巫術(shù)的歷史

在本書中，讀者會(huì)經(jīng)常碰到瑪格麗特·默里（MargaretMurray）這個(gè)名字，并且會(huì)明白她是薩默斯強(qiáng)大的對(duì)手。默里認(rèn)為，巫術(shù)是由朋友和敵人傳播與信仰的，她反對(duì)“開明的”歷史學(xué)家將此視為暫時(shí)的瘋狂。當(dāng)薩默斯引用默里的觀點(diǎn)時(shí)，他們的爭(zhēng)論加劇了。默里小姐的觀點(diǎn)遭到了強(qiáng)烈的指責(zé)。然而，薩默斯并沒有解釋這些觀點(diǎn)是什么。

我大體上同意默里小姐的觀點(diǎn)，我認(rèn)為重要的是讓讀者明白這些觀點(diǎn)是什么。默里小姐在《西歐的巫術(shù)崇拜》（The Witch Cult of Western Europe）和《女巫的上帝》（The God of the Witches）這兩本卓越的著作中以及用《大英百科全書》中一個(gè)非常簡(jiǎn)要的條目將這些觀點(diǎn)闡釋得很清楚。我相信，默里小姐為百科全書寫詞條意味著她的觀點(diǎn)現(xiàn)在很流行，但不幸的是情況并非如此。默里首先指出女巫來自智者。女巫的知識(shí)通常是預(yù)言，“當(dāng)...

在本書中，讀者會(huì)經(jīng)常碰到瑪格麗特·默里（MargaretMurray）這個(gè)名字，并且會(huì)明白她是薩默斯強(qiáng)大的對(duì)手。默里認(rèn)為，巫術(shù)是由朋友和敵人傳播與信仰的，她反對(duì)“開明的”歷史學(xué)家將此視為暫時(shí)的瘋狂。當(dāng)薩默斯引用默里的觀點(diǎn)時(shí)，他們的爭(zhēng)論加劇了。默里小姐的觀點(diǎn)遭到了強(qiáng)烈的指責(zé)。然而，薩默斯并沒有解釋這些觀點(diǎn)是什么。

我大體上同意默里小姐的觀點(diǎn)，我認(rèn)為重要的是讓讀者明白這些觀點(diǎn)是什么。默里小姐在《西歐的巫術(shù)崇拜》（The Witch Cult of Western Europe）和《女巫的上帝》（The God of the Witches）這兩本卓越的著作中以及用《大英百科全書》中一個(gè)非常簡(jiǎn)要的條目將這些觀點(diǎn)闡釋得很清楚。我相信，默里小姐為百科全書寫詞條意味著她的觀點(diǎn)現(xiàn)在很流行，但不幸的是情況并非如此。默里首先指出女巫來自智者。女巫的知識(shí)通常是預(yù)言，“當(dāng)以正統(tǒng)宗教的某位神祗的名義進(jìn)行，這就是預(yù)言；當(dāng)以某位異教神祗的名義進(jìn)行，這就是巫術(shù)”。Devit這個(gè)詞是一個(gè)指小詞綴，其來自詞根div，從這個(gè)詞根我們還可以得到divine這個(gè)詞，而devil僅僅指“小神”?！氨娝苤氖聦?shí)是，當(dāng)一個(gè)新的宗教在一個(gè)國家建立時(shí)，舊宗教的神祗就變成了新宗教的惡魔。在研究中世紀(jì)女巫的記錄時(shí)，我們處理的正是異教的殘余，這一異教至少在英格蘭一直存在到18世紀(jì)，即自基督教引入后持續(xù)了1200年。古代信仰的實(shí)踐可以在當(dāng)今的法國看到；在意大利，盡管基督教會(huì)不斷努力，舊宗教仍然擁有很多追隨者?！?/p>

如果不存偏見地進(jìn)行描寫，那么歐洲女巫的異教信仰對(duì)于《金枝》（The Golden Bough）或其他人類學(xué)作品的讀者來說是相當(dāng)熟悉的，其核心是化身為人或動(dòng)物的神，在集會(huì)或巫魔會(huì)上穿著黑衣或偽裝成各種動(dòng)物形象出現(xiàn)在崇拜者面前。默里小姐讓我們想起其與希臘人的神圣婚姻或羅馬人的農(nóng)神狂歡是何等相似，而薩默斯所描寫的性狂歡則完全不同。使用咒語、藥物等方法對(duì)付敵人無疑屬于前文字時(shí)代，但是沒有任何客觀的比較宗教學(xué)學(xué)者會(huì)斷言女巫比她們基督教的后繼者犯下了更可怕的罪行。

對(duì)于有興趣的讀者來說，他們非常容易獲得默里小姐那些大量的引人人勝的材料。關(guān)鍵是，默里小姐使我們確信，在巫術(shù)的名義下流傳下來的是一種被基督教戰(zhàn)勝的宗教，它的術(shù)語及對(duì)其儀式的描寫都是由勝利者來書寫的。

基督教征服者將被打敗的宗教的核心歸納為與撒旦簽訂契約。如赫伯特·瑟斯頓（Herbert Thurston）在《天主教百科全書》關(guān)于巫術(shù)的詞條中告訴我們的，“不僅在黑暗時(shí)代的傳統(tǒng)信仰中，而且在宗教改革之后的信仰中，女巫都與撒旦簽訂契約”。與撒旦簽訂契約似乎是基督教時(shí)代的創(chuàng)造?！杜f約》中盡管要求處死女巫，但并沒有提到契約。

薩默斯避免處理如下問題，即為什么針對(duì)巫術(shù)的主要斗爭(zhēng)出現(xiàn)在13世紀(jì)中葉之后——當(dāng)時(shí)宗教裁判所被建立起來。1484年，教皇英諾森八世的訓(xùn)諭掀起了大規(guī)模的斗爭(zhēng)。從16世紀(jì)直至18世紀(jì)，消滅女巫的活動(dòng)一直殘酷地進(jìn)行著。學(xué)者們所估計(jì)的被處死女巫的數(shù)量存在很大差異，從三萬到幾百萬不等。根據(jù)記錄不可能知道數(shù)字，但顯然有大量的人被處死。關(guān)于斗爭(zhēng)為什么結(jié)束，答案很明顯：一方面，基督教取得了完全的勝利；另一方面，理性主義精神出現(xiàn)并否認(rèn)了巫術(shù)的魔法效力。但是，為什么針對(duì)巫術(shù)的斗爭(zhēng)在15世紀(jì)開始擴(kuò)大和加劇？薩默斯回避了這個(gè)問題。

Augustus Montague Summers (10 April 1880 – 10 August 1948) was an English author and clergyman. He is known primarily for his scholarly work on the English drama of the 17th century, as well as for his idiosyncratic studies on witchcraft, vampires, and werewolves, in all of which he professed to believe. He was responsible for the first English translation, published in 1928, o...

Augustus Montague Summers (10 April 1880 – 10 August 1948) was an English author and clergyman. He is known primarily for his scholarly work on the English drama of the 17th century, as well as for his idiosyncratic studies on witchcraft, vampires, and werewolves, in all of which he professed to believe. He was responsible for the first English translation, published in 1928, of the 15th-century witch hunter's manual, the Malleus Maleficarum.Summers' career as an ostensibly Catholic clergyman was highly unusual. Although he wrote works of hagiography on Catherine of Siena and Anthony Maria Zaccaria, his primary religious interest was in the subject of the occult. While Aleister Crowley, with whom he was acquainted, adopted the persona of a modern-day witch, Summers played the part of the learned Catholic witch-hunter. In the introduction to his book on The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926) he writes:

In the following pages I have endeavoured to show the witch as she really was – an evil liver: a social pest and parasite: the devotee of a loathly and obscene creed: an adept at poisoning, blackmail, and other creeping crimes: a member of a powerful secret organisation inimical to Church and State: a blasphemer in word and deed, swaying the villagers by terror and superstition: a charlatan and a quack sometimes: a bawd: an abortionist: the dark counsellor of lewd court ladies and adulterous gallants: a minister to vice and inconceivable corruption, battening upon the filth and foulest passions of the age.

In 1928, he published the first English translation of Heinrich Kramer's Malleus Maleficarum ("The Hammer of Witches"), a 15th-century Latin manual on the hunting of witches. In his introduction, Summers insists that the reality of witchcraft is an essential part of Catholic doctrine and declares the Malleus an admirable and correct account of witchcraft and of the methods necessary to combat it. In fact, however, the Catholic authorities of the 15th century had condemned the Malleus on both ethical and legal grounds.[4] Other Catholic scholars contemporary with Summers were also highly critical of the Malleus. For instance, the Rev. Herbert Thurston's article on "Witchcraft" for the Catholic Encyclopaedia of 1912, refers to the publication of the Malleus as a "disastrous episode."[5]

Montague Summers then turned to vampires, producing The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928) and The Vampire in Europe (1929), and later to werewolves with The Werewolf (1933). Summers' work on the occult is notorious for his unusual and old-fashioned writing style, his display of erudition, and his purported belief in the reality of the subjects he treats.