Greetings!
>I don't think the idea is too off topic, as a lot of magic is about
>putting control back in individual hands rather than having the
>priesthood be pulling the strings; so it is the same phenomenon
>
This is an area that interests me and it is, I believe, one current of
occultism. A translation of a paragraph from a 19th Century Italian
edition of the True Grimoire:-
"This mysterious Key of science was concealed for centuries from the
Despots and grandees of the Italian soil, the extent of which tyranny
held the people in ignorance, attended from birth and through life by
superstitious bigotry and erroneous beliefs, not eager to investigate
the truth. But now the age has come in which the fogs of ignorance are
to be ended, making way for the light of the truth the people have so
long yearned for, in which freedom is given to humanity to truly study
and to know the foundation of this Science divine, so called because
revealed from the Angel of God, that was otherwise hidden."
I think a lot of magical endeavour allowed people with little power to
hope for more. Sometimes this have very explicit political and economic
dimensions. Just at the moment I am preparing for publication a grimoire
of astrological talismans from England, c1800. One of the talismans
invokes mercury for protection from slavery. This did confuse me as I
did not think there was slavery at that period in Britain. I then found
a further description in the text which mentioned that this talisman
would be effective even "if incarcerated pending slavery or reduced to
slavery". It seems that the reference is to transportation and bonded
labour. It seems we know of these practices by their contemporary
euphemisms whilst the people who actually had to worry about it called
slavery.
My best wishes
Ben
--
Ben Fernee
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