Dan,
Very true! indeed I wonder whether the actual survivng
'Hands of Glory'which I've seen or read of, i.e. one
in Whitby Museum and one sold by auction in Sussex in
the 1930s, really were made in order to help thieves,
or whether they were just for healing purposes. As you
probably know, it was thought that the touch of the
hand of a corpse healed diseases of the neck and
throat, and especially that of a hanged man dangling
from gallows or gibbet --sick people used to be lifted
in a cart to rub the hand on their necks.
I don't think there would have been a problem getting
a hanged man's hand cut off for use,at any rate in
18th and early 19th C, since the bodies of crimimnals
were regularly sold off for dissection (see Ruth
Richardson, 'Death, Dissection and the Destitute'). So
tho' Whitby Museum labels its specimen 'Hand of Glory'
and it was given to them under that name, I do wonder.
Jacqueline
--- Daniel Harms <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Jacqueline,
>
> The Hand of Glory actually illustrates even more of
> the complexities in determining it. Not only do we
> have issues of expense and time, but we have those
> of the law (I'm not entirely certain that taking the
> hand of an executed criminal was a crime in France,
> but it seems likely), ethics (was creating an item
> to aid in theft improper?), utility (is this
> something most clients would want?), and creativity
> (how much can I "wing it" regarding the requirements
> and effects?). Individual cunning folk, each of
> whom might have the same books on the shelf, might
> answer these questions in different ways, leading to
> considerably different practices.
>
>
> Dan Harms
> Coordinator of Instruction Librarian
> State University of New York - Cortland
> Memorial Library B-110
> (607) - 753-4042
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic on
> behalf of jacqueline simpson
> Sent: Wed 2/8/2006 11:01 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] grimoire
> reference
>
>
>
> Cunning men must surely have had to modify the
> instructions of some 'high magic' recipes, if only
> on
> the grounds of expense -- unguents and special
> incenses and robes of various colours and objects
> made
> of various metals ... In contrast, a spell from
> popular magic such as that for making a Hand of
> Glory
> (from the Petit Albert, if I remember right) demands
> a
> lot of time and care, but nothing expensive by way
> of
> ingredients.
>
> Jacqueline
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Daniel Harms <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > In addition to the great suggestions from others
> > (I'll definitely have to grab WITCHCRAFT
> > CONTINUED...), I'd add Judith Devlin's THE
> > SUPERSTITIOUS MIND. That's just in the European
> > context, mind you - there's much more material on
> > the use of such works overseas...
> >
> > On the other hand, I would also question whether
> I'd
> > include your typical grimoire as "high magic"
> (which
> > to me applies more to Ficino, Agrippa, and rites
> of
> > a more theurgic character). Also, the term "use"
> > could be problematic. Does a practitioner just
> keep
> > the book on their shelves to establish their
> > credentials? Do they make use of the charms
> within?
> > Do they use some more than others? Are they
> unable
> > to read the book, but do they take inspiration
> from
> > the illustrations? I think Devlin and Davies will
> > illustrate the complexity of these determinations.
> >
> > Dan Harms
> > Coordinator of Instruction Librarian
> > State University of New York - Cortland
> > Memorial Library B-110
> > (607) - 753-4042
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic on
> > behalf of jason winslade
> > Sent: Fri 2/3/2006 5:08 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: grimoire reference
> >
> >
> >
> > This was mentioned some time ago in someone's
> post,
> > but I was looking for some sort of academic
> > reference to the fact that uneducated folk
> > practitioners also used high magick grimoires.
> > Basically, I just wanted to make the point that
> the
> > distinction between high and low magick is less
> > clear than is usually established. Just for a
> > footnote, you know? If anyone can point me to a
> > text, that'd be great. Thanks,
> > JLW
> > oisin
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
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> >
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>
>
>
>
>
>
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