Intention, Attention, and Story-Telling

Notes Toward a General Theory of Magic, Part IV
By Robert Mathiesen

A thousand years ago, in the newly christianized northern German lands, some Christian priest wrote down two magic spells on a blank page of a manuscript. We now call them the Merseburg spells, after the city where the manuscript has been kept for centuries. Although the manuscript is mostly in Latin, the priest wrote down those two spells in his every-day spoken language (an ancient form of German).

The Merseburg spells are among the very oldest magic spells that have come down to us from the Middle Ages anywhere in Europe. Not only are they very old, but they are also explicitly Pagan. They mention Woden (Odin) and other powerful Beings from ancient Germanic myth and lore. There is not the least hint of Christianity in them.

The full article can be found on page 27 of The Witches' Almanac Spring 2020-2021 - Stones: The Foundation of Earth