Folk Lore | Page 5

Astarte. Her worship was of the most sensual description. The worship

of sun and moon formed one system, the priests of the one being also
priests of the other.
Apart from the priestly incorporation of which we have spoken, there
was another class of men who assumed knowledge of supernatural
phenomena. These were known as astrologers or star-gazers, wizards,
magicians, witches, sooth-sayers. By the practice of certain arts and
repetition of certain formula, these pretended to divine and foretell
events both of a public and private nature. They were believed in by the
mass of people, and were consulted on all sorts of matters. By both the
civil and ecclesiastical authorities their practices and pretensions were
sometimes condemned, and themselves forbidden to exercise their
peculiar gifts, but nevertheless the people continued to believe in them
and consult them. Their pretensions were considerable, extending even
to raising and consulting the spirits of the dead.
This leads me to notice the ancient belief concerning the souls of the
departed. By almost all nations, Jews and Gentiles, there was a
prevailing belief that at death the souls of good men were taken
possession of by good spirits and carried to Paradise, but the souls of
wicked men were left to wander in the space between the earth and
moon, or consigned to Hades, or Unseen World. These wandering
spirits were in the habit of haunting the living, especially their relations,
so that the living were surrounded on every side by the spirits of their
wicked ancestors, who were always at hand tempting them to evil.
However, there were means by which these ghosts might be exorcised.
A formula for expelling wicked spirits is given by Ovid in Book V. of
the Fasti:--
"In the dread silence of midnight, upon the eighth day of May, the
votary rises from his couch barefooted, and snapping his fingers as a
sure preventative against meeting any ghost during his subsequent
operations, thrice washing his hands in spring water, he places nine
black beans in his mouth, and walks out. These he throws behind him
one by one, carefully guarding against the least glance backwards, and
at each cast he says, 'With these beans I ransom myself and mine.' The
spirits of his ancestors follow him and gather the beans as they fall.
Then, performing another ablution as he enters his house, he clashes
cymbals of brass, or rather some household utensil of that metal,
entreating the spirits to quit his roof. He then repeats nine times these

words, 'Avaunt ye ancestral manes.' After this he looks behind, and is
free for one year."
Some nations in addition to a personal formula for laying the ghosts of
departed relatives, had a national ritual for ghost-laying, a public feast
in honour of departed spirits. Such a feast is still held in China, and also
in Burmah. In 1875 the following placard was posted throughout the
district of Rangoon, proclaiming a feast of forty-nine days by order of
the Emperor of China:--
"There will this year be scarcity of rice and plenty of sickness. Evil
spirits will descend to examine and inquire into the sickness. If people
do not believe this, many will die in September and October. Should
any people call on you at midnight, do not answer; it is not a human
being that calls, but an evil spirit. Do not be wicked, but be good."
But I do not propose to write a treatise on Pagan theology, nor do I
propose to trace in historical detail the progress through which
Christian and Pagan beliefs have in process of time become assimilated,
when I have occasion, I may notice these things. I intend, as I said at
the beginning, to deal with superstition, no matter from what source it
may have arisen, recognising superstition to be as already
defined--beliefs and practices founded upon erroneous ideas of God
and the laws of nature. In many things, I believe, we are yet too
superstitious, and our popular theology, instead of aiding to destroy
these erroneous beliefs, aids them in maintaining their vitality.
Orthodox Christians believe in a general and also in a special
providence; the ancients, on the other hand, believed that all events
were under the control and direction of separate and special divinities,
so that when praying for certain results, they addressed the divinity
having control over that phenomenon or circumstance by which they
were affected, and when their desires were gratified, they expressed
their thankfulness by offerings to that divinity. If their desires were not
granted, they regarded that circumstance as a token of displeasure on
the part of that divinity, and besought the aid of their priests and
sooth-sayers to discover the reason of his anger, and offered sacrifices
and peace offerings. Now, orthodox Christians in the same