The legend of Faust from the Renaissance times. The end of civilization.
“…has each one of us signed with the blood of his human nature a compact with some such spiritual power, with the demonic element within him, with that spirit of negation, of cynicism, of cold unideal utilitarian worldly-wisdom which mocks at faith and love and every high and tender impulse…?”
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Faust-Legend and Goethe’s “Faust,” (p. 64), by H. B. Cotterill. (Commentary on Goethe’s Faust)
‘Decoctions of hallucinogenic plants such as henbane, belladonna, mandrake, datura, and other plants of the Solanaceae family were central to European witchcraft. All of these plants contain hallucinogenic alkaloids of the tropane family, including hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and atropine—the last of which is unusual in that it can be absorbed through the skin. These concoctions are described in the literature variously as brews, salves, ointments, philtres, oils, and unguents. Ointments were mainly applied by rubbing on the skin, especially in sensitive areas—underarms, the pubic region, the forehead, the mucous membranes of the vagina and anus, or on areas rubbed raw ahead of time. They were often first applied to a “vehicle” to be “ridden” (an object such as a broom, pitchfork, basket, or animal skin that was rubbed against sensitive skin). All of these concoctions were made and used for the purpose of giving the witch special abilities to commune with spirits, transform into animals (lycanthropy), gain love, harm enemies, experience euphoria and sexual pleasure, and—importantly—to “fly to the witches’ Sabbath”.’
From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_witchcraft#Hallucinogens_and_witchcraft>
Witches and brooms: (From madeintransylvania.wordpress.com) “The history of the the traditional broomstick is closely tied with the “Witches Broom” of “Olde” wives tales. In early Middle Ages, many clerics had thought that witches didn’t exist – it was in fact heresy to believe that they did as it attributing divine power to a human. However, by the late Middle Ages, especially after the plague, witchcraft began to be prosecuted. During the Medieval times it became common folklore in Eastern Europe that witches used the broomsticks to fly through the air and travel great distances in short periods of time. There a few different theories trying to explain the link between broomsticks and the witches of old….” See more at: https://madeintransylvania.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/a-history-of-the-witch-and-her-broomstick/ (IA.)
[Why doesn’t Faust repent? Is it impossible? Contrary to faith? Where is God?]
“The contract-stories differ from one another as to the objects which in the several instances the human party to the bargain designed to secure by it ; but they all adhere to the fundamental idea, that the obligation is invalid against the interposition of the Divine Mercy on behalf of the repentant sinner. Such is the significance of one of the earliest, which also became one of the most widely-spread of these legends and which no commentator on the Faust-legend has failed to notice.”Old English Drama. Select Plays. By A.W. Wardarchive.org/18/items/oldenglishdramas00warduoft/oldenglishdramas00warduoft.pdf
Continental Reformation Attitudes to Witchcraft(Protestantism has fewer defences against sorcery than Catholicism so the Protestant Reformation increased fear of witchcraft)“In Germany, even more largely than in other continental Germany, countries, the popular belief in the infernal origin of practices of sorcery in this age found expression in wild scandals and uncontrollable fictions. It attached itself to a wide variety of personages from the scholastici vagantes, of whom Hans Sachs had already brought an example on the stage, to an Elector of the Empire such as Joachim II of Brandenburg (1535-1571). In France charges of this kind were even brought against a king (Henry III) and his royal mother (Catharine de’ Medici). But if princes were the patrons of necromancy (as they were more especially of alchemy), they likewise persecuted its practice with the utmost severity ; thus we find an edict of the Elector Augustus of Saxony (of the year 1572), proclaiming the penalty of death by fire against whosoever ‘in forgetfulness of his Christian faith shall have entered into a compact, or hold converse or intercourse, with the Devil, albeit such person by magic may do no harm to any one‘ The clause I have italicised strikes me as particularly significant. In vain did a writer such as Johannes Wierus (Wier, Weiher or Weyer) seek, in the spirit of Reginald Scot, to stem the tide of popular prejudice, and to vindicate the memory of those whose fame, like that of Cornelius Agrippa, had by that prejudice been converted into infamy. Wierus’ noble effort (I583 2 ) in the cause of reason, and the partial protest of his contemporary Augustine Lercheimer 3 (1585), were outclamoured by eager witnesses to the truth of the popular superstitions and of the narratives by which they were supported, such as above all Bodin (l59i 4 ), whom Fischart translated into German, and Hondorff (i572 5 ). Thus fostered, these beliefs flourished in Germany through the sixteenth and part of the seventeenth century, the troubles of which furnished them with new new materials. But of these all notice must be left aside. The neighbouring countries were not in advance of Germany ; the last personage widely believed to have entered into a compact with the Evil One was the French Marshal Luxembourg (1628-1695), whose Dialogues in the Kingdom of the Dead with Doctor Faustus were a catchpenny of the year 1733; and if Germany had its Faustus in the sixteenth century, Bohemia had had its Zytho in the fifteenth (in the age of Charles IV), and Poland had its Twardowski, said to have been a contemporary of the German magician, of whose legend his is a reflexion or a singularly close parallel . How the story of Faustus found a ready welcome in the Netherlands and in France, as it did in England, will be immediately shown.”Old English Drama. Select Plays. By A.W. Wardia700402.us.archive.org/18/items/oldenglishdramas00warduoft/oldenglishdramas00warduoft.pdf
“The origins of the Faust legend are of very great antiquity. The essentials underlying the story are the pact with Satan, and the supposed vicious character of purely human learning. The idea of the pact with Satan belongs to both Jewish and Christian magico-religious belief, but is probably more truly Kabalistic than anything else, and can scarcely be traced further back; unless it resides in the savage idea that a sacrificed person takes the place of the deity, to which he is immolated during the period of life remaining to him before his execution, and afterwards becomes one with the god. The wickedness of believing in the al-sufficiency of human knowledge is a favourite theme with the early Lutherans, whose beliefs strongly coloured the Faust legend; but vivid hues and wondrously carven outlines are also afforded its edifice by the thought of the age in which it finally took shape; and in the ancient Faust- books we find tortuous passages of thought and quaintnesses of conception which recall to our minds the artistry of the Renaissance.”“The Encyclopedia of the Occult” (Faust) by Lewis SpenceThe Encyclopedia of the Occult: A Compendium of Information on the Occult Sciences, Occult Personalities, Psychic Science, Magic, Spiritism and Mysticism. Lewis Spence. Bracken Books, 1988Pasted from <http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Encyclopedia_of_the_Occult.html?id=jRJ7QgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y>
Disney’s Ariel in a clip from The Little Mermaid. Evil Octopus Ursula offers to grant Princess Ariel’s wish to become human if Ariel will surrender her voice. Ariel signs a deed and gains two feet. Two feet equals 24 inches. In Faust, he gains 24 years. Coincidence? No.
What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Jesus says:“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
http://kingjbible.com/mark/8.htm
Devil’s Trill Sonata
Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770):
“One night, in the year 1713 I dreamed I had made a pact with the devil for my soul. Everything went as I wished: my new servant anticipated my every desire. Among other things, I gave him my violin to see if he could play. How great was my astonishment on hearing a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and – I awoke. I immediately grasped my violin in order to retain, in part at least, the impression of my dream. In vain! The music which I at this time composed is indeed the best that I ever wrote, and I still call it the “Devil’s Trill”, but the difference between it and that which so moved me is so great that I would have destroyed my instrument and have said farewell to music forever if it had been possible for me to live without the enjoyment it affords me.”
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Trill_Sonata>
Listen to Tartini Violin Sonata in G minor ”Devil’s Trill Sonata” :
Simplicissimus the vagabond that is – the life of a strange adventurer named Melchior Sternfels von Fuchshaim … given forth by German Schleifheim von Sulsfort in the year MDCLXIX translated by A.T.S. Goodrick; with an introd. by William Rose. Published 1912 by Routledge in London . Pasted from <https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23332527M/Simplicissimus_the_vagabond>
http://www.archive.org/stream/simplicissimusva00grim#page/n33/mode/2upp. xxix