BLACK MAGIC.
Geber, an alchemist of great repute in Arabia, was believed to possess
the power of creating gold by magic. He was a man of undoubted learning
and a skilful practitioner of his time, yet he was dubbed a sorcerer.
He was said to possess all kinds of extraordinary implements; among
others, a book of black magic which gave him full power over demons,
and a brass idol which spoke oracles. On the day of his death, in
1003, the Evil One is supposed to have carried him off. James Iodoc,
an Englishman, achieved considerable notoriety by claiming that he had
succeeded in setting the demon in a magic ring. These men should not be
confounded with the host of impostors and charlatans who simply preyed
on the credulity of the people, but in those days all were judged
alike. Most of the great mediæval alchemists dabbled in magic, and all
agreed that to obtain the intervention of Satan in human affairs it was
necessary to enter into a pact with him. Those who went to this length
and became exponents of demonology, or the black art, were initiated
with much solemnity.
TAKING THE OATH.
The oath to the demon had to be pronounced in the centre of a circle
traced upon the ground, accompanied by the offer of some pledge, such
as a garment of the noviciate. The edge of the circle was supposed to
establish a mark which the demon could not cross. Heavy perfumes such
as vervain, with burning incense and lighted tapers, always formed part
of the ceremonial. The smoking brazier, which entered largely into
the ritual, was believed to act upon the demons, and was constantly
fed with all kinds of mysterious vegetable and animal substances,
those that would produce most smoke being preferred. It is said that
belladonna and opium were always used as ingredients in the incense, in
order to produce a state of semi-stupor and influence the imagination.
The perfumes employed by the professors of the art had each a special
significance, and were offered to some planet to form a link with the
earth. A mixture of saffron, amber, musk, cloves and incense, together
with the brain of an eagle and the blood of a cock, was offered to the
Sun.
The white poppy and camphor burnt in the head of a frog, with the eyes
of a bull and the blood of a goose, were dedicated to the Moon; while
to Mars, sulphur was mixed with hellebore and euphorbium, together with
the blood of a black cat and the brain of a crow, and then burnt.
One can imagine the horrible odour that would be caused by burning
such articles as these; and, as the columns of smoke ascended, the
half-stupefied and scared spectator fancied he saw the forms of
writhing demons in the air.
Very curious properties were attributed to certain articles when thrown
on live coals. Thus, if thunder and rain were required, the liver of
a chameleon was said to produce it; while the gall of a cuttle-fish
burnt with roses and aloes-wood was all that was necessary to induce an
earthquake.
By burning coriander, parsley, hemlock, liquor of black poppy, giant
fennel, red sandal-wood and henbane, almost any number of demons could
be raised. Sorcerers of this class were called tempest-raisers.
With the witchcraft practised largely by women in mediæval times, we
have not much to do; although belief in its influence was widespread
during the middle ages. To bewitch an individual was to cause him
gradually to die a mysterious death.
The process commenced at first with great secrecy, by modelling a
figure of the intended victim in wax or clay. This having been done,
a swallow was killed, and the heart placed under the right arm of
the figure and the liver under the left. The effigy was next pricked
all over with new needles, each prick being accompanied by the most
terrible imprecations against the victim.
Another method was to make the figure of earth taken from a graveyard
and mixed with dead bones. Certain mystic signs were then inscribed on
it, which were said eventually to cause the death of the victim. So
general did the practice of witchcraft become that no class of society
was safe from accusation and suspicion, thousands perishing by the
faggot and torture.
From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, supernatural beliefs
exerted a great influence on the people. One of the most celebrated
trials of the time was that of the Duchess of Gloucester, who was
accused of bewitching Henry VI. It transpired at the trial that she
had instructed a priest, named Bolingbroke who practised necromancy,
to bewitch the king; a sorceress named Marie Gardimain being also
implicated. An effigy of the king in wax was discovered half-melted in
front of a fire of dry plants, which had been gathered by moonlight in
a graveyard. Bolingbroke the necromancer was hanged, Gardimain burnt,
and the Duchess of Gloucester condemned to imprisonment for life.
The “evil eye” was another form of witchcraft, mostly practised by
women. Visions or apparitions in the sky, foretelling some war or
disaster, were firmly believed in by the Church, and caused great
consternation. Fiery dragons appearing in the heavens were said to
predict civil war; and we also read of pigs bearing royal crowns, and
gory stars, all of which were doubtless caused by ordinary phenomena
not understood at that time.
The appearance of the devil presiding at a sabbath or meeting of
sorcerers is thus described by De Lancre: “He is seated in a black
chair with a crown of black horns, two horns in his neck, and one on
the forehead, which sheds light on the assembly; the hair bristling,
the face pale and exhibiting signs of uneasiness, the eyes round,
large, and fully opened, inflamed and hideous, with a goat’s beard. The
neck and the rest of the body deformed, and in the shape of a man and
a goat; the hands and the feet of a human being.”
The word witch is thought by some authorities to be derived from
_chausaph_, which means a user of pharmaceutic enchantments, or an
applier of drugs to magical purposes.
Witches sent storms and barrenness, drowned children, brought on ague,
could kill with evil eye, slay with lightning, pass through key-holes,
ride through the air on broom-sticks, and perform many other weird and
wondrous things.
“They were generally old, blear-eyed, wrinkled dames,” says Scott,
“ugly and crippled, frequently papists, and sometimes atheists; of
cross-grained tempers and cynical dispositions.” They were often
poisoners, and generally monomaniacs. Epilepsy and all diseases not
understood by the physicians were set down to the influence of witches.
They were said to make two covenants with the devil, one public and
one private. Then the novices were presented to the devil in person,
and instructed to renounce the Christian faith, tread on the Cross,
break the fasts, joining hands with Satan, paying him homage, and
yielding him body and soul. Some witches sold themselves for a term of
years, and some for ever; then they kissed the devil, and signed their
bond with blood, and a banquet ended the meeting; their dances being
accompanied with shouts of “Ha, ha! devil, devil! Dance here, dance
here! Play here, play here! Sabbath, sabbath!” Before they departed
the devil was said to give them philtres and amulets. These women were
usually hypochondriacs, often driven by despair and misfortune to
confess any charge made against them.