Mormon, moon of a thousand forms, accept my sacri-
fice. (Caro Baroja, 1964)
Medieval Europe. In Europe, the practitioners of
witchcraft developed multiple spells for defense against ene-
mies, always preceded by the name of God and the archan-
gels. Terrible spells that try to control enemies have also been
found. In the anonymous medieval work Clavicula Salomonis
(Small Key of Salomo), one reads: “Man or woman! Young
man or old! Whoever might be the evil person trying to harm
me, either directly or indirectly, bodily or spiritually...
MALEDICTUS ETERNAM EST, by the holy names of Ad-
onai, Elohim, and Semaforas. Amen.” After reciting this
spell, a candle was extinguished as a sign of the finality of
the curse.
Sudan. The Sudan covers a territory between Egypt and
Ethiopia, where the magic of Egyptian antiquity and the later
Muslims is mixed with primitive animistic magic. Popular
sorcerers and magicians abound, openly offering their ser-
vices. Frequently they exalt their own powers, which they ob-
tain through their spells. For example, when a hunter hires
one to obtain luck at hunting, the magician says: “I am a ma-
gician, all powerful in spells. What I say comes true. I say,
‘Give victory to so and so.’ He will have victory in all things.”
Afterward, the magician goes about filled with the desire that
events might occur that will instill the hunter and the warrior
with luck. This is accompanied by whistlelike sounds and by
facing toward different cardinal points, whistling three times
in each direction while holding a receptacle of water. The Su-
danese believe that spells are more powerful when pro-
nounced over running water.
The Sudanese also have spells to give power to certain
leaves that are used in the preparation of medicines. The
spells are recited over the leaves a specific number of times
in order to bring about the desired effect.
To obtain the love of the opposite sex, the magician
draws a magic circle within which the magician prepares a
potion of herbs and feathers. In order to give the potion the
necessary potency, the magician repeats the following spell:
“I am a magician, O Pot, you contain the medicines of love,
the spell of love, of passion. My heart throbs like the drum,
my blood boils like water.” This is repeated three times, and
afterward another spell is intoned: “Bring my desire to me,
my name is so-and-so, and my desire is the one whom I
love.” This spell requires solemnity and precision. To make
it more effective, one has to open and close one’s eyes four
times, slowly, while saying it.
Such spells are not taught to laypersons, only to initi-
ates. To be able to pronounce them one has to undertake a
series of purifications, such as abstaining from food and sex
for forty to sixty days (Idries Shah, 1968).
India. The sheer number of spells used in the sacred
books of India is noteworthy in itself. The Atharvaveda in
particular is full of them. Here will be mentioned only one,
dedicated to obtaining a man’s love: “By the power and laws
of Varuna, I invoke the burning force of love, in thee, for
thee. The desire, the potent love-spirit which all the gods
have created in the waters, this I invoke, this I employ, to
secure thee for me” (Idries Shah, 1968).
China. One result of China’s use of ideograms is that
its magic produces mostly written talismans, although spells
abound, greatly influenced by their historical past. A spell
written on the blade of a sword could make it invincible: “I
wield the large sword of Heaven to cut down specters in their
five shapes; one stroke of this divine blade disperses a myriad
of these beings” (Idries Shah, 1968).
Mesoamerica. As in most cultures, magic in pre-
Conquest Mexico was highly specialized, permitted only to
initiates. The spells themselves prove this, since their lan-
guage was comprehensible only to occultists of the time; for
example, a spell for alleviating intestinal pain—very com-
mon in tropical countries—was recorded in the seventeenth
century by Jacinto de la Serna:
Ea, white serpent, yellow serpent, observe that you are
damaging the coffer... the tendons of meat....
But the white eagle already goes ahead, but it is not my
intention to harm or destroy you, I want only to stop
the harm you cause by withdrawing... by stopping
your powerful hands and feet. But should you rebel and
disobey, I will call to my aid the pledged spirit Huactzin
and also call the black chichimeco, who is also hungry
and thirsty, and who rips out his intentines, to follow
you. I will also call my sister, the one with the skirt of
jade, who soils and disorders stones and trees, and in
whose company will go the pledged leopard, who will
go and make noise in the place of the precious stones
and treasures: the skeletal green leopard will also accom-
pany her. (de la Serna, [1656] 1953)
The serpents mentioned at the beginning are the intestinal
maladies (intestinal worms, pinworms, tapeworms, etc.) that
harm the stomach and intestines. They are threatened with
the eagle, which represents the needle used to pierce the
stomach for bloodletting. They are also threatened with the
spirit of medicinal plants and liquids.
Modern-day spells. With the development of experi-
mental science, one would expect magic and religion to de-
cline. In fact all three remain active, although magic has cer-
tainly yielded ground. (Magic tends to gain ground in times
of crisis.) One finds both ancient and modern spells dis-
guised in the folk tales recorded by the brothers Grimm, such
as the traditional “Magic wand, by the powers you possess,
I command you to make me [rich, invisible, etc.].”
Mexico provides an interesting example of the survival
of ancient spells. In pre-Conquest Mexico, death was be-
lieved to be a change of life, and it was thought that the god
of the underworld, Mictlantecuhtli, was a disembodied, skel-
etal being with whom those who died natural deaths were
united in burial. After the Spanish conquest, the figure was
assimilated, ending up as a being who lends aid when the re-
quest is made in the appropriate fashion. Thus today, at theSPELLS 8677