The Witches' Ointment
Page 28
31. Although the title speaks of “Cathars,” a known heretical group, contextually Gazarii here means “witches.” Joseph Hansen, Quellen und untersuchungen, 119–22: “. . . omnibus pretermissis secum ad synagogam properabit, attento quod dictus seducens unguenta ad hoc pertinentia et baculum debebat ministrare, prout facit”; “. . . in specie cati nigri, aliquando in specie hominis non tanem perfecti . . .”; “. . . diabolus, qui tunc presidet, clamat lumine extinguendo “Mestlet, mestlet”; “. . . unguentum de predicta pinguedine puerorum mixta eum animalibus venenatissimis, ut put, cum serpentibus, bufonibus, lacertis, araneis . . .”
32. Ibid., 118. Sabbat here is used anachronistically; the word used in the texts at this time is synagogue.
33. Behringer, “How Waldensians Became Witches,” 163.
34. Wadding et al., Annales Minorum, vol. 9, 328: “Quodque nonnulli Christiani, & perfidi Judaei infra eosdem terminos constituti, novas sectas, & prohibitos ritus . . . occulto dogmatizant”; “. . . sortilegi, divini, Daemonum invocatores, carminatores, conjuratores, superstitiosi, augures, utentes artibus nefariis & prohibitis . . .”
35. “On provincial and synodal councils.”
36. “Monition of the council of Florence.”
37. Behringer, “How Waldensians Became Witches,” 167.
38. Russell, History of Witchcraft, 76.
39. Behringer, Shaman of Oberstdorf, 131.
40. Kors and Peters, Witchcraft in Europe, 165.
41. Behringer, “How Waldensians Became Witches,” 163.
42. Joseph Hansen, Quellen und untersuchungen, 533: “. . . hexssen und der zubrern . . .” (Thanks to Kayla Wing for translation from German.)
43. Ibid., 536; Klaniczay and Pócs, Demons, Spirits, Witches, vol. 3, 21–22; Elliott, Bride of Christ, 398; Ostorero, Bagliani, Tremp, Chène, L’ imaginaire du Sabbat, 215.
44. Ostorero, Bagliani, Tremp, and Chène, L’ imaginaire du Sabbat, 457: “Ung oignement lui aporta, De diverses poisons confit, Don’t elle maint home des-fit Depuis, encores plus de cent, Et affola et contrefit Maint bel et plaisant innocent.” (Thanks to ElizabethTimpone for translation from French.)
45. Quoted in Wright, “Chapters in the History of Sorcery and Magic,” 73: “Et que chechy? Cuide ton que je sois Vauldoise?”
46. Ibid., 78–79.
47. Ibid., 80.
48. Ibid., 82.
49. Zika, Appearance of Witchcraft, 61.
50. Tinctoris, “Sermo de secta Vaudensium,” 359: “. . . pulueres ex bufonibus et mortuorum ossibus incendio resolutis conficiunt, et predicto sanguine atque menstruali commixtos illos in pastam liquidam vertunt . . . ad volatum et celerem aëris . . .” For French text, see Joseph Hansen, Quellen und untersuchungen, 184–88.
51. Duerr, Dreamtime, 141.
52. Bailey, Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft, 57–64.
53. Behringer, “How Waldensians Became Witches,” 169.
54. Biller, Waldensians, 49–50.
55. Kurze, Quellen zur Ketzergeschichte, 113: “ante paradisum . . . habentes a deo potestatem dimittendi peccata ita bene sicut sacerdotes . . .” Other relevant passages that mention this phenomenon, p. 208: “. . . et quod semel in anno venirent ad paradisum duo ex ipsis, et reciperent ibi a deo auctoritatem melius presbiteris dimittendi peccata, et non crediderit eos presbiteros, quia non viderit, eos celebrare missas . . .” ; p. 222: “. . . et quod de septennio ad septennium venirent ante paradisum ad audiendum ibidem sapienciam ab apostolis dei . . .”; p. 230: “et quod (= heresiarche) de septennio ad septennium venirent ante paradisum ad auidiendum ibidem sapienciam”; p. 341: “. . . et quod postea venissent ante paradisum et audivissent vocem domini dei dantis ipsis sapienciam et doctrinam . . .”; p. 247: “. . . et quod ante paradisum venirent et vocem domini dei audirent . . .”
56. Ibid., 208: “. . . et de secta essent in celo . . .”
57. Klaniczay, “The Process of Trance,” 217.
58. Quoted in Behringer, Shaman of Oberstdorf, 19.
59. Ginzburg, Night Battles, 17.
60. Behringer, Shaman of Oberstdorf, 66.
61. Joseph Hansen, Quellen und untersuchungen, 199: “. . . vulgares communiter tenet, immo et ipse strige fatentur . . . certa unctione inungunt baculum . . . puta sub unguibus vel in ore aut in aure vel sub capillis aut sub brachiis . . . quod totum fit virtute demonis.”
62. Behringer, Shaman of Oberstdorf, 23.
63. Hansen, Quellen und untersuchungen, 230: “Venenis igitur utuntur venefici pariter et poculis quibusdam atque unguentis, quibus humanas mentes perturbant, corpora alterant et plerumque homines interficiunt. Horam eciam venenorum virtute per noctes se dicunt ad sabbata longe remota demonum portari. Que tanem singular recte iudicanti naturali non sunt virtuti alicui talium venenorum attribuenda, sed magis fallaci astucie demonis, qui huismodi unguentorum linitionibus aut poculorum exhaustionibus ex pacto cum primis huius damnatu artis inventoribus expresse inito assistit et illa, que virtute predictorum fieri creduntur, ipse demon applicando active passivis operator, qui causa principalis est et effective, huismodi vero venena per maleficis adhibita causa sunt, sine qua non fierent ista.”
64. Ibid., 229: “. . . mandragore cortcem cum vino mixtum ad bibendum.”
65. Daunay, Laterrot, and Janick, “Iconography and History of Solanaceae,” 9.
66. Joseph Hansen, Quellen und untersuchungen, 131. Hansen takes Pharaildis to mean “Herodias.” The name could also refer to Saint Pharaildis, the patron saint of Ghent, Belgium. Pharaildis also had a “miracle of the bones” story attributed to her that involved a goose; see Behringer, Shaman of Oberstdorf, 42.
67. Joseph Hansen, Quellen und untersuchungen, 131: “. . . nemlich die unhulden . . .”; “. . . als am suntag prechen und graben si solsequium, am mentag lunariam, am erctag verbenam, am mittwochen mercurialem, am pünztag barbam Jovis, am freitag capillos Veneris, daruss machen sie dan salben mit mischung etlichs plutz von vogel, auch schmalz von tieren, das ich als nit schreib, das yeman darvon sol geergert werden.” (Thanks to Kayla Wing for translation from German.)
68. Culpeper, Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, 182, 184, 251.
69. Kramer and Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum, 107.
70. Ibid., 100.
71. Quoted in Duerr, Dreamtime, 7–8.
72. Della Mirandola, Dialogus strix, book 2, “De Strigibus”: “Quod nam id unguētū”; “Ex infantiū sanguine magna ex parte confectū”; “Quid ungebas”; “Partes, quibus ad sedēdum utor”; “. . . in pernitiosis unguentis in puerorū sanguine inoxio [reading “inóxio”] . . .”; “. . . in digressu corporeo per aeris interualla.”
73. Monter, Witchraft in France, 56–57.
CHAPTER 8. LAMIARUM UNGUENTUM
Epigraph 1: Bergerac, “A Letter Against Witches,” 61.
Epigraph 2: Della Porta, Natural Magick, 10.
1. Levack, Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, 185–87.
2. Nauert, Agrippa, 6.
3. Weyer, Witches, Devils, and Doctors, xxxi.
4. Agrippa, Three Books, xxiv–xxv.
5. Nauert, Agrippa, 19.
6. Monter, “Toads and Eucharists,” 587.
7. Zilboorg, Medical Man and the Witch, 105.
8. Nauert, Agrippa, 17.
9. Agrippa, Of the Vanitie, xviii.
10. Ball, Devil’s Doctor, 40.
11. Thorndike, History of Magic, vol. 5, 127.
12. Nauert, Agrippa, 3.
13. Ball, Devil’s Doctor, 196.
14. Quoted in Gravenstein, “Paracelsus,” 805.
15. Thorndike, History of Magic, vol. 5, 431.
16. Ball, Devil’s Doctor, 82.
17. Ibid., 84.
18. Paracelsus, Four Treatises, 182–83.
19. Ibid., 169, 172, 189.
20. Quoted in Gravenstein, “Paracelsus,” 808.
21. Ball, Devil’s Doctor, 195.
22. Laguna Annotationes (Lugduni, 1554), 339: “. . . vanas images; non iniucundas [reading “in iūcundas”] observari.”
23. Ibid. (1570 edition), 421: “. . . una planta que en italia se dize Stramonia”; “. . . que beuida con vino una drama de la rayz del Solano acarreador de locura, representa ciertas ymaginationes vanas, empero muy agradables: lo qual [reading “cual”] se ha de entender entre sueños. Aquesta [reading “Esta”] pues deue ser (segun pienso) la virtud de aquellos unguentos con que se suelen untar las bruxas.”
24. Friedenwald, “Andres Laguna,” 1041.
25. Quoted in ibid.
26. Cardano, De subtilitate, 592: “Unguentum lamiarum . . .”; “. . . constat pinguedine puerorum ut dicunt, succisque apij, aconiti, pentaphylli, solani ac fuligine”; “Sed tamen dormire creduntur dum haec vident, videt autem theatra, viridaria, coenas, ornatus, vestes, formosos iuuenes, Reges, magistratus, item daemonas, coruos, carceres, soliditudinem, tormenta.” This latter imagery is the earliest reference to a “bummer” that I could find.
27. Quoted in Weyer, Witches, Devils, and Doctors, 225.
28. Ibid., 226–27.
29. Ibid., 275.
30. Weyer, De Praestigiis, 315–16: “. . . mortem, aut morbum grauem . . .”
31. Ibid.: “. . . sic magis per somnum ferri videntur in diversas regiones, atque ibi multifariam affici, prout uniuscuiusque fuerit temperies, unguento adiuuante.”
32. Weyer, Witches, Devils, and Doctors, 230.
33. Zilboorg, Medical Man, 115; Cobben, Jan Wier, Devils, Witches, 45.
34. Weyer, Witches, Devils, and Doctors, 230.
35. Boguet, Examen, 70.
36. Remy, Demonolatry, 106.
37. Ibid., 104.
38. Guazzo, Compendium Maleficarum, 83.
39. Ibid., 34.
40. Ibid., 84.
41. Eamon, Science and the Secrets, 202–3; Clark, Thinking with Demons, 237– 38; Ginzburg, Ecstasies, 151.
42. Della Porta, Natural Magick, 197–98.
43. Ibid., 198–99.
44. Ibid., 9.
45. Weyer, Witches, Devils, and Doctors, 199.
46. Bever, Realities of Witchcraft, 133.
47. Ibid., 134.
48. Augustine, City of God, 237.
49. Zika, Appearance of Witchcraft, 134–39.
50. Kramer and Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum, 63.
51. Witekind, Christlich bedencken, 112: “. . . katze, hunde, wollfë, esel, verwandelt werden . . .” (Thanks to Hanne Spence for translation from German.)
52. Midelfort, Witch Hunting, 57.
53. Weyer, Witches, Devils, and Doctors, 343.
54. Danken, “Curiosa aus der Teufels-Periode des Mittelalters,” 25: “. . . von einem wolfssuchtigen Weibe, das sich in Gegenwart und auf Verlangen der Richter gesalbt, in tiefen, dreistundigen Schlaf verfallen war und, zu sich gekommen, erklarte: sie sei in der Stadt gewesen und habe dort als Wolf ein Schaf und eine Kuh zerrissen . . .” (Thanks to Hanne Spence for translation from German.)
55. Nynauld, De la lycanthropie, 49: “Quantaux onguens, ils peuuent estre composez de certaines choses prises d’un crapaut . . .”
56. Ibid., 24: “la morelle furieuse” [reading “furieux”] and “la morelle endormāte.”
57. Ibid., 24–25: “racine de la belladonna . . . l’Aconit . . . l’opium, l’hyoscyame, cyguë . . .”; “desquels le Diable se sert pour troubler les sens de ses esclaues”; “trōpēt [reading “tromper”] les sens par diverses figures & representations . . . qui fait voir les ombres des Enfers . . .”
58. D’Argens, Lettres Juives, 192: “Ecoute, lui dit Gassendi, il faut que tu me montres la Drogue que tu prens [reading “prends”] pour aller a l’Assemblee Infernale & je veux ce soir t’y accompagner”; “Il dependra de vous, resondit le Berger & je vous y menerai, dès que Minuit aura sonné.”
59. Gribbin, Scientists, 102, 115.
60. Rudgley, Encyclopedia, 266; also Crowe, Night-Side of Nature, 128. The oldest source I could find for this claim is in 1846, in Salverte, Occult Sciences, 44–45.
61. D’Argens, Lettres Juives, 192–93: “Gassendi à été Témoin oculaire de l’Egarement d’un de ces pretendus Magiciens.” (Thanks to Marie Phillips for translation from French.)
62. Ibid., 191: “Nous l’avons arrété; & nous allons le remettre entre les Mains de la Justice.” (Thanks to Marie Phillips for translation from French.)
63. Ibid.: “Monsieur, réspondit le Berger, je vous avoue, que je vais tous les Jours au Sabat. C’est un de mes Amis, qui m’a donné le Beaume qu’il faut avaler; & je suis reçu Sorcier depuis près de trois Ans.” (Thanks to Marie Phillips for translation from French.)
64. Ibid. 192: “Le Magicien sortit de sa Poche une Boëte dans laquelle il y avoit une espece d’Opiate”; “Il en prit pour lui de la Grosseur d’une Noix, il en donna autant au Philosophe Il lui dit de l’avaller [reading “avaler”], & de se coucher ensuite sous la Cheminee . . .” (Thanks to Marie Phillips for translation from French.)
65. Ibid., 193: “A peine quelques Minutes se furent-elles écoulées, qu’il parut etourdi, & comme un Homme yvre [reading “ivre”]. Un instant apres, il s’endormit; &, pendant son Sommeil, il parla continuellement, & débita mille Extravagances. Il conversoit [reading “converse”] avec tous les Démons. Il parloit avec ses Camarades, qu’il croïoit [reading “croient”] Magiciens, ainsi que lui”; “Et bien dit-il a Gassendi vous devez être content de la Facon dont le Bouc vous a recu. C’est un Honneur considerable, que celui d’avoir ete admis des le premier jour de votre Reception a lui baiser le Derriere.” (Thanks to Marie Phillips for translation from French.)
66. Quoted in Harner, Hallucinogens and Shamanism, 139.
67. Hanegraaff, “Will-Erich Peuckert,” 280.
68. Harner, Hallucinogens and Shamanism, 139.
69. Clifton, “If Witches No Longer Fly,” 17.
CHAPTER 9. MORNING ON BARE MOUNTAIN
Epigraph 1. Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget, 69.
Epigraph 2. Rudgley, The Alchemy of Culture, 146.
1. Bever, Realities of Witchcraft, 138.
2. Klaniczay, Demons, Spirits, Witches, 203; also Bailey, Battling Demons, 111.
3. Levack, Witch-Hunt, 185.
4. Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons, 214.
5. Ibid., 214–15.
6. Claire Fanger, e-mail to the author, March, 20, 2014.
7. Abraham, Book of Abramelin, 226.
8. Ostorero, et al., L’ imaginaire du Sabbat, 217: “. . . un role structurant . . .”; “d’une nouvelle conception du vol nocturne . . . en rapport avec la sorcellerie.”
9. Russell, History of Witchcraft, 244.
10. Duerr, Dreamtime, 138.
11. Joseph Hansen, Quellen und untersuchungen, 167: “Sortlegia . . . maleficia . . . fascinaciones per pulveres amatorios aut pocula vel houppellos amatorios sibi datos a demone . . . et intoxicaciones procurant plurimas.”
12. Quoted in Owen Davies, Popular Magic, 15.
13. Kieckhefer, European Witch Trials, 114.
14. Murray, Witch-Cult, 141.
15. Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons, 154.
16. Letcher, Shroom, 47.
17. An essay in Harner’s book Hallucinogens and Shamanism, chapter 8.
18. Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts, 117.
19. Van Teijlingen, et al., Midwifery, 97–98.
20. Letcher, Shroom, 48.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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