|
Sorcery
From Middle English
sorcerie, and Old French sorcier, derived from the Vulgar
Latin sortiarius, traced back to the original Latin, sors,
meaning lot, or chance, and sortis, the genitive case meaning of, or
by, lots (indicative of the practice of
divination by lots, or
Sortilege), sorcery is a process of casting enchantments
or conjuring
demons and/or
spirits to alter or influence natural events,
objects, people, and physical phenomena,
or to produce a wanted outcome or knowledge.
This primitive magic, sometimes also called
sympathetic magic, involved practices
such as tying and untying knots, blood sacrifices, and sticking pins in wax images or
little dolls or poppets.
Sorcery is a very ancient form of magic.
Its practice date back to prehistoric and pre-Columbian religions, as well
as those of the Middle East and ancient Egypt; by the Middle Ages it
referred to the practice of malevolent magic, or black magic, most commonly
the use of supposed supernatural power by the agency of evil spirits called
forth by spells by any person with a desire for malice, often motivated out
of envy or revenge.
A male that performed sorcery was known as a
Sorcerer; a female,
Sorceress.
Most people picture a sorcerer as being male, an evil person, such as a
black witch or black magician, who dresses
in black and practices black magic.
In ancient times, a sorcerer could be almost anyone - a
gypsy, a
diviner, a necromancer
(someone who calls up the dead), an intellectual or learned man, anyone who
practiced science or set up a laboratory.
Sorcery in all
its forms, such as
divination, love-magic and death-magic, as well as
necromantic practices,
was rife amongst all the classes in ancient Rome.
From the highest castes of the Roman Republic to the lowest slave, they all
had some belief in
divination, nature
deities, magical rituals, or
superstitions. There were charms and spells for everything under the sun;
the rain charm of the pontiffs
consisting of the throwing of puppets into the
Tiber; the charm against
thunderbolts compounded of onions, hair and sprats; the charm against an
epidemic when the matrons of Rome swept the temple
floors with their hair; and many more down to the simple love charm strung round the neck of the
country maiden.
In medieval times, Sorcerers were believed to be the priests of
Satan and were assumed to attend
Sabbaths along with witches
in order to worship their evil god.
Today
sorcerers are believed to be people who work magic for the purpose of
harming others, and may use wax dolls to inflict pain, or evoke
deities or
spirits in order to ask their assistance in evil matters.
General characteristics of a sorcerer;
- Uses magic for evil purposes.
- Generally works alone.
- Often evokes
demons.
- Uses magic tools.
- May worship the
Devil.
- Is generally male.
See
Diviner,
Divination,
Warlock,
Wizard,
Pythagoras,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Chakra Store,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies.
Sources: (1) Spence, Lewis,
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (2)
Randi, James,
An Encyclopedia of
Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural,
St. Martin's Griffin; (3)
The Encyclopaedia
Britannica Eleventh Edition Handy Volume Edition, Oxford
University Press; (4) Bailey,
Nancy (editor),
The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Spells and Magic,
Sterling
Publishing.
|
|
|
