Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery | Page 8

in evil thoughts, but must turn his attention to the words of truth and uprightness.
In order to emphasize their religious zeal, the Pharisees and scribes, in our Lord's time, were wont to "make broad their phylacteries."[27:4] Josephus, the historian of the first century, speaks of the wearing of phylacteries, as an established and recognized custom. According to the Cabala, they were significant of the wisdom and greatness of God, and their use distinguished the cultured and pious from the common people, who were ignorant of the Law.
Great care was taken in the preparation of phylacteries, and no Christian, apostate, or woman was allowed to write the inscriptions upon them. Even at the present time, there are Jews in Russia and Poland, who wear them during the whole day.[28:1]
It was customary to tie certain kinds of phylacteries into a knot. Reference to this ancient practice is found in certain Assyrian talismans, now in the British Museum. Following is a translation of one of them: "Hea says: 'Go, my son! take a woman's kerchief, bind it round thy right hand; loose it from the left hand. Knot it with seven knots; do so twice. Sprinkle it with bright wine; bind it round the head of the sick man. Bind it round his hands and feet, like manacles and fetters; sit down on his bed; sprinkle water over him. He shall hear the voice of Hea. Darkness shall protect him, and Marduk, eldest son of Heaven, shall find him a happy habitation.'"[28:2]
While the practice of wearing phylacteries may not have originated in a superstitious belief in their virtues as "appurtenances to make prayers more powerful," it would appear that they came to be regarded not only as protective charms, which is indicated by their name, but also as magical remedies, having occult healing properties.[29:1] Their power was supposed to inhere in the written words, enclosed in the small leathern case.
At the present day, verses from the Scriptures, the Koran, and other sacred writings are sometimes worn upon the person and are also placed upon horses or camels, by Arabs, Turks, Grecians, and Italians, with the avowed purpose of averting malignant glances.[29:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[25:1] Encyclop?dia Britannica.
[25:2] Samuel Burder, Oriental Customs, vol. ii, p. 226.
[25:3] Smith and Cheetham, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities.
[26:1] William George Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 165.
[27:1] Joseph Barclay, The Talmud.
[27:2] Scroll of parchment, inscribed with passages of Scripture.
[27:3] Psalm xxxiv, 7.
[27:4] James Hastings, D.D., A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, 1908, p. 360. Matthew, xxiii, 5.
[28:1] Philip Schaff, D.D., A Religious Encyclop?dia.
[28:2] Biblical Things not generally known, 1879, pp. 177-8. Marduk, the Chaldean Hercules.
[29:1] James Hastings, A Dictionary of the Bible.
[29:2] Frederick Thomas Elworthy, The Evil Eye.
CHAPTER IV
THE POWER OF WORDS
In every word there is a magic influence, and each word is in itself the breath of the internal and moving spirit. JOSEPH ENNEMOSER: The History of Magic.
There is magic in words, surely, and many a treasure besides Ali Baba's is unlocked with a verbal key. HENRY VAN DYKE: Little Rivers.
For it was neither herbs, nor mollifying plaster that restored them to health, but thy word, O Lord, which healeth all things. WISDOM OF SOLOMON, XVI, 12.
The power of words in stimulating the imagination is well expressed in the following sentences:--
Words, when well chosen, have so great a force in them, that a description often gives us more lively ideas than the sight of the things themselves. The reader finds a scene drawn in stronger colors, and painted more to the life in his imagination, by the help of words, than by an actual survey of the scene which they describe. In this case the poet seems to get the better of nature. He takes indeed the landscape after her, but gives it more vigorous touches, heightens its beauty, and so enlivens the whole piece, that the images which flow from the objects themselves, appear weak or faint in comparison with those that come from the expressions.[30:1]
The medical science of the ancient Romans was largely theurgical, and was founded on a pretended influence over spiritual beings, whether gods or demons. Their system of therapeutics included prayers, invocations, and magical sentences. In speaking of verbal charms, Lord Bacon commented on the fact that amongst the heathen nations, either barbarous words, without meaning, were used, or "words of similitude," which were intended to feed the imagination. Also religious texts, which strengthen that faculty. Mystical expressions were favorites, as were also Hebrew sentences, as belonging to the holy tongue. No examples of magical formulas are found in the Bible, but Rabbinical literature contains a large number of them, the majority being designated as "heathen," and their use forbidden.[31:1]
A belief in the potency of written or spoken words, for the production of good or evil, has been characteristic of all historic epochs and nations. The exorcist of