German Magic
One major hurdle in attempting to understand medieval magic is the problem of the idea of what magic is. Much of the information comes from laws, penitential, and sermons of Christian leaders condemning magic and its practitioners. Within medieval Christendom, magic was the opposite of religion, and therefore defined by those who were in a position to define Christianity: church leaders and religious authors. In that sense medieval magic is whatever practices church leaders condemned as not of God. These authorities usually associated magic with the devil, paganism, heresy, and witchcraft or sorcery. The most notable figure in any discussion of magic is that of the witch. There are many reasons for the witch being the most recognized figure in magic. Many explanations stretch back to ancient pagan beliefs or teachings. Both men and women practiced the acts of magic. The earliest stories concerning magic however attribute it most prominently to women and to the idea of witchcraft. Jacob Grimm explains the reasoning for this in the following way: To woman not to man, was assigned the culling and concocting of powerful remedies, as well as the cooking of food. Her lithe soft hands could best prepare the salve, weave th
A traditional German folktale of a witch is told the following way. This radical idea of the devil was instituted at first by putting this force in the power of a female. The art of magic is to have chiefly been perfected by older women, since they were no longer able to love and bear offspring. To do that you had to brew beer in eggshells. Mistletoe was hung in stable, homes, and barns as an amulet against bad luck, fire, and witchcraft. The boy asked if she was missing half an arm and indeed she was. They are therefore caught in a netherworld thus becoming faeries. In Russia, was laid on the grave of a witch to prevent her ghost from riding out at night to terrorize people. The severed arm fit perfectly with the stump this it was known that she was a witch and they had her burned to death. Grimm however makes a parallel to the Scandinavian trolla-ping and the night-woman of Germany. In order to explain the occurrences of witchcraft and other magic myths and figures the Church explained this as the old beliefs and rituals being the work of the devil. Another use of spells or charms was to help keep away shape changers, witches and other evil or pagan spirits. " Soon thereafter a big gray cat arrived. Although this potion was created for a good purpose a minor error by Brangain would cause them to suffer for many years because of their love for each other. It is also mentioned that the cat is a favorite animal shape taken by the devil, further strengthening the link between the witch and devil.
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Acceptance Essays
