Midterm #2 readings Flashcards
(89 cards)
1
Q
Jackson - Gbangbane (WC with the Kuranko people in Africa)
A
male witch-hunting cult
theoretically witches themselves, some wild powers that can destroy people but also can protect them
2
Q
Jackson - Pulan
A
A witch’s shade that is left after their death - possess and haunts
3
Q
Jackson - Suwa’ye
A
Their term for witchcraft (closest), it is ambiguous term but alludes to wild or extra social component - good or bad dependent on how it’s harnessed and used
4
Q
Jackson -“witch is not a person”
A
idea of personhood “morgue” implies respect and mindful of others - a person who sets themselves apart from others is not a person
5
Q
Jackson - stereotypical witch
A
deviant, wild, uses invisible powers, works in dark - systematic inversion of ideal social bx (day/night; sociability/selifshness)
6
Q
Jackson - Gbangbane hunting
A
cannot destroy witches directly, only disarm them
7
Q
Jackson - more on their witches
A
WC is an inborn proclivity, they are predatory and cannibalistic (they don’t kill they consume a victim’s blood or break their bones)
WC operates through blackmail and indebtedness (someone would of had to betray you to tell witches where you sleep and leaving your door open)
8
Q
Jackson - Nie
A
witches life/essence - leavers her sleeping body at night and moves abroad often in the body of familiar animal. seizure type movement as it leaves her - animals most associated are leopard, hyena, snakes, owls, etc
9
Q
Jackson - Confession of WC
A
confession (not accusation) is norm. Rare nature of the concessions - most under terminal illnesses/killed for confession
Epitomizes the worst in women - scapegoat
10
Q
Jackson - WC and Kinship stress
A
Antagonism exists between Kuranko men and women in everyday life; not seen as equals (pays the bridewealth)
* Resentments that nurture WC- loss of balance - Targets/focus of WC attack is husband/brother/etc
11
Q
Jackson - Female inferiority
A
- Mythological - invokes disobedience of Mama Hawa (Eve) to explain why women are innately weak willed
- Sociological - complementarity of a woman’s roles as as wife/mother/sister
12
Q
Jackson - compulsion to confess
A
- Contrast - Between the house and backyard (domain of women) and the courtyard (which opens to the village)- domain of men
- Men go out; women turn it upon themselves; men seek causes of discord in the world; women search for causes within; men apportion blame; women take the blame; men accuse; women confess
13
Q
Jackson - Kuranko seem to resent (Western) medical help
A
- Putting themselves in the author’s care meant isolation from kin and from tried/tested world of their own medicines
- Their own medicines have protective and insulating functions
- Forfeiture of autonomy
- The known is always preferable to the unknown
14
Q
Jackson - last freedom of Self-confessed witch
A
- seems to readily bear responsibility of the misfortunes of those around them - victims of a world which denies them outlet for grievances
- Women are conditioned to bear responsibility for the misfortunes around them
- WC confession a desperate strategy for reclaiming autonomy in a hopeless situation-Borne out of allusions to witch-possessions and by defiant attitudes of [the] women in the face of death
15
Q
Truzzi - Dictionary definitions of the occult
A
- Beyond the range of ordinary knowledge; mysterious
- Secret; disclosed/communicated only to the initiated
- Pertaining to magic/astrology/other alleged sciences claiming use or knowledge of secret/mysterious/supernatural agences
16
Q
Truzzi - science and occult = definition
A
- Occult tends to have negative connotations among scientists”- Generally equated with mystical and anti-naturalistic world views
- The occult has been growing more interested in the supernormal/paranormal more than the supernatural-Current emphasis on hidden characteristics of such wisdom
- Lack of scientific rigor among occultist’s investigations
- Science - public investigation-The idea of a secret science approximates a contradiction in terms
17
Q
Truzzi - issues around defining occult
A
who is doing the labelling, where the labelling is being done, and what time (historically) the designation is made
18
Q
Truzzi - Common ground of occultism
A
most (nearly all) perspectives of the occult have somehow involved themselves in things anomalous to generally accepted cultural storehouses of “truths” (science and religion)* Claims that contradict common-sense- this is what makes the occult strange/mysterious
19
Q
Truzzi - anomalies (2 types)
A
- Anomalous objects-The existence/claimed existence orf a thing or event that somehow deviates from the usual/credible order of things
- Anomalous processes - Ordinary things/events that occur in some extraordinary conjunction-Usually based on inferences of strange causalities among otherwise ordinary events (things non-occultists may label as coincidences)
20
Q
Truzzi - anomalies (integrated versus isolated)
A
- Some (isolated) anomalies are singular and disconnected from other anomalies
- Others (integrated) are more consistent of process anomalies than object anomalies
- Anomalous processes seem to be more likely to be integrated with other anomalies than anomalous objects - The raw materials of occultism involving anomalous processes is more common than that involving anomalous objects
21
Q
Truzzi - anomalies (general versus theoretical)
A
- General (common sense)-one that most people in a given culture would consider a strange or incredible event under most circumstances (eg an object appearing or vanishing from nowhere)
- Theoretical (special) -Appears unusual only to one with special knowledge or training
22
Q
Truzzi - 5 major questions about an occult belief
A
- What is alleged to be known?
- Who claims to know it?
- How or why do they know it to be so?
- Where/under what conditions do they learn it to be so and is the belief maintained?
- What use does this knowledge have for the believer?
23
Q
Truzzi - anomaly (general info)
A
- The basic claim is for the existence of some anomaly which can be dichotomized into the categories of: object-process; isolation-integration; and general- theoretical
- Belief in theoretically anomalous objects is least likely to be labelled by most occultists
24
Q
Truzzi - Occult Claims
A
- Categorized according to the criteria upon which the alleged knowledge is based
- Claims of validity are based on the same sources of authority familiar to sociologists from the study of social organizations
25
Truzzi - Claims of validity
1) authority can rest on culturally inherited beliefs in traditional authority
2) an occult belief may be founded on faith in the charismatic authority of an occult leader
3) an occult belief may rest on rational-legal authority (some pragmatic experiences of the belief’s effectiveness
26
Truzzi - 5 major points along the continuum regarding criteria for validation of claims
1. Proto-scientific occultism
2. Quasi-scientific occultism
3. Pragmatic grounds (occultism)
4. Consensual validation of existential experiences-shared mystical occultism
5. Purely private forms of occult validation - private mystical occultism
27
Truzzi - proto-scientific occultism
1. Scientific criteria for some anomaly is desired and attempted but claims have not been fully integrated into the scientific community
2. Avoid the term occultism but scientific opponents usually view it as pseudo-science
28
Truzzi - Quasi-scientific
1. lip service is paid in the search for scientific criteria vor validation, but the actual search for hard evidence is more a stated goal that actuality/reality
2. Avoid the term occultism but scientific opponents usually view it as pseudo-science
29
Truzzi - Pragmatic occultism (grounds)
1. close to science but usually claiming without any scientific status for the belief
2. Tend to be rational-legal
3. Most magical practice is good example of level 3
4. Basic attitude is that the method works and could be demonstrated to the skeptical scientist but also such demonstration is not part of the occultist’s function
30
Truzzi - Shared Mystical Occultism (consensual validation of existential experiences)
1. The belief centers around some personal demonstrations of truth but without the possibility of empirical or truly intersubjective validation
2. May experience a personal and essentially mystical truth but it is not communicable to others through language
- Others are told they too can experience the same subjective truth if they perform the appropriate acts
3. Eg transcendental meditation
31
Truzzi - Private Mystical Occultism
1. Believer must have a direct mystical experience of his/her “truth”, which is self-validating
2. Experience has little to no social support from others- must be strong for the subject to remain convinced that the experience wasn’t just hallucinated or imagined
3. E.g. revlations - usually claimed as coming from divine or supernatural agencies
32
Truzzi - functions of occultism
no simple description
- various forms of occultism provide various of fulfilling elements (claim to power/love/health/etc)
- to account for the popularity by one theory is an oversimplification = further compounded by role between science and religion (and focus on religious element)
33
Truzzi - advantages of presenting knowledge in deviant form
1. The recipient feels he/she is special and superior for having been granted the difficult to obtain “truth”
2. By being a private form of knowledge, a reason is given by the generaly community has not accepted the “truth”
3. Privacy insulates critical examination of the ideas by outsiders
4. Privacy makes the deviant approach more attractive since this emphasizes the difference in the occult’s approach to the receipeitn’s problem from those non-deviant public approaches which probably failed to meet earlier needs
34
Von Struckard - 1614 book "Fame Fraternitatis"
the mysterious story of the life of Christian Rosenkreutz and his followers, who had dedicated themsleves to a ‘general reformation’ seeking to combine the Xian reformation of the 16th ce with a paracelsian philosophy of nature
35
Von Struckard - first Rosicrucians
circle that forms in the early years of the 17th-century at the university of tubingen consisting of Christoph Besold, Johann Calentin Andrae, and Tobias Hess - they are considered responsible for the early Rosicrucian manifestoes
36
Von Struckard - impact of first Rosicrucians
People interested in alchemy and esotericism were the first to take out and spread the ideas disseminated by the original Tubingen circle. acted as a foil to the Xian church in an age of absolutism
37
Von Struckard - Freemasonry
been around for past 300 yrs, many types, started potentially with lodges that formed around cathedral building sites - in 1717 5 London lodges joined to form the grand lodge
38
Von Struckard - Freemason myth of origin
Many derivations are invented, normally around some mystical notion of architecture, Think King Solomon
39
Von Struckard - 2 pillars of Solomon's temple
* The two pillars of Solomon's temple planned major role in the symbolism of both Kabbalah and Freemasonry
* The Cook manuscript relates how Hermes trismegsitus found the first of these pillars after the flood, while Pythagoras found the second and they began to teach the sciences inscribed upon them
40
Von Struckard - Freemasonry in 18th ce
- adopted by the elite, and emerging middle classes, associative education and higher knowledge
- played an active political role, supporting ideals of things like the French Revolution
41
Von Struckard - Illumaniti
* The secret league of illuminati, founded in 1776, represents a radical political wing of Freemasonry
* Seemed to have pursue a radical realization of rational French enlightenment philosophy
* It imagined a political order without Kings, priests and private property
42
Von Struckard - Rosicrucians and degrees
The Rosicrucians adopted the first three craft degrees of Freemasonry, adding a further series up to 79 or more degrees
43
Von Struckard - Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn
* The order of the Golden dawn adopted a wide variety of mainly Egyptian deities for its magical and philosophical's teachings
* Combination of Egyptophlia, Christian kabbalah, and Rosicrucian ritualism as evident in the initiation of these traditions
44
Von Struckard - Theosophical society
1875 - the birth of modern western esotericism - that ear witness the foundation of the Theosophical society
45
Von Struckard - Theosophical society =why so influential?
* The modern esoteric traditions are repacking the writings of Helena
* Eastern doctrines were assimilated a romantic view of the Orient
* Helena's charismatic personality insured her writing were widespread/acknowledged as revelation
* Her esoteric school became a model of many other initiatory societies
* society offers an outstanding example of the mixture of religious/scientific thought in modern Western societies
46
Von Struckard - Helena Petrovna Blavatsky: early years
-born in Ukraine in 1831, married and left her husband and traveled - in Hyde park she met her 'master' (her first teachers were indian gurus)
47
Von Struckard - Prisca theologia
a superior theology that modern religions are just a shadow of
48
Von Struckard - Theosophical Society Goals
* to form the nucleus of universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, sex, etc.
* The study of ancient to modern religions, philosophies and sciences
* Investigation of the unexplained laws of nature and physical powers Latent in man
49
Von Struckard - successions and schisms of the theosophical society
Annie besant - aydar society
Katherine tingley - Pasadena society
steiner (hard on for neitzhe) - anthroposophical
Alice ann bailey - (Xian creed) arcane school
Crosby - united lodge of Theosophists
50
Von Struckard - star in the east
Annie Besant saw coming of a world teacher in a hindu boy
Leadbeater, member of theosophical society saw boy in play - he's the messiah!
Jiddu Krishnamurti was initiated and the order of the start in the east was founded in 1911
he renounced his role in 1929 and he is an icon in the new age movement
51
Lincoln - Trotsky and the Spanish Revolution=points of emphasis
1) while slogans have an anticipatory quality to them, they are not a species of prophecy born of either divine inspiration or scientific analysis; rather, it is only when a slogan successfully rallies a following that it can be confirmed by events
2) it is not the accomplishment of such projectst hat is of importance; its the formation of such a group as can be mobilized by slogans is itself a revolutionary action
3) Trotksy felt that a “revolutionary situation” presents extraordinary possibilities for success by means of slogans
52
Lincoln - it is often patterns of descent that govern structures of social segmentation
* Lineages can be traced back to some primordial ancestor
* The more remote a given ancestor, th larger the social group made up of his/her descendents
* Because all individuals have multiple ancestors located at different generational depths, they simultaneously belong to/in multiple social groups
53
Lincoln - Shaping of society
1. society is conceived from nothing other the sentiments [internal affinity (affection, loyalty, solidarity) External estrangement (detachment and hostility)]
These constitute bonds and borders by which we reify society
2. shape of society changes when sentiments change/are redefined
3. the mechanism that accomplishes such redefinitions is the recollection of specific memories from the past - associated with different ancestors (through attachment to different memories they redefine themes as kin)
54
Lincoln - modern semantics around the term myth in common discourse
* tends to allude to a narrative lacking truth
* A story that members of some other social group regards as true and authoritative but that the speaker regards as false
55
Lincoln - how we define history
* A numerically specified position in the sequence of elapsed time can be affixed to it
* Written sources attest to it
* Their only significant actors are human
56
Lincoln - his suggestion of how we should classify terms
* Some narratives make no truth claims, but rather present themselves as fiction and are received as fiction = he would classify this as fable
* Some narratives propose to offer true accounts of the past but their primary audience see them as lacking credibility = legend
* Those that have credibility on both accounts = history
* And he proposes myth as a small class of stories that have both credibility and authority.
* By authority he means that claims are made in the status of paradigmatic truth
57
Lincoln - authority of myth
the authority of the myth is the influence on maintaining of customs and social formations or form new ones
58
Lincoln - How sociopolitical change can make use of myth
* Contest authority of given myth - reducing it to status of history/legend depriving it of its capacity to reconstruct social forms
* Attempt to invest in history/legend thus elevating it to the status of myth and make of it an instrument to construct new social forms
* Advance novel lines of interpretation of established myth or modify details of narration to change nature of sentiments/society that it invokes
59
Lurhmann - Gardner
- modern WC created in 1940s by him
- Heavily inspired by Murray’s hx account of WC as an organized pre-Xian fertility religion branded devil-worhip by demonologist
- He was inspired by Crowley and was potentially a freemason
60
Lurhmann - Gardner's view of WC
* viewed WC as an ancient magic-religious cult that was secretly practised and well suited to the Celts
* Witches had ancient knowledge and powers handed down through the generations
* Gardnerian WC began as a new religion in 1930s England
61
Lurhmann - Secrecy as part of start
Covens were small meetings in houses, kept secret so they could succeed.
There's a history of secrecy - scholars are not sympathetic and WC has never been given any authority
62
Lurhmann - Common narrative around Witch past
* WC is a religion that dates back to palaeolithic-worship of the god of the hunt/goddess of fertility
* This early religion was universal- the names changed but the basic deities were the same
* Slow inroads of Christianity into the lives of commoners
* Churches were built on sacred sites; names of festivals were changed but the dates were kept
* The Christian church turned the (a?) god of the Old Religion and turned him into the Christian devil
* Old religion forced underground - records distorted by its enemies
* Small families kept the religion alive
* WC laws were repealed in 1951 and the Old Religion began to surface again
63
Lurhmann - WC is meant to be a revival of ancient nature-religion and witches try to connect with the world around them
- earth worshipped as a woman
- through texts, try to recreate the tone of early humanity
- visit stone circle (Pre-xian)
- understanding od the season/bird song... nature
64
Lurhmann - The Goddess
- personification of nature
- each witch has their own understanding
- multi-faceted - Artemis/virgin huntress/moon/Aphrodite...
- constant theme of cyclicity
- different from Xian god-she is in/of/the world and a metaphor for nature
65
Lurhmann - start of covens
- Gardner started groups called covens run by high priestesses
- spawned many types of WC: gardnerian/alexandrian/feminist
- they vary in custom
- common to all practices: meeting on days dictated by sky solstices (equinoxes, fire festivals, moon)
66
Lurhmann - "sabats" and "esbats"
* Seasonal ritual meetings - “sabats”
| * Full moon meetings -”esbats”
67
Lurhmann - Initiation and degrees
-Membership usually ranges from 3-13 members
-Takes ~1 year of casual acquaintance to get initiated
-3 degrees in more traditional covens
1st- novices; anointed as “witch” and shown witch’s weapons
2nd- authority to start their own coven; “meeting” death;
3rd- rite of mystical sexuality; become one with the God or Goddess in their most powerful
68
Lurhmann - physical elements to coven
* Rich in symbolic and special items
* Athames - dark-handled knives - principal tools and symbols of power
* Always an altar- strewn with herbs and shit
* Statues of the Goddess
* Candles
69
Lurhmann - Book of shadows
- Gardner's handbook of ritual practice
| - this has been changed by covens
70
Lurhmann - Rituals
- seasonal rituals: presistess is incarnation of goddess, "drawing down the moon'
- lots of nature imagery, poetry and freedom in ritual circles
- spells: raising energy by calling on their members' own power in circle, energy is directed towards source by collective imagination
71
Lurhmann - solo witches
* those who call themselves witches though they have never been initiated and have no formal ties to a coven
* Seems to always be women
72
Lurhmann - the 'feel' of WC
* a humour and an enthusiasm often missing from other groups
* Combines the ideal and mundane // Blends spiritual intensity and romanticism
* “Being alive is really rather funny; Wicca is the only religion that captures this”
73
Lewis - Fraternity of Inner Light
* The ancestor of many important magical organizations now functioning in England
* At least 2 autonomous inner sections - 1 Pagan (non-Christian)
* Dion Fortune started it
74
Lewis - Murray and his "The Witch Cult in Western Europe"
- Published in 1921
- Proposed the modern WC can claim continuity with the witches who were persecuted during the burning times as well as with pre-Xian Pagan religions going back to the stone ages
75
Lewis - Gerald Gardner background
* No university education but went to work for a commercial branch of the British Civil Service in the Far East
* Retired in 1936 and settled in New Forest, England
* Had been initiated into dozens of occult groups
* Became friends with Margaret Murray and other prominent British scholars ~1939
* Sept 1939 date of start of gardnerian WC - new forest coven
76
Lewis - Gardner's creation of rituals with the New Forest Coven
- Reconstruction of Murray's description
- Focus on male high priest
- sabbat-renewing vows, kissing, turning
- focus on business (marriage/admission) and religious services - ceremonies/feasts/dancing
- Murray didn't describe much, NF coven has some creativity in reconstructing the religion
77
Lewis - The black man
the god of Witches; wore an animal skin or costume and would dress in all black
78
Lewis - development of new system by NF coven
* Dilemma- Old Religion focused on the practice of magic (as per Murray) but none of the systems for working magic that they knew about were practical for their purposes
* New Forest group interested in folk magic
* Low magic did not offer the sort of theological structure the New Forest group needed to give their new religion meaning
* Dipped their toes into Rosicrucian, Masonic,etc rituals to adapt for their own purposes
* Eg Book of Shadows (liturgical manial) is Masonic in its underlying structure
79
Lewis - basic structure of Gardnerian coven ritual
Gardnerian Neopagan WC movement (ritual)
* Casting the circle
* Calling the quarters (compass directions)
* Invoking the deities
* Raising and using magical energy
* Partaking in a small symbolic feast of cakes and ale
* Dismissing the deities and quarters
* Closing down the circle
80
Lewis - Gardnerian initiation rituals that were created
* Probably developed from within almost immediately
* No copy of these ritual survives but the rituals described in Ryall’s West Country Wicca are probably v similar
Murray - 3 different admission ceremonies
* 1 performed in public
* 1 performed for consecration as a Priestess
* 1 for inducting an officer of the coven
81
Lewis - 1951
The last british anti-witchcraft law, enacted in 1736, was repealed due to lobbying by spiritualist churches -> Gardner could now admit the existence of his religion
82
Lewis - Gardnerian rituals were legit written in 1955
before this, covens adapted Cabalistic procedures from the Greater Key of Solomon/Xian terms/Crowley quotes
83
Lewis - faction split
a propublicity faction consisting of Gardner and mostly newcomers and an antipublicity faction of Valiente and most of the other "old-timers.”
- because gardner craved publicity
- conflict prompted the writing of 'old laws'
84
Lewis - Gardnerian WC in US
began with raymond and rosemary buckland - started NY coven on long island
-became center of Gardnerian and neopagan movement in US for next 20 yrs
85
Lewis - US Gardnerian - grew
* grew in popularity, they were exclusive, but threats to start covens of their own based on the horror movie Rosemary's Baby - In order to prevent the creation of inferior covens, the Bucklands gradually relented-they admitted members more frequently, trained them less rigorously, and elevated them to higher Degrees sooner.
* Creation of the longest single document (from rosemary and Raymond when they left the coven when their marriage split - given to theos and Phoenix, the new guys) in the current Gardnerian Book of Shadows, the "Notes and Guidelines,"
86
Lewis - Splits and development of new covens
* The new leaders rejected priestess Diedre appointed by Buckland - This rejection of his Priestess led Buckland to found SeaxWica-a form of the Craft that did not suffer from the drawbacks he perceived in the Gardnerian model.
* when she moved to kentucky began the Coven of the Silver Trine
87
Lewis - Modern neopagan witchcraft's influence
* Almost all traditions of Neopagan Witchcraft in America began as an imitation of the Gardnerians.
* Other imitators claimed an ancestry of European Witchcraft independent of the Gardnerians-these claims almost always proved to lack substance.
* The very few Witches in America whose traditions seem to predate Gardner (and which differ radically from Gardnerian theology) enthusiastically adopted Gardnerian "reforms" because of their popularity and usefulness.
88
Lewis - Neopagan movement
* Neopaganism as a religious concept is based on a desire to re-create the Pagan religions of antiquity, usually not as they actually were, but as they have been idealized by romantics since the Renaissance.
* The gap between ancient reality and modem reconstruction is exhibited most clearly by the fact that all classical Paganism-like first-temple Judaism-was based on animal sacrifice, which is avoided by all modem Neopagans.
* Recreating pagan religions not a new concept
89
Lewis - Neopaganism and WC
* Until the mid-1970s, Wicca appeared to be just one among many equally important Neopagan religions
* In the mid-80s the Wiccan organizations dominated the discussion
* Over 50% of all neopagans in the US had become neopagan witches because many Neopagans realized that Wicca provided everything they had been hoping to gain from other Neopagan religions, and so shifted their focus more exclusively onto Wicca.
