Funeral Wisdom of the World

Magic and study of occult arts successfully survived Renaissance and entered the Baroque era. And even more. the study of the occult arts remained intellectually respectable well into the seventeenth century. It only gradually divides into the modern categories of natural science versus occultism or superstition. My web analytics research shows, that brilliant Age of Reason was on the rise in the seventeenth century , while belief in witchcraft and sorcery, and consequently the irrational surge of Early Modern witch trials, receded. This process only completed at the end of the Baroque period, somewhere around 1730s.

Contemporary scientists still met resistance, though. Christian Thomasius encountered fierce opposition as he argued in his 1701 dissertation that it was meaningless to make dealing with the devil a criminal offense, since it was impossible to really commit the crime in the first place. In Britain, the Witchcraft Act of 1735 established that people could not be punished for consorting with spirits, while would-be magicians pretending to be able to invoke spirits could still be fined as con artists.

Several decades later, from 1756 to 1781, Jacob Philadelphia performed feats of magic, sometimes under the guise of scientific exhibitions, throughout Europe and Russia. Baron Carl Reichenbach’s experiments with his Odic force appeared to be an attempt to bridge the gap between magic and science.

More recent periods of renewed interest in magic occurred around the end of the 19th century, because Symbolism and other offshoots of Romanticism cultivated a renewed interest in exotic spiritualities. European colonialism, which put Westerners in contact with India and Egypt, reintroduced exotic beliefs to Europeans at this time. Hindu and Egyptian mythology frequently feature in nineteenth century magical texts. The late 19th century gave birth to a large number of magical organizations, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Theosophical Society, and specifically magical variants on Freemasonry. The Golden Dawn represented perhaps the peak of this wave of magic, attracting cultural celebrities like William Butler Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, and Arthur Machen.

Well, times for magic were certainly changing during Renaissance. Magic saw a resurgence in hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of ceremonial magic. The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, saw the rise of science. Chemistry was substituting alchemy, astronomy was slowly dethroning the Ptolemaic theory of the universe assumed by astrology. There was the some development of the germ theory of disease, that restricted the scope of applied magic and threatened the belief systems it relied on. A nice gentleman wrote to us recently, explaining that there was seven arts of magic prohibited by canon law during the period of Renaissance: necromancy, geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy, spatulamancy. Here we go, I named them all! I even published an article for my web analytics company, explaining in details which means what.

Both bourgeoisie and nobility in the 15th and 16th century showed great fascination with these arts, which exerted an exotic charm by their ascription to Arabic, Jewish, Gypsy and Egyptian sources. There was great uncertainty in distinguishing practices of vain superstition, blasphemous occultism, and perfectly sound scholarly knowledge or pious ritual. The intellectual and spiritual tensions erupted in the Early Modern witch craze, further reinforced by the turmoils of the Protestant Reformation, especially in Germany, England, and Scotland.

Study of the occult arts was intellectually respectable in the Renaissance, and remained so far into 17th century. At the peak of the witch trials, there was a certain danger to be associated with witchcraft or sorcery, and most learned authors take pains to clearly renounce the practice of forbidden arts. Thus, Agrippa while admitting that natural magic is the highest form of natural philosophy unambiguously rejects all forms of ceremonial magic. Indeed, the keen interest taken by intellectual circles in occult topics provided one driving force that enabled the witch hunts to endure beyond the Renaissance and into the 18th century. As the intellectual mainstream in the early 18th century ceased to believe in witchcraft, the witch trials subsided almost instantaneously.

I guess, it is high time I switched to magic in Middle Ages. So, where should I begin? There is so much material that I read in my web analytics company.  Medieval authors, under the control of the Church, confined their magic to compilations of wonder lore and collections of spells. Many of them created quite a number of such compilations. Specifically Christianized varieties of magic were devised during this period.

In the early Middle Ages, the cult of relics as objects not only of veneration but also of supernatural power arose. Miraculous tales were told of the power of relics of the saints to work miracles, not only to heal the sick, but for purposes like swaying the outcome of a battle. The relics had become amulets, and various churches strove to purchase scarce or valuable examples, hoping to become places of pilgrimage. As in any other economic endeavor, demand gave rise to supply. Tales of the miracle-working relics of the saints were compiled later into quite popular collections like the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine or the Dialogus miraculorum of Caesar of Heisterbach.

One of our blog reader assures me, that there were other, officially proscribed varieties of Christianized magic. The demonology and angelology contained in the earliest writings assume a life surrounded by Christian implements and sacred rituals. The underlying theology in these works of Christian demonology encourages the magician to fortify himself with fasting, prayers, and sacraments, so that by using the holy names of God in the sacred languages, he could use divine power to coerce demons into appearing and serving his usually lustful or avaricious magical goals. Not surprisingly, the Church disapproved of these rites.

In the late antiquity people were certainly extremely superstitious. I am talking not only about simple people but also about the great minds like Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, Apuleius and the like, whose creations I had a chance to read in my web analytics company. These writers define superstition as fear of the gods that leads to the need to resort to magical rites and taboos, the consultation of professional sorcerers and witches, charms and spells, and unintelligible language in prayers addressed to the gods. Not just simple people, but even highly educated people of that time took for granted other magical practices, such as hurting someone by the evil eye. They also believed in daemons that serve as agents or links between gods and human beings and are responsible for many supernatural events in human life that are commonly attributed to divine intervention. Some daemons are good, some are evil, but even the good ones, in moments of anger, can do harmful acts.
It seems that great mind of that time were also convinced of the powers of certain herbs or roots as revealed to humanity by the gods. They argued that the divine powers in their concern for the welfare of humanity wish for humanity to discover the secrets of nature. For example, in their wisdom the gods sought to bring humans gradually closer to their status; which certainly many magical traditions seek. Thus, by acquiring knowledge one can aspire to gain knowledge even from the gods. Yet, even the author of Natural History Pliny, the Elder thought negatively of magic. He wrote that the claims of the professional magicians were either exaggerated or simply false. And those sorcerers who had written down their spells and recipes despised and hated humanity. Arts of the magicians of Rome were linked with the emperor Nero, whom Pliny claims had studied magic with the best teachers and had access to the best books, but was unable to do anything extraordinary.

Overall, attitude towards magic was extremely hostile in Roman empire. Practicing magic was outlawed under Roman law. It was very easy for a philosopher to be accused of magical practices. A consensus was established quite early in Roman history for the banning of anything viewed as harmful acts of magic. The Laws of the Twelve Tablets for example expressly forbid anyone from enticing his neighbors’ crops into his fields by magic. Actual trials for alleged violation of these laws were held in Rome many times. It is also recorded that Chaldean astrologers were expelled from Rome in 139 BC - on the grounds that they were magicians. In 33 BC astrologers and magicians are explicitly mentioned as having been driven from Rome. Twenty years later, Augustus ordered all books on the magical arts to be burned. In 16 CE magicians and astrologers were expelled from Italy, and this was reinstated by edicts of emperors Vespasian in 69 CE and Domitian in 89 CE. The emperor Constantine I in the 4th century CE issued a ruling to cover all charges of magic. In it he distinguished between helpful charms, not punishable, and antagonistic spells. In these cases Roman authorities specifically decided what forms of magic were acceptable and which were not. Those that were not acceptable were termed “magic”; those that were acceptable were usually defined as traditions of the state or practices of the state’s religions.

I was researching the development of magic in the late antiquity period of Roman empire for my web analytics company. And that is when I stumpled upon a very interesting fact. You probably would be surprised to hear it, as I was. But in the first and second centuries CE, in the opinion of the Roman empire citizens, three men were considered greatest magicians of all times: Simon Magus, Apollonius of Tyana, …. and Jesus Christ. I had hard time believing it but a letter from the funeral director, actually, confirmed my findings.

So, why Jesus? From pagan Roman point of view Jesus was a typical miracle-worker. He exorcised daemons, healed the sick, made prophecies and raised the dead. Time went by and Christianity grew. Eventually, it became seen as a threat to established traditions of ancient religion in the Greco-Roman. That is why Jesus was accused of being a magic user. And, naturally, this accusation later was switched on all early Christians as well.

Pagan people of Rome including scholars read into Christian texts too much looking for clues to prove that Jesus was a magician. As we know, Gospels told a life story full of features common to divinely touched figures. For example, Jesus’ divine origin, his miraculous birth, and his facing of a powerful daemon. The gospel of Matthew even mentions briefly that Jesus was taken to Egypt as an infant. Well, hostile forces among pagan Roman scholars used Gospel to explain Jesus’s knowledge of magic. According to one negative story, Jesus came back from Egypt tattooed with spells. It was also argued that Jesus was mad, which was often associated with people of great power.

Simon is the name of a magician mentioned in the Christian canonical book of Acts and in apocryphal texts. Simon the Magus is presented as a person deeply impressed by the apostle Peter’s cures and exorcisms. Especially, Simon was stunned by the gift of the Spirit that came from the apostles’ laying on of hands. Therefore, he believed and was baptized. But then Simon asks the apostles to sell him their special gift so that he can practice it too. This seems to represent the attitude of a professional magician. So, for Simon, the power of this new Christian movement is a kind of magic that can be purchased - perhaps a common practice for magicians in parts of the Roman empire. The Apostles response to Simon was emphatic in its rejection. The early Christian church drew a strong line between what it practiced and the practices of magicians and magic users.

The third magician of interest in that period of the Roman Empire was Apollonius of Tyana. Between 217 and 238 Flavius Philostratus wrote his Life of Apollonius of Tyana. It was a lengthy novel about magical powers of Apollonius. According to Philostratus, this novel was born out of the memoirs of somebody named Damis, who was a disciple of great magic user Apollonious. He claimed that the memoirs were owned by empress Julia Domna, mother of emperor Caracalla.

In any case Philostratus creation was a literary fake. From the pages of the novel Apollonius emerges as an ascetic traveling teacher. He is usually labeled a new Pythagoras, and he does represent the same combination of philosopher and magus that Pythagoras was. According to Philostratus, Apollonius traveled far and wide, as far as India, teaching ideas reasonably consistent with traditional Pythagorean doctrine. Anyway, this manuscript became a bestseller in Roman empire of Late Antiquity. Apollonius was so popular that talismans allegedly made by Apollonius appeared in several Greek cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, as if they were sent from heaven. Some magical figures and columns dedicated to him were also erected in public places to protect the cities from plagues and evil.

I just could not stop with the description of the Hellenistic period magic and had to go on further. What kind of Web analyst would I be? Besides, I have so much to tell you that one blog entry would simply be nothing compared to the material on ancient magic that I have in my possession right now. Some of it came from from other sources that I will mention in my future posts. Some printed stuff is still lying at my office table at the local web analytics company.

Much of ancient Roman literature dealing with magic are, basically, retellings of Greek myths. Roman poet Virgils’s Aeneid for example describes an interesting magical ceremony. The hero of the epic, Aeneas, who has landed on the coast of North Africa after fleeing from Troy, meets Queen Dido. She has just begun to build the city of Carthage. Dido falls in love with Aeneas, and wishes him to stay as her prince consort. The rest of what happens is easy to imagine. As usual, a traveling hero meets a beautiful female who is potentially dangerous, although kind and hospitable as long as her love for the hero lasts.

Thus the future conflict is set when goddess Fate decrees that Aeneas leave Dido to found a city of his own. Inevitably Dido’s love turns to hate. Enraged queen seeks to use a complex magical ritual to bring her former lover back to her. She builds a gigantic pyre in the main courtyard of her palace and prepares an elaborate sacrifice to the powers of the underworld. However Dido soon comes to realize that the love magic is not powerful enough to bring Aeneas back to her. So she kills herself in her despair, which adds to the power to her curse. Dido had sealed and extended her curse through her suicide. Aeneas was protected by his gods and remained safe. But, according to Virgil, Dido’s use of magic and her curse lingered on leading to Rome’s near crushing defeat by Carthage many centuries later. This demonstrates quite clearly that the Romans shared the Greek’s view of magic as being dangerous and untrustworthy.

The Romans in fact went further then the Greeks in their condemnation and fearfulness that they generate around their concept of magic. Some examples of are found in the writings of Seneca, the philosopher and playwright, and his nephew, Lucan. Seneca selects some of the most gruesome Greek myths for dramatic treatment and he greatly adds to the negative connotations already applied to the theme of magic, necromancy and the like - where it is given by the mythical tradition and sometimes even where there is little negativity indicated towards magic. From dialogue between wife of the Hercules Deineira and her nurse we learn that it is quite common for jealous wives to consult a witch. It turns out, the nurse, very conveniently, is a witch herself. A great hero such as Hercules should not be able to be influenced by magical means, but in the end he is overcome by the deadly concoction that the evil magic user passes on to Hercules, through deceiving Deianira into the belief that she is giving Hercules a love charm.

In Seneca’s version Medea’s power of hating, which she can switch on and intensify at will is still the dominant theme, but Medea is now given a full cupboard of horrors from which to select the most efficient means of magical destruction. Her magic can even, apparently affect the cosmos, as she claims that she can force down the constellation of the Snake.

Seneca’s nephew Lucan in his work surpassed his uncle in portraying the horrors and powers of witchcraft. In his play, just before the decisive battle of Pharsalus, in which Julius Caesar defeats the forces of Pompey, the two armies are moving through Thessaly, the country of witchcraft in Lucan’s work. Here one of Pompey’s sons consults a famous witch called Erictho about the outcome of the future battle. Erictho is the most powerful of witches, and because she is so powerful she is presented as being quite loathsome and disgusting. Such are her powers that she can even compel some of the lesser gods to serve her and even cause them to shudder at her spells. As exaggerated as these plays are they demonstrate knowledge of magical practices found in the Greek magical texts. These works also shows that Roman audience must have easily understood the concept of magic in a negative sense but also in the sense of being a practice aimed at influencing or controlling the forces of the cosmos, even the gods themselves.

Recently at our web analytics company we have visitors. One of the guests was an ancient history buff like myself and turned out to be quite a story teller. We were both interested in the development of magic rituals and traditions in Greco-Roman world. But, boy, he knew so much, that I just could not catch up with him. His story was so interesting, that I even asked him to write down for me some facts, so I could pass them to you, my readers.

It seems, that a huge interest in magic was on the rise in the Hellenistic period, especially around 3d century b.c. Piles of texts, both literary and some from actual practitioners, in Greek and in Latin came to us from this time. Truly speaking, a lot of existing magical papyri was written in the first centuries after Christ, but the manuscripts’ concepts, formulas and rituals reflect the earlier Hellenistic period. These magical papyri are no doubt only a fraction of the magical literature available in antiquity. The ascendancy of orthodox Christianity by the 5th century CE had much to do with this. This is reflected by the book of Acts where the Apostle Paul convinces many Ephesians to bring out their magical books and burn them.

The language of the magical texts reflects various levels of literary skill. Generally they are standard Greek, and may well be closer to the spoken language of the time than to poetry or artistic prose left to us in literary texts. Many terms are borrowed from the mystery cults. The texts are often written as we might write a recipe. In other words the magic requires certain ingredients. Of course it is not just as simple as knowing how to put a recipe together. Appropriate gestures, at certain points in the magical ritual, are required to accompany the ingredients, different gestures it would seem produce various effects. A magical ritual done in the right way can guarantee the revealing of dreams and of course the rather useful talent of interpreting them correctly. In other cases certain spells allow one to send out a daemon or daemons to harm one’s enemies or even to break up someone’s marriage. There seems to be a self-defining negativity to some of the magical rituals being expressed in the papyri. So, for example, love magic can turn into hate magic if the victim does not respond to the love magic.

The same negative aspect to magic is found in various “curse tablets”, left to us from the Greco-Roman world. It was also possible to curse an enemy through a spoken word, either in his presence or behind his back. But due to numbers of curse tablets that have been found it would seem that this type of magic was considered more effective. The process involved writing the victim’s name on a thin sheet of lead along with varying magical formulas or symbols, then burying the tablet in or near a tomb, a place of execution, or a battlefield, to give spirits of the dead power over the victim. Sometimes the curse tablets were even transfixed with various items – such as nails, which were believed to add magical potency.

For most magic acts or rituals there existed counter-magic. it. Amulets were one of the most common protections used in the Greco-Roman world as protection against such fearful things as curses and the evil eye; which were seen as very real by most of its inhabitants. Amulets were often made of cheap materials, but precious stones were believed to have special efficacy. Many discovered thousands of carved gems clearly had a magical rather than an ornamental function. Amulets were a very widespread type of magic, because of the fear of other types of magic such as curses being used against oneself. Thus amulets were actually often a mixture of various formulas from Babylonian, Egyptian, and Greek elements that were worn by those of most affiliations so as to protect against other forms of magic. It is interesting to note that amulets are actually often abbreviated forms of the formulas found in the magical papyri.

Magical tools were thus very common in magical rituals. They were just as important as the spells and incantations that were repeated for each magical ritual. Direct evidence of this - a magician’s kit, probably dating from the third century CE, was discovered in the remains of the ancient city of Pergamon in Asia Minor. The find consisted of a bronze table and base covered with symbols, a dish, a large bronze nail with letters inscribed on its flat sides, two bronze rings, and three black polished stones inscribed with the names of supernatural powers. What emerges then, from this evidence, is the conclusion that a type of permanence and universality of magic had developed in the the Hellenistic period if not earlier. Most scientists agree that although many testimonies about magic are relatively late, the practices they reveal are much older.

I was always curious about the origin of the word magic. Through my research for local web analytics company learned, that the prototypical “magicians” were a class of priests. These priests were known as the Magi of the ancient religion Zoroastrianism. The reputation of Magi in ancient Persia together with that of Ancient Egypt influenced to a great degree Hellenistic religion. The ancient Greek mystery religions had strongly magical components, and in Egypt, a large number of magical papyri, in Greek, Coptic, and Demotic, have been recovered. My blog reader mentions that these sources contain early instances of much of the magical lore that later became part of Western cultural expectations about the practice of magic, especially ceremonial magic. For example, among all, they contain early instances of the use of “magic words” said to have the power to command spirits. They also first describe the use of “magic” wands and other ritual tools. In these documents we also encounter the use of a magic circle to defend the magician against the spirits he is invoking or evoking and the use of mysterious symbols or sigils thought useful to invoke or evoke spirits.

These ancient documents also in details tell about the use of spirit mediums. For example, many of the spells call for a child to be brought to the magic circle to act as a conduit for messages from the spirits. In the time of the Roman emperor Julian, marked by a reaction against the influence of Christianity, there was a temporary a revival of magical practices. And, of course, all those practices mentioned, above, happily moved into our horror movies and became a great part of sci-fi thrillers and even action movies.

Speaking of magic, the ancient wizards of the island of Britain also developed an interesting conceptual system of magic. We know these wizards from books and movies as druids. The earliest records of the name Druidae is found on the works of Greek writers such as Sotion of Alexandria, who was cited by Diogenes Laertius in the third century of our era. During my research for web analytics company, and discussions with blog readers, I learned that in old Celtic polytheism the word druid denotes the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies. These priests existed through much of Western Europe and in Britain and Ireland until they were suppressed and, practically destroyed by ancient Roman government and, later, Christianity. Druidic practices were a huge part of the culture of all Celtic tribal peoples not only in Britain but also in Continental Europe. These druids combined the duties of priest, arbitrator, healer, scholar, and magistrate. I read about many modern attempts at reconstructing or reinventing Druidism, that are called Neo-druidism. So, let me describe who were druids in the past.

Yes, the druids were polytheists, but they also revered elements of nature, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars, looking to them for signs and seasons. They also treated with reverence other natural elements, such as the oak, certain groves of trees, tops of hills, streams, lakes and certain other plants, especially mistletoe and holly. Fire was regarded as a symbol of several divinities and was associated with the sun and cleansing. Druid calendar year was governed by the lunar, solar, vegetative and herding cycles. The four main holidays include Imbolc to denote the first signs of spring, Beltane to recognize the fullness of life after spring, Lughnasadh to celebrate the ripening of first fruits and the many-skilled deity Lugh, and Samhain to recognize the end of harvest and the lowering of the barrier between the world of the living and that of the dead. The timing for these four festivals would have been determined by the presence of a full moon and the seasonal changes in the natural world. In modern times, Imbolc has been transformed into Groundhog Day, elements of Beltane have been absorbed into Easter, and Samhain has become Halloween.

Ancient history provides us with a lot of information about magic. Appearing from aboriginal tribes in Australia and Maori tribes in New Zea land to rain forest tribes in South America, bush tribes in Africa and ancient Pagan tribal groups in Europe and the British Isles, some form of shamanic contact with the spirit world seems to be nearly universal in the early development of human communities. I was observing with excitement at the office of my local web analytics company photos of the ancient cave paintings in France and Germany, that were widely speculated to be early magical formulations, intended to produce successful hunts. While going through multiple sources I could not help noticing, that much of the Babylonian and Egyptian pictorial writing characters appear derived from the same sources.

Although indigenous magical traditions persist to this day, very early on some communities transitioned from nomadic to agricultural civilizations, and with this shift, the development of spiritual life mirrored that of civic life. Just as tribal elders were consolidated and transformed into kings and bureaucrats, so too were shamans and adepts devolved into priests and a priestly caste. This shift is by no means in nomenclature alone. While the shaman’s task was to negotiate between the tribe and the spirit world, on behalf of the tribe, as directed by the collective will of the tribe, the priest’s role was to transfer instructions from the deities to the city-state, on behalf of the deities, as directed by the will of those deities. This shift represents the first major usurpation of power by distancing magic from those participating in that magic. It is at this stage of development that highly elaborate rituals, setting the stage for formal religions, began to emerge, such as the funeral rites of the Egyptians and the sacrifice rituals of the Babylonians, Persians, Aztecs and Mayans.