Paper 88 — Fetishes, Magic, and...

WORK-IN-PROGRESS (FEBRUARY 3, 2015) PARALLEL CHART FOR

Paper 88 — Fetishes, Magic, and Charms

© 2011, 2012, 2015 Matthew Block

This chart is a revision of the January 18, 2012 version.Endnotes and most Urantia Book cross-references have been deleted to enhance readability.

Sources for Paper 88, in the order in which they first appear

(1) William Graham Sumner and Albert Galloway Keller, The Science of Society, Volume II (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1927)

(2) William Graham Sumner, Albert Galloway Keller, and Maurice Rea Davie, The Scienceof Society, Volume IV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1927)

(3) Lewis Browne, This Believing World: A Simple Account of the Great Religions ofMankind (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926)

Key

(a) Green indicates where a source author first appears, or where he/she reappears.

(b) Yellow highlights most parallelisms.

(c) Tan highlights parallelisms not occurring on the same row.

(d) An underlined word or words indicates where the source and the UB writer pointedlydiffer from each other.

(e) Blue indicates original (or “revealed”) information, or UB-specific terminology andconcepts. (What to highlight in this regard is debatable; the highlights are tentative.)

(f) Light green indicates Bible passages or fragments thereof, which are not paralleled in thesource text.

Matthew Block3 February 2015

1

SOURCE OR PARALLEL URANTIA PAPER 88

Work-in-progress Version 14 feb. 2011

© 2011, 2012, 2015 Matthew Block

Revised 18 Jan. 2012 and 3 Feb. 2015

PAPER 88 — FETISHES,

CHARMS, AND MAGIC

88:0.1 The concept of a spirit’sentering into an inanimate object, ananimal, or a human being, is a veryancient and honorable belief, havingprevailed since the beginning of theevolution of religion.

XXVIII: FETISHISM (Sumner & Keller979)

§247. The Fetish. (Sumner & Keller 981)

[contd] Out of the doctrines aboutsouls, ghosts, and daimons, with theadded idea of possession, there arises oneof the most nearly universal of humanbeliefs: fetishism (S&K 981).

This doctrine of spirit possession isnothing more nor less than fetishism.

Wilken holds that “in fetishism thespirit is wholly identified with the objectin which it is housed, is not distinguishedfrom it, so that it is really the objectwhich is worshipped as a possessed andpowerful being. . . . Many Javanese assertvery succinctly and definitely that theyreverence no trees, rivers, mountains, butthe . . . spirit that lives in them” (S&K984).

The savage does not necessarily worshipthe fetish; he very logically worships andreverences the spirit resident therein.

When fetishes were first describedand discussed, they were regarded as theproduct of the attribution of life toinorganic objects. This misapprehensionwas exposed by Spencer, who saw in thefetish an indwelling spirit which was, inorigin at least, the ghost of a dead man(S&K 982).

88:0.2 At first, the spirit of a fetish wasbelieved to be the ghost of a dead man;

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We do not follow Lippert in his beliefthat fetishes are so predominantly ghost-possessed objects but think that fetishismrises from possession by a daimon oreven an anima, that is, directly out ofdaimonism or even animism (S&K 982).

later on, the higher spirits were supposedto reside in fetishes.

The nature of soul, ghost, and spirit hasbeen surveyed; either one of the threemay enter to possess some object,inanimate or animate; then fetishism hasto do with the phenomena and results ofsuch possession (S&K 984-85).

And so the fetish cult eventually in-corporated all of the primitive ideas ofghosts, souls, spirits, and demonpossession.

1. BELIEF IN FETISHES

XXIX: FETISHISM: TOTEMISM(Sumner & Keller 1017)

§254.* The Extraordinary. (Sumner &Keller 1017)

[contd] The object possessed by thespirit is always out of the ordinary. Fromthis circumstance it readily eventuatesthat the extraordinary is accredited withfetish-quality (S&K 1017).

88.1.1 Primitive man always wanted tomake anything extraordinary into a fetish;

chance therefore gave origin to many.

By some coincidence, let us say, anIndian is relieved of pain just after swal-lowing some substance which modernscience has demonstrated to be quiteineffective, either for good or for ill....That is enough. The remedy in questionbecomes forthwith a fetish to the one whotook it and to all who know his story.

A man is sick, something happens, and hegets well.

It is not necessary to attach this incidentto the Indian; the history of folk-medicineor of modern patent panaceas can bedrawn upon in confirmation (S&K 1018-19).

The same thing is true of the reputation ofmany medicines and the chance methodsof treating disease.

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Strangeness of appearance in anobject; exceptionality of the circum-stances attending its advent; the suggest-ion of its significance through a dream orother spiritual revelation—any suchcondition is enough to demonstrate fetish-quality (S&K 1018).

Objects connected with dreams werelikely to be converted into fetishes.

It is the volcano rather than the ordinarymountain, the comet rather than theplanet ... that catch attention and seem toneed, and so straightway receive,explanation upon the only basis possibleunder the circum-stances (S&K 1022-23).

Volcanoes, but not mountains, becamefetishes; comets, but not stars.

The [Solomon Islanders] think that fallingstars are wandering spirits and are muchafraid (S&K IV 450).

Early man regarded shooting stars andmeteors as indicating the arrival on earthof special visiting spirits.

I, I: MAGIC (Browne 27)

4. Fetishism. (Browne 36)

The first fetishes were probably pebbleswith markings which happened to attractthe eye of the savage because of theirextraordinary color or shape.

88:1.2 The first fetishes werepeculiarly marked pebbles,

(Millions of people in the most civilizedlands still believe in such “lucky stones.”)(B 36)

and “sacred stones” have ever since beensought by man;

The savage gathered a whole collection ofsuch fetishes on a string, and hung themaround his neck, or fastened them overthe door of his hut (B 36-37).

a string of beads was once a collection ofsacred stones, a battery of charms.

5. Idolatry—the beginning of sacrifice—ofprayer—of the church. (Browne 38)

[contd] Tribal fetishes, like privateones, were originally natural objects: forinstance, boulders of a peculiar color, ortrees of a strange shape.

Many tribes had fetish stones,

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(The Kaaba Stone, still worshipped byMoslems in Mecca, was originally justsuch a tribal fetish.) (B 38)

but few have survived as have the Kaaba

and the Stone of Scone.


§248.* Types of Fetishes. (Sumner & Keller988)

Fire, water, precious stones, andmany other natural elements may come,through possession, to be fetishes of greatsignificance.

Fire and water were also among the earlyfetishes,

That fire may become a fetish in acountry where cremation is practised canbe easily understood; then fire-worshipon the Persian lines is not far off (S&K989).

and fire worship, together with belief inholy water, still survives.

In animate nature, the tree-fetishfigures extensively; trees in whichreceptacles for the dead were lodged andthose planted over graves have beenregarded as the abodes of ghosts (S&K989).

88:1.3 Tree fetishes were a later development,

but among some tribes the persistence ofnature worship led to belief in

In Melanesia certain spirits that arenot ghosts (Vuis) are generally associatedwith stones, less commonly with snakes,owls, and sharks. “It is not that the stoneis a Vui, or that a Vui is in the stone, butthat there is such a connection betweenthe Vui and the stone that the stone is thespirit’s outward part or organ” (S&K988).

charms indwelt by some sort of naturespirit.

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When plants and fruits became fetishes,they were taboo as food.

The “apple” (a sort of generic name forthe tabooed fruit), says Gubernatis, “hascome to be considered in all the Orientaltraditions as a symbol of seduction”; andhe mentions Eve, Atalanta, and alsoAthena and Hera who, in the case of theJudgment of Paris, departed so widelyfrom their matronly and virginal austerity,as its victims (S&K 989).

The apple was among the first to fall intothis category;

[?] it was never eaten by the Levantinepeoples.

There is enough evidence concerningthe fetish-quality of animals which eat orare supposed to eat the flesh of men towarrant the inference, without at allignoring transmigration, that connectionwith the ghost is at least one of the primereasons for that quality (S&K 990).

88:1.4 If an animal ate human flesh, itbecame a fetish.

The Parsee thought the fly the evil spiritof the northern tribes and the ancientepics represent it as assailing the dying.The vanquisher of the fly is the dog of acertain breed; by devouring the body, hesaves the soul from the evil fly-spirit andthus becomes a fetish of the first order(S&K 993).

In this way the dog came to be the sacredanimal of the Parsees.

The topic of fetishism links on tomany that have preceded but scarcelyanywhere more closely than to the idea oftransmigration or reincarnation. Anyanimal into which the soul of an ancestorhas been reborn is in an unmistakablesense a fetish (S&K 992).

If the fetish is an animal and the ghost ispermanently resident therein, thenfetishism may impinge on reincarnation.

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§256.* The Animal-Fetish. (Sumner & Keller1026)

[The savage] does not feel himself to bethe “lord of creation”; to him the animalshave enviable superiorities which hecannot rival. They can outfight him,outrun him, outclimb him; they have self-preservative instincts, not to mentionfighting weapons, which arouse hisrespect and envy (S&K 1028). In many ways the savages envied the

animals; they did not feel superior tothem

There is no doubt, however, that menintensely admired the beasts, namedthemselves after them, gave their godstitles of honor such as “Conquering Bull,”and felt a sense of affection and obli-gation toward the animal world beforethey had come to harbor any sympathy formen outside the local group (S&K 1030).

and were often named after their favoritebeasts.



In particular do those animals becomefetishes which “bury” the dead by eatingthem; it is characteristic of the fetish-animal that its flesh is tabooed as food(S&K 990).

88:1.5 When animals became fetishes,there ensued the taboos on eating theflesh of the fetish animal.

In West Africa the crocodile, snake,leopard, fish, shark, and a species ofiguana are fetish-animals, as also are theanthropoid apes and some monkeys—thelatter because of their likeness to men andnot because they prey upon human bodies(S&K 991).

Apes and monkeys, because of resem-blance to man, early became fetishanimals;

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“Living sacred objects in the Solo-mon Islands are chiefly sharks, alligators,snakes, bonitos, and frigate-birds...”(S&K 991).

later, snakes, birds,

In New Guinea, pigs are killed slowlyfor the mango-tree, so that its spirit canenjoy the sacrifice the more; pigs aresacred to that tree (S&K 990).

and swine were also similarly regarded.


§256.* The Animal-Fetish. (Sumner & Keller1026)

Among the Greeks of Homer’s time therewas evidently a taboo on the milk of cows... (S&K IV 508).

At one time the cow was a fetish, the milkbeing taboo

Cases of Hindu reverence for the cowmight cover much space: “the water itejects ought to be preserved as the best ofall holy waters—a sin-destroying liquidwhich sanctifies everything it touches,while nothing purifies like cow-dung”(S&K IV 508).

while the excreta were highly esteemed.



The serpent figures in the Bible andamong the Phœnicians as the agency oftemptation and is raised, in effigy, to curedisease (S&K 993).

The serpent was revered in Palestine,especially by the Phoenicians,

The snake as an evil daimon, as tempter,and as a creature associated with wisdomhas been clearly depicted in the OldTestament (S&K IV 456).

who, along with the Jews, considered it tobe the mouthpiece of evil spirits.

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Superstitions regarding snakes still exist.“Near Leeds they say that when a snakecrosses the path rain is near; and in WestSussex to kill the first snake you see inthe year gives you power over yourenemies for a twelvemonth, or its skinhung up in the house brings good luck tothe tenant....” [Etc.] (S&K IV 456)

Even many moderns believe in the charmpowers of reptiles.

Like the American Indians, the Arabshave their snake-dance (S&K IV 456).

From Arabia

The snake is regarded as a fetish inIndia, where the annual loss of life andproperty due to unmolested cobras andother species is very great (S&K 993).

on through India

The prominent rôle played by the rattle-snake in the Moki Indians’ life is well-known through popular descriptions ofthe Snake Dance (S&K 993). to the snake dance of the Moqui tribe of

red men the serpent has been revered.


§255.* The Lucky and Unlucky. (Sumner &Keller 1023)

“Every [Toda] clan has certain days ofthe week on which people are restrictedfrom following many of their ordinaryoccupations, although they are not theoccasions of any special ceremonies”(S&K IV 495).

88:1.6 Certain days of the week werefetishes.

Friday is widely regarded as an unluckyday, especially Friday the thirteenth(S&K IV 496).

For ages Friday has been regarded as anunlucky day

Statistics show much avoidance ofFriday, especially Friday the thirteenth,which is a conjuncture of an evil day andan unlucky number as viewed byChristian tradition (S&K 1023)

and the number thirteen as an evilnumeral.

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There are certain “round numbers,” suchas three and seven, that seem to haveimpressed themselves upon our culturalforebears; but they are not of universalacceptation (S&K 1024).

The lucky numbers three and seven camefrom later revelations;

We are told, in fact, that “the favoritenumber among the aboriginal races isundoubtedly four, especially in thepueblos were heliolatry is the fun-damental basis of religion, as in Mexicoand Peru...” (S&K 1024).

four was the lucky number of primitiveman

and was derived from the earlyrecognition of

“ ... The devotee of the Cult of theQuarters is unable to think or speakwithout habitual reference to the cardinalpoints ...” (S&K 1024).

the four points of the compass.

In the East African Protectorate it isheld to be unlucky to count cattle or anyother living creatures, while it isparticularly unlucky to count girls (S&KIV 493).

It was held unlucky to count cattle orother possessions;

[And David's heart smote him after that he hadnumbered the people (2 Sam. 24:10).]

the ancients always opposed the taking ofa census, “numbering the people.”


§253.* The Image. (Sumner & Keller 1011)

A phase of religion of which someauthors make much is the worship of thesex-organs, which is largely a cult ofimages—the so-called phallic cult. It isentirely probable that its importance hasbeen exaggerated.... In general it is quitewrong to think of the savage as alwayspreoccupied with sex;

88:1.7 Primitive man did not make anundue fetish out of sex; the reproductivefunction received only a limited amountof attention.

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it was much more a matter of course withhim than it is with us; systematicobscenity belongs rather to developingcivilization (S&K 1014-15).

The savage was natural minded, notobscene or prurient.

XXXII: SIN, EXORCISM, COERCION(Sumner & Keller 1133)

§276.* Exorcism. (Sumner & Keller 1144)

In one sense, the saliva is fetishistic, justas the rest of the exuviæ are; and its use isin so far magical, for magic is carried outthrough the agency of fetishes (S&K1150).

88:1.8 Saliva was a potent fetish;

To spit on a person is to drive off evilspirits from him (S&K 1150).

devils could be driven out by spitting ona person.

The Masai attached much importance tothe act of spitting. To spit at a person is,with them, a great compliment. “Theearlier travellers in Masailand wereastonished, when making friendship withold Masai chiefs and head-men, to beconstantly spat at...” (S&K 1150).

For an elder or superior to spit on onewas the highest compliment.


§249.* Exuvial Fetishes. (Sumner & Keller994)

In considering the location of the soul ithas been found that that essence mayreside during life in some special part ororgan of the body. It may persist, further,in any fragment, after its removal or afterdeath (S&K 994).

Parts of the human body were lookedupon as potential fetishes,

Such exuviæ, or “strippings,” areoutlying, dispensable, or discardedportions of the body such as skin, hair,blood, or excreta (S&K 994).

particularly the hair and nails.

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A chief in Togoland had a fetish-nailon his little finger: “This nail was theobject of painful attention and must notbe broken off, because if it were,according to the popular belief, amisfortune would occur to the owner...”(S&K 995).

The long-growing fingernails of thechiefs were highly prized,

and the trimmings thereof were apowerful fetish.

As the treatment of the skull istypical, further illustration is limited tothe skull-fetish.... Here again, of course,we encounter the topic of head-hunting(S&K 999).

Belief in skull fetishes accounts for muchof later-day head-hunting.

The umbilical cord was a highly prizedfetish; even today it is so regarded inAfrica.

“In the little toy . . . which is suspendedbefore the [American Indian] child’s face,is carefully and superstitiously preservedthe umbilicus, which is always secured atthe time of its birth, and, being rolled intoa little wad the size of a pea, and dried, itis inclosed in the center of this little bagand placed before the child’s face, as itsprotector and its security for ‘good luck’and ‘long life’” (S&K 995).

Mankind’s first toy was a preservedumbilical cord.

In Uganda the naval-cord of a princeis dried, set with pearls, and hung up on apost. A man is set to guard it (S&K 995).

Set with pearls, as was often done,

No sooner is a child born in CentralAustralia than it becomes the object ofmagic arts: the navel-string is dried,swathed in fur, and tied round the child’sneck. “The necklace not only facilitatesgrowth, keeps it quiet and contented, butit also has the admirable faculty ofdeadening to the child the noise made bythe camp dogs” (S&K IV 459).

it was man’s first necklace.

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§257.* The Man-Fetish. (Sumner & Keller1036)

In the New Hebrides deformedchildren are well cared for; while inSamoa hunchbacks and the scrofulous areregarded as favorites of the spirits,generally, be it noted, becoming priestswhen grown up (S&K 1036).

88:1.9 Hunchbacked and crippledchildren were regarded as fetishes;

The very term “lunatic” indicates that theperson in question is “moon-struck,” andunder external and supernatural influence(S&K 1039).

lunatics were believed to be moon-struck.

Mental peculiarities are an even greaterdistinction than physical; they are foundon both sides of the normal, the extremesbeing insanity and genius. That theseextremes are wont to meet is a proverbialsaying, and the evidence from primitivelife does not disprove it; it is not alwaysso easy to determine whether the shaman,for instance, is unsettled in mind or issimply sly and shrewd above his fellows(S&K 1039).

Primitive man could not distinguishbetween genius and insanity;

Topinard goes into some detailconcerning the cult-functions of twomicrocephalous idiots in Mexico. Burck-hardt gives several cases of honoraccorded to idiots (S&K 1040).

idiots were either beaten to death orrevered as fetish personalities.

[See 90:1.2.] Hysteria increasingly confirmed thepopular belief in witchcraft; epilepticsoften were priests and medicine men.

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§258.* Ecstasy and Inspiration. (Sumner &Keller 1041)

Inebriation, as will be seen later on,forms a good example of possession; inthe Congo region drunkenness “was notcondemned in either men or women, butwas looked upon with good-naturedamusement.

Drunkenness was looked upon as a formof spirit possession;

When a man went ‘on the drink,’ hepinned a leaf in his hair to show he wasdrinking, then if he abused anyone nonotice was taken of it; and if he enteredinto a contract which he afterwardsconsidered was to his disadvantage heneed not ratify it, because he had a leaf inhis hair—a sign of his fuddled condition”(S&K 1042).

when a savage went on a spree, he put aleaf in his hair for the purpose ofdisavowing responsibility for his acts.

§254.* The Extraordinary. (Sumner &Keller 1017)

Yet it is not at all uncommon inethnography to encounter cases whereplants and intoxicating drinks made fromthem are thought to be possessed of aspirit.... In East Africa, herbs which arethought to effect miraculous cures andmany native poisons are fetishes ... (S&KIV 491).

Poisons and intoxicants became fetishes;they were deemed to be possessed.

§259. “The Great Man” and “The People.”(Sumner & Keller 1047)

[contd] The genius is the “inspired”man, the “wizard”; great men of all ages,of the later as well as the earlier, havebeen regarded as something more thanhuman (S&K 1047).

88:1.10 Many people looked upongeniuses as fetish personalities

[Thus men who are skilled in the arts are spoken ofin the Bible as those that are “wise-hearted,” inwhom “I have put wisdom” (S&K 1045).]

possessed by a wise spirit.

And these talented humans soon learnedto resort to fraud and trickery for theadvancement of their selfish interests.

14


Always has the race known that “to err ishuman”; if, now, the head of the religioussystem is infallible, he is no mere man; hewas not infallible just preceding hisinvestiture with the fetish-character. It ispossession by the spirit that makes thefetish-man more than human and lendshim that which just before he did not have(S&K 1049).

A fetish man was thought to be more thanhuman; he was divine, even infallible.

[See S&K 1049-51.] Thus did chiefs, kings, priests, prophets,and church rulers eventually wield greatpower and exercise unbounded authority.

2. EVOLUTION OF THE

FETISH


§249.* The Exuvial Fetish. (Sumner &Keller 994)

88:2.1 It was a supposed preference ofghosts to indwell some object which hadbelonged to them when alive in the flesh.This belief explains the efficacy of manymodern

Perhaps the most readily recognized ofexuvial fetishes is the relic. This is somepart of the body, often a bone, and isplainly of eidolistic origin; and if it isthought to have exhibited virtue andproved its power, it attains to unques-tioned sanctity (S&K 998).

relics.

In the Solomon Islands the bones ofpersons of distinction are gathered andkept—those of the chief in a coffin ofshark-shape, in the tamboo- [taboo-]house; here is “the devil of the natives, towhom they offer the first fruits of theseason” (S&K 999).

The ancients always revered the bones oftheir leaders,

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A famous saint whose relics are highlyrevered in this country, and more espec-ially in Canada, is Ste. Anne. Her firstshrine on this continent ... has beenvisited by thousands of people and manymiraculous cures have been ascribed tothe relics (S&K IV 464).

and the skeletal remains of saints andheroes are still regarded with super-stitious awe by many.

§247. The Fetish. (Sumner & Keller 981)

Many of the “symbols” of a moreadvanced stage are but survivals, some-what adapted and rationalized, ofprimitive fetishism. Consider thepilgrimages to the graves of eminent andrevered men, even in modern times (S&K988).

Even today, pilgrimages are made to thetombs of great men.

88:2.2 Belief in relics is an outgrowthof the ancient fetish cult. The relics ofmodern religions represent an attempt torationalize the fetish of the savage andthus elevate it to a place of dignity andrespectability in the modern religioussystems. It is heathenish to believe infetishes and magic but supposedly allright to accept relics and miracles.

§251.* Hearth- and Altar-Fetishes. (Sumner& Keller 1004)

The kotla is the hearth-place andsacred spot of the Bechuanas as thehearth was to the Romans; “no one mayenter the kotla with his shoes on” (S&K1005).

88:2.3 The hearth—fireplace—becamemore or less of a fetish, a sacred spot.

Thus the fetish-quality of the shrine, aswell as of other sacred structures andplaces, is derived ultimately fromeidolistic beliefs (S&K 1008).

The shrines and temples were at firstfetish places because the dead wereburied there.

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Fawcett thinks that if more evidence wereneeded to support the Spencerian theory“that the temple originated out of asheltering structure for the dead ..., itwould be found in the Saora country”(S&K 1007).

Presumably the [Israelite] tabernacle wasoriginally a fetish-hut of the dead. The fetish hut of the Hebrews

was elevated by Moses to that placewhere it harbored a superfetish,

The ark was a receptacle for fetishes; thetablets of the law were placed in it (S&KIV 468).

the then existent concept of the law ofGod.

§253.* The Image. (Sumner & Keller 1011)

At the time when the oldest of thepentateuchal narratives were written, theCanaanites and the great mass of theHebrews certainly treated the masseba[i.e., a stone pillar] as a sort of idol orembodiment of the divine presence.

But the Israelites never gave up thepeculiar Canaanite belief in the stonealtar:

[And this stone, which I have set for a pillar,shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt giveme I will surely give the tenth unto thee (Gen.28:22).]

“And this stone which I have set up as apillar shall be God’s house.”

“Moreover Jacob’s pillar is more than amere landmark, for it is anointed, just asidols were in antiquity, and the pillaritself, not the spot on which it stood, iscalled ‘the house of God,’ as if the deitywere conceived actually to dwell in thestone, or manifest himself therein to hisworshippers” (S&K IV 476).

They truly believed that the spirit of theirGod dwelt in such stone altars, whichwere in reality fetishes.

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Images carved in a rude likeness of a man are common in Melanesia.... “ ... Butthese had no sacred character, furtherthan that they were memorials of de-ceased great men, whose ghosts visitingtheir accustomed abodes would bepleased at marks of memory and affec-tion, and irritated by disrespect” (S&K IV470).

88:2.4 The earliest images were made to preserve the appearance and memoryof the illustrious dead; they were reallymonuments.

Idols were a refinement of fetishism.

The very making of an image seemsto exercise a compulsion upon the spiritin question to occupy or possess it....There must often take place, however, aceremony of invitation or inductionbefore the image can be anything morethan a material thing (S&K 1011).

The primitives believed that a ceremonyof consecration caused the spirit to enterthe image;

“Candles are set in a row in front, then,when all is ready, the [Palaung] monkscome from the monastery and the chiefmonk blesses the image [of the Buddha],which is thenceforth considered sacred...”(S&K IV 471).

likewise, when certain objects wereblessed, they became charms.

[See 66:7.8.]

88:2.5 Moses, in the addition of thesecond commandment to the ancientDalamatian moral code, made an effort tocontrol fetish worship among theHebrews. He carefully directed that theyshould make no sort of image that mightbecome consecrated as a fetish. He madeit plain,

[Thou shalt not make unto thee any gravenimage, or any likeness of any thing that is inheaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or thatis in the water under the earth: (Exod. 20:4)]

“You shall not make a graven image orany likeness of anything that is in heavenabove, or on the earth beneath, or in thewaters of the earth.”

While this commandment did much toretard art among the Jews, it did lessenfetish worship.1

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§251.* Hearth- and Altar-Fetishes. (Sumner& Keller 1004)

[?]

But Moses was too wise to attemptsuddenly to displace the olden fetishes,and he therefore consented to the puttingof certain relics alongside the law

[contd from 88:2.3] Not only was it the Arkof the Covenant but also a war-altar and areligious shrine (S&K IV 468).

in the combined war altar and religiousshrine which was the ark.

§252.* The “Word.” (Sumner & Keller 1008)

There is magic in words, written orspoken, for fetishes are not limited tomaterial things (S&K IV 469).

88:2.6 Words eventually becamefetishes,

more especially those which wereregarded as God’s words; in this way thesacred books of many religions havebecome fetishistic prisons incarceratingthe spiritual imagination of man.

Moses’ very effort against fetishesbecame a supreme fetish; his command-ment was later used to stultify art and toretard the enjoyment and adoration of thebeautiful.

88:2.7 In olden times the fetish word ofauthority was a fear-inspiring

“Doctrines are the most frightful tyrantsto which men ever are subject,

doctrine, the most terrible of all tyrantswhich enslave men.

because doctrines get inside a man’s ownreason and betray him against himself.Civilized men have done their fiercestfighting for doctrines (S&K 1009).

A doctrinal fetish will lead mortal man tobetray himself

into the clutches of bigotry, fanaticism,superstition, intolerance, and the mostatrocious of barbarous cruelties.

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Modern respect for wisdom and truth isbut the recent escape from

If the reader objects that thereverence paid to the sayings of extra-ordinary men seems like fetishism only incase we make a sort of metaphoricalextension of the term, and that suchreverence simply reveals a “fetish-makingtendency,” we are not disposed to takeserious issue with him (S&K 1009).

the fetish-making tendency

up to the higher levels of thinking andreasoning.

Concerning the accumulated fetishwritings which various religionists holdas sacred books,

There is an assumption, says Maine, that“sacred or inspired literature being oncebelieved to exist, all knowledge iscontained in it. The Hindu way of puttingit was, and is, not simply that theScripture is true, but that everythingwhich is true is contained in theScripture” (S&K 1010).

it is not only believed that what is in thebook is true, but also that every truth iscontained in the book.

If one of these sacred books happens tospeak of the earth as being flat, then, forlong generations, otherwise sane men andwomen will refuse to accept positiveevidence that the planet is round.2

Throwing the Bible open at random withthe idea of chancing upon a verse whichwould lend supernatural counsel at acrisis of life or fortune

88:2.8 The practice of opening one ofthese sacred books to let the eye chanceupon a passage, the following of whichmay determine important life decisions orprojects,

is an exhibition of fetishism quitecomparable to any out of primitive life;

is nothing more nor less than arrantfetishism.

20


taking oath upon the book by kissing it orotherwise is, as an example of fetishism,quite the counterpart of swearing uponthe relics of a martyr or upon a piece ofthe “True Cross” (S&K 1010).

To take an oath on a “holy book” or toswear by some object of supremeveneration is a form of refined fetishism.

88:2.9 But it does represent realevolutionary progress to advance from thefetish fear of a savage chief’s fingernailtrimmings to the adoration of a superbcollection of

Speaking of the rigid dogmatism formerlybased upon literal readings from Jewishand Christian scripture, White writes:“The most careful inductions from ascer-tained facts were regarded as wretchedlyfallible when compared with any view ofnature whatever given or even hinted at inany poem, chronicle, code, apologue,myth, legend, allegory, letter, or discourseof any sort which had happened to bepreserved in the literature which hadcome to be held as sacred” (S&K 1010).

letters, laws, legends, allegories, myths,poems, and chronicles

which, after all, reflect the winnowedmoral wisdom of many centuries, at leastup to the time and event of their beingassembled as a “sacred book.”

88:2.10 To become fetishes, words hadto be considered inspired, and theinvocation of supposed divinely inspiredwritings led directly to the establishmentof the authority of the church, while theevolution of civil forms led to the fruitionof the authority of the state.

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3. TOTEMISM

88:3.1 Fetishism ran through all theprimitive cults from the earliest belief insacred stones, through idolatry, canni-balism, and nature worship, to totemism.

§260.* Totemism: Religious Aspects.(Sumner & Keller 1052)

It may be said preliminarily that[totemism] includes features belonging toanimism, reincarnation, ancestor-worship,the familiar spirit, fetishism, the taboo,and magic.... Further, totemism reveals,along with pronounced religious aspects,also a social bearing which cannot wellbe considered otherwise than in con-junction with the religious (S&K 1052).

88:3.2 Totemism is a combination ofsocial and religious observances.

Australians and Indians have incommon the taboo on eating or killing thetotem-animal; and both display aconsideration and reverence for it whichgo so far in the case of the Indian that heelaborately excuses himself on occasionswhen he must kill it. The idea in thisappears to be that if the totem-animal isnot irritated or alienated by rudetreatment there will be plenty of game.Concern for the food-supply is never veryfar off from the savage mind (S&K 1054).

Originally it was thought that respect forthe totem animal of supposed biologicorigin insured the food supply.

§261.* Totemism (Social Aspect, andTheories about Totemism) (Sumner & Keller IV544)

[T]he totem is not only the symbol of thismysterious force [i.e. mana]; it is thesymbol of the social group as well. “ ...So, if it is at once the symbol of the godand of the society,

Totems were at one and the same timesymbols of the group and their god.

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is that not because the god and the societyare only one? . . . The god of the clan, thetotemic principle, can therefore benothing else than the clan itself, person-ified and represented to the imaginationunder the visible form of the animal orvegetable which serves as the totem”(S&K IV 556).

Such a god was the clan personified.

§260.* Totemism: Religious Aspects.(Sumner & Keller 1052)

Many young Indians acquire a patronanimal-spirit, sometimes called a “mani-tou,” as a result of a revelation accordedthem while under the trance-inducingdiscipline of initiation; then the patronthus acquired by an ancestor, especially ifthe latter was also a hero, descends tobecome the tutelary spirit of a kin-group.Thus the American totem is typically thefamiliar or guardian spirit as derived bythe individual out of personal experience(S&K 1053-54).

Totemism was one phase of the attemptedsocialization of otherwise personalreligion.

“[The totem] is its flag; it is the sign bywhich each clan distinguishes itself fromthe others, the visible mark of itspersonality, a mark borne by everythingwhich is a part of the clan under any titlewhatsoever, men, beasts, or things ...”(S&K IV 556).

The totem eventually evolved into theflag,

or national symbol, of the various modernpeoples.

§249.* The Exuvial Fetish. (Sumner &Keller 994)

[[contd from 88:1.2] Later on, however, fetishes weremanufactured. Frequently they were little pouchescontaining objects with reputedly magic properties(Browne 36).]

88:3.3 A fetish bag, a medicine bag,was a pouch containing a reputableassortment of ghost-impregnated articles,

“When the medicine-bag is carried on awar party it is never allowed to touch theground...” (S&K 997).

and the medicine man of old neverallowed his bag, the symbol of his power,to touch the ground.

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Civilized peoples in the twentieth centurysee to it that their flags, emblems ofnational consciousness, likewise nevertouch the ground.

[Neither the king’s characteristic para-phernalia] nor the insignia of supremeecclesiastical office are merely symbols,certainly not if they have, in the course oftransmission across the generations, beenhandled by a long line of “God’sanointed” (S&K 997).

88:3.4 The insignia of priestly andkingly office were eventually regarded asfetishes,

and the fetish of the state supreme haspassed through many stages ofdevelopment, from clans to tribes, fromsuzerainty to sovereignty, from totems toflags.

§259. “The Great Man” and “The People.”(Sumner & Keller 1047)

Whenever the doctrine has prevailed that“the king can do no wrong”—and itprevails in the face of the errare esthumanum—the king is a fetish-man, has“divine right” and all the other fetish-perquisites (S&K 1049).

Fetish kings have ruled by “divine right,”

and many other forms of governmenthave obtained.

In later times the fetish-quality haspassed, with the extension of democracy,

Men have also made a fetish ofdemocracy,

the exaltation and adoration of thecommon man’s ideas when collectivelycalled

to “The People.” Vox populi vox dei. “public opinion.”

The idea seems to be that individually theopinions of common men are foolish, ornegligible, or even contemptible;

One man’s opinion, when taken by itself,is not regarded as worth much,

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but that when they get together to vote orotherwise to express themselves as awhole, they become inspired for theoccasion and are infallible (S&K 1051).

but when many men are collectivelyfunctioning as a democracy, this samemediocre judgment is held to be thearbiter of justice and the standard ofrighteousness.

4. MAGIC

88:4.1 Civilized man attacks theproblems of a real environment throughhis science; savage man attempted tosolve the real problems of an illusoryghost environment by magic. Magic wasthe technique of manipulating theconjectured spirit environment whosemachinations endlessly explained theinexplicable;

XXXVII: MAGIC (Sumner & Keller1291)

§299. Methods of Magic. (Sumner & Keller1291)

it was the art of obtaining voluntary spiritco-operation

The methods and processes of magicrepresent, in the main, an effort to coercespirits to accomplish things desired,through the agency of other spirits and inparticular by means of fetishes (S&K1291).

and of coercing involuntary spirit aidthrough the use of fetishes or other andmore powerful spirits.

§304. Sway of Magic. (Sumner & Keller1316)

[contd] The object of magic is statedby one writer to be twofold:

88:4.2 The object of magic, sorcery,and necromancy was twofold:

to secure insight; 1. To secure insight into the future.

to exert effect on environment. 2. Favorably to influence environ-ment.

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It might be noted at once that these arethe objects of science also; men’s aimsmust needs be the same, however diversethe means employed for their attainment(S&K 1316).

88:4.3 The objects of science areidentical with those of magic.

Mankind is progressing from magic toscience,

Much enlightenment ... can be gained bynoting how, entirely automatically, therace has stumbled upon a workinghypothesis, has carried it to the facts oflife, has corrected it gradually and pain-fully (by experience, not by meditation), not by meditation and reason, but rather

through long experience, gradually andpainfully.

and has finally emerged with highlyeffective sciences which provide bothinsight and also power over environ-ment—the original objects at whichmagic aimed (S&K 1317).

§307. Correction into Science. (Sumner &Keller 1329)

By constant further correction he backed,as it were, into all he knows; and he isdoing it still. All that men have learnedhas been won, so to speak, backwards.

Man is gradually backing into the truth,

It began in error; then error was correcteda bit at a time, for in the place of the oldmistake there was generally put a newerror which was only a little better.

beginning in error, progressing in error,

and finally attaining the threshold oftruth.

It is only since modern science came intogeneral authority that the race has beenable to face forwards and to undertakefree and original investigation into truth(S&K 1333).

Only with the arrival of the scientificmethod has he faced forward.

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It is not always realized that primitiveman had to experiment or perish, eventhough the danger of experimentation wasalways great; indeed it is even yet notfrequently at the risk of his life that mandiscovers the laws of nature (S&K 1333).

But primitive man had to experiment orperish.

It was “superstition” that made thesciences possible (S&K 1332).

88:4.4 The fascination of earlysuperstition was the mother of the laterscientific curiosity.

It was the conviction that lay in whatwe now call superstition that put theemotional motive behind these studies,labors and renunciations. Without the fearand the hope, but especially without thefear, the activity would not have beenthere; for it is emotion that is dynamic(S&K 1332).

There was progressive dynamicemotion—fear plus curiosity—in theseprimitive superstitions;

[Superstition] had in it, right or wrong,the dynamic power, capable of inspiringmankind to effort and to action, whichhas brought us where we now are (S&K1332).

there was progressive driving power inthe olden magic.

These superstitions represented theemergence of the human desire to knowand to control planetary environment.

§305.* Applications of Magic. (Sumner &Keller 1319)

88:4.5 Magic gained such a strong holdupon the savage because

As has been shown in another connection,“primitive man is unable to conceive theidea of natural death—every death isattributed to sorcery or to some maliciousact” (S&K 1319-20).

he could not grasp the concept of naturaldeath.

[See 86:3.3.] The later idea of original sin helped muchto weaken the grip of magic on the racein that it accounted for natural death.

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“Belief in witchcraft is the cause ofmore African deaths than anything else. Ithas killed and still kills more men andwomen than the slave trade....” As it is,however, ten or more die for one death,“and thus, over immense tracts ofcountry, the death rate exceeds the birthrate.” [Etc.] (S&K 1320-21)

It was at one time not at all uncommonfor ten innocent persons to be put todeath because of supposed responsibilityfor one natural death.

This is one reason why ancient peoplesdid not increase faster, and it is still trueof some African tribes.

Indian villages were bombarded anddestroyed in the effort to compel thenatives to abandon the punishment ofvictims accused of witchcraft; “but thechief stumbling block has been thesurprising admission of guilt which nearlyall the accused Indians make whencharged with charming away life, andthis, too, in the face of the death penalty.Such is their credulity that when accusedthey believe they must be guilty” (S&K1321).

The accused individual usually confessedguilt, even when facing death.


The belief in magic is wholly naturalto the savage; given his premises, it isalso rational and logical.

88:4.6 Magic is natural to a savage.

Says a writer on New Guinea: “While Ihave spoken of this native belief as beliefin ‘magic,’ we must remember that it isreally not magic from the native point ofview. From his point of view it is just asnatural for a person to be killed bytreating his hair after it has been cut off,as it is to kill him by giving him a grain ortwo of strychnine” (S&K 1318).

He believes that an enemy can actually bekilled by practicing sorcery on hisshingled hair

or fingernail trimmings.

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[In cases of death by natural causes the evil spirithas fixed the time beforehand for the victim to meetthe accident, for instance, to be bitten by a snake(S&K 1385).]

The fatality of snake bites was attributedto the magic of the sorcerer.

§306. Effectiveness of Magic. (Sumner &Keller 1326)

The difficulty in combating magic arisesfrom the fact that fear can kill.

“ ... So strong is the superstition regardingthese things that a man who is cursednever dreams of attempting to overcomethe disaster foretold him, he simply goeshome and dies,

Primitive peoples so feared magic that itdid actually kill,

and it is in this way that this particularsuperstition, and others like it live” (S&K1327).

and such results were sufficient tosubstantiate this erroneous belief.

If the performance does not come off,there is always an excuse which isplausible enough to a believer.

In case of failure there was always someplausible explanation;

The cure for magic is more magic (S&K1327).

the cure for defective magic was moremagic.

5. MAGICAL CHARMS

§300.* Exuvial Magic. (Sumner & Keller1292)

[See 88:1.8, above. Compare S&K 1292-95 andS&K IV 696-704.]

88:5.1 Since anything connected withthe body could become a fetish, theearliest magic had to do with hair andnails.

Secrecy attendant upon body eliminationgrew up out of fear that

“ ... It is believed [by Australian abor-igines] that if enemies get possession ofanything that has belonged to a person,they can by its means make him ill;

an enemy might get possession ofsomething derived from the body andemploy it in detrimental magic;

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hence every uncleanness belonging toadults and half-grown children is buriedat a distance from their dwellings...”(S&K 1295).

all excreta of the body were thereforecarefully buried.

Public spitting was refrained frombecause of the fear that saliva would beused in deleterious magic;

If [certain Africans] spit, they cover itwith earth (S&K 1295).

spittle was always covered.

Such objects, including not alone physicalfragments such as hair but also remnantsof food, clothing, property, and likewisethe name—things assimilated topersonality—are part of their owner inthe sense of containing some fraction ofhis soul. With such samples of a person,it is thought, much damage can be done,for by the induction of spiritual influenceinto them, supernatural power may beexerted over the whole of which they areor have been parts (S&K 1293).

Even food remnants, clothing, andornaments could become instruments ofmagic.

All the scraps from Papuan meals areburned or buried, “as they could be usedin sorcery, to which all disease andcalamity is ascribed” (S&K IV 697).

The savage never left any remnants of hismeal on the table.

It is fear of the magic that can be workedby the use of exuviæ, for instance saliva,which has made a good part of men’smanners,

And all this was done through fear thatone’s enemies might use these things inmagical rites,

as well as their so-called hygienic andsanitary practice (S&K 1293).

not from any appreciation of the hygienicvalue of such practices.

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88:5.2 Magical charms were concoctedfrom a great variety of things:

Perhaps the most potent West Africancharm, stowed in the tusk of a youngelephant, comprises hair from the head ofa white man, a bit of human flesh, alsosaid to be that of a white man, some largesnake-teeth, the point of a leopard’s claw,a fragment of the tooth of a crocodile, afew seeds of the plant from which poisonfor arrows is made, all mixed in a kind ofpaste. To this is added a little gunpowderand a few drops of snake-poison (S&K IV699).

human flesh, tiger claws, crocodile teeth,poison plant seeds, snake venom, andhuman hair.

Bones form another instrument ofmagic common in Central Australia. “Alldiseases are supposed to be caused by thebones of the dead blackfellow beingpointed at the sick person...” (S&K IV696).

The bones of the dead were very magical.

[If a sorcerer can get hold of a man’s exuviæ he hasa grip upon the spirit of the man himself. Even dust

from his footprint can be used (S&K 994).] Even the dust from footprints could beused in magic.

For love-charms, in Germany of earlierdays, magicians used sundry words, signs,wax images, nail-parings, a piece of theperson’s clothing or something else thathad been in contact with him, which latterwere buried under the threshold (S&K IV703).

The ancients were great believers in lovecharms.

In East Prussia, “if anyone wants to betruly loved by any else, he must give himsecretly three drops of his blood in somefood and drink” (S&K IV 703).

Blood

Harlots and others of that ilk made use ofsexual secretions, after-births, milk,perspiration, urine, spittle, hair, navel-strings, and the brains of tadpoles orburbots (S&K IV 703).

and other forms of bodily secretions wereable to insure the magic influence oflove.

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§302.* Imitative Magic. (Sumner & Keller1306)

88:5.3 Images were supposed to beeffective in magic.

Effigy. A special type of imitativemagic consists in making an image orother representation and treating it in aspecial manner, in the belief that theperson or thing for whom it stands will beaffected accordingly (S&K IV 721).

Effigies were made, and when treated illor well, the same effects were believed torest upon the real person.

The Zulu, buying cattle, chews a bitof wood to soften the hard heart of theseller (S&K 1310).

When making purchases, superstitiouspersons would chew a bit of hard wood inorder to soften the heart of the seller.

§301.* Other Instrumentalities. (Sumner &Keller 1296)

The Singhalese make medicine forsome ills from the milk of a pure blackcow, which animal, like the black cat somuch in evidence here as elsewhere, is afetish (S&K 1298).

88:5.4 The milk of a black cow washighly magical; so also were black cats.

The simplest instrument which isperhaps most commonly associated withmagic is the staff or wand (S&K 1299). The staff or wand was magical,

The wand is peculiar to no time or place:a Homeric god or magician wielded one;so does the African sorcerer; and, alongwith the drum, it distinguishes themedicine-man in Indian picture-writing(S&K 1299-1300).

along with drums,

Besides the wand and the drum, themagician may use a variety of imple-ments, like the bells, or the knot, most ofwhich have, aside from magic, afetishistic quality (S&K 1300).

bells, and knots.

Ancient objects are likely to beregarded as fetishes and to be availablefor magic (S&K 1301).

All ancient objects were magical charms.

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Another set of instrumentalities ofmagic, to the savage mind, are theinexplicable products and processes ofcivilization.

The practices of a new or highercivilization were looked upon withdisfavor because of their supposedly evilmagical nature.

Writing, for example, is to oneunacquainted with it pure magic; and thewritten or printed signs that conveymeaning without a voice have powerful“medicine” in them....

The Hovas of Madagascar believethat paper, written upon, has evil powers,but that such magical instruments mayalso ward off ills (S&K 1302).

Writing, printing, and pictures were longso regarded.

XXIII: ANIMISM (Sumner & Keller 791)

§212.* The Name. (Sumner & Keller 810)

88:5.5 Primitive man believed thatnames must be treated with respect,

No one’s name, least of all a god’s, mightbe taken “in vain,” that is, lightly, as ifthe trivial utterance of it upon the aircould have no significance to him (S&K810).

especially names of the gods.

Savage men conceived of all names asentities connected intimately withpersonality (S&K 811).

The name was regarded as an entity, aninfluence distinct from the physicalpersonality;

it was esteemed equally with the soul andthe shadow.

The name was of great interest andsignificance in North America. Namescould be loaned, pawned, or even givenor thrown away outright (S&K IV 321).

Names were pawned for loans;

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Furthermore, among the Kwakiutl, if aman’s credit is poor, he may pawn hisname for a year, during which time hemay not use it. He has to pay abouttwenty-five per cent for a three months’loan to redeem his name (S&K IV 322).

a man could not use his name until it hadbeen redeemed by payment of the loan.

Nowadays one signs his name to a note.

The name plays an important part inmagic (S&K 810).

An individual’s name soon becameimportant in magic.

Hence a savage would have two names, areal one which was never used andanother for common appellation; or hewould change his name several timesduring life for reasons presently to appear(S&K 810).

The savage had two names;

[In Babylonia and Assyria, one’s name]belonged to an individual as a part of hisequipment and in many cases was regard-ed as too sacred to be used on alloccasions, so that in addition to his realname an individual generally had someless solemn sobriquet by which he wasknown ... (S&K IV 325).

the important one was regarded as toosacred to use on ordinary occasions,hence the second or everyday name—anickname.

“You can implore a native [in Papua] totell you his name, and even offer him cointo pay him for that information, but it hasno effect. He will tell you some name, ifyou press him hard enough, but it won’tbe his, as you will discover if you try tofind him again” (S&K 811).

He never told his real name to strangers.

Any experience of an unusual naturecaused him to change his name;sometimes it was in an effort to

Mary Antin cites a similar superstitionamong the Jews of Russia: “My mothernearly died of cholera once, but she wasgiven a new name, a lucky one, whichsaved her; and that was when she was asmall girl” (S&K IV 325).

cure disease

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One Rex Glenwood of Cincinnati rescueda man named Edward Strietback fromdrowning. The latter was suffused withgratitude for his rescuer and wanted to dowhat he could for him. WhereuponGlenwood asked that he take his name.The name, it appeared, was hoodooed;but the bad luck was attached to the nameonly and not the individual. So Strietbackmanfully lived up to his promise, changedhis name to Rex Glenwood, andapparently endured several years ofhardship and misfortune (S&K IV 325).

or to stop bad luck.

“ ... On announcing his desire for a newname to the chief, and proving that he hasthe means of paying for it, the [NewHebridean] native goes away by himselffor a few weeks ... After his seclusion heis known by his new name, and attendsthe big religious feast which he himselfhas provided...” (S&K IV 319).

The savage could get a new name bybuying it from the tribal chief;

men still invest in titles and degrees.

There are, it is true, occasional caseswhere the name is lacking; the Bushmanof South Africa has no name peculiar tohimself, and the same is true of theVeddahs (S&K 811).

But among the most primitive tribes, suchas the African Bushmen, individualnames do not exist.

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6. THE PRACTICE OF MAGIC

XXXVII: MAGIC (Sumner & Keller1291)


[contd from 88:4.1] It is not asserted that allso-called magical operations are coercivenor yet that all are performed by use offetishes, such as the “medicine,” thewand, or the incantation, but that it istypical of the magician to operate in suchmanner (S&K 1291).

88:6.1 Magic was practiced throughthe use of wands, “medicine” ritual, andincantations,

The connection of magic withcoercion is illustrated by the fact thatnakedness is often regarded as anessential to the production of magicaleffects (S&K 1291).

and it was customary for the practitionerto work unclothed.

[Compare S&K 1291-92.] Women outnumbered the men amongprimitive magicians.


[contd] Beside the exuviæ there is agreat variety of objects, substances,mixtures, and preparations used inmaking magic. Perhaps the best inclusivename for these is the Indian one,“medicine,” which meant to the Indianwhat he took out of the English or Frenchwords, that is, “mystery” (S&K 1296).

In magic, “medicine” means mystery, nottreatment.

One should not “doctor” himself, butshould always consult a specialist (S&KIV 705).

The savage never doctored himself; henever used medicines except on theadvice of the specialists in magic.

Survivals of African beliefs andpractices may be found among thenegroes of the New World, especially inthe activities of the “voodoo doctor” or“conjur’ man” (S&K IV 706).

And the voodoo doctors of the twentiethcentury are typical of the magicians ofold.

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§303. Nature of Magic. (Sumner & Keller1312)

Lehmann distinguishes betweenofficial and private magic (S&K 1314).

88:6.2 There was both a public and aprivate phase to magic.

The former is the type which enjoys thesanction of the society—in later develop-ment, that of the state; it is for the benefitof the group at large and ... is manipulatedby the official representative, shaman orpriest, and is not far from being thegroup-religion itself (S&K 1314).

That performed by the medicine man,shaman, or priest was supposed to be forthe good of the whole tribe.

The latter is employed by the individual,usually a witch or wizard, without thesanction of the group, for his own benefitand generally to the injury of others(S&K 1314).

Witches, sorcerers, and wizards dis-pensed private magic, personal andselfish magic which was employed as acoercive method of bringing evil on one’senemies.

The most familiar instance of dualism isthe eternal opposition of the White andthe Black, the Good and the Evil, Godand Satan; only, on the less sophisticatedstage, the moral quality of the spiritinvoked as resident in the fetish is not amatter of much attention.

The concept of dual spiritism, good andbad spirits,

In fact, it is generally supposed thatmagic deals with the control of evilinfluences rather than good. There is sucha thing as “white magic,” but the words“sorcery,” “witchcraft,” “black art,” havea suggestion of evil about them (S&K1314).

gave rise to the later beliefs in white andblack magic.

37



[M]agic is generally conceived to beoutside the regular cult,

And as religion evolved, magic was theterm applied to spirit operations outsideone’s own cult,

based upon an old and submerged orforeign religion, and its forms oftenrepresent a parody upon those of theregular and accepted faith (S&K 1292).

and it also referred to older ghost beliefs.


Fetishism is not, as we have seen,confined to material objects; the “word”was a fetish, even when it was no morethan the name; combinations of wordsconstituted formulas and prayers; andwhen actions—which may likewise befetishistic—were added, there appeared aritual of greater or less complexity, inwhich, if carried out with exactitude,there was conceived to reside powercapable of securing otherwiseinexplicable results (S&K 1303).

88:6.3 Word combinations, the ritualof chants and incantations, were highlymagical.

The connection between incantationand prayer has been developed, withillustrations; it is true enough that prayer,though it is primarily part of thepropitiation-ritual, sometimes exercisescoercitive power (S&K 1306).

Some early incantations finally evolvedinto prayers.

§302.* Imitative Magic. (Sumner & Keller1306)

Presently, imitative magic was practiced;

It is possible to regard [imitative-magicperformances] as acted prayers (S&K1306).

prayers were acted out;

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It should be noted in scanning detaileddescriptions that the magical dancealways presents, in some of its aspectsand generally as a whole, the features ofa dramatic prayer.

magical dances were nothing butdramatic prayers.

It is with the steady development of theregular cult that “prayer and sacrificeassume the leading place in religiousritual; and magic, which once ranked withthem as a legitimate equal, is graduallyrelegated to the background and sinks tothe level of a black art” (S&K 1311-12).

Prayer gradually displaced magic as theassociate of sacrifice.

It is not at all fanciful to regard much ofwhat goes under the name of sympatheticmagic as simply the sort of prayer whichthe spirits will be sure to apprehend,appealing as it does to the eye rather thanto, or in addition to, the ear. And perhapsgesture, being older, is more holy thanspeech (S&K 1306).

88:6.4 Gesture, being older thanspeech, was the more holy and magical,

[contd] Whatever the ritual, itsmimetic character is what secures magicalresults; in it resides a power that isspiritual in nature and compelling ineffect (S&K 1307).

and mimicry was believed to have strongmagical power.

A typical form is the rehearsal of somedesirable event, with the idea of making itcome off; the “buffalo-dance,” whereinthe chase and taking of the bison areenacted, with certain Indians made up asthe quarry, is perhaps as characteristic anexample of this sort of magic as could befound (S&K 1306).

The red men often staged a buffalo dancein which one of their number would playthe part of a buffalo

and, in being caught, would insure thesuccess of the impending hunt.

39


The sex festivities of May Day weresimply imitative magic, a suggestiveappeal to

In the East Indies the natives of somedistricts, believing that rice has a soul andsex-passion, seek to rouse the latter to geta good harvest (S&K 1310).

the sex passions of the plant world.

The Buryat woman, desiring children,will carry a child’s swaddling clothes ora specially made doll, and pretend to feedit to her breast (S&K IV 722). [See alsoS&K 1311.]

The doll was first employed as a magictalisman by the barren wife.

§307. Correction into Science. (1329)

[contd] Out of the magic that branchedoff from the stem of religion sprang animportant line of evolutionary develop-ment which, passing through pseudo-science, culminates in the sciences oftoday (S&K 1329).

88:6.5 Magic was the branch off theevolutionary religious tree which even-tually bore the fruit of a scientific age.

Astronomy and chemistry reach backthrough astrology and alchemy intofetishism and animism (S&K 1330).

Belief in astrology led to the developmentof astronomy;

The chase after the philosopher’sstone must have been exciting andengrossing, granted that men wereconvinced beyond peradventure that therewas one and labored under no limitationsof scepticism or criticism (S&K 1332).

belief in a philosopher’s stone

Would men have studied the metals andelements so assiduously and piled upaccumulations of observations for scienceto build upon, if there had been nothing init beyond the satisfaction of intellectualcuriosity? (S&K 1332)

led to the mastery of metals,

while belief in magic numbers foundedthe science of mathematics.

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The prevalence of belief in magicundoubtedly fathers the conviction that itis the unpredictable whims of the super-natural that determine human destiny,thereby both reducing confidence in laborand economy and furnishing subterfugesto those who shun them (S&K 1324).

88:6.6 But a world so filled withcharms did much to destroy all personalambition and initiative.

Here is exemplified the tendency tocall magical, or to ascribe to extra-humanpower, that which can be attained bysustained and well-directed effort alonglines admitted by everyone to be withinthe scope of powers no more than human(S&K 1324).

The fruits of extra labor or of diligencewere looked upon as magical.

If a man had more grain in his field thanhis neighbor, he might be haled beforethe chief and charged with

There was a popular belief [among theRomans] that grain could be bewitchedover from someone else’s field to one’sown. Once the people lodged such acharge against a freedman. The latterappeared for trial accompanied by hisslaves, carts, and well-kept oxen. “Lookupon my magical implements,” he said;“there is yet lacking only my unceasinglabor, which I cannot show you” (S&K1324).

enticing this extra grain from the indolentneighbor’s field.

There was [in the Middle Ages] aconsistent exhibition of the stock attitudeof ignorance: the ascription of sorcery. Itwas not safe to know anything, as many alearned Jew or Arab found out (S&K1324-25).

Indeed, in the days of barbarism it wasdangerous to know very much;

there was always the chance of beingexecuted as a black artist.

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88:6.7 Gradually science is removingthe gambling element from life.

As for the belief in witchcraft, “it islatent and may burst forth anew at anymoment.... If bad times should comeagain upon the civilized world, throughoverpopulation and an unfavorableeconomic conjuncture, popular educationwould decline and classes would be morewidely separated.

But if modern methods of educationshould fail,

It must then be expected that the olddemonism would burst forth again andwould reproduce the old phenomena”(S&K 1319).

there would be an almost immediatereversion to the primitive beliefs inmagic.

These superstitions still linger in theminds of many so-called civilized people.


That the race has been long and thorough-ly steeped in magic is indicated by thenumber of terms to be found in modernlanguages—terms whose origin lies invery real conceptions of enchantment,bewitchment, charming, and other magicconceptions and operations.

Language contains many fossils whichtestify that the race has long been steepedin magical superstition,

Words such as “spell-bound,” recallingmagic;

such words as spellbound,

“saturnine,” “mercurial,” “ill-starred,” or“disaster,” recalling astrological beliefs;

ill-starred,

“possession” or “inspiration,” recallingfetishism;

possessions, inspiration,

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“nightmare,” to “spirit away,” “ingenu-ity,” “entrancing,” “ecstasy,” “inaus-picious,” “abominable,” “thunderstruck,”“astonished,” and a host of other termsthat recall animistic and daimonisticdoctrines—all are embedded fossils orsurvivals that witness to preceding stagesof evolution ... (S&K 1325).

spirit away, ingenuity, entrancing,thunderstruck, and astonished.

And if anyone thinks that belief to bedefunct in civilized states, he is un-acquainted with the mode of thought ofthe ignorant, as well as with variousweaknesses and vagaries of those whoought to know better (S&K 1325-26).

And intelligent human beings still believein good luck, the evil eye, and astrology.

§307. Correction into Science. (Sumner &Keller 1329)

The cocoon, 88.6.8 Ancient magic was the cocoonof modern science,

though indispensable in its time, is nolonger needed (S&K 1334).

indispensable in its time but now nolonger useful.

The imagination, availing itself of thepoetic and dramatic means of expression,breaks new ground for the intellect, andphantasms hold the field, until conceptsare ready (S&K 1334).

And so the phantasms of ignorant super-stition agitated the primitive minds ofmen until the concepts of science couldbe born.

Today, Urantia is in the twilight zone ofthis intellectual evolution. One half theworld is grasping eagerly for the light oftruth and the facts of scientific discovery,while the other half languishes in thearms of ancient superstition and butthinly disguised magic.

88.6.9 [Presented by a Brilliant Even-ing Star of Nebadon.]

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1. Contrast: The Old Testament, despite the fact that the representation of Jahweh by any figure is strictly forbidden,

is rich in idolatry—and even though a curse is pronounced on the making of a graven or molten image by the hands

of a craftsman (S&K IV 475).

2. Compare: Consider the reverence accorded to the opinions of Aristotle: his statements, from the thirteenth to the

eighteenth century were not tested by observation even of the most familiar objects; no one noted even the error of

assigning eight legs to a fly instead of six (S&K 1008).

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