CHAPTER IV—Magic and Religion
[808] Malay magic in particular is deeply tinctured with a belief in spirits, to whom the magician appeals by kindly words and small gifts of food, drink, and even money. See R. J. Wilkinson, Malay Beliefs (London and Leyden, 1906), pp. 67 sqq. Here, therefore, religion is encroaching on magic, as it might naturally be expected to do in a race so comparatively advanced as the Malays.
[809] “Religio est, quae superioris cujusdam naturae, quam divinam vocant, curam caerimoniamque adfert,” Cicero, De inventione, ii. 161.
[810] James ii. 17.
[811] “Piety is not a religion, though it is the soul of all religions. A man has not a religion simply by having pious inclinations, any more than he has a country simply by having philanthropy. A man has not a country until he is a citizen in a state, until he undertakes to follow and uphold certain laws, to obey certain magistrates, and to adopt certain ways of living and acting. Religion is neither a theology nor a theosophy; it is more than all this; it is a discipline, a law, a yoke, an indissoluble engagement” (Joubert, quoted by Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, First Series, London, 1898, p. 288).
[812] Micah vi. 8.
[813] James i. 27.
[814] The opposition of principle between magic and religion is well brought out by Sir A. C. Lyall in his Asiatic Studies, First Series (London, 1899), i. 99 sqq. It is also insisted on by Mr. F. B. Jevons in his Introduction to the History of Religion (London, 1896). The distinction is clearly apprehended and sharply maintained by Professor H. Oldenberg in his notable book Die Religion des Veda (Berlin, 1894); see especially pp. 58 sq., 311 sqq., 476 sqq. Lord Avebury has courteously pointed out to me that the fundamental difference between magic and religion was dwelt on by him many years ago. See his Origin of Civilisation (London, 1870), pp. 116, 164 sq., and the Preface to the sixth edition of that work (London, 1902), p. vi. I am glad to find myself in agreement with Lord Avebury on this subject, and only regret that in preparing my second edition I was unaware that the view here taken has the support of his high authority. When I wrote this book originally I failed to realise the extent of the opposition between magic and religion, because I had not formed a clear general conception of the nature of religion, and was disposed to class magic loosely under it.
[815] A. Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Ägypter (Münster i. W., 1890), pp. 142–145, 148; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des peuples de l’Orient classique: les origines (Paris, 1895), pp. 212 sq.
[816] Augustine, De civitate Dei, x. 11, quoting Porphyry.
[817] J. A. Dubois, Mœurs, institutions et cérémonies des peuples de l’Inde (Paris, 1825), ii. 60 sqq.
[818] Monier Williams, Religious Thought and Life in India (London, 1883), pp. 201 sq.
[819] To prevent misconception I would ask the reader to observe that the earlier stage here spoken of, in which magic is confused with religion, is not, in my opinion, the earliest of all, having been preceded by a still earlier stage in which magic existed alone. See below, pp. [233] sqq. On my view, the evolution of thought on this subject has passed through three stages: first, a stage in which magic existed without religion; second, a stage in which religion, having arisen, co-operated, and was to some extent confused, with magic; and third, a stage in which, the radical difference of principle between the two having been recognised, their relation was that of open hostility.
[820] See above, pp. [72], [77] sq., [130], [163] sq.
[821] R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians, pp. 191 sq. The word mana is Polynesian as well as Melanesian. In the Maori language it means “authority,” especially “supernatural power,” “divine authority,” “having qualities which ordinary persons or things do not possess.” See E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (Wellington, N.Z., 1891), p. 203. Compare R. Taylor, Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants,² p. 184, “the mana, virtue of the god.”
[822] H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, p. 59.
[823] H. Oldenberg, op. cit. p. 477. For particular examples of the blending of magical with religious ritual in ancient India see pp. 311 sqq., 369 sq., 476 sqq., 522 sq. of the same work.
[824] S. Lévi, La Doctrine du sacrifice dans les Brâhma
as (Paris, 1898), p. 129.
[825] M. Bloomfield, Hymns of the Atharva-Veda, pp. xlv. sq. (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xlii.).
[826] W. Caland, Altindisches Zauberritual, p. ix.
[827] O. Schrader, Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde (Strasburg, 1901), pp. 637 sq. In ancient Arabia the kâhin (etymologically equivalent to the Hebrew kôhen, “priest”) seems to have been rather a soothsayer than a priest. See J. Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentums² (Berlin, 1897), pp. 134, 143. The confusion of magic with religion, of spell with prayer, may also be detected in the incantations employed by Toda sorcerers at the present day. See W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas, pp. 272 sq.: “The formulae of magic and of the dairy ritual are of the same nature, though the differentiation between the sorcerer and the priest who use them is even clearer than that between the sorcerer and the medicine-man. It is probable that the names of the gods with the characteristic formulae of the prayer are later additions to the magical incantation; that at some time the sorcerer has added the names of the most important of his deities to the spells and charms which at one time were thought to be sufficient for his purpose.”
[828] G. Maspero, Études de mythologie et d’archéologie égyptienne (Paris, 1893), i. 106.
[829] A. Erman, Ägypten und ägyptisches Leben im Altertum, p. 471.
[830] A. Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Ägypter (Münster i. W., 1890), p. 154.
[831] A. Wiedemann, “Ein altägyptischer Weltschöpfungsmythus,” Am Urquell, N.F. ii. (1898) pp. 95 sq.
[832] J. Lecœur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883–1887), ii, 78. In Beauce and Perche it was especially conflagrations caused by lightning which the priest was supposed to extinguish by the recitation of certain secret formulas. There was a regular expression for this procedure, namely, “barring the fire.” See F. Chapiseau, Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche, i. 216.
[833] Amélie Bosquet, La Normandie romanesque et merveilleuse (Paris and Rouen, 1845), p. 308.
[835] L. J. B. Bérenger-Féraud, Superstitions et survivances (Paris, 1896), i. 455 sq., iii. 217 sq., 222 sqq. Compare id., Reminiscences populaires de la Provence (Paris, 1885), pp. 288 sqq.; D. Monnier, Traditions populaires comparées (Paris, 1854), pp. 31 sqq.
[836] J. F. Bladé, Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne (Agen, 1883), pp. 16 sq.
[837] For the evidence see my Totemism and Exogamy, vol. i. pp. 141 sqq.
[838] The suggestion has been made by Prof. H. Oldenberg (Die Religion des Veda, p. 59), who seems, however, to regard a belief in spirits as part of the raw material of magic. If the view which I have put forward tentatively is correct, faith in magic is probably older than a belief in spirits. The same view as to the priority of magic to religion, and apparently also as to the absence of spirits from primitive magic, was held by Hegel. It was not until long after the discussion in the text had been written that I became aware that my conclusions had been to a large extent anticipated by the German philosopher. See Appendix at the end of this volume.
[839] After a visit to the ruined Greek temples of Paestum, whose beauty and splendour impressed him all the more by contrast with the savagery of the surrounding peasantry, Renan wrote: “J’ai tremblé pour la civilisation, en la voyant si limitée, assise sur une faible assiette, reposant sur si peu d’individus dans le pays même où elle est regnante.” See E. Renan et M. Berthelot, Correspondance (Paris, 1898), pp. 75 sq.
[840] See above, pp. [68] sq.; “The Witch-burning at Clonmel,” Folklore, vi. (1895) pp. 373–384; F. S. Krauss, Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven, pp. 144 sqq.
[841] A. Erman, Ägypten und ägyptisches Leben im Altertum, p. 471.
[842] C. Fossey, La Magie Assyrienne (Paris, 1902), pp. 123, 125.
[843] C. Fossey, op. cit. pp. 137–139. For the incident of the magical disappearance and reappearance of the garment, see P. Jensen, Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen (Berlin, 1900), p. 23; R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (New York, 1901), p. 291.
[844] H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, pp. 66–68, 514–517.
[845] Fr. Kauffmann, Balder, Mythus und Sage (Strasburg, 1902), pp. 177–203. Compare J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,⁴ ii. 1024–1026.
[846] G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell, Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i. 24 sqq.