The World Bewitched, Chapter 8
CHAP, VIII. That the Witchcraft practiſed amongst the People, proceeds from the ſame ſource.
Sect. 8. AS the name of Withcraft is given to whatever is ſuppoſed to be done by the help of the Devil; I cannot but judge that many perſons are called Sorcerers and Witches, who perhaps are not ſo, and that this muſt be aſcribed to the ſame prejudice, which I have mentioned before, ſpeaking of the worſhip of Demons. And therefore I intend to examine hereafter, what theſe People really are. It is ſufficient to advertiſe here before hand, that all the Heathens muſt not be taken for Magicians, Sorcerers, and Inchanters; becauſe many Writers have called them by ſuch names, giving them indifferently in their Writings to all the He and She Prieſts, and to all thoſe who diſcharge any Office, Miniſtry, or employment in their Religious Worſhip, and in their Sacrifices. But I deſign to inſert in this preſent Chapter, whatever is known to us of their practices, or of their communications with any of the inferior Gods or Spirits, good or bad.
Sect. 2. The veneration which that People have for the Sun, Moon and Stars, is ſufficient to eſtabliſh the choice of Days amongſt them: whence proceeds wha… Pete… Vaudenbrook has obſerved, ſpeaking of the Benjanes of Narſinga. That as to happy and unhappy …ours they judge of them by the courſe of the Stars, w…c… …he… o…ſ…e with great nicety. Trigaltius in … Chap. …9, ſays, that there is no Su… … in China, as that of obſerving the Feaſt and Working days, and that they rule the whole conduct of their Lives, upon the diſpoſition of Time. To that end there are Printed every year two ſorts of Almanacks made in the Emperor's name by his own Aſtrologers, which contributes to ſet off this deluſion for a Truth: there is marked every day what is good to be done, or not to be done, and to what hour muſt be deferr'd, what offers it ſelf in the intervals of the fortunate, or unlucky moments.
Sect. 2. Carolinus has, methinks, made a good Abridgment of what follows in Trigaltius, which therefore I intend to make uſe of. There are other Books, ſays he, beſides thoſe that more particularly treat of this matter, and even, there's a ſort of Teachers, which only ſubſiſt from what they get in preſcribing happy Days and Hours to the Queriſts, thô they have but a ſmall reward for it. They are ſo much bewitcht with thoſe predictions, that they often deferr an importunate Affair, or a long and dangerous Journey, till they have found out a Day or Hour of good Omen. And thô it ſometimes happens, that at that Day or Hour, there falls a great Rain, or a contrary Wind blows, yet for all that, they begin the undertaking or journey in their perfixed time, ſhould they only proceed 4 ſteps, or dig out but a Basket full of Earth from the place where they intend to lay the Foundation of a Houſe. That was alſo the employment of thoſe that were Anciently called Aſtrologers and Mathematicians, of whom we have ſpoken before.
Sect. 4. They are no leſs ſuperſtitiouſly curious, in obſerving the time of the Birth, to foretel the condition of the whole courſe of ones Life. Thoſe calculators of ones Nativity, are the ſame with the Ancient Genethliaci before mentioned, Chap. 3. Sect. 4. There are many other Diviners, who boaſt of foreteling future things by the Obſervation of the Stars, by the inſpection of the Face, by the Dreams, by the poſture of the enquirer, by his manner of ſitting or ſtanding, and this ſort of Men are in great eſteem amongſt the vulgar.
Sect 5. Rogerius gives a larger account of what has been ſaid, concerning the choice of Days, amongſt the Chineſe, which is likewiſe practiſed amongſt other Nations, as eſpecially the Inhabitants of the Coaſt of Coromandel, where they uſe Almanacks, like thoſe of China; and call them Paniangam. That Author ſays, That they are two ſorts; one, that ſhows what muſt be done, and the other, what muſt be laid aſide at every Hour of the Day of the Week, and what ſhall ſucceed or not. For a Specimen of it, he relates the predictions of Sunday, from Hour to Hour. They reckon in that Country 30 Hours, betwixt the Riſing and Setting of the Sun.
1. Good for all Affairs of Council and Reaſoning.
2. Undertaking ſhall proſper.
3. Shall not ſucceed.
4. Who means to get an Advantage, ſhall not get it, but his Enemy.
5. Good for Trading Profitably.
6. Good for Rejoycing and Undertaking whatever concern Merriment and Science.
7. The Courting of Women, ſhall ſucceed at a pleaſure.
8. Trade without gain.
9. As the 6th Hour.
10. No Project happy.
11. Phyſicks and things taken for Pleaſure, will not proſper.
12. Who aſpires after Victory ſhall obtain it.
13. Good for buying Cows and other Beaſts.
14. Good to take a Servant.
15. Bad to enter into a New houſe, or to go a viſiting.
16. Good to lay the Foundation of Houſes, Villages or Towns.
17. Unhappy Journeys.
18. Good to pay Viſits to the Great.
19. Good for Erecting Statues in the Pagodas, to the Honour of the Gods.
20. Unhappy for all ſorts of Undertaking.
21. Nothing to be gotten.
22. Who gives Battle, ſhall looſe the Day.
23. Good to make Friends.
24. Good for Fighting.
25. Good for keeping Council.
26. Unprofitable Trade.
27. Who lies with a Woman ſhall get her with Child.
28. Every Undertaking ſhall ſucceed.
29. Shall not ſucceed.
30. Good for Planting.
The Night is likewiſe diſtributed into ſeveral Hours, as alſo the other Days and Nights of the Week.
Sect. 6. That Superſtition has proceeded ſo far as to have ſtained an Art very commendable in it ſelf, and one of the liberal Arts. For, according to the Relation of Daviti, extracted from Oſorius, the Malabars, who uſe to begin their Year with the Month of September, have recourſe to Superſtitious Obſervations, in Order to mark the Firſt Day and Hour of it. That Day all thoſe that are above the Age of 15, cover their Eyes and Face, that they may ſee nothing, and cauſe themſelves to be brought into the Pagodes of their Idols, where they preſently uncover their Faces, and quickly caſt their Eyes upon the Firſt Object before them. If it happens to be the Statute of ſome Idol, for which they have a particular Veneration, they fancy they ſhall paſs the Year moſt happily.
Sect 7. Thoſe that obſerve the cry of Birds, have a very great relation with the Malabars, and agree with them almoſt in the ſame things; for Carolinus ſays after Rogerins, that they obſerve what ſort of Birds flie near them, and to what part, whence they draw a favourable or ſiniſter Augury. They ſay that when a Aſh-coloured Crow, whereof there are great numbers upon the Coaſt, comes to touch ſome body in flying, it forebodes very ill. viz. that he that has been touched or ſome of his Friends, ſhall Die within 6 Weeks. Linſchoten gives very near the ſame account of the Decanins, and the Inhabitants of Guruſatte, ſaying, that if the Firſt Object they ſee in the Morning is an Aſh-coloured Crow, they will not go out of their Houſe for any thing.
Sect. 8. Daviti ſays after Mendoze, that the Heathens of the Iſlands, called by the Spaniards Philippines, have ſome ſhe Diviners named Holaoi, whom they honour as Prieſts, Who converſe daily with the Demons, (at leaſt in his Opinion,) and that they publickly before all the People, make ſtrange poſtures, and a horrid noiſe, during which, the Spirit of Divination ſeizes upon them, and gives by them anſwer to whatever is asked. The ſame Author adds, that they have a particular ſort of Divination, in which if they meet a Cayman in their way, they return home. Whence appears, that they eſteem that meeting unfortunate.
Sect. 9. Beſides that, all ſorts of preſages are in credit amongſt thoſe Nations, who draw them from whatever offers it ſelf to them. If any body ſneezes before them when they go out, of their Houſe, they preſently ſtep in again, for they eſteem it a very bad Omen. Peter Vandenbroek affirms the ſame of the Inhabitants of Narſinga, and adds, that when they go out in the Morning, if they meet with ſome bad Augury, they return back, or ſtay till a more favourable offers it ſelf. We read in Carolinus, which are according to them, good or bad Signs, which he has tranſcribed out of Tuisk, and Vandenbroek. Here they are. Beſides ſneezing and flight of Birds, there are ſeveral others ill pregages; as an empty Cart, a Dog who has nothing to Eat, a Buffle, an Aſs, a Guilded-he-Goat, an Ape, a loosen'd Hart, a Goldſmith, a Carpenter, a Barber, a Taylor, a Cotton-Merchant, a Farrier, a Weaver, a She-Widow, a Dead body, all People coming from a Burying, before they be waſhed, and having changed their Dreſs. 'Tis alſo an ill Augury to meet with one that carryes Butter, Milk, or brown Sugar, or ſour things, as Apples and Lemmons, or one that carries Fire, and any thing uſed in War. But 'tis a good Omen to meet with an Elephant a Cammel either Loaden or Ʋnloaden, a Horſe better Ʋnloaden than Loaden, a Cow, an Ox, a Buff Loaden with Water, for Ʋnloaden it forebodes nothing but Ill; a He-gcat, a Dog Eating, a Cat on the Right Hand; likewiſe to meet one carrying Meat, Curds or white-Sugar, a Cock, an Ʋnicorn running ſtrait out in the way, and a Hundred things of that Nature are eſteemed ſo fortunate by them, that they boldly purſue their way with hopes of a good Fortune. Tereira adds, that they believe it a very ill thing, and even a Sin to Eat before Sun-ſet.
Sect 10. This is what I emended to relate as to Divination, upon which point, and eſpecially upon Witchcraft: I am ſurprized to find ſo little in the writings of ſo many Authors, whom I have conſulted with great exactneſs; neither do I remember to have learned any thing more particular in the Converſations I have had with Gentlemen that have made long Journeys into the Eaſtern Countryes; but I wonder moſt of all, that Baldaeus, whoſe chief ſcope in his writings, is to treat of the Idolatry of the Eaſtern Countryes, makes almoſt no mention of it. The only thing I find in him, concerns the Conjuration of Serpents. The Inhabitants, ſays he, of the Coaſt of Coromandel, and ſome of the Cingaleſe and Malabars, know how to Enchant Serpents; ſo that by their Songs, they make them Dance, which is ſtrange and wonderful. When they require the Oath of any Perſon, they put his Hand in a Pot, where there is a Serpent; if he be not wounded, they hold his Oath to be true, but if he be bitten, they believe him Perjur'd. Peirard adds to this, that they Conjure the greateſt and moſt ſubtle Snakes not to be hurt by them, and Baldaeus reports the ſame.