Christian Magick

                                In my travels around the web I came across the following article and I thought it
                        to be good enough to share with others.
 

                                      The Sacraments were yet another opportunity for miracle to become enmeshed
                        with magick.  Local villagers re-interpreted the sacraments. Mass was seen as a
                        magick ritual, and sacramentals were used as talismens, although this was un-
                        approved of by the church. Candles were blessed and taken home and used to
                        protect the inhabitants of the house from evil (this sounding familiar???) Waxed
                        tapers were used to keep harm from newborns. Holy Water was always sought
                        after to protect against evil. Blessed Palm Fronds were also used to ward off evil
                        along with saving crops from fires, storms and lightening!! Communion bread was
                        used to conjure against harm and to even render some invisible! The sacred host
                        could even put out fires!!! Simply touching the Alter cloth would cure leprosy.
 

                                 With enforced Christianity came the switch-over from traditional hedge magick
                        to Parish Christianity. The difference between the two is negligable. For example
                        there is not much difference between an amulet and a saints medal. The dividing
                        line here is difficult. Only the Church could conduct magick, if a priest performed
                        it, it was called a miracle, if a layperson performed it, it was evil and in league
                        with the devil.

                        By the end of the 15th century the two types of magick had melded seemlessly
                        with the European ritual cycles. Ritual cycles were very important in invoking
                        divine aid and in performing miracles. The calender was broken up into the
                        great feasts of the church: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and Carnival/Lent.
                        On the eve of Lent there was Carnival a celebration of inversion. This was
                        perhaps the most popular of holidays. Morality was turned upside down. The
                        least popular youth was made mock pope. In Germany a procession of prostitutes
                        marched during Carnival. Carnival was allowed as a satirical means of removing
                        desires, as a way of letting common folk let off steam. Inumberalbe holidays
                        existed. There were very few days that were not a celebration of one saint or
                        another. Here are a few of these celebratory days:

                        January 20-The Feast of Fabian and Sebastian-After this date no trees could be
                        cut down!
                        January 21-Saint Agnes Day-This day involved the ceremonial blessing of a lamb.
                        January 22-Saint Vincents Day-No vines could be cut on this date.
                        February 2-The Feasts for Fertility-This celebration was necessary to turn winter
                        into spring forty days after Christmas.
                       February 2-Feast of Purification-This feast day was also known as Candlemas.
                       February 5-St. Agathas Day-Agathabrot was distributed for heath on this day.
                       February 14-Saint Valentines Day-This day was to celebrate mating and new
                        light.

                        This was only the beginning of the Pagan and Christian mix holidays!!
 

                             The blending of religion and magick may be best seen through the example of
                        saints and miracles. Since magick was disallowed by the church, a saint with
                        her or his rituals could accomplish for Christians what magick used to. A saint
                        is a person whos good works through life, chastity, piety and general behavior
                        vastly outweighed thier sins. Each saint has a vocation: to intercede between
                        God and Christians. A saint will beg your case before God. Christ is the greatest
                        of universal saints and mary is next and then the 12 apostles.

                        The local belief of saint-veneration differed. In Germany, it was believed that
                        gifts should be awarded to still living saints. That way the saint would reward
                        the gift giver from heaven. If the saint did not reward the gift-giver after death
                        the saint was obviously not a very good one!

                        Just as there could be sub-par saints there are also faulty relics. The way to make
                        these disobedient relics work was to humiliate them, for examply someone might
                        have sworn at St. Jeromes tooth!!  The collection of relics reached a fevered
                        pitch in 1200. It was believed that if a person owned a relic, that person held a
                        special bond over the saint. Theorectically the new dead saint was to be buried
                        the church would perform and investigation and the body would be exhumed.
                        The corpse would then be brought out on holy days. At the death of each saint
                        local parishioners were ravage the body for relics, sometimes NOT waiting for
                        the body to be dead!!
 

                                        Most everyone knows who Dr. Laura is, she despises anyone that is either gay,
                        or bi, and follows the dictates of the bible to the letter!!!! I received the following
                        letter from a friend that I thought was appropriate to put here to show there
                        is room for acceptance for everyone, thanks for sending this Kyra!!!!

                        Dear Dr. Laura

                        Thankyou for doing so much to educate people to God's Laws. I have learned a
                        great deal from you and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as
                        I can! When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I
                        simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination.
                        End of discussion!

                        I do need some advice from you however regarding some of the specific laws and
                        how to best follow them.

                        1. When I burn a bull on the alter, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord
                            Leviticus 1:9. The problem is my neighbors, they claim the odor is not pleasing
q                          to them. How should I deal with this?

                       2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as it suggests in Exodus 21:7. In
                          this day and age what do you think would be a fair price for her?

                       3. I know I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period  of
                          menstrual uncleanliness Leviticus 15:19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have
                          tried asking but most women take offense.

                      4. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations around us. A
                          friend of mine claims this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians, can you
                          clarify?

                      5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly
                         states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

                     6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination
                         Leviticus 10:10 it is a lesser abomination then homosexuality, I don't agree. Can
                         you settle this?

                     7. Leviticus 20:20 States that I may not approach the alter of God if I have a defect
                        in my site. Does my eyesite have to be 20/20 or is there some wiggle room here?

                        I know you have studied these things intensivly, so I am confident you can help.
                       Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging!!
 

                       Now I am a Christian, but I believe that the bible was written by men and for
                       men, I believe they changed what was a beautiful and wonderful religion and I
                       am sorry for that, I hope someday other Christians will come to understand this
                       and will find the love and not retirubution that God has to offer us!