Collective Review of Six Books Deals with Magic, Necromancy, Supernaturalism, Witchcraft, Golem A Study by ALLEN A. WARSEN A Collective Review PART ONE Cadillac, the founder of De- troit, believed that the Ameri- can Indians were the de- scendants of the lost tribes of Israel. This belief he re- .corded in a document dated 1718 and • entitled "Descrip- tion of -Michilimackinac: In-. dian Tribes of the Region." In this document Cadillac described the Indian occult practice of nose piercing as follows, ". . . the word Outa- ous means in our language "the nation of the Nez Perces" (pierced noses), to which they attach a small stone well ornamented, which hangs down in the middle of the mouth between the lips. This is a custom among them, and they would not consider themselves properly adorned without this orna- ment. Some of the elders maintain, however, that this is a preventive against "medicine" that is to say, the spells that their enemies and their evil-intentioned persons might cast upon. them, to poison them or cause their death." 'T h i s practice Cadillac maintained was proof "that it is an idea of the ancient Jews: for we read in history that one Eleazar delivered people possessed of the devil, in the presence of the Em- peror Vespasian, of his son, and of several princes and noblemen of his court. He proceeded as I o 11 o w.s : he pierced the nose of the pos- sessed one, and passed through it a ring hollow in- side, wherein he placed 'an herb; and as soon as the devil smelled it, he threw the body of the possessed one upon the ground, and fled, without daring to return to it. The same Eleazar also did this frequently in the name of Solomon; so that these savage - nations may well have retained this cus- tom of piercing their noses (from their Hebrew ances- tors), and have forgotten the purpose for which it was in- troduced."/1 - Cadillac's description of Eliezer's magic powers and reference to history is a ver- sion of Flavius Josephus' ac- count related in the "An- tiquities of the Jews." It reads: 'God also enabled him (Solomon) to learn that skill which expells demons, which is a useful science to men. He composed such incanta- tions also by which distem- pers are alleviated; and left behind him the manner which they drive away demons; so that they never return, and this method of cure is of great force until this day. For I have seen a certain man of my own countr y whose name was Eleazar, releasing the people that were demoniacal in the pres- ence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the multitude of his soldiers: and the manner of the cure was this: he put a ring that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the de- moniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils: and when the man fell down, he adjured him to return into Min no more; making still mention of Sol- omon, and reciting the in- cantations which he com- posed. And when Eleazar would demonstrate to the spectators, that he had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man to overturn it: and thereby let the - spectators know that he had left the man. And when this was , done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon was shown very manifestly." (More about Solomon's wisdom later) By the way, the name Eliez- er which means "my God helps" also serves as a kabal- istic • explanation of Genesis 14: "And when Abram heard that his brother (Lot) was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan . . and smote them . . ." The question arises, "Did Abraham r e ally need so many, inasmuch as God was on his side? To this Gematria (Gematrita was t h e name given to a process of discov- ering relations between words through calculation of their numerical values) answers that the sum of the name of Abraham's major- domo, Eliezer of Damascus, is three hundred and eighteen, and 'that Abraham defeated the four kings and rescued Lot with the Ifelp of one man (ELIEZER)." Another famous Jew adept at witchcraft was Lucaides ( Seventh Century CE). He is known for his attempt., to deprive Mohammed, founder of Islam, of his virility. To succeed he employed knotted cords, muttered enigmatic soliloquies, and instead of perforating t•h e prophet's nose, pierced a wax figure representing h i m . "Fortu- nately, Allah appeared to Mohammed in a dream, and revealed the cause of his ailment. The wax figure and the cord were found in a sacred well, and :when the prophet recited some verses from the Koran the punc- tures in the wax disappeared, and the knots beca,me united."/2 (And Mohammed undoubtedly regained h i s virility.) More about the kabalists. - It should be noted that the kabalists believe that by re- arranging similar letters of dissimilar words- miracles can be performed. A story is told that "When in the last war the German army occupied Greece, the Jews of Syria were in great fear that the Germanic invasion might extend into their country. As Allied strategy seemed pow- erless to stem the tide, the Jews 'sought help from the Mekkubalim, hte kabalists. The latter retired to med- itation, and having sat up all night, they came forth and declared to the w a i t i n g crowd that the danger was averted. They had transposed the letters of the word Syria, word Russia, I 1 1 composed in Hebrew of the same letters, though differ- ently arranged. And it came about as they provoked it by their magical art, for Hitler, instead of continuing his advance towards the Near East, attacked the Sov- iet Union shortly after."/2 •It is noteworthy that the term ' "kabala" derives From the Hebrew verb "to re- ceive." According to the kabalists "God Himself re- vealed the Kabala to man- kind in biblical times: Adam received a kabalistic book from the angel Raziel, and through -this wisdom he was enabled to overcome the grief of his fall and to regain dig- nity. The 'Book of Raziel' was handed down to Solo- mon, who by its power sub- dued earth, and hell."/2 To the kabalist in Anski's "Dyb- buk," the "Kabala tears one's soul from the earth! It raises man to the most exalted holiness; . it opens all the heavens to one's sight; it leads straight to Pardes. It reaches out to the infinite! It reveals a hem of the great curtain."/4 Modern historians, h o w - ever, regard the Kabala as a product of an historical process. We will continue our study of the more popular occult arts, and first describe the "science" of astrology. It is unquestionably best known for predicting human life. Needless to say that there is hardly a newspaper which does- not include a horoscope with all the zodiac - characters among its numerous fea- tures. A recent horoscope foretold, "If tomorrow is your birthday, you may be musical, you have sense of drama, and possibly a sweet tooth." . The stars are astrology's workshop. Astrologists assert that our well-being depends on whether the stars are well- disposed or ill-disposed to- wards us. Our fate is . like- wise -determined by them. Our fate also depends on our body's moles. This doc- trine holds that "A mole on "Blanchard's experience in the state attorney general's office, especially as the administrative assistant to the attorney general, demonstrates high- calibre ability." Observer & Eccentric Newspaper August 1, 1974 Jim, 32, is married to Pauki Parker. They have one son, Jay, 4. James J. Blanchard and Attorney General Frank J. Kelley in,Washington. .`" "A copy of our report filed with the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives will be available for purchase from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. GovernMent Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402." Blanchard for Congress Committee; Paul Dizik, Treasurer. (543-1106) , into the A PAID POLITICAL ADV. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 20—Friday• Nivembet: 1, 1974 a man's forehead signifies wealth; on a woman's fore- head, it denotes that she will be powerful, perhaps a ruler . . • Moles on the hands an- nounce many children."/2 Another occult doctrine is metoposcopy. Its "doctors" insist that man's destiny can - be predicted by the position of the wrinkles on his fore- head. "A man whose fore-. head is marked by three parallel lines on its higher parts, denotes pacific and quiet character . . When the three lines are placed in lower compartments, they reveal the man's irascible character. He will be a murderer."/2 'And, of course, man',: ture and character revealed by his physiogif4 features, such as eyes, ears, (Continued on Page 21)