[QUOTE=chonsigirl]No Jim, the belief systems are different. Christianity "frowns" against magic, wicca, etc being forms of religion not based on the Bible. Catholics and the ritual of Holy Communion is something remembered in the Bible, and told to believers to particpate in.
GAIA:
Hello to both Jim and Chonsigirl --
Jim, you asked a very insightful and important question.
Chonsigirl, in fact magick and witchcraft certainly ARE "forms of religion based in the Bible" -- perhaps you're just not used to thinking of them as such, because you've seldom heard them discussed that way, in Christian circles.
It's true that in some places, the Bible does have some negative statements about witchcraft -- but at least one of the most famous of those was a grievous MIStranslation.
In Exodus 22:19, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," --
In fact, There is NO word in Hebrew for witch, although there is one for sorceress, which is NOT the one used. In fact, the actual Hebrew word translates to English as poisoner -- it should read, "Thou shalt not suffer a POISONER to live."
It might be significant to consider that King James, who commissioned the King James Bible, was known to be a rabid witch hater and insisted that his translators
give the word that mistranslation -- remember, they were *hired* by him, and he could exercise any authority over them he wished, since he was King).
However, the Bible has "neutral or positive references to a wide range of magical and divinatory practices."
(Joanne Kuemmerlin-McLean, "Magic: Old Testament," in David Freedman, ed., _The Anchor Bible Dictionary_, 6 vols, 4:469; also JOshua Trachtenberg, "Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in folk Religion" 19-20.)
Let's explore just a few examples:
- 1. King Solomon's Magick:
Before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jewish tradition held that King Solomon's wisdom included his vast knowledge of magic and medicine. Throughout history, Solomon has been a fabled resource of magickal, occult knowledge and powers.
- 2. THE MAGICK POWER OF THE NAME (HaShem):
Innumerable people have believed and still do beleive in the magickal power of the Name -- that the true name of anything has power. It was on this basis that YHWH, (one of the sacred Names of God), known as the Tetragrammaton, (from which "Yahweh" and later "Jehovah" developed) was never spoken aloud by Jews; it was always replaced by the word, "Adonai" ("Lord") or "Elohim"
("leaders," "judges" or "Gods" -- PLURAL) throughout the Old Testament.
Because God's name was unutterable among Hebrews, they invested it with enomous power. "Magic by means of the use of the Holy Name was actually sanctioned, and the results that were sought by it differed little if at all from the objects of heathen magic."
(Alafred Guillaume "Prophecy and Divination Among The Hebrews and Other Semites" 269; Hyrum P Jones, "Magic and the Old Testament," MS thesis, BYU 1933, 42; Gershom Sholem, "Kabbalah," in Roth, _Encyclopaedia Judaica_ 10:494, 503)
Jewish and Christian lore contains many references to occult incantations, amulets, charms, spells, exoercisms, etc.
- 3. Patriarch Jacob and His Magick Rods:
In Genesis 30:37-39 The Bible indicates that the patriarch Jacob (grandson of Abraham, aka "Israel", father of the twelve sons and therefore twelve tribes of Israel) was interested in names of power and in magic rods.
Jacob used magick rods to cause [his father-in-law] Laban's flocks to produce spotted offspring after merely looking at the rods. The scriptures do not indicate whether Jacob received divine instruction or authorization to use this method of FOLK MAGIC, which was widespread throughout the ancient Middle East as one way to produce desired offspring.
(John McClintock and James Strong, ed., _Cyclopaedia of biblical
Theology and Ecclesiastical Literature_ 12 vols, 2:836)
- 5. Joseph's Divining Cup:
While the Old Testament condemns the use of divination by Pagans, According to Genesis 44:2,5 Joseph (son of Jacob, whose prophetic interpretation of Pharoah's dreams saved Egypt and its allies from famine and who therefore became the highest Egyptian authority under Pharoah) had a special silver cup in Egypt with which "he divineth."
"Divination by cups has been from time immemorial prevalent among the Asiatics." (Adam Clarke, _The Holy bible...With a Commentary and Critical Notes... 6 vols, footnote printed below Gen 44:15; often called "Clarke's Commentary")
"Instances of the use of cups of water and variants, can be found in magical traditions from all over the world...."
(Richard Cavendish, ed _Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural_, 24 vols, 18:2506)
Thus, without any biblical evidence of divine instruction or reproof, Joseph resorted to a tool of magic divination (hydromancy) that was in regular use among surrounding Pagans.
- 6. Casting Lots:
The God of Israel commanded his people to cast lots (Leviticus 16:8-10; , and the Hebrews chose priests and other temple workers (1Chron. 24:5, 25:8, 26:13), (and much later (Acts 2:24-26) the apostles of Jesus chose new apostles) -- by casting lots.
*Not* a vote by ballot, the biblical casting of lots was outwardly identical to sortilege/ divination practiced throughout the ancient world by Pagans who sought to know the will of their various gods."
(M'Clintock and Strong, _Cyclopaedia of Biblical Theology_, 5:519-20; Jones, _Magic and the Old Testament" 545; Jeffers, _Magic and Diviniation in Ancient Palestine and Syria_, 96-98)
- 7. "Judaising" Magic:
The _Encyclopaedia Judaica_ observed: "While repudiating the power of sorcery, biblical religion at times utilizes means and methods which were borrowed from magical practice --" but as Jewish scholar Jacob Neusner has noted: "Judaizing magic made it no less magical."
(Jacob Neusner, "The Wonder Working Lawyers of Talmudic Babylonia: The theory and practice of Judaism in its Formative Age")
- 8. Magical Healing:
Bible commentators have also generally acknowledged the magic context of instances where objects had power to heal. In Numbers 21:9 Moses constructs a brass serpent, and any Israelite bitten by deadly serpents was healed by looking upon this image.
The _Abingdon Bible Commentary_ noted that this "is but one illustration of a practice well known outside the Bible as well as within it, namely, making an image of a pest or affliction and presenting the image to the deity who, in turn, would banish the pest."
(Frederick Carl Eiselen, Ediwin Lewis, and DAvid Downey, ed. _The Abingdon bible Commentary_308-309; also Joseph Dan, "Magic," in Roth, _Encyclopaedia Judaica_ 11:705)
In 2 Kings 13:21, a corpse revived to mortal life when it came into contact with the bones of the prophet Elisha. The _Interpreter's Bible_ commented that such belief was "common among primitive people....." (Buttrick, _Interpreter's Bible_ 3:258)
- 9. St. Paul's Magic Handkerchiefs:
In one of the New Testament's best examples of magic healing, St Paul sent specially blessed handkerchiefs among the people to heal (Acts 19:12).
- 10. JESUS the Magician -- (The title of a book, btw)
Jesus himself was accused of being a magician by Celsus and Jewish rabbis. Porphyry, another Pagan writer, dismissed Jesus as "not even an extraordinary magician," and called the apostle Peter "a dabbler in the black arts." This was so well-known that medieval Passion plays emphasized acusations against "Christ the Sorcerer"."
(R H NIcholson, "The Trial of Christ the Sorcerer in the York
Cycle," _Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies_ 16:125-69)
"The belief, accusation or tradition that Jesus was a magician and that he passed magical power to his apostles and to the church as a whole, is thus found in Judaism, Gnosticism, Christian orthodoxy and heterodoxy, Paganism, Islam and Mandeanism."(Hohn Hull, _Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition_ 4)
In many of the miracles of Jesus, the techniques closely parallelled magic practices of the ancient world. For example, like Egyptian magicians' use of "saliva magick", Jesus used spittle to heal (John 9:6) and used Aramaic words in an otherwise Greek text of healing words ( Mark 5:41). Pagan magicians used spittle to heal the blind, put their fingers in the ears to heal the deaf, employed the same series of seperate acts involved in some of the more detailed Gospel healings, and used foriegn words as part of magic spells and incantations.
(David Freidrich Strauss, "Thje Life of Jesus, Critically Examined," 2 vols, 2:299, 305)
Egyptologist Robert K Ritner has observed that Egyptian "saliva magic" was "given new justification by the miracles of Jesus." (Robert Ritner, "The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magic Practice" 89, 91)
Christians used "objects, rites, words and formulas charged with divine potency to force demons to yield," all in accordance with well-known, contemporary rules of magic. Christians may claim this was not magic, but it certainly bore no real contrast to other forms of magick. Their discomfort identifying it as magick seems to have more to do with their dislike of the word "magick" than with any real difference in actual practice.
Conspiracy of Silence?
Historian David E Aune says that many authors "most of whom consider
themselves biblical theologians, write as if they were involved in a conspiracy to ignore or minimize the role of magic in the New Testament and early Christian literature.....
It may not seem appropriate to regard Jesus as a magician, yet Jesus DID make use of magical tecnniques which must be regarded as magical."
(David A Aune, "Magic in Early Christianity" 1508, 1539, 1538; also
E P Sanders, "Jesus and Judaism 169-173; see also _Jesus the
Magician_)
- 11. Christian Magick:
There have been throughout history, and continue to be -- Christian sects, Churches, groups that use various kinds of specifically and particularly CHRISTIAN magick --
"Christian magic is a tradition that employs deified Christian figures (Mary, the apostles, saints, and important figures) to allow a personal relationship with the Divine in the Roman Catholic Church and older Christian traditions. Additionally, it incorporates a number of other religionsÕ themes, gods, and traditions into its own system. It may also utilize spells, incantations, amulets, rituals, and other occult practices to call upon divine forces for intervention in the affairs of the world. Christian magic has arguably been around as long as Christianity itself, and continues to be a part of some belief systems in the modern world."
For more information on some of these, please do a search on "Mystical" or "Gnostic Christianity" (sorry, i tried to make it easy by including links, but the system wouldn't allow me to do so).
- 12. Gifts of the Spirit:
Even what are scripturally referred to as the "Gifts of the Spirit" as listed in
[Mark 16:17-18 and 1 Corinthians 12-14 --
-- In other circles (pun intended) these are referred to as Psychic Gifts -- Yet some Christians insist on calling them evil.
The attitude of (some conservative or fundamentalist) Christians on the use of magick seems to be:
"If WE do it, it's holy; if YOU do it, it's evil" ! :wah:
This seems to be a corollary of the (questionable but) well-known religious truism:
"YOUR spiritual practices are called "Cult", while MINE are called "religion".
Blessings --
~Gaia
Pinky wrote: I've been a pagan for the best part of ten years, and yes, it is very empowering, and teaches good ethics and morals through personal experience.