Magic’s cultural stock in Western Europe experienced a healthy resurgence during the 13th Century. In its infinite capacity for irony the primary driver behind magic’s new vogue status were the Crusades. In a very rudimentary sense the call to religious war had expanded the cultural and economic exchange between the Greek and Islamic worlds and […]
Read more "The Magicians of Solomon"Erring on the side of massacre became the mantra of the Catholic Church when it came to responding to new heresies. And there were always new heresies to worry about, like the Waldensians in France or the Fraticelli in Italy. In both cases greater elements of the Witch’s Sabbath crept into the arguments used by […]
Read more "The Heresy of Popes and Saints"In the end, the story of witchcraft was regrafted onto the less acceptable branches of the Christian tree as a means of slandering would be reformers. Evolution is a slow process, with countless failed starts and mutations. In an institution like the Catholic Church, reform movements represented this part in the theological life cycle of […]
Read more "God Will Know His Own"Note from the author: We’re interrupting our witchcraft filled schedule to bring you a piece of odd history from my home state. Consider it a morbidly sweet, 100th Post special treat. Corporate greed can often lead to some sticky situations, but only once has it caused a literal 25 foot high wave of molasses. The […]
Read more "The Boston Molassecre"Even as the pieces fell into place the sorcerer remained a solitary figure in European lore, albeit one associated with demonic forces. One of the earliest stories historians trace the more modern ‘witch’ to is the Sorceress of Berkeley, relayed by William of Malmesbury in 1142. Malmesbury pegs the incident as occurring in England around […]
Read more "The Sorceress of Berkeley"Practical considerations aside, Christianity remained a zero sum belief structure. Either a person was Christian, and therefore good, or Pagan, and therefore damned. Magic was explained the same way. Carlos and even some of the more academic clergy who studied older practice would chalk up all magical powers to ‘bad angels’ or ‘demons’, using the […]
Read more "Of Storm Magic and Sabbaths"In 472 the local despotic general in northern Italy declared his son Emperor Romulus Augustulus. Four years later the “little[est] Augustus” was deposed and the Western Roman Empire officially puttered out. Traditionally, this would mark the period western historians referred to as the Dark Ages. For a long time this reflected the attitude Western Europe […]
Read more "Christianity in the Dark(ish) Ages"