Of course, if you actually believe that magic has a real effect beyond the psychological, that’s another matter (and slightly scary).

It smells a bit like an urban myth to me, but I don’t know how old the terms “white magic” and “black magic” are in their current incarnation. If they got constructed or resurrected in the right period, I’ll accept it as plausible. :-)

nasssty little fontses, we hates them, we hates them for ever!</gollum>

I’m male, I’m a Witch and I would never do anything with or to someone elses livestock to make magick. The misspelling of magic is how we define the difference between theatrical magic and the magick that we practice.

Hopefully this helps people understand that modern Pagans are not like this warlock and that our religious beliefs are as important as anyone elses.

As for the term “black magic”, the oldest somewhat related use I could find was a “nigromancer” called Osmond in Famous Historie of the Seaven Champions of Christendom, by Richard Johnson (1596).

The villain in question is a persian dabbler in dark arts, and though the persians were definitely the enemy at the time, I don’t think they’d qualify as “black”.

Choice quote:

Awake, great Osmond, from thy dreaming traunce, awake, I say, and raise a troupe of blacke infernall fiendes to fight against the damned Christians, that like to swarmes of Bees doe flocke about our wals: preuent, I say my lands inuasion, and as I am great Monarch of Asia, Ile make thee King ouer twentie Prouinces, & Sole Commaunder of the Ocean: rayse vp, I say, thy charmed spirits: leaue burning Acharon emptie for a time, to ayd vs in this bloudie battell.”

I just love the language, so I’ll do another one as well:

Ile raise a troupe of spirits from the lowest earth, more blacke than dismal night, the which in vgly shapes shall haunt them vp and downe, and when they sleepe within their rich Pauillions, legions of fierie spirits will I vprayse from hell, that like to Dragons spitting flames of fire, shall blast and burne the damned Christians in their Tents of warre” (and he goes on for another half page).

Anyway. If the phrase “black magic” hearks back to this, then I’d say it looks like “black as night and hell”, not “black as in done by darker-skinned people”, was the original idea. It’s far from conclusive, of course.

Is that a question?

And I’m speculating here, but methinks the spelling ‘nigromancer’ may imply the author thought necromancy* had to do with Darkness (in either sense, but cf. ‘negro’) rather than Death.
____
* “Get her away from that guy! He’s a necromancer!”
“He is? How do you know?”
“He’s doing it now!”
“Um…doing what now?”
“Just look at him romancin’ her neck!”

But note that the guy didn’t proclaim himSELF a warlock; it was the idiot cops who used both that and the racist* term ‘white magic’. Pretty rude and stupid of them to insult him when he helped them.

In addition, the article doesn’t say that this “warlock” did the knotting, only that he explained it to the police. He may not know who did it, in fact he probably doesn’t.

As for me, I hope they catch whomever’s been doing this. It’s relatively harmless and probably doesn’t have bad intent, but it’s at best an annoying prank. Binding your magic into a horse’s mane may strengthen it, but having someone else pick it apart, cursing you the while, will not. Trust me.

If you want to do horse’s mane magic, get your own damned horse. Or at least get permission.

If these people were my students, I’d spank them.

That was beautifully awful.

Some clearly are.

“racist*””

Xoph’, tell me you had a witty footnote, please.

1. a. The use of ritual activities or observances which are intended to influence the course of events or to manipulate the natural world, usually involving the use of an occult or secret body of knowledge; sorcery, witchcraft. Also: this practice as a subject of study.

1. b. With defining adjective. natural magic n. (also magic natural) hist. magic involving the manipulation of supposed occult properties of the natural world (usually excluding the conjuration of personal spirits); this skill as a subject of study.

black magic: see BLACK adj. 17 (leading to Black Art). white magic: see WHITE adj. 7b.

• c1387-95 CHAUCER Canterbury Tales Prol. 416 He kepte his pacient a ful greet deel In houres by his magik natureel.
• …

[Probably ‘black’ refers primarily to the dark and secret nature of the magician's art, or to the popular belief in the association of the magician with the devil; but the name is also associated with the med.L. nigromanta, corruption of necromanta (= Gr. , f. dead body), as if this contained L. niger, nigro- black.]

1. The art of performing supernatural acts by intercourse with the spirits of the dead or with the devil himself; magic, necromancy.

• c1590 MARLOWE Faust. ix. 53, I have heard strange report of thy knowledge in the black art.
• 1611 COTGR., Nigromance, nigromancie, coniuring, the blacke Art.
• 1674 R. GODFREY Inj. & Ab. Physic 178 He useth Astrology, (which the Vulgar call the Black Art).
• 1775 SHERIDAN Rivals I. ii, I’d as soon have them taught the black art as their alphabet!
• 1831 BREWSTER Nat. Magic iv. (1833) 69 A native of Pistoia, who cultivated the black art.

7. fig. Morally or spiritually pure or stainless; spotless, unstained, innocent.

7. b. Free from malignity or evil intent; beneficent, innocent, harmless, esp. as opposed to something characterized as black (cf. BLACK a. 8, 9): chiefly in phr. white lie (see LIE n.1 1b), white magic (MAGIC n. 1b; cf. BLACK ART); see also white paternoster s.v. PATERNOSTER 2, and WHITE WITCH.

• 971 Blickl. Hom. 147 Hwylc is of us Drihten æt hæbbe swa hwite saule swa eos halie Marie?
…
• 1651 C. CARTWRIGHT Cert. Relig. III. 36 He did not know whether his admonisher were black or white..an evill or a good spirit.
• 1655 FULLER Ch. Hist. II. v. §12 He made his Harp..make musick of it self; which no White Art could perform.

A witch (or wizard) of a good disposition; one who uses witchcraft for beneficent purposes; one who practises ‘white magic’.

• 1621 BURTON Anat. Mel. II. i. I. i. 289 Sorcerers are too common, Cunning men, Wisards, & white-witches, as they call them, in every village.
• 1689 C. MATHER Mem. Provid. (1691) 95 Creatures that they call White Witches, which do only Good-Turns for their Neighbours.

As for the rest, I’ll have to look at it later. IT’s time for me to go home now.

Although I would be worried that the horse would tear the braider’s arm off in the process. I wouldn’t want to wake up to that.

Cotton Mather’s only virtue, as far as I can tell, is that he opposed spectral evidence (that is, testimony that while you never saw the accused do anything, her “shape” did things, or “she sent her shadow”).

@arkizzle: Excellent, I was hoping someone would dig up more than my quick efforts could find.

And yeah, the term ‘herding cats’ was first applied to Pagans.

____
*Rhymes with ‘sewage’.

Sorry :)

(His father’s name was Increase. Increase Mather.. how odd)