Sorcery or witchcraft in Religious Books

[Lord of Lorien]

As a group of friends we are planning to prepare a magazine about Fantastic Literature and I'm doing research on magic or sorcery (including amulets, vodoos, witchcraft) those are commonly used in the books. As a part of my study I will follow this order:

1- Magic during the prehistoric ages
2- Magic during the polytheistic ages
3- Magic during the monetheistic ages

As I don't know anything about the fact that what the other religious books say about magical things, except from Koran, I would be gratefull if you told me how is magic mentioned in the other religious books and religious theories such as Buddism, Shamanism, Zarathustraism, etc... adn gave some resources..

Thank you for your interest....

[Mr. Dr. Ralph]

Most people that believe in a religion don't call it magic. If it is written in a holy text, it is divine intervention. It doesn't matter whether nonsense can be explained because it is easily rationalized by claiming that God did it. There is no "magic" in holy texts, at least in western ones.

Buddhism doesn't have any magic in it, I think. There are several weird magical things that happen in ancient Hindu texts, though. The old school stuff is pretty wild, you should check those out.

You should probably consider books like Beowulf, tales about dragons and Merlin the wizard and the like. The term "magic" really mostly applies to things in medieval Europe, obviously aside from contemporary entertainment.

[Lord of Lorien]

But in Koran it is stated that amulets and vodoo like things (to injure someone by using genies) are real; however, it is strictly forbidden. I wonder if there is such an info in other religious texts.

[Bakiryu]

I think witchcraft is forbidden on the bible but you can find records in some ancient grimoires such as * The Picatrix, or, Ghâyat al-Hakîm fi'l-sihr; also known as The Aim of the Sage (13th century)
* Liber Iuratus, or, the Sworn Book of Honorius (13th century)
* Sefer Raziel Ha-Malakh Liber Razielis Archangeli (13th century)
* The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage (1450s)
* The so-called Munich Handbook (15th century)
* Libri tres de occulta philosophia by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1531)
* The Greater Key of Solomon (16th century)
* Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (16th century)
* The Lemegeton, or, the Lesser Key of Solomon (17th century)

The Voynich manuscript has never been deciphered, and is difficult to date, but may also qualify as a 15th century grimoire.

Which can be taken as religious books of sorts.

[mtpspur]

For grins I checked a Strong's Concordance to the Bible (King James version) and found these listings:

Sorcerer: Acts Chapter 13, verse 6, 8

Sorcerers: Exodus 7:11
Jeremiah 27:9
Daniel 2:2
Malachi 3:5
Revelation 21:8; 22:15

Sorceress: Isaiah 57:3

Sorceries: Isaiah 47:9, 12
Acts 8:11
Revelation 9:21; 18:23

Sorcery: Acts 8:9

Pretty much consistant in being negative onthe topic. There is a Bible on the LitNet here for the full verses. Hope this helps.

By the by--Magic was not listed but magician: Daniel 2:10

Magicians: Genesis 41:8, 24
Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7, 18-19; 9:11
Daniel 1:20; 2:2, 27; 4:7, 9; 5:11

And that's probably enough of that.

[MaryLupin]

Also, there was a strong revival of interest in magic, myth and esoteric history during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in Europe. So there were a good number of authors who wrote about earlier European traditions and religions as well as myths and traditions out of the Near East. One book by Sir Thomas Browne called Religio Medici (thewhole text (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/) is online if you want to read it), argues that magic, sorcerers and witches must be real because the Bible talks about them. He said that to say they weren't real was to call the Bible's veracity into question. A good number of men and women who considered themselves Christians delved deeply into subjects like alchemy and other magical practices.

[Lord of Lorien]

Thanks for the resources.