In this post we will begin a small subseries within the larger subject of animals in Coptic magic, to look at the theme of animal transformation. In this first part we will discuss this theme in Christian narrative literature from Egypt, while the next posts will look at real magical practice – animal transformation as a metaphor in love and hate spells, and the illusionistic transformation of the practices known as “lamp experiments”. The transformation of humans or human-like beings into animals is a regular theme in literature from around the world, including in Pharaonic Egypt and Classical Greece, two of the cultures which lie behind that of Late Antique…
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Anthropology of Magic III: Superstitions in Antiquity and Today – Nothing Has Changed
Even those who consider themselves to be “rational” sometimes slip and fall into the pit of superstition. Some of us, however, happily dwell in it. Nonetheless, calling a particular belief a “superstition” can have terrible, even life-threatening, consequences. One who believes in what others may call superstition, generally takes it seriously and does not consider it some “erroneous belief”, but a matter-of-fact. The Merriam-Webster gives two definitions of superstition: “(1) a belief or practice resulting from ignorance (…) and (2) an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition.” A contemplation of this emotionally burdened term is called for, due to the two, starkly…