Omaha daily bee., 1886-10-07

whatever had it not been pretended that
they were permitted by the church and
pleasing TO heaven.
There we're three instruments without
which no magician S chamber was com.
plctoly furnished All were small and
easily portable; and herein the ordinary
maker of spells, the lowest and least con
sideTa BILE person in the magical hierarchy,
possessed n distinct advantage over his
friends the alchemistS and the astrologer.
The one needed rctorts and crucibes,
fire and bellows to blow it wthal; long
ranges of bottles and Jars full of power
full compounds; the other must needs
have charts of the heavens, mathematical
instruments, and great store of papers,
observations, and horoscopes. The ma
| gicnn needs only the white knife the
fearsome wand, and the magic mirror
| of steel or crystal. Other instruments
he might have if he chose: He
might have the BLACK knife the
sword with a round guard and a little
cross at the extremity of the hit, the
| stiletto, the sickle, or the small lance;
But the three that have been mentioned
were alone absolutely.essential. The knife
| with which the magic wand had to be
fashioned was, above all TO be new and
absolutely unused. The blade was of the
| finest steel and the handle OF ivory. An
ordinary knife with an ivory haft would
mysterious uses had to be specially made
on the day of Mercury Wednesday,,
when the moon was at the full, between
midnight and three in the mornings and
while the smith was at his work three low
masses were to be said for the inten-
ton" OF the magician. When the blade
| had been fitted into the handle the ivory
was inscribed with hieroglyphcs with a
specially prepared burin and exercised
| cinnabar.
The wand was of three forms, accord
| ing TO the purpose for which II was to be
used. 1t might be either round like
ruler; sharp at one end, like the pointed
n forked twig. The latter form was by
far the holiest and best esteemed. The
twig was always of hazel, very similar, it
would seem, TO those used for the discov-
cry of water. 1t must have often been
difficult to find one which fulfilled the
memorable conditions laid down by the
| early law. givers in matters occult The
night before the wand waj required the
magician went to the fields in search of n
hazel twig which had never budded,
forkcd Mt the end, and exactly nineteen
and half inches IN length from the tip
of the longer fork to the junction
with the parent stem. When he had
found it he carefully marked the spot and
returned the next morning, shortly be-
fore sunrise, to cut it. The psychological
moment was when the sun first peeped
above the horizon, and all virtue depart
ed from the twig If it were not cut upon
the instant. The Leaves; c and small
branc hes were then stripped off with the
| ivory-handled knife. While this was
being done certain grand and terrible
words were pronounced in the form of
prayer that the wand might be endowed
with the strength and virtue of the wands
of Jacob, Moses and Joshua. 1t was es-
sential that while the leaves were being
stripped and the prayer uttered the face
should be turned toward the rising sun
But the twig was as yet by no means
complete. The practitioner had now to
seek piece of wood, Witch he cut to eN-
actly the same thickness as the two forked
ends and leaving the twigs carefully at
home, he took the piece. of wood and
knife to Il smith, who worked up the fine
steel blade into two ferrules one for each
tip 1t should be said that the mystic
properties of the knife, had been in
creased by using it to, cut the throat OF a
! kid n day or two before the finding of the
twg which had to be severed from the
blade was still stained with the blood
of the sacrifice" Taking home the two
steel ferrulcs, for which the small piece
of wood had served as 4 pattern, the
adept himself fixed them to the two forks
of the twig, and then rnagnetized them
with warm loadstone, to the end that
the wand might attract to itself metallif-
erous treasures of all kinds. The ver-
table verge foundroyante, as the old
French cabalistic writers termed it, was
then ready for action.
The preparation and sanctifylng OF q
magic mirror was a much longer but less
complicated process. 1t occupied forty
eight days between the advent of q new
moon and the full of the following one.
A piece of steel was polished until it shone
like mirror, and the sacred names "Je-
hovah, Eloim, Mitraton. AdOnai' We're
written at the four corners of the face
with the blood of white dove. Then the
steel was wrapped in n piece of fine linen
and put carefully away until there was a
new moon The moment the sun had set
on the given night the mirror ma ker Went
to the window, and, regarding the moon
and armament devoutly he uttered an
appropriate Latin prayer. All this time a
fire of laural-wood had been burning in
the room. The prayer ended, the piece OF
steel was held three successive times over
the smoke, an invocation being repeated
each time. The mirror was then hreathed
upon and a terrible adiuraton addressed
TO Anael the angel by whose agency it Is
sometimes given to man to see into tu-
turity. The ceremony was concluded by
another prayer, followed by making the
sign OF the cross over the person OF the
magician and over the mirror. 1t was
desirable to repeat the crossing or the
mirror from time to time during the sue,
ceeding forty-eight days, and at the end
of the sacramental seven weeks Anael ap'
peared in the semblance of lovely
child. If the "ntenton" of the operator
were more sacred, or his devotion greater
than ordinary, Anael sometimes ap.
peared at the end of fortnight. The
angel salucd the owner of the
mirror, whom he commanded his
companions to obey. The adept
was then at liberty to sec what he wished
of the future lives of his clients and OF
events destined to conyulse the world
After the first occasion very short IN
vocation suiliced TO insure the presence
of Anael, without which the mirror re-
manned mere blank piece of polished
steel. Who can ever forget the power
full scene in la ComteSse de Charny,
where Cagliostro permits Marie Antoin
ette to see the events of her future life IN
a magic mirror such as that Just De
scribedg Those there are still who de
clare that Joseph BalSamo was no i'm
postor, and, if the truth is in them. th'
poor lady must have had good warrant
5 Tor swooning when she glanced into tn,
! | fatal sphere of steel. .