Thursday 8 May 2014

Magic and Fetishism excerpt

"The superficial  observer
is  apt to  regard the
medicine-men or
sorcerers as cheats who

deliberately humbug their  
neighbours;  but it  is 
probable that most of them 
really believe themselves
to be possessed of occult
or supernormal power 

Doubtless they do many things
for mere effect, in  order
to  enhance the respect 

they desire to have paid
to  themselves personally, as 

well as to  put the subjects
or spectators into a proper
frame of mind; but this
is  precisely what is  deliberately 

done by the organisers
of all ceremonies by all  peoples.   

Doubtless, also, many acts  are
performed which are intended to  

impose upon the credulity of others;  
but this is a device which
is  not unknown among
cultured people, as,  for
example,  the  liquefying  of  the  blood
of St. Januarius in Naples. "
.
Magic and Fetishism, Arthur C Haddon
1906


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