Category Archives: Magic and Occult

John Dee, magician extraordinaire

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A portrait of John Dee.

A portrait of John Dee.

John Dee (13 July 1527–1608 or 1609) was a Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy.

Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on advanced algebra at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England’s voyages of discovery.

Dee sought to contact angels through the use of a “scryer” or crystal-gazer, who would act as an intermediary between Dee and the angels. Dee’s first attempts were not satisfactory, but, in 1582, he met Edward Kelley who impressed him greatly with his abilities. Dee took Kelley into his service and began to devote all his energies to his supernatural pursuits. These “spiritual conferences” or “actions” were conducted with an air of intense Christian piety, always after periods of purification, prayer and fasting. Dee was convinced of the benefits they could bring to mankind. (The character of Kelley is harder to assess: some have concluded that he acted with complete cynicism, but delusion or self-deception are not out of the question. Kelley’s “output” is remarkable for its sheer mass, its intricacy and its vividness). Dee maintained that the angels laboriously dictated several books to him this way, some in a special angelic or Enochian language.

Dee and Kelley began a nomadic life in Central Europe, but they continued their spiritual conferences, which Dee recorded meticulously. He had audiences with Emperor Rudolf II in Prague Castle. During a spiritual conference in Bohemia, in 1587, Kelley told Dee that the angel Uriel had ordered that the two men should share their wives. Kelley, who by that time was becoming a prominent alchemist and was much more sought-after than Dee, may have wished to use this as a way to end the spiritual conferences. The order caused Dee great anguish, but he did not doubt its genuineness and apparently allowed it to go forward, but broke off the conferences immediately afterwards and did not see Kelley again. Dee returned to England in 1589.

July 12, 1801: Vampires home free after two strikes

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The Monastery of Horezu, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Wallachia, Romania

The Monastery of Horezu, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Wallachia, Romania

Wallachia, the region of southern Romania and which borders the more famous region of Transylvannia to the north, was an independent principality until 1859, when it united with Moldavia to form the basis of the modern state of Romania, with Transylvania joining 59 years later (1918) to form the new Kingdom of Romania which was first established 1881.

In 1801, before its unification with Moldavia, there was still a fervent and widespread belief in vampires among the farmers and rural peasants though modern science was beginning to dispel vampiric beliefs among the aristocracy. One of the more common ways of dispatching a vampire in the countryside was to exhume the body and decapitate the corpse. If that did not work, the body was exhumed again and a wooden stake driven through it or it might be turned to face down. If all else failed, a third exhumation could lead the to burning of the corpse (which was a difficult undertaking and therefore the last resort of the vampire dispatchers).

It was the continued exhumation of corpses which came to the attention of the Wallachian authorities. On July 1, 1801 there was a proclamation made that in Wallachian territory a corpse could not be exhumed more than TWICE if it was suspected of being a vampire!

Summer Lightning

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Thunderstorms and lightning strikes are most likely in spring and summer storms.

Thunderstorms and lightning strikes are most likely in spring and summer storms.

The only law against magic made by Constantine in 321 AD exempts magical “steps taken in country districts, that there may be no apprehension of (heavy) rain when the grapes are ripe, or that they may not be dashed to pieces by the force of hailstorms.” (You can read more in  Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome.)

There are references to weather magic as early as ancient Greece, as in this quote by Empedocles:

And you’ll stop the force of the tireless winds that chase over the earth
And destroy the fields with their gusts and blasts;
But then again, if you so wish, you’ll stir up winds as requital.
Out of a black rainstorm you’ll create a timely drought
For men, and out of a summer drought you’ll create
Tree-nurturing floods that will stream through the ether
And you will fetch back from Hades the life-force of a man who has died.

(see more in Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition, with thanks to http://www.otherworld-apothecary.com)

In the Jewish practice, a blessing “…He who does acts of creation” is to be recited, upon sighting lightning. The Talmud refers to the Hebrew word for the sky, (“Shamaim“) – as built from fire and water (“Esh Umaim“), since the sky is the source of the inexplicable mixture of “fire” and water that come together, during rainstorms. This is mentioned in various prayers and discussed in writings of Kabbalah.

 Rune Thorn

The Norse rune known as “Thorn” is also associated with lightning for a variety of reasons. It is the rune of cutting, sharpness, and pain, as well as brute strength, the destructive power of chaos and ruin. It also stands in for death and regeneration, transformation and the breaking down barriers.  It can be used to bring on the energies of the berserker and energies this wild should only be used in war or attack. It can be used in magic to raise and guide thunderstorms and direct lightning. In many German fairy tales such as “Sleeping Beauty” the prick of a thorn, pin or spindle casts a spell upon the victim. The bloodstone has been used with this rune in the raising of thunderstorms.