{"collection":"Paganism & Neopaganism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/pag/mm/mm01_16a.htm","path":"pag/mm/mm01_16a.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm01_16a.htm","text":"The Foregoing Truths are Set out in Particular, this by a Comparison of the Works of Witches with Other Baleful Superstitions.\nNow the foregoing truth concerning the enormity of witches' crimes is proved\nby comparing them with the other practices of Magicians and Diviners. For\nthere are fourteen species of magic, springing from the three kinds of\nDivination. The first of these three is open invocation of devils. The\nsecond is no more than a silent consideration of the disposition and\nmovement of some thing, as of the stars, or the days, or the hours, and such\nthings. The third is the consideration of some human act for the purpose of\nfinding out something that is hidden, and is called by the name of\nSortilege.\nAnd the species of the first form of Divination, that is, an open invocation\nof devils, are the following: Sorcery, Oneiromancy, Necromancy, Oracles,\nGeomancy, Hydromancy, Aeromancy, Pyromancy, and Soothsaying (see S. Thomas,\nSecond of the Second, quest. 95, 26, and 5). The species of the\nsecond kind are Horoscopy, Haruspicy, Augury, Observation of Omens,\nCheiromancy and Spatulamancy.\nThe species of the third kind vary according to all those things which are\nclassed as Sortilege for the finding out of something hidden, such as the\nconsideration of pricks and straws, and figures in molten lead. And S. Thomas\nspeaks also of these in the above-quoted reference.\nNow the sins of witches exceed all these crimes, as will be proved in respect\nof the foregoing species. There can then be no question concerning smaller\ncrimes.\nFor let us consider the first species, in which those who are skilled in\nsorcery and glamour deceive the human senses with certain apparitions, so\nthat corporeal matter seems to become different to the sight and the touch,\nas was treated of above in the matter of the methods of creating illusions.\nWitches are not content with such practices in respect of the genital\nmember, causing some prestidigitatory illusion of its disappearance\n(although this disappearance is not an actual fact); but they even frequently\ntake away the generative power itself, so that a woman cannot conceive, and\na man cannot perform the act even when he still retains his member. And\nwithout any illusion, they also cause abortion after conception, often\naccompanied with many other ills. And they even appear in various forms of\nbeasts, as has been shown above.\nNecromancy is the summoning of and speech with the dead, as is shown by its\netymology; for it is derived from the Greek word Nekros, meaning a\ncorpse, and Manteia, meaning divination. And they accomplish this by\nworking some spell over the blood of a man or some animal, knowing that the\ndevil delights in such sin, and loves blood and the pouring out of blood.\nWherefore, when they think that they call the dead from hell to answer their\nquestions, it is the devils in the likeness of the dead who appear and give\nsuch answers. And of this sort was the art of that great Pythoness spoken\nof in I. Kings xxviii, who raised up Samuel at the instance of Saul.\nBut let no one think that such practices are lawful because the Scripture\nrecords that the soul of the just Prophet, summoned from Hades to predict the\nevent of Saul's coming war, appeared through the means of a woman who was a\nwitch. For, as S. Augustine says to Simplicianus: It is not absurd to believe\nthat it was permitted by some dispensation, nto by the potency of any magic\nart, but by some hidden dispensation unknown to the Pythoness or to Saul, that\nthe spirit of that just man should appear before the sight of the king, to\ndeliver the Divine sentence against him. Or else it was not really the spirit\nof Samuel aroused from its rest, but some phantasm and imaginary illusion of\ndevils caused by the machinations of the devil; and the Scripture calls that\nphantasm by the name of Samuel, just as the images of things are called by the\nnames of the things they represent. This he\nsays in his answer to the question whether divination by the invocation of\ndevils is lawful. In the same Summa the reader will find the answer to\nthe question whether there are degrees of prophecy among the Blessed; and he\nmay refer to S. Augustine, XXVI, 5. But this has little to do with the deeds\nof witches, which retain in themselves no vestige of piety, as is apparent\nfrom a consideration of their works; for they do not cease to shed innocent\nblood, to bring hidden things to light under the guidance of devils, and by\ndestroying the soul with the body spare neither the living nor the dead.\nOneiromancy may be practised in two ways. The first is when a person uses\ndreams so that he may dip into the occult with the help of the revelation of\ndevils invoked by him, with whom he has entered into an open pact. The second\nis when a man uses dreams for knowing the future, in so far as there is such\nvirtue in dreams proceeding from Divine revelation, from a natural and\ninstinsic or extrinsic cause; and such divination would not be unlawful. So\nsays S. Thomas.\nAnd that preachers may have at least the nucleus of an understanding of this\nmatter, we must first speak about the Angels. An Angel is of limited power,\nand can more effectively reveal the future when the mind is adapted to such\nrevelations than when it is not. Now the mind is chiefly so adapted after the\nrelaxation of exterior and interior movement, as when nights are silent and\nthe fumes of motion are quieted; and these conditions are fulfilled round\nabout the dawn, when digestion is completed. And I say this of us who are\nsinners, to whom the Angels in their Divine piety, and in the execution of\ntheir offices, reveal certain things, so that when we study at the time of the\ndawn we are given an understanding of certain occult matters in the\nScriptures. For a good Angel presides over our understanding, just as God does\nover our will, and the stars over our bodies. But to certain more perfect men\nthe Angel can at any hour reveal things, whether they are awake or asleep.\nHowever, according to Aristotle, de Somno et Uigilia, such men are more\napt to receive revelations at one time than at another; and this is the casein\nall matters of magic.\nSecondly, it is to be noted that is happens through Nature's care for and\nregulation of the body, that certain future events have their natural cause in\na man's dreams. And then those dreams or visions are not cause, as was said in\nthe case of Angels, but only signs of that which is coming to a man in the\nfuture, such as health or sickness or danger. And this is the opinion of\nAristotle. For in the dreams of the spirit Nature images the disposition of\nthe heart, by which sickness or some other thing naturally comes to a man in\nthe future. For is a man dreams of fires, it is a sign of a choleric\ndisposition; if of flying or some such thing, it is a sign of a sanguine\ndisposition; if he dreams of water or some other liquid, it is a sign of a\nphlegmatic, and if he dreams of terrene matters, it is a sign of a melancholy\ndisposition. And therefore doctors are very often helped by dreams in their\ndiagnosis (as Aristotle says in the same book).\nBut these are slight matters in comparison with the unholy dreams of witches.\nFor when they do not wish, as has been mentioned above, to be bodily\ntransferred to a place, but desire to see what their fellow-witches are doing,\nit is their practice to lie down on their left side in the name of their own\nand of all devils; and these things are revealed to their vision in images.\nAnd if they seek to know some secret, either for themselves of for others,\nthey learn it in dreams from the devil, by reason of an open, not a tacit,\npact entered into with him. And this pact, again, is not a symbolical one,\naccomplished by the sacrifice of some animal, or some act of sacrilege, or by\nembracing the worship of some strange cult; but it is an actual offering of\nthemselves, body and soul, to the devil, by a sacrilegiously uttered and\ninwardly purposed abnegation of the Faith. And not content with this, they\neven kill, or offer to devils, their own and others' children.\nAnother species of divination is practised by Pythons, so called from Pythian\nApollo, who is said to have been the originator of this kind of divination,\naccording to S. Isidore. This is not effected by dreams or by converse with\nthe dead, but by means of living men, as in the case of those who are lashed\ninto a frenzy by the devil, either willingly or unwillingly, only for the\npurpose of foretelling the future, and not for the perpetration of any other\nmonstrosities. Of this sort was the girl mentioned in Acts xvi, who\ncried after the Apostles that they were the servants of the true God; and S.\nPaul, being angered by this, commanded the spirit to come out of her. But it\nis clear that there is no comparison between such things and the deeds of\nwitches, who, according to S. Isidore, are so called for the magnitude of\ntheir sins and the enormity of their crimes.\nWherefore, for the sake of brevity, there is no need to continue this argument\nin respect of the minor forms of divination, since it has been proved in\nrespect of the major forms. For the preacher may, if he wishes, apply these\narguments to the other forms of divination: to Geomancy, which is concerned\nwith terrene matters, such as iron or polished stone; Hydromancy, which deals\nwith water and crystals; Aeromancy, which is concerned with the air;\nPyromancy, which is concerned with fire; Soothsaying, which has to do with the\nentrails of animals sacrificed on the devil's altars. For although all these\nare done by means of open invocation of devils, they cannot be compared with\nthe crimes of witches, since they are not directly purposed for the harming of\nmen or animals or the fruits of the earth, but only for the foreknowledge of\nthe future. The other species of divination, which are performed with a tacit,\nbut not an open, invocation of devils, are Horoscopy, or Astrology, so called\nfrom the consideration of the stars at birth; Haruspicy, which observes the\ndays and hours; Augury, which observes the behaviour and cries of birds;\nOmens, which observe the words of men; and Cheiromancy, which observes the\nlines of the hand, or of the paws of animals. Andone who wishes may refer to\nthe teaching of Nider, and he will find mush as to when such things are lawful\nand when they are not. But the works of witches are never lawful.\nNext: Question XVII A Comparison of their Crimes under Fourteen Heads, with the Sins of the Devils of all and every Kind.","title":"Malleus Maleficarum Part 1 Question XVI","type":"page"}