On many points, Judaism and Islam present similarities in the relationships they have with the divinatory arts. Indeed, Arab alchemists received from Greek antiquity three distinct elements which contributed to favoring their mystical and physical approach to natural phenomena.
Jewish mysticism, for its part, mingled with Greek currents, creating a new orientation since the end of antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages. It induces communion with divinity. The ritual dictated by the Torah acquires a certain magical power. Only religious people had the power to pronounce divine words. The magical and ritual capacities of certain words reappear in theurgical incantations.
The symbolism of the cosmos integrated into the sanctuary is part of the esoteric field. The temple representing this cosmos is divided into three parts which correspond to the sky, the earth and the sea.
The seven branches of the candlestick refer to the seven planets, the twelve precious stones that the high priest carries represent both the twelve zodiacal signs and the twelve tribes of Israel.
A HERITAGE FROM ANCIENT GREECE
For Islam, the world is seen as a vast set of relationships in perpetual change. The Hellenic philosophical and esoteric heritage, assimilated to Islam, legitimized the spiritual dimension of this science. Collections of operations, recipes, processes in metallurgy and pharmacopoeia as well as the concepts of Aristotelian physics according to which the world is a hierarchy of things (matter and form) which go from minerals to God. Entire lists of formulas devoted to the definition of profane, religious and occult sciences are found in the famous “Book of Definitions.” The terms Jourhar (essence, substance), Sûra (form, image), Tabîa (nature) and Rûh (spirit) constitute the key elements of this language. Aûre would be a “divine substance which invigorates the body.
KABBALAH, A TRADITION FROM JUDAISM
Jewish mysticism, stemming from ancient Greek heritage, is one of the essential constituents of Western esotericism. Kabbalists give as much credit to the hidden life of God as to his intelligible manifestation. According to Kabbalah, the Dibbuk is a spirit that possesses the living being.
Based on the principle that each consonant of the alphabet corresponds to a numerical value, the Kabbalistic process aims to bring together words which have an identical numerical value. The practice involves reading and interpreting books such as the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the Zohar, the Zepher Raziel (grammar of energy letters.
Kabbalah is part of an approach that is both spiritual and intellectual. Practiced by initiates seeking meditation, talismanics is the most accessible art of Kabbalah. It nevertheless implies knowledge of the evocative systems of the evangelical hierarchies, otherwise the virtues of the pentacles would be extremely limited. The talisman is made during a ritual and is addressed to a specific person.
AN ESSENTIALLY LUNAR ASTROLOGY
Although astrology is prohibited by law, the temptation aroused by such a categorical course of action is nonetheless omnipresent in everyone’s mind. The notion of destiny is recognized and developed by the Talmud which links the preeminence of three facts: the number of children, longevity and means of subsistence. TheDestiny always governs the events of life, but it is subject to reversals of situations. Thus, a dying patient will change his name and place of residence in order to change his fate. Hebrew astrology places importance on the seven days of the week by establishing a correspondence between the specific day of the week of the native and the events that presided over that same day during creation. Thus, natives of the first day of creation (Saturday) are either entirely good or totally evil.
MAGIC: TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Among Muslims, the common Islamic background, family heritage and social conditioning have favored the transmission of beliefs. And we can think that within other communities this phenomenon has spread and perpetuated in the same way. Over time, the use of rites has induced a psychosocial function with regard to the phenomenon of acculturation. Hence the increased interest in the many beliefs conveyed by those around us. Magic was the common source of astrology and all the practices that were more or less associated with them in traditional societies. Magic extends into a sphere recognized by Islam, it is the world of spirits (the Jinn). It is traditionally accepted that the Jinn listen at the gates of heaven to discover the secrets of God.
The religious soul is a prophetic soul, it rises towards God and the angels, listens to them, while the magical soul lowers the sidereal spirits in order to make them obey them. Talismans, for example, constitute real spirit traps. Magic that is placed outside of all moral considerations is considered satanic. There is therefore, among Muslims, a distinction between magicians incapable of producing good and prophets. Oral tradition, a privileged tool for the transmission of knowledge within Eastern civilizations, has elevated legendary stories to the rank of referential discourses, imbued with irrefutable truth. Carrying messages, they sometimes evoke the circumstances of a scene of enchantment, of bewitchment.
An unconsummated marriage, the sterility of an individual, a diabolical possession, the evil eye, so many enigmas through which people recognize each other. Hence this frequent recourse to attempts to clean up poorly experienced situations through marabouts. From the shroud of a dead person which will be used to immobilize all those to whom it is presented, from menstrual blood, from hair, from talismans, each crafted object will be transformed into a powerful weapon capable of delivering evil and restoring happiness. This is how a young girl, aged sixteen, found herself on her wedding day, forced to swallow hard-boiled eggs on which a marabout had taken care to add writing in order to make her accept the future husband whom she persisted in refusing since he was chosen by her parents. The latter obtained as a result a generous payment to the marabout and the separation of the couple shortly after the marriage. But attempts doomed to failure, the belief in such manipulations remains. Although some young people have a deep aversion to manifestations of the sacred, to superstitions, many follow in the footsteps of their ancestors by adopting their beliefs. This is how certain practices are transmitted. Menstrual blood added to food will allow you to forever conquer the love of your loved one, once thisthe latter will obviously have consumed it.
Among the Jewish people, witchcraft is practiced in the same way as in other ethnic groups. One of the episodes in Genesis already appears marked by witchcraft. It is about the rivalry between Leah and Rachel around the person of Jacob. The elements used to put an end to this situation are mandrake roots, known for their many virtues and whose roots are strangely reminiscent of the shape of the human body. Furthermore, the Hebrews made great use of “teraphim”, small wooden statuettes sometimes phallic in shape and which were believed to contain prophetic words. Knowing that the “teraphim” did not represent Yahweh (God), the Jews used them without fear, thus dissociating religion and magical practices. The Hebrew sorcerer practiced bewitchments by imprecations, curses using lead dolls held by a thread, which slowly melted in the sacred flame of the seven-branched candlestick. These practices were nevertheless officially denounced. Salt constitutes, moreover, for the Hebrews, the magical element par excellence. To protect your home and family from bad luck, it is recommended to spread salt on the doorstep.
To cure a suffering person, the sorcerer transposes the illness onto an animal. Removing a curse from an animal is common. Red magic is essentially focused on human blood, which allows you to achieve success and defy fate or the gods. The origin of the famous ban on blood among the Jews is due to the fact that blood is the support of the soul. After sacrificing human beings (the sons of King Hiel, for example, were incorporated into the wall and gates of the city during the reconstruction of Jericho), the sorcerers fell back on animal sacrifices. Menstrual blood and that of food animals are the prerogative of sorcerers. These take possession of the soul by engaging in evil operations.
In Hebrew magic, the hand of glory (sometimes the foot) is made from the hand of a hanged man. Wrapped in a shroud, sprinkled with saltpeter, pepper, salt and other ingredients, the hand dries for fifteen days in the sun. It will subsequently act as a candlestick with a power of amazement and immobilization.
In the world of magic everything seems achievable. The texts of the grimoires are taken literally, the recipes are assiduously applied. The fact remains that real charlatans use their ruse to exert control over their clients. Because these are very often real commercial transactions.
Some North Africans living in France travel to their country of origin to make a deal with the witch capable of convincing them of a miracle. Colossal sums are being demanded from them. Many personalities do not hesitate to travel across the Mediterranean in order to meet someone whose reputation has spread without necessarily being a person with real skills. Once again it is very difficult to judge the skills of a practitioner as this field is full of crooks of all kinds.
From a teaching delivered to a limited number of believers, esotericism has spread very widely due to its symbolic and pictorial conception. The many marabouts that we can meet today are not necessarily what they claim to be. Of an identityfabricated, under the pretext of transcribing the language and interpreting religious reference books, some practice the systematic disenchantment of gullible clients who come to them. Their actions are part of a process beyond comprehension. However, any emotionally fragile person, in a situation of emotional or professional failure, constitutes the ideal prey of charlatans. Not necessarily having a storefront, they are nevertheless known and have a clientele. In search of the absolutely inaccessible, faced with increasingly weighty questions, witchcraft followers identify marabouts with liberators. The moral and religious decadence of marabouts responds to pressing needs resulting from despotic oppression exercised on individuals. Without scruple, they hurt, heal, put to sleep, wake up but always demand what they consider to be their due.
From an ancestral science, magic has deviated towards insidious practices so unfathomable that it arouses more than curiosity: a dogmatic belief.
Yamina Guéham
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