Hypnotism 222 Hypocephalus
hypnotism and spiritualism identified with each other and feel any sensations, which he was to express aloud.
until in 1848 a definite split occurs, and the two go their
He was also ' suggested ' to take special note of mental con-
separate ways. Even yet, however, the separation is not ditions djring decapitation, so that when the head fell in
quite complete. In the first place, the mediumistic trance the basket he could penetrate the brain and give an account
is obviously a variant of spontaneous or self-induced of its last thoughts. Wiertz became entranced almost
hypnotism, while in the second, many of the most striking immediately, and the four friends soon understood by the
phenomena of the seance-room have been matched time sounds overhead that the executioner was conducting the
and again in the records of animal magnetism. For condemned to the scaffold, and in another minute the
instance, the diagnosis of disease and prescription of guillotine would have done its work. The hypnotized
remedies dictated by the control to the "' healing medium " Wiertz manifested extreme distress and begged to be de-
have their prototype in the cures of Valentine Greatrakes, —magnetised, as his sense of oppression was insupportable.
—or of Mesmer and his disciples. Automatic phenomena It was too late, however the knife fell. ' What do you
—speaking in " tongues " and so forth early formed a feel ? What do you see ? ' asks the doctor. Wiertz.
characteristic feature of the induced trance and kindred Awrithes convulsively and replies, ' Lightning ! thunder-
states. While even the physical phenomena, movement
Whobolt falls ! It thinks ; it sees ! ' ' thinks and sees ? '
without contact, apports, rappings, were witnessed in
' The head. It suffers horribly. It thinks and feels but
connection with magnetism long before the movement does not understand what has happened. It seeks its body
known as modern spiritualism was so much as thought of. -and feels that the body must join it. It still waits for the
In many instances, though not in all, we can trace the supreme blow for death, but death does not come.' As
operation of hypnotic suggestion in the automatic phenom- Wiertz spoke the witnesses saw the head which had fallen
ena, just as we can perceive the result of fraud in much of into the basket and lay looking at them horribly ; its
the physical manifestations. The question whether, after arteries still palpitating. It was only after some moments
the factors of hypnotism and fraud have been removed, a of suffering that apparently the guillotined head at last
section of the phenomena remains inexplicable say by became aware that is was separated from its body. Wiertz
the hypothesis of communication with the spirit-world —became calmer and seemed exhausted, while the doctor
is one which has been in the past, and is to-day, answered resumed his questions. The painter answered : ' I fly
in the affirmative by many men of the highest distinction through space like a top spinning through fire. But am I
in their various walks of life, and one which we would do mydead ? Is all over ? If only they would let me join
well to treat with due circumspection. This, however, is body again ! Have pity ! give it back to me and I can live
reserved for consideration elsewhere, the scope of the again. I remember all. There are the judges in red
present article being to show how largely spiritualism has robes. I hear the sentence. Oh my wretched wife and
!
borrowed from the fact of hypnotism. (See Suggestion.)
children. I am abandoned. If only you would put my
In M. Larelig's biography of the celebrated painter, body to me, I should be with you once more. You refuse ?
Wiertz, and also in the introductory and biographical note All the same I love you, my poor babies. Miserable wretch
affixed to the Catalogue Raisonne du Musee Wiertz, by Dr. S. —that I am I have covered you with blood. When will this
Watteau, 1865, is to be found a detailed description of an
extremely curious hypnotic experiment in which Wiertz finish ! or is not a murderer condemned to eternal punish-
was the hypnotic subj ect and a friend, a doctor, the hypno- ment ? ' As Wiertz spoke these words the witnesses thought
tiser. Wiertz had long been haunted by a desire to know they detected the eyes of the decapitated head open wide
whether thought persisted in a head severed from the with a look of unmistakable suffering and of beseeching.
trunk. His wish was the reason of the following experi-
ment being undertaken, this being facilitated through his The painter continued his lamentations. ' No, such
friendship with the prison doctor in Brussels, and another suffering cannot endure for ever God is merciful. All
;
outside practitioner. The latter had been for many years
that belongs to earth is fading away. I see in the distance
a hypnotic operator, and had more than once put Wiertz
into the hypnotic state, regarding him as an excellent sub- a little light glittering like a diamond. I feel a calm steal-
ject. About this time a trial for murder in the Place
Saint-Gery had been causing a great sensation in Belgium ing over me. What a good sleep I shall have ! What
and the painter had been following the proceedings closely. joy ! ' These were the last words the painter spoke. He
AThe trial ended in the condemnation of the accused. was still entranced, but no longer replied to the questions
plan was arranged and Wiertz, with the consent of the put by the doctor. They then approached the head and
Dr. D. touched the forehead, the temples, and teeth and
found they were cold. The head was dead."
In the Wiertz Gallery in Brussels are to be found three
pictures of a guillotined head, presumably the outcome
of this gruesome experiment.
AHypocephalus : disk of bronze or painted linen found
under the heads of Graxo-Roman mummies in Egypt.
prison doctor, obtained permission to hide with his friend. It is inscribed with magical formulae and divine figures, and
its object was probably to secure warmth for the corpse.
Dr. D., under the guillotine, close to where the head of the There is frequently depicted upon such amulets a scene
condemned would roll into the basket. In order to carry showing cynocephalus apes adoring the solar disk seated in
out the scheme he had determined upon more efficiently,
his boat.
the painter desired his hypnotiser to put him through a
regular course of hypnotic suggestion, and when in the
sleep state to command him to identify himself with various
people and tell him to read their thoughts and penetrate
into their psychical and mental states. The following is a
—resume given in Le Progres Spirite : " On the day of
execution, ten minutes before the arrival of the condemned
man, Wiertz, accompanied by his friend the physician
with two witnesses, ensconced themselves underneath the
guillotine, where they were entirely hidden from sight.
The painter was then put to sleep,' and told to identify
himself with the criminal. He was to follow his thoughts
. The Order of f/ic /////u /«{(.
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THE ORDER OF THE ILLUMINATI
[face p. 222
Iacchus Incubus
Iacchus : (See Mysteries.)?^ supernatural had strong attractions for him. These two,
Iao, or I-ha-ho : A mystic name said by Clement of Alexan- rapidly spread the gospel of the Revolution throughout
Germany. But they grew fearful that, if the authorities
dria to have been worn on their persons by the initiates of
the Mysteries of Serapis. It is said to embody the symbols discovered the existence of such a society as theirs they
would take steps to suppress it. With this in view they
of the two generative principles.
conceived the idea of grafting it on to Freemasonry, which
lehtbyomancy : Divination by the inspection of the entrails of
fish. they considered would protect it, and offer it means of
Ideas of Good and Evil : (See Yeats.) spreading more widely and rapidly.
Ifrits : Hideous spectres probably of Arabian origin, now The Freemasons were not long in discovering the true
genii of Persian and Indian mythology. They assume
Anature of those who had just joined their organisation.
diverse forms, and frequent ruins, woods and wild desolate
chief council was held with the view of thoroughly examin-
places, for the purpose of preying upon men and other
ing into the nature of the beliefs held by them and a con-
living things. They are sometimes confounded with the ference of masons was held in 1782 at which Knigge and
Jinns or Divs of Persia. Weishaupt at.ter.ded ar.d endeavoured to capture the whole
Ignis Fatuus : A wavering luminous appearance frequently organisation of Freemasonry, but a misunderstanding grew
up between the leaders of illuminism. Knigge withdrew
observed in meadows and marshy places, round which from the society, and two years later those who had reached
many popular superstions cluster. Its folk-names, Will
o' the Wisp and Jack o' Lantern, suggest a country fellow its highest grade and had discovered that mysticism was not
bearing a lantern or straw torch (wisp). Formerly these its true object, denounced it to the Bavarian Government
lights were supposed to haunt desolate bogs and moor- as a political society of a dangerous character. Weishaupt
lands for the purpose of misleading travellers and drawing fled, but the damage had been done, for the fire kindled by
them to their death. Another superstition says that they Illuminism was soon to burst forth in the French Revolution.
are the spirits of those who have been drowned in the bogs, The title llluminati was later given to the French Mar-
and yet another, that they are the souls of unbaptized in- tinists (q.v.)
fants. Science refers these ignes fatui to gaseous exhalations Imhetep : An Egyptian deity, son of Ptah and Nut, to
from the moist ground, or, more rarely, to night-flying insects whom great powers of exorcism were attributed. He was
lllnminati : The term used first of all in the 15th century by often appealed to in cases of demoniac possession.
enthusiasts in the occult arts signifying those who claimed Imperator : Control of Rev W. S. Moses. (See Moses,
to possess " light " directly communicated from a higher William Stainton.)
source, or due to a larger measure of human wisdom. Impersonation : Mediums who are controlled by the spirit
We first find the name in Spain about the end of the 15th of a deceased person frequently impersonate that person,
century. Its origin is probably a late Gnostic one hailing imitate his voice and gestures, his physical peculiarities and
manners, and exhibit the symptoms of any disease from
from Italy, and we find all sorts of people, many of them
charlatans, claiming to belong to the brotherhood. In which he may have suffered. (See Trance Personalities.)
Spain, such persons as laid claim to the title had to face the Incense, Magical : (See Magic.)
rigour of the Inquisition, and this is perhaps the reason that Incommunicable Axiom, 1 he : It was believed that all
we find numbers of them in France in the early seventeenth magical science was embodied in knowledge of this
century, as refugees. secret. The Axiom is to be found enclosed in the four
Here and there small bodies of those called llluminati, letters of the Tetragram arranged in a certain way ; in the
words " Azoth " and " Inri " written kabalistically
sometimes known as Rosicrucians rose into publicity for a
short period. But it is with Weishaupt, Professor of Law ;
and in the monogram of Christ embroidered in the labarum.
at Ingolstadt, that the movement first became identified He who succeeded in elucidating it became humanly omni-
with republicanism. It soon secured a strong hold all potent from the magical standpoint.
Athrough Germany, but its founder's object was merely to Incubus : spirit which has intercourse with mortal women.
convert his followers into blind instruments of his supreme The concept may have arisen from the idea of the com-
will. He modelled his organisation on that of the Jesuits, merce of gods with women, rife in pagan times. For,
adopted their system of espionage, and their maxim that modern and mediaeval instances, we can do little more than
the end justified the means. He induced mysticism into the refer to the pages in which they may be found, and the very
workings of the brotherhood, so that an air of mystery names of the writers will sufficiently avouch their credibility.
might prevade all its doings, adopted many of the classes The history of Hector Boethius has three or four rotable
and grades of Freemasonry, and held out hopes of the examples, which obtain confirmation from the pen of
communication of deep occult secrets in the higher ranks. Cardan. One of these we may venture to transcribe in the
Only a few of the members knew him personally, and quaint dress which Holinshed had given it. " In the year
thus although the society had many branches in all parts 1480 it chanced as a Scottish ship departed out of the Forth
of Germany, to these people alone was he visible, and he towards Flanders, there arose a wonderful great tempest of
began to be regarded by those who had not seen him almost wind and weather, so outragious, that the maister of the
as a god. He took care to enlist in his ranks as many ship, with other the mariners, woondered not a little what
young men of wealth and position as possible, and within the matter ment, to see such weather at that time of the
four or five years the power of Illuminism became extra- yeare, for it was about the middest of summer. At length,
ordinary in its proportions, its members even had a hand when the furious pirrie and rage of winds still increased, in
in the affairs of the state, and not a few of the German such wise that all those within the ship looked for present
princes found it to their interest to having dealings with death, there was a woman underneath the hatches called
the fraternity. Weishaupt's idea was to blend philan- unto them above, and willed them to throw her into the
sea, that all the residue, by God's grace, might yet be
thropy and mysticism. He was only 28 when he founded saved ; and thereupon told them how she had been haunted
the sect in 1776, but he did not make much progress until a long time with a spirit dailie comming unto hir in man's
likenesse. In the ship there chanced also to be priest, who
a certain baron Von Knigge joined him in 1780. A gifted by the maister's appointment going down to this woman,
person of strong imagination he had been admitted master
of most of the secret societies of his day, among them
Freemasonry. He was also an expert occultist and the and finding her like a most wretched and desperate person.
Icsubus 224 India
lamenting hir great misfortune and miserable estate, used tion in the Infinite ; inculcates absolute passivity, the
such wholesome admonition and comfortable advertise- most minute self-examination, the cessation of the physical
ments, willing her to repent and hope for mercy at the powers ; and believes in the spiritual guidance of the
hands of God, that, at length, she seeming right penitent mystical adept. For the Indian theosophists there is
for her grievous offences committed, and fetching sundrie only one Absolute Being, the One Reality. True, the
sighs even from the bottome of her heart, being witnesse, as pantheistic doctrine of Ekam advitiyam " the One without
should appeare, of the same, there issued forth of the pumpe Second " posits a countless pantheon of gods, great and
small, and a rich demonology ; but it has to be understood
of the ship, a foule and evil-favoured blacke cloud with a that these are merely illusions of the soul and not realities.
mighty terrible noise, flame, smoke, and stinke, which Upon the soul's coming to fuller knowledge, its illusions
presently fell into the sea. And suddenlie thereupon the are totally dispelled, but to the ordinary man the imper-
sonality of absolute being is useless. He requires a sym-
tempest ceassed, and the ship passing in great quiet the
bolic deity to bridge the gulf betwixt the impersonal
residue of her journey, arrived in saftieat the placewhither Absolute and his very material self, hence the numerous
she was bound." (' Chronicles,' vol. v., 146, Ed. 1808). gods of Hinduism which are regarded by the initiated
In another case related by the same author, the Incubus did merely as manifestations of the Supreme Spirit. Even
not depart so quietly. In the chamber of a young gentle- the rudest forms of idolatry in this way possess higher
woman, of excellent beauty, and daughter of a nobleman meaning. As Sir Alfred Lyall says : "It (Brahminism)
in the country of Mar, was found at an unseasonable hour,
" a foule monstrous thing, verie horrible to behold," for treats all the worships as outward visible signs of the
the love of which " Deformed " nevertheless, the lady had
same spiritual truth, and is ready to show how each par-
refused sundry wealthy marriages. A priest who was in ticular image or rite is the symbol of some aspect of univer-
the company began to repeat St. John's Gospel, and ere he —sal divinity. The Hindus, like the pagans of antiquity
had proceeded far " suddenlie the wicked spirit, making
a verie sore and terrible roaring noise, flue his waies, taking adore natural objects and forces, a mountain, a river, or
the roofe of the chamber awaie with him, the hangings an animal. The Brahmin holds all nature to be the vesture
or cloak of indwelhng divine energy which inspires every-
and coverings of the bed being also burnt therewith."
Erastus, in his Tract " de Lamiis," Sprangerus, who thing that produces all or passes man's understanding."
The life ascetic has from the remotest times been re-
assures us that himself and his four colleagues punished
garded in India as the truest preparation for communion
many old women of Ratisbon with death for this commerce,
with the deity. Asceticism is extremely prevalent
Zanchius (" de Operibns Dei," xvi., 4.) ; Dandidas (" in
Aristotelis de Anima," ii., 29, 30) ; Reussus (v., 6) ; Godel- especially in connection with the cult of Siva, who is in
great measure regarded as the prototype of this class. The
man (ii., 5) ; Valesius (" de Sacra Phil.," 40) ; and Delrio,
" passim," among others, will satiate the keenest curiosity Yogis or Jogis (disciples of the Yogi philosophy), practise
on these points. From Bodinus, we learn that Joan mental abstraction, and are popularly supposed to attain
to superhuman powers. The usual results of their ascetic
Hervilleria, at twelve years of age, was solemnly betrothed practices are madness or mental vacancy, and their so-
to Beelzebub, by her mother, who was afterwards burnt
alive for compassing this clandestine marriage. The called supernatural powers are mostly prophetic, or in too
bridegroom was very respectably attired, and the marriage
formulary was simple. The mother pronounced the follow- many cases pure jugglery and conjuring. The Parama-
ing words to the bridegroom : " Eccc filiam meam quam Hamsas, that is " supreme swans " claim to be identical
with the world-soul, and have no occupation except medita-
.spospondi tibi," and then turning to the bride, " Ecce tion on Brahma. They are said to be equally indifferent
amicum tuum qui beabit te." It appears, however, that to pleasure or pain, insensible to heat or cold, and incapable
Joan was not satisfied with her spiritual husband alone, of satiety or want. The Sannyasis are those who renounce
but became a bigamist, by inter-marrying with real flesh terrestrial affairs : they are of the character of monks,
and blood. Besides this lady, we read of Margaret Bre- and are as a general rule extremely dirty. The Dandis or
mont, who, in company with her mother, Joan Robert, staff-bearers are worshippers of Siva in his form of Bhai-
Joan Guillemin, Mary, wife of Simon Agnus, and Wilhelma,
spouse of one Grassus, were in the habit of attending dia- —rava the Terrible. Mr. J. C. Owen in his Mystics, Ascetics
bolic assignations. These unhappy wretches were burnt
alive by Adrian Ferreus, General Vicar of the Inquisition. and Sects of India says of these Sadhus or holy men :
Magdalena Crucia of Cordova, an abbess, was more
fortunate. In 1545 she became suspected by her nuns of " Sadhuism whether perpetuating the peculiar idea of the
magic, an accusation very convenient when a superior was
at all troublesome. She encountered them with great efficacy of asceticism for the acquisition of far-reaching
wisdom by anticipating their charge ; and going before-
hand to the Pope, Paul III., she confessed a thirty years' powers over natural phenomena or bearing its testimony
to the belief of the indispensableness of detachment from
intimate acquaintance with the devil, and obtained his
the world as a preparation for the ineffable joy of ecstatic
—pardon. (See England.)
communion with the Divine Being, has undoubtedly
India : Mystical Systems. It would be beyond the scope of tended to keep before men's eyes as the highest ideal, a
such a work as this to undertake to provide any account life of purity and restraint and contempt of the world of
of the several religious systems of India, and we must human affairs. It has also necessarily maintained amongst
confine ourselves to a description of the mysticism and the laity a sense of the rights and claims of the poor upon
the charity of the more opulent members of the community.
demonology which cluster round these systems, and an Further, Sadhuism by the multiplicity of the independent
sects which have arisen in India has engendered and
outline of the magic and sorcery of the native peoples of favoured a spirit of tolerance which cannot escape the
notice of the most superficial observer."
—the empire.
Hinduism. It may be said that the mysticism of the One of the most esoteric branches of Hinduism is the
Sakta cult. The Saktas are worshippers of the Sakti or
Hindus was a reaction against the detailed and practical female principle as a creative and reproductive agency.
ceremonial of the Vedas. If its trend were summarised it Each of the principal gods possesses his own Sakti, through
which his creative acts are performed, so that the Sakta
might justly be said that it partakes strongly of disinter- worshippers are drawn from all sects. But it is principally
in connection with the cult of Siva that Sakta worship is
estedness ; is a pantheistic identifying of subject and
practised. Its principal seat is the north-eastern part of
object, worshipper and worship ; aims at. ultimate absorp-
India 225 India
—India Bengal, Behar and Assam. It is divided into two The purest doctrines of Brahmanism are to be found in
distinct groups. The original self-existent gods were sup- the Vedanta philosophic system, which recognises the
posed to divide themselves into male and female energies, the Veda, or collection of ancient Sanskrit hymns, as the
male half occupying the right-hand and the female the left- revealed source of religious belief through the visions of
hand side. From this conception we have the two groups the ancient Rishis or seers. It has been already mentioned
of " right-hand " observers and " left-hand " observers. that the Hindu regarded the entire gamut of animated nature
In the Tanlras or mystical writings, Siva unfolds in the as being traversed by the one soul, which journeyed up
nature of a colloquy in answer to questions asked by his and down the scale as its actions in its previous existence
spouse Parvati, the mysteries of Sakta occultism. The
were good or evil. To the Hindu the vital element in all
right-hand worshippers are by far the most numerous. animate beings appears essentially similar, and this led
Strict secrecy is enjoined in the performance of the rites, directly to the Brahmanical theory of transmigration,
and only one minor caste, the Kanlas, carry on the mystic which has taken such a powerful hold upon the Hindu
—and degraded rites of the Tantras. —mind.
Brahmanism. Brahmanism is a system originated by
Demonology. A large and intricate demonology has
the Brahmans, the sacerdotal caste of the Hindus, at a clustered around Hindu mythology. The gods are at con-
comparatively early date. It is the mystical religion of stant war with demons. Thus Durga slays Chanda and
India par excellence, and represents the more archaic Asura, and also despatches Durga, a fiend of similar name
beliefs of its peoples. It states that the numberless to herself. Vishnu also slays more than one demon, but
individual existences of animate nature are but so many Durga appears to have been a great enemy of the demon
manifestations of the one eternal spirit towards which they race. The Asuras, probably a very ancient and aboriginal
tend as their final goal of supreme bliss. The object of pantheon of deities, later became demons in the popular
man is to prevent himself sinking lower in the scale, and by
imagination, and the Rakshasas were cloud-demons. They
degrees to raise himself in it, or if possible to attain the are described as cannibals, could take any form, and were
ultimate goal immediately from such state of existence as constantly menacing the gods. They haunt cemeteries,
he happens to be in. The code of Manu concludes " He disturb sacrifices, animate the dead, harry and afflict
who in his own soul perceives the supreme soul in all mankind in all sorts of ways. In fact they are almost an
beings and acquires equanimity towards them all attains absolute parallel with the vampires of Slavonic countries;
the highest state of bliss." Mortification of animal and this greatly assists the conclusions of Asikoff that the
instincts, absolute purity and perfection of spirit, were the WeSlavonic vampires were originally cloud-spirits. find
moral ideals of the Brahman class. But it was necessary the gods constantly harassed by demons and on the
;
to pass through a succession of four orders or states of whole we may be justified in concluding that just as the
existence ere any hope of union with the deity could be held Tuatha-de-danaan harassed the later deities of Ireland, so
out. These were : that of brahmacharin, or student of did these aboriginal gods lead an existence of constant
religious matters grihastha, or householder ; vanavasin, warfare with the divine beings of the pantheon of the
;
or hermit ; and sannyasin or bhikshu, fakir or religious —immigrant Aryans.
Popular Witchcraft and Sorcery. The popular witch-
mendicant. Practically every man of the higher castes
practised at least the first two of these stages, while the craft and sorcery of India greatly resembles that of Europe.
priestly class took the entire course. Later, however, The Dravidian or aboriginal races of India have always
this was by no means the rule, as the scope of study was been strong believers in witchcraft, and it is possible that
intensely exacting, often lasting as long as forty-eight here we have an example of the mythic influence of a
years, and the neophyte had to support himself by begging conquered people. They are, however, extremely reticent
from door to door. He was usually attached to the house
regarding any knowledge they possess of it. It is practi-
of some religious teacher ; and after several years of his cally confined to them, and this might lead to the hasty
tuition was usually married, as it was considered absolutely
supposition that the Aryan races of India possess no
essential that he should leave a son behind him to offer witchcraft of their own. But this is strongly unlikely, and
food to his spirit and to those of his ancestors. He was then
said to have become a " Householder " and was required the truth probably lies quite in the other direction ; how-
ever, the extraordinarily high demands made upon the
to keep up perpetually the fire brought into his house upon popular religious sense by Brahmanism probably crushed
his marriage day. Upon his growing older, the time for the superstitions of the lower cultus of a very early period,
him arrived to enter the third stage of life, and he " cut
and confined the practice of minor sorcery to the lower
himself off from all family ties except that (if she wished) castes, who were of course of Dravidian or aboriginal
his wife might accompany him, and went into retirement blood. We find witchcraft most prevalent among the more
in a lonely place, carrying with him his sacred fire, and the isolated and least advanced races, like the Kols, Bhils,
instruments necessary to his daily sacrifices." Scantily and Santals. The nomadic peoples are also strong believers
clothed, and with hair and nails uncut, it is set down that in sorcery, one of the most dreaded forms of which is the
—the anchorite must live entirely on food growing wild in Jigar Khor, or liver-eater, of whom Abul Fazl says :
the forest roots, herbs, wild grain, and so forth. The " One of this class can steal away the liver of another
acceptance of gifts was not permitted him unless absolutely by looks and incantations. Other accounts say that by
necessary, and his time was spent in reading the metaphysi- looking at a person he deprives him of his senses, and then
cal portions of the Veda, in making offerings, and in practis- steals from him something resembling the seed of a pome-
ing austerities with the obj ect of producing entire indifference granate, which he hides in the calf of his leg ; after being
swelled by the fire, he distributes it among his fellows to
to worldly desires. In this way he fits himself for the final
and most exalted order, that of religious mendicant or be eaten, which ceremony concludes the life of the fascinated
bhikshu. This consists solely of meditation. He takes up person. A Jigar Khor is able to communicate his art to
-his abode at the foot of a tree in entire solitude, and only another by teaching him incantations, and by making him
once a day at the end of their labours may he go near the eat a bit of the liver cake. These Jigar Khors are mostly
dwellings of men to beg a little food. In this way he
women. It is said they can bring intelligence from a long
waits for death, neither desiring extinction nor existence, distance in a short space of time, and if they are thrown
until at length it reaches him, and he is absorbed in the into a river with a stone tied to them, they nevertheless
eternal Brahma. will not sink. In order to deprive any one of this wicked
India 226 India
power, they brand his temples and every joint of Ms body, they are put to death. As has been said, their teeth are-
cram his eyes with salt, suspend him for forty days in a
subterranean chamber, and repeat over him certain incan- often knocked out, their heads shaved and offal is thrown
tations." The witch does not, however, devour the man's
at them. In the case of women their heads are shaved
liver for two and a half days, and even if she has eaten it,
and is put under the hands of an exorciser, she can be and their hair is attached to a tree in some public place.
forced to substitute a liver of some animal in the body of They are also branded ; have a ploughshare tied to their
legs ; and made to drink the water of a tannery. During
the man whom she victimised. We also hear tales of the Mutiny, when British authority was relaxed, the most
atrocious horrors were inflicted upon witches and sorcerers
witches taking out the entrails of people, sucking them, by the Dravidian people. Pounded chilli peppers were
and then replacing them. All this undoubtedly illustrates, placed in their eyes to see if they would bring tears, and
as in ancient France and Germany, and probably also in
the Slavonic countries, the original combination of witch the wretched beings were suspended fr«m a tree head
and vampire ; how, in fact, the two were one and the downwards, being swung violently from side to side. They
same. In India the arch-witch Ralaratri, or " black were then forced to drink the blood of a goat, and to
night " has the joined eyebrows of the Salvonic werewolf exorcise the evil spirits that they had caused to enter the
or vampire, large cheeks, widely-parted lips, projecting bodies of certain sick persons. The mutilations and
teeth, and is a veritable vampire. But she also possesses cruelties practised on them are such as will not bear repeti-
tion, but one of the favourite ways of counteracting the
—the powers of ordinary witchcraft, second-sight, the
spells of a witch is to draw blood from her, and the local
making of philtres, the control of tempests, the evil eye, and priest will often prick the tongue of the witch with a
needle, and place the resulting blood on some rice and
so forth. Witches also take animal forms, especially those
of tigers ; and stories of trials are related at which natives compel her to eat it.
gave evidence that they had tracked certain tigers to their In Bombay, the aboriginal Tharus are supposed to
lairs, which upon entering they had found tenanted by a
possess special powers of witchcraft, so that the " Land
a notorious witch or wizard. For such witch-tigers the of Tharus " is a synonym for witch-land. In Gorakhpur,
usual remedy is to knock out their teeth to prevent their witches are also very numerous, and the half-gypsy Ban-
doing any more mischief. Strangely enough the Indian
witch, like her European prototype, is very often accom- jaras, or grain-carriers, are notorious believers in witch-
panied by a cat. The cat, say the jungle people, is
craft. In his interesting Popular Religion and Folk-lore
aunt to the tiger, and taught him everthing but how to
climb a tree. Zalim Sinn, the famous regent of Kota, of Northern India, Mr. W. Crooke, who has had exceptional
opportunities for the study of the native character, and
believed that cats were associated with witches, and imagin- who has done much to clear up the dark places of Indian
ing himself enchanted ordered that every cat should be popular mythology, says regarding the various types of
expelled from his province. Indian witches :
As in Europe, witches are known by certain marks.
" At the present day the half-deified witch most dreaded
They are believed to learn the secrets of their craft by in the Eastern Districts of the North-western Provinces
eating offal of all kinds. The popular belief concerning
is Lona, or Nona, a Chamarin or woman of the currier
them is that they are often very handsome and neat, and
invariably apply a clear line of red lead to the parting caste. Her legend is in this wise. The great physician
of their hair. They are popularly accused of exhuming Dhanwantara, who corresponds to Luqman Hakim of the
dead children, and bringing them to life to serve occult Muhammadans, was once on his way to cure King Parikshit,
purposes of their own. They cannot die so long as they are and was deceived and bitten by the snake king Takshaka.
witches, and until, as in Italy, they can pass on their He therefore desired his sons to roast him and eat his
knowledge of witchcraft to someone else. They recite
flesh, and thus succeed to his magical powers. The snake
charms backwards, repeating two letters and a half from a king dissuaded them from eating the unholy meal, and they
verse in the Koran. If a certain charm is repeated " for-
Alet the cauldron containing it float down the Ganges.
wards," the person employing it will become invisible to
currier woman, named Lona, found it and ate the contents,
his neighbour, but if he repeats it backwards, he will and thus succeeded to the mystic powers of Dhanwantara.
She became skilful in cures, particularly of snake-bite.
assume whatever shape he chooses. A witch can acquire Finally she was discovered to be a witch by the extra-
ordinary rapidity xvith which she could plant out rice
power over ,her victim by getting possession of a lock of seedlings. One day the people watched her, and saw that
hair, the paring of nails, or some other part of his body, when she believed herself unobserved she stripped herself
naked, and taking the bundle of the plants in her hands
such as a tooth. For this reason natives of India are threw them into the air, reciting certain spells. When the
extremely careful about the disposal of such, burying them seedlings forthwith arranged themselves in their proper
places, the spectators called out in astonishment, and
in the earth in a place covered with grass, or in the neigh-
finding herself discovered, Nona rushed along over the
bourhood of water, which witches universally dislike. country, and the channel which she made in her course is
Some people even fling the cuttings of their hair into the Loni river to this day. So a saint in Broach formed a
new course for a river by dragging his clothes behind
running water. Like the witches of Europe too, they are him
in the practice of making images of persons out of wax,
" Another terrible witch, whose legend is told at Mathura,
dough, or similar substances, and torturing them, with the
is Putana, the daughter of Bah, king of the lower world.
idea that the pain will be felt by the person whom they She found the infant Krishna asleep, and began to suckle
him with her devil's milk. The first drop would have
desire to injure. In India the witches' familiar is known poisoned a mortal child, but Krishna drew her breast
as Bir or the " hero," who aids her to inflict injury upon with such strength that he drained her life-blood, and the
human beings. The power of the witch is greatest on the
14th, 15th and 29th of each month, and in particular on fiend, terrifying the whole land of Braj with her cries of
the Feast of Lamps, and the Festival of Durga. agony, fell lifeless on the ground. European witches suck
the blood of children ; here the divine Krishna turns the
Witches are often severely punished amongst the isolated
hill-folk and a diabolical ingenuity is shown in torturing tables on the witch.
them. To nullify their evil influence, they are beaten with
" The Palwar Rajputs of Oudh have a witch ancestress.
rods of the castor-oil plant and usually die in the process.
They are often forced to drink filthy water used by curriers
in the process of their work, or their noses are cut off, or
India 227 Insufflation
—Soon after the birth of her son she was engaged in baking Infernal Court. Wierus and others, learned in the lore of
cakes. Her infant began to cry, and she was obliged to the infernal regions, have discovered therein princes and
perform a double duty. At this juncture her husband high dignitaries, ministers, ambassadors, and officers of
arrived just in time to see his demon wife assume gigantic state, whose names would fill much space to little purpose
and supernatural proportions, so as to allow both the Satan is no longer the soverign of Hades, but is, so to
baking and nursing to go on at the same time. But speak, leader of the opposition. The true leader is Beelze-
finding her secret discovered, the witch disappeared, bub.
leaving her son as a legacy to her astonished husband. Initiation : The process of entry into a secret society or
Here, though the story is incomplete, we have almost similar organisation. The idea of initiation was certainly
certainly, as in the case of Nona Chamarin, one of the inherited by the Egyptians and Asssyrians from older
Melusina type of legend, where the supernatural wife neoblithic peoples, who possessed secret organisations or
leaves her husband and children, because he violated some " mysteries " analogous to those of the Medwiwin of the
taboo, by which he is forbidden to see her in a state of North American Indians or those of the Australian Black-
nudity, or the like. Wefellows. read of initiation into the various grades of
"The history of witchcraft in India, as in Europe, is the Egyptian priesthood and the " mysteries " of Eleusis
one of the saddest pages in the annals of the people. Nowa- and Bacchus. (See Mysteries.) These processes prob-
days, the power of British law has almost entirely sup- ably consisted of tests of courage and fidelity (as do
pressed the horrible outrages which, under the native the savage initiations) and included such acts as sustaining
administration were habitually practised. But particu- a severe buffeting, the drinking of blood, real and imagin-
larly in the more remote and uncivilized parts of the country ary, and so forth. In the Popol Vuh, the saga of the
this superstition still exists in the minds of the people Kiche Indians of Guatemala we have a picture of the initia-
and occasional indications of it, which appear in our tion tests of two hero-gods on entrance to the native
Hades. Indeed, most of the mysteries typified the descent
criminal records, are quite sufficient to show that any
relaxation of the activity of our magistrates and police of man into Hell, and his return to earth, based on the
would undoubtedly lead to its revival in some of its more corn-mother legend of the resurrection of the wheat plant.
Initiation into the higher branches of mysticism, magic
shocking forms."
and theosophy has been largely written upon The
The aborigines of India live in great fear of ghosts and
process in regard to these is of course entirely sym-
invisible spirits, and a considerable portion of their time
is given up to averting the evil influences of these. Pro- bolical, and is to be taken as implying a preparation for
the higher life and the regeneration of the soul.
tectives of every description litter their houses, and the
approaches to them, and they wear numerous amulets for Institor, Henricus : (See Malleus Maleflcarum.) most impor-
the purpose of averting evil influences. Regarding these,
Instruments, Magical : (See Magic.)
Mr. Crooks says : Insufflation, says Eliphas Levi, " is one of the
tant practices of occult medicine, because it is a perfect
" Some of the Indian ghosts, like the Ifrit of the Arabian sign of the transmission of life. To inspire, as a fact, means
Nights, can grow to the length of ten yojanas or eighty miles. to breath upon some person or thing, and we know already,
In one of the Bengal tales a ghost is identified because she by the one doctrine of Hermes, that the virtue of things has
can stretch out her hands several yards for a vessel. Some created words, and that .there is an exact proportion
ghosts possess the very dangerous power of entering human between ideas and speech, which is the first form and
corpses, like the Vetala, and swelling to an enormous size. verbal realisation of ideas. The breath attracts or repels,
The Kharwars of Mirzapur have a wild legend, which tells
how long ago an unmarried girl of the tribe died, and was according, as it is warm or cold. The warm breathing
corresponds to positive electricity, and the cold breathing
being cremated. While the relations were collecting wood to negative electricity. Electrical and nervous animals
for the pyre, a ghost entered the corpse, but the friends fear the cold breathing, and the experiment may be made
managed to expel him. Since then great care is taken not upon a cat, whose familiarities are important. By fixedly
to leave the bodies of women unwatched. So, in the regarding a lion or tiger and blowing in their face, they
Panjab, when a great person is cremated the bones and would be so stupefied as to be forced to retreat before us.
Warmashes are carefully watched till the fourth day, to prevent a and prolonged insufflation restores the circulation
magician interfering with them. If he has a chance, he of the blood, cures rheumatic and gouty pains, re-estab-
ean restore the deceased to life, and ever after retain him lishes the balance of the humours, and dispels lassitude.
under his influence. This is the origin of the custom in When the operator is sympathetic and good, it acts as a
Great Britain of waking the dead, a practice which ' most universal sedative. Cold insufflation soothes pains occa-
probably originated from a silly superstition as to»the sioned by congestions and fluidic accumulations. The
danger of a corpse being carried off by some of the agents tvfo breathings must, therefore, be used alternately,
of the invisible world, or exposed to the ominous liberties observing the polarity of the human organism, and acting
of brute animals.' But in India it is considered the best in a contrary manner upon the poles, which must be
course, if the corpse cannot be immediately disposed of, treated successfully to an opposite magnetism. Thus, to
to measure it carefully, and then no malignant Bhut can cure an inflamed eye, the one which is not affected must be
occupy it.
subjected to a warm and gentle insufflation, cold insuffla-
" Most of the ghosts whom we have been as yet con- tion being practised upon the suffering member at the same
sidering are malignant. There are, however, others which distance and in the same proportion. Magnetic passes
are friendly. Such are the German Elves, the Robin Good- have a similar effect to insufflations, and are a real breath-
fellow, Puck, Brownie and the Cauld Lad of Hilton of ing by transpiration and radiation of the interior air, which
England, the Glashan of the Isle of Man, the Phouka or is phosphorescent with vital light ; slow passes constitute
Leprehaun of Ireland. Such, in one of his many forms, is
a warm breathing which fortifies and raises the spirits ;
the Brahmadaitya, or ghost of a Brahman who has died swift passes are a cold breathing of dispersive nature,
unmarried. In Bengal he is believed to be more neat and
neutralising tendencies to congestion. The warm insuffla-
less mischievous than other ghosts ; - the Bhuts carry him tion should be performed transversely, or from below
upward ; the cold insufflation is more effective when
in a "palanquin, he wears wooden sandals, and lives in a
Banyan tree. directed downward from above."
Intuitional World 228 Ireland
Intuitional World : Formerly known as the Buddhic Plane, questions, added at last : ' There are two of us, a man and
is in the theosophic scheme the fourth world, and from it
a woman, natives of Ossory, who, through the curse of
come intuitions. (See Theosophy, Solar System, and
Natalis, saint and abbot, are compelled every seven years
Intuition).
to put off the human form, and depart from the dwellings
Invocation : (See Necromancy.)
Ireland : For information regarding ancient Ireland See of men. Quitting entirely the human form, we assume
" Celts." Although nominally Christianised, there is that of wolves. At the end of the seven years, if they
little doubt that the early mediaeval Irish retained many chance to survive, two others being substituted in their
relics of their former condition of paganism, especially places, they return to their country and their former shape.
those which possessed a magical tendency. This is made And now, she who is my partner in this visitation hes
clear by the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis, the first
account we have of Irish manners and customs after the dangerously sick not far from hence, and, as she is at the
invasion of the country by the Anglo-Normans. His
point of death, I beseech you, inspired by divine charity,
description, for example, of the Purgatory of St. Patrick in
Lough Derg, Co. Donegal, proves that the demonology- of to give her the consolations of your priestly office.'
the Catholic Church had already fused with the animism " At this wood the priest followed the wolf trembling, as he
of Irish native heathnesse. He says : led' the way to a tree at no great distance, in the hollow
" There is a lake in Ulster containing an island divided of which he beheld a she-wolf, Who under that shape was
into two parts. In one of these stands a church of especial pouring forth human sighs and groans. On seeing the
sanctity, and it is most agreeable and delightful, as well as
beyond measure glorious for the visitations of angels and priest, having saluted him with human courtesy, she gave
the multitude of the saints who visibly frequent it. The thanks to God, who in this extremity had vouchsafed to
other part, being covered with rugged crags, is reported to visit her with such consolation. She then received from
be the resort of devils only, and to be almost always the
theatre on which crowds of evil spirits visibly perform their the priest all the rites of the church duly performed, as
rites. This part of the island contains nine pits, and
far as the last communion. This also she importunately
should any one perchance venture to spend the night in one
of them (which has been done, we know, at times, by some demanded, earnestly supplicating him to complete his
rash men), he is immediately seized by the malignant
spirits, who so severely torture him during the whole good offices by giving' her the viaticum. The priest
night, inflicting on him such unutterable sufferings by
fire and water, and other torments of various kinds, that stoutly asserting that he was not provided with it, the
when morning comes scarcely any spark of life is found left in he-wolf, who had withdrawn to a short distance, came
his wretched body. It is said that any one who has once
submitted to these torments as a penance imposed upon back and pointed out a small missal-book, containing
him, will not afterwards undergo the pains of hell, unless some consecrated wafers, which the priest carried on his
he commit some sin of a deeper dye.
journey, suspended from his neck, under his garment, after
" This place is called by the natives the Purgatory of St.
the fashion of the country. He then intreated him not to
Patrick. For he, having to argue with a heathen race
deny them the gift of God, and the aid destined for them
concerning the torments of hell, reserved for the reprobate,
and the real nature and eternal duration of the future by Divine Providence ; and, to remove all doubt, using
life, in order to impress on the rude minds of the unbelievers
his claw for a hand, he tore off the skin of the she-wolf,
a mysterious faith in doctrines so new, so strange, so
from the head down to the navel, folding it back. Thus
opposed to their prejudices, procured by the efficacy of
she immediately presented the form of an old woman.
his prayers an exemplification of both states even on earth,
The priest, seeing this, and compelled by his fear more than
as a salutary lesson to the stubborn minds of the people."
The ancient Irish believed in the possibility of the trans- his reason, gave the communion the recipient having
;
formation of human beings into animals, and Giraldus in
another narrative of facts purporting to have come under earnestly implored it, and devoutly partaking of it.
his personal notice proves that this belief had lost' none of
Immediately afterwards the he-wolf rolled back the skin
its significance with the Irish of the latter half of the twelfth
century. The case is also interesting as being one of the and fitted it to its original form.
first recorded examples of lycanthropy (q.v.) in the British " These rites having been duly, rather than rightly
Isles, and that must be our excuse for quoting it at some
performed, the he-wolf gave them his company during
length.
the whole night at their little fire, behaving more like a
" About three years before the arrival of Earl John in
Ireland, it chanced that a priest, who was journeying man than a beast. When morning came, he led them out
from Ulster towards Meath, was benighted in a certain
wood on the borders of Meath. While, in company with of the wood, and, leaving the priest to pursue his journey
only a young lad, he was watching by a fire which he had
kindled under the branches of a spreading tree, lo ! a pointed out to him the direct road for a long distance. At
wolf came up to them, and immediately addressed them to his departure, he also gave him many thanks for the benefit
this effect : ' Rest secure, and be not afraid, for there is no
reason you should fear, where no fear is ! ' The travellers he had conferred, promising him still greater returns of
being struck with astonishment and alarm, the wolf added
gratitude, if the Lord should call him back from his present
.
exile, two parts of which he had already completed."
some orthodox words referring to God. The priest then " It chanced, about two years afterwards, that I was
implored him, and adjured him by Almighty God and
faith in the Trinity, not to hurt them, but to inform them passing through Meath, at the time when the bishop of that
what creature it was in the shape of a beast uttered human
words. The wolf, after giving catholic replies to all land had convoked a synod, having also invited the assist-
ance of the neighbouring bishops and abbots, in order to
have their joint counsels on what was to be done in the
affair which had come to his knowledge by the priest's
confession. The bishop, hearing that I was passing through
those parts, sent me a message by two of his clerks, request-
ing me, if possible, to be personally present when a matter
of so much importance was under consideration ; but if I
could not attend he begged me at least to signify my
opinion in writing. The clerks detailed to me all the cir-
cumstances, which indeed I had heard before from other
persons ; and, as I was prevented by urgent business from
being present at the synod, I made up for my absence by
mygiving them the benefit of advice in a letter. The
bishop and synod, yielding to it, ordered the priest to
appear before the pope with letters from them, setting
forth what had occurred, with the priest's concession, to
which instrument the bishops and abbots who were present
at the synod affixed their seals."
Ireland 229 Ireland
" In our own time we have seen persons who, by magical Kyteler case (q.v.), touches on the circumstances con-
nected with the Earl of Desmond and notes the case of the
arts, turned any substance about them into fat pigs, as
Irish prophetess who insisted upon warning the ill-fated
they appeared (but they were always red), and sold them
James I. of Scotland on the night of his assassination at
in the markets. However, they disappeared as soon as they Perth. It is not stated by the ancient chronicler, quoted
crossed any water, returning to their real nature and —by Mr. Seymour, from what part of Ireland the witch in
;
question emanated for a witch she undoubtedly was
with whatever care they were kept, their assumed form
as she possessed a familiar spirit, Huthart, whom she
did not last beyond three days. It has also been a frequent
alleged had made her cognisant of the coming catastrophe.
complaint, from old times as well as in the present, that
Mr. Seymour does not seem to be aware of the history of
certain hags in Wales, as well as in Ireland and Scotland this spirit. He is the Teutonic Hudekin (q.v.) or Hildekin,
changed themselves into the shape of hares, that, sucking the wearer of the hood, sometimes also alluded to as
Heckdekin, well known throughout Germany and Flanders
teats under this counterfeit form, they might stealthily
as a species of house-spirit or brownie. Trithemius alludes
rob other people's milk."
to him as a " spirit known to the Saxons who attached
In Anglo-Norman times sorcery was widely practised himself to the Bishop of Hildesheim " and we find him
but notices are scarce. It is only by fugitive passages cropping up here and there in occult history. From this
in the works of English writers who constantly animadvert
against the superstitious nature and practices of the Irish circumstance it might with justice be inferred that the
that we glean any information concerning the occult his- witch in question came from some part of Ireland which
tory of the country. The great cause cHebra of the Lady had been settled by Teutonic immigrants, and more
Alice Kyteler (q.v.) shook the entire Anglo-Norman probably from Ulster, but the data is insufficient to permit
colony during several successive years in the first half of us to conclude this definitely.
the fourteenth century. The party of the Bishop of Ossory
From the most scanty materials, Mr. Seymour has com-
the relentless opponent of the Lady Alice, boasted that by piled a book of outstanding interest. He passes in review
her prosecution they had rid Ireland of a nest of sorcerers, the witchcraft trials of the XVI. century, the burning of
but there is reason to believe that Ireland could have Adam Dubh, of the Leinster trial of O'Toole and College
furnished numerous similar instances of black magic had
Green in 1327 for heresy, and the passing of the statute
—the actors in them been of similar rank to the ill-fated against witchcraft in Ireland in 1586. The prevalence of
lady that is of sufficient importance in the eyes of witchcraft in Ireland during the sixteenth century is
chroniclers. proved by him to have been very great indeed, but a
In this connection a work on Irish Witchcraft and Demon- number of the authorities he cites, as to the existence of
ology by Mr. St. John D. Seymour (1913), is of striking and
sorcerers in the Green Isle, almost certainly refer to the
pregnant interest. We do not gather from it that Mr.
more Celtic portions of it ; for example Rich and Stani-
Seymour had any previous general knowledge of the sub-
ject he handles before writing this book, and he appears hurst. He has an excellent note upon the enchantments of
to take it for granted that witchcraft in Ireland is purely the Earl of Desmond who demonstrated to his young and
an alien system, imported into the island by the Anglo- beautiul wife the possibilities of animal transformation by
Normans and Scottish immigrants to the north. This
undoubtedly is the case so far as the districts of the Pale changing himself into a bird, a hag, a vulture, and a gigantic
and of Ulster are concerned, but surely it cannot be applied
to the Celtic districts of Ireland. Regarding these Mr. serpent. Human relations with the Devil are dwelt upon
Seymour is silent, but it will occur to most readers that the
analogy of Celtic Scotland, which abounded in witches and at length by Mr. Seymour in a racy chapter, and we are told
how he was cheated by a doctor of divinity and raised on
witch-customs, is powerful evidence that a system similar occasion by certain sorcerers. Florence Newton, the
to that in vogue in the Highlands obtained in the aboriginal witch of Youghal claims an entire chapter to herself, and
districts of Ireland. Early Irish works contain numerous worthily, for her case is one of the most absorbing in the
references to sorcery, a,nd practices are chronicled in them
which bear a close resemblance to those of the shamans and history of witchcraft. At any rate, whatever her occult
medicine-men of savage tribes all over the world. Animal powers, she splendidly succeeded in setting a whole com-
transformation, one of the most common feats of the munity by the ears. Ghostly doings and apparitions, fairy
possession, and dealings with the' wee folk 'are also included
witch, is alluded to again and again in the ancient Irish in the volume ; and Mr. Seymour has not confined himself
cycles, and there are few heroes in Hibernian legend who to Ireland, but has followed one of his countrywomen to
have not a fair stock of working magic at their finger-ends. America, where he shows how she gave congenial employ-
Wonder-working druids, too, abound. Mr. Seymour ment to the fanatic Cotton Mather (q.v.). Witchcraft
will have it that " In Celtic Ireland dealings with the notices of the seventeenth century in Antrim and Island
unseen were not regarded with such abhorrence, and Magee comprise the eighth chapter ; and the ninth and last
bring down the affairs of sorcery in Ireland from the year
indeed had the sanction of custom and antiquity." He 1807 to the present day. The last notice is that of a trial
also states that " the Celtic element had its own super-
— —for murder in 1911, when a wretched woman was tried for
stitious beliefs, but these never developed in this direction "
killing another an old-age pensioner in a fit of insanity.
(the direction of Witchcraft). This is very difficult to
believe. The lack of records of such a system is no criterion A witness deposed that he met the accused on the road on
that it never existed, and we have not the least hesitation the morning of the crime holding a statue or figure in her
in saying that a thorough examination of the subject hand, and repeating three times " I have the old witch
would prove that a veritable system of witchcraft obtained
in Celtic Ireland as elsewhere, although it may not have killed. I got power from the Blessed Virgin to kill her."
been of " Celtic " origin.
It appears that the witch quoted in question threatened to
Be that as it may, Mr. Seymour's book is most inter- plague the murderess with rats and mice ; a single rodent
esting as dealing with those Anglo-Norman and Scottish had evidently penetrated to her abode, and was followed
portions of Ireland where the belief in witchcraft followed
the lines of those in vogue in the mother-countries of the by the bright vision of a lady who told the accused that she
was in danger, and further informed her that if she received
immigrant populations. He sketches the cause ceUbre of the
the old pensioner's pension-book without taking off her
clothes and cleaning them and putting out her bed and
cleaning up the house, she would " receive dirt for ever and
rats and mice." This is not an isolated case, and shows
Iron 230 Italy
how hard such superstitions die in the more remote portions fourteenth century, and hence it may reasonably be
of civilised countries. deduced that he did not live anterior to that time. Accord-
ing to tradition Isaac worked along with his son, whose
We have reviewed Mr. Seymour's book at some length
because it represents practically all that exists on the name is not recorded, and the pair are usually regarded as
subject in question. But it would be interesting to see having been the first men to exploit chymistry in the
him further his researches by an examination into such Netherlands. They are said to have been particularly
of the native Irish records as exist. Such a course would skilful in the manufacture of enamels and artificial gems,
most probably result in the rescue of a considerable amount and it is noteworthy that no less distinguished an alchemist
of detail which would enable him to complete the occult than Paracelsus attached value to the Dutchmen's researches
history of his country. While these are also mentioned with honour by the seven-
—Iron : Its occult virtues are thus described by Pliny, accord- teenth century English scientist, Robert Boyle.
ing to Holland : " As touching the use of Yron and Steele Isaac compiled two scientific treatises, the one entitled
in Physicke, it serveth otherwise than for to launce, cut, De TripUci Ordine Elixiris el Lapidis Theoria, and the other
and dismember withal for take the knife or dagger, an Opera Mineralia Joannis Isaaci Hollandi, sive de Lapide
; Philosophico, and both were published at the beginning
make an ymaginerie circle two or three times round with
the point thereof upon a young child or an elder bodie, and of the seventeenth century The more important of. the
then goe round withall about the partie as often, it is a two is the last-named, wherein the author sets forth his
singular preservative against all poysons, sorceries, or ideas on the exalting of base metals into Sol and Luna, and
enchantments. Also to take any yron naile out of the shows by the aid of illustrations exactly what kind of
coffin or sepulchre wherein man or woman lieth buried, and vessels should be used for this purpose.
to sticke the same fast to the Untie or side post of a dore, Isagoge : {See Arbatel.)
leading either to the house or bed-chamber where any Isham, Sir Charles : {Sec British National Association of
dooth lie who is haunted with Spirits in the night, he or she Spiritualists.)
shall be delivered and secured from such phanasticall fsmaelites : {See Assassins.)
illusions. Moreover, it is said, that if one be lightly Isornery : {See Alchemy.)
pricked with the point of sword or dagger, which hath been Issintok, Eskimo Sorcerers : {See Eskimos.)
the death of a man, it is an excellent remedy agamst the Italy : (For Ancient Italy see Rome.) Magic and sorcery
pains of sides or breast, which come with sudden prickes or in mediaeval Italy seem strangely enough to have centred
stitches." round many great personalities of the church, and even
In certain parts of Scotland and the North of Ireland, several popes have been included by the historians of occult
there is a belief in the potency of iron tor warding off the science in the ranks of Italian sorcerers and alchemists.
attacks of fairies. An iron poker, laid across a cradle, There appears to have been some sort of tradition, the origin
will, it is beUeved. keep the fairies away until the child is of which is by no means clear, that the popes had been given
baptised. The Rev. John G. Campbell in his Superstitions over to the practice of magic ever since the tenth century,
of the Scottish Highlands relates how when a child, he and and it was alleged that Silvester II. confessed to this
another boy were believed to be protected from a fairy charge on his death-bed. Levi states tnat Honorius III.,
which had been seen at a certain spot by the possession, who preached the Crusades, was an abominable necroman-
the one of a knife, and the other of a nail. This was at cer, and author of a grimoire or book by which spirits were
Appin in Argyllshire. evoked, the use of which is reserved exclusively to the
Irving's Church, Speaking with Tongues in : In 1831 an priesthood. Platina, quoting from Martmus Polonus,
outbreak of speaking with tongues occurred in the con- states that Silvester, who was a proficient mathematician
gregation of Edward Irving, in London. For several and versed in the Kabala on one occasion evoked Satan
years Irving had waited for such a visitation, and had himself and obtained his assistance to gain the pontifical
instituted special early-morning services for the purpose crown. Furthermore he stipulated as the price of selling
of hastening it. At length, in July, 1831, the " visitation " his soul to the Devil that he should not die except at Jerusa-
came, first one and then another of the congregation speak- lem, to which place he inwardly determined he would never
ing with " tongues " and with prophetic uutterance.
betake himself. He duly became Pope, but on one occasion
Irving himself was not at first entirely disposed to accept whilst celebrating mass in a certain church at Rome, he
the utterances as of divine origin. But the undoubted felt extremely ill, and suddenly remembered that he was
good faith and irreproachable doctrine of his flock re- officiating in a chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross of Jerusa-
assured him. Robert Baxter, who was absent at the com- lem. He had a bed set up in the chapel, to which he
mencement of the outbreak, but who was himself influenced summoned the cardinals, and confessed tnat he had held
to prophesy at a later date, has left an account of his communication with the powers of evil. He further
experiences. The phenomena did not greatly differ from arranged that when dead his body should be placed upon a
that of similar outbreaks. The inspired speakers were car of green wood, and should be drawn by two horses, one
often attended by physical symptoms, such as convulsions, black and the other white ; that they should be started on
and they spoke in loud, somewhat unnatural tones. Baxter their course, but neither led nor driven, and that where
declares that he spoke sentences in Latin, French, and they halted there his remains should be entombed. The
unknown languages. At length, however, evil spirits conveyance stopped in front of the Lateran, and at this
began to appear in the company, some of the congregation juncture most terrible noises proceeded from it, which led
admitting that they had been possessed by false spirits. the bystanders to suppose that the soul of Silvester had
The outbreak seen afterwards died out. been seized upon by Satan in virtue of their agreement.
Isaac of Holland : Very little is known about the life of this There is no doubt whatsoever that most of these legends
alchemist, but he is commonly supposed to have lived and concerning papal necromancers are absolute inventions
worked early in the fifteenth century, the principal reason and can be traced through Platina and Polonus to Galfridus
for assigning his career to that period being that in his and Gervaise, the necromancer, whom Naude has rightly
writings he refers to Geber, Dastin, Morien and Arnold de termed " the greatest forger of fables, and the most notori-
Villanova, but not to more modern authorities ; while ous liar that ever took pen in hand ! " On a par with such
again, he appears to -have been acquainted with various stories is that of Pope Joan, who tor several years sat on
chymical processes discovered towards the close of the the papal throne although a woman, and who was supposed
Italy 231 Italy
to be one of the blackest sorceresses of all time. To her caused them to be destroyed. Other wonders he wrought,
many magic books are attributed. Levi has an interesting
which in time assumed a connected form, and were woven
passage in his Hisory of Magic, in which he states that
into a fife of the enchanter, first printed in French about
certain engravings in a Life of this female pope, purporting
A1490-1520. still fuller history appeared in English, the
to represent her, are nothing else than ancient tarots
representing fsis crowned with a tiara. " It is well-known," well-known " Life of Virgilius," about 1508, printed by
he says, " that the hieroglyphic figure on the second Hans Doesborcke at Antwerp. It sets forth with tolerable
tarot card is still called ' The Female Pope,' being a woman clearness the popular type of the mediaeval magician, and
wearing a tiara, on which are the points of the crescent will be our guide in the following biographical sketch.
" Virgil was the son of a wealthy senator of Rome,
moon, or the horns of Isis." It is much more possible that
wealthy and powerful enough to -carry on war with the
the author of the grimoire in question was Honorius II., the
anti-pope, or perhaps another Honorius who is described Roman Emperor. As his birth was heralded by extra-
as the son of Euclid and master of the Thebans. But all ordinary portents, it is no marvel that even in childhood
I taliannecromancersandmagicians were by no means church-
he showed himself endowed with extraordinary mental
—men indeed mediaeval Italy was hardly a place for the
powers, and his father having the sagacity to discern in
magically inclined, so stringent were the laws of the church
him an embryo necromancer, sent him, while still very
against the Black Art. Astrology, however, flourished to
some extent, and its practitioners do not appear to have young, to study at the University of Toledo, where the
" art of magick " was taught with extraordinary success.
been unduly persecuted. A Florentine astrologer, named
" There he studied diligently, for he was of great under-
Basil, who flourished at the beginning of the fifteenth cen-
tury, obtained some repute for successful predictions ; and standing, and speedily acquired a profound insight into
is said to have foretold to Cosmo de Medici that he would
.attain exalted dignity, as the same planets had been in the great Shemaia of the Chaldean lore. But this insight
ascendency at the hour of his birth, as in that of the Emperor
Charles V. Many remarkable predictions were made by was due, not so much to nocturnal vigils over abstruse
Antiochus Tibertus of Romagna, who was for some time
books, as to the help he received from a very valuable
councillor to Pandolpho de Maletesta, Prince of Rimini. familiar. And this was the curious fashion in which he
He foretold to his friend, Guido de Bogni, the celebrated was introduced to the said familiar :
soldier, that he was unjustly suspected by his best friend, " ' Upon a tyme the scholers at Tolenten hadde lycence
and would forfeit his life through suspicion. Of himself to goo to playe and sporte them in the fyldes after the
he predicted that he would die on the scaffold, and of the
Prince of Rimini, his patron, that he would die a beggar in usuance of the olde tyme ; and there was also Virgilius
therby also walkynge among the hylles all about. It
the hospital for the poor at Bologna. It is stated that the
prophecies came true in every detail. fortuned he spyed a great hole in the syde of a great hyll,
wherein he went to depe that he culde not see no more
Although the notices of sorcery in mediaeval times are
lyght, and than he went a lytell ferther therein, and then
few and far between in Italian history, there is reason to
suspect that although magic was not outwardly practised, he sawe soon lyght agayne, and than wente he fourth
it lurked hidden in by-paths and out-of-the-way places.
streyghte. And within a lyteU wyle after he harde a voice
We have an excellent portrait of the mediaeval Italian
that called, ' Virgilius, Viigilius,' and he loked aboute,
jnagician in those popular myths regarding Virgil the
Enchanter. The fame of Virgil the Poet had waxed so and he colde nat see nobodye. Than Virgilius spake, and
great in ancient Italy, that in due course of time his name
was synonymous with fame itself. From that it is a short asked, ' Who calleth me ? ' Than harde he the voyce
-step to the attribution of supernatural power, and Virgil
agayne, but he sawe nobodye. Than sayd he> ' Virgilius,
the Roman poet became in the popular mind the mediaeval
Enchanter. His myth is symptomatic of magic in mediae- see ye not that lytell bourde lyinge byside you there,
val Italy as a whole, and it may therefore be given here at
marked with that worde ? ' Than answered Virgilius,
some length. ' I see that borde well enough.' The voyce said, ' Doo
When the popular myth of Virgil the Enchanter first away that bourde, and lette me out theratte.'
" ' Than answered Virgilius to the voyce that was under
grew into repute is uncertain, but probably the earliest
the lytell bourde, and sayd, ' Who art thou that talkest
faint conception arose about the beginning of the tenth me so ? ' Than answered the devyll, ' I am a devyll con-
century, and each succeeding generation embroidered jured out of the body of a certeyne man, and banysshed here
upon it some fantastic impossibility. Soon, in the South tyll the daye of jugement, without that I be delyvered by
—of Italy for the necromancer's fame was of southern the handes of men. Thus, Virgilius, I pray thee delyver
—origin there floated dim, mysterious legends of the
me out of this payn, and I shall show unto thee many
enchantments which he had wrought. Thus he fashioned
bokes of nygromancy, and how thou shalt cum by it lytly,
a brazen fly, and planted it on the gate of fair Parthenope and shalte knowe the practyse therein, that no man in the
to free the city from the inroads of the insects of Beelzebub.
On a Neapolitan hill he built a statue of brass, and placed science of nygromancy shall (sur)pass thee ; and, more-
in its mouth a trumpet ; and lo ! when the north wind blew over, I shall showe and informe thee so that thou shalt
there came from that trumpet so terrible a roar that it
have all thy desyre, whereby methinke it is a great gyfte
•drove back into the sea the noxious blasts of Vulcan's
forges, which, even to this day, seethe and hiss near the for so lytell a donyge, for ye may also thus all your poor
city of Puossola. At one of the gates of Naples he raised frendys helpen, and make ryghte your ennemyes un-
two statues of stone, and gifted them respectively with the
power of blighting or blessing the strangers who, on enter- mighty.'
ing the city, passed by one or the other of them. He con- " Thorough that great promise was Virgilius tempted.
structed three public baths for the removal of every disease He badde the fynd showe the bokes to hym, that he
myght have and occupy them at his wyll. And so the
"which afflicts the human frame, but the physicians, in a
fynd showed hym, and then Virgilius pulled open a bourde,
"wholesome dread of losing their patients and their fees.
and there was a lytell hole, and thereat wrange the devyll
out lyke a yeel, and cam and stode before Virgilius lyke
a bigge man.
" ' Thereof Virgilius was astonied, and merveyled
greately thereof, that so great a man myght com out at
so lytell a hole !
" ' Then sayd Virgilius, ' Shulde ye well passe into the
hole that ye cam out of ? ! ' Yes, I shall well,' sayd the
devyll. ' I holde the beste pledge that I have, ye shall
not do it.' ' Well,' sayd the devyll, ' thereto I consente.'
Italy 232 Italjr
And then the devyll wrange hymself into the lytell hole she knew not who it was that had carried her off, nor
agen, and as he was therein, Virgilius kyvered the hole agen
with the bourde close, and so was the devyll begyled, and whither she had been carried.
myght not there come out agen, but there abydeth shutte
styll therein. Than called the devyll dredefully (drearily) When Virgil restored the lady on the following night,
to Virgilius, and sayd, ' What have ye done ? ' Virgilius
answered, ' Abyde there styll to your day apoynted.' she took back with her, by her father's instructions, some
And fro thensforth abydeth he there.' "
of the fruit plucked from the enchanter's garden ; and
from its quality the Sultan guessed that she had been
carried to a southern land " on the side of France." These
nocturnal journeys being several times repeated, and the
Virgil's father died soon after this event, and his Sultan's curiosity growing ungovernable, he persuaded
estates being seized by his former colleagues, his widow
his daughter to give her lover a sleeping-draught. The
sunk into extreme poverty. Virgil accordingly gathered
together the wealth he had amassed by the exercise of his deceived magician was then captured in the Babylonian
magical skill, and set out for Rome, to replace his mother
in a position proper to her rank. At Toledo, however, palace, and flung into prison, and it was decreed that both
he was a famous student ; at Rome he was a despised he and his mistress should be punished for their love by
scholar, and when he besought the Emperor to execute
death at the stake.
—justice and restore to him his estate, that potentate
Necromancers, however, are not so easily outwitted.
ignorant of the magician's power simply replied, ' Me-
thinketh that the land is well divided to them that have As soon as Virgil was apprized of the fate intended for him,
it, for they may help you in their need ; what needeth —he made, by force of his spells, the Sultan and all his lords
you for to care for the disheriting of one school-master believe that the great river of Babylon the might Nilus
Bid him take heed, and look to his schools, for he hath no
was overflowing in the midst of them, and that they swam
right to any land here about the city of Rome.'
and lay and sprang like geese ; and so they took up Virgilius
and the Princess, tore them from their prison, and placed
them upon the aerial bridge. And when they were thus
Four years passed, and only such replies as this were - out of danger, he delivered the Sultan from the river, and
all the lords ; and lo, when they recovered their humanity,-
vouchsafed to Virgil's frequent appeals for justice. Grow-
they beheld the enchanter bearing the beautiful Princess
ing at length a-weary of the delay, he resolved to exercise
across the Mediterranean ; and they marvelled much, and
his wondrous powers in his own behalf. When the harvest-
felt that they could not hope to prevail against his super-
time came, he accordingly shrouded the whole of his right-
natural power.
ful inheritance with a vapour so dense that the new pro-
prietors were unable to approach it, and under its cover And in this manner did Virgilius convey the Sultan's-
his men gathered in the entire crop with perfect security.
This done, the mist disappeared. Then a great indignation daughter over the sea to Rome. And he was highly
enamoured of her beauty. " Then he thought in his mind
possessed the souls of his enemies, and they assembled their
swordsmen, and marched against him to take off his head. — —how he might marry her "• apparently forgetting that he
Such was their power that the Emperor for fear fled out of
Rome, ' for they were twelve senators that had all the was already married " and thought in his mind to found
world under them ; and if Virgilius had had right, he had
been one of the twelve, but they had disinherited him and in the midst of the sea a fair town with great lands belong-
his mother.' When they drew near, Virgil once more ing to it ; and so he did by his cunning, and called it
Naples : and the foundation of it was of eggs. And in
baffled their designs by encircling his patrimony with a that town of Naples he made a tower with four corner s-
rampart of cloud and shadow.
and on the top he set an apple upon an iron yard, and no
man could pull away that apple without he brake it ; and
through that iron set he a bottle, and on that bottle set he
The Emperor, with surprising inconsistency, now an egg ; and he hanged the apple by the stalk upon a chain,
and so hangeth it still. And when the egg stirreth, ?o
—coalesced with the senators against Virgil whose magical
should the town of Naples quake and when the egg
;
—powers he probably feared far more than the rude force of brake, then should the town sink. When he had made
the senatorial magnates and made war against him. an end, he let call it Naples."
But who can prevail against the arts of necromancy ? After accomplishing So much for his Babylonian beauty,
Emperor and senators were beaten, and from that moment Virgil did not marry her, but endowing her with the town
Virgil, with marvellous generosity, became the faithful of Naples and its lands" gave her in marriage to a certain
friend and powerful supporter of his sovereign " grandee of Spain. Having thus disposed of her and her
It may not generally be known that Virgil, besides being children, the enchanter returned to Rome, collected all
the saviour of Rome, was the founder of Naples. This
feat had its origin, like so many other great actions, in the his treasures, and removed them to the city he had founded,
power of love. where he resided for some years, and established a school
which speedily became of illustrious renown. Here he-
lost his wife, by whom he had had no issue built baths
;
Virgil's imagination had been fired by the reports that and bridges, and wrought the most extraordinary miracles.
reached him of the surpassing loveliness of the Sultan's
So passed an uncounted number of years, and Virgil at
—daughter. Now the Sultan lived at Babylon (that is, at
length abandoned Naples for ever, and retired to Rome.
Cairo the Babylon of the mediaeval romancers), and the " Outside the walls of the Imperial City he built a.
distance might have daunted a less ardent lover and less
potent magician. But Virgil's necromantic skill was goodly town, that had but one gate, and was so fenced
—equal to a bridge in the air where other glowing spirits round with water as to bar any one from approaching it.
—have often raised fair castles ! and passing over it, he
—found his way into the Sultan's palace, into the Princess's And the entry of its one gate was made " with twenty-four
—chamber, and speedily overcoming her natural modesty, iron flails, and on each side was there twelve men smiting
bore her back with him to his Italian bower of pleasaunce. with the flails, never ceasing, the one after the other ; and
There having enjoyed their fill of love and pleasure, he no man might come in without the flails stood still, but he
restored to her bed in her father's palace. Meanwhile, her was slain. And these flails were made with such a gin
absence had been noted, but she was soon discovered on (contrivance) that Virgilius stopped them when he' list to
her return, and the Sultan repairing to her chamber, interro- enter in thereat, but no man else could find the way.
gated her respecting her disappearance. He found that And in this castle put Virgilius part of his treasure privily ;
and, when this was done, he imagined in his mind by
what means he might make himself young again, because
Italy 233 Italy
he thought to live longer many years, to do many wonders was renowned throughout Europe for her marvellous powers-
as a " Physical force Medium " and as Mr. Guppy's wealth
arid marvellous things. And upon a time went Virgilius and social standing enabled him to place his gifted wife's
to the Emperor, and asked him of licence (of absence) by services at the command of the distinguished visitors who-
the space of three weeks. But the Emperor in no wise crowded his salons, it soon became a matter of notoriety
would grant it unto him for he would have Virgilius at all that the highest magnates of the land, including King
times by him." Victor Emmanuel and many of his nearest friends and
—WeSpiritualism.
have perhaps our first indication of
.
the rise and spread of spiritualism in Italy in the modern counsellors, had yielded conviction to the truth of the
astounding phenomena exhibited through Mrs. Guppy's
acceptance of the term in an article published in the Civitla
Catholica the well-known Roman organ, entitled " Modern Mediumship.
Necromancy." The conclusions of the article were : It was about the year 1863, that Spiritualism began tO'
enjoy the advantage of fair and honourable representation
" ist. Some of the phenomena may be attributed to in the columns of a new paper entitled, the Annali dello
Spiritismo, or " Annals of Spiritualism." This excellent
imposture, hallucinations, and exaggerations in the reports journal was commenced at Turin, and published by Signor
Niceforo Filalete, with all the liberality, energy, and talent
of those who describe it, but there is a foundation of reality
in the general sum of the reports which cannot have
originated in pure invention or be wholly discredited
without ignoring the value of universal testimony. worthy alike of the subject and its editor.
" 2nd. The bulk of the theories offered in explanation
From the columns of the Annali we learn that a Venetian
of the proven facts, only cover a certain percentage of Society of Spiritualists, named " Atea " elected General
those facts, but utterly fail to account for the balance. Giuseppe Garibaldi their honorary president, and received
" 3rd. Allowing for all that can be filtered away on mere the following reply by telepraph from the distinguished
human hypotheses, there are still a large class of phenomena hero, the liberator of Italy : "I gratefully accept the
appealing to every sense which cannot be accounted for by presidency of the Society Atea. Caprera, 23rd September."
any known natural laws, and which seem to manifest the The same issue of the Annali contains a verbatim leport
of a " grand discourse, given at Florence, by a distinguished
action of intelligent beings."
literary gentleman, Signor Sebastiano Fenzi, in which the
D. D. Home last visited the principal cities of Italy in
^852, and had been so active in his propaganda that listeners were considerably astonished by a rehearsal of the
numerous circles were formed after his departure. Violent many illustrious names of those who openly avowed their
journalistic controversies arose out of the foundation of faith in Spiritualism.
these societies, with the result that public interest was so The years 1863-4 appear to have been rich in Spiritualis-
tic efforts. Besides a large number of minor associations,
aroused that it could only be satisfied with the publication
the existence of which was recorded from time to time
of a paper issued from Geneva, and edited by Dr Pietro the early numbers of the Annali and Revue Spirite, a.
society which continued for a long time to exert a marked
Suth and Signor B. E. Manieri entitled II amove del Vero. influence in promoting the study of occult forces and
phenomena, was formed about this time in Florence, under
In the journal accounts of the spiritual movements in the the title of The Magnetic Society of Florence. The mem-
various countries of Europe, and America, were published
although the Church and press levelled the anathemas
against the journal. In the spring of 1863 a society was
proved at Palermo entitled II Societa Spiritual di Palermo, bers of this association were without exception persons
which had for president Signor J. V. Paleolozo, and for
remarkable for literary and scientific attainments, or those
members men of the stamp of Paolo Morelle, professor of
of high influential position in society.
Latin and Philosophy.
About this time Mr. Seymour Kirkup, a name familiar'
It was about the autumn of 1864 that lectures were first to the early initiators of Spiritualism, resided in Florence,
given on Spiritualistic subjects in Italy. They were and communicated many records of spiritual phenomena
started in Leghorn and Messina, and though of a very mixed to the London Spiritual Magazine. Nearly ten years after'
character, and often partaking largely of the lecturer's the establishment of the Magnetic Society of Florence,
peculiar idiosyncrasies on religious subjects, they served to Baron Guitern de Bozzi, an eminent occultist, founded the
draw attention to the upheaval of thought going on in all Pneumatological Psychological Academy of Florence, but
directions, in connection with the revelations from the —upon his demise it was discontinued.
1
Spirit world. It could not be expected that a movement
Modern Sorcery. In his Aradia, or the Gospel of the-
so startling and unprecedented as that which opened up a Witches of Italy, the late Charles Godfrey Leland gives a
valuable account of the life and practice of the modern
direct communication between the natural and the Spirit
Italian strega or witch. He says : "In most cases she
worlds could gain ground in public acceptance without
waking up all the latent elements of enthusiasm, fanaticism, comes of a family in which her calling or art has been
and bigotry, which prevailed in.the Italian as in every other practised for many generations. I have no doubt that
community. there are instances in which the ancestry remounts to-
In the year 1870, there had been over a hundred different mediaeval, Roman, or it may be Etruscan times. The
societies formed, with varying success, in different parts of result has naturally been the accumulation in such families
Italy. Two of the most prominent flourishing at that date of much tradition. But in Northern Italy, as its literature
indicates, though there has been some slight gathering of
were conducted in Naples, and according to the French fairy tales and popular superstitions by scholars, there has
journal, the Revue Spirite represented the two opposing
schools which have prevailed in Continental Spiritualism, never existed the least interest as regarded the strange lore of
namely, the " Reincarnationists " whom we have elsewhere the witches, nor any suspicion that it embraced an incredible
classified as " Spiritists " and the " Immortalists," or those quantity of old Roman minor myths and legends, such as-
known in America and England merely as " Spiritualists." Ovid has recorded, but of which much escaped him and all
(See France.) other Latin writers Even yet there are old people in
About 1868, an immense impulse was communicated to the Romagna of the North who know the Etruscan names
—the cause of Spiritualism at least in the higher strata of of the Twelve Gods, and invocations to Bacchus, Jupiter,
—Italian Society by the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Guppy to
and Venus, Mercury, and the Lares or ancestral spirits, and
Naples, at which place they took up their residence for two in the cities are women who prepare strange amulets, over
— —or three years. Mrs. Guppy nee Miss Nichol of London, which they mutter spells, all known in the old Roman time,.
Italy 234 James IV.
and who can astonish even the learned bv their legends of They then sit down naked to supper, men and women, and
Latin gods, mingled with lore which may be found in Cato or
Theocritus. With one of these I became intimately after the feast is over they dance, sing and make love in
acquainted in 1886, and have ever since employed her the darkness, quite in the manner of the mediaeval Sabbath
specially to collect among her sisters of the hidden spell in
of the sorcerers. Many charms are given connected with
many places all the traditions of the olden times known to
them. It is true that I have drawn from other sources stones, especially if these have holes in them and are found
but this woman by long practice has perfectly learned what
few understand, or just what I want, and how to extract Aby accident. lemon stuck full of pins we are told is a
it from those of her kind. good omen. Love-spells fill a large space in the little
" Among other strange relics, she succeeded, after many work, which for the rest recounts several myths of Diana
years, in obtaining the following ' Gospel,' which I have in and Endymion in corrupted form. (See also Leland's
her handwriting A full account of its nature with many Etruscan-Roman Remains.)
details will be found in an Appendix. I do not know Iubdan : In Ultonian romance, the King of the Wee Folk.
One day he boasted of the might of his strong man Glower,
definitely whether my informant derived a part of these
who could hew down a thistle at one blow. His bard
traditions from written sources » or oral narration, but
Eisirt retorted that beyond the sea, there existed a race of
believe it was chiefly the latter
giants, any one of whom could annihilate a whole battalion
" For brief explanation I may say that witchcraft is
known to its votaries as la vecchia veligione, or the old of the Wee Folk. Challenged to prove his words, Eisirt
brought Creda, King Fergus' dwarf and bard. He then
religion, of which Diana is the Goddess, her daughter
dared Iubdan to go to Fergus' palace and taste the king's
Aradia (or Herodias) the female Messiah, and that this
little work sets forth how the latter was born, came down porridge. Iubdan and Bebo, his queen, arrived at the
to earth, established witches and witchcraft, and then
returned to heaven. With it are given the ceremonies and palace at midnight, but in trying to get at the porridge so
invocations or incantations to be addressed to Diana and
as to taste and be away before daybreak, Iubdan fell in.
Aradia, the exorcism of Cain, and the spells of the holy-
He was found in the pot next morning by the scullions,
stone, rue, and verbena, constituting, as the text declares,
and he and Bebo were taken before Fergus, who after a
the regular church-service, so to speak, which is to be
chanted or pronounced at the witch-meetings. There are while released them in exchange for a pair of water shoes,
also included the very curious incantations or benedictions wearing which a man could go over or under water as
•of the honey, meal, and salt, or cakes of the witch-supper, freely as on land.
which is curiously classical, and evidently a relic of the
Ivuncb.es : Chilian familiars. (See American Indians.)
Roman Mysteries."
lynx : A Chaldean symbol of universal being, the name of
Briefly the ritual of the Italian witches is as follows :
which signifies " power of transmission." It was repro-
At the Sabbath they take meal and salt, honey and water,
and say a conjuration over these, one to the meal, one to duced as a living sphere or winged globe. The first example
the salt, one to Cain, one to Diana, the moon-goddess. was perhaps put forth by mind on the plane of reality, to be
followed by three others called paternal and ineffable, and
latterly by hosts of Iynxs of a subordinate character,
described as "free intelligences." The lynx is described
by Eliphas Levi as " corresponding to the Hebrew Yod
or to that unique letter from which all other letters were
formed."
AJacinth, or Hyacinth : stone which preserves from plague to explain all mysteries. The one was black and the other
and from lightning, strengthens the heart, and brings white, and they represented the powers of good and evil.
wealth, honour, prudence, and wisdom. It is recommended It is said that they symbolise the need of " two " in the
by Albertus Magnus as a soporific, on account of its coldness, world : Human equilibrium requires two feet ; the worlds
and is ordered by Psellus in cases of coughs, ruptures, and gravitate by means of two forces generation needs two
melancholy, to be drunk in vinegar. Marbodaeus describes ;
sexes.
the wonderful properties of three species of the jacinth ; James IV. of Scotland : It was almost inevitable that the
Pliny and Leonardus are also particular in their account romantic nature of James IV. of Scotland should have
of it. encouraged the study of alchemy and the occult sciences in
Jacob's Ladder : According to the kabalistic view, Jacob's the manner he did. Dunbar in his Remonstrance, speaks
Ladder, which was disclosed to him in a vision, is a meta- of the patronage which he bestowed upon alchemists and
phorical representation of the powers of alchemy, operating charlatans, and in the Treasurer's accounts there are
through visible nature. The " Ladder " was a " Rain- numerous payments for the " Quinta Essentia," including
bow," or prismatic staircase, set up between heaven and wages to the persons employed, utensils of various kinds
earth. Jacob's Dream implied a history of the whole and so forth. In a letter to one Master James Inglis,
hermetic creation. There are only two original colours, James says :
red and blue, representing " spirit " and " matter," for " James, etc to dear Master James Inglis greeting.
orange is red mixing with the yellow light of the sun,
We graciously accept your kindness, by which in a letter
yellow is the radiance of the sun itself, green is blue and brought to us you signify that you have beside you certain
yellow, indigo is blue tinctured with red, and violet is books learned in the philosophy of the true Alchemy, and
produced by the mingling of red and blue. The sun is that although most worthy men have sought them from
alchemic gold, and the moon is alchemic silver. In the you, you have nevertheless with difficulty kept them for
operation of these two potent spirits, or mystic rulers of our use, because you had heard of our enthusiasm for the
Wethe world, it is supposed astrologically that all mundane art. give you thanks ; . . . and we have sent our
things were produced. familiar, Master James Merchenistoun, to you, that he may
Jadian, or Were-tiger : (See Malays.) see to the transfer hither of those books which you wish
Jakin and Boas : The names of the two symbolical pillars us to have ; whom receive in good faith in our name.
of Solomon's Kabalistic temple, and which were believed Farewell. From our Palace at Edinburgh."
James VI. 235 Japan
— From the Treasurer's Accounts. Those who have recently lost some relative go to the
27 Sept. Item, for a pan in Stirling for the quinta cemeteries to pray and burn incense and leave offerings of
essencia, and " potingary " there. vi. 5. water and flowers set in bamboo vases. On the third day
—29 Sept.—For aqua vitae for the quinta essencia. . . the souls of those who are undergoing penance are fed, also
18 Oct. Gallons aqua vitae for quinta essencia. iii. I. those who have no friends among the living to care for
—10 Nov. iiij. s. them. The evening of this day is the time of the ghosts'
—V24 Dec. -For four cauldrons to quinta essencia xlv. s. departure, and for this thousands of little boats are fashioned
—31 Dec. cakes glass for quinta essentia. xxv. s. and laden with food-offerings and tender messages of fare-
-Paid to William Foular apothecary (potingair well. When the night falls, tiny lanterns are lit and hung
for potingary to the King and Queen, dis- at the miniature prows and the ghosts are supposed to step
tillation of waters, aqua vitae, and potingary aboard. Then the craft are set free upon river, lake and
books in English, from the 17 day of Decem- —sea, the water gleaming- with glow of thousands of lights.
ber, 1506. On this day no saiior dreams of putting out to sea for
(See Scotland.) this one night it belongs to the dead. It is believed that if
James VI. : (See Daemonologie.) a ship fails to come to port before the sailing of the ghost-
Japan : All that the word " magic " defines is to be found
fleet the dead arise from the deep and the sailors can hear
amongst the Japanese, in their religious beliefs and rites
in their conception of Nature and in the national customs. their mournful whispering, while the white breakers are
To them all forms and objects animate or inanimate possess,
equally with man, a soui with good or evil tendencies, and their hands clutching the shores, vainly trying to return.
these entities, either of their own volition or by evocation,
In the Shinto pantheon there are deities representing
come into close touch with man either to his advantage or
well nigh everything in heaven and earth ; from the moun-
detriment. Their folklore and traditions are wrought of tain of Fiyiyama to the household kitchen, from Wisdom to
the marvellous and the Japanese thought of to-day is still
Scarecrows, from Caligraphy to Poverty, Laughter to
permeated with a belief in the supernatural.
The predominant feature of the Japanese religion, Small pox. When babes are a week old they are taken to
Shintoism, is the worship of ancestors, allied to that of the temple and placed under the protection of some god
Nature. There are twelve recognised sects of Shintoism
chosen by the parents, but in later years he may choose his
all with ancestor-worship as their cardinal principle. The
patron god for himself beside the tutelary one.
belief of the Japanese is that the disembodied spirits
* In remote parts of Japan may still be found traces of an
acquire the powers of deities and possess supernatural
attributes. They become potential for good or evil and older form of Shinto in which phallic symbols had their
they exercise their potentialities in the same mundane
sphere upon which their interests and affections centred place as representing life-giving power and therefore used
during life. They thus become guardian divinities, and
as such the object of ceremonies in their honour is to show as a magical exorcism of evil influences, especially that of
gratitude for their services whilst upon earth and to solicit
disease. In this connection appears a dwarf-god who is
a continuance of these services beyond the grave. On
said to have first taught mankind the art of magic and
—this point Lafcadio Hearn wrote : " An intimate sense of
medicine In Shinto there are no idols, their place being
relation between the visible and invisible worlds is the
special religious characteristic of Japan among all civilised taken by shintia, god-bodies, concrete objects in which
countries. To Japanese thought the dead are not less
real than the living. They take part in the daily life of the the divine spirit is supposed to dwell, such as the mirror,
people,—sharing the humblest sorrows and the humblest
joys. They attend the family repasts, watch over the jewel and sword of the Sun-goddess, worshipped at the
famous Ise shrine. Pilgrims from all parts of Japan make
well-being of the household, assist and rejoice in the pros-
perity of their descendants. They are present at the their way to this shrine, acquiring merit and purification
public pageants, at all the sacred festivals of Shinto, at thereby. These pilgrims receive from the priests objects
the military games, and at all the entertainments especially of talismanic properties called harai, these also serving as
provided for them. And they are universally thought of
as finding pleasure in the offerings made to them or the evidence of having been at the holy place. In former days
honours conferred upon them." Every morning, before
the family shrine, to be found in all Japanese homes, they were recognised as passports. The term harai signifies
flowers are set and food-emblems placed as offerings of to " drive out," to " sweep away," and has reference to
pious affection, while ancient prayers are repeated, for on the purification of the individual from his sins. These
the shrine, beside the symbols of the Sun-goddess and the
tutelary god of the family are put the memorial tablets objects are in the form of small envelopes or paper boxes
containing names, ages and dates of death of members of
the household. There are stories of the souls of ancestors each containing shavings of the wands used by the Ise
taking material form and remaining visible through cen- .
turies. In the month of July three days are set apart for
the celebration of the Festival of the Dead. At this time priests at the half-yearly festivals held to purify the nation
it is thought that the disembodied souls return from the .
dismal region of the Shades to gaze for a while upon the
in general from the consequences of the sins of the preceding
beauty of their country and to visit their people. On the
first morning new mats are placed upon all altars and on six months. The list includes witchcraft, also wounding
every household shrine, while in all the homes tiny meals and homicide, these latter being regarded more as unclean-
are prepared in readiness for the ghostly guests. The ness than as a moral stigma. On the pilgrims return home
streets at night are brilliant with many torches ; in front the harai are placed upon the " god's-shelf."
of every house gaily-coloured lanterns are lit in welcome.
On fete-days are still practised the ancient ordeals.
These are three in number, the Kug'adachi, in which priests,
wrought to ecstatic frenzy by participation in a rhythmic
dance, pour upon their bodies -boiling water without
receiving harm from the process ; the Hiwatari consisting
of walking barefoot over a bed of live coals, priests and
people alike participating, and Tsurugi-watari, the climbing
of a ladder of sword-blades. These are regarded as tests
of purity of character, this being thought to confer an
immunity from hurt in these ordeals. The attendant
rites consist of exorcism of evil spirits by the waving of
wands and magical finger-knots, and invocation of the
—gods who are then believed to be actually present.
Possession by Divinities. In connection with some of the
Shinto sects occult rites are practised to bring about posses-
sion of a selected person by the actual spirits of the gods.
Priests and laymen alike develop and practice this art,
undergoing a period of purification by means of various
Japan 236 Japan
austerities. Prophecy, divination and the cure of disease professional and business-men, and it is said that the force
which accumulates within them by practising the " Zen "
are the objects of these rites. The ceremony may take methods is of effective service to them in practical life.
place in a temple or ordinary house where the " gods' Many of the customs of the Japanese have a magical
shelf " makes the shrine. In the rites gohei, the Shinto significance. At the Festival of the New Year extending
symbols of consecration are used, the pendant form for
purification and exorcism of evil influences, and an upright over three days it is considered of the first importance to
gohei affixed to a wand signifying the shintai, or god-body, insure good luck and happiness for the coming year by
is the central object. The medium, called nak aza takes
his seat in the midst. Next him in importance is the means of many traditional observances. Houses are
functionary, the maeza who presides over the ceremony. thoroughly cleansed materially and spiritually, this last is
It is he who builds the magical pyre in a brass bowl and
getting rid of the evil spirits by throwing out beans and peas
burns in the flames strips of paper inscribed with characters, from the open slides of the houses. The gateways are
effigies of disease and trouble. There is a clapping of decorated with straw ropes made to represent the lucky,
hands to call the attention of the gods and chants are Chinese numbers of three, five and seven. Mirror cakes,
intoned, accompanied by the shaking of metal-ringed associated with the sun-goddess are eaten, also lobsters,
crosiers and the tinkle of pilgrim bells. After the fire is longevity being symbolised by their bent and ancient,
burnt out, the bowl is removed and sheets of paper placed
in symbolic form, upon which is then put the upright appearance, the pine-tree branches used for decoration at .
gohei wand. There is further chanting, the medium closes
his eyes and clasps his hands into which the maeza now this time also signifying long life.
thrusts the wand. All then await the advent of the god
which is indicated by the violent shaking of the wand and Divination is performed by various methods : by divining
convulsive throes on the part of the medium, who is now rods, by the reading of lines and cracks in the shoulder-
considered to have become the god. The maeza reverently blade of a deer, and by the classical form taken from the
prostrates himself before the entranced nakaza, and asks Confucian " Yih-king " or Book of Changes, this involving
the name of the god who has deigned to come. This done the use of eight trigrams and sixty-four diagrams. One
and answered, he next offers his petitions, to which the god method of " raising spirits " used by the Japanese, especially
replies. The ceremony is concluded by a prayer and the by girls who have lost their lovers by death, is to put into a
medium is awakened by beating upon his back and the paper lantern a hundred rushlights and repeat an incanta-
massaging of his limbs out of their cataleptic contraction. tion of a hundred lines. One of these rushlights is taken
These possession-rites are also conducted by the pilgrims out at the end of each fine and the would-be ghost-seer then
who ascend the mountain of Ontake. goes out in the dark with one light Still burning and blows
it out when the ghost ought to appear.
Buddhism, which shares with Shinto the devotions of
Charms are everywhere, fashioned of all substances and
Japan, enjoins meditation as a means of attaining to
supernatural knowledge and occult power. It is said that in all forms, such as strips of paper bearing magical in-
to those who in truth and constancy put in force the
doctrines of Buddha the following ten powers will be scriptions to avert evil, fragments of temples, carven rice-
granted, (i). They know the thoughts of others. (2).
grains representing the gods of Luck, sutras to frighten the
Their sight, piercing as that of the celestials, beholds demons, copies of Buddha's footprint, and paper tickets
without mist all that happens in the earth. (3). They know bearing the name of a god are often affixed outside the
the past and present. (4) . They perceive the uninterrupted doors of houses to combat the god of Poverty.
succession of the ages of the world. (5). Their hearing is Nature and her manifestations are the result of indwelling
so fine that they perceive and can interpret all the har- soul-life and the Japanese mind, imbued with this belief
monies of the three worlds and the ten divisions of the
has peopled nature with multiform shapes. There are
universe. (6). They are not subject to bodily conditions dragons with lairs in ocean and river which yet can fly
and can assume any appearance at will. (7). They dis- abroad in the air while from their panting breath come the
tinguish the shadowing of lucky or unlucky words, whether clouds of rain and tempests of lightning. In the mountains
they are near or far away. (8) . They possess the knowledge and forests are bird-like gnomes who often beset way-faring
of all forms, and knowing that form is void, they can men and women and steal away their wits. There are also
mountain men, huge hairy monkeys, who help the wood-
assume every sort of form ; and knowing that vacancy is cutters in return for food, and mountain-women, ogres with
bodies grown over with long white hair, who flit like evil
form, they can annihilate and render nought all forms. moths in search of human flesh. Then legend tells of the
(9). They possess a knowledge of all laws. (10). They Senrim, hermits of the mountains, who knew all the secrets
possess the perfect science of contemplation. It is said of magic, wizards who were attended by wise toads and
that methods are thus known by which it is possible to so flying tortoises, who could conjure magical animals out
radically change the psychological condition of the individ- of gourds, who could project their souls into space. To
animals were also ascribed supernatural powers. The fox
ual that he is enabled to recognise the character of the is believed to possess such gifts to an almost limitless extent,
for he has miraculous vision and hearing, he can read the
opposition between subjective and objective. These two
inmost thoughts of man, he can transform himself and
extremes are reconciled in a higher condition of conscious- assume any shape at will. He loves to delude mankind and
ness, a higher form of life, a more profound and complete work destruction thereby to this end often taking the
activity which concerns the inmost depths of the self. To form of a beautiful and seductive woman whose embrace
the " Zen " monasteries, belonging to a Buddhist sect of . means madness and death. To the agency of this animal
that name, anyone who is so inclined may retire for tem-
porary meditation and for the development of these special is attributed demoniacal possession, this occurring mostly
faculties, which are mainly produced by entering upon a
among ignorant and superstitious women of the lower
calm mental state, not exactly passive, but in which the classes. The cat is not regarded with any kindly feeling
attention is not devoted to any one thing, but is evenly by the Japanese, this being ascribed to the fact that this
animal, together with the serpent, were the only creatures
distributed in all directions, producing a sort of void and who did not weep at Buddha's death. This animal has
" waiting." The spirit thus obtains entire repose and a also the power of bewitchment and possesses vampire
satisfaction of the thirst for the ideal. This mystical proclivities. Among sailors, however, the cat is held in
retirement is sought by statesmen and generals, by scientific estimation, for it is thought to possess the power of warding
off the evil spirits which haunt the sea. The images of
Jasper 237 Jeanne D'Arc
• animals are thought to be also endowed with life. There Jean d'Arras : A French writer of the fourteenth century, who
are tales of bronze horses and deer, of huge carven dragons compiled a chronicle of Melusine from popular stories which
and stone tortoises wandering abroad at night, terrorising he collected.
the people and only laid to rest by summary decapitation. Jean de Meung : Jean de Meung owes his celebrity to his
Butterflies are thought to be the wandering souls of the poetical genius rather than his alchemical powers ; to his
living who may be dreaming or sunk in reverie ; white Roman de la Rose, rather than to his rhy mi ng treatise upon
butterflies are the souls of the dead. Fireflies keep afar the hermetic philosophy. He was born about 1280, and
evil spirits, and an ointment compounded of their delicate flourished through the reigns of Louis X., Philip the Long,
bodies defies any poison. Charles IV., and Philip de Valois. He appears to have
Trees occupy a foremost place in the tradition and possessed a light and railing wit, and a keen appreciation
legends of Japan. The people regard them with great of a jest ; and it may well be doubted whether he was
affection, and there are stories of men who, seeing a tree
altogether sincere in his praises of alchemy. Having
they loved withering and dying, committed hara-kiri composed a quatrain on woman, which stigmatized her in
before it praying the gods that their life so given might the strongest terms, the ladies of Charies VI. 's court
^pass into the tree and give it renewed vigour. The willow resolved to revenge their affronted honour, and surrounding
is one of the most eerie of trees, the willow-spirit often him in the royal antechanber, desired the courtiers present
to strip him preparatory to their inflicting a sound flag-
becoming a beautiful maiden and wedding a human lover.
The pine tree brings good fortune, especially in the matter ellation. Jean solicited to be heard before he was con-
of happy marriages. It is also a token of longevity. Tree demned and punished and having obtained an interval
;
spirits can sometimes be inimical to man and it is recorded
of grace, set forth, with fluent eloquence, that he was
of one that to stay its disturbing wanderings it was necessary certainly the author of the calumnious verses, but that they
to cut it down, when from the stump flowed a stream of were not intended to vilipend all womankind. He referred
blood. only to the vicious and debased, and not to such models of
The element of Fire figures largely in the Japanese world purity as he saw around him. Nevertheless, if any lady
•of marvels. It is worshipped in connection with the rites of present felt that the verses really applied to her, he was her
the Sun-goddess and even the kitchen-furnace becomes the very humble servant, and would submit to a well-deserved
object of a sort of cult. There is the lamp of Buddha, chastisement.. Like most of the mediaeval poets, Jean de
while messages from Hades come to this world in the Meung was a bitter enemy of the priesthood, and he con-
«hape of fire-wheels, Phantom-fires flicker about and trived with great ingenuity a posthumous satire upon their
flames burn in the cemeteries ; there are demon-lights, inordinate greed. He bequeathed in his will, as a gift to the
fox-flames and dragon-torches. From the eyes and mouths Cordeliers, a chest of immense weight. As his fame as an
of certain birds, such as the blue heron, fire darts forth in alchemist was wide-spread, the brotherhood accepted the
white flames. Globes of fire, enshrining human faces and legacy in the belief that the chest contained the golden
forms, sometimes hang like fruit in the branches of the results of his quest of the Philosopher's Stone. But
trees. The dolls of Japanese children are believed to be when they opened it, their dismayed eyes rested only on a
endowed with life, deriving a soul from the love expended pile of slates, covered with the most unintelligible hierogly-
upon them by their human possessors. Some of these dolls phics and cabalistic characters. The perpetrator of this
were credited with supernatural powers, they could confer practical joke was hardly, we think, a very sincere believer
maternity upon a childless woman, and they could bring in the wonders of alchemy. (See Devon, Witchcraft in.)
misfortune upon any who ill-treated them. When old and Jeanne, D'Arc : Jeanne d'Arc was born in the village of
faded, these dolls are dedicated to Kojin the many-armed, Domremy, near Vaucouleurs, on the border of Champagne
who dwells in the enokie tree, and there are reverently laid and Lorraine, on Jan. 6th, 1412. She was taught to spin
upon his shrine, bodies which once held a tiny soul. (See and sew, but not to read or write, these accomplishments
Lafcadio Hearn's Kokoro, Percival Lowell's Occult Japan, being unusual and unnecessary to people in her station of
F. Hadland Davis' Myths and Legends of Japan.) K.N. life. Her parents were devout, and she was brought up
Jasper : Prevents fever and dropsy, strengthens the brain, piously. Her nature was gentle, modest, and religious f
and promots eloquence ; it is a preservative against but with no physical weakness or morbidity ; on the con-
defluxions, the nightmare, and epilepsy, and is often met trary, she was exceptionally strong, as her later history
with in the east as a counter-charm. Marbodsus mentions shows.
seventeen species of this stone, but that " like the emerald "
At or about the age of thirteen, Jeanne began to experience
is most noted for its magical virtues. what psychology now calls " auditory hallucinations." In
.Jean : A magician, votary of Apollonius of Tyana. He went —other words, she heard " voices " usually accompanied
—by a bright light when no visible person was present.
from town to town, wearing an iron collar, and making his
living by the performance of deeds of charletanry. At This, of course, is a common symptom of impending mental
Lyons he attained some measure of fame by his miraculous disorder ; but no insanity developed in Jeanne d'Arc.
cures, and was admitted to the presence of the sovereign, Startled she naturally was at first, but continuation led to
to whom he presented a magnificent enchanted sword. In familiarity and trust. The voices gave good counsel of a
battle this weapon became surrounded by nine score drawn very commonplace kind, as, for instance, that she " must
knives. Jean also gave this prince a shield containing a be a good. girl and go often to church." Soon, however,
magic mirror which would divulge the greatest secrets she began to have visions ; saw St. Michael, St. Catharine,
The arms vanished, or were stolen. and St. Margaret ; was given instructions as to her mission ;
eventually made her way to the Dauphin, put herself at the
Jean, or Iwan Basilowitz : Grand Duke of Muscory in the
fourteenth century. When at the point of death he fell into head of 6,000 men, and advanced to the relief of Orleans,
terrible swoons, during which his soul made toilsome which was surrounded by the victorious English. After a
journeys. In the first he was tormented for having kept fortnight of hard fighting, the siege was raised, and the
innocent prisoners in his dungeons, in the second, he was enemy driven off. The tide of war had turned, and in
tortured still more for having ground the people under heavy three months the Dauphin was crowned king at Rheims
tasks ; during the third voyage he died, but his body dis- as Charles the Seventh.
appeared mysteriously before he could be buried, and it At this point, Jeanne felt that her mission was accom-
was thought that the devil had taken him. plished. But her wish to return to her family was over-
Jeanne, D'Arc 238 Jinn
ruled by king and archbishop, and she took part in the claim to inspiration. It seems, at least, very improbable.
further fighting against the allied English and Burgundian
Now it so happens (though the materialistic school of
forces, showing great bravery and tactical skill. But in historians conveniently ignore or belittle it) that there is
November, 1430, in a desperate sally from Compiegne strong evidence in support of the idea that Jeanne gave
the Dauphin some proof of the possession of supernormal
—which was besieged by the Duke of Burgundy she fell into
the enemy's hands, was sold to the English, and thrown —faculties. In fact, the evidence is so strong that Mr.
into a dungeon at their headquarters in Rouen.
Andrew Lang called it " unimpeachable" and Mr., Lang
After a year's imprisonment she was brought to trial did not usually err on the side of credulity in these matters.
before the Bishop of Beauvais, in an ecclesiastical court. Among other curious things, Jeanne seems to have repeated
The charges were heresy and sorcery. Learned doctors of to Charles the words of a prayer which he had made men-
the Church, subtle lawyers, did their best to entangle the tally ; and she also made some kind of clairvoyant dis-
simple girl in their dialectical toils ; but she showed a covery of a sword hidden behind the altar of Fierbois
remarkable power of keeping to her affirmations and of —church. Schiller's magnificent dramatic poem " Die
avoiding heietical statements. " God has always been —Jungfrau von Orleans " though unhistorical in some
my Lord in all that I have done," she said. But the trial details, is substantially accurate on these points concerning
was only pretence, for her fate was already decided. She clairvoyance and mind-reading.
was condemned to the stake. To the end, she solemnly The best books on the Maid are those of Mr. Anatole
affirmed the reality of her " voices," and the truth of her France (two vols.), and Mr. Andrew Lang, giving respectively
depositions. Her last word, as the smoke and flame the sceptical and the believing side as to the explanation
rolled round her, was " Jesus." Said an English soldier, of her experiences. There is also a very useful little
book by Miss C. M. Antony, with preface by Father R. H.
awestruck by the manner of her passing : " We are lost
we have burned a Saint." The idea was corroborated in Benson.
Apopular opinion by events which followed, for speedy Jelaleddin, Rumi :
Sufi poet of the thirteenth century,
— —death as if by Heaven's anger overtook her judges and A.D. He teaches the Sufi doctrine that the chief end of
accusers. Inspired by her example and claims, and helped man is so to emancipate himself from human thoughts and
by dissension and weakening on the side of the enemy, the wishes, human needs and the outward impressions of the
French took heart once more ; and the English were ail- senses, that he may become a mere mirror for the Deity.
but swept out of the country. So refined an essence does his mind become that it is as
Jeanne's family was rewarded by ennoblement, under nearly as possible nothing ; yet while in this state it can,
the name of De Lys. Twenty-five years after her death, by a union with the Divine Essence, mysteriously become
the Pope acceded to a petition that the proces by which she the All. In his teachings he declares that names and
was condemned should be re-examined. The result was words must not be taken for the things they represent:
that the judgment was reversed, and her innocence estab- " Names thou mayst know go, seek the truth they name
;
lished and proclaimed. Search not the brook, but heaven, for the moon."
The life of the Maid supplies a problem which orthodox Jennings, Hargrave : (See Rosicrucians.)
science cannot solve. She was a simple peasant girl, with Jesodoth : The angel through which Elohim, the source of
no ambitious hankering after a career. She rebelled knowledge, understanding and wisdom, was imparted to
pathetically against her mission. " I had far rather rest the earth. This belief is of Jewish origin.
myand spin by my mother's side, for this is no work of Jet : Its virtues are thus described by Pliny, according to
mychoosing, but I must go and do it, for Lord wills it." the version of Holland : "In burning, the perfume thereof
She cannot be dismissed on the " simple idiot " theory of chaseth away serpents, and bringeth women again that
Voltaire, for her genius in war and her aptitude in repartee lie in a traunce by the suffocation or rising of the mother ;
undoubtedly prove exceptional mental powers, unschooled the said smoke discovereth the falling sicknesse and be-
wraieth whether a young damsel be a maiden or no the
Wethough she was in what we call education. cannot call
;
her a mere hysteric, for her health and strength were superb. same being boiled in wine helpeth the toothache, and
It is on record that a man of science said to an Abbe : tempered with wax cureth the swelling glandules named the
" Come to the Salpetriere Hospital, and I will show you king's evil. They say that the magicians use this jeat
twenty Jeannes d'Arc." To which the Abbe responded : stone much in their sorceries, which they practice by the
" Has one of them given us back Alsace and Lorraine ? " means of red hot axes, which they call axinomancia, for they
The retort was certainly neat. Still, though the Sal- affirm that being cast thereupon it will burne and consume,
petriere hysterics have not won back Alsace and Lorraine, if that ewe desire and wish shall happen accordingly."
it is nevertheless true that many great movements have Jet is known in Prussia as black amber.
sprung from fraud or hallucination. May it not have been so Jets : {See Siberia.)
with Jeanne ? She delivered France, and her importance in Jettatura : The Italian name for the power of the " evil eye."
history is great ; but may not her mission and her doings In order to guard against it magicians say that horns must
have been the outcome of merely subjective hallucinations, be worn on the body.
induced by the brooding of her specially religious and Jinn : Singular Jinnee, plural Jineeyeh, Arabian spirits, per-
patriotic mind on the woes of her country ? The army, haps animistic, but more probably strictly mythological
being ignorant and superstitious, would readily believe in like the Persian divs (q.v.). The jinn were created out of
—the supernatural nature of her mission, and great energy fire, and occupied the earth for several thousand years
and valour would result for a man fights well when he before Adam they were perverse, and would not reform,
;
feels that Providence is on his side. although prophets were sent to reclaim them ; they were
This is the most usual kind of theory in explanation of eventually driven from the earth, and took refuge in the
—the facts. But it is not fully satisfactory. How came outlying islands of the sea. One of the number named
Azazeel (afterwards called Iblees) had been carried off as a
it— one may ask that this untutored peasant girl could
persuade not only the rude soldiery, but also the Dauphin prisoner by the angels he grew up amongst them, and
;
and the Court, of her Divine appointment ? How came
became their chief, but having refused, when commanded,
she to be given the command of an army ? Surely a post of to prostrate himself before Adam, he was degraded to the
such responsibility and power would not be given to an condition of a sheytan, and becomes the father of the
ignorant girl of eighteen, on the mere strength of her own sheytans, or devils. The jinn are not immortal, but
Jinn 239 John XXIL
destined ultimately to die : they eat and drink and propa- The Roman men swore by their Genius, the women by
gate their species ; they live in communities, and are their Juno. The genius of the reigning Prince was an
ruled over by princes : they can make themselves visible oath of extraordinary solemnity. There were local as well
or invisible, and assume the forms of various animals, such as individual genii, concerning whom many particulars may
as serpents, cats and dogs. There are good jinn and bad be found in " Vossius," de Idol.
jinns. They frequent baths, wells, latrines, ovens, ruined The Jinn, on the contrary, who seem to be the lineal
houses, rivers, cross roads and market places. Finally, descendants ofthe Devates and Rakshasas of the Hindu
like the demons of the Rabbins, theyascend to heaven and mythology, were never worshipped by the Arabs, nor con-
learn the future by eavesdropping. But with all their sidered as anything more than the agents of the Deity.
power and knowledge, they are liable to be reduced to Since the establishment of Mohammedanism, indeed, they
obedience by means of talismans or magic arts, and become have been described as invisible spirits, and their feats
obsequious servants until the spell is broken. and deformities which figure in romance are as little
It is far from clear or certain, that the jinn of the east believed by Asiatics, as the tales of " Arthur's Round
were borrowed from the mythology or philosophy of the Table " are by ourselves. Their existence as superhuman
west, and the practice of translating the Arabic word beings is maintained by the Mussulman doctors, but that
jinn by the Latin term " genius " arose more from an has little connection with their character and functions as
apparent resemblance in the names, than from any iden- delineated by poets.
tity in the nature and functions of those imaginary beings. Jinnistan : An imaginary country which, according to a
This similarity of name, however, must have been purely popular belief among the Persians, was the residence of the
accidental, for the Arabs knew little or nothing of the jinn who had submitted to Solomon.
Latin language, and not a single term derived immediately Johannites : A mystic sect who follow the tenets of the late
from it ; dsemon, therefore, and not genius was the word Father John of Cronstadt, where they publish an organ,
•which they would have used if they had borrowed this part and pursue their propaganda by means of itinerant pam-
of their creed from the west. Jinn appears, moreover, to phlet-sellers. They are said to abduct Jewish children, and
be a genuine Arabic word, derived from a root signifying because of this rumour they have on more than one occasion
" to veil " or " conceal " ; it, therefore, means properly, come under police supervision. They have several times
" that Which is veiled and cannot be seen." " In one sense,' unsuccessfully fixed the date of the Last Judgment. They
says Fruzabadi, author of the Camus, " the word Jinn declared in Father John's life-time that all the powers of
signifies any spiritual being concealed from all our senses, heaven had descended into Cronstadt, and were personified
and, for that reason, the converse of a material being. in the entourage of Father John. They exhorted all
Taken in this extensive sense, the word Jinn comprehends believers to make confession to Father John, who alone
devils as well as angels, but there are some properties could rescue sinners from the depths of hell. The orthodox
common to both angels and Jinn ; some peculiar to each. clergy would not know the Lord, but Father John would
Every angel is a Jinn, but every Jinn is not an angel. In gather together in Cronstadt 144,000 of the blessed, and
another sense, this term is applied peculiarly to a particular then " leave the earth." Another affirmation of theirs is
kind of spiritual beings ; for such beings are of three that all children who are new-born are " little devils,"
who must be " stamped out " immediately after birth.
kinds ; the good, which are angels the bad, devils
; ;
and the intermediate, comprehending both good and bad, The Johannites urged the people to sell all their possessions
who form the class of Jinn." Thus the Arabs acknowledge and send the proceeds to Father John, or entrust them to
good and bad genii, in that respect agreeing with the the keeping of the pamphlet-sellers. Evidence is forth-
Greeks, but differing from the Persians. The genii, so coming tending to show that Father John was unaware of
long familiarized to European readers by the Arabian the abuse of his name, and on one occasion, in reply to a
Nights, were not the same beings, mentioned by telegram from Bishop Nikander, of Perm, he strongly
the Arabian lexicographer, but the Divs and Devatas of repudiated any connection with certain Johannite propa-
Indian romance, dressed up in a foreign attire, to please gandists in the Perm Government.
the taste of readers in Persia and Arabia. AJohn King : spirit. (See Spiritualism.)
The principal differences, therefore, between the genii of John of Nottingham : English Magician. (See England.)
the west and the jinn of the east, seem to have been these John XXIL, Pope : Jacques Duese, subsequently Pope
the genii were deities of an inferior rank, the constant John XXII., was born at Cahors in France towards the
companions and guardians of men, capable of giving useful close of the 12th century. The exact date of his advent is
or prophetic impulses, acting as a species of mediators and indeterminate, but it is reported that his parents were in
messengers between the gods and men. Some were affluent circumstances, and it has even been suggested
supposed to be friendly, others hostile, and many believed that they belonged to the noblesse. Jacques was educated
one of each kind to be attached, from his birth, to every first at a Dominican priory in his native village, and after-
mortal. The former was called Agathoda;mon, the latter wards at Montpellier ; while subsequently he proceeded to
Cacoda?mon ; and one of the latter who appeared to Paris, where he studied both law and medicine. Leaving
Cassius is represented as a man of vast stature and of a the Sorbonne, he was still at a loss to know what pro-
black hue, whence, no doubt, that colour has been given, in fession to follow ; but, chancing to become intimate with
latter times, to the devil. The good genius prompted one Bishop Louis, a son of Charles II., King of Naples, the
men to good, the evil to bad actions. That of each individ- young man decided to enter the church, being doubtless
ual was as a shadow of himself. Often he was represented prompted to this step by the conviction that his new
as a serpent ; his age also varied ; he was generally crowned friend's influence would help him forward in the clerical
with a chaplet of plane leaves. In coins of Trajan and career. Nor was the future pontiff disappointed herein,
Hadrian the genius places a patera with his right hand on an. for in the year 1300, at the instance of the Neapolitan
altar, and holds a sort of scourge in his left. His sacrifices sovereign, he was elevated to the episcopal see of Frejus,
were wholly bloodless, consisting of wine and flowers, and
while in 1308 he was appointed Chancellor of Naples. He
the person who performed the oblation was the first to soon showed himself a man of no mean ability in ecclesiasti-
taste the cup. They were adored with prostrations, cal affairs, and in 1310 Pope Clement V. saw fit to summon
particularly on the birthday, which was placed under their him to Avignon, being anxious to consult him anent certain
especial care. points ; while in 1312 Jacques was made Bishop of Porto,
John XXII. 240 Kabala
and four years later he was elected to the pontifical crown believed in magic and was interested in science. His
and sceptre. credulity as regards the former is demonstrated by his
Thenceforth he lived always at Avignon, but his life was bringing a charge of sorcery against Geraud, Bishop of
by no means a quiet or untroubled one. Early in his reign Cahors while his scientific predilections are evinced by
the throne of Germany became vacant, Louis of Bavaria ;
the fact that he kept up a laboratory in the palace at
and Frederick of Austria both contended for it, and Jacques Avignon, and was wont to spend much time therein.
gave great offence by supporting the claims of the latter Doubtless some of this time was given to physiological
while at a later date he raised a storm by preaching a some- and pathological studies, for various works of a medical
what heterodox sermon, its purport being that the souls of nature are ascribed to Jacques, in particular a collection of
those who have died in a state of grace go straight into prescriptions, a treatise on diseases of the eye, and another
Abraham's bosom, and do not enjoy the beatific vision of on the formation of the foetus. But it may well be supposed
the Lord till after the Resurrection and the last judgment. that the avaricious prelate's activities in his laboratory were
also bestowed in some measure on alchemistic researches,
This doctrine was hotly opposed by many clerics, notably and the theory is buttressed by his having been a friend of
Thomas of England, who had the courage to preach against
it openly at Avignon ; and so great was the disfavour Arnold de Villanova while more important still, among
which John incurred, in fact, that for several years after ;
the writings attributed to Jacques is L.' Art Transmutatoire,
his death in 1334 he was widely regarded as Anti-Christ. published at Lyons in 1557. Besides, the pontiff left
Jacques has frequently been credited with avarice, and behind him on his death a vast sum of money and a mass
dt is true that he made stupendous efforts to raise money, of priceless jewels, and it was commonly asserted, among
imposing numerous taxes unheard of before his regime. the alchemists of the day, that these and also two hundred
Indeed, he manifested considerable ingenuity in this huge ingots had all been manufactured by the deceased.
relation, and so the tradition that he dabbled in hermetic The story of the unbounded wealth he had amassed in this
philosophy is probably founded on hard fact. It must way gradually blossomed and bore fruit, and one of Jacques'
be conceded, on the one hand, that in the course of his reign mediaeval biographers credits him with having concocted a
he issued a stringent bull against alchemists ; but then, this quantity of gold equivalent to £660,000 sterling.
was directed rather against the charlatans of the craft than Judah Ha-Levi (1085-1140) : Celebrated Hebrew theologian
and mystic. He seems to have had some conception of
against those who were seeking the philosopher's stone elementary spirits, for of the angels he says that " some are
with real earnestness, and with the aid of scientific know-
ledge. It is more than likely, moreover, that Jacques
sent forth this mandate largely with a view to blinding those created for the time being, out of the subtle elements of
who had charged him with essaying the practice at issue matter."
himself and, be that as it may, it is certain that he Jung-Stilling : {See Spiritualism.)
;
K
Ka : The Egyptian conception of one of the seven parts of discovered in a cavern in Galilee where it had been hidden
for one thousand years. It has been proved almost beyond
man a spiritual double or astral body. Not only did
; doubt, however, that it was written in the thirteenth
mankind possess a Ka, but animals and inanimate objects century, and the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders is
alluded to. It is also believed that Moses de Leon, who
as well. Every mortal received a Ka at birth._ When he died in 35, and who circulated and sold the Zohar, was
himself its author. At the same time there is "no doubt
died his Ka left him, but was supposed to hover near the that it enshrines a large number of very ancient and im-
portant Hebrew traditions. The matter contained in the
body and occasionally to reanimate it. For this purpose
Kabala deals with the nature of God, the sephiroth or
statues were placed near the mummy in which the Ka divine emanations, of angels and of man. God, known in
might find a temporary shelter. The Ka was provided the Kabala as En Soph, fills and contains the universe. As
with food by the friends of the deceased who left provisions he is boundless, mind cannot conceive him, so in a certain
mystical sense he is non-existent. The doctrine of the
in the tomb for its use. (See Egypt and Vampire.) sephiroth is undoubtedly the most important to be met
with in the pages of the Kabala. To justify his existence
Kabala, The : A Hebrew and Jewish system of theosophy. the Deity had to become active and creative, and this he
achieved through the medium of the ten sephiroth or
The word signifies "doctrines received from tradition." In intelligences which emanated from him like rays pro-
ceeding from a luminary. The first sephiroth or emanation
ancient Hebrew literature the name was used to denote the
was the wish to become manifest, and this contained nine
entire body of religious writings, the Pentateuch excepted
—other intelligences or sephiroth, which again emanate one
It is only in the early middle ages that the system of
from the other the second from the first, the, third from the
theosophy known as Kabalism was designated by that second, and so forth. These are known as the Crown,
Wisdom, Intelligence, Love, Justice, Beauty, Firmness,
Wename. will first consider the Kabala as a literary
Splendour, Foundation and Kingdom. From the junction
production before proceeding to examine it in the light of
of pairs of sephiroth, other emanations were formed : thus
a hand-book of Hebrew occultism. The main sources
from Wisdom and intelligence proceeded Love or Mercy
which went to the making of the Kabala are the Sepher and from Mercy and Justice, Beauty. The sephiroth are
also symbolical of primordial man and the heavenly man,
Yesirah or Book of Creation, which is a combination of of which earthly man is the shadow. They form three
triads which respectively represent intellectual, moral, and
mediaeval mysticism and science. The date of origin of this physical qualities : the first, Wisdom, Intelligence and
work has been matter of great argument, but it is perhaps Crown ; the second Love, Justice and Beauty ; the third
Firmness, Splendour and Foundation. The whole is
safest to say that it seems to be earlier than the ninth
century A.D. The Bahir or brilliant is first quoted by
Nahmanides, and is usually attributed to his teacher, Ezra.
It owes much to the Sepher' Yesirah, and to a great extent
foreshadows the Zohar, which is a commentary on the
Pentateuch, including eleven dissertations on that book,
the most important of which are the Book of Secrets, the
Secret of Secrets, the Mysteries of the Pentateuch, and the
Hidden Interpretation. It pretends to the authorship of
Simon ben Yohai in the second century, and it is alleged
that he drew his sources from traditional dialogues between
God and Adam in Paradise. It is further stated that it was
The diagram below illustrates the
doctrine of Emanotinos, and has
also an alchemistical significance
in its metallurgical nomerclature
of the several circles.
The Magical Head of Zohar [ face p. 240
KABALISTIC DIAGRAMS AND SYMBOLS (I)
TUendii fffomphta. Ompfita-
Apzs now <F) TlepMa. ?° rr^
Le triple* Serapis A\pu dlaric*
Za-trcpIeSecxie--
Hard. Midi. e^ Occident
\ \I K
\/ \/
\
\
\/
Soriu Pcuidockui Thcl/t jf.luras.
Diagram of the astronomical and alphabetical Tablet of Bembo
Pentagram of the Absolute The Seven Planets and their genii
KABALISTIC DIAGRAMS AND SYMBOLS (II) {facefr.lW
Kabala 241 Kabala
circled or bound by Kingdom, the ninth sephiroth. Each whole forty years, but received lessons in it from one of the
of these triads symbolises a portion of the human frame :
the first the head ; the second the arms ; the third the legs. angels. By the aid of this mysterious science the law-
It must be understood that though those sephiroth are giver was enabled to solve the difficulties which arose
emanations from God they remain a portion, and simply during his management of the Israelites, in spite of the
represent different aspects of the One Being.
pilgrimages, wars, and frequent miseries of the nation. He
Kabalistic cosmology posits four different worlds, each covertly laid down the principles of this secret doctrine
of which forms a sephiric system of a decade of emanations, in the first four books of the Pentateuch, but withheld
which were verified in the following manner : the world of them from Deuteronomy. Moses also initiated the seventy
emanations or the heavenly man, a direct emanation from Elders into the secrets of this doctrine, and they again
the En Soph, From it is produced the world of creation, transmitted them from hand to hand. Of all who formed
the unbroken line of tradition, David and Solomon were
or the Briatic world of pure nature, but yet not so spiritual the most deeply initiated into the Kabala. No one, how-
ever, dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai, who
as the first. The angel Metatron inhabits it and constitutes
lived at the time of the destruction of the second. After
the world of pure spirit. He governs the visible world and his death, his son, Rabbi Eleazar, and his secretary, Rabbi
guides the revolutions of the planets. From this is formed
Abba, as well as his disciples, collated Rabbi Simon Ben
the world of formation or the Yetziratic world, still less Jochai's treatises, and out of these composed the celebrated
refined, which is the abode of angels. Finally from these
Hwork called Z R, Zohar, Splendour, which is the grand
emanates the world of action or matter, the dwelling of
evil spirits, which contains ten hells, each becoming lower storehouse of Kabalism."
until the depths of diabolical degradation is reached. The The history of Kabalistic origins, however, is as has been
prince of this region is Samael, the evil spirit, the serpent of shown almost wholly fabulous, and no evidence worthy of
the name can be adduced in its support. The mysticism of
Genesis, otherwise " the Beast." But the universe was the Mishna and the Talmud must be carefully distinguished
from that of the Kabalistic writings, as they are un-
incomplete without the creation of man ; the heavenly doubtedly of very considerable antiquity. But the Kabala
Adam, that is the tenth sephiroth, created the earthly has certain claims upon the modern student of mysticism.
Adam, each member of whose body corresponds to a part Its philosophical vajue is not depreciated by its modern
of the visible universe. The human form, we are told, is origin, and it is regarded by many as an absolute guide to
shaped after the four letters Which constitute the Jewish knowledge in all the most profound problems of existence.
tetragrammation, Jhava, thus, the letters J h a v a . The Its thesis is extensive and profound, but examination
souls of the whole human race pre-exist in the World of unfortunately proves it to be merely a series of dogmatic
emanations, and are all destined to inhabit human bodies. hypotheses, a body of positive doctrine based on a central
Like the sephiroth from which it emanates, every soul has
assumption which is incapable of proof. This tradition,
—ten potentces, consisting of a trinity of triads spirit, says Eliphas Levi, wholly reposes on the single dogma of
magic, that the Visible is for us a proportional measure of
soul, cruder soul or neptesh. Each soul, before its entrance the Invisible. In fact it proceeds by analogy from the
into the world consists of male and female united into one
. being, but when it descends to this earth, the two parts known to the unknown. At the same time, it is a most
are separated and animate different bodies. The destiny interesting effort of the human mind.
of the soul upon earth is to develop the perfect germs
Mediaeval magic was deeply indebted to Kabalistic
implanted in it, which must ultimately return to En Soph. combinations of the divine names for the terms of its
rituals, and from it it derived the belief in a resident
If it does not succeed in acquiring the experience for which virtue in sacred names and numbers. Certain definite
it has been sent to earth, it must re-inhabit the body three rules are employed to discover the sublime source of power
resident in the -Jewish scriptures. Thus the words of
times till it becomes duly purified. When all the souls in several verses in the scriptures which are regarded as
containing an occult sense, are placed over each other, and
the world of the sephiroth shall have passed through this the letters are formed into new words by reading them
period of probation and returned to the bosom of En vertically ; or the words of the text are arranged in squares
Soph, the jubilee will commence ; even Satan will be
in such a manner as to be read vertically or otherwise.
restored to his angelic nature, and existence will be a Words are joined together and re-divided, and the initial
Sabbath without end. The Kabala states that these
esoteric doctrines are contained in the Hebrew scriptures, and final letters of certain words are formed into separate
words. Again, every letter of the word is reduced to its
but cannot be perceived by the uninitiated ; they are, numerical value, and the word is explained by another of
the same quantity. Every letter of a word too is taken to
however, plainly revealed to persons of spiritual mind. be an initial of an abbreviation of it. The twenty-two
letters of the alphabet are divided into two halves, one
Next considering the Kabala as occult literature, we half is placed above the other, and the two letters which
thus become associated are interchanged. This a becomes
find it stated that the philosophical doctrines developed in I, b, m, and so on. This cipher alphabet is called albm
from the first interchanged pairs. The commutation of
its pages are found to have been perpetuated by the secret the twenty-two letters is effected by the last letter of the
alphabet taking the place of the first, the last but one the
method of oral tradition from the first ages of humanity.
" The Kabala," says Dr. Ginsburg, when explaining the place of the second and so forth. This cipher is called
story of its birth, " was first taught by God Himself to a
select company of angels, who formed a theosophic school in atbah. These permutations and combinations are much
Paradise. After the Fall the angels most graciously older than the Kabala, and obtained amongst Jewish
communicated this heavenly doctrine to the disobedient .occultists from time immemorial.
child of earth, to furnish the protoplasts with the means Lastly, it should be pointed out that the Kabala has
of returning to their pristine nobility and felicity. From
been condemned nowhere more strongly than among the
Adam it passed over to Noah, and then to Abraham, the Jews themselves. Jewish orthodoxy has always been
friend of God, who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the suspicious of it, and as Mr. A. E. Waite has well said :
patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to
ooze out. It was in this way that the Egyptians obtained
some knowledge of it, and the other Eastern nations could
introduce it into their philosophical systems. Moses, who
was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, was first initiated
into the Kabala in the land of his birth, but became most
proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness,
when he not only devoted to it the leisure hours of the
Kabo termann ek ens 242 Keingala
" The best lesson we can learn from it is the necessity of ment, and the union of thought and will which brings the
scrupulously separating the experimental knowledge of the action to pass. It is plain, therefore, that thought is very
mystics from their bizarre fields of speculation." potent for good or evil, for as the thought is, so will the
Kabotermannekens : According to the Flemish peasants, action be. The miser, thinking of avarice, is avaricious,
the libertine, thinking of vice, is vicious, and on the con-
little spirits which play tricks on the women of the country,
particularly on those who work in the dairy. trary, those of virtuous thoughts show virtue in their
Kaf : According to the Musulmans, a great mountain that actions. Arising naturally from such teaching is the
stretches to the horizon on every side. The earth is in the
attention devoted to thought-power. Taking the analogy
middle of this mountain, they say, like a finger in the middle
of the physical body which may be developed by regimen
of a ring. Its foundation is the stone Sakhrat, the least and training, based on natural scientific laws, theosophists
fragment of which is capable of working untold marvels. teach that character may, in exactly the same way, be
This stone it is which causes earthquakes. It is made of a scientifically built up. Physical weakness can be eradi-
single emerald. The mountain, which is frequently spoken cated and an opposite state of affairs brought about by
of in Eastern tales, is said to be the habitation of genii. special exercise of the weak part, and by a similar method,
To reach it one must pass through dark wildernesses, and weakness of character may be converted into strength
it is essential that the traveller be guided by a supernatural Every vice is considered to evidence the lack of a corres-
being. ponding virtue, avarice for instance showing the absence of
Kai : The seneschal of King Arthur, known in the French — —generosity. Instead, however, of allowing matters to rest
romances as Messire Queux, or Maitre Queux or Kuex. He
at this, under the plea arising from ignorance that the
is prominent in the Morte d' Arthur. In the tale of Kilhwuh man was naturally avaricious, theosophists, on the lines of
and Olwen in the Mabinogion, he is identified with a per- scientific knowledge, teach that constant thought directed
sonage whose " breath lasted nine nights and days under to generosity will in time change the man's nature in this
water" and who " could exist nine nights and nine days respect. This result cannot, of course, be brought about
in a day, and the length of time necessary depends on at
without sleep." A wound from his sword could not be
cured ; he could make himself as tall as the highest tree, least two factors, the strength of thought and the strength
and so great was the heat of his nature that, during rain,
of the vice, for the latter may be the sum of the indulgence
whatever he carried remained dry. Originally a deity, a of many ages and hence correspondingly difficult to eradicate
rain-and-thunder god, he had apparently degenerated, The doctrine of karma must, however, be considered not in
through a series of mythological processes, into a mere hero. its relation to one life only, but in the light of the theo-
Kale Thaungto : A town of wizards in Lower Burma. (See sophic teaching of re-incarnation (q.v.). Re-incarnation is
Burma.) carried on under the law of karma as well as of evolution.
Kalid : (See Morien.) The new-born man bears within him the seeds of what he for-
Kapila : believed by the Hindus to be the god Vishnu, son of merly was. His character is the same as it was. It is as he
made it in past existences and accordingly as he made it,
Brahman, in the fifth of his twenty-four incarnations. He
Wrote a series of philosophical propositions known as the so does it continue unless he himself change it as he had the
Sutras, in which he states it is by philosophical study alone power to do. Each succeeding existence finds that character .
that one may attain union with the deity. more definite in one direction or another and if it be evil,
Kardec, Allen : The nom de guerre of Denizard Rivail, the the effort to change it becomes increasingly difficult, indeed
French spiritualist whose doctrines were largely accepted a complete change may not be possible until many exist-
on the Continent and especially in France. The chief tenet ences of effort have passed. In such cases as these, the
in spiritism was the doctrine of re-incarnation. Rivail, promptings of evil may be too strong to be resisted, yet the
before his conversion to spiritualism, had occupied himself man who has an intelligent knowledge of the workings of
a great deal with animal magnetism. In 1856 he was intro- Karma, though he must eventually yield, does so only
duced into a spiritualistic circle by Victorien Sardou. His after the most desperate struggle of which his nature is
Livre des Esprits and the works with which he followed it capable, and thus, instead of yielding weakly and increas-
were based largely on communications received through ing the power of the evil, he has helped to destroy its
mediums. They had a wide circulation, and the doctrines potency. Only in the most rare cases can he free himself
of spiritism became much more popular, in France at with one effort. (See also Iheosophy and Evolution.)
Aleast, than those of the rival spiritualism, which did not Katean Secret Society : secret society of the Moluccas.
include re-incarnation among its tenets. The names Allan Anyone who wished to become a member was introduced
and Kardec which M. Rivail assumed were names he had into the Katean house through an aperture in the form of
borne in two former incarnations, revealed to him by a crocodile's jaws or a cassowary's beak. Having remained
mediumistic communications. He was the editor of La there for a few days he was secretly removed to a remote
Revue Spirite, and the founder and president of the Parisian spot. At the end of two months he was permitted to
Society for Spiritualistic Studies, at which M. Camille
Flammarion, then nineteen years of age, made his first —return to his relatives hitherto unaware of his where-
—abouts a member of the Katean Society.
acquaintance with psychic science in 1861. Allan Kardec Kathari : An heretical sect who excited the wrath of the
died in 1869, his doctrines having by that time become clergy in mediaeval times. (See Waldenses.)
Afirmly established. In Britain, however, they made but Katie King : spirit. (See Materialisation and Spiritualism.)
little headway, his only disciple of note in this country Katika Lima : Malay system of Astrology. (See Malays.)
being Miss Anna Blackwell. (See France and Spiritualism.) Katika Tujo : Malay system of Astrology. (See Malays.)
Karma is a doctrine common to Brahmanism, Buddhism and Kaiiks, hatched from cock's egg : (See Cock.)
Theosophy though theosophists have not adopted it wholly Keingala : The weatherwise mare of Asmund in the saga of
as it is taught in the two religions mentioned. The word Grettir the Strong. Her master believed in her weather
karma itself means " action," but it may be useful to prophecies, and, in setting his second son, Grettir, to look
remember that generally the doctrine teaches that every- after the horses, told him to be guided by Keingala, who
thing done is done for eternity, that, in short, " thou shalt would always return to the stable before a storm. As she
reap as thou didst sow." Action is not homogeneous but persisted in remaining on the cold hillside, grazing on the
on the contrary, contains three elements, the thought which scanty grass till the lad was nearly frozen with cold,lGrettir
conceives it, the will which finds the means of accomplish- determined to make her return home regardless " of Jthe
Kelly 243 Kiss
•weather. One morning before turning out the horses he operator. The first part, Goetia, contains forms of con-
tore off a long strip of her skin from wither to flank. This juration for seventy-two demons with an account of their
had the effect of making the mare soon seek her stable powers and offices. The second part, Theurgia Goetia,
;
—deals with the spirits of the cardinal points, who are of
and the same thing occurring the next day, no storm
impending, Asmund himself let out the horses, when he mixed nature. The third book is called the Pauline Art
discovered what had been done. the significance of which name is unaccountable. It deals
Kelly, Edward : (See Dee.) with the angels of the hours of the day and night, and of the
signs of the Zodiac. The fourth part is entitled Almadel,
Kelpie, The : A water spirit which, in Scotland, is believed
to haunt streams and torrents. Kelpies appear to be of a which enumerates four other choirs of spirits. The usual
mischievous nature, and were often accused of stopping homilies regarding purity of life are insisted upon, as is the
the water-wheels of mills, and of swelling streams. The circumstance that none of the conjurations shall be applied
Kelpie is occasionally used as a name of terror to frighten to the injury of another.
unruly children ; and it was believed that he also devoured Khaib : The Egyptian name for the shadow, which at death
women. was supposed to quit the body to continue a separate exist-
Kephalonomancy : A method of divination which is practised ence of its own. It was represented under the form of a
by making divers signs on the baked head of an ass. It sunshade.
was familiar to the Germans and the Lombards substituted Khu : The Egyptian name for one of the immortal parts of
for it the head of a goat. The ancients placed lighted man, probably the spirit. The word means " clear " or
carbon on an ass's head, and pronounced the names of those " luminous " and is symbolised by a flame of fire.
who were suspected of any crime. If a crackling coincided Khwaja Ka ISulay : (See Siberia.)
with the utterance of a name, the latter was taken as Kian : In Irish legend, Father of Lugh. His magical cow
being that of the guilty person. with her wonderful supply of milk having been stolen by
—Kephu : a Karen Vampire. (See Vampire.) Balor, he revenged himself by making Balor's daughter,
Ethlinn, the mother of three sons. Of these two were
Kepler, John 1571-1630 : A great mathematician and
astrologer. He was born at Weil in Wiirtemburg and drowned by Balor, and the third Lugh, escaping by falling
educated at a monastic school at Maulbrunn and after- into a bay, was wafted back to his father, Kian. Some
wards at the university of Tiibingen, where he studied years later, while fighting in Ulster, Kian fell in with the
philosophy, mathematics, theology and astronomy. In three sons of Turenn whose house was at enmity with him
1593 he became professor of mathematics and morals at To escape their notice, he turned himself into a pig, but
Gratz in Styria, where he also continued his astrological they recognised him and he was wounded by one of them.
studies, He had an unhappy home life, and was some- He begged to be restored to his human shape before dying.
what persecuted for his doctrines. In 1626 were printed This being granted, he rejoiced in having outwitted his
the famous Rodolphine tables, which he had prepared enemies, as they would now have to pay the blood-fine for
along with Tycho de Brahe, the astronomer. He died at a man instead of a pig. The brothers, determined that
Ratisbon. The laws of the courses of the planets, deduced there should be no blood-stained weapon to publish the
by Kepler from observations made by Tycho, and known deed, stoned Kian and buried his body.
as The Three Laws of Kepler, became the foundation of King Robert of Sicily : (English romance of the fourteenth
Newton's discoveries, as well as the whole modern theory century, author unknown). It has never been printed.
of the planets. His services in the cause of astronomy It tells how King Robert of Sicily was beguiled by pride
into sneering at a priest who read mass. To punish him,
have placed him high amongst the distinguished men of
science, and in 1808 a monument was erected to his memory an angel was sent down by God, and he, assuming Robert's
at Ratisbon. His most important work is his Astronomia shape, transformed the King into the likeness of his own
nova, seu Physica Coelestis tradita Commentariis de Motibus fool : he is sent out to lie with the dogs. He was at length
Stellae Martis (1609) which is still regarded as a classic by allowed to resume his proper shape after a long and igno-
astronomers. minious penance. See poem on the subject by Longfellow.
Kerheb : Egyptian Scribes. (See Egypt.) AKinocetus : stone said to be good in casting out devils.
Kerner, Dr. : (See Spiritualism.) Kirk, Robert : (See Scotland.)
—Kether : The Kabbalistic name for the number one, and Kischuph : In the Kabala, the higher magical influence. It
meaning " Reason " the Crown, the equilibrating power. is divided into two branches, an elementary and a spiritual,
—Also a Hebrew occult name for one of the three essentials and includes exorcism. Sometimes Kischuph exhibits a
striking resemblance to the witchcraft of mediasval times.
of God Reason.
Kevan of the Curling Locks : The lover of Cleena who went Sorcerers were said to change themselves into animals, and
off to hunt in the woods, leaving her to be abducted by the
go long distances in a very short time. They may also
fairies. induce pain and disease and death in men and animals.
Still further allied to witches are the " women who make
AKey of Solomon the King : magical treatise of mediaeval
origin, of which a number of manuscripts are extant. It a contract with the Schedim, and meet them at certain
is supposed to be the work of King Solomon (q.v.), but is times, dance with them, and visit these spirits who appear
manifestly of comparatively modern origin, and was to them in the shape of goats. In many countries such
probably written in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. women are killed." This form of Kischuph is true sorcery ;
It is permeated with late Jewish ideas, and its chief inten- the other form, material Kischuph, is rather evil sympathy,
tion appears to be the finding of treasure, and the making consisting of disturbing influences on the natural elements
of such experiments as have for their object the interference produced by exciting false " rapports " in various sub-
with the free will of others. The power of the Divine stances.
Name is much in evidence, and the entire work is an Kiss, Bewitched by means of a : Florence Newton, a notorious
absurd combination of pomposity and nonsense. witch of the Middle Ages, was on several occasions accused
The Lemegeton, or Leeser Key of Solomon, is much more of having bewitched people by means of a kiss. The first
noteworthy. Its earliest examples date from the seven- was a servant-maid who had refused alms to her. About
teenth century, and it invokes the hierarchies of the abyss a Week later the witch kissed her violently, from which
by legions and millions. It is divided into four parts, time she suffered from fits and was transported from place
which control the offices of all spirits at the will of the to place, now being carried mysteriously to the top of the
Klinnrath 244 Lady of Lawers
house, now being placed between two feather beds, and so Koshei : (See Slavs.)
Aon. The witch also caused the death of one David Jones, Kostchtchie, or " Deathless " : Russian goblin of the
who stood sentinel over her in prison, by kissing his hand, bogle-boe species. This horrid monster is described as
and by the same means brought about the death of the having a death's head and fleshless skeleton, " through
children of three Youghal aldermen. which is seen the black blood flowing and the yellow heart
Klinnrath, Henry : A German alchemist and hierophant of beating." He is armed with an iron club, with which he
the physical side of the Magnum Opus. He was certainly knocks down all who come in his path. In spite of his
aware of the greater issues of Hermetic theorems and may
ugliness, he is said to be a great admirer of young girls and
be regarded as a follower of Paracelsus. He was born in
women. He is avaricious, hates old and young alike, and
Saxony about the year 1560. Af the age of 28 he graduated particularly those who are fortunate. His dwelling is
in medicine at the University of Basle. He practised in said to be amongst the mountains of the Koskels and the
Hamburg and thereafter in Dresden where he died in Caucasus, where his treasure is concealed.
poverty and obscurity in 1601, at the age of forty-five. Kostka, Jean : The pseudonym of Jules Doinel. A late
The most remarkable of his works, some of which are still Gnostic and initiate of the 33rd degree, who, converted to
in Manuscript, is the Anphitheatrum Sapienlits JEternm the Christian standpoint, revealed his diabolic adventures
solius veres, Christiano Kabbalisticum divino magicum, &c. in the pages of La Verite under the title of " Lucifer Un-
It is an unfinished work and appeared after his decease masked." He tells of diabolic happenings in the private
with a preface and conclusion by Erasmus Wohlfahrt. It chapel of a lady, " Madame X." who figures frequently in
is a purely mystical and magical treatise. The seven steps his pages, and who is thought to be the late Countess of
leading to the goal of universal knowledge are described in Caithness, of visions of Jansen, and the classical deities.
a commentary on the Wisdom of Solomon'; The work has It is certain from the evidence that M. Kostka never came
been described as being the voice of ancient chaos, and its into personal contact with a Satanic or Luciferian cultus,
curious folding plates are particularly suggestive. and that his diabolic experiences were merely those of the
Klinschor, or Klingsor : Lord of the Magic Castle wherein are amateur Satanist.
kept Arthur's mother and other queens. He is nephew to Kramat : (See Magic.)
Virgilius of Naples and is overcome by Gawain. He is Krata Repoa, or Initiation into the ancient Mysteries of the
alluded to in the Parsival of Wolfram von Eschenbach. Priests of Egypt, written by C. F. Koppen and J. W. B.
Knigge : (See Illuminati.) Von Hymmen, and published at Berlin in 1782. The
Knox, John : (See Scotland.) term Krata Repoa, said to be of Egyptian origin, possesses no
Koilon is the name applied to the ether by Mrs. Besant and affinity to that language so far as the present writer is
Mr. C. W. Leadbeater in their book on Gccult Chemistry. aware. The work is divided into seven grades. That of
(See Ether, Theosophy.) Postophoris (a word used by Apuleius to signify a priest of
Kommasso : Evil spirits inhabiting trees. (See Burma.) Isis) corresponds to the apprentice or keeper of the sacred
Koons' Spirit Room : A log seance-room erected in Dover, threshold. Secondly comes the degree of Neokaros, in
Athens Count)', Ohio, by a farmer, Jonathan Koons, in —which are to be found many ordeals and temptations. The
1852. Koons, an early convert to spiritualism, had been third degree is the State of Death of degree of judg-
told that he and his eight children would develop medium- ment and of the passage of the Soul. The candidate Was
istic powers, and the spirit-room was intended to be used restored to light in the following degree, the Battle of the
for manifestations produced by their mediumship. The Shadows. In the fifth grade a drama of Vengeance was
—room was furnished with the appliances incidental to the enacted, and the sixth is that of the astronomer before the
gate of the gods. In the final grade the whole scheme of
spiritualistic seance table for rappings, tambourines, and
other musical instruments phosphorus, by means of which initiation was expounded. It has been thought that these
; degrees corresponded to the actual procedure of a secret
the spirits might show themselves. The phenomena
witnessed by the sitters, including Charles Partridge, editor societ)', and it may be that in some measure they did, as
of the Spiritual Telegraph, were of a varied nature, but in one of their authors was a prominent member of The
the main identical with the other manifestations of the African Builders (q.v.), but although there would seem to be
same period. The spirits who visited Koon's log building elements of real tradition in the work, most of it is probably
—claimed to be a band one hundred and sixty-five in mere invention.
—number of men who had lived before the time of Adam, Krstaca : Dalmatian name for a witch. (See Slavs.)
and from whom were descended the well-known spirit Kund : (See Scandinavia.)
personalities, John and Katie King. Kyphi : Among the Egyptians, an aromatic substance, with
Kosh : The wicked forest fiend of the Bangala of the Southern soothing and healing properties, prepared from sixteen
Congo. materials according to the prescription of the sacred books.
Labadie, Jean : A fanatic of the seventeenth century, born Lacteus : A stone applied to rheumatic eyes.
in 1610 at Bourg, on the Dordogne. He declared himself
ALady-bird : rustic mode of divination was that practised
a second John the Baptist, sent to announce the second . with the lady-bird or lady-fly. The lady-bird was captured
coming of the Messiah. He even went so far as to claim by a maid and bidden to fly " north, south, or east, or
some measure of divinity for himself. But to his ambition west " in the direction in which her lover lived. Which-
as a votary he joined a taste for more worldly pleasures, ever way the insect flew, there dwelt her future husband.
which he indulged under the mask of religion. He died in Lady of Lawers : -One of the Breadalbane family, of Scottish
1674. Among his works (which were condemned) was origin, and married to Campbell of Lawers. This gentle-
awLe Veritable Exorcisme, I' unique moyen de chasser le woman was believed to be gifted with prophetic powers,
diable du monde chretien. and her prophecies are sa'd to be written in a book shaped
Labartu : (See Babylonia, also Semites.) like a barrel and kept in the charter room of Taymouth
Laburum is a kabbalistic sign, embodied in the Great Magical Castle : it is named '• The Red Book of Balloch." These
Monogram which is the seventh and most important
—forecasts all have reference to the house and lands of Bread-
pantacle of the Enchiridion.
albane ; we give the following as an example : " When
Lam 245 Lancashire Witches
the red cairn on Ben Lawers fell the church would split. —it was inhabited by the witches that is to say, about the
In the same year that the cairn, built by the sappers and —beginning of the 17th century it was held in such terror
miners on Ben Lawers, fell, the Disruption in the Church of
by law-abiding folks that they scarcely dared to approach
Scotland took place." it. They imagined it to be the haunt of witches and
Lam : A magical word in Hindu yoga practice. demons, the scene of all sorts of frightful orgies and diaboli-
cal rites. So that when Roger Nowel, a country magistrate,
Lamb : Dr. Lamb was a noted sorcerer in the time of Charles hit upon the plan of routing the witches out of their den, and
the First. The famous Richard Baxter, in his Certainty of
thus ridding the district of their malevolent influence, he
the World oj Spirits, printed in 1691, has recorded an
appropriate instance of the miraculous performance of this fancied he would be doing a public-spirited and laudable
man. Meeting two of his acquaintance in the street, and
they having intimated a desire to witness some examples of action. He promptly began by seizing Elizabeth Derr.dike
and Ann Chattox, two women of eighty years of age, one of
his skill, he invited them home with him. He then con- them blind, and the other threatened with blindness, both
ducted them into an inner room, where presently, to their no of them living in squalor and abject poverty. Demdike's
small surprise, thev saw a tree spring up in the middle of
the apartment. They had scarcely ceased wondering at daughter, Elizabeth Device, and her grandchildren, James
this phenomenon, when in a moment there appeared three and Alison Device, were included in the accusation, and
Ann Redferne, daughter oLChattox was apprehended with
diminutive men, with little axes in their hands for the
—her mother. Others were seized in quick succession Jane
purpose of cutting down this tree. The tree was felled ;
Bulcock and her son John, Alice Nutter, Catherine Hewitt,
and the doctor dismissed his guests, fully satisfied of the
—and Isabel Roby. All of them were induced by what
solidity of his pretensions. That very night, however, a —means it were better not to enquire too closely to make a
tremendous hurricane arose, causing the house of one of the
guests to rock from side to side, with every appearance more or less detailed confession of their communication
that the building would come down, and bury him and his
wife in the ruins. The wife in great terror asked " Were with the Devil. When this had been extorted from them,
you not at Dr. Lamb's to-day ? " The husband confessed
they were sent to prison in Lancaster Castle, some fifty
it was true. " And did you not bring something away
from his house ? " The husband owned that, when the miles away, there to await trial for their misdeeds.
little men felled the tree, he had picked up some of the They had not lain in prison very long when the authorities
chips, and put them in his pocket. Nothing now remained
to be done but to produce the chips, and get rid of them as were informed-that about twenty witches had assembled on
Good Friday, at Malkin's Tower, the home of Elizabeth
fast as they could. This ceremony performed, the whirl-
Device, in order to compass the death of one Covel, to
wind immediately ceased, and the remainder of the night
blow up the castle in which their companions were confined,
passed quietly.
and rescue the prisoners, and also to kill a man called
Dr. Lamb at length became so odious by his reputation Lister, which last purpose they accomplished by means
for these infernal practices, that the populace rose upon of diabolical agency. In the summer assizes of 1612 the
him in 1640, and tore him to pieces in the streets. Nor did
prisoners were tried for witchcraft, and were all found
the effects of his ill-fame terminate here. Thirteen years
guilty. The woman Demdike had died in prison, and thus
after, a woman, who had been his servant maid, was escaped a more ignominious death at the gallows. The
apprehended on a charge of witchcraft, was tried, and in principal witnesses who appeared against Elizabeth Device
expiation of her crime was executed at Tyburn.
were her grandchildren, James and Jennet Device.
Lamps, Magic : There dwelt at Paris in the time of St. Louis, Directly the latter entered the witness-box her grandmother
a famous Jewish Rabbi called Jachiel, a great manufacturer
of prodigies, who was regarded by the Jews as one of their set up a terrible yelling punctuated by bitter execrations.
saints, and by the Parisians as a sorcerer. During the The child, who was only nine years of age, begged that the
night when everyone was asleep, he was wont to work by
the light of a magic lamp which cast through his chamber prisoner might be removed as she could not otherwise
proceed with her evidence. Her request was granted, and
a glow like that of day itself. He never replenished this
she and her brother swore that the Devil had visited their
lamp with oil, nor otherwise attended to it, and folks began grandmother in the shape of a black dog, and asked what
to hint that he had acquired it through diabolic agencies.
were her wishes. She had intimated that she desired the
If anyone chanced to knock at his door during the night death of one John Robinson, whereupon the fiend told her
they noticed that the lamp threw out sparks of light of to make a clay image of Robinson and gradually crumble
it to pieces, saying that as she did so the man's fife would
various colours, but if .they continued to rap the lamp
failed and the Rabbi turning from his work touched a large decay and finally perish. On such evidence ten persons
nail in the middle of his table which connected magically were hanged, including the aged Ann Chattox.
with the knocker on the street-door, giving to the person It is shocking to reflect that, at a period when literature
who rapped upon it something of the nature of an electric and learning were at their height, such cruelty could be
tolerated, not only by the vulgar and uneducated, but by
shock. (See France.) the learned judges who pronounced the sentence. The
Lamps of this description were supposed to be known to women were old and ignorant and probably weak-minded.
the Rosicrucians, and it is said that in opening the tomb of No doubt they began in time to invest themselves with
a daughter of Cicero several lamps were found burning
upon it. It is of course possible that the light from those powers, which their neighbours credited to them,
these was luminous or phosphorescent and not living flame. and to believe themselves fit objects for the awe and
The magic lamp of Aladdin will occur to everyone in terror of the people. It is even possible that they may
this connection ; and romance abounds in such vehicles of
have seen some sort of visions, or hallucinations, which they
light. persuaded themselves were evil spirits attending on them
ALancashire Witches : story with many pathetic and pitiable Thus their own cunning and ignorance may have hastened
features, and one which is eloquent of the ignorance and their downfall.
credulity of the age, is that of the Lancashire Witches. Not
very far from Manchester lies Pendelbury Forest, a gloomy Twenty-two years later a similar outrage, on the same
though romantic and picturesque spot. At the time when
spot, was narrowly avoided, by the shrewdness of the judge
who tried the case. A certain misguided man, by name
Edmund Robinson, thought to profit by the general belief
in witchcraft. To this end he taught his young son, a boy
of eleven to say that one day he encountered in the fields
two dogs, with which he tried to catch a hare. But the
Lapis 246 Lapland
animals would not obey his bidding, and at length he tied tion of other men. Another reason is the good opinion
them to a post and whipped them, when they immediately
they constantly entertain of their ancestors, whom they
turned into a witch and her imp. This monstrous story
cannot imagine to have been so stupid as not to understand
gained such credence that when Robinson declared that what God they ought to worship, wherefore they judge
his son possessed a sort of second-sight, which enabled him they should be wanting in their reverence due to them, if,
to distinguish a witch at a glance, no one thought of denying by receding from their institutions, they should reprove
his statement. Accordingly, he took the boy to the neigh- them of impiety and ignorance.
bouring churches, set him on a bench, and bade him point
" The parents are the masters, who instruct their own
out the witches. No less than seventeen persons were thus sons in the magical art. ' Those,' says Tornaeus, ' who
accused and might have been hanged had not the judge's have attained to this magical art by instructions receive it
either from their parents, or from somebody else, and that
suspicions been aroused by the story, for the jury did not by degrees which they put in practice as often as an oppor-
tunity offers. Thus they accomplish themselves in this
hesitate to convict them. However, the doubts of the art, especially if their genius leads them to it. For they
worthy judge gained a respite for the prisoners, some of
don't look upon every one as a fit scholar ; nay, some are
whom were sent to London for examination by the King's accounted quite incapable of it, notwithstanding they have
been sufficiently instructed, as I have been informed by
physician and by the king himself. The bo)''s story was in- very credible people.' And Joh. Tornaeus confirms it by
vestigated and found to be merely a tissue of lies, as, indeed, these words : "As the Laplanders are naturally of different
the child himself confessed it to be. (See Whitaker, The
inclinations, so are they not equally capable of attaining
History of Whalley, p. 215.)
ALapis Exilis : to this art.' And in another passage, they bequeath the
name applied to the Graal itself. It is this demons as part of their inheritance, which is the reason
that one family excels the other in this magical art. From
stone which causes the phoenix to renew her youth. Lapis whence it is evident, that certain whole families have their
own demons, not only differing from the familiar spirits of
Exilis, according to Wolfram von Eschenbach, was synony- others, but also quite contrary and opposite to them.
mous with the Holy Grail. Besides this, not only whole families, but also particular
persons, have sometimes one, sometimes more spirits
Lapis Judaicus : Also identified with the Graal and the belonging to them, to secure them against the designs of
Talismanic stone of inexhaustible feeding power. It is —other demons, or else to hurt others. Glaus Petri Niurenius
sometimes called Theolithos, and seems but another name speaks to this effect, when he says ' They are attended by
a certain number of spirits, some by three, others by two, or
for the Lapis Exilis (q.v.) It has been confounded with at least by one. The last is intended for their security, the
other to hurt others. The first commands all the rest.
the Phoenix stone. Another legend clings to it : it is Some of those they acquire with a great deal of pains and
said to have fallen from the crown of Lucifer, as he was prayers, some without much trouble, being their attendants
from their infancy.' Joh. Tornaeus gives us a very large
banished from heaven, and remains in the keeping of the account of it. ' There are some,' says he, ' who naturally
are magicians ; an abominable thing indeed. For those
angels of the air. who the devil knows will prove very serviceable to him in
th's art, he seizes on in their very infancy with certain
Lapland : The Laplanders have a reputation for magical distemper, when they are haunted with apparitions and
practice which is almost proverbial throughout Europe, visions, by which they are, in proportion of their age,
and certainly so among the peoples of the Scandinavian instructed in the rudiments of this art. Those who are a
second time taken with this distemper, have more appar-
Peninsula. Indeed the Finns still credit them with extra- itions coming before them than in the first, by which they
ordinary power in sorcery and divination. Many Scan- receive much more insight into it than before. But if they
are seized a third time with this disease, which then proves
dinavian scions of nobility were in ancient times sent to very dangerous, and often not without the hazard of their
Lapland to obtain a magical reputation, and Eric the son lives, then it is they see all the apparitions the devil is able
of Harold Haarfager found Gunhild, daughter of Asur to contrive, to accomplish them in the magical art. Those
Tote, sojourning among the Lapps in A.D. 922 for that are arrived to such a degree of perfection, that without the
purpose. English literature abounds with reference to help of the drum (see infra), they can foretell things to
come a great while before ; and are so strongly possessed by
Lapland witches. But Sorcery in Lapland was a preserve of
the devil, that they foresee things even against their will.
the male shamans or magicians. Like the Celtic witches
Thus, not long ago, a certain Laplander, who is still alive,
the Lapps were addicted to the selling of wind or tempests in did voluntarily deliver his drum to me, which I had often
desired of him before ; notwithstanding all this, he told
knotted ropes. me in a very melancholy posture, that though he had put
away his drum, nor intended to have any other hereafter,
—Scheffer in his Lapponia (1674) writing of Lapp magic yet he could foresee everything without it, as he had done
before. As an instance of it, he told me truly all the
says : " The melancholic constitution of the Laplanders,
particular accidents that had happened to me in my journey
renders them subject to frightful apparitions and dreams,
into Lapland, making at the same time heavy complaints,
which they look upon as infallible presages made to them that he did not know what use to make of his eyes, those
things being presented to his sight much against his will.'
by the Genius of what is to befall them. Thus they are
" Lundius observes, that some of the Laplanders are
frequently seen lying upon the ground asleep, some singing
—seized upon by a demon, when they are arrived to a middle
with a full voice, others howling and making a hideous
age, in the following manner : Whilst they are busie in
noise not unlike wolves.
the woods, the spirit appears to them, where they discourse
" Their superstitions may be imputed partly to their
living in solitudes, forests, and among the wild beasts
partly to their solitary way of dwelling separately from the
society of others, except who belong to their own families
sometimes several leagues distance. Hereafter it may be
added, that their daily exercise is hunting, it being observed
that this kind of life is apt to draw people into various
superstitions, and at last to a correspondence with spirits.
For those who lead a solitary life being frequently destitute
of human aid, have ofttimes recourse to forbidden means,
in hopes to find that aid and help among the spirits, which
they cannot find among men and what encourages them
;
in it is impunity, these things being committed by them,
without as much as the fear of any witnesses ; wh'di
moved Mr. Rheen to allege, among sundry reasons which he
gives for the continuance of the impious superstitions of the
Laplanders, this for one : because they live among inaccess-
ible mountains, and at a great distance from the conversa-
Lapland 247 Lapland
concerning the conditions, upon which the demon offers pretend to allege~the true cause, unless one mightTsay,
them his assistance, which done, he teaches them a certain that perhaps they do it out of pride, or a natural aversion
song, which they are obliged to keep in constant remem-
brance. They must return the next day to the same they have to the female sex, subject to so many infirmities."
place, where the same spirit appears to them again, and For the purposes of augury or divination the Lapps
repeats the former song, in case he takes a fancy to the enployed a magic drum, which, indeed, was in use among
several Arctic peoples. Writing in 1827, De Capell Erooke
person ; if not, he does not appear at all. These spirits
states that the ceremonies connected with this instrument
jmake their appearances under different shapes, some like had almost quite disappeared at that date. The en-
fishes, some like birds, others like a serpent or dragon, croachments of Lutheranism had been long threatening
others in the shape of a pigmee, about a yard high being the existence of the native shamanism. In 1671 the Lapp
; drum was formally banned by Swedish law, and several
attended by three, four, or five other pigmees of the same magicians were apprehended and their instruments burnt.
bigness, sometimes by more, but never exceeding nine. But before that date the religion which the drum represented
was in full vigour. The Lapps called their drum Kannus
No sooner are they seized by the Genius, but they appear
in the most surprising posture, like madmen, before be- (Regnard, 1681), also Kaunus, Kabdas, Kabdes Gabdas,
reaved of the use of reason. This continues for six months and Keure (Von Duben, 1873.) its Scandinavian designations
; being troll-trumma, or Rune-bomme, " magic or runic drum,"
otherwise Spa-trumma, " fortune-telling drum." J. A.
during which time they don't suffer any of their kindred to Friis has shown that the sampo of the Finnish Kalevala is
come near them, not so much as their own wives and the same instrument. According to Von Diiben, the best
children. They spend most of this time in the woods and pictures and explanations of the drum are to be found in
•other solitary places, being very melancholy and thought- Friis's Lappisk Mythologi (Christiania, 1871), pp. 30-47,
ful scarce taking any food, which makes them extremely
weak. It you ask their children, where and how their but there are good descriptions in Von Diiben's own work
parents sustain themselves, they will tell you, that they (On Lapland och Lappame, Stockholm, 1873), as also in the
books of Scheffer, Leem, Jessen, and others. The appear-
receive their sustenance from their Genii. The same author
.gives us a remarkable instance of this kind in a young —ance of the Lapp drum is thus described by Regnard in
Laplander called Olaus, being then a scholar in the school of 1681 : This instrument is made of a single piece of wood,
Liksala, of about eighteen years of age. This young fellow
hollowed in its thickest part in an oval form, the under
fell mad on a sudden, making most dreadful postures and
part of which is convex, in which they make two apertures
outcries, that he was in hell, and his spirit tormented beyond
what could be expressed. " If he took a book in hand, so long enough to suffer the fingers to pass through, for the
soon as he met with the name of Jesus, he threw the book
upon the ground in great fury, which after some time being purpose of holding it more firmly. The upper part is
passed over, they used to ask him whether he had seen any
covered with the skin of the reindeer, on which they paint
vision during this ecstacy ? He answered that abundance
of things had appeared to him, and that a mad dog being in red a number of figures, and from whence several brass
tied to his foot, followed him wherever he stirred. In his rings are seen hanging, and some pieces of the bone of the
lucid intervals he would tell them, that the first beginning reindeer." A wooden hammer, or, as among the Samoyeds
of it happened to him one day, as he was going out of the
<door of his dwelling, when a great flame passed before his (1614), a hare's foot was used as a drum-stick in the course
eyes and touching his ears, a certain person appeared to him
all naked. The next day he was seized with a most terrible of the incantation. An arpa or divining-rod was placed on
headache, so that he made most lamentable outcries, and
broke everything that came under his hands. This un- a definite spot showing from its position after sounding the
fortunate person's face was as black as coal, and he used to
say, that the devil most commonly appeared to him in the drum what magic inference might be drawn. By means
habit of a minister, in a long cloak ; during his fits he would of the drum, the priest could be placed en rapport with the
say that he was surrounded by nine or ten fellows of a low spirit world, and was thus enabled to divine the future ;
stature, who did use him very barbarously, though at the to ascertain synchronous events occurring at remote
same time the standers-by did not perceive the least thing
like it. He would often climb to the top of the highest fir distances ; to forecast the measure of success attending
trees, with as much swiftness as a squirrel, and leap down
again to the ground, without receiving the least hurt. He the day's hunting ; to heal the sick ; or to inflict people with
disease and cause death. Although obsolete in Lapland
.always loved solitude, flying the conversation of other men.
these rites are still performed among the Samoyeds and
He would run as swift as a horse, it being impossible for
anybody to overtake him. He used to talk amongst the other race's of Arctic Asia and America. It is interesting
to note how exactly the procedure among the Vaigatz
woods to himself no otherwise than if several persons had
Samoyeds in 1556 (Pinkerton's Voyages, London, 1808, 1, 63)
been in his company. tallies with that of the Sakhalin Ainos in 1883 (J. M. Dixon
in Trans, Asiatic Soc. of Japan, Yokohama, 1883, 47). The
" I am apt to believe, that those spirts were not altogether same practices can be traced eastward through Arctic
America, and the drum is used in the same fashion by the
unknown to the ancients, and that they are the same which Eskimo shaman priests in Greenland (Henry Rink's Tales,
were called by Tertullian Paredri, and are mentioned by etc., 1875, 60-61.) The shape of the drum varies a little
according to locality. The form of the Eskimo drum is that
.Monsieur Valois, in his Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius.
of a tambourine.
" Whenever a Laplander has occasion for his familiar " Their most valuable instrument of enchantment,"
spirit, he calls to him, and makes him come by only singing
the song he taught him at their first interview ; by which says Tornaeus, " is this sorcerer's kettle-drum, which they
means he has him at his service as often as he pleases. And
because they know them obsequious and serviceable, they call Kannas or Quobdas. They cut it in one entire piece
-call them Sveie, which signifies as much in their tongue, as out of a thick tree stem, the fibres of which run upwards in
the companions of their labour, or their helpmates. Lun- the same direction as the course of the sun. The drum
is covered with the skin of an animal ; and in the bottom
—•dius has made another observation, very well worth taking
holes are cut by which it may be held. Upon the skins are
notice of, viz. : -That those spirits or demons never appear many figures painted, often Christ and the Apostles, with the
io the women, or enter into their service, of which I don't heathen gods, Thor, Noorjunkar, and others jumbled
together the picture of the sun, shapes of animals, lands
;
and waters, cities and roads, in short, all kinds of drawings
according to their various uses. Upon the drum there is
placed an indicator, which they call Arpa, which consists of
Larvae 218 Laurel
a bundle of metallic rings. The drumstick is, generally, a archimandrite of a convent in the Island of Mytilene, and
reindeer's horn. This drum they preserve with the most that his obj ect in coming to Europe was to solicit alms for
vigilant care, and guard it especially from the touch of a the ransom of Christian prisoners in the East. Such was his
—woman. When they will make known what is taking tale when, about 1700, he commenced wandering in Ger-
many, and, while sojourning at Berlin, he happened to fall
place at a distance, as to how the chase shall succeed, how
business will answer, what result a sickness will have, what ill and sent for medical aid. This appeared shortly in the
is necessary for the cure of it, and the like, they kneel down, shape of a young apothecary, Johann Friedrich Botticher
and the sorcerer beats the drum ; at first with light strokes, by name, who chanced to be deeply interested in alchemy,
but as he proceeds, with ever louder stronger ones, round so a fiiendship sprang up between physician and patient
the index, either till this has moved in a direction or to a and ere Lascaris left the Prussian capital he gave Botticher
figure which he regards as the answer which he has sought, a packet of transmuting powder, at the same time instruct-
or till he himself falls into ecstasy, when he generally lays ing him how to use it successfully, yet refraining from
the kettle-dium on his head. Then he sings with a loud telling him how to manufacture the powder itself. Nothing
voice a song which they call Jogke, and the men and women daunted, Botticher set to work speedily, concocted con-
who stand round sing songs, which they call Daura, in which siderable quantities of gold and silver, grew rich, and was
the name of the place whence they desire information raised to the peerage ; while simultaneously he began to find
—frequently occurs. The sorcerer lies in the ecstatic state his society, and more especially his services as a scientist,
courted by kings and nobles. Meanwhile, however, his
for some time frequently for many hours, apparently
dead, with rigid features ; sometimes with perspiration supply of the precious powder had run short, and being
bursting out upon him. In the meantime the bystanders unable to make more he found his reputation waning
continue their incantations, which have for their object apace while worse still, he had spent his newly-acquired
that the sleeper shall not lose any part of his vision from ;
wealth speedily, and now he found himself reduced to
—memory
;
at the same time they guard him carefully that penury. Ultimately he was incarcerated, but during his
period of durance vile he set himself to the manufacture of
nothing living may touch him not even a fly. When he
again awakes to consciousness, he relates his vision, answers porcelain, and by the sale of this he eventually restored his
the questions put to him, and gives unmistakable evidence fallen fortunes.
of having seen distant and unknown things. The inquiry
We presume naturally that it was gratitude to his physi-
of the oracle does not always take place so solemnly and cian which inspired the crafty alchemist to give Botticher
completely. In everyday matters as regards the chase, the powder, but why did Lascaris make an analogous
etc., the Lapp consults his drum without falling into the present at a later date ? The recipient on this occasion
somnambulic crisis. On the other hand, a more highly being one Schmolz de Dierbach, a lieutenant-colonel in the
developed state of prophet vision may take place without Polish Army. He, like the German apothecary, succeeded
this instrument, as has already been stated. Claudi in making a quantity of gold, and, though we hear no more
relates, that at Bergen, in Norway, the clerk of a German about him after this transmutation, we learn that a certain
merchant demanded of a Norwegian Finn-Laplander what Baron de Creux was likewise favoured by Lascaris, the
his master was doing in Germany. The Finn promised to Baron's experiments proving just as successful as those of
give him the intelligence. He began then to cry out like the others aforesaid. Nor were these the only people on
a drunken man, and to run round in a circle, till he fell, as whom our alchemist bestowed his indulgence, for one
one dead, to the earth. After a while he woke again, and Domenico Manuel, the son of a Neapolitan mason, was
gave the answer, which time showed to be correct. Finally, likewise given a packet of transmutatory powder, and,
that many, while wholly awake, free from convulsions armed thus, he wandered through Spain, Belgium, and
and a state of unconsciousness, are able to become Austria, performing operations before princes and noblemen,
clairvoyant, is placed beyond all doubt by the account of and reaping wealth accordingly. Pride was the inevitable
Tornaeus. result of this, and though there is no reason to suppose that
" The use which they make of their power of clairvo}7- any patent of nobility was ever conferred on Domenico,
ance, and their magic arts, is, for the most part, good and we find him styling himself now Comte Gautano, now
innocent ; that of curing sick men and animals ; inquiring Comte di Ruggiero ; while in one town he maintained that
into far-off and future things, which in the confined sphere he was a Prussian major-general, and elsewhere he declared
of their existence is important to them. There are instances that he was field-marshal of the Bavarian forces. Going
however, in which the magic art is turned to the injury of to Berlin in the course of his perambulations, he offered
others." to make gold in the presence of the king but alas ! his
;
In addition to the works quoted, see Jessen's Norske operation proved utterly futile, and he was hanged as a
Finners og Lappers Hedenske Religion (1765) ; Sioborg's charlatan in consequence. This was in 1709, and in the
same year, according to tradition, Lascaris himself performed
Tympanum Schamanico-lapponicum (1808) ; Petitot's Les some successful transmutations before a German politician
Grands Esquimaux (1887), and Abercromby's Pre- and
Proto-historic Finns (1898.) named Liebknech, a citizen of Wurtembourg. Nothing
Larvae : {See Magic.) further is heard of the mysterious Greek alchemist, however,
Lascaris : (Alchemist of the Eighteenth Century.) It is so it may be assumed that he died soon after these events.
impossible to determine the date at which this mysterious His was a curious career indeed : his generosity having-
personage was born, or to say, exactly, whence he came scarcely a parallel in the whole history of hermetic philoso-
and where he chiefly lived. He is commonly supposed phy. ,
to have been active about the beginning of the eighteenth Latent Impressions : (See Telepathy.)
century, while Germany is held to have been the principal Launay, Jean : A celebrated doctor of the Sorbonne, born in
scene of his activities ; but everything recorded concerning 1603 at Valderic, in the diocese of Contanas. He has left a
him reads like a romance, and suggests the middle ages pedantic dissertation On the Vision of St. Simon Stock, which
rather than the day before yesterday. Sometimes he he could not understand, being something of a Jansenist,
assured people that he was of Oriental origin, sometimes he It was published in Paris, in 1653 and 1663.
maintained that his native land was the Ionian Isles, and Laurel : A tree which Apuleius classes among the plants
that he was a scion of the Greek royal house of Lascaris ; which preserve men from the influence of evil spirits. It.
while on other occasions he declared that he was an was also believed to give protection from lightning.
Laurin 249 Learmaa
Laurin or Der Kleine Rosengarten : A Tyrolese romance of " In sheer intellectual strength Law is fully abreast of the
the late thirteenth century. Laurin, a dwarf, possesses a very foremost of his illustrious contemporaries, while in
magic rose-garden into which no one may enter without the that fertilising touch which is the true test of genius, Law
loss of a hand or a foot. Dietrich and his follower Witege, stands simply alone." Numerous other encomiums no less
enter it, and the latter rides through the rose bushes. enthusiastic than this have been offered to the mystic, and
Laurin, the dwarf, appears, on horseback and dis- it is noteworthy that he has engaged the interest of many
mounts Witege. He is challenged by Dietrich and, assum- great writers. Sir Leslie Stephen, for example, deals with
ing his cloak of invisibility, wounds him. Dietrich now him in his History of English Thought in the Eighteenth
persuades him to a wrestling match and wrenches off the Century, and again in his pleasant Studies of a Biographer ;
dwarf's belt which gives him super-human strength. Thus while the mystic figures also in the brilliant pages of W. E. H.
he overthrows Laurin. Laurin then invites Dietrich and Lecky, and in Gibbon's Autobiography he is hailed as " a
his followers to his mountain home, prepares them a worthy and pious man, who believed all that he professed,
banquet, makes them- tipsy, and throws them all into a and practised all that he enjoined.''
dungeon. They are released by Kiinhild, a mortal woman, Laya Yoga : That practice of the yogi by which he listens
who restores their weapons. They take Laurin prisoner to sounds which can be heard within his own body when
and carry him to Bern where he becomes a Christian convert the ears are closed. These sounds are termed " The Nada,"
and receives Kiinhild in marriage. and are of all kinds, from the roar of the ocean to the
Law, William : English Mystic and Theologian (1686-1761.) humming of bees.
AWilliam Law was born at Kingscliffe, Northamptonshire, Lazare, Denys : prince of Serbia who lived in the year of
in the year 1&86. His father followed the humble calling of the Hegira, 788. He was author of a work entitled Dreams,
a grocer, but it is manifest that he was in tolerably affluent published in 1686. He himself claimed to have had noc-
circumstances nevertheless, and ambitious besides, for in turnal visions.
1705 William was sent to Cambridge University. Entering Le Normand, Marie : Known as " The Sybil of the Faubourg
Emmanuel College, he became a fellow thereof in 1711, but Saint Germain," was born at Alen?on in 1772 and died at
on the accession of George I. he felt himself unable to sub- Paris in 1843. She was one of the most famous occultists
scribe the oath of allegiance, the inevitable consequence and diviners of her day ; but it might justly be said that
being that he forfeited his fellowship. In 1727 he went to her art was much more the product of sound judgment
Putney, having acquired there the post of tutor to the than of any supernatural gift. She predicted their futures^
father of Edmund Gibbon, the historian of the Roman to Marat, Robespierre, and St. Just, but we hear no more
Empire in decline, and he acted in this capacity for ten of her under the Directory. When Josephine Beauharnais
years, winning universal esteem the while for his piety and came into prominence as the intended wife of Napoleon,
his theological erudition. In 1737, on the death of his Mile. Le Normand was received at all those houses and
salons where the future empress had any influence. Jose-
employer, Law retired to his native village of Kingscliffe,
and it would seem that thenceforth he was chiefly supported phine was extremely credulous, and used to read her own
by the purses of some of his devotees, notably Miss Hester fortunes to herself on the cards ; but when she found that
Gibbon, sister of his guardian pupil, and a widow named Mile. Le Normand was an adept at this art, she often had
Mrs. Hutcheson. These two ladies had a united income of her in attendance to assist her in it. Even Napoleon
• fully ^3000 a year, so Law must have been comfortable himself who was not without his own superstitions, had his
indeed, yet wealth and luxury did not tend to corrupt his horoscope read by her. She soon set up her own salon in
piety, and it is recorded that he was wont to get up every Paris where she read people's fortunes by means of the
morning at five, and spend several hours before breakfast cards. It is not stated whether these cards were of the
in prayer and meditations. At a considerably earlier stage nature of Tarot cards, but it is more than likely that they
in his career he had begun publishing theses on mysticism, were but we know that she occasionally divined the
and on religion in general ; and now, being blessed with ;
fortunes of others through playing the games qf piquet,
abundance of leisure, and having acquired fresh inspiration sept, and other card games. She did not hide her methods
from reading the works of Jacob Bo.-hme, he produced from others, but the Parisian society of her day appears to-
year after year a considerable mass of writing. Thus his have thought that her power of divination lay not in the
life-passed away placidly, and he died in 1761. cards she manipulated but in her personality. It has
Law's works amount in all to some twenty volumes. been stated by Migne that she did use the Tarot, but as he
His debut as a writer was made in 1717, with an examination calls them " German cards," one cannot attach much
of certain tenets lately promulgated from the pulpit by the importance to his statement. After the fall of the Emperor"
Bishop of Bangor ; and this was followed soon afterwards she was the rage amongst the Russian,. German and English
by a number of analogous writings, while in 1726 he em- officers in Paris, and even tha Emperor Alexander and
ployed his pen to attack the theatre, bringing out a book other potentates consulted her. Shortly after this she
entitled The Absolute Uulawfulness of the Stage Entertain- went to Brussels, where she read the fortune of the Prince
ment fully Demonstrated. In the same year he issued A of Orange, but as she tried to cheat the customs she soon
Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection, and this was found herself the occupant of a Belgian prison. By the
followed shortly by A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy year 1830 she had become quite forgotten, and when the
Life, adapted to the State and Condition of all Orders of newspapers announced her death on June 25th, 1843, the
Christians. This last is the best-known of his works, but majority of people failed to remember her name. There
others which it behoves to cite are The Grounds and Reason is very little doubt that she was a harmless charlatan,
of Christian Regeneration (1739), The Spirit of Prayer though several contemporary historians appear to consider
(1749), The Way to Divine Knowledge (1752), The Spirit of that she possessed mischievous tendencies but the air
;
Love (1752), and Of Justification by Faith and Works (1760).
of omniscience and mystery with which she surrounded
Most of the foregoing, but especially the Serious Call, have herself was so absurd that by the majority of people she
been reprinted again and again ; while in 1762 a collected was looked upon, probably with justice, as a mere impostor.
edition of Law's works was published, and in 1893 there Leannan Sith : Gaelic words meaning "' fairy sweetheart
appeared a sort of anthology, made up of extracts from the who may be of either sex. Mortals are advised to have
writer, chosen by Dr. Alexander Whyte. In his preface the nothing to do with such beings, as no good ever comes of
editor speaks of Law's " golden books," while he adds that the connection ; so long as the fairy lover is pleased with
iLebran 250 Lewis
his or her mortal, all goes well, but when offended, life may of locomotion in their nocturnal travels, being transported
be the forfeit. through the air by the arts of their master, the Devil.
ALebrun, Charles : And the poltergeist was also thought to suspend in the air,
celebrated painter, born at Paris in
without visible means of support, the agent through whom
1619, died in 1690. He wrote a Traite sur la physionomie
humaine comparie avec celle des aminaux. he manifested himself. As a spiritualistic phenomenon
levitation of the human body became known at an early
lebrun, Pierre : An orator, born at Brignolles in 1661, died
in 1729. He has left two works, namely, Leitres qui stage of the movement, being recorded in connection with
decouvrent I'illusion des philosophes sur la baguette, et qui the medium Gordon so early as 1851. But the most im-
ditruisent leurs systemes (1693), and Histoire critique des portant of levitated mediums was D. D. Home, and many
pratiques superstitieuses qui ont seduit les peuples et em- accounts of his feats in this direction are given by witnesses
barrasse les savants (1702). who were themselves convinced of their genuineness. It
may be noted, however, that levitations usually occurred in
Ledivi : (See Assassins.) a darkened seance-room, when the only indication of any
untoward happening was furnished by the medium's own
Leg Cake : The name given in the Highlands of Scotland to exclamations, by the fact that his voice seemed to come
a cake given to a herd when he came with the news that a
mare had foaled, or to a dairy-maid when she brought word
that a cow had calved. from high in the air, and sometimes by his boots scraping
Legions of Demons : (See Demonology.) the back of a chair or the hand of one of the sitters. The
Lehman, Mr., of Copenhagen : (See Telepathy.) Rev. Stainton Moses, - who also was levitated on several
Leicester, Earl of : (See Dee.) occasions, seems to have held his seances in darkness also,
Leippya, or soul. (See Burma.) or at most by the light of the fire. Mrs. Guppy (nee
Lemegeton : (See Key of Solomon.) Nicholls) was before her marriage several times levitated,
Leo, Pope : (See Enchiridion.) notwithstanding the fact that she was extremely stout, and
ALescoriere, Marie : witch of the sixteenth century, arrested a curious story concerning a later levitation is told in a letter
at the age of ninety years. On being examined she declared in the Echo of June 8th, 1871, for whose (anonymous)
author's trustworthiness the editor vouches. About that
that she was no longer a witch ; that she prayed daily ; and
time the writer attended a circle with Messrs. Heme and
that she had not visited the Sabbath for forty years.
Questioned on the subject of the Sabbath, she confessed Williams as mediums, the spirits present being the famous
that she had seen the devil, and that he had visited her in John and Katie King. One of the sitters jokingly expressed
the shape of a dog or a cat. On one occasion, she said, a wish that Mrs. Guppy (then in her home some three miles
she had killed a neighbour by prajdng to the devil. distant) might be brought to the seance-room, and to this
Leshy : (See Slavs.) Katie King was heard to assent. While the company were
Lesser Key of Solomon : (See Key of Solomon.) laughing at the absurdity of the idea, there was a loud
Levi, Eliphas : Alphonse Louis Constant, better known by
bump, followed by shrieks and exclamations. A match
his pen-name of Eliphas Levi, was a French occultist of the was struck, and there in the centre of the table stood Mrs.
nineteenth century, who has been called " the last of the Guppy, an account-book in one hand, a pen in the other,
magi." He was born about 1810, the son of a shoemaker, and apparently in a state of trance. Less than three minutes
and through the good offices of the parish priest was elapsed between the expression of the wish and the appear-
educated for the church at St. Sulpice. In due course he ance of Mrs. Guppy. The writer adds : " The possibility
became a deacon, taking a vow of celibacy. Shortly after of her being concealed in the room is as absurd as the idea
this he was expelled from St. Sulpice for teaching doctrines of her acting in collusion with the media."
-contrary to those of the Church. How he lived during the Pseudo-historical instances of levitation may be found in
ensuing years is not known, but about 1839 under the abundance, especially among the early saints. St. Dun-
influence of a political and socialistic prophet named stan, archbishop of Canterbury, was observed to rise from
Ganneau, he wrote a pamphlet entitled The Gospel of the ground shortly before his death in 988. St. Bernard
Liberty, for which he received six months imprisonment. Ptolomei, St. Philip Benitas, St. Albert of Sicily, and St.
In Paris, notwithstanding his vow of celibacy, he married Dominic, founder of the Dominican order, were all seen
2. beautiful girl of sixteen, who afterwards had the marriage to be levitated while engaged in their devotions. An
.annulled. It was probably not until Madame Constant ecstatic nun " rose from the ground with so much impetu-
had left him that he studied the occult sciences. At all osity, that five or six of the sisters could hardly hold her
events his writings previous to this show little trace of down." It is related by his biographers that Savonarola,
occult influence. In 1855 he published his Doctrine of shortly before he perished at the stake, remained suspended
Transcendental Magic, followed in 1856 by the Ritual of at a considerable height above the floor of his dungeon,
Transcendental Magic ; in i860 was issued his History of absorbed in prayer. And such instances might easily be
Magic in 1861 The Key of the Grand Mysteries ; Fables multiplied.
;
and Symbols in 1864 ; Le Sorcier de Mendon and La Science Leviticon : A gospel adopted by the French Templars, and
des Esprits in 1865. Most of his works have been trans- alleged by them to have been discovered in the Temple at
lated by Mr. A. E. Waite. He died in 1875. Paris, along with other objects. It was supposed to have
Levi's knowledge of the occult sciences was much more been composed in the fifteenth century by a Greek monk,
imaginative than circumstantial, and in perusing his works Nicephorus, who sought to combine Moslem tenets with'
the reader requires to be on his guard against the adoption Christianity.
of hasty generalisations and hypotheses. Lewis, Matthew Gregory : Commonly known as " Monk "
Lewls,English Author (1775-1818). Matthew Gregory Lewis
Leviathan : (See Devil.) was born in London in 1775. His father was Matthew Lewis,
ALevitation : term in use among spiritualists to denote deputy secretary of war, and proprietor ' of several
valuable estates in Jamaica ; while his mother was Anna
the raising in the air of the human body or other objects
Maria Sewell, a lady of cultured tastes, devoted to music
without visible means, and presumably through the agency
of disembodied spirits. Thus the levitation of tables and
other more or less weighty objects is a common feat among and various other arts. The future author showed precocity
" physical " mediums, whether or not a supernatural while yet a child, and on reaching boyhood he was sent to
•explanation be required. The witches of olden times, too, Westminster School, but while he was there an ugly cloud
-were popularly supposed to make use of some occult mode rose to dim his horizon, his parents quarrelling and agreeing
Libellus 251 Llthcmancy
to separate. Matthew contrived to remain friendly gradually descends to the grosser forms and again ascends
with both his father and mother, and in 1771 he to the finer forms. In its descent, this life wave makes for
visited Paris, while about the same time he made his first an ever-increasing heterogeneity, but in its ascent the
literary efforts, and in 1792 he went to Weimar in Germany process is reversed and it makes for an ever-inci easing
where he made the acquaintance of Goethe, and also homogeneity. The work of creation is now far enough
learnt German thoroughly. Two years later he was advanced to permit of the creation of man, for matter has
appointed attache to the British Embassy at the Hague, and now been infused with the capacity of form and provided
while staying there he wrote his mystical story, Ambrosio, with life, and the Logos, therefore, through his aspect of Will,
or the Monk, which earned him his now familiar sobriquet bears forth the Divine Spark, the Monad, and, along with
of " Monk Lewis ; " while in 1796 he entered Parliament as the form and the life, ensouls man. (See Theosophy, Logos,
member for Hindon, in Wiltshire, and during the next few Ether, Evolution, Solar System, Monad.)
years he necessarily resided chiefly in London, or near it, Light : Spiritualistic Journal. (See Spiritualism.)
becoming friendly the while with most of the notable people Lignite is a beautiful stone like glass ; being hung about a
of the day. Meantime his interest in the occult had been child it preserves it from witchcraft, and if bound on the
developing apace, and in 1798 there was staged at Drury forehead it stops the bleeding of the nose, restores the loss
Lane a play of his, Castle Spectre, in which ghosts and the of senses, and helps to foretell future events.
like play a prominent part, and which won great popularity Likho : (See Slavs.)
among people interested in things of that nature while Lilith : According to Wierus and other demonologists,
; Lilith was the prince or princess who presided over the
demons known as succubi. The demons under Lilith bore
in 1788 lie issued his Tales of Terror, and in 1801 a volume
entitled Tales of Wonder, this being virtually an anthology
of popular occult verses, some of which were supplied by the same name as their chief, and sought to destroy new-
Sir Walter Scott. born infants. For this reason the Jews wrote on the four
In 1812 Lewis's father died, and the author accordingly corners of a birth-chamber a formula to drive Lilith away.
found himself a very rich man. His conscience was (See Babylonia.)
troubled, nevertheless, by the fact that his wealth was Limachie : This little curiosity, resembling a chip of a man's
derived from slave labour, and so, in 1815, he sailed to nail, is to be squeezed out of the head of a slug, which must
Jamaica, intent on making arrangements for the generous be done the instant it is seen. It is a good amulet to pre-
treatment of the negroes on his estates. Returning to serve from fever.
England in 181 6, he went soon afterwards to Geneva, Linton Charles : (See Automatic Writing and Speaking.)
where he met Byron and Shelley, while in 1818 he paid a Lippares or Liparia : He who has this stone " needs no other
last visit to the West Indies, and died at sea while re- invention to catch wild beasts." On the other hand, no
turning home. animal can be attacked by dogs or huntsman if it look upon
ALibellus Merlini : (Little Book of Merlin.) Latin tract on it.
the subject of the prophecies of Merlin written by Geoffrey Liquor Alkahest : (See Philalethes.)
of Monmouth about 1135. Geoffrey prefaces his account Litanies of the Sabbath : On Wednesdays and Saturdays, if
of the prophecies with one concerning the deeds of a super- —the accounts speak truly, it was the custom to sing at the
natural youth named Ambrosius whom he deliberately witches' Sabbath the following Litanies :
confounded with Merlin. Vortigern, King of the Britons, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan, have pity on us.
asks Ambrose Merlin the meaning of a vision in which Baal, prince of the seraphim ; Baalberith, prince of the
appear two dragons red and white in combat. Merlin cherubim ; Astaroth, prince of the thrones ; Rosier, prince
of denominations ; Carreau, prince of the powers ; Belial,
replies that the Red Dragon signifies the British race which . prince of the vertues ; Perrier, prince of the principalities ;
Oliver, prince of the arch angels Junier, prince of the
would be conquered by the Saxon, represented by the
;
AWhite Dragon. long prophetic rhapsody follows, relating
angels ; Sarcueil, Fume-bouche, Pierre-le-Feu, Carniveau,
chiefly to the Saxon wars, and with this the work, as given Terrier, Contellier, Candelier, Behemoth, Oilette, Belphegor,
in the Seventh Book of Geoffrey's Historia Regum Brit-
anniae, concludes. It was, however, known in Iceland Sabathan, Garandier, Dolers, Pierre-Fort, Axaphat, Prisier,
before 1218 in a form independent of the Historia. (H. C. Kakos, Lucesme, pray for us.
It must be remarked that Satan is evoked in these
Leach, Modem Philology, viii., pp. 607 et seq.) This tract
must not be confounded with the Vita Merlini (1145 or litanies only in company with a crowd of others.
1 14 8) generally attributed to Geoffrey. Lithomaney : A species of divination performed by stones,
Licking, a Charm : The following was believed to be a remedy but in what manner it is difficult to ascertain. Gale, in
for enchantment : to lick the child's forehead first upward, a " note upon Iamblichus," confesses that he does not
then across, and lastly up again and then to spit behind clearly understand the nature of it ; whether it refers to
;
its back. certain motions observable in idols, or to an insight into
It is said that if on licking a child's forehead with the futurity obtained by demons (familiars) enclosed in particu-
tongue a salt taste is perceived, this is an infallible proof of lar stones. That these supernatural beings might be so
fascination. commanded is clear from a passage of Nicephorus. The
Life Waves according to Theosophists. are three in number. Rabbis have attributed Lev. XXVI., 1 to Lithomaney ; but
It is necessary to remember that the Deity, the Logos the prohibition of stones there given is most probably
(q.v.) has three aspects corresponding to the Christian directed against idolatry in general. Bulenger has a short
Trinity. These aspects are first that of Will ; second, that chapter on Lithomaney. He shows from Tzetzes, that
of Wisdom ; and third, that of Activity, and each has its Helenus ascertained the fall of Troy by the employment of
definite scope in the creation of a universe. When the
a magnet, and that if a magnet be washed in spring water,
Logos sets about the great work of creation he sends the and interrogated, a voice like that of a sucking child will
first life wave through his aspect of Activity into the reply.
multitude of bubbles in the ether, and thereby forms the The pseudo-Orpheus has related at length this legend of
various kinds of matter. The universe having been thus Helenus. " To him," he says, " Apollo gave the true and
far prepared, he through his aspect of Wisdom sends the vocal sideritis, which others call the animated ophites, a
second life wave, which bringing with it life as we usually stone possessing fatal qualities, rough, hard, black, and
understand that term and penetrating matter from above, heavy, graven everywhere with veins like wrinkles. For
Lithomancy 252 London
one and twenty days Helenus abstained from the nuptial Sorciere." Kundry in Wagner's music-drama " Parsifal "
couch, from the bath, and from animal food. Then, represents sin.
Awashing this intelligent stone in a living fountain, he Lodestone : precious stone believed to possess magical
cherished it as a babe in soft clothing ; and having pro- properties of diverse kinds. If one is ill, one must hold it in
one's hands and shake it well. It cures wounds, snake-
pitiated it as a god, he at length gave it breath by his hymn
of mighty virtue. Having lighted lamps in his own puri- bites, weak eyes, headaches and restores hearing. The
possessor of the lodestone may walk through reptiles in
fied house, he fondled the divine stone in his hands, bearing safety, even when they are accompanied by " black death."
it about as a mother bears her infant and you, if ye Orpheus says that " with this stone you can hear the voices
;
wish to hear the voice of the gods, in like manner provoke
a similar miracle, for when ye have sedulously wiped and of the gods and learn many wonderful things " that it
;
dandled the stone in your arms, on a sudden it will utter the has the property of unfolding the future ; and if held close
cry of a new-born child seeking milk from the breast of its to the eyes it will inspire with a divine spirit.
nurse. Beware, however, of fear, for if you drop the stone Lodge, Sir Oliver : (See Spiritualism.)
—upon the ground, you will rouse the anger of the immortals. Logos : Fohat is the term very commonly used in theosophy
Ask boldly of things future, and it will reply. Place it to designate the Deity. Along with the great religions,
near your eyes when it has been washed, look steadily at it, theosophy has as the beginning of its scheme a Deity who,
and you will perceive it divinely breathing. Thus it was in Himself, is altogether beyond human knowledge or
that Helenus, confiding in this fearful stone, learned that conception, whether in the ordinary or the clairvoyant
his country would be overthrown by the Atridae." states. But when the Deity manifests Himself to man
Photius, in his abstract of the life of Isodorus by Dam- through his works of creation. He is known as the Logos.
ascus, a credulous physician of the age of Justinian, speaks Essentially He is infinite but when He encloses a " ring-
of an oracular stone, the baetulum, to which Lithomancy pass-not " within which to build a kosmos, He has set
was attributed. A physician named Eusebius used to limits to Himself, and what we can know of Him is con-
Hetained in these limits. To us appears in a triple aspect
carry one of these wonder-working stones about with him.
—the Christian Trinity but this is, of course, merely an
One night, it seems, actuated by an unaccountable impulse,
he wandered out from the city Emesa to the summit of a appearance, and in reality He is a unity. This triple
mountain dignified by a temple of Minerva. There, as he aspect shews Him as Will, Wisdom and Activity, and from
sat down fatigued by his walk, he saw a globe of fire falling each of these came forth one of the creative life waves which
from the sky and a lion standing by it. The lion dis- formed the universe. From the third came the wave which
appeared, the fire was extinguished, and Eusebius ran and created matter, from the second, the wave which aggregated
picked up a baetulum. He asked it to what god it apper- diffuse matter into form, and from the first, the wave which
tained, and it readily answered, to Gennaeus, a deity wor- brought with it the Monad, that scintillation of Himself
shipped by the Heliopolitae, under the form of a lion in the which took posession of formed matter, to start thereby the
temple of Jupiter. During this night, Eusebius said he evolutionary process.
travelled not less than 210 stadia, more than 26 miles. He Loiseant : (See France.)
never became perfectly master of the baetulum, but was Loki : (See Devil.)
Aobliged very humbly to solicit its responses. It was of a Lombroso, Professor Cesare : celebrated Italian anthro-
handsome, globular shape, white, a palm in diameter, pologist. A few years before his death he took up the
though sometimes it appeared more, sometimes less study of spiritualism and experimented extensively with
occasionally, also, it was of purple colour. Characters the well-known medium Eusapia Palladino, in company
were to be read on it, impressed in the colour called tingari- with Messieurs Richet, Maxwell, Flammarion, and Pro-
binus. Its answer seemed as if proceeding from a shrill fessor Schiaparelli. He embodied the results of his investi-
pipe, and Eusebius himself interpreted the sounds. Dam- gations in several well-known works, and concluded that
ascius believed its animating spirit to be divine ; Isodorus, although man was probably not immortal, his " shell
on the other hand, thought it demoniacal, that is, not or shadow, a mere conglomeration of thought forces,
belonging to evil or material demons, not yet to those —remained on earth behind him for some considerable time
which are quite pure and immaterial. It was with one of
after his demise. (See " After Death What ? " 1909.)
these stones, according to Hesychius, that Rhea fed London Dialectical Society : In 1869 an important enquiry
Saturnus, when he fancied that he was devouring Jupiter, into the phenomena of spiritualism was undertaken by the
its name being derived from the skin in which it was —London Dialectical Society. A committee of more than
wrapped, and such the commentator supposed to have
thirty members including Alfred Russel Wallace, Sergeant
been the Lapides divi, or vivi, which the insane monster —Cox, Charles Bradlaugh, H. G. Atkinson, and Dr. James
Heliogabalus wished to carry off from the temple of Diana,
Edmunds was formed, and resolved itself into six sub-
built by Orestes at Laodicea. Bochart traces the name committees. During the eighteen months over which their
and the reverence paid to the baatylia, to the stone which labours extended, the committee received a large quantity
Jacob anointed at Bethel. Many of these baetylia, Photius of evidence from believers in the phenomena, but very little
assures us from Damascius, were to be found on Mount from those antagonistic to the spirit hypothesis. In " The
Libanus. Dialectical Society's Report on Spiritualism," published
Little, Robert Wentworth : (See Rosicrucians.) by the Society, particulars are given both of the members'
own experiences and of testimonies from witnesses whose
Little World : The name given to a secret society which character and position made their evidence valuable.
Practically every form of manifestation, both physical and
conspired in England, in the eighteenth century, to re- automatic, is covered in the report, which concluded thus :
—establish the Stuart dynasty. Many stories are told of this "• In presenting their report, your Committee, taking
into consideration the high character and great intelligence
society as, for instance, that the devil presided over their
of many of the witnesses to the more extraordinary facts,
assemblies in person. The members were Freemasons. the extent to which their testimony is supported by the
reports of the sub-committees, and the absence of any
Loathly Damsel, The : Kundrie or Kundry. The Grail
Messenger. One would imagine that the holder of such an proof of imposture or delusion as regards a large portion of
office would be saint-like, but Christian describes her as the phenomena ; and further, having regard to the excep-
" a damsel more hideous than could be p; ctured outside
hell." Wolfram refers to her in his work as " Kundrie la
Xopez 253 Lucifer
tional character of the phenomena, and the large number of the unfortunate priest was haled before a council of judges
persons of every grade of society and over the whole of the neighbouring presidencies, who found upon his body
civilised world who are more or less influenced by a belief the various marks which were the undoubted signs of a
in their supernatural origin, and to the fact that no philo- sorcerer, and it is said that the inquest brought to light
sophical explanation of them has yet been arrived at, deem the fact that Grandier had none too good a reputation.
it incumbent upon them to state their conviction that the
We must be very careful, however, to refrain from believing
subject is worthy of more serious attention and careful the worst about him, as the sources regarding this are
investigation than it has hitherto received." undoubtedly tainted by religious prejudice. It is said that
The Dialectical Society's investigations are noteworthy on his papers being seized much matter subversive of
as the first organised attempt to elucidate the problem of religious practice was found amongst them. They failed,
spiritualistic phenomena. however, to find that pact with Satan for which they had
Lopez, Senor Manoel : {See Spain.) looked, although afterwards several versions of it were
published by more or less credulous persons and sold as
Xopoukine, Chevalier : A Russian theologian to whom is
attributed a tract, said to be translated from the Russian —broadsheets. The unfortunate man was condemned to be
and entitled Characteristics of the Interior Church (1801).
burnt at the stake a sentence which was duly carried out.
His teaching is similar to that of Eckhartshausen whose After his death, however, the possession of the hysterical
sisters did not cease ; the demons became more obstreperous
—work has elsewhere been briefly described it is a kind of
Christian transcendentalism and in its tenour, resembles than ever and flippantly answered to their names of
the higher literature of the Graal.
Asmodeus, Leviathan, and Behemoth, and so forth. A
Lords of the Flame or Children of the Fire Mist, are, according very holy Brother called Surin was delegated to put an end
to theosophists, adepts sent from the planet Venus to aid to the affair. Frail and unhealthy, he possessed, however,
terrestrial evolution. It is necessary to explain that, in the an indomitable spirit, and after much wrestling in prayer
evolution of the Solar System (q.v.) Venus is considerably succeeded in finally exorcising the demons. The whole
in advance of the Earth, but by the efforts of these adepts affair is set forth in the Historie des Diables de Loudun,
published in 1839, which gave a detailed account of one of
—directed towards intellectual development the inhabitants
of the earth are now really farther advanced than in the most extraordinary obsessions of modern times.
ordinary course they would be. These adepts are not per- Loutherburg : (See Spiritualism.)
manently inhabitants of the Earth, and, while a few yet Loyer, Pierre Le : Sieur de la Brosse, royal councillor and
remain, most of them have returned whence they came, demonographer, was born at Huille in Anjou in 1550. He
the time of crisis at which they assisted having now passed. was the author of a work entitled Discours et histoires des
(See Theosophy, Evolution, Chains.) spectres, visions et apparitions des esprits, anges, demons et
dmes se montranl aux homines. The work is divided into
lost Word of Kabbalism : Lost Word in Masonry. A word
relating to some mystic plan, which though it is held to eight books dealing with the marvellous visions and prodi-
have disappeared, will at some time be restored, and will gies of all the centuries, and the most celebrated authors
then make the whole system plain. It is not really lost, sacred as well as profane, who have dealt with occult sub-
only withheld for a season. In the same way the Graal jects, the cause of apparitions, the nature of good and evil
was not lost, but withdrawn to its own place and the search spirits, of demons, of ecstasy, of the essence, nature and
for it occupied the noblest figures in chivalry. It repre- origin of souls, of magicians and sorcerers, of the manner
sents the Key to the enigma of Creation ; in terms of of their communication, of evil spirits, and of impostors
Christianity, the Kingdom of Heaven. It was published at Paris in 1605 in one quarto volume.
loudun, Nuns of : In the year 1633, the convent of Ursulines The first book deals with spectres, apparitions and spirits ;
established at Loudun in France was the scene of an out- the second with the physics of Loyer' s time, the illusions to
break of diabolical possession. The numerous nans who which the senses are prone, wonders, the elixirs and
inhabited the convent showed signs of diabolic possession, metamorphases of sorceries and of philtres ; the third
spoke with tongues, and behaved in the most extraordinary book establishes the degrees, grades and honours of spirits,
and hysterical manner. The affair grew in volume until gives a resume of the history of Philinnion and of Poly-
practically all the nans belonging to the institution were crites, and recounts diverse adventures with spectres and
in the same condition of temporary insanity. The Mother
Superior of the convent, Jeanne de Belfiel, appears to have demons the fourth book gives many examples of spectral
;
appearances, of the speech of persons possessed of demons, of
been of hysterical temperament, and she was not long in the countries and dwelling-places of these spectres and
infecting the other inmates of the institution. She, with a demons, of marvellous portents, and so forth ; the fifth
sister named Claire and five other nuns, were the first to be treats of the science of the soul, of its origin, nature, its
obsessed by the so-called evil spirits. The outbreak spread state after death, and of haunting ghosts ; the sixth division
to the neighbouring town and so scandalous did the whole is entirely taken up with the apparition of souls, and shows
affair become that Richelieu appointed a commission to
how the happy do not return to earth, but only those
examine into it. The devils were subjected to the process whose souls are burning in purgatory ; in the seventh book
of exorcism, which, however, proved to be fruitless in this the case of the Witch of Endor, and the evocation of the
instance, and the attacks of the nuns continued. But on a soul of Samuel, are dealt with, as is evocation in general
more imposing ceremony being held, they took themselves and the methods practised by wizards and sorcerers in this
.off, but only for a little while, returning again with greater science ; the last book gives some account of exorcism,
violence than ever. Suspicion, or rather injustice, fixed fumigations, prayers, and other methods of casting out
upon the person of Urbain Grandier (q.v.), confessor of the devils, and the usual means employed by exorcists to
destroy these. The work as a whole is exceedingly curious
.convent, as the head and source of the whole affair. He if disputatious and a little dull in parts, and throws con-
was arrested and accused of giving over the nuns to the
possession of the Devil by means of the practice of sorcery. siderable light upon the occult science of the times.
The truth is that the neighbouring clergy were madly Lubin : The fish whose gall was used by Tobias to restore his
jealous of Grandier because he had obtained two benefices father's sight. It is said to be very powerful against
in their diocese, of which he was not a native, and they had ophthalmia, and its heart is potent in driving away demons.
made up their minds to compass his destruction at the
jfirst possible moment. Despite his protests of innocence, Lucifer : Literally light-bringer, a name applied to the con-
ception of the devil, who has often been likened to a fallen
Lugh 254 Lutin, The
star or angel. The Miltonic conception of Lucifer as a Arabic while having mastered. that tongue he proceeded
force potent for good or evil, one who might have done ;
good greatly, intensely proud and powerful exceedingly, to Rome, eager to enlist the Pope's sympathy in his project.
is one which is inconsistent with enlightenment. He Raymond failed in the latter particular, yet, nothing daunted
he embarked on his own account at Genoa about the year
represents simply the absence of good ; a negative not a 1 291, and having reached Tunis he commenced his crusade.
positive entity. His ardour resulted in his being fiercely persecuted and
He presides over the east, according to the ideas of the ultimately banished ; so perforce he returned for a while to
old magicians. He was invoked on Mondays, in a circle Europe, visiting Paris, Naples and Pisa, and exhorting all
in the centre of which was his name. As the price of his good Christians to aid his beloved enterprise. But in 1308
complaisance in appearing to the magician he asked only he ventured to go back to Africa, and at Algiers he made-
a mouse. Lucifer commands Europeans and Asiatics. a host of converts, yet was once more forced to fly for his
He appears in the shape of a beautiful child. When he is life before the angry Mussulmans. He repaired to Tunis,
angry his face is flushed, but there is nothing monstrous thinking to escape thence to Italy, but his former activities
about him. He is, according to some students of demon- in the town were remembered, and consequently he was
ology, the grand justiciary of Hades. He is the first to be seized and thrown into prison. Here he languished for a
invoked in the litanies of the Sabbath. (See Devil-worship.) long time, never failing to seize every opportunity which
Lugh : In Irish romance, son of Kian, and father of Cuchulain. presented itself of preaching the gospel, but at last some
Genoese merchants contrived to procure his release, and
He was brought up by his uncle Goban, the Smith, and by
Duach, King of Fairyland. It was prophesied of Lugh so he sailed back to Italy. Proceeding to Rome, he made
that he should eventually overcome his father's old enemy further, and strenuous efforts towards obtaining the Pope's
Balor, his own grandfather. So instead of killing the support of a well-equipped foreign mission but Raymond's
;
three murderers of his father, Kian, he put them on oath importunity herein-proved abortive, and, after resting for a
to obtain certain wonders, including the magical spear of brief space at his native Majorca, the heroic zealot took his
the King of " Persia " and the pig-skin of the King of life in his hands, and returned to Tunis. Here he even pro-
Greece, which, if laid on a patient, would heal him of his claimed his presence publicly, but scarcely had he begun
wound or cure him of his sickness. Thus equipped, Lugh preaching when he reaped the inevitable harvest, and after
entered the Battle of Moytura, against the Fomorians, being savagely attacked he was left lying on the sea-shore,
and by hurling a stone which pierced through the eye to his assailants imagining him dead. He was still breathing,,
the brain of Balor, fulfilled the druidic prophecy. Lugh however, when some Genoese found him, and carrying him.
was the Irish Sun-god ; his final conquest of the Fomorians to a ship they set sail foi Majorca. But the missionary did
and their leader symbolises the victory of light and intellect not rally, and he died while in sight of his home, the date
over darkness. Balor was god of darkness, and brute force being 1315.
as embodied in the Fomoria,ns. By his title of Ildanach, Raymond's proselytising ardour had made his name
or " All Craftsman," Lugh is comparable to the Greek familiar throughout Europe, and, while many people
Apollo. He was widely worshipped by Continental Celts. regarded him as a heretic because he had undertaken a
Lully, Raymond : The life of this alchemist was a curious and mission without the pope's sanction, there were others who
eventful one, and all its diverse chapters bespeak him a admired him so much that they sought to make him a
man of titanic physical and mental energy, quite incapable saint. But he was never canonized, and the reason, per-
of doing anything in dilettante fashion, but instead throw- haps, lay in the well-known fact that he had engaged in
ing himself heart and soul into every quest which chanced alchemy. He is reported to have made a large sum of
to appeal to him. Raymond' s father was a Spanish knight, gold for the English king, and, while there is really no
who, having won the approval of John I., King of Arragon, proof that he ever visited Britain, the remaining part of
was granted an estate in Majorca ; and it was in that island the story holds a certain significance. For it is said that
of the Balearic group that the future alchemist was born, Lully made the money on the strict understanding that it "
probably in the year 1229, but the date is uncertain. should be utilised for equipping a large and powerful band
Thanks to the royal favour which his father enjoyed, of missionaries, and the likelihood is that he thought to
Raymond was appointed Seneschal of the Isles while he was employ his chymical skill on behalf of his beloved object,
still a mere youth ; but hardly had he acquired this position and approached some European Sovereign with this in
ere, much to the chagrin of his parents, he began to show a view, thus giving rise to the tradition about his dealings
strong predilection for debauchery. He paid amorous with the English monarch. Be that as it may, Raymond'
addresses to women of all sorts, while at length, becoming voluminous writings certainly include a number of alchem-
enamoured of a married lady named Eleonora de Castello, istic works, notably Alckimia Magic Natutalis, De Aquis
he began to follow her wherever she went, making no Super Accurtationes, De Secretis Medicina Magna and De
attempt to conceal his illicit passion. On one occasion, Conservatione Vita and it is interesting to find that
;
indeed, he actually sought the lady while she was attend-
several of these won considerable popularity and were
ing mass. And, so loud was the outcry against this bold, if repeatedly reprinted, while so late as 1673 two volumes of
not sacrilegious act, that Eleonora found it essential to Opera Alchima purporting to be from Raymond's pen were
write in peremptory style to her cavaliere servente, bidding issued at London. Five years before this a biography by
him desist from his present course. The letter failed to Vernon had been published at Paris, while at a later date a
cool the youth's ardour, but anon, when it transpired that German historian of chemistry, Gruelin, referred to Lully as
the lady was smitten with the deadly complaint of cancer, a scientist of exceptional skill, and mentioned him as the
her admirer's frame of mind began to alter speedily. first man to distil rosemary oil.
Sobered by the frustration of his hopes, he vowed that Luminous Bodies : Dead bodies are frequently supposed to
henceforth he would live differently, consecrating his days glow in the dark with a sort of phosphorescent light.
to the service of God. Possibly the belief arose from the idea that the soul was
So Raymond espoused holy orders, but, as was natural in like a fire dwelling in the body.
the case of a man of such active and impetuous tempera- Luther, Martin : The Rosicrucian. (See Bosicrucians.)
ment, he felt small inclination for monastic life. His aim Lutin, The : The Lutin of Normandy in many respects
was to carry the Gospel far afield, converting the children resembled Robin Goodfellow. Like him he had many names
(
of Mahomet, and with this in view he began to study and like him had the power of assuming many forms
;
Lux 255 Lycanthropjr
but the Lutin's pranks were usually of a more serious nature Polish enchanter and magician in the town of Nuremberg
than those of the tricky spirit of Merrie England. Many a to learn the result of a difference he had with the Turks,
man laid his ruin at the Lutin's door, although it must be
concerning the kingdom of Hungary ; and not only did
confessed that in these cases neighbours were uncharitable the magician make use of divination, but performed various
enough to say, that the Lutin had less to do with it than other marvels, so that the king did not wish to see him, but
habits of Want-of-Thrift and Self-indulgence. Thus, on the courtiers introduced him into his chamber. There he
market days, when a farmer lingered late over his ale, did many wonderful things, among others, he transformed
whether in driving a close bargain or in enjoying the himself into a horse, anointing himself with some grease,
society of a boon companion, he declared the Lutin was then he took the shape of an ox, and thirdly that of a lion,
sure to play him some spiteful trick on his way home : all in less than an hour. The emperor was so terrified by
— —his horse would stumble he would be thrown he would these transformations that he commanded that the magician
—lose his purse or else his way. If the farmer persisted
should be immediately dismisssed, and declined to hear the
in these habits, more serious would become the Lutin's future from the lips of such a rascal."
tricks ; the sheep-pens would be unfastened, the cow-house " It need no longer be doubted," adds the same writer,
and stable doors left open, and the flocks and cattle be
" that Lucius Apuleius Plato was a sorcerer, and that he
found moving among the standing corn and unmown hay ; was transformed into an ass, forasmuch as he was charged
while every servant on the farm would swear to his own
with it before the proconsul of Africa, in the time of the
innocence, and unhesitatingly lay the blame on the Lutin. Emperor Antonine I., in the year 150 A.D., as Apollonius
—Similar tricks were played on the fishermen by the Nain of Tyana, long before, in the year 60, was charged before
Rouge another name for the Lutin. He opened the Domitian with the same crime. And more than three
meshes of the nets and set the fish free he removed the years after, the rumour persisted to the time of St. Augus-
;
floats and let the nets sink to the bottom, or the sinkers, tine, who was an African, who has written and confirmed
and let the nets float away on the retiring tide. True, if it ; as also in his time the father of one Prestantius was
closely questioned, the fishermen would confess that on transformed into a horse, as the said Prestantius declared.
these occasions the night was dark and stormy, the bothy Augustine's father having died, in a short time the
warm, and the grog plentiful, and that instead of drawing son had wasted the greater part of his inheritance in
their nets at the proper time, they had delayed it till morn- the pursuit of the magic arts, and in order to flee poverty he
ing. Again, he would appear like a black nag, ready sought to marry a rich widow named Pudentille, for such
bridled and saddled, quietly feeding by the way-side ; but a long time that at length she consented. Soon after her
—woe to the luckless wight who mounted him ! unless, only son and heir, the child of her former marriage, died.
indeed, he did so for some charitable or holy purpose, in These things came about in a manner which led people to
which,case he was borne with the speed of the wind to his think that he had by means of magic entrapped Pudentille,
destination. In this form the Lutin played his wildest who had been wooed in vain by several illustrious people, in
pranks and was called Le Cheval Bayard. —order to obtain the wealth of her son. It was also said that
Lux : (See Spain.) the profound knowledge he possessed for he was able to
Lyeanthropy : The transformation of a human being into an
solve difficult questions which left other men bewildered
animal. The term is derived from the Greek words,
was obtained from a demon or familiar spirit he possessed.
lukos a wolf, and anthropos a man, but it is employed Further, certain people said they had seen him do many
regarding a transformation into any animal shape. It is marvellous things, such as making himself invisible, trans-
chiefly in these countries where wolves are numerous that forming himself into a horse or into a bird, piercing his body
we find such tales concerning them. (See Wer-wolf.) But with a sword without wounding himself, and similar per-
in India, and some parts of Asia, the tiger takes the place formances. He was at last accused by one Sicilius CEmilia-
of the wolf in Russia and elsewhere the bear, and in nus, the censor, before Claudius Maximus, proconsul of
;
Africa the leopard. Africa, who was said to be a Christian but nothing was
;
It is usually savage animals regarding which these beliefs found against him.
are prevalent, but even harmless ones also figure in them. Now, that he had been transformed into an ass, St.
There is considerable confusion as to whether such trans- Augustine regards as indubitable, he having read it in cer-
formations were voluntary, or involuntary, temporary or tain true and trustworthy authors, and being besides of the
permanent. The man as transformed into the animal may same country; and this transformation happened to him
fee the very individual himself, or, on the other hand may in Thessaly before he was versed in magic, through the spell
be only his double, that is his spirit may enter the animal
of a sorceress, who sold him, and who recovered him to his
and his body remain unchanged. Magicians and witches former shape after he had served in the capacity of an ass
were credited with the power of transforming themselves for some years, having the same powers and habits of eating
into wolves and other animal shapes, and it was asserted and braying as other asses, but with a mind still sane and
that if the animal were wounded that the marks of the reasonable as he himself attested. And at last to show
wound would be discovered upon the wizard's body. forth his case, and to lend probability to the rumour, he
The belief is current amongst many savage tribes that wrote a book entitled The Golden Ass, a melange of fables
every individual possesses an animal form which he enters and dialogues, to expose the vices of the men of his time,
at death, or at will. This is effected either by magic or which he had heard of, or seen, during his transformation,
natural agency. with many of the labours and troubles he had suffered while
As has been said, the wolf is a common form of animal in the shape of an ass.
transformation in Europe. In ancient Greece the belief " However that may be, St. Augustine in the book of the
was associated with the dog, which took the place of the City of God, book XVIII., chapters XVII. and XVIII.,
wolf. Other similar beliefs are found in India and Java relates that in his time there were in the Alps certain
and in the former country we find the wer-wolf in a sort sorceresses who gave a particular kind of cheese to the
of vampire form. passers by, who, on partaking of it, were immediately
Guyon relates the history of an enchanter who used to changed into asses or other beasts of burden, and were
change himself into different beasts. made to carry heavy weights to certain places. When
" Certain people," said he, " persuaded Ferdinand, first
their task was over, they were permitted to regain their
Emperor of tint name, to command the presence of a
human shape."
Xycanthropy 256 Lytton
" The bishop of Tyre, historian, writes that in his time, Hall ; while his mother was Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, a
probably about 1220, some Englishmen were sent by their lady who claimed kinship with Cadwaladr Vendigaid, the
king to the aid of the Christians who were fighting in the
Holy Land, and that on their arrival in a haven of the semi-mythical hero who led the Strathclyde Welsh against
island of Cyprus a sorceress transformed a young English
soldier into an ass. He, wishing to return to his com- the Angles in the seventh century. As a child the future
panions in the ship, was chased away with blows from a
stick, whereupon he returned to the sorceress who made novelist was delicate, but he learnt to read at a surprisingly
use of him, until someone noticed that the ass kneeled in a
early age, and began to write verses before he was ten years
church and did various other things which only a reasoning
being could do. The sorceress who followed him was old. Going first to a small private school at Fulham, he
taken on suspicion before the authorities, was obliged to
soon passed on to another one at Rottingdean ; and here he
give him his human form three years after his transforma- continued to manifest literary tastes, Byron and Scott being
tion, and was forthwith executed." his chief idols at this time. So clever was the boy thought,
We•' read," says Loys Guyon, "that Ammonius, a indeed, that his relations decided it would be a mistake to
peripatetic philosopher, about the time of Lucius Sep- send him to a public school ; and accordingly he was
tdmius Severus, in the year 196 A.D., had present at his placed with a tutor at Ealing, under whose care he pro-
lessons an ass whom he taught. I should think that this gressed rapidly with his studies. Thereafter he proceeded
ass had been at one time a man, and that he quite under- to Cambridge, where he took his degree easily, and won
stood what Ammonius taught, for these transformed many academic laurels, while on leaving the University
persons retain their reason unimpaired, as St. Augustine
he travelled for a while in Scotland and in France, and then
and other %vriters have assured us."
•' Fulgose writes, book VIII., chapter II., that in the bought a commission in the army. He sold it soon after-
time of Pope Leon, who lived about the year 930, there wards, however, while in 1827 he was married, and now
were in Germany two sorceresses who used thus to change
their guests into beasts, and on one occasion she changed he began to devote himself seriously to writing, his first
a young mountebank into an ass, who, preserving his publications of note being the novels of Falkland, Pelham
human understanding, gave a great deal of amusement to
and Eugene Aram. These won an instant success, and
the passers-by. A neighbour of the sorceresses bought the
placed considerable wealth in the author's hands, the result
ass at a good price, but was warned by them that he must
being that in 1831 he entered parliament as liberal member
not take the beast to a river, or he would lose it. Now
for St. Ives, Huntingdonshire and during the next ten
the ass escaped one day and running to a near-by lake ;
plunged into the water, when he returned to his own shape.
Apuleirs says that he regained his human form by eating years he was an active policitian yet found time to produce
roses. a host of stories, for instance The Last Days of Pompei and
" There are still to be seen in Egypt asses which are led Ernest Maltravers, Zanoni and The Last of the Barons.
into the market-place to perform various feats of agility These were followed shortly by The Caxtons, and simul-
and tricks, understanding all the commands they receive, taneously Lytton achieved some fame as a dramatist,
and executing them : such as to point out the most beauti-
ful woman of the company, and many other things that perhaps his best play being The Lady of Lyons ; while in
1 85 1 he was instrumental in founding a scheme for pen-
one would hardly believe ; and Belon, a physician, relates
sioning authors, in 1862 he increased his reputation greatly
in his observations that he has seen them, and others also,
by his novel entitled A Strange Story, and four years later
who have been there, and who have a (firmed the same to me.
"' One day there was brought to St. Macarius, the his services to literature and politics were rewarded by a
Egyptian," says Calmet, " an honest woman who had been peerage. He now began to work at yet another story,
transformed into a mare by the wicked art of a magician.
Her husband and all who beheld her believed that she had Kenelm Chillingly, but his health was beginning to fail, and
really been changed into a mare. This woman remained
he died in 1873 at Torquay.
for three days without taking any food, whether suitable
The works cited above constitute but a fragment of
for a horse or for a human being. She was brought to the
priests of the place, who could suggest no remedy. So Lylton's voluminous achievement. Besides further novels
they led her to the cell of St. Macarius. to whom God had
too numerous to mention, he issued several volumes of
revealed that she was about to come. His disciples wished
verses notably Ismael and The New Union, while he did trans-
to send her away, thinking her a mare, and they warned
lations from German, Spanish and Italian, he produced a
the saint of her approach, and the reason for her journey.
history of Athens, he contributed to endless periodicals,
He said to them : ' It is you who are the animals, who
think you see that which is not ; this woman is not changed, and was at one time editor of The New Monthly Magazine.
but your eyes are bewitched." As he spoke he scattered But albeit so busy throughout the whole of his career, and
holy water on the head of the woman, and all those present while winning vast fame and opulence, Lytton's life was
saw her in her true shape. He had something given her to not really a happy one, various causes conducing to make it
eat and sent her away safe and sound with her husband."
otherwise. Long before meeting his wife he fell in love with
lytton, Bulwer : Author (1803-1873). According to his
a young girl who died prematurely, and this loss seems to
baptismal certificate, the full name of this once famous
author was Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, and have left an indelible scar on his heart, while his marriage
in signing some of his early writings he used all these names
was anything but a successful one, the pair being divorced
with occasional variations in their order, an act which was
comparatively soon after their union. Now as a mere
regarded by many people as springing from pride and
child Lytton had evinced a predilection for mysticism,
pompousness, and which elicited the withering satire of
while he had surprised his mother once by asking her
Thackeray in Punch. Lytton was born at London in 1803,
and his father was a Norfolk squire, Bulwer of Heydon whether she was "not sometimes overcome by the sense of
her own identity" (almost exactly the same question was
put to his nurse in boyhood by another mj'stic, William
Bell Scott) ; Lvtton sedulously developed his leaning
towards the occult, and it is everywhere manifest in his
literary output. It transpires, for example, in his poem
The Tale of a Dreamer, and again in Kenelm Chillingly,
while in A Strange Story he tries to give a scientific
colouring to old-fashioned magic but neither this essay
;
nor those others are really to be called triumphant in the
artistic sense, and, as Sir Leslie Stephen shrewdly observes,
Lylton's " attempts at the mysterious too often remind
us of spirit-rapping rather than excite the thrill of super-
natural awe." In a word Lylton's outlook on life was
theatrical and his mysticism was not a little stagey.
MYTHOLOGICAL INTERCHANGE OF "MACROCOSM- AND
"MICROCOSM."
I face p. 256
Maat Kheru 257 Magia
M
Maat Kheru : According to Maspus, the Egyptian name of purpose met together and consulted in their temples.
the true intonation with which the dead must recite those They professed to make truth the great object of their
magic incantations which would give them power in Amenti, study ; for that alone, they said, can make man like God
the Egyptian Hades,
" whose body resembles fight, as his soul or spirit resembles
Macionica : Slavonic name for a witch. (See Slavs.) truth." They condemned all images, and those who said
that the gods are male and female ; they had neither
AMaekay, Gallatin : disciple of Albert Pike (q.v.) and one
temples nor altars, but worshipped the sky, as a represen-
of the leaders of Masonry in Charleston, U.S.A. who was
charged by Miss Diana Vaughan, Dr. Bataille and others tative of the Deity, on the tops of mountains ; they also
sacrificed to the sun, moon, earth, fire, water, and winds,
—with the practice of Satanism and sorcery charges entirely
without foundation. (See Waite, Devil- Worship in France.) says Herodotus, meaning, no doubt that they adored the
Mackenzie, Kenneth : (See Rosiciucians.) heavenly bodies and the elements. This was probably
Macrocosm, The : The whole universe (Greek Macros, long, before the time of Zoroaster, when the religion of Persia
seems to have resembled that of ancient India. Their
AKosmos the world (f. "Microcosm"). six-pointed star,
formed of two triangles, and the sacred symbol of Solomon's hymns in praise of the Most High exceeded, according to
Dio Chrysostom, the sublimity of anything in Homer or
—seal. It represents the infinite and the absolute that is,
the most simple and complete abridgment of the science of Hesiod. They exposed their dead bodies to wild beasts.
,all things. Paracelsus states that every magical figure It is a question " whether the old Persian doctrine and
—and kabalistic sign of the pantacles which compel spirits wisdom or tradition of light did not undergo material
may be reduced to two the Macrocosm and the Microcosm alterations in the hands of its Median restorer, Zoroaster
(q.v.) It is the emblem of the world. ;
or whether this doctrine was preserved in all its purity by
Macroprosopus, The : One of the four magical elements in the the order of the magi." He then remarks that on them
and probably representing one of the four simple devolved the important trust of the monarch's education,
—Kabala which must necessarily have given them great weight and
;
elements, air, water, earth, or fire. Macroprosopus means
" creator of the great world." influence in the state. They were in high credit at the
Madre Natura : An old and powerful secret society, of Italy, —" Persian gates "- for that was the Oriental name given to
who worshipped and idealised nature, and which seems the capital of the empire, and the abode of the prince—and
to have been founded by members of the ancient Italian they took the most active part in all the factions that
priesthood. It had a tradition that one of the Popes as encompassed che throne, or that were formed in the vicinity
Cardinal de Medici became a member of the fraternity, and of the court. In Greece, and even in Egypt, the sacerdotal
for this there is good documentary evidence. It accepted fraternities and associations of initiated, formed by the
the allegorical interpretation which the Neo-Platonists had mysteries, had in general but an indirect, though not
placed upon the Pagan creeds during the first ages of unimportant influence on affairs of state ; but in the
Christianity. Persian monarchy they acquired a complete political
Magi : Priests of ancient Persia, and the cultivators of the ascendency. Religion, philosophy, and the sciences were
wisdom of Zoroaster. They were institutied by Cyrus all in their hands, they were the universal physicians who
when he founded the new Persian empire, and are supposed healed the sick in body and in spirit, and, in strict con-
to have been of the Median race. Schlegel says (Philosophy sistency with that character, ministered to the state, which
oj History), " they were not so much a hereditary sacerdotal is only the man again in a larger sense. The three grades
caste as an order or association, divided into various and of the magi alluded to are called by Herber the" disciples,"
successive ranks and grades, such as existed in the mysteries the " professed," and the " masters." They were originally
— — —the grade of apprenticeship that of mastership that of from Bactria, where they governed a little state by laws
perfect mastership." In short, they were a theosophical of their own choice, and by their incorporation in the
college ; and either its professors were indifferently " magi," Persian empire, they greatly promoted the. consolidation
of the conquests of Cyrus. Their fall dates from the reign
or magicians, and " wise men " or they were distinguished
into two classes by those names. Their name pronounced of Darius Hystaspes, about 500 B.C., by whom they were
" Mogh " by the modern Persians, and " Magh " by the fiercely persecuted ; this produced an emigration which
ancients signified " Wise," and such is the interpretation extended to Cappadocia on the one hand, and to India on
of it given by the Greek and Roman writers. Stobaeus the other, but they were still of so much consideration at a
expressly calls the science of the magi, the service of the later period, as to provoke the jealousy of Alexander the
gods, so Plato. According to Ennemoser, " Magiusiah, Great. (See Persia.)
AMadschusie, signified the office and knowledge of the Magia Posthuma : short treatise on Vampirism published
priest, who was called " Mag, Magius, Magiusi," and after- at Olmutz in 1706, and written by Ferdinand de Schertz.
wards magi and " Magician." Brucker maintains that Reviewing it Calmet (q.v.) says in his Dissertation on
the primitive meaning of the word is " fire worshipper," Vampires: "The author relates a story of a woman that
" worship of the light," an erroneous opinion. In
the modern Persian the word is " Mog," and " Mogbed " died in a certain village, after having received all the sacra-
ments, and was buried with the usual ceremonies, in the
signifies high priest. The high priest of the Parsees at Churchyard. About four days after her death, the inhabi-
Surat, even at the present day, is called, " Mobed." Others tants of the village were affrighted with an uncommon noise
derive the word from " Megh," " Meh-ab " signifying and outcry, and saw a spectre, sometimes in the shape of a
something which is great and noble, and Zoroaster's dog, and sometimes in that of a man, which appeared to
disciples were called " Meghestom." Salverte states that great multitudes of people, and put them to excessive pain
these Mobeds are still named in the Pehivi dialect " Magoi." by squeezing their throats, and pressing their breasts,
almost to suffocation. There were several whose bodies
—They were divided into three classes : Those who
abstained from all animal food ; those %vho never ate of he bruised all over, and reduced them to the utmost weak-
ness, -so that they grew pale, lean, and disfigured. His
the flesh of any tame animals ; and those who made no fury was sometimes so great as not to spare the very
scruple to eat any kind of meat. A belief in the transmi-
.
gration of the soul was the foundation of this abstinence. beasts, for cows were frequently found beat to the earth,
They professed the science of divination, and for that half dead ; at other times with their tails tied to one*
Magic 258 Magic
another, and their hideous lowings sufficiently expressed lepers. There can be little doubt that the joints were
the pain they felt. Horses were often found almost removed for a specific purpose, and on this point there is
wearied to death, foaming with sweat, and out of breath,
as if they had been running a long and tiresome race ; and general agreement among anthropologists. A clue to the
these calamities continued for several months."
mystery is obtained by the magical custom among the
The author of the treatise examines into the subject in Bushmen of similarly removing finger joints. Mr. G. W.
'the capacity of a lawyer, and discusses both the matter of Stow in his The Native Races of South Africa makes refer-
fact and the points of law arising from it. He is clearly of ence to this strange form of sacrifice. He once came into
opinion that if the suspected person was really the author contact with a number of Bushmen who "had all lost the
of these noises, disturbances, and acts of cruelty, the law first joint of the little finger " which had been removed
will justify the burning of the body, as is practised in the with a " stone knife " with purpose to ensure a safe
case of other spectres which come again and molest the journey to the spirit world. Another writer tells of an old
living. He relates also several stories of apparitions of Bushman woman whose little fingers of both hands had
this sort, and particularises the mischiefs done by them. been mutilated, three joints in all having been removed.
One, among others, is of a herdsman of the village of Blow
She explained that each joint had been sacrificed as a
near the town of Kadam in Bohemia, who appeared for a
daughter died to express her sorrow. .No doubt, however,
considerable time together, and called upon several persons, there was a deeper meaning in the custom than she cared
to confess. F. Boas in his Report on the N.W. Tribes of
who all died within eight days. At last, the inhabitants of Canada gives evidence of the custom among these peoples.
Blow dug up the herdsman's body, and fixed it in the
When frequent deaths resulted from disease, the Canadian
ground, with a stake driven through it. The man, even
Indians were wont to sacrifice the joints of their little
in this condition, laughed at the people that were em- fingers so as, they explained, " to cut off the deaths."
ployed about him, and told them they were very obliging
Among the Indian Madigas (Telugu Pariahs) the evil eye
to furnish him with a stick to defend himself from the dogs. is averted by sacrificers who dip their hands in the blood of
goats or sheep and impress them on either side of a house
The same night he extricated himself from the stake, door. This custom is not unknown even to Brahmans.
frightened several persons by appearing to them, and
occasioned the death of many more than he had hitherto Impressions of hands are also occasionally seen on the walls
done. He was then delivered into the hands of the hang-
man, who put him into a cart, in order to burn him without of Indian Mohammedan mosques. As among the N.W.
the town. As they went along, the carcass shrieked in the Canadian tribes, the hand ceremony is most frequently
practised in India when epidemics make a heavy toll of
most hideous manner, and threw about its arms and legs, lives. The Bushmen also remove finger joints when
stricken with sickness. In Australia, where during initia-
as if it had been alive, and upon being again run through tion ceremonies the young men have teeth knocked out and
with a stake, it gave a loud cry, and a great quantity of
fresh, florid blood issued from the wound. At last the body bodies scarred, the women of some tribes mutilate the
was burnt to ashes, and this execution put a final stop to little fingers of daughters with purpose to influence their
the spectre's appearing and infesting the village. future careers. Apparently the finger chopping customs
The same method has been practised in other places, of Palaeolithic times had a magical significance. On some
where these apparitions have been seen, and upon taking of the paintings in the Aurignacian caves appear symbols
which suggest the slaying with spears and cutting up of
them out of the ground, their bodies have seemed fresh animals. Enigmatical signs are another feature. Of
and florid, their limbs pliant and flexible, without any
special interest are the figures of animal-headed demons,
worms or putrefaction, but not without a great stench.
The author quotes several other writers, who attest what some with hands upraised in the Egyptian attitude of
he relates concerning these spectres, which, he says, still adoration, and others apparently dancing like the animal-
appear in the mountains of Silesia and Moravia. They are headed dancing gods of the Bushmen. In the Marsonlas
Palaeolithic cave there are semi-human faces of angry
seen, it seems, both by day and night, and the things which
formerly belonged to them are observed to stir and change demons with staring eyes and monstrous noses. In the
Spanish Cave at Cogul several figures of women wearing
their place, without any person's being seen to touch them.
And the only remedy in these cases, is to cut off the head, half-length skirts and shoulder shawls, are represented
and burn the body of the persons that are supposed to dancing round a nude male. So closely do these females
resemble such as usually appear in Bushmen paintings
appear.
Magic : Short for " magic art," from Greek magein the that they might well, but for their location, be credited to
science and religion of the priests of Zoroaster ; or, accord- this interesting people. Religious dances among the
ing to Skeat, from Greek megas, great, thus signifying the Bushman tribes are associated with marriage, birth and
—" great " science. burial ceremonies ; they are also performed to exorcise
History. The earliest traces of magical practice are demons in cases of sickness. " Dances are to us what
found in the European caves of the middle Palaeolithic Age. prayers are to you," an elderly Bushman once informed a
European. Whether the cave drawings and wood, bone
These belong to the last interglacial period of the Pleistocene
and ivory carvings of the Magdalenian, or late Palaeolithic
period, which has been named the Aurignacian, after the period at the close of the last ice epoch, are of magical
cave-dwellers of Aurignac, whose skeletons, artifacts and significance is a problem on which there is no general agree-
drawings link them with the Bushmen of South Africa.
ment. It is significant to find, however, that several
In the cave of Gargas, near Bagneres de Luchon, occur, in
carved ornaments bearing animal figures or enigmatical
addition to spirited and realistic drawings of animals, numer-
signs are perforated as if worn as charms. On a piece of
ous imprints of human hands in various stages of mutilation.
Some hands had been first smeared with a sticky substance horn found at Lorthet, Hautes Pyrenees, are beautiful
incised drawings of reindeer and salmon, above which appear
and then pressed on the rock ; others had been held in
position to be dusted round with red ochre, or black pig- mystical symbols. An ape-like demon carved on bone was
found at Mas d'Azil : on a reindeer horn from Laugerie
ment. Most of the imprinted hands have mutilated Basse a prostrate man with a tail is creeping up on all fours
fingers ; in some cases the first and second joints of one or towards a grazing bison. These are some of the instances
more fingers are wanting ; in others the stumps only of all —which lend colour to the view that late Palaeolithic art had
Afingers remain. close study of the hand imprints makes its origin in magical beliefs and practices that hunters
it evident that they are not to be regarded as those of
Magic 259 Magic
carved on the handles of weapons and implements, or the eighth to the thirteenth century, there does not appear
—scratched on cave walls, the images of the animals they to have been much persecution of the professors of magic,
desired to capture sometimes with the secured co-opera- but after that period the opinions of the church underwent a
tion of demons, and sometimes with the aid of magical radical change, and the life of the magus was fraught with
spells. considerable danger. However, it is pretty clear that he
Coming to historic times we know that the ancient was not victimised in the same manner as his lesser brethren,
Egyptians (See Egypt) possessed a highly-developed magical the sorcerers and wizards but we find Paracelsus con-
;
system, as did the Babylonians (See Semites), and other sistently baited by the medical profession of his day,
pristine civilisations. Indeed from these the mediaeval
European system of magic was finally evolved. Greece and Agrippa constantly persecuted, and even mystics like
Rome (both of which see) also possessed distinct national Boehme imprisoned and ill-used. It is difficult at this
systems, which in some measure were branches of their distance to estimate the enormous vogue that magic
religions ; and thus like the Egyptian and Babylonian
were preserves of the priesthood. experienced, whether for good or evil during the middle ages.
Although severely punished, if discovered or if its pro-
fessors became sufficiently notorious to court persecution,
Magic in early Europe was, of course, merely an appen- —the power it seems to have conferred upon them was eagerly
dage of the various religious systems which obtained sought by scores of people the majority of whom were
throughout that continent and it was these systems quite unfitted for its practice, and clumsily betrayed
;
which later generated into witchcraft (q.v.) But upon the themselves into the hands of the authorities. In the
foundation of Christianity, the church soon began to regard article entitled " Black Magic," we have outlined
the practice of magic as foreign to the spirit of its religion. the history of that lesser magic known as sorcery or " black
Thus the Thirty-sixth Canon of the (Ecumenical Council
magic," and there have shown what persecutions overtook
held at Laodicea in 364 A.D. forbids clerks and priests to those who practised it.
become magicians, enchanters, mathematicians or astrolo-
As has already been mentioned, the history of higher
gers. It orders, moreover, that the Church shall expel magic in Europe is a matter of great names, and these are
from its bosom those who employ ligatures or phylacteries,
because it says phylacteries are the prisons of the soul. The somewhat few. They do not include alchemists, who
Fourth Canon of the Council of Oxia, A.D. 525, prohibited
the consultation of sorcerers, augurs, diviners, and divina- are strictly speaking not magicians, as their application of
tions made with wood or bread and the Sixtieth Canon
arcane laws was particular and not universal ; but this is
;
not to say that some alchemists were not also magicians.
of the Council of Constantinople A.D. 692, excommunicated
for a period of six years diviners, and those who had recourse The two great names which stand out in the history of
to them. The prohibition was repeated by the Council of
European magic are those of Paracelsus and Agrippa, who
Rome in 721. The Forty-second Canon of the Council of
formulated the science of mediaeval magic in its
entirety. They were also the greatest practical magicians
of the middle ages, as apart from pure mystics, alchemists
Tours in 613 is to the effect that the priests shall teach to and others, and their thaumaturgic and necromantic ex-
the people the inemcacy of magical practices to restore the
periences were probably never surpassed. With these
health of men or animals, and later Councils practically
mediaeval magic comes to a close and the further history of
endorsed the church's earlier views. the science in Europe will be found outlined in the division
It does not appear, however, that what may be called —of this article entitled " Modern Magic."
Scientific Theories regarding the Nature of Magic.
" mediaeval magic " took final and definite shape until
about the twelfth century. Modelled upon the systems General agreement as to the proper definition of magic is
in vogue among the Byzantines and Moors of Spain, which
•were evolved from the Alexandrian system (See Neopla- wanting, as it depends upon the view taken of religious
tonism), what might be called the " oriental " type of
magic gained footing in Europe, and quite superseded the belief. According to Frazer, magic and religion are one and
earlier and semi-barbarian systems in use among the various
countries of that continent, most of which, as has been the same thing, or are so closely allied as to be almost
identical. This may be true of peoples in a savage or
barbarian condition of society, but can scarcely apply to
magic and religion as fully fledged, as for example in mediae-
said, were the relics of older pagan practice and ritual. To val times, however fundamental may be their original unity.
these relics clung the witch and the wizard and the pro- The objective theory of magic would regard it as entirely
fessors' of lesser magic ; whereas among the disciples of the distinct from religion, possessed of certain well-marked
—imported system we find the magician black and white. attributes, and traceable to mental processes differing from
the necromancer and the sorcerer. The manner in which those from which the religious idea springs. Here and
the theosophy and the magic of the East was imported was there the two have become fused by the super-imposition of
probably two-fold ; first, there is good evidence that it religious upon magical practice. The objective idea of
was imported into Europe by persons returning from the
Crusades ; and secondly, we know that in matters of magic, in short, rests on the belief that it is based on
wisaom, Byzantium fell heir to Alexandria, and that from
magical laws which are supposed to operate with the
regularity of those of natural science. The subjective
Constantinople magic was disseminated throughout Europe, view, on the other hand, is that many practices seemingly
along with other sciences. It is not necessary to deal in magical are in reality religious, and that no rite can be
the course of this article with the history of witchcraft and called magical which is not so designated by its celebrant
lesser sorcery, as that has already been done in the article or agent. It has been said that religion consists of an
" witchcraft " (q.v.) ; and we will confine ourselves strictly
appeal to the gods, whereas magic is the attempt to force
to the history of the higher branches of magic. But it is
competent to remark that Europe had largely obtained its their compliance. Messrs. Hubert and Mauss believe that
pneumotology from the orient through Christianity, from magic is essentially traditional. Holding as they do that
the primitive mind is markedly unoriginal, they have
Jewish and early Semitic sources ; and it is an open question satisfied themselves that magic is therefore an art which
how far eastern demonology coloured that of the Catholic does not exhibit any frequent changes amongst primitive
Church. folk, and is fixed by its laws. Religion, they say, is official
and organised, magic prohibited and secret. Magical power
Mediaeval magic of the higher type has practically no
landmarks save a series of great names. Its tenets ex- appears to them to be determined by the contiguity, simi-
perienced but little alteration during six centuries. From larity and contrast of the object of the act, and the object
Magic 260 Magic
—to be effected. Mr. Frazer believes all magic to be based become fused with magical practice, and ^a " complete
on the law of sympathy that is the assumption that —demonology would thus speedily arise.
The Dynamics of Magic. Magical practice is governed
things act on one another at a distance because of their
by well-marked laws limited in number. It possesses
being secretly linked together by invisible bonds. He many classes of practitioner ; as, for example, the 'diviner
divides sympathetic magic into homeopathic magic and or augur, whose duties are entirely different from those
contagious magic. The first is imitative or mimetic, and of the witch-doctor. Chief among these laws, as has been
may be practised by itself ; but the latter usually necessi- already hinted, is that of sympathy, which, as has been
tates the application of the imitative principle. Well- said, must inevitably be sub-divided into the laws of
known instances of mimetic magic are the forming of wax
figures in the likeness of an enemy, which are destroyed in similarity, contiguity and antipathy. The law of simi-
. the hope that he will perish. Contagious magic may be — —larity and homeopathy is again divisible into two sections :
instanced by the savage anointing the weapon which caused
a wound instead of the wound itself, in the belief that the (i) -the assumption that like produces like an illustration
blood on the weapon continues to feel with the blood on — —of which is the destruction of a model in the form of an
enemy and (2) the idea that like cures like for instance,
;
the body. Mr. L. Marillier divides magic into three classes : that the stone called the bloodstone can staunch the flow
the magic of the word or act ; the magic of the human being of bleeding. The law dealing with antipathy rests on
independent of rite or formula and the magic which
the assumption that the application of a certain object
;
or drug expels its contrary. There remains contiguity,
demands a human being of special powers and the use of
ritual. Mr. A. Lehmann belie.ves magic to be a practice of which is based on the concept that whatever has once
superstition, and founds it in illusion. The fault of all
formed part of an object continues to form part of it.
,
Thus if a magician can obtain a portion of a person's hair,
these theories is that they strive after too great an exact-
ness, and that they do not allow sufficiently for the feeling he can work woe upon him through the invisible bonds
of wonder and awe which is native to the human mind- which are supposed to extend between him and the hair in
WeIndeed they designate this " strained attention." the sorcerer's possession. It is well-known that if the
may grant that the attention of savages to a magical rite animal familiar of a witch be wounded, that the wound will
is " strained," so strained is it in some cases that it terrifies react in a sympathetic manner on the witch herself. This
them into insanity ; and it would seem therefore as if the is called " repercussion."
limits of : attention " were overpassed, and as if it shaded Another widespread belief is that if the magician procures
'
into something very much deeper. Moreover it is just the name of a person that he can gain magical dominion
possible that in future it may be granted that so-called over him. This, of course, arose from the idea that the
sympathetic magic does not partake of the nature of magic name of an individual was identical with himself. The
at all, but has greater affinities (owing to its strictly doctrine of the Incommunicable Name, the hidden name
natural and non-supernatural character) with pseudo- —of the god or magician, is well instanced by many legends
science. in Egyptian history, the deity usually taking extra-
—Magic is recognised by many savage peoples as a force ordinary care to keep his name secret, in order that no one
rather than an art, a thing which impinges upon the might gain power over him. The spell or incantation is
thought of man from outside. It would appear that many connected with this concept, and with these, in a lesser
barbarian tribes believe in what would seem to be a great degree, may be associated magical gesture, which is usually
reservoir of magical power, the exact nature of which they introduced for the purpose of accentuating the spoken word
are not prepared to specify. Thus amongst certain Ameri- Gesture is often symbolic or sympathetic ; it is sometimes
can-Indian tribes we find a force called Orenda or spirit- the reversal of a religious rite, such as marching against
force. Amongst the ancient Peruvians, everything sacred the sun, Which is known as walking " widdershins." The
was huaca and possessed of magical power. In Melanesia, method of pronouncing rites is, too, one of great impor-
we find a force spoken of called mana, transmissible and tance. Archaic or foreign expressions are usually found
contagious, which may be seen in the form of flames or in spells ancient and modern ; and the tone in which the
even heard. The Malays use the word kramat to signify incantation is spoken, no less than its exactness, is also
the same thing and the Malagasy the term hasma. Some important. To secure exactness rhythm was often em-
;
of the tribes round Lake Tanganyika believe in such a —ployed, which had the effect of aiding memory.
The Magician. In early society, the magician, which
force, which they call ngai, and Australian tribes have many
.similar terms, such as churinga and boolya. To hark back term includes the shaman, medicine-man, piage, witch-
to America, we find in Mexico the strange creed named
doctor, et cetera, may hold his position by hereditary
—nagualism, which partakes of the same conception every-
right ; by an accident of birth, as being the seventh son
thing nagual is magical or possesses an inherent spiritual of a seventh son ; to revelation from the gods ; or through
mere mastery of ritual. In savage life we find the shaman
force of its own.
a good deal of a medium, for instead of summoning the
—Theories of the Origin of Magic. Many theories have
—been advanced regarding the origin of magic some author- powers of the air at his bidding as did the magicians of
ities believing that it commenced with the idea of personal mediaeval days, he seems to find it necessary to throw him-
superiority others through animistic beliefs [See Animism); self into a state of trance and seek them in their own
;
and still others through such ideas as that physical pains, sphere. The magician is also often regarded as possessed
for which the savage could not account, were supposed by an animal or supernatural being. The duties of the
to be inflicted by invisible weapons. This last theory is, of priest and magician are often combined in primitive
course, in itself, merely animistic. It does not seem, how- society, but it cannot be too strongly asserted that where
ever, that writers on the subject have given sufficient a religion has been superseded, the priests of the old
attention to the great influence exerted on the mind of man cult are, for those who have taken their places, nothing
by odd or peculiar occurrences. We do notfor a moment but magicians. We do not hear much of beneficent magic
desire to advance the hypothesis that magic entirely among savage peoples, and it is only in Europe that White
originated from such a source, but we believe that it was
—Magic may be said to have gained any hold.
a powerful factor in the growth of magical belief. To Medicsval Definition of Magic. The definitions of magic
which, too, animism and taboo contributed their quota. vouchsafed by the great magicians of mediaeval and modern
Tne cult of the dead too and their worship would soon-
times naturally differ greatly from those of anthropologists.
Magic 261 Magical Diagrams
For example Eliphas Levi says in his History of place (Seel Devil Worship) : but what of that higher magic
Magic : " Magic combines in a single science that which
which has, at least in modern times, attracted so many
is most certain in philosophy with that which is eternal
Wegifted minds ? cannot say that the true line of
and infallible in religion. It reconciles perfectly and magical adepts ended with Levi, as at no time in the world's
—incontestably those two terms so opposed on the first history are these known to the vulgar ; but we may be
view faith and reason, science and belief, authority and certain that the great art is practised in secret as sedulously
liberty. It furnishes the human mind with an instrument as ever in the past, and that men of temperament as
of philosophical and religious certainty, as exact as mathe- exalted as in the case of Ihe magacians of older days still
matics, and even accounting for the infallibility of mathe- privately pursue that art, which, like its sister religion, is
matics themselves There is an incontestable truth, none the less celestial because it has been evolved from
and there is an infallible method of knowing that truth lowly origins in the mind of man, whose spirit with the
; march of time reflects ever more strongly the light of
while those who attain this knowledge and adopt it as a
rule of life, can endow their life with a sovereign power, heaven, as the sea at first dimly reddened by the dawn, at
which can make them masters of all inferior things, of length mirrors the whole splendour of day.
wandering spirits, or in other words, arbiters and kings of (See also Abraham the Jew, Black Magic, Ceremonial Magic,
the world." Paracelsus says regarding magic : " The
Egypt, Magic Darts, Magical Diagrams, Magical Instruments,
magical is a great hidden wisdom, and reason is a great Magical Numbers, Magical Union of Cologne, Magical Vest-
open folly. No armour shields against magic for it strikes ments, Mediaeval Magic.)
at the inward spirit of life. Of this we may rest assured, Magic Darts : The Laplanders, who passed at one time for
that through full and powerful imagination only can we great magicians, were said to launch lead darts, about a
bring the spirit of any man into an image. No conjuration, finger-length, against their absent enemies, believing that
no rites are needful ; circle-making and the scattering of with the magic darts they were sending grevious pains and
incense are mere humbug and jugglery. The human spirit maladies. (See Magic.)
is so great a thing that no man can express it ; eternal and Magic Squares : (See Abraham the Jew.)
Magical Diagrams : These were geometrical designs, repre-
unchangeable as God Himself is the mind of man and
; senting the mysteries of deity and creation, therefore
could we rightly comprehend the mind of man, nothing
would be impossible to us upon the earth. Through faith supposed to be of special virtue in rites of evocation and
the imagination is invigorated and completed, for it really conjuration.
happens that every doubt mars its perfection. Faith must The chief of these were the Triangle, the Double Triangle,
strengthen imagination, for faith establishes the will. forming a six-pointed star and known as the Sign or Seal
Because man did not perfectly believe and imagine, the of Solomon the Tetragram a four-pointed star formed
result is that arts are uncertain when they might be wholly ;
by the interlacement of two pillars ; and the Pentagram,
—certain." Agrippa also regarded magic as the true road to a five-pointed star.
These signs were traced on paper or parchment, or
communion with God thus linking it with mysticism.
Modern Magic : With the death of Agrippa in 1535 the old engraved on metals and glass and consecrated to their
school of magicians may be said to have ended. But that is various uses by special rites.
not to say that the traditions of magic were not handed on The Triangle was based on the idea of trinity as found in
to others who were equally capable of preserving them. all things, in deity, time and creation. The triangle was
generally traced on the ground with the magic sword or
We must carefully discriminate at this juncture between
those practitioners of magic, whose minds were illuminated rod, as in circles of evocation where the triangle was drawn
by a high mystical ideal, and persons of doubtful occult within it and according to the position of the magician at
position, like the Comte de Saint-Germain and others. At its point or base so the spirits were conjured from heaven or
the beginning of the seventeenth century we find many hell.
great alchemists in practice, who were also devoted to
The Double Triangle, the Sign of Solomon, symbolic of
the researches of transcendental magic, which they care- the Macrocosm, was formed by the interlacement of two
fully and successfully concealed under the veil of hermetic triangles, thus its points constituted the perfect number
experiment. These were Michael Meyer, Campe, Robert six. The magicians wore it, bound on their brows and
Flood, Cosmopolite, D'Espagnet, Samuel Norton, Baron breasts during the ceremonies and it was engraved on the
de Beausoleil, and Van Helmont ; another illustrious name silver reservoir of the magic lamp.
is also that of Philalethes. The eighteenth century was The Tetragram was symbolic of the four elements and
rich in occult personalities, as for example the alchemist used in the conjuration of the elementary spirits—sylphs
Lascaris (q.v.) Martines de Pasqually, and Louis de Saint- of the air, undines of the water, the fire salamanders and
Martin (q.v.) who founded the Martinist school, which gnomes of the earth. In alchemy it represented the
still exists under the grandmastership of Papus. After magical elements, salt, sulphur, mercury and azoth ; in
mystic philosophy the ideas Spirit, Matter, Motion and
this magic merges for the moment into mesmerism, and Rest ; in hieroglyphs the man, eagle, lion and bull.
many of the secret magical societies which abounded in
Europe about this period practised animal magnetism as The Pentagram, the sign of the Microcosm, was held to be
well as astrology, Kabalism and ceremonial magic. Indeed the most powerful means of conjuration in any rite. It
mesmerism powerfully influenced mystic life in the time of may represent evil as well as good, for while with one point
its chief protagonist, and the mesmerists of the first era are in the ascendant it was the sign of Christ, with two points
in direct line with the Martinist and the mystical magicians in the ascendant it was the sign of Satan. By the use of
of the late eighteenth century. Indeed mysticism and the pentagram in these positions the powers of light or
magnetism are one and the same thing, in the persons of darkness were evoked. The pentagram was said to be
some of these occultists (See Secret Tradition) the most the star which led the Magi to the manger where the
celebrated of which were Cazotte, Ganneau, Comte, infant Christ was laid.
Ihe preparation and consecration of this sign for use in
Wronski, Du Potet, Hennequin, Comte d'Ourches, and
Baron de Guldenstubbe, and last of the initiates known to magical rites is prescribed with great detail. It might be
us, Eliphas Levi (all of which see). composed of seven metals, the ideal form for its expression ;
That Black Magic and sorcery are still practised is a or traced in pure gold upon white marble, never before
well-known fact, which requires no amplification in this used for any purpose. It might also be drawn with
Magical Instruments an! Accessories 262 Magical Numbers
vermilion upon lambskin without a blemish prepared under The sword must be wrought of unalloyed steel, with
the auspices of the Sun. The sign was next consecrated copper handle in the form of a crucifix. Mystical signs
with the four elements ; breathed on five times ; dried by were engraved on guard and blade and its consecration
the smoke of five perfumes, incense, myrrh, aloes, sulphur took place on a Sunday in full rays of the sun, when the
and camphor. The names of five genii were breathed sword was thrust into a sacred fire of cypress and laurel,
above it, and then the sign was placed successively at the then moistened with the blood of a snake, polished, and
north, south, east and west and centre of the astronomical next, together with branches of vervain, swathed in silk.
cross pronouncing the letters of the sacred tetragram and The sword was generally used in the service of Black Magic.
various Kabalistic names. The magic fork or trident used in necromancy was also
It was believed to be of great efficacy in terrifying fashioned of hazel or almond, cut from the tree at one
phantoms if engraved upon glass, and the magicians blow with an unused knife, from whose blade must' be
traced it on their doorsteps to prevent evil spirits from fashioned the three prongs. Witches and sorceresses are
entering and the good from departing. usually depicted "using the trident in their infernal .rites.
This symbol has been used by all secret and occult The fire was lit with charcoal on which were cast branches
societies, by the Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, down to the of trees, symbolic of the end desired. In Black Magic
Freemasons of to-day. Modern Occultists translate the these generally consisted of cypress, alderwood, broken
meaning of the pentagram as symbolic of the human soul crucifixes and desecrated hosts.
and its relation to God. The oil for anointing was compounded of myrrh, cinna-
The symbol is placed with one point in the ascendant. mon, galingale and purest oil of Olive. Unguents were
used by sorcerers and witches, who smeared their brows,
AThat point represents the Great Spirit, God. line drawn
from there to the left-hand angle at base is the descent breasts and wrists with a mixture composed of human fat
of spirit into matter in its lowest form, whence it ascends and blood of corpses, combined with aconite, belladonna
to right-hand angle typifying matter in its highest form, and poisonous fungi, thinking thereby to make themselves
the brain of man. From here a line is drawn across the invisible.
figure to left angle representing man's development in Incense might be of any odoriferous woods and herbs,
intellect, and progress in material civilization, the point of such as cedar, rose, citron, aloes, cinnamon, sandal, reduced
danger, from which all nations have fallen into moral to a fine powder, together with incense and storax. In
corruption, signified by the descent of the line to right Black Magic, alum, sulphur and assafcetida were used as
angle at base. But the soul of man being derived from incense.
God cannot remain at this point, but must struggle upward, The candles, belonging solely to practices. of Black Magic
as is symbolised by the line reaching again to the apex, were moulded from human fat and set in candlesticks of
God, whence it issued. ebony carved in the form of a crescent.
Magical Instruments and Accessories : In magical rites these Bowls also were used in these ceremonies, fashioned of
were considered of the utmost importance. Indispensable different metals, their shape symbolic of the heavens. In
to the efficacy of the ceremonies were the altar, the chalice, necromantic rites skulls of criminals were used, generally
the tripod, the censer the lamp, rod, sword, and magic to hold the blood of some victim or sacrifice.
;
fork or trident ; the sacred fire and consecrated oils ; the Magical Numbers : Certain numbers and their combinations
incense and the candles. were held to be of magical power, by virtue of their repre-
The altar might be of wood or stone, but if of the latter, sentation of divine and creative mysteries.
then of stone that has never been worked or hewn or even The doctrines of Pythagoras furnished the basis for much
touched by the hammer.
of this belief. According to his theory numbers contained
The chalice might be of different metals, symbolic of the the elements of all things, of the natural and spiritual
object of the rites. Where the purpose was evil, a black worlds and of the sciences. The real numerals of the
chalice was used as in the profane masses of sorcerers and universe are the primaries one to ten and in their com-
witches. In some talismans the chalice is engraved as a bination the reason of all else may be found. To the
symbol of the moon.
Pythagoreans One represented unity, therefore God ; Two
The tripod and its triangular stand was also made in
was duality, the Devil Four was sacred and holy, the
symbolic metals. ;
The censer might be of bronze, but preferably of silver. number on which the}' swore their most solemn oaths ;
Five was their symbol of marriage. They also attributed
In the construction of the lamp, gold, silver, brass and certain numbers to the gods, planets and elements ; one
iron must be used, iron for the pedestal, brass for the
represented the Sun, two the Moon while five was fire,
;
mirror, silver for the reservoir and at the apex a golden six the earth, eight the air, and twelve water.
triangle. Various symbols were traced upon it, including an Cornelius Agrippa in his work Occult Philosophy pub-
androgynous figure about the pedestal, a serpent devouring lished in 1533, discourses upon numbers as those characters
its own tail, and the Sign of Solomon. by whose proportion all things were formed. He enu-
The rod must be specially fashioned of certain woods merates the virtues of numerals as displayed in nature,
Aand then consecrated to its magical uses. perfectly instancing the herb cinquefoil, which by the power of the
straight branch of almond or hazel was to be chosen. This number five exorcises devils, allays fever and forms an
was cut before the tree blossomed, and cut with a golden
antidote to poisons. Also the virtue of seven as in the
sickle in the early dawn. Throughout its length must be power of the seventh son to cure king's evil.
run a long needle of magnetized iron at one end there One was the origin and common measure of all things.
;
should be affixed a triangular prism, to the other, one of It is indivisible ; not to be multiplied. In the universe
black resin, and rings of copper and zinc bound about it. there is one God one supreme intelligence in the intellec-
;
At the new moon it must be consecrated by a magician
tual world, man ; in the sidereal world, one Sun ; one
who already possesses a consecrated rod.
potent instrument and agency in the elementary world,
The secret of the construction and consecration of the philosopher's stone one chief member in the human
;
magical rods was jealously guarded by all magicians and world, the heart ; and one sovereign prince in the nether
the rod itself was displayed as little as possible, being world, Lucifer.
usually concealed in the flowing sleeve of the magician's Two was the number of marriage, charity and social
robe. communion. It was also regarded sometimes as an unclean
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MAGICAL DIAGRAMS AND REQUISITES
[face p. 262
Magical Papyri 263 Maginot
number beasts of the field went into the Ark by twos. Ascarlet and girdle of white silk. crown or fillet of silk
;
Three had a mysterious value as shown in Time's trinity and gold was to be worn on the head and the perfumes
cast on the fire might be incense, aloes, storax, cedar,
— —Past, Present and Future ; in that of Space length,
breadth and thickness in the three heavenly virtues citron or rose.
;
faith, hope and charity in the three worlds of man According to other authorities on the subject it was
;
brain, the intellectual ; heart, the celestial and body, advisable to vary colour of robe and employ certain jewels
;
elemental. and other accessories according to the symbolism of the
Four signifies solidity and foundation. There are four
end desired. A magician of the nineteenth century,
seasons, four elements, four cardinal points, four evangelists. Eliphas Levi, gives a detailed description of ritual, from
Five, as it divides ten, the sum of all numbers, is also the which the following is taken.
•number of justice. There are five senses ; the Stigmata, If the rites were those of White Magic and performed on
the wounds of Christ were five ; the name of the Deity the a Sunday, then the vestment should be of purple, the tiara,
Pentagram is composed of five letters ; it also is a pro- bracelets and ring of gold, the latter set with a chrysolith
tection against beasts of prey. or ruby. Laurel, heliotrope and sunflowers are the sym-
Six is the sign of creation, because the world was com- bolic flowers, while other details include a carpet of lion-
pleted in six days. It is the perfect number, because it skins and fans of sparrow-hawk feathers. The appropriate
alone by addition of its half, its third and its sixth reforms perfumes are incense, saffron, cinnamon and red sandal.
itself. It also represents servitude by reason of the Divine If, however, the ceremonial took place on a Monday, the
injunction " Six days shalt thou labour." Day of the Moon, then the robe must be of white embroi-
Seven is a miraculous number, consisting of one, unity, dered with silver and the tiara of yellow silk emblazoned
and six, sign of perfection. It represents life because it with silver characters ; while the wreaths were to be woven
contains body, consisting of four elements, spirit, flesh, of moonwort and yellow ranunculi. The jewels appro-
bone and humour ;' and soul, made up of three elements, priate to the occasion were pearls, crystals and selenite
;
passion, desire and reason. The seventh day was that on the perfumes, camphor, amber, aloes, white sandal and
which God rested from his work of creation. seed of cucumber.
Eight represents justice and fulness. Divided, its halves In evocations concerning transcendent knowledge, green
are equal ; twice divided, it is still even. In the Beatitude was the colour chosen for the vestment, or it might be
green shot with various colours. The chief ornament was
—eight is the number of those mentioned peace-makers,
a necklace of pearls and hollow glass beads enclosing mer-
they who strive after righteousness, the meek, the perse-
cuted, the pure, the merciful, the poor in spirit, and they cury. Agate was the symbolic jewel narcissus, lily,
;
that mourn. herb mercury, fumitory, and marjoram the flowers ; whilst
Nine is the number of the muses and of the moving the perfumes must be benzoin, mace and storax.
spheres. For operations connected with religious and political
Ten is completeness because one cannot count beyond matters, the magician must don a robe of scarlet and bind
it except by combinations formed with other numbers. In on his brow a brass tablet inscribed with various characters
the ancient mysteries ten days of initiation were pre- His ring must be studded with an emerald or sapphire, and
scribed. In ten is found evident signs of a Divine principle. he must burn for incense, balm, ambergris, grain of para-
Eleven is the number of the commandments, while dise and saffron. For garlands and wreaths, oak, poplar,
Twelve is the number of signs in the Zodiac, of the apostles, fig and pomegranate leaves should be entwined.
of the tribes of Israel, of the gates of Jerusalem. If the ceremonial dealt with amatory affairs, the vestment
This theory of numbers Agrippa applied to the casting must be of sky-blue, the ornaments of copper, and- the
•of horoscopes. Divination by numbers was one of the crown of violets. The magic ring must be set with a
favourite methods employed in the Middle Ages. turquoise, while the tiara and clasps were wrought of
In magical rites, numbers played a great part. The lapis-lazuli and beryl. Roses, myrtle and olive were the
instruments, vestments and ornaments must be duplicated. symbolic flowers, and fans must be made of swan-
The power of the number three is found in the magic triangle : feathers.
in the three prongs of the trident and fork ; and in the three- If vengeance was desired on anyone, then robes must be
fold repetition of names in conjurations. Seven was also worn whose colour was that of blood, flame or rust, belted
of great influence, the seven days of the week each repre- with steel, with bracelets and ring of the same metal. The
senting the period most suitable for certain evocations and tiara must be bound with gold and the wreaths woven of
—-these corresponded to the seven magical works ; i .• works
—of light and riches ; 2. works of divination and mystery ; absinthe and rue.
— —3. works of skill, science and eloquence 4. works of To bring misfortune and death on a person, the vest-
;
— —wrath and chastisement 5. ment must be black and the neck encircled with lead. The
; works ring must be set with an onyx and the garlands twined of
works of love ; 6. cypress, ash and hellebore ; whilst the perfumes to be used
—of ambition and intrigue 7. works of malediction and were sulphur, scammony, alum and assafcetida.
;
death.
Magical Papyri : (See Egypt.) For purposes of Black Magic, a seamless and sleeveless
robe of black was donned, while on the head was worn a
Magical Union of Cologne : A society stated in a MS. of the leaden cap inscribed with the signs of the Moon, Venus and
Rosicrucians at Cologne to have been founded in that city
in the year 11 15. In the Rosenkreutzer in seiner blosse of Saturn. The wreaths were of vervain and cypress ; and
Weise it is stated that the initiates wore a triangle as the perfumes burned were aloes, camphor and storax.
symbolising power, wisdom and love. The more exalted Maginot, Adele : One of the mediums whose trance utterances
orders among them were called Magos, and these held the have been recorded by the French spiritualist Alphonse
greater mysteries of the fraternity. Cahagnet, who published his Arcanes de la vie future
Magical Vestments and Appurtenances : These were prescribed devoilis in 184S. Her seances, of which Cahagnet strove
needful adjuncts to magical rites, whose colour, name, form to obtain a written account from as many as possible of
and substance, symbolic of certain powers and elements, those present, are among the most valuable evidence which
added, it was supposed, greater efficacy to the evocations. spiritualism can produce. Her descriptions of absent or
Abraham the Jew, a magician of the Middle Ages, pre- deceased friends of the sitters were singularly accurate,
though her supposed conversations with their spirits would
scribed a tunic of white linen, with upper robe of
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An encyclopaedia of occultism _ a compendium of information on the occult sciences, occult personalities, psychic science, magic, demonology, spiritism and mysticism
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An encyclopaedia of occultism _ a compendium of information on the occult sciences, occult personalities, psychic science, magic, demonology, spiritism and mysticism
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