Mogg,

To be clear, I'm just discussing his theories of sympathy. There's quite a bit in Frazer that's questionable beyond them, but they have at least provided useful beginnings for the study of the role of magical analogies.

Sincerely,

Dan Harms
Instructional Services Librarian and Bibliographer
SUNY Cortland Memorial Library
(607) 753-4042

-----Original Message-----
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of mandrake
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 1:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Frazer's Sympathetic Magic - Any Thoughts?

Daniel Harms wrote:

Really? I thought it would be a case of leave well alone ??
he perpetuated several blind alleys in study of magic -
including the eroneous distinction between magic and religion -
and the whole idea of sacred prostitution in ancient world -
its all literary research, dogmatic with no fieldwork ?
Magick as some sort of failed or pseudoscience etc etc

eg:
""Sacred Prostitution seems to have surfaced in the minds of the
scholarly community in the late 19th and early 20th century largely as a
result of Sir James Frazer's classic study, "The Golden Bough". For
decades, the existence of cultic prostitution was rarely questioned,
despite the fact that the textual evidence was virtually nonexistent."

"Athough scholars have gradually begun to put the old assumptions to the
test, sacred prostitutes still linger in biblical translations and
therefore also in the minds of scholars: the Hebrew word qedesa is
translated "shrine prostitute", "cult prostitute, and "temple
prostitute". Less experienced translators naively trust the
dictionaries, many of which were written several decades ago. Yet the
meaning of the stem qds is not clear as the old dictionaries present it,
and it seems that, in at least some cases, the traditional
interpretations are the result of circular reasoning.

In the specific case of the OT, the conclusion that widespread cultic
prostitution existed in ancient Israel is outdated and has been
reconsidered in recent research. The passages typically cited as proof
of the phenomenon should be interpreted as instances of secular
prostitution or, in the cases of passages such as Hos 4: 14, as a
prophetic condemnation of idolatry.

Regarding the ancient Near East, the most frequently cited source is
Herodotus's description of how every Babylonian woman must once in her
lifetime prostitute herself in the temple of Mylitta. In prior years,
Herodotus 's story was accepted as fact, but more recent investigations
have concluded that in this case Herodotus aimed more at shocking his
readers than providing them with reliable information.

The sources do not support the existence of sacred prostitution in the
Greek world either. In most cases, the only source cited as grounds for
this conclusion is the account of Strabo, which does not appear to be
reliable.

pp 318 conclusion
Kristel Nyberg in "Sacred Marriages: The Divine - Human Sexual Metaphor
from Sumer to Early Christianity"

[Mogg's PS: This is not to say modern practitioners might choose to make
this part of their own re-imagining or reclaiming of ancient
magical-religion, as indeed Aleister Crowley did with his cult of
Babalon. The cult of Babalon is maybe revealed as a modern creation
rather than an historical reconstruction]

> Someone else might want to give a fuller picture, but I think that
> Frazer's ideas are generally recognized as part of a broader current
> of analogical thinking in magic. Susan Greenwood's new book should be
> helpful here.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dan Harms
> Instructional Services Librarian and Bibliographer
>
> SUNY Cortland Memorial Library
>
> P. O. Box 2000
>
> Cortland, NY 13045
>
> (607) 753-4042
>
> *From:* Society for The Academic Study of Magic
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Dr Leo
> Ruickbie
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 03, 2010 9:23 AM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Frazer's Sympathetic Magic - Any
> Thoughts?
>
> Dear All,
>
> I was siting here, working on a short piece about Frazer's theory of
> sympathetic magic, and wondering how it currently holds among
> anthropologists, magicians and anthropologist-magicians. And it dawned
> on me that the best people to ask are the ones reading this email
> right now. What are your thoughts on the matter?
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Leo
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Dr Leo Ruickbie, PhD, MA, BA (Hons), AKC
> Author of /Witchcraft Out of the Shadows/ (Robert Hale, 2004)
>
> "/Witchcraft Out of the Shadows/ is an engaging book which
> deserves to be the benchmark for all future analyses of the
> Craft." - Alan Richardson
>
> And /Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician/ (The
> History Press, 2009)
>
> "Dr Ruickbie has re-evaluated and contextualised the sources of
> the Faust tradition from a position of authority. The result is a
> work of meticulous scholarship that can be read as a gripping
> page-turner." - Professor Osman Durrani
>
> For more information visit www.witchology.com <http://www.witchology.com>
>