Daily Strange's Tricky Tuesday: The Deadly Magic of Believing

Daily Strange's Tricky Tuesday: The Deadly Magic of Believing

From the days of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to modern times in Haiti, Australia, Africa, and elsewhere, healthy people have turned sick and died because a hex, curse, or spell was put upon them. There is a considerable body of literature on the subject.

The methods of declaring the curse are many and varied. It can be done by making an effigy of the victim and piercing it with pins or burning it. Wax, wood, clay, cloth, and straw have all been used for the purpose. Hair or fingernail parings from the victim can be ritually hexed. Chants and singing can declare a curse. Stones or weapons can be magically charged, or a container of magically endowed powders or herbs can be used to cast a spell.

Although methods differ, the magic works when there is sufficient belief in its power. The sorcerer must have absolute confidence in his powers, the victim must believe that his magic is unassailable, and the community at large must subscribe to the belief. The latter is especially important. One can imagine the effect in the cultures where the community looks upon the victim as dead from the moment the curse becomes known. The victim may cease to eat and drink (as befits the dead), which serves to hasten the end.

One well-documented method of killing by suggestion is “bone pointing,” a form of ritual execution occasionally practiced by the aborigines of Australia. There is no physical contact with the victim, but his fate is usually as firmly sealed as if he were run through the heart with a spear.

The pointing weapon can be made of bone, wood, or stone. Belief in its magic is what counts. A graphic description of the effects of bone pointing is given in Dr. Herbert Basedow's book The Australian Aboriginal, published in 1925:

A man who discovers that he is being boned by an enemy is, indeed, a pitiable sight. He stands aghast, with his eyes staring at the treacherous pointer, and with his hands lifted as though to ward off the lethal medium, which he imagines is pouring into his body. His cheeks blanch and his eyes become glassy, and the expression of his face becomes horribly distorted.... He attempts to shriek, but usually the sound chokes in his throat, and all one might see is froth at his mouth. His body begins to tremble and the muscles twist involuntarily. He sways backwards and falls to the ground, and for a short time appears to be in a swoon; but soon after he begins to writhe as if in mortal agony, and, covering his face with his hands, begin [sic] to moan. After a while he becomes more composed and crawls to his wurley (hut). From this time onwards he sickens and frets, refusing to eat, and keeping aloof from the daily affairs of the tribe. Unless help is forthcoming in the shape of a counter-charm, administered by the hands of the “Nangarri,” or medicine-man, his death is only a matter of a comparatively short time. If the coming of the medicine-man is opportune, he might be saved.

A possible physiological explanation for the victim s response to bone pointing has been suggested. The consequences of extreme fear are similar to those of great rage: the adrenal glands increase their production of adrenalin, reducing the blood supply to the less essential parts of the body in order to ensure an adequate supply to the muscles, upon whose efficiency, for flight or fight, the life of the subject may depend. Adrenalin produces this result by constricting the small blood vessels in those parts of the body that can temporarily survive a reduced blood supply.

The advantage acquired in this way, however, is gained at some cost. When blood supply is reduced, so is the supply of oxygen, which is carried in the blood by the red corpuscles. When the fine capillary blood vessels are deprived of oxygen, they become more permeable to the blood plasma, which seeps into the tissue surrounding the blood vessel. The consequence of this, in a prolonged condition of fear or anger, is an overall reduction in the volume of circulating blood.

This, in turn, reduces the blood pressure, and a potentially disastrous cycle can then be established. The reduced blood pressure adversely affects those parts of the body responsible for maintaining the circulation of the blood, and the reduced circulation further reduces the blood pressure. This sequence of events, if unchecked, will be fatal.

That a hex, spell, or curse can rate such physiological disorders is mystery enough. Even more puzzling arc cases of death in which medical examination reveals no evidence of either reduced blood pressure or an abnormal accumulation of red blood cells. One example is that of Kinjika, the Mailli tribesman whose death is described on pages 107-08. Another is a report by a Dr. P.S. Clarke concerning a Kanaka tribesman in North Queensland, Australia, who said that he was going to die soon because a spell had been put on him. The doctors examinations revealed no medical problems, but a few days later the man was dead.

It would seem that in societies where the effects of a curse are accepted as common knowledge, there is no question that the spear of thought can kill.

#witchcraft #magic #darkmagic #magician #spell #voodoo #trickytuesday #dailystrange

Tricky Tuesday: A Holy Mystery - Saint Francis the Fire Handler

For some saints' immunity to fire seems to be a special mark of grace, while for a few less exalted men and women the same immunity seems a natural and habitual thing. One saint who handled fire as easily as other men handle a shovel or a walking stick was Francis of Paola, who died in 1507.

Jusepe de Ribera — St. Francis of Paola (detail), c. 1640.

Francis was born of Italian peasant stock, and many of the stories about him are set in ordinary, workaday situations. Once, for example, he came into a blacksmith forge just as the smith was finishing a shoeing job, to inquire about some work he needed to be done. Would there be enough iron left over, Francis asked. The smith indicated a large scrap of red-hot iron that remained, and Francis, without more ado, bent over and picked it up. “By your leave,” he said to those screaming at him in horror to stop, “I am just holding it to warm myself.”

An illustration of Saint Francis

An illustration from an old book depicts the humble Saint Francis of Paola, who often used his miraculous immunity to fire in mundane ways. He was canonized in 1519.

On another occasion Francis seems to have conferred his immunity to fire on someone else. A lime kiln used in the construction of new monastic buildings near Paterno Calabro had been fired and seemed in danger of collapse. The entrance was perhaps too small for Francis himself to enter, for he instructed a small monk to go into the furnace and prop up the ceiling with a stick. The monk did as he was bidden, suffered no injury, and the kiln was saved. (In this case, Saint Francis must have extended his immunity not only to the monk but to the stick used as a prop.)

Another example of the way that Francis applied his unworldly immunity to worldly tasks occurred when he helped some men in the process of making charcoal. They had covered their stack of wood with earth so ineptly that flames were breaking through in several places. While the men fetched more earth to plug the holes, Francis used his bare feet to control the flames.

It was not, however, such stories as these that first brought Francis to the attention of church officials but his reputation for leading a life of extreme austerity and deprivation. In due course two church dignitaries were sent to examine and test him.

“It is quite easy for you to do these things,” they told him, “because you are a peasant and used to hardship. But if you were of gentle blood you would not be able to live in this way.”

Francis replied: “It is quite true that I am a peasant, and if I were not, I should not be able to do things like this.” A large fire was blazing nearby. He reached into it with both hands and scooped up some burning sticks and red coals. Holding them, he said to the canon: “You see, I could not do this if I were not a peasant.”

The canon then prostrated himself on the ground and sought to kiss Francis’s hands and feet, but the saintly peasant would not allow it.

Source: Herbert Thurston, The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism, pp.174-75

#cures #immunities #phenomena #mysticism #saintfrancis #St.Francis #St.FrancisofPaola #dailystrange #trickytuesday

Editorial News: Editor's Cauldron by Mabel Pamplona (Supernatural Things, Witchcraft, Dark Magic)

Editorial News: Editor's Cauldron by Mabel Pamplona (Supernatural Things, Witchcraft, Dark Magic)

For most web editors & content writers caught in the trap of deadlines, conformity, and making similar content, simple survival for themselves and their website is an end in itself. To innovate is to invite risk and possible disaster. To actually drop out of the milieu of our huckster-dominated media, and into the real world of this 21st Sick Century, could induce sheer trauma. In the U.S.A. and Turkey's Dominant Media is very aggressive to their political opponents in a cruel way. These two countries have mutual crisis just because each of them has a dangerous leader. We can say clearly, tyrannical governments frequently put their political opponents in prison. So that's not a surprise for Turkey and its citizens.ens.

Yet one need not be a crusader to suggest that somewhere along the line those who control the media must do just that. Recognition must be given to the realities of this new world, else the media, in all its forms, will not only have faulted the finest generation of young people this country has produced but will have simultaneously denied them an arena for meaningful dialogue.

The question may be asked: just what in the hell does this pontifical tub-thumping have to do with a quality-contents of the witchcraft, horror, world mysteries, dark poems, gothic tradition such as Daily Strange?

Arturo Fuente Cigars Since 1912

We would suggest, in fact, that the problem of a direct confrontation with reality especially applies to our magazine, since we deal with particularly with the occult, the supernatural, and phenomena usually opposed by established religion. We would point out too that this same established religion sector of the metaphysical world is the sector most fearful of any kind of reality.

If we were to follow the sterile practices of their conformity, our witches and sorcerers would then all be evil; vampires would cringe solely before crosses despite the myriad religions other than Christianity; voodoo drums invoking Dambala would be presented with obvious racist overtones, werewolves would all resemble Lon Chaney, Jr., our doctors and scientists would all be mad-and our total efforts would be directed toward not offending the power of the status quo. Instead, we would defend it. We would not dare contribute to the destruction of popular myths for fear of the cretins among us. We choose not to conform to patterns of nonsense. In terms of the 'realities' which the others fear, let us make a few points.

Any honest approach to an examination of witchcraft and related religions in this time of advanced sciences, for example, poses no contradictions. Indeed, it is only under this new and comparatively free conditions-devoid of persecution by state religions and their hierarchies that the black arts et al. can be objectively examined. The contradiction here-for it does exist-is that those who would mock the black arts as nonsense, themselves attend a denominational church service on Sundays, and involve themselves in the parallel trumpery of the very arts and religions they decry.

DAILY STRANGE's position is a simple one. We would, in the interest of honest research, examine all religions and mythos equally and objectively; neither denying nor subscribing to their pretensions or claims. We would, however, à la Voltaire, fight for their right to parallel existence with each other-no burning stakes, gentlemen; no Ramadan holy wars; no Inquisitions, and no 'Chosen People.' All are equal in the DAILY STRANGE.

As a matter of fact, to extend this thinking into the area of shock for some of you, let me say this. If your editor were hauled into court tomorrow on some charge or other, he would ask that he be allowed to swear on the Necronomicon of the so called 'mad Arab,' Abdul Alhazrid, as a pledge of his veracity. You see, we hold this and other books, such as the Torah, the Kama Sutra, the Book of Thoth, or whatever, as equally as potent and sacred as our highly-touted King James Version of the Bible. . . We suggest that a truly free society could do likewise-even to the point of allowing a detainee to swear on nothing at all.

Are we reaching you?

In terms of this real-world we're talking about, may we further suggest that it is, no historical accident that today-with the mass emergence of witchcraft and a hundred related sub-culture religions throughout the Western Hemisphere, that these same arts and religions identify with progress. They opt, as it were, for the free society for the simple reason that they can function in that free society, whereas until quite recently, in the controlled society of the Judeo-Christian world, they were not free but persecuted.

We all wish that the Corona-Monster will be collapsed but don't kid yourselves for a second. Our cute little hippy witches were damned serious. And they remain serious. And you editor, for one, takes them quite seriously-along with the equally serious attitude of the majority of the clergy who also protest Iraq and the Syria war. And that, too, is a part of our reality.

For DAILY STRANGE all religions exist as phenomena of the world of the unknown-if there be such-of the parallel world, as it were, of the real world. These religions exist, they are in motion. And they reflect quite strongly, from their particular points of view, the reality of the times in which we live. Conversely, and to a considerable degree, they also directly influence that reality.

DAILY STRANGE is vitally concerned with being knowledgeable of these phenomena, for they are, essentially, what we write about. An axiom for us is that the closer we are to both the phenomena and the world as it is-and not as the plastic people tell us it is-the more sophisticated, the more literary, and the more meaningful the work or the story. We absolutely subscribe to the theory that there is no content in stereotyped nonsense.

DAILY STRANGE will present no ridiculous, freaked out monster mummy to gurgle tuna leaves, and to drag itself along at 1/8 of a mile per hour, through the fuzz patrolled, well-lighted suburbs of an American city: and no fruity Corona-Monster will grace our website to threaten the peace and quiet of our populace and thereby distract them from their real problems. We would suggest that the only King Kong's among us today are those not evidenced by their size but rather by their neanderthal thinking.

In effect, we say this: we do not suggest to any author that a werewolf, a sorcerer, a ghoul, a poltergeist, or what have you, be anything other than what the author wishes it to be. But! And here's the 'rub.' What we do say, is that the phenomenon must be viewed, to the best of the writer's ability, against the real background of the world in which we live. In effect, you can create a ghoul. But to create a non-sense world to support the existence of your ghoul-uh-unh. . . Our mail addresses, by the way, indicates this possibility.

info@dailystrange.com

email@dailystrange.com

We will wind this up with the salute of: yours for fat Trolls under bridges-and how they got there; and for poltergeists in the attic-and just what makes them so damned cantankerous. . . . Yours on the DAILY STRANGE

MABEL PAMPLONA

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#editorial #witch #witchcraft #magic #darkmagic #dailystrange