted and published in the United States by Lulu Press,

Inc. Raleigh, NC



Contents

Introduction 4

Chapter One: The Treatment of Witches& Magic: The Control of Belief 9

Chapter Two: An Age of Intolerance 24

Chapter Three : Christian Magic 29

Chapter Four: The Use of Charms, Incantations& Curses 41

Chapter Five: Jesus the Magician 59

Chapter Six: Prayer as Magic 69

Chapter Seven: Paul and the Rise of Christianity 77

Chapter Eight: Witchcraft Laws 82

Conclusion 94

About the Author 97

Bibliography 98

Index 103




4

Introduction

he suppression of belief.” It was perhaps the

most pivotal event in the world’s history that

the age-old beliefs of shamanism, folkmagic

and herbal lore were destroyed by a religion which would

eventually dominate a large portion of the world and wield an

incredible amount of power in the hands of politicians.

Such an event was not, of course, a sudden thing. As this

book will show, laws were enacted in ancient Babylon to

control black witchcraft and magic. However, the same

incantations and spells used by black witches were not only

allowed, but encouraged when performed by healers. The three magi reportedly who brought gifts to the

newborn Jesus were magicians—white witches who used

their knowledge of the occult to cure and tell the future.

Richard Kieckhefer wrote that these Zoroastrian priests, by

definition, practiced “’the arts of the magi,’ or ‘the magical

arts,’ or simply ‘magic…Because the magi were foreigners

with exotic skills that aroused apprehension, the term

‘magic’ was a deeply emotional one, rich with dark

connotations. Magic was something sinister, something

threatening.” 1

1 Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press 1990, 10.

“T




5

Obviously, the three magi were not treated as evil persons

but as “wise men” and astrologers in search of a new king.

When did the characterization of wise men and women

change to followers of Satan and of evil in general?

The word “magic” evolved from the Greek “magos” which

referred to the priests and religious specialists of the

Persians. These magi were responsible for rituals, sacrifices

and dream interpretations, which were part of Persian

religion and society. This change in perception began long

before the birth of Jesus, at least by the 5th century BCE in

Greece.

In fact, the Greeks were the first who lumped the magi in

with followers of the ecstatic cults such as the Bacchanals

and followers of the many other secret mystery cults. The

Persians and the Greeks had long been enemies and it is not

outside logic to believe that it may have been a conscious

effort of the Greeks to cast dispersions on the Persians and

their religion. Such tactics have long been successful and

still are in our present day. Fritz Graf noted “…for an Ionianof the end of the archaic era, the magos was put in the same

category as the itinerant experts of private cults, men on the

fringe of society, ridiculed by some, secretly feared by

others…” 2

2 Graf, Fritz. Magic in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

1997, 21-22.




6

For untold thousands of years the cunning man and

woman held important positions in their cultures, treating

illnesses, foretelling the future and acting as intermediaries

with the ordinary person and the gods, goddesses and spirits

of the land. However, after the Greeks successfully cast

doubt on the magi it was a natural development that all

witches, folk healers and cunning men came to be known as

part of society’s fringe, not to be trusted, but rather feared

and avoided.

Institutional magic, however, continued to thrive in the

Ancient World. Rome and Greece and Babylon controlled the

use of magic and what was permitted but it was not

outlawed or driven underground.

In fact, the early Christians accepted that pagans could

foretell the future and heal the ill but only because the

pagans had help from their gods. “But the gods of the

pagans,” wrote Kieckhefer, “were no real gods; from a

Christian viewpoint they were in fact demons. Thus the

thaumaturgy of Greco-Roman paganism was unmasked asdemonic magic.” 3

So while the magi were made into a secretive fringe group

by the Greeks, all magicians, witches and folkhealers were

made into demon worshippers by the Christians. Strangely

enough, magic continued only slightly modified by the

Christian church. Many of the incantations, prayers, and

3 Kieckhefer, op cit., 10.




7

rituals used by pagan religions continue to be used today by

Christians around the world but thinly disguised as litany.

The use of magical rites was believed to “aid the god, who

was the principle of life, in his struggle with the opposing

principle of death.” 4

According to Sir James Fraser, “They imagined that they

could recruit his failing energies and even raise him from the

dead. The ceremonies which they observed for this purpose

were in substance a dramatic representation of the natural

processes which they wished to facilitate; for it is a familiar

tenet of magic that you can produce any desired effect by

merely imitating it. …They set forth the fruitful union of the

powers of fertility, the sad death of one at least of the divine

partners, and his joyful resurrection. Thus a religious theory

was blended with a magical practice. The combination is

familiar in history. Indeed, few religions have ever succeeded

in wholly extricating themselves from the old trammels of

magic.” 5

This book is not to settle the question as to the reality of Jesus either as a man or as a God. Nothing was recorded

about the man during his own time. However, this book will

discuss some tantalizing hints that Jesus may have

practiced magic himself and used his talents to promote

himself as yet another savior. This book is about the practice

4 Fraser, Sir George. Adonis Attis Osiris. New Hyde Park: University Books, 4.

5 Ibid.




8

of magic and how it was manipulated by dominant religions

and power structures which existed and continues to exist

and how such manipulation served to create Christianity and

suppress paganism.

This publication is the first in a series of monographs

exploring various themes in early religion. Future

monographs will focus on amulets and charms, spirits, holy

wells and waters and the development of monotheism.

Special thanks go to Ather Mirza, Director of Press &

Publications in the press office of the University of Leicester

for permission to reprint the photographs of the Leicester

curse tablet in chapter four.




9

Chapter One

The Treatment of Witches & Magic: The Control of Belief

ecause laws were established by Hammurabi,

who ruled in ancient Babylon from 1848-1806

BCE, concerning witchcraft, we know that the

witch has been in existence for thousands of years. Likewise,

the practice of magic, either through accepted or prohibited

means, stretches back to the beginnings of Humankind. It

may be, as Clyde Kluckholm wrote, that witchcraft “may

represent…the vestigal remains of a religious complex

forming part of a generalized Paleolithic culture that was

originally common to all human societies throughout the

world.” 6

Hammurabi’s laws, however, were not as concerned with

the punishments of witches or of witchcraft but rather with

the requirements to prove a charge of witchcraft. Witchcraft

was punished because of the material damages that could be

inflicted but magic was allowed as it was used as a spiritual

or benevolent means.

Some of the earliest records of witches are contained in

the Bible. There are numerous instances recorded in the Old

6 As quoted by Marc Simmons in Witchcraft in the Southwest: Spanish & Indian

Supernaturalism on the Rio Grande. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1980,

5.

B




10

Testament of wizards and others with “familiars and spirits”

existing in the Holy Land and were constantly being “put

away” by Hebrew leaders. In addition, one of the first

documented book burnings occurred in response to Paul’s

instilling the fear of Judaic law against the practice of

witchcraft. Acts 19:18 and 19 reads:

“And many that believed came, and confessed, and

shewed their deeds.

“Many of them also which used curious arts brought their

books together, and burned them before all men: and they

counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces

of silver.”

Even though witchcraft was legislated against in ancient

Israel, it continued as an underground activity—much as it

has throughout history. King Saul in the Old Testament book

of Samuel 1:28 consulted the Witch of Endor out of

desperation when the “oracle of Yahweh” remained silent to

his pleas for a glimpse at the future. Seeking counsel with

the dead Samuel, Saul ordered his servants to seek out “awoman that hath a familiar spirit” 7 so that she could

summon Samuel’s spirit.

Saul went out one night in disguise to see the witch.

Knowing the laws, and knowing that the man was Saul, the

7 A “familiar spirit” in Biblical terms refers to the spirit of a dead person that is

being used by a witch or medium to foretell the future. Using such a spirit or

consulting a witch for these purposes was punishable by death in early Israel.




11

woman was somewhat suspicious, saying that she was aware

he had “cut off those that have familiar spirits” as well as

banning wizards and asked if Saul was attempting to entrap

her so that her actions would “cause me to die”?

Saul assured her, saying, “there shall no punishment

happen to thee for this thing.”

Needless to say, the dead Samuel appeared, telling Saul

that he would soon lose his kingdom to the Philistines and

that Saul and his sons would “to morrow” join those in the

Land of the Dead.

It is interesting to note that the ancient Israelis suffered

death for consulting with wizards and witches but an official

“oracle of Yahweh” was available to the Hebrews to consult.

This inconsistency is addressed in Christian handbooks such

as the New Compact Bible Dictionary that offers this

explanation:

“”’the oracles of God’ would include Christian teaching.

Christians are told to speak as the oracles of God.” 8

An interesting statement since obviously in ancient IsraelChristian teaching did not exist, nor, for that matter,

Christians.

While divination was apparently forbidden to the

Hebrews, the ancient Roman Sibylline prophecies or books of

oracles, inspired later Hebrews to create their own oracular

8 Bryant, T. Alton, ed. The New Compact Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids:

Zondervan Publishing House 1967, 425.




12

books for their own purposes. According to Klauck, “From

the second century BCE onwards, Judaism took over this

literary genre and produced Sibylline oracles, in order to

promote the cause of monotheism, to attack the Roman

empire, to articulate its own messianic hope, and in this way

to express apocalyptic expectations too.” 9 Later Christians

“reworked” these oracle books to declare the “oracle’s”

foretelling of the destruction of Roman paganism.

Ancient prohibitions against magic were primarily

directed to the Jews. However, as Peters noted, such

prohibitions “did not stop these practices, and Greeks,

Romans, Jews, and Early Christians alike appear to have

persisted in consulting magicians well into the fifth and sixth

centuries A.D., and probably long after.” 10

The fear of witches living in ancient Babylon during the

same time of the Old Testament probably caused the same

sort of fear and uneasiness as they caused during the

terrible Burning Times in Europe. In Babylon, witchcraft was

an aspect of daily life, which was “officially disapproved ofbecause of its harmful effects…although its techniques were

probably not very different from those of acceptable white

9

Klauck, Hans-Josef. The Religious Context of Early Christianity. Minneapolis:Fortress Press 2003, 204.10

Peters, Edward. The Magician, the Witch, and the Law. Philadelphia: University

of Pennsylvania Press 1978, 3.




13

magic.” 11 The practice of “White Magic,” however, was a

different matter.

Thomsen noted a very profound difference between the

concept of magic in ancient Babylon and among the later

classical writers. The classical writer was more concerned

with love potions, necromancy and the manipulation of

demons while magical practices of the Babylonians “are

instead prescriptions for communication with the divine.

Their purpose is to purify a person in a real and figurative

sense, to free him from sins and everything which may

disturb his relations to the gods.” 12

One of the main differences perceived between the white

witch and the black witch is one of a physical nature. Our

perception, stemming from our childhood, is that a witch is

old, ugly, with stringy grey hair and hunchbacked.

Unfortunately, deformed people are often feared and rejected

by mainstream society and are often shunned by those who

believe that their deformity was caused by evil forces. The

same occurred in Babylon. Archaeologist E. A. Wallis Budgewrote that the Babylonian witches “were usually men and

woman who were deformed, or who possessed some physical

peculiarity which led their neighbors to believe that they

11 Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient

Mesopotamia. Austin: University of Texas Press 1992, 186.12 Thomsen, Marie-Louise. “Witchcraft and Magic in Ancient Mesopotamia” in

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies.Philadelphia:

University of Pennsylvania Press 2001, 93.




14

were closely associated with devils, and that they sometimes

served as dwelling places for the powers of evil.” 13 These

people were regarded as “more baneful than the devils

themselves” because they contained human intelligence

inside their deformed bodies. Even Horace referred to witches

as “weird and grotesque” as well as ineffectual in the end.14 It

is interesting to note, however, that these practitioners of evil

magic utilized the same powers and rituals as the priests

who practiced White Magic. “The incantation,” Budge

continues, “which in the mouth of a priest made a sick man

well, in the mouth of the witch procured his death.” 15

Women have also been singled out as practitioners of

black magic. While men occasionally were acknowledged,

and punished for crimes of witchcraft, it was the woman who

most always incurred the wrath of law and who were

considered “naturally evil” due to their “lustful ways.”

Perhaps the link between women and witchcraft can be

attributed to Aristotle, who pronounced the female “a

deformity in nature” due to the many folktales of the timetelling of monstrous births by women. One tale in particular

13 Budge, E.A. Wallis. Babylon Life and History. New York: Barnes & Noble

Books 2005, 117.14

Luck, George. “Witches and Sorcerers in Classical Literature” in Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome. Philadelphia: University on

Pennsylvania Press 1999, 123.15

Ibid., 118.




15

was of “the prodigious laying of a clutch of eggs by a human

mother.”16

It is this distinction, a distinction of physical appearance,

labels of “deformity” and material means that have been used

throughout history to accuse, convict and then to burn

witches for their evil acts. This distinction will appear again

and again in this study.

It seems that practitioners of white magic walked a very

fine line, for one complaint or accusation could immediately

cause one to be labeled a witch of the black arts and subject

to punishment or death. This has been true throughout time

and through all forms of society.

White and black witchcraft was treated differently under

Roman law. White witchcraft was not a crime but was

tolerated since it was used mostly for beneficent causes such

as healing and divination. Black magic was always harmful

and was prosecuted as a crime. In ancient Babylon, magic

was commonly practiced, usually as a protective measure.

Enki, god of magic, was consulted to obtain instructions inthe performance of magical-medical rituals. Incantations,

rituals and other forms of magic and sorcery were used to

combat black witchcraft and the evil eye.

The penalties for witchcraft have dramatically changed

over time. During the 7th century, the Archbishop of

16 Warner, Marina. Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds. Oxford: Oxford





16

Canterbury, Theodore, established a set of laws called the

Lieber Poetentialis, which imposed one year penance for

women (note the laws only pertained to women) who used

astrology or five years penance for raised storms; one to ten

years penance for resorting to demons; seven years for the

crime of killing another by use of spells (three of those seven

years the person could only consume bread and water); and

excommunication for anyone practicing as a magician. The

death penalty was never applied in these cases. 17

It would appear that persons who practiced some form of

witchcraft during the early years of Christianity when pagan

traditions were still commonly observed were not as feared as

those wise women, cunning men and witches living in later

“Christian” times. While these times were “Christian,” they

were times when fear reigned and punishment was cruel and

deadly.

Severe punishment of witches in other times and cultures

has also been documented. In Apache society witches were

more often than not killed, either by being shot or burned todeath. Anthropologist Morris Edward Opler who worked with

the Chiricahua Apache at the turn of the 20th century

recorded the following from an Apache informant:

“In olden times when suspected persons came before the

council because they were acting peculiarly, and extreme

17 Alexander, Marc. A Companion to the Folklore & Customs of Britain.

Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Ltd. 2002, 322.




17

measures were taken, like hanging them up by the wrists

and putting wood under as though to light it, they would

sometimes admit that they were witches. This was often

done. I have seen it. If a person confessed, they burned him.

Even if he promises to remove the evil influence, he is

burned. When they have burned they have no more evil

influence. Sometimes they were shot though—any way to get

rid of them.” 18

In some Native American traditions, once a person has

been “witched” it cannot be undone. According to a

Comanche Medicine woman by the name of Sanapia, “one of

the particularly horrible things about witchcraft is that it

cannot be stopped once it is set in motion.”19

Such accusations were serious and often involved the

whole tribe. “When something wrong which affects the whole

group occurs,” Opler reports, “the leader calls in the people

involved, or the important men, or even all the people. For

witchcraft, a council of this sort would be held. The case

would be presented, and the influential men would decidethe punishment. A man can’t accuse another of witchcraft

before the council unless he is absolutely sure of it.” 20

18 Opler, Morris Edward. An Apache Life-Way: The Economic, Social, and

Religious Institutions of the Chiracahua Indians. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press 1941, 252.19 Jones, David E. Sanapia: Comanche Medicine Woman. New York: Holt,

Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology 1972, 9420

Ibid.




18

Of course, the individual is forced to confess and is soon

set afire. The informant stated, however, “witches do not

burn up quickly, they keep on living a long time.” 21

As previously mentioned, many of the ancient civilizations

viewed magic in both a good and bad context. The “good”

form was any spell or charm worked for the benefit of the

society as a whole. “Bad” magic consisted of spells and

charms used for ill, such as in the theft of a neighbor’s crop

or in the interruption of civic trade and social intercourse.

While evil sorcerers and black witches were commonly

punished as social pariahs—punishment even including

death, it was not until the fourteenth-century that witch

trials became wide-spread in Europe and not until the

fifteenth-century that the trials became fearsome rituals of

cruelty, false accusation, and persecution.

This is a tenet of Christianity as well—evil exists but man

has the choice to embrace it or reject it. Moon tells us that

the Navaho hero figure First Man, when accused of being evil

replies “It is true, my children, I am filled with evil. But Iknow when to use it and when to withhold it.” 22

The God of the Judeo-Christians admits to the same. In

Isaiah 45:7 God states “I form the light, and create darkness:

I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”

While many evangelical Christians prefer not to recognize

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid.




19

this claim it is, like First Man’s, evidence that in religious

traditions evil is part of the dual nature of the universe. Good

and evil co-exit and it is up to the individual to act within

their boundaries. It is this dual nature that witchcraft and

shamans utilize. “…’evil,’” Moon relates, “is as intrinsic in the

upward progression as any other element.” 23

As Christianity gained influence in the world, it also

became part of magical systems. Seen repeatedly, Christian

influences are prevalent in both Old and New World

shamanism and witchcraft. More than likely it was the ritual

of Catholicism that influenced the indigenous witch and

shaman to incorporate parts of Christianity into their religio-

magic practices. In addition, it may have been Christian

attitudes and perceptions that caused indigenous cultures to

view magic and witchcraft in a similar manner.

“Much healing was conducted with the aid of Catholic

prayers,” wrote Greenwood and Airey. “Prescriptions of

Paternosters, Aves and the Creed in honour of the Holy

Ghost and the Virgin Mary were common [practices of thecunning folk.]” 24 Jones recorded as well that the Comanche

medicine woman Sanapia “continually prods the patient to

have faith in her powers and the powers of the sun, earth,

23 Moon, Shiela. A Magic Dwells: A Poetic and Psychological Study of the Navajo

Emergence Myth. San Francisco: Guild for Psychological Studies PublishingHouse 1970,.52.24

Greenwood, Susan and Raje Airey. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of

Witchcraft & Practical Magic. London: Hermes House 2006, 104.




20

God, peyote, Jesus, Medicine eagle, and the Holy Ghost.” 25

Obviously, these rituals incorporate a mixture of traditional-

indigenous ritual and Christianity, the shaman does not

want to offend or ignore any powerful deity in her attempt to

achieve success.

The use of Christian themes in magic and witchcraft is

not unusual, nor confined to Native American witchcraft.

Kieckhefer noted, “Secular magic blends at times into

religious observance. Things that are holy in Christian cult

can substitute for magical objects, and things that are

inherently powerful can have their power enhanced through

sacred names or rituals.” 26

However, this practice was not viewed as acceptable by

Church leaders. Friar Henry Parker, writing during the reign

of Edward IV, complained as follows:

“They that use holy wordes of the gospel, Pater noster,

Ave, or Crede, or holy prayers in theyr wytchecraftes, for

charmes or conjurations—they make a fall hye sacrifice to

the fende. It hath oft been knowen, that wytches withsayenge of their Pater noster and droppyng of the holy

candell in a man’s steppes that they hated, hath done his

fete rotten of DI. …But for the wytche worshyppeth the fende

so highly with the holy prayers, and with the holy candell,

25

Jones, David E. Sanapia: Comanche Medicine Woman. New York: Holt,Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology 1972, 82.26

Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge





21

and used suche holy thinges in despyte of God therefore is

the fende redy to do the wytche’s wylle and to fulfill thinges

that they done it for.” 27

A contrary opinion was offered by a Mr. Daniel Rock who

wrote in the March 2, 1850 edition of Notes and Queries that

the spell, using Christian instruments and words, was done

“not only to drive away witchcraft, but guard all the folks in

that house from sickness of every kind.” 28

Obviously, it was the appearance of witchcraft rather

than the actual intent of the magic that caused terror in the

heart of the Church.

In many areas of the world, even today “medicine men” or

women have an active role in their society in treating

illnesses and identifying possible supernatural causes for

illness. In Mexico and Spain, the “curandero” is both healer

and black magician. According to researcher Joe S. Graham,

“it is often difficult to distinguish between a brujo (‘sorcerer’)

and a curandero, because like the brujo, the curandero

sometimes uses black magic to cause injury.”29

The use of “holy water” to expel devils, the use of crossing

oneself to avoid evil events, and the consecration of church

27 Parker, Henry. Compendiouse Treatyse, or Dialogue of Dives and Pauper.

London: T. Berthelet 1536, XXXV.28 Rock, Daniel. “The Fraternity of Christian Doctrine—Chaucer’s Night Charm”

in Notes and Queries, Vol 1 (18) March 2, 1850, 281.29 Graham, Joe S. “The Role of the Curandero in the Mexican American Folk

Medicine in West Texas” in American Folk Medicine: A Symposium. Berkeley:

University of California Press 1976, 180.




22

bells to make them effective against evil spirits and storms

are all examples of magic that, if used by non-Christian

people would be considered “witchcraft.” During the Middle

Ages the Church, according to Keith Thomas, “acted as a

repository of supernatural power which could be dispensed

to the faithful to help them in their daily problems.” 30

A similar mixture of pagan and Christian symbols occurs

within the Louisiana faith healer community. “Religion and

magic,” wrote Lacoucière, “mingle freely in the charms. Hand

in hand go prayers, Christological symbols, anointing and

laying on of the hands, the presence of Christ, the Virgin

Mary, and saints, together with cabalistic numbers and

colors, the magic of alliteration, and circles.” 31 Incantations

are also commonly used.

The relatively quick assimilation of Christian symbols in

witchcraft and shamanism attest to the theory that they are

viewed as valuable tools in both traditions.

The continuation of these practices is evident in a recent

news story about Romanian judge Elena Simionescu. Aspresident of the court of Vatra Dornel, a small town in

eastern Romania, the judge was removed from her post with

her salary reduced by 15% for three months after other

30 Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. London: Penguin Books

1971, 35.31 Lacourcière, Luc. “A Survey of Folk Medicine in French Canada from Early

Times to the Present” in American Folk Medicine A Symposium. Berkeley:

University of California Press 1976, 222.




23

judges, prosecutors, and court staff accused her of

performing rituals and “casting spells.” While the judge did

not deny she splashed water, mud and “other liquids” on the

desks of fellow judges, as well as throwing salt and pepper

about, she said in her defense, “I splash my colleagues’

desks with holy water every day, in the spirit of Christians’

rituals.” 32 It is likely that the judge does believe that she is a

“good Christian” due to the common mixture of ancient

pagan practices and the practice of Christianity to absorb

these old rituals into Christian liturgy.

32 Pancevski, Bojan. “Romanian Judge demoted for witchcraft” in Sunday

Telegraph, February 19, 2007.




24

Chapter Two

An Age of Intolerance

he early years of Christianity were filled with

hostility, suspicion and intolerance. Much of this

can be attributed to the Jewish worship of

Yahweh the admitted “jealous God.” If we accept the Biblicalaccounts of the Jews, we find that many acts of slaughter,

slavery, the destruction of entire cities and genocide were

conducted in the name of Yahweh.

“To the extent that the [Christian] religion has insisted

over the centuries,” wrote David Leeming, “that its way is the

only way and/or that its myths are literally true, it has

developed a militancy and a tendency toward

fundamentalism that have often placed it at odds with the

actual teachings of its de facto founder by instigating or

supporting violence, abuse, and repression.” 33

The early Christians not only attacked paganism as a

belief system but all aspects of pagan thought, “principally

its learned culture, and often denunciation of pagan

literature and philosophy and even identifying them with

33 Leeming, David. Jealous Gods Chosen People: The Mythology of the Middle

East. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2004, 89.

T




25

magic, thus further insulting the pagans who themselves

never identified the two.” 34

Early fundamental Christian thought equated ignorance

with learning, books with witchcraft, and followers of other

faiths as idol worshippers. Much of these attitudes and

biases continue to this day.

Examples of early Christian intolerance include the

murder of pagan scientist/philosopher Hypatia by Christian

monks in the fifth century (415 CE) which effectively stopped

scholarly inquiry in Egypt at that time. St. Cyril, patriarch of

Alexandria, justified Hypatia’s murder “because she was an

iniquitous female who had presumed, against God’s

commandments, to teach men.” 35

Other examples include the destruction of a Jewish

synagogue in 388 and the magnificent library at Alexandria

in 391 CE, again by Christian mobs. Untold thousands of

books of ancient knowledge, perhaps as many as 700,000,

were lost in the fires that gutted the library. Education came

to an end to all who were not Christian clergy. Books otherthan books of devotion were burned, it was illegal for non

clergy to even read the Bible. The intentional destruction of

libraries, schools and books “set humanity back as much as

two millennia in its scientific understanding,” according to

34

Peters, Edward. The Magician, the Witch, and the Law. Philadelphia: Universityof Pennsylvania Press 1978, 4.35

Ellerbe, Helen. The Dark Side of Christian History. Orlando: Morningstar and

Lark 1995, 8.




26

Helen Ellerbe. 36 Due to the Church’s successful attacks on

education, books and free thought the Dark Ages were

inevitable.

“The Christian condemnation of magic,” wrote Peters,

“the association of magicians with the figure of Antichrist,

the fear of heresy, and the borrowing of traditional forms of

Roman invective to condemn both magicians and heretics

constituted the foundation of the Christian attitude toward

both magic and heresy.” 37 Thus Christianity used fear

tactics to control the practice of magic and to squash

paganism and dissent.

Pagans were not the only enemy of the Christians. Jews

were often associated with the Anti-Christ and accused of the

widespread practice of magic. This had been an ongoing

charge of the Romans, which the Christians undertook as

their own. Sorcerers during this time, and into the Middle

Ages, favored the use of Hebrew in their spells which

implicated the Jews as sorcerers as well. “The charge of

sorcery,” wrote Peters, “by the fourth century fixed inassociation with that of diabolism, increased Christian

hatred and fear of the Jew, and the association of Jews with

sorcery enhanced the diabolic attributes of all magic….

36 Ibid., 44.

37 Peters, op cit., 12.




27

[which] aided in the general condemnation of magic by

associating it with an especially hated people.” 38

As previously noted, the Jew did, in fact, delve in magic.

According to Klauck, “Judaism made its own contribution to

magic in the classical period. It was far from being utterly

immune to the adoption of magical practices, and even

without any activity on the part of Jews, the Hebrew and

Aramaic divine names were widely employed among non-

Jews as a well-tried magical instrument.” 39

38

Ibid., 13.39 Klauck, Hans-Josef. The Religious Context of Early Christianity. Minneapolis:

Fortress Press 2003, 213.




28

P. Apian Astronomicum Caesareum 1540




29

Chapter Three

Christian Magic

s indicated earlier, the use of magic is not

confined to pagan religions, Satanists or New Age

followers. Magic has been an accepted part of

traditional Christianity since the Christian religion began.However, it is a matter of perspective with Christians viewing

the use of magic and spells as works of the Devil rather than

as an acceptable religious act, and so the magic and spells

used are classified and defined as liturgy and acts of God.

“During the first few centuries of our era,” noted George

Luck, “Christians were not expressly forbidden to practice

magic.” 40 Beneficial magic, indeed, was allowed to exist, “but

in theory the Church assumed that all magic drew upon the

help of demons whether the magician intended it or not.” 41

During and after the fifth century the Church did take a

more active role to condemn the use of magic and St.

Augustine argued that magic could only be performed with

the help of demons. In fact, much of the Christian liturgy

was used in early “medical” handbooks to cure illness. One

40 Luck, George. “Witches and Sorcerers in Classical Literature” in Witchcraft and

Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome. Philadelphia: University ofPennsylvania Press 1999, 158.41

Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell


A




30

such handbook, the Wolfsthurn book, “recommends not only

Christian prayers but also apparently meaningless

combinations of words or letters for their medical value. At

one point it says to copy out the letters

‘P.N.B.C.P.X.A.O.P.I.L,’ followed by the Latin for ‘in the name

of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ For

demonic possession, the book recommends that a priest

should speak into the afflicted person’s ear the following

jumble of Latin, garbled Greek, and gibberish:

‘Amara Tonta Tyra post hos firabis ficaliri Elypolis starras

polyque lique linarras buccabor uel barton vel Titram celi

massis Metumbor o priczoni Jordan Ciriacus

Valenntinus.’”42

Another handbook called the Munich manual was written

in Latin by someone who was probably a member of the

Catholic clergy. The book gives instructions on summoning

demons with magic circles, commanding spirits and forcing

them to return to their hellish homes once they were no

longer required. Kiechhefer reports that the author adviseshis readers that they will need wax images of people that

they wish to afflict along with rings, swords and other ritual

items. He also requires, for some spells, a sacrifice be made

42 Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge





31

to the evil spirits and the use of burning herbs to act as

magical incense. 43

As Keith Thomas notes, the Church was rather possessive

of those things it considered “legitimate” magic:

“So long as theologians permitted the use of, say, holy

water or consecrated bells in order to dispel storms, there

was nothing ‘superstitious’ about such activity; the

Church…had no compunction about licensing its own brand

of magical remedies.” 44

Today many of these “magical remedies” have survived in

the form of prayer, incantation, holy water, sacred incense,

bells, rituals and holy books.

“While ordinary parish priests may have dabbled in

medicine,” writes Kieckhefer, “they were more likely to

practice other forms of magic.” 45

During the fifth and sixth centuries Christian holy men

were said to make predictions of the future on demand—a

practice the Church condemned if done by others as

demonic. In fact, MacMullen tells us, St. Augustine “hadrelied on this…means of learning divine wishes, in fully

pagan fashion.” 46 Evidently while this act of magic was

43 Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. London: Penguin Books

1973, 303.44

Kieckhefer, op cit., 58.45 Ibid.

46 MacMullen, Ramsay. Christianity & Paganism in the Fourth to Eight

Centuries. New Haven: Yale University Press 1997, 139.




32

condemned by the Catholic Bishops, they also commonly

used it.

One form of magic that the priests were called upon to

use was done to ensure the fertility of fields. Taking a whole

day, the priest, before sunrise, would dig four clumps of soil

from each of the four sides of the affected field. He would

then sprinkle a mixture of holy water, oil, milk and honey on

the clumps of earth along with herbs and fragments of trees.

He would then recite, in Latin, “Be fruitful and multiply, and

fill the earth.” Prayers would then be said. After the prayers,

the four clumps of earth were taken back to the parish

church where four masses were sung over them. Before the

sun set the clumps were moved back to where they had been

taken. The dirt clumps were spread over the field and the

fertile power given to them would, hopefully, result in a good

crop.47

The difference between pagan spell-craft and magic and

that employed by the Christian Church is simply a matter of

terminology. Christian magic is referred to as “ritual power”and acceptable while perhaps identical rituals by other

peoples are “witchcraft” and “sorcery.”

Ancient Christian spells that have been documented

include, among others, such things as healing spells using

the Gospel of Matthew, spells invoking Christ for protection

against illnesses and demons, protective spells that invoke

47 Ibid.




33

the sun, spells for healthy childbirth, erotic attraction spells,

spells to make a woman pregnant, spells for men to attract a

male lover, curses to make a man impotent, spells to obtain

a good singing voice, spells to silence a dog, and spells using

voodoo dolls. All of these have long been associated with

witchcraft; however, they are all Christian spells dating from

the first to the 12th century CE. 48

The Church’s implements of worship were viewed as

powerful amulets. “Wax blessed on the feast of the

Purification,” notes Kieckhefer, “was thought effective against

thunderbolts. Ringing of church bells could safeguard the

parish from storms. …Long sheets of parchment or paper,

inscribed with prayers and then rolled up, could protect their

bearers against sudden death, wounding by weapons, the

slander of false witnesses, evil spirits, tribulations, illness,

danger in childbirth, and other afflictions.” 49

Spells were commonly engraved on Christian amulets in

much the same manner as pagan—in fact, many times there

can be no discernable difference between them. Thiscontinues today with prayers, saints and the outline of fish

depicted on charms and other forms of jewelry. In fact, the

fish symbol is certainly pagan in origin and continues to be

popular among Christians today.

48 Meyer, Marvin W. and Richard Smith, ed. Ancient Christian Magic. Princeton:

Princeton University Press 1994.49

Keickhefer, op cit., 78.




34

The dual nature of charms and amulets, being accepted

and assimilated in a mixed indigenous-Christian culture is

most observable in Mexico and South America. “Having

difficulty accepting the submissive figure of Christ on the

cross as a powerful force” wrote Sheila Paine, “the local

Indians have taken a panoply of minor Christian saints as

talismanic and mixed their portraits with horse-shoes,

anteater hair, white clay, red beans, exotic gold elephants

and shampoo.” 50 Such an eclectic mixture is representative

of the coexistence of natural magic and religious protection.

The spells used by Coptic Christians, according to David

Frankfurter, “demonstrate that the lines between ‘magic,’

medicine, and religion that are customarily assumed in

modern conversation simply did not exist” 51 to the

practitioners during that time.

For the Christian magician and his client it was

important to incorporate as much of the official Church

liturgy as possible “by ritually appealing to powers that are

acknowledged and venerated by the temple or the church,often doing so with the very gestures, articles, and

language…” 52

50 Paine, Sheila. Amulets: Sacred Charms of Power and Protection. Rochester:

Inner Traditions 2004, 72.51 Frankfurter, David. “Healing Spells” in Ancient Christian Magic. Princeton:

Princeton University Press 1994, 79.52

Ibid., 80.




35

The use of magic and spells in Christianity increased

during the Renaissance when “magic was used as a means to

bring higher angelic forces down to the ordinary world.” 53

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a variety of

magical texts were produced. One for the most significant of

these is the Ars Notoria , or Notary Art which was compiled in

the 12th century. Claiming to be a “Holy Art” based on a holy

sacrament given by God to Solomon, it offers prayers and

rituals which would impart increased memory and

understanding as well as scholastic knowledge. The book

also promised the practitioner that he would receive “angelic

revelations.” Obviously, the book became popular with

students.

Another magical book called the Liber iuratus , or “Sworn

Book, was compiled during the early fourteenth century and

was presented “as a defence of magic compiled in response to

the persecutions of magicians by high potentates in the

Church.” 54

According to Page, “its rituals largely conform to aChristian framework with some Jewish borrowings, and the

intermediaries from whom the practitioner seeks his goals

53

Greenwood, Susan. The Encyclopedia of Magic & Witchcraft. London: HermesHouse 2005, 28.54

Page, Sophie. Magic in Medieval Manuscripts. London: The British Library

2004, 44.




36

are the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary as well as various

angels, spirits and demons.” 55

The use of these magical texts was not without risk.

Bartholomew Iscannus, Bishop of Exeter established various

penances in the 12th century. Magic acts used to gain love

received a two-year penance if unsuccessful but five years if

successful. Incantations used to steal milk or honey received

three years, to change the weather or cause mental

confusion in men five years, the performance of magic to

cause impotence received five years but using charms to heal

a sick child only received a 40 day penance. Most of these

magical texts were used by a variety of clerics to either gain

spiritual knowledge or material gain.

Magic has always been an integral part of Christianity

and continues today in Catholicism. Protestant sects,

however, have always rallied against magic and this attitude

is one of the basic tenets of the Protestant faith, which

resulted in the Reformation and the attempted destruction of

Catholicism. Under Protestant rule during the Reformation,Christians were forbidden to undertake such “magical”

practices as “…casting holy water upon his bed…bearing

about him holy bread, or St. John’s Gospel…ringing of holy

bells; or blessing with the holy candle, to the intent thereby

to be discharged of the burden of sin, or to drive away

55 Ibid., 45.




37

dreams and fantasies; or…putting trust and confidence of

health and salvation in the same ceremonies.” 56

Witches brewing a hailstorm, from De Ianijs et phitonicis mulierbus by Ulrich Molitor, 1489

It is ironic that Protestants viewed the Catholic Church as

Satanic when the Catholic Church was responsible for the

witch trials in the first place. A 16th century woodcut of a

Protestant caricature of Pope Alexander VI shows him as a

56 Ibid., 80.




38

demon. It is interesting to note, however, that the Catholic

nations had a much less intense witch-hunt than Protestant

nations. Some scholars have suggested that beliefs in

witchcraft and the resulting slaughter was due to the

Reformation and the religious struggle that it caused.

Pope Alexander VI depicted as a demon by the Protestants.

Spells were, as indicated previously, used everyday by ordinary

people. James reminds us that mothers in ancient Egypt would use

incantations when they put their children to bed to “invoke divine




39

aid against malign influences which they believed were on the alert

to perform their nefarious deeds.” 57

Like the early Greeks and Romans, the early Christians

also tolerated, if not embraced, neutral or beneficial magic.

The difficulty, as Kieckhefer relates, “was in telling whether a

particular practice did or did not involve appeal to

demons.”58 Demonic magic was never tolerated in Christian

or any other society. “One of the most common tests,”

Kieckhefer continues, “was whether [a particular

practice]…contained unintelligible words that might in fact

be names for demons.” 59

While charms and spell-craft were considered “heathen”

practices (“heathen” a term applied to those living in

uncultivated, wild and forested lands—in other words,

“peasants”) it was not entirely so. James Scott, the Duke of

Monmouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II and pretender

to the British throne, was arrested in the early 1680’s and

banished from the country. On his arrest, a “pocket-book” of

handwritten “spells, charms, and conjurations, songs,

receipts, and prayers” 60 was recovered.

57 James, E.O. The Ancient Gods: The History and Diffusion of Religion in the

Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. Edison: Castle Books, 240.58

Kieckhefer, op cit., 37.59 Ibid.

60 Madden Sir F. “The Duke of Monmouth’s Pocket-books” in Notes and Queries,

Vol. IV, No. 88, Saturday, July 5, 1851, 2.




40

Among the items contained in the book were “magical

receipts and charms in French, written partly in abbreviated

form, accompanied by cabalistic figures. Two of these are to

deliver a person out of prison…” 61

The book also contained incantations to turn gray hair

black, protection against violent death and deliverance from

“pains.”

Christians commonly used amulets of other cultures.

According to Venetia Newall, “Because of their reputation,

Jewish amulets were greatly prized. The fanatical

Chrysostom 62 accused the Jews of proselytizing by offering

charms and certainly numbers of medieval amulets with

Hebrew inscriptions were prepared specifically for use by

Christians, perhaps because the unintelligible script lent

them an aura of the supernatural.” 63

61 Ibid.

62 St. John Chrysostom, or “Golden Mouth,” was the Bishp of Constantinople

during the late fourth to early fifth century. He was well known for his destructionof pagan symbols and temples as well as an early proponent of anti-Semitism.63

Newall, Venetia. “The Jew as a Witch Figure” in The Witch in History. New

York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. 1996, 109.




41

Chapter Four The Use of Charms, Incantations & Curses

ne typical form of ancient charms and amulets,

tools used to affect a curse, are the small

human form figures commonly referred to today

as voodoo dolls. Originally known as kolossi in Greek, they

are not nearly as common as lead tablets but they are far

older. Made of lead, wax, bronze, clay, mud, and dough,

these dolls have been dated to the 10th century BCE, the

oldest curse tablet yet found has been dated to the 5th

century BCE. Actual voodoo dolls have been found from the

Imperial Roman era in a riverbed and a sewer.

Voodoo dolls were used for “binding” magic. Ogden

describes many of the dolls from ancient Greece and Rome:

“1) the doll’s arms or legs are twisted behind its back as if

bound;

2) the doll is transfixed with nails;

3) the head or feet or upper torso of the doll has been

twisted back to front;

4) the doll is tightly shut in a container;

5) the doll has been inscribed with a victim’s name; and

O




42

6) the doll has been discovered in a grave, sanctuary or in

(what was) water.” 64

In antiquity, acts of magic, including spell-craft through

incantation, were not considered as any form of opposition to

the established religion. Ancient Rome’s law code, called the

Twelve Tables , only prohibits evil incantations—not

beneficial spell-craft. Scholar Marie-Louis Thomsen wrote,

“They were not regarded as superstitious or forbidden, or

laughed at. The rituals called ‘magical’ were the ordinary way

of dealing with illness and misfortune and whatever

disturbed the relations between man and god. In the eyes of

the Mesopotamians they represented an old and divine

knowledge and their performers were learned men with a

high social status.” 65

Magic was a primary agent to combat illness. “Pliny the

Elder,” wrote Hans-Josef Klauck, “inserts a small

dissertation on magic into a book dealing with medicines; we

learn here that Theophrastus knew a magic spell against

sciatica, Cato a spell against dislocation of the limbs, andVarro a spell against gout in the feet…” 66

64 Ogden, Daniel. “Binding Spells: Curse Tablets and Voodoo Dolls in the Greek

and Roman Worlds,” in Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and

Rome. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1999, 3.65 Thomsen, Marie-Louise. “Witchcraft and Magic in Ancient Mesopotamia” in

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies. Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press 2001, 14.66

Klauck, Hans-Josef. The Religious Context of Early Christianity. Minneapolis:

Fortress Press 2003, 211.




43

A sorcerer may yield tremendous power by using his or

her ability to make others ill to the point of death. Such

ability may be used intentionally or unintentionally but will

result in the same end. Anthropologist Beatrice Blyth

Whiting, who studied Paiute sorcery, noted in her 1950

study, “When a sorcerer is angry, he may unintentionally kill

someone in one of the following ways: he may think bad

thoughts about the individual without being aware of his

thoughts; in a fit of temper he may express aggressive wishes

about an individual without the intention of injuring him; or

he may dream bad dreams about an individual. In the latter

case, the victim may have dreams in which the sorcerer’s

power appears.”67

Many individuals appear to have been accused of

witchcraft due to personality defects more than anything

else. One example recorded by Whiting was in the case of a

man named Tom who lived near Fort Bidwell in Oregon in

the 1930s. Tom was regarded as “mean”; he supposedly beat

his children for little reason, was said to be “aggressive incompetitive games and was domineering and threatening in

his relationship with other tribal members. Naturally, he was

accused of witchcraft because of his lack of control and

disregard for societal norms. 68

67 Whiting, Beatrice Blyth. Paiute Sorcery: Viking Fund Publications in

Anthropology Number Fifteen. New York: The Viking Fund 1950, 56.68

Ibid. 61.




44

Anyone who exhibited similar characteristics during the

Middle Ages was also regarded as a witch or sorcerer. Such

charges were a way to enforce cultural norms in behavior

and group cooperation.

There are, of course, instances where people have and do

desire to create harm and use many of the typical methods of

witchcraft to achieve their goal—through spell-craft.

Perhaps one of the oldest forms of spell-craft using

incantations is that of “metrical charms”—simple rhymes

that have carried over into contemporary cultures as nursery

rhymes.

The power of language, of particular words and sounds,

has long been valued by cultures which have not invested

their entire experience in obtaining knowledge through the

written word. While I cannot think of a world without books,

it is, sad to say, the written language which has robbed

modern man of his ability to utilize his mind as once was

done.

Caesar reported that the Druids underwent 20 years ofintense education. A huge number of verses and oral history

had to be mastered before an initiate could pass the Druidic

training. None of the required training could be committed to

writing. Likewise Australian aborigine societies continue to

educate their young in a similar fashion, as did Native

Americans at one time.




45

Incantations by verse were perhaps the first form of spell-

craft. Spence reports one such spell used to bind an

individual to a particular task. Called the “nine fulfillments

of the fairy woman” it ran as follows:

To lay thee under spells and crossesunder (pain of being struck by) the ninecow-fetters of the wildly roaming,traveler-deluding fairy woman,

So that some sorry little wight more feebleand misguided than myself

Take thy head, thine ear and thy life’scareer from thee. 69

Another example of a spell called a fath-fifth or fith-fath

which supposedly causes invisibility is, according to Spense:

A magic cloud I put on thee,From dog, from cat,From cow, from horse,From man, from woman,From young man, from maiden,And from little child. Till I again return. 70

The term fith-fath , pronounced “fee-fa” survived in ournursery rhymes as the giant’s chant “fee-fo-fum” in Jack and

the Beanstalk.

Another example of an incantation is found in

Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

69 Spence, Lewis. The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain. Mineola: Dover Publications,

Inc.1999, 62.70

Ibid., 60.




46

“Double double, toil and trouble…”

Other rhyming incantations were said to be used to

transform a witch into an animal, in this example it was

used to shape-shift into a hare:

I shall go into a hare,With sorrow and sigh and mickle care;

And I shall go in the Devil’s nameAy while I come home again.

As previously noted, the Roman Twelve Tables only

prohibited spells used to harm others, not those used for the

good of society. Fritz Graf, professor of classics at Princeton

University, sums up the intent of the Twelve Tables :

“The Romans evidently believed in the powerful efficacy of

certain vocal rites, the carmina , one could incantare or

excantare . But we do not know whether the negative value of

these terms is peculiar to them or whether it comes from the

context…The same law of the Twelve Tables also uses

Carmen in the neutral sense of verbal composition, accordingto Cicero: ‘If any person had sung or composed against

another person a song such as was causing slander or insult

to another…’ As defamatory songs, these carmina also have a

destructive force…” 71


1997, 42.




47

The use of sound to control weather, or at least to cause

rain, was practiced in the Ozarks in the United States up to

the early part of the 20th century. According to Vance

Randolph “Singing late at night is said to ‘fetch on a shower,’

as explained in the little rhyme:

Sing afore you go to bed,You’ll get up with a wet head.” 72

Egypt has had a long history of using magical

incantations. Some of the oldest and most complete magical

texts still in existence date to the first century BCE. Magical

names and characters were common but also the simple use

of long magical words repeated over and over.

Religion historian Richard Kieckhefer wrote “papyri

sometimes repeat long magical words, progressively abridged

with each repetition, such as:

ablanathanablanamacharamacharamarachablanathanablanamacharamacharamara

ablanathanablanamacharamacharamar

“And so forth, until nothing but the initial ‘A’ remains.” 73

At the same time, Kieckhefer noted, “magicians in the

72 Randolph, Vance. Ozark Magic and Folklore. New York: Dover Publications,

Inc. 1964, 31. 73

Kieckhefer, op cit, 20.




48

Mediterranean world were devising other magical words like

‘abracadabra’ and ‘abraxas’ to use on amulets or papyri.” 74

“Abracadabra” is a widespread incantation normally used

today in cartoons or by persons not knowing its significance

that, according to Mare Köiva, “has gradually taken on the

meaning on the unknown and the unintelligible.” 75

“Abraxas” is an interesting word supposedly derived from

“the holy name of God.” The sum of the seven letters equals

365 or the number of days in a year. 76

“The most powerful and terrible magical spells in the

Judaeo-Christian tradition,” according to Jeffrey Russell,

“used the Tetragammaton (YHWH, the four transliterated

Hebrew letters of the Name of God), preferably reversed.” 77

The use of “magical words” became very popular during

the Middle Ages and have been linked to cabalistic texts.

Many of the written incantations were accompanied with

graphic designs such as circles, squares, crosses, images of

the sun, etc. These magic words were often arranged in

circles or squares, called palindromes, in which each letterand word may have specific meanings. During the Middle

74 Ibid.75

Köiva, Mare. “Palindromes and Letter Formulae: Some Reconsiderations” in

Folklore, Vol. 8, December 1998. Published by the Institute of Estonian

Language, Tartu, 21.76 Ibid., 29.

77 Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Itchaca: Cornell





49

Ages they were utilized by the Muslims and cabalists but

have been found in Coptic scrolls as well.

Köiva notes “In the 18ths century at the apogee of the use

of the formula (in Estonia), the incantation was attached to

planks, clay tablets or plates that were put up on the walls of

houses or outhouses. At times of war and extensive fires

such incantations were burnt in order to prevent fire.” 78

This formula was used in Estonia for protection from fire,

rabies, snakebite, swelling, toothache, bleeding and to

ensure successful hunting ventures.

In many areas of the world, magic and spell-casting is

still a very important function in survival. The Qemant, an

ethnic Pagan-Hebraic group that lived in Ethiopia prior to

the civil war there, practiced “white” magic to counteract the

power of malevolent magic and witchcraft. According to

anthropologist Frederick Gamst who studied the Qemant,

“magic is practiced by all shamans, by certain knowledgeable

peasants of any ethnic group, and by some religious

practitioners of the Christian and Muslim faiths.”79

Qemant sorcerers, who practice black magic, rely on

incantations and “objects of medicine” for their spells. All of

this may be counteracted by the shaman who practices

“white magic” using primarily the same methods.

78

Ibid., 23.79 Gamst, Frederick C. The Qemant: A Pagan-Hebraic Peasantry of Ethiopia.

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Case Studies in Cultural Anthopology

1969, 54.




50

Perhaps the most feared product of magic is the curse.

We know from the number of lead “curse tablets” and voodoo

dolls found in the ancient world, from the Mediterranean

countries to Roman occupied Britain, that most everyone at

one time or another practiced spell-craft—and not always for

benevolent purposes.

More than 1600 curse tablets have been discovered so far

and the majority are written in Greek, at least 130 have been

found at the Roman spa known as Bath in England.

Researchers suspect that close to 500 additional tablets are

still waiting to be uncovered at Bath. Those that are not

written in Greek are in Latin, which have been found in the

Western regions of the Roman Empire.

The oldest tablets date to at least the 5th century BCE and

were concerned with business curses, theatrical

competitions, or erotic-attraction spells. From the 4th century

BCE to the 4th century CE the focus was on erotic-attraction

or those having to do with athletic contests.80 The popularity

of the curse tablet lasted until at least the 6th

century CE. That curse tablets were used for such a long period,

approximately one-thousand years, indicates that they were

effective. Klauck noted, however, that “the usefulness of such

actions should not be sought one-sidedly in the way they

80 Ogden, Daniel. “Binding Spells: Curse Tablets and Voodoo Dolls in the Greek

and Roman Worlds” in Witchcraft and Magic in Europe; Ancient Greece and

Rome. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1999, 4.




51

effected other people; it is not the external world that is

changed by magic, but the inner world of the one who

practices it.” 81 While the tablets may not have resulted in

the actual desired outcome, stress, tension and the feelings

of helplessness were undoubtedly relieved.

Luck reports that many curse tablets appear to have been

written by the same person signifying that a professional

sorcerer was producing such tablets. “Some of these

professionals,” he wrote, “probably worked for lawyers whose

clients were desperate to win their cases.” 82 Many people

today would agree that lawyers have a similar relationship

with such sorcerers.

Ogden reports that the most important aspect of the

curse tablet was its deposition. “There were five major

contexts for this,” he writes “in a grave, in a chthonic

sanctuary, in a body of water, in a place of specific relevance

to the curse or its victim, or in a non-chthonic sanctuary. A

recipe for the manufacture of a curse tablet recommends

that it be deposited in ‘river, land, sea, stream coffin orwell.”83

“A variation of the idea of depositing curse tablets in

graves,” noted Ogden, “was to deposit them on a battlefield

or in a place of execution. The 200 or so fragments of tablets

81

Kluck, Hans-Josef. The Religious Context of Early Christianity. Minneapolis:Fortress Press 2003, 226.82

Luck, op cit., 108.83

Ogden, op cit.15.




52

from Amathous in Cyprus were deposited in a particularly

appropriate site…They were found at the bottom of a shaft

under a mass of human bones.” 84

Treated like legal documents as compacts between the

solicitor and the Gods, the tablets were tossed into the water

to obtain justice and love, ensure winnings at the racetrack,

and to request retribution for perceived wrongs. Curse

tablets and binding spells were so common in antiquity that

even Plato, in his Republic , remarked how cheaply they could

be obtained. While not all curse tablets were left at wells or

springs, during the imperial period at least, water became

the preferred place of deposition. Wells, springs and other

underground water sources were believed to have

“sympathetic significance” and the cold water was an easy

way to “set”, or “bind”, the tablet and the victim. It has been

noted by researchers that one of the tablets from Bath “prays

that its victims should become as liquid as water”. 85

While there were certain “recipes” for the completion of a

curse tablet and many had exotic additions of Egyptian or Jewish influence, there was no specific “witch” responsible

for them nor were the creators in any way tied to any formal

witchcraft. However, the traditions at the time allowed for

these formalized curses to be created by the general populace

to resolve various personal issues.

84 Ibid., 17.

85 Ibid., 23.




53

Ogden points out that curse tablets were not considered

unusual and in reality were part of the “ordinary religious

practice in the ‘prayers for justice’ category,’ in which tablets

can be phrased as quite normal prayers to mainline deities.”

86 While this practice may seem to embrace witchcraft today,

in the ancient world “any curse tablet that appeals to a

mainline deity, directly or indirectly, cannot be excluded

from the sphere of ‘religion.’” 87

The most recent example of a curse tablet discovered thus

far was uncovered during the 2005-2006 excavation in

Leicester, England. Archaeologists from the University of

Leicester, during an excavation on Vine Street in the city’s

historic core, found a lead curse tablet dating to the second

or third century CE.

The handwritten Latin script was translated to read as

follows:

“To the god Maglus, 88 I give the wrongdoer who stole the

cloak of Servandus. Silvester, Riomandus (etc.)…that he

destroy him before the ninth day, the person who stole thecloak of Servandus…”89 The tablet then lists 19 possible

suspects. According to Richard Buckley, co-Director of the

University’s Archaeological Services, “most curses seem to

86 Ogden op cit., 85.87

Ibid.88 “Maglus” is believed to be a title such as “prince” in Celtic.

89 “University of Leicester archaeologists unearth ancient curse.” Press release

from University of Leicester, November 30, 2006.




54

relate to thefts and typically the chosen god is asked to do

harm to the perpetrator. It has been suggested, on the basis

of name forms and the value of items stolen, that the curses

relate to the lives of ordinary people, rather than the wealthy,

and that they were perhaps commissioned by the dedicator

from a professional writer.” 90

Graf notes that the texts written on the lead or papyri

“are prayers, ritualistic utterances to which writing gives

unalterable permanence. At the same time that the spell was

engraved on lead, it was spoken.” 91 The vocalization was

performed as an act to “accompany and describe the ritual

action.” 92

Water acts as an energy source, to “electrify” objects, and

plays an important part in both magic and religion. Water is

a conductor of information, including spells and curses. One

curse found in a well in Attic was addressed: “I am sending

this letter to Hermes and Persephone…”. 93 The sender was

relying on the water’s ability to transport the request to the

underworld.

90 Ibid.91

Graf, Fritz. Magic in the Ancient World. trans. by Franklin Philip. Cambridge:Harvard University Press 1997, 207.92

Ibid.93

Graf, op cit, 131.




55

Leicester Lead Curse Tablet(Photo courtesy University of Leicester)

Martin Shore, senior site supervisor, with the curse tablet heexcavated at Leicester. (Photo courtesy University of Leicester)




56

Curses were commonly inscribed on papyrus, paper, wax

or lead tablets and slate. “Cursing wells” were not

uncommon in Wales. To be effective, the well had to have a

northern exposure.

Merrifield reports that, at least in Anglesey, Wales, “slate

seems to have been considered a specially appropriate

material for cursing…Perhaps because of its leaden colour.”94

A specific ritual was also required to place curses at the

Anglesey “cursing well”:

“A slate with the name of the person to be cursed

scratched upon it, or a wretched frog pierced with pins, was

thrown into the well by the curser, who then crawled round

the well against the path of the sun, uttering appropriate

curses. This was called ‘well-wishing’, signifying the exact

opposite of the ordinary meaning of that term.” 95

Rhys wrote about this Welsh cursing well, called Ffynnon

Elian, in his book Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx:

The priestess of the well “kept a book in which she

registered the name of each evil wisher for a trifling sum ofmoney. When this had been done, a pin was dropped into the

well in the name of the victim. …the trade in curses seems to

94 Merrifield, Ralph. The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. New York: New

Amsterdam Books 1987, 155.95

Ibid.




57

have been a very thriving one: its influence was powerful and

widespread.” 96

Those who had been named as victims could also pay a

small sum and have their names removed from the book.

In ancient Greece, even the State instituted formal

curses to defend itself. One was all-inclusive, defending

Greece from harmful spells or poisons, obstruction of the

transportation of corn in Greek territory, rebellion, and the

betrayal of public officials. The curse, inscribed in stone,

read, “If anyone in office does not perform this curse at the

statue of Dynamis when the games are convened at the

Anthesteria or the festival of Heracles or that of Zeus, he is to

be the object of the curse.” In addition, it cautions, “If anyone

breaks the inscription on which this curse has been written,

or chips off the letters, or rubs them smooth, he is to die,

himself and his family with him.” 97

96 Rhys, John. Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx. New York: Gordon Press 1973,

397.97 Ogden, Daniel. Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds.

Oxford: Oxford University Press 2002, 275-276.




58




59

Chapter Five Jesus the Magician

hristians think of Jesus as the Savior of

Mankind. The champion of good over evil, of

light over darkness. However, the first

Christians, as well as the Hebrews, viewed Jesus in a much

different way.

A bowl dating from the 2nd or 3rd century BCE to the 1st

century CE was discovered by French marine archaeologist

Franck Goddio in 2008 in the underwater ruins of

Alexandria’s ancient harbor. On the bowl was an engraving

interpreted to read “DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS” or “byChrist the magician.” While present day Christians will most

likely refute the find, it was not an unusual belief in those

early years of the new religion. Goddio noted, “It could very

well be a reference to Jesus Christ, in that he was once the

primary exponent of white magic.” 98

The belief that Jesus practiced magic was certainly

proposed in the 2nd century and most likely during the first.

His name suddenly appeared in Egyptian magical texts in the

4th century CE. Klauck wrote, “this is not without further ado

98 “Earliest Reference Describes Christ as ‘Magician,”

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/01/jesus-bowl-print.html accessed

3/8/2010

C




60

proof of the Christian provenance of such recipes, but rather

of the profoundly syncretistic orientation of magic.”99

Early religious expression was handled by priests or

shamans, as it continues to be today. Those early priests

were most likely magicians as well. Magicians assisted in the

control of society and to add to the power of the political

leader. At times these magicians became that political power.

There is a long history of the use of magic by Hebrew

leaders which predate Jesus. Renowned Egyptologist E.A.

Wallis Budge wrote “the great legislator Moses ‘was learned

in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’…and there are numerous

features in the life of this remarkable man which shew that

he was acquainted with many of the practices of Egyptian

magic.” 100 In fact, early texts refer to Moses as an especially

gifted magician.

According to Budge, “The turning of a serpent into what

is apparently an inanimate, wooden stick, and the turning of

the stick back into a writhing snake, are feats which have

been performed in the East from the most ancient period;and the power to control and direct the movements of such

venomous reptiles was one of the things of which the

Egyptian was most proud, and in which he was most skilfull,

already in the time when the pyramids were being

99

Klauck, Hans-Josef. The Religious Context of Early Christianity. Minneapolis:Fortress Press 2003, 213.100

Budge, E.A. Wallis. Egyptian Magic. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner

1899,4.




61

built….But although we are told by the Hebrew writer that

the Egyptian magicians could not imitate all the miracles of

Moses, it is quite certain that every Egyptian magician

believed that he could perform things equally marvelous by

merely uttering the name of one of his gods…and there are

many instances on record of Egyptian magicians utterly

destroying their enemies by the recital of a few words

possessed of magical power, and by the performance of

some, apparently, simple ceremony.” 101

Exorcism, the act of casting demons from possessed

individuals, is an act of magic. Interestingly enough the

exorcism is a Judeo-Christian tradition. Ogden wrote, “The

exorcist concerned are always Jewish or Christian, or

projected as acting, somehow, in the Judeo-Christian

tradition. It is accordingly most likely,” he continues, “that

the pagan imported the practice of exorcism…from Jewish

culture.” 102 Ogden’s conclusion based on the Judeo-

Christian tradition of sorcery, is that “it is hardly surprising

that some pagans should have viewed Jesus himself as asorcerer.” 103 Graf elaborates on the use of exorcism:

“Although they were acquainted with possession and

exorcism, the pagans did not confound them with the

binding rituals, where, in their eyes, the demonic helper of

101

Ibid., 6.102 Ogden, Daniel. Night’s Black Agents: Witches, Wizards and the Dead in the

Ancient World. London: Hambledon Continuum 2008, 100.103

Ibid., 102.




62

the sorcerer did not possess his victim, but tortured him. It

is thus Christianity who broadens the field of exorcism by

making it the most common means for resolving any problem

in which superhuman forces come into play.” 104

In Acts 16: 16-18 Paul exorcises a “divination” demon

from a young girl and finds that the community is not

supportive of his actions, which took their soothsayer’s

ability away. Paul was stripped, whipped and put in a

stockade. Evidently, not all magical acts are entirely

successful.

We see consistently that “miracles” are linked to some

practice of magic and these acts become “miracles” by some

definition given by priests or other cultural leaders of a

religious tradition. Christian’s see the acts of Jesus as

miracles but regard those same acts by pagans as sorcery or

deception.

The Bible said that Jesus practiced magic and he proved

his ability through the performance of miracles. According to

The New Compact Bible Dictionary , a large tribe of magicians“which used curious arts” led by the seven sons of a Jew

named Sceva who was the chief priest of the Hebrews was

responsible for teaching the magical arts to other Jews.

According to Ogden, “some itinerant exorcist, the seven sons

of Sceva, the chief priest of the Jews, tried to deploy the


1997, 162.




63

name of Jesus in one of their exorcisms, but with disastrous

results.” 105 Reportedly, the demon mocked the exorcists,

beat them and turned them out naked and bleeding. The

message was that without faith using Jesus as a tool would

fail.

Early Coptic texts seem to add a bit of credence to Jesus

as magician. According to Turner and Coulter, these books

“tells of Jesus praying to his father by addressing him by

various magical names: Aeeiouo, Iao, Aoi, and others.” 106

Other legends speak of Jesus creating toy doves out of clay

and bringing them to life by breathing into them.

While few references of Jesus are found in Rabbinic

literature those that do exist depict Jesus as a “mamzer”—a

child born in an adulterous union between a Jewish woman

and a Roman soldier. According to Jewish lore, Jesus was

“excommunicated by one of the rabbis after a

misunderstanding and thereafter left Jewish religion,

worshipped idols and led Israel astray.”107 Additionally Jesus

reportedly was defeated in a magical contest with a Rabbiand sentenced to death for sorcery. The Christian belief that

Jesus was the Son of God was viewed by the Jews as

idolatry.

105 Ogden, Daniel. Night’s Black Agents: Witches, Wizards and the Dead in the

Ancient World. London: Hambledon Continuum 2008, 102.106

Turner, Patricia and Charles Russell Coulter. Dictionary of Ancient Deities.Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000, 250.107

Unterman, Alan. Dictionary of Jewish Lore & Legend. New York: Thames and

Hudson 1991, 104.




64

Joel Carmichael, in his book The Birth of Christianity:

Reality and Myth , proposes that Jesus was executed by the

Romans as an enemy of the State for stirring up the Jews

rather than as a promised sacrificial god. In fact, early

Christians such as Matthew saw Jesus as leading a

movement of Jewish renewal rather than as a new religious

order. Carmichael argues that Jesus was not hailed as the

Son of God until Paul provided an organizational structure,

and much energy, to create the Christian movement. After

the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE Paul’s

writings took on a life of their own and became the core

doctrine of Christianity.

That Jesus was widely regarded as a magician during his

time has been quietly and effectively swept under the carpet.

According to Graf, “The pagans who called the Christ a

magician knew what they were talking about and could

confirm their accusations by drawing on Christ’s biography:

had he not, in his youth, spent some years in Egypt?” 108

Egypt was the seat of learning for many magicians.Underground, secret chambers were centers of learning

where magic and the occult were taught. Graf goes on to

state “It was thus affirmed that he [Jesus] was a magician

and that he had performed his miracles through hidden

techniques; supposedly he had learned these techniques in


1997, 91.




65

the secret chambers of Egyptian temples, along with the

names of powerful ‘angels’ and certain secret doctrines. This

is a very precise accusation.” 109

Pagans at the time were quick to call Jesus a magician for

he was not performing any miracle that other magicians had

not done as well. Graf wrote that the “bellicose pagan” Celsus

“makes Christ a magician also, but a rather entertaining

one…Celsus…likens Christ’s miracles to the works of the

sorcerers, who promise to perform rather surprising things,

and to the achievements of the Egyptians.” 110 After all,

pagan magicians were known to perform miracles in public

squares such as driving demons out of men, curing illnesses,

bringing forth lavish meals, “and make move as living what is

not really so, but appears so to the imagination.” 111

“Even these miracles,” wrote Barbara Walker of Jesus’

acts, “were derivative. Turning water into wine at Cana was

copied from a Dionysian ritual practiced at Sidon and other

places. In Alexandria the same Dionysian miracle was

regularly shown before crowds of the faithful, assisted by aningenious system of vessels and siphons…Demeter of Eleusis

multiplied loaves and fishes in her role of Mistress of Earth

and Sea.” 112 In addition, walking on water could be

109 Ibid., 90.110

Ibid., 108.111 Ibid.

112 Walker, Barbara G. The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. Edison:

Castle Books 1996, 466.




66

accomplished by anyone with the aid of a “powerful demon,”

according to the Magic Papyri.

While the miracles may have been identical, Kersey

Graves noted in 1875, “Christians are in the habit of

assuming that all the miraculous reports in the bible are

unquestionably true, while those reported in pagan bibles

are mere fables and fiction. But if they will reverse this

proposition, it can be easier supported, because we have

shown their miracles are better attested and authenticated.

Their own bible admits that the heathen not only could and

did perform miracles, but miraculous prodigies of the most

astonishing character, equal to anything reported in their

own religious history—such as transmuting water into blood,

sticks into serpents, and stones into frogs.” 113

The word “magician” has different connotations

depending on its usage. While it speaks of those who cast

spells, practice divination, raise the dead, etc it also meant

“conjurer” and swindler.

Fourth century CE pagan Hierocles complained thatChristians “prattle out their exaltations of Jesus all over the

place, with the claim that he made the blind see and

performed miracles of this sort. For what reason did I bring

this subject up? So that you may be able to compare and

contrast our accurate and solid judgment on each point with

113 Graves, Kersey. The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Christianity Before

Christ. Kempton: Adventures Unlimited Press 2001, 315-316.




67

the gullibility of the Christians. For we consider a man who

has done such things not a god, but a man that is pleasing

to the gods. But they proclaim Jesus a god on the basis of a

few wonders.

Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee.

“This too,” he continues, “is worth thinking about. Peter

and Paul and others of their ilk have exaggerated Jesus’

exploits. These men were liars, they were uneducated and

they were sorcerers.” 114

114 As quoted in Daniel Ogden’s book, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the

Greek and Roman Worlds. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2002, 67-68.




68

It is interesting that Peter and Paul, two of Christianity’s

hero’s, were regarded as “uneducated…sorcerers” which

links early Christianity to the practice of magic.

Even earlier Greek Christian Origen, in 249 CE, wrote

that Jesus’ miracles were equal to the acts of sorcerers,

“since they undertake to perform somewhat miraculous

feats, and with the achievements of the disciples of the

Egyptians, those who sell their sacred learning for a few

obols in the middle of the market, expel demons from people,

blow diseases away and call up the souls of dead heroes.” 115

To be fair we must acknowledge that animosity between

pagan and Christian was rampant during those early years

when Christianity was threatening to reduce paganism to a

second-class system of belief or replace it altogether.

However, it is important to understand as well that thinkers

during the first and second century following Jesus’ death

continued to equate his acts with those of magicians—not of

a god.

115 Ibid.




69

Chapter Six

Prayer as Magic

ost people who pray, be they Christian, Jew,

Moslem or Pagan, may not realize that they

are not simply asking the gods or God for a

favor, blessing, forgiveness or understanding but many times

are actually threatening or cajoling the deity. “If you grant

this one favor,” they may pray, “I will go to church…stop this

bad habit…” etc or, on the other hand may say, “If you don’t

grant this favor I will join another church….stop believing in

you…continue to do it because you don’t care” or “endlessly

bother you until I get what I want.”

“Prayers were used as incantations,” writes Jeffrey

Russell of the Christian church, “God and the saints were

compelled by threats, the sacraments were used for magical

purposes, and wonders were sought often without

distinguishing between magic and miracle.” 116

Prayers have contained these thoughts for thousands of years. Prayers have also been used to curse and to call down

calamity on supposed enemies. So what then is prayer? It is,

simply put, the use of spell-work. Edward Peters, professor of

Medieval History, wrote “there is no magic at all, since the

chief feature of magic is its power of compelling, rather than

116 Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell


M




70

beseeching, supernatural forces” 117 just as prayer is used.

Sacrifices have been a common method to solicit favors from

the gods and keep them happy at the same time. Sacrifices

were meant as sustenance for the gods and there was an

expectation that if the gods did not comply with the wishes

and the prayers of their followers, these sacrifices would be

terminated, effectively punishing the gods. Threatening the

gods in this way became ritualized.

Likewise, family members and friends of persons

deceased would bring food and drink to the grave. Pouring

libations down into a tube set in the grave was a way to feed

the dead and to ask for favors in exchange.

Offerings are intended to please whatever god one solicits,

but it is always a given that such offerings will cease if the

expected response is not forthcoming. Offerings in the form

of incense, animal sacrifices, candles and other items such

as food and drink have been used unchanged for thousands

of years. Christianity and Judaism continue this practice

today. Offerings and sacrifices have the same function—tobribe, to cajole, to offer substitution (i.e., the life of an animal

in exchange for the life of a human).

Native Americans used to offer thanks to the deer and

other wild animals that they hunted to ensure that the

animals would not become angry and totally avoid the

117 Peters, Edward. The Magician, the Witch, and the Law. Philadelphia:

University of Pennsylvania Press 1978, XV.




71

hunter. Obviously, this act was in the self-interest of the

hunter to ensure the continuation of the species and a

successful hunt. There is evidence that similar acts were

observed up to 50,000 years ago by Neantherthal

populations.

Throughout time, the gods and goddesses, spirits and

demons worshipped and feared by humankind have been

given semi-human characteristics including personality

traits of fickleness, love, hate, greed, envy, forgiveness, and

anger in an ever changing montage of forms. Never knowing

what their mood was at any given time, humans had to bribe

as well as threaten these divine beings to ensure their self-

preservation.

Plato, writing in his Laws during the 4th century BC,

indicated how common this practice was by sorcerers during

his time: “They undertake to persuade the gods, through the

practice of sorceries with sacrifices and prayers and spells,

and try to destroy root and branch individuals and entire

houses for the sake of money..” Writing in Republic he added,“Beggar-priests and prophets go to the doors of the rich and

persuade them that they have the power, acquired from the

gods by sacrifices and incantations, to cure with pleasures

and festivals any wrong done by the man himself or his

ancestors, and that they will harm an enemy…for a small

fee, if a man wishes it, since they persuade the gods…to

serve them, by certain charms and bindings.”




72

Plato’s sorcerers were not that different from modern day

televangelists who solicit donations from worshippers so that

God will perform some sort of desired act—from protecting

marriage from gays and lesbians to bringing wealth to curing

illness. Man and his gods have existed in a give and take

relationship since the beginning of time and it will continue

far into the future as long as humans desire something more

than they have and believe that they have something of value

to trade for it.

“The powers assigned to demons and angels in the

Christian cosmology,” wrote Sophie Page, “and their role as

intermediaries between the heavenly and earthly realms

suggested that they could be persuaded or compelled to

assist magical practitioners who had access to the right skills

and knowledge.” 118

“A fundamental aspect of religion,” wrote Rodney Stark,

author of Discovering God , “is an exchange relationship

between humans and Gods. Since Gods are the only

plausible source of many benefits humans greatly desire, themost basic religious questions are: What do the Gods want?

And, how can we gain their favor? Nor surprisingly, humans

have answered that question based on their image of God(s).

When people conceive of God as being of infinite power and

scope, their answer tends to emphasize morality, good works

118 Page, Sophie. Magic in Medieval Manuscripts. London: The British Library

2004, 5.




73

and faith…But when Gods are conceived of as ‘humans’ with

superpowers, the answer tends to focus on basic human

needs and desires—food, drink, wealth, sex, and

deference.”119

This may be true in the theological sense but in all

practicality, contemporary humans treat their gods the same

way they have for thousands of years. Christians and Jews

depict God as the “father” with jealousy, anger and envy as

major personality traits along with forgiveness, love and

understanding. In some instances, God asked for a sacrifice

as when he commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. In this

situation, a ram suddenly appeared and was sacrificed

instead. Traditionally in Judaism, the first offspring of

specific animals (calves, goats, lambs, rams, ewes and turtle

doves) were permitted to be ritually offered to God in

exchange for the welfare of the Jewish people. Sacrifices

such as these continued until 70 AD when the Romans

destroyed the second temple. Under Jewish law, all sacrifices

must be conducted in the temple and could not betransferred to another location. Because the temple was

never rebuilt, the sacrifice was abandoned. Sacrifice does

continue however among the Jewish sect of Samaritans.

Each year sheep are sacrificed as part of the Passover rites.

119 Stark, Rodney. Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the

Evolution of Belief. New York: Harper Collins 2007, 105.




74

Christians, for the most part, do not practice sacrifice in

the same way. Animals are not slain and offered to God but

money is an offering that continuously pours from the

pockets of the worshippers in exchange for health, wealth

and other desires. However, there are those isolated areas of

the world where Christianity has mixed with indigenous

religions and sacrifice does continue as a viable part of

religious tradition and ritual. On St. Elijah’s day in Estonia,

rams were sacrificed into the early 20th century to the water

spirits. The ram was slaughtered and tossed into the river to

protect humans and cattle from the greedy and ravenous

waters. Folklorists have recorded that even into the 1960’s

money and scarves were tossed into the waters to appease

the “lake mother.”

According to Ergo-Hart Västrik, “In Kotko (Estonia) the

sacrifice to the water spirit ( jokiämmä, merenhaltei, huonoi,

kirlouks ) was integrated into church practice: a small wooden

chapel was located near the sacrificial site, the ceremony was

conducted by a priest. The Christian background is reflectedin the word ‘Kirlouks!’ said out loud during the ceremony,

which most likely is the Old-Russian counterpart for the

priest’s ‘Kyrie Eleison.’”120

120 Västrik, Ergo-Hart. “The Waters and Water Spirits in Votian Folk Belief” in

Folklore, Vol. 12, December 1999, Published by: Institute of the Estonian

Language




75

Both Muslim and Christian Ethiopians even today gather

in huge numbers for the fertility rite observed at Lake

Bishoftu, which include an animal sacrifice. Holy wells and

waters around the world are visited by pilgrims in search of

health and this is true in Ethiopia as it is in Great Britain

and the United States. Many pilgrims toss coins, flowers and

other offerings into the waters in an effort to get on the good

side of God(s). The often ignored “ritual” of tossing coins into

fountains is a continuation of this ancient rite.

In some cultures, it is not unknown to beat idols with

sticks and clubs in an effort to force divine beings into

complying with the wishes of their followers.

“Clearly,” writes Brenda Lewis, “the old gods and their

sacrifices, rooted further back in time than history knows,

still have currency in the twenty-first century. …Perhaps

somewhere in the world there will always be those who stay

faithful to the old ways and their sacrifices, and use them as

the pathway leading to God.”121

It is almost impossible to differentiate religion and magic.“If a divinity was invoked according to the correct forms,

especially if one knew how to pronounce its real name,”

wrote Franz Cumont, “it was compelled to act in conformity

to the will of the priest. The sacred words were an

121 Lewis, Brenda Ralph. Ritual Sacrifice: Blood and Redemption.

Glouchestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited 2001, 173.




76

incantation that compelled the superior powers to obey the

officiating person, no matter what purpose he had in view.”

122

With such knowledge men acquired a huge amount of

power over spirits. Prayer is used today to acquire as much

power although those who practice it do so unknowingly. In

addition, Cumont reports, “incantation often assumed the

shape of a prayer addressed to a power stronger than man,

and magic became a religion.”123

122 Cumont, Franz. Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. New York: Dover

Publications 1956, 93. 123

Ibid., 186.




77

Chapter Seven

Paul and the Rise of Christianity

aul, regarded as the Founder of the Church,

never met nor knew Jesus. He seized upon the

personality of Jesus and Jesus’ death rather than

Jesus in life to create a theology separate and distinct from

those who had actually known Jesus. “Paul makes a point,”

wrote Charles Freeman, “of stressing that faith in Christ does

not involve any kind of identification with Jesus in his life on

earth but has validity only in his death and resurrection.” 124

This was Paul’s way to become a distinct influence in his

time without having to have any personal attachment to or

knowledge of Jesus. His efforts often met with failure

however and he was subject to beatings by Jewish Christians

and resistance on the part of many Gentiles who objected to

Paul’s Jewish based theology.

Paul was uneducated, knowing little of classical literature

or of the spiritual life in the rest of the Greco-Roman world.

His knowledge of Greek literature and philosophy was said to

be no more than rudimentary. He was also said to have an

abrasive personality which he used effectively to promote his

theology. Paul was both competitive and terrified of

124 Freeman, Charles. The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the

Fall of Reason. New York: Vintage Books 2002, 112-113.

P




78

competition saying that anyone proposing a different

theology (be they man or angel) than his was to be

condemned. Paul may also have been a proponent for

keeping women silent and ignorant, “Let your women keep

silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to

speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as

also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them

ask their husbands at home…” (1 Corinthians 14: 34-35)

There has long been debate over Paul’s attitudes towards

women, however. Many of Paul’s churches did have women

leaders and he appears to have spoken warmly and with

respect of women in his influence. In fact, Paul’s

relationships with women may have caused male members of

his church to take illicit steps to bring grief upon him. Bart

D. Ehrman noted “…no wonder that men in the churches

eventually decided to clamp down forging documents in

Paul’s name condemning the practice of having women speak

in church…inserting passages into Paul’s authentic letters

urging women to be silent…”125

Paul was also responsible for one of the first mass book

burnings during his two years in Ephesus—books of “curious

arts.” This was, unfortunately, the beginning of Christianity’s

attacks on learning and magic.

125 Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scriptures and Faiths We

Never Knew. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003, 39.




79

Unfortunately, these letters passed down as authentic

and Paul’s actions at Ephesus would come to typify the early

Christian church, which viewed education and knowledge as

diabolical. What was not anticipated by Paul or others is the

additional power that was given to such books through their

fiery destruction. If they were that dangerous that they

needed to be destroyed, any remaining texts would have

become horded and valued beyond measure.

Paul’s theology appears to have varied according to his

mood and needs. As his early church struggled with its place

in the world so too did Paul. Paul’s concept of Jesus is also

inconsistent. He believed that Jesus was an intermediary

between Man and God but certainly not the personification of

God, which is a basic belief of Christians today.

Paul was sure that the Second Coming was an immediate

event and when it did not occur, “the system inspired by his

ideas veered round to a total, timeless amplification of

magical procedures.” 126

Paul’s theology changed with his failures. As Carmichaelnoted, the pagan Mysteries and their “pure magic” became

Paul’s baptism and Eucharist with their “auxiliary magic.” 127

To Paul Jesus was not only the “savior” but a necessary

player for the end of the world. The early Christian theology

126 Carmichael, Joel. The Birth of Christianity: Reality and Myth. New York:

Dorset Press 1989, 130.127

Ibid., 133.




80

viewed the end of the world as its primary purpose and

desire—and this view has continued into our present day by

many Christian sects.

Eventually the Christian focus on the world’s end and the

Glorious Return waned and only lip-service was given to the

concept. It became, as Carmichael wrote, “a mere traditional

ornament, no more than a metaphor.” 128 In Christian

mythology Paul is said to have brought back to life Nero’s

servant-lover who had accidentally fallen out of a window

and was killed. Nero however, was not pleased and accused

Paul of being a magician. Again, what Christianity views as

miraculous was regarded as an act of magic by others.

128 Carmichael, op cit., 140.




81

A depiction of Paul exhorting Christian mobs to burn books of“curious arts,” by Doré.




82

Chapter EightWitchcraft Laws

aws to control and to define witchcraft have

existed throughout time, from ancient Babylon to

modern day Cameroon.

Not all laws were created to catch and punish witches,

however. The 7th century Pactus Alamannorum imposed a fine

on persons who accuse innocent people of being witches. It

also contains a passage prohibiting the seizure and harming

of witches by individuals, which, according to Russell, is “the

first indication of mob violence against witches.” 129

Perhaps the oldest recorded witchcraft laws are fromancient Babylon and are part of the 4,314 lines of

Hammurabi’s code. Over a thousand years older than the

Mosaic code, these edicts enforce personal responsibility and

punish those who have not shown the required responsibility

towards society or fellow man.

“If a man has placed an enchantment upon a man, and

has not justified himself,” the code states, “he upon whom

the enchantment is placed to the Holy River shall go; into the

Holy River he shall plunge. If the Holy River holds him he

who enchanted him shall take his house. If, on the contrary,

129 Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell


L




83

the man is safe and thus innocent, the wizard loses his life,

and his house.” 130 This is perhaps the first requirement for

the “water test” of a suspected witch in history.

Biblical prohibitions against spells, divination and

witchcraft have already been discussed to some extent. Early

Hebrew legislation against witchcraft and magic was strict.

In one instance of an official crack down people collected all

of their books on “curious arts” to be burned:

“Many of them also which used curious arts brought their

books together, and burned them before all men: and they

counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces

of silver.” 131

Exodus 22:18, perhaps one of the most often quoted

Biblical passages, reads, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to

live”. Translations that are more contemporary have changed

this to read, “Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live” but the

original translation remains a favorite of the Church.

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 states “There shall not be found

among you any one…that useth divination, or an observer oftimes, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a

consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a

necromancer.” This passage outlawed all forms of witchcraft

and magic.

130 Taylor, John M. The Witchcraft Delusion. New York: Gramercy Books 1995,

5.131

Acts 19:18 and 19




84

Ancient Rome had its Laws of the Twelve Tables, which,

among other things, regulates what is acceptable magic and

sorcery and what isn’t. One of the prohibitions was “Nobody

shall, by spells, take away the harvest of a neighbor.” The

Laws of the Twelve Tables, according to Graf, “does not

punish magic as such, but punishes the violation of the right

to property in order to cause harm to others or to enrich

oneself at their expense.” 132 It is this issue of property rights

and wealth that has inspired cultures throughout history to

regulate and punish witches and sorcerers. It is this cause

also that has created the witch-hunts of the Middle Ages and

those that continue to exist in Africa and other areas around

the world.

During later periods of the Roman Empire, the senate

decreed that sacrifices intended to injure a neighbor were

forbidden with offending magicians found guilty of “magical

and diabolical acts” being burned alive and those who

consulted with them subject to crucifixion. Constantine

either banished or executed sorcerers. Those accused ofwitchcraft were subject to torture. Kieckhefer notes, “even

people who wore magical amulets to ward off disease might

now be executed.” 133 It is undoubtedly these Roman laws

132

Graf, Fritz. Magic in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press1997, 42.133

Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge





85

that survived as instruments of the Catholic Church’s battle

against witchcraft.

One of the earliest ecclesiastical decrees against

witchcraft was made in 315 CE that condemned soothsayers

to five years’ penance. Divination and fortunetellers were

likewise condemned by the Decretum canon law that treated

them as idolaters. Punishment meted out under canon law

included excommunication.

Papal bulls were published in the 14th and 15th centuries

against witchcraft and the Inquisition began in earnest with

Innocent VIII’s Summis desiderantes affectibus” published in

1484 and the resultant publication by Sprenger and Kramer

of the Malleus Maleficarum (also known as the “Witches

Hammer”).

“in the view of the Church,” wrote the Very Reverend

John Lee, “it was equally heretical to deny the existence of

witchcraft as it was to practice it…” 134 The insistence of the

church in the reality of the witch in league with the devil

would create a lasting effect.Henry VIII, in the statutes of 1541, made witchcraft a

felony in England. Queen Elizabeth I, in 1562, amended the

Act of 1541 but James I, a religious bigot in his own right,

fashioned a new anti-witchcraft law out of it in 1604 that

further defined the crime. The scope of witch crimes was

134 Lee, John. “Lee’s History of the Church of Scotland” in Blackwood’s

Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 89 (545) March 1861, 291.




86

expanded, which also expanded the numbers of persons

accused, arrested, tortured and executed. The Witchcraft Act

of 1604 remained on the English statutes until 1736 when it

was repealed. The hesitancy of English judges, however,

resulted in the Act becoming less than effective and those

accused of witchcraft had legal recourse for their own safety.

By 1676 it was remarked that “the reverend judges,

especially of England now are much wiser, not only than the

proletarian rabble, but than they too who profess themselves

to be the great philosophers…and give small or no

encouragement to such accusations.” 135

The Witchcraft Act of 1736 was much more civilized. The

Act’s premise was that magic and witchcraft did not exist. It

prohibited anyone from accusing another of practicing either

magic or witchcraft and it forbade anyone from claiming that

they did. A maximum of one year in prison was the

punishment, but it did stop the practice of accusations being

made for political or person reasons. While it theoretically

allowed anyone to practice magic or witchcraft in private, itdid create laws to prohibit those who advertised their trade

as fortune-tellers or magicians.

The following is the complete text of the act:

135 Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic.London: Penguin

Books 1973, 546-547.




87

Text of the Witchcraft Act of 1736

“An Act to repeal the Statute made in the First Year of the

Reign of King James the First, intituled, An Act against

Conjuration, Witchcraft, and dealing with evil and wicked

Spirits, except so much thereof as repeals an Act of the Fifth

Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, Against Conjurations,

Inchantments, and Witchcrafts, and to repeal an Act passed

in the Parliament of Scotland in the Ninth Parliament of

Queen Mary, intituled, Anentis Witchcrafts, and for

punishing such Persons as pretend to exercise or use any

kind of Witchcraft, Sorcery, Inchantment, or Conjuration.

“Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by

and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and

Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament

assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That the

Statute made in the First Year of the Reign of King James the

First, intituled, An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft, and

dealing with evil and wicked Spirits, shall, from the Twenty-

fourth Day of June next, be repealed and utterly void, and ofnone effect (except so much thereof as repeals the Statute

made in the Fifth Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth)

intituled, An Act against Conjurations, Inchantments, and

Witchcrafts.

“And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid,

That from and after the said Twenty-fourth Day of June, the

Act passed in the Parliament of Scotland, in the Ninth




88

Parliament of Queen Mary, intituled, Anentis Witchcrafts,

shall be, and is hereby repealed.

“And be it further enacted, That from and after the said

Twenty-fourth Day of June, no Prosecution, Suit, or

Proceeding, shall be commenced or carried on against any

Person or Persons for Witchcraft, Sorcery, Inchantment, or

Conjuration, or for charging another with any such Offence,

in any Court whatsoever in Great Britain.

“And for the more effectual preventing and punishing of

any Pretences to such Arts or Powers as are before

mentioned, whereby ignorant Persons are frequently deluded

and defrauded; be it further enacted by the Authority

aforesaid, That if any Person shall, from and after the said

Twenty-fourth Day of June, pretend to exercise or use any

kind of Witchcraft, Sorcery, Inchantment, or Conjuration, or

undertake to tell Fortunes, or pretend, from his or her Skill

or Knowledge in any occult or crafty Science, to discover

where or in what manner any Goods or Chattels, supposed

to have been stolen or lost, may be found, every Person, sooffending, being thereof lawfully convicted on Indictment or

Information in that part of Great Britain called England, or

on Indictment or Libel in that part of Great Britain called

Scotland, shall, for every such Offence, suffer Imprisonment

by the Space of one whole Year without Bail or Mainprize,

and once in every Quarter of the said Year, in some Market

Town of the proper County, upon the Market Day, there




89

stand openly on the Pillory by the Space of One Hour, and

also shall (if the Court by which such Judgement shall be

given shall think fit) be obliged to give Sureties for his or her

good Behaviour, in such Sum, and for such Time, as the said

Court shall judge proper according to the Circumstances of

the Offence, and in such case shall be further imprisoned

until such Sureties be given.”

The Witchcraft Act of 1736 itself was repealed in Britain

in 1951, resulting in the creation of the contemporary

witchcraft, or Wicca, movement. 136

The various anti-witchcraft laws prior to 1736

emphasized the prosecution of black witchcraft rather than

the white witch and the cunning man. Briggs noted “no

important Protestant states actually undertook a major

persecution of the cunning folk; indeed, they were probably

at greater risk in Catholic Europe.”137

In practice, however, the Reformation shaped the Burning

Times unlike anything else. Folklorist Michael Judge, once a

Congressional historian, wrote, “During the years of the

Protestant ascent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,

Europe and England succumbed to the notion that all things

inspired by ancient mythologies had to be expunged. In

136

Hutton, Ronald. The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles. Oxford:Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1991, 331.137

Briggs, Robin. Witches & Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of

European Witchcraft. New York: Viking Penguin 1996, 126.




90

villages throughout Europe, many women still practiced

superstitious forms of healing and divination handed down

through the generations from the Pagan days of the Romans.

These folk practices now bore the stamp of witchcraft.

…Soon old women who healed children’s fevers with herbs

gathered by moonlight found themselves bound to burning

stakes.”138

I have previously mentioned the similar magic practices,

those being incantations, rituals, etc., of the Church and the

sorcerer and this, Briggs wrote, contributed to the Catholic

Church’s efforts to totally eliminate the witch. “The hostility

between the parish clergy,” he states, “and the cunning folk

may have even been intensified to the extent that they were

rival claimants for ritual or magical power; priests did not

need to make any radical change in their world view to justify

action against these interlopers.” 139

Since the 1970’s the anti-witchcraft laws in Africa have

changed from the colonial prosecution of witches only when

physical aggression could be proved to today’s prosecutionpurely of accused witches, “condemned without any concrete

138

Judge, Michael. The Dance of Time: A Miscellany of History and Myth, Religion and Astronomy, Festivals and Feast Days. New York: MJF Books 2004,

76.139

Ibid., 127.




91

proof and, moreover, often without their own admission of

guilt.” 140

“Anxiety about witchcraft,” noted Peter Geschiere, “is now

so widespread in Africa that the courts cannot afford to be

indifferent. To take up the terms of a high ranking Zairian

judge, ‘citizens (should not) experience a psychological

schism’ because state courts treat witchcraft as an

‘imaginary offence’ while the customary judges take such

accusations very seriously and impose heavy punishments.

The problems encountered by judges in the face of witchcraft

and the question of the establishment of convincing proof are

now common themes dealt with by African authors writing in

legal journals.” 141

140 Geschiere, Peter. The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in

Postcolonial Africa. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia 1997, 169.141

Ibid., 170.




92

17th century broadside announcing the trial and execution of threewomen accused of witchcraft.




93

Title page of witch-hunter Cotton Mather’s pamphlet, Boston 1693.




95

to obey god. Childbirth was regarded as unnatural and sinful

and women who died during childbirth were believed

damned. Martin Luther wrote, “Let them die in childbirth—

that is why they are there.” Death was used to invoke fear

and viewed only as punishment, not as part of the natural

process of life. The cunning man and woman were hunted as

witches, successfully ending natural healing. Midwives were

the most evil of the evil. Nature was no longer something of

reverence but held as something evil and filled with demons.

The god of Nature, Pan, was transformed into the image of

the Christian devil. Magic was no longer an ancient system of

using supernatural power for good or evil but a forbidden

idea punished by death. It was also a concept that the

Church reinforced through a “doctrine of demons.” This

doctrine was used to instill fear and maintain control of the

populace and also kept the idea of witchcraft and magic

alive. Witch-hunts assured the success of Orthodox

Christianity as well as the belief in an angry and merciless

God.Amulets used by pagans and condemned by the Church

rapidly gained acceptance by Christians. MacMullen wrote,

“for the sake of health, Christianity and sorcery had been

forced into open partnership.” A large part of this

partnership was also rooted in monetary profits gleaned by

the Church through its sale of such amulets.




96

Today it is impossible to separate “magic” from “religion.”

Christianity continues many of those ancient traditions once

relegated to the pagan community. MacMullen quotes one

ancient voice saying “how many are only Christians in name

but pagans in their acts…attending to pagan myths and

genealogies and prophecies and astrology and drug

lore…?”143

Unfortunately, the success of Christianity was not in

saving souls but in twisting theology and history and

perverting ancient beliefs in its attempt to destroy an ancient

way of life that had sustained humankind since the

beginning of time. We have seen in this study that the

practice of magic continued unabated from paganism to

Christianity and is still popular to this day.

There is no dispute that black magic has been feared for

thousands of years, but it was never feared as much as the

Christian Church caused it to be. Christian mythology was

effectively utilized to create an atmosphere of fear, suspicion

and discrimination, which served not only to eliminate theChurches enemies but to force the populace to bow down

and surrender their souls and their traditions. This

campaign resulted in a very successful suppression of belief.

143 Ibid., 145.




97

About the Author

ary R. Varner is the author of more than twenty

books on folklore, mythology, history, Native

Americans and the development of religion.

Some of his books are Sacred Wells: A Study in the History,

Meaning, and Mythology of Holy Wells & Waters, Ancient

Footprints: Cultural Diffusion in Pre-Columbian America,

Gargoyles, Grotesques and Green Man: Ancient Symbolism in

European and American Architecture, and The Dark Wind:

Witches & the Concept of Evil.

In an attempt to stay current in the fluid world of

anthropology, folklore and mythology, Varner maintains

membership in the American Folklore Society and the Royal

Anthropological Institute. His books can be found in over

900 university and municipal libraries around the world,

including the British Museum and the Smithsonian

Institution.

Varner’s website (www.authorsden.com/garyrvarner) is

frequented by readers around the world.

G




98

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Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons andSymbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. Austin: University of Texas

Press 1992, 186.

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Budge, E.A. Wallis. Babylon Life and History. New York:Barnes & Noble Books 2005,

Carmichael, Joel. The Birth of Christianity: Realty and Myth.New York: Dorset Press 1989

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102

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Index

A

Africa, 84, 90, 91, 99Alexandria, 25, 59, 65amulets, 8, 33, 34, 40, 41,

48, 84, 95animal sacrifice, 75Apache, 16, 17, 100astrologers, 5

B

Babylon, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13,14, 15, 82, 98

black arts, 15black magic, 14, 21, 49, 96books, 10, 11, 25, 31, 39,

44, 63, 78, 79, 81, 83,97

burning, 90Burning Times, 12, 89

C

Cameroon, 82cat, 45Catholic, 19, 30, 32, 37,

85, 89, 90, 94Celtic, 45, 53, 57, 101charms, 8, 18, 22, 33, 34,

36, 39, 40, 41, 44, 71children, 18, 38, 43, 90Christian, 3, 6, 11, 16, 19,

20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25,26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34,35, 39, 48, 49, 60, 61,

62, 63, 64, 68, 69, 72,74, 75, 79, 80, 81, 94,96, 98

Christianity, 1, 3, 8, 12,16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24,26, 27, 29, 31, 35, 36,42, 51, 60, 62, 64, 66,

68, 70, 74, 77, 78, 79,80, 94, 95, 96, 98, 99,100

Comanche, 17, 19, 20, 99cunning men, 16curse tablets, 50, 51, 52,

53curses, 50, 52, 53, 56, 57

D

deformed, 13demon, 6, 38, 62, 63, 66demons, 16, 39

E

Egypt, 25, 38, 47, 64

Ethiopia, 49evil, 5, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18,

21, 31, 33, 42, 57, 59,87, 95

evil eye, 15exorcism, 61exorcists, 63

F familiars, 10




104

G

Greece, 5, 6, 14, 29, 41,

42, 50, 57, 99, 100Greek, 41Greeks, 5, 6, 12, 39

H

Hammurabi, 9, 82Hebrew, 10, 26, 27, 40, 48,

60, 61, 83

herbs, 90Hypatia, 25

I

incantations, 38, 40, 42,44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 90

Israel, 10, 11, 63

J

Jesus, 3, 4, 5, 7, 20, 59,60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65,66, 67, 68, 77, 79, 94

Jewish, 24, 25, 35, 40, 52,61, 63, 64, 73, 77, 101

Jews, 12, 24, 26, 27, 40,62, 63, 64, 73

K

kolossi, 41

L

law, 10, 14, 15, 42, 46, 73,78, 85

laws, 9, 10, 16, 82, 84, 86,89, 90

lead tablets, 41

M

magi, 4, 5, 6

magic, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13,14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21,22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30,31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39,41, 42, 45, 48, 49, 50,51, 56, 59, 60, 61, 62,64, 68, 69, 75, 76, 78,79, 80, 83, 84, 86, 90,

95, 96magical texts, 35, 36, 47,

59magical words, 47, 48magician, 16, 21, 29, 34,

59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65,66, 80, 94

miracles, 61, 62, 64, 65,66, 68, 94

mobs, 25, 81

N

Native American, 17, 20,44, 70, 97

O

offerings, 41

P

pagan, 7, 16, 22, 23, 24,25, 29, 31, 32, 33, 40,61, 65, 66, 68, 79, 94,96

Paiute, 43, 102

Paul, 2, 3, 10, 60, 62, 64,67, 68, 77, 78, 79, 80,81, 94, 98




105

Persian, 5prayer, 31, 69, 76

priests, 4, 5, 14, 31, 32,60, 62, 71, 90

Protestant, 36, 37, 89, 94

Q

Qemant, 49

R

Reformation, 36, 38, 89ritual, 19, 20, 30, 32, 54,

56, 65, 74, 75, 90Roman, 46Romans, 12, 26, 39, 46,

64, 73, 90

S

Saul, 10, 11Scotland, 85, 87, 88shaman, 19, 20, 49shape-shift, 46sorcerer, 21, 43, 44, 51,

61, 62, 90spells, 4, 16, 18, 23, 26,

29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 39,

45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 52,56, 57, 66, 71, 83, 84

T

Twelve Tables, 42, 46, 84

W

Wales, 56White Magic, 14wise women, 16

witch, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14,15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,21, 22, 23, 25, 32, 33,37, 43, 44, 46, 49, 52,53, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86,89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95

witchcraft, 4, 9, 10, 12, 14,15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21,

22, 23, 25, 32, 33, 38,43, 44, 49, 52, 53, 82,83, 84, 85, 86, 89, 90,91, 92, 95

Witchcraft Act, 86, 87, 89witches, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15,

16, 17, 18, 82, 84, 90women, 5, 14, 16, 21, 78,

90, 92, 95




106




107

magic witchcraft

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