10 real facts about magic and sorcerers

Belief in magic and sorcery has existed for about as long as humanity itself. For example, scientists believe that prehistoric drawings, which are regularly found on the walls of caves throughout Europe and Asia (remember, the very ones where schematically depicted men with spears are chasing antelopes, goats and other animals?), could well be part of some primitive magical rituals designed to provide rich prey on the hunt.

Magic was believed in both ancient Egypt and ancient Rome. And in the Middle Ages, they not only “knew for sure” that witches and sorcerers really exist, but also fought them with the most radical methods.

Even today, many peoples of our planet have shamans and sorcerers, supposedly able to change the weather, improve the quality of the crop, treat any disease with one touch, predict future events, etc.

Do you want to know more about it? Then here are 10 interesting (and quite historical) facts about magic and witchcraft.

10 Belief in magic was considered a pagan superstition

We used to believe that in the Middle Ages everyone believed in magic, including, of course, priests. But in fact, in the early Middle Ages, the clergy tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to inspire the flock that magic does not really exist and that all this is just echoes of pagan times.

Everything that happens on Earth is either a divine plan or the machinations of the devil. Here the devil just deceives some insufficiently believing people, forcing them to believe that they have some kind of supernatural abilities.

Moreover, in some European countries it was expressly forbidden to execute witches and sorcerers, because this is a “pagan crime” (after all, there is no such thing as witchcraft!).

And only in the XV century. Pope Innocent VIII officially recognized the existence of witches, but with the proviso that they do not practice magic, but enter into an agreement with the devil and, in fact, it is he (with the hands of witches) who does his indecency. It was from that time that the same mass hysteria around witches began, the concept of “sabbath”, etc. arose.

9. Priests themselves practiced magic

When we talk about the witch-hunt practiced in the Middle Ages, then, of course, we immediately imagine a high-ranking priest at the head of the court, accusing another unfortunate woman of performing some heretical or pagan rites.

But in fact, the clergy and monks themselves often practiced magic – at least they kept “magical” works. For example, in the library of St. Augustine’s Monastery in Canterbury, there were 30 “magic” books that told how to properly summon spirits.

And in the XII century. parish priests in England quite often performed this ritual: they walked across the field, spraying milk, honey, butter and holy water in all directions, while reciting prayers to make the land more fertile.

By the way, in Russia until the beginning of the XNUMXth century, priests also often practiced similar rites, where Orthodoxy was closely mixed with pre-Christian paganism.

8. In the Middle Ages, science was associated with magic

Nowadays, only, hmm … very narrow-minded and poorly educated people seriously believe in astrology, check horoscopes every day, believe that if you hang a pendant with a certain precious stone around your neck, then life will improve, and your career will go uphill.

Well, in the Middle Ages, when science in our understanding did not yet exist at all, it was in the order of things. And therefore, even the most famous and recognized scientists of that time very stubbornly searched not only (and not so much) for the mysterious causes of certain natural phenomena, but, for example, the formula of the philosopher’s stone (capable of turning any metals into gold), or the elixir of immortality, or something else. something equally fantastic.

Many medieval characters who had a reputation as outstanding “explorers” were in fact either outright charlatans or simply alchemists.

At the same time, real scientists who were far ahead of their time (such as Roger Bacon, an astronomer, mathematician, chemist, etc., who lived in the XNUMXth century, believed that the Earth was round, knew how to make gunpowder and watched the stars in his personally collected prototype of the modern telescope) were most often considered sorcerers.

7. Some kings willingly used the services of sorcerers

By the way, despite the censure of the church, even crowned persons quite often resorted to the services of scientists-“sorcerers” and alchemists. After all, kings are also people, and sometimes they really wanted to know if courtiers or heirs were plotting an attempt on their own overlord, or whether it was worth starting a war with a neighboring state, etc.

What if the alchemist, “warmed up” by the royal person, still finds the philosopher’s stone? After all, in this case, the treasury will never be empty again!

Therefore, famous astrologers, alchemists and other “sorcerers” toured all over Europe from one royal court to another, sometimes making good money by compiling horoscopes for nobles and “predicting the future.”

True, sometimes they, caught in fraud, risked being executed if they did not have time to escape in time. For example, the English “magician, medium and alchemist” of the XNUMXth century. Edward Kelly, according to some reports, died from injuries when he tried to hide from Emperor Rudolph II by climbing down from the window of the castle-prison Gnevin. By the way, Rudolf II was especially willing to notice such personalities at his court.

6. Magic was divided into “male” and “female”

In traditional societies, as you know, the social roles of men and women were “written out” very clearly and unambiguously: a woman is the keeper of the hearth, giving birth and raising children and maintaining peace and harmony in the family. Well, a man is always a warrior, protector and earner. Therefore, magic was originally divided into male and female.

A woman should know and use various healing (magic) herbs, predict the future, make love spells and lapels, create amulets for the home, etc. A man, on the other hand, needs a completely different magic – for protection and good luck in battle (“spellbound” weapons), to ensure a good harvest (for example, a weather spell) or rich prey in hunting, etc.

For example, among the peoples of Scandinavia, it was believed that a man engaged in predictions humiliates himself and becomes “effeminate” (in the Elder Edda, Loki reproached Odin himself for this).

5. There was a “practical guide” to fighting witches

Few have ever heard of such a medieval work as The Hammer of the Witches. And, by the way, in the XV-XVI centuries. it was the most published book after the Bible (after its publication in 1487, it was reprinted 14 times in the next half century!).

The main author of this treatise on demonology and the most effective methods of persecuting and punishing witches, the Dominican monk-inquisitor Heinrich Kramer (Institor), judging by the memories of him, was a rare paranoid and misogynist, and besides, a devout religious fanatic, deeply confident in that witches exist, and that it is women who practice the most pernicious sorcery.

He wrote his work after even his own church authorities were horrified by Kramer’s zeal and “industriousness” in eradicating the “ungodly witches” in Innsbruck, annulled his sentences and asked the inquisitor to leave the city.

In The Hammer of the Witches, Kramer tried to justify his methods. He is said to have quite sincerely boasted that he had burnt over 200 witches.

4. A woman could be recognized as a witch even for her hair color

In the Middle Ages, no woman could be sure that one day she would not be accused of black magic and connections with the devil.

In the XV-XVII centuries. a too ugly old woman, a too beautiful young girl (well, a witch, for sure!), and a middle-aged woman with many moles or warts on her body (these are the marks of the devil!), and just a bright red-haired person ( It’s the color of hellfire!).

They could even be accused of witchcraft and malice even for a grumpy character! It was enough that two neighbors quarreled, and one of them informed the local inquisitor that the other was not at home on Walpurgis Night (which means she flew to the Sabbath).

No one demanded special evidence from the “witnesses”, and by torture they knocked out a confession from the unfortunate “witch” not only that she hobnobbed with the devil, but also that she killed half the cattle in the neighboring village, flew on a broomstick, turned into black cat, etc.

3. Sorcerers and witches were not judged by inquisitors

It is generally believed that witch trials took place solely under the direction (and, of course, on the initiative) of priests and inquisitors.

In fact, in the overwhelming majority of cases, these courts were arranged not by spiritual, but by local secular authorities (after complaints and denunciations from local inhabitants).

As for the Inquisition, it was connected to such processes only when an obvious “heretical component” was found in them. (By the way, this order was officially determined in 1258 by Pope Alexander VI).

So sorcerers and witches were mainly tried, tortured and executed not by the notorious inquisitors in black cassocks and with cruel faces (which we are used to seeing in films and TV shows), but by city officials, representatives of the local duke, etc.

2. The last witchcraft law was repealed in 1951.

Naturally, during the times of mass hysteria associated with the “witch hunt” (XV-XVII centuries), there were an abundance of laws in Europe prohibiting magic and sorcery and eradicating both these “godless” phenomena themselves and men and women using magical rituals.

So, in England, the “criminal” prosecution of witches was abolished only in 1735. In fact, this did not mean that “witches” (for example, gypsy fortune-tellers, owners of spiritist salons, etc.) ceased to catch and punish from that year – just now they were accused no longer of witchcraft, but of fraud.

Finally, the last English law on witchcraft and the fight against it was canceled in 1951 (!) Year.

By the way, the last execution of a witch in Europe (it was Anna Göldi) took place in Switzerland in 1782.

Just think about it: Isaac Newton discovered his law of universal gravitation a long time ago, Leibniz laid the foundations of mathematical logic and the binary number system, Descartes created analytical geometry and discovered the laws of light propagation, etc., etc., and throughout Europe still frantically burning witches!

1. In some countries, “witch-hunts” still happen today.

This is wild and scary, but in our time in many countries (especially in Africa and the Middle East) the “witch hunt” continues.

For example, in Saudi Arabia and New Guinea, you can quite officially (according to criminal law) go to jail for witchcraft for quite a long time.

In 2008, 12 “sorcerers” and “witches” were burned at the stake in Kenya. In Tanzania, up to a thousand innocent women are lynched every year, “convicted” of practicing “evil magic.” Approximately the same situation in the Central African Republic. And in India from 1995 to 2014. after the “people’s courts” it was stoned to death, burned, etc. from 3 to 5 thousand “witches”.

It is very easy to convince ignorant and superstitious people that all their troubles happen due to the fault of some particular “sorcerer”.

It got to the point that in 2009, at the UN meeting on extrajudicial executions, it was officially proposed to take “witches” under protection by issuing special international acts on the inadmissibility of the above-mentioned incidents. And this is happening in the XNUMXst century!