What is the strangest, funniest (in a strange way), or most odd book on Paganism or magic you've ever read?
Mine probably isn't all that strange, but it is odd in comparison to most books on the market today.
I have in my possession a copy of "The Modern Witch's Spellbook" by Sarah Lyddon Morrison, copyrighted 1971. The first funny thing I have to say would be the inscription: "For my dear, long-suffering husband, Ralph, who lives with the constant frear [sic] that he's been bewitched."
The book is 240 pages long, exactly half of which are composed of love spells (most of them manipulative), aphrodisiacs (some of which include ingredients like snake skin, ants, and human fingers) and anaphrodisiacs, and divinations concerning love. Apparently this woman was highly affected by the Free Love era.
58 pages are devoted to "black magic," including spells specifically designed to "maim and kill." I personally don't believe that hexcraft is morally wrong 100% of the time, but I do think it's odd that a few of these spells call upon God (as in Yahweh) to smite the caster's enemies, while in the very same chapter there are several spells which call upon Lucifer (as in the Devil) and "Black spirits of the night who riseth from the shadows of hell" for the same reason. Her sense of morality is muddled at best:
"At midnight on the third day, drink red wine and eat a communion wafer (stolen from a church). As you sip and eat, say the following prayer:
"I take the benediction of these items, Oh Lord, that they may preserve me from any evil vapors and Hell creatures cast up in the course of my undertaking."
From the very same spell: "Come into this wax, O Spirits of Darkness, Mighty Lucifer, Bealzebuth, Leviuthan, Balbirethe, Asmodeus, Asteroth . . .kill [your enemy's name], I command you!"
The book is also littered with strange personal accounts, such as a man she knew who was so prominent at magically charming pretty girls that they all eventually ganged up on him and would have killed him had the author not arrived in just the nick of time to magically restrain them.
More humorously, the book is blatantly colored by the time in which it was written. Lyddon uses the word "groovy" several times and refers to "neat" guys with afros and bell bottoms. *chuckle*
All that aside, I do like the book. I feel that its stark contrast to most books of its kind make it an amusing read, and there are included a number of spells and talismans for more useful and pragmatic intentions than love and murder, such as to heal acne and to prevent sunstroke.
Mine probably isn't all that strange, but it is odd in comparison to most books on the market today.
I have in my possession a copy of "The Modern Witch's Spellbook" by Sarah Lyddon Morrison, copyrighted 1971. The first funny thing I have to say would be the inscription: "For my dear, long-suffering husband, Ralph, who lives with the constant frear [sic] that he's been bewitched."
The book is 240 pages long, exactly half of which are composed of love spells (most of them manipulative), aphrodisiacs (some of which include ingredients like snake skin, ants, and human fingers) and anaphrodisiacs, and divinations concerning love. Apparently this woman was highly affected by the Free Love era.
58 pages are devoted to "black magic," including spells specifically designed to "maim and kill." I personally don't believe that hexcraft is morally wrong 100% of the time, but I do think it's odd that a few of these spells call upon God (as in Yahweh) to smite the caster's enemies, while in the very same chapter there are several spells which call upon Lucifer (as in the Devil) and "Black spirits of the night who riseth from the shadows of hell" for the same reason. Her sense of morality is muddled at best:
"At midnight on the third day, drink red wine and eat a communion wafer (stolen from a church). As you sip and eat, say the following prayer:
"I take the benediction of these items, Oh Lord, that they may preserve me from any evil vapors and Hell creatures cast up in the course of my undertaking."
From the very same spell: "Come into this wax, O Spirits of Darkness, Mighty Lucifer, Bealzebuth, Leviuthan, Balbirethe, Asmodeus, Asteroth . . .kill [your enemy's name], I command you!"
The book is also littered with strange personal accounts, such as a man she knew who was so prominent at magically charming pretty girls that they all eventually ganged up on him and would have killed him had the author not arrived in just the nick of time to magically restrain them.
More humorously, the book is blatantly colored by the time in which it was written. Lyddon uses the word "groovy" several times and refers to "neat" guys with afros and bell bottoms. *chuckle*
All that aside, I do like the book. I feel that its stark contrast to most books of its kind make it an amusing read, and there are included a number of spells and talismans for more useful and pragmatic intentions than love and murder, such as to heal acne and to prevent sunstroke.
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