The Occult and Mystic Arts Are Flourishing Again. However, It Is Difficult to Differentiate

Superstitions

The occult and mystic arts are flourishing again. However, it is difficult to differentiate between the superstition, the irrational misbelief, the supernatural phenomena or the occult doctrines. One that is superstition for a people, it can be religion or science according to another people.

In many countries of Europe people still believe in witchcraft and magic. According to the statistics, one out of six English people believes in ghosts, one out of 14 already saw a ghost. Still in England every tenth people believe in the lucky days, in Germany this ratio is even higher. Two third of the Germans read their horoscope every day, one out of three admittedly believes in it. Nowadays, the astrology is a well-tried service and because of it, the different magazines and newspapers have horoscope-column. Researches show that the social background is not a decisive factor of being superstitious, since we can find many students and intellectuals who believe in astrology or palmistry.

The horrible 13

In the 21th century, many people keep out the number 13. For example, in the USA buildings do not have 13th floor, in many hospitals there are not 13th wards. No one was surprised when the launch of the Apollo 13 at 13:13 CST from the 39th (three times 13) launch pad failed. Of course, Europe is not an exception too: in 1965 when the Queen of the United Kingdom visited West-Germany, the number of platform from where the Queen’s train would have started was changed from 13 to 12.

It seems that the superstitions not only affect the individual life but the economy as well. In 1978 a survey was made in the USA that had an interesting result. According to this survey, the 13th days can cause a one billion deficit, because - on this day - a lot of people simply do not work, do not book a seat and reluctantly buy anything. A number of people still fear of sitting at a table where the total number is 13 (for example Napoleon or F. D. Roosevelt). In Paris the institution of the so called quatroziéme was established with the help of which anybody could have ordered a 14th guest.

The fear of the number 13, which is called triskaidekaphobia in Greek, is an antique superstition. We inherited the way of thinking, which attributes special importance, positive or negative properties to the numbers from the Pythagoreans (students of Pythagoras) and the Kabbalists. The Kabbalists thought that the number is the essence of everything and numbers can be attributed to the virtues, geometrical configurations and to the elements of nature as well. The numbers 3, 7 and 12 were of great importance for them. The number 12, for example, means perfection, the number 13 is beyond this, so it carries an evil thing. One is added to the perfect 12, which breaks up unity and harmony that is why it brings death.

Many elements of the numerology have an effect on our everyday life. It is not accidental that the things and the numbers that bring luck are referred to as mascot. In folk-tales and idioms again the number 3 and 7 are emphasized, for example seven-headed dragon, seven dwarfs, Seven Wonders of the World etc. The Catholic Church increased the mystery of 7, since there are seven sacraments. According to contemporary superstitions, the critical year of marriages is the seventh; those who do not divorce during this critical year will get old together. However, statistics do not prove this supposition.

The main witch-holidays

We should turn back to religion again. In the ancient times people dealt with the cultivation of plants during the summer and with hunting during the winter to procure the goods needed for living. By so doing, the year was divided for two important parts, the beginnings of which were assigned to particular days. These were the winter and summer equinox occurring during the night of 1st November and 1st May. These were also referred to as the periods of darkness and lightness. Later the year was divided into four parts, which were the origins of today’s seasons.

On these special days people celebrated feasts, which were also known as the nights of the witches. Besides these four special days there are another four dates, the halving periods of the seasons: 21th December, 21th March, 21th June and 21th September. Of course, people assigned special significance to these days as well, since these were the days when the main witch-meetings were held.

The most important Hungarian witch-holidays

24th April: St. George’s Day (witch-meeting of Gellért-hegy)

13th December: Luca’s Day (the feast of darkness)

George’s Day (24th April)

This holiday was an important one in Hungary, its role in the Hungarian popular belief was similar to that of May 1 for our western neighbors. This was the day of the spring evil-going, when the witches could go on the rampage freely. At such times people decorated their fences and doors with thorny twigs to avoid the evil. According to the ancient belief, the power of the witches was the greatest on St. George’s Day. People doing the Stations of the Cross on this day could have seen the witches, who stole the dew from the field or the wheat-crop. There are many popular stories that mentions the power of the witches connected to St. George’s Day.

For the Hungarians George’s Day had other significant meanings too, since earlier it was the important date when people drove out the cattles first in the year. They thought that this was dangerous, so special magical tricks were used to protect the animals.

Luca Day (13th December)

In December we are usually excited because of Christmas. However this excitement is not a bad one, rather it has a stimulating effect. Approaching Christmas we must mention the different folk customs, so let’s see one of these: the Luca Day. During the Advent (the period just before Christmas) there are many holidays that we have to mention because of the folk customs attributed to them. Luca Day is such, it is celebrated on 13th December. Luca was a Catholic saint, the patron saint of the blinds, the prostitutes and the brides. The name of Luca can be associated with the word lux meaning light. In some places she was known as the person who brings light. There are many beliefs and folk-customs linked to Luca Day.

From Luca Day on there are 12 days till Christmas, as the number of months in a year. That is why this period is the time when people make the Luca calendar. They check the weather every day, then they write down these data. People believed in this tradition and they thought that the weather of a month will be the same as the weather observed on the corresponding day (between Luca Day and Christmas).

Luca Day has another special significance: on 13th December working was prohibited for women and girls. There are many national stories that tell how Luca punished those who worked on her day. The girls of Ardo, for example, made love predictions by visiting pigsties in groups. The grunting of pigs predicted the coming of the wedding.

During the evening of Luca Day stealing different things was allowed too. A lot of people stole water from the wells or the houses’ gate, which was found later in a cellar, for example.

Undoubtedly, the most important folk custom is the process of making the Luca chair. The form of the traditional chair was a regular pentagon. Starting from the 13th December only a bit of work could have been done to it until Christmas. A famous saying is originated from this slow process “It is getting done slowly as Luca’s chair. According to the tradition the chair had to be made of nine different kinds of wood.

With the help of this chair, its owner could recognize the witches of the village. By standing on the Luca chair during the Midnight Mass one could easily see the witch since it wore horns for this special occasion. However, the witches could see the owner of the chair as well, so he had to run home by scattering poppy-seeds. The witches had to collect these seeds, so they could not catch up with the escapee. After arriving home luckily the chair had to be thrown into the fire.

We have to mention the custom of “lucázás” too, since our fathers wanted to know and influence the future and the fertility as well. Girls dressed in white veils went to houses where they want to influence the progeny of hens with different felicitations. Young men visited the marriageable girls’ house where they said short speeches for which they got eggs as a present.

In many places “lucázás” was popular among children: they walked around the houses saying short speeches as a way of magic in order that the hens lay eggs well throughout the whole year. They also expressed their best wishes for the family of the house. In return for the magic children got small gifts, if no, they cursed the house.

Instead of the Luca chair

On the special day of 13th December every witch was revealed and because of it, they were able to take revenge on people. Doing this Luca Day was the perfect for them since it was the best time for practicing magic. People protected themselves from the witches and curses, by closing every door and window on the eve of Luca Day. It was believed that the garlic in the keyhole or the crossed broom frightened away the witches.

In some regions people drew a cross with garlic onto the doors by saying “Luca, Luca stay away.” People had to look after their brooms as well, they hid them in order to avoid that witches fly with these brooms to their meeting in Gellért-hegy. On the 13th December it was forbidden to lend or borrow brooms. Besides hunting for the witches, women, girls and young men also used the tricks of magic for weather or wedding predictions. Let’s see some of these popular beliefs.

Luca whip

The process of making the Luca whip is not a well-known one among the many folk customs and beliefs associated with Luca Day. The making of this whip is difficult but those who were successful in doing this could have seen the witches of the village. The process is a little bit similar to that of making the Luca chair, since the work done to the whip started on 13th December, on Luca Day. A string was fastened to a forked stick and every day until Christmas one twist was made to the string. During Christmas night the witches gathered around the owner of the Luca whip. The witches wanted to push him into the well, but the lash of whip disturbed them. The people rushed out from the house, grabbed the whip and then burnt it, so the witches left the place.

Luca wheat

From the Luca Day on, women sprouted wheat in a plate placed in a warm place. It also happened that a candle or a night-light was put into the centre of the wheat. It was a good sign if the wheat sprouted by Christmas. It was a way of predicting next year’s crop.

Luca onion

According to another folk tradition, people halved an onion on Luca Day. They took out the centre and scattered salt into it. Depending on the quantity of the fluid the onion gave off, they predicted the precipitation of next year’s months.

Luca scone

Feathers were put onto the scone, the one whose feather became singed could expect near death. The name of the would-be was also revealed by the names in the scones. Luca slips had similar functions. Girls wrote names on 12 slips and from the Luca Day again right up to Christmas they threw one slip into the fire every day. The remaining slip showed the name of the future partner.

Another way of wedding prediction was popular in ancient times. During the evening of Luca Day girls wrote 13 names on little pieces of paper. These were putted into the 13 dumplings made from the dough. During the cooking the first dumpling that rose to the surface contained the name of the girl’s future husband.

Magical tools

Hand-bell

The vibration caused by its tinkling is effective as compared to its tone, volume and material. The hand-bell is a really ancient magical tool. It is the symbol of feminity, so during the rituals it is often used for addressing the Goddess. Moreover, it is also useful for removing the evil, injurious magic and ghost, not to mention the dying down of storms or the calling of the positive energies. Hiding into the wardrobe or hanging to the door-post it protects the home. Besides these, the hand-bell can join the ritual since it can indicate the beginning and the ending of the different phases.

The Book of Shadows

It is an important book of the wiccans, in which we can find the rituals’ detailed description, the prayer, the addressing, the rules of the magic etc. Sometimes it happened that a wiccan left this book to another wiccan generally through initiation, although nowadays wiccans edit their own book. The process of making their individual book is not difficult. The first step is to get an empty book, in which they should write all the rituals, magic and data connected to the magic that they once found out or met. They can decide whether it is worth recording for the future.

Any version of this magical book contains the suggestions relevant to the ritual but do not take it for gospel. It is advised not to stick to the recorded patterns. The witches often leave out certain pages or add new information, in this way their own book is created. It is a good idea to write down the different magic and the data relevant to the rituals by hand. The hand-written text is more individual, it is easier to read in candlelight. However, it is more fortunate to memorize all the rituals, so that we do not have to waste time by turning and reading the pages during the rituals. Another obvious solution is the improvisation. If we still want to read the Book of Shadows during the rituals, the hand-writing has to be easily readable.