![]() A rather spectacular case was recorded in Vienna in 1583: a sixteen-year-old girl, in all likelihood suffering from epilepsy, was rid of a total of 12,562 demons, including even the teacher of Luther himself – or so the exorcist, Jesuit Georg Scherer, was convinced. In contrast to witch hunting, which was carried out with the participation of the secular authorities, exorcisms were the exclusive preserve of the Church. Printed publications on the history of such devoutness also included treatises on how people possessed by the devil were to be saved. Books of miracles were also published to cement Christian belief more firmly, containing reports that provided ‘evidence’ of earthly misfortunes having been banished through true devoutness and the veneration of saints. For all the above, finally, the names of Satan and of the devil are only. Moreover, popular Hausväter literature was sprinkled liberally with instructions for forecasting the weather and interpreting dreams alongside more profane matters such as advice on housekeeping or animal husbandry. It would cast a shadow over our teaching about God, who alone merits our attention. This can be observed in the way magical properties were still ascribed to the communion host or consecrated wafer, which was therefore frequently purloined from churches and administered to man and beast. However, a strict division between profane and sacred culture was rather slow to emerge. According to magical theory, exorcists could coerce a deity or spirit to do their will by invoking its name. Magical exorcists often invoked the names of higher spirits to cast out lower ones. Magic was widespread, but Ephesus had a reputation as one of its centers. Fun Fact: The althea flower, commonly known as hibiscus or marshmallow, is believed to attract good spirits and to stimulate the senses of psychic perception. 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. People hoped for miracles, brought about with divine assistance to alleviate the travails of earthly existence. Jewish tradition is opposed to magic, divination, and sorcery.Exodus 22:18 reads: You shall not allow a witch to live. Peak Popularity: Althea is a rare name today in the U.S., having reached peak popularity in 1956 when 388 girls were given this name. A mixture of piety and superstition was intended to lead to a new religiosity, and rosaries as well as the worship of hosts and saints, especially patron saints, became an integral part of the Catholic doctrine of faith and salvation. The everyday life of the common people was however still dominated by rituals of popular belief: people went to church rather irregularly, while they clung to symbolic rituals such as the wearing of magical items (for example amulets to ward off evil), indicating how deeply magical rituals and the like were embedded in vernacular culture.ĭuring the Counter-Reformation the Roman Catholic Church prohibited the use of such heathen objects, as well as the consumption of heretical literature, offering the people ‘white’ and therefore legitimate magic instead. Knowing these names may not give you additional power, but reading them is like taking a walk through a Witches’ garden, and to the keen eye the old names reveal magical uses and a good deal of folklore.The late Middle Ages and early modern era were times of great religious piety in which Christian teaching and the Church played an important role. This is especially common in the British Isles, where one plant can be known by as many as two dozen distinct names.įinally, there are a whole bookful of plants with appellations such as “Our Ladies Fingers” or “Old Man’s Oatmeal.” These are plants originally dedicated to the Pagan goddesses and gods of the common folk and after the introduction of Christianity were assigned new roles as representative of the Virgin Mary and the Devil respectively.įollowing is a list of some magical names of herbs, along with their more common ones. Then, too, many plants were given “folk” names which reveal their uses in magic or the superstitions surrounding them. Crow’s foot, dog’s tooth, horse-tongue, Jew’s ear–are all magical and dialectical names for herbs and plants. “Eyes” mean any one of a group of plants resembling the eye, such as the aster, daisy, chamomile, or perhaps even eyebright. “Tongue of dog” is simply hound’s tongue, a common herb. The list of such names is quite long and varied, but a few examples can be given here. Every ingredient he lists as being in the Witches’ pot (filet of a fenny snake/in the cauldron boil and bake:/eye of newt, and toe of frog,/Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,/ adder’s fork, and blindworm’s sting/Lizards leg, and howlet’s wing,/etc.) refers to a plant and not to the gruesome substance popularly thought. ![]() Ward is the Dean of Capstone Studies at Claremont. Ward Biblical Worldview Director, The Brook Hill School 2019 5 Feb Stanley J. ![]() The often quoted illustration from Shakespeare’s Macbeth serves as a useful example of this practice. 10 Things Christians Need to Know about Magic Dr.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |