No greek magic!

fibi ducks

Active Member
it just occured to me that there doesn't seem to be any magic in the greek stories i know. there are diviners / prophets, but no magicians. Isn't this a bit odd? I mean doesn't everyone like a bit of magic?
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
There's some magic in Homer's Odyssey. The witch, Circe, turns a good portion of Odysseus' crew into pigs by means of a magical potion laced over delicious food. Seeing what she did, Odysseus convinces her to change them back.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
it just occured to me that there doesn't seem to be any magic in the greek stories i know. there are diviners / prophets, but no magicians. Isn't this a bit odd? I mean doesn't everyone like a bit of magic?
It is funny how there are only two witches in Greek Mythology: Circe and Medea.
However, magic was alive and well in ancient Greece.
The legends that have gathered around the philosopher Pythagoras see him as a magician.
One of my favorite books on magic is called Arcana Mundi by George Luck.
If you are interested in magical practices in Ancient Greece, this is a page turner.
 

Enertia

Member
I never really thought of the lack of "magic", in Greek Mythology. I guess it is because, I always found the powers of Greek gods and goddesses magical. Thanks for another book that needs to get added to my book list, Joe. Do you think a local library would have it, or am I going to have to use trusty Amazon.com?
 

greekgoddess31

Active Member
I agree I think that the "magic" of Greek mythology was very evident. The Gods had powers that were beyond mortals, there were the witches, and the "powers" of priests and priestesses to bend the Gods to their will with sacrifices.
 

Olsen

Member
Are you referring to humans (mortals) practicing magic? Yeah, in that case there are only two instances where this happens, namely Circe and Medea. I know there was a goddess of witchcraft called Hecate. I wonder whether witches and sorcerer were thought to have their powers from her or from other gods...
 

RLynn

Active Member
Magic may have been practiced in the mystery cults. There certainly are some strange phenomena in the initiation ceremony described in The Golden Ass. Of course there is usually no way to tell when events perceived as magical may have been induced by hallucinogens. The (Classical) Greek word pharmakos or pharmakeus means one who practices pharmakeia (the use of drugs, medicine, poison, spells, sorcery, witchcraft, etc). Such pharmacists/magicians may have been so common that they were taken for granted, like butchers and bakers and such.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
I never really thought of the lack of "magic", in Greek Mythology. I guess it is because, I always found the powers of Greek gods and goddesses magical. Thanks for another book that needs to get added to my book list, Joe. Do you think a local library would have it, or am I going to have to use trusty Amazon.com?
Hmmm. This is one of those specialty books that a library may not have. Give it a try. Otherwise you might have
to go to that trusty standby Amazon.
I got my copy at a large used book store in Manhattan called Strand.
 

fibi ducks

Active Member
It is funny how there are only two witches in Greek Mythology: Circe and Medea.
However, magic was alive and well in ancient Greece.
The legends that have gathered around the philosopher Pythagoras see him as a magician.
One of my favorite books on magic is called Arcana Mundi by George Luck.
If you are interested in magical practices in Ancient Greece, this is a page turner.
thanks again. I'll go with Circe and Medea and check out what they got up to. that 'll give me a start without taking too much on board at once.
 

fibi ducks

Active Member
I agree I think that the "magic" of Greek mythology was very evident. The Gods had powers that were beyond mortals, there were the witches, and the "powers" of priests and priestesses to bend the Gods to their will with sacrifices.
i was told by a teacher of egyptian literature that the egyptians used to use magic to manipulate the gods - they could force them to do their own will. not very respectful. but i don't think the greeks were that extreme - they always seem respectful in their dealings with the gods - so i think that is just one person to another, but not magic as i see it.
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
i was told by a teacher of egyptian literature that the egyptians used to use magic to manipulate the gods - they could force them to do their own will. not very respectful. but i don't think the greeks were that extreme - they always seem respectful in their dealings with the gods - so i think that is just one person to another, but not magic as i see it.
Not always. Don't forget about stories like the one about Arachne, who wasn't very respectful towards Athene.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
Magic was very important to the beliefs and stories of the Egyptians.
Sometimes priests would aid the gods using magic.
For example, every day the sun god had to do battle with the serpent
Apophis before rising. If he ever lost, the sun would not rise.
So the priests would actually make little images of Apophis that they would then destroy
in an act of sympathetic magic in order to aid Ra, the sun god.
 

fibi ducks

Active Member
hi myrddin, point taken.
btw, i looked up Circe and Medea briefly. They knew eachother! Circe purified Jason and Medea for something (I'm not sure what). And I believe Circe was Medea's aunty. This is just by the way, seems like quite a co-incidence.
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
hi myrddin, point taken.
btw, i looked up Circe and Medea briefly. They knew eachother! Circe purified Jason and Medea for something (I'm not sure what). And I believe Circe was Medea's aunty. This is just by the way, seems like quite a co-incidence.
Coincidence?!?! I think NOT!
 

Nadai

Active Member
Not always. Don't forget about stories like the one about Arachne, who wasn't very respectful towards Athene.
Rightfully so, I think. Arachne proved that she was better than the goddess at her own craft and because of it Athena turned her into a spider. Athena was the sore loser in that one, though Arachne still ended up with the short end of the stick.
 

Nadai

Active Member
hi myrddin, point taken.
btw, i looked up Circe and Medea briefly. They knew eachother! Circe purified Jason and Medea for something (I'm not sure what). And I believe Circe was Medea's aunty. This is just by the way, seems like quite a co-incidence.
She was also the grandaughter of Helios-the sun god, and the daughter of king Aeetes.
 

Nadai

Active Member
Medea used her witchcraft to help Jason and the Argonauts in their quest and she also uses it to get revenge after her husband, Jason, betrays her!
She also healed Heracles after he murdered one of the Argonauts Iphitus. After she goes to Athens and marries Aegeus, they have a son, Medus. When Theseus returns and threatens her son's inheritance, she mixes a potion and gives it to her husband to give to Theseus. When Aegeus realizes what she's done she runs away.
She played many other tricks on people with her magic as well. She restored an old man to his youth by bathing him in a mixture of potions. Then claiming that she would do the same for two sisters, I believe, she tricked them and made them kill him. She was a very devious witch.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
hi myrddin, point taken.
btw, i looked up Circe and Medea briefly. They knew eachother! Circe purified Jason and Medea for something (I'm not sure what). And I believe Circe was Medea's aunty. This is just by the way, seems like quite a co-incidence.
Hey there
I believe Circe purified Medea for killing her own brother, Absyrtus.
When Jason and her were escaping King Aeetes for stealing the fleece,
she got hold of her brother and chopped him up into pieces. She then hurled the pieces overboard.
Aeetes had to stop his pursuit of them so he could gather the pieces of his son so that he could have an honorable funeral.
You can read about Circe in the Odyssey.
Her and Medea appear in The Voyage of Argo by Apollonius of Rhodes.
The Metamorphosis by Ovid has some cool stuff as well.
 

Isis

Member
There is a ton of magic in Greek mythology, but since most of it is framed under "the powers of the gods" instead of mortal magic, I can see how you overlooked it.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
It has to do with that line between religion and magic, which is not always clear.
If God or gods perform marvels and miracles, it is called religion, and you need to pray to these gods in
order for them to perform said miracles.
Meanwhile if a mortal is able to manipulate forces in the universe to create his own marvels,
then it is magic.
If these forces are not of the occult (hidden), and instead are of the natural kind (gravity, electricity), then
we know this as science, not magic.
The ancient Greeks talked of this magical substance or force, and it was called dynamis.
I suppose it is where we get our words dynamic and dynamo.
The Egyptians described something similar as heka, and Malinowski's Trobriand islanders called it mana; a word
beloved by video game lovers and other gamesters.
The 19th century occultist called it the astral light.
 
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