own, which would hold only a temporary lease on life, the sorcerer got himself the perfect accomplice—one that ceased to exist once the job was done. Sometimes these creatures manifested themselves in animal form, as wolves or snakes or toads, and sometimes they appeared as half-human, half-animal. Either way, they could only be seen by those who were being attacked or by someone with great psychic gifts (such as the sorcerer).
Signs of such an attack included dread and anxiety, not to mention more visible tokens, such as a thick, foul-smelling slime, and bruises that took the shape of goat’s hooves or the ace of clubs. Sometimes an “astral bell,” which rang clearly, or almost inaudibly clicked, could be heard when the spirit was on the prowl. Francesco-Maria Guazzo, the Italian friar who wrotethe Compendium Maleficarum in 1608, listed other symptoms of such an attack as mental lassitude, pricking pains in the chest, convulsions, fever, inexplicable sweating, and sexual impotence. The skin, he stated, could take on a yellowish cast, and the victim could find himself unable to look a priest in the eye; confronted with his tormentor, “the patient is at once affected with great uneasiness and seized with terror and trembling,” Guazzo wrote. “If it is a child, it cries.”
In one such case of psychic malevolence, in the English town of York in 1538, the perpetrator, Mabel Brigge, was hauled into court under suspicion of having made an occult attempt on the life of King Henry VIII. She was accused of having performed a ritual known as the Black Fast; while concentrating all her mental powers on his demise, she herself had abstained from eating any meat, milk, or dairy foods. While in court, she admitted to having earlier “fasted upon” a thief, who had broken his neck while her spell was in effect. Convicted of witchcraft, she was summarily executed.
And lest anyone think such powers have been dismissed in our own century, British witches in 1940 reportedly focused their psychic powers on Adolf Hitler, in this case to convince him that he could not bring his armies across the English Channel. In view of the fact that he never did, maybe the witches were onto something.
THE EVIL EYE
In Italy, it’s known as malocchio, in Germany the böser Blick, in France the mauvais oeil. In Scotland, it was thought that a glance from the evil eye could sicken cattle; in England, it was considered capable of killing a person. Among colonial Americans, the evil eye was sometimes thought to be at the bottom of everything from soured milk to butter that turned in the churn. No matter how far back in history we go—to the ancient Mesopotamians or the Greek Pliny, who described the basilisk whose gaze was so terrible that it could die if it saw its ownreflection—the eye has been considered much more than the mere organ of sight. Likened by the Egyptians to the sun itself, the eye has been considered a powerful source and repository of energy, will, and desire, capable of kindling love on the one hand and wreaking havoc on the other. But the evil eye has been something always to be feared.
Who had the evil eye? Who could, with a glance, project calamity or misfortune on another? There were many, some who came by the “talent” inadvertently, and some who practiced it with magical intent. Among those who were supposed to have been born with it were people whose eyebrows met over their nose or who were blind in one eye; those who were hunchbacks or dwarfs; those whose eyes were crossed or divergent, of different colors, or situated unevenly in their face. Gypsies were thought to be naturals at it. Among the ones who had to learn the malignant trick were witches, sorcerers, and magicians.
What could the evil eye do? Depending on the country and its particular customs, the evil eye could affect anything from childbirth to the crops in the field. It could cause such minor irritations as hiccups and headaches, along with major
Signs of such an attack included dread and anxiety, not to mention more visible tokens, such as a thick, foul-smelling slime, and bruises that took the shape of goat’s hooves or the ace of clubs. Sometimes an “astral bell,” which rang clearly, or almost inaudibly clicked, could be heard when the spirit was on the prowl. Francesco-Maria Guazzo, the Italian friar who wrotethe Compendium Maleficarum in 1608, listed other symptoms of such an attack as mental lassitude, pricking pains in the chest, convulsions, fever, inexplicable sweating, and sexual impotence. The skin, he stated, could take on a yellowish cast, and the victim could find himself unable to look a priest in the eye; confronted with his tormentor, “the patient is at once affected with great uneasiness and seized with terror and trembling,” Guazzo wrote. “If it is a child, it cries.”
In one such case of psychic malevolence, in the English town of York in 1538, the perpetrator, Mabel Brigge, was hauled into court under suspicion of having made an occult attempt on the life of King Henry VIII. She was accused of having performed a ritual known as the Black Fast; while concentrating all her mental powers on his demise, she herself had abstained from eating any meat, milk, or dairy foods. While in court, she admitted to having earlier “fasted upon” a thief, who had broken his neck while her spell was in effect. Convicted of witchcraft, she was summarily executed.
And lest anyone think such powers have been dismissed in our own century, British witches in 1940 reportedly focused their psychic powers on Adolf Hitler, in this case to convince him that he could not bring his armies across the English Channel. In view of the fact that he never did, maybe the witches were onto something.
THE EVIL EYE
In Italy, it’s known as malocchio, in Germany the böser Blick, in France the mauvais oeil. In Scotland, it was thought that a glance from the evil eye could sicken cattle; in England, it was considered capable of killing a person. Among colonial Americans, the evil eye was sometimes thought to be at the bottom of everything from soured milk to butter that turned in the churn. No matter how far back in history we go—to the ancient Mesopotamians or the Greek Pliny, who described the basilisk whose gaze was so terrible that it could die if it saw its ownreflection—the eye has been considered much more than the mere organ of sight. Likened by the Egyptians to the sun itself, the eye has been considered a powerful source and repository of energy, will, and desire, capable of kindling love on the one hand and wreaking havoc on the other. But the evil eye has been something always to be feared.
Who had the evil eye? Who could, with a glance, project calamity or misfortune on another? There were many, some who came by the “talent” inadvertently, and some who practiced it with magical intent. Among those who were supposed to have been born with it were people whose eyebrows met over their nose or who were blind in one eye; those who were hunchbacks or dwarfs; those whose eyes were crossed or divergent, of different colors, or situated unevenly in their face. Gypsies were thought to be naturals at it. Among the ones who had to learn the malignant trick were witches, sorcerers, and magicians.
What could the evil eye do? Depending on the country and its particular customs, the evil eye could affect anything from childbirth to the crops in the field. It could cause such minor irritations as hiccups and headaches, along with major
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