It was thanks to the eminent Portuguese Cyprianist José Leitão that the secret of the origin of this character was clarified for me: the text that appears in the edition of the Livro de S. Cypriano ou Thesouro do Feiticeiro, published at the end of the 19th century by the Livraria Econômica in Lisbon, with the title of A Feiticeira de Évora ou História da Sempre Noiva (The Witch of Evora or the Story of the Forever Bride), was taken from a work by Amador Patrício (pseudonym of Martim Cardoso de Azevedo) published in 1739, the Historia das Antiguidades de Evora.

EBORA LIBERALITAS JULIA

The historian Plínio (the Elder) in the first century called the Roman settlement established in the place where the city of Évora is located today, Ebora Cerealis, a name derived from the ancient Celtic eburos, which indicated a shrub known today as yew. The neighborhoods are notable for the Neolithic megaliths that date back 5,000 years, including the Cromlech of the Almendres, one of the largest groups of menhirs in Europe.

In the 1st century BC, the town received the honorary title Liberalitas Julia for its loyalty to the Roman emperor Julius Caesar during the civil wars. One of the historical landmarks of that time are the ruins of the Temple erected in honor of Emperor Caesar Augustus, who was revered as a god; the attribution of the Temple to the goddess Diana was made erroneously in the 17th century, and again in another error in 1945 to the Goddess of Grace.

IN THE BOOK OF SAINT CIPRIAN

The chapter dedicated to the Witch of Évora in the edition of Livraria Econômica opens with the description of the discovery of a fantastic place that, in fact, comes from a narrative also from the Historia das Antiguidades de Evora but which does not refer to the Witch. It is the (very interesting) description of the discovery of the grave of one Montero-mur, during the supposed construction (or reconstruction) of the Castle of Giraldo, a castro (fortified structure) with origins in the Bronze Age, located today in the District of Évora:

In the middle of the house was a grave the height of a man. The inside was all painted in circles, with lizards, snakes and geckos. Outside, at the edges, were four natural stone frogs, and between frog and frog were figures of children, each half the size of a cubit, standing. They had bundles of wands in their hands that threatened the frogs. In one of the corners of this house was the figure of a monster that from head to waist was a man, and from the waist down a coiled snake. In the other corner was a turtle and on top of it a crow that had a bat in its mouth, as if it were eating it. In the other two corners, in each, a figure of a woman, one awake and the other sleeping; the awake had a man’s head in her left hand by the hair, and at the foot was a hunting dog with his mouth open, as if he wanted to attack the head, and the woman with her hand prevented it. The one who slept had an owl in one hand and a hawk with open wings in the other, wanting to attack the owl. On the walls of the house were many paintings of snails, slugs, frogs, wasps, drones, beetles, bugs and other small animals.

This is a translation of the text as seen in the Livro de S. Cypriano; it follows very faithfully what is seen in the Historia das Antiguidades de Evora, with one or other copyist error; but, the following sentence was inserted to associate the place with the Witch of Évora,

It was the den where the Lagarrona witch performed her diabolic spells.

Lagarrona is the name given in the story for this witch (bruxa), who is also called a sorceress (feiticeira) several times. At no point in the original text do we see the expressions Witch of Évora or Sorceress of Évora being used; these expressions, which became so popular, were introduced by the Livro de S. Cypriano that gave its composed text the title of A Feiticeira de Évora, ou História da Sempre Noiva (The Sorceress of Evora or the Story of the Forever Bride). When introducing the character, Amador Patrício wrote that she was “a Moor, also Magician, and enchantress, which was called Lagarrona”.

THE POWERS OF THE WITCH OF EVORA

This story introduces us to Lagarrona as a witch of great powers: she makes her son invisible, and then turns him into an ass. Here we find new mistakes by the copyist, who claims that this donkey disappeared “fleeing through the fields”, when the original narrative says he was carried away in the air – so Lagarrona also had this power.

The sorceress “had achieved by her spells that her son would disappear for the love of a Christian woman“, so she could predict the future. She prepared spells that, placed under the pillows, made the girl coveted by her son and her fiancé to fall asleep without consummating the marriage, and other enchantments that, put on the groom’s clothes, killed him in twenty-four hours. And so with two more suitors.

To all this, illusionism powers are added, well described in an interesting paragraph that, unfortunately, the copyist of the Livro de S. Cypriano forgot to include, and that I take the opportunity to rescue. According to what can be seen in the Historia das Antiguidades de Evora, when the girl intended by her son was captive in her home, the Lagarrona distracted her:

[…] with many inventions of enchantments: now it seemed, that she was in his very sumptuous Palace, in fresh gardens, and cheerful orchards: at other times she invented beast hunts, horse games, tournaments, dances, masks; and finally a thousand things, with which she spent time, and she was happy.

Lagarrona, in despair when her son was arrested and sentenced, again resorted to her powers of illusionism, making “many black shadows shrouded in fire” and “armed giants and ferocious animals” appear in the prison.

Tying the prisoner, with his hands and feet, they went out with him to punish him; but when they arrived at the gallows, great thunder and lightning began, which terrified everyone, and soon there were black clouds, so thick, that the air darkened and they didn’t see each other, and after that the earth opened up, with a lot of smoke and black shadows that walked through the air, with snakes in their hands, whipping everyone. Then, hearing a great thud and earthquake, the air came to stay as clear as before.

The witch dies at the end of the story, when her magical trance is interrupted by the men of justice during a great spell, and she suffers a fatal accident. As the Livro de S. Cypriano also presents copy errors here, I translated from the original:

Justice put her in that place hanged, where she was until rotting, which was the same house, where she lived; and after that the place was called Lagarrona, taking the name of this witch, who there died, and changing a letter it today is called Lagardona.

The magic words that Lagarrona used in her last spell, according to the story, were not recorded, “but some Authors say […] that she said the following words”:

Olenta in pus, nigabao, negabus. Oleolapolaó merrinhao, mirrinhaó, nhao, nhao, nhao, nhao.

The copyist of the Livro de S. Cypriano left us:

Olenta in pus, nigalao negabus. Oleolapolaó, merrinhaó, merrinhao, nhão, nhãn, nhão!

New Stories

Whoever tells a story increases it, so goes a saying. The Livro de S. Cypriano has added several stories where, without regard to details of time and logic, we have adventures where the saint and the sorcerer mix. Likewise, new narratives about the Witch of Évora were being created. One of the most beautiful is found in the book by Maria Helena Farelli:

But what do the Arabs have to do with our history? The reason is that, according to the legend, the Witch of Évora was Moorish; yes, they said she was Arab or Moorish. She was dark, not white like most Portuguese women. She had come from the hot lands and had Arab friends, but she was raised in Iberia; so she spoke Arabic and Portuguese well, besides Latin. Legend has it that her father and mother died when she was seven; that an old aunt raised her and taught her the magical arts, giving her as talismans seven gold coins from the caliph Omar, an agate stone with Arabic inscriptions and a silver plate with the name of the Prophet. And she taught her to work in pottery: the witch made her clay pots and vases. Some say that she was crazy about rugs and, all the money she earned, she spent on them. Legend has it that she read the Koran and wrote; among her belongings was a rich carved copper inkwell. She knew mathematics and, looking at the sky, she recognized the stars; she knew how to read the luck in the sands, in the stars, and how to do spells and healings. She knew the magic of her Muslim ancestors; but, living in the 13th century, she also knew that of the Celts, who for a long time occupied the south of Portugal. Infidel, therefore. Devil worshiper … Enemy of the Church. But the old witch had already made the pilgrimage to Santiago of  Compostela, where there were precious relics. She had already gone to the Cathedral of Braga many times to pay promises, and she lived well. She was free. She picked flowers and herbs, earned her rich money, was feared and respected. She was afraid only of being arrested and tortured as a devil worshiper. So, she used to disappear. They said she flew on her broom, with her owl on her back … things from the time of kings..

Farelli’s narrative turns the Witch of Évora into a magical heroine, even a scholar. In the original narrative, she was, in fact, a wicked sorceress who collaborates in the kidnapping of a Christian virgin and helped to kill her grooms.

CYPRIAN & THE WITCH

The original narratives about Saint Cyprian make him a martyr during the reign of Diocletian, who reigned from 284 to 305. The story of the Witch of Évora takes place during the time of the Muslim occupation of Portugal, which lasted from 726 to 1249. The book São Cipriano o Legitimo Capa Preta, however, had no qualms in putting the two characters in the same narrative:

At the age of thirty, he went to Babylon where he was to learn astrology and the deepest mysteries of the Chaldeans, at the same time that he gave himself up to an impure and scandalous life. In order to be more connected to the demons he studied magic and came to associate to the old Witch Évora, known as the most powerful fortune teller and dream interpreter. When the Witch died, at a very old age, she left all her secrets and discoveries, carefully compiled in her manuscripts, material that would be of great use for Cyprian.

The witch here has a more dignified ending … In the original texts on Saint Cyprian, written in the fourth century, one of the first things the sorcerer does when deciding to convert is to present himself to the bishop and burn his books; the São Cipriano o Legitimo Capa Preta also innovates on this point:

Already converted, Cyprian hurried to distribute his goods to the needy and his manuscripts, as well as the notes of the Witch Évora, he kept them at the bottom of a large chest, locking it with a powerful lock. Even though Cyprian recognized that them had no value against the Almighty God, worshiped by Justina and Eusebio, he recognized that those documents could, in the future, clear many doubts and elucidate certain mysteries.

THE POMBAGIRA WITCH

The  Livro de S. Cypriano mentions two characters who would later become part of Quimbanda; Maria Padilha appears in five spells in this book, and is today one of its most important entities. Spells with Maria Padilha appear in the confessions of Portuguese witches exiled by the Inquisition to Brazil, in the times of the colony, but the Witch of Évora only made her passage from Myth to Magic thanks to the popularization of the Books of Saint Cypria sold and published in Brazil.

The Pombagira Witch of Évora has become popular; this seems to me to be a recent phenomenon, as I have found no mention of her (so far) in the literature of Umbanda and Quimbanda of the first seven decades of the 20th century. In an Internet source, which also uses material from Farelli’s book, today we see:

Pomba-Gira Witch of Évora is very much in demand when you don’t know what else to do. She knows and does it with the greatest willingness, as she is thirsty to complete her objective. Instead of chasing her victims, she prefers to attract them, which she does very well. She herself decides which spirit will be assigned to each mission and has the power to surprise them if they do not perform their tasks well.

And still:

She was always visited by a black goat. Goats were always animals of sorcerers because they were considered sensual. The Pomba-Gira Witch of Évora obeys all Yabás (female orixás), a little-known entity that has many mysteries around her. Almost you don’t hear about her, but she works with all sorts of magic and enchantments for all purposes. She presents herself as she wishes, now as a lady, now a dame, now a beautiful and pleasant girl. Because she works for all Yabás, she doesn’t have a very definite stereotype, she likes champagne and cigarillos.

(https://www.marciafernandes.com.br/site/pomba-gira-bruxa-de-evora/)

Proving that she is here to stay, the Pombagira Witch of Évora already has its own image, as we can see below. It follows the archetype of the old witch riding the broom so popular in our culture.

Image of the Pombagira Witch of Évora.
Photo by Verónica Rivas.

THE REAL WITCHES OF ÉVORA

When she was surprised in her last spell, the Lagarrona was in a room where “a sign of Solomon was painted on the floor”. This detail is in accordance with the narratives collected by the Portuguese inquisitors; in O Imaginário da Magia – Feiticeiras, adivinhos e curandeiros em Portugal no Século XVI, by Francisco Bethencourt, for example, we see:

Isabel Lopes, for example, used to say that she made a circle in the house and entered it and from within she would call the devils, who if they found her outside that circle and the sign of Solomon they would make her into pieces.

The Portuguese Inquisition began in Évora in 1536, with the promulgation of the papal bull Cum ad nihil magis; its court functioned until 1821, when the Holy Office in Portugal was extinguished by the government.

A very interesting thing raised by Francisco Bethencourt, based on the Évora court cases, is the existence, in the 16th century, of a network of exchange and learning among witches. So we know, for example, that the witches Brites Marques and Brites Frazoa were considered by the others to be “the most knowledgeable”; Brites Marques was consulted in more difficult cases by companions Inês Arruda, Inês Rodrigues Catela and Guiomar Rodrigues, who even sent them “clients whose problems exceeded their level of competence”. These networks of witches also extended outside the localities: Ana Godinha, a witch from Alcácer do Sal, had learned from Brites Frazoa de Évora, and even the “most knowledgeable” Brites Marques and Brites Frazoa consulted the Moorish woman from Montemor called Maria Fernandes. In an interesting detail, the sorceress Jerónima da Cruz confessed to having learned to communicate with the devil with “a captive moorish woman”.

These witches and sorceresses trapped in the net of the Inquisition of Évora were sometimes sent to serve time in Brazil. For example, in 1675 the Évora Court arrested Leonor Gonçalves, accused of witchcraft, superstition and pact with the devil, and deported her to the colony. Leonor confessed to talking to her guardian angel and her deceased husband, and that “she took from the altar of the Church of Mercy of Vila de Frades, a piece of the altar stone to make certain spells with it in order to cure the sick”. She declared to the inquisitors that:

Our Lady of the Rosary was the mother of the Devil and Our Lady of Medicine was the aunt of the devil and that she gave her soul and heart to him for having nothing better to give. (Vadios e Ciganos, Heréticos e Bruxas: Os Degredados no Brasil-Colônia, Geraldo Pieroni)

Exiled to the colony, these Witches of Évora became, by right, the first Witches of Brazil.

The post Bruxa de Évora appeared first on Occult-Study.

Description

Witchcraft in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was without a doubt, a major phenomenon, characteristic of those ages.

Unlike Medieval Magic which concentrated on the control and subjugation of the demonic spirits, Medieval Witchcraft concentrated on their worship. In other words, medieval witchcraft, according to written history, is a form of Satanism and Demonolatry of the Middle Ages. While magic was dealing with the Divine mysteries, with angelology, with the knowledge of the stars, numbers, etc., witchcraft was preoccupied with the knowledge of the Infernal powers, of demonology, of worship and spells.

Another difference between the two is the type of practitioners. While magic was generally practiced by  the “learned” and “educated”, meaning priests and people of a high rank (physicians, alchemists, etc), witchcraft was mainly practiced by pagans, or country people (paganus =  peasant) who were relying more on intuition rather than knowledge.

The witchcraft traditions of the middle ages were in most part from “the people”, in other words they were folkloric traditions based a lot on rural superstitions or Biblical mythology. Etymologically speaking, the word witchcraft comes from the slavonic word vraza, or superstition.

However, it was not always like that. We will later see many similarities between the two, like the practice of magical rituals by the priests, necromancy and others.

The nature of medieval witchcraft was and still is discussed by many, including historians of religion, each with their own opinions. While some, like Montague Summers nonchalantly declare that medieval witchcraft was Satanic and “depends on the Devil, and is fundamentally evil”[1], others like Joseph Hansen declare that witchcraft was “a product of medieval theology, ecclesiastical organization, and the magic trials conducted by the papacy and the Inquisition. These, under the influence of scholastic demonology, were conducted like heresy trials.”[2] This opinion was considered valid until 1921, when dr Margaret Murray published The Witch-Cult in Western Europe.

Murray’s book was an unexpected success, and from Eliade and other historians’ opinions, an undeserved success, because it was full of errors. The theory exposed in the book suggests that witches in Europe were in fact a pagan cult worshipping a horned god.[3] This theory survived even after the critics of the experts, influencing the birth of Wicca in the 40’s.

However, there is not enough evidence to back up Murray’s theories. Not enough is known about the pagan religions of western Europe to connect any of them with the witches and there is a gap in time between the pagan cults and the witch trials. In England, one of the last bastions of paganism in western Europe, there is no evidence that pagan cults survived later than the time of Canute, who died in 1035 [4], and on the Continent they seem to have disappeared long before. Also, witches were persecuted as heretics, not as pagans. The pagan traditions have indeed survived, and were implemented in witchcraft as they were in Christianity, but we cannot say they were the direct continuance of a pagan cult.

It seems that the witches did worship a horned god, and that was no other than the Devil from Christianity, as we shall see in a lot of evidence later on. An interesting documentary from BBC entitled “How the Devil got his horns” shows us the visual process that the Devil went through, and how he changed his appearance from the blue angel to the zoomorph creature inspired from pagan deities such as Pan or the Egyptian god Bes.

(One of the first representations of the zoomorph Devil, painted by Coppo di Marcovaldo)

According to historian Richard Cavendish, their rituals and traditions seem to come from the Cathars and Luciferians, two Gnostic sects. I’ve wrote about their connections in the article Traditional Satanism. But medieval witches seem to have many other influences, like the classical grimoires, pagan and ancient traditions, Judeo-Christian mythology and folklore.

What it really was is still debated. However, Richard Cavendish makes an interesting point: “The evidence leaves little doubt that many innocent people made up confessions under the pressure of physical and mental torture… to reject all the huge quantities of evidence as illusory, to assume that beneath so much smoke there was no fire at all, seems unduly skeptical.”[5] The same is suggested by Mircea Eliade, saying that “if the victims were not guilty of the crimes and heresies, a certain number of witches have confessed they were practicing magical-religious ceremonies of pagan origin and structure.”[6]

Thus, we are only left to investigate and try to find an answer, even a personal one. However, in this article I will not try to offer any straight opinion, but I will leave this honor to the readers.

Inquisition and trials in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

If we were to take in consideration Hansen’s theory, witchcraft appeared with the witch-hunts, around the 13^th century, not long after the crusade against the Cathars, though there were trials for witchcraft beginning with the year 306 when the Councils of Elvira, Ancyra and Trullo asked for various penalties for devil worship and idolatry but these were later forbidden at the Council of Paderborn in 785 when it was explicitly outlawed condemning people as witches and condemned to death anyone who burnt a witch.[7] After that, many Christian parts have forbidden the persecution of witches for reason that they do not exist and are merely a superstition.

However, this gradually changed. The first trials for witchcraft were held in 1245 at Toulouse in south of France, the main centre of Catharism. There were convictions of witchcraft in Switzerland, Savoy and Italy at the beginning of the 15^th century and in Germany beginning with 1446. The first execution for witchcraft in Spain happened in 1498, but the Spanish Inquisition took a cautious and skeptical attitude to accusations of witchcraft and trials were comparatively rare. Then there followed the trails on Scotland between the 16^th and 17^th centuries, and there was a witchcraft panic in Sweden and then the famous trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692.

(Litographic illustration of the Salem trials – 1892, Joseph Baker)

Though heresies were not absent in Romania or the rest of the east-European orthodox countries, there were no harsh and systematic persecutions of witches.[8] In Romania, more precisely in Transylvania, there were trials against witchcraft beginning with 1565, when the first sentence mentioned is that of the midwife Clara Botzi.[9]

In 1487, two dominican clergymen published the notorious manual against witchcraft, Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches or Hammer against Witches). This, along with Daemonolatreiae libri tres (trans. Demonolatry) in 1595, Compendium Malleficarum (1608) and the first of these, Directorium Inquisitorum from 1376, were the groundwork and basis of every inquisitor and the model from which they were tracing witches.

(Malleus Maleficarum, Laiden edition, 1584)

The radical change from the pagan or dualist heresy to the witchcraft heresy probably manifested most clearly after the publication of Malleus Maleficarum. The true “hunt” began in the sixteenth century and reached its climax in the seventeenth century.

Historian Jules Michelet says that “many [witches] perished just because they were young and pretty.”[10] Stanislaw Przybyszewski, like Murray and Michelet but harsher, (and at the same time, poetically) tells how “merely possessing a book of philosophy was enough to put one’s life at risk, and in order to avoid this fate the inhabitants would burn all their books. And now the terrible martyrdom of the proud children of Satan began – which made the persecutions of Christians under Nero look like child’s play.”[11] He tells that every passion came from the demon, and if this passion was destroyed, so was the demon. We see the same thoughts at Michelet, who seems to describe with pity the terrible events in the lives of the presumed witches. According to St. Cyprian, the young virgin, who without wanting or knowing, excites man with unclean thoughts, is already a sinner and loses her virginity. “The woman who is beautiful sins without her knowledge, for through her beauty she becomes a scythe with which Satan cuts his crop… the monk whom the demon drags away from the cross sins, for he does not have enough strength to endure to the end. The nun who washes herself more than twice a month sins – everywhere sin, everywhere eternal damnation.”[12] Indeed the evidence used was usually absurd, the simple fact that she had a mark on the body was to the Inquisition a clear proof that she was “touched by the Devil”[13].

In Malleus Maleficarum, Part III, it is explained who can judge witches, the methods used, the number of witnesses at the trial and all the details of the trail according to the “judicial proceedings in both the ecclesiastical and civil courts.”

Thus, we find out that only heretics can be judged, not the soothsayers and diviners. Also, if their acts are not done with conscience and will, they cannot be trailed. “But it may be said that all witches have to deny the Faith, and therefore must be judged as heretics.[14] However, it was not so. The Inquisition transformed into a mania that seemed to have no end, a mania in which tens of thousands of witches have died, mainly women. It was indeed, a crisis, a hysteria and a madness on all grounds, people were in panic and the priests “did not undertake a religious ceremony without first exorcising every corner of the church.”[15]

What was once considered superstition, now became a pure and feared truth. People were condemned on various accusations, beginning with the adoration of the Devil, ecstatic dances, orgies, infanticide, cannibalism, curses. Witches were accuses of destroying the crops, for bringing storms or drought, for sickening the livestock and all sorts of trouble. Their crimes were numerous, as Johann Nider exemplifies in Formicarius. The denial and defamation of the Church and the pope by means of the Devil and the obscene rite of homage during which the Devil appears in human shape, the joy-rides, the bewitching of crops and livestock, the inciting of hate and lust, interference with intercourse and conception among humans and animals, and the metamorphosis of the witches and sorcerers into animals (lycanthropy), the killing of the fruit of the womb by sorcery, the use of body parts of corpses from murdered children for slaves and finally the copulation with the incubus and succubus. [16] All was happening at the Sabbath, the nocturnal meeting of witches.

Stephen Flowers suggests that Christians were using the same descriptions of the heretics as the Romans used of the Christians in the past. Romans believed that Christians were sacrificing new-born, as Minucius Felix wrote: “a child… is set before the would-be novice. The novice stabs the child to death.. then… they hungrily drink the child’s blood and compete with one another as they divide his limbs.” We see the same accusations at the byzantine monk Michael Psellos who wrote in De Operatione Daemonum about what orthodox Christians thought about the Bogomil heretics: “they cut their tender flesh all over with sharp knives and catch the stream of blood in basins. They throw the babies, still breathing and gasping, into the fire to be burned to ashes.”[17] The same things were heard in America at the famous Satanic Panic in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Diseases, the curse of the sinners

The diseases in the Dark Ages played an important role. Skin diseases, leprosy, plague, epilepsy, chronic ulcer, syphilis, all were punishing the medieval centuries. We also see this problem described by Aaron Leitch in the article Medieval Magic. With the exception of Arab and Jewish physicians and doctors who were employed on big sums of money by the rich, the medical treatment was rarely found – people didn’t have much choice but to stay in line at the Church to be sprinkled with holy water.

(Old illustration, showing a doctor visiting a plague victim)

All of these “punishments” were in direct connection with sin. People who sinned were punished by God through disease. Because medicine was forbidden and holy water proved useless, people began directing their steps to witches. Michelet dedicates an entire chapter to this problem, which he simply entitles, Satan the healer.[18] He gives us Paracelsus as an example, who after burning all his books of ancient medicine, declared that all he read and proved useful, was learned from the witches. He specially refers to his book Diseases of Women, which has its merits in the arms of women. No woman would have gone to a male doctor and didn’t trust him with her secrets. Instead, they went to the traditional practitioners, to the wise witches who knew the secrets of the healing herbs. But because these plants were also poisonous if not dozed correctly, these were seen as ingredients for poisons. An example is henbane, which is a plant with deadly poison, but which can also be an excellent emollient,  a sedative that relaxes the tissues. You can imagine how, in the vision of the Church, this women looked with medicinal plants in her hand. The priest uses sacraments and prayers to heal, while Satan offers us material methods.

We can see the same attitude today, all over the world, in Europe and in Romania, where people go to the relics of the saints to pray for health, or go to the gypsy witches to ask for help in all sorts of problems. The relics (moaște) are basically parts of a saint’s body which did not putrefy, suggesting that the spirit of the saint is still present in them, having various powers such as healing, helping women with pregnancy, keeping the family away from harm and so on. They are usually kept in reliquaries (raclă) of gold or silver, thought others, called philatory, are transparent as to see the remains of the body. The usual custom is that a pilgrimage is first held, after which the people are allowed to kiss the relic, make the sign of the cross and pray for whatever their needs.

(Pilgrims at the relics of Saint Paraskeva of the Balkans. The biggest pilgrimage in Romania, held in Iași in the second week of October. The relics are said to have treated thousands of people of incurable diseases)

Demonic possession

The reasons for the beginning of this hysteria can be various. The fact that the population was simply suffocated by the Church and doctrines could have been a reason for the revolt of the people who wanted to “break the chains” of this domination. Gerhard Zacharias says that this reaction of “overheated religious atmosphere” and “outbreak of hysterical or psychotic manifestations” was due to the desperate life style and the sensation of hopelessness in front of diseases, the depressions and tragedies.[19] Another theory would be that the Church was losing its sympathizers and it had to get the attention of the people, by any means, over the power of the Christian Church.

Besides the accusations of witchcraft, there was also a hysteria of demonic possessions, the most known cases were those from Louviers, Loudun and Aix-En Provence.

The presumed demonic possessions from the Louviers Convent (France) in 1647, like those from Aix-En and Loudun, started when the nuns declared they have been possessed by demons after Father Mathurin Picard (nunnery direction) and Father Thomas Boulle (vicar) took them to a Sabbath of witches to communicate with Demons, specifically the demon Dagod, all according to the testimony of Madeleine Bavent. More testimonies from the nuns followed, throwing the Church and society into panic. After more investigations, it was discovered that the nuns suffered the classical symptoms of possession:

• Contortions
• Unnatural body movements
• Speaking in tongues (glossolalia)
• Insults
• Blasphemies
• Appearance of wounds that vanish as quickly as they appear

[20]

The exorcism rituals that followed were public, generating a terrible spectacle. Almost every person present at the exorcism was questions by the inquisitors, resulting that the entire town of Louviers began presenting symptoms of hysteria, as the cries of the nuns undergoing exorcism rose with the screams of Father Boulle, who was tortured at the same time; Mathurin Picard had died previous to the public display.[21]

The case from Loudun was deemed the most famous case of possession hysteria in history. This began in 1634, also in France, when the Convent of the Ursuline Nuns was seized by a series of demonic possessions.

Like the case from Louviers, the guilty one was also a priest, this time Father Urbain Grandier. He was accused of invoking demons and asking them to possess the nuns. This is the case that actually questioned the actual existence of demonic possession.

(Urbain Grandier)

The accusation started when Mother Superior Jeanne Des Agnes reported having dreams in which she was visited by Demons and Grandier. After her testimony followed the rest coming from the other nuns. The demons involved in the possessions were Asmodeus, Zabulon, Isacaaron, Astaroth, Gresil, Amand, Leviatom, Behemot, Beherie, Easas, Celsus, Acaos, Cedon, Alex, Naphthalim, Cham, Ureil and Achas.[22] They also appeared in a presumed pact of Grandier. This pact, written and signed by Grandier, seems to be also signed by various demons including their sigils. Among them are Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan, Elimi and Astaroth. More about this pact can be read in the article The Pact, dedication and initiation.

Finally, Grandier was put under accusation, tortured and burn alive. The nuns were exorcised by Father Surin. An exceptional film on the subject of the Loudon possessions was directed by Ken Russell in 1971 under the title “The Devils“, the lead roles being interpreted by two great actors, Oliver Reed (Grandier) and Vanessa Redgrave (Jeanne Des Agnes). However, the case is presented slightly different than the written documentation.

The examples offered above are interesting, because they all resemble. Stephanie Connolly points out an important factor: they were all nuns. Thus, it is possible that they have been possessed or suffered psychical disorders due to sexual frustration of the chaste women.

Of course, if we’re talking about demonic possession it is inevitable to also talk about the associated disorders. Demonic possession is called by psychiatrists Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personality). One of the main reasons for which this disorder is associated with the so-called demonic possession is that the patients identify themselves with demons (demonomania or demonopathy). This disorder is not the only one associated with demonic possession. Other mental disorders such as hysteria, mania, psychosis, schizophrenia, epilepsy and even Tourette Syndrome were all erroneously considered demonic possession by the religious people because of the similar classical symptoms of demonic possession as presented above. For a complete list of demonic possession symptoms would be: uncontrolled twists, unnatural body movements and abnormal physical efforts, spitting and vomiting, interior voices, insults, blasphemies. Many of these are also signs of schizophrenia (hallucinations and interior voices, paranoia and violent behavior), epilepsy (convulsions), Tourette syndrome (involuntary movements and vocal outbursts).

In this sense we can give as an example the case from Tanacu, Romania, in the year 2005. A priest and few nuns thought that one of them (Irina Cornici – 23 years old) was possessed. They had done an exorcism that “failed”, tied her to a cross, stuffed a towel in her mouth and left her with no water and food. The girl died 3 days later, only to be declared that she was suffering of schizophrenia.

Indeed, there are rare symptoms such as speaking in unknown languages (glossolalia), exaggerated physical strength and wounds that quickly appear and disappear, to which I have no explanation.

In the past, anyone who suffered from madness, disease, disability and other misfortunes was considered possessed or touched by the Devil. In the Egyptian, Sumerian and Babylonian cultures, diseases were attributed to demons (as we can observe in the later medieval demonic hierarchies). This reminds me of the passage in the Bible, when Jesus heals the sick through exorcism of demons (when he healed a mute and a blind).

We also need to take into consideration the possibility that all these were part of a simple “theatre play”, an invention of the Church. As I said about witchcraft, in the Middle Ages the Church began to lose its influence and wanted to get it back by causing panic, either with witches or with demoniacs (possessed people). I think that I can now cite LaVey, who said that “Satan was the best friend the Church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years.”

If we think a little deeper into the subject, we see other reasons to believe so. As we can observe, the Church has an incredible hate towards women, who are considered a shame, an “unclean”. She is considered to have brought sin, when Eve listened to the Devil. It is interesting, because we can observe how the majority of witches and demoniacs were of course, women. It is known that in many cultures who accept the mythical story of Adam and Even (under this name or another) woman is considered a portal of evil, given the fact that she accepted to be tricked by the snake. Not only in Genesis, but in the entire Bible we can see how women are profaned (ex. she is impure because she has menstruation. see Job 14:1-4, Leviticus 15:19-30, etc.). These ideas influenced a lot, that women are inferior to men most probably sprang out of this. Lilith, Adam’s first wife became a demon because she did not submit to him. Jules Michelet wrote:

“Nature makes them Sorceresses – the genius peculiar to woman and her temperament. She is born a creature of Enchantment. In virtue of regularly recurring periods of exaltation, she is a Sibyl; in virtue of love, a Magician. By the fineness of her intuitions, the cunning of her wiles – often fantastic, often beneficent- she is a Witch, and casts spells, at least and lowest lulls pain to sleep and softens the blow of calamity.

All primitive peoples start alike; this we see again and again in the accounts given by travelers. Man hunts and fights. Woman contrives and dreams; she is the mother of fancy, of gods. She possesses glimpses of the second sight, and has wings to soar into the infinitude of longing and imagination. The better to count the seasons, she scans the sky. But earth has her heart as well. Her eyes stoop to the amorous flowers; a flower herself in her young beauty, she learns to know them as playfellows and intimates. A woman, she asks them to heal the men she loves.

—
A strong and bright and vigorous religion, such as was Greek Paganism, begins with the Sibyl, to end with the Sorceress. The first, a virgin fair and beautiful, brilliant in the full blaze of dawn, cradled it, gave it its charm and glamour. In later days, when sick and fallen, in the gloom of the Dark Ages, on heaths and in forests, it was concealed and protected by the Sorceress; her dauntless pity fed its needs and kept it still alive. Thus for religions it is woman is mother, tender protectress and faithful nurse. Gods are like men; they are born and they die on a woman’s breast.” – Jule Michelet, Satanism and Witchcraft, Carol Publishing, 1998

There were, however, cases in which men were condemned to death for the same reasons. They were also burned at the stake, as it was in the case of the Templar Knights, of abbe Guibourg or of Urbain Grandier. However, for some reason men were killed more through hanging, decapitation, crushing, drowning, etc.

The Jesuit Peter Thyraeus offers a fascinating example of the first tries to define demonic possession and exorcism in his work Daemoniaci, published in 1598. This work is considered to be the “the first systematic attempt to define demonic possession and exorcism. Thyraeus lists a variety of demonic symptoms, like speaking in unknown languages and hungering for raw meat, but spends just as much time talking about what aren’t symptoms: leading an immoral lifestyle, having an unpleasant temperament, sleeping during the day, etc. His stated goal in writing the Daemoniaci was to make sure that people received proper treatment for whatever ailed them. Those suffering from what he calls a demonic “obsession” ought to receive exorcism, but those suffering from any number of other spiritual or physical problems ought to seek care elsewhere.” (source) The same author wrote “Loca Infesta, hoc est..” in 1598, also discussing demonic possession.

(Source)

Diana, the Sabbath and the Black Mass

Because I brought up the subject of the Sabbath earlier. it is essential to say that probably the nocturnal meeting appeared in the social conception because the Romans and Greeks considered witches to be “nocturnal creatures” who worshiped the night and Luna and they worshiped the goddess of the Moon – Selene, Hecate or Diana.

The first allusion to the Sabbath appears in Canon Episcopi in the year 905[23], in which it speaks of Diana’s flights. The idea was taken over by Burchard, Bishop of Worms in the year 1020 and was constantly repeated and commented upon later by other writers. Burchard says that the Goddess was Herodias, who was the enemy of John the Baptist.[24]

In 1318, Pope John XXI ordered the investigation of a case in Avignon where it was said that magicians (witches) were having sexual intercourse with demonessess called Dianae.[25]

Eliade also tells us about two women, who after the trials of the Inquisition in Milan, in 1384, have confessed of belonging to a society led by Diana Herodias. Diana was teaching them the use of medical herbs, how to discover thieves and how to recognize other wizards. He tells us that “it is obvious that the adepts of Diana didn’t have anything in common with the authors of satanic maleficia” and that “their rites and visions, most certainly, were solidary with an archaic cult of fertilization.”[26]

Summers quotes Tartarotti, who says that “they ride forth upon strange beasts in a chase with Diana, a goddess of the old pagans.”[27] In 1590, Henry Holand wrote in A Treatise Against Witchcraft about the possible meeting with “Herodias, Diana and Minerva”. William Perkins was saying that witches “are brought into far countries, to meet with Herodias, Diana, and the Devil.” It is said they were practically flying to this meeting.

The theory of the Dianic cult or of a pagan cult was initially brought by the German scholars Karl Ernst Jarcke and Franz Josef Mono in the nineteenth century, and was later adopted by the already mentioned Jules Michelet, Matilda Joslyn Gage and folklorist Charles Leland, but the hypothesis was best presented by Margaret Murray.[28]

An important source about the Dianic cult would be Aradia, or the Gospel of Witches written by Charles Godfrey Leland in 1899. In the preface he speaks of a religion or tradition transmitted from generation to generation, “of which Diana is the Goddess, her daughter Aradia (or Herodias) the female Messiah” and they came to Earth to teach witchcraft.[29]

Leland’s theories contributed to the birth of Wicca and Stragheria. Both Wicca developed by Gerald Gardner as well as Stregheria of Raven Grimassi were and are still vehemently contested by historians as well as practitioners. The Italians even deny the existence of a tradition called Stregheria. But as we well know, an attractive best-seller is easier to procure and “study” than academic material. A good example is “the wiches chant” or Eko Eko Azarak, published by Gerald Gardner in Gardnerian Book of Shadows. Although not based on anything precise other than the initial publication in the book The Black Arts (1921) which also didn’t mention the source, this “chant” was copied, modified and excessively promoted. We find it in numerous books as well as the lyrics of rock or metal bands such as Coven (in the track Satanic Mass) and Theatres des Vampires (in the track The Coven). To the present day, the count of variations has been lost.

In the 1970s came Dianic Wicca which concentrated exclusively on the worship of the goddess Diana, combining elements of Wicca and Leland’s theories.

Leland’s opinions differed from those of Tartarotti, Summers and other writers, he was rather a supporter of Michelet’s theories. However, if we consult Remy’s Demonolatry a bit closer, we can observe enough similarities between the pagan practices and those described in the book. Stephanie Connolly gives us few examples in the Complete Book of Demonolatry at pages 131-134.

In the Romanian folk tradition we meet the word striga, latin word for wizard, and Diana, roman goddess went patron of the witches in western Europe. Striga became Strigoi (a vampire-wizard), a being neither dead or alive, which was endowed with supernatural powers which were used in the people’s disadvantage.

In the Romanian folklore it is believed that Diana would be the substitute of a geto-thracian goddess. Her name became zână (dziana) in Romanian language and derived from the same root, another word, zănatec (crazy, absent minded) meaning bewitched by Diana or zâne. The name of a certain group of zâne, Sânzienele, probably derives from the latin Sanctae Dianae. Zânele can be ruthless, it is imprudent to utter their name. They are simply called Iele (them). They are beautiful and attractive, they are dressed in white with naked breasts and they fly in the air. They dance and sing and they can sicken those who see them, and this sickness can only be treated by the căluşari.[30]

Getting back on the Sabbath, Michelet says that this is also a form of paganism, a worship of the Moon and this deviated to a simple gathering of lust and pretensions of magical rites. At the beginning, he says, women „burn little candles in honour of Dianom (Diana-Luna-Hecate).” He reminds us of Pan, who still chases women and children under a mask, and of Priapus-Bacchus-Sabasius who is slaughtered in celebration of the Sabasia. All this without a thought of mockery.[31]

But, upon aproaching the year 1000, these are transforming. The traditions seem to change, at least from the declarations of the Church, that people „drink each other’s blood, or eat earth by way of host.” Beginning with the year 1200 and later, „nocturnal life” and the pagan dances become faster and more furious. Then, inevitably, it brings the subject of the Black Mass, which is implemented at the Sabbath. The Black Mass, says Michelet, is like a redemption of Eve from the curse Christianity had laid upon her. Here she becomes priestess, altar, host and is the central point of the ritual along with the Devil.

Making an analogy with the orgies and meetings of the pagans, Przybyszewski declares that the witches sabbath was a pagan rite turned upside-down, in a negative, grotesque manner.[32] This was also the case in Christian rites, such as the Mass, which was later reversed and transformed into the Black Mass. The visit to the Sabbath was like consuming opium, once you’ve tried it you cannot stop.. When the judge asked why people are so attracted by the sabbath, the response came clear and passionate: Everything happening at the Sabbath is wonderful, there are pleasures that make you want to stay and never leave. In fact, the Sabbath is no longer just a revolt, it is a way of life. Everything that happened at the Sabbath wasn’t consciously done, it was practiced as a natural thing.

(Witches’ Sabbath, Claude Gillot, 1673-1722 Paris)

Summers tells us that the meetings were held in different places, either outdoors or in humble cottages and barns, or even in houses. He says something that seemed interesting to me, that the witches wore masks at the Sabbath.[33] It seemed interesting, because I’ve seen this tradition even in modern times, beginning with the Church of Satan in the 1970’s to the Cathedral of the Black Goat who in 2003 held rituals and wore masks.

(Cathedral of the Black Goat wearing masks – source)

(Church of Satan wearing masks – source)

Of the outdoor meetings he says that the witches were gathering in the night of Walpurgis, a festival held on 1st May[34]. Others, like the Neuchatelois coven were meeting in an old cemetery.

The Sabbath can be held at any hour, but as a precaution, it is held at night, and usually when „Satan commands”. The day doesn’t seem to be fixed either, as Madeleine Bavent declared. More explanations of these aspects can be found in the Covens article.

I said a bit earlier that witches were traveling to the Sabbath by flight. In Compendium Maleficarum, Guazzo tells us that the witches used an ointment of putrid ingredients and that they were carried away on a cowl-staff, or a broom, or a reed, a cleft stick or a distaff, or even a shovel.[35] Other sources suggest that this ointment was hallucinogenic, giving them the impression that they were flying when they actually didn’t leave the room. An example is given by Cavendish, speaking of the writing Golden Ass of Apuleius (125 BC – 180 BC) where it writes that a witch anoints her body with this ointment and recites a spell to transform into a bird. It is known from the 15th century that this ointment caused hallucination. John Nider writes in Formicarius about a woman who tested the ointment in the presence of witnesses. This caused her a deep sleep. When she woke up, she told them she was with Venus and Diana, but the witnesses declared she never left the room.

(Linda maestra, Capricho No. 68, Francesco Goya 1799)

The recipes usually included aconite and belladonna, baby’s fat and bat’s blood to aid nocturnal flight.[36] Petru Culianu gives us further examples, such as Datura stramonium, Hyoscyamus niger, Atropa belladonna, aconite, Solanum nigrum, Physalis somnifera, Helleborus niger or Cannabis indica, used separately or in combination. Of these powerful narcotics, the most used where those of the Datura, also known as the Witches Weed.[37]

(A witch preparing an oinment, Jakob Haid, 1770)

When they met, they greeted their priest and the present Devil through osculum infame, or the Shameful Kiss, when they kissed the Devil’s posterior. Guazzo tells us the witches offered him pitch black candles[38] which burnt with a blue flame.[39]

(Osculum infame, illustration in Compendium Maleficarum, 1608)

Another story of the Devil’s kiss is given by Jeannette d`Abadie, who said that they had to kiss the Devil’s face, then navel, then penis and finally his posterior.[40]

The meeting with the Devil at the Sabbath appears as early as 1335, from the testimonies of Anne Marie de Georgel and Catherine Delort. Anne Marie recounts how she saw a „man of huge stature, dressed in animal skins.” This man, she says, invited her to join him and she accepted. At the Sabbath she recounts how a he-goat taught her incantations, spells and the secrets of poisonous herbs.

(Witches’ Sabbath, Francisco Goya, 1797)

John Nider says that the Devil appeared at the Sabbath in the form of a man. Martin le Franc, in 1440, said that he presented himself in the form of a cat, which they all worshiped.

When speaking of the orgiastic practices, we can bring up one of the first confessions of this kind obtained by Etienne de Bourbon, inquisitor in south of France in 1235. He recounts how witches were taken to a secret place where people called Lucifer and held orgies. A similar story is reported in 1175 in Verona, where heretics listened to blasphemous sermons, shut down the lights and dedicated to the orgy. Basque witches in the early seventeenth century had a Queen of the Sabbath who was the principal bride of the Devil. A Queen of Elfame or Elfin who copulated with male witches was mentioned in some of the Scottish trials.[41]

All these orgies were bisexual, even incestuous. Exactly the same charges were imputed in the eleventh century to the Patarenes, the German heretics, and the Cathars. In the thirteenth century the Brethren of the Free Spirit from the Rhineland, the Apostolici from North Italy, the Luciferians who appeared in Germany from 1227, and the Bohemian Adamites in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were reported to hold sexual orgies in subterranean places.[42] Same was said about the maniheists, carpocratians, messalians, paulicians and bogomils.

Religious orgies occur among many cultures. Sometimes they are magical fertility rites, but in most cases they have different significance. The orgy can be considered as direct possession by a supernatural power manifesting itself in sex.[43]

Other medieval witches

Eliade in his book Occultism, witchcraft and cultural fashions says that “all the features associated with European witches are – with the exception of Satan and the Sabbath – claimed also by Indo-Tibetan yogis and magicians. They too are supposed to fly through the air, render themselves invisible, kill at a distance, master demons and ghosts, and so on. Moreover, some of these eccentric Indian sectarians boast that they break all the religious taboos and social rules: that they practice human sacrifice, cannibalism, and all manner of orgies, including incestuous intercourse.“[44]

Eliade also bring in discussion the groups of benandanti. These benandanti declared they were good wizards who fought the stregoni, or evil wizards. None of their testimonies presented a satanic character of a witchcraft as seen by the Church. When they were fighting the stregoni, they either went victorious and assured the abundance of the crops or were defeated and there would be scarcity and famine.[45] Even so, in 1581, two benandants were convicted to six months in prison for heresy and in the course of the next sixty years, there were other trials.

Over time, these benandanti began to be attracted to the side of witchcraft. Finally, after fifty years of inquisitorial trials, the benandanti admitted they were the same as the witches. More benandanti declared they have joined the worship of the Devil.

The Familiar Spirit

Montague Summers talks about a certain familiar spirit, which is, a demon of some lower rank that is offered to the witch after she has signed the pact with the Devil. The purpose of this spirit is to help the witch in the malefic work and in divination, and he accompanies her everywhere under different forms – as a man or animal, usually a black cat.[46]

However, it is not a rule that this has to be an inferior demon, as this depends on the witch’s power and evil. If she is truly evil and powerful, she is offered a demon of higher rank.

(Witches presenting their familiars, illustration in The Discovery of Witches, 1647)

The Bible also mentions this spirit, in Leviticus 20:27: “A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.”[47]

The familiar spirit also appears in the biblical story of the Endor witch. In 1 Samuel 28:3-25 it is written how the king Saul, after he killed all the wizards and witches, is this time constrained to consult with one of them in order to invoke Samuel who died. Thus Saul went to Endor to a witch who had a familiar spirit.[48]

Many personalities wrote about familiar spirits, such as Cotton Mather in 1692 or Wirt Sikes who said that the “familiar spirit used by witches in the eighteenth century was a demon.” The same was wrote by William Forbes in 1722-1730 in Institute of the Laws of Scotland: “to them, he [the Devil] gives certain spirits or Imps which correspond and serve them as familiars.”

Recently, a Romanian website published an article about a “Devil worshiper” who became famous in the interwar period in her district, Botoșani. It writes that she was a witch who offered spells, curses, disenchantments etc. Elena, a woman from Dorobanți went to her for help. When she arrived at her home at night, as the witch told her, she saw two lads dressed in suits. The witch said that they were “her boys”, and she spoke with them in the presence of Elena. They settled that her “boys” were going to solve her problem, but when the women laid her eyes to the floor, she saw that the lads had hoofs instead of boots, after which she lost her voice. The witch smiled and told her “not to worry”. When Elena left, at a distance of a few miles, she saw the two “lads” at every crossroad, smiling at her. The villagers remember that at the witches’ funeral, when they wanted to carry her coffin in the Church, it became so heavy that nobody could lift it and they had to make the religious service in front of the Church. They said that the coffin was heavy because of her sins, that not even six men could lift it and that she was in league with the Devil.

In Witchcraft and Black Magic we are given many examples of familiar spirits. The witch Abre Grinset, who died in April 1667, declared she made a pact with Satan and that he offered her a familiar spirit for 20 years. Isobel Gowdie in 1662 offered details about the familiar spirits of the witches in the coven, so that Margaret Wilson had a spirit called Swein, Bessie Wilson had Rory, Jean Martin had a familiar who looked like a 20 year old man.[49] The entire chapter offers use examples of familiars, but one could be emphasized. At page 48, Summers tells of a possible connection of Cornelius Agrippa with a familiar spirit under the form of a black dog, called Monsieur.

There is also a resamblence to that Patron/Matron demon or the Mentor, described by Stephanie Connolly in Complete Book of Demonolatry.

The Matron/Patron demon is “a counterpart to balance the individual. It is in this balance that we can see things clearer and begin to know the Self, better.”[50] In other words, he is an agent that helps the individual.

The Mentor demon is instead a kind of teacher, who presents himself to the practitioner at a certain time in his life or in a certain situation in which he would need help.

Another interesting similarity would be with the Genius, Natal Daimon and Daimon of Profession, the three parts of the good demon described by Cornelius Agrippa. He tells us that “there is a threefold keeper of man… as a proper keeper, or preserver, the one whereof is holy, another of the nativity, and the other of profession.”[51]

The Holy Daimon is offered by God (so he is different from the familiar offered by the Devil) that puts good thoughts in man’s mind. The natal Daimon, or Genius, is a Spirit whose nature is determined by the alignment of the stars at birth.[52] He guides us in the roles and responsibilities we are incarnated to accomplish. The Daimon of Profession is offered by the stars, and he helps us in our professional work. This one would probably most likened to the familiar spirit.

Witches’ Mark

The Wiches’ Mark or the Devil’s Mark (also Stigmata Diaboli or Sigillum Diaboli) was probably the most important sign of identification of a witch, it was the sign of Satan placed on the skin of his servants. It is said that this sign was totally insensible to pain and if pricked, it would not bleed.[53]

This mark was practically any sign of dermatological affection, because it was described as a stain, a bump or even a mole and it was present anywhere on the body. Though, it’s a curious fact that it did not bleed and it was insensible to pain. An example is in the case of Isebell Le Moigne who declared at her trial in 1617, that at one night at the Sabbath “the Devil marked her on the thigh” and when she was examined, it was noted that this mark did not bleed and the woman did not feel any pain when pricked with pins. The same was in the case of Louis Gaufridi, when after the very technical research of two physicians and two surgeons, he presented three callous marks, where he did not feel pain and did not bleed, thus the doctors declared that the marks were not natural.[54]

(Examination of a witch, T.H. Matteson, 1853)

In Remy’s Demonolatry, chapter 5, it writes that witches are marked by the Devil “on the part of the body which was anointed by the priest on the day of their baptism”.[55] Thus, the mark offered at the baptism becomes a mark of the Satanic baptism. Here it says that the mark is insensible, it does not bleed at that it was received from the Devil in the moment when the witch has renounced the Faith, like I have already described in the article “The Pact, dedication and initiation.” This traditions also exists today, when the adept marks his body in the time of the Initiation ritual. Stephanie Connolly makes an analogy between Remy’s descriptions and what is still practiced at Demonolatry baptisms.[56]

Conclusion

If it can be said, witchcraft would have been an extension of a pagan cult which somehow resisted in the rural side, as it can be also observed in Romania’s countryside of today, where the old traditions have survived and have been passed orally.

It can also be said that it was an invention of the Church to eradicate any presumed enemy of the Christian doctrines, no matter if he was a dualist, gnostic, pagan, wizard or a simple heretic. Or, probably, an attempt to control the masses through fear and terror.

From this point of view, we can believe that people were so influenced by the theories of the Church, that they began to truly believe there was a cult of Satan, and so they decided to be part of it, developing a satanic tradition.

Thus, the conclusion will be left at the reader’s honor, because there is no clear evidence of what witchcraft in the Middle Ages and Renaissance would have been. The opinions will remain divided.

Footnotes:

[1] Montague Summers, Witchcraft and Black Magic, Dover Publications, 2000, p. 17;

[2] Mircea Eliade, Occultism, witchcraft and cultural fashions, p. 70,  cf. Joseph Hansen, Zauberwahn, p. 328; cf. Jeffrey Burton Russell, Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, p. 34

[3] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witch-Cult_in_Western_Europe

[4] Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts, Perigee, 1968, p. 288

[5] Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts, Perigee, 1968, p. 287

[6] Mircea Eliade, Istoria credintelor si ideilor religioase vol 3, Chisinau Universitas, 1994, p 240

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt#Middle_Ages

[8] Mircea Eliade, Ocultism, Vrajitorie si Mode Culturale, Humanitas, 1997, p. 101

[9] http://asztrorege.blogspot.ro/2010/08/vrajitoarele-dinineu-i.html

[10] Jules Michelet, Satanism and Witchcraft, Carol Publishing, 1998, p. 9

[11] Stanislaw Przybyszewski, The Synagogue of Satan, Runa Raven Press, 2002, p. 5-6

[12] Stanislaw Przybyszewski, The Synagogue of Satan, Runa Raven Press, 2002, p. 7

[13] Here I’m referring to the Devil’s Mark, of which you shall read later in this article.

[14] Heinrich Kramer, James Sprenger, trans. Montague Summers, The Malleus Maleficarum, Dover Books, 1971 p. 195

[15] Stanislaw Przybyszewski, The Synagogue of Satan, Raven Runa Press, 2002, p. 7

[16] Stanislaw Przybyszewski, The Synagogue of Satan, Raven Runa Press, 2002, p. 41

[17] Stephen E. Flowers, Ph.D, Lords of the Left-Hand Path, Inner Traditions Press, 2012, p. 133

[18] Jules Michelet, Satanism and Witchcraft, Carol Publishing, 1998, p. 77

[19] Gerhard Zacharias, The Satanic Cult, Allen & Unwin, 1980, p. 42

[20] Stephanie Connolly, The Complete Book of Demonolatry, DB Publishing, 2006, p. 122

[21] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louviers_possessions

[22] Stephanie Connolly, The Complete Book of Demonolatry, DB Publishing, 2006,  p. 124

[23] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches%27_Sabbath

[24] Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts, Perigee, 1968, p 290.

[25] Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts, Perigee, 1968, p. 289.

[26] Mircea Eliade, Istoria credintelor si ideilor religioase vol 3, Chisinau Universitas, 1994, p. 241

[27] Montague Summers, Witchcraft and Black Magic, Dover Publications, 2000, p. 114

[28] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-cult_hypothesis

[29] Chalres Godfrey Leland, Aradia, or the Gospel of Witches, Ballantyne Press, 1910, p. 8

[30] Mircea Eliade, Istoria credintelor si ideilor religioase vol 3, Chisinau Universitas, 1995, p.  246

[31] Jules Michelet, Satanism and Witchcraft, Carol Publishing, 1998, p. 99

[32] Stanislaw Przybyszewski, The Synagogue of Satan, Raven Runa Press, 2002, p 35

[33] Montague Summers, Witchcraft and Black Magic, Dover Publications, 2000, p. 199

[34] Also on Walpurgisnacht, in 1966, Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan.

[35] Francesco Maria Guazzo, ed. Montague Summers, Compendium Maleficarum, Dover Publications, 1988, p. 34

[36] Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts, Perigee, 1968, p. 290

[37] Ioan Petru Culianu, Eros si Magie in Renastere 1484, Polirom, 2011, p. 197

[38] Francesco Maria Guazzo, ed. Montague Summers, Compendium Maleficarum, Dover Publications, 1988, p. 35.

[39] In the Middle Ages, Hell and the Devil were represented in blue color, not red.

[40] Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts, Perigee, 1968,. 296

[41] Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts, Perigee, 1968, p. 291

[42] Mircea Eliade, Occultism, witchcraft and cultural fasions, University of Chicago Press, p. 86

[43] Gerhard Zacharias, The Satanic Cult, Allen & Unwin, 1980, p. 48

[44] Mircea Eliade, Occultism, witchcraft and cultural fasions, University of Chicago Press, p. 71

[45] [45] Mircea Eliade, Occultism, witchcraft and cultural fasions, University of Chicago Press, p. 74

[46] Montague Summers, Witchcraft and Black Magic, Dover Publications, 2000, p. 43

[47] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2020&version=KJV

[48] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+28&version=KJV

[49] Montague Summers, Witchcraft and Black Magic, Dover Publications, 2000, p.46

[50] Stephanie Connolly, Complete Book of Demonolatry, DB Publishing, 2005, p. 163

[51] Henry Cornelius Agrippa, ed. Donald Tyson, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Llewellyn Publications, 1992, p 527.

[52] http://headforred.blogspot.ro/2007/03/2_18.html

[53] Montague Summers, A Popular History of Witchcraft, Rear Book Design, 2011, p. 67

[54] Montague Summers, A Popular History of Witchcraft, Rear Book Design, 2011, p. 68-69

[55] Nicholas Remy, Demonolatry, Kessinger Publishing, 2003, p. 8

[56] Stephanie Connolly, Complete Book of Demonolatry, DB Publishing, 2005, p. 132

Image sources:

1. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/w/witch/
2. http://www.florenceinferno.com/the-baptistry-of-florence/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials#mediaviewer/File:Salem_witch2.jpg
4. http://www.controverscial.com/Malleus%20Maleficarium.htm
5. http://kids.britannica.com/elementary/art-88793/An-old-illustration-shows-a-doctor-visiting-a-patient-infected
6. http://www.emaus.md/?pag=obiect&id=78
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudun_possessions#mediaviewer/File:Urbain_Grandier.jpg 
8. http://suspans.ro/literatura/opinii/despre-iele 
9. http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/397440 
10. http://www.gsc-kuzbass.ru/
11. http://www.gsc-kuzbass.ru/ 
12. http://www.tomknoxbooks.com/marks-of-cain/marks-of-cain-the-witches-cave-of-zugarramurdi/ 
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches%27_Sabbath_%28Goya,_1798%29
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar_spirit
15. http://catholic-resources.org/Millennium/Salem/1Title.html

Other sources of interest:

https://ligeiavaughan.wordpress.com/ – a blog dedicated to Romanian folklore, witchcraft and magic. Offers a lot of information on plants and herbs.

The post Medieval Witchcraft (updated 28 July 2015) appeared first on Occult-Study.

(Source)

“Romanian [traditions of] healing incantations are very precise. They deal with natural induced illness (snake bite, bug bite, dog bite or other harmful animal woulds), with magical induced illness (evil eye, life force depletion, sexual problems) and with natural occurring illness. Every disease, wart, eruption and sickness has it s own army of incantations, varying from region to region.

These are not made up traditions and hokey pokey poems. These are real live incantations used by peasants for such things as the evil eye, the black wart, snake bite, binding and unbinding love, and so on. This is not Wicca, these are real incantations that old women know (men rarely), for different purposes. They’re handed down from mouth to ear. Incantations in Romania are passed down orally, and have a tradition that stretches back to Antiquity, to the priests of the local god Zalmoxis (Zalmoxe), mentioned by Plato. They are accompanied by various ritual prescriptions, like collecting clean water, plants, brooming, etc… The names are quite archaic and hard to translate, like black wound, red wound, red hotness, red fever, red rash, red stains, yellow wound, yellow rash, yellowness, redness, blackness, badwart, badwoud, etc… Popular names. I have no idea if they work in English, because in Romanian they rhyme, and have a specific cadence to them.” – Asterion

These spells and disenchantments are called descântece and are used for the evil eye, which is called deochi. They are a big part of romanian folklore and are still practiced today, especially in rural areas. Personally, I had the chance to experience them when I suffered the evil eye, or as we say, I was deocheat. It was in my childhood when I fell sick and so I got to hear and see an authentic descântec said by my aunt, who learned it from her grandmother, meaning my great-grandmother. She didn’t offer me many details, except that she said Our Father a few times while massaging my wrists a certain way, as I had the wrists swollen (a sign of the evil eye according to her). After she said the spell, I fully recovered after the fever, nausea and vomiting. – FvF

In the video below we have an example of a traditional romanian spell against the evil eye, or descântec de deochi. As the video suggests, we are watching an old lady named “tanti” Nuța, who learned from her mother how to make the spells.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTuaNBS4Y9A

“We see an old woman that chants it on behalf of the young man who is filming her, named Cătălin. Where his name is used in the text, it’s usually replaced by the target s name. She is using a knife to make cross signs in the glass of water, after which most probably she will sprinkle the water on him or instruct him to drink it.

I am only writing the beginning. It starts at 0:45

Fugi de deochi
Dintre ochi,
Fugi de la Cătălin,
Să rămâie Cătălin curat,
Luminat,
Ca Maica Precista de curat,
Ca argintul cel curat.

TRANSLATION

Flee you evil eye,
From between the eyes,
Flee from Cătălin (person’s name)
So that C. will be left clean,
luminous,
clean like the Virgin Mother
clean like silver.” – Asterion

About the above spell it seems I have found further information, at least about a similar one.

“The disenchanter (descântătoare or descântător), a witch, monk, priest or a person with great faith and fear of God makes the spell (descântă de deochi) moving the blade of an unused knife for three times in the sign of a cross in a glass with unused water in which he/she first throws some coal or burned matches. Initiates say that we can immediately see if the victim is sick from the evil eye (deochiată) or not if the coals are sinking or not. Thus, this descântec is also called “extinguishing the coals” or “stingerea cărbunilor”. After the spell is finished, the victim is given to drink from the glass and is recited a special descântec or only the prayer Our Father three times consecutively. Some affirm that a sure sign that the affection was caused by the evil eye is when the disenchanter starts to yawn in the middle of the prayer.” – Translated from here.

The beginning of this spell can also be found at the end of a song by legendary Romanian rock band Phoenix, which usually gets inspiration from folklore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcLSj2vyXns

Lyrics start at 03:36

“Ieși deochi
Dintre ochi,
Ochii cei vătămători
Și de foc săgetători
Învăliți să fie cu fireaguri albe
Să nu mai privească la obraze dalbe.”

Translation

“Flee you evil eye,
From between the eyes,
The hurtful eyes
Throwing piercing fires”

I cannot translate the rest since the verses are composed of archaic words.

Another example can be found in the book “Superstitiile poporului Roman“/”Superstitions of Romanian people” by Gh. F. Ciausanu

The spell is said over the victim three times:

“Fugi, deochi, dintre ochi,
Fugi, deochetura,
Ca te-ajunge vant din gura.
Fugi, deochiat,
Ca te-ajunge vant turbat.
Fugi, deochi, dintre ochi,>
Ca te-ajunge soarele,
Si-ti taie picioarele,
Fugi, deochi, din fata obrazului,
Din zgarciul nasului,
Din grumazii gatului,
Din crierii capului,
Din splina, din inima,
Si sa iesi si sa te duci,
Ca eu cu gura te-am descantat,
Cu mana te-am luat,
Si-n vant te-am aruncat,
Sa ramaie N. Curat, luminat,
Ca floarea campului, Ca roua diminetii.”

Another example:

“Fugi deochi dintre ochi,
Din gene, din sprancene
Din varful nasului,
Din maduva oaselor,
Din crestetul capului
Si du-te unde cocosul nu canta
Unde popa nu toaca
Acolo te-asteapta cu mesele intinse
Cu faclii aprinse
Si lasa-l/las-o pe [numele persoanei]
Curat/a, luminat/a
Cum Dumnezeu l-a/a lasat/-o,
Amin!” – Source

Asterion gives us other examples along with their translations.

“Incantation No.1

Descântec de dragoste şi de ursită (Enchantment of love and predestined mate)

It s spoken at an elder, a hazelnut tree and a sweet apple tree. Take three young branches of elder, three of hazelnut and three of sweet apple tree. The enchantment is spoken at each tree, and then you put the branches under your head at night, and you shall dream of your predestined love, and they will come.

Romanian:

Soc Solomon! Soc solomon!
Eu cu soc te solomonesc,
Cu inimă bună şi mare dragoste
La mine te îndoiesc.
Eu cu alun adun
Omul cel bun.
Eu cu alun te-adun
Şi cu măr dulce te îndulcesc
Şi la mine te pronesc,
La mine te sosesc.
Vii? Vin!
Vii? Vin!
Da’ de nu-i veni şi nu-i veni,
Inima din tine pe loc a plesni.
Da’ de nu-i pleca şi nu-i pleca,
Inima din tine pe loc a crăpa.
Iuti şi degrabă să porneşti,
La mine să soseşti!
Eu când la tine am gândit,
Mie noaptea mi-a părut
Că eşti un câne jupit.
Şi tu când ai gândit la mine
Ţi s-a părut că sunt o căţea buhoasă.
Dar eu mai tare ţie să-ţi par mai frumoasă.
Da’ cum să-ţi par eu ţie?
Ţie să-ţi pară că tu eşti
Într-o casă de aur îmbrăcată
Şi cu mine te-ai sărutat
Şi cu mine te-ai dezmierdat

Translation:

Elder Solomon! Elder solomon!
With elder I solomon you
With a good heart and great love
Towards me i bend you
With hazelnut I bid to come
The good man
With hazelnut I gather you
And with sweet apple I sweeten you,
And towards me I make you leave,
Towards me i make you arrive.
Are you coming? I am coming!
Are you coming? I am coming!
But if you won’t come and you won’t come
May your heart at once burst
But if you won’t leave and you won’t leave
May your heart at once break(crack).
Swift and hastly shall you leave,
At me to arrive!
When I have thought of you,
At night it seemed to me
That you were a skinned (skinny) dog.
And when you thought of me
It seemed to you like I was a disheveled bitch.
But more and more I will seem to you beautiful
How shall I seem to you?
It shall seem to you that you are
In a house covered in gold
and that with me you have kissed
and that with me you have delighted.

Notes:

Some of the verses rhyme, and i could not keep that in English.

I solomon you- An inexistent verb in English, very archaic in Romanian, derived from the Solomonari- popular magicians. To Solomon something would mean to use the enchantments of the Solomonari.

Incantation No.2

This is a spell for binding a man or a lover. It s chanted over summer hemp, making in it four knots behind one s back then tieing it to a fence.

Pelin tare
Şi mai tare,
Să-mi aduci pe lucru vrăjmăşesc
În cale.
Ce leg şi cu ochii nu văd?
Gândul (cutăruia) îl legai;
Îl legai,
Îl frecai,
Îl amuţii,
Îl împietrii,
Îl încremenii,
Să nu mai aibă gând asupra (cutăruia),
Şi gura căscată
Şi limba ridicată,
Să se potolească
Şi să muţească
Cum se potoleşte steaua-n cer
Oaia-n staul,
Porcii-n strat,
Vitele în sat,
Şi el să rămâie în seamă nebăgat
Ca un sac vărgat
Pe un gard aruncat.
Şi el la gard să fie legat.

Translation:

Strong wormwood,
Stronger wormwood,
Bring to me
The thwarting deed.
What is this here that I knot
And with my eyes I see not?
The thought of N. I bound up;
I bound him up,
I tied him up,
I silenced him up,
I froze him up,
I petrified him up,
Let him have no thought against N,
With his wide open mouth,
With his tongue moving about,
At once to be calm,
Silent to become,
Like the star calms in the sky,
Like the sheep in the stable,
Like the pigs in the sty,
Like the village’s cattle,
Let him remain unheard out,
Like a cloth bag worn out,
Over a fence thrown out,
And at the fence let him be bound.

Incantation No.3

This is a spell against the demoness Samca

SAMCA is very similar to LILITH and many child-snatching demons, down to the Chants used.
She has 19 names: Vestitzia, Navadaraia, Valnomia, Sina, Nicosda, Avezuha, Scorcoila, Tiha, Miha, Grompa, Slalo, Necauza, Hatavu, Hulila, Huva, Ghiana, Gluviana, Prava and Samca.

They vary a lot, just like the names of Lilith and Abyzou. The name AVEZUHA is quite related to ABYZOU.

She appears, according to folklore, like a very skinny and ugly woman with messy hair down to her heels, flascid and shriveled barren breasts, small shiny eyes and fiery tongue, fierce long and sharp nails of the fingers and toes, like claws, large, putrid askew fire-speweing mouth.

(Demoness Samca. Original artwork by Radu Nastase, Magic Mushroom Studios,for https://chaosmatriarch.wordpress.com/. All rights belong to the owner. Click the link for more info about Samca, and also check out this amazing blog -> here )

She appears close to the Full Moon to children under 4 or birthing women, scares them and terrifies them leaving them scarred for life out of fear.

Her animal forms include unclean animals, always black and often with fiery eyes: hog, dog, hairless cat, spider, etc

Her chant is to be done over three months, three days in each month, over some brandy, and the objects used are a broom straw, a needle and a found whip. I translated it as for a male patient for the sake of brevity.

[N] went on his way, on his path he went,
When halfway, a four legged Samca did he meet
Dressed in bears hair, long down to her feet.
As soon as she met him,
His body she made crooked,
His chest she made heavy,
His eyes she made hazy,
His blood did she drink
His flesh did she eat
All his powers took away.
Nobody saw him,
Nobody heard him,
Save for Our Lord s Mother
Up at the gates of Heaven
Saw him and heard him:
-Why do you cry and why do you weep?
-How should i not cry
-How should I not weep
-When I went on my way
-I went upon my path,
-Fat and handsome,
-When halfway,
-A four legged Samca met me,
-Dressed in a bear s skin,
-My body did made crooked
-My chest did made heavy
-My blood she drank
-My flesh she ate
-And nobody heard me
-And nobody saw me.
And our Lord s Mother said:
-Go forth to he who knows how to chant
-With a broom he will sweep you
-From you be departed,
-With a needle he will sting it it
-And he will pierce it
-From you be departed,
-With a whip he will whip it
-From you be gone
-Over the Black Sea he will throw it
-Where no priest bells,
-to God does not pray
-There it shall dine and rest.
-And let N remain light,
-Clean like the cristal rock,
-As God made him.
-And his mother birthed him!

Original version

A purces pe cale, pe carare, N.
Cand, la jumatate cale,
L-a intalnit o Samca cu patru picioare,
Cu par de urs imbracata pana in pamant.
Bine l-a intalnit,
Trupul i-a schimonosit,
Pieptul i-a stricat,
Ochii i-a paienjenit,
Sangele i-a baut.
Carne i-a mancat,
Toate puterile i-a luat.
Nimeni nu l-a vazut,
Nimeni nu l-a auzit,
Numai Maica Domnului
Din poarta cerului
A auzit si l-a vazut
Si l-a intrebat
– Ce te vaicarezi si te cainezi?
– Cum nu m-oi vaicara
Si nu m-oi caina,
Cand am purces pe cale pe carare,
Gras si frumos
Cand la jumatate de cale
M-a intalnit o Samca cu patru picioare,
Cu piele de urs imbracata,
Trupul mi-a schimonosit,
Pieptul mi l-a stricat,
Ochii mi-a paienjenit,
Sangele mi-a baut,
Carnea mi-a mancat,
Si nume nu m-a auzit
Si nime nu m-a vazut!
Si i-a zis Maica Domnului:
– Du-te la cine stie descanta,
Cu matura te-a matura,
De la tine l-a departa,
Cu acu l-a impunge si l-a strapunge,
De la tine s-a duce.
Cu biciul l-a biciui,
De la tine s-a porni,
Peste Marea Neagra l-a arunca,
Unde popa nu toaca,
Lui Dumnezeu nu se roaga.
Acolo sa-i fie cina si odihna
Si N. sa ramaie luminat,
Ca cristalul de curat,
Cum Dumnezeu l-a zidit,
Si ma-sa ce l-a facut!

The Black Sea is not a scary Mordor thingy, it s the actual Black Sea. Where the priest bells, i could not find the correct equivalent. In many Orthodox countries, the priest calls to Vesper or simply calls to prayer by hitting a wooden board with a hammer to a certain rhythim, sometimes faster and faster, hitting the board with great dexterity and producing a very interesting effect. It s called TOACA, and the action is named the same. This particular action holds evil spirits in dread, much like the payers to God, that is my the spirit is sent where there is none.

The expression FAT AND HANDSOME is quite often, in the countryside a certain fatness and robustness is seen as a sign of health and prosperity, along with the rosey cheeks, while being slender and skinny and pale is seen as weakness and lack of vitality.

”  – Asterion

These spells, enchantments, however you want to call them, are NOT recommended to those who do not know their true secrets.

The post Folk spells and disenchantments against the evil eye appeared first on Occult-Study.

and how to rid ourselves from curses

I received an e-mail from someone who wanted to get information about a possible curse thrown upon a friend. After I replied, I realized that the article about curses I wrote for the website did not contain this information, thus I decided to publish them in this small article.

They were also held responsible for all diseases and illnesses, as we can see in the Testament of Solomon:

“I am the first decan of the zodiac (and) I am called Ruax. I cause heads of men to suffer pain and I cause their temples to throb…

I am called Bersafael. I cause men who reside in my time period to have pains in the sides of their heads…

I am called Artosael. I do much damage to the eyes…

I am called Oropel. I attack throats, (resulting in) sore throats and mucus.” – James H. Charlesworth (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, volume one, page 978.

Also:

“I am called Rux Audameoth. I give heart aches [anginas] and heart disease. If someone writes <<Raiuoth>> I retreat at once…

I am called Rux Manthado. I give kidney disease. If someone writes <<Iaoth, Uriel>> I retreat at once..

I am Rux Axesbuth. I give people diarrhoea and hemorrhoids. If someone cursed me with unmingled wine and gave it to the sick, I retreat at once…

I am Rux Anoster. I give hysteria and give uterus pain. If someone rubs three seeds of laurel with clean olive oil and anoints himself with it saying << I curse thee, on Marmaroth>>, I retreat at once…

I am called Rux Akhoneoth. I give throat aches. If someone writes on a leaf of hedera [Ivy] <<Leikourgos>> I retreat at once.

I am called Rux Phteneoth. I curse and enchant any man. But I am defeated by disenchantment if it is drawn*…

I am Rux Mianeth. I hate the body, empty houses and destroy flesh. If someone writes over their doors <<Melpo Ardaad Anaath>>** I run away at once…” – my own English translation from Stefan Colceriu’s Romanian translation of the original Greek Testament of Solomon, as established by Chester Charlton McCown in his standard edition.”

* Colceriu suggests it is referring to the wide spread representations of the evil eye of that time, attacked by daggers or animals such as the scorpion, ibis, dog, etc. and the greco-egyptian amulets. He also makes a reference to the Bawit fresco. John H. Elliott writes of a fresco at Bawit depicting a cavalier spearing from his horse a female demon, having above its head an Evil Eye pierced by three daggers from above and an ibis, two serpents and a scorpion from below. (John H. Elliott, Beware the Evil Eye: Volume 1, page 146).

** Here we observe a very important detail. The inscription before the doors of the house. We can find this example in the Bible story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, where people marked their doors with the blood of a lamb so they may not be affected by the plagues, as instructed by God, or one of God’s angels, a “death angel” as some suggest. (Exodus 12:13). This tradition is very important and old, and we can find it in many places in occult literature.

Wearing talismans or placing them at the windows and doors is another example, used a lot by the Copts.

Michael Cecchetelli offers us in The Book of Abrasax a few examples taken from Papyri Graecae Magicae or PGM, which are “a highly syncretic union of Egyptian, Greek, Persian, Coptic Christian, and Gnostic magical praxis.“

Dr. Stephen Edred Flowers also offers us a few examples in his book Hermetic Magic: The Postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris, suggesting it is based on “a collection of authentic ancient operational formulas specially translated and edited for this work [book].” It is based on PGM and PDM (Demotic Magical Papyri)

A lot of information is also offered by Sir Wallis Budge, one of the most important egyptologists. He offers us a lot of information on ancient egyptian magic in his book Egyptian Magic, where he presents rituals with stones and magical amulets, magical formulas, magical names, etc.

Then, we can consult The Greek Magical Papyri in translation by Professor Hans Dieter Betz, which is the source of the most authentic ancient magic to ever be translated until now.

All of these magical operations are very complex from beginning to end, and for this reason I shall not offer any examples here. Instead, we can look at the talismans presented in the Key of Solomon. For curses and their dismissal it is recommended to use the Talismans/Pentacles of Saturn, especially the Fifth Pentacle of Saturn and the Second Pentacle of Mars. Of course, their creation as well as their utilization represents a well defined process. For this, check The Key of Solomon.

For those working on the Left Hand Path, S. Connolly offers us a little advice in her book Curses, Hexes & Crossing. There she says that in certain cultures, a bowl or glass of water is kept above the head while sleeping, in order to protect yourself from attacks in your sleep or curses done while you are sleeping. The theory behind this is that the negative energy is diminished by water.

For traditional folk magic and witchcraft, you can read an entire article here.

The post The detection of curses and their dismissal (Updated 4th July 2015) appeared first on Occult-Study.

Definition

A form of dismissal of negative energy and directing negative energy towards a “target“. It is a form of magical manipulation of energies, which is sometimes spread as a simple wish to do harm, either by the agency of a god, spirit of natural forces.

Brief history

It is known that curses have been used since the dawn of time. It is said that the first curse was pronounced by God when he cursed the snake who cheated Eve into biting the Forbidden Fruit.

Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field.

                                                                                                                                                   – Genesis 3:14

Another curse pronounced by God in the same passage of the Bible appears when God tells Adam that because he listened to his wife, the earth shall be cursed and it shall produce thorns and thistles.

Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

                                                                                                                                                   – Genesis 3:17-18

Ancient Egyptians were said to be masters in producing curses. A method used by Egyptians was by creating wax figures of the victim and by the help of Apep/Apophis (Serpent God of Chaos and Evil) or of the dead, they would place curses on anyone. When not using wax figures, they were writing prayers and magic formulas on lead tablets or other materials, that the enemy may be hurt along with the methods used and the reason of the curse. The Romans, Etruscans and Greeks all shared the same method.

The Celts had their own ways of cursing. Two of the most known are the Stone Curses and Egg Curses. The Stone Curses was the easiest way to curse a person, by reversing the stone three times and calling the name of the victim. Egg Curses were fertility curses. If hiding or burying eggs on someones lands it was believed it would steal the fertility of their soil and their luck.

The witches of the medieval times were well-known for their curses. Probably borrowed from the ancients, like the majority of their rites, their curses were creating chaos in the country and terrifying the entire nation. Wax images were, I believe, their most common method of cursing.

Types of curses

There are many types of curses, which are created according to their purpose. Some are simple and slightly harmful, others are complex and deadly. According to the tradition from which they spring, these are created by the practitioners based on their beliefs.

Here are the most common examples of curses:

Curses for bad luck

The most common type of curses are those for bringing misfortune/bad luck. Such is the voodoo cursed called jinx. The African American jinx is directed towards a person for minor misfortunes. They can be put directly over the victims or over an object.

Curses disease/illness

The best example of an illness curse is the evil eye. The evil eye is a gaze or look which is considered to cause prejudice or misfortune to the person to whom it was directed, intentionally or unintentionally. It is usually caused by looking with envy and/or admiration towards a person. Not anyone can deliver the evil eye, yet those who can do it unintentionally.

The most affected by the evil eye is said to be children and babies, because they are frequently praised and commended by strangers and women without children. It is also considered that babies should not be allowed to see themselves in the mirror until the age of 1, because they can deliver the evil eye on themselves, unintentionally, because of admiration. However, any person can be affected and it is said that even plants and animals can falls victims to this type of curse.

The evil eyes usually brings illness, nausea, headaches, continuous yawning, dryness and dehydration.

The ways to protect from the evil eye vary from country to country. In Romania, there is the custom of tying a red thread at the joints of a person or at the neck of an animal. It is considered that the red color attracts the power of the evil eye and drains its power. Another method of protecting and recovering form the evil eyes is the descântec. In Italy, especially in the south and in other countries as well, many sorts of charms and amulets are worn to keep off the evil eye. Such is the Hamsa amulet, which is an amulet in the form of a palm, usually of dark blue color with an eye in the center.

If one is affected by the evil eye, an old remedy is a certain powder that the old women or witches knew how to prepare while using magic words, after which it was spread over the person or the animal and thus broke the spell and enchantment. Like any other curse, it can be treated, usually by calling the help of another witch with equal or higher power in order to release it.

Deadly curses

Deadly curses are, obviously, the most dangerous of all. They are usually done over objects (for this, read further at 5. Object curses). Those who can cause the death of a person through curses either have a talent, a special ability or a major experience in cursing.

Location curses

We’ve all heard of the famous curses of the Egyptian tombs, like that of Tutankhamen. Legends says that in an antechamber there was found a clay tabled inscribed with the message: “Death will slay with his wings whoever disturbs the peace of the pharaoh.” The archeologists who discovered the tomb died a year later in mysterious conditions. There were also numerous other people connected to this curse who have died in odd circumstances.

Location curses are all over the world.

Object curses

Object curses are those put on objects of the victim or done by the agency of certain objects (such as Wax Images or Dolls).

Certain curses need a link to the victim in order to work. This link can be done through an object of the victim (i.e. clothes) or even body parts (hair, nails, teeth).

An example of a curse object is that of the Hope Diamond. The diamond, bought by king Louis XIV supposedly from Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1668, is considered to be curses because all its owners suffered disease, misfortune and death.

An universal method of placing a curse over someone is by using an image or representation of the victim. Wax images and dolls were used since antiquity. These were common in ancient India, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Egypt, Africa and Europe and is not an exaggeration to say they were everywhere. These images or dolls were made of clay, wood or filled material. They have to be done in such a way that they resemble the victim as much as possible. It is believed that the closer the image is to its victim’s looks, the more the victim will suffer when the image is hit or destroyed.

The method of placing a curse on an image and connecting it to the victim is by applying parts coming from the victim, such as clothing or body parts and pronouncing the victim’s name each time the Image/doll is hit. When the image is hit so is the victim. Thus, if the image is destroyed, the victim dies.

Traditionally, wax images were put into fire or pierced with nails and thorns. This was done to torture the victim.

The wax images were mostly used in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance by witches. The famous witch, Mother Demdike declared that wax images are “the speediest way to take a man’s life away by witchcraft.”

In Italy this curse was a little different, being know as the “Spell of the Black Hen.” The figure of a hen painted black and decorated with hair, if possible the hair of the victim, or parts of nails together with hair, was thrown in water to rot. Black needles were stuck into the image as well.

There is also The Wiches’ Ladder. A cord is knotted at regular intervals and in each knot is tied the feather of a black hen. A curse is said upon it, and it is considered a fatal talisman of death. (see Witchcraft and Black Magic by Montague Summers, page 192). Something similar is used in Demonolatry. It is called The Cord of Nine. This is a cord of leather that is pricked nine times saying: “Fair is foul, foul is fair, I throw this curse into the air, dark be black as darkness be, around this wretch so it shall be.” (see Complete Book of Demonolatry by S. Connolly, page 272)

Curse outcomes

The outcomes of a curse vary, depending on the type and intention of the curse. Some curses can cause simple misfortunes, others cause illness and injury and others can cause death. So basically, they all do harm.

From my own experience with curses I’ve learned that if they are done with strong intentions and desire their effects can be devastating, even if there’s no effort put into their creation. Theoretically, anyone can place a curse, though some people have a “gift” in provoking harm through curses more than others. If one can deliver the evil eye, then he can place any curse successfully.

The effects of a curse can begin and stop when intended. They can have immediate effect or at a certain date. Some curses are known to be directed even after hundreds of years, and can last for centuries. It is also said that if the victim knows/finds out about the curse laid upon him, it will only make the curse more potent, practically making the victim cause his own death.

The proper using and reasons for placing a curse

I believe that any curse needs a strongly motivated reason. It is known that curses are not a safe magical action, because many of them can simply come back at the one who places them in the same manner as if one would spit against the wind (forgive me comparison!). This means that if one doesn’t have the skill, the power of intention and the proper reason for doing it, the curse can turn its negative effects back to the petitioner.

If we take into consideration the Book of Proverbs, we find that an undeserved curse can have no effect (Proverbs 26:2) and that it can fall back upon the one who pronounces it (Genesis 12:3; Sirach 21:27). This theory has been accepted by many who are familiarized with curses and hexing. It is also known that if guilt or remorse is felt before, during or after a curse, it will make the negative energy and the curse get back to the source. Essentially, you are cursing yourself. S. Connolly suggests that before placing a curse, you should take three days to think about it before actually performing it (S. Connolly, Complete Book of Demonolatry, page 268).

In closing, I’d like to offer some examples of proper and improper reasons for cursing.

Proper reasons:

• Someone has raped, molested or killed a friend
• Someone has raped, molested or humiliated you
• Someone lied about you, or plotted against you that ended up making your life miserable (losing your job, your friends, your family, your home, etc..)
• Someone has mentally abused you or a friend and you cannot recover.

Improper reasons

• You don’t like the person
• The person said something bad about you and made you angry
• Your partner cheated on you or simply left you
• Someone criticized or insulted you
• You were fired for a legitimate reason
• You want to prove your powers, or you want to prove that curses work

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