1.4 KiB
Title: The Black Arts: A Concise History of Witchcraft, Demonology, Astrology, and Other Mystical Practices Throughout the Ages
Author: Richard Cavendish
Started Reading: 'unknown'
Finished Reading: 'unknown'
I bought this soft-cover book from the Ninth House Book Shoppe in Brecksville over 30 years ago. In May of 2021 I found a decent PDF.
Highlights
Knots are very sinister things, much used by witches, because to tie a knot is magically to tie and impede the person who is the target of the spell. An example is the terrible death talisman of the string with nine knots, sometimes called 'the witches' ladder'. The string is tied with fierce concentration of hatred against an enemy and hidden somewhere close to hlm. The knots slowly thottle the life out of him and he dies. The only cure is to find the string in time and untie the knots. -- pg 17
The blood of an executed criminal is a strong protection against disease and misfortune, because it carries the vigorous energy of a man cut off in full health and the powerful force of his resentment and fury at the fact. Spectators at executions, includlng those of Charles I of England and Louis XVI of France, struggled to dip cloths and hand-kercheifs in the dead man's blood. -- pg 25
Tags: booknotes