Love Magic Research Articles

Tabitha Stanmore. Love Spells and Lost Treasure: Service Magic in England from the Later Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. 320. $99.99 (cloth).

Tabitha Stanmore. Love Spells and Lost Treasure: Service Magic in England from the Later Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. 320. $99.99 (cloth).

Love spells and lost treasure. Service magic in England from the later Middle Ages to the early modern era. By Tabitha Stanmore. Pp. xiv + 307 incl. 1 ill. and 8 tables. Cambridge–New York: Cambridge University Press, 2023. £75. 978 1 009 28670 1

Love spells and lost treasure. Service magic in England from the later Middle Ages to the early modern era. By Tabitha Stanmore. Pp. xiv + 307 incl. 1 ill. and 8 tables. Cambridge–New York: Cambridge University Press, 2023. £75. 978 1 009 28670 1

Blood purification practices: Some ethnopharmacological insight from a rural community in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Ethnopharmacological relevanceBlood purification practices, also referred to as blood cleansing or detoxification, is an ancient concept which is widespread within African traditional medicine. There is, however, limited consolidated information about the selection of plant species, the purpose of use and how the preparation is made. An in-depth examination of how regional communities use medicinal plants for blood purification is needed to better understand this ethnopharmacological practice. Aim of the studyTo gather knowledge on the traditional use of medicinal plants used for the purpose of blood purification by laypersons in northern Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. MethodsAn ethnobotanical survey was conducted on medicinal plants used in the rural areas of northern Maputaland for blood purification. Interviews were conducted in 55 homesteads, where the most knowledgeable participant per household was interviewed using structured questionnaires. Information collected included knowledge of the concept of blood purification, purpose for medicating, plant selection, and mode of preparation. The most important species and families were identified through indices. ResultsSixty-four plant species from 35 families were recorded as blood purifiers for the treatment of ailments linked to the need for blood purification. Terminalia sericea Burch. ex DC. was the most used plant species (mentioned by 39% of the people interviewed). The conditions that were mostly associated with blood purification were skin complaints, gastro-intestinal disorders, and overall improvement of general health. Blood purification is also commonly used for non-medical purposes such as granting good luck or as a love charm. Six new plant species and five new Zulu vernacular names had not previously been documented for blood purification. ConclusionThe frequently mentioned use of medicinal plants for blood purification by the rural community of northern Maputaland clearly emphasises the importance of this cultural practice. There is no doubt that when examining African traditional medicine, holistic terms such as “blood cleansing” cannot be ignored. Future studies may provide a better understanding of this often misunderstood and undocumented practice.

Mencapai Keselamatan dengan Perlindungan Dewa dan Rajah: Kajian Ilustrasi Lontar Merapi Merbabu (9 L 197)

Research on aspects of the manuscript, including the illustrations, has been carried out by many researchers. This is important because it is considered to be able to reveal the contents of a text more thoroughly. The manuscript with code 9 L 197, collection of the National Library of Indonesia, is one of the lontar manuscripts originating from the Merapi Merbabu scriptoria which has many illustrations. The purpose of this research is to describe and reveal the meaning of illustrations in manuscript 9 L 197 based on reading the supporting text. The approach used is the philological and image semiological approach of Roland Barthes. The results of the study show that the text in manuscript 9 L 197 was copied using the Buda script and Javanese language. The text in this manuscript are Pagrahanan, Palilindon, and Respatikalpa. This manuscript contains 89 illustrations. Based on their shape, these 89 illustrations can be classified into four groups, namely illustrations in the form of human (I), illustrations in the form of animal (II), illustrations in the form of mythological creature (III), and illustrations in the form of inanimate object (IV). Based on the reading of the supporting texts, except for subgroup Ic, it can be concluded that the purpose of illustrations in this manuscript aims to achieve salvation. The salvation includes being loved, survived from wild animals, survived from fights, survived from crop failure due to pests, survived from disease, survived from unsold trade, survived from love spells, survived by worshiping Brahma and Vishnu, salvation on food and housing, salvation related with kecubung plant (Datura metel) and betel leaf (Piper betle linn).

Changing Destinies by Fighting Against Bad Luck

"In the traditional Romanian village, misfortune (bad luck) was countered by the use of magic means. Those who took the lead in performing the magico-ritual act were women who possessed special powers that enabled them to identify, isolate and destroy evil and thus restore peace of mind and health to their clients by manipulating chance and changing their destinies. They were country women without special qualifications who healed a wide spectrum of ailments – themselves caused by ritual means – or made love charms. By contrast, the contemporary urban environment in Romania can show us modern witches who are widely advertised in the media, practise aggressive marketing, and are in most cases digitally literate (they make use of the Internet and digital applications to facilitate relations with clients); by employing sophisticated rituals and often also by drawing on black magic, they provide solutions to sickness, curses and being crossed in love, as also happens in traditional villages, but they are equally able to deal with unemployment, impotence, lack of money, hair loss, business failure and above the straying of unfaithful husbands, thus demonstrating that they are in tune with the times in which they live. Everything is possible, because people living in modern communities, despite the categorical appeal to reason, despite digitalisation, globalisation, bureaucratisation and the coming of the computer age, still feel the need to “explain the inexplicable,” in exactly the same way as peasants living in traditional villages do, and in addition feel the need for personal experiences, including of magic ritual and witchcraft. The coronavirus pandemic had the effect of strengthening this impression of a “magic mindset” and even of uninterrupted coexistence between the magic of the traditional village and modern urban life, influencing the relation between magic/religion and science – something seen at its clearest in the attitudes of large numbers of people towards the origin and treatment of the virus and above all the vaccines. "

Magic and Spells in <em>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</em> (1997-2003)

Magic and Spells in <em>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</em> (1997-2003)

Folk magic in the Philippines, 1611–39

While studies of commerce and trade in Manila's ‘Golden Age’ are common, the impact of the city's multiethnic society on the daily lives of its inhabitants has often been harder to gauge. Based on 98 Inquisition cases, this article examines the widespread use of folk magic in colonial Manila, offering new insights into cultural interactions and inviting new reflections on the nature and extent of colonial domination. Folk magic—also known as hechicería—was an important part of cultural life within Spanish communities across the empire in the early modern period. Encompassing a variety of different practices, including the use of love charms, luck charms, spell-casting, and divination, it offered individuals opportunities to mediate their relationships, particularly with members of the opposite sex. These practices connected European folk traditions with Asian knowledge of botany, medicine, and spirituality to fulfil the needs of the Spanish community for magic. At the same time, this blending of Spanish and Asian cultures was subversive of colonial authority. Folk magic practices challenged the progression of ‘pious imperialism’ that pitted Christianity against indigenous traditions, creating spaces of cultural exchange where the balance of power between cultures was more evenly felt than often assumed.

A.W. Hamilton and the translation of English nursery rhymes into Malay

ABSTRACT A.W. Hamilton (1887–1967) was a colonial police officer who demonstrated a keen interest in the Malay language. He was a regular contributor to various magazines and journals during the colonial period. His writings, which encompass various aspects of the Malay language, Malay sayings and love charms, flora, fauna, feasts, and festivals, reflect his diverse interest in his surroundings. Also known as Haji Hamilton, he was a translator as well. He is perhaps best known for his translations of English nursery rhymes into Malay, which were published six times over a period of 70 years. Upon his retirement from the police force, Hamilton settled down in Australia. He is often credited for having made among the earliest effort to introduce the Malay language in Australia, although it did not prove to be very successful. In spite of this, very little is publicly documented about Hamilton. This article aims to explore some aspects of Hamilton’s life and discuss his language indigenisation in his translation of nursery rhymes into Malay, with the aim of providing some insights into the life of a colonial officer who was unwavering in his interest in and devotion to the Malay language.

Заговоры, обереги и молитвы Верхней Золотицы

The article is a publication of spells. The texts were discovered in Verkhnyaya Zolotitsa, Primorsky District, Arkhangelsk Region, in 2018 by the Pushkinskij Dom expedition. The spells were written on separate sheets of notebook paper in the middle of the 20th century. The records contain 30 hea ling spells, love spells and spells for livestock.

Love Magic: Spells Using Menstrual Blood in Lithuania

Among menstrual superstitions circulating in Lithuania a belief that it is possible to put a spell on a man using menstrual blood is the least examined. Our article proposes to describe and analyse this superstition. Analysis is based on individual interview data collected in between 2000 and 2020. The number of respondents totals 323. All of them are women. Respondents were asked about the use of menstrual blood for love magic. Only 67 replied that they knew nothing about it. Respondents who learned about blood spells in their youth many decades ago stated that rumours of bewitchment are still circulating even now. The attitude to blood spells is strictly negative. Respondents who thought that the spells were absolutely ineffective regarded them as something stupid and dirty; believers in the power of menstrual blood magic thought that the spells were dangerous, immoral or even equivalent to witchcraft. Adding a few drops of blood to a drink or other liquid is a well-known practice in Lithuania. Less often blood is added to food. The consequences can be tragic: a handsome and bright youth becomes addicted to an old hag; a model husband and father leaves his family. Unfavourable physical effects are also common with spells, for example, triggering serious diseases. Relationships with the seductress are unsuccessful. The removal of a love spell based on menstrual blood is intricate; the techniques of doing so that we recorded are scant, filthy and risky.

Titok és idegenség csapdájában (Szilágyi István: Messze túl a láthatáron)

This paper explores the world of István Szilágyi's latest novel, Far Over the Horizon. The main character Mátyás Tompay Wajtha lives through the fall of the freedom fight, the “kuruc rebellion” as the confidant, secretary of Ferenc Rákóczi II. At the request of Rákóczi he starts writing his memoirs, but a tragedy casts shadows over his fate: his wife was lured away, she got into an accident, the ice broke under the sled. The secret of his wife being lured away and dying keeps him captive until the end of the novel. After the tragedy Tompay “estranges away” from his environment, home in the first part. The second part of the novel picks up the story about thirty years later, when Tompay judges cases brought before him already as the chief judge of Tipród county. His life is surrounded by secrecy and strangeness, and in the discussions “mind constructs” ahead of his age are revealed. The analysis emphasizes the following characteristics: István Szilágyi words the important questions of defining and judging crime in an open, experimental novel format on the pages of Far Beyond the Horizon, interwoven with the fine web of motifs so characteristic of him. He does so on the one hand with a historic character, building on the tradition of witch trials. It appears as a serious moral dilemma, thinking in the scope of universal humanity, whether witches exist at all. Based on what preconceptions does one pass judgment? Who has the right to judge crimes that cannot be uncovered in their entirety? Mátyás Tompay Wajtha questions the borders of human knowledge, just to get from certain to uncertain every single time, through bitter experiences. Even in the trapped situation of Tompay he tries to see behind the secrets, discover the practicality behind the superstitions, beliefs, witchcraft, love charms and murders. Such interpretative horizons intersect excitingly in the conversations which at first sight we would think to be long obsolete for a man of today. In my opinion, by focusing on the dynamics of strangeness, utilizing the relevant insights of xenology, culture and literary studies, following the system of criteria of close reading, I managed to reveal such structural problems, connection points hardly studied so far which might further nuance the statements of the reception and impact history so far.

Love Magic and Control in Premodern Iberian Literature by Veronica Menaldi (review)

Love Magic and Control in Premodern Iberian Literature by Veronica Menaldi (review)

Syriac Love Charms

Abstract The first part of our inquiry on Syriac love charms was devoted to the recipe-type charms. This article edits four more Syriac love charms, which we attribute to the so-called prayer-type. The special features of this type of Syriac love charms are addressed and compared with that of the recipe-type texts, edited in Part I. The commentary to each text provides philological notes and parallels, both from within and outside of Syriac magical tradition.

Dying for love: Illegal international trade in hummingbird love charms

AbstractHummingbirds (family Trochilidae) are among the most recognizable groups of birds, due to their tiny size, supremely maneuverable flight, and iridescent plumage. They are essential pollinators in ecosystems throughout the New World, and are welcome visitors to gardens and nectar feeders in every corner of the United States. Despite this familiarity, few people are aware that hummingbirds are the objects of active illegal international trade. The practice of incorporating the bodies of hummingbirds in love charms, known aschuparrosacharms, is a centuries‐old tradition in Mexico. The practice has now spread to the United States. This report summarizes investigations of the hummingbird trade by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 2013 to 2021. A total of 905 hummingbird carcasses were recovered in these investigations, representing 22 different species, 18 of which are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. While it appears that all hummingbirds were killed and packaged in Mexico, many originated from migratory U.S. populations. The species most frequently identified inchuparrosaswas Ruby‐throated Hummingbird, which nests entirely in the United States and occurs in Mexico only in the non‐breeding season. Much remains to be learned about the dimensions of thechuparrosatrade, and its possible impacts on hummingbird populations.

Erotic Love Magic and the Problem of Female Agency

Abstract Drawing Down the Moon is an outstanding contribution to the contemporary debate about ritual practices and magic. My review focuses on two intersecting points, the definition of magic as discourse in Chapter One and the analysis of “love charms and erotic curses” in Chapter Four. I begin with the second issue, the category love magic, and will return to the first, magic as discourse, at the end. I have a fairly narrow point to make about the category love magic: the modern classification incorporates but does not sufficiently analyze ancient notions of agency. On the issue of definitions of magic, Edmonds’s careful study reveals the problems of classifying rituals based on a narrow notion of discourse.

John Chrysostom and Christian Love Magic: A Spellbinding Moment in the History of Interpretation of 1 Cor 7.2–4

AbstractThis article, originally presented as the presidential address at the 2021 SNTS meeting, held virtually via Leuven due to Covid-19 conditions, investigates the nature of Pauline interpretation, past and present. It brings into the scholarly conversation a neglected ancient source, John Chrysostom's occasional homily on 1 Cor 7.2–4 (Hom. 1 Cor. 7–4 (CPG 4377)), and provides an analysis of key passages showing how the late antique orator-bishop seeks to turn Paul's words from the fifties to Corinth into a magical incantation, and, as inscribed on various materials, a talisman against the evils associated with porneia. The article concludes with defence of the category ‘Christian love magic’ and an argument that New Testament studies constitutes a unified field which should unite (rather than separate out) the work of philology, historical contextualisation, literary criticism, humanistic commitments and hermeneutical sophistication as we trace and analyse the ways human agents construct meanings with New Testament texts, then and now.

Черные камни, белые кости: о некоторых ритуальных предметах из погребений ранних кочевников Южного Приуралья

Accumulations of burnt pebbles are often found in burials of the early nomads. Such pebbles are called kumalak- stones in literature suggesting the purpose of fortune-telling or playing. But neither their size nor weight, nor their form is similar to real kumalaks. The key to understanding the purpose of these pebbles is that they are burnt. The article suggests that they are accessories of the “steam bath of the Scythians” for the ritual of the purification after burial. Although in some cases these pebbles could be used for fortune-telling as well. In female burials of the 4th—3rd centuries B. C. there are sets of long bones of wild animals, mostly hares and foxes. The bones are heavily glossed from prolonged use. They are associated with fortune –telling in the sphere of specific female interests — betrothed one, love spell, marriage, pregnancy and childbirth, as well as saving children and babies.

Zmiya skorpiya in the Russian North Handwritten Charms Tradition

The article is devoted to the study of a folklore cliche zmiya skorpiya ‘a serpent and a scorpion’ in the Russian North handwritten charms tradition. It was discovered that the source of the cliche is the Gospel of Luke’s quote (Luke 10:19), which was included in the oral charms of the Southern Russian, Eastern Belarusian and Eastern Ukrainian regions, as well as in the Russian North handwritten herdsman charms, most likely through liturgical texts. In herdsman charms this cliche fits organically the list of wild animals from which a charm was supposed to protect the livestock while grazing it in the forest. This allowed the cliche to stay in these charms for a long time – from the 18th and up to the beginning of the 20th century. Unlike the tradition of the south of Russia and the adjacent Ukrainian and Belarusian territories, zmiya skorpiya cliche was practically not varied in the Russian North, since it turned out to be in demand by the handwritten tradition. These herdsman charms were read during the ritual, more often the herd was bypassed with them. The charms also were stored, inherited, bought, sold and copied, and they were almost not subjected to natural variation during oral existence, which led to their conservation and gradual distortion as they were repeatedly copied and as the tradition was destroyed. The cliche was also recorded in love, healing and military charms, but it did not develop in them due to the absence of motives associated with snakes in these charms. In addition, it was included in a number of handwritten prayers, which were widely distributed primarily in the Russian North (such as the Archangel Michael’s Prayer against the Snake, the St. Tryphon’s Incantation, etc.).

Magic and Social Domination in a Rural Turkish Community

A striking feature of social relations in a northwestern Turkish community occurs in the sphere of moral or religious life. While there are many accounts of religious life in the context of official Islamic doctrine, a wide range of less official beliefs and activities are practised along with formai Islam in the community of Sakli. Magic or büyü designates a range of activities with aims and purposes which do not emanate from the authority of orthodoxy. The value and meaning of büyü is located in attempts to subvert or alter situations that are the product offate, or the actions of more powerful actors. In this context this article illustrates how local villagers take their projects to a hoca (lit. religious teacher) who attempts to shape fate more to their liking, for a fee. In their practice of assisting resistance to what is ’written’ in codes or decided by the powerful, hoca often borrow Qur’anic prayers to support their clients’ projects. Written prayers are used as objects that can effect goals, such as protecting villagers from misfortunes, finding ’appropriate’ mates, casting love spells, and occasionally causing harm. I argue that büyü challenges the collusion between official Islamic authority and mainstream local morality.

A Church and Its Charms

Meletios was exiled for 13 of his 20 years as bishop of Antioch, and at times as many as three other bishops claimed the Antiochene episcopacy during his tenure. Still, in an encomium for Meletios delivered in 386, his protegé John Chrysostom claimed that Meletios managed to enchant the whole city: “Blessed is that man, because he was strong enough to cast such a love charm (ϕίλτρον) on all of you.” John delivered this encomium in a large cruciform church that Meletios campaigned to build. In the church were burials: probably Babylas, a martyr bishop who had died in the Decian persecution about 150 years before, and Meletios himself, interred either in the same grave or a neighboring one. The next year, Dorys the presbyter would fund the pavement of the church’s floors, carpeting them in rich geometric designs and clean black-and-white dedicatory inscriptions. Using Sara Ahmed’s work on “the cultural politics of emotion,” this article analyzes the cruciform church through three different modes: its architecture, an encomium delivered there, and its mosaic program. The Meletian faction forged alliances with material and space to produce and manage affects of security, love, and pleasure in their communities. These spatial, discursive, and material enchantments encouraged the more decisive affiliation of fourth-century Antiochene Christians with Meletios’s community instead of with his competitors’ communities.