OccultForum.org

Hey all! Sorry to have let my word count dip slightly in the last few weeks, stuff. To you enthusiasts reading this, I pledge to pick up a few more members who will join in, within a few weeks - I really want to build a machine here and Ive seen enough to know it can be done. Thanks for your participation! On the General board, I will post shortly a list of loose ends to show that Im keeping track and to give an idea where Im personally going in the short term. This would also be an excellent thread to post things you want looked at.

-Ive attached the pdf 'NEJS 122a - Abusch' which is actually a course outline for a course Abusch is offering in the fall of 2007 called "Magic and Witchcraft in the Ancient Near East", I wont be there, but I can drool over this pdf and nothing is stopping me. The pdf is interesting for a number of reasons, but especially for its bibliographical value.

- Secondly, Ive typed below 2 pages from Gwendolyn Leick's book 'Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature' which has a section on love magic and potency incantations. Relevant here, Leick surprise's me in giving a brief but especially well worded overview of Mesopotamian Magic, though with a focus on the later incantation tradition. Particularly interesting is her comments that touch on written incantation as the exclusive prerogative of the professional class which Ive found difficult to find words for - It appears Biggs 1967 should be consulted on this. In any case Leick's commentary:


"Magic permeated all aspects of Mesopotamian life. All kinds of misfortune, disease and even psychological problems attributed to malevolent influences. The hymns and prayers, addressing the great gods, stress that they alone were responsible for the good or bad 'fate' of the country and its inhabitants, but an even greater number of texts, especially from the mid-second millennium onwards, blame demons, witches and evil spirits for the bad luck and illness.
In monotheistic religions, the belief in demonic influences and magic activity is not commensurate with the idea of an all-powerful single deity and standardized ritual. The suppression of magic meant that it became marginalized into a 'folk religion' and survived in the form of superstition (Neusner and Frerichs 1989). Polytheistic systems, being more elastic in their accommodation of religious notions, do not exclude magic but incorporate it within the official cultic practice. In Mesopotamia, the temple organizations provided a range of services, from divination to incantations, to satisfy the demand. In fact, the correct procedures to be taken in identifying the sources of evil intent and counteracting it were the prerogative of specialists who had to undergo a lengthy training. Some aspects of sympathetic and analogic magic became a monopoly of the professional classes, who had a vast literature of omens, rituals and incantations at their disposal. This was complemented, on a more mundane level, by folk-magic, such as the wearing of amulets, habitual gestures for warding off evil influences, etc. While such private apotropaic measures, on a fairly elementary level, were accepted as common practice, any individual engagement in more elaborate forms invited the suspicion of witchcraft, which was severely punished (Abusch 1989). The sorcerer or the witch (Akkadian kaÅ¡Å¡apu and kaÅ¡Å¡aptu respectively) were defined as illegitimate practitioners of destructive magic whose purpose was antisocial and malevolent. The licensed magician, the āÅ¡ipu, on the other hand, was in league with the gods, employed by the temple, and generally represented the 'good' or 'white' aspect of magic. Generally speaking, any directed and formalized manipulation or invocation of demons and deities, as a professional service, had to be performed by an official practitioner, rather like the regulation of medical treatment in modern societies. Love magic, however, is a special case. It is not directly apotopaic or therapeutic, in the sense of cleansing the afflicted from a demonic influence. Its purpose is, on the contrary, more like that of 'black magic', to gain power over another person, to force him, or her, to do what one desired. Again, there is a wide range of practices, from folk superstitions, to sympathetic magic, spells, the use of aphrodisiac potions, to full-blown rituals administered by the specialist. We only have examples of such official, "scientific' love magic from Mesopotamia, as only those which formed part of an āÅ¡ipu's repertoire were collected and written down (Bigg's 1967: 6). Within the category of mantic literature, these texts were sometimes distinguished by their poetic references; some were copied as part of scribal education, no doubt. the existing love poetry, with its established themes (such as the affairs of Inanna and Dumuzi), provided a frame of reference which the magician alluded to. Inanna/IÅ¡tar was, furthermore, a powerful deity whose collaboration in the matter was of vital importance.
This can be seen clearly in a Sumerian incantation, which invokes the love of Inanna and Dumuzi, in order to overcome the reticence of a proud girl:

"who girdles herself. A woman who girdles herself is unheard of. The fair maid raises her head (proud) like a mountain bull."

To remedy this situation, some honey or syrup is needed and probably some soil from the street (where the girl usually walks?), which had to be rubbed on the face. The intended outcome is described:

"Me, the fair youth, the fair maid, at the pure command of An
and Enlil and Enki,
Will follow behind me. Obeying this word Inanna gave me
my beloved one."

The oldest extant love incantation was written in Akkadian and dates to the Sargonic period, around the 24t century " -

(See Enenuru thread "Sargonic catalogue and Incantations" for the oldest extent love incantation)

Suxur-Mash596;285112 wrote:I have always found it interesting how a vast majority of practioners fail to see the inherent ill intent of love spells. Think about it, youre manipulating anothers will to serve your own selfish and shortsighted needs and desires. The reason I say shortsighted is if you were supposed to have been with the said woman (or man) no love spell would be needed, you would be going with the current of life itself. Now by using a love spell you are changing the rules of nature in a way, and the resulting backlash from that forced change (which incidently doesnt seem to remain intact forever) will be nasty. Im not talking karma, Im saying by introducing unbalance into your world (or life) it can turn out to be a self imposed curse. more like the old action/re-action effect.

Another thing, I get this feeling all these love spells invoking the name of Inanna are really traps to to enslave the meek and shortsighted. Of course this is based off of observation and not any texts, so I can offer up any citations.

All in all this topic is an interesting one. Something which initially seems beautiful, is then revealed as decrepit, and upon an even closer examination a self imposed trap.

This is if you believe love spells actually work that is.

The best "spell" one can use for matters of love would be the spell of showering in tandem with charisma. Without any charisma and a stanky body no love spell will ever have a chance to even come close to working.

Once again, that is if you believe in love spells

Scarlett_156;285119 wrote:Thanks for posting this. But it's kind of a drag that I have to make an account on this site just so I can read that material.