Jenay Clark
Chapter 7
Prayer in Magic and Religious
Ritual
Fritz Graf
“The relationship between magic and religion has long been a problem
widely discussed among historians of religion. Opinions ranged from the
one extreme position that magic is different from and in strict opposition
to religion if not its most dangerous opponent to the other where the term
magic is denounced as a semantic trap and altogether expelled
from scientific vocabulary” (pg.188).
ö The basics for this chapter as stated by the author is to see
whether or not some of the prayers included in the collection of the Papyri
Graecae Magicae are different from the other traditional non-magical
prayers.
I. Sir James Frazer
a. Magician-constrains, coerces, and forces the divinity to do his will
b. Religious man- submits himself to God’s overpowering will
c. Believes that prayer is the “quintessence of religion”
so he chose to focus on this aspect in his chapter.
d. Papyri published during the later part of the 19th century contained
spells, hymns, and prayers. Scholars could no longer ignore its significance.
e. Alluded to ritual text of mystery cults that the magicians used and
Homeric verses.
f. Frazerian dichotomy-“implicitly devaluating magic (at least
from a Christiano-centric point of view), helped to facilitate this interpretation
and prevented the apparent permeability between magic and religion from
becoming a problem”
II. Importance
a. To the Greeks, a magician wasn’t simply somebody who recited or uttered
spells but he prayed to the gods as well.
b. Plato used prayers and spells to help him persuade the gods.
c. Several words appear that allude to magic. Appear in titles of spells
and throughout the text.
Formula– the spoken magical action appears
Prayer-appears the most
III. Prayers are tripartite – structure is
functional as well as very important
a. Invocation- calls the attention of the divinity and invites it to
come and participate in the ritual. Myths, cult-places, and epithets of
the gods being called are surely mentioned so that the god will feel obligated
to come.
b. Narrative or second part/middle part- the person asking for something
gives his/her credentials or qualifications so that they can establish
their right to ask the divinity something. Present their sacrifices.
c. Final section- contains the actual wish that is addressed to the
specific god of gods. The wish is brought forth as soon as the divinity
is addressed, not wasting any time.
d. Certain prayers (189-190) and their interpretations are left up to
the individual and adapted in their own way. For example when referring
to a persons name the person praying, they can customize this part to fit
the prayer. The (NN) means a persons name is to be inserted and can be
left up the person praying whether or not they will mention their name
or the other person involved.
ö According to Frazer, there is still no difference between religion
and magic up until this point. Like religion all the parts are there, the
epic listing of the divinities and the invocations. Demons also appear
as well as evil forces.
IV. Sacrifices- nearly all Greek prayer
accompanies a sacrifice
a. Burnt offerings
i. For a spell to do good spices are in order: storax, myrrh, sage,
frankincense, and the pits from fruits.
ii. For a spell to do harm you need: “magical material of a dog
and a dappled goat, as well as of a virgin untimely dead”
ö Graf sums this magic up as not being any different than from religious
prayer. Notable exceptions include the prayer in the voces magicae to
Selene-Hecate and the material magica in the black magic version
of the ritual.
V. Egyptian Influences
a. The magical words that aren’t understandable or indistinguishable
in certain parts of magical prayers are thought to be the names of Egyptian
epithets or divinities.
b. There function includes invoking divinities. By using it, the magician
makes certain that the god listens since the invoker has used the widest
sphere of the god’s activities and characteristics.
c. Hermes’ many celestial names that aren’t traditionally known are
used in some prayers and involve using the Egyptian influences.
i. Hermes’ many names aren’t used to force the god to do something,
however, they are used to display the knowledge displayed by the invoker.
Gods reveal Hermes many names.
ii. When invoking the magician behaves not much differently than an
initiate of a mystery cult.
VI. Magic and Religion with regards
to prayer are the same according to Graf
a. Coercion is present but not a strong enough force to take it literally
or deriving magic from religion.
b. Separate classes of coercive spells and rituals also exist, however,
there aren’t enough of them to make them a distinguished part of magic.
c. One ritual spell that uses the coercive spell is the Eight
Book of Moses
VII. Hierarchy
a. Supreme god “great name”
b. Lesser gods
c. Evil daemons (i.e. planetary gods on the other side) and the helpful
angels
ö Magic especially used daemons and angels, whom the magician could
command with the help of the supreme god.
ö Magicians weren’t much different then from the religious individuals
VIII. Ritual
a. Contained fumigations
i. Appear in the Orphic Hymn-religion and magic both
ii. Libations also common to religion also appear
iii. Animal sacrifices
IX. Differences
Animal sacrifices usually appear in holocaust or strangulation forms
but never in the Olympian version of sacrifice.
a. Followed by the animal sacrifice there were usually group meals
b. When the animal parts were eaten the magician usually appeared alone,
in contrast to the sacrificial meal that occurred.
c. Magician is an isolated individual
i. Itinerant specialists working for a customer
ii. Individual layperson-practicing the ritual in their own interest
ö The differences between prayer and magic are according to Graf
very important: “the community, which finds its identity and its feeling
of communitas in the Olympian sacrifice and the ensuing meal, is
absent from the magical praxis“.
ö The sacrifices in the Papyri Graecae Magicae are not public
festivals
ö Both holocaust and libations with fluids occur outside magical
ritual in “religious” rituals.
ö Burnt offerings in rituals are strange-salt and soil. Burning
these commonly meant alienation from the human world and moving the magician
to in a sphere closer to the divinity where they will talk.
ö Burnt offerings in the Prayer to Selene were used to work
either good or bad. To work good: one had to burn spices and a fruit pit.
Evil: magical material of a dog, a goat, and a virgin.
ö Slander spell of Selene- warranted unholy actions as
well.
ö The main distinction of magic according to Graf is the ritual
and not in the prayers themselves and not so much in the form of the rituals.
Magic and religion share the function.
X. Conclusion
“In the world of syncretistic religion and magic, no provenances
and clear borrowings of traditional formulae can be shown” (197).
Return to Main Page: CLST 4003H. Honors Colloquium
on Greek Religion. Spring 2002
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