THE ORIGINS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS

BY T. SHARPER KNOWLSON

AUTHOR OF "THE ART OF THINKING," ETC.

LONDON

T. WERNER LAURIE LTD.

COBHAM HOUSE, 24 & 26 WATER LANE, E.C.4

1910

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(2) WITCHCRAFT.

It is no part of our present purpose to adjudicate on the rights and wrongs of witchcraft--with which we associate wizardry--rather is it our object to trace the fact of its existence, real or alleged, back to the earliest records of history. We may, too, look at the few remaining instances in modern times of what was once a great source of fear, evil, and cruelty.

Chaldean magic is, so far as expert investigation can tell, the real source of that witchcraft which for centuries disturbed the peace of rural populations in Europe, and engaged the angry attentions of priest and layman alike. It should not be presumed that the magic of any nation, living or dead, is a thing to be laughed out of court; a sort of jugglery that could be learned like the skill of the conqueror. It was something more than that. True we cannot say exactly what it was, or is, for the practices of modern savage tribes have an unknown element of psychic power in them, a fact which is attested by reliable travellers and authorities. Thus in the Malay Peninsula to-day there are black magicians, and their doings are not at all relished by the white man whose treatment of them may have been lacking in justice. So, in the earliest ages, we find the same kind of arts practised, followed by the same results, that is, if we can rely on the testimony of those who have recorded them. In Egypt, in Persia, in Greece, in India, and the East generally, there was a definite place assigned to magic; and magic, generically, was the use of an unseen and powerful agency for the purpose of creating confusion, bestowing evil, taking revenge, and doing all the works of the old time "Devil." For this reason witchcraft and black magic have a strong family relationship, and we can only conclude that since the arts they used are in many cases identical, the later cult was a direct descendant of the earlier. That a good deal was lost in transit is natural, and this would account for the feebler displays of "power" by women of the middle English period as contrasted with the "success" of the witch of Endor. Slowly the belief in witches died a natural death, until now, in the twentieth century, it is hardly possible to find a single man or woman who does not think the whole persecutions of the past were founded on ignorance, religious intolerance, and political spite. The accepted explanation of such phenomena as are considered genuine is that of hypnotism, especially in the case of sympathetic witchcraft, where a witch makes an image of her enemy and pierces it with pins, or melts it before the fire. But this explanation hardly covers the details of the best authenticated reports, and we have either to disbelieve in these reports or fall back upon hypnotism and suggestion. Probably the wisest attitude is that of the agnostic, who, not knowing the real facts, and being unable to get at them, is in no hurry to propound a theory for uncertain phenomena. But witchcraft and wizardry are not dead entirely. In a London journal, dated January 9, 1909, I find the following narrative which, on enquiry, proved to be a serious contribution from an English traveller. The evil eye is said to have a dread terror for the more ignorant Erse population, but the story here told is, as will be seen, on true witchcraft lines. "Some months ago I was on a visit to some friends in the south of Ireland, and one morning when seated at breakfast a servant rushed into the room, screaming hysterically that the dairymaid has just found pishogue upon the dairy floor. Pishogue is a white, yellowish fungus made at the dead of night, after a solemn incantation of the devil, according to a secret rite which has been handed down from generation to generation. My host, a 'big' landlord, sprang to his feet and, followed by his wife and myself, ran hastily out of the house into the trim, cool dairy where, upon the posts of the door, I saw the daubs of pishogue. My host knocked it off quickly with a stick, and then, turning angrily to the weeping dairy maid told her it was nothing at all. But the next minute he informed me under his breath that he might expect bad luck with his dairy, as it was indeed the cursed pishogue. That very evening when his twenty splendid milch cows were driven into their stalls to be milked, a cry of consternation went up from the lips of the milkers; they were absolutely dry; and for months they remained so, while a tenant who lived close to the demesne, an absolutely drunken, impecunious, rascal, was noticed to give up his weekly attendance at Mass, in spite of which irreligious conduct his miserable dairy stock suddenly took the appearance of healthy, well-fed cattle, and every one knew he was the man who had put pishogue upon his master and robbed him of his good. It is a well-known fact that a dairy woman will go to churn as usual, when, to her terror, she will find pishogue daubed upon it. Let her churn for hours, she will make no butter, The usual remedy resorted to by terrified people is to get Mass said in their homes, and the places, cattle, or crops blessed on which the curse has fallen. But that often fails to bring back the good."

Now I cannot say this story, although told circumstantially, is convincing. It is one of those cases which need to be seen, in every stage of development, before one can believe. But it is interesting as a twentieth century tale of wizards and witches, for the midnight rite is conducted by a group of men and women crouching over a smouldering fire. Here is the tale of an old-fashioned witch--of the white variety--reported in the Diss Express of December 16, 1893:--

"The Suffolk Coroner (Mr Charton) on Tuesday held an inquest at the Green Man Inn, Mendlesham, touching the death of a child, named Maggie Alberta Wade, daughter of Henry Wade, an agricultural labourer. The first witness called was the mother, Elizabeth Wade, who stated that last Friday the deceased pulled a cup of boiling soup over herself and was badly scalded. She did not send for a doctor, but at once sent for an old woman living in the neighbourhood, whose name is Brundish, who, according to witness, is possessed of supernatural powers in the cure of burns and scalds. The old woman came at once, and said some strange words over the child, and passed her hands across the injured parts. Witness, under these circumstances, did not consider the attendance of a medical man necessary, but notwithstanding the woman's incantation, the child died in 40 hours. Witness persisted in expressing her belief in the old woman's power, and said she really was a witch. The female referred to declined to reveal the words spoken, as she said she would lose her power. Other witnesses professed their faith in the professions of the old woman. Eventually, after the Coroner had commented on the superstition exhibited, medical evidence was given to the effect that the child's life could not have been saved."

No action seems to have been taken against the witch in this case, but in the case of malevolent witches the cruelty of the punishment was so severe that we cannot wonder at the total disappearance of black witchcraft in this country. In The Gentleman's Magazine for 1751 there is the following entry:--At Tring, in Hertfordshire, one B----d----d, a publican, giving out that he was bewitched by one Osborne and his wife, harmless people above 70, had it cried at several market-towns that they were to be tried by ducking this day, which occasioned a vast concourse. The parish officers having removed the old couple from the workhouse into the church for security, the mob, missing them, broke the workhouse windows, pulled down the pales, and demolished part of the house; and, seizing the Governor, threatened to drown him and fire the town, having straw in their hands for the purpose. The poor wretches were at length, for public safety, delivered up, stripped stark naked by the mob, their thumbs tied to their toes, then dragged two miles, and thrown into a muddy stream; after much ducking and ill-usage, the old woman was thrown quite naked on the bank, almost choked with mud, and expired in a few minutes, being kicked and beat with sticks, even after she was dead; and the man lies dangerously ill of his bruises. To add to the barbarity, they put the dead witch (as they called her) in bed with her husband, and tied them together. The Coroner's inquest have since brought in their verdict, wilful murder, against Thomas Mason, Wm. Myatt, Rich. Grice, Rich. Wadley, James Proudham, John Sprouting, John May, Adam Curling, Francis Meadows, and twenty others, names unknown. The poor man is likewise dead of the cruel treatment he received."

Whenever the modern palmist or fortune-teller comes into contact with the police, the greatest punishment consists of a heavy fine--but in the olden times the magician, wizard, or witch was open to the fury of the mob, as is seen in the case of Tring. Lord Bacon's quaint philosophising as to the origin of witchcraft wonders is worth reproducing:--"Men may not too rashly believe the confession of Witches, nor yet the evidence against them: for the Witches themselves are imaginative, and believe oftentimes they do that which they do not; and people are credulous in that point, and ready to impute accidents and natural operations to Witchcraft. It is worthy the observing, that, both in ancient and late times (as in the Thessalian witches, and the meetings of Witches that have been recorded by so many late confessions), the great wonders which they tell, of carrying in the air, transforming themselves into other bodies, etc., are still reported to be wrought, not by incantations or ceremonies, but by ointments and anointing themselves all over. This may justly move a man to think that these fables are the effects of imagination; for it is certain that ointments do all (if they be laid on anything thick), by stopping of the pores, shut in the vapours, and send them to the head extremely."

Reviewing the whole matter, one may conclude that whatever indisputable wonders exist in the history of witchcraft were due to black magic, which is the use of an unknown mental force for the accomplishment of an evil end; or, if we are unable to accept that hypothesis, we are thrown back on a species of hypnotism. In either case we cannot flatter ourselves on the extent of our knowledge, or the authenticity of our "facts."

THE ORIGINS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS

BY T. SHARPER KNOWLSON

AUTHOR OF "THE ART OF THINKING," ETC.

LONDON

T. WERNER LAURIE LTD.

COBHAM HOUSE, 24 & 26 WATER LANE, E.C.4

1910

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(3) DIVINATION BY BOOKS.

In Pagan days the curious would endeavour to peer into the future by opening the pages of Homer or Virgil, and noting the lines covered by the thumb the instant the book was opened. They were read with a view to casting some light on the problem which occasioned the consultation. King Charles I. adopted this method of learning his fate. According to one account--that of Aubrey--"the King, in December, 1648, being in great trouble, and prisoner at Carisbrooke, or to be brought to London to his tryal, Charles, Prince of Wales, being then at Paris, and in profound sorrow for his father, Mr Abraham Cowley went to wayte on him. His Highness asked him whether he would play at cards to divert his sad thoughts. Mr Cowley replied he did not care to play at cards, but if His Highness pleased they would use Sortes Virgilianae--(Mr Cowley always had a Virgil in his pocket)--the Prince liked the proposal, and pricked a pin in the fourth book of the AEneid," &c. "The Prince understood not Latin well, and desired Mr Cowley to translate the verses, which he did admirably well." The lines were:

<DIR> <DIR>

"But vex'd with rebels and a stubborn race,
His country banish'd, and his son's embrace,
Some foreign Prince for fruitless succours try,
And see his friends ingloriously die:
Nor, when he shall to faithless terms submit,
His throne enjoy, nor comfortable light,
But, immature, a shameful death receiye,
And in the ground th'unbury'd body leave."

</DIR></DIR>

They were not at all inapt, and it is easy to see how a few coincidences of this kind set up a "law" and establish a cult. Even Christians are not free from this method of seeking Divine guidance. A man in great distress will decide to open the Bible, and be guided by the first words his eyes light upon, thereby imitating a devout practice dating back to the first formation of the Scriptures. If the words should be, "Be still, and know that I am God," he will resolve to do nothing but wait; and yet sometimes the words have been, "Saddle me the ass," or "There is death in the pot." The result is just like the probabilities of any other event containing the same possibilities, and at bottom differs in nowise from the latest Monte Carlo system.

The origin of the practice is to be found in the respect and veneration for certain books arising out of their wisdom and reputation.

THE ORIGINS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS

BY T. SHARPER KNOWLSON

AUTHOR OF "THE ART OF THINKING," ETC.

LONDON

T. WERNER LAURIE LTD.

COBHAM HOUSE, 24 & 26 WATER LANE, E.C.4

1910

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(4) DIVINING ROD (DOWSING ROD).

It is curious to read old authors, quite superstitious in some directions, who suggest the use of a forked hazel twig to find springs of water is "a vulgar notion"; for in modern times there has been not only a revival of the divining rod for this purpose, but dowsers, or water finders, are in regular employment. So recently as 1882 there was a correspondence in The Times on this subject. Mr E. Vaughan Jenkins of Westbury and mendip, Wells, Somerset, wrote as follows:--"You may possibly like to hear of my experiences as to the divining rod. In July, 1876, that very hot summer, the old well under my house became fouled, and the water unfit to drink, so I decided on sinking another well, about one hundred yards from my house, if I were advised that water could be found there. The field is perfectly dry, and there is no appearance of water anywhere near where I wished to sink. I sent for a labouring man in the village who could 'work the twig,' as the divining rod is called here, and he came and cut a blackthorn twig out of my hedge, and proceeded around the field, and at one spot the twig became so violently affected that it flew out of his hands; he could not hold it. I may here observe that the village churchyard adjoins my field, and it was of consequence to me to know whether the spring went through or near the churchyard. So I asked the man to tell me which way the spring ran (of course under the ground), and he proceeded to follow up the spring, and found that it did not go near the churchyard, Having some doubts as to this man, about a month after I heard of another man, living seven miles off, who, I had been told, could 'work the twig.' I sent for him, and he was quite unaware the first man had tried for water; and, to my astonishment, when he came near the spot indicated by the first man, he could not hold the twig, it was so much affected. I then asked him to tell me the course of the underground spring, and he went as near as possible to the first man--from about S.W. to N.E. I thereupon decided to sink a well, the last man assuring me that water was not very far down. At thirty-nine feet the well-sinker came upon a spring of most beautiful water, and there is in the well about thirty feet of water in the summer, and in the winter it is nearly full." Such narratives as this can be duplicated from literature of more recent date, and Mr Beaven, in his Tales of the Divining, Rod, has given the whole subject of rod divination a thorough-going and up-to-date analysis.

But why a rod? Why not divine without one? The answer of history is that from Babylonian times, probably long before that, the rod was known to have some strange and unaccountable power when held in the hands of mesmeric operators; it was used, not very successfully, to discover ore bodies; it figures in all kinds of divination practices, as we can see from the pages of the Old Testament. Here, then, is a so-called superstition which bids fair to become in one specified direction an acknowledged fact. As yet it is purely unscientific; nobody seems to know why the twig held in the hand becomes agitated when near a spring, but of the fact itself doubt diminishes every year that passes.

THE ORIGINS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS

BY T. SHARPER KNOWLSON

AUTHOR OF "THE ART OF THINKING," ETC.

LONDON

T. WERNER LAURIE LTD.

COBHAM HOUSE, 24 & 26 WATER LANE, E.C.4

1910

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(5) PALMISTRY.

Palmistry is said to have been introduced into this country by gipsies in the 16th century. Mason in his Anatomie of Sorcery (16l2) speaks of "vaine and frivolous devices of which sort we have an infinite number also used among us, as namely in Palmistry, where men's fortunes are told by looking on the palms of the hande." From this it would appear that the "science" did not make its advent with much éclat, and Newton, writing nearly a hundred years later, shows that its associations were not of the best. In his Tryall of a Man's Owne Selfe he enquires, "whether the Governors of the Commonwealth have suffered Palmesters, fortune-tellers, stage-players, sawce-boxes, enterluders, puppit-players, loyterers, vagabonds, landleapers, and such like cozening make-shifts, to practise their cogging tricks and rogish trades within the circuite of his authoritie, and to deceive the simple people with their vile forgerie and palterie." By "governors of the commonwealth" here, it should seem, he means justices of the peace. A very apposite group of questions for a modern J.P. Dr. Ferrand, writing about 1640, in Love's Melancholy, tells us that "this act of Chiromancy hath been so strangely infected with superstition, deceit, cheating, and (if durst say so) with magic also, that the canonists, and of late years Pope Sixtus Quintus, have been constrained utterly to condemn it. So that now no man professeth publickely this cheating art, but theeves, rogues, and beggarly rascals; which are now every where knowne by the name of Bohemians, Egyptians, and Caramaras; and first came into these parts of Europe about the year 1417, as G. Dupreau, Albertus Krantz, and Polydore Vergil report."

We are now in possession of hints respecting the history of palmistry, which take us back to 1417. In what direction shall we look for further light, and how far back can we go? We shall, as in the case of astrology, have to look Eastwards and Southwards: to Egypt, to Mesopotamia, to India, and China. And in those countries we shall find that reading palms is as old as the hills; nobody can tell us when it began, for its rules, its findings, its mysteries, have been handed down from one generation to another. It is an attempt to divine the happenings of the future, and since that future is to man a matter of the keenest possible interest, there is every reason to believe palmistry is contemporaneous with the first dawning of reasoning curiosity. And it persists to-day in spite of prosecutions and imprisonments. Men and women still treat it seriously, or semi-seriously; they will readily spend 5s to have their "lines" read; and they will buy the literature of the subject and ponder over it. This literature is rather flimsy in character, but there have been nearly a dozen somewhat large and ambitious volumes since the year 1897. One of these--Benham's Laws of Scientific Hand Reading attempts to take up an independent standpoint with some measure of success. But just as the astrologer can give no adequate reason why the planets should influence us, and why a transit of Venus or any particular aspect of the heavens spells good or ill, so the palmist can offer no appropriate explanation why a life that is only half spent can imprint the number of its years in a semi-circle round the ball of the thumb. As a social recreation, palmistry is both successful and funny--as a science, it is delusive--sometimes dangerous

 

 

6) ASTROLOGY.

Astrology is probably the oldest pseudo-science in the world; it is one of the first guesses at the riddle of existence that took on mathematical and scientific shape. To be just, I shall have to admit that throughout the ages it has been developed somewhat on the lines of observation and experiment--lines to which no man of science can take exception. The time of the birth of children has been taken and the state of the heavens noted; any serious illness was observed, and the position of the planets at the time was written down; marriage, financial disaster, loss of parents, and all the ups and downs of mortal existence were carefully compared with the signs above. These observations were then compared with those of preceding astrologers, the result being we have a huge literature about the occult heavens, and no age has been minus its astrologer. It is but fair to admit, further, that astrology in the hands of its best exponents is not lacking in dignity. If our lives are to be governed by anything in Nature, we prefer to have them governed by the starry host; in fact, a few of us would prefer the planets to some of the majorities which obtain in the House of Commons. But, judged scientifically, astrology must be regarded as a superstition, because its character readings are too vague, and its "directions" too obscure; it was a much vaunted "science" long before the discovery of Uranus and Neptune--days when the Moon even was called a planet. In the thousands of years of its existence, it has not appealed successfully to the trained mind skilled in Nature knowledge, and although a few great names are included in its list, from Isaac Newton to the late Dr. Richard Garnet of the British Museum, together with Dean Farrar, the bulk of learned mankind has never looked upon the casting of horoscopes as more than a social amusement.

"Then why," asks some devotee, "does it persist? Why does it not die, like many other so-called superstitions? Is not this persistency a testimony to its truth?" No, it is a testimony to a fact in human nature; that is, we want to know what the future has in store for us. Astrology professes to tell us, hence when the credulous (and a few who are not credulous) see an offer in the paper to the effect that for one shilling "you can know your future," there is no need to be surprised at the persistency of a superstition. In order to meet the demand for information respecting events to come, the smaller fry of the astrological world are prepared to pronounce on the details of business; they will even cater for the Stock Exchange speculator, and draw up the horoscope of a Limited Company, whose shares are quoted in the official list. This careful working out of details is no new thing: the astrologer simply adapts himself to changing conditions. Werenfels in his Dissertation upon Superstition thus describes a superstitious man:--"He will be more afraid of the Constellation-fires than the flame of his next neighbour's house. He will not open a vein till he has asked leave of the planets. He will avoid the sea whenever Mars is in the middle of Heaven, lest that warrior god should stir up pirates against him. In Taurus he will plant his trees, that this sign, which the astrologers are pleased to call fix'd, may fasten them deeper in the earth. He will make use of no herbs but such as are gathered in the planetary hour. Against any sort of misfortune he will arm himself with a ring, to which he has fixed the benevolent aspect of the stars, and the lucky hour that was just at the instant of flying away, but which, by a wonderful nimbleness, he has seized and detained."

There are modern analogies to this picture, not only in the East, but in the West. London women especially are easily vulnerable--I mean, of course, the few who have little else to do and think about. They will not take a journey without consulting their "directions" for the year; they have the right times and seasons for paying calls, and would not "hunt," no, not for the world, if the planets were in bad aspect.

Human curiosity, the keen desire to peer into the future, must have manifested itself in the earliest dawning of the human mind; and the hearts of men being the same fundamentally in all ages, the same wish for a glimpse ahead manifests itself to-day. Writers have sought industriously for the origin of astrology, but have never been successful, except in the general sense of tracing the cult of the stars to the borders of the prehistoric. In some form or other it is as old as the race.

THE ORIGINS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS

BY T. SHARPER KNOWLSON

AUTHOR OF "THE ART OF THINKING," ETC.

LONDON

T. WERNER LAURIE LTD.

COBHAM HOUSE, 24 & 26 WATER LANE, E.C.4

1910

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(7) CRYSTAL GAZING.

A London publisher of books on mental science and occultism advertises a crystal gazing outfit in the following terms:--

CRYSTAL GAZING OUTFIT, A COMPLETE.--This outfit consists of a perfectly cut and polished 2 in. transparent solid crystalline sphere; a beautifully turned and polished ebony pedestal, and a circular full of instructions and suggestions. 3s 6d net, boxed and post free 3s 9d, foreign postage is extra.

By Crystal Gazing is meant the practice of gazing steadily into the limpid depths of a solid, crystalline sphere, for the purpose of seeing visions therein. Many people can thus see "pictures" of great personal interest and importance. The visions seem to be in the crystal itself, but the scientific explanation is that the peculiar effect upon the optic nerve provokes to activity some latent clairvoyant function of the brain, which may have been extensively used by primeval man.

It is well known among psychic investigators that Crystal Gazers often see visions of a clairvoyant or telepathic nature. For instance, the experimenter might see, in his Crystal, a moving picture representing a distant friend in a most exciting situation. Subsequent inquiry, by correspondence, has been known to show that the vision correctly portrayed the actual event at the identical time it took place. This is a mere suggestion of the many interesting phenomena developed by Crystal Gazing. It is a harmless, amusing pastime.

As a matter of fact, the Crystal is a beautiful ornament, and is worth its price as a paper weight. This is the cheapest and best Crystal Gazing offer ever made.

This is business and exposition combined. No doubt the publisher knows very well that he is on right and safe lines, for has not Mr Andrew Lang himself written most interestingly about "scrying," as crystal gazing is called, and did he not record the following incident?--

"I had given a glass ball to a young lady, Miss Baillie, who had scarcely any success with it. She lent it to Miss Leslie, who saw a large, square, old-fashioned, red sofa, covered with muslin (which she afterward found in the next country-house she visited). Miss Baillie's brother, a young athlete, laughed at these experiments, took the ball into his study, and came back looking 'gey gash.' He admitted that he had seen a vision--somebody he knew, under a lamp. He said he would discover during the week whether he saw right or not. This was at 5.30 on a Sunday afternoon. On Tuesday Mr Baillie was at a dance in a town 40 miles from his house, and met a Miss Preston. 'On Sunday,' he said, 'about half-past five, you were sitting under a standard lamp, in a dress I never saw you wear, a blue blouse with lace over the shoulders, pouring out tea for a man in blue serge, whose back was towards me, so that I only saw the tip of his moustache.' 'Why, the blinds must have been up,' said Miss Preston. 'I was at Dulby,' said Mr Baillie, and he undeniably was."

Yes, when Mr Andrew Lang certifies the reality of crystal gazing, it is justified in the eyes of many people, and instead of being a modern credulity, it becomes a modern--well, not exactly a modern science--it is not far enough advanced for that--but it assumes a rational atmosphere which nothing else could give it. Hence the popularity of the crystal and the cult of the "gaze." But is there anything in it after all? Certainly there is; it is, in fact, a sub-department of hypnotism, the facts of which few readers will care to question. But as yet not many would-be "scryers" are as successful as their efforts are presevering.

French criticism has been somewhat severe.

"Dr Pierre Janet, one of Charcot's coadjutors at the Saltpetriére, said in a lecture at the University of Lyons, in France, that very few persons really 'see things' in crystals, the estimate of 20 per cent. put forward by the Society for Psychical Research being, in his opinion, exaggerated. He has found, too, that this faculty is seldom met with among persons in sound bodily and mental health, it being, in fact, a neurosis, or disease of the nerves, to which only abnormally nervous or hysterical persons are subject. The state induced by prolonged gazing at a faintly luminous object is, on the same authority, a kind of incomplete hypnotism in which hallucinations occur which are in every way deceptions of the senses. But these hallucinations have for their subjects only those things which are within the conscious or unconscious memory of the gazer, and one is just as little likely to gain from them any hint of facts lying within the gazer's knowledge, as to learn the future from the stammerings of anybody drunk. Thus in one case collected by the Psychical Research Society, where the speculatrix--to use the old-fashioned word for such seers--saw in the crystal a newspaper announcing the death of a friend, which afterward turned out to have actually happened, Dr Janet is able to show that there was in the room a real newspaper with the announcement in question, the inference being that the speculatrix had read and mentally noted it without consciously grasping its significance. This experience might be paralleled by one from Binet, where a student on his way to an examination in Botany, saw to his astonishment the words Verbascum thapsus written on the swing door of a well known restaurant. A second examination transformed the two words into the simple 'bouillon,' and it was only then that he remembered that Verbascum thapsus was the Linnaean name of the herb called by French peasants bouillon blanc."

This kind of criticism cannot be ignored, but it savours of the dogmatic attitude taken up by Dr Crichton Browne (in his Dreamy Mental States) towards anything and everything which cannot be justified by the present knowledge embodied in medical science. There is surely a better way of dealing with phenomena that are capable of scientific verification. If it be possible to see persons and things at a distance by looking into a glass of water, round piece of glass, or other object with a shining surface, then the laws of the scientific method, i.e. observation and experiment, can be employed with sufficient exactitude to determine the truth or error of the claims put forward. Research Societies have already made the attempt, but the results have not been all that one could wish. Spasmodic efforts have not the same value as systematic and repeated investigation at the hands of a number of trained men.

Crystal gazing presents one of a batch of interesting phenomena, which began to assert themselves in the early history of man; were for ages classed as credible facts, then branded as unholy superstitions; lastly, they display a tendency to return to the first position, with the added confirmation which comes from science. Thus the origin of the practice is easily found. Early in the history of man some member of the race, more gifted than his fellows in the sense of being more susceptible to finer influences, saw, or imagined he saw, visions in the shining pool. He communicated these to his comrades, and some of them confirmed the fact by seeing the visions also. Then the cult, began and developed into divination as we see it in Pagan rites, and even in the Old Testament. The crystal itself is not a necessity. As Mr Lang says, people stared into a "crystal ball; a cup; a mirror; a blot of ink (Egypt and India); a drop of blood (the Maoris of New Zealand); a bowl of water (American Indians); a pond (Roman and African); water in a glass bowl (Fez); or almost any polished surface." Unlike many superstitions of the past this, along with others of occult character, holds the fort against all comers; sometimes the enemy makes a breach in the walls and otherwise demolishes the citadel, but the repairs are as rapidly executed, and "scrying"--partly a serious study and partly a social pastime--lives on confident in its future success. It will be interesting to see what will happen during the next twenty-five years, but unless the subject is severely analysed and experimented upon it will, at the end of that time, be where it is to-day; a number of people in all grades of society will be ardent devotees, and a still greater number will call them "a credulous crowd," worse than the superstitious nations of the past.

 

8) COLOUR SUPERSTITIONS.

Few, if any, of the subjects dealt with in this book offer more items of interest for the student than this which has relation to the importance of colour. There has always been a superstitious use of colour in connection with astrology, the planets not only having a number, but a favourite hue, which those people whose date of birth falls within the sphere of the planet should be careful to cultivate. Hence the readiness of the West End occultist to furnish your number and colour as determined by your name. No doubt, from this point of view, the rationale of personal colour, sanctioned by fate or fortune, is just as sound or unsound as anything else in astrological lore. But the point of interest lies here: modern medical research has proved the importance of colour in a curative sense. Your native colour may be pink, and mine may be green, according to the lore of antiquity; it does not matter much one way or the other. But it matters a great deal whether we lie in a room of sickness with a red wall paper or a blue one, if there really be a traceable influence of colour on mental conditions.

Now is there such an influence? I think a fairly good case can be made out that there is. Take some of the lowest forms of life--infusoria, for example. Downes and Burns in Light and Colour have noticed that infusorial life develops faster under the influence of red and yellow light. Seeds germinate most rapidly under violet and blue rays, and the hatching of silk worms is greatly facilitated by placing the eggs under violet glass. It has been observed also that flies and other insects do not flourish, or are killed outright, by the light which comes through blue glass or blue gauze. When we come to the insect world, the very existence of flowers, with their almost endless gradations of colour and tint, must be taken as a reasonably clear demonstration that colour has some influence upon the feelings of flower-haunting butterflies, bees, and beetles, though even these feelings may be merely those of preference or indifference. Colour was of the highest significance to primitive man; it is to man as we know him to-day. Dr. Ponza, director of the lunatic asylum at Alessandria, Piedmont, cured many of his insane patients by confining them in rooms, the glass and walls of which were of some uniform colour, such as red, or blue, or violet. One taciturn melancholic became gay and talkative after a sojourn of three hours in a red chamber. Others, after having stayed in these coloured rooms for a time, shewed other equally great changes for the better in their mental condition. Chromotherapy is still a science hardly in its infancy, but, when it has received more attention than it has had up to the present, we may expect some interesting developments.

Now this is as far as we can go in matters relating to colour, at least with confidence. It is impossible to draw up a list of colours representing intellectual and moral qualities on a foundation of exact science. A list of dogmatic statements is the easiest thing in the world to produce, and a popular author has done it in his Colour as a Curative Agent. Thus on p. 35 I read the following:--

<DIR> <DIR>

"Red--Love, affection, or lust.
Scarlet--Emotion, anger.
Deep Crimson--Animality.
Bright Red--Courage or confidence.
Dull Orange--Less understanding.
Brownish Orange--Worldly wisdom.
Light Yellow--Common sense."

</DIR></DIR>

and so forth.

In vain do we look for the basis of this ethics of colour; it cannot be found. We do not deny that in the Bible sin is scarlet, and that Mephistopheles usually appears in scarlet; one could from the pages of literature almost justify the list we have quoted from a popular writer. But we want more than that. Even though Fox and Gould affirm yellow and gold correspond to the intellectual, green to the utilitarian, red to the sensual, and blue to the spiritual, moral, or religious nature of man, we require the whole phenomena to be treated according to the scientific method before we can accept the ipse dixit of any writer. There may be a colour belonging to us as individuals; the month in which we were born and the planet that was in the ascendant at the time may have conferred it on us; each planet may denote a colour; but of these dogmas and many others nobody seems to know anything that can be dignified with the name of knowledge. The fact is they are rank superstitions.

THE ORIGINS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS

BY T. SHARPER KNOWLSON

AUTHOR OF "THE ART OF THINKING," ETC.

LONDON

T. WERNER LAURIE LTD.

COBHAM HOUSE, 24 & 26 WATER LANE, E.C.4

1910

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(9) NUMBERS.

The fortune or fatality contained in numbers, as numbers, seems to date back to the time of Pythagoras, if not earlier. Jones in his Credulities Past and Present has gathered together a vast amount of historical information which it is no part of my business to reproduce; it is sufficient to note that in every age and clime numbers have formed a part of magical and non-magical ceremonial. Even to-day the clairvoyant who practises in London will ask her visitor on what day of the month he was born, and in what year; then, making a rapid mental calculation, will inform him whether the coming year will be good for him, financially, or whether he is likely to experience sickness and domestic disquiet. Whatever rules she may follow in making such calculations have been handed down to her from the past, so that modern fortune telling in this particular is no different from the astrology and sooth-saying of the time of Moses. Another curious development is seen in a book, published a few years ago, called The Mysteries of Sound and Number, by Habeeb Ahmad. It claims that every letter means a number; so that, if you will take the trouble to arithmetise your own name, you know what your number is and can act accordingly. How accordingly? Because the planets have numbers--the sun is No. 1--and as they exert a favourable influence every few minutes in turn throughout the day, you have only to act when your number and the right planet correspond, to succeed in anything you undertake. Mr Ahmad applies his logic to horse racing, and has drawn up a list of examples from past races to show how true his theory is. Of course horses have names and he claims they are not given them by chance, but according to an occult law, just as is the case with human beings. A new system of horse racing, where the bookmaker will be "done" every time, should strike dismay into the hearts of that confident fraternity, but up to the present there has been no sign of collapse. Still, Mr. Ahmad is no doubt a learned Mohammedan who has popularised some of the occultism of the school of thought to which he belongs, and, its truth apart, it forms an interesting narrative of the superstition attached essentially to numbers.

But how did the notion arise? Probably from the observation of coincidences, on which were based the so-called laws of numbers. I will here give some instances from quite recent history, for which I am indebted to Credulities Past and Present. The French nation of all classes are very much given to the art of tracing prophetical references in the numbers composing dates. French journals have noticed the numerical prophecy of the termination of the Empire in 1869. This small problem in arithmetical divination was worked out thus:--Napoleon III. was born in 1808, and assumed the Empire in 1852. Add 1 + 8 + 0 + 8 to 1852 and 1869 results. Similarly, the Empress Eugenie was born in 1826, and married to the Emperor in 1853. The ciphers added together in each date give 1869, when added to 1852. The corresponding dates and events in the life of Louis Philippe, when dealt with in the same way, give the corresponding prophetical result.

The date of the great Revolution is 1789. Add to 1789 the sum of its ciphers and 1814 resultsthe date of the Fall of the Empire, which arose out of the Revolution. The date of the last Revolution is 1848, and if this date be similarly dealt with it gives as the prophetical result 1869. A writer in Notes and Queries (3rd Ser. vol. x.) remarks that these extraordinary numbers appear to have started with the accession to the throne of Louis XVI. in 1744: by adding these figures into each other you get the date of his death, or 1774 + 1 + 7 + 7 + 4 = 1793, in which year, January 21st, the amiable monarch was beheaded. Again, the Fall of Robespierre, 1794: add 1 + 7 + 9 + 4 = 1815, gives that of Napoleon 1. re-abdicating, June 22nd, 1815; add to this 1 + 8 + 1 + 5 = 1830, which in its turn gives us the three glorious days of July and Fall of Charles X. Then we have accession of the Citizen King in 1830, thus:--

The date of his birth, October 6

1830
    1
    7
    7
    3
----
1848

Birth of his Queen, Marie Amélie, April 26

1830
    1
    7
    8
    2
----
1848

Marriage of Louis Philippe, November 25

1830
    1
    8
    0
    9
----
1848

Then came Universal Suffrage, December 10 and 11, and choice of a President of a Republic, one and indivisible, or

1848
    1
    8
    4
    8
----
1869 Dec.

But the figures work out more remarkably thus:--Louis Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor, January 30, 1853.

His birth, April 20

1853
    1
    8
    0
    8
----
1870

Birth of Empress, May 5

1853
    1
    8
    2
    6
----
1870

Now, if a modern arithmetician can trace destiny in the figures of personal history with such an array of seeming, does it not follow that the older and more philosophical mathematician, noting the same coincidences in the events of his own day, was led to theorise on the fundamental nature of numbers; his conclusions being that numbers are not mere no-things, but occult factors in life; in a word, the bearers of fate or fortune? He gave numbers to the planets, to letters, to words, to ideas; and having plenty of time on his hands he elaborated the scheme until it became the occult thing as we know it to-day. Our modern belief in lucky numbers can have no other origin than that of coincidences we have noticed, or which we have accepted on the ipse dixit of some fortune-teller, following the rules of the Chaldeans or some other ancient people. As to the array of figures respecting Napoleon, it is sufficient to say that similar figures can be produced respecting lives on the ordinary plane of existence, just as readily as where there is no such show of mathematical logic. In fact, in nine cases out of ten the figures, like the answer of the schoolboy's problem, "won't work out." Almost as good a case in the literary world could be hatched up from a cipher in Hall Caine's works to prove they were written by Marie Corelli. For thousands of years the world has been taught that letters have numbers which exert a positive influence in life's affairs, deciding matters of high importance as well as the trivialities about which we do not care. But no evidence is offered by the authors of modern books as to the occult powers of numbers in themselves. O Hashnu Hara in Number, Name and Colour admits that the values of numbers of the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic alphabets are different, so that it is pitch and toss as to which we are to take. Mr W. Wynne Westcott has written a more philosophical book on the subject, but even he has no satisfactory evidence to produce except this: that Pythagoras or somebody else "said" so. The revival of this superstition apparently means no more than its popularity as a social diversion.

 

(10) AMULETS, GEMS, CHARMS, TALISMANS, MASCOTS.

An amulet (from the Arab word hamala=to carry) is anything hung round the neck, placed like a bracelet on the wrist, or otherwise attached to the person, as an imagined preservative against sickness or other evils; a charm is exactly the same thing, the only difference being that the word itself contains the notion of some human action imparting to the article a certain power for good--hence the expression, "a charmed life;" a gem is simply the general name of a precious stone, used in this association because of alleged occult powers; a talisman is a special kind of charm on which is cut or engraved a magical figure, worn to avoid disaster to the wearer. A mascot is identical with a talisman, except that the design need not be there. It will thus be seen that there is no essential difference between these articles: they are all worn to ward off diseases and bad luck.

Since the practice of wearing such protective devices is a very ancient one, and one that still obtains, with perhaps a tendency to increase, I propose to enquire into the habits of the past and of the present, and into the underlying reasons which are given by wearers for the use of charms and amulets. For it is not without significance that a West End lady should appear to have the same belief in their efficacy as a Priestess of Amen Ra, on whose remains are found evidences of careful protections against evil. A superstition that has vitality after the lapse of many thousands of years is worth more than ordinary attention.

Mr G. H. Bratley, the author of The Power of Gems and Charms, devotes no less than 94 pages to "Historical Charms," having collected together a great variety of cases to show the place which such objects have had in history. One must admit that certain articles have attained historic importance, mainly the articles which are said to exercise a malevolent influence, like the famous Spanish opal or the mummy case in the British Museum. What is lacking in the book under notice is attestation. For instance, no authority is given for the following story:--"The Czar of Russia is said to have great confidence in relics. He wears a ring in which is embedded a piece of the true Cross, and it is said to have the virtue of shielding its wearer from any physical danger. It was originally one of the treasures of the Vatican, and was presented to an ancestor of the Czar for diplomatic reasons. The value which its owner sets upon the ring is shewn by the fact that he will never, if possible, move any distance without it. Some years ago he was travelling from St Petersburg to Moscow, when he suddenly discovered he had forgotten the ring. The train was stopped immediately, and a special messenger sent back in an express for it; nor would the Czar allow the train to move until eight hours afterwards, when the messenger returned with the ring. It is said that when his ill-fated grandfather was so cruelly assassinated, he had left the ring behind him." Very interesting as a story, but how do we know it is true? How do we know a good many other amulet stories are true? We don't know; we only know there is a considerable amount of literature to prove that charms and amulets have been worn from time immemorial. That they are still worn, a little shyly, a little half ashamedly, at least by Anglo-Saxons, is quite true. The man and woman from the West End will wear their charms secretly as they listen to the turns on the music-hall stage; but the Asiatic wrestler, who has discarded most of his clothing, still wears his talisman round his neck-boldly, even proudly. He has a full-hearted belief in its efficacy in spite of an occasional defeat; the Anglo-Saxon is not so sure, but with commercial instinct rather than religious feeling, he wants to get the benefit if there is one. The psychological attitude is well stated by a writer in The Referee, quoted by Mr Bratley. "The belief in mascottes or talismans is very popular. Charms, in the form of horse-shoes, pigs, four-leaved clover, and countless other fancies, are very general, and at present very fashionable. I have worn a lucky bean for seven years, and never lost it. I should very much dislike to part with it, and have a sort of half belief in its bringing me luck, or at least keeping off ill-luck." Exactly. A half-belief: no more than that. The little pig dangling from a lady's bracelet is there because of a hope that it will bring good things. Ask her for the underlying science and she will only smile. "You do not understand." We are not dealing with matters of common-sense, but with intuition. We are following instinct rather than logic. Yes, we are, when we wear trinkets and do not know why, except that others have worn them thousands of years ago and allege their potent influence for good. Is not the secret of their power in the fact that they are a visible emblem of defence? Take a Turkish wrestler who wears his amulet round his neck. To be without it would mean distress of mind--a real state of fear; to have it is to bring out the best of his powers. And yet his opponent, utterly destitute of a charm or of a belief in them, will probably beat him in the struggle. Belief in the charm will not therefore be destroyed; the cause of the failure will be looked for elsewhere.

The popularity of talismans, charms, amulets, and the whole tribe of "lucky " gems, is best explained by the fact that mankind is fond of decorative effect. We may laugh at the naked savage, who will strut up and down the deck of a trading steamer at Lorenzo Marques, on which he is a visitor for a quarter of an hour, dressed in a pair of spats and an old silk hat--not a stitch of anything else--but there is the same passion in more civilised countries. We express that passion with more artistic restraint and better taste, but with women especially the so-called belief in the occult influence of charms is secondary to the love of gold and silver trinkets by way of adornment. It would not be true to say that the essential superstition is absent; there can be no doubt it would live even though the trinket were ugly and objectionable. What we mean is that the decorative feature of charms comes first, because it addresses itself to the eye; the appeal to fear and imagination comes later. Besides which, the curious details of how precious stones may be worn to evolve lucky events are worthy of an expert advertising agent who wanted to bring the best results for his clients--the goldsmiths and the jewellers. That some stones may be worn by everybody with advantage is a judicious statement, especially as those stones are diamonds, turquoises, and emeralds; but there is a difference of opinion as to what stones "govern" the month of the year. The usual scheme is as follows:--

Jan.	=	Garnet.
Feb.	=	Amethyst.
Mar.	=	Bloodstone.
April	=	Diamond.
May	=	Emerald.
June	=	Agate.
July	=	Ruby.
Aug.	=	Sardonyx.
Sep.	=	Sapphire.
Oct.	=	Opal.
Nov.	=	Topaz.
Dec.	=	Turquoise.

 

But Mr H. Stanley Redgrove, B.Sc., in an article in The Occult Review on "The Belief in Talismans," has a different arrangement, which, apparently, possesses antique authority at least equal to those one finds in such books as Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, or an Occult Encyclopaedia. Probably an acute astrologer would object to all the lists because they did not deal with "cusps." However, on the following page will be found an outline of Mr Redgrove's plan:--

Aries, the Ram	=	April	=	Amethyst
Taurus, the Bull	=	May	=	Agate
Gemini, the Twins	=	June	=	Beryl
Cancer, the Crab	=	July	=	Emerald
Leo, the Lion	=	August	=	Ruby
Virgo, the Virgin	=	September	=	Jasper
Libra, the Balance	=	October	=	Diamond
Scorpio, the Scorpion	=	November	=	Topaz
Sagittarius, the Archer	=	December	=	Carbuncle
Capricorn, the Goat	=	January	=	Onyx Chalcedony
Aquarius, the Waterbearer	=	February	=	Sapphire
Pisces, the Fishes	=	March	=	Chrysolite

 

Mr Bratley appears to have made a compromise, for his list joins up half months in the following manner:--

Duration of Size and Sun's period therein.

January 21	to	February 18	Garnet
February 19	to	March 20	Amethyst
March 21	to	April 20	Bloodstone
April 21	to	May 21	Sapphire
May 22	to	June 21	Emerald
June 22	to	July 23	Agate
July 24	to	August 23	Ruby
August 24	to	September 23	Sardonyx
September 24	to	October 23	Chrysolite
October 24	to	November 22	Opal
November 23	to	December 22	Topaz
December 23	to	January 20	Turquoise

 

Now, what is a woman to do who wishes to buy a ring with the right birth-stone in it? She was born on July 2nd, 1890. Has she to follow the first list? or the second? or the third? Who made these lists, and on what science are they founded? All Mr Bratley can say is they are formulated "according to the laws of judicial astrology." Is that all? If it is, then we may be sure a well educated girl, who has gone through some science and logic, will buy the ring for its beauty and intrinsic value first; the superstitious element only provides her with material for Society small talk. Authors may fling quotations at us from Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Madame Blavatsky, but we need better evidence than those people can furnish before we can accept the occult power of gems. Mr Stanley Redgrove is of opinion that the power is not in the charm, but in the belief of the wearer of the charm. It is the power of the idea, although there is some evidence which suggests the possibility of imparting certain mental qualities to an object. This idea is all-sufficient, and an instance is quoted from an eminent anthropologist--Dr. Haddon, see his Magic and Fetishism--about a Congo negro, "who, being on a journey, lodged at a friend's house; the latter got a wild hen for his breakfast, and the young man asked if it were a wild hen? His host answered 'No.' Then he fell on heartily, and afterwards proceeded on his journey. After four years these two met together again, and his old friend asked him 'if he would eat a wild hen,' to which he answered that it was taboo to him. Hereat the host began immediately to laugh, inquiring of him, 'What made him refuse it now, when he had eaten one at his table four years ago?' At the hearing of this the negro immediately fell a-trembling, and suffered himself to be so far possessed with the effects of imagination that he died in less than twenty-four hours after."

Mr Redgrove thus concludes:--"We think, however, that the hidden truth underlying the mass of superstitious nonsense connected with the subject may be formulated thus:--the power of the talisman is the power of the mind (or 'imagination') brought into activity by a suitable symbol.

Sue, that sounds very interesting I want to go to Transylvania!

 

(29) YULE LOGS There seem to be a hundred origins of the word Yule according to the writers on popular antiquities. The most ingenious is that of Bryant, who derives the Feast Juul or Yule from a Hebrew word--Lile, Night. Lile, he adds, is formed from a verb signifying to howl, because at that time, i.e. at night, the beasts of the forest go about howling for their prey. "In the Northern counties, nothing is more common than to call that melancholy barking dogs oft make in the night Yowling, and which they think generally happens when some one is dying in the neighbourhood." Christmas Day, in the primitive Church, was always observed as the Sabbath day, and like that, preceded by an Eve, or Vigil. Hence our present Christmas Eve. On the night of this eve our ancestors were wont to light up candles of an uncommon size, called Christmas candles, and lay a log of wood upon the fire, called a Yule-clog, or Christmas-block, to illuminate the house, and, as it were, to turn night into day. This custom is in some measure still kept in the North of England. The following occurs in Herrick's Hesoerides:-- CEREMONIES FOR CHRISTMASSE. "Come bring with a noise, My merry, merrie boys, The Christmass Log to the firing: While my good Dame she Bids ye all be free, And drink to your heart's desiring. "With the last year's Brand Light the new Block and, For good successe in his spending, On your psaltries play, That sweet luck may Come while the Log is teending. "Drink now the strong beere, Cut the white loaf here, The while the meat is a-shredding For the rare mince-pie, And the plums stand by To fill the paste that's a-kneading." Christmas, says Blount, was called the Feast of Lights in the Western or Latin Church, because they used many lights or candles at the feast; or rather because Christ, the light of all lights, that true light, then came into the world. Hence the Christmas candle, and what was, perhaps, only a succedaneum, the Yule-block, or clog, before candles were in general use. Thus a large coal is often set apart at present, in the North, for the same purpose, i.e. to make a great light on Yule or Christmas Eve. Lights, indeed, seem to have been used upon all festive occasions, e.g. our illuminations and fireworks, on the news of victories. In The Gentleman's Magazine for 1790 a writer traces the Yule log to the Cyclops of Euripides. (See Act i, sc i).               This webset was designed by Erin using one of the many auto-scripters available at  Chat_Central_Gateway  All rights reserved KENDOC 2005

Diane, I will gte back to you on dream interps, I have an idear for that.