Marlowe: Later, Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world, refusing to answer only when Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus, but Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to prance about in front of Faustus, and he is impressed enough to quiet his doubts.Pasted from <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/summary.html>
Lives of the necromancers:
Lives of the necromancers: or, An account of the most eminent persons in … By William Godwin (1834)“But what is most deplorable we are not contented to endeavour to secure the aid of God and good angels but we also aspire to enter into alliance with devils and beings destined for their rebellion to suffer eternally the pains of hell. As they are supposed to be of a character perverted and depraved, we of course apply to them principally for purposes of wantonness, or of malice and revenge. And in the instances which have occurred only a few centuries back, the most common idea has been of a compact entered into by an unprincipled and impious human being with the sworn enemy of God and man, in the result of which the devil engages to serve the capricious will and perform the behests of his blasphemous votary for a certain number of years, while the deluded wretch in return engages to renounce his God and Saviour and surrender himself body and soul to the pains of hell from the end of that term to all eternity. No sooner do we imagine human beings invested with these wonderful powers, and conceive them as called into action for the most malignant purposes, than we become the passive and terrified slaves of the creatures of our own imaginations, and fear to be assailed at every moment by beings to whose power we can set no limit, and whose modes of hostility no human sagacity can anticipate and provide against. But, what is still more extraordinary, the human creatures that pretend to these powers have often been found as completely the dupes of this supernatural machinery, as the most timid wretch that stands in terror at its expected operation; and no phenomenon has been more common than the confession of these allies of hell, that they have verily and indeed held commerce and formed plots and conspiracies with Satan.”Preface. Page ixhttp://books.google.ca/books?id=AtkLAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA358&ots=nOaFJroEyp&dq=Georgius%20Sabellicus&pg=PR9#v=onepage&q=but,%20what%20is%20most%20deplorable&f=false
Doktor Faust
Doktor FaustPasted from <http://portrait.kaar.at/Deutschsprachige%20Teil%207/image14.html>
Artist Anonymous. Date approx 16th century.
Mephisto Finest Walking Shoes….
Mephisto Finest Walking Shoes…..
“Mephisto, Inc. is a manufacturer of shoes and sportswear based in Sarrebourg, France. Founded by designer Martin Michaeli in 1965, the company’s success was founded on its moccasin model. Today Mephisto is a major shoe producer, with more than 2800 employees and 100 million pairs of shoes sold per year. Sales are concentrated in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, but Mephisto has made inroads in the American walking shoe market as well.”Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephisto,_Inc.> [now gone]
Hysteria and Madness….
Hysteria and Madness. Father Gaufridi is executed.Court proceedings saw both Sisters Madeline and Louise behave in, according to 17th century standards, fashion typical of an advanced state of possession. Madeleine in particular was seen to maniacally swing from violently denouncing Gaufridi as a devil worshipper and sorcerer to retracting the accusations. She would return to charges of cannibalism, and then turn to begging him for a single word of kindness. Twice, Madeleine attempted suicide after the courts found the Devil’s Mark on her body.Father Gaufridi entered the courtroom after a series of physical and mental torture inflicted during his time in prison. His body had been shaved in a search for the Devil’s Mark, three of which were found and used as evidence against him. A pact with the Devil was produced in court, allegedly signed by Gaufridi’s own blood. A confession was also produced, which Gaufridi had signed in prison, extracted under torture. Included in the confession was an admission of celebrating a Black Mass in order to gain power over women:Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aix-en-Provence_possessions>
Mephistopheles is not your name….
Mephistopheles is not your name. “Wrapped Around Your Finger” is from The Police‘s 1983 album Synchronicity. Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrapped_Around_Your_Finger>
Inspired by Carl Jung’s theory of Synchronicity, it references the German legend of Faust (below). So did Jung, for that matter. Jung called Goethe’s Faust an “alchemical drama.” This paper (Goethe, Faust, Alchemy, and Jung) argues it’s not. Arthur Koestler, whose book “The Roots of Coincidence” is the link between Sting and Jung, and the inspiration for The Police’s album, hoped for a death not unlike Goethe’s Homunculus’ dissolution into the sea (“with some timid hopes for a de-personalised after-life beyond due confines of space, time and matter and beyond the limits of our comprehension. This ‘oceanic feeling’ has often sustained me at difficult moments, and does so now, while I am writing this” Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Koestler> ).(Jung’s Synchronicity refers to a meaningful coincidence where the two events are not related. It conjures a higher and invisible relationship. Where a sober person might agree that a coincidence is largely no more than that, a particular metaphysical chill gives even a sober person pause to reflect that perhaps there is more to it in this case.)“Mephistopheles is not your nameBut I know what you’re up to just the sameI will listen hard to your tuitionAnd you will see it come to it’s fruition”Pasted from <http://www.sting.com/discography/lyrics/lyric/song/281> Music video by The Police performing Wrapped Around Your Finger.
Aqua Tofana was a well-known poison from 17th century
[Aqua Tofana is a well-known poison from 17th century Italy]From Wikipedia’s Aqua Tofana:
“Aqua Tofana (also known as Acqua Toffana, Aqua Tophana, and Aqua Tufania and “Manna di San Nicola”) was a strong poison that was reputedly widely used in Naples and Rome, Italy. During the early 17th century Giulia Tofana, or Tofania, an infamous lady from Palermo, made a good business for over fifty years selling her large production (she employed her daughter and several other lady helpers) of Aqua Tofana to would-be widows.Aqua Tofana (literally meaning “Tofana water”) was either the creation of Giulia Tofana or an older recipe that had been refined by Tofana and her daughter, Girolama Spera, around 1650 in Rome. The ‘tradename’ “Manna di San Nicola”, i.e. “Manna of St. Nicholas of Bari” might have been a marketing device intended to divert the authorities, since the poison was openly sold both as a cosmetic and a devotionary object in vials that included a picture of St. Nicholas. Some of her customers claimed to have used it for its advertised purposes and only caused deaths accidentally. Over 600 victims are known to have died from this poison, mostly husbands of unhappy spouses. Tofana was arrested and confessed to producing the poison, and she implicated a number of her clients, claiming that they knew exactly what they were buying. She was executed in July 1659. There was much disquiet throughout Italy and many of her clients fled, while others were strangled in prison, and indeed many were publicly executed. Between 1666 and 1676 the Marchioness de Brinvilliers poisoned her father, two brothers, amongst others, and was executed on July 16, 1676.The ingredients of the mixture are basically known but not how they were blended. Aqua Tofana contained mostly arsenic and lead and possibly belladonna. It was a colorless, tasteless liquid and so easily mixed with water or wine to be served during meals.”Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_Tofana>
[St Nicholas, of course, is the patron saint of gift-giving – Santa Claus.]
Seven Deadly Sins
Seven Deadly SinsAttributed to Hieronymus Bosch 1475-1480Oil on panel, 120 x 150 cmMadrid, Museo del Prado
Pasted from <http://www.aiwaz.net/panopticon/seven-deadly-sins/gi1674c85>
Melmoth the Wanderer
Melmoth the Wanderer is a gothic novel published in 1820, written by Charles Robert Maturin (uncle of Jane Wilde who was mother of Oscar Wilde).The central character, John Melmoth (a Wandering Jew type), is a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for 150 extra years of life and spends that time searching for someone who will take over the pact for him. The novel actually takes place in the present, but this back story is revealed through several nested stories-within-a-story that work backwards through time (usually through the Gothic trope of old books).Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melmoth_the_Wanderer>
How Does God Rate?
How Does God Rate? The Seven Deadly Sins.We are lucky to have been provided with a list of sins that can apparently lead to all sorts of trouble – the Seven Deadly Sins. These should not be confused with the Seven Samurai (who could also cause lots of trouble and be deadly), the Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, or the Seven Sinful Ice-cream Flavours (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, pistachio, anchovy, mint-choc-chip and pumpkin). Obviously, it would be bad to commit any of these sins (they`re deadly, remember), and as such it seems reasonable to suppose that our Lord and Creator would carefully avoid them too. Let`s see how well He does. Pasted from (this link is 404) <http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/sevensins.html> Can now (2014) be found at: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-22349.htmlCredit: Adrian Barnett