A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult
KomisyonSözler ve Alıntılar
Bütün pantheonların kendilerinin devamı olduğu düşüncesini tartıp duruyorum.
Örneğin: tanrıça Hekate ve onun kutsal sembollerinden biri olan yılan.
— As well as being an abstract force, there was a god called Heka who personified magic.
Heka helped ensure the harmony of the cosmos and acted as a conduit through whom worshippers could seek divine favors. He had a female counterpart, Weret-hekau (Great of Magic), who was depicted in the form of a cobra. It is thought that the snake-headed staffs often used by ancient Egyptian magicians may have represented her.
Nazar değmesin.
—or those in fear of the baskania (the evil eye) might have employed an eye-shaped pendant to ward off its gaze.
“Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole law. Love is the law, love under will.”
-Aleister Crowley
"I am noble, I am a spirit…
Oh, all you gods and all you spirits, prepare a path for me."
Behind much of the theory of Greek magic lay the concept of binding-tak-ing control of the physical or intellectual attributes of the victim and binding them to the will of the spell caster.
Even celestial objects such as the moon could be bound, in a ritual known as
"drawing down the moon," a speciality of Thracian witches who collected
"moon-foam" to act as an amplifier in magical potions.
The nude female body was a sign to medieval eyes of women's lasciviousness and of how susceptible they were to demonic temptation…
…These first victims of the drive against witchcraft were all accused of using their magical powers to manipulate men. Their convictions were part of an increasingly misogynistic view of women as either chaste and saintly paragons in courtly romances or evil seductresses using sex to cheat and exploit men. Depictions of naked women were often linked to demonic
power.
(Ayrıca boynuzlu, kuyruklu, kırmızı ‘Şeytan’ imajı pagan toprakları işgale başlayan Hristiyanlardan gelir. Paganlığı ve cadılığı Hristiyanlığa bir tehdit olarak görmüş, bu yüzden inançlı ve büyüyü pratik eden halkın yardım aldığı, onları koruyan ‘entity’leri şeytanlaştırmaya, kalifiyesizleştirmeye çalışmışlardır. Hristiyanlığa ters giden her şey onlar için kötüdür ve yok edilmelidir.)
Magic was now considered more of a threat to the Church because it appeared to have much in common with heresy. Both were described as the work of the Devil and involved ignorance and excessive pride (for ignoring the Church) as well as trickery and deceit. Heretics began to fall under suspicion for sorcery and witches for heresy.