by David Kiely
The temple site was excavated in 1904 by Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie. Mount Serabit (Serabît el-Khâdim) lies some twenty miles east of the Gulf of Suez and nearly one hundred miles from the border with Israel.
ST. ANTHONY ON HIS MOUNTAINTOP: Sometimes known as St. Anthony the Great, he was born in upper Egypt in AD 251 to wealthy parents, became a hermit, and wandered in a mountainous desert region some sixty miles west of Alexandria. His hagiographer, Athanasius, recorded that Anthony was subjected to a bewildering gamut of dreams, hallucinations, and temptations. These last have had an enduring influence on Christendom, becoming the inspiration of several painters, from Hieronymus Bosch to Dali.
In 1874 the French philosopher Gustave Flaubert published his masterpiece The Temptation of St. Anthony. It is a drama that features a bewildering cast of players, from ancient kings to the Devil, all of whom try to tempt the hermit away from the spiritual path. The dream aspect of the work influenced the young Sigmund Freud.
Flaubert’s translator, Lafcadio Hearn, summarized the more lascivious temptations: “His thoughts wander…he dreams of Amonaria, his sister’s playmate…. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations…and the Queen of Sheba descends to tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is enhanced by oriental splendor of adornment; her converse is a song of witchcraft.”
LUGH NA DEAMHAIN: It is unfortunate that the name of the Celtic deity Lugh is so close to the old Irish word lug, which means “hollow” or “valley.” The word has survived unaltered in other Irish place names that have undergone a crude anglicization, e.g., Lugnaquilla or Lug na Coille, “The Wooded Hollow.” The addition of the aspirative h may well have been an attempt by the early Church to demonize Lugh. Interestingly, his name is also a cognate of the Latin luceo, “to be bright,” from which the name Lucifer, or “Shining One,” is derived. Lugh was the Celtic solar god, the bringer of light and, as such, an important heathen deity. It would have been natural for the early churchmen, in their efforts to supplant the “false” gods, to identify him with an evil entity.
AN DIABHAL: The Devil has a fascinating etymology. Linguists trace the word’s origin to the Sanskrit deva, meaning “god” or “giver of light.” (Intriguingly, it is also close to diva, the leading light of the opera.) Via the Greek verb diabalein, meaning “to oppose,” the word entered Latin as diabolus, Italian as diabolo, French as diable, and English as diabolic. German and Dutch rendered the consonantal sounds as Teufel and duivel, the latter becoming “devil” upon reaching Britain. It is possibly no more than coincidence that the Irish version, diabhal, contains within it dia, “god.” This is derived from the Latin deus and has another root entirely. The word god seems to be largely a late European innovation. It appears in German, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish as, respectively Gott, god, gud, and gud. There have been attempts to trace the root back to the Sanskrit hu, “to invoke.” It seems a weak argument. That root has indeed come down to us, though in a different context: the “hue” of “hue and cry.”
FIRST IRISH WITCH TRIAL: One would expect that Ireland, given its reputation as the “natural” home of all things paranormal, had more than its fair share of witches and sorcerers. Not so, according to St. John D. Seymour, who, in 1913, published Witchcraft and Demonology in Ireland, an exhaustive work that examined the phenomena from 1324 to 1808. He concluded that witchcraft was far less prevalent there than in England and Scotland and offered a curious explanation. He noted that fairy lore was largely confined to the “Celtic” section of the community, whereas the “English” in Ireland—the descendants of the Anglo-Norman colonists—were more likely to practice witchcraft. In short, witchcraft and sorcery were principally Protestant phenomena. He wrote:
In England after the Reformation we seldom find members of the Roman Catholic Church taking any prominent part in witch cases, and this is equally true of Ireland from the same date. Witchcraft seems to have been confined in the Protestant party, as far as we can judge from the material at our disposal, while it is probable that the existence of the penal laws (active or quiescent) would deter the Roman Catholics from coming into any prominence in a matter which would be likely to attract public attention to itself in such a marked degree.
MADE THE SIGN OF THE CROSS: The symbolism of this minor ritual has a colorful history. Obviously, it represents the cross upon which Christ was crucified, which came to symbolize the Christian Church. It is used by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, and the Orthodox Churches.
Reverend Kenneth W. Collins notes a curious interpretation of the Western style. He believes that the movement from left to right represents Jesus’s descent into hell, or Hades (the left side), and his ascension into heaven (the right side). This is consistent with the tradition that holds that all matters demonic, including black magic and Satanism, belong to the “left-hand path.”
The sign of the cross was not exclusively Christian. In the ancient world, Indian Buddhists as well as members of Hindu sects used it when anointing the forehead.
ARCHBISHOP JAMES USSHER: Also written Usher (1581–1656). He was born in Dublin and was Anglican archbishop of Armagh from 1625 to 1656. His scholarship was legendary, as was his fervent anti-Catholicism, despite his mother being Catholic. He is best remembered for having dated the Creation, a date still recognized by many Christians as being the true one. Ussher was able to narrow it down not only to the year but to the very time of day: dusk on October 22, 4004 BC.
HOLY FATHER’S INTERVENTION: Pope John Paul II, during a 1987 visit to the Temple of Saint Michael in Perugia, Italy, spoke of “the battle against the Devil, which is the principal task of St. Michael the Archangel.” He reminded the faithful that it is “still being fought today, because the Devil is still alive and active in the world.” He spoke of evil in the modern world and its causes. “The disorders that plague our society,” he declared, “man’s inconsistency and damaged state, are not only the results of original sin, but also the result of Satan’s pervasive and dark action.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the contributions made by a great many people, on two sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
On the Irish side, our thanks go to Fergal Tobin of Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, who encouraged us to undertake the project; to Reverend W. H. Lendrum and Father Ignatius McCarthy, who provided their spiritual guidance and generosity; to many other religious, who gave of their time and wisdom; to the men and women who related their experiences out of the goodness of their hearts.
On the American side, our thanks go to the publishers: Roger Freet, our editor, who recognized the importance of the book, and whose enthusiasm infected and inspired so many; including Kris Ashley, whose dedication to quality never flagged; Terri Leonard and Lisa Zuniga, our production team at HarperOne, whose professionalism proved invaluable when preparing the work for printing; and, finally, Beck Stvan and Kris Tobiassen, whose cover design and page layout truly brought our work to life.
—DAVID M. KIELY AND CHRISTINA MCKENNA
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