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THE
MYSTERIES
AND SECRETS
OF MAGIC
By
C. J. S. THOMPSON
Author of
“The Mystery and Lure of Perfume”, etc.
Illustrated.
What a never-failing storehouse of
interest is magic! Here lurk the ghosts
of old-time druids, of Chaldean priests,
of famous oracles. The ancient world
was ruled by magic—-men could do
nothing, say nothing, without con¬
sulting the omens or the crystal-—for
the “evil eye” was watching over all.
The magicians’ power lay in the deep¬
est secrecy—-they guarded their learn¬
ing jealously. The mystery of powerful
drugs, of cabalistic signs, of demons—
banshees, jinns, vampires—all this was
passed on from father to son by word
of mouth, or was entrusted to manu¬
scripts deep-hidden in the fastnesses
of some temple. Mr. Thompson has
delved into long-forgotten records,
translations of Assyrian and Baby¬
lonian cuneiforms, crumbling Egyptian
papyri. And his book is packed with
weird and interesting lore—-of
magic in every age, in every
country, from the days of
the old mythology
down to the very ^ ~
present. %pO®DU
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Wellcome Library
https://archive.org/details/b3001055x
THE MYSTERIES AND
SECRETS OF MAGIC
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE MYSTERY AND LURE OF
PERFUME
THE MYSTERY AND ROMANCE
OF ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY
POISON MYSTERIES IN HISTOR Y,
ROMANCE, AND CRIME
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
THE SORCERERS
From a wood engraving by Hans Baldung Grier .
XVI century,
THE MYSTERIES AND
SECRETS OF MAGIC
By C. J. S. THOMPSON
Ph iladelphia
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1928
WELLCOME
COLLECTION
t
Made and Printed in Great Britain bv
Hazell, Watson &> Viney Ld. London and Aylesbury
“ Shew me the secrets of the magical art and sciences and the
sacred operation of hidden mysteries.”
Manuscript of the XVI century.
FOREWORD
M AGIC is a subject that has ever been of profound
interest to mankind. The immense amount of
literature concerning its pra&ice throughout the
world shows the powerful and lasting influence it has
exercised upon the human race from the early ages.
The subject is so vast and far-reaching, that it is little
to be wondered at that no complete history of it has, as
yet, been attempted, and many fields are even now Still
unexplored.
In the following pages will be found a brief survey
of the magical practices that prevailed among various
early peoples in different parts of the world, and it will
be seen that the same fundamental principles underlay
their beliefs in the occult.
It is apparent that the same ideas were common among
races lying far apart, and that similar practices were
performed in connexion with magical rites.
Research among the ancient records of the Assyrians
reveals that the clay or wax figure, and the knotted thread,
were employed in magic over three thousand years ago,
and that the belief in the power of the cc evil eye ” was
common to EaSt and WeSt.
It will be seen, by comparison, that certain charms
used by races of widely differing religions are often
• •
Vll
FOREWORD
substantially the same in meaning and in the nature of
their application.
Before the era of printing, the mysteries and secrets of
magic were closely guarded and were only revealed in
manuscripts ; it is from an examination of these docu¬
ments, that have come down to us, that we are able
to gain some knowledge of the mysterious operations of
the practitioners of magic and the methods they em¬
ployed.
A careful Study of some of these records shows that
the so-called magician possessed a knowledge of power¬
ful drugs, capable of producing hallucinations of such
a nature as would account for many of the Stories of
spirits and apparitions.
The ceremonies that accompanied the performance of
magical rites, and the descriptions of instruments and
materials employed in connexion with them, have been
compiled from contemporary records and are given in
detail.
The book, however, does not pretend to be either
a complete or an exhaustive account of the various
branches of magic, but is simply an outline and a
slight contribution to the history of the subject.
Cordial thanks are due to Mr R. Campbell Thompson
for kind permission to quote from his translations of
the Assyrian magical texts, and to the Rev Montague
Summers, Mr J. R. F. Thompson and Mr M. H.
Spielmann for their valued assistance.
Vlll
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE GENESIS OF MAGIC-MAGIC AND RELIGION . I
CHAPTER II
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS ..... 9
CHAPTER III
THE CULT OF MAGIC-THE MAGI AND THEIR
MYSTERIES ...... 24
CHAPTER IV
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MAGIC . . .33
CHAPTER V
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT .... 46
CHAPTER VI
ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC-THE KABBALA
6l
ix
CONTENTS
CHAPTER VII
PAGE
GREEK AND ROMAN MAGIC .... 74
CHAPTER VIII
CELTIC, ARAB, SLAV AND TEUTONIC MAGIC . 85
CHAPTER IX
HINDU, CHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC . . 93
CHAPTER X
NECROMANCY-SORCERY-PACTS WITH THE DEVIL 108
CHAPTER XI
WITCHCRAFT DEMONOLOGY . . . . Il8
CHAPTER XII
WITCHES’ OINTMENTS . . . . *133
CHAPTER XIII
THE BLACK MASS-THE MASS OF ST SECAIRE-“ THE
GOATS” . . . . . . .137
CHAPTER XIV
DIVINATION ....... I42
X
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XV
PAGB
THE MAGIC CRYSTAL-CRYSTAL GAZING . . 15 I
CHAPTER XVI
HOW THE MAGIC CIRCLES AND PENTACLES WERE MADE I 5 7
CHAPTER XVII
PERFUMES USED IN MAGIC . . . .167
CHAPTER XVIII
MAGICAL NUMBERS . . . . . 176
CHAPTER XIX
MAGICAL TALISMANS . . . . . l8l
CHAPTER XX
MAGICAL RINGS . . . . . 187
CHAPTER XXI
MAGIC IN JEWELS . . . . . .196
CHAPTER XXII
LOVE AND MAGIC ...... 203
xi
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIII
PAGK
RECORDS OF MAGIC FROM THE FOURTH TO THE
FIFTEENTH CENTURY. . . . . 21 5
CHAPTER XXIV
THE “ CLAVICLE OR KEY OF SOLOMON ”-RITES,
CEREMONIES AND MYSTERIES OF CONJURATION 229
CHAPTER XXV
cc THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC ”-“ THE BOOKE OF
HIDDEN PHILOSOPHY ”-“ THE BOOKE OF THE
SEVEN IMAGES” . . . . 241
CHAPTER XXVI
THE GRIMOIRES OR HANDBOOKS OF BLACK MAGIC . 256
CHAPTER XXVII
SOME REMARKABLE MAGICAL MANUSCRIPTS-SPELLS
AND CURSES ...... 262
CHAPTER XXVIII
SOME ELIZABETHAN MAGICIANS-DR JOHN DEE-
EDWARD KELLY— <c THE BOOK OF MYSTERY ” . 273
• •
Xll
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIX
PAGE
magic in Shakespeare’s plays . . .287
CHAPTER XXX
HERBS OF MYSTERY AND THE DEVIL-THE WITCH’S
BROOM . . . . . . .298
CHAPTER XXXI
SURVIVALS OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN MODERN
TIMES ....... 304
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . • 3 1 5
INDEX . . . . . . 317
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE SORCERERS
Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
MAGICIAN CALLING UP A DEVIL ....
THE WITCH OF ENDOR ......
POWERS OF EVIL .......
THEUTUS, ASMODEUS AND INCUBUS ....
THE DEVIL AND EVIL ANGELS PRESIDING AT A SABBATH
A WITCH AND HER ce FAMILIARS ”
A WITCH SURROUNDED BY FAMILIARS AND STRANGE
APPARITIONS .......
THE DIVINE SEAL .......
THE EARL OF PETERBOROUGH’S MAGIC SEAL
MAGIC CIRCLE WITH A MAGICIAN INVOKING SPIRITS
POWERS OF EVIL, OPHIS AND SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST.
PORTION OF A MAGICAL SCROLL WRITTEN WITH HUMAN
BLOOD .......
70
7 °
no
no
120
124
126
186
194
230
258
262
FIGURE OF THE GREEN DRAGON EMPLOYED WHEN IN¬
VOKING THE SPIRIT BIRTO . . . .262
DR DEE’S “ SHEW STONE ” OR GAZING CRYSTAL . . 278
WAX DISCS ENGRAVED WITH MAGICAL FIGURES AND
NAMES, SAID TO HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED BY DR DEE
WHEN USING HIS “ SHEW STONE ” OR MAGIC
CRYSTAL
286
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN THE TEXT
PREHISTORIC SORCERER ...... 7
A MAGICAL FIGURE ...... 49
THE METTERNICH STELE . . . . . .59
JEWISH MAGICAL DIAGRAM, SHOWING THE SECRET SEAL
OF SOLOMON ....... 64
Solomon’s seal . . . . . . .67
TEN NAMES OF GOD ...... 69
HEBREW LIGATURE . . . . . -73
<C DRAWING DOWN THE MOON ” . . . -79
A MAGICIAN OR SORCERER STANDING IN THE MAGIC
CIRCLE PERFORMING A CONJURATION . . II4
A MAGICIAN OR SORCERER STANDING IN THE MAGIC
CIRCLE INVOKING SPIRITS . . . . . 114
ST PATRICK AND THE DEVIL . . . . .120
WITCHES IN FLIGHT . . . . . .122
A BISHOP EXORCIZING A DEMON . . . . 130
WITCHES MAKING THEIR MAGIC UNGUENT . . ‘134
“ THE TRUE SIZE AND FORM OF THE CRYSTAL, WHICH
MUST BE SET IN PURE GOLD ” . . . 15 2
magician’s SPADE AND CRYSTAL . . . .153
CIRCLE USED FOR CRYSTAL GAZING . . . -15 5
MAGIC CIRCLE . . . . . . -159
MAGIC CIRCLE . . . . . . . 160
MAGIC CIRCLE AND PENTACLES FOR THE CRYSTAL . .162
A MAGIC CIRCLE AND PENTACLE TO BE WORN WHEN
USING IT . . . . . . .164
A MAGIC CIRCLE AND PENTACLE “ FOR ALL EXPERIMENTS ” 16 5
xvi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
MAGICAL SEALS TO BE USED AS TALISMANS AGAINST
CERTAIN DISEASES . . . . . .182
“ THIS TALISMAN ENGRAVED ON BRASS WILL WIN THE
WEARER HEALTH” . . . . . .183
MICHAEL, THE ANGEL OF THE SUN . . . .185
SEALS OF THE PLANETS . . . . . .189
“ SEALS OF THE DEVIL,” DESCRIBED AS VERY POTENT . 193
simon forman’s magic ring . . . . 195
MAGICAL JEWEL . . . . . . 197
king Solomon’s apple, with magical characters . 209
“a character for love” ..... 214
“ FOR A MAIDEN IN PARTICULAR 5 ’ . . . 214
PENTACLES . ....... 227
MAGICAL SEALS FOR INVOKING FIVE SPIRITS . . .228
CHARACTERS FOR STAVES AND RODS . . .235
MAGIC CIRCLE AND PENTACLES USED FOR THE INVOCATION
OF SPIRITS ....... 247
magician’s PENTACLE OF GREAT POWER FOR INVOKING
SPIRITS. MAGICIAN’S KNIFE . . . 250
MYSTERIOUS CHARACTERS AND SECRET ALPHABETS . 260
CHARACTERS OF EVIL SPIRITS . . . . .268
VARIOUS SIGNS ON PAGES 186, 233, 234, 235, 238, 255, ZJI
XVII
THE MYSTERIES AND
SECRETS OF MAGIC
CHAPTER I
THE GENESIS OF MAGIC-MAGIC AND RELIGION
M AGIC has been described as the pretended art
of influencing the course of events, and of
producing marvellous physical phenomena, by
methods which were supposed to owe their efficacy to
their power of compelling the intervention of super¬
natural beings, or of bringing into operation some occult
force of nature. The fundamental purpose of magic was
therefore in opposition to the laws and principles of
natural phenomena.
It has exercised a profound influence upon mankind
throughout the ages, and has either formed part of the
religion of a country, as in Babylonia and Egypt, or has
been carried on in conjunction with it.
The roots of the belief in magic, as with super¬
stition, seem to be grounded in fear, for man has ever
dreaded the unknown.
Hegel remarks concerning what he calls the “ Religion
of Nature, 5 ’ or fear of the powers of Nature—of the sun,
of thunderstorms and other natural phenomena—it was
not the fear that might be called religious fear, for that
has its seat in freedom. The fear of God is a different
fear from that of the natural forces.
The prieSt-magician in ancient times, by claiming to
be able to control the powers of the unseen deities, thus
worked on the fears and imagination of the people.
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
The inStinft of mystery, common to mankind among
civilized and uncivilized communities, appears to have
arisen primarily from ignorance or limitation of know¬
ledge and fear of the unknown future.
These faculties men of greater intelligence than their
fellows soon recognized, and turned belief in the
mysterious to their own account.
As the practice of magic meant interference with the
regular operations of Nature, the magician had first to
appeal to some deity and propitiate it by prayers, offerings
and perfumes that would render his appeal acceptable,
and then call in the aid of supernatural powers, good
or evil.
Some authorities are of the opinion that magic was
the primary form of religion ; that it has existed among
all peoples and at every period, and that faith in magic
is probably older than a belief in spirits.
The whole doCtrine of magic, according to Wiedmann,
formed not a part of superstition, but an essential con¬
stituent of religious faith, which to a great extent rested
dire&ly on magic and always remained closely bound up
with it.
On the other hand, Frazer observes, that in the
evolution of thought, magic, as representing a lower
intellectual Stratum, has probably everywhere preceded
religion.
It has also been suggested that in man’s emotional
response to his environment, in his interpretation in the
terms of personality of the objefts which encumbered
his attention, and in their investiture by him with
potentiality, we have the common root of magic and
religion.
2
THE GENESIS OF MAGIC
The praftice of magic involved certain rites which
may be regarded as traditional a<fls that embodied the
idea of a wonder-working power, but magical rites not
forming part of an organized cult came to be regarded
by the society concerned as illicit.
“ There is but one mythical idea at the back of all
rites,” says Wundt; that is, “ the idea of the soul, and
from it are generated three forms of cult—magic,
fetishism and totemism.”
Thus magic in its primary form consisted in the sup¬
posed direft a&ion of soul on soul, as where the “ evil
eye ” is dreaded. The secondary form consisted in
supposed aftion from a distance, when the soul influence
made itself felt by means of a symbol.
As time went on, those of higher and wiser intelligence
no doubt came to perceive that magical rites, ceremonies
and incantations did not really produce the efle&s they
were supposed to; and so gradually there came a
separation in the belief. The ignorant Still clung to
superstition and faith in magical powers, while the more
intelledual saw the hand of a power greater than that of
man, and began to see his dependence on a God above
all.
Robertson Smith States that, it was the community,
and not the individual, that was sure of the permanent
and unfailing help of its deity, so much so, that, in
purely personal concerns, the ancients were apt to turn
to magical superstitions. Thus man had no right to
enter into private relations with supernatural powers
that might help him at the expense of the community to
which he belonged.
Frazer considers that the principles of thought on
3
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
which magic is based are : first, that like produces like,
which he calls imitative magic, from which the magician
assumed that he could produce any efFeft he desired by
imitating it; secondly, that magic is contagious, from
which he inferred that whatever he did to a material
objeft, would affeft equally the person with whom the
objeft had once been in contaft, whether it formed part
of his body or not.
In praftice, the two branches are often combined, to
which he gives the name of sympathetic magic, since
both assume that things aft on each other at a distance
through secret sympathy.
The attempt to injure or destroy an enemy by insert¬
ing nails into his image in the belief that juSt as the
image suffers so does the man, and that when it perishes
he muSt die, is an instance of one of the earliest forms of
imitative magic.
It was practised by the ancient Babylonians, Egypt¬
ians, Hindus and other races at a remote period, con¬
tinued throughout the Middle Ages, and is employed
among the magical praftices of many barbaric races at
the present day.
The same form of charm was also praftised for a more
benevolent purpose, to gain the love or affeftion of
a person. As the wax figure melted before a fire, so
the heart of the individual desired was supposed to be
softened and his love obtained.
Contagious magic is shown in the magical sympathy
which was believed to exist between a person and any
portion of his body, such as the hair, teeth or nails.
The idea that whoever gained possession of such
things may work his will upon the person from whom
4
THE GENESIS OF MAGIC
they were taken, at any distance, is one of considerable
antiquity.
The old custom of placing an extracted tooth in a
hole where it could be found by a rat or mouse, in the
hope that, through sympathy, the person’s other teeth
might acquire the same excellence as those of the rodent,
probably originated in this belief. On the other hand,
an extrafted tooth was sometimes thrown on the fire so
that no one should find and keep it and so work magical
power on the person to whom it originally belonged.
Another example of contagious magic is evidenced
in the ancient belief that there is a connexion between a
wounded person and the weapon that caused the wound,
and that what may be done to the agent will correspond¬
ingly affeft the injury.
Pliny says : “ If you have wounded a man and are sorry
for it, you have only to spit on the hand that gave the
wound and the pain of the sufferer will cease.”
Francis Bacon thus alludes to this belief: “ It is con¬
stantly received and avouched, that the anointing of the
weapon which maketh the wound will heal the wound
itself.”
This praffice was revived in the seventeenth century by
Sir Kenelm Digby, whom Dr Walter Charlton describes
as “ a noble person, who hath built up his reason to so
transcendent a height of knowledge, as may seem not
much beneath the State of man in innocence.”
His theory, “ touching the cure of wounds by the
powder of sympathy,” was delivered at great length be¬
fore an assembly of nobles and learned men at Mont¬
pellier.
Digby’s “ Sympathetic Powder,” which was applied
5
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
to the weapon that caused the wound, consisted of
copper sulphate in powder, prepared when the sun
entered the sign of Leo.
It is probable that the professional magician was
originally one who, in the course of the evolution of
society by birth. Study and pra&ice, acquired a powerful
influence over his fellows. The prieSt by similar means,
or by prayer and fasting, obtained the favour of the
imaginary personages believed to influence or control
the affairs of men, and thus the union of the prieSt-
magician was probably fundamental. The magician
always supplicated a power greater than his own, thus
the help of the gods was invoked by incantation, and so
magic and religion were again associated.
From the primitive rock carvings found in the Trois
Freres cave near St Girons, Ari£ge, in France, there is
some evidence of the praftice of magic by prehistoric
man. There Breuil discovered in a little chamber at the
end of a long cave, the walls of which are covered with
engravings on the rock, the figure of a man, masked,
with antlers, as a Stag with a tail, which dominated
all the others.
“ Close by this figure and equally prominent in the
chamber below, is a kind of natural pulpit accessible
from behind, whence it is thought the magician or
sorcerer officiated/’
If such was the case, the dim and mysterious sur¬
roundings of the cave muSt have helped to influence the
minds of those who witnessed his proceedings.
With reference to the use of a Stag’s hide in this
figure, it is interesting to note the Story of the witch of
Berkeley in the early part of the twelfth century, related
6
THE GENESIS OF MAGIC
by William of Malmesbury. He States, that when dying,
she begged the monks and her children who were with
her, “ to sew her body in the hide of a Stag, then place
it in a Stone coffin and fasten in the covering with lead
and iron, so that her body might be secured from the
hands of the demons.”
In Egypt the magician claimed the power of com-
PRBHISTORIC SORCERER.
At the Trois Fibres Cave, France (after Breuil).
pelling the highest gods to do his will, and in India the
great triune deity, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, was subj eft
to the spells of the sorcerers.
“ The rites celebrated on special occasions,” says
Oldenberg, “ are complete models of magic of every
kind, and in every case the forms of magic bear the
Stamp of the greatest antiquity.”
Even witchcraft formed part of the religion, and
penetrated and became intimately blended with the
7
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
holiest Vedic rites. The Samavidhana Brahmana is in
reality a handbook of incantations and sorcery.
tc In ancient Egypt,” States Maspero, “ the faithful who
desired to obtain some favour from a deity had no
chance of succeeding except by laying hands on the god,
and this arreSt could only be effeRed by means of a
certain number of rites, sacrifices, prayers and chants,
which the god himself had revealed and which obliged
him to do what was demanded of him.”
The belief that the priest owing to his office possesses
a certain power to put a spell on an offender, or—as
termed in Ireland—“ to put a curse upon him,” survives
till the present day.
“ Magic as the enemy of an organized cult or the social
organization as a whole,” says Robertson Smith, “ came
to be worked in dark and secret places and grew by
adoption of degraded and scattered rites from various
cults.” Thus we shall find that later and in the Middle
Ages it imitated religious ritual to the verge of the
blasphemous.
Religion, on the other hand, developed an ethical
conception of the Godhead, in which the affion of mere
power is gradually converted into that of a power that
makes for righteousness.
Having thus briefly considered the theories advanced
by various authorities on the genesis of magic, it will
be of interest to Study its development and its practice
among the early civilizations.
8
CHAPTER II
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
T HE belief in certain supernatural beings of
diminutive size, but of charming appearance and
with generally a benevolent influence, is common
among various races and peoples.
In the Far East they have formed part of romance and
Story from early times and, according to an ancient
Hindu tradition, they inhabited the earth before the
creation of man.
In Persia the peris countera&ed the malevolent
influences of the divs and lived in enchanted palaces
and caStles.
In Europe the superstition is generally ascribed to the
Celtic races, while the Gothic people introduced the elves
and gnomes, the more malignant types of spirits.
In the poetical mythology of southern Europe they
appear in the early Middle Ages, and are alluded to in
the romantic Stories of Italy, Spain and France. In
ancient Erin, the belief in fairies was general, and their
appearance is described as being <c beautiful miniatures
of human beings.”
The fairies and their king and queen appear in early
mythology, and later on, as Diana and her nymphs.
Oberon is alluded to in the early French romances,
9
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
in which he is described as a “ tiny creature of great
beauty, wearing a jewelled crown, and a horn which
when he blew set all dancing.’’ Their power of making
themselves invisible when they wished was typical.
Joan of Arc was charged with frequenting the tree
and fountain near Dompre, which was the reputed haunt
of fairies, and with joining in their dances and accepting
their aid in the cause of delivering her country.
In the Middle Ages fairies were frequently associated
with charges of witchcraft, as in the case of Ann Jefferies,
who was said to have been fed for six months by “ a
small sort of hairy people called fairies.” According
to her Statement, “ Six small people, all in green clothes,
came suddenly over the garden wall one day, when she
was knitting Stockings,” in a garden at St Teath in Corn¬
wall. They threw her into convulsions but endowed
her with extraordinary powers of healing the sick, which
eventually led to her being haled before the magistrates
and committed to Bodmin Gaol for witchcraft. The
Scottish fairies were not so amiable in charafter from
accounts given by Scott. They are described as being
“ diminutive in form, and were to be found in the
interior of green hills, on the surface of which, the rings
which mark their moonlight dances may often be seen.
They are clad in green, heath-brown or grey and are
fond of riding invisible horses and occasionally real ones
whom they force to a great speed.”
The idea of a fairy king and queen is made use of by
Chaucer, who alludes to the Queen and her land in the
“ Rime of St Thopas ” and, in the “ Wife of Bathes
Tale,” as holding her Court with great splendour in the
time of King Arthur. In the “ Merchante’s Tale ”
10
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
the spirits of evil are mentioned as presiding over the
country.
“ Proserpine and all her fayrie.”
Allusion is also made to
“ Pluto, that is king of fayrie.”
Oberon is first mentioned in a play written in 1594
entitled “ The Scottishe Story of James the Fourth slain
at Flodden, intermixed with a pleasant Comedie pre¬
sented by Oberon, King of the Fairies.”
According to Reginald Scot: “ Fairies do principally
inhabit the mountains and caverns of the earth, whose
nature is to make Strange apparitions on the earth, in
meadows and in mountains, being like men and women,
souldiers, kings and ladyes, children and horsemen,
cloathed in green, to which purpose, they do in the night
Steal hempen Stalks from the fields where they grow, to
convert them into horses as the Story goes.
“ Such jocund and facetious spirits are sayd to sport
themselves in the night, by tumbling and fooling with
servants and shepherds in country houses, pinching
them black and blue and leaving bread, butter, and cheese
sometimes with them, which if they refuse to eat, some
mischief shall undoubtedly befall them by means of the
fairies.”
John Webster, another early writer, says : “ In a few
ages paSt, when Popish ignorance did abound, there
were in discourse nothing more common (which is
yet continued among the common people) than of the
apparition of certain creatures which they call fayries ;
that were of little Stature and when seen would soon
vanish and disappear.”
11
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
In his opinion, “ fairies are pigmy creatures which
really exist in the world, and are and may be Still in
islands and mountains that are inhabited, and that they
are not real demons. But that either they were truly of
human race, endowed with the use of reason and speech,
or, at least, that they were some kind of little apes
or satyres, having their secret recesses and holes in the
mountains.”
Some magicians claimed to be able to summon a fairy
at will and, in a manuscript of the fifteenth century in the
Ashmolean Colle&ion, the following method is said
to be “ An excellent way to get a Fayrie.” iC First get a
broad square chriStall or Venus glasse, in length and
breadth 3 inches : then lay that glasse or chryStall in the
blood of a white Henne, 3 Wednesdays or 3 Fridays, then
take it out and wash it with Holy Water and fumigate it.
Then take 3 hazel Sticks or wands of a years growth,
peel them fayre and white and make them so long as you
write the spirits or fayries which you call 3 times on every
Sticke, being made flatt on one side. Then bury them
under some hill, whereas you suppose fayres haunt, the
Wednesday before you call her, and the Friday following,
take them up and call her at 8, 3, and 10 of the clock
which be good planets and hours, but when you call, be
of cleane life and turn thy face towards the eaSt, and when
you have her, bind her to that Stone or glasse.”
The conception of fairies apparently differed according
to the character of people and country. They seized on
the poet’s fancy, and in Shakespeare’s time we have a
reflection of the common belief in fairies in several of his
plays.
Above all, they captured the imagination of children
12
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
and have survived in Story and the drama to the present
day.
The good fairy and the bad fairy of the old-fashioned
pantomime are the perpetuation, for children, of the
fairies of olden times, and as long as the plays of Shake¬
speare live, the mischievous Puck, Robin Goodfellow and
their kind will delight the hearts of everyone.
The elf was another small spirit that was supposed to
inhabit the hills and mountains, and was believed to
have some approach to human wisdom, being skilled in
the mechanical arts. Elves appear to have had their origin
in Scandinavian mythology in the form of the Bergelfen.
To them Olaus Magnus attributes the “ fairy rings ”
we now know to be due to a species of fungus. In
Scotland, triangular flints are called “ elf arrows,”
from the belief that the elves shoot them at cattle which,
although their skin remains unbroken, at once fall down
and die, or recover from their convulsion by being
touched with the “ elf arrow ” by which they have been
hit, or by drinking the water in which it has been dipped.
The term “ elf-locks,” applied to matted hair, comes
from the idea that the elves might bring misfortune.
Shakespeare alludes to it in “ Romeo and Juliet ” in the
lines :
“ This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the night;
And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once entangled much misfortune bodes.”
Among other freakish afts attributed to elves is that of
changing children in their cradles and substituting beings
of their own kind instead, called elfin children. The
knights of Spenser’s “ Court of Faerie ” were all thus
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
born. Stories of this kind are common in Scotland,
Ireland and in the Isle of Man.
Waldron, in his “ Description of the Isle of Man,” thus
describes an elfin changeling whom he visited. He says :
“ Nothing under heaven could have a more beautiful
face, but although between 5 and 6 years old and seem¬
ingly healthy, he was so far from being able to walk
or Stand, that he could not so much as move any one
joint. His limbs were vastly long for his age but smaller
than an infant of six months, his complexion was per¬
fectly delicate and he had the finest hair in the world ;
he never spoke nor cried, ate scarcely anything, and was
very seldom seen to smile, but if any one called him
Fairy-Elf, he would frown and fix his eyes so earnestly
on those who said it, as if he would look them through.”
One method of procuring the restoration of the Stolen
child was to roaSt the suppositious infant on live embers.
The elf home, according to the prose “ Edda,” is in
the celestial regions and is the abode of the elves of fight,
while the elves of darkness five under the earth.
All the Teutonic nations held these beliefs and the
romances of chivalry abound with them. In some
parts of Germany the peasants believe that elves come
and fie on those they find sleeping on their backs and
thus produce nightmare. Nightmare has long been
thought to have been produced by malevolent spirits
like the incubi, hence the custom of hanging a horseshoe
over the bed to drive them away.
“ Familiar spirits,” says Le Loyer, “ were those who
came at Stated times and could not only converse but were
visible in various forms they assumed. The Greeks
called them Paredrii.”
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
Socrates is said to have had an attendant spirit of this
kind, and Sertorius claimed to have trained to obey his
call, a white fawn which he said was the gift of Diana, who
thus conveyed to him her revelations.
The Story of Mohammed’s pigeon—which was said to
represent the angel Gabriel—that appeared to whisper
in his ear was a similar myth.
Scott considered the Scottish brownie to be a descend¬
ant of the “ familiars ” of the ancients and it was typical
of the brownie, that whatever work he performed, he
would take no reward.
The black dog of Cornelius Agrippa, which always
accompanied him, is a later Story of this kind.
It was believed that “ familiars ” could be bound or
imprisoned in magical figures and rings, in which the
magicians of the school of Salamanca and Toledo and
those of Italy made traffic.
Heywood says : “ Every magician and witch have a
familiar spirit given to attend them which are sometimes
visible in the form of a dog or cat. . . . These kinds of
familiar spirits are suche as are kept in rings hallowed,
viols, boxes and caskets.”
PhiloStratus States : “ Apollonius Tyaneus was never
without one, and Johannes Jodocus Rosa a citizen
of Cortacensia, every fifth day, had conference with
the spirit enclosed in his ring, who he looked upon
as a counseller and direftor of his affairs. ... It
learnt him the cure and remedy of all griefs and diseases,
insomuch that he had the reputation of a learned and
excellent physician. At length being accused of sorcery
at Arnhem in Guelderland, he was proscribed, and in the
year 1548 the Chancellor caused his ring to be layd on an
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
anvil in the public market, and with an iron hammer
beaten to pieces.”
Paracelsus was believed to carry a “ familiar in a
Stone set in the hilt of his sword, and he never laid the
weapon down but placed it by his side in bed. He
would often get up in the night and Strike it violently
against the floor.”
The witch’s “ familiar ” usually took the shape of a
black cat or toad that followed her about, sat on her
chair and with which she had converse.
Butler thus alludes to the Stories of cc familiars ” that
were supposed to reside in Stones, in the following lines in
cc Hudibras ”:
“ BombaStus kept a devil’s bird
Shut in the pummel of his sword,
That taught him all the cunning pranks
Of paSt and future mountebanks.
Kelly did all his feats upon
The Devil’s looking-glass, a Stone,
Where, playing with him at bo-peep,
He solv’d all problems ne’er so deep.
Agrippa kept a Stygian pug,
I’ th’ garb and habit of a dog.
That was his tutor, and the cur
Read to th’ occult philosopher.”
The banshee, the supernatural being so common in
the legends and Stories of the Celtic races, was the warn¬
ing spirit that attached itself to certain families and clans.
It was generally believed to be the spirit of a woman
whose destinies had become linked, by some accident,
with those of the family she followed. She was some¬
times young, but usually very old with long, ragged
locks flowing over her shoulders. She is described as
16
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
being attired in loose, white garments, and her duty was
to warn the family she attended of approaching death
or misfortune, by a peculiarly mournful wail at night,
<c resembling the melancholy sough of the wind but hav¬
ing the sound of a human voice, which could be heard
at a great distance. She was rarely visible and only to
those whom she attended.”
The banshee is mentioned in several of the old Irish
ballads, as in the following :
“ ’Twas the banshee’s lonely wailing.
Well I knew the voice of death,
In the night wind slowly sailing
O’er the bleak and gloomy heath.”
Many of the ancient families of Ireland had their banshee
and, to some, the phantom is Still said to appear before
the death of any near relative.
The warning spirit is not confined to Ireland, and
similar apparitions are said to appear to families in Italy
and Germany.
Scott records several instances in Scotland, and says
that the family of Tullochgorm was haunted by a female
whose left arm and hand were covered with hair.
An apparition is supposed to haunt Spedlins CaStle
near Loch Maben, which is said to be the ghoSt of a
prisoner once confined in a dungeon who was Starved
to death. Its visits became so frequent that a clergyman
was called in to exorcize it. He used an ancient Bible
as the medium, and after twenty-four hours, according
to the Story, he was able to confine it to a part of the
caStle, but its shrieks and groans were Still heard. Some
years afterwards, the Bible was taken away to be rebound
c 17
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
and at once the spectre renewed its manifestations, which
did not cease until the volume had been returned to its
place in the caStle.
The genius or jinn is supposed to be the spirit who
attends an individual from the time of his birth, but
is more frequently to be met with in the legends of the
EaSt than in those of Western races.
They were spirits of an inferior kind, and were the
companions or guardians of men, who prompted them
to good a&ions or otherwise, for the jinns of the EaSt
were both good and evil spirits. Those acknowledged
by the Arabs differed from those of the Persians. The
genii of “ The Arabian Nights ” were the divs of
Indian legends adapted by the Persians to their romances.
The jinns appear to have been the descendants of the
divs or d£vat£s of Hindu mythology, and were con¬
sidered as spiritual agents or superhuman beings. They
were represented by the Arabs as corporeal beings,
hairy and sometimes of animal shape. They could
assume human form, and had the power of disappearing
and then appearing in another place. They were be¬
lieved to live underground, and could therefore affedl
the earth with evil. On this account the husbandman
would sprinkle new ploughland with the blood of a
peace-offering to appease them.
The Persian div was more of the chara&er and con¬
ception of a devil of the Middle Ages and might be
either male or female.
The males, according to Persian tradition, were
entrusted with the ruling of the world for 7000 years
anterior to the creation of Adam. They were believed
to be able to assume various forms, especially that of a
18
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
serpent, and are often thus represented in drawings
illustrating the early Persian romances.
The divs or daivers of the Hindus were supposed to
inhabit a world called Daiver—Logum—and are usually
represented in the Hindu romances as engaged in com¬
bating the giants. They formed a numerous host and are
divided into many classes.
The word “ devil ” is supposed to have been derived
from the Persian “ div.” The Hebrew word translated
in the Old Testament means “ hairy ones ” applied to
goats.
ParkhurSt says: “ It is not unlikely that the Christians
borrowed their goat-like conception of the devil with
tail, horns and cloven feet from the representations of
Pan.”
Sir Thomas Browne remarks, that the Rabbins
believed the devil to appear most frequently in the form
of a goat, as that animal was the emblem of the sin
offering and is the emblem of sinful men at the last
judgment.
The Eastern races represented their devil with horns
and a tail, and often with deformed heads and faces on
certain parts of the body, such as are depifted in many
piftures of the Middle Ages. In colour, he is painted a
blackish-red or brown and black, while Satan was painted
green. At a later period he is sometimes depi&ed as a
black cat, but in witchcraft ceremonial he is generally
described as a great he-goat or ram.
The incubus was the spirit to which nightmare was
attributed and was supposed to impose itself on the
sleeper in the dead of night, and give rise to terrible
dreams until the viftim could shake it off. Keysler
*9
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
States, that Nachmar is derived from Mair, an old
woman, because the spirit appears to press upon the
breaSt and impede the adion of the lungs. The English
and Dutch words coincide with the German, but the
Swedes use Mara alone. There is a tradition in some
countries, that “ nightmare is associated with the weird
women who were not only in the habit of riding on
men but also on horses, and to keep them out of the
Stables the peasants used to write the pentalpha on the
Stable doors in consecrated chalk on Walpurgis Night.”
The horseshoe was employed for the same purpose,
and at the present day in some parts of the country, a
decorated horseshoe is hung over the bed to prevent a
visitation of nightmare.
“ Incubi and Succubi,” says an old writer, “ are devils
taking often times to that end the shape and likeness
sometimes of men, and sometimes women and commit
the greatest abominations. St AuguStine said that the
satyrs and fauns were incubi.”
The word “ incubus ” is perpetuated and used to-day
to describe a burden it is difficult to throw off.
Vampires have fired the imagination of humanity for
centuries, and the fad that certain animals are capable
of sucking human blood gave some credence to their
existence. They are described by ancient writers as,
“ persons who rise from their graves in the night and suck
the blood of the living and then return to their graves. 55
The fad that after the death of certain persons, their
relatives were often observed to grow pale and thin,
gave some colour to this belief.
Hungary, in particular, has been the origin of many
stories of vampirism and various theories have been
zo
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
suggested to account for the curious and weird tales that
have been told of their exploits. In case of a sus¬
pected vampire, the body was disinterred, and if it was
found to be fresh and full of blood the accusation was
declared to be true. To put an end to its activities a
sharp Stake was driven through the heart and the body
was then burnt.
In some places, judiciary proceedings were taken
againSt the gruesome speCtres, and the exhumed bodies
were examined for the marks of depravity, which con¬
sisted chiefly in the flexibility of the limbs and fluidity
of the blood.
At length it began to dawn on the minds of the more
intelligent that the so-called vampires were persons who
had probably been buried alive. Of the many Stories
related of vampires, one recorded in the “ Lettres
Juives,” 1738, which is attested by two officers of the
Emperor’s troops at Graditz who were eye-witnesses,
may be taken as an example.
“ In the beginning of September 1738, a man aged 62,
died at the village of Kisilova near Graditz. Three days
after he was buried, he appeared at night to his son and
demanded food, which the son gave him and he dis¬
appeared. The next day the son told the neighbours
what had happened. The following night but one, the
father appeared again with the same request. The next
night the son was found dead in his bed, and five or six
persons took ill and died in the village in a few days.
A report was made to the tribunal at Belgrade and two
officers and an executioner were sent to investigate
the matter.
“ They opened the graves of those who had been dead
21
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
six weeks, and when they came to the body of the old
man they found his eyes open and of good colour, and
with natural respiration, from which they concluded that
he was a vampire. The executioner then drove a Stake
into his heart and the body was burnt to ashes.”
In the account of another case in the village of Liebaea,
it is said that the vampire was caught by a peasant who
watched from the top of the church tower. He felled
the vampire with a blow on his head and then decapitated
him with a hatchet.
Such were the Stories of vampires that were believed
as late as the eighteenth century.
Tournefort States, in 1717, that, in the Archipelago,
the people of the islands firmly believe that those excom¬
municated by the Greek Church preserved their bodies
entire and from putrefaftion after death. He was
present at the exhumation, impalement and burning of
a supposed vampire in the island of Mycone, who was
said to have broken the bones and drained the veins
of half the inhabitants of the island.
The goblin, or Robin Goodfellow, was said to be a
freakish spirit who although he frightened people was
not an enemy of mankind. Though Shakespeare
includes him among the fairy followers of Oberon, he
was more of the phantom type.
“ Hobgoblins or these kind of spirits,” says a writer
of the seventeenth century, “are more familiar and
dome§tical than the others, and abide in one place more
than another, so that some never depart from some
particular house, making sundry noises, rumours, mocker¬
ies, gawds and jeSts, without doing any harm, and some
have heard them play on gitterns and Jew’s harps, and
22
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
ring bells and make answer to those that call them, and
speak with certain signs, laughters and merry gestures
so that they be feared not at all.”
The Scottish bogle was a similar frolicsome spirit who
delighted more in playing tricks than doing harm.
Drayton alludes to Puck whom he says “ most men call
hobgoblin,” The antics attributed to the goblins are
similar to the manifestations of the poltergeist through
whose agency obje&s were said to be hurled across a
room, crockery smashed, jugs lifted from the table
and the contents poured on the floor, and knives, forks
and spoons projefted through space as if by unseen
hands.
2 3
CHAPTER III
THE CULT OF MAGIC-THE MAGI AND THEIR MYSTERIES
M AGIC was intimately connefted with the origin
of all mythology and also with the ancient creeds
of philosophy.
ZoroaSter or ZarathuStra, the founder of what is
called the Magian religion, is supposed to have lived
about 1500 b.c., but according to the Zend-AveSta—in
which his name is mentioned—he probably flourished at
a much earlier period.
The fundamental principles of the religion he founded,
the doftrines of which are described in the Zend-AveSta,
teach that the world is the centre of the conflift between
two great powers, good and evil, and that the good
principle is eternal and will finally prevail over the bad.
ZoroaSter is said to have been the originator of the
Magi, but the religion he founded eventually degenerated
into an idolatrous form of fire worship.
The Magi, who are believed to have been a distinfl:
caste of the Medians, can be traced back to about
591 b.c., and were known as the magicians or wise men.
They were the disseminators of the wisdom of Zoroaster,
and were flourishing at the period when Cyrus founded
the new Persian Empire. They appear to have been an
order divided into various classes, and became renowned
for their skill in divining dreams, closely linked with
24
THE MAGI AND THEIR MYSTERIES
which was the Study of astrology—in which they
excelled.
They professed a profound knowledge of the mysteries
of Divination, and for that purpose met and consulted
in their temples. They claimed to be searchers after
Truth, for that alone, they claimed, “ could make man
like God, whose body resembled light and whose soul
or spirit resembled Truth.” They condemned all
images and worshipped the sky as representative of the
Deity. According to Herodotus, they addressed the
heavenly bodies and elements and sacrificed to the Sun,
Moon, Earth, Fire, Water and the Winds.
Both in Egypt and in Greece, it is Sated that the
sacerdotal fraternity, or association of the initiated
formed by the mysteries, had generally an important
influence on State affairs, and in Persia they are said to
have acquired a complete political ascendancy. The
sacred religious philosophy and science were in their
hands and they were healers of the sick in body and in
mind. About 500 b.c. they were fiercely persecuted
and many emigrated to Cappadocia and to India. It
is probable that the migration of the Magi towards the
WeSt was the cause of the spread of the influence of
magic to Greece and Arabia. The Biblical references
to the Wise Men of the EaSt, and their Study and
knowledge of the Stars, are well known and corroborate
these Statements.
The worship of the mysterious Cabiri has been traced
to the Phoenicians and goes back to a remote period.
The mysteries of Eleusis and of Bacchus are of a
comparatively recent date compared with these ancient
prehistoric rites.
25
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Some thought that the Cabiri were descended from
Thoth and Hermes TrismegiStus, but Herodotus calls
them the “ Sons of Vulcan, and Jupiter is often named
as their father/’ Other early writers consider that they
were the ministers of the gods who were deified at their
deaths.
It is Stated that the worship of the Cabiri originated in
Egypt and that the Temple of Memphis w~as consecrated
to them. In ancient Rome they were apparently
regarded as the household gods of the people.
The island of Lemnos was notable for the worship
of the Cabiri, and Vulcan, as represented by fire; and,
there, mystical rites were performed over which they
presided. The coins of the island sometimes bore the
head of Vulcan, or a Cabirus with the pireus, hammer
and tongs.
The mysteries of the Cabiric worship were celebrated
also at Thebes and especially at the Isle of Samothrace.
They are said to have taken place at night. The
candidate for initiation was crowned with a garland of
olives, and wore a purple band round the loins. He
was prepared by sacred ceremonies, probably hypnotic,
and was seated on a brilliantly lighted throne, around
which the other initiates danced in a myStic measure.
The general idea represented in these ceremonies, was
the passage through death to a higher life; and, while
the outer senses were held in the thrall of hypnotism,
it is supposed that revelations were made to the priests.
In the mysterious art of foretelling and the beginnings
of prophecy, the Oracles played an important part, and
among these the Oracle of Delphi was celebrated.
According to tradition, it originated with fumes that
26
THE MAGI AND THEIR MYSTERIES
were found issuing from a cave discovered by Coretas,
a shepherd. There is no evidence to show whether
these were of natural origin or not; but the Story
continues that, on approaching it, the shepherd was seized
with ecstasy and uttered words which were deemed to be
inspired.
A tripod was erefted over the source, and a girl was
chosen to become the medium of the responses, which
were believed to be oracular. A bower of laurel
branches was built over it, and later came the marble
temple and priesthood of Delphi where the Pythoness
was seated on her throne. The Oracle is said to have
prepared herself by drinking from the sacred fountain—
the water from which was reserved for her only—by
chewing a laurel leaf and encircling her brow with a
laurel crown.
The person who wished to consult the Oracle had first
to offer a victim, and then, having written a question, to
hand it to the Pythoness before she ascended the golden
tripod.
The Oracle of Delphi is said to have spoken only during
one month in the year and, at first, only on the seventh
day of that month—which was deemed the birthday of
Apollo.
The Oracle of Jupiter Ammon and the locality in
which it was situated are alike disputed. The temple is
described by Lucan and other classical writers. The
image of the god was carried abroad by the priests, and
is said to have responded not by speech but by nodding.
The prieSts themselves often expressed ignorance of their
deity’s meaning, and the replies therefore generally left
the questioner in considerable uncertainty.
*7
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS {OF MAGIC
.'jJL
The Oracle of Jupiter Dodona is said to have issued
from a tree, recorded by some as an oak and by others
as a beech. Bells and copper basins were suspended
from the branches, and clanged and tinkled at the
slightest breath of wind. A fountain of Strange and
mysterious virtue issued near the grove, and was said
to have the power of relighting a glowing torch after it
had been extinguished.
The Oracle of Jupiter Trophonius is described
by Pausanias. Trophonius was regarded as the moSt
skilful architeft of his day, and tradition States that he
was swallowed up by an earthquake in the cave which
afterwards became prophetic. According to Pausanias,
a deputation from a neighbouring district, where famine
was rampant, went to consult the Oracle, which they
could not find until they followed the flight of a swarm
of bees. The inquirer was obliged to descend into a
cave, where he remained for a certain number of days
while he made the propitiatory offerings to the Oracle.
An intricate ceremonial followed and the entrails of the
viftims were inspected in order to learn whether Tropho¬
nius was in a fit humour to be consulted or not. The
responses were said to be given sometimes in a vision,
and at others by words. There was only a single instance
of anyone who descended to the cave failing to return,
and that one deserved his fate, for his objeft was to
discover treasure, and not to consult the Oracle. “ I
write,” says Pausanias, “ not only from hearsay but
from what I have seen occur to others, and which I
myself experienced when I went to consult Trophonius.”
The Oracles of Delos and Branchis also had a high
reputation. The responses were given by a prieStess,
28
THE MAGI AND THEIR MYSTERIES
three days after consultation, and who then sat on an
axle or bar with a charming-rod in her hand, inhaling
the Steam from a hot spring. Offerings and ceremonies
were necessary to render the inspiration effectual, in¬
cluding baths, faSting and solitude.
At Clarus, near Colophon, was the Oracle of the
Clarian Apollo, which was delivered by a prieSt selefled
for the moSt part from a Milesian family, who prophesied
after drinking the water which gushed forth from a
spring and was believed to give insight into futurity.
The water was only allowed to be drunk after arduous
spiritual exercises.
The Egyptian Oracles were also famous, and that at
Amphiaraus, near Thebes, was perhaps the most re¬
nowned. Oracular dreams were supposed to visit those
who slept on the skins of rams that had been sacrificed
and the prieSts were the interpreters. No rite was per¬
formed in the fountain belonging to this establishment,
nor was it used for lustrations, but its waters were an un¬
failing source of profit. All who were satisfied with the
Oracle’s prescription threw a piece of gold into the
consecrated spring before their departure.
Auguries exercised a powerful influence on the minds
of communities in early times. The Augurs are thought
by some to have originated in Etruria (though it is
possible that they go back to a much earlier period),
and were four in number.
Although originally of the patrician class, at a later
period the plebeians had representatives in the College,
and the number of Augurs was increased to nine. On
their first institution they were probably chosen from the
College of PrieSts, but their eleftion underwent several
29
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
modifications. Cicero States that, in the early days of the
Republic, it was customary to send six sons of the most
eminent patricians to Etruria to be educated in the
discipline of Augury, by means of which they were able to
penetrate the mysteries of the future. It was a priest¬
hood that continued for life, and so great was its dignity
that no crime, however atrocious and however clearly
proved, could lead to deprivation. The chief Augur
was called the magi Her collegii , and the duties of the
priesthood enjoined the public interpretation of the
sovereign will of Jove, to attend to signs and auspices
and to anticipate the anger of the gods. Among other
duties, they had to superintend sacrifices and to de¬
clare what vi&ims, rites and prayers were necessary for
expiation. The ceremonies at magisterial elections were
referred to their judgment, and they could invalidate or
confirm the appointments not only of minor officials,
but also of prastors, consuls and even dictators. Peace
or war was resolved upon, according to their responses,
and they exercised a control over the public mind which
was without appeal.
The costume of an Augur consisted of a robe Striped
with purple or scarlet, or a double cloak and a cap of
conical shape. He carried a smooth Staff, the head of
which was curved like an episcopal crosier. This
Staff was his special badge. Its use was to mark out
and distribute the several parts of the visible heaven
into different houses, and to assign precise imaginary
limits to the quarters which he referred to right and
left.
So arrayed, the Augur would proceed to some elevated
spot, and, having sacrificed, he either himself uttered a
30
THE MAGI AND THEIR MYSTERIES
prayer or repeated the prescribed formulary. According
to some authors, he turned his face to the eaft so that
the south was on his right and the north on his left. He
then divided the heavens into four parts, named the
Weft Antica, the Eaft Poftica, the North Siniftra and the
South Dextra. With eyes intent upon the sky, and
amid the solemn silence of the crowd that surrounded
him, he waited until some bird appeared, carefully noting
down the spot from which it rose, the course it took,
its upward or downward flight and the point at which
it disappeared. It was not enough that a single augury
should be seen, it was necessary to confirm it. If on
passing from the hill or elevated spot, after the reception
of an augury, the prieft came to any water, he would
ftoop down and take some in the palm of his hand, and
pray that the augury might continue firm, as water was
supposed to interfere with its efficacy.
Such appears to have been the earlieft form of augury,
as practised by the Romans. The procedure differed
among other peoples. The Persians and Greeks appear
to have made auguries from thunder and lightning ;
others judged from the flight of birds. Thus, if an eagle
were seen on outftretched wings, it predicted prosperity ;
cranes, if they were diverted from their flight and turned
backward by a ftorm, were regarded as a sign of woe to
mariners; swallows were regarded as precursors of
misfortune. Auguries were also derived from animals,
and even swarms of bees and locufts were regarded for
this purpose.
Omens for good and ill, when once believed in, had
a ftrong effedf on the mind. Birds played an important
part in the auguries, and crows in particular ; they were
3i
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
sometimes a good omen, but when seen plucking their
own feathers they portended ill.
The Greeks regarded a sneeze in the morning as an
omen that the business of the day would be bad ; if it
occurred at noon, the omen was a fortunate one; if a
person were to sneeze after dinner, a dish had to be
brought back and taSted to avert misfortune that other¬
wise was believed to be certain.
3 2
CHAPTER IV
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MAGIC
W E owe our knowledge of the magical praftices
and demonology of the Assyrians and Babylon¬
ians to the clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform of
the time of Assurbanipal which have been translated
by R. Campbell Thompson and others. They are
believed to be copies of others of a much earlier period,
and which probably dated back six or seven thousand
years.
These ancient records show the general belief in magic
and the part it played in the life of the people.
From the Story of Gilgamish which has come down to
us, it is evident that they practised sorcery and prognosti¬
cation. Gilgamish appealed to the god Nergal to restore
his friend Ea-bani to him, and the god opened the earth
and the utakku or speCtre of Ea-bani rose up. As they
believed that disease was caused by the entrance of
demons into the body, it is natural that magic should
enter into their treatment of the sick.
The objeCt of the magical texts was to enable the
prieSt-magician to control or exorcize the demons, or
to counteract their malign influence. To do this it was
important that the evil spirit which affeCted the sick
person should be mentioned by name, so that we find
in the tablets long lists of the names of demons or evil
D 33
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
spirits, such as the ghoSts of the dead who wandered
over the earth.
To heal his suffering, the sick man had recourse to the
magician who by his knowledge of magical words,
incantations and prayers could invoke the aid of the great
gods to gain control of the demon. Frequent mention
is made in the incantations of the fumigation, which
shows the importance attached to this rite, as for example:
“ Come, my sorceress or enchantress.
Over a nulukhkha-plant shalt thou recite,
Upon the fumigation bowl which is at the head of the bed
shalt thou place it, and with an upper garment shalt thou
envelop the bed.”
This was accompanied by offerings of various kinds,
mention being made of honey, butter, dates, garlic,
corn-flowers, plants, pieces of wood, palm spathes, sheep¬
skin, wool and fragments of gold and precious Stones.
These were generally destroyed by fire, indicating the
sympathetic connexion between the deStruftion of the
ban and that of the objeft.
In the magical ceremonial of the Babylonians the
recital of the incantation was generally accompanied by
the burning of incense. Thus :
“ A censer of incense before the god --shalt thou set,”
which is the formula usually employed.
After the formula, in which the suppliant Stated his
name, mention is often made of “ Prayers of the lifting
of the hand ” which accompanied the performance of
certain rites and ceremonies, when a prayer was delivered
after an eclipse of the moon.
The rite of the “ knotted cord ” frequently accom¬
panied the “ Prayers of the lifting of the hand, 5 ’ and
34
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MAGIC
when the priest-magician loosened the knot certain words
were to be uttered. The god or goddess muSt then
be propitiated by gifts, before the suppliant made his
appeal, the altar being loaded with the offerings and the
censers lighted before the words of the incantation could
take effeft.
The following text of a prayer to Tasmitu is an instance
of the formula employed :
“ I- S on of-whose god is-whose goddess is-
In the evil of an eclipse of the moon-
May the sickness of my body be torn away ; may groaning of my
flesh be consumed !
May the consumption of my muscles be removed !
May the poisons that are upon me be loosened ! ”
In the pradfice of magic three things were essential in
exorcism. First, the “ word of power ” by means of
which the magician invoked divine or supernatural aid;
secondly, the name or descripdon of the person or
demon he was working against; thirdly, charms, amulets
or figures of wax or clay to help him, and sometimes
hair or nail parings were employed, At a later period
magical names were used as the “ words of power.” 1
The Assyrians had a special demonology and believed
that the soul could return to earth after the death of the
body. They recognized several diStindf classes of spirits,
including the disembodied human soul which wandered
over the face of the earth ; those which were regarded as
partly human and partly demon, and the demons or
devils.
The sorcerer was called the “ Raiser of the departed
1<f The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia,” by R. Campbeh
Thompson, M.A. London, 1903.
35
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
spirit,” while the magician’s art appears to have been
chiefly praftised in the form of sympathetic magic or
the transferring of a spiritual power into some objeft
under his control.
The moSt primitive form employed was the wax or
clay figure previously mentioned. After this had been
modelled in the likeness of an enemy with incantations,
nails or thorns were Stuck into it, or it was allowed to
melt before a fire so that the human counterpart might
suffer similar torment.
The prevalence of this praftice in antiquity is remark¬
able.
The Egyptians employed it at a very early period and
the Jews probably adopted it from them. An allusion
to it occurs in the following text:
“ If thou wisheSt to cause anyone to perish, take clay
from two river banks and make an image therewith,
write upon it the man’s name, then take 7 Stalks from 7
date trees and make a bow with horse hair; set up the
image in a convenient place. Stretch thy bow, shoot the
Stalks at it and with every one say the prescribed words,
adding £ Destroyed be-son of --.’ ”
The image or figure was also used in the inverse way
and was employed by a sick man to drive out a disease-
demon that possessed him. A figure of the ailing one was
made in wax, clay or dough, and with the proper charms
the magician tried to induce the demon to leave the body
of the sick man and enter his counterpart.
When an Assyrian thought himself bewitched or laid
under a spell, he would seek a magician and beseech
him for counter charms and incantations against the
person who had bewitched him.
36
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MAGIC
If a man was attacked by a ghoSt, he had to be anointed
with various substances so that the “ hand of the ghoSt ”
should be removed. There are several methods recorded
in the texts for “ laying a ghoSt,” and the following
is one for “ the ghoSt that walks at night and comes to the
bedside.”
“ When a dead man appeareth unto a living man—
thou shalt make a figure of clay and write his name on
the left side with a stylus ; thou shalt put it into a
gazelle’s horn and its face—and in the shade of a caper
bush or in the shade of a thorn bush, thou shalt dig
a hole and bury it.”
The demons or spirits of evil were those generally
dealt with by the magician, and many incantations are
recorded that were to be employed to counteract their
power.
One of these, called Alu, was believed to hide in
caverns and ruins and deserted buildings, which even
at that early period appear to have been regarded as the
haunt of ghoSts. He is described as being “ horrible in
appearance, half human and sometimes without mouth,
ears or limbs.”
Another was Lilu, Lilitu or Ardat Lili, who is thought
to be the Lilith of Hebrew traditions, and whose name
is frequently mentioned in the Rabbinical legends. She
appears to have been the restless spirit of a woman, half
human, who wandered over the earth.
The association of ruined and deserted buildings with
ghoSts and speClres appears to have been universal and
is met with in legends and Stories from the earliest times.
It is thus referred to in an Assyrian text:
“ O thou that dwelleth in ruins, get thee to thy ruins.”
37
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
During the ceremonial, the Babylonian magician some¬
times sprinkled water over a person who was believed
to be possessed by an evil spirit, thus symbolizing the
cleansing of the man from the spell. Meteoric iron,
which was regarded as a gift from the gods, was used
as a charm or amulet.
“ Take thou the potent meteorite of heaven.
Which by the roar of its awful might removeth all evils.
Place the tamarisk
The mighty weapon.”
A branch of tamarisk was carried by the magician
in his hand during the exorcism, probably because it
was believed to contain the emanation of the tree-spirit
which was supposed to live in the sacred tamarisk tree.
It was thought to be all-powerful over the evil demons
that inhabited the trees, as the following text shows :
<£ These evil ones will be put to flight.
The tamarisk the powerful weapon of Anu
In my hands I hold.”
The tamarisk was cut with certain ceremonies with a
golden axe and silver knife according to a Babylonian
incantation :
“ Let a wise and cunning coppersmith
Take an axe of gold (?) and a silver pruning knife
Unto a grove undefiled ;
(Let him carve) a hulduppi of tamarisk,
Touch it with the axe.”
Water was employed in exorcism, as instanced in
the text:
“ I am the sorcerer, prieSt of (Ea),
I am the magician of Eridu.
When I sprinkle the water of Ea on the sick man,
When I subdue the sick man ...”
38
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MAGIC
Further allusions to the use of fire and water are made
in another text as follows :
“ Perform the incantation of Eridu,
Bring unto him a censer and a torch.
With the purest water wash him
And cleanse and purify the king, the son of his god.
Evil spirit, evil demon, evil ghoSt, evil devil,
Evil god, evil fiend,
Into the (house) may they not enter,”
The use of the mystical number seven had both a good
and evil significance, and there are many references to it
in the Assyrian magical texts : thus, in an incantation :
“ By the seven gates of the earth maySt thou be exorcized.
By the seven bolts of the earth maySt thou be exorcized.”
Then there were the “ seven evil spirits 55 that wrought
mischief on the earth :
“ Those seven evil gods, death dealing without fear.
Those seven evil gods rushing on like a flood.”
AgainSt them this incantation was to be said :
“ Seven gods of the broad earth.
Seven robber gods are they,
Seven gods of night, Seven evil gods. Seven evil demons.
Seven evil demons of oppression, Seven in heaven and
seven on earth.”
They apparently belonged to the class of inhuman
spirits and are thus described in another Assyrian text:
“ They creep like a snake on their bellies.
They make the chamber to Stink like mice.
They give tongue like a pack of hounds.”
It was they who rode on the Storm clouds bringing
39
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
devastation in their train, and they brought tempests,
hurricanes, unreSt and disorder into the world.
“ These seven are the messengers of Anu the king,
Bearing gloom from city to city ;
Tempests that furiously scour the heavens.
Dense clouds that over the sky bring gloom/’
In the book of the Revelation it is Beliar who sends
seven spirits against man and the seven angels who
brought the seven plagues. A further allusion to this
number occurs in an Assyrian poem :
“ Seven gods of might.
Seven evil gods,
Seven evil demons.
Seven evil demons of oppression,
Seven in earth and seven in heaven—
Seven are they, Seven are they !
In the ocean deep. Seven are they ! ”
At a later period the seven spirits are again mentioned
in Syriac magic thus :
“ Evil are they, Evil are they.
Seven are they. Seven are they.
Twice Seven are they.”
Namtaru, the plague god of the Assyrians, seems to
have been of the half-human and half-supernatural
type, and there was also Ura, another demon that
brought plague and pestilence. In an incantation
addressed to the god, the prieSt-magician is airefted
to make a figure of the person suffering, in dough, so
that the plague god may be induced to leave the man
he is tormenting and enter the image. It begins :
40
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MAGIC
“ O Plague god that devoureth the land like fire.
Plague god that attacketh the man like fever.
Plague god that roameth like the wind over the desert,
Plague god that seizeth on the man like an evil thing.”
Another method of expelling the plague demon is
thus direded :
“ Lay a sprig of mashtakal on his heart.
With the water perform the incantation of Eridu,
Bring unto him a censer, a torch,
That the plague demon that refteth in the body of man,
Like the water, may trickle away.
• • • • • *
Pull off a piece of clay from the deep,
Fashion a figure of his bodily form and
Place it on the loins of the sick man by night;
At dawn make the atonement for his body.
Perform the incantation of Eridu,
Turn his face to the weft,
That the evil plague demon which hath seized upon him
may vanish away from him.”
The Assyrians hung clay amulets over the doors
of their dwellings to proted them from spirits that
worked evil and harm, and in the British Museum there
are two tablets inscribed with the legend of Ura the
plague demon, which were probably used to prevent
his entrance into the house.
The “ evil eye 55 was a source of terror to the
Assyrians, and frequent references are made to it in
the incantations.
One of these reads :
“ The roving evil eye hath looked on the neighbourhood and
vanished afar.”
4*
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
And another:
C£ Thou man, son of his god.
The eye which hath looked upon thee for harm.
The eye which hath looked upon thee for evil.’ ,
The belief Still persists in Palestine that the “ evil
eye ” can throw down a house, break a plough, cause
sickness and even destroy a person, an animal or a plant.
Charms in the shape of an eye are carried on the person,
camels are protefted by hanging a holed-Stone around
their necks, and horses by fastening blue beads on their
manes and tails.
The use of a knotted cord as a charm woven by a
“ wise woman ” is thus alluded to :
“ Hath seated the wise woman on a couch.
That she may spin white and black wool into a double cord,
A Strong cord, a mighty cord, a twi-coloured cord on a spindle,
A cord to overcome the Ban.”
After performing the incantation of Eridu, a “ three¬
fold cord on which twice seven knots were tied ” and
fastened round the head, was believed to cure headache.
For persons suffering from ophthalmia, a black-and-white
cord on which “ twice seven knots were tied,” while
repeating the incantation, was said to relieve them of
their trouble. The idea of the magician was thus to
compel the demon to leave the body and enter into
something which would give him control over it and
which he could destroy.
Certain odours were believed to have an attraction
for demons and the smell of newly-shed blood delighted
devils or the odour of burnt fat attrafted evil spirits.
Devils could be expelled by a repulsive odour, while
4 *
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MAGIC
good spirits were propitiated by sweet-smelling per¬
fumes.
A general incantation, potent against evil spirits
that afflift man and cause disease, reads as follows :
“ Sickness of the head, of the teeth, of the heart, heartache.
Sickness of the eye, fever, poison,
Evil spirit, evil demon, evil ghoSt, evil devil, evil god, evil fiend,
Hag demon, ghoul, robber sprite,
Phantom of night, night wraith, handmaiden of the phantom.
Evil pestilence, noisome fever, baneful sickness.
Pain, sorcery or any evil,
Headache, shivering,
Evil spell, witchcraft, sorcery.
Enchantment and all evil,
From the house go forth
Unto the man, the son of his god come not into.
Get thee hence 1 ”
Love charms were sometimes made from the brain
of the hoopoe mixed into a cake, or a magic wick
was formed inscribed with invocations and burnt in
a lamp. The bones of a frog if buried for seven days
and then exhumed would when thrown into water
indicate love or hate. If they sank it indicated hate;
if they floated they were believed to signify love.
The demons were believed to dwell in the underworld
of the god Bel, whence they came forth to sei2e on man
or work evil in his house if they could gain entrance.
The following charm hung over the door was supposed
to drive them away :
“ Fleabane (pyrethrum) on the lintel of the door I have hung,
St John’s wort, caper and wheat ears,
On the latch I have hung
With a halter as a roving ass.”
43
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
The peasants in the diStrift of the Landes in France
Still hang crosses of St John’s wort over the doors of
their cottages to keep away evil spirits.
The custom of taboo which is Still believed in and
practised by barbaric races exercised a powerful influence
in ancient times.
The idea had a twofold a&ion, first in the primary
danger to the person who originally incurs the taboo
by his aftion ; and secondly, the contagious ban to which
anyone may become liable from communication with
a tabooed person or thing belonging to them.
The penalty for the violation of a taboo was either
civil or religious. The religious penalty inflifted by
the offended spirits usually took the form of some
disease, and the offender died owing to the emissary
having entered into him and devoured his vitals.
There were taboos on the dead, on women in certain
conditions and other prohibited things. Among the
Israelites all who were unclean through the dead were
put outside the camp.
There was a special taboo on kings and certain afts
from which the king muSt abstain. Thus, on certain
days of the month, he muSt not change his raiment,
neither ride forth in his chariot nor lay his hand on the
sick.
From these ancient records of the Babylonians and
Assyrians we know that the belief in the “ evil eye ”
existed among them, and that the wax figure or image
was employed in their magical ceremonies over five
thousand years ago.
From a Stamp or seal recently excavated at Ur of the
Chaldees, we now have evidence that there was a cultural
44
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN MAGIC
connexion between Mesopotamia and India in the
early Sumerian period before 3000 b.c.
Thus many of the magical praftices of these ancient
peoples were carried to the Far East; they survived
among the Jews and in Syria, and later became part of
the magic practised in Europe.
45
CHAPTER V
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT
T HE earliest records of magic among the ancient
Egyptians show that it was recognized and practised
as far back as the fourth dynasty. With them,
as among the Babylonians, magic began with the gods,
the great workers of wonders. Thus some of their
greatest deities were associated with magic, like Thoth
who endowed men with wisdom and learning, and
Isis who worked enchantments and spells.
“ From the Egyptian point of view,” says Gardiner,
“ there was no such thing as religion, there was only
hike , the nearest English equivalent of which is magical
power.”
They believed that magic emanated from the gods.
Thoth was considered the moSt powerful magician and
from him arose the fame of Hermes TrismegiStus.
Horus was credited with magical powers, and Isis was
regarded as a great enchantress, as evidenced in the
following incantation:
“ O Isis great enchantress, free me, release me from
all evil red things, from the fever of the god and the
fever of the goddess. From death, and death from
pain, and the pain that comes over me; as thou hast
freed, as thou haSt released thy son Horus, whilst I
enter into the fire and go forth from the water.”
46
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT
In the Story of the healing of a child who had been
bitten by a scorpion, by Isis, the goddess cries :
“ Come to me, Come to me ! for my word is a talis¬
man which beareth life. I will do away the evil by means
of the word of my mouth which my father hath taught
me.”
In order to bring back the spirit of the child to its
body, she lays her hands upon him and says :
“ Come Tefen, appear upon the ground, depart hence, come not
nigh ! ”
Come poison of Befen, appear upon the ground.
I am Isis, the goddess, the lady of words of power, who doeth
deeds of magic, the words of whose voice are charms.
Obey me, O every reptile that Stingeth and fall down headlong !
O poison of (MeStet) MeStetef, mount not upwards !
O poison of Petet and Thetet, draw up nigh,
O Metet, fall down headlong.”
Isis then uttered certain words of the charm which
had been given to her by the god Sebin in order to keep
poison away from her, and said, “ Turn away, get away,
retreat, O poison ! ”
According to a papyrus written in the time of Ameno-
phis III over 1000 years after the reign of Cheops, “ some
rites were found at nightfall in the forecourt of the
Temple of Coptos as a secret of this goddess (Isis) by
a leflor of that fane ; the earth was in darkness, but the
moon shone upon this book illuminating it on every
side.”
The pyramid texts of Unas State, that a book with
words of magical power was buried with him, about
3500 B.C.
The Egyptians aimed at being able to command their
47
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
deities to work for them and to appear at desire. These
results were to be obtained by the use of certain words or
formulas uttered by a trained man who praftised magic, or
the words were inscribed on papyrus or precious Stones
and carried on the person. This pradice became so
general, that it is little wonder the Egyptians at a very
early period came to be regarded as a nation of magicians.
Moses apparently acquired his knowledge of magical
practices from the Egyptians, as it is recorded in the
Old Testament that he was “ learned in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians and mighty in words and in deeds.”
The Story of the brazen serpent, and the power to control
and dired the movements of such venomous reptiles, are
ads that were doubtless known to the Egyptians in those
days. Lane mentions, that the native magicians he met
with had a method of hypnotizing a viper by compressing
its head and making it appear like a rod.
A papyrus of the Ptolemaic period records the Story
of a prince called Setnau Kha-em-uaSt, who was learned
in magic and the powers of amulets and talismans and
had a library of magical books. One day when he was
talking, one of the king’s wise men laughed at his
remarks, and Setnau said, “ If thou wouldSt read a book
possessed of magical powers, come with me and I will
show it to thee. The book was written by Thoth him¬
self, and in it there are two formulas. The recital of
the first will enchant (bewitch) heaven, earth, hell, sea
and mountains, and by it thou shalt see all the birds,
reptiles and fish, for its power will bring the fish to the
top of the water. The second will enable a man, if he
be in the tomb, to take the form which he had upon
earth.”
48
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Later on, Setnau set out with his brother to seek the
book, which was said to be in the tomb of Ptah-nefer-
ka at Memphis.
On their arrival, Setnau recited some words over the
tomb and the earth opened, and they went down to the
place and found the book.
The tomb was brilliantly illuminated by the light from
the book, and they saw Ptah-nefer-ka and his wife and
their son. Setnau said he had
come to take away the book,
but Ahura the wife, begged
him not to do so, and related
the terrible misfortunes that
had happened since it had been
in their possession. On Setnau
pressing his request, Ptah-
nefer-ka proposed that they
should play a game of draughts
and the winner should have the
book. Setnau won, and by
means of his talismans flew up a magical figure
to heaven with the book in his <Pr °” a
grasp. These ancient legends
are interesting, as they point to the assumption that
there were books on magic, now unknown, written at a
period of remote antiquity.
Like the Egyptian magicians, both Moses and Aaron
employed a rod to perform their wonders, as it is recorded
that when Moses Stretched out his rod, there was “ hail
and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous,” and also
when the locuSts came at his command.
The Egyptians had an all-prevailing faith in magic.
E 49
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
It exerted a powerful influence over the life of the
people, and was invoked in all questions of life, death,
love, hatred, health and disease. It was closely inter¬
woven with both religion and medicine and was so
practised by the priests in the temples.
Disease was believed to be caused by evil spirits that
entered the body, and to effeft a cure they had to be
expelled. Thus magic formed part of their medical
treatment, and the sick came or were brought to the
temples to be healed either by incantations, drugs or
incubation.
The priest-magician had first to discover the nature
of the disease and the name of the possessing demon,
after which, he exercised his magic functions to rid the
patient of the intruder.
“ He who treats the sick muSt be expert in magic,
learned in the proper incantations and know how to make
amulets to control disease.” He used physical as well
as psychical therapeutics. There were invocations and
impressive ritual, all of which would probably have their
effects in cases of psycho-neurosis.
Incubation sleep in the temples was resorted to in some
diseases, suggestive intimations being given by the deity
during natural or drug-produced dreams, and interpreted
by the prieSt-magician. Suggestions received during
dreams were found to have achieved their purpose, when
the sufferer woke and declared himself healed by the
deity.
Magical rites could apparently be performed at any
time, but certain rules had to be observed and the
magician was enjoined always to Stand with his “ face
to the eaSt.” In one spell it is mentioned that it had
50
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT
to be recited “ at eventide, when the sun was setting,”
and in another, seven knots were to be tied, one in the
morning, another in the evening, and so on, until the
seven knots were complete.
It was regarded as essential that the priest-magician
should be pure in life, and secrecy in his practices was
imperative. There are warnings in connexion with
them, that “ certain things were not to be looked at.”
The Egyptian medical papyri abound with incanta¬
tions, but a difference is made between the incantation
and the remedy, and apparently the physician might be
a layman while the magician was a prieSt.
The drugs themselves were supposed to possess
magical power, as evidenced in the following from the
Papyrus Ebers :
“ The magic of Horus is victorious in the remedy.”
“ The physician practised his art by the book,
mechanically, while the prieSt a<ffed through religious
feeling,” says Maspero.
There does not appear to have been any common
word for magician, but the “ ledtor prieSt ” is specially
mentioned as being empowered to perform cures, as
having discovered incantations, and as one endowed
with prophecy.
The employment of images and figures played an im¬
portant part in Egyptian magic. These figures were not
immediately potent in themselves, but had to be charged
with magical power, and so the oral rite was first recited
over them to ensure their efficacy. Sometimes drawings
on papyrus or other material were similarly treated, or
the figures of the gods invoked were inscribed on the
5 *
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
patient’s hand and licked off. Magical charms or
amulets were generally attached to the person, as con¬
tact was considered necessary in order to make them
effective. Spells were sometimes fastened to the left
foot, but the neck was usually chosen for the amulets,
and the String on which they were suspended was
generally tied with seven magical knots.
The idea that drawings of deities, after “ words of
power ” had been recited over them, would have magical
effefts is instanced in the “ Book of the Dead,” which was
to be said after the deceased person had been cleansed
and purified. The text reads : “ When he is arrayed in
apparel and is shod with white leather sandals, and his
eyes have been painted with antimony, and his body
has been anointed with ANTI unguent, and when he
hath made offerings of oxen and birds and incense, and
cakes and ale, and garden herbs. And behold thou
shalt paint a pi&ure of what shall happen in the Hall of
Maati upon a new tile, moulded from earth upon which
neither a pig nor any other animal hath trodden, and if
thou writeSt upon it this chapter, the deceased shall
flourish and his children shall flourish, and his name
shall never fall into oblivion.”
The Egyptians believed that it was possible to transfer
to a wax or clay figure of a man, woman or animal the
soul of the being it represented, together with its
qualities and attributes ; and this form of magic was
praftised from the fourth to the twentieth dynasty.
One of the earliest records of the praftice is related
in the WeStcar papyrus of an event which happened in the
time of Neb-ka, who reigned about 3830 b.c.
While this king was visiting one of his high officials
5 *
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT
named Aba-aner, the wife of the latter fell desperately in
love with one of the king’s soldiers. Aba-aner, on being
informed of his wife’s infatuation, took a quantity of
wax and made a model of a crocodile seven spans long;
then reciting magical words over it said, “ When the
man cometh down to bathe in my waters thou shalt seize
him.” He then told his servant, when the soldier came
to bathe, to caSt the crocodile into the water after him.
This was done and the wax crocodile Straightway turned
into a living crocodile seven cubits long (about 12 feet)
and seized upon the man and dragged him down under
the water. For seven days, according to the Story,
the man remained in the depth of the water.
On the seventh day Aba-aner went out to walk with
the king, and invited him to come and see a wonderful
thing that had happened to a man. On coming to the
water, Aba-aner adjured the crocodile saying, “ Bring
hither the man,” and the crocodile came out of the water
bringing the man with him. Aba-aner took it up and
it at once became a wax crocodile again. Then he told
the king of the unfaithfulness of his wife with the soldier
whom the crocodile had brought out of the water, where¬
upon the king said, “ Take that which is thine and be¬
gone,” and immediately the crocodile seized the man
and sprang into the water and disappeared.
This curious Story is interesting, as it shows that wax
figures were used for magical purposes in Egypt at least
5 000 years ago, and probably even before that early period.
Another allusion to this method of working magic
occurs in an account of a conspiracy against Rameses
III, King of Egypt, ca. 1200 b.c. Not content with
fomenting a revolt among the soldiers and a revolu-
53
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
tion among the people, a high official called Hui went
to some person who had access to the Royal library,
and got from him a book on magic with recipes for
working magic, from which he is said to have obtained
“ Divine Power,” and through it was able to cast spells.
He made figures of men in wax, and amulets inscribed
with “ words of power ” to provoke love, and intro¬
duced them into the Royal Palace. Hui is said to have
found means of carrying out “ horrible things and all
the wickedness which his heart could imagine by his
magic.” He made gods of wax and figures of men,
which would cause the persons whom they represented
to become paralysed and helpless. From this narrative
it would appear that books on magic existed in the
Royal Library of Rameses III.
More than one of the Kings of Egypt practised magic
and, among them, the most famous according to tradi¬
tion was Neftanebus, the last native king of Egypt,
who reigned about 358 b.c.
He is said to have been profoundly learned in astrology,
in the interpretation of omens, in casting horoscopes
and in magical practices. It is recorded that he was
able “ to rule all kings by his magical powers,” and by
means of a bowl of water, in which he placed wax
models of the ships and men of his enemies, he destroyed
their power. Having put the models of his own
ships and men on the water, he would place those
representing his enemies opposite to them; then,
having robed himself in an Egyptian prophet’s cloak,
he would take an ebony wand, and pronounce “ words
of power ” and invoke the gods to come to his aid.
After this, we are told, “the figures of the men in
54
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT
wax would come to life, and the ships begin to engage
in battle. He contrived that the models representing
his own navy should vanquish the enemy and sink
their ships to the bottom of the bowl, as did his real
ships sink the enemy’s vessels on the sea. Thus Nec-
tanebus fought his battles by aid of magical art.”
He is also credited with the knowledge of being able
to cause dreams, by extracting the juice of certain herbs,
which he poured over the wax figure of the person who
was to dream.
According to Abu-Shaker, an Arab of the thirteenth
century, Aristotle presented Alexander the Great with
several wax figures nailed down in a box that was
fastened by a chain, which was never to leave his hand.
He was to take the box wherever he went and recite
certain formulas over it, when he took it up or put it
down. The figures were intended to represent the
enemies likely to be opposed to him. Some of them
had lead swords and others spears or bows, and were
laid face downwards in the box.
This curious Story of a military talisman is interesting,
especially in connexion with that related of Neftanebus.
The image or figure also plays a part in many Egyptian
charms, and the following, to enable a person to receive
an oracular revelation in a dream, is thus recorded in
an early papyrus :
“ Take of the inner leaves of laurel 28, and virgin
earth and wormwood seeds, flour, and the herb cyno-
cephalium; and I have heard from a certain Hera-
cleopolite that he takes of the leaves of an olive tree
lately sprouted 28. It is carried by a chaSte boy and
ground up with the materials and mixed with the white
55
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
of an ibis’s egg. And take the image of the cloaked
Hermes and let Hermes hold the herald’s wand, and
write the spell upon a sheet of hieratic paper or on the
windpipe of a goose, and insert it into the figure for
the purpose of inflation. When you wish for an
oracular response, take the paper and write the spell
upon it, and having cut off a hair from your head, wrap
it up in the paper and tie it with a Phoenician knot,
and place it outside an olive branch and put it at the
feet of the image. Let the figure lie in a shrine of lime-
wood, and when you wish for an oracular response,
place the shrine with the god at your head and invoke,
offering frankincense upon an altar, and some earth from
a place where corn grows, and one lump of sal ammoniac.
Let it lie at your head and lie down to sleep.”
In the magical papyri translated by Chabas there are
several formulas recorded for preservation from attacks
of sea and river monsters, of which the following is
an example :
“ Hail, Lord of the gods ! Drive away from me the
lions of the country of Meru [Meroe ?] and the croco¬
diles which come forth from the river, and the bite of
all poisonous reptiles which crawl forth from their
holes. Get thee back O crocodile Mak, thou son of
Set. Move not by means of thy tail! Work not thy
legs and feet! Open not thy mouth ! Let the water
which is before thee turn into a consuming fire, O thou
whom the 37 gods did make, and whom the serpent
Ra did put in chains. O thou who waSt fettered with
links of iron before the boat of Ra. Get thee back O
crocodile Mak, thou son of Set.”
This charm was to be pronounced over the figure
56
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT
of the god Amen painted on clay. The god was to
have four rams’ heads upon one neck, under his feet
was to be a figure of the crocodile Male, and on the
right and left were to be the dog-headed apes.
The Gnostics and other sefls probably adopted their
magical names from the Egyptians, from the time of the
Ptolemies to the end of the Roman period between
150 b.c. to a.d. 200.
Perfumes and incense played an important part in
the ritual and embalmment and were employed by the
Egyptians in their magical ceremonies. According to
an address to the deceased, translated by Maspero,
“ The perfume of Arabia hath been brought to thee,
to make perfed thy smell through the scent of the god.
Here are brought to thee liquids which have come
forth from Ra to make perfect-thy smell in the Hall
[of judgment].
“ O sweet-smelling soul of the great god, thou dost
contain such a sweet odour that thy face shall neither
change nor perish. Thy members shall become young
in Arabia, and thy soul shall appear over thy body in
Ta-neter [the Divine land].”
The prieSt or embalmer was then to take a vase of
liquid which contained ten perfumes, and smear the
body with it from head to foot, taking care to anoint
the head thoroughly.
The perfume was believed to have the power to
make the members of the body perfeft.
The deceased is then told that the liquid is secret,
and that it is an emanation from the gods Shu and Seb,
and that the resin of Phoenicia and the bitumen of
Bybeos will make his burial perfeft.
57
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Among the objefts presented to the deceased, per¬
fumes and unguents played a prominent part, and to
certain oils, magical properties have been attributed by
the Egyptians from very early times. Oils were and
are Still largely used to soften the skin, to heal wounds
and to relieve pain in the limbs.
Many of the charms employed in the Middle Ages
can be traced to Egyptian sources, such as the following,
“ to see visions and cause dreams,” which is given in a
manuscript of the sixteenth century.
“ Make a drawing of Besa (Bes) on your left hand,
and envelop your hand in a Strip of black cloth that has
been consecrated to Isis, and lie down to sleep without
speaking a word, even to answer a question. Wind
the remainder of the cloth round your neck.
“ The ink with which you write must be composed
of the blood of a cow, the blood of a white dove (fresh),
frankincense, myrrh, black ink, cinnabar, mulberry
juice, rain water, and the juices of wormwood and
vetch. With this write your petition before the setting
sun (saying), c Send the truthful seer out of the holy
shrine, I beseech thee, Lampsuer, Sumarta, Baribas,
Dardalam, Iorlex. O Lord, send the sacred deity
Anuth Anuth, Salbana, Chambre, Breith, now, now,
quickly, quickly. Come in this very night/ ”
The Egyptians practised the art of casting nativities
and drawing horoscopes. Budge assigns to Egypt the
birthplace of the horoscope, and in a Greek papyrus
in the British Museum there is an allusion made to the
art of astrology, which “ the ancient Egyptians with
their laborious devotion to the art had discovered and
handed down to posterity.”
MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Neftanebus used a tablet made of gold and silver
and acacia-wood, to which was fitted three belts. Upon
THIS MHTTHRNICH STRIJS
the outer one was Zeus with the 36 decans, on the
second the 12 signs of the Zodiac, and on the third the
sun and the moon. He placed the tablet on a tripod,
59
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
and then from a small box emptied on it models of
7 Stars that were in the belts, and put into the middle
8 precious Stones.
“ These he arranged in the places wherein he supposed
the planets which they represented would be at the
time of the birth of Olympias, and then told her fortune
from them/’
Amulets and talismans may be said to have had
their home in ancient Egypt and were extensively
employed by the Egyptians both by the living and for
the dead. One of their moSt remarkable magical Stones,
known as the Metternich Stele, was excavated at Alex¬
andria in 1828 and dates from about the fourth
century b.c.
It is thought to have been used as a talisman or amu¬
let for a building. On it are representations of some of
the great gods of Egypt, demons, monsters and texts of
magical formulas and magical names. In the centre is a
figure of Horus Standing upon two crocodiles. Above
is the head of Bes and on either side figures of Horus
Ra Standing on a serpent, Osiris in the form of a
hawk, Isis on a serpent and Nekhebet in the form of a
vulture.
Thoth is also represented Standing upon a coiled
serpent, and Uatchet in the form of a serpent is Standing
on a papyrus sceptre.
It is further interesting to note that the name of
Ne&anebus the magician-king is also inscribed on this
Stone.
60
CHAPTER VI
ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC-THE KABBALA
T HE Jewish traditions conne&ed with magic are of
historical importance, as it has been found that
many of the rites pra&ised down to the Middle
Ages had their origin in these sources.
In the Pentateuch, the references concerning magic,
sorcery and witchcraft are chiefly connected with Egypt,
from which it may be assumed that the knowledge of the
Jews was acquired from that country during the
captivity.
According to a Samaritan legend, the two Egyptian
magicians who unsuccessfully withstood Moses were
named Jannes and Jambres, and the sorcerer who
predifted his birth was called Palti. It further attributes
the origin of witchcraft and sorcery to the 44 Book of
Signs ” which was given to Adam before he left Paradise,
but which in Jewish tradition is called the 44 Book of
Adam ” or the 44 Book of Raziel,” a title that survives
in a book of the Kabbala.
A Story in the 44 Book of Enoch ” says, 44 The art of
witchcraft was communicated to man by two angels who
had forfeited all rights to the happiness of heaven, and
their names were Uzza and Azael. It was the latter who
taught women the art of witchcraft and the use of cos¬
metics.” There is also an ancient Egyptian tradition,
61
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
ascribing the origin of the magical arts to the teaching
of an angel who had fallen in love with a woman.
In the “ Book of Tobit,” the Story is related of how
the angel Raphael sought, by means of fumigation, to
counteraft the work of a demon who had fallen in love
with Sarah. The spirit thus exorcized, called Ash-
modasus, afterwards became recognized as “ the king
of the powers of evil.”
Many of these names survived and are mentioned in
the books of magic that have come down in manuscript
form to the present day.
To obtain the assistance of spirits, the Jewish
magicians employed fumigations, gifts and sacrifices.
Maimonides says, “ The gift most acceptable to the evil
spirits was blood, and the magician muSt partake of the
blood, thus sharing the food of the evil spirits, so as to
become their associate. The perfume of the fumigation
was very acceptable to these spirits.” Then there was the
lighting of candles, the use of a knife with a black handle,
philtres served in glass bowls and other ceremonies
employed in propitiation.
The magician possessed the secret of the mysterious
names given to the evil spirits, without which he could
not gain their help. These were among the secrets that
at first were not committed to writing. It was through
the names of the spirits that Balaam was able to work his
magic. He was considered a great magician, and is
said to have taught the daughters of Moab to praftise
sorcery and witchcraft.
The practice of magic was enveloped in the greatest
mystery, and the books of the magicians were regarded
as inviolable secrets and were only accessible to adepts.
6z
ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC—THE KABBALA
The magician often used bowls with conjurations
written upon them for the purpose of making his in¬
cantations, which made them more effective. These
conjurations often consisted of the names of demons and
spirits in his service.
Although the Jews were Stri&ly forbidden to practise
magic, and the Rabbis decreed that the penalty was
Stoning to death, operations were performed in the Holy
Name, and were sanctioned when carried out by angelic
and not by evil powers. This imaginary division in the
magical arts continued throughout the Middle Ages ;
for, while the so-called black magic was prohibited,
what was termed white or good magic, performed
through the agencies of good spirits, was regarded as
legitimate.
Early Hebrew records of conjuration are rare, but the
following is one translated by Gaster :
44 Take bdellium [crystal] and write upon it with olive
oil, Aungil , and take a boy seven years old and anoint his
hand from the top of the thumb to the end of the finger,
and put the bdellium into his hand in the anointed place,
and seize his hand, and you shall sit upon a three-legged
Stool, and put the boy between your loins so that his ear
shall be against your mouth, and you shall turn your face
towards the sun and say in his ear, c Aungil , I adjure thee
in the name of Lord God, God of Truth, God keeper
of the hosts, Alpha , AIDU, that thou shalt send from the
three angels.’ Then the boy will see a (figure) like (that
of) a man and say (the charm) twice more and he will see
two (figures) and the boy shall say unto them, 4 Your
coming be in peace,’ and then tell the boy to ask of
them that which you wish. If they will not answer him,
63
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
the boy shall adjure them and say, c Kaspar , Kelei ,’ Bimar
(or) Bleiteisar , the master and I adjure (you) with a second
adjuration, that you tell me that thing or who has com¬
mitted that theft.”
Similar conjurations are to be found in the manu¬
scripts of the “ Key of Solomon,” and this method of
JEWISH MAGICAL, DIAGRAM, SHOWING THE SECRET SEAT OF SOROMON
(Drawn by P. Smart, 1699.)
employing a boy as a medium was used byCaglioStro
as late as the eighteenth century.
The magical powers attributed to King Solomon
appear to have arisen about the time of his building of
the Temple.
Tradition assigns to him the authorship of certain
works which, written in manuscript under various titles
64
ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC—THE KABBAEA
about the sixteenth century, are Still extant. They are
known as “ The Clavicle or Key of Solomon,” “ The
Worke of Solomon the Wise,” or “ The Key of
Solomon the King,” and will be dealt with more fully
later on.
The introductions to these books vary, and some which
are undoubtedly apochryphal are very curious. One
States, that “ Solomon possessed knowledge inspired by
the wise teachings of an angel, and when he was near the
end of his days he left to his son Roboam a testament,
containing all the wisdom he had possessed. The
Rabbins called this testament the ‘ Clavicle or Key of
Solomon,’ which they caused to be engraved on (pieces
of) the bark of trees, while the Pentacles were inscribed
in Hebrew characters on copper, so that they might be
carefully preserved in the Temple.
“ This Testament was in ancient times translated from
Hebrew into Latin by Rabbi Abognazar (probably Aben
Ezra), who transported it with him into the town of
Arles in Provence, where the ancient Hebrew Clavicle
fell into the hands of the Archbishop of Arles, after the
deStruCiion of the Jews in that city, who from the Latin
translated it into the vulgar tongue.”
Another States, “ The book was sent to Solomon by a
Prince of Babylon by name Sameton, while the two wise
men who brought it were Kamazan and Zazant. It was
the first book after Adam written in Chaldean and after¬
wards translated into Hebrew.”
The prologue of another manuscript begins, “ Secret
of all Secrets of all crafts magicall of Nigromancy, as
Ptolomei the most wisest philosopher in Greece doth
testify.”
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
It is said to have been revealed to Solomon by an
“ Angell of God ” in a dream. “ The angel Raziell
appeared to him in his sleep and he inscribed a secret
work.” He adjures his son Roboam to have a casket
of ivory made for it, and when he shall depart to cast
it into his sepulchre so it may not come into the
handling of fools.
“ When the sepulchre had stood a long time, certain
philosophers of Babylon that were his scholars, when
restoring the tomb, removed the casket. They could
not understand its words, but Ptolemy, a Grecian, prayed
that he should be able to interpret the secrets, and an
angel appeared and gave him light to read the clavicle,
and he rejoiced with gladness, and read Solomon’s works
and made clear the profound and obscure secrets of this
art.”
The Story of the ivory casket is repeated in another
codex, with the addition of the Statement that “ a
Babylonian philosopher called Iohe Grevis decyphered
it and revealed it through an angel.”
Josephus mentions that Solomon left some works on
Magic, and in the Talmud, reference is made to “ the
princes or rulers over all shining objefts and crystal,”
which probably indicates the use of the latter in magical
pra&ices.
Authorities are somewhat vague, and vary in their
definitions of the meaning of the mysterious Kab-
bala or Qabalah.
It is Stated, by one, to be the secret traditional know¬
ledge handed down from generation to generation by
word of mouth.
Another says, it was “ the esoteric Jewish do&rine
66
ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC—THE KABBALA
which was handed down by oral transmission and is
nearly allied to tradition.”
The Kabbala was apparently divided into many parts,
a great portion being a mystical dodrine giving the inner
occult meaning of the Jewish sacred writings.
It is contended that all faiths and beliefs are but the
echoes conveyed, in
an allegorical and
symbolical form, of
some original race
concerning which all
traces are lost. The
secrets known to the
priests of Egypt
which were regarded
as sacred were not
committed to writing
and so have been
loSt.
Mathers States, that
“ the Kabbala was
first taught by God
himself to a seled
company of angels,
who after the fall
communicated the
dodrine to man. From Adam it passed to Noah, then to
Abraham who took it to Egypt, and so the Egyptians
and some races of the EaSt obtained a knowledge of it.
Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, was
hrSt initiated in the land of his birth, and became proficient
in it during his wanderings in the wilderness, and received
<$7
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
instruction in it from one of the angels. By the aid
of this mysterious science, he was enabled to solve the
difficulties which arose with the Israelites. He initiated
the seventy elders, and they again transmitted it down
to David and Solomon, who were the most deeply
learned in the Kabbala. No one, however, dared to
write it down, till Schimeon Ben Jochai, who lived at
the time of the destruction of the second Temple. After
his death, his son Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Abba collated
Simon Ben Jochai’s treatises, and out of these composed
the work called ZHR, Zohar (splendour) which is the
great Storehouse of Kabbalism.”
“ The term £ unwritten Kabbala ? is applied to certain
knowledge which is never entrusted to writing, while
the practical Kabbala deals with talismanic and cere¬
monial magic.”
Josephus records how he saw Eleazar draw out an
evil demon by holding a ring under the nose of a
possessed man, under the seal of which was one of the
roots recommended by Solomon.
Another writer says, “ The Kabbala was a system of
religious philosophy which has exercised a great in¬
fluence on the Jews and many philosophers from the
fourteenth to the seventeenth century.
“ The ZHR or Zohar contains several books including
the 4 Siphra Dtzenioutha ’ or c Concealed Book of
MyStery/ a treatise called the e House of Elohim/ the
book of the Revolutions of souls, c Asch Metzareph/
or Purifying Fire, is chiefly alchemical, while the
‘ House of Elohim ’ treats of angels, demons and spirits.”
These three books are said to have been originally
written in Chaldean and Hebrew text. “ The name of
68
ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC — THE^KABBALA
the deity, Jehovah,” says Mathers, “ is in Hebrew
IHVH, and the true pronunciation of it is known to
very few. It is a most secret arcanum and is a secret
of secrets. Therefore, when a devout Jew comes to
(Drawn by P. Smart, 1699.)
it when reading the scripture, he makes a short pause
or substitutes for it the name Adonai, Adni Lord.
“ The prince of the demons is Samael Smal, who is
the angel of poison and death. IHVH, the Tetra-
grammaton, is the greatest trinity, and Adni is the
Queen whose Christian assumption is the Virgin.”
69
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ The Jewish idea of a mystical name of God,” says
another writer, “ rests upon the interpretation of the
Tetragrammaton or the word IHVH that Stands for
God in the Hebrew text which from ancient times the
prieSts first, and then the people, refrained from pro¬
nouncing in the way it was written.” A substitute
was found for it so as to avoid a possible profanation
of the sacred name.
The names Adonai, Eloai, found frequently in magical
formulas, are also derived through the Hebrew. The
IAO, the three vowels also met with, were intended
to represent JAH, one of the Hebrew names for God.
The frequent allusions to magic and its practitioners
in the Bible show how widely its influence extended
among Eastern races. In the Old and New Testaments
there are mention of magicians, sorcerers, astrologers,
soothsayers, seers or interpreters of dreams, diviners,
observers of the times (monthly prognosticators), en¬
chanters, witches, charmers, consulters with familiar
spirits, wizards and necromancers. Besides these there
were the Chaldeans, who were called before the King
of Babylon, and the Magi or Wise Men.
Sorcery in the time of Moses was forbidden, as Stated
in Deuteronomy xviii. io-ii : “ These things are an
abomination unto the Lord and are forbidden.”
Wizards or witches and those who had a familiar
spirit, are mentioned in Leviticus xx. 27 : “A man or
woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard
shall be Stoned to death.”
Manasseh is Stated to have been one who “ observed
times, used enchantments and witchcraft and dealt with
a familiar spirit and with wizards ” (2 Chron. xxxiii. 6).
70
MAGICIAN CALLING UP A DEVIL
From an MS. of the XV century. British Museum.
THE WITCH OF ENDOR
From an MS. of the XV century. British Museum.
ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC—THE KABBALA
Isaiah refers to wizards that “ peep and mutter.”
“ Thy voice shall be as one that has a familiar spirit
out of the ground,” and “ thy speech shall whisper
out of the duSt.” One must infer from these allusions
that the spirit was supposed to speak out of the earth.
In the account of Saul’s visit to the witch of Endor,
there is corroboration of this suggestion. “ Seek me a
woman that hath a familiar spirit,” and he said to the
woman of Endor, “ Divine unto me by the familiar
spirit.” The woman knew that the praftice was for¬
bidden and thought it was a trap.
Saul apparently saw nothing himself, as he asked her
for a description of what she saw. That the voice
came from the ground is evident from the text, as “ he
Stooped with his face to the ground,” and eventually
collapsed from fright (Sam. xxviii. 7-19).
There is mention of a “ mistress of witchcrafts ” in
Nahum iii. 4, and divining with rods, for which the
Moabites and Medes were famed, is thus alluded to by
Hosea iv. 12:
“My people ask counsel at their Stocks, and their
Staff (rod) declareth unto them.”
“ They sacrifice and burn incense upon the hills under
oaks and poplars and elms because the shadow is good.”
That the offering of incense was believed to give
pleasure to the deity is evidenced from the Lord’s
command to Moses, where among the penalties of
transgression are found the words, “ I will not smell the
savour of your sweet odours.”
In the New Testament there are references to three
sorcerers, first of whom was Simon, who had bewitched
the people of Samaria and continued with Philip after
7 1
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
he became a Christian and believed, “ wondering and
beholding the miracles he wrought.” Then there was
Elymas, and Bar-jesus, “ a certain sorcerer, a Jew of
the Isle of Paphos.”
From the account of the damsel from, whom Paul
cast out an evil spirit, she was probably a medium, for
“ she brought her master much gain through her divina¬
tion” (Afts xvi. 16).
The a&s of the ApoStles were imitated by vagabond
or travelling Exorcists who professed to cast out evil
spirits, such as the seven sons of one Scera, a Jewish
chief of the priests, who attempted to expel a demon,
that “ leaped upon them and overcame them ” (Afts
xix. 1-6).
Ephesus at the time of the ApoStles appears to have
been a centre for magical praftitioners, who abounded
in the city.
That there must have been large libraries of works
on magic in the city is evident from the Statement, that
many who practised curious arts brought their books,
some of which even at that time were thought to be
valuable, being worth 50,000 pieces of silver, and they
were publicly burnt (Afts xix. 19).
A loss to posterity which it is impossible to estimate.
Jewish magic was held in high esteem by both the
Greeks and the Romans, and the Arabs absorbed their
teaching.
During the Middle Ages, the belief that many Jews
possessed occult powers persisted, and in the EaSt
invocations and prayers often accompanied the ad¬
ministrations of medicine as praftised by the “ Gab-
betes,” elderly men who sometimes attended the sick.
7 2
ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC—THE KABBALA
The phylafteries Still worn by Jews at certain parts
of their ritual are believed to aft as a proteftion against
evil influences. The amuletic ligatures with magical
mnnx
THIS HEBREW LIGATURE WORN ROUND THE ARM “ PRESERVETH FROM
ALL MISCHIEF OF AFFRIGHTMENT OF ENEMIES AND EVIL SPIRITS AND
ALL OTHER DANGERS IN ARMS OR CONTESTS.”
From an MS. of the XV century. The symbols are to be written on the ligature. Top
row, on the fore part, and bottom row, on the hinder part.
inscriptions probably had their origin in the same
custom. The Jews, in Syria to-day. Still praftise some
of their ancient magical ceremonies with fumigations,
offerings and lighted candles.
73
CHAPTER VII
GREEK AND ROMAN MAGIC
W HAT little is known of the pra&ice of magic
in early Greece may be said to begin with
Homer, in whose mythological Stories frequent
mention is made of magicians. The Telchines, Da&yli
and Korybantes in their semi-divine power had a
knowledge of the magical arts. The Telchines knew
all the secrets of Nature, the Daftyli were masters of
music and the art of healing, and imparted their know¬
ledge to Orpheus, Pythagoras and others, while Pro¬
metheus, Melampus, Agamedes, Circe and Medea were
all accounted great magicians.
The Story of Circe, who lived in the mysterious sea
and enticed wandering seamen by her charms, and
brewed magic philtres to turn men into swine, is well
known.
Medea appears to have been more inclined to sorcery ;
and terror and fascination were inspired by her very
presence and look.
She was mistress of magic herbs and could beStow
youth and invulnerability, calm Storms and even “ call
down the moon,” a famous love-charm that is said to
have emanated from Thessaly, which at the time of
Aristophanes was the country of magicians and witches.
The magic herbs of Thessaly were supposed to have
74
GREEK AND ROMAN MAGIC
sprung from the spot where Medea lost her box of
charms, as she flew over the land with her winged
dragons.
The potions and salves attributed to these magicians
appear to have been used as the media for exercising
their powers. Thus Circe’s salve brought her vi&ims
back to human form, while that given by Medea would
render its user invulnerable to his foes.
Aphrodite gave Phaon a salve which procured him
youth and beauty, and Pamphila a box filled with little
caskets each containing a special salve for producing
magical effects of transformation. The use of philtres
to provoke love is very often mentioned and appears to
have been a common praftice in early Greece.
The Story of the magic wand employed by Athene and
Hermes shows that some knowledge of the magic of the
Babylonians and Egyptians had penetrated into Greece.
The influence of Chaldean and Persian magic becomes
apparent about the fourth century before the Christian
era, when OSthanes, who recorded all the secrets of magic
of his time, was said to have initiated Democritus, the
Greek alchemist, in the art. To him is also attri¬
buted the first book on medical magic.
The Greek magician was believed to derive his powers
from a close acquaintance with the forces of Nature,
although magic was regarded as a gift and attributed to
some accident of birth or special privilege. It was
associated with anything abnormal: thus a person
with the ‘ c evil eye ” was accounted a magician; the
ventriloquist and hump-backed people, and those born
with a caul, were believed to have the gift of prophecy.
Demons and spirits were regarded as the cause of evil,
75
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
as among other races, and it was with them the magician
had to deal.
Like the Babylonians, the Greeks believed that the
spirits of the dead who wandered over the earth were the
cause of trouble to mankind. The gods were invoked
for aid, and Hecate, the mighty goddess of magic, was
called upon for help and believed to have universal
powers.
The magician had to observe certain special rules and
to know how to perform the necessary rites and cere¬
monies, of which some record has survived.
To prepare himself, it was essential that he should first
be pure and clean, bathing at Stated intervals and be
anointed at certain times with oil. He had to avoid
certain foods, especially fish, and pradise chastity and
fasting.
“ His robes muSt be flowing, without knots or fasten¬
ing of any kind, and be made of linen, either all white
or white with purple Streamers. Above all he muSt
have faith in the accomplishment of his rites.”
The time at which the rites were to be performed was
important and depended on the god to be invoked ; thus
for Hecate, the hour of sunset or a few minutes before
sunrise were regarded as most favourable, and the best
time was juSt at the new or full moon.
The position of the planets and Stars did not become
important until a later period, when astrology began to
exercise its influence on the Greek magical pradices.
Graveyards or cross-roads were regarded as the moSt
suitable places for carrying out the rites.
Hubert thus describes the ceremonial and apparatus
employed by the Greek magician.
7 ^
GREEK AND ROMAN MAGIC
The moSt important implement was the wand, without
which no magician was completely equipped. Lamps,
basins of water, keys for symbolic use, cymbals, threads
of various colours, portions of a dead person, the
rhombus or witch’s-wheel—by the spinning of which
the individual over whom one wished to gain ascendancy
was influenced—were all necessary in carrying out the
magical rites and formed part of the magician’s equip¬
ment.
When casting spells, it was not necessary for the
persons on whom they were imposed to be near. His
or her place could be taken by a symbolical substitute
in the form of a figure, into which needles were Stuck
according to the extent of the spell.
These figures, which were modelled in clay or wax,
were sometimes made hollow so that written incantations
could be placed within the bodies. Eusebius mentions
an image of Hecate composed of powdered lizards and
the root of rue, but the body of a bird and a sprig of
rue or myrtle might also be used in the same way. It
was necessary, however, to inscribe the figure with the
name of the person whom it was intended to represent,
and to specify every part in which the viftim was to suffer.
Magical hymns and litanies were sometimes chanted to
ensure the presence of an appropriate spirit.
The power of incantations was supposed to be in¬
creased by frequent repetition, and so in the course of
time the words themselves became to be thought magical.
By the arrangement and grouping of letters, especially
when formed into certain shapes, they were believed to
be made more effe&ive ; while magical alphabets and
certain sacred inks were said to enhance the power of
77
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
written spells and charms. In like manner, certain
numbers became associated with magic. Odd numbers
were considered significant, such as three, and multiples
of that number were regarded as sacred to Hecate.
Sacrificial offerings were sometimes made during the
rites, the offering chosen being that mo£t acceptable to the
god invoked.
Wine, honey, milk, perfumes, meal, certain cakes, a
cock to Hermes and a white dove to Aphrodite, were
usually employed.
The remains of the sacrifice or offerings had to be dis¬
posed of ceremonially, and were generally deposited on
some prescribed spot sacred to the deity to whom they
had been offered.
They were sometimes laid at the cross-roads with the
objeft of placating Hecate, the terrible goddess of the
underworld. These offerings were called “ Hecate’s
suppers,” and were intended to appease the wrath of
the goddess, and the ghosts of those in the underworld
who were unable to re$t and compassed evil on earth.
In one of the Grasco-Egyptian papyri on magic found
at Thebes and now preserved at Leyden, formulas are
recorded “ to provoke love,” “ to produce dreams ” and
for “ consulting a divinity.” A recipe is also given
for making a ring having the property of causing every
enterprise to succeed. In another in the British Museum,
the following method is recorded of finding a thief:
“ Take a crysolite vessell and put water in it and the
herb cynocephalium and dipping in it a branch of laurel
sprinkle each person with the water. Take a tripod
and place it on an altar of earth. Offer myrrh and
frankincense and frog’s tongue, and taking some un-
78
GREEK AND ROMAN MAGIC
salted wheat meal and goat’s cheese, give to each one 8
drachms of meal and 8 drachms of cheese, pronouncing
the spell, and write this name and place it beneath the
tripod, ‘ LORD IAO, Light bearer, give up the thief
whom I seek.’ If any of these swallow not what is
given him—he is the thief.”
In another Greek papyrus, direflions are given for
“DRAWING DOWN THE MOON”
(From a Greek vase, ca. 200 B.c.)
driving out a demon from a man by pronouncing <c the
name ” and fumigating his nostrils with bitumen and
sulphur, no doubt with the idea that the obnoxious
odour would cause the evil spirit to depart.
Of the many love charms used by the Greeks that
known as “ Drawing down the Moon ” is perhaps the
mo£t interesting. It is mentioned in Aristophanes and
by several later writers, and is said to be praftised in
some parts of Greece at the present day.
79
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
It is described in Lucian in the Story of the love-sick
youth Glaukias. The condition of Glaukias, owing to
his love for Chrysis, became so serious that the services
of the great Hypoborean magician were sought, who
decided that it was necessary to “ Draw down the Moon/ 5
a never-failing charm for unrequited love. Hecate and
her attendant ghoSts were invoked, and the moon came
down, and the magician made a figure of clay which he
told to go and fetch Chrysis. Soon after, Chrysis
rushed to the house of Glaukias, her love kindled, and
she flung her arms round the youth.
Two other methods of inducing love may be quoted,
which are interesting on account of the use of wax
figures in the charms.
In the first, the man is direfted to make the figure of a
dog in wax mixed with gum and pitch, 8 fingers long,
and write certain “ words of power ” over the region
of the ribs. A tablet is then to be inscribed with “ words
of power ” and on this the figure of the dog is to be
placed and the whole put on a tripod.
The man is then to recite the “ words of power ”
written on the dog’s side and the names on the tablet.
Should the dog then snarl or snap, the lover will not
gain the objeff of his affeffions, but if he barks she will
come to him.
In the second method the lover is to make two wax
figures, one in the form of Ares and the other of the
woman. The latter is to be in a kneeling position with
her hands tied behind her, and the male figure placed
Standing over her with a sword at her throat. On the
limbs of the woman are to be written the names of
demons and then thirteen bronze needles are to be
80
GREEK AND ROMAN MAGIC
Stuck into her limbs, the man reciting the words, “ I
pierce (mentioning the limb) that she may think of me.”
Certain words must then be written on a metal plate and
tied to the wax figures with a String containing 365 knots,
and then both of them are to be buried in the grave of
someone who has died young, or one who has met with
a violent death. An incantation must then be recited to
the infernal gods, and when all is carried out the lover
will obtain his desire.
The Greeks sometimes practised divination by water
and a mirror, when the image of what was to happen
was said to be reflected on the water. They also had a
method of divining by filling certain round vessels with
water about which were placed lighted torches. They
then invoked a demon, praying in a low voice and asked
the question they wished to solve.
The magical pra&ices of the Romans were chiefly
derived from Greek sources, which will be gathered
from descriptions of the magicians and sorcerers that
have come down to us.
The first mention of Roman magic is in the law of the
“ Twelve Tables,” which forbids the transference by
magic of the crops growing in one field to the land of
another. The Etruscans and Sabines in particular
were famed for their magical powers, and the former are
said to have been able to call up the dead, cause rain to
fall and to be able to discover hidden springs.
The simplest form of malefic magic deeply rooted
in the Romans and. which survives in Italy to the present
day was the “ evil eye,” which was believed to be
equally powerful in working evil on persons, health
and property.
G
8l
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
To combat this influence, charms of various kinds were
universally employed, a favourite one being a model of the
phallus, which took many forms, fashioned in gold, silver
or bronze. These were worn by men,women and children.
Many of the Roman writers allude to the praftice of
magic and sorcery, and Virgil has left a detailed descrip¬
tion of a sorceress and her assistant in his eighth eclogue,
as well as her method of working a love-charm.
The assistant is directed to burn vervain and frank¬
incense, which is followed by a solemn chant, said
to possess great powers, and to be capable of “ Calling
down the Moon,” or making the cold-blooded snake
burst in the field. An image of the one whose love is
sought is then ordered to be thrice bound round with
fillets of three colours, while the words, “ Thus I bind
the fillets of Venus,” are recited, and the figure is then
carried round the altar.
An image of clay and one of wax are placed before the
same fire, and, as the figure of clay hardens, so the
heart of the one whose love is sought hardens likewise,
or, as the image of wax softens, so the heart is made
tender. A sacred cake is then to be broken over the
image and crackling laurels burnt before it.
The sorceress bruises poisonous herbs of resistless
power gathered in the kingdom of Pontus ; herbs which
enabled him who took them to turn himself into a
hungry wolf prowling amidst the forests, to call up
ghoSts from the grave, and to translate the ripened
harvest from the field where it grew to the lands of
another. The ashes of these herbs were to be cast
over her head into the running Stream, while she must
not look behind her.
82
GREEK AND ROMAN MAGIC
Horace tells us of a witch’s incantation where
Canidia and three assistants are assembled in order to
work a charm, by means of which a youth named Varus,
for whom Canidia had conceived a passion, may be
compelled to reciprocate her affe&ions.
Canidia, with the locks of her dishevelled hair twined
round with venomous and deadly serpents, orders the
wild fig tree and the funeral cypress to be rooted up
from the sepulchres on which they grow, and these
together with the eggs of a toad smeared with blood,
feathers of a screech-owl, various herbs gathered in
Thessaly and bones torn from the jaws of a famished
dog, to be burnt in flames fed with perfumes from
Colchis.
One assistant, whose hair Stands Stiff and ered like
the quills of the sea-hedgehog or the bristles of a
hunted boar, sprinkles the ground with drops from the
Avernus, while another who is reputed to have the
power of conjuring the Stars and moon down from
heaven assists her. The third digs a hole with a
spade into which Varus is to be plunged naked up to
his chin, so the charm may be completed.
Lucian gives an account of a journey he took with
the magician Mithrobarzanes, and says, “ Passing over
the Euphrates we came to a wild-wooded sunless place,
the magician going first. We then dug a pit and
slaughtered a sheep and sprinkled the blood all about
the pit. In the meantime, the magician, holding a
lighted torch, cried out loudly, invoking all kinds of
demons, the avengers, the furies, noflurnal Hecate and
the lofty Proserpine, mixing up with his invocations
certain barbarous and unintelligible polysyllables.”
83
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Love-philtres were sold in Rome chiefly by the old
women and others who dealt in abortifacients, and the
poculum amatorium appears to have been in great and
constant demand. In the time of the first Emperors
they became used to such an extent, that a decree was
promulgated under the Roman criminal law, whereby
love-philtres were deemed as poison, and the punishment
infli&ed on those discovered using them was very
severe.
Judging from the substances employed in compound¬
ing them, it is not to be wondered at that they were
deemed poisonous. Hairs from a wolf’s tail, the bones
from the left side of a toad which had been eaten by
ants, pigeon’s blood, skeletons of snakes, bippomanes,
or a piece of flesh found in the head of a newly-foaled
colt, and the entrails of various animals were among
some of the least disgusting of the ingredients used for
this purpose.
Pliny States : “ If a neSt of young swallows is placed
in a box and buried, on being dug up after a few days,
it will be found that some of the birds have died with
their beaks closed, while others have died as if gasping
for breath.” The latter were used for exciting love
and the former for producing the opposite effeft.
84
CHAPTER VIII
CELTIC, ARAB, SLAV AND TEUTONIC MAGIC
A LTHOUGH the early Celtic deities were said
to exercise the magical arts, the Druids appear
to have been the first adepts to pratise it among
the Celts. They were the magician-prieSts and healers,
and had a considerable knowledge of the properties of
plants.
The men were accounted the greatest magicians, but
women also played an important part in their mysterious
rites, and the “ spells of women ” were dreaded by the
people.
The Druids claimed extraordinary magical powers
by means of which they were able to rule the elements,
cause the sea to cover the land, change day into night
and create Storms. They lived in Strict abstinence,
preserved profound secrecy concerning their mysteries,
and only admitted novices after prolonged initiation.
They built no temples, but performed the rites and
ceremonies of their religion on dolmens, or in the
glades of woods and forests. They taught that the
souls of ancestors watched over children and that pro¬
tecting genii overshadowed trees and Stones.
They held the moon in great veneration, arranging
all their festivals to follow the day dedicated to it, and
sought its presence at their ceremonies, so that its rays
85
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
might be invoked. They also consulted its phases on
all important occasions.
They generally accompanied the armies in time of
war and claimed to be able to heal the wounded by
magical power on the battlefield. They were said to
be able to make themselves invisible at will and assume
any shape.
The prieStesses of Sena took the form of birds, and
the “ Children of Ler ” became swans through the
arts of their Stepmother, the daughter of the god Bodb
Derg. They appear to have praftised hypnotism, as
it is said they could cc make persons motionless, and
cause them to reveal secrets ” when in that State.
They also claimed to be able to induce a magical sleep
by means of music from Dagdas’ harp, which first
caused mirth, then tears and afterwards sleep. They
also produced sleep by means of a draught they concofted
called the “ drink of oblivion,” which they probably
made from some narcotic herbs with which they were
doubtless familiar.
To cause a man or woman to waste away and die, they
modelled a figure of the person and Stuck pins or thorns
into it or placed it in running water. The practice of
making an image called the “ corp creadh,” for this
purpose, survived in Ireland for centuries afterwards.
Stones took a prominent part in the rites of the Druids,
and their magical Stones were believed to have the
power of producing wind or rain ; while certain pebbles
when dipped in water were supposed to have curative
properties in the case of men and animals.
All the details of ritual, the chanting of Runes, the
prayers and the offering of sacrifices, were carried out
86
CELTIC, ARAB, SLAV AND TEUTONIC MAGIC
by the Druids as the mediators between the gods and
men. They praftised divination by examining the
entrails of the sacrificial offerings, and by the manner
in which the blood flowed from wounds in the limbs
after death. Their aid was sought to foresee the
future, and they sometimes predicted from the Streams
and wells.
Among the signs found on their sacred Stones is
the pentagon, which shows they muSt have had some
communication with the EaSt, probably through the
Phoenicians.
The Druids used a magic wand and carried a branch
of mountain-ash in their hands to ward off evil spirits.
They were renowned for their medical skill and their
knowledge of the virtues of herbs, many of which they
gathered with solemn ritual. Thus, when cutting the
mistletoe, which they regarded as sacred, it was necessary
that the Druid should be clothed in white, that his feet
should be bare, and that he should offer a sacrifice at a
special time, and in a special way, and cut the
bough with a golden sickle.
Verbena they regarded with great reverence and
gathered it with a peculiar ritual, and it formed one of
the ingredients in the mystical cauldron of Ceridwen.
The faft that their rites were carried on in secluded
forest glades and consecrated groves—where their
sacrifices were also made—no doubt added much to their
mystery.
Although Christianity destroyed the Druids, the Celtic
saints continued to perform magical or miraculous
afts and many of the Druidic superstitions remained.!
According to an Arab tradition, magic or sihr, which
87
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
means “ to produce illusion on the eyes,” was revealed
by two angels in Babel, named Harut and Marut, who
instructed mankind in the art.
The sihr showed how to separate a man from his
wife, and, on the other hand, directed how love could
be provoked.
When a miracle was deemed a sihr, it was regarded
as an optical delusion or due to an illicit dealing with
demons.
The praCtice of magic was forbidden by the Arabs
under the penalty of death, and it was held that one
convicted of sorcery should not even be allowed to
repent.
Jinns were, however, recognized, and their concep¬
tion appears to have influenced the imagination of the
poets and writers of romance. They are to be met
with in most of the old traditional Stories, many of which
are embodied in “ The Arabian Nights.”
In the latter, the magician is often described as a
Moor, which gives colour to the suggestion that the
magical arts were to a great extent communicated to
the Arabs by other races, and were probably introduced
by Moors and Jews from other countries.
In the life of Mohammed, an instance is recorded in
which magic played a part. He was at one time attacked
with a sickness which was said to have been caused by
a malevolent Jew, who obtained some hair from the
prophet’s comb, which he hid with another objeCt in a
well, the article hidden being said to be a String in which
was tied several knots, by means of which he worked
his magic to Mohammed’s ill.
The Prophet apparently sanctioned the use of magical
88
CELTIC, ARAB, SLAV AND TEUTONIC MAGIC
prayers to counteract the “ evil eye ” and snake poison,
also in the treatment of disease, as verses from the Koran
were and are Still believed to be effective in relieving
various bodily ills.
The Arabs practised cryStal-gazing, and to foretell
future events divination was made from the entrails
of slaughtered animals. Sortilege was carried out with
pebbles or nuts, auguries from the movements of birds
and animals, geomancy with sand and divination with
letters. The inspection of the shoulder-blade of a
dead animal, together with the lines on it caused by
the formation of the bone, were said by the Arabs
to foretell if the year would be a good or a bad one.
In TurkeStan, to-day, live coals are placed on the
shoulder-blade of a sheep, and from the cracks, colour
and the parts that fall away, good or bad luck is
foretold. Insome cases the jinns also were supposed
to inspire divination.
The use of the magic mirror—which was made of
metal or glass with a polished surface—for seeing spirits,
was known to the Arabs at an early period. The image
was said to appear in a cloud or vapour floating between
the medium used and the gazer’s eye, and not in the
mirror itself. Khalif Mansur possessed a mirror which
was said to ru$t in the event of meeting an enemy.
Ink and water were also employed for a similar purpose.
According to an Arab writer on auguries, “ when
mountain beaSts and birds leave their places it presages
a severe winter, loud croaking of frogs foretells plague,
loud hooting of an owl near a house where there is
sickness presages the person’s recovery and loud breath¬
ing presages loss of money.”
89
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
The Arabs believed that certain names were endowed
with magic power, and if written on a piece of parch¬
ment, then Steeped in water and the water drunk, they
would cure various ailments.
To cause love, a maiden is directed to put certain
written seals in a vessel of water from which the desired
youth is to drink, and, says the writer, “ he will love
thee with a Strong love.”
Small pieces of cornelian shaped as arrow-heads were
worn as charms in the form of necklaces as a protection
from danger, an ancient custom adopted from the
Assyrians, who threaded three cornelians on a hair of
a dog and a lion for the same purpose.
Another early belief common among the Arabs,
which was probably derived from the Assyrians, was,
that the soul of a murdered man mu St be nailed down;
if not, it would rise from the ground where his blood was
shed. A new nail which has never been used before
was therefore driven into the ground at the spot where
the murder was committed, a custom described as
“nailing down the ghoSt.”
Egyptians suffering from headache will drive a nail
into a wall to-day, or into the old south gate, in Cairo,
with the idea of nailing down the demon that causes the
pain.
In a book on sorcery called “ The Goal of the Sage,”
written by Maslamah in Madrid, in 1008, astrology is
an important faCtor. Mars is said, by the author, to
have the power of attraction for natural science, surgery,
toothdrawing, the gall, heat, hatred, bitter taStes and
divers other things. To the sign of the Ram belonged
the face, the ear, yellow and red, and animals with
90
CELTICARAB , SLAV AND TEUTONIC MAGIC
cloven hooves. The days of the week besides their
planetary assignation were associated with certain
angels : Monday with Gabriel, Thursday with Israfil,
Saturday with ‘Azra’Il, and Wednesday with Michael,
which gives the idea of a Jewish origin. “ Those who
desire the services of the planets should bow down to
them and address them by their names in Arabic, Greek,
Indian or Yunani.”
The magical beliefs of the Slav races have survived
in the folk-lore of the northern countries of Europe.
In Russia, the sorcerer lived in solitude. He had
learnt his magical formulas from the fairies, the wood-
spirits or the goblins. He handed down his secrets
to his youngest child.
He was said to have physical marks through which
he could be known, and these included “ a troubled
eye, a grey face and a husky voice.” The incantations
were pronounced facing the eaSt on Midsummer Day.
Spoken charms were often employed, and believed to
have great power. One to keep a man from Strong
drink, was to take a worm from an empty wine cask,
dry it and Steep it in wine, then recite the following :
“ Lord of the sea depths, carry the mettlesome heart of
thy servant out of the shifting sands, the burning
Stones ; breed in him a winged brood.”
Some of the magical practices of the northern Teutons
may be traced to the Finns who acquired fame in magic.
The magic utterance and the magic rune were used
to cure disease, as a defence from enemies, a protection
from Storm and tempest, and to inspire love. Amulets
and ligatures were also frequently used; and to protect
the dead, belemites, amber rings and Stone arrow-heads
9 1
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
were often placed in the graves. Ligatures of medicinal
herbs were tied round the head or limbs for healing
purposes.
Among the Slavs, the praCtice of magic for evil
purposes was forbidden. Later, in the sixteenth century
the penalties for practising magic and soothsaying were
certain fines, yet in the Hamburg criminal code the
punishment for malefic magic was death by fire, and the
persecution of witches began about this period.
Among the Germans the gods were consulted by
means of the lot, and the priest-magician carried a magic
wand engraved with symbols while pronouncing the
incantations.
The magic spells of the Teutons consisted chiefly
of formulas uttered to ensure protection and bring good
fortune. They believed that magical eflefts could be
direCtiy produced by the spoken word, hence the fre¬
quent use of the spell or utterance in their practices.
Many of these became Christianized during the Middle
Ages, and the names of Christ, Mary and the ApoStles
were introduced in place of the pagan deities. Adjura¬
tions against disease were numerous and these survived
in monastic times in the form of exorcisms.
92
CHAPTER IX
HINDU, CHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC
I N India, magic has been practised from a very-
early period, especially by certain caStes. The
Yogis, in particular, claim to hold the material
world in fee by the magical powers they have acquired,
and even profess to have discovered the secret of the
transmutation of metals, which according to one of
their traditions they knew in the thirteenth century.
This is embodied in the Story of Yogi Dina Nath, who,
when passing a money-changer’s shop one day, noticed
a boy with a pile of copper coins. He asked for alms,
but the lad said the coins belonged to his father, and
offered the Yogi some of his own food. The Yogi,
impressed by his honesty and generosity, prayed to
Vishnu for power to reward the boy, and telling him
to gather all the copper he could find, proceeded to
melt it down, at the same time reciting some charms
and sprinkling it with magic powder, which changed the
copper into gold. The Brahmins also have considerable
lore in which magic plays a prominent part and are
said to possess secret books of figures and myStic symbols.
Magical rites form part of most of their ceremonies
from birth to death. Thus, to ensure safe and easy
delivery of a child and to determine the sex, the Cheru-
man in Madras employ devil-drivers who seat the woman
93
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
in front of a tent with a coco-nut palm flower on her
knees. When cut open the fruits are supposed to predict
the child’s sex, the birth of twins, and the expectation
of the life or death of the infant.
In the marriage ceremonies, at the beginning of the
wedding, the Bedar scatter rice and grain (dhal) on some
white ant earth near five pots filled with water. By the
time all the ceremonies are concluded, the seeds have
sprouted, and are cut by the bride and bridegroom and
thrown into the village well to ensure fertility. Seeds
and grain enter largely into the charms connected with
marriage, and an Idaiyan man and woman will sow nine
kinds of grain in seven trays and watch the result, the
symbolism of the seed and its fertility being regarded
as an assurance of the future of their married life.
A magical rite of resuscitation of the dead is practised
by the Dasaris, a class of priests who minister to Sudras
in Madras.
When a Dasari is offended, he will sometimes revenge
himself by self-mutilation or by cutting off his own hand.
The news is carried to his caSte fellows, and they get
together and display their magical powers by frying
fish, which come to life again on being put into water,
by joining limes together that have been sliced in half,
and by bringing the suicide to life.
The use of charms to avert evil and harm is very
common in most parts of India. They are usually
composed of natural substances, such as a piece of some
tree which is supposed to be inhabited by a jinn.
The Bark Har (Celtis caucasia ) is believed to possess
magical properties, and the one who cuts it down becomes
ill and loses all his hair. Its juice causes blisters and
94
HINDU , CHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC
it is thought to be dangerous even to sit under its
branches.
In order to drive out demons from women, the
Hindus take three different-coloured threads of silk
or cotton and form gunda , which means to tie twenty-
one or twenty-two knots on it. The Moollas in making
each knot read an incantation and blow upon it. When
finished, it is fastened to the neck or the upper part
of the arm of the person possessed, with the idea that
the demon may be transferred by the power of the
magician to the knotted thread, which is then cut off
and thrown away.
Magical squares of figures are used for various pur¬
poses. One, which totals 90 lengthways, is used as a
charm to cure quartan fever; another, totalling 100
every way, is believed to increase milk in cows ; while
a third, that totals 130 every way, when worn round the
neck is said to give one power over any person, and a
square totalling 15 each way will bring good luck to
the wearer.
An ancient formula for conjuring a Blr or demon
was to “ FaSt the whole of a ninth lunar day falling on
a Friday, and in the evening take sweet rice milk. At
8 p.m. don red clothes, perfumed, and make a circle
of red lead on the ground. Sit in its centre with 4
cardamoms, some catechu, betel nuts and 8 cloves.
Light a lamp fed with clarified butter and say, c In¬
cantation can break down the Stars, 5 5000 times, and a
demon will be at your service. 55
The Muslims are believers in magic but condemn
that which depends on the aid of Satan or evil jinns.
Enchantment is regarded as a branch of magic and is
95
THE MYSTERIES AND SECBETS OF MAGIC
permissible if practised with the help of a good jinn,
although the results may be disastrous, and it may even
cause death or paralysis and other terrible afflictions.
As a protection against such enchantments, talismans
written in mysterious characters in the form of seals
are engraved on metal and carried on the person.
Among the followers of the various religions, there
appears to be a universal belief in the existence of spirits
which are believed to throng the air, the earth, the sky,
the trees, and the magical practices so common in India
probably had their inception in this belief.
Witchcraft appears to be intimately blended with the
Vedic rites in which religion and magic are closely
combined. In the Rigveda, the hymns, the earliest
writings of which it consists, are chiefly addressed to
various gods ; but, in the Atharvaveda, magic is the
essential feature, and the work is mainly a collection of
spells and ceremonies aiming at the welfare of the
magician or the injury of his enemies.
The Vedic literature is important, as it represents
aspeCts of magic practised 3000 years ago. From it we
learn that the sacrificial prieSt was also a magician, but
alliance with evil spirits or the use of magic for malevo¬
lent purposes or injury was not approved. Asceticism,
fafting, abstinence and silence were practised, as they
were believed to confer power. Magical rites were
largely associated with sacrificial ceremonies which were
carried out in lonely places. The locations that were
generally selected for the purpose, viz. a burial ground,
cross-roads, a solitary house or hut in a forest, were
adopted later by Western races.
The magician had to face the south, which was
96
HINDU, CHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC
supposed to be the abode of the demons, or in other
rites to move from left to right following the course of
the sun, but occasionally the dire&ion was reversed.
The demons were said to appear sometimes in human
shape, generally deformed, but they might also appear
in the form of animals or birds. Even the magician
might assume an animal form if he wished to injure
his enemies, and the Rigveda alludes to certain magicians
who flew about like birds at night. Evil spirits were
mo$t active at night, especially during a new moon, and
sought to attack the magician who had undergone
consecration. They were said to frequent places where
four roads met, and entered a man generally by his
mouth. They would devour his flesh, suck his marrow,
drink his blood, and cause disease, madness and loss of
speech.
Evil spirits were especially dangerous at the time of
birth, marriage and death. They could do harm to a
man’s property, his cattle and his crops, hence the
importance placed upon casting spells as preventive
measures.
Contagious magic is evidenced in the belief that the
power of lightning remained in a splinter of wood from
a tree that had been Struck. The skins of animals were
believed to be able to communicate the power of the
animal to man, and he who seated himself on the skin
of a he-goat was said to acquire abundance, on the hide
of a bull, fertility; on that of a tiger, courage and
invincible power.
Abstention from food was practised to prevent hostile
demons from attacking the body. A special kind of
faSting was the avoidance of a particular variety of
H 97
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
food; thus a newly married pair were enjoined to
avoid all salted and pungent dishes during the first
three days after their marriage.
Charms and amulets composed of various kinds of
wood and other substances were carried for preventing
evil influences, or to bring good fortune, and were
called god-born or the gift of god to man. A spell on
the KuStha plant was invoked to abate fever and another
operation on a herb to destroy snake poison.
An ointment is mentioned in one hymn, which is
associated with the following spell:
“ From him over whose every limb and every joint
thou passeSt, O Salve, thou dost as a mighty interpreter
drive away disease.”
The curative properties of water are thus referred
to in another spell:
“ The waters verily are healing, the waters chase
away disease, the waters cure all ailments, may they
prepare a remedy for thee.”
Fire was regarded as being one of the most effe&ive
methods of driving away demons and the effefts of
sorcery. The god of fire was thus invoked :
“ Burn, O Agni, against the sorcerers and the allies
of the demons.”
In the birth-chamber, a “ Lying-in fire ” was lighted
with small grains mixed with muStard seed, as a
fumigation to drive off evil spirits. A brand lighted
at both ends was borne by the prieSt round the funeral
offering; and, during the ritual, another brand was
taken from the southern fire and laid down pointing
south, so as to drive away all demons.
Lead was believed to possess magical power and it
98
HINDU, CHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC
was used to counteract the evil influences of demons
and sorcerers.
Injurious substances were removed by “ wiping them
off with lead,” and the passing of a piece of lead over
the face after an evil dream was said to prevent any
after-effe&s that otherwise might occur. At a Royal
inauguration, the King was anointed with a mixture of
butter, honey, rain-water and other substances to which
magic was attributed, with the idea that they would
communicate their power to him.
Of the magical powers attributed to various woods
from which amulets were made, a piece of liquorice
root, tied to the little finger with thread coloured with
lac, was used by a bridegroom to secure the love of his
bride, and a charm fashioned from the Parna tree was
worn to Strengthen Royal power.
In Vedic magic we again come across the use of the
clay or wax figure in various operations. Thus, to
destroy an enemy, a figure of clay was made and the
spot over the heart was pierced with an arrow ; or his
death might be caused by making an image of wax and
melting it over a fire, or by burning a chameleon repre¬
senting him.
Soldiers, elephants and horses were modelled in dough
and sacrificed piece by piece in order to destroy an
enemy’s army.
To exterminate worms, twenty-one roots of the
Usira plant were burnt, while the words, “ I split with
the Stone the head of all worms male and female ; I
burn their faces with fire,” were pronounced by the
magician.
Divination was practised from the flight or cry of
99
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
animals and birds, especially those of the wolf, hyena,
the owl, crow and vulture. In one of the Sutras the
owl is thus addressed :
“ Flying round the village from left to right, portend
to us luck, O owl! ”
Spells were accompanied with rites, or spoken alone,
and curses were placed or caSt on individuals by invoking
the gods, and spells could also be used to counteract
the effeCt of the latter.
The following is a spell of this kind from the Athar-
vaveda :
“ Avoid us, O curse, as a burning fire, a lake,
Strike him that curses us as the lightning of Heaven the tree.”
It will be noticed that many of the practices instanced
in Vedic magic were similar to those employed in
Europe at a later period.
The practice and belief in magic by the Chinese goes
back to a period of unknown antiquity and it Still forms
a powerful faCtor in the life of the people.
The cleverness of the Chinese in legerdemain or
sleight-of-hand shows a natural inStinCt for what is now
called conjuring. Their literature on magic is enormous,
and one can only mention briefly some of their practices
connected with the art which appear to be of native
origin.
The sorcerer or wizard, as far as can be gathered, was
originally known as Wu, a name which was applied
both to male and female practitioners. They apparently
held recognized positions as diviners or exorcists and
were entrusted with certain court and public ceremonials.
They professed to be able to conjure spirits of the
dead, chanted magical formulas and foretold the future,
ioo
HINDU, CHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC
As Confucian culture advanced they were succeeded
by the TaoiSts, who according to tradition date from
centuries before the Christian era.
The dancing of witches formed part of the ritual
observed on the occasion of the official rain-making
sacrifices, and as early as 947 b.c. there is a tradition
that King Mu used magic music on his flute to put an
end to a great drought.
The aid of the magician or wizard was sought to
bring about the fulfilment of wishes and desires as
early as the fourth century. The “ Pao Po-tzu,” a book
on magic, said to have been written by the wizard Ko
Hung, contains a description of how to use the magic
mirror to deteft the presence of evil spirits.
A feature of Chinese magic is the large number of
trees, plants and herbs believed to possess occult pro¬
perties and which are employed in their magical
praftices. The willow is used as a rain charm during
periods of drought in Shansi, and at such times willow
wreaths are worn by the people on their brows. Peach
twigs and blossoms are credited with magical powers,
and a wand cut from a peach tree is used by the pro¬
fessional Wu when exorcizing spirits.
Taoism claims to be of native origin and is said to
be founded on the “ Tao-Teh King,” a book ascribed
by tradition to Lao-tse, an early contemporary of
Confucius, who flourished about 604 b.c. Tao was
believed to be the principle of all existence, and “ the
heart of all knowledge.” The founder of the Taoism
of the present day is said to have been Chang Tao-
ling, who lived about a.d. 34. It is apparently chiefly
a mass of magic and superstition in which divination
101
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
plays the leading part. For this purpose the dried
Stalks of a grass called Shih-ts’ao which grows on the
grave of Confucius is highly valued. It is carefully
gathered and made into packets, and is believed to have
absorbed some of the spiritual efficacy from the sacred
soil in which it has grown.
Divination by means of tortoiseshell and the dried
Stalks of plants is of great antiquity in China, and it is
said it was by these methods “ the early sage kings made
the people believe in seasons and days, revere spiritual
beings and Stand in awe of their laws and orders.”
Astrology, cheiromancy, automatic-writing and clair¬
voyance were all known and have been praftised by the
Chinese from an early period.
They placed certain plants over their doors to prevent
the entrance of evil spirits and bring good luck, juSt
as the peasants in some parts of Europe do to-day.
They entwine red threads in their children’s hair
to proteft them from the demons that bring disease,
and Stitch buttons, bearing representations of certain
deities and sages, as charms on their clothing. From
ancient times they have also practised the method of
making a figure of wax or clay in the image of a person,
and Sticking pins into it should they wish to work evil
upon him.
An illustration of this occurs in a romantic Story
told of the great artist Ku K’ai-chih, who flourished in
the fourth century and was a believer in the power of
magic. Finding that the girl he loved spurned his
attentions, he drew a portrait of her, and when it was
finished, Stuck a thorn into the pifture over the region
of the heart. The girl, who had no knowledge of what
102
HINDU, CHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC
he had done, was at the same time Stricken with a pain
in the same spot, and when Ku K’ai-chih went to visit
her afterwards, she did not turn him away. When he
returned to his house he at once withdrew the thorn
from the picture, and the pain in the damsel’s heart
is said to have immediately disappeared, but her love
for him remained.
The magical rituals of the Japanese are believed to
date from about the eighth century, although many of
their traditions have probably come down from a much
earlier period. They are gathered in their “ Engishiki,”
which was written about the tenth century.
It is Stated in these records, that the prieSt-magician
accompanied his incantations and formuke by mys¬
terious rites which were supposed to make them more
powerful and effective. The earliest rites appear to
have been connected with the harvest, and were carried
out every year at seed time. Offerings were made of
a white horse, a white pig or a white cock. Thus in
a record of the ninth century, Mi-toshi No Kami, the
god of the August harvest, had caSt his curse on the rice
fields, but the divinities obtained from him by the gift
of these white animals the secret of a magical
process, which enabled them to save the imperilled
crops.
From the VUIth ritual called the “ Luck-bringer of
the Great Palace,” it appears that the celestial, magical,
protective words to ward off all calamities from the
Palace were a kind of spoken charm. In the IXth
ritual a description is given of a company of prieSts and
veStals who go through the Palace in all directions, from
the great Hall of Audience to the bathing rooms, the
103
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
veStals sprinkling rice and sake, while the priests hang
precious Stones on the four corners of the rooms. The
rice was to ward off evil spirits, being a custom that was
frequently practised in Japanese magic.
Rice was scattered inside the room in which a child
was about to be born, and, in the divination performed
at the cross-roads, a boundary line was sometimes
Strewn with rice, so that the words spoken by the first
person who passed by and crossed it might be taken
as an oracle. The precious Stones were believed to
proteft the occupants of the rooms from evil
influences.
Throughout Japanese magic, jewels and sparkling
Stones played an important part. Those of a red colour,
in particular, “ caused the dark threats of the invisible
everywhere to retire before their brightness.”
In the Xth ritual, called the “ Ritual of the Great
Purification,” many rites are included. It begins by
Stating, that it is the Emperor who deigns to purify
and wash away the offences committed.
The Emperor was regarded as superior to the
gods invoked and the right of absolution was invested
in him.
One of the offences condemned was the praftice of
witchcraft against a neighbour's animals. It is further
Stated that, “ when the high priest recites the Celestial
ritual, it is so powerful that the gods of heaven and
earth approach to listen and all offences will disappear.”
A number of magical formulas are included in the
XXVIIth ritual, and mention is made of a descendant
of Ame-No-Hoho, one of the celestial ambassadors
to earth, “ who brings to the Emperor divine
104
HINDU, CHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC
treasures consisting of sixty jewels, white, red and
green.”
They are thus described : “ The white are the great
auguSt white hairs to which your majesty will reach.
The red jewels are the auguSt healthful ruddy coun¬
tenance. The green are the harmonious fitness which
the auguSt Emperor will establish far and wide. Each
jewel conferring a power corresponding to its colour.”
Ancient Shinto is said to be a religion in which the
magical element Still prevails over the religious sentiment,
and its rituals are addressed to magician-gods by
magician-prieSts and encircled in magical rites.
“ Therefore,” says M. Revon, “ magic is at the base
of the natural cult of the Japanese.”
An interesting tradition in which native sorcery plays
a part is given in the <c Kojiki.” “ The deity of the
Idzushi, the country of the sacred Stones, had a daughter,
whose name was the Deity Maiden of Idzushi, whom
eighty deities wished to marry but none could do so.
Among her suitors were two brothers, the elder of
whom was called c Youth-of-the-glow-on-the-autumn-
mountains 5 and the younger named c Youth-of-the-
haze-on-the-spring-mountains.’
“ The elder said to his brother, c Though I beg for
the Maiden of Idzushi, I cannot obtain her in marriage ;
wilt thou be able to obtain her ? ’
“ He replied, ‘ I will easily obtain her.’
“ Then the elder brother said, e If thou shalt obtain
this maiden, I will take off my upper and lower garments
and distil liquor in a jar of my own height, and prepare
all the things of the mountains and of the rivers in pay¬
ment of the wager.’
io 5
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ Then the younger brother told his mother every¬
thing* Forthwith the mother took wistaria fibre, and
wove and sewed in one night an upper and a lower
garment, and made a bow and arrows and clothed him
in these garments, and made him take the bow and
arrows to the maiden’s house, where both his apparel
and the bows and arrows were turned into wistaria
blossoms, and he hung them up in the maiden’s private
bower. When the Maiden of Idzushi, thinking the
blossoms Strange, brought them forth, he followed behind
her into the house and forthwith wedded her. So she
gave him birth to one child. Then he spoke to the
elder brother saying, c I have obtained the Maiden of
Idzushi,’ and the elder brother was vexed that he should
have wedded her and would not pay his wager. When
the younger brother complained to his mother, in her
anger with her elder child, she took a one-jointed
bamboo from an island in the River Idzushi, and made a
basket with eight holes, and took Stones from the
river, and mixing them with brine, wrapped them in
the leaves of the bamboo and caused this curse to be
spoken, ‘ Like unto the becoming green of these
bamboo leaves do thou become green and wither.’
Again, ‘ Like unto the flowing and ebbing of this
brine do thou flow and ebb.’ Again, £ Like unto
the sinking of these Stones do thou sink and be
prostrate.’
<c Then she placed the basket over the smoke. There¬
fore the elder brother dried up and withered and sickened,
and lay prostrate for the space of eight years.”
There is a widespread belief among the Japanese
that a mysterious connexion exists between the life of
106
HINDUCHINESE AND JAPANESE MAGIC
man and the flowing and ebbing of the sea. So, accord¬
ing to the legend, the fate of the elder brother was
connefted with the ebbing of the tide, for it is said,
“ When the sea is flowing in, one is born and becomes
Strong ; and, when it is ebbing, one loses energy, falls
ill and dies.”
107
CHAPTER X
NECROMANCY-SORCERY-PACTS WITH THE DEVIL
N ECROMANCY, negromancy, or necyomancy,
as it was originally termed, was that branch
of the magical arts which professed to reveal
future events by means of communication with the
dead.
Although it belonged to the class called evil or
black magic, its pra&ice was apparently tolerated if good
angels and not devils were invoked for the purpose.
In ancient times it was understood to mean a descent
into Hades to consult the dead concerning the living.
There are many references to this practice in the
mythological Stories of the Greeks and it is men¬
tioned by Homer and Virgil. Lucian relates a legend
of the hero Menippus, who had recourse to a Magus,
who was a disciple and successor of ZoroaSter, having
heard that he possessed spells and incantations by
which the portals of Hades could be unlocked. He
was also said to be able to invoke and afterwards dismiss
the spirit of any dead person whom he pleased to
summon, and by his aid therefore the opinion of Teiresias
might be obtained. With this objeft Menippus under¬
took an expedition to Babylon, and lodged under the
roof of this Chaldean, “ a man of notable wisdom and
profound skill, a diviner, venerable for his hoary locks
108
NECROMANCY—SORCERY
and flowing beard.” His name, Mithrobarzanes,
avouched his necromantic pretensions, and after much
solicitation and promises of lavish reward, Menippus
is said to have obtained his objeft.
In the Talmud, magic is divided into three classes.
The first includes all evil enchantments, magical cures,
the citation of evil spirits and the calling forth of the
dead through the aid of demons, for all of which, like
idolatry, the punishment was death.
The second includes those magical practices which
are carried on by the aid of evil spirits, and the third
includes astrology and all intercourse with the lower
spirits.
In attempting to define the meaning of the names
applied to the various branches of magic, it is in¬
teresting first to consider the explanations given by
writers who Jived in the Middle Ages.
In the thirteenth century necromancers were called
jugulors, from which we may assume they were often
regarded with suspicion and the praftice of necro¬
mancy was forbidden by the Church.
According to an account written in a fifteenth-century
manuscript the Papal Conclave came to the following
conclusions :
“ The help which the Lord hath given his people
is now through magic and negromancy turned into the
damnation of all people, for even the magicians them¬
selves being intoxicated and blinded by the devil and
contrary to the order of Christ’s Church, transgress
the commandant of God which doth say, thou shalt
not tempt the Lord thy God but him only shalt thou
serve. Negromancers denying the sacrifice due unto
109
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
God, and in tempting him, hath done sacrifice unto
devils and abused his name in calling of them contrary
to the profession made at their baptism. Hath also
brought all people through these marvellous illusions
and drawing the ignorant into damnation of soul and
body.
“ Pluck up and utterly destroy this deadly root and
all the followers of this art.”
Another writer of the same period States :
“ Necromancy was used in old times by faithful and
unfaithful. It constrains the devils and makes them
perform, obey and accomplish their commands.
“ It may be exercised in two ways :
“ First, the natural, which may be wrought through
things whose virtue and property is natural to do them,
as herbs, plants and Stones, the planets and heavenly
influences. This art is lawful.
“ Secondly, the other kind of necromancy is that
which is praftised through the help and favour of the
devil, which hath been long exercised in the world. Of
this the Holy Scriptures testify, speaking of the magicians
of Pharaoh who contended with Moses and Aaron, and
in the New Testament making mention of Simon Magus
rebuked by St Peter. The devils may be forced and
constrained by the good angels, and this is because of
the grace which the one loSt and the other yet retains.
“ None can use or exercise the art of necromancy
unless he first make an agreement or expressed covenant
with the devil. . . . Some devils are preferred as prin¬
cipals to command the rest and the inferior devils are
subjefl unto these which are of mighty force to execute
that wickedness.
no
POWERS OF EVIL
THEUTUS, ASMODEUS AND INCUBUS
From Barrett's ‘ Magus '
NECROMANCY—SORCERY
“ Wicked demons are divided into nine degrees or
orders, as the good angels are divided into nine orders
or hierarchies.
“ The first are called Psoudothei or false gods who
would be worshipped as gods, as that demon who said
to Christ, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. The
prince of these is Beelzebub.
“ The second are the Mendariorum or spirits of
lying. Their prince is that spirit Python. This kind
of spirit deceive by their oracles, divinations and pre¬
dictions.
“ The third are the Iniquitatis or the vessels of anger,
and are the inventors of all wicked arts. The prince of
them is Belial.
“ The fourth are the Revengers of wickedness and
their prince is Asmodeus.
“ The fifth are the PreStigiators who imitate miracles
and serve the magic and maleficks and seduce people
in their miracles.
“ Their prince is Satan.
“ Sixth are the Arial powers who mix themselves
with thunders and lightnings, corrupting the air, bringing
pestilence and other evils. Their prince is Merizim,
a south demon, raging and furious, whom Paul
calls, in the Ephesians, c a prince of the power of
the air.’
“ The seventh are the Furies, the sowers of mischief
and discords, wars and destruction. Their prince is
called Apollyon, in Hebrew Abaddon, who destroys
and lays waSte.
“ The eighth are the Criminators, whose prince is
AStaroth. He is the calumniator.
hi
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ Ninth are the Temptors, and all bad genii. Their
prince is Mammon, interpreted covetousness. 5 ’
There are many traditions concerning the covenants
or pads made with the devil in exchange for certain
powers, renewed youth and other desired attainments,
many of which are no doubt fabulous, but there are some
transcripts to be found in manuscripts purporting to
be copies of these curious documents.
Pads with the devil were said to be always signed by
the executor with his blood as being the mod sacred
seal.
In a pad recorded in the seventeenth century, the
signatory agrees, “ To deny God being the Creator of
all things. To blaspheme the three Saints and the Holy
Trinity. To trample underfoot all the myderies of
the redemption, and to spit on the face of the Virgin*
and all the saints. To abhor the name of Chridian
and renounce Chridianity, baptism, and the commenda¬
tions of the Church and the sacraments. To sacrifice
to the devil, make a pad for the adoration of him, pay
him homage of fidelity, dedicate innocent children to
him, and recognize him as Creator.”
Another reads :
“ Je . . . renonce a tous les biens tant spirituels que
corporels qui me pourraient edre conferez de la part
de Dieu, de la Vierge Marie et de tous les sainds du
Paradis, pareillement de mon patron saint Jean Bap tide,
saint Pierre, saint Paul et saint Francois et de me donner
de corps et d 5 me a Lucifer icy present avec tous les
biens que je feray a jamais ; excepte la valeur du sacre-
ment pour le regard de ceux qui le recevront.
cc Et ainsi le signe et attede.”
112
NECROMANCY—SORCERY
In the library at Upsala there is preserved a written
pad made by one Daniel Salthenius who sold himself to
the devil.
The methods, rites and ritual employed by necroman¬
cers are fully described in the books of ceremonial which
will be dealt with later.
A sorcerer was said to be one who practised the
arts of magic and witchcraft, and who had acquired
a supernatural knowledge by the use of enchantments
which gave him command over evil spirits.
The sorcerer made no pad with the evil one, which
distinguished him from the necromancer.
The objed of the sorcerer was therefore to constrain
some evil spirit to appear, so that he might question him,
the evocation being carried on with mysterious rites
and ceremonies.
In order to carry this out he had first to fix upon a
place proper for such a purpose, which might either
be a cave or vault draped with black hangings and
lighted by a magical torch ; or it might be among the
ruins of an ancient caStle or abbey, a churchyard or any
other solemn place, between the hours of twelve and one
in the morning, either when the moon shone brightly
or when the elements were disturbed with Storms of
thunder, lightning, wind and rain. When a proper
time and place were seleded, a magic circle was to be
drawn, within which the sorcerer and his associate were
to Stand. A piece of ground was chosen nine feet square,
at the full extent of which parallel lines were drawn,
one within the other, containing crosses and triangles,
close to which was formed the first or outer circle.
About six inches within this a second circle was described,
A MAGICIAN OR SORCERER STANDING IN THE MAGIC CIRCLE PERFORMING
A CONJURATION
(From a drawing in an MS., XIV century, in the British Museum.)
A MAGICIAN OR SORCERER STANDING IN THE MAGIC CIRCLE INVOKING
SPIRITS
(From a drawing in an MS., XIV century, in the British Museum.)
114
NECROMANCY—SORCERY
having within it another square corresponding to the
first, the centre of which was the seat or spot where the
master and his associate were to Stand.
The ground having thus been prepared and the circle
completed, the sorcerer was not, at the peril of his life,
to depart until he had completely dismissed the spirit.
Great importance was attached to the discharging of
the spirit after the ceremony was finished, and after he
had answered all the demands made upon him.
44 The magician muSt wait patiently until he has
passed through all the terrible forms which announced
his coming, and only when the last shriek has died
away, and every trace of fire and brimstone has dis¬
appeared, may he leave the circle and depart home in
safety,” says a writer of the sixteenth century.
A picturesque account of a visit to the house of a
sorcerer in Paris, in the seventeenth century, is thus
recorded by an old French writer :
4 4 On the ceiling and in the corners were divers un¬
clean animals, which seemed to be Still alive, here the
serpent crawling and writhing, there the bat with its
membraneous wings, there the toad with eyes of brilliant
yet sinister beauty ; and there the skeleton of some oddly
formed fish. The room Still further contained the
furnace, the alembics, and all the preparations and the
instruments of the sorcerer. On the right, on the left,
in every direction lay Strangely formed or grotesque
phials and vases and books, closed or half open, por¬
traits in wax and some symbolical images ; and amidst
this Strange collection Stood a brazier from whence arose
a bluish flame which revealed the figure of the sorcerer.
44 A long loose and trailing black robe enveloped his
“5
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
tall figure; in his left hand he held a book and in his
right a divining wand.
“ The constellations, the sun and the moon shone upon
his broad cheSt, on his head he wore a sort of turban,
and his shoes were long and narrowed off to a slightly
curving point.
“ His countenance was not destitute of a certain
grave dignity; his gaze was fixed and contemplative,
and a thick beard descended to Ids cheSt.
“ Making an imperative gesture he waved me back,
and then the flame in the brazier redoubled its intensity ;
a thick smoke arose in cloudy whirls and speedily filled
the whole room. For a moment the magician seemed
to be invoking a familiar demon, and then suddenly in
the centre of the brazier arose a phantasmagoric appari¬
tion.”
There was hardly a more terrible accusation one person
could bring against another during the Middle Ages,
than that of charging him with practising sorcery.
In 1324 Robert Marshall of Leicester and John
Notingham were indifted for conspiring to kill the King,
the two Despensers, the Prior and two other officials of
Coventry, by magic arts. Marshall, who turned King’s
evidence, said that certain citizens came to John
Notingham as a man skilled in “ nigromancy,” and bar¬
gained with him for the death of the persons named,
paying a certain sum down, and giving him seven pounds
of wax. With the wax, Notingham and Marshall made
seven images, six being of the proposed vi&ims and
the other of Richard de Sowe, who was selected for
experimental purposes. The work was carried out
with the closest secrecy in an old, deserted house not
116
NECROMA NCY—SORCER Y
far from Coventry, and when the images were ready
the sorcerer bade Marshall thruSt a leaden bodkin
into the head of the figure that represented Richard
de Sowe, and the next day sent him to the house of
the said Richard, whom he found raving mad ; Master
John then removed the bodkin from the head of the image
and thruSt it into the heart, and within three days Richard
died. Notingham died in prison before the case was
finished, and Robert Marshall in the end came to the
scaffold.
CHAPTER XI
WITCHCRAFT-DEMONOLOGY
T HE belief in witchcraft as known in mediaeval times
was probably derived from the wild mythology of
the northern races.
The Hebrew word mekaseepah literally means one
who makes spells, amulets, poisons and incantations, and
corresponds to the Latin venefica. It is probable there¬
fore that the name “ witch ” mentioned in the Bible had a
different meaning to that applied to it in later times.
As Scott points out, “ There is not a word in scripture
of a contract of subje&ion to a diabolic power, no
infernal stamp or sign of such a fatal league, no revellings
of Satan and his hags and no infliftion of disease or
misfortune upon good men.”
On the other hand, during the Christian era and
through the Middle Ages, the name came to be applied
to one (either male or female) who was believed to be
able to perform some operation beyond human power
by the agency of evil spirits, such as working evil upon
the life and fortunes of other people, and casting spells
on human beings and cattle.
The witch was said to acquire these powers by making
a bond or compaft, sealed with her blood, between her¬
self and the devil.
By the terms of the bond it was understood that she
renounced the sacraments of the Christian religion, and
118
WITCHCRAFT—DEMO NO LOGY
after a term of years or for the rest of her life devoted
her soul to the powers of evil where it was beyond
redemption.
“ Witches,” says Sir Walter Scott, “ were generally
old, blear-eyed, wrinkled dames, ugly and crippled,
frequently papists, and sometimes atheists ; of cross-
grained tempers and cynical dispositions. They were
often poisoners and generally mono-maniacs. Epilepsy
and all diseases not understood by the physicians were
set down to the influence of witches. They were said
to make two covenants with the devil, one public and
one private. Then the novices were presented to
the devil in person, and inStrufted to renounce the
Christian faith, tread on the Cross, break the faSts,
joining hands with Satan, paying him homage and
yielding him body and souk Some witches sold them¬
selves for a term of years, and some for ever; then
they kissed the devil, and signed their bond with
blood, and a banquet ended the meeting, their dances
being accompanied with shouts of ‘ Ha, ha! devil,
devil! Dance here, dance here! Play here, play
here I Sabbath, sabbath. 5 Before they departed, the
devil was said to give them philtres and amulets.”
“ Concerning witches,” says a writer of a manuscript
of the sixteenth century, “ these haggs are a lineage and
kind of people expressly agreed with the devil, holding
and obeying him as their sovereign and master, and
suffering themselves to be marked by him, which mark
they bear on one of their eyes, fashioned like a toad’s foot,
by which they know one another, for they have among
themselves great companies and fraternities, making
often general meetings, which they pollute with all
ll 9
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
filthyness, abominable villainies and infernal ceremonies,
and do homage to the devil who most commonly ap-
peareth to them in the figure of a great Ram goat.”
Although a good deal of nonsense has been written
concerning the witches’ meetings, there is some evidence
to show that these abnormal women did have secret
meetings at night in out-of-the-way places, where they
performed mysterious
rites and ceremonies
which probably con¬
cluded with an orgy.
An interesting de¬
scription of a witches’
Sabbath is recorded
by Alonso de CaStro
in a manuscript of the
sixteenth century. He
was a learned man of
Spain and a Franciscan,
who had a friend who
was a sorcerer, with
whom he went to a
witches’ Sabbath, under the pretence that he wished to
make a covenant with the devil.
It was a dark night when the sorcerer took him
out of the town into the country, and they walked
together through certain valleys and woods, until they
reached a plain field enclosed round with mountains.
Here they found a great number of people, men and
women, who went up and down in great mirth and
received him as a novice with gladness, assuring him that
there was no greater happiness in the world.
120
ST PATRICK AND THI$ DRVII,
(From a woodcut, XV century.)
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WITCHCRAFT—DEMONOLOGY
“ In the midst of the field a throne was built very
sumptuously, on which Stood a great and mighty Ram
goat to whom at a certain hour of the night they all
went to do reverence.
“ The reverence and homage which they do unto him,
is by turning their shoulders and bowing down their
heads as low as they can. He which is newly as-
sumpted into this brotherhood doth first with words
wicked and abominable, blaspheme and renounce all
the holy points and mysteries, vowing unto the devil his
faithful service for ever with many other execrable
ceremonies, vows and oaths, which being accomplished,
they mingle themselves together and many devils with
them in likeness of young gentlemen and beautiful
dames without shame or respeft.”
CaStro goes on to say: “ There are certain oyles
and oyntments with which they anoynt themselves,
which deprive them of their right sense, making them
imagine they are transformed into birds or beaSts, de¬
ceiving not only themselves with this error, but often¬
times the eyes of others, for the devil and other en¬
chanters so dazzle and deceive our sight, turning and
transforming men into beaSts to the seeming of those
which behold them, though in truth it was nothing
so, but the sorcerers think themselves in their imagina¬
tion to be transposed. Sometimes they anoynt them¬
selves with other oyntments whose operation maketh
them think they are like fowls and can fly in the
air.”
This account written by a man of intelligence and a
seeker after truth in his time, goes to show that the
supposed magic worked by witches was largely due to
J 2 I
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
imagination and deception, no doubt aided by certain
drugs the properties of which they understood.
De Lancre gives the following description of the
devil presiding at a Sabbath or meeting of witches :
“ He is seated on a black chair, with a crown of black
horns, two horns on the back of his neck, and one on
the forehead which sheds light on the assembly; the
hair bristling, the face pale and
exhibiting signs of uneasiness,
the eyes round, large and fully
opened, inflamed and hideous,
with a goat’s beard. The
neck and reSt of the body
deformed, and in the shape
of a goat; the hands and feet
of a human being.”
The oath to the demon had
to be pronounced in the
centre of a circle traced on the
ground, accompanied by the
offer of some pledge, such as
the garment of the novitiate.
The edge of the circle was
supposed to establish a mark
which the demon could not cross. Heavy perfumes,
such as vervain, with burning incense and lighted
tapers, always formed part of the ceremonial. The
smoking brazier, which entered largely into the
ritual, was believed to aft on the demons, and was
constantly fed with all kinds of those vegetable and
animal substances that would produce the most smoke.
The presence of toads or familiars, which were some-
122
WITCHCRAFT—DEMO NOLO G Y
times dressed up by the witches in scarlet velvet
with little bells, is mentioned in connexion with the
Sabbaths.
In the Basque provinces, the toad played an important
part in witchcraft, and when a novice was presented at
the Sabbath for the first time, a toad was given into the
care of her introducer, until she had completed her
noviciate and was considered fit to receive it into her
keeping. It was dressed in a little sack with a cowl,
through which the head passed, and open under the
belly, where it was tied with a band that served as a
girdle. This dress was generally made of green or black
cloth, or velvet. The toad was to be treated with the
greatest care and to be fed and caressed by its owner.
The fumes from the narcotic plants used, such as
belladonna, stramonium and hemlock, would probably
produce a State of semi-Stupor and so influence the
imagination of the scared spectators that they might
easily fancy that they saw the writhing forms of spirits
in the air.
One method of casting a spell on a person employed
by witches was by means of the wax or clay image.
The figure of the intended victim had to be modelled
with great secrecy. This having been done, a swallow
was killed and the heart placed under the right arm of
the image and the liver under the left. The effigy was
next pricked all over with new needles, each prick being
accompanied by an incantation and terrible imprecations
against the viftim.
Sometimes the figure was moulded in earth taken
from a graveyard mixed with powdered human bones.
Certain magical signs were then inscribed upon it which
123
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
were believed in time to cause the death of the
viftim.
In the British Museum there is an interesting manu¬
script entitled “ A discourse of Witchcraft, as it was
a&ed in the family of Mr Edward Fairfax of FuyStone,
York, 1621."
In the manuscript, Mr Fairfax gives an account of
how his two daughters, Helen, aged twenty-one, and
Elizabeth, aged seven, and a child called Maude Jeffrey,
were bewitched by six witches who are named.
One was “ Margaret Waite, a widow, whose familiar
was a deformed thing with many feet, black of colour,
rough with hair and the bigness of a cat.” Another
was “ Jennit Dible, a very old widow and a reputed
witch for many years, whose familiar was a white cat
spotted with black.” He observes that, “ Satan maketh
use of ye mass priests, confirming their s upposed holiness
by conjuring and by casting forth devils where they
never entered.”
On O&ober 28th, 1621, Helen was found lying on
the floor in a deadly trance, and remained unconscious
for a considerable time. For several days in succession
she had these trances, which could not be accounted for.
On November 3rd at break of day, she called out loudly,
“ Oh, I am poisoned,” and told her mother that “ a
white cat had been long upon her and drawn her breath.”
They endeavoured to persuade her it was a dream, but
on the 14th she again awoke the household and said
she had “ found a black dog by her bedside.”
Her sister Elizabeth had similar seizures and it was
concluded they had been bewitched, and suspicion fell
on the old women in the village who were believed to
124
A WITCH AND HER ‘FAMILIARS’
From the bairfax MS. 1621. British Museum.
WITCHCRAFT—DEMONOLOGY
work witchcraft. They were arrested, and after they
had been brought to trial, the girls are said to have
recovered.
The manuscript is illustrated by many curious draw¬
ings, in black and white, of the witches implicated, and
a variety of weird and curious animals, birds, and other
Strange apparitions, said to have been seen by the girls,
together with some of the familiars.
The witch’s familiar, which was constantly with her,
was supposed to take the shape of a cat, dog or a great
toad, and so the black cat became associated with magic
and witchcraft.
The weasel has also been associated with witchcraft
from early times, and Apuleius in “ The Golden Ass ”
mentions a practice of the witches of Thessaly, of cutting
or biting off the ears of the dead in order to use them
as ingredients in their mysterious compounds.
Thelyphron relates, how he kept watch over a body
for about half the night, and then received a visit from
a witch in the form of a weasel who Stared at him with
“ a confidence unusual in so small an animal.”
A familiar is said to have once been dissefted by the
famous physician Dr. William Harvey, the discoverer of
the circulation of the blood.
The Story is related by NoteStein thus :
“ About 1685, a Justice of the Peace in south-weSt
England wrote a letter, in which he said that he once
asked Dr Harvey his opinion of witchcraft.
“ Harvey replied, that he believed there was no such
thing and recounted a Story of a visit he made to a reputed
witch, when he was at Newmarket with Charles I.”
The woman lived in a lonely house on the borders
125
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
of the heath. Harvey told her that he was a wizard
and had come to converse with her on the common
trade. The woman believed him, because as Harvey
said, “ You know I have a very magical face.” Harvey
then asked to see the witch’s familiar, whereupon the
woman brought out a dish of milk, made a chuckling
noise and a toad came out from under a cheSt and
drank some milk.
The witch was persuaded to go out and get some ale
half a mile away, and while she was absent Harvey cut
up the toad and found the milk inside. He came to
the conclusion that “ it differed noways from other
toades,” but that the old woman, having tamed it, had
come to believe that it contained the spirit of her
familiar.
On her return, the old woman “ flew like a tigress ”
at Harvey, and would not be pacified with money, so
that he was obliged to tell her that he was the King’s
physician sent to discover if she was a witch, and in
case she were, to have her apprehended, and so he took
his departure.
The beginning of the fifteenth century saw the com¬
mencement of an epidemic of witchcraft and persecution
throughout Europe which continued until near the close
of the seventeenth century. It was not until witchcraft
was placed by the Church under the head of heresies,
that witches were rigorously prosecuted.
The first Papal Bull against witchcraft was that of
Gregory IX in 1233, and in 1484 Pope Innocent VIII
promulgated his celebrated Bull against various practices
of sorcery and witchcraft, and introduced the terrible
Courts Extraordinary, presided over by three Sorcery
126
A WITCH SURROUNDED BY FAMILIARS AND STRANGE APPARITIONS
From the Fairfax MS., 1621. British Museum.
WITCHCRAFT—DEMONOLOGY
Inquisitors, which spread consternation in Germany
and other parts of Europe. In this Bull sorcery and
heresy were confounded together, while liberty and
life itself were no longer safe to anyone under the
Tribunal. Pope Alexander VI renewed the Bull against
witchcraft, but the number of witches suddenly appeared
to increase ; spies, informers and exorcists multiplied
also, and the rack was in constant use to extort con¬
fession, while the fires were kept burning for those
whom the torture had driven to confession.
In three months during the year 1515, 500 witches
were burnt in Geneva alone ; a thousand were con¬
demned in the diocese of Como ; a single inquisitor
boaSted of having condemned 900 in Loraine, and “ Trois
Echelles ” confessed that he knew of 1,200 witches
in France and claimed to have passed judgment on at
least two thousand of his pretended associates.
In the time of King AthelStan there was a law provid¬
ing that where witchcraft caused death it should be
punished by death, but where the effeft was less serious
the offender was imprisoned or fined.
A Statute against witchcraft in England was passed
in the reign of Henry VI, and additional laws were
added by Henry VIII, Elizabeth and James I, the laSt
being particularly industrious in his persecution of those
accused of witchcraft.
In Scotland, in particular, witchcraft appears to have
abounded and persecutions were very frequent.
King James VI, before he became James I of England,
took an a£Iive part in several witch trials, especially in
the inquisitions to discover the pradfices of one Cun¬
ningham. The most horrible tortures were inflifted
ill
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
on the unfortunate people who were accused, some of
whom were persons of high rank and position, such as
Lady Fowlis and others, whose trials are recorded by
Pitcairn.
One method of detefting witches, and at the same
time torturing them to make confession, was by means
of running pins into their bodies, on pretence of dis¬
covering the devil’s mark or sign. This pra&ice was
a&ually carried on as a calling in Scotland, and the men
who exercised it were known as “ prickers.”
Scott States that, at the trial of Janet PeaSton of
Dalkeith, the magistrates and ministers of the town
caused John Kincaid of Tranent, the common pricker,
to exercise his craft upon her.
He reported, that “ he found two marks of what he
called the devil’s making and which appeared indeed to
be so, for she could not feel the pin when it was put
into either of the said marks nor did they (the marks)
bleed when it was taken out again ; and when she
was asked where she thought the pins were put in, she
pointed to a part of her body distant from the real
place.” They were pins of 3 inches in length.
Beside the fa£t that the bodies of old people, especially,
sometimes have spots void of sensibility, there is also
reason to believe that the professed prickers used a pin,
the point or lower part of which was, on being pressed
down, sheathed in the upper part which was hollow for
the purpose and which, while appearing to enter the
body, did not pierce it at all.
In 1678 the Privy Council received a complaint from
a poor woman, who had been abused by a country
magistrate and one of the so-called prickers. The
128
WITCHCRAFT—DEMO NOLO G Y
members of the Council expressed high displeasure
at the presumption of the parties complained against,
and treated the pricker as a common cheat. 1
An Act of Parliament was passed in England in 1664
against witchcraft, and twelve bishops attended the
committee when it was discussed in the House of
Lords. The Puritans urged that the persecution of
all witches should be renewed. The Episcopal party
refused to support it, or to take an aftive part in the
persecution. Under the Long Parliament, however,
the campaign broke out with fiercer intensity. Zachary
Gray States that he had seen a list of three thousand
witches executed during that period. Sir Matthew Hale
presided when some of the unfortunate creatures accused
of the offence were brought to trial, and charged the
juries to convifl: the persons. Even Sir Thomas Browne,
the humane author of the “ Religio Medici/’ gave
evidence at the trial and asserted the reality of the
crime. So general did the charges of witchcraft become,
that no class of society was safe from accusation and
suspicion, thousands perishing by the faggot and
torture.
After several thousands of victims had suffered the
penalty. Sir John Holt, by his judicial firmness, Stemmed
the tide of fury against the unfortunate accused. Among
the laSt vifiims condemned in England were a
woman and her daughter, the latter only nine years of
age. They were accused of selling their souls to the
devil, and causing a Storm “ by pulling off their Stockings
and making a lather of soap.”
In the eighteenth century, even men like John Wesley
1 “Fountainhalls Decisions,” Vol. I, p. 15.
K
129
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
and William BlackStone were believers in witchcraft, and
it was not until 1735 that Parliament repealed the
Statute against witchcraft and the fear of witches began
to die out.
The Witchcraft Aft of 1735 (George II), which is
Still in force, provides that “ no prosecution shall be
brought for witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or con¬
juration ; but it is en-
afted that if any person
pretend to exercise any
kind of witchcraft,
sorcery, enchantment, or
conjuration, or under¬
take to tell fortunes, or
pretend from skill in any
occult science to dis¬
cover where loSt goods
may be found, such
person shall be impri¬
soned for a year, and be
put in the pillory once in
every quarter of such
year.”
Concerning demoniacal possession there is a con¬
siderable difference of opinion and the subj eft has long
been a matter of controversy. There appears to be
little doubt that it had its origin in the belief held by
primitive peoples that evil spirits or demons could
enter the human body and thus cause disease and other
ills, until they were driven out by incantations or
exorcism by invoking a higher power.
According to Biblical accounts, the demons some-
130
A BISHOP EXORCIZING A DEMON
(From a woodcut, XV century.)
I VITCHCRA F T—DEMO NO LOGY
times made their presence both seen and felt, and in
numerous pi&ures, representing saints in the aft of
exorcizing in the Middle Ages, the devil or demon is
represented with the traditional horns and forked tail.
It is evident, however, from the period from which
we have any detailed and accurate accounts of these
unfortunate people, that their condition was generally
due to some form of insanity, epilepsy, or condition of
neurosis that was not understood at the time.
It was not until the fifteenth century, that doubts appear
to have arisen in the minds of some thinkers as to the
nature of demoniacal possession, and one of the first
to comment on it was Nider, a Dominican friar who
died at Colmar in 1438. John Wier, who also wrote
about 1563 on the power of the devil, limited it to an
influence on the imagination. Others then began to
notice the resemblance of certain diseases, believed to
have been caused by demons, to those known to be
from natural causes, and Boquet declared that such
maladies could be cured by physicians. Schenck, who
Studied the cause of nightmare, which at that time
was generally believed to be due to an incubus, at¬
tributed the cause to “ the obStruftion of vessels
which unite the spleen to the Stomach, by the thicken¬
ing of the gaStric juice having become black bile.”
The principal symptom, he observes, “ consists in a
sensation of oppression as if the weight of a burden
prevented the person from breathing, and horrible
dreams accompany this sensation/’
As to demoniacs, Schenck says he considers them as
sick people. They have been cured even after the
prayers of the Church and by the physicians, and he
I3 1
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
concludes that the same maladies which seem to be
caused by the occult forces can be met with in people
who are ill from natural causes.
With reference to confessions wrung by torture
from those accused of sorcery or witchcraft, it was said
that the fear of the torture alone could produce the
effeffs which appeared to confirm their guilt. But even
at the end of the sixteenth century, men like Fernelius
and Ambroise Pare, who had described epilepsy and
hypochondria as diseases, believed that sorcerers were
able to cause demons to enter the human body and cause
“ a madness that resembled mania.”
It is now known that neurasthenia is due to a derange¬
ment of the nervous system, to which is added an emo¬
tional intensity. Every faculty becomes sensitive, even
pain is felt, the senses sometimes perverted, and spasms,
paroxysms and loss of sensibility may occur, but that
these manifestations can be controlled by the will power
of another person.
Charcot has shown the effefts of hypnotic treatment
upon those suffering from acute hysteria, and has
proved, that when a person is hypnotized the elastic
muscular coating of the arteries conStrifl to such an
extent as to Stop the flow of blood, and that when
needles are Stuck into the flesh no bleeding follows.
Thus the light of modern science has dispelled much
that was thought in the paSt to be due to occult forces.
132
CHAPTER XII
witches’ ointments
V ARIOUS ointments or unguents were made
and employed by witches, which were supposed
to enable them to fly in the air, to see spirits, and
produce other mysterious effects, and there is no doubt
that some of these were highly a<flive preparations.
The secret of the composition of these ointments was
jealously guarded, but we have been able to gather
from various manuscripts several recipes said to have
been used in the sixteenth century.
BaptiSta Porta gives a recipe for an unguent used by
the witches in Italy in the sixteenth century. It is
composed of aconite, boiled with the leaves of the
poplar, then mixed with soot and made into an ointment
with human fat.
In this, the aconite, or monk’s-hood, a common plant
in the country, is the aftive ingredient. It is a powerful
poison and contains several alkaloidal principles, the
chief of which is aconitine, a minute quantity of which
will cause death. Applied externally, aconite produces a
tingling sensation, which is succeeded by numbness of
the part. The soot was used simply as a colouring agent,
and the fat as a vehicle for making the unguent. Another
formula, of the same period, consists of Ac or us vulgare,
Aerspertillionis s anguinem and Solanum somniferum
*33
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
boiled together in oil. To this, Indian hemp and
stramonium were sometimes added, and the whole
made into an ointment with the blood and fat of night-
birds.
In this recipe there are three highly toxic substances.
Belladonna is a Strong poison and given internally will
produce delirium. Its a&ive
principle, atropine, has a power¬
ful effed: on the eyes. Indian
hemp, taken internally, pro¬
duces a kind of intoxication,
attended by exhilaration of
spirits and hallucinations,
followed by narcotic effefts,
sleep and Stupor. Stramonium,
or thorn-apple, yields a prin¬
ciple called daturine, which,
like atropine, dilates the pupils
of the eyes and will cause de¬
lirium. The “ blood and fat of
nightbirds ” were of course
WITCHES MAKING THEIR . , i i i
magic unguent innocuous, and were doubtless
(From a vrootcat oM*e xv century, introduced as elements of
myStery.
Another ointment was prepared by mixing “ aconite,
belladonna, water parsley, cinquefoil and baby’s fat.”
The water parsley was probably cowbane or water
hemlock, a herb of a highly poisonous nature.
Hemlock, given internally, may produce delirium
and contains a powerful alkaloid called conine, which
causes paralysis of the voluntary muscles.
There is little doubt that both the magician and the
134
WITCHES' OINTMENTS
witch knew the properties and effe&s of many of
these plants, from experience gained in their use in the
fumigations employed at all their ceremonies.
Besides the drugs mentioned, they also employed helle¬
bore, which contains a powerful principle called vera-
trine, that has a Strong irritating affion on the skin;
henbane, a narcotic which contains among other poison¬
ous alkaloids hyoscyamin, which dilates the pupils of the
eyes ; and mandrake, which, owing to its aftive principle
mandragorine, has powerful narcotic properties and
was used by the Greeks in ancient times as an anaesthetic,
owing to its a£lion in producing deep sleep and Stupor.
From the poppy they got the soporific effefls of opium.
Other formulae are also found which are quite in¬
nocuous, as the following, said to have been used by
witches for working magic and seeing visions :
“ An oyntment to see spirits.
“ Take the gall of a bull, ants eggs and ye fat of a
white hen all mixed together and anoynt your eyes
to see spirits.”
“ Anoynt your face with ye fat of a lap-wing, or ye
blood of a lap-wing, and of a bat or a goat and make
an ointment.”
Bull’s gall, diluted with water, was used as an applica¬
tion to the eyes by the Anglo-Saxons. It was reputed
to have the property of “ clearing ” and improving
the sight, and was a well-known domestic remedy for
affe&ions of the eyes.
Another magical eye ointment used by witches to
“ see visions ” is given in a sixteenth-century MS. and
is direfted to be prepared as follows :
“ Take 8 pint Sallet oyle and put it into a real glasse
*35
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
and at first wash it with rose water and marygold flower
water the flowers being gathered towards the east.
Wash it until the oyle come white then put it into the
glasse and then put thereto the budds of holyhocke
the flowers of marygold, the flowers or tops of wild
thyme and the budds of young hazel. The thyme muSt
be gathered near the side of a hill where the fayries use
to be oft and the grasse of a fayre throne there. All
these put into the oyle in the glasse and get it to dissolve
3 days in the Sunne and then keep it for thy use. Ut
Supra.
“ Anoynt under the eyelids and upon them morning
and evening but especially when you call or flnde your
sight not perfeft.”
136
CHAPTER XIII
THE BLACK MASS-THE MASS OF ST SECAIRE-
“ THE GOATS ”
F ANTASTIC Stories have been written con¬
cerning the so-called Black Mass associated
with the pra&ices of sorcery and witchcraft
in the sixteenth century; and, although many of these
are but fables, there can be no doubt, from historical
records Still extant, that certain infamous and blas¬
phemous rites were carried on long after that period.
The men who officiated at these profane ceremonies
appear to have been renegade or degraded prieSts who
had given themselves over to the service of the devil,
and were ready to perform any abomination for gain.
In 1593, the Parliament of Bordeaux condemned to
be burnt alive one Pierre Aupetit, cure of Pugeas, after
confessing that for twenty years he had worshipped the
devil at witches’ sabbaths, and performed impious
Masses in his honour. Charles IX is said to have
employed an apostate monk to celebrate the “ Eucharist
of Hell ” before himself and his intimates, and in
1597 there is record that Jean Belon, a cure of the
diocese of Bourges, was burned at the Stake for dese¬
crating the sacraments and celebrating abominable
ceremonies.
In 1609, several other prieSts were arrested in the
137
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Bayonne diStrid on similar charges and for celebrating
<£ Satan’s Mass.”
About the middle of the seventeenth century, Made¬
leine Bavent, a Franciscan sister attached to the convent
of Saints Louis and Elizabeth at Louvilles, by the
diredion of her confessor wrote a description of the
blasphemous ceremonies of this Mass, at which she
Stated she had defiled the crucifix and trampled on the
consecrated wafer. In connexion with this, a priest
called Boulle was burnt in 1647.
In the time of Louis XIV, the pradice of sorcery
was carried on all over France, while in Paris it spread
like an epidemic throughout the city, and from the
highest to the lowest among the people there was a
belief in the occult powers of the magician. Sorcerers
abounded, and their services were sought by some of
the greatest in the land for poison to rid themselves of
undesirable relatives, or love-philtres to attrad fresh
lovers.
Chief among these evil charaders was the notorious
La Voisin (Catherine Deshayes), who lived in the Rue
Beauregard and who was associated with many of the
poison mysteries of the time.
The infamous Abbe Guibourg, who aided her in her
crimes, was another of the gang, and in the cellars of
the houses where they carried on their nefarious pradices
the “ Black Mass ” was probably celebrated.
It was Stated, and possibly with some truth, that young
children were killed during these rites, and there is an
account that Lemeignan, vicar of St. EuStache, was
convided of having thus sacrificed infants to Satan.
These evil ceremonies were carried on into the
138
THE BLACK MASS—THE MASS OF ST. SECAIRE
eighteenth century, and on the night after the murder
of Louis XVI, in 1793, a number of these SataniSts,
as they came to be called, assembled and performed their
Mass.
Various accounts have been recorded of the blas¬
phemous ritual that was carried out at these meetings.
According to one description, the altar was covered
with three linen cloths and upon it was set six black
candles and in the centre an inverted crucifix or a figure
of the devil. The missal was bound in the skin of
an unbaptized baby. The vestments are variously
described as sometimes being all black, with a cope of
white silk embroidered with fir cones, or a chasuble
of a violet colour.
The celebrant sprinkled his followers with filthy
water by means of a black brush, or used consecrated
wine for the purpose.
The ritual began with an invocation to the devil,
which was followed by a mock general confession, the
celebrant making an inverse sign of the cross with his
left hand.
The HoSt was then borne to the altar, and at the Eleva¬
tion those present made hideous screams and frenzied
yells.
The wafers are said to have been sometimes dark
and round, Stamped with horrible designs, or coloured
red with blood, or were black and triangular in shape.
The HoSt was first Stabbed with a knife by the cele¬
brant, then thrown on the ground and trampled on,
while the contents of the chalice were poured over
it with abominable execrations.
At the close of the celebration, those present gave
*39
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
themselves up to wild dancing with every kind of ob¬
scenity.
A similar ritual, but for a different purpose, was that
called in Gascony the Mass of St Secaire, by means of
which prieSts were believed by the Gascon peasants
to revenge themselves on evil men who were their
enemies. It is thus described by Blade. 1 It was to
be said in a ruined or deserted church, the abode of
hooting owls and bats and where toads squat under
the deserted altar.
“ Thither the prieSt comes by night and at the first
Stroke of eleven begins the Mass backward and ends
at midnight. The HoSt he blesses is black and has
three points. He consecrates no wine, but drinks of
the water of a well into which the body of an un¬
baptized infant has been flung. He makes the sign
of the cross, but it is on the ground with his left foot,
and many other things he does which no good
Christian could look upon without being Struck blind,
deaf and dumb for the rest of his life.
“ Meanwhile the man for whom the Mass is said is
believed to be withering away, little by little, and
no one can say what is the matter with him. They
do not know that he is slowly dying of the Mass of
St Secaire/’
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, a mysterious
society called “ The Goats ” was brought to light in
Limberg. The members met at night in a secret chapel,
and after infernal orgies at which they paid divine
honours and homage to Satan, put on masks like goats’
1 “ Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne,”
J. F. Blade, 1883.
140
THE BLACK MASS—THE MASS OF ST. SECAIRE
heads. After enveloping themselves in long mantles,
they went forth in bands to plunder, rob, and destroy all
they met with.
It is Stated, that between 1772 and 1774, the Tribunal
of Foquemont condemned four hundred of these people
to be hanged, but the whole society was not Stamped
out until 1780.
CHAPTER XIV
DIVINATION
D IVINATION for foretelling the future has been
employed since the time of primitive man. It was
performed in various ways, which may be classified
as natural and artificial.
Rawlinson says that the custom of divining by means
of a number of rods was purely Magian, and Herodotus
describes the method employed and States that it was
pra&ised by the Scythians in Europe.
“ Scythia,” he observes, “ has a band of soothsayers
who foretell the future by means of a number of willow
wands. A large bundle of these rods is brought and laid
on the ground; the soothsayer unties the bundle and
places each wand by itself, at the same time uttering his
prophecy.
“ While Still speaking, he gathers the rods together
again and makes them up once more into a bundle.”
A divine or magical power appears to have been
believed to rest in the wands, and they were supposed
to be consulted on the matter in hand both severally
and colleftively. The bundle of rods thus believed
to be endowed with supernatural wisdom became part
of the recognized prieStly vestment, and was carried by
the Magi on all occasions of ceremonial.
Twigs of tamarisk were sometimes used instead of
142
DIVINATION
willow, and the number of the wands varied from 3 to 5,
or 7 or 9.
Hosea the prophet, referring to the praftice of
divination, says : “ My chiefs ask counsel with their
Sticks, and their Staffs declare it unto them.”
It was probably praftised by the people of Western
Asia as early as 700 b.c.
Another form of divination is mentioned in Ezekiel
xxi. 2i called the mingling of arrows. Thus when
“ the King of Babylon Stood at the head of the two
ways to use divination, he made his arrows bright, he
consulted with images and he looked into the liver.”
The latter form of divination, called extispicy, was
practised by the Babylonians about 1500 b.c. and was
also applied to the inspection of entrails.
Both the Etruscans and the Romans employed this
method of divination, which they carried out by the
examination of the internal organs and entrails of
animals, and also of the drink offerings.
The Roman Aruspices, or officers appointed for this
purpose, had four diStinCt duties : to examine the victims
before they were opened, to examine the entrails, to
observe the flame as the sacrifice was burnt, and to ex¬
amine the meat and drink offering which accompanied it.
It was regarded as a fatal sign if the heart was wanting,
and this is said to have been the case with two oxen
that were sacrificed on the day that Cassar was killed.
If the prieSt should let the entrails fall, or they were
charged with blood, or if they were livid in colour, it
was believed to be a portent of immediate disaster.
The origin of extispicy is said to be due to the custom
of primitive, nomadic tribes examining the viscera of
143
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
animals before settling on a place for encampment, to
ascertain if the neighbourhood was healthy. A similar
method of divination to foretell the future, which is said
to be Still praftised in TurkeStan, was to draw con¬
clusions from the lines and dots found on the shoulder
blade of a sheep after it had been dried in the sun.
Seven divining arrows were at one time kept in the
great mosque at Mecca, but the Arabs are said to have
only made use of three when divining. On one was in¬
scribed “ My Lord hath commanded me,” on another
“ My Lord hath forbidden me,” and the third was blank.
If the first was drawn, it was looked upon as divine ap¬
probation of the enterprise; if the second, they made a
contrary conclusion; but if the third happened to be
drawn, they mixed them and drew them over again
until a decisive answer was given by one of the others.
The method of divination by casting lots called Sor¬
tilege has been employed from early times by Eastern
races for detecting a guilty person.
An instance of its use is to be found in the Story of
Jonah, when the sailors on the ship caSt lots and judged
him to be the cause of the tempest.
It was carried out by various methods, but usually
by means of pebbles or counters engraved with certain
characters, which were placed in an urn, and the first
withdrawn was believed to give the correft indication.
Another way was to place pieces of wood or parchment
on which letters were written in a box, and after duly
shaking them, to throw them on the ground, when any
words thus accidentally formed were regarded as omens.
Divination by opening a book, and accepting a portion
of the text that first appears, was another method em-
144
DIVINATION
ployed in foretelling. The early Christians used the
Bible for this purpose and the Muslims the Koran.
It is said that Charles I and Lord Falkland made a trial
of this method shortly before the outbreak of the Civil
War. “ The former opened at that passage in the fourth
book of the fiEneid, where Dido predi&s the violent
death of her faithless lover ; while the latter opened it
at the lamentation of Evander over his son in the
eleventh book.”
As instances of divination for judicial purposes there
are records of two cases that occurred in London in
1382. One refers to Simon Gardiner, who lost his
mazer bowl and employed Henry Pot, a German, to
trace it. Pot made 32 balls of white clay, and after
appropriate incantations declared that one Nicolas
Freman and CriStine his wife were the thieves.
In another case, “ Maud of Eye had her mazer bowl
Stolen, and Robert Berewolf was consulted to find the
thief. Robert took a loaf, and fixed in the top of it a
round peg of wood, and four knives at four sides of the
same, in the shape of a cross. He then performed some
operations called ‘ art magic,’ and named Joan Wolsey
as the thief,” but apparently this fraud was discovered,
for we find that Robert Berewolf was placed in the pillory
with a loaf hanging round his neck.
There is another interesting record in 1382 of Mistress
Alice Trig, who lost her Paris kerchief, and suspe&ed
Alice Byntham of having Stolen it. The two women seem
to have been fairly intimate, and Alice Byntham went to
a cobbler, William Norhamptone, and told him certain
private matters concerning Mistress Trig. William then
saw Mistress Trig, and posing as a Wise Man, and skilled
L 145
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
in magic, revealed to her his knowledge of her private
affairs. Impressed by this, she asked him who Stole her
kerchief, to which he replied that, whoever it was it
certainly was not Alice Byntham, and told her that she
would be drowned within a month. Although terrified
at his prophecy, she lived to see William Standing in the
pillory for misdemeanour.
CryStallomancy, or divination by means of a trans¬
parent body, such as a crystal ball, precious Stone or
mirror, was pra&ised from early times. A beryl was
generally preferred for this purpose. The crystal gazer,
or “ skryer ” as he was called, would look for a pro¬
longed period into the globe and profess to see a future
event, spirit or writing, foretelling certain things. The
methods employed will be further described in the
chapter following. Aubrey says, there were pre¬
scribed prayers to be said before the speculation could
be made, which the soothsayers termed a “ call.” Simon
Forman relates in a manuscript, in 1585, that the Earl
of Denbigh, then Ambassador at Venice, £C did assure him
that one did show him three several times in a glass,
things past and to come.” When Sir Marmaduke
Langdale was in Italy, he went to one of these Magi,
“ who did show him a glass where he saw himself
kneeling before a crucifix. He was then a Protestant,
and afterwards became a Catholic.”
He gives an interesting account of a “ consecrated
berill, in the possession of Sir Edward Harley of Bath,
which he kept in a closet at Brampton Bryan, Hereford¬
shire. It came first from Norfolk. A minister had it
there, and a caul was to be used with it; afterwards a
miller had it, and both did work great cures with it.
146
DIVINATION
In the berill they did either see a receipt in writing, or
else a herb. The berill is a perfeCt sphere, with a
diameter I guess to be something more than an inch.
It is set in a ring of silver resembling a globe ; the Stem
is about io inches high, all gilt. At the four corners of
it are the names of four angels, Uriel, Raphael, Michael
and Gabriel. On the top is a cross patee.”
CryStallomancy has Still its believers, and yet forms
a prominent part of the Stock-in-trade of the fortune¬
teller of to-day.
Hydromancy was a similar form of divination carried
out on the edge of a silent pool or by means of a mirror.
Dark lakes and rocky pools are frequently referred to in
Stories of witchcraft, and were often associated with this
praCtice.
The operator knelt and gazed into the surface for a
considerable time, to compose his mind for the revela¬
tions that might come to him from the water.
The Hindus and Arabs use a little ink, poured into
the palm of the hand, or into a shallow bowl marked
with cabalistic characters, for this purpose.
A black mirror was another medium favoured by some
adepts for practising this form of divination.
Geomancy was a form of divination intimately con¬
nected with astrology. The earliest method of practising
it was by casting pebbles on the ground, from which con¬
jectures were formed, much the same as from chance
lines and dots on paper. The Arabs, however, at a
later period based the praCtice on the supposed effeCt
of motion under the cruSt of the earth, or, what is more
probable, surface cracks on the ground caused by the
heat of the sun. The geomantic figures obtained by
M7
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
inspe&ing the chance lines were supposed to represent a
certain situation of the Stars, and the diviner then pro¬
ceeded on astronomical principles.
Lithomancy was a method of divining by using
particular Stones. These Stones, which are described as
“ rough, hard, black and graven everywhere with veins
or wrinkles/’ were supposed to possess extraordinary
properties and were considered to be controlled by a
genius or familiar spirit. On placing one close to the
eyes, chara&ers were supposed to be read on it.
Dactylomancy was a method of divining by rings. A
plain ring or circlet of gold was suspended by a thread
or hair within a glass vessel or within reach of it, and by
the involuntary movements of the hand, it would Strike
the glass once for “ yes ” and twice for “ no.” Another
ancient method of divining with a ring was to hold
it suspended over a round table, the edge of which was
marked with the letters of the alphabet. When the
ring stopped over certain letters, they were joined
together and so formed the answer.
Pyromancy was the art of divination by fire. A
flaming fire was made to consume the sacrifice. The
presage was considered good when it was vigorous and
the fuel quickly consumed, when it was clear and Strong
and a transparent red, not dark in colour, and when it did
not crackle. If it burnt silently, or was difficult to
light, and the wind disturbed it, or it was slow to con¬
sume the sacrifice, the presage was evil.
Besides the sacrificial fire, the ancients divined by
observing the flames of torches, and even by throwing
powdered pitch into a fire ; if it caught quickly, the omen
was considered good. The flame of a torch was good if
148
DIVINATION
it formed one point, but bad if it was divided; on the
contrary, three points were a better omen than one.
Sickness or death were foretold by the bending of the
flame, and disaster by its sudden extinction.
Cheiromancy, or the method of foretelling from the
creases or lines on the palm of the hand, is of great
antiquity, and has been practised throughout the ages to
the present time.
Scyphomancy, or divination by the cup, was another
method of discovering future events by reflection. The
divining cup of Joseph shows that its use was known in
Egypt at a very early period, and most of the ancient
Persian sovereigns and other Eastern rulers kept a cup
for this purpose, which was highly valued. The divining
cup was probably the primitive drinking cup, and when
libations were required it had to be filled to the brim,
and whenever a name was mentioned a small quantity of
the wine was poured on the ground as a drink offering.
AleCtromancy was an ancient form of divination with
a cock. A white cock was placed in a circle drawn on
the ground, which was equally divided into as many
parts as there were letters in the alphabet. A grain of
wheat was then placed on every letter, beginning with A,
and after the diviner had repeated several incantations
the cock was placed within the circle, and it was observed
from what letters he pecked the grain. These when
placed together were said to reveal the name of the
person concerning whom inquiries had been made.
Oneiromancy was a method of divining by in¬
terpreting dreams. It was denounced by Pope Gregory
as a “ detestable praftice,” but this did not prevent
the belief in it for forecasting the future.
149
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Arnauld de Villeneuve, who wrote a work on the sub-
jeft in the thirteenth century, gives a certain code by
which those who pra&ised it worked.
“ Whoever dreamt that his hair was thick and care¬
fully curled would soon become wealthy. If anything
was wrong with the hair, evil was betokened. It also
foreshadowed harm if a wreath was worn composed of
flowers that were not in season/’ Other codes signified
that to dream of the eyes related to children ; the head,
to a father ; the arms, to brothers ; the feet, to servants ;
the right hand, to the mother, to sons and to friends ;
the left hand, to the wife and daughter. Another
method was founded on the theory that, whatever was
dreamt of, the antithesis or opposite would happen in
life. Thus to dream of a wedding was said to presage
a funeral. According to many old writers, there was
scarcely any important event in the Middle Ages which
was not announced by a dream.
The day before Henry II of France was Struck by the
blow of a lance during a tournament, Catherine de
Medici dreamt that she saw him lose one of his eyes.
Three days before he fell by the knife of Jacques
Clement, Henry III dreamt that “he saw the royal
insignia Stained with blood and trodden under foot by
monks and people of the lower orders.”
Henry IV also, before he was murdered by Ravaillac,
it is said, heard during the night his wife, Marie de
Medici, say to herself as she woke, “ Dreams are but
falsehoods ! ” and, when he asked her what she had
dreamt, she replied, “ That you were Stabbed upon the
Steps of the little Louvre 1 ” “ Thank God, it is but a
dream,” rejoined the King.
I 5°
CHAPTER XV
THE MAGIC CRYSTAL-CRYSTAL GAZING
T HE practice of foretelling by looking into a
reflecting surface probably began by gazing into the
depths of a silent lake or pool. Mirrors of highly
polished metal were employed in China for this purpose
from a very early period, and the Greeks used bronze
mirrors in order to foresee into the future.
The use of a crystal ball or Stone came at a later date
and was in general employment about the fifteenth
century, when it was believed that spirits could be
invoked and become visible in the Stone. Various
methods are described in the manuscripts on magic for
“ conjuring with the Stone,” and the ceremonies that had
to be performed before so doing.
The ritual is thus described in a manuscript of the
sixteenth century : “ First have a glass or Stone, fair,
clean and sound without crack or blemish and thou muSt
have Olive oil to anoint the Stone withall, then you muSt
confess yourself to God Almighty, read some good
prayers and Psalms, and then consecrate your book and
your Stone together with the oil, and your instruments
necessary for your work.
“ First say one Pater NoSter, one Ave Maria, one Creed,
then say Dominus vobiscum Spiritu, God of Abram,
God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God of Elias, God of Tobit,
God^of Angels, God of Prophets, God of Martyrs,
1 5 1
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
God of Confessors, God of Virgins, God of all good
livers who hast given virtues to Stones, woods and herbs,
I am emboldened through thy great and manifold
mercies, consecrate this book and Stone.”
According to a later description written by one
Peter Smart, M.A., of London,
“ The crystal Stone in which
celestial powers have visible
appearance should be of a
round globic form, or ball of
clear and solid glass or thick
hollow of glass, with a little
hole on the top of like form of
any convenient bigness, and the
same to be set in a frame, and
also the glass to be made with
a Stalk or shank thereto &nd
so to be put in a socket, with
a foot or pedestal to Stand
upright. The Stone being
called a Show Stone and the
glass by the name of a glass
receptacle.
“ For invocation for spiritual appearance, there shall
either be a wax candle on each side or a lamp behind
burning and set on a table. The sign of appearance
moSt seemeth like a veil or curtain, or some beautiful
colour hanging in or about the Stone or glass, as a
bright cloud or other pretty kind of hyeroglyphical
show, both Strange and very delightful to behold.
“ Either good or bad angels may appear and they
will be known by their appearance.
152
“ THE TRUE SIZE AND FORM OF
THE CRYSTAE, WHICH MUST
BE SET IN PURE GOED.”
(Barrett’s “Magus.”)
THE MAGIC CRYSTAL—CRYSTAL GAZING
“ The good angels are dignified powers of light
and in countenance very fair, beautiful, affable, youthful,
smiling, amiable and usually flaxenish or gold coloured
hair, without any of the least deformity either of hairy-
ness in the face or body or any crooked nose or ill¬
shaped members. Their garments or ventures without
spot or blemish and always embrace the word mercy.
“ When they appear the gazer muSt say :
“ £ Welcome to the light of the highest and welcome
to the messengers of Divine
grace and mercy, unto us
the true servants and wor¬
shippers of ye same God,
whose name be glorified
both now and for ever
more. Amen.’
“ The gazer then de¬
mands : ‘ Are ye the same
whom we have moved and
called forth visible ap¬
pearance now before us by
the name-or what are ye and of what order among
the blessed angels ? ’
“ If it make no answer repeat the words. Then it
will show forth and tell its name and thou shalt say :
“ c If you be as you say, In the name of Jesus, say
that all wicked angels are juStly condemned and by the
mercy of God in the merits of Christ mankind elect
is to be saved/
“ Whereupon it will return a satisfactory answer
and depart.
“ If unsatisfactory or if there be silence, then make
*53
MAGICIAN’S SPADE AND CRYSTAL
(From an MS., XVI century.)
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
humble request for answer to such desires and proposals,
as in a certain writing is contained which ought tc be
in readiness with you.
“ Failing these, there are nine great Celestial Keys
or Angelical Invocations that could be used for calling
forth to visible appearance the governing angels. These
are METHEATTON, RAZIEL, CASSIEL, SACHIEL,
SAMAEL, MICHAEL, ANAEL, RAPHAEL, AND
GABRIEL.”
It was apparently sometimes necessary for the magician
to compel a spirit to speak, and to do this it had to be
thus addressed :
“ c Thou spirit, thou knoweSt that God doth live +
Christ doth overcome + Christ doth rule in Heaven
and in Earth, in Air and in ye Water and in all places.
By ye truth of God, I conjure thee by the will of God.
I do constrain thee by ye power and potency of our
Lord. I do bid and command thee and by all the Holy
names of God . . . Jesus ye Son of ye Virgin Mary,
which shall come to judge both ye quick and ye dead
and ye word of fire. Amen.
“ c I do commit thee into ye hands of ye infernal
spirits Lucifer, Deucaleus, Sathan, to be tormented
in fire and brimstone, until thou hast done my will/
“ Then let the conjurer make a cross upon the ground
with Holy Oil, then kneel, kiss the cross, rise up, take
the sword in his right hand, command his fellow which
shall bear thy work to kneel down and lay the bare
sword upon his head/'
In order to bind or fasten down a spirit who had
appeared in the Stone so that it could not depart until
licensed, the conjurer had to say: “I bind thee spirit
H4
THE MAGIC CRYSTAL-CRYSTAL GAZING
that art appeared in this Stone of crystal, that thou do
not disobey my commandments but do all things for
me that to thy office appertaineth and more too. I
bind thee not to go thy way from me till I release thee.
Here to remain until thou hast fulfilled all my command¬
ments, for I will use art towards thee and nothing but
art, and thou spirit therefor here Stand, I charge thee
in this crystal Stone.”
The writer concludes with “ a general curse for all
spirits, both for ye Stone, glass or circle. This is to be
carried out by making a fire of dry cow turds, brimstone
and suchlike Stinking Stuff and writing the spirit’s name
155
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
on virgin parchment, burning it and saying the
curse.”
The professional conjurer with the crystal was known
as a “ skryer ” in the sixteenth century. Edward
Kelly, who was associated with Dr Dee in the time
of Queen Elizabeth, was one of the chief exponents of
the art, and the crystal globe said to have been employed
by Dee for calling up spirits is Still preserved in the
British Museum.
156
CHAPTER XVI
HOW THE MAGIC CIRCLES AND PENTACLES WERE MADE
O NE of the mo$t important parts of magical
ceremonial was the drawing of the magic circle
which formed the spiritual barrier, prote&ing
the magician from evil and wicked spirits that he might
invoke. Without a magic circle traced for defence,
says a writer of the sixteenth century, “ the invocation
to visible appearance of such fearful potencies as Amay-
mon, Egyn and Beelzebub would probably result in the
death of the exorcist on the spot, such death presenting
the symptoms of one arising from epilepsy, apoplexy
or Strangulation. The circle once formed, let the
evocator guard carefully against either passing or
Stooping or leaning beyond its limits during the progress
of exorcism or before the licence to depart has been
given.”
The magic circle can be traced back for a period of
over 5000 years and was probably employed at a much
earlier date. Its origin is unknown, but it has been
suggested that it arose from the ancient symbol of the
serpent with its tail in its mouth.
The Assyrian sorcerer sprinkled lime around him and
set seven litde winged figures before the god, as de¬
scribed in the following early text:
“ I have completed the usurtu (magic circle), with a
sprinkling of lime I have surrounded them.
*57
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ The flour of Nisaba (the corn god), the ban of the
great gods I have set around them.
“ At the head of those seven with fearful wings have
I set a figure of Nergal.”
The ancient Hindu magician made a circle of red
lead or black pebbles to ward off the approach of demons,
and it was customary to encircle the bed of a woman
at childbirth with black pebbles for the same
purpose.
Henry found traces in early Hindu magic of the
double pentacle or seal of Solomon, and suggested that
the points of the Star may have been intended to pierce
or ward off invisible foes. This is only conjefture,
but the use of the pentacle shows a connexion with
Semitic magic.
Psellus alludes to Hecate's circle as cc a golden sphere
enclosing a sapphire in the centre, turned by a thong
of bull’s hide and having characters through the whole
of it. Conjurations were made by turning it.”
The primitive circle used by the magicians in early
times developed during the Middle Ages and assumed
a variety of forms according to the kind of spirits that
the conjurer wished to evoke.
The circle was usually marked or drawn with the
magic sword or knife and was generally nine feet in
diameter, but sometimes it was made portable by being
drawn on parchment and marked with metal amulets
and talismans.
The blood of doves was often employed for writing
the names and formulas on the parchment.
The power of the circle as a ban or “ caStle,” as it was
sometimes called, was shown by leaving a gate or opening
158
J 59
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
for egress, which the magician carefully closed by making
pentacles when he left it.
For important operations, a great KabbaliStic circle
was marked out with the magical Stone Ematille, or was
made with Strips of skin of a sacrificed kid fixed by nails
MAGIC CIRCLE
(Drawn by a magician in the XVI century, showing places for the fumigation pots.)
to the ground. It consisted of five circles, one within
the other, and a triangle instead of the pentagram.
When drawn on parchment, the magic circle was
sometimes also used for astrological calculations.
It was regarded as most important that, after the
operation had concluded, the magician should obliterate
the circle so that no trace of it should remain, a praftice
160
THE MAGIC CIRCLES—THE PENTACLES
which survived from the early primitive magical rites.
The licence to depart was also of great importance, as
if omitted it was believed that the death of the conjurer
might result.
Peter de Abano, writing “ of the Circle and its com¬
position ” in the fifteenth century, says : “ There is
not one and the self same manner of circles used for
the calling of spirits, but places, times, and hours
are to be observed and the circle to be altered
accordingly.
“ It behoveth therefor, a man to consider in the making
of his circle in what time of the year, in what hour,
what spirits he would call forth, what Star and region
they govern and what functions they have. Therefor
make three circles, in breadth nine feet and which
Stand distant one from the other a handsbreadth, and
write in the middle of the first the name of the hour
in which thou shalt make thy work. In the second
place, the names of the angell of the hour; third, the
seal of that angell; fourth, the name of the angell that
governeth that day and his ministers ; fifth, the name of
the present time; sixth, the names of the spirits govern¬
ing and ruling in that part of the time ; seventh, the name
of the head of the signe ; eighth, the name of the earth
according to that part of time, and the ninth, write the
names of the sun and moon according to the season of
the time. In the outward circle, in the four corners,
the names of the angells governing the air that day to
wit, the King and Three of his ministers. Without the
circle, in the four corners, place pentagons. In the
inward circle, write the four deume names placing crosses
between them. In the middle of the circle, to wit the
161
M
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Ea$t, write Alpha, and at the WeSt, Omega, and let a
cross divide the middle of the circle.”
MAGIC CIRC 13 AND PENTACEES FOR THE CRYSTAL
(From an MS., XVI century.)
The next important ceremony was the blessing and
consecration of the circle, which, after it was perfefted,
162
THE MAGIC CIRCLES—THE TENTACLES
was sprinkled with Holy Water, the magician repeating
the following formula :
“ Sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop and I shall be
clean. Thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter than
snow.”
The pentacle also formed a very important part of
the magician’s equipment and on it the science of magic
was believed to depend.
The origin of the five-cornered figure, and how it
came to be used as a symbol in magic, is unknown, but
it undoubtedly goes back to a very early period and
probably before the time of Solomon to whom it is
generally attributed. In the early manuscripts it is
variously called a pentagram, pentangle, pentalpha or
pentagon of Euclid.
It is formed by two interlaced triangles, and can be
drawn without a break in the drawing. Moxon defines
it as, “ a geometrical figure having 5 angles used as a
symbol in magic.”
It has been found engraved on Druidic remains and
also on some ancient Stones in India. A writer in a
manuscript of the thirteenth century alludes to it as
“ the pentangel of pure gold, the sign that Solomon
set.”
It formed an integral part of the magic circle, as well
as part of the vestment of the magician, and its power
consisted not only in the diagram itself, but in the char-
afters drawn upon it. Thus Agrippa observes, u The
pentacles consist of the charafters and names of the good
spirits of the superior order, preserving us from evil
events and helping us to bind and exterminate the evil
spirits, and reconciling the good ones to us.”
163
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
They were sometimes drawn on parchment or paper
and affixed to the magician’s vestment, or drawn on the
robe itself, with the idea of protecting the wearer from
the attacks or influence of devils or obnoxious spirits
that might appear.
There are various dire&ions given in the early manu¬
scripts on magic as to how the pentacles are to be
made, and the following may be taken as an example :
“ They must be made upon a Wednesday, the day of
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A MAGIC CIRCLE AND PENTACRE TO BE WORN WHEN USING IT
(From an MS., XVI century.)
Mercury, at the increase of the Moon. After making
a fumigation in a secret chamber and sprinkling it with
water, have your virgin paper and begin to write a
pentacle of noble colour following the pen and ink.
Let them be writ and other things to be exorcized.
Then take some noble cloth of silk, wherein ye may hold
the pentacle and have there a great earthen pot full of
coals, and let there be maStic and Aloes wood, and let
the conjurer be clean, as it is meet, and prepare juice
164
165
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
of pimpernell and the blood of a goose made and com¬
plete on a Wednesday. Let 3 masses be sung with
gospels, and fumigate it, saying the Psalms and the
Oration. After saying this for 3 days, and 3 masses of
the Holy GhoSt, and one of our Lady, put the signs in
a silk cloth with goodly savours, and put them in a
clean place until it is need ye may work the Arts Magical.”
The virtues of the pentacles were said to be “ remark¬
able against the drinking of poisons, being invincible in
battle, and in the defence of the body and the soul.”
166
CHAPTER XVII
PERFUMES USED IN MAGIC
I N most of the ceremonies connefted with the
practice of the magical arts, perfumes or fumiga¬
tions played an important part, and they appear
to have been employed in myStic rites from the earliest
times of which we have record.
Their use probably originated in the same idea as
that of incense, viz. to give pleasure to the deity in order
that an appeal might be more favourably received, but,
as magic developed, it will be seen that the perfume
or fumigation served other purposes.
A pleasing and fragrant odour was favourable to
the angels and good spirits, while an evil one was used
to drive the wicked spirits away. The same idea is
common among barbaric races to-day, and to drive off
a demon, the burning of substances that give off a re¬
pulsive smell is commonly resorted to.
In magical formulas, certain fumigations were credited
with the power of raising and causing spirits to appear,
and to lay and bind them. As will be shown later,
many of the substances employed possessed narcotic
properties, and when burnt in a confined space and
inhaled would doubtless produce somnolence, and
sometimes hallucinations. The magicians were well
aware of their effefts, as one writes, “ There are some
i6 7
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
perfumes or suffumigations and un&ions which make
men speak in their sleep, walk, and do those things
that are done by men that are awake, and often what,
when awake, they cannot do or dare do. Others again
make men hear horrid or delightful sounds, noises and
the like.”
In a manuscript on magic of the sixteenth century,
the writer relates a curious tradition of how the know¬
ledge of herbs came to be handed down. He States
that, “ Abel the son of Adam made a book of all the
virtues and properties of plants, which knowing that
the world should perish through the general flood,
enclosed it so cunningly in a Stone that the waters could
not come to corrupt it, whereby it might be preserved
and known for all people. This Stone was found by
Hermes TrismegiStus, who breaking it, and finding
the book therein, profited wonderfully by applying the
contents to his use, which book afterwards came to the
hand of St Thomas.”
An examination of manuscripts on magic written
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries throws an
interesting light not only on the substances used for
fumigations but also on the reasons for which they
were employed.
“ Of perfumes,” says a writer of the sixteenth cen¬
tury : “ A perfume made of hempseede and of the seeds
of fleawort, violett roots, and parsley (smallage) maketh
to see things to come and is available for prophesie.
A perfume made with coriander, saffron, henbane and
parsley (smallage) and white poppie all bruised and
pounded together. If any shall dig gold or silver or
any precious thing, the moon being joyned to the sun
168
PERFUMES USED IN MAGIC
in the lower heaven, let him perfume the place with
this suffumigation.”
Certain perfumes were dedicated to the planets
specifically, or were sometimes offered to the whole
constellations. Thus a general perfume for the planets
was composed of “ myrrh, coStus, maStic, camphor,
frankincense, sanders (sandalwood), opoponax, aloes
wood, asam euphorbium, Storax and thyme of each i
ounce, mixed together.”
“ For the Sun, yellow amber \ 02., musk 12 grains,
aloes wood 36 grains, liquid balsam and the berries
of lawrell of each 34 grains, of gilliflowers, myrrh and
frankincense of each 1 oz., with the blood of a white
cock make pills in the quantity of half a drachm.
“ Perfumes for the Moon. Take white poppie
seeds 1 oz., frankincense \ oz., camphor 1 oz.,
with the blood of a goose make into balls.
“ Also mirtle or aloes, ye first of these have appointed
to every place is according to Hermes TrismegiStus
who sayeth they are very powerful.
“ A perfume for Saturn. Take seeds of black poppies
and the seeds of hyoscyamus (henbane) of each 2 ozs.
Root of mandragora 1 oz., the Stone lapis lazuli \ oz.,
myrrh 3 grains, mixed with the brains or blood of
a batt to balance the quantity of 1 oz.
“ Also pepperwort, olibanum, gum Arabick or
sandarach may be employed.
“ A perfume for Jupiter. Take seeds of ash 2 ozs.,
aloes wood 2 ozs., storax, bengamin of each 1 oz.,
lapis lazuli 1 oz. Of the very tipps of the feathers
of the peacock, let these be incorporated with the blood
of a stork or of a swallow or the brain of a hart. Let
169
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
these be made in trochisk (lozenges) in the quantity of
a groat.
“ A perfume for Mars. Take euphorbium 3 bdellium
of each i oz., ammonick roots, of both sorts of helli-
bore, lode Stone 2 drachms, brimstone 1 drachm. Lett
them be incorporated with the brain of a catt. Make
trochiskis (lozenges) of 1 drachm.
“ A perfume for Venus. Take musk 18 grains, amber
9 grains, aloes wood 1 oz., red roses 2 ozs., red corral
2 ozs. Mingle them with the brain of a sparrow and
the blood of a dove. Make trochisk (lozenges) in
quantitie half a drachm.
“ A perfume for Mercury. Take maStich 1 oz.,
frankincense 2 ozs., gilliflowers 2 ozs. Incorporate
with the brain of a fox or weasel and with the blood
of a magpie. Make trochisk (lozenges) in quantitie
half a drachm.”
There were also combinations of perfumes for each
day of the week. Thus for Saturday, “ All good things
and well-smelling roots as coStus and herb thuris.
“ For Sunday, maStich, musk, and suchlike gums of
good odour as benjamin, Storax, labdanum, amber, and
ammoniacum.
“ For Monday, leaves of myrtle and laurel and leaves
of good odour and sweet flowers.
c< For Tuesday, sandal, red, white and black, and all
sweet woods as aloes wood, Cyprus, balsam and suchlike.
“ For Wednesday, the rinds of all sweet woods as
cinnamon, cassia, laurel bark, mace and all sweet seeds.
“ For Thursday, all sweet fruits as nutmegs, cloves, the
rinds of oranges and citrons, dried and powdered, with
suchlike of good odour.
170
PERFUMES USED IN MAGIC
“ For Friday, roses, violets and all other fruits of
flowers of good odour, as crocus and suchlike.
“ Hermes said, that thimiamate of the moon is cin¬
namon, aloes wood and maStich while crocus, coStus,
mace and myrtle each planet hath a part in it.”
The writer goes on to State, that, cc Solomon makes
distinction upon the days and planets of the spices which
a man ought to make thimiamate, and saith, that
Saturn is each good root in good and evil, of Jupiter
all fruits of good and each rind of same, each flower
and odoriferous herb, of the Moon each leaf and berry,
and cardamoms was put with these things.
“ There is no such fumigation to call spirits as amber,
aloes wood, costus, musk, crocus and blood of a lap¬
wing.”
A marvellous efficacious fumigation, “ to cause a man
to see visions in the air and elsewhere, was made with
coriander and henbane, and the skin that is within the
poundgarnet (pomegranate) and the fumigation made
is finished as you desire.”
Another to cause visions of the earth to appear :
“ Take root of cane reed and the root of fennell, with
the skin of the pomegranate, henbane and red saunders,
and black poppy.”
“ According to Hermes,” says another writer, “ there
is nothing like unto Sperm-a-ceti to raise spirits suddenly,
being compounded of sperm oil, aloes wood, pepper-
wort, musk, saffron, red Storax mixed with blood of a
lapwing. If it be fumigated about tombs and graves of
ye dead it causeth spirits and ghosts together.”
There were certain herbs and substances called “ the
herbs of the spirits,” which included “ coriander, sorcel-
I 7 I
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
lage, henbane, and hemlock, made up with sweet gums,
as of Storax or benzoin or frankincense and myrrh, and
these are called ‘ herbs of spirits,’ because they cause
them to come presently together.”
Other formulas which are said to have been taken from
an ancient manuscript are as follows :
“ Take maStick, sanders (red) and of muSthalaperate
and amber all mixed together, and fumigated quickly,
quickly brings them in place.
“ Anise and camphire mixed (it is an herb of chastity)
cause to see secret things ye clepe spirits. Fumigate with
cardamoms and eat thereof. It causeth gladness and
gathers spirits together. Artemesia (wormwood) which
in these things is called a c Crown for a King,’ for its
virtue and power, put in all other fumigations.”
The way to see spirits in a metal mirror is thus
described :
“ Take canabis viz. hemp, and artemesia and Stand
thee before a Steele glasse and ye shall be able through
God’s help to see and bind and loose spirits, but if ye
anoynt ye glasse with juice of artemesia it is better.
“ A Steele glasse well polished and muSt be anoynted
with the juice.”
“ To cause apparitions to be visible to ye sight, you
muSt take, artemesia, hemp, flax, cardamoms, anise,
camphire, coriander, hypericon, aloes wood, apia
mortegon (chicory).”
Of the substances of animal origin used for this pur¬
pose, the following are mentioned: “Ye lapwing, ye
haysouke, ye lion’s gall, ye bull’s gall. Fat of a white
hen, ye eyes of a black cat and antes eggs. Of fish, ye
balena, and cancer (crab). Of aromatics, musk, amber-
172
PERFUMES USED IN MAGIC
grise, myrrh, frankincense, red Storax, maStick, olibanum,
bdellium, red sanders, saffron, benzoin and labdanum.”
“ To have friendship or wouldSt have of a prince of
Spirits of ye ayre ; take juice of hypericon, saffron,
artemesia and root of valerian and of these make a fumi¬
gation. To make spirits glory in themselves, take of
ye powder of withy coales mixed with oil of nard and
light it with a candle.
“ To see future events, fumigate yourself with linseed
and seed of psellium, or with violet roots and wild
parsley.”
To drive away evil spirits or devils, it was neces¬
sary to make a noxious fumigation with sulphur, black
myrrh, red sandal, putrid apples, vinegar, wine galls,
and arsenic mixed with dregs of wine, or a mixture
of calamus, peony, mint and palma chriSti.
Before the perfumes or fumigations were used, the
following benedi&ion was to be said over them :
“ c O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,
bless here the creatures of these kinds, that they may fill
up the power and virtue of their odours, so that neither
enemy nor any false imagination may be able to enter
into them through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen/
Then let them be sprinkled with Holy Water. The fire
which we use in fumigations, let it be put in a new
copper, iron or earthen vessel, and exorcize it as follows :
‘ I exorcize thee O thou Creator of fire, by him by whom
all things are made, that it shall not be able to do hurt
to anything, but bless O Lord this creature of fire and
sanftify it/ ”
There were certain perfumes or fumigations associated
with the Seven Angels, and the substances employed
*73
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
in making these consisted of nutmeg, aloes wood,
mastick, saffron, cinnamon, myrtle, mixed with rose¬
water, cloves, olibanum, frankincense and myrrh, amber,
bdellium, red Storax (called Styrax), and a little ambergris
and musk. “ All these made into a body with the said
gums, of which make little balls of the bigness of peas
and cast into a clear charcoale fire, set in a new earthen
pot, in ye middle of a room.”
Among the drugs employed in these fumigations there
are at least five powerful narcotics the fumes of which if
inhaled would affeff those in their vicinity. Cannabis
Indica produces Strange hallucinations, and the effeffs
of opium from the poppies, henbane, hellebore and
mandrake (which was employed by the Greeks as an
anaesthetic), no doubt contributed to the belief in the
visibility of spiritual beings invoked by the magician.
Certain herbs had to be gathered with great ceremony;
thus the magic herb valerian to be effeftual had to be
approached with the following solemn rites :
“ First kneel down on both your knees, your face to
the EaSt, and make a cross over the herb, and say,
‘ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy GhoSt. Amen.’
“ Then say a Pater NoSter, Ave Maria and Creed, also
St John’s gospel. This muSt be done secretly, alone on
the Friday or Thursday, the Moon being at the full and
before you speak a word to any creature. Also you muSt
say before you take him out of the ground, £ I conjure
thee herb that are called valerian, for thou art worthy for
all things in the world. In pleasance, in Court before
Kings, Rulers, and Judges thou makeSt friendship
so great that they that bare thee his will, for thou doeSt
174
PERFUMES USED IN MAGIC
great miracles. The ghoSts of Hell do bow to thee
and obey thee. For whosoever hath thee, whatsoever he
desireth, he shall have in the name of the Father, of
the Son and of the Holy GhoSt. Amen.’
“ Keep it cleane in a faire cloth.”
The ceremony is thus described by another writer :
“ Go to the place where it grows on the 2nd day of
May and kneel down before the shrub and say a Pater
NoSter and an Ave Maria, then dig with an instrument
that has no iron about it until the roots appear, then let
it lie until tomorrow and the first thing in the morning
say the prayer.
“ Then take the shrub out of the ground and wash it
clean in woman’s milk and wrap it in a new linen cloth,
and set it upon the altar and say masses sublime to the
Blessed Virgin, and keep it cleanly for it is of great
value.”
*75
CHAPTER XVIII
MAGICAL NUMBERS
HE belief that certain numbers possessed magical
JL properties has persisted from early times. The
mystical number 7, so frequently mentioned in the
Old Testament in connexion with Jewish ceremonial,
is Still retained, and the superstitions connected with the
number 13 are believed by some people at the present day.
“ A wonderfull efficacious virtue lies in certain num¬
bers,” says a writer of the sixteenth century. The num¬
ber 7 works wonderful things, thus the 7th son can heale
distempers and could foresee into the future.”
Pythagoras preferred number 4 as the root and
foundation of all other numbers. “ 4 angels govern the
cardinal points of heaven, viz. : Michael, Raphael,
Gabriel and Uriol. There are also 4 elements, Air,
Earth, Fire and Water, and the 4 seasons, Spring,
Summer, Autumn and Winter.”
“ Number 5 has great force in Holy things. It drives
out bad demons and expels poisons. There are the 5
senses, viz. : TaSting, Hearing, Seeing, Touching and
Smelling.
“ Number 7 is full of majesty.” The Pythagorians
called it the vehicle of human life. “ It is venerated
in religion and is called the number of blessedness and
reSt. Thus there are 7 days, 7 planets, 7 colours and 7
metals, and the 7 ages of man. It is called the number
176
MAGICAL NUMBERS
of an oath by the Hebrews and so Abraham when he
made a league with Abimilech appointed 7 ewe lambs.
44 In the whole context of numbers 6 is the moSt
perfect number in nature. In 6 days the world was made,
and it is called the number of man because on the sixth
day he was created. In the law it was ordained 6 days to
work, 6 days to gather manna, 6 years to sow the earth.
A cherub had 6 wings, there are 6 circles in the firmament,
viz.: the ArCtic, the Antarctic, two Tropical, the Equi¬
noctial, and Errliptick.
44 Number 8 is called the number of Justice and of
safety.
“ Number 9 was sacred to the Muses. On the 9th
hour Christ expired and after 9 days the ancients buried
their dead.
44 Number 10, a decade. It was the custom with the
Egyptians whoever was initiated in the sacred mysteries
of Isis muSt faSt for ten days.
44 This number is a unity.
44 Number 12 is a Divine number wherein heavenly
things are measured. There are 12 signs of the Zodiac,
12 months in the year, 12 orders of spirits, 12 tribes of
Israel, 12 prophets, 12 ApoStles, 12 Stones in Aaron’s
breastplate and 12 principal members of man’s body.
44 The ancients revered number 40 and held it in
great veneration.
44 For 40 days lasted the Deluge, 40 days the children
of Israel lived in the desert, after 40 weeks Christ was
born, 40 days from the nativity before he was offered in
the Temple, for 40 months he preached publicly, for 40
hours he lay in the sepulchre and forty days after his
resurrection he ascended into heaven.
N
I 77
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ This/’ concludes the sage, u was the beginning of the
wonders of numbers.”
Another early writer gives the following symbolism
and lore connected with magical numbers :
“ No. i is regarded as the father of numbers and
signifies harmony. It is a fortunate and prosperous
number.
cc No. 2 is the number of intellect and the mother of
numbers. It is generally held to be an evil number
bringing trouble and unhappiness. It has been an evil
number to Kings.
“ No. 3 is a holy number, the number of the Trinity.
It signifies plenty, fruitfulness and exertion.
“ No. 4 was the sacred number of the Pythagoreans and
over it they swore their most solemn oaths. It is the
square number, and in astrology the square was evil. It
is the number of endurance, immutability, firmness of
purpose and will.
“No. 5 was a peculiar and a magical number used
by the ancient Greeks and Romans as an amulet to
proteCt the wearer from evil spirits. The pentacle, with
its five points, was regarded as a powerful talisman of
protection and health. In India it is the emblem of Siva
and Brahma. It is the symbol and number of fire,
justice and faith.
“ No. 6 was regarded as the perfection of numbers. It
was sacred to Venus and regarded as the ideal number
of love. To some it signifies trouble and Strife, en¬
tanglement and uncertainties in marriage.
“No. 7 is the sacred number and in religion was highly
esteemed by the ancients. It is the number of Royalty,
triumph, fame and honour.
178
MAGICAL NUMBERS
“ No. 8 was regarded as a great power by the ancient
Greeks, who held that ‘ all things are eight/ Pythagoras
called it the number of justice and fullness. It is a
number of attraction and also repulsion, of life and terrors
and all kinds of Strife and menace.
“ No. 9 was the crooked number of the Pythagoreans
and is connected with intellectual and spiritual know¬
ledge. Numbers 9 and 7 are peculiar to the lives of men.
Nine is a number of wisdom, mystery, rulership and
protection.
“No. 10 is a holy and divine number and is the number
of Karma in the philosophy of India.
“No. 11 is a number of evil reputation and signifies
violence and power.
“No. 12 was esteemed as the number of grace and
perfection. It is the number of time, experience and
knowledge.
“No. 13 is a number of change and sometimes mis¬
fortune. It signifies death and destruction. In love
it is not evil, and is a number of harmony. It was ac¬
counted a sacred number by the ancient Mexicans. The
Romans considered it unlucky and an evil omen for
thirteen to sit down in a room together, which probably
accounts for its evil repute, and the Hindus have the
same tradition.
“No. 14 is a number of ignorance and forgetfulness,
trials and dangers.
“No. 15 was generally regarded as evil in magic, and
was associated with the witch’s sabbath which was
sometimes held on the 15 th day of a month.
“ No. 16 is associated with weakness, accidents, defeat
and danger.
I 79
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“No. 17 is a good number. In ancient Eygpt it
was considered unholy. It symbolizes immortality and
intuition.
“No. 18 is a bad number, signifying treachery and
deception.
“ No. 19 is a good number and was considered one of
happiness, good fortune and success.
“ No. 20 is a good number, and signifies life and good
impulses.
“No. 21 is a good number and is associated with
truth, honour, elevation and success.
“ No. 22 is a number of error and folly and cannot be
trusted.
“ No. 23 is a favourable number and means success and
gain.
“Nos. 26 and 28 are associated with evil, disaster,
greed and Struggle in life.
“ No. 37 is a good number and portends good fortune
and success.
“ No. 43 is a very unlucky number, and is associated
with death, failure and destruction.
“No. 65 was the holy number of Adonay, and was good
in all things. Pythagoras held that numbers were the
principles of all things, and odd numbers were accounted
by the ancients more fortunate than even ones, as they
associated the odd with their greater and more powerful
gods.”
180
CHAPTER XIX
MAGICAL TALISMANS
M AGICAL talismans, usually consisting of certain
symbols or characters in various combinations,
written on parchment or engraved on metal, were
carried and worn to prevent the owner from danger and
the attacks of evil spirits.
According to a manuscript on figures of geomancy
written in the sixteenth century, the ten names of the
deity were regarded as being specially potent and effec¬
tive for this purpose.
“ The talisman, called in Hebrew a scutcheon, or shield
in Chaldean, signified a figure or image written or drawn
on a piece of paper or parchment marked with certain
charafters drawn from the Tetragrammaton, made under
certain constellations. They are a buckler or shield of
defence against disease, lightnings and tempests.”
The same writer States, “ The Arab, Haly Rhodoam,
had the image of a scorpion engraved on a bezoar Stone,
by which he cured those bitten by venomous beaSts.
Apollonius by making a talisman of a Stork, kept
those troublesome birds from Constantinople, and by
another he drove away all the gnats out of Antioch.”
“ Talismans, made under the sign of Pisces, were
placed in the prow of their ships by the early Latins,
to preserve them from shipwrecks and tempests, and
the Greeks set up the same. These figures were not in
181
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
any human form but of some celestial figure. Mariners
also had Statues of some deities, as of Mars, Apollo
or Mercury, which they placed on the poop or hinder
parts of their ships.
“ The custom of mariners setting up these figures is
very ancient against shipwreck. The ship of Alexandria
that Paul sailed in, had the images of CaStor and Pollux
or, according to the Arabs, the Gemini, and that which
carried Hippocrates, when he took his journey to Abdera
123
MAGICAL SEAI^ TO BE USED AS TALISMANS AGAINST CERTAIN
DISEASES
1. For pains in the head.
2. Against flux and catarrhs.
3. Against trembling of the heart.
“ Make these signs on a lead plate with the brain of a hog.”
(From an MS., XV century, in the Bodleian library.)
for the curing of Democritus, bare the figure of the
Sun.”
All these talismans were not so much for the avoiding
of shipwreck as for the turning away of some disaster
or accident, and the procuring of good fortune.
“From this praftice of the ancients the Christians
have taken example by setting up images of saints in
their vessels.”
The founders of ancient cities and caStles first brought
astrologers to find out a lucky position of the heavens
under which the first Stone might be laid.
182
MAGICAL TALISMANS
The influence of astrology on magic in the Middle
Ages is shown in the description of how the talismans
were to be made.
Each planet had a table or square consisting of an
arrangement of names, figures or numbers, which were
opposed to both give and receive power. This table,
or certain symbols written or engraved, formed the
talisman.
Thus, Saturn’s table consisted of a square containing
"THIS TALISMAN HNGRAVRD ON BRASS WII.I. WIN THE) WRARE)R
HBAI/TH "
(From an MS., XVI century.)
nine divisions in each of which the following numbers
were written, 4, 9, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 1, 6. These when
engraved on a plate of lead and worn on the person
were believed to bring good fortune, 44 to help child¬
birth and make a man powerful.”
Jupiter’s table engraved on a silver plate was said
to bring favour and love to him who wears it. 44 It
will dissolve witchcraft, engraven on coral.”
44 Mars engraven on iron or swords makes him that
bears it valiant in wars and terrible to his adversaries.
Cut in carnelian, it Stops bleeding.”
183
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ The Sun engraven on gold, makes the bearer for¬
tunate and beloved, and to be a companion of Kings.
“ Venus engraven on silver, brings good fortune
and love of women. It makes the wearer powerful
and dissolves witchcraft, also generates peace between
man and wife.
“ Mercury engraven on silver, tin or brass, or written
on virgin parchment, will make him that wears it obtain
what he desires. It brings gain, gives memory and
understanding, and knowledge of occult things by
dreams.
“ The Moon engraven on silver, brings cheerfulness,
takes away ill will, makes him secure when travelling
and expels enemies and evil things. Made in lead
and buried, it shall bring misfortune to the inhabitants
of a city, also ships and mills.”
Another writer of the same period, in describing
how to make talismans, States,
“ An image whose figure was the head of a man
with a bloody neck, beStoweth success to petitions and
maketh him who carrieth it bold and magnanimous and
helpeth against witchcraft. The sign is -oitfc
“ Done under the greater Dog Star, the image of a
hound and a little virgin, beStoweth honour and favour
of men. The sign is
C£ Under the heart of Leo they made the image of a
lion or cat which rendereth a man temperate, appeaseth
wrath and giveth favour. The sign is p?
184 U *
MICHAEE, THE ANGEE OF THE SUN
(From an MS., XV century, in the British Museum.)
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ Under the heart of Scorpio, they made the image
of a man armed with a coat of mail or the figure of a
scorpion. It giveth understanding and memory and
aideth against evil spirits.
The sign is
O'
o-o
o-
35
The association of angels with the planets, the months
of the year and the four winds was probably due to the
influence of astrology.
Four angels were said
to serve Saturn, 4 under
Jupiter, 4 under Mars
called Martyans, 4
under the Sun, 3 under
Venus, 3 under Mercury
and 4 under the Moon.
The angels of the
four winds were Michael for the east wind, Gabriel
for the north wind, Raphael for the west and Uriol for
the south.
The colours associated with the planets were black
with Saturn, red or saffron with Mars, violet with Venus,
yellow with Mercury, saffron or orange with the Sun
and white with the Moon.
“ To expel and drive away flies from any place,
write these signs on a plate of tin.”
(From an MS., XVI century.)
186
THE DIVINE SEA.L
I 1 rom an MS. XVI century. British Museum ,
CHAPTER XX
MAGICAL RINGS
T HE connexion of rings with magic goes back
to a very early period and, like the circle, their
origin is lost in the mists of time. It is probable
that their use arose from the same idea. The circle
and the ring symbolized protection, and if the latter
was set with certain Stones, or engraved with signs or
inscriptions of power, it was believed to be endowed
with magical virtues.
According to an ancient Hebrew manuscript, a ring
of copper and iron engraved with certain magical signs,
when worn, would enable the wearer to become invisible
at will.
The Greeks in ancient times wore rings set with Stones,
sometimes engraved with representations of the deities
whom they believed had the power of warding off
evil. Plutus alludes to the praCtice in the Scholiast of
Aristophanes, in which the JuSt Man remarks, “ Here’s
a charmed ring I am wearing that I bought for a
drachma from Eudemos.”
Rings were also used for healing purposes from the
first century, and were recommended by Marcellus for
relieving pain in the side, also by Alexander of Tralles
for various ailments.
From the time of Edward the Confessor rings have
been employed for curing certain diseases in Great
187
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Britain, and in the Middle Ages “ cramp rings,” believed
to have the property of relieving pain, after being
“ blessed ” by the reigning monarch, were much
sought after.
The magician’s ring usually formed part of his equip¬
ment and was made of copper or lead. It had to be
three inches in breadth, and have the word Tetragramma-
ton well-engraved on it. A hole was made through
the middle of it, so that it could be secured to the
finger.
Before being used, it was necessary to consecrate it
in the following manner :
“ O thou creature of God, thou ring, I conjure thee
which was blessed and anointed of King Solomon with
Olive Oil, so blessed, I adjure thee Still to be blessed
through Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, that
thou maySt have the form, the figure, the virtue and
power for that purpose that thou art ordained, for and
like as the Ark of God in the Old Testament, the golden
ring was borne, so be thou to this servant of God a
token of knowledge unto this faithful servant of the true
science of calling of spirits, that when thou art held up
he may have help of thee, and through thy virtue he
may subdue the power of evil spirits.
“ Then anoint the ring with Holy Oil, sprinkle it
with Holy Water and put it on the finger of the left hand
kneeling.” *
In a manuscript of the sixteenth century, a formula
is given for making a ring for receiving an oracle, to
be made of lead, the metal of Saturn. When made,
“ write or grave thereon ye name of ye angell Cassiel,
then fumigate it. Then being so prepared, put it
188
MAGICAL RINGS
on thy finger as thou art entering into thy bed and
speak no word to any person, but meditate thereon.
If thou wilt complete the ring, truly, ye shall put a
piece of ye roote of some especial herb governed by
Saturn and put it under ye Stone of a signet, as for
«T cpS S 2® \To l
’ ^ \ v
Oyt&Xui j, 2 ] ASS-
rg , ^ x Q ■
35 ^>CCr?c
SEATS OF THE PXANETS
(From an MS., XVI century.)
example a little root of dragon or dragon-wort, or of
black hellebore or hemp, upon which put some little
onyx Stone or sapphire, or lapis lazuli, but onyx is best,
but let it first be made and engraved, and make ye mould
to caSt it, and all finished in due time with name of ye
angel of Saturn.”
189
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Another method of making a magical ring was to
“ caSt a ring of pure gold and engrave on it the name
of an angel and the character of ye Sun. Then being
made, fumigate it with maSticke, red Storax, benjamin
and musk, or new sweet wine and rose water, all mixed
with saffron. Forget not to first put a piece of root
or yellow flower of marygold or some bay leaf, especially
of angelica or root of bay tree. Then place either a
carbuncle, hiacinth, chrysolite, or ye Stone etites which
is found in ye eagle's neSt, over it.”
There was believed to be a close connexion between
the Stars and certain metals dedicated to them., also
with various precious Stones and herbs. John Gower
in “ Confessione Amantis,” dedicated to Henry VIII,
gives a list of these from which the following is ex¬
tracted :
“ Aldebaran is appropriated to the Stone carbuncle
and the herb anabulla.
“ Asgol to the diamond and black hellebore.
“ Clota or the pleiades to the crystal or fennell.
<c Ashaiot to the sapphire or horehound.
“ Cards major to the beryl or sauma.
“ Asmareth to the jasper or plantago.
“ Aspheta to the topaz or rosemary.
“ Scorpionis to the sardonix or ariStolochia.
“ The 15 Stars called scorpio to the calcedony or
majoram.
“ Rings made of lead should be set with black onyx,
and have a piece of root of yew, cypress, willow or black
hellebore. Of tin, set with sapphire, amethySt or emerald,
hiacinth or topaz, and root of oak, cherry tree, almond,
chestnut, clove, mulberry or barberry tree. When made
190
MAGICAL RINGS
of copper, they should be set with jasper with the root
of olive, sycamore trees, or with silver set with sardis
or crystal and root of the linden tree.”
Rings to cure gout and rheumatism were highly
esteemed in the sixteenth century, and the “ rheumatic
ring ” composed of zinc and copper was in vogue in
this country until a few years ago.
There is an interesting letter among the Historical
MSS. in the British Museum addressed to the Earl of
Lauderdale, requesting him to send the Duke of Hamil¬
ton a “ gout ring.” It is partly written in cipher, signed
“ M.L.” and dated cc 8 of Feby 15 . . .
“ This is only to demonstrate I doe not willingly
negleft occasion of writing, when I shall only say none
knew you were in Scotland. Lord save my Lady
Duchess, for my Lord Duke is gone away to-day. . . .
Speaking of the Duke puts me in mind to bid you
send him such a gout ring as you gave me to send to
my father when you were laSt at home, for the Duke
hath that wearing now, and your old servant Kenedy
hath got a loan of it from my father, and he wanted it,
for he is undone with the gout which was a means to
keep him from any trouble of it while he wore it. My
Lady I hope will be well.”
A love charm, in which cramp rings play a part, is
thus recorded in a manuscript of the sixteenth century.
“ Take 2 cramp rings of gold or silver and lay them
both in a swallow’s ne$t that buildeth in the summer.
Let them lie there 9 days, then take them and deliver
the one to thy love and keep the other thyself.”
There are several ancient traditions regarding the
famous ring of King Solomon. One avers, it had the
191
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
mystic word SCHEMHAMPHORASCH engraved upon
it, which gave him the command of spirits and procured
for him the wonderful SHAMIR, which enabled him to
build the temple. “ Every day at noon it transported
him into the firmament, where he heard the secrets of
the universe. This continued until he was persuaded
by the devil to grant him his liberty and to take the ring
from his finger; the demon then assumed his shape as
King of Israel and reigned three years, while Solomon
became a wanderer in foreign lands.”
Another Story States, that “ when he looked on his
ring he beheld whatsoever he desired to know in heaven
or upon earth. One day he took it off when about to
enter his bath, and it was snatched up by a fury and
thrown into the sea. Greatly disturbed by the loss of
the ring, that gave him power over the spirits of air,
earth and sea, and which also deprived him of the
wisdom to rule, he resolved never to reseat himself on
his throne until he had recovered it.
“ At the end of forty days he miraculously found his
ring in the belly of a fish brought to his table.”
Pope Innocent is said to have sent to King John
four rings set with mystical Stones, the virtues of which
are set forth in the following letter which accompanied
the gift.
“ Pope Innocent to King John of England.
“ Though we are persuaded that your Royal Excellence
has no want of such things, we have thought proper to
send you as a mark of our goodwill, four rings set with
Stones. We beg the favour you would consider the
mystery contained in their form, their matter and their
colour rather than their value. Their roundness denotes
192
MAGICAL RINGS
eternity, the number four, which is a square, signifies
firmness of mind, not to be shaken by adversity nor
elevated by prosperity. This is a perfection to which
yours will not fail to arrive, when it shall be adorned
with the four cardinal virtues, justice, fortitude, prudence
and temperance.
“ By the gold is signified wisdom, as gold is the
mo^t precious of metals, wisdom is of all endowments
the moSt excellent. Accordingly Solomon, that pacific
\£
/B
&
%
yti
Ap
*
ttonxmciiDiToTi
ah/k
/ <Ur
3 KF
S\
i
Q$tac
* J
lua
0
iEnk-fi.
AGr
“SEARS OF THE DEVIL,,” DESCRIBED AS VERY POTENT
(From an MS., XIV century, in the Bodleian Ribrary.)
king, only asked God for wisdom to make him to well
govern his people.
“ The green colour of the emerald denotes faith;
the clearness of the sapphire hope ; the redness of the
ruby charity; and the colour of the opal good works.
In the emerald, therefore, you have what you are to
believe ; in the sapphire what you are to hope ; in the
ruby what you are to love ; and in the opal what you
are to practise.”
The use of magical inscriptions and characters on
o 193
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
rings appears to have originated with the magic seal
or talisman that was first written on parchment and
carried on the person. As this could easily be ob¬
literated or destroyed, the seal was sometimes trans¬
ferred to metal and worn as a ring.
The Earl of Peterborough possessed a magical seal
engraved with symbols on silver, with an iron handle,
a wax impression of which is Still in existence. The
centre is a square in which is enclosed a diamond¬
shaped diagram surrounded by Stars and crosses.
Outside the circle are three rows of magical names.
To the impression the date “ 2 Dec 1671 ” is attached.
Another magical ring of which an impression remains,
and also a sketch, is that of Dr Simon Forman, the
notorious magician, astrologer and alchemist of the
sixteenth century.
The ring was of silver, and on the outside edge of
the signet were engraved the words ARIEL and ANAEL,
while on the outside of the circle were the words DIE
ET HORA and the date 1598.
Simon Forman was born in 1552 and entered Mag¬
dalen College, Oxford, as a poor scholar. In 1579
he was sent to prison for sixty weeks for praftising
magic, after which he travelled the country for some
years as a quack do&or and eventually settled in New
Street, London, in 15 83.
Five years later, we find he began publicly to praftise
necromancy and professed to call up spirits. In 1593
he was summoned by the College of Physicians for
praftising medicine without a licence and fined. Gain¬
ing notoriety, he attrafted several aristocratic patrons,
including Lord Hertford. He was prosecuted many
194
<r J > o - 1 ^ .
°->l cf< x ^<X*v .p£-<%.^ \f j^ w c~$^{o <■«., •
T. •$** ; i 8y f .
1 + AGU Z>AZA OHTZZ OX Z ASTASIZKZ
^ ALTAtATTO -+-> KA/KAIl ^Hh ^
A1GAR 4- .
^ -fMTCHAEt 4- I EHOVA 4- ^ABKTEI, %
4--Al>OAOll 4* WAKA *3- IAAf+ TETKAG-RAMATO*
g. + VVJTO? VA1ACTR.4 ^ ITYiTKA 4* AXT.XA
4* 3 A ATA 4- IIB A M -fi ElAtTTKA „
ALE73 C HAIT rf ^VZi JLHAA\ 4'
the ea ki, of Peterborough's magic seal
MAGICAL RINGS
times for illegally pra&ising medicine, but in the end
received a degree as do&or of medicine from Cambridge
University.
He was associated with the murder of Sir Thomas
Overbury in 1615, and, according to a letter produced
in Court, the Countess of Essex had asked him to give
her a philtre to alienate her husband, and also one to
C^Mty L toasrf cu (V 1
Oy^ ffiic ou. Llrt'&t- 1
cUaS" <S<<p\v V-&&■ A-JRljE t, . Va K %E L
-JJ r E ET
HK-T Mr ^
Wm?c,cu iSt 0
Wtc^ <^Co 7ta.pl ^7 —CJ?
^ 0*4 & JL\i: flaflfr-
SIMON FORMAN’S MAGIC RING
(From an MS., XVI century, in the British Museum.)
gain the love of the Earl of Somerset. During the
trial, wax images of the persons concerned, made for
working magic, were produced in Court.
Forman left a mass of manuscripts to Richard Napier,
who bequeathed them to Sir Richard Napier, his
nephew. Thomas, his son, gave them to Elias Ashmole,
who left them to the Bodleian Library, where they are
Still preserved.
T 95
CHAPTER XXI
MAGIC IN JEWELS
M AGICAL properties have been attributed to
certain rare and precious Stones from a period
of antiquity, the origin of which was probably
due to the belief that they were the abode of good
spirits.
Their association also with the planets no doubt
contributed to the faith placed in their mysterious
virtues, which covered praftically every form of physical
and moral ailment.
As disease was supposed to be due to evil spirits
that entered the body, it is probable that precious Stones
were originally worn as amulets to proteft the wearer
from sickness and ill, or that the beneficent spirits that
dwelt in them might drive the evil ones away.
The diamond, pre-eminent in brilliancy and beauty,
was believed to be most powerful in spiritual magic
and potent in its effe&s.
It was the one unchangeable substance in Nature
against which even fire was powerless. It was con¬
secrated to all that was celestial, and was regarded as
a proteftion against sorcery, enchantments, evil spirits
and nightmare. It was said to endow the wearer with
courage and Strength of mind, while it calmed anger
and was regarded as the Stone of reconciliation.
196
MAGIC IN JEWELS
Anselm de Boot, physician to Rodolph II, in a work
written in the seventeenth century on the “ Virtues of
precious Stones,” argues, “ whether the power of dis¬
crimination between right and wrong, legal or illegal
affection be a natural quality of the Stone, or belongs
to a spirit residing in it.” He inclined to the opinion
that, “ the evil spirit taking the semblance of an Angel
of Light, taketh up its abode in precious Stones and
ena&s by them prodigies, in order that, instead of having
recourse to God, we may rest our faith
on the said Stones and consult them
when we would compass some objedL”
According to an Eastern tradition,
Abraham wore a precious Stone around
his neck, which possessed the property
of curing disease when gazed upon.
When the patriarch died, the Almighty
placed this Stone in the Sun, from
which originated the Hebrew proverb,
“ When the Sun rises the disease will
abate.”
The Egyptian king Nechepsus (630
b.c.) is said to have worn a green
jasper cut in the shape of a dragon surrounded with
rays, which, “ when applied to the region of the
digestive organs Strengthened that part wonderfully.”
The ruby, or carbuncle as it was called in early times,
was believed to protect the wearer from plague, and
was said to have the power of “ banishing sadness,
averting evil thoughts, dispelling terrible dreams and
repressing sensuality.”
On the other hand, the ruby was supposed to disturb
*97
MAGICAL JEWEL
(XVI century, said to
have been designed by
Holbein.)
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
the circulation of the blood and incline the wearer to
anger.
Their is a curious tradition that, if misfortune
threatened anyone who carried a ruby, it became darker
in colour and when the peril had passed it resumed its
original bright hue.
Gabelschoverus commenting on this legend says,
“ On the 5 th day of December 1600 I was going with my
beloved wife Catherina from Stuttgardt to Caluna, I
observed by the way that a very fine ruby which I wore
mounted in a gold ring which she had given to me, lost
repeatedly and each time almost completely its splendid
colour, and that it assumed a sombre blackish hue which
lasted several days; so much so, that being greatly aston¬
ished, I drew it from my finger and put it in a casket.
I also warned my wife that some evil followed her or me.
And truly I was not deceived, for within a few days she
was taken mortally sick. After her death the ruby re¬
sumed its pristine colour and brilliancy.” Madame de
Pompadour wore a large ruby cut in the form of a pig,
as a charm to bring good-luck, which is Still preserved
in the Louvre Museum.
The sapphire was believed to possess many virtues.
To gaze long into it was said to preserve the eyesight,
and if worn over the region of the heart it reduced fever
and gave Strength and energy.
“It had the magical power of inspiring chaSte
thoughts,” says an early writer, <c which caused it to be
recommended to be worn by ecclesiastics.” St Jerome
asserts in his comments on Isaiah, chapter xix, that
“ the sapphire conciliates to the wearer the favour of
princes, calms the fury of enemies, dispels enchant-
198
MAGIC IN JEWELS
ments, delivers from prison and softens the ire of
God.”
As an amulet, the emerald was said to drive off evil
spirits, give knowledge of secrets, of future events, and
beStow eloquence on its owner. It was supposed to
betray inconstancy by splintering into fragments when
it could not prevent the evil, a superstition which Miss
Landon embodies in the lines :
“ It is a gem which hath the power to show.
If plighted lovers keep their faith or no ;
If faithful, it is like the leaves of spring ;
If faithless, like those leaves when withering.”
There is a tradition connefted with the emerald,
that it foretells an evil event should it fall from its
setting. At the coronation of George III, a large
emerald is said to have fallen from his crown, which
believers in the omen say presaged the loss of America.
Placed round the neck of a child, it was said to proteft
it from attacks of epilepsy, dispel terrors and Stop haemor¬
rhage.
The topaz when worn on the left hand was believed
to calm anger, banish melancholy, brighten the
wit and give courage to the wearer. As a talisman, if
bound round the left arm, it was said to dispel enchant¬
ments, while it was also credited with the properties of
healing affe&ions of the mind, preventing sleep walking
and curing haemorrhoids.
The amethySt had the reputation of keeping the wearer
from intemperance and was used as a cure for inebriety.
Camillus Leonardus, referring to this, States, “ Bound
on the navel it prevents drunkenness. It was also
held to sharpen the wit, turn away evil thoughts and give
199
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
a knowlege of the future in dreams. It was frequently-
engraven with the head of Bacchus, and was a favourite
with the Roman ladies.”
The opal has long been a much-maligned jewel and
was generally believed to bring the wearer ill-luck, but
according to early writers it by no means deserves this
reputation. On the contrary, they attributed to it all
good qualities, moral and healing, that pertained to other
precious Stones, as it radiated their many colours. It
was reputed to be helpful to the eyesight, to be able to
dispel sadness and melancholy, and to preserve the wearer
from contagion.
The opal was highly esteemed by the Romans, and
Pliny says that “ the Senator Monius was exiled by Mark
Antony for the sake of the magnificent opal he wore
that was the size of a hazel-nut.”
The turquoise was another gem that was supposed to
lose its colour when evil threatened its wearer. Thus
writes Donne :
“ As a compassionate turkois that doth tell.
By looking pale, the wearer is not well.”
It was supposed to have the properties of preventing
headache, placating hatred and reconciling lovers.
The beryl is said to possess many healing virtues and
was efficacious in relieving hysteria, jaundice, liver
troubles and ailments of the mouth and throat. As a
charm, there was an ancient belief that it made the idle
industrious and quickened the intellect of those who were
dull. Its most important property, however, was its use
as a medium for magical vision, and, for gazing, no
Stone was believed to be so effeftive and valuable as the
beryl.
200
MAGIC IN JEWELS
The onyx was also a Stone associated with magic.
When worn on the neck it was said to Stimulate the
spleen, dispel melancholy and other mental disturb¬
ances. It was applied to the bites of venomous animals
and was suspended round the neck to allay pain.
The carnelian, probably on account of its colour and
coldness, was used to Stop haemorrhage, and the sardonyx
was believed to proted the wearer from the bites of
scorpions.
Coral has been highly esteemed for its properties from
early times, both on account of its occult power and its
medicinal virtues. Pliny says, “ Formerly it was deemed
excellent as an antidote to poisons.” A later writer
States, “ Witches tell, that this Stone withStandeth light¬
ning, and putteth it, as well as whirlewindes, tem-
peStes and Storms, from shippes and houses that it is in.”
Like the turquoise it was believed to alter in colour
according to the health of the wearer, and if worn by
one who is ill or in danger of death it would become livid
and pale. This property is alluded to in the following
lines in the “ Three Ladies of London ” written in 1594 :
“You may say jet will take up Straw, amber will make
one fat, coral will look pale when you be sick, and
crystal will Staunch blood.”
As an amulet or charm it was used as a proteftion
againSt witchcraft, enchantments, epilepsy, “ assaults of
the devil,” Storms at sea and perils by land.
The superstition has survived in the custom of placing
coral necklaces round the neck of an infant soon after
birth, while the coral and bells were supposed to drive
away evil spirits and proteft the child from ill. An early
writer observes, “ It Stops bleeding, preserves houses
201
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
from thunder (?) and children from goblins and sor¬
ceresses.” Taken internally it was said to relieve indi¬
gestion and prevent attacks of epilepsy.
Amber has long had a reputation as a curative charm,
especially in connexion with the throat. Worn round
the neck it was believed to relieve cheSt troubles, sore
throats and whooping-cough. In the form of oil of
amber it is Still employed to rub on the cheSt and neck
for these ailments.
Many other Stones were associated with magic and
believed to possess occult properties of which only brief
mention may be made. These include chalcedony,
which was said to bring good fortune and prevent illu¬
sions of evil spirits; chrysoletus carried in the left hand to
drive away night-hags, illusions and witches ; jasper
against nightmare and epilepsy; jacinth against plague
and lightning; and jet, concerning which Pliny observes,
“ Magicians use this jet Stone much in their sorceries
which they praftise by the means of red hot axes, for
they affirm that being ca£t thereon it will burne and
consume, if that we desire and wish shall happen
accordingly.”
CHAPTER XXII
LOVE AND MAGIC
I T seems natural to suppose that the aid of the
practitioner of magic should be sought in connexion
with the “ malady ” of love common to mankind
from the time of the Creation.
His help was sought by both sexes who desired to
obtain the objeCi of their affections, or assistance in the
pursuit of their amours. In mythology, the media
employed usually consisted of philtres or potions of
magical herbs and plants, charms to be worked, or rites
to be performed, in order to obtain the desired end.
Many of these employed by the ancient Egyptians,
Greeks and Romans have already been described ; but,
judging from an examination of the secret books of the
magicians of the Middle Ages, the demand for love-
charms muSt have considerably increased, and some of
them are of an extraordinary character.
In a Syriac manuscript, written about the eleventh
century, there is a Story of an Egyptian who fell in love
with another man’s wife, but whose advances were
repulsed by the objeCt of his affeCtions. He thereupon
sought a magician, and asked him to make the woman
love him and her husband hate her. The wizard trans¬
formed her into a mare, but finally she was restored to her
former shape by the holy man, Macarius, who took some
water and blessed it and threw it over her head.
203
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
The love-charms of the Middle Ages sometimes took
the form of seals of magical power, letters or words
written on parchment, an image of wax, the use of
magical herbs, or potions to be swallowed.
In an ancient Hebrew manuscript found at Mossoul,
there are a number of curious charms for love, and
among them are the following :
“For love when thou wisheSt that a woman should
come after thee, and thou shouldSt please her father
and mother. Write in Starch (?) and saffron and touch
whomsoever thou loveSt and she will come to thee.”
Another method was to “ Write and put into the
fire, Alp, Sulb, Nin, W’Alkom, Apksa, Bal in the heart
of-daughter of-for love of-son of-
like the love of Sarah in the eyes of Abraham.
“ Or thou shalt fashion parchment after the fashion of
male and female and on the pifture of the female write,
Bla Bla Lhb Lhb Lhb Hbl Hbl Hbl, and on the other
write Zkr Zkr Zkr Rhz Rhz Rkz Rkz Krz, and then
shalt put them together, front and back, and thou shalt
put them in the fire.”
Another written charm to be cast into the fire runs,
“ In the name of Whil Ykidta Bliba, I invoke you to put
love for-son of-in the heart of-daughter
of-that he sleeps not neither by day or night, nor
shall he speak with any man either in the Street or in
the house, except with relation to love for -”
“ To bring a disdainful woman, Let him write on
one of her garments and make a wick of it and burn
it in a pottery lamp, this, Halosin Halosin Alosin Alosin
Alosin Sru’in Sru’in that ye come and assemble in the
body of-daughter of-and harass her that she
204
LOVE AND MAGIC
eat not, drink not, or sleep not, until she come near
me and do the pleasure of me-of-
A charm for a girl “ that is not sought in marriage ”
is given as follows : “ Let him write these Seals and
hang them up on the door of her house, and immediately
they shall take her in marriage.”
The charms for love are varied by one to cause
hatred:
“ To do this, you must take the egg of a black hen
and boil it in urine and give half of it to a dog and half
of it to a cat and say. As these hate one another so may
hatred fall between - son of - and - son
of-”
Love-charms in the sixteenth century were sometimes
written on the person; thus one directs, that these letters
mu^t be written on the left hand of the lover,
H.L.D.P.N.A.G.U., “ carry them in the morning before
sun rising and touch whom thou wilt and she will
follow thee.” The writer naively remarks, “you may
try it upon a dog .”
Another combination of letters, to be written on
the left hand before sunrise, was H.L.N.P.M.Q.U.M.
This is for a woman, who is dire&ed to “ touch his neck
secretly and he shall love thee.”
A charm to provoke love was to write
“ N.A.P.A.R.A.B.O.C.L.P.E.A. in small squares on the
right hand with thine own blood, before the sun rising,
or after the sun setting, and touch the parties flesh and
say, c Ei signere me et Stat in vaniet tibi.’ ”
A more complicated charm was worked as follows :
“ Take 5 hairs of his head and a thread spun on a Friday
by a virgin, and make a candle therewith of virgin wax
205
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
four square, and write with the blood of a cock sparrow
the name of the woman, and light the candle, whereas
it may not drop upon the earth and she shall love thee.”
A Still more powerful charm was to “ take the navel
String of a boy, new born, dry and powder it and give
him or her to drink.
“ There is none such” declares the writer.
The Seal of Venus, another love-charm, was to be
“ graven on thin copper or brass when the planets
were favourable and in good position, Venus being
near the moon.”
“To get the love of any woman,” says a writer of
the sixteenth century, “ first make it known to her it
is her love you desire, and in the day and hour of Venus,
give her to drink of the powder of the Seal in the place
where she may be, and she shall love thee marvellously.”
“ The powder of the Seal secretly placed in the gar»
ments or about the breaSt is equally effeftive.”
A curious charm was to “ take the tongue of a sparrow
and close it in virgin wax under thy clothes for the
space of IV days, then take it and keep it in thy mouth
under the tongue and kiss the woman thou loveSt.”
The use of a wax image or figure was apparently
common in the sixteenth century in magic and en¬
chantments conne&ed with love.
The charm was worked thus :
“ Make an image of her you love in virgin wax, sprinkle
it with holy water, and write the name of the woman
on the forehead of the image and thy name on her breaSt.
“ Then take four new needles and prick one of them
in the back of the image, and the others in the right
and left sides. Then say the conjuration. Then make
zo6
LOVE AND MAGIC
a fire in her name, and write on the ashes of the coals
her name, and a little muStard seed and a little salt
upon the image, then lay up the coals again, and as
they leapeth and swelleth so shall her heart be kindled
in thy love/’
Sympathetic magic is indicated as the basis of the
next charm, which reads : “ Take the hairs of the woman
whose love thou desireSt, and keep them until the
Friday following, and that day before sun rising. Then
with thine own blood, write thine own name and her
name in virgin wax or parchment, and burn the hair
and letters together to duSt on a red hot fire, and give
it to her in meat and drink, and she shall be so much
taken with thee that she shall take no rest.”
A love-charm of the sixteenth century, which has
survived until recent times, is to “ take a spider within
his web, whole, and see it breaks not and shut it inside
2 shells of a nut. After this, boil it in oil in a silver
spoon called cochlearia and give part of the webbe
to drink. It makes the party who drinkes to love him
so long as the spider be shut up in the nutshell.”
Another method used “ to gain the love of a woman,”
was to “ take a piece of virgin parchment as broad as
your hand, and make on it 2 images, the one of thyself
and the other of the woman; then with the blood of
the little finger of thy left hand, write on thine own
image thine own name, and on the other her name. Be¬
twixt the image write Sathan, Lucifer, Donskton. You
muSt make it so that when you close the parchment the
images may be right over one another. Make thine
own image on Friday, the first hour that Venus governs,
and the other the Friday following, in the same hour.
207
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
This done, put the images under your foote three times
a day, and then removing it to the other foot. In the
morning, the first hour of the day after 12 o’clock at
noon, and at night before it be dark, say the conjuration,
beginning Sathan, Lucifer, and Donskton, which are
princes which expelled Adam and Eve out of Paradise.
I charge you to go to her named, and suffer her not to
sleepe, nor to take any reSte, nor to drinke nor to Stand
nor to sit, nor to lie quiet, until she hath accomplished
and done my will whatsoever I request her to doe.
“ Then you mu St have 5 pieces of golde, to be sent
her in the time you begin your work before it be ended,
and she will love you as long as you live.”
The association of apples with love enchantments
goes back to an early period. The following are five
taken from manuscripts of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries :
“ Write on an apple, Guel + Bsatirell -f- Gliaell -f-,
and give it her to eat.”
“ Write on an apple, Raguell, Lucifer, Sathanus, and
say, I conjure thee apple by these three names written
on thee, that whosoever shall eat thee may burn in my
love.”
“ Write on an apple before it fall from the tree, Aleo
-f- Deleo -f- Delato +, an( 3 say, I conjure thee apple
by these three names which are written on thee, that
what woman or virgin toucheth and taSteth thee, may
love me and burn in my love as fire melteth wax.”
“ Write on an apple your names and these three names,
Cosmer + Synady -f- Heupide, and give it to eat to
any man that thou wouldSt have and he shall do as
thou wilt.”
208
LOVE AND MAGIC
“ Cutt an apple in IV parts, and on every part write,
Sathiel fl- Sathiel -f- Obing -f- SiageStard, and say, I
conjure thee apple by the Holy God, by the IV Evan¬
gelists and gospels, and by Samuel and by Mary, that
thou shall not Stand Still until I have the love of the
woman which shall eat of thee.”
Several herbs and plants were employed in love-
KING SOLOMON'S APPLE, WITH MAGICAL CHARACTERS
(From an MS., XVI century.)
charms and among them verbena or vervain played a
prominent part, probably owing to its association
with witchcraft.
“ To gain the love of man or woman,” says a writer
of the sixteenth century, “ go to the herb Vervain
when it is flowered near the full of the moon and say
to it the Lord’s Prayer. Then say, in the name of the
Father, Son and Holy GhoSt, I have sought thee + I
have found thee -f I charge thee Vervain by the Holy
names of God, Heliom Heloy, fl- Adonay, when I carry
p 209
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
thee in my mouth, that whosoever I shall love or touch,
that thou make them obedient unto me and to do my
will in all things. FIAT + FIAT + FIAT +
AMEN.”
In another, the lover is direfted to take more aggressive
methods:
“ Place Vervain in thy mouth, and kiss any maid
saying these words, ‘ Pax tibi sum sensum conterit in
amore me/ and she shall love thee.”
Verbena was used to bring quarrels to an end, and
was placed in the shoes when travelling so the wearer
should not grow weary.
It was also employed as a charm to catch fish and to
hive bees.
To become invisible, says the same writer, “ Let 4
masses be said over Vervain and bear it about thee.
It should be gathered on the Monday night before
Holy rood days.”
The plant valerian had also a reputation as a charm
for love. The lover was enjoined to gather it when
the moon is in the south, saying these words, “ Misere
mei Beatus Vix qui intilligex,” and also 3 Paternosters,
3 Aves, and 3 Creeds. <c Put it under thy tongue and
kiss hers and she will love thee.”
Valerian was also sometimes burnt, or reduced to
powder, and given to the desired one to drink to provoke
love.
Another love-charm was to “ goe into a garden where
selueyne growes on a Thursday by the rising of the
sun, and kneeling on thy knees say thus, c In nomine
patrie, I sought thee, In nomine filii, I have found thee. I
conjure thee that thou man or woman love me that I
210
LOVE AND MAGIC
touch with thee/ and so gather it and keep it for thy
use.”
The plant St John’s wort, was reputed to possess
magical properties, and among others that of compelling
love. A lace or girdle anointed with the oil of the
plant and given to a maiden to wear, was said to make
her love the giver. A charm in which a nutmeg forms
part is directed to be worked as follows : “ Take a
nutmeg and prick it full of holes and you shall see it
wear a dew upon it. Put it in your arm-pit 2 days,
then dry it on a tileStone and so it will fall to powder the
which put in a woman’s portion of potage and drink
not of it yourself. She shall love thee without doubt.”
A love-charm into which toads enter appears to have
had its origin in the Assyrian charm previously men¬
tioned. It begins : “ In March when toads do engender,
kill two, and put them in a box full of holes and put it
in a pissmire bank. When all is consumed but the
bones, take them and caSt them into running water and
you shall see that one of the bones will go against the
Stream. Another will Stand upright and another will
sink. These three keep. Put that which swimmeth
against the Stream in a ring, and she that taketh it at
your hands shall love thee. Put that that Stood upright
in a ring and give it to a woman, and she shall obey thy
wish. Grate that to powder that sinketh, and she that
drinketh thereof shall hate thee.”
In the Egyptian magical texts it is recorded that
hair, feathers, snake’s skin, and “ the blood of the
myStic eye ” were employed as love-charms and had
both protective and destroying powers. The “ blood
of the myStic eye ” is thought to indicate dragon’s
211
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
blood, which for centuries has been believed to be an
effective ingredient in charms for provoking love. The
Greeks called dragon's blood cinnabaris, and apparently
did not know whether it was of mineral or vegetable
origin. Coles States, that “ Pliny, Solinus and Monardus
have set it down for truth, that it was the blood of a
dragon or serpent crushed to death by the weight of a
dying elephant falling upon him,” but he thinks it was
certainly so called from “ the bloody colour that it is of,
being nothing else but a mere gum.”
The substance known as dragon's blood is a gum-
resin obtained from the Vterocarpus indicus , a tree
indigenous to the EaSt Indies. In early times it had
some repute in medicine for its astringent properties and
also as an emmenagogue, but it has gone out of use and
is now employed as a colouring agent for varnishes
and Stains. Three hundred years ago, it is said to have
been used by goldsmiths and painters on glass, by the
former as a base for enamel and by the latter to Strike a
crimson for Stained windows.
Its use, however, as a magical charm has survived
to the present day, and it is Still employed as a love-
charm in some parts of London and in the North of
England. A great deal of mystery surrounds its employ¬
ment for this purpose, and it is only with difficulty some
details have been obtained. There seem to be several
methods of working charms of a romantic nature with
this otherwise ordinary article of commerce. The moSt
common of these is praftised by girls on All Hallow¬
e'en, who are jealous of their lovers and desire to win back
their affeftion. To do this a small quantity of dragon’s
blood is procured, wrapped in paper, and thrown on the
212
LOVE AND MAGIC
fire whilst the following couplet or incantation is
repeated :
“ May he no pleasure or profit see
Till he comes back again to me.”
Another method employed by women of a certain
class, and used by them to attraft the opposite sex,
is to mix dragon’s blood, quicksilver, saltpetre and
sulphur and throw them on the fire while repeating a
similar incantation.
A chemist in the North of England, giving his experi¬
ence on the sale of dragon’s blood, says : “ I have had
great difficulty in finding out for what purpose it was
used. It was not for medicine, but for a kind of witch¬
craft. The women burn it upon a bright fire, while
wishing for their affeciion to be returned by someone
of the opposite sex ; also those who have quarrelled with
their husbands and desire to be friends again ; girls who
have fallen out with their young men and want to win
them back, as well as young women wanting sweet¬
hearts. A working-man recently came to me for a small
quantity, and I inquired for what purpose it was required.
He was very reluftant to mention anything about it, but
at length said a man had made him lose three sovereigns,
and he wished as he had been swindled out of the money
to have his revenge, and make him suffer for it. He
was going to burn the dragon’s blood on a clear fire,
and he believed that the ill wishes of the person thus
burning it would have a dire effeft on the individual
thought of.”
Some love-charms in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries were worked by writing certain myStic
213
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
charafters on parchment or paper, of which the following
may be taken as an example :
* a c
^ If 1
)S3 *
/ mi c
y —t-H -7
Yj.
v. 111 r
"Richard, Jones
Elizabeth Key e5
u. j. ; e.k.
f ^ COZj
l
“A CHARACTER FOR LOVE”
(From an MS., XVII century.)
“ Write these char afters on virgin parchment with the
blood of batts and hold it in the left hand and show
it to her and without doubt she will come to thee.
But take heed that thou showed to none but she who
thou desireSt for if thou do she will go mad and die.”
Another charm of this kind in the form of a magical
square was to be written on parchment and carried by the
lover.
s
I
C
C
F
E
T
1
c
E
N
A
L
I
F
0
R
A
M
A
R
O
F
E
T
“FOR A MAIDEN IN PARTICULAR”
2X4
CHAPTER XXIII
RECORDS OF MAGIC FROM THE FOURTH TO THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY
T HERE are but few manuscripts on magic extant
that were written between the first and the four¬
teenth century, but some light has been thrown
on the subjed by the translation of certain ancient Hebrew
texts in the British Museum, and at Oxford and Munich
by GaSter. One of these, called “ The Sword of Moses,”
is believed to date from the first four centuries of the
Christian era, and serves as a conneding link between the
Greek papyri and the early Middle Ages.
It is especially interesting, as it includes names that are
mentioned in manuscripts many centuries later, and deals
with magic and medicine. It begins :
“ In the name of the Mighty and Holy God.” Four
angels are appointed to the sword given by the Lord,
the Master of Mysteries.
Their names are SKD HUZI, MRGIOIAL, VHDR-
ZIOLO, and TOTRISI.
The man who utters conjurations over this “ Sword,”
its mysteries and hidden powers, its glory and might,
they will not refuse, as it is the command of God.
“ If thou wisheSt to use this £ Sword ’ and to transmit
it to the following generations (then know) that the man
who decides to use it must free himself three days from
accidental pollution and from every thing unclean, eat and
215
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
drink once every evening, and muSt eat from a pure man,
or wash his hands first in salt, and drink only water.
The mysteries are to be practised only in secret/’
Then follows a prayer to the “ Lord our God, King
of the Universe, and a conjuration to Azliel, Arel, Tafel,
Yofiel, Mittron and other angels.”
After some long and explicit directions in which
there are names not transliterated, we come to the
“ Sword,” which consists of a number of mysterious
names of God or angels with which are connected
various recipes. Only a few of the more interesting need
be recapitulated. They are chiefly in the form of charms
which are to be written on bowls, or the saucer of a cup,
amulets to be hung round the neck, to be written on a
plate, or charms to be whispered in the ear, some being
accompanied by the use of oils.
Charms for various diseases are numerous, thus, “ for
hemorrhoids, take tow and put salt on it and mix it
with oil, saying over it a charm and sit on it.”
“ To heal leprosy, take the patient to the side of a
river and say to him, ‘ I conjure thee leprosy, in the
name of-to disappear and to vanish and to pass
away from-Amen, Amen—Selah/ and he is to go
down and dip seven times in the river and when he
comes out write an amulet with the words, c I conjure—
Selah/ and hang it round his neck.” This is reminis¬
cent of the Assyrian charm given in a previous chapter,
and is also similar to the Story of Naaman, who to
cleanse himself from the disease was told to bathe
seven times in the Jordan.
A man who is bald is directed to say a charm over
“ nut oil ” and anoint his head with it. “To remove
216
RECORDS OF MAGIC FROM THE FOURTH CENTURY
a rich man from his riches, say a charm upon the duS
of an ant-hill and throw it in his face.”
“ To know if a sick person will live or die, say before
him charm-. If he turns his face towards you he
will live. If away, he will die.”
“ To subdue a woman, write with the blood of thy
hand thy name upon thy gate, and write thy name upon
a scroll of leather of a hart with the blood of thy finger
and say, this ‘ Sword 5 and she will come to thee.”
To put a spell upon an enemy, say, “ I call thee, evil
spirit, cruel spirit, merciless spirit. I call thee, bad spirit,
who sitteS in the cemetery and takest away healing from
man. Go and place a knot in-head, in his eyes, in
his mouth, in his tongue, in his throat, in his windpipe ;
put poisonous water in his belly. If you do not go and
put water in his belly I will send againS you the evil
angels Puziel, Guziel, Psdiel, Prziel. I call thee and those
6 knots that you go quickly to-and put poisonous
water in his belly and kill-whom I mean. Amen.
Amen. Selah.”
The manuscript concludes:
“ Verily, this is the c Sword of Moses 5 with which
he accomplished his miracles and mighty deeds and
destroyed all kinds of witchcraft.
cc It had been revealed to Moses in the bush when the
great and glorious name was given to him. Take care
of it and it will take care of thee. If thou approaches
fire it will not burn thee, and it will preserve thee from
every evil in the world.
“ If thou wishes to try it, take a thicl (green) branch
and utter this word c Sword ’ over it five times at sun¬
rise and it will dry up.”
ZIJ
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
There is a good deal of similarity between the Hebrew
“ Sword ” and some of the Greek papyri, in one of
which Moses is mentioned as “ one who keeps divine
mysteries.”
Another early Hebrew manuscript has been trans¬
lated by GaSter called the “ Secretum Secretorum,” a
mediaeval treatise ascribed to Aristotle and written for
King Alexander.
It begins, “ O men of knowledge and who under¬
stand riddles, who search by means thereof for precious
objefts, lift up your eyes on high and read the book
that is called the c Privy of Privies/ Therein is con¬
tained the dire&ion in the governance of the kingdom
which Aristotle wrote for the great King Alexander.”
The book is said to have been discovered in the Temple
of the worshippers of the Sun, which the great Hermes
built for himself. It was written in gold, and was
translated from Greek into Syriac, and from Syriac into
Arabic.
It contains thirteen treatises which deal mainly with
advice on governance, but the last treats of “ natural
secrets and talismans, on the good of bodies, on the
properties of precious Stones and plants and living
beings, and wonderful things of the mysteries of leech-
craft.”
Among the Stones mentioned is the bezoar, famous
throughout the Middle Ages as a remedy for plague and
other diseases. It was a biliary concretion found in the
Stomachs of small animals, like the deer, and mysterious
occult properties were attached to it. “ If hung
round the neck of a child,” says the writer, “ it becomes
proof against epilepsy and saves from bad accidents.”
218
RECORDS OF MAGIC FROM THE FOURTH CENTURY
“ The pearl called Iakut in Arabia; there are three
kinds : red, yellow, and black. The red prevents
illness, gives courage and brings honour. The
emerald in a ring appeases Stomach ache and dissolved
and drunk is good for leprosy. The Stone Firzag is
highly prized by great kings and its great property is
that no man can slay him who wears it. The Stone
Alkahat saves from hot fevers. Fire has no power over
it and cannot burn it. He who goes to war with one,
no man can fight against him.”
“ If thou make a ring of silver and gold with a red
jacinth set in it, and engrave on it the image of a naked
girl, tall and Strong, riding on a lion, and six men wor¬
shipping her, and it is made in the morning of Sunday
at the hour of the sun, at the conjun&ion of Leo and Sol
and the sun is in it, and the moon is in the tenth degree
at the height which is called Shrf in Arabic ; whosoever
wears such a ring shall be reverenced by the people.
They will listen to his voice and fulfil all his wishes in
the world and no man shall be able to withStay him.”
“ One of the greatest poisons is Bish, but it is not recog¬
nizable through taSte or colour, for when people taSte it,
it has no bitterness. And the gold lime (orpiment or
yellow sulphide of arsenic) which is called Klas, is also
one of these poisons which are indispensable to thee. It
is one of the secret instruments of war by means of which
misfortune in war can be averted.”
It should be remembered, that this letter is said to
have been addressed to a great military commander and
shows that poisons were apparently used in time of war
at this early period. It was probably employed for
poisoning wells.
219
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
There is an interesting manuscript originally written
in Hebrew in the Bibliotheque de P Arsenal, Paris,
which has been translated from French into English by
Mathers. It is written in red and black inks, and is said
to date from the middle of the fifteenth century.
It is entitled “ The Book of Sacred Magic of Abra-
melin the Mage, as delivered by Abraham the Jew
unto his son Lamech a.d. 1458.”
The Story told by Abraham the Jew of how he
acquired his secrets, his journey to Egypt, and his
meeting with magicians of the time, forms an interesting
narrative.
It begins with “ The first book of the Holy Magic,
which God gave unto Moses, David, Solomon, and
other saints, patriarchs and prophets, which teacheth the
true divine wisdom.”
Abraham the son of Simon says, that he learnt it in part
from his father, and in part from other wise and faithful
men.
He goes on to State:
“ I have written this with mine own hand and placed
it in this casket and locked it up as a precious treasure.
“ My father Simon shortly before his death, gave me
certain signs and instructions concerning the way in
which it is necessary to acquire the Holy Kabbala.
After his death finding myself twenty years of age,
I had a very great passion to understand the true mysteries
of the Lord..
“ I learnt that at Mayence there was a Rabbi called
Moses who was a notable sage, and the report went, that
he possessed in full the Divine wisdom. I was induced
to go and seek him in order to learn from him, but I
220
RECORDS OF MAGIC FROM THE FOURTH CENTURY
found, that in his magic, he did not make use of his
wisdom of the Lord, but instead availed himself of
certain arts and superstitions of infidel and idolatrous
nations in part derived from Egyptians, together with
images of the Medes and of the Persians, with herbs of the
Arabians, together with the power of the Stars and con¬
stellations and even from the Christians, some diabolic
art.
<c For ten years I remained buried in so great an error,
until I arrived in Egypt at the house of an ancient sage
called Abra-melin, who put me in the true path and to
understand the Sacred MyStery, and how to command
and dominate the evil spirits.”
Abraham says, that he began his journey to Egypt on
February 13 th, 1397, and Stayed in Constantinople for two
years.
During his sojourn with Abra-melin, he received from
him two books in manuscript containing the secrets,
which he told him to copy for himself with care. He
avers he did so exaftly and it is these books he records in
this text.
He then left Egypt and travelled back to his own coun¬
try, and on his journey evidently sought out all the
praftitioners of magic in the cities that he passed through,
and thus relates his adventures. At Argentine he
found a Christian called James, “ but his art was the art
of the Juggler or cup-and-balls player, and not that of
the magician.” In the town of Prague, he States, “ I
found a wicked man named Antony, who in truth showed
me wonderful and supernatural things, but the infamous
wretch avowed to me, that he had made a pa£t with
the demon, and had given himself over to him in body
zzi
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
and in soul, while the deceitful Leviathan had promised
him forty years of life to do his pleasure. Unto this
day do they sing in the Streets of the terrible end which
befel him, for his body was found dragged through the
Streets and his head without any tongue therein, lying in a
drain/’
After passing through Hungary, where he “ found but
persons knowing neither God nor devil and who were
worse than the beaSts,” he came to Greece where he
found many wise and prudent men. Among them were
three who cc principally dwelt in desert places, and who
showed me great things. ... In Epipha near Con¬
stantinople, there was a certain man who made use of
certain numbers which he wrote upon the earth, and so
caused terrifying visions to appear.”
At Lintz he met with a young woman who gave him
an unguent with which he was to rub the principal pulses
of his feet and hands.
He then felt as if he was flying in the air where he
seemed to remain a long while, and then recovered
his senses and “ found the young woman seated by his
side.” “ I concluded,” he sagely remarks, “ it was
a simple dream and that this unguent was the cause of
phantaStic sleep, whereupon she confessed to me that
this unguent had been given to her by the devil.”
Of the wonderful things performed by Abra-melin,
how he healed 8413 persons bewitched unto death,
how he delivered the Duke Frederick Eleftor of Saxony
by means of 2000 artificial cavalry, “ which I did by mine
own art cause to appear, and other marvels are they not
written in this book.”
In the second part of the manuscript he describes cer-
222
RECORDS OF MAGIC FROM THE FOURTH CENTURY
tain operations which he carried out by means of a child
of 6, 7 or 8 years of age whom he used as a clairvoyant,
a method not unusual at that time.
“ The choice of a child of tender years for this purpose
is said to be on account of his innocency and freedom
from contamination with outside influences. He is
to be clothed in white and upon his forehead is to be
placed a veil of white silk, very fine, to cover even the
eyes, on which must be written the word Uriel. He
who operateth shall do the same thing, but upon a veil
of black silk with the name ‘ Adam ’ written thereon.
Thou shalt make the child enter into the oratory and
place the fire and the perfume in the censer, and then
kneel before the altar, as so soon as the child shall have
seen the angel, thou shalt command him to tell thee,
and to look upon the altar and take the lamen or plate
of silver which thou shalt have placed there for that
purpose, and whatever the angel shall have written
thereon. 5 ’
Then follows an account of the training and initiation
of the magician. “ In age he should not be less than
25, nor more than 50.”
Among women, only virgins are suitable, but it is
Strongly advised that no important matter should be
communicated to them, because of the accidents
that they might cause by their curiosity and love of
talk.
“ Let each one speak his own language. The
magician’s bed chamber must be near the oratory and
the sheets and all linen changed every Sabbath eve. No
dog, cat or other animal shall enter, and eating, drinking
and sleeping should be in moderation and never super-
223
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
fluous. Especially shun drunkenness and flee public
dinners.”
The following inStruftions are given as regards
clothing:
“ Flee all vanity. You shall have two dresses and
you shall change them on the eve of each Sabbath,
brushing and perfuming them always beforehand.”
The preparations of the adept are to last six moons,
and then the place is selefted. “ If a dwelling place in
a town be used, an apartment should be chosen with
a window adjoining an uncovered terrace or balcony
on which a covered lodge or hut is to be ere&ed. The
floor of the terrace should be covered with river sand
to the depth of two fingers at least, and the day
after the ceremonies are said, the sand muSt be cast
into a secret place but not thrown into a river or
the sea.
“ A small wood is, however, to be preferred to a
house, in the midst of which the altar should be set and
covered with a hut of fine branches. The altar should
be of wood and hollow like a cupboard, wherein shall
be kept the two robes, the crown or mitre, the wand,
the holy oil, the girdle or belt and the perfume.”
A description of the robes worn by the magician
for full ceremonial is then given. It is to consist of
a shirt or tunic of linen, large and white, with sleeves.
Another robe will be of crimson or scarlet silk with
gold, and should not be longer than juSt to the knees,
with sleeves of similar Stuff. The girdle is to be of
silk, the same colour as the tunic, and the beautiful
crown for the head is to be a woven fillet of silk and
gold.
224
RECORDS OF MAGIC FROM THE FOURTH CENTURY
The following formula is given for the preparation
of the sacred oil :
“ Myrrh (in tears) i part, fine cinnamon 2 parts,
galingal \ part, and the half of the total weight of these
drugs of the best olive oil.” It is to be kept in a glass vial.
The perfume is to be made thus :
“ Take of incense (olibanum) in tears 1 part, sta&e
(Storax) \ part, lign. aloes \ part or cedar, rose, citron
or any odoriferous wood.” Reduce to powder and
mix well together. This is to be kept in a box. The
magician muSt also have a wand of almond-tree wood,
smooth and Straight, of about half an ell to six feet long.
All being thus prepared, the magician so clad, without
shoes, enters the oratory and begins the ceremonial
with the orison, after which he anoints himself with
the sacred oil, and also the vestments and all instruments.
Then he is to put on the white tunic, and proceed,
and await the angel to write with the sign on the silver
plate on the altar as described, with the child.
These ceremonies are to be performed seven days,
and on the period of the sixth moon be put to the test.
This begins with the conjurations to evoke the spirits
in visible form, and in “ a little while they will appear
and will swear to their symbols.”
Three different kind of demands can be made on
three successive days.
“ If during the invocation the spirits should appear
with tumult and insolence, fear nothing, neither give
way to anger.
“ Only show them the consecrated wand and if they
continue to make a disturbance, smite upon the altar
twice or thrice and all will be Still.”
Q 225
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Abraham records the names of the spirits that
may be summoned, which include the four princes and
superior spirits, Lucifer, Leviatan, Satan, and Belial,
also the sub-princes and servient spirits which number
in all over three hundred.
He firmly believed in guardian angels, and advises
that one should never take from such any symbol where¬
with to operate for an evil end. Should the magician
wish to perform his operations in a city, he adjures
him to take a house which is not overlooked by any¬
one, “ seeing/ 3 he States, “ that in this present day
(1458) curiosity is so Strong, that you ought to be upon
your guard. 33
The magician’s fee (for him who shall receive it)
was ten golden florins or their value, which he should
distribute to the poor.
He further remarks, that the angel will write on
the plate of silver as it were in drops of dew, the
symbol as you ought to make it, together with the
name of the spirit who would serve you.
To use it, “ first take the symbol in your hand, place
it upon the top of your head under your hat, and either
you will be secretly warned by the spirit, or he will
execute that which you have the intention of command¬
ing him to do. 33
This magician was apparently a pioneer in aviation,
for he gives a formula, “ To fly in the air and travel
anywhere, 33 that is to be carried out as follows : “ Name
the place whither unto you wish to travel and place
the symbol upon your head under the bonnet or hat,
but take well heed less the symbol fall from you through
negligence or want of caution. Do not journey at night
226
RECORDS OF MAGIC FROM THE FOURTH CENTURY
time unless necessity or some pressing reason thereto
compelleth you, but select the day time and that serene
and calm/’
In the 3rd book of the Sacred Magic, Abra-melin
gives all the symbols by means of which he says he
worked his wonders. They cover a wide range and
include, “ Things to happen in war,” “ How to know
all things paSt and future,” “ To cause any spirit to
pentaci.es
1. For all secrets of knowledge. 2. For calling the angels.
(From an MS. of the XIV century in the Bodleian Eibrary.)
(See page 228.)
appear,” “ To heal any disease,” “ For mirrors of glass
or crystal,” “ To make all metals,” “To transform
men into asses,” and “To cause a dead body to revive
and perform all the funftions which a living person
would do, during a space of seven years, by means of
the spirits.” With reference to books of magic, Abraham
says : “ Many ancient books have been lost. By these
symbols you can have many supposed extinft works
brought to you, but I could never copy them, because
227
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
the writing disappeared as fast as I wrote them, but I
was permitted to read some of them.” His magical
symbols consist chiefly of squares of letters arranged
as a double acrostic, some being
irregular in disposition and others
void. The user is warned, that
unless he is animated by the best
and purest motives he will find
them read terribly against him.
The key of the operation to
enjoy the vision of the angels,
was to place the symbols upon the
brow of the child and of him who
performed the operation.
In a manuscript on magic
written in the fourteenth century,
in the Bodleian Library, there are
two curious pentacles, one for
obtaining all secrets of know¬
ledge ” and the other for “ calling
the angels.” These are probably
the earliest of their kind known.
In another fragment on magic in the same library
written about 1450, there are three magical seals for
invoking five spirits who are called Fategan -f- Gagagan
-f- Bigan + Deigan + Usagan.
MAGICAI/ SEATS FOR IN¬
VOKING FIVE SPIRITS
(XV century.)
2*8
CHAPTER XXIV
THE “ CLAVICLE OR KEY OF SOLOMON ”-RITES, CERE¬
MONIES AND MYSTERIES OF CONJURATION
A MONG the existing works on magic, there is
probably none better known than the “ Clavicle
or Key of Solomon,” numerous copies of which
in manuscript are to be found in various great libraries
of Europe. They are written in English, French,
German and Italian. The texts vary, and the earliest
date from about the sixteenth century. There are
seven codices in the British Museum, moSt of which
were written between the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, and there are several others in the Bibliotheque
Nationale and the Bibliotheque de l’Arsenal in Paris, of
a later period.
Although Josephus mentions that, Solomon was the
author of magical works in which he recorded his
secrets that Hezekiah is supposed to have suppressed
because they were leading the people aStray, there is
no real evidence of his connexion with the Clavicle
associated with his name. It is more probable that the
treatise was compiled by Rabbinical writers about the
fourteenth century from ancient records, as there are
certain details of the ritual that appear to have come
down from an earlier period.
In the introductions to several of the codices, it is
229
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Stated that they were compiled from an ancient Hebrew
text which is now ioSt, but there is no record of such
a manuscript ever having been in existence. On account
of the early traditions it embodies, and the detail of
the rites and ceremonies of magic, it is undoubtedly
interesting, as the following epitome taken from a copy
of the work written by “ H. G. on April 8, 1572,”
now in the British Museum, 1 will show.
It is entitled, “ The worke of Salomon the Wise,
called his Clavicle revealed by King Ptolomeus ye
Grecian.”
It consists of ten parts which are headed as follows :
1. Of ye hours and points necessary in experiments
and arts mathematical and magical.
2. Of all arts magical or of nigromancy or of certain
spirits how they shall be ordered.
3. How and what manner the pentacles be made.
4. How experiments of these should be ordered.
5. Of experiments of invisibility.
6. Of experiments of love.
7. Of experiments of grace and favour.
8. Of experiments of hatred and deStruftion.
9. Of experiments of mockes and dire&ion.
10. Of experiments extraordinary that be forbidden of
good men.
“ The beginning of our Clavicle is to fear God and
to honour him with contrition of heart with great
devotion and to worship him.
“ To practise the right day, and time, is very essential
if you will find anything of the sciences. You mu$t have
a sure order of days, the changing of the moon and of
1 MS. SI. 3847.
230
MAGIC
CIRCLE WITH A MAGICIAN EVOKING SPIRITS
From a MS. XVI century. British Museum.
CEREMONIES AND MYSTERIES OF CONJURATION
hours. Next the position of the planets must be con¬
sidered and all this must be prepared.
“ Then take the sword that you make the circle, and
make a cross in the air, and put your right hand with
the sword upon the pentacles being on your breaSt,
and say with a low voice the oration with the exorsyza-
tion, but before so doing, fumigate yourself and your
fellows in the circle and sprinkle yourself with water.
“ Let the conjurer sit down in his place and comfort
his fellows in the circle and say the oration and con¬
juration, then the devils will fear and by the virtue
of the pentacles will come to do your will.”
The pentacles have innumerable virtues, and for a
description of how they were made see page 163.
The ceremony began with prayers which were said
in Latin, first kneeling and then uprising. They were
followed by the conjuration, which was first said facing
the Ea^t, and South, and then in the North and WeSt,
and the spirit which you wished to call was then named.
“ If the spirits do not then appear, looking up into the
air, making upon your forehead the sign of ye Holy
Cross saying, e In nomine patris et filii et spiritus Sanfti.
Amen.’ Then bless the place with the sign of the
cross, beating the air with your hand, make a hissinge
and repeat the prayer toward the WeSt and the North.
Then if they (the spirits) be bound in chains of iron they
will come, except they be in some greevous place or
holden, or else they will send some certain messenger
whereby you shall know what they will do. If they do
not appear, let the conjurer rise up boldly and Strongly
and comfort his fellows, and let him beat the air toward
the four parts of ye world and Standing in the middle of
231
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
the circle go up on his knees, and his fellows with him
kneeling and holding the book let him say the prayer.
Then if they will appear, show them the pentacle and they
will talk with thee and grant thy petition.”
Of experiments of love :
“ Whoever will make or prepare anything upon any
woman, he may make an image of wax. Then say over
the wax when it is prepared, the charms, c Venus eSt
AStroposuaStro.” When that is done you shall form your
image and if it be necessary to write any other thing up
on the image with a needle or a pen and if it be necessary
to fumigate the image, let a fume be made and hold the
image over it and say, c O tu Orions, etc.’
“ If ye woman come in that hour it is well, if she
come not, then put that image under thy bed’s head
and ye shall see before the third day great marvels.
“ The same can be done with an apple. Prepare that
day and hour and have an apple fair in thy hand in some
secret place, and before you take it from the tree sprinkle
it with water, and fumigate it, afterwards say unto
the fruit, c Deus qui fedSti Adam et Eve, etc.’ 55
Then follow directions how the conjurer should
prepare himself:
“ He shall go into his secret chamber and Strip himself,
and have a bath prepared, and let him take the water
and put it on the top of his head so that it may run down
unto his feet, saying, £ Domine Jesud Afterwards
wash wholly in that water and put on linen gear next
your body, and abstain for three days from all unclean¬
ness and say the oration. The novice muSt abstain from
great eating and drinking for the space of nine days
before his inception.”
232
CEREMONIES AND MYSTERIES OF CONJURATION
The following is a description of the vestments or
garments to be worn by the magician :
“ Upon the white vestments, woollen garments on
which the pentacles be sown with a needle.
“ Let them have white hosen, and upon those hosen
written the following signs :
,1—h - O- rr-txCl • ^ m C • ^—+H— C. '
“ Let your shoes be of white leather, whereon write
the same signs, and the hose and shoes muSt be made
within the time of custody within nine days.
“ The Master should have a crown of virgin paper on
the which crown let there be four names written:
AGLA. AGLAY. AGLATHA. AHLAOTH. with
ink or some other colour in capital letters and these
characters:
“ After that, fumigate all the garments and sprinkle
with water.
“ All the vestments muSt be linen and if these were
priest’s garments they were better.
“ The places where the arts maySt be done.
“ The places muSt be hid and secret or desert, far from
the habitations of men. Let no woman come there in any
case.
<c Let the first scholar bear the censer and incense,
making fragrant savours. Let the second bear paper
and books, pen and inks and spices of fumigation.
233
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
The third bear the knife. The fourth bear the pots,
wherein they put fire of the coles in which the fumigation
of the spice muSt be put.
“ Then the master shall take the knife or the instrument
wherein he maketh the circle beSt. Let him make the
circle as he should fumigate it, and cross it with water
before he begin any invocation. The Master shall have
a bell, and toll four times towards the four parts of the
world, with four paternosters. On that bell should be
written c A ’ ‘ V ? ‘O’ ‘ B ’ c Y ’ and these charafters :
SI3EZ2- LN • (]} #
“ Of knives and swords.
cc It is necessary in operations of artes to have swords
and knives and other instruments of which circles may
be made and other necessary operations. The knife
should have a white haft of ivory, tempered in the
blood of a goose and the juice of pimpernell, and let
it be made on a certain day and hour. Write on the haft
with a pen :
and fumigate it and sprinkle it with water and say the
conjuration and put him in a silk cloth.
234
CEREMONIES AND MYSTERIES OF CONJURATION
“ If there be Staves or roddes they ought to be virginal
and treated likewise.
CHARACTERS FOR STAVES AND RODS
“ If swords be necessary let them be scoured and
clean, and clean from the first hour. Let them be
fumigated and put in a fair place in silk cloth.
“ The form and fashion of them is :
“ Let them be of virgin iron and never occupied in
any work.”
How the circles are to be made :
“ When you be in the place, take the knife in your
hand and fasten him in the earth in the middle of the
place where ye would make your circle. Then take a
cord of length of 9 feet, both parts from the East, from
the weSt, from the south and ye north and put a sign
and in this sign make a circle, and beyond the circle
of the art make another circle a foot wide, always
leaving one gate before another, and beyond the circle
of art make pentacles with the names of our Saviour, and
about the circle that is beyond, make crosses and beyond
that circle make a square. In the summit of every
235
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
corner let a little roundle be made wherein the pot of
coles and spices shall be put, and let one sword be
fastened in the ground a foot behind. Let the Master
of the art then take his followers and bring them through
the outer into the inner circle. Let them follow towards
the eaSt. Let each one of them have a clean sword in
his hand by the pommel. Let the Master then go out
of the circle and kindle the pots and put in the spice of
fumigations. Let him have a grosse candle in his hand
and let him light it and put it in a lanthorn. Then
let him reform the circle again and close the outer ring,
and take the bell as before and fumigate himself and his
followers and sprinkle them with water and hyssop.
c< After that, let the Master begin to say. Standing in
the middle of the circle with a knife fastened at his foot,
and there toll the bell toward the eaSt.
“ Of Fumigations.
“ There be divers fumigations in artes, some odori¬
ferous, some Stinkinge. If it be odoriferous take in¬
cense, Lign, Aloes, Saffron, Mirre, and Muske, and say
over it, c Deus Abraham, Deus Issaak, Deus Jacob/
“ After that, sprinkle them with Holy Water and
put it in a new silk cloth until the work with it be done,
when you will put it in the fire of new coles and in new
pots, vitreous both within and without, and say over it ye
conjuration of ye fire. That being done put the pot on
ye fire and you will make sweet smelling savour.
“ If it needeth a Stinckinge fumigation, as brimstone,
hazar, eazay and other foul spices, say over it, c Adonay-
dalmay salmay saday ’ invocation, sprinkle it with water
and put it in a pipe, and put that in new cloth of silk
and there let it be until ye work.
236
CEREMONIES AND MYSTERIES OF CONJURATION
“ Then make a das sell of vervain, fennel, valerian,
sage, mint, marjoram, basil and bind all these herbs
in a rod of hazel that muSt be cut off at one cut with
Arthana (the knife), and cause to be sung over it St
John’s gospel, then write upon the rod of hazel with
a needle point of iron.”
• Yh • mm • S S ^ S SS ^ -IJe- Q
C ■%•£/ "C'Sr—v '^' e '0-' t . LI
-jd • jf - 5
The magician’s pen, ink and colours :
“ When ye should write any scripture necessary for
artes, take a live gander and plucke off a feather of the
right winge, and say in the taking of, Arbog, Narbog,
Nazay, Tamaray.
“ Afterwards mark the pen with Arthana and fumigate
and sprinkle with water, put him in a silk cloth and write
on it with a needle c Joth, Heth He, Van, Anosbias,
Ja, J a , J a Antroneton, Sabaoth.’ If you will, write
with saffron or azure. You may write with the blood
of a Becke or Dormouse taken alive and pricked with
a needle.
“Ye penne for writing with the blood muSt be of ye
right feathers of a swallow, the first feather that is
Strongest.”
“ Of virgin paper (skin) :
“ Take the paper unborn of any beaSt.”
“ Virgin wax or earth for making images or candles :
“ Take virgin wax of bees that never made fruit.
z 37
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Virgin earth is that under the earth near the water
like clay/’
“ Sacrifices :
“ Some sacrifice black beasts or white, some black
birds or white, some of the blood of them, some sacrifice
meat and drink, but such must be pure and virginall.
The sacrifice of meats and drink muSt be made on a
table without the circle, ready with a tablecloth, with
bread, wine and water and cock’s meat roasted. They
mu$t be fumigated and sprinkled with Holy Water.”
“ Of the silk cloth :
e< If any thing be consecrated by any occasion it
muSt be put in a silk cloth or white linen. Write on it:
. owwao. | a c 'Y-%
These briefly were the ritual, prayers and implements
employed by the practitioner of magic of the sixteenth
century, according to the “ Clavicle of Solomon.”
It is a curious blending of magic and religion, and
it can well be believed that many of those who practised
it were men who, if they did not deceive themselves,
succeeded in duping others. To some of the codices
several formulas and experiments are added. Thus in
a manuscript in the Lansdowne collection there is a
formula, “ How to make the Magic Garters,” which
would undoubtedly be desirable articles at the present
day.
They were to be made by taking “ the skin of a Stag
sufficient to make two hollow tubular garters, and before
Sticking them up, mark them with certain characters
with the blood of a hare killed on the 25 th of June, and
238
CEREMONIES AND MYSTERIES OF CONJURATION
having filled the garters with green mugwort gathered
on the same day before sunrise, thou shalt put in the
two ends of each the eye of a barbel.
“ Before using get up before sunrise and wash them
in a brook and place one on each leg above the knee.
Then take a short rod of holm-oak cut on the 25 th
of June, turn in the direction thou wisheSt to go, write
upon the ground the name of the place, and commence
the journey and thou wilt accomplish it in a few days
without fatigue.
“ When thou wisheSt to Stop, thou haSt only to say
‘ Amech ’ and beat the ground with the wand, and in¬
continently thou shalt be on firm ground.”
The Magic Carpet of Arabian Nights fame is also
mentioned in this manuscript, and is recommended
“ to transport one to any appointed spot for discovering
treasure.” . It had to be woven of white and new wool.
Further instruments mentioned include a short lance,
a scimitar, a sickle, a dagger and poniard, a knife called
Andamco, with a curved blade, Staves of elderwood,
cane, or rosewood, wands of hazel or nut tree and the
Burin or graver.
There is also a formula for making the “ cleansing
hyssop water ” by filling a vessel of brass or lead with
clear spring water and adding salt.
“ A bunch of vervain, fennell, lavender, sage, valerian,
mint, garden basil, rosemary and hyssop gathered in
the day and hour of Mercury, bound together with a
thread, spun by a young maiden, when dipped in water
and sprinkled, will chase away all phantoms that shall
hinder or annoy.”
There are several manuscripts of the seventeenth
239
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
century called “ Lemegeton or the Lesser Key of Solo¬
mon ” which are also said to have been translated from
the Hebrew, and which deal with all kinds of spirits,
both good and evil. One includes the rites of Lucifer,
Bel and other bad spirits, and conjurations of 72 chief
devils and their ministers, and the latter part called the
“ Pauline Art ” deals with the “ angels of the Hours ”
of the day and night, and other “ choirs of spirits.”
The use of the name of Jesus and Mary in some of
the prayers of the ritual show that they were introduced
in Christian times.
It has been asserted that the inclusion of the Divine
names of the Almighty in the ceremonial of the magician,
was in the hope of securing power and virtue from
heaven, to control the evil spirits, their utterance being
supposed to make the devils tremble and place them
at the will of the magician.
240
CHAPTER XXV
“ THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC ”-“ THE BOOKE OF HIDDEN
PHILOSOPHY ”- C£ THE BOOKE OF THE SEVEN IMAGES ”
T HERE is an interesting manuscript, written in
the early part of the seventeenth century, by an
unknown author, who makes an attempt to classify
magic into what he calls “ Nine Tomes,” which he
divides as follows :
“ The first is called Hagoge or a book of the in¬
stitutions of Magic.
“ The second is microcosmicall Magic, that is, what
is effected *by spiritual wisdom and how.
“ The third is Olympicall Magic. How a man worketh
and suffers by Olympicall spirits.
“ Fourth, Hesiode’s and Homer’s Magic which
teacheth works by the spirits called Casodivills as if
they were not enemies to mankind.
“ Fifth, Romane or Sibbiline Magic, which worketh
with defending spirits. This is the do&rine of the
Druids.
“ Sixth, Pythagoras, his Magic, which only works
with spirits to whom the doftrine of Arts is given, as
natural philosophy. The art of physick, mathematics,
alchemy and the like arts.
“ Seventh, the Magic of Apollonius and the like,
joining with Romane which hath power over the spirits
which are enemies to mankind.
R
241
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ Eighth, the Magic of Hermes which is the Egyptian
Magick, and is not far from Divine Magick. This pro-
duceth gods of every kinde which dwell in the Temples.
“ Nineth, Wisdom which dependeth on the word of
God alone, and is called propheticall magick or wisdom/'
The writer declares, that “ man is ordained a magician
from the wombe of his mother that would be a true
magician. Others that have taken upon them this
office are unhappy."
He goes on to reveal the “ Seven chief secrets of
Magic," which he States are : “ i. The curing of all dis¬
eases in seven days, either by characters or natural things,
or by the superior spirits with the help of God. 2. To
know how to be able to produce life at pleasure unto
what age soever, to wit a corporal life and natural.
3. To know how to have obedience of the creatures
in the elements which are in form of personal spirits.
Also in form of pigmies, of satirs, of the nymphs, of
the driads. 4. To confer with the intelligence of all
things visible and invisible, 5. To know how to
govern oneself until the end perfixed by God. 6. To
know God and Christ and His Holy Spirit. This is
the perfeftion of our microcosm. 7. To be regenerated
that he may be king of Henoch the inferior of the
world."
This apparently epitomizes the dreams of the philo¬
sopher who was a believer in magic.
The “ Seal of the Secrets " is to be made thus :
“ Make a circle. Place A. in the centre. B.C. in
the EaSt. G.B. in the North, D.E. in the WeSt.
E.B. in the South. Divide each quarter into seven
parts which maketh 28 parts. Then divide again every
242
“THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC ” AND OTHER MSS.
part by four being 112 parts in all, and so many true
secrets there are to be revealed. This circle so divided
is the SEALE OF THE SECRETS of all the
world.”
44 The Study of all wisdom is in the EaSt. The WeSt
is for force and Strength. The South for culture and
husbandry. The North for a rugged and hard life.
44 Magic is twofold. In the first division thereof,
the one sort is of God which he giveth to the creatures
of Light. The other is like unto it but it is the gift
of the creatures of Darkness. And this magic is two¬
fold, the one tending to a good end, as when the Prince
of Darkness endeavours to do well to the creature
(God helping forward). The other a bad end, as
when God permitted such to be deceived magically
unto the punishing of the bad and unto their
hurt.”
The writer believed in the use of the crystal for
communicating with spirits, and next describes how
“To call the good angells into a criStall Stone or looking
glasse in thine own sight. Doe as follows :
44 First bless thyself in the name of the Father -f- Son
-f- Holy GhoSt. Then repeat a prayer to be followed
by the invocation. 4 O you good Angells of God,
only and only, come haStyly and tarry not, make your
personal appearance visible to my sight in this CriStall
Stone.’ This is to be repeated three times. Then
when they have appeared make your demands.
44 Thou maySt call them through a little child, thus :
44 After the prayer, make a cross on the forehead of the
child with the thumb of the right hand, saying a Pater¬
noster. Then with a new pen write in the midst of the
M3
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Stone or glass with oylle ollive this name, Hermes. Then
set the child between thy legs, thou sitting in a chair, and
lett him say the Lord’s Prayer.
“ Then pray, c Send unto us three of thy goode
angells from thy right hand of glory into the midst of
this CriStall Stone or Glasse. To the visible sight of
this child, maide and virgin.
“ Let them make true answers, true judgement and
true appearance, revealing unto us all things.” REPEAT
THE PRAYER THREE TIMES.
“ Then shall three bright angells with crowns of gold
on their heads appear to the child, who will answer and
show thee by the child anything thou shall require.
The angells being once appeared, will not depart the
glasse or Stone untill the Sunne be sett except you
license them.”
The following is the license to be said “ For Spirits to
depart ” : “In his name that you came goe againe.
The Father with me, the Sonne with me and the Holy
GhoSt betwixt us and be for ever. Amen.”
The writer then gives a number of curious formulas
and conjurations for various operations, the first being,
“ How to know if a sick person shall recover or die,
and if medicine is to be administered.”
To ascertain this, “ the angels are besought, naming
the person, town, parish, and Street in which he lives and
his trade or profession, thus : Name-is dangerously
ill, he complains of extreme pain in his side, his back, his
belly, or he was taken lame in his leggs. 4 Tell us O
angells of God whether this man will live or dye.’ If
they say he shall recover, ask whether you shall do it,
or whether it must be done by physick or not. If they
2,4 4
■ TT
“THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC ” AND OTHER MSS .
say for physick, first ask of what disease and what disease
they think it is ?
“ Then ask, whether such a medicine wilt recover him
or not ? ”
Should the magician be called upon to remove a spell
ca$t upon a person by a witch, he is direded to begin
with the following conjuration :
“ Say ‘ You angels of God, there is a man or woman
called-in the county of-upon such a day was
suddenly taken in such a manner. Tell us ye angels of
God what was the cause of this sickness or infirmity.
Was it witchcraft ? or no ? ’ If they say witchcraft, you
shall say, c I charge you to call us the witch or witches
with their assistants which doth moleSt or trouble—
call them I say in this glasse.’
“ They having appeared say :
“ c O thou cursed and damned witch, and thou spirit of
witchcraft and sorcery, assistant to this hellish and
cursed creature which doth hale, pull, terrific and torment
the body or carcase of-of-in the county of-
open your ears and hear, and be obedient and do my will
faithfully and instantly. I do bind and charge you
and command you upon paine and perill of your present
and everlasting damnation, that you, neither any other
wicked witch, spirit or fairie do at any time hereafter
to the end of the world, meddle or make any more, but
you let be this Christian man in peace and quiet.’ ”
The operation given for discovering a thief is reminis¬
cent of the charm Still pradised in some parts of the
country on All Hallow-e’en. The conjurer is direded
to write the names of all the suspeded on paper generally,
and put every name written in a piece of clay and put
*45
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
them into a basin of fair water, “ Then say a Pater¬
noster and a conjuration. The name of the man or
woman which have Stolen these things may rise up out
of the water. Then say Psalm 58, Psalm 43 and Psalm
77 concluding each with ‘ Glory be to the Father.’ ”
That the writer of this manuscript had been or was a
prieSt, is evident from the portions of Christian liturgy
introduced into the conjurations, and from his description
of the vestments to be worn by the operator. He States :
“ Let it be a priest’s garment, if not of cleane linnen.
On it have a pentacle made on the day and hour of
Mercury, the Moon increasing, made on parchment of
a kidd’s skin, but first say a mass and sprinkle it with
baptism water.”
The following prayer is to be said when the vesture
is put on :
“ Alncor, Almacor, Amides, Theodomas, Almitor. O
Lord by the merits of the Holy Angells I will put on the
vestments of Health. That this which I desire I may
bring to effeft through thee, O most holy Adonay,
whose kingdom endureth through all ages for ever.
Amen.
“ All the prayers, conjurations and exorcisms having
been rightly performed there will appear infinite visions
and phantasmes playing on organs and all kinds of
musical instruments.
“ After these things thou shalt see infinite bowmen,
with infinite number of horrible beaSts, which seem as
if they would devour our fellows, but notwithstanding,
fear nothing. The prieSt or the Master holding his hand
on the pentacle adjures them to depart.
“ These things being finished, there will be a hissing
246
“THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC” AND OTHER MSS.
noise in the four corners and thou shalt see immediately
great motions. Then immediately they will come in
their proper forms and thou shalt see them nigh the
2 47
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
circle. Show them the pentacle arid uncover it, then
welcome them, thus,
“ 4 Ye are welcome Spirits and most noble Kings, for we
have called you by him to whom every knee boweth of
things in Heaven, Earth and Hell, for as much as we
bind you that you remain affable and visible here before
the circle as long as my pleasure is, and not without my
license to depart.’ ”
In the “ Booke of Hidden Philosophy or the Magical
Ceremonies,” written by Cornelius Agrippa, a famous
magician and alchemist of the sixteenth century, he
begins by Stating that “ the name of the good spirit of
every man is called his genius, which we have to find
out.” To do this he gives a detailed description of the
appearance of the spirits and the various planets through
which they are influenced.
He commences with the “ Familiar formes of the spirits
of Sol.”
“ They appear with a very large and great body,
sanguin and fatt, with a golden colour about the dyed
cloud. Their motion is the glittering of Heaven and their
sign is to trouble or move sweat in him that calleth them.”
Their particular forms are, “ A king having a sceptre
riding on a Lion. A King wounded. A queen with a
sceptre. A bird, a lion, a cock, a garment of saffron
colour or golden.
“ The familiar forms for the spirits of Venus are a faire
body of a middle feature, amiable and pleasant in counten¬
ance, of white or green colour, gilt from above. Their
motion is like to a clear Star.
“ For their signe, maides will be seen playing without
the circle.
248
“THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC” AND OTHER MSS.
“ Their particular formes are, a maide fairly apparelled,
a naked maid, a shee goat, a camel, a shee doe or a white
or green garment.
“ The invocation of the holy and Divine names,”
says Agrippa, “ with the signing of the holy seals, which
tend unto san&ification to God, these, added to a
religious life, are necessary to the magician. There¬
for thou shalt take out that prayer of Solomon in the
dedication of the Temple, as thou art about to con¬
secrate any place or circle.
“ Thou shalt bless the place with blessed waters and
fumigation, remembering in blessing the mysteries what
they are, the sanftification of the throne of God, the
mountain of Sinai, the ark of the covenant and the Holy
of Holies.
“ In consecrating the sword we remember that of the
gospell. He which hath two coats in the II book of
Machabees.”
Agrippa’s dire&ions for “ the setting out of the Place
for the performance of magical ceremonies,” are as
follows :
“ The first is that a clean place be chosen, faSt shut,
quiet and remote from noise. In this place sett a table or
altar covered with a clean white linen cloth placed towards
the EaSt, and upon it put the two consecrated wax candles
set burning. In the middle of the Altar sett the plates
of metal or holy paper covered with fine linnen. Also
thou shalt have the precious fumigation provided and
ready, and the pure oyle of anoynting, both being con¬
secrated. Also the censer being placed at the head of the
altar, which being kindled and the fire blessed thou shalt
perfume every day as long as thou prayeSt.
249
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ Thou shall have a long garment of white linnen, shut
before and behind, which may cover the whole body and
shall bind it with a like girdle.”
He gives us a Striking picture of the magician thus
robed, Standing with a “ headpiece like a mitre made of
fine linnen on his head,” on which a plate of metal was
fastened, being gold or
gilded with the in¬
scription, Tetragram-
maton. “ Then they
muSt go in barefooted
and when they are en¬
tered into the Holy
Place, sprinkle it with
Holy Water, then thou
shalt perfume upon the
altar, afterwards on
bended knees thou shalt
worship before the
altar. At the sunrising
thou mayeSt enter the
Holy Place, after the
rite sprinkle thyself,
then perfuming thou
shalt sign thyself on the forehead with Holy Oil, anoynt
the eyes, doing all these consecrated things with some
prayer.”
The discovery of hidden treasure appears to have been
a frequent question brought to the magician to solve, and
certain spirits were invoked for this purpose. Among
them was one called Beasphaves, who was said to appear
in the likeness of “ a faire man or faire woman who will
250
1
2
1. MAGICIAN’S PENTACRE OF GREAT
POWER FOR INVOKING SPIRITS.
2. MAGICIAN’S KNIFE.
(From an MS., XVI century.)
“THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC ” AND OTHER MSS.
come at all times.” “ He will tell thee/’ says Agrippa,
“ of hidden treasures. He will bring thee gold or silver.
He will transport thee from one country to another
without any harm of body or soule.”
To conjure this desirable spirit the ceremonies lasted
three days, and on the third day, “ when it is dark and
when the Starres shine he will appear.” The magician
must, however, prepare himself by first “ bathing in a
clear well-spring and be clothed in clean white clothes,
and bear with him ink and penne, and in a secret place
write -f- Agla -f- and he muSt have a thong of lion’s or
hart’s skin, and make thereof a girdle and write the holy
names of God all about, and in the ends certain signs.”
The secret of certain images or figures made to repre¬
sent each day of the week, and used for special magical
purposes, are revealed in a manuscript called ‘‘ The
Booke of the Seven Images of the dayes, that Philoso¬
phers that were blessed knew and understood whereby
to have their desires. But these should not be showed
nor taught but to good men and secret, therefor take
heed. BEWARE AND PRONE.”
For Sunday, the image was made of gold i part,
copper and yellow wax. When finished it was inscribed
with the sign of the angels. It muSt be made when the
moon was increasing in August or April. For Mondays,
the image was composed of silver and white wax. For
Tuesdays, of red brass (copper) and red wax. For
Wednesdays, of lead. For Thursdays, of brass, the
colour of saffron and yellow wax. For Fridays, of white
wax; and for Saturdays, of clean pitch.
These images were employed in conjurations, or as
charms for love and also to breed discord between man
251
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
and wife. For the laSt purpose the name of the man
was engraved on the heart of the image, also the name of
the woman, and it was then hung before the Stars and
smote with a twig of olive tree while the conjuration
was said. It was then burnt before the gate of the
house where they passed by each day.
This book also contains an account of 44 the Roman
Secret, touching the spirit called Sathan by which the
Romans did understand of things present, paSt and to
come.” This invocation is interesting as it appears to
have come down to the sixteenth century from Roman
times, although it is obvious that it has been adapted to
Christian ideas. The operation is thus described :
“ The spirit of this invocation doth appear in a basin,
and to be wrought every day except the Lord’s Day and
the double feaSt days.
“ First beware that thou be not defiled with luxury
nor wrapped in any deadly sin, and be thou fasting and
have a fair chamber, and take with thee a fair and bright
well-furnished basin and have there IV wax candles,
and make them fast on the brim of the basin and upon
every candle write these names, Moses + Aaron -f-
Jacob + Vsion + Tetragrammaton + Moriaton
Then take the sword and write opposite these words,
Jesus Nazarus Rex in deorum + Jesus of Nazareth, King
of the Jews, have mercy upon us, and make the circle
with the sword and sitting in the midst of the circle,
turning thee first towards the South putting the basin
out of the circle once against thee, and perfuming the
basin with maStik and lig. aloes, say the gospel and 4
conjurations. Then put out the candles after the fourth
conjuration and fumigate the basin as before. Then
252
“THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC” AND OTHER MSS.
say, ‘ I conjure thee to appear to me in the form or figure
of a monk in white without any hurt or without any
fear or astonishment to me and that thou shall tell me
the whole truth I shall demand. By the virtue of all
these and by the virtue of all the names of God. FIAT
+ FIAT + FIAT. Amen/
“ Then the spirit will appear to thee and let him declare
the truth of everything thou shalt enquire of him.”
The manuscript concludes with some charms, such as
the following :
“ If any be in danger of witchcraft let them carry
about them Stitch-wort or pimpernel.”
“ To goe invisible. Sow beans. Take a bean and put
it into the heart of 'a black cat being reddy roasted, then
bury it in a dunghill and when they be ripe carry one
about, and thou shalt be invisible. Or take a piece
of lead and write thereon, Athatos, Stivos, Them
Pantocraton and put it under thy left foot.”
“To have conferance with a fayre, you muSt Stroll
underneath an elder tree when the sun is at the highest,
and Stand near the tree and say Magram, Magrano, three
times, and you shall see a flower spring like yellow gold,
and when you have it you shall want nothing. There
will also appear a faire woman. Demand of her what
thou wilt have and thou shalt have it.”
A curious recipe for making a very deadly poison
shows the knowledge possessed by the praftitioner of
magic, of mineral as well as animal toxic substances in
the sixteenth century. It is as follows :
“ Take ye venom of a toad 2 02s.
“ Arsenicke 1 02. 1 drachm.
“ Teeth of a li2ard or as many as you can get.
2 53
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ Ye shavings of Mule’s hoof 3 drachms that has been
beaten to death.
“ Put these in a crucible, calcine them, then pro j eft
upon copper. ”
The use that was to be made of this compound is not
mentioned, but it is evident, from the quantity of arsenic
it contained, that a very minute quantity would cause
death.
Another method of discovering hidden treasure is
described in a manuscript of the fourteenth century.
This experiment is to “ disclose if there be any treasure
hid in any place where it is thought to be or not.”
“ Take several hazel rods of one year growing and write
on them this name ELOY, and put them in the place
where the treasure is thought to be late in the evening,
and take them away in the morning. Then take that rod
which be broken or otherwise than it was before, and
under that rod in the ground where it Stood is the
treasure or else near that place.”
A useful charm which was no doubt frequently em¬
ployed was:
“ To make money spent to return.”
To do this, “ make a purse of mole’s skin and write
in it Belzebub, Zetus Caiphas, with the blood of a batt
and lay a good penny in the high way for the space of
three days and three nights and after put in the purse
and when you will give it say, Vade et Vine.”
The following rules as to “ what a magician must
know ” are given in a manuscript of the sixteenth century.
They are Stated to have been laid down by Cyprian,
Bishop of Antioch, who, according to tradition, was a
praftitioner of magic.
*54
“ THE NINE TOMES OF MAGIC ” AND OTHER MSS .
cc i. The Mailer muSt have faith and doubt not in his
work.
“ 2. He muSt be secret and betray not the secrets of
his art but to his fellows and to them of his counsel.
“ 3. He muSt be Strong minded, severe and not fearful.
“ 4. He muSt be clean in conscience, penetent for his
A very powerful charm to be worn as a protection He that beareth this sign
against devils and all their work. To be written about him shall be holy
in ink on virgin parchment. XV century. in every need and
necessity. XV century.
sins, never willing to return to them again so far forth
as God shall give him grace.
“ 5. He must know the reigning of the planets and the
times meet to work.
“ 6. He muSt lack none of his instruments, and muSt
speak all things plainly and diStinftly. He muSt make his
circle in a clean air and due time.
“ Whoso observes these rules, by God’s grace shall
not miss but obtain his purpose.”
2 5 5
CHAPTER XXVI
THE GRIMOIRES OR HANDBOOKS OF BLACK MAGIC
D URING the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
several small handbooks were printed and cir¬
culated in France and Italy professing to record
the true magical ritual. They consist mainly of a col¬
lection of nonsensical formulas, and were written for
popular consumption and to pander to the taStes of the
curious.
Although largely fictitious, some of them bear evidence
of having been founded on portions of earlier works,
thus the 44 Grimorium Verum ” or book of Black Magic,
printed in French, is a quaint mixture of 44 The Clavicle
of Solomon ” and some fantastic jargon written about the
middle of the eighteenth century.
According to the title page, its author was 44 Alibeck
the Egyptian/’ and it was printed in 44 Memphis in
1517” ! Another little book of the same character is
entitled £C True Black Magic,” while the 44 Grand Grim-
oire ” which is inscribed, 44 printed from an MS. in 1522,
signed Antinio Venitiana del Rabbina,” appears to be of
Italian origin.
All these little treatises are badly printed on poor
paper and evidently written by men who had but little
knowledge of the subjeCti
The 44 Book of True Black Magic ” observes, that the
256
THE GRIMOIRES OF BLACK MAGIC
bath is mo£t necessary to magical art. It muSt be taken
on the final day of the faSt, and the magician muSt bathe
himself from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet
with warm exorcized water, a measure probably very
necessary at the time.
With reference to vestments, Peter de Abano is quoted
and recommends a priest’s garment or alb, but, according
to the Jewish rites, all the robes were to be of linen
cloth, the thread of which muSt be spun by a young maid.
Shoes and hat were to be of white leather, with the
magical char afters written thereon in cinnabar mixed
with gum water, and with the pen of the art.
According to these treatises, the material of which
the magic wand was composed varied. One States that
the Staff should be of cane, and the wand of hazel, both
virgin, while another declares the wands should be of
wood from trees that have never borne fruit, the first
being cut from an elder tree and the second from a hazel.
It should be 19I inches long, and on the ends two pointed
Steel caps should be placed, made from the Steel blade
of the sacrificial knife, and the Steel ends when fixed muSt
be magnetized with a loadstone. This wand is described
as a “ MoSt priceless Treasure of the Light.”
For the sacrifice, the viftim should be a kid, dog, cat
or hen or whatsoever was necessary to invoke the devil.
The signature to a paft muSt be written with the blood
of the operator, but the ink for writing should be
prepared as follows :
66 Take gall nuts 10 ozs.. Green copperas 3 ozs., Rock
Alum or Gum Arabic 3 ozs. Reduce to fine powder and
place in a new glazed earthen pot with river water.
Then take sprigs of fern, gathered on St John’s Eve, and
s 257
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
vine twigs cut in the full moon of March. Then make
a fire of virgin paper, and when the water boils the ink
will be made/’
The silken cloth to preserve the instruments clean and
pure could, be of any colour, except brown or black, the
characters to be inscribed upon it being written “ with
pigeon’s blood and a male goose quill.”
The forms in which the infernal spirits were said to
appear is fully described and somewhat amusing.
“ Lucifer manifests himself in the shape of a comely
boy. When angered he has a ruddy countenance, but
there is nothing monstrous in his appearance.”
Beelzebub occasionally appears in repulsive shapes,
such as “ a misshapen calf, or a goat with a long tail or
a gigantic fly. He howls like a wolf.”
“ AStaroth is sometimes of black and white colour,
usually as a human figure and occasionally in the likeness
of an Ass ! His breath is foul, and the magician muSt
defend his face with his ring.”
“ Belial appears in the shape of a beautiful angel,
seated in a chariot of fire, and speaks in a pleasant voice.”
“ Beleth, a terrible and mighty king, appears riding
on a pale horse preceded by all manner of musicians.
He is very furious when first summoned, a silver ring
muSt be worn on the middle finger of the left hand, which
muSt be held against the face.”
The “ Grand Grimoire ” says that the magician, or
KarciSt as he is sometimes called, muSt purchase a blood¬
stone, which he muSt carry on him as a proteffion from
accident and the machinations of the spirits. Then he
muSt buy a virgin kid which muSt be decapitated on the
third day of the moon. Before the sacrifice, a garland of
258
POWERS OK EVIL
OPHIS AND SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST
From Barrett's 1 Magus.'
THE GRIMOIRES OF BLACK MAGIC
vervain must be placed round its neck below the head
and tied with a green ribbon. The sacrifice muSt be
offered on the place of evocation, a desolate spot free
from interruption.
With the right arm bare to the shoulder, and with a
blade of fine Steel, and having made a fire of wood, the
operator makes his offering, burning the body of the
animal, but preserving the skin to form the round or
grand KabbaliStic circle in which he muSt Stand later.
On the great night, he muSt take his rod, goatskin, the
bloodstone (ematille), two crowns of vervain, two
candlesticks, two candles of virgin wax made by a virgin
girl and daily blessed.
He muSt also take a new Steel and two flints and suffi¬
cient tinder to kindle a fire, also half a bottle of brandy
(this is to feed the flames ), some blessed incense and
camphor, and four nails from the coffin of a dead
child. Then the grand KabbaliStic circle is to be
drawn and the evocation begun.
In the “ Grimoire of Honorius,” which exists in
manuscript, there is a further description of certain rites
said to be conne&ed with the praflice of the Black Arts ;
they are mostly too absurd for repetition, but they are
interesting as showing the tendency at this period to form
a perverted ritual similar to those used in the des¬
criptions of the “ Black Mass.”
“ The slaughter of a black cock, and the extraftion
of the eyes and tongue and heart,” are part of one
ceremony. The Holy Elements are introduced and a
“ Mass of Angels ” is to be said, writing is to be made
with consecrated sacramental wine as the “ Blood of
Christ.”
259
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
As an instance of the ridiculous chara&er of the con-
jut .tions, the following may be taken as an example:
“ How to cause the appearance of three ladies or three
gentlemen in one’s room after supper.
Trvrif * vci yi
vm "m virii
NOP Q, -B S X T Z
Lamed forth Jod. J toetA Cketk Zat* V«u Mi DaJetA torn* Ji<th
^OAtJFIT IT174 3LX
fan Mm Bet Kuff ZatU ft - 4 th Jamreh Nun Aftm
71 unl^XS*
CaftA Jot/ rhftJt Chtlk Zam mu Me DaUlh Gimtl Btih M!e/lA-
J'ttA Ka/J zadt ft ^Jvt S/medi JomteA StAm Tan Vi fan .Yem Lamed
_Ff:.
<JAa- i tynfyrw caJ/if (iZaAind, tAt-AUcvcr-
tJHOli j*f „ J t d rh<% Chtth tain ' Yen Bt Bale*. tfindBtti .dlsfih
. A l 2 an R ‘ th lad * A ^itn JamecA Nun Mem
EyjAFKmn
mysterious characters and SECRET ALPHABETS
(From Barrett’s “Magus.”)
“ After 3 days preparation, cleanse your chamber as
soon as it is morning immediately after dressing, the
while faSting. There muSt be no hangings nor any¬
thing set crosswise, no tapestries, no hanging clothes,
260
THE GRIMOIRES OF BLACK MAGIC
hats, bird-cages or bed-curtains, and all appointments
must be clean in every respedh
“ After supper, kindle a good fire, place a white cloth
on the table round which set 3 chairs, and before each
chair a wheaten loaf and a glass of fresh clear water, then
return to rest.
“ After uttering the conjuration, the 3 persons having
arrived, they will reSt themselves near the fire drinking
and eating.
“ They will then draw lots as to who shall remain,
and the one who wins will come and be seated in the
arm chair you have set by your bed. So long as she
remains, you may question her upon any art or science,
and she will immediately give you a positive answer.
You may also inquire if she is aware of any hidden
treasure, and she will tell you as to its locality and how
to remove it.
“ At parting she will give you a ring which worn on
the finger will render you lucky at play. Observe, that
you muSt leave your window open in order that they
may enter.”
CHAPTER XXVII
SOME REMARKABLE MAGICAL MANUSCRIPTS-SPELLS AND
CURSES
HERE are several remarkable codices dealing with
X the magical arts in the Rawlinson and Ashmolean
collections in Oxford. One consists of a long
scroll, which is said to have been written with human
blood in the sixteenth century. 1
It has been in the Bodleian Library since 1680, but is
believed to date from about 1525. It is 32 feet long and
an inch and a half wide, and is written on fifteen Strips
of parchment Stitched together. A single line of text
runs along the centre of its entire length, with a border
above and below of magical signs, consisting of crosses
of various forms and pentagons, arranged alternately.
The text begins with an incantation and the names of
God, followed by fourteen verses from the first chapter
of St John’s gospel, a chapter which formed part of
magical ritual at a later period.
It concludes with the Lord’s Prayer in Greek, written
in Latin characters. The objeCt of such a document can
only be conjectured, but it was probably regarded as a
powerful charm, to invoke the aid of good spirits and to
proteCt its owner from evil influences.
The association of the Gospel of St John with magic
goes back to an early period of the Christian era.
1 MS. 3115.
262
PORTION OF A MAGICAL SCROLL WRITTEN WITH HUMAN
BLOOD
XVI century. Bodleian Library.
FIGURE OF THE GREEN DRAGON EMPLOYED WHEN EVOKING
THE SPIRIT BIRTO
From an MS. XVI century. British Museum.
(See page 26Q)
SOME REMARKABLE MAGICAL MANUSCRIPTS
In the time of St AuguStin, it was customary to place
the Gospel of St John on the heads of sick people for
the purpose of inducing supernatural cures.
In 1022, a Council held at SeligStadt, near Maintz,
by its tenth canon prohibited the laity and matrons
especially from hearing daily the Gospel commencing
“ In Principio,” from which it has been assumed, that
it had been read, and masses such as the Holy Trinity
had been said for magical purposes.
Gifford writing in 1593 States, that “ some hang
a piece of St John’s gospel about their necks,” and in
Ireland until recent times, the reading of this portion
of scripture was regarded as an infallible cure for sore
throat.
Reciting the first fourteen verses called “ In Principio,”
was believed to be of singular and extraordinary power
in exorcizing demons.
Durandus declares, that “ the gospel will expel a devil,
because devils hate nothing so much as a gospel.”
In the early part of the seventeenth century, Pope
Paul V, in his Rituale, orders the clergy when visiting
the sick, to place the hand on the head while reading the
gospel of St John. The powers attributed to it above all
others were probably due to the indulgence granted by
Pope John XXII of a year and forty days, on its recital.
Catalini commenting on the use of the beginning of
St John’s gospel in exorcism says, that “ as the devil is
greatly afraid of the gospels, this particular one is read
to show forth the ineffable Being of God.” Thiers
records, that even dogs were led to church to be cured of
sickness by having the gospel read over their heads.
An ancient Manx charm against all diseases was to
263
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
wear around the neck the first fourteen verses of St
John’s gospel written on paper.
Another curious manuscript of the sixteenth century
is called “ The Magic of Arbatel.” 1 It begins with a
description of the “ Olimpick spirits which inhabit the
firmament and in the Stars beneath, whose office is to
declare the fate and destiny of mortals.”
It States that,“ in the sixtyth year before the nativity of
Christ was the beginning of the administration of the
spiritual Prince Bethor whose government continued
until a.d. 430. Then succeeded Phaleg whose govern¬
ment lasted until 920. Then began Och who
governed until 1410 and Hagith who ruled afterwards.”
Each of these spirits had his seal and planet, and was able
to perform certain marvels and could be called to appear
in the crystal. The writer States that a true and divine
magician may use all the creations of God and offices of
the governors of the world at his own will. But they
heed not the false magician. He that is a true magician
is brought forth a magician from his mother’s womb.
A manuscript on magic, written in 1515, claims to
describe the principal operations in the “ sacred art of
invocation.” 2
It commences, “ Here beginneth the first treatise of the
moSt noble art of Solomon and Apollonius termed the
c Golden Flowers,’ made from antiquity of Solomon,
Manicheus and Enduchius.
“The following works are out of the most ancient
books of the Hebrews which are unknown in man’s
language, reputed for a miracle to be given from the
Lord God.”
1 MS. Rawlinson, 1363. 2 Ashmole MS. 1515.
264
SOME REMARKABLE MAGICAL MANUSCRIPTS
The first chapter consists of “ this most Holy Art from
Chaldean, Hebrew and Arabic. This oration Solomon
appointed, first knowing it to be described by Chaldean,
Hebrews and Arabs.”
This is followed by “ The Glasse of Apollonius :
Called Ars Notoria or Ars Memoratina, revealed by an
angel Phanphilus, on golden tablets in the Temple of
Solomon.”
In the Rawlinson collection at the Bodleian Library,
there is a manuscript written on vellum in red and black
inks inscribed “ Moses Long, the conjurer.” It is
entitled, 1 “ The Secrets of Secrets ” and begins with
“ Aphorisms of directions ” for conjuring the angels,
followed by a prayer, that the “ Holy angells may help
thee in thine occasions ” and the injunction “ First pray
to God dayly.”
Then follow directions for making a pentacle of kid’s
skin or parchment to be covered with fine silk “ until
ye open it for use.”
It is to be held in the hand or pinned to the breaSt
until, if they visit and will not obey, open it saying,
“ c Behold your conclusion and be not disobedient.’ It
ought to be borne about thee in all good experiments and
business. It may be made in gold, silver, virgin parch¬
ment or in virgin wax, silk or clean parchment. Per¬
fume it with sweet perfume. Ink may be made of smoke
of frankincense and mirrh, taken in a basin mixt with
rose water, a little sweet-smelling wine and gum arabic.”
The seven angels and the planets dedicated to them
are thus enumerated :
Cassiel to the planet Saturn, Sachiel to Jupiter,
1 Rawlinson MS. 253.
265
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Samael to Mars, Michael to the Sun, Anael to Venus,
Raphael to Mercury and Gabriel to the Moon.
The manuscript concludes with an account of some
experiments of which the following are the most inter¬
esting :
“ A true experiment proved in Cambridge Anno 1557
of 3 spirits, to be done in a chamber, whose names are
Durus, Artus and iEbedel.
“ Rise early on the first Monday after ye new moon. Cut
3 rods Stock or body of a Palme tree and not on ye top,
with a new sharpe knife never used on which let it be
written on ye blade -f Alpha -f- on ye one side and +
Omega + on the other side and with this knife in thy
hand say ye name of God ye Father, I have sought these
rods, so taking hold of them saying in ye name of God
and Son, I have found you rods, saying in ye name of ye
Holy GhoSt, I cut you all 3 (so cutting all three at once).
Then take fine parchment and cut 3 pieces and on ye first
write Durus and on ye second write Artus and on ye third
write iEbedel. Then take the first and wrap it about one
of ye rods and so on do the others in order. Then take
the first rod in thy hand and say, c Through ye blessed
power and mercie of God I command thee rod and by the
virtue of the rod wherewith ye prophet Elias raised up the
waters between him and Eliseus, ye spirit whose name is
written and wrapped about, be obedient to me allways
whenever I shall call him. 5 Then set down ye rod in
the east part of ye chamber.
“ The same is to be done with the second rod and the
spirit is commanded by the virtue of ye rod wherewith
Moses turned ye water of Egypt into blood. This is
to be put in the west part of ye chamber. The third rod
266
SOME REMARKABLE MAGICAL MANUSCRIPTS
when consecrated in like manner is to be put in the south
part of ye chamber. Then say ‘ I require and command
you spirits 3 in the name of God, the Father, Son and
Holy GhoSt you dread and owe obedience. Come
gently and peaceably in ye form and shape of three beauti¬
ful ladies and truly to answer all my will and desire.’
“ This mu§t be done 3 nights and the third night ye
spirits will appear.
“ Then say c Welcome ye faire and gentle spirits which
God hath created.’ ”
There is also “ Ye experiment for ye spirit Birto,”
said to be made by Roger Bacon or Fryer Bacon. “ To
be done in a wood or secret place.” This is described
in some detail in a later manuscript.
Finally there is an experiment of “ Askariell in a
glasse or CriStall,” and to call up this angel you must
tc have a cleane consecrated CriStall or glasse Stone wrapt
over ye middle with a thong of Hart’s skin. Ye criStall
may be in ye middle when ye wrappeSt the thong about
it.”
Among the historical papers of the sixteenth century
in the British Museum are some leaves from a torn book
said to have been found among the secret writings of
Dr Caius, Master and founder of Caius College, Cam¬
bridge.
John Caius was born in 1510 and became one of the
moSt famous physicians of the sixteenth century. He
was nine times President of the College of Physicians
of London and for nearly twenty years leftured on
anatomy at the Barber-Surgeons’ Hall.
He was reputed to have been one of the moSt skilful
and enlightened physicians of his time, but judging from
267
Jt viaAf* 'flrOfrfbS). fytJ-A&SL&l),
268
CHARACTERS OF EVIT SPIRITS
(From an MS., XVII century.)
SOME REMARKABLE MAGICAL MANUSCRIPTS
the leaves of this manuscript found among his writings
he was also well versed in magic.
The papers consist of tables showing the signs of the
planets and the names of the angels under those signs, also
notes on familiars, formulas for exorcism, an invocation
to have “ a spirit in a glass to tell all things ” ; two
drawings of magic circles and a pentagon. The most
interesting of the leaves consists of drawings of the secret
signs used for calling the spirits, similar to those to be
found in manuscripts on the magical arts about that
period.
Several English monarchs appear to have been
interested in magic, and among them King Edward IV
is mentioned, as having requested a magician of his time
to put him in communication with a spirit called Birto.
The Story is recounted in a manuscript of the sixteenth
century, of how Birto was invoked and the part a “ green
dragon ” played in it, of which a pifture is given.
Birto seems to have been a spirit of considerable power,
and after he had been conjured to appear, he comes to
the circle prepared for him “ in fair and human shape in
the form of a man and noways horrible or hurtful.” He
was then to be questioned and to tell truly of all such
things as the Master should ask.
The Master is dire&ed to receive him courteously and
gently, to bind him with the bond of spirits, and “ he
will freely and faithfully declare and make answer, to
whatsoever shall be demanded, and will surely obey and
fulfil all commands.”
But to obtain the presence of Birto, it was necessary
that the circle of the invocant should have the “effigy or
charafter of a dragon fairly drawn or painted, and the
269
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
circle in which the spirit is to appear should be made
on a calve’s skin parchment.”
According to the writer of this manuscript. King
Charles I is said to have carried a charm against danger
and poison that was written for him by Pope Leo IX.
It was inscribed as follows :
“ Who that beareth it upon him shall not dread his
enemies, to be overcome, nor with no manner of poison
be hurt, nor in no need misfortune, nor with no thunder
he shall not be smitten nor lightning, nor in no hre be
burnt soddainly, nor in no water be drowned. Nor he
shall not die without shrift, nor with theeves to be
taken. Also he shall have no wrong neuther of Lord
or Lady. This be in the names of God and Christ.
+ Messias + Sother -f- Emannell -f- Sabaoth +•”
A powerful conjuration to call up a spirit is thus
recorded in a manuscript of the fifteenth century :
“ I conjure and conStrayne thee-by all virtues
and powers, and by the Holy Names of God + Tetra-
grammaton -f- Adonay + Agla + Saday + Saboth +
Planaboth + Panthon -f“ Craton + Neupmaton +
Deus -f~ Homo + Omnipotens + Sempiternus + Yssus
-j- Terra + Unigenitis + Saluator + Via + Vita +
Virtues and powers, I conjure and conStrayne thee to
fulfil my will in everything faithfully, without hurt of
my body or soul, and so be ready at my call as often as
I shall call thee, by the virtue of one Lord + Jesus -f-
Christ of Nasareth.”
Both the magician and the witch were credited with
the power of casting spells on human beings and cattle,
and this appears to have been attempted through the
medium of evil spirits.
270
SOME REMARKABLE MAGICAL MANUSCRIPTS
Few of such spells or malediffions are recorded, but
the following extracted from manuscripts of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries will serve to show their nature.
“ Curse thee, and Almighty make thee so that thou
shalt never have rest day or night, tyd nor time, till thou
ha§t performed my will and commandments, and if thou
wilt not, all the curses of the great maledictions of God
with all the paynes and torments of all the devells in hell
be multiplied upon thee, so plentifully as the Starrs be
in the firmament, and as the sands be in the sea.”
Another is to “ CaSt sickness on a man.”
“ Make an image of wax in the man’s name and
write on the side these charafters as appointed:
2U—Ti q 191-6
Head them with the name of the man and then with
c Usher ’ (a knife), cut this image from the back to the
head saying, Haade, Mikaded, Rakeben, Rika, Rita lica,
Tasarith, Modeca, Rabert, Tuth, Tumch. Then hang
this image over the fire with great smoke and he shall
be sick.”
There were several methods of slaying an enemy,
and in one the wax image is again used as a medium.
“ To slay an enemy :
“ Make an image of wax and write the characters with
a needle of brass upon the image, and dry it by a soft fire
near chimney, and when it is dry ca$t the image down
from some house, that the image may be broken, saying
27 1
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
these words, Haade, Mikaded, Rakeben, Rika, Rita
lica, Tasaritli, Modeca, Rabert, Tuth, Tumch. Here
with this image I will slay the sick man soon. Name
him, then take the pieces of the image and bury them, and
he shall be dead and no man shall know but the worker.”
Another method, which was apparently to be accom¬
panied more by violence than magic, was to cut a Stout
bough from a tree and while doing so say, “ I cutt this
bough of this summer’s growth in the name of (here
name the person) whom I mean to beat and kill. Then
cover the table and say in the name of the Father -f-
Son + Holy GhoSt + Striking thereon, punish him that
hath wrought this mischief, and take it away by thy
great justice. Eson + Elion + Emares.”
272
CHAPTER XXVIII
SOME ELIZABETHAN MAGICIANS-DR JOHN DEE-EDWARD
KELLY-“THE BOOK OF MYSTERY ”
O F the pra&itioners of magic in England in Tudor
times, perhaps the beSt known was John Dee,
who reached the height of his fame during the
reign of Queen Elizabeth.
His life, compiled from his journals, and his extra¬
ordinary career have been fully described, but the
following episodes in which magic played a part are
perhaps not so well known.
He was born in 1527 and educated at the Chantry
School at Chelmsford, whence he proceeded to Cam¬
bridge and entered at St John’s College, but later on
became a Fellow of Trinity.
He excelled in mathematics, which led him to the Study
of astronomy, of which he undoubtedly acquired a con¬
siderable knowledge.
At the age of twenty, in 1547, he made his first journey
to the Continent to confer with learned men of the
Dutch Universities, and here he came in contaft with
Mercator. Returning to England for a time, the
following year he travelled to Louvain in order to Study
at the University, and there he is said to have graduated
and obtained his degree as doftor.
In 1551 he obtained an introduction to the Court of
T 273
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
King Edward VI, to whom he had already dedicated
two books.
When Mary Tudor succeeded to the throne in 1553,
Dee—who had by this time achieved some notoriety as
an astrologer—was invited to calculate her nativity, and
he also cast the horoscope of the Princess Elizabeth who
at that time was living at Woodstock.
It was probably shortly after this that he began to
praftise magic, for he soon got into trouble and was
arrested at the instance of a man named George Perrys,
who alleged that one of his children had been Struck
blind and another killed by Dee’s magic. In addition
to this charge, it was rumoured that he was directing
enchantments against the life of the Queen.
While in prison, his lodgings were searched and sealed
up, and he was afterwards examined before the Secretary
of State and brought to the Star Chamber for trial, but
here fortune favoured him, for he was cleared of all
suspicion of treason and eventually liberated.
Astrology at this time had taken a firm hold on the
minds of the people, and the belief in the controlling
power of the Stars over human destinies was common to
all classes.
The caSter of horoscopes was in constant demand by
persons of high and low degree, and Dee, who had
already acquired a reputation for his prognostications,
now became more famous. He became well known at
Court and, when Elizabeth came to the throne, his
first commission, commanded by Robert Dudley, was
to name an auspicious day for her coronation. The
Queen sent for him soon after her accession and
invited him to enter her service at Whitehall, and is said
274
SOME ELIZABETHAN MAGICIANS
to have promised him a Mastership at St Catherine’s
Hospital.
One morning, the whole Court and Privy Council
became greatly excited when the news was spread abroad
that, “ a wax image of the Queen had been found lying
in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, with a great pin Struck through
its breaSt, which was believed to portend the wasting
away and death of Her Majesty.”
Messengers were despatched in hot haSte to summon
Dee, to ask his advice on this momentous matter.
He professed to regard it as a hoax, but at once
went with the Secretary Wilson to Hampton Court to
assure the Queen.
From the narrator’s account, one can pifture the scene
on their arrival. Elizabeth was seated in that part of
her garden that sloped down to the river, near the Steps
of the Royal landing-place at Hampton Court. Around
her, Stood the Earl of Leicester, in attendance, together
with the Lords of the Privy Council who had also been
summoned.
Dee, who wore a long beard and was of dignified
presence, slowly approached the Queen and, after making
her a deep obeisance, solemnly assured the assembly
that the wax image “ in no way menaced Her Majesty’s
well-being,” which it is added, “ pleased Elizabeth well.”
The Queen afterwards proved a good friend to Dee,
for about this time Strong popular feeling began to be
roused againSt him, and it was commonly said that he
was a magician of doubtful reputation who had dealings
with the devil.
He certainly praftised divination openly, and held
seances at which he professed to raise spirits.
*75
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
For the former purpose he made use of a black mirror
which he describes in the following words :
“ A man may be curStly afraid of his own shadow, yea,
so much to feare, that you being alone nere a certain
glasse, and proffer with dagger or sword to foyne at the
glasse, you shall suddenly be moved to give back (in
maner) by reason of an image appearing in the ayre
betweene you and the glasse, with like hand, sword or
dagger, and with like quickness foyning at your very
eye, like as you do at the glasse. Strange this is to heare
of, but more mervailous to behold than these my wordes
can signifie, nevertheless by demonstration opticall the
order and cause thereof is certified, even so the effect is
consequent. 55
Dee’s famous magic mirror is described as a polished
oval slab of black Stone or cannel coal. It was formerly
in the Museum of Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill,
and he attached to it a Statement of its history in his own
handwriting.
It is said to have been for a long time in the possession
of the Mordaunts, Earls of Peterborough. In this
colle&ion it was described as “ the black Stone in which
Dr Dee used to call his spirits. 55 It passed from them
to Lady Elizabeth Germaine, from whom it went to
John Campbell, Duke of Argyll, whose son. Lord
Frederick Campbell, presented to it Walpole. This
interesting relic was bought at the Strawberry Hill Sale
by Mr Pigott, and from thence it passed into the hands
of Lord Londesborough, and later became part of the
colle&ion of Mr Geoffrey Whitehead of EaSt GrinStead,
which was sold by au&ion in London on August 7th,
I 9 I 5-
SOME ELIZABETHAN MAGICIANS
It is to this mirror that Butler alludes in his well-
known lines :
“ Kelly did all his feats upon
The Devil’s looking-glass, a Stone,
Where, playing with him at bo-peep.
He solv’d all problems ne’er so deep.”
“ Hudibras,” Part II, Canto 3.
About 1570 Dee went to live at Mortlake near the river,
and to this house he removed his library and laboratory.
The Queen, when riding out in Richmond Park with her
lords and ladies, would sometimes pass through the EaSt
Sheen gate and Stop at Dee’s dwelling between Mortlake
Church and the Thames, to see his latest invention. It
was here at the church wall that he is said to have once
shown the Queen the black mirror.
To most of the European Courts of this period an
astrologer was attached, and both the Queen and Lord
Burleigh appeared anxious that Dee should occupy that
position at Whitehall.
It is probable that the Story of his search for the
Philosopher’s Stone may have had something to do with
this desire to secure his services, as there is an account
of an interview he had with the Queen in the gallery at
Westminster, when there was a talk between them “ of
the great secret for my sake to be disclosed unto Her
Majesty by Nicolas Grudius, one of the secretaries of the
Emperor Charles V,” which is supposed to have referred
to the transmutation of metals.
Of his operations with the crystal, he records in his
diary in 1581 his first seance, when the “ skryer ”
(medium) was bidden to look into the great crystalline
globe, and a message was transmitted by the “ angel
2 77
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
Annael through the percipient ” to the effeCt, that many
things should be declared to Dee, “ not by the present
worker but by him that is assigned to the Stone.”
A little later he writes, “ I had a sight in ChryStallo
offered me and I saw,” but he evidently thought that he
himself was not a good medium, for he set out to search
for another.
In 1582 he came across one in the person of Edward
Kelly, a plausible and clever rogue, whom he engaged
as a skryer to operate the crystal in his laboratory.
Kelly is said to have begun life as an apothecary’s
apprentice and had an extraordinary career. He de¬
clared that when wandering in Wales—probably when
hiding from justice—he accidentally Stumbled on an old
manuscript on alchemy, and two phials or caskets con¬
taining a mysterious red and white powder, which he
regarded as being of priceless value, for when properly
manipulated they were capable of transmuting base
metals into gold.
He apparently deceived Dee, who seems to have
believed in the Story, for he records in his diary :
“ E. K. (Kelly) made projection with his powder in
the proportion of one minim (upon an ounce and a
quarter of mercury) and produced nearly an ounce of
best gold; which gold we afterwards distributed from
the crucible, and gave one to Edward.” How Kelly
worked the trick there is no evidence to show.
The Story of Kelly’s alleged claim soon became known,
and frequent seances took place at Mortlake where he
worked in Dee’s laboratory, and the transmuting
operations were carried on.
The news reached the ears of Lord Burleigh, who
278
DR. DEE’S ‘SHEW STONE’ OR GAZING CRYSTAL
British Museum.
SOME ELIZABETHAN MAGICIANS
apparently also became a believer in his operations, for
he wrote for “ a specimen of his marvellous art,” and
it was reported that the Queen was a&ually the recipient
of a warming-pan, from the copper or brass lid of which a
piece had been cut, transmuted into gold and replaced.
Even such an aStute person as Elias Ashmole was
deceived by Kelly’s tricks, as he writes :
“ Without Sir Edward’s touching or handling it or
melting the metal, only warming it in the fire, the elixir
being put thereon it was transmuted into pure gold.”
He adds “ from a very credible person (who had seen
them) that Kelly made rings of gold wire twisted twice
round the finger, which he gave away to the value of
£4,000.”
Bacon relates an interesting Story of a dinner given by
Sir Edward Dyer, at which Sir Thomas Browne, the
author of “ Religio Medici,” was present. He says,
“ Sir Edward Dyer, a grave and wise gentleman, did
much believe in Kelly the alchemist, that he did indeed
the work and made gold, insomuch as he went himself
into Germany, where Kelly then was, to inform him¬
self fully thereto.
“ After his return he dined with my Lord of Canter¬
bury, wherat that time was at the table Dr Browne the
physician. They fell in talk of Kelly. Sir Edward
Dyer turning to the archbishop said, c I do assure your
grace that I shall tell the truth. I am an eyewitness
thereof and if I had not seen it, I should not have
believed it. I saw Master Kelly put of the base
metal into the crucible and after it was set upon the
fire and a very small quantity of the medicine put in and
Stirred with a Stick of wood, it came forth in great pro-
279
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
portion, perfeft gold, to the touch, to the hammer, to the
test/
“ Said the bishop, c You had need take heed what you
say Sir Edward, here is an infidel at the board/
“ Sir Edward Dyer said again pleasantly, ‘ I would
have looked for an infidel sooner in any place than at
your Grace’s table/
cc c What say you Dr Browne ? ’ saith the Bishop.
“ Dr Browne answered after his blunt and huddling
manner, ‘ The gentleman hath spoken enough for me/
c< c Why ? ’ saith the Bishop.
cc c Marry/ saith Dr Browne, c he said he would not
have believed it except he had seen it, AND NO MORE
WILL 1 / ”
Kelly’s next exploit was the announcement that a
mysterious book had been revealed to him by an angel,
which he claimed to have written down and produced in
manuscript form.
There are two copies of this extraordinary produftion
in existence. One is among the Ashmolean MSS. in the
Bodleian Library (Ashm. 422) and the other in the
British Museum (SI. 3189).
The former is entitled “ The Book of MyStery,”
cc Liber MySteriorum Sextus et Sanftus.”
A note by Ashmole in this copy States that he “ copied
it from the original borrowed off Sir John Cotton out
of his library written by the hand of Edward Kelly,
which he copied from the view of it exhibited to him by
the angel in 1583.”
It begins with an account by Kelly of his interview with
the angel, as follows :
“ He plucked out a book, all ye leaves are as though
280
SOME ELIZABETHAN MAGICIANS
they were pure gold and it seemed to be written in blood
not dry.
“ Behold ! Behold ! yea let heaven and earth behold,
for with this they were created and it is the voice and
speech of him which proceeded from ye first and is ye last.
“ Loe this it is—(E. K., he showeth a book as he did
before, all gold).
“ And it is truth therefor shall endure for ever. (E. K.
The leaves of the book are all lined and full of square
places and those squares have charafters in them, some
more than other, and all written in the colour of blood
and not yet dry. 49 square spaces everyway in every
leaf which make in all 2401 square places.
“ He wiped his finger on the top of the table and there
came out above ye table certain charafters enclosed in
lines, but Standing by themselves, and pointed between
them written from the right to the left hand.)
“ The 49 parts of this booke—49 voices whereunto so
many powers with the inferiors and subj efts have been
and shall be obedient.
“ Every element in his mystery is a world of under¬
standing.
“ Everyone knoweth here, what is his due obedience,
and God shall differ in speech from a mortal creature.
“ Every element have 49 manner of understandings.
“ Therein is compounded many languages.
<c They are all spoken at once and generally by your¬
selves by diStinftion may be spoken.
“ In 40 daies muSt the booke of the secrete and key of
this world be written. Begin to praftise in August.
Serve God before from March 29 (Good Friday) to April
were 30 tables of this^book written.
281
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
66 The letters of the Adamicall alphabet. This book and
Holy Key which unlocks the secret of God concerning ye
beginning.
“ So excellent are the mysteries contained, it is above
the capacity of man.
“ In 40 days more must this booke be perfect.
“ Herein shall be decyphered and truly from imperfeCt
falsehood, true religion from false and damnable errors.
May 1583.”
The contents of the book are then Stated :
“ This book containeth 3 kinds of knowledge :
“ 1. The knowledge of God truly.
“ 2. The number and doing of the angels.
“ 3. The beginning and ending of Nature substantially.
“ This book is written in the Holy language.
“ The book shall be called “ Logaeth,” which sig¬
nified! ‘ Speech from God.’ ”
This manuscript begins with a transcript of the book
called “ Logaeth ” in common characters, followed by
22 pages written in^small^squares, 72 similar pages and 4
pages written vertically.
The codex in the British Museum is called “ The Book
of Enoch, revealed to Dr John Dee by the Angels.”
It contains a note Stating, “ This is the original MS. in
Edward Kelly’s handwriting. It formerly belonged to
the Cottonian Collection as appears from a note by
Ashmole.”
There is also a manuscript partly in Dee’s hand¬
writing, with his autograph (SI. 3188) entitled “ Dr
John Dee’s conference with angels from Dec. 22,
1581 to May 30, 1583, being what precedes ye other
conferences.” This MS., which has an introduction
282
SOME ELIZABETHAN MAGICIANS
by Elias Ashmole in 1672, Stating how it came into
his hands, was printed in London in 1659 un der the title,
“ A true and faithful relation of Dr Dee and some
spirits/’ It purports to contain a conversation held
between certain spirits by Dee and Kelly respecting the
“ Logaeth ” and a key to decipher its mysterious pages.
The angel begins by saying, “ Touching the book.
It shall be called Logah, which in your language signifieth
Speech from God. Write it Logaeth. It is to be
sounded Logah.
“ The first leaf (as you call it) is the laSt of the book.”
The angel then proceeds to say how it is to be written
in the Holy charafters and explains that the laSt leaf
“ is a hotch potch of the wicked in the world and damned
in hell.”
Elaborate inStru&ions are given how to read the tables,
from which it appears that sometimes the words are
ascending, sometimes descending, sometimes at an angle,
on the left or right.
Groups of letters form words, thus M R E means
with, B A C with a rod, E R N O Z delivered you, RIP
the Holy ones, M A S R G with admiration, I D L A of
gathering, E G R P with the fire and so on.
The numbers from 1 to 80 also signified words thus :
1 Signified Behold, 2 Faith, 3 Your God, 4 I am,
5 A circle and so on.
Kelly then artfully asks the angel, “ If Moses and
Daniel were skilful in the arts of the Egyptian magicians,
why may not I deal with these without hindrance to the
will of God ? ”
To which the angel gives the cryptic reply, “ For the
doings of the Egyptians seem and are not so.”
283
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
It is difficult to conceive what Dee and Kelly expe&ed
to gain from this elaborate effusion, the writing of which
alone must have taken considerable time and labour.
Kelly next went off to Prague, apparently to find the
highest bidder for his discovery of a method of obtaining
g° id -
While he was there, we find Lord Burleigh writing to
the Queen’s agent in Germany, asking him to urge every
means in his power to entice Kelly to come back to
his native country, and requesting him, in case Kelly will
not return, to send a very small portion of his powder to
make a demonstration in the Queen’s own sight.
But Kelly was too cunning to be caught. In Prague
he felt secure, and he did not feel inclined to carry out
the test that he knew would be put to him if he returned
to London.
Eventually he got into trouble with the Emperor
Rudolph, and was imprisoned in one of his caStles, and
it is said that while attempting to escape from a turret
window, he fell from a great height and received fatal
injuries.
Dee, who had meanwhile been living at Bremen,
resolved to return to England after an absence of six
years, but during his Stay abroad his popularity had waned
and we find him making repeated applications to his old
influential friends at Court for money.
Although his house began again to be visited by such
notable people as the Countess of Cumberland, the
Countess of Kent and Lord Willoughby, who occasion¬
ally sent him money, he fell into poverty and ill-health.
Queen Elizabeth sent for him to come and see her
in the Privy Garden at Greenwich in 15 84, where she
284
SOME ELIZABETHAN MAGICIANS
received him with Lord Warwick. Dee presented her
with an effusion in writing, which he called the “ Heavenly-
Admonition,” and took the opportunity of pleading his
cause. His supplications apparently prevailed with the
Queen, for he was soon after appointed warden of the
Collegiate Church at Manchester, where he took up his
abode in 1586.
Some years afterwards accusations were again brought
against him, that he was a conjurer of spirits and had
dealings with the devil, and on June 5 th, 1604, he pre¬
sented a petition to the King at Greenwich, in which
he prayed, “ to be tried and cleared of that horrible
and damnable and to him most grievous and dammage-
able slaunder, generally and for many years past in this
kingdom raised and continued by report and print against
him; that he is or hath been a CONJURER or
CALLER or INVOCATOR of DEVILS.
He prays “ that a speedy order be taken to be tryed
in the premises to the punishment of death (yea eyther be
Stoned to death or to be buried quicke or to be burned
unmercifully) if by any due, true and juSt meanes the said
name of CONJURER or CALLER or INVOCATOR of
DEVILS or DAMNED SPIRITES can be proved to
have beene or to be tru duely or justly reported of him
or attributed unto him.”
A copy of this petition is Still preserved in the Bodleian
Library. Dee died in 1608, and was buried in the chancel
of Mortlake Church, near the house where he lived so
long.
A Study of his works shows that he was a man of
considerable intelligence and by no means altogether a
charlatan. He had a real devotion to science, and
285
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
must have been grossly deceived by Kelly, and their
association no doubt did much to damage Dee’s
reputation.
A crystal ball or “ Shew Stone ” said to have belonged
to Dee, together with three large wax discs engraved
with magical figures and names, are preserved in the
British Museum. The latter are said to have been used
by him when consulting his “ Shew Stone ” or magic
mirror.
\
286
WAX DISCS ENGRAVED WITH MAGICAL FIGURES AND NAMES, SAID
TO HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED BY DR. DEE WHEN USING HIS ‘SHEW
STONE’ OR MAGIC CRYSTAL
British Museum.
CHAPTER XXIX
magic in Shakespeare’s plays
T HE influence of magic, and the part it played in
social life in the sixteenth century, are refle&ed
in several of Shakespeare’s plays. GhoSts, fairies,
spirits, conjurers, witches, soothsayers, apparitions and
supernatural beings form part of his dramatis persona and
flit across his Stage in comedy and tragedy.
In eleven of his plays he introduces the supernatural
in one form or another, or refers to magical praftices.
In “ The Tempest ” there is the sprightly Ariel and his
attendant spirits, who at the bidding of Prospero, himself
a pra&itioner of magic, raised terrible tempests which
apparently wrecked the ships of the King and the
usurping Duke of Milan.
The misshapen and uncouth Caliban/' a freckled whelp,
hag-born,” is a true son of the foul witch Sycorax.
Prospero has also goblins, naiads and nymphs at his
command to wreak his vengeance, and divers spirits in the
shape of hounds :
“ Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints
With dry convulsions ; shorten up their sinews
With aged cramps.”
Later on we see him arrayed in his wizard’s robes and
drawing his magic circle he declaims:
287
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ Graves, at my command.
Have wak’d their sleepers, op’d, and let them forth
By my so potent art.”
Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio then enter the magic
circle and there Stand charmed.
In “ The Comedy of Errors 55 we are introduced to
Pinch, who combines the professions of schoolmaster
and conjurer in the city of Ephesus, which, according to
Antipholus of Syracuse, at that time bore an unenviable
reputation as a centre for praftitioners of the magical arts :
“ They say this town is full of cozenage ;
As, nimble jugglers that deceive the eye,
Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind.
Soul-killing witches that deform the body.
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks.
And many such-like liberties of sin.”
Pinch is called in by the wife of Antipholus of Ephesus,
to exorcize the supposed demon that has taken possession
of him and caused all the trouble, and she thus addresses
him:
“ Good Doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer;
Establish him in his true sense again.
And I will please you what you will demand.”
Pinch approaches Antipholus and says :
“ Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse.”
To which he replies :
“ There is my hand, and let it feel your ear.”
288
MAGIC IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS
Then Pinch utters his conjuration :
“ I charge thee, Satan, hous’d within this man,
To yield possession to my holy prayers.
And to thy State of darkness hie thee Straight;
I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven.”
Antipholus afterwards describes Pinch in terms that
are far from flattering :
“ They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean fac’d villain,
A mere anatomy, a mountebank,
A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller,
A needy, hollow-ey’d, sharp-looking wretch,
A living-dead man. This pernicious slave.
Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer,
And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse,
And with no face, as ’twere, out-facing me.
Cries out, I was possess’d.”
In “ A Midsummer-night’s Dream ” we enter fairy
realm, ruled by Oberon, the King, and his Queen
Titania.
In Puck we have a pifture of a “ knavish sprite call’d
Robin Good-fellow ” :
“ That frights the maidens of the villagery ;
Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern.
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn ;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm ;
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm.”
In truth a mischievous hobgoblin.
The touching of Titania’s eyes with a magic herb,
to change her once more into a fairy, is evidence of
Shakespeare’s knowledge of herb-lore, and it is probable
that he had the little plant “ Eye Bright ” in mind,
u
289
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
The mo§t complete description of a magician’s con¬
juration, in the plays, is that given in “ The Second Part
of King Henry VI,” when Bolingbroke, at the instance
of the Duchess, raises the spirit in the Duke of
Gloucester’s garden in London. Bolingbroke, the
magician and conjurer, enters, accompanied by Margery
Jourdain, a witch, together with Hume and Southwell,
who are described as priests.
Hume leaves to inform the Duchess, and Bolingbroke
addressing the witch thus begins the seance:
“ Mother Jourdain, be you prostrate and grovel
on the earth; John Southwell, read you; and
let us to our work.”
The Duchess now enters, and presently Hume.
Duchess . Well said, my masters, and welcome all.
To this gear the sooner the better.
Bolingbroke. Patience, good lady ; wizards know their times.
Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.
The time of night when Troy was set on fire ;
The time when screech-owls cry, and ban-dogs howl,
And spirits walk, and ghoSts break up their graves.
That time best fits the work we have in hand.
Madam, sit you, and fear not: whom we raise,
We will make fast within a hallow’d verge.
Here they begin to perform the ceremonies apper¬
taining, and after making the magic circle Bolingbroke
reads the conjuration.
Accompanied by terrible thunder and lightning the
spirit riseth.
Z90
MAGIC IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS
Spirit. Ads urn.
Margery Jourdain. Asmath !
By the eternal God, whose name and power
Thou trembleSt at, answer that I shall ask ;
For till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence.
Spirit. Ask what thou wilt. That I had said and done !
Bolingbroke puts the questions and the spirit answers,
after which he gives the licence to depart:
“ Descend to darkness and the burning lake 1
False fiend, avoid ! ”
It is evident from his description of the conjuration
that Shakespeare, with his remarkable versatility, had an
intimate knowledge of magical ceremonial. Several
famous practitioners of magic flourished about his time,
including Dr Dee, Edward Kelly and Simon Forman;
but, as the rites and ceremonials of magic probably
only existed in the form of manuscripts at this period, he
muSt have had access to them. This is evident later in
the play when Smith introduces the Clerk of Chatham to
Cade.
Smith . Has a book in his pocket with red letters in’t.
Cade. Nay, then he is a conjurer.
The manuscripts on magical ceremonial are generally
written in red and black inks. The conjurer was usually
accompanied by a reader, who carried the book of the
ceremonies and pronounced the conjuration and prayers.
There is a brief account of the trial of the Duchess of
Gloucester, Margery Jourdain, Southwell, Hume and
Bolingbroke for sorcery and witchcraft, in which
Jourdain was condemned to be burnt in Smithfield as a
291
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
witch and the three men to be Strangled on the gallows,
while the Duchess, after doing three days’ public penance,
was banished to the Isle of Man.
According to the historical fafts of the case, the
accusation against the Duchess was of compassing the
death of the King with Marie Gardimain and Boling-
broke, by having made a figure of him in wax and
melting it before a fire.
Marie Gardimain was the original of Shakespeare’s
Margery Jourdain, and was burnt at the Stake, Boling-
broke was hanged and the Duchess was condemned to
imprisonment for life.
In “ Richard III,” the ghoSts of Prince Edward, King
Henry VI, Clarence, Rivers, Grey, Vaughan, Hastings,
the two young Princes, Queen Anne, and Buckingham,
appear to him while sleeping in his tent on Bos worth
Field. These apparitions are evidently intended to
represent his dream and are not spirit manifestations.
The vision described in cc King Henry VIII ” in Act II,
where the six personages clad in white robes, wearing
garlands, appear to Queen Katherine in her illness is
shown in a similar manner.
The Soothsayer is introduced in “ Julius Cassar ” to
warn him to “ beware the ides of March ” ; and in
“ Antony and Cleopatra ” the Soothsayer who tells
Charmian’s fortune is evidently also an adept in Cheiro¬
mancy.
Charmian . Is’t you, sir, that know things ?
Soothsayer . In nature’s infinite book of secrecy
A little I can read.
Alexas . Show him your hand.
Charmian . Good sir, give me good fortune.
Soothsayer. I make not, but foresee.
292
MAGIC IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS
Later, a Soothsayer is brought from Egypt by Antony
and taken to Caesar’s house.
Antony . Say to me, whose fortunes shall rise higher, Cassar’s or
mine ?
Soothsayer. Csesar’s.
Therefore, O Antony ! Stay not by his side;
Thy demon (that thy spirit which keeps thee) is
Noble, courageous, high, unmatchable.
Where Csesar’s is not; but near him thy angel
Becomes a fear, as being o’erpower’d, therefore
Make space enough between you.
Yet another Soothsayer is introduced in “ Cymbeline ”
who tells Lucius of his vision.
Soothsayer. LaSt night the very gods show’d me a vision
(I fast and pray’d for their intelligence) thus :
I saw Jove’s bird, the Roman eagle, wing’d
From the spungy south to this part of the west.
There vanish’d in the sunbeams ; which portends,
(Unless my sins abuse my divination)
Success to the Roman host.
Later in the play, PoSthumus, a prisoner in his cell,
has a vision in which his father, Sicilius Leonatus, his
wife and his two young brothers appear, who circle round
him and eventually invoke the aid of Jupiter, who
descends amidst thunder and lightning, sitting upon an
eagle. He throws a thunderbolt and the GhoSts fall
on their knees and he thus addresses them :
<e No more, you petty spirits of region low.
Offend our hearing ; hush I How dare you ghoSts
Accuse the Thunderer, whose bolt, you know,
Sky-planted, batters all rebelling coasts ?
293
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
PoSthumus awakes and finds a book, and in the laSt
aft the Soothsayer interprets the parable and thus ends the
play in the promise of peace and plenty to Britain.
The witches introduced into “ Macbeth ” form a
prominent feature in two afts of the play. In the scene
on the Heath, they encounter Macbeth and Banquo, and
the latter thus describes them :
“ What are these
So wither’d and so wild in their attire,
That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ the earth.
And yet are on’t ? Live you ? or are you aught
That man may question ? You seem to understand me
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips : you should be women
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.”
After they vanish he remarks :
“ Were such things here as we do speak about,
Or have we eaten on the insane root,
That takes the reason prisoner ?
The mandrake or “ insane root ” alluded to is fre¬
quently mentioned by Shakespeare. It was a plant
around which clustered many superstitions, and its root
not only possessed powerful narcotic properties, but
produced hallucinations, hence was sometimes known as
insane root.
It was credited with other mysterious powers, and on
account of the resemblance of the root to the human
form it was used by witches to injure their enemies.
In Hecate’s speech to the witches, there is a beautiful
294
MAGIC IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS
allusion made to an ancient tradition of the magical effed
of the moon mist:
“ Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop profound ;
I’ll catch it ere it comes to ground :
And that diStill’d by magic sleights
Shall raise such artificial sprites.”
In the account Shakespeare gives of the ingredients
used by the witches in making their hell-broth, he
enumerates some of the weird and mysterious articles
that formed part of their Stock-in-trade. Their incanta¬
tion is also interesting from other points of view, as they
chant round the boiling cauldron :
“ Round about the cauldron go ;
In the poison’d entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold Stone,
Days and nights, hast thirty-one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got.
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.
Double, double, toil and trouble ;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”
The method here used by the witches to measure the
time that the cauldron should boil, by singing their
incantation, is an ancient mode of calculating time Still
employed in some parts of the country. By thus repeat¬
ing several verses they could regulate the time of boiling
fairly well. Centuries ago, the apothecaries used the
moon as a method of calculating the time that certain
processes should take, and the word menstruum. Still
commonly used, was employed, because certain drugs
were allowed to macerate a month in the liquid to
extraft their aftive constituents.
295
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
The idea of using a toad that had lain dormant for a
month, was probably due to the knowledge that its
venom would be then moSt aftive, besides the advantage
of catching him napping, when he would have no
opportunity of getting rid of the poisonous principle
secreted in his skin.
Some toads secrete an aftive poison called phrynin,
which resembles digitalis in its adion on the heart.
In the allusion to
“ Root of hemlock, digg’d i’ the dark,”
there is reference to another ancient custom of gather¬
ing herbs at night, in the belief that their properties after
dark were more potent than in the daytime. That
there was some reason for this old supposition has been
proved by the researches of Sachs and Brown, who
found from their investigations, that Starch is formed in
the leaves of plants during the night, and so the ancient
belief of the increased aftivity of the midnight-gathered
herb was not entirely mythical.
The failure of Hamlet to recognize the ghoSt of his
father is perhaps not to be wondered at:
“ Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d.
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable.
Thou com’St in such a questionable shape.”
The GhoSt’s reply:
“ I am thy father’s spirit;
Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confin’d to faSt in fires,
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature.
Are burnt and purg’d away.”
296
MAGIC IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS
This embodies an early tradition, that certain spirits
were kept in purgatory during the day and allowed to
wander the earth at night, and the belief that disembodied
spirits thus haunted ruined buildings was held by the
Assyrians over three thousand years ago.
2 97
CHAPTER XXX
HERBS OF MYSTERY AND THE DEVIL—THE WITCH’S BROOM
I N ancient times certain trees and herbs of evil omen
were deemed plants of the Devil. They included
those dedicated to Hecate, who presided over
magic and enchantments, as well as those made use of
by her daughters, Medea and Circe, in their sorceries.
Circe especially was supposed to have been distinguished
for her knowledge of venomous herbs, and in later times
the plants said to have been used by her were universally
employed by witches and sorcerers in their incantations.
The evil reputations of certain herbs are often indicated
by their popular names. Thus asafcetida is known as
“ Devil’s Dung ” in some countries ; the fruit of the
belladonna or cc Deadly Nightshade ” as the “ Devil’s
Berry,” and the plant itself as “ Death’s Herb.”
The mandrake was known as the “ Devil’s Candle ”
on account of the supposed lurid glare emitted by the
leaves at night.
Some plants were supposed to exercise a baleful
influence on human life by their emanations.
The tradition conne&ed with the “ Deadly Upas
Tree ” may be taken as an instance of this. It was said to
blight all vegetation that grew near it, and to cause even
the birds that approached it in their flight to drop down
lifeless. It was believed that no animal could live where
298
HERBS OF MYSTERY—THE WITCH’S BROOM
its evil influence extended, and no man dare approach its
pestilential shade.
The noxious exudations of the manchineel tree were
said to cause death to those who slept beneath its
branches.
Linnasus mentions a case in which the odour of the
oleander proved fatal. In India this shrub is called
“ Horse Killer,” and in Italy “ Ass Bane,” as the foliage
and flowers are believed to exercise a deadly influence on
many animals.
Hemlock, from which a powerful poisonous alkaloid
called conine is extrafted, has had an evil reputation
from a period of great antiquity. Pliny States that “ ser¬
pents flee from its leaves ” and in Russia it is regarded
as a Satanic herb. In England, it has always been
associated with witches, potions and hell-broths.
Henbane is another plant of ill-omen which was used
at funerals and scattered on tombs. The Piedmontese
have a tradition that, if a hare be sprinkled with henbane
juice, all the hares in the district will decamp. They have
also a saying that, “ when a mad dog dies he has taSted
henbane.” This plant is known amongst the German
peasants as “ Devil’s Eye.”
Of verbena or vervain, a plant much used in witch¬
craft, Gerard says that “ the Devil did reveal it as a
secret and divine medicine.” In some parts of Germany
a species of ground moss is called “ Devil’s Claws,” the
plantain is known as “ Devil’s Head,” and a certain
variety of orchid is Styled “ Satan’s Hand.”
Clematis bears the name of “ Devil’s Thread,” the
yellow toadflax is termed “ Devil’s Ribbon,” and the
scandix is known as the “ Devil’s Darning Needles.”
2 99
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
In Sweden, a species of fungus is termed the “ Devil’s
Butter,” while the spurge bears the name of the Devil’s
Milk.” In Ireland the nettle is called the “ Devil’s
Apron,” and the convolvulus is known as the “ Devil’s
Garter.” Hair parsley is designated the “ Devil’s
Oatmeal,” and the puff-balls of the lycopodium are
termed the “ Devil’s Snuffbox.” In some localities, the
common houseleek is known as £C Devil’s Beard,” while
the tritoma with its bright red blossoms is called the
“ Devil’s Poker.”
The Jatropha urens , a plant indigenous to Brazil,
is said to possess powerful poisonous properties. A
prick from one of its fine spines causes numbness, swelling
of the lips and, finally, Stoppage of the heart’s a&ion. Its
effefts are said to be those of a powerful arterial poison
which has not yet been investigated.
Pouchkine describes an Indian plant called autchar,
thought to be a variety of Aconitum ferox , which grows
in a wild. Sterile desert. The roots and leaves exude
a Sticky substance which, melted by the midday sun, falls
in drops and congeals like a transparent gum in the cool
of the evening. This exudation is of an extremely
poisonous nature. Birds avoid the neighbourhood of
the plant and even the tiger turns aside from it. It
is used as an arrow poison by certain of the Frontier
tribes.
Another plant of ill-omen is the Flor de Pesadilla or
<£ Nightmare Flower,” which grows in the neighbourhood
of Buenos Aires. It is a small shrub with dark green
leaves of lanceolate shape, and clusters of greenish-white
flowers which emit a powerful narcotizing smell.
According to tradition, from the acrid, milky juice
300
HERBS OF MYSTERY—THE WITCH'S BROOM
expressed from the Stem of this plant, witches obtain a
drug which, administered to their vi&ims, gives them
terrible dreams. They awake with a dull, throbbing
sensation in the brain, while a peculiar odour per¬
vades the room, causing the air to appear heavy and
stifling.
There is a tradition among the peasants of Friesland
that no woman is to be found at home on a Friday,
because on that day the witches hold their meetings
and have dances on a barren heath.
The Neapolitan witches held their gatherings under a
walnut tree near Benevento, and the peasants near
Bologna say their witches hold their midnight meetings
beneath the walnut trees on St John’s Eve.
“ Eastern as well as European witches are said to
praftise their spells at midnight and the principal imple¬
ment they use is a broom,” says a writer on Indo-
European folklore.
The association of brooms with witches is very
curious and probably arose from the tradition that they
used them for riding through the air. But, although
connefted with witches, a broom was sometimes used
to drive them off, and in some parts of Germany it was
customary to lay a broom inside the threshold of a house
to keep them from entering the dwelling.
The large ragwort is known in Ireland as the “ Fairies’
Horse,” as it was said to be used by the witches when
making their midnight journeys. Burns alludes to
witches who “ skim the muirs and dizzy crags on rag-
bred nags.”
Foxgloves in some parts of the country are called
“ Witches’ Bells,” as they are said to decorate their fingers
301
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
with the cap-like flower, and in certain localities the
hare-bell is known as the “ Witches’ Thimble.” The St
John’s wort, which is supposed to have the property of
driving witches away, is known in Italy as the “ Devil-
chaser ” on that account, and the elder was said to
possess the same power.
The sea or horned poppy was reputed to be a favourite
plant with witches and to be used by them in their
incantations ; so too was the magical moonwort, that
was believed to open locks. The mullein, or “hag-
taper,” and the honesty were said to be equally
“ excelled in sorceries.” Among the trees and plants
especially obnoxious to witches there was none they
feared more than the mountain-ash or rowan tree.
Probably on account of its connexion with Druidical
ceremonies, it was accounted as the greatest proteftion
against witchcraft; hence the lines :
“ Rowan-tree and red thread
Put the witches to their speed.”
Even a small twig carried in the pocket was believed to
ensure immunity from their evil charms—so says the old
ballad:
<e Witches have no power,
Where there is row’n-tree wood.”
Throughout Europe the mountain-ash is in equal
repute, and in Norway, Denmark and Germany it is
customary to place branches over Stable doors to keep
the witches from entering.
Many plants are credited with the property of proteft-
302
HERBS OF MYSTERY—THE WITCH'S BROOM
ing from the “ evil eye ” : thus in Russia the Stem of the
birch tree, tied with a piece of red ribbon, is carried, in
Italy the herb rue is employed, in the Highlands of
Scotland groundsel is used, and in Germany the radish;
while the Chinese believe garlic affords the most effedive
proteftion.
CHAPTER XXXI
SURVIVALS OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN MODERN TIMES
T HE belief in magic and witchcraft has by no means
died out, and beside the pursuit of fortune-telling,
cryStal-gazing, cheiromancy and other methods of
divination Still carried on and believed in by many people
to-day, cases of the survival of the practices of the Middle
Ages occasionally come to light in our police courts.
Thus on April iSt, 1895, a man called Michael Cleary
was charged at Clonmel with having, on March 14th,
burnt his wife Bridget, a woman of 27 years of age, for
being a witch and thus causing her death at Ballyvadhen,
County Tipperary.
Johanna Burke swore that boiling herbs out of a sauce¬
pan on the fire were forced down the woman’s throat,
while her husband asked her, in the name of the “ Father,
Son and Holy GhoSt,” if she was his wife. He then
Stripped her clothes off and threw her on the floor, and,
pouring paraffin oil over her, set her on fire. Cleary,
assisted by three other persons, next took her to the fire
and forced her to sit upon it, in order “ to drive out the
witch ” that possessed her.
She was then laid upon the bed and shaken, while
her husband recited the words, “ Away with you ” (mean¬
ing the evil spirit) and, at six o’clock in the morning, the
priest was sent for to exorcize the spirits with which the
house was thought to be filled. The prisoners were
3°4
SURVIVALS OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC
found guilty, and sentenced to various periods of im¬
prisonment.
Among other practitioners of magic, the gipsy
Still enjoys a reputation among a certain class of
people, and the Romany, who is said to have inherited
his occult knowledge from early ancestors, is sought and
believed in by many countryfolk to-day.
An instance of this came to light in the Police Court at
Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire on November
15 th, 1926, when a gipsy of the historic name of Smith
was charged with obtaining money from a widow. It
was Stated that she had sold her “ charms to burn, wear
and put under her pillow/’ If those to be burnt,
burned brightly, it meant that £400 was coming to her,
but if the fire was dull some enemy was holding the
money back. The fortune-teller received a month’s
hard labour for her charms from an unsympathetic bench.
A police superintendent in charge of the case sagely
remarked, that the widow was only one of many simple
folk who were easily gulled by “ gipsy magic,” and
added, “ These fortune-tellers are becoming a danger to
the countryside.”
Another curious Story was related before the magis¬
trates at Batley in 1925, when a widow of 73 was sum¬
moned for doing damage to a pair of trousers and a
curtain belonging to a lodger, who was a miner.
The landlady declared that he never went to bed, but
“ sits up all night burning vitriol and cayenne pepper.
“ I call him a wizard. He can do any mortal thing,”
she exclaimed to the Bench.
Her daughter in giving evidence against the alleged
wizard said :
x
3°5
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
“ He does something that makes mother ill. We can
smell cayenne and things he uses. It is something you
don’t understand, and he has brought my mother to
the brink of the grave. Twice I have taken her out of his
way, but wherever we go we can feel his devilish work
going on.”
It is evident in this case that both women were under
the firm convi&ion that the man was trying to cast some
spell upon one of them.
It is not often that a man accuses his wife of being a
witch, but recently a husband applied for a separation
order, alleging that his wife practised witchcraft. He
declared that she told him that she was working on her
son and herself, “ by throwing something on a rug ”
when the former was ill, and by “ placing one of his
possessions near her photograph.” He also Stated that
“ she placed pokers in the fire and made rings of salt
around his chair to drive away evil spirits.”
An amusing case came before the Glastonbury
magistrates in January 1926, when a man applied for a
summons against a neighbour for bewitching his clock,
which, he said, “ ticked three times as loud as usual and
Stopped every night although it was wound up.”
He further alleged that the accused man “ came to him
as a witch when he sat by the fire, but only his head
and beard appeared. He spat at him twice and he
disappeared as a ball of smoke.”
He accused another neighbour of poisoning the cab¬
bages in his garden so that they made him ill when he
ate them. The Court regarded the charges as not proved
and the case was dismissed.
The peasantry in some parts of France are Still highly
306
SURVIVALS OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC
superstitious. In the country districts of the south-weSt
the belief in charms and the “ evil eye” is almost as general
as it was centuries ago. This is shown in a curious case
that came to light in January 1926 when an Abbe of the
small village of Bombon, near Melun, was accused by
a number of people in the neighbourhood, of being a
sorcerer, and of casting wicked spells over a woman.
Feeling in the village became so Strong against him
that he was ill-treated and beaten by some of his parish¬
ioners, and at length he took proceedings against his
accusers.
The chief evidence was given by a municipal employee
of Bordeaux who declared in Court, with great solemnity,
that he Struck the Abbe with a whip “ to drive the devil
out of him.”
“ Once,” he said, “ he sent, over our Oratory in
Bordeaux, birds which traced in the air the letters of his
name. That was an evil omen and from that moment
we suffered.
“ By similar diabolical practices he made mushrooms of
an unknown and venomous kind grow suddenly in the
garden of our chapel. I found that all my physical and
intelle&ual force had gone and I became a mere log.”
A woman also testified, that she had suffered less from
the spells, because she kept reading a traCt on exorcisms
against Satan, which she invited the Judge to read, and she
further declared, that the “ evil spirit ” made her “ bump
about in bed like a parcel.”
A case in which a modern “ magician ” who specialized
in restoring recalcitrant husbands to their wives, and in
settling marital differences, came before the magistrates
in Berlin a short time ago. The complainant, a shop-
x* 307
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
keeper, Stated that his suspicions were aroused by hearing
his wife apparently talking to herself in her bedroom late
one night.
Listening at the closed door, he heard her repeating the
words, “ He will be true. He will be true.”
His conscience smote him as he listened, and he went
into the room with the intention of vowing that his
wife’s prayer should be fulfilled, but he changed his
mind when to his astonishment he saw that she was
feeding the flames of the Stove with one of his waist¬
coats. Upon his expostulating, she confessed that she was
following out the instructions of a fortune-teller named
Kuhn whom she had consulted, and who had assured
her that she could secure her husband’s fidelity by burning
one of his garments while repeating the incantation.
The husband failed to be convinced, but let the matter
pass until a few weeks later he caught her burning his
trousers .
That decided him to put an end to the magician’s
practices, and he hailed Kuhn before the tribunal and
charged her with fortune-telling.
Another woman charged with practising the “ Black
Art ” was sent to prison for four months recently by the
magistrates at Liege in Belgium.
One of her victims was a young woman who, suffering
from pains in the head and body, consulted her twice a
week for several months, and eventually, in order to pay
her fees. Stole money and was sent to prison. Here the
woman, who was known as ViCtorine, visited her and told
her to “ Invoke my name in a loud voice and you will not
know you are in prison.” The fee for this advice was
charged in her bill, but prison life remained unaltered.
308
SURVIVALS OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC
Another vidtim was a married man whose wife had
left him. He consulted Vi&orine and paid her fee, and
she told him that in order to get his wife back, he muSt
go to Gouvy (a place fifty miles from Liege) and back,,
in the company of three professors.
He found the necessary three companions and made
the journey, and, lo, his wife returned. But unfortu¬
nately she soon ran off again, and none of Vi&orine’s
magic processes could induce her to return, hence the
prosecution which ended so unhappily for Vi&orine.
In Devonshire, a few years ago, an old woman was
found Sticking pins into a sheep’s heart while muttering
imprecations, and after a while hung it in the chimney,
with the object, she explained, of working ill on a
neighbour to whom she had taken a dislike.
In some parts of EaSt Anglia belief in witchcraft and
the power of the “ evil eye ” Still survives. The redor
of Merton, in Norfolk, a short time ago Stated that his
people round about that diStrift had an ingrained belief
in “ good and evil spells.”
“ The charge of witchcraft is usually whispered against
old women of dominant personality, Roman-nosed
women.” There is a common belief that “ if I offend ’un
(the old woman) then she’ll do me a mischief.” He
related the following account of how he laid a local curse
known as “ the curse of SturSton.”
“ This Story dates back to the time of Queen Elizabeth.
Sir Miles Yare—an Elizabethan vicar of Bray—was
then the reftor. For the country folk he held a Protes¬
tant service in the church on Sunday morning and then
recited Mass in his parlour for the Popish gentry.
“ An old Protestant lady, as she lay dying, solemnly
3°9
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
cursed this very accommodating parson-prieSt, his
church, his reftory and the Great Folks’ Hall. And the
curse seemed to come true.
“ When I came upon ,the scene,” says the Reftor,
“ I was asked to lay the curse. For the Old Hall had
become a farmhouse surrounded by a few cottages, and
the people feared that the curse might Still be working
itself out.
“ I held a public service, using an old altar tomb in
the ruined churchyard as a leftern. People flocked to
the service from miles around. In the sequel nothing
further dreadful happened. I had laid the curse.”
An interesting case, which recalls the methods
employed by the witch in the Middle Ages, is reported
from Cosenza in northern Italy. In a village near that
town lived two sisters, on whom a spell is said to have
been cast by a woman who was believed to pra&ise
witchcraft. She succeeded in convincing them, that
only by following her direftions could they liberate
themselves from the curse.
She prepared special food for them; administered
mysterious philtres and forbade them to leave their house.
In a short time both the sisters began to show signs
of wasting away, which so alarmed their friends that they
called in the aid of the police.
Accompanied by an officer they forced their way into
the house, where they discovered the two sisters in a
moribund condition and one of them died soon afterwards.
The so-called witch was at once arrested, and was only
with difficulty saved from the anger of the villagers.
There is a curious superstitious custom in connexion
with children that Still survives in some parts of Wales,
310
SURVIVALS OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC
which consists of making an incision into a certain part of
the cartilage of a child’s ear, in order to cure it of back¬
wardness. The operation is usually performed during
the waxing of the moon by a woman who is supposed
to have inherited the knowledge of performing the
operation corredfly. It is done repeatedly on the child
until it is found to prove effe&ive.
The belief in charms and mascots is Still as common
in our crowded cities as in remote parts of the country.
The countless mascots to be seen on motor-cars in
our Streets to-day evidence the belief in the occult that
lingers in modern times, and yet we smile at the credulity
of the people of the EaSt, who hang Strings of blue beads
about their horses’ manes to ward off the “ evil eye.”
It is hardly credible, but nevertheless true, that tiny
glass tubes filled with mercury and enclosed in wash-
leather cases are Still sold in a chemist’s shop in the heart
of the City of London, to people who believe that, by
carrying them in their pockets, they will prevent attacks
of rheumatism.
A certain scientific man is said to have expressed him¬
self confident that he had checked a tendency to bleed at
the nose, by suspending round his neck nine Strands
of red silk in each of which were tied nine knots. In
order to be effective each knot had to be tied by a woman
and separately wished over.
A short time ago, a shop was opened in one of the
principal Streets of the WeSt End of London for the sale
of a so-called Egyptian charm or mascot. Numerous
letters were exhibited in the window, purporting to have
been received from users of it, testifying to its wonderful
powers. Tradesmen declared it had increased their
3 11
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
business, boxers wrote that it had given them vi&ory
over their opponents, dancers asserted that it had found
them partners, bookmakers Stated it had given them
success in betting, other people said it had obtained them
situations and motorists declared it had helped them to
win races !
These few instances of human credulity, at the present
day, serve to show the prevalence of superstition and how
little human nature has changed from the early centuries.
The tendency to believe in the supernatural Still exists
in all communities, and appears to be wrapped-up with
the mystery that envelops the future and the fear of the
unknown. The desire to pierce the veil that hides the
beyond is innate in the human race throughout the world.
The manifestations of the magicians of the Middle
Ages appear ridiculous to us to-day, but there are many
people who Still believe that they can communicate with
the spirits of the dead by means of supernatural agencies.
If we look back through the past centuries we shall
find that some of the greatest thinkers and intelleftual men
of their time, such as Roger Bacon, Cornelius Agrippa,
Paracelsus and Van Helmont were believers in the occult.
There is no proof, however, that the praftitioners of
magic ever wrought any phenomena that could not be
produced by natural agencies, nor is there any real
evidence, in the records of magic, that the spirit of a dead
person has ever materialized or been made to appear on
earth in human form.
Although many of the rites used in magic were
probably derived from those employed in early times as
part of religious ceremonial, and founded on principles
that lie deep down in the mind of man, it is evident that
312
SURVIVALS OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC
they formed but part of an elaborate system of im¬
posture, designed to deceive and based on the credulity
of humanity and the fear of the unknown.
The more the myStery surrounding the rites and cere¬
monies carried on, the more they seem to have inspired
belief in the ordinary mind, and all tended to create an
atmosphere of deception and illusion. The effects of the
narcotic drugs employed by the magicians in their
fumigations, to impress the imagination, no doubt
sometimes produced hallucinations that appeared to be
real. It is probable that they had a knowledge of certain
powers, such as hypnotism, which they kept secret;
for the “ wise man, 5 ’ from the earliest times, was generally
one who was cunning enough to be able to acquire and
hold an influence over his less intelligent fellows by
mysteries and secrets.
A knowledge of acoustics formed a natural means of
deception in the working of the ancient oracles, and
even apparitions may have been produced by the effe&s
of refle&ion on polished surfaces.
It will be remembered how the illusion known as
“ Pepper’s GhoSt 55 mystified the general public many
years ago, until it was explained that the apparitions
were produced by the reflections of limelighted figures
Standing beneath the front of the Stage.
“ The Cabinet of Proteus,” the astonishing “ spirit ”
tricks performed by Anderson the “ Wizard of theNorth,”
the remarkable feats of legerdemain executed by Houdin
at his Temple of MyStery in Paris, also by Dr Lynn and
Heller in London, and later the ingenious automata and
cabinet tricks invented by Maskelyne and performed
at the old Egyptian Hall, are but a few of the natural
3*3
THE MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
deceptions that created amazement and wonder in the
la£t generation, and which a few centuries earlier would
have been attributed to magic.
The old saying that “ seeing is believing ” is not always
correft, as the sleight-of-hand tricks of the modern con¬
jurer readily prove how the eye can easily be deceived by
movements that are quicker than sight.
The extraordinary manifestations performed by Eastern
jugglers are further instances of the manner in which
vision can be deceived, and of how an erroneous im¬
pression may be conveyed to the brain. A person
concentrating his thoughts, and constantly thinking of
certain persons or things, may conceivably have a
waking dream in which an occurrence may be pi&ured in
his imagination, so that he believes that he has actually
seen it.
The advance of science and education has done much to
dispel the mysteries and reveal the secrets of magic, and
the scientist may fitly be called the magician of modern
times. His boundary is illimitable.
The discoveries of recent years, such as the production
of the perfume of flowers from the refuse of the gas¬
works, the transference of photographs by eleftricity,
television, the transmission of the human voice and
of music through the ether for thousands of miles, are
but a few of his achievements.
Surely these alone are more extraordinary than any¬
thing ever attributed to magic.
The laboratory is his “ magic circle ” where he works
his wonders without mystery, and his discoveries outvie
the greatest secrets that were claimed to be known by
the magicians of the paSt.
314
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Manuscripts, British Museum.
Sloane, 2731, 3648, 3805, 3850, 3851, 1727, 3849, 3821, 389, 1306,
3824, 3189, 3846, 3847, 3822, 2577, 3853, 1306, 3851, 3826,
3653, 521, 647, 3821, 3883, 3884, 2544, 7 02 s 738, 78, 1512,
3 1 88, 3655, 3189, 3655.
Harl. 2267, 6482, 4381, 584, 6483.
Lans. 846, 1202.
Tib. A, VII, 6 E VI, 12 F XVI, 17a XLII, 25311, 32496, 36674,
32496, 35125, Ar 295.
Bodleian, Ashmolean, 187, 182, 421, 1406, 1442, 346, 1388, 1393,
1398, 1406, 1435, 1438, 1442, 1447, 1450, 1453, 1488, 1491,
1494, i497> 3 3 5, 580, 1451, 133, 431, 3115, 961.
Rawlinson, 868, 252, 253, 1067, 1363.
Persian, 1563, 1564.
Bibliotheque Nationale, MSS.
Bibliotheque de P Arsenal, MSS.
Life in Ancient Egypt. Maspero.
The Light of Egypt.
Egyptian Magic. Budge.
Babylonian Magic. King.
Semetic Magic. Thompson.
Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia. Thompson.
The Magic Art. Frazer.
Magic : White and Black. Hartmann.
Magica seu. 1557.
History of Life. FauSt.
Magica das vit. 1600.
Magica de Spe£tris. 1656.
History of Magic. Waite.
Grand Grimoire.
Key to Physics. Sibley.
Grimorium verum.
Magic and Mystery. Thompson.
3 T 5
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Devil Worship in France. Waite.
Kabbala Denadch. Mathers.
Book of Sacred Magic. Mathers.
The Magus. Barrett.
Talismanic Magic. Barrett.
Illustrations of the Occult Sciences. Sibley.
Selene und Vervandi. Roscher.
Chronicle of Jerahmeel. GaSter.
Book of Enoch. GaSter.
Sword of Moses. GaSter.
Occultists. Shirley.
Conversations on Secrets and Mysteries. Gabalis, 1700.
Witchcraft. Wickwar.
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.
Peintures et Gravures. Breuil.
Des Sorciers et des Devineresses. Molitor, 1489.
(Euvres complet. Wier, 1660.
Demonology and Devil-lore. Conway.
Folk-lore of Rome. Busk.
316
INDEX
Aba-aner, story of, 53
Alectromancy, 149
Alexander the Great and his talisman,
55 .
Amuletic ligatures, 73
Angels appear in crystal, 152
Ann Jefferies and the fairies, 10
Appearance of infernal spirits, 258
of the spirits, 248
Arab love charms, 90
Augurs, the, 29
costume of, 30
Babylonian magic, 33
Banshee, 16
Belief in charms and mascots, 311
Bewitching a clock, 306
“ Birto,” how to conjure the spirit,
269
Black magic, 63
Mass, the, 139, 259
ritual described, 139
Blood of the mystic eye, 211
Bogle, 23
Book of Adam, 61
of Enoch, 61
of Raziel, 61
“ Book of Mystery,” 280
“ Booke of Hidden Philosophy,” 248
“ Book of Sacred Magic of Abra-
melin,” 220
“ Booke of the Seven Images of the
Dayes,” 251
Brownies, 15
Cabiri, 25
Cabiric worship, 26
mysteries of, 26
Caius, secret writing of Dr, 267
Canidia, 83
Canidia’s incantation, 83
Casting spells, 8, 270
Castra, Alonso de, attends a Witches’
Sabbath, 120
Characters of the evil spirits, 268
Charles I, charm worn by, 270
Cheiromancy, 147
Chinese books on magic, 101
magical customs, 102
magic, 100
sorcerers, 100
Clavicle or Key of Solomon, 65, 229
magical ceremonial in the, 231
Clay figure, antiquity of use of, 36
figures used by Greek magicians, 77
Colours associated with the planets,
186
Compelling a spirit to speak, 154
Conjuration, early Hebrew, 63
Conjurations, 244
Contagious magic, 4, 5
Crocodile, magical wax, 5 3
Crystallomancy, 146
Crystal-gazing diagram, 155
Curse for all spirits, 155
Cursing a witch, 245
Dactylomancy, 148
Dee, Dr John, 274
and Queen Elizabeth, 275
Dee’s black mirror, 276
conference with angels, 282
crystal and magic discs, 286
operations with the crystal, 277
petition, 285
Demonical possession, 130
and disease, 131
Demonology, Assyrian, 35
Devil, appearance of the, 19
worshippers, 137
Devils, 19
Discovering a thief, 245
Divination, 142
methods of, 143
in Vedic magic, 100
Divs, 18
Dragon’s blood, 212
love charms worked with, 212
“ Drawing down the Moon,” 79
Drugs used by witches, 134
magic wand, 87
rites and practices of, 86, 87
Druidical sacred stones, 87
Druids, 85
317
INDEX
Edward IV and magic, 269
Egyptian astrology, 58
books of magic, 47, 48
magic, 46
magical rites, 50
magicians, 48
oracles, 29
priest-magicians and disease, 50
Elf arrows, 13
Elf-locks, 13
Elfin children, 13, 14
Elves, 13
Emerald that foretold disaster, 199
Evil eye, 81
terror to the Assyrians, 41
Fairfax family bewitched, 124
Fairies, 9, 11
Fairy rings, 13
“ Familiar ” in a ring, 15
“ Familiars,” 14
Fastening down a spirit, 154
“ Fayrie,” excellent way to get a, 12
Forman’s magical ring, 195
Frazer’s observations, 3
Fumigations for raising spirits, 167
substances used for, 168
to drive away devils, 173
Genii, 18
Geomancy, 147
Ghosts and ruins, 37
Gilgamish, story of, 33
“ Glasse of Apollonius,” 265
Glaukias, story of, 80
“ Goats, The,” 141
Goblins, 22
“ Golden Flowers,” 264
Gout rings, 191
Earl of Lauderdale’s, 191
Grand Grimoire, 258
Greek charms, 78
love-charms, 80
magic, 74
magicians, 75
Greeting for the spirits, 248
Grimoire of Honorius, 259
Grimoires, 256
“ Hand of the Ghost,” 37
Harvey, Dr William, dissects a
“ familiar,” 125
Hecate, 76
318
Hecate’s circle, 158
suppers, 78
Herbs, as love charms, 211
ceremonies in gathering, 174
and witchcraft, 301
of mystery, 298
of the spirits, 171
Hidden treasure, how to discover, 254
Hindu charms and amulets, 98
magic, 93
magicians, 96
How to fly in the air, 226
Hui, story of, 54
Human blood, manuscript written
with, 262
Hydromancy, 147
Images and figures, Egyptian magical,
5L 52
Imitative magic, 4
Incantations of Greek magicians, 77
Incubation sleep, 50
Incubus, 19, 20
Invocation of Sathan, 252
Isis, Great Enchantress, 46
Japanese magic, 103
magical jewels, 105
magical rituals, 103
Jewish magic, 61
magicians, 62
Jinns, 18
Judicial divination, 145
Kabbala, 66, 67
Kabbalistic circle, 160
Kelly, Edward, 278
and Sir Thomas Browne, 279
King John’s magical ring, 192
Knives and rods, 234
Knotted cord, rite of the, 34, 42
Ku-K’ai-chin, story of, 102
Laws against witchcraft, 127
Laying a ghost, 37
the “ Curse of Sturston,” 309
Lead, magical power of, 99
Lesser Key of Solomon, 240
Libraries of Ephesus, 72
Lilu, 37
Lithomancy, 148
Logaeth, 283
Love and apples, 208
and magic, 203
INDEX
Love charm with “cramp rings,” 191
charms, 204
Babylonian, 43
philtres used by the Romans, 84
“ Lying-in ” fire, 98
Magi, the, 34
migration of the, 25
“ Magic of Arbatel,” 264
Magic carpet, 239
circle, Assyrian, 157
consecration of the, 162
description of the, 161
how it is to be drawn, 158
Hindu, 158
circles, 157
crystal, 146, 151
ritual described, 151
definition of, 1
doctrine of, 2
garters, 238
in mythology, 74
in Shakespeare, 287
runes, 91
symbols, 227
w T ands, 257
Magical ceremonial, 34
jewels, 196
numbers, 176
papyri, 56
rings, 187
salves, 75
seal, “ Earl of Peterborough’s,” 194
squares used by Hindus, 95
tablet of Nectanebus, 59
talismans, 181
Magician in the circle, 250
Magician’s crown, 233
fee, 226
garments, 250
pen, ink and colours, 237
poison, 253
ring, 188
consecration of, 188
robes, 224
silk cloth, 238
shoes, 233
staff or wand, 235
sword, 235
vestments, 233
“ Maiden of Idzushi,” story of, 105,
106
Marriage charms, 94
Mass of St. Secaire, 140
Medea, 74
Mercury as a modern charm, 311
Metternich stele talisman, 60
“ Mistress of Witchcrafts,” 71
Mithrobarzanes, 83, 109
Modern witchcraft, 304
Nailing down a ghost, 90
Narcotic plants used by witches, 123
Necromancy, 108
practice of, 109
varieties of, no
Nectanebus, king-magician, 54
Nightmare, 14, 20
“ Nine Tomes of Magic,” 241
Number 13, superstitions connected
with, 179
Oberon, King of the Fairies, 9, n
Odours to attract demons, 42
Omens, 31
Oneiromancy, 149
Oracle of Clarian Apollo, 29
of Delphi, 27
of Delos and Branchis, 28
of Jupiter Ammon, 27
of Jupiter Dodonus, 28
of Jupiter Trophonius, 28
Pacts with the devil, 112
written in blood, 257
Papal Bulls against witchcraft, 126
Pentacles, 163, 228
how to draw, 164
virtues of, 166
Perfumes and incense as charms, 57
benediction of, 173
dedicated to the planets, 169
used in magic, 167
Peris, 9
Place for performance of magical
ceremonies, 249
Plague demons and gods, 40, 41
Poisons in war, 219
Popular illusions, 313
Prayers of the “ lifting of the hand,”
.34
Precious stones as amulets, 196
magical properties of, 197, 201
that change colour, 201
Pricking the witch, 128
Priest-magicians, Babylonian, 33
Puck, 13, 23
Pyromancy, 148
319
INDEX
Removing a spell, 245
Rings for healing, 191
Robes of Greek magician, 76
Robin Goodfellow, 13, 22
Roman magic, 81
charms against the Evil Eye, 82
secret, 252
sorceress, 82
Romany magic, 305
Ruby, magical virtue of, 198
Rules for a magician, 254
Russian sorcerer, 91
Sacrificial offerings in Greek rites, 78
Sacrificial victims, 257
Scyphomancy, 149
Sea and river monsters, charm against,
56
Seal of the Secrets,” 242
“ Seal of Venus,” as a love charm,
206
Seals of the planets, 189
Secret alphabets, 260
“ Secret of Secrets,” 265
Secretum Secretorum, 218
Seven angels and the planets, 265
perfumes of the, 173
Seven, evil spirits, 39
mystical number, 39
Shinto, magical rites of, 105
Skryers, 156
Slav magic, 92
Solomon’s Apple, 209
ring, 191
traditions concerning, 192
Sorcerer, prehistoric, 6
visit to a, 115
Sorcerers, Assyrian, 35
conjuration, 113
in the New Testament, 71
Sorcery, 113
in France, 138
in the fourteenth century, 116
Sortilege, 144
Spedlins Castle, ghost of, 17
Spell to cast sickness on a man, 271
to slay an enemy, 271
Spells in Vedic magic, 100
Stag’s hide for a witch, 6
Stars and metals, 190
St John’s Gospel, magical virtues of,
262
Supernatural beings, 9
“ Sword of Moses,” 215
Sympathetic magic, 4
powder, Digby’s, 5
Taboo, 44
Talismanic seals, 182
how made, 184
Tamarisk used by magicians, 38
Taoists, 101
Tetragrammaton, meaning of, 70
Teuton, magic, 92
Thoth, 46
Toads as “ familiars,” 123
True black magic, 256
True experiment at Cambridge, 266
Vampire of Mycone, 22
Vampires, 20
stories of, 21
Wand and implements of Greek
magician, 77
Water, use in magical ceremonies, 38
Wax figure as a love charm, 206
Wax figures, 4
in Vedic magic, 99
used by witches, 123
Wax ships and soldiers, 54
Weasel in witchcraft, 125
“ What a magician must know,” 254
White magic, 63
Witch’s “ familiars,” 16
Witchcraft, 118
Act, 130
and religion, 7
in East Anglia, 309
in India, 96
Witch of Berkeley, 6
of Endor, 71
trials, 127
Witches, broom, 301
burnt, 129
description of, 119
ointments, and their composition,
121, 133, 134
Sabbath, 119, 120, 122
Woman transformed into a mare, 203
“ Words of Power,” 35,52
Yogis, 93
Zend-Avesta, 24
Zoroaster, 24
320
FOUR THOUSAND
YEARS
OF PHARMACY
By CHARLES H. LaWALL
64 Illustrations, mostly from original
sources. Octavo.
What is pharmacy? The story is
locked up in ancient tomes and for¬
gotten volumes. When we unravel
the tapestry into which the picture
of pharmacy is woven we find inter¬
mingled in the warp and woof the
glowing history of an important art,
embellished with the golden threads of
romance, the black threads of mystery
and occultism, and the vari-colored
fibres of many allied arts and sciences.
The picture is one of which any phar¬
macist may be proud. In it he will
find priest and philosopher, poet and
painter, king and pope, knave and
charlatan, as practitioners of the art
in centuries gone by. Fascinating by¬
paths leading to forgotten treasures
of curious lore await him who strays
along the highway of this famous
quest, for the search for a panacea, a
catholicon, a veritable elixir of life
which should cure all ills as if by
magic, was the animating motive
in the evolution of pharmacy. As¬
trology and magic also play their
parts, and before our eyes alchemy
blossoms into chemistry. This fasci¬
nating work is the outgrowth of more
than ten years’ experience among the
advanced students of the Philadelphia
College of Pharmacy who have shown
interest in knowing more of these
“quaint and curious volumes of for¬
gotten lore. “
THE
MYSTERY AND LURE
OF PERFUME
By C. J. S. THOMPSON
The lure of the ancient East—of Persia and Arabia—lurks
in the mystic word perfume. Long, long ago, before the
Christian era, the love of fragrant odors called men from
their homes to distant countries, through unknown hard¬
ships and over robber-infested roads to farthest India and
China. Down through all ages, through all countries, has
come this love, almost reverence for perfume. Here is a book
packed with all this romantic and historic lore of the perfumes
of the Ancients, with fascinating chapters on modern uses—
all vividly portrayed by a man who has made a long and
thorough survey of the subject.
POISON MYSTERIES
IN HISTORY, ROMANCE
AND CRIME
By C. J. S. THOMPSON
In the annals of poison are truths stranger than fiction,
crimes more dramatic than the daily news. Beginning with
the poisons of ancient races, Mr. Thompson gives curious,
authentic accounts of royal and historic poison cases in
England, Scotland, France and Italy, with special attention
to that notorious family of Borgia. Graphically it treats of
poison plots, of love philters and mediaeval superstitions, of
poisons in warfare, of the devious ways employed by secret
poisoners. It reads like a sinister romance of cunning, ambi¬
tion and the strange passions of the human heart. From cover
to cover it will hold you spell-bound.
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
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