scholarly journals Astral Magic and Adelard of Bath’s Liber Prestigiorum; or Why Werewolves Change at the Full Moon

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1 and 2) ◽  
pp. 151-161
Author(s):  
Patricia Aakhus
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Full Moon ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The West ◽  
English Court ◽  
Precious Stone ◽  
Profound Knowledge ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
Phases Of The Moon

Astral magic, the capturing of celestial spirits or rays in engraved stones at astronomically propitious times, enters the West with Adelard of Bath’s 12th century translation of Thabit ibn Qurra’s treatise on talismanic magic, Liber Prestigiorum. Derived from Greek, Babylonian, Sabian, Egyptian and Neo-Platonic magical theory and practice, astral magic requires profound knowledge of astronomy. Talismans draw down planetary spirits along stellar rays, the vehicles of transmission, following sympathetic correspondences between astronomical and terrestrial phenomena. In the 12th century works Guillaume de Palerne and Le Chevalier au Lion, magic rings and werewolves are tied to astral magic. These works were written for the English court that supported Adelard, and Gervase of Tilbury’s Otia Imperialia where ‘in England we have often seen men change into wolves according to the phases of the moon’ and ‘there is no precious stone which may not be consecrated for the exercise of its extrinsic power with the herb of the same name or with the blood of the bird or animal, combined with spells’. Adelard’s version of Thabit’s text, along with the Latin Picatrix, also derived from Thabit, had the greatest impact on learned magic in the medieval and early modern periods

scholarly journals Lunar periodicity in reproduction

1924 ◽  
Vol 95 (671) ◽  
pp. 523-550 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Full Moon ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Lunar Periodicity ◽  
East Indies ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Phases Of The Moon

In Volume 2 of the ‘ Philosophical Transactions ’ of the Royal Society, published in 1667, travellers to the East Indies are asked to enquire (p. 419) “ whether those shell-fishes, that are in these parts plump and in season at the full moon, and lean and out of season at the new, are found to have contrary constitutions in the East Indies ? ” This belief that the size of certain marine invertebrates, chiefly molluscs and echinoderms, varies with the phases of the moon is found in the literature of classical Greece and Rome and of the middle ages, and is held to-day in the fish markets around the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea. At Suez sea-urchins and crabs are said to be “ full ” at full moon and “ empty ” at new moon, at Alexandria the same thing is said of mussels and of sea-urchins, the Tarentines believe that oysters are fattest at full moon (34), while at Nice, Naples, Alexandria, and in Greece (17, p. 17, footnote) urchins are said to be fullest at full moon. The part of the sea-urchin which is eaten is the gonad, while in the crab it is the muscles, so that these tissues are supposed to vary in bulk with the phases of the moon. Now my own investigations, of which preliminary reports have already been published (8, 9) and a full account is to be given in this paper, have shown that while the supposition is untrue of mussels ( Mytilus sp .) and sea-urchins ( Strongylocentrotus lividus ) in the Mediterranean and of mussels ( Mytilus variabilis ) and crabs ( Neptunus pelagicus ) in the Red Sea, it is based on fact as concerns the sea-urchins found at Suez ( Centrechinus [ Diadema ] setosus ). In the last-mentioned form the gonads undergo a cycle of growth and development corresponding with each lunation throughout the breeding season. Just before full moon ovaries and testes are at their greatest bulk, filled with spermatozoa or eggs which are spawned into the sea at the time of full moon. The shrunken gonads then gradually fill again with ripening sexual products to be shed at the next full moon. It is remarkable, then, that a belief which was such common knowledge among the ancient inhabitants of Mediterranean countries that it was referred to by their poets and orators and one which is held to-day in the Mediterranean ports is indeed untrue of this region, while at Suez it is based on fact. It is possible that the Greeks originally obtained the belief from the ancient Egyptians, who would have it from the Red Sea (what really occurs there in sea-urchins being supposed to apply to all “ shell-fish ”), and that the same belief has survived around the Mediterranean until to-day. Or perhaps the belief had an independent origin in Greece, founded, not on fact, but on the supposed influence of the moon-deities on growth in general.

Moonlight and the biting activity of Culex (Melanoconion) portesi Senevet & Abonnenc and C. (M.) taeniopus D. & K. (Diptera, Culicidae) in Trinidad forests

1975 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Davies
Keyword(s):  
Full Moon ◽  
Light Trap ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Light Traps ◽  
Baited Traps ◽  
Suction Traps ◽  
New Moon ◽  
Phases Of The Moon ◽  
Increased Activity

AbstractThe biting activity of Culex (Melanoconion) portesi Senevet & Abonnenc and C. (M.) taeniopus D. & K. in a secondary seasonal marsh forest in Trinidad was studied by means of catches by six mouse-baited suction traps, and a single light-trap. The traps were cleared at hourly intervals between 17.00 h and 07.00 h on nights which approximated to the new, first quarter, full and last quarter phases of the moon. The catches were compared with illumination at canopy and ground level which was estimated by selenium photocells whose output was recorded on the continuous chart of a servo-potentiometer. Humidity, rainfall, temperature and cloud cover were also recorded. In the suction traps both species showed peaks of activity at evening and dawn twilight at new moon, although the dawn peak was not very pronounced with C. taeniopus, but this pattern was modified on other nights in a manner which was consistent with moon age. At full moon the evening and dawn peaks were replaced by increased activity during moonrise and the middle of the night. The light-traps failed to show the evening and dawn activity and did not always duplicate the baited traps during darkness. Two hypotheses based on either a permissive range of illumination or an underlying circadian rhythm are discussed; neither fully explains the observed biting activity. Although an association between moonlight and biting activity does exist, an understanding of its nature will require more experimental data.

Yeats, Philosophy, and the Occult

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Moon ◽  
The West ◽  
Philosophical Thought ◽  
The Third ◽  
Current State ◽  
Dream State ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Poetic Practice ◽  
Phases Of The Moon

Yeats, Philosophy, and the Occult is a collection of essays examining the thought of the Irish poet W. B. Yeats and particularly his philosophical reading and explorations of older systems of thought, where philosophy, mysticism, and the supernatural blend. It opens with a broad survey of the current state of Yeats scholarship and examination of Yeats’s poetic practice through a manuscript that shows the original core of a poem that became a work of philosophical thought and occult lore, “The Phases of the Moon.” The following essay examines an area where spiritualism, eugenic theory, and criminology cross paths in the writings of Cesare Lombroso, and Yeats’s response to his work. The third paper considers Yeats’s debts to the East, especially Buddhist and Hindu thought, while the fourth looks at his ideas about the dream-state, the nature of reality, and contact with the dead. The fifth essay explores Yeats’s understanding of the concept of the Great Year from classical astronomy and philosophy, and its role in the system of his work A Vision, and the sixth paper studies that work’s theory of “contemporaneous periods” affecting each other across history in the light of Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West. The seventh essay evaluates Yeats’s reading of Berkeley and his critics’ appreciation (or lack of it) of how he responds to Berkeley’s idealism. The book as a whole explores how Yeats’s mind and thought relate to his poetry, drama, and prose, and how his reading informs all of them.

The biting habits of Culicoides furens (Poey) and C. barbosai Wirth & Blanton. III. Seasonal cycle, with a note on the relative importance of ten factors that might influence the biting rate

1972 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. Kettle
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Full Moon ◽  
Lunar Cycle ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Illumination Time ◽  
Biting Rate ◽  
New Moon ◽  
Phases Of The Moon ◽  
Cycle Temperature

The biting rates of Culicoides furens (Poey) and C. barbosai Wirth & Blanton on Florida Beach, Jamaica, were observed in 50 trials conducted 40–115 min after dawn from 5 February 1960 to 10 February 1961. The data were logarithmically transformed and non-zero biting rates standardised. Biting rates of both species varied markedly from week to week but monthly mean rates were significantly higher and lower for C. furens in September (111·4) and March (13·7), respectively. Monthly mean rates for C. barbosai fell into three groups, (i) March-June (15·3); (ii) November–December (9·1); (iii) January–February and July–October (3·1). These changes were negatively correlated with mean sea level. Biting rates of C. barbosai were highest at new moon (10·3) and lower but similar (4·3–5·2) for the other three phases of the moon. Those of C. furens were maximal at new moon (62·8), minimal at full moon (20·4) and intermediate (35·9, 39·5) at the quarters. The lunar effect is assumed to act through the tides. There were no significant differences between the standardised biting rates at different times after dawn. In a comparison of the quantitative effects of ten factors on the biting rates of C. furens, C. barbosai and Leptoconops becquaerti (Kieff.), most important were month of year and wind speed; of less importance were lunar cycle, temperature, collector and limb exposed; while site position, intensity of illumination, time after dawn, saturation deficit were of minor or no importance. It is concluded that the biting rate of L. becquaerti should be the least affected by changes in these factors, C. barbosai more affected and C. furens most affected.

God, Tsar, and People

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Rowland
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Russian History ◽  
The West ◽  
Common View ◽  
God's Will ◽  
Political World ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
Russian State

This book brings together essays written over a period of fifty years, using a wide variety of evidence — texts, icons, architecture, and ritual — to reveal how early modern Russians (1450–1700) imagined their rapidly changing political world. The book presents a more nuanced picture of Russian political thought during the two centuries before Peter the Great came to power than is typically available. The state was expanding at a dizzying rate, and atop Russia's traditional political structure sat a ruler who supposedly reflected God's will. The problem facing Russians was that actual rulers seldom — or never — exhibited the required perfection. This book argues that this contradictory set of ideas was far less autocratic in both theory and practice than modern stereotypes would have us believe. In comparing and contrasting Russian history with that of Western European states, the book is also questioning the notion that Russia has always been, and always viewed itself as, an authoritarian country. The book explores how the Russian state in this period kept its vast lands and diverse subjects united in a common view of a Christian polity, defending its long frontier agai-nst powerful enemies from the East and from the West.

scholarly journals Moonlight pollination in the gymnosperm Ephedra (Gnetales)

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 20140993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina Rydin ◽  
Kristina Bolinder
Keyword(s):  
Full Moon ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Wind Pollination ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Pollination Syndromes ◽  
Insect Pollination ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
Four Seasons ◽  
Ephedra Distachya ◽  
Phases Of The Moon

Most gymnosperms are wind-pollinated, but some are insect-pollinated, and in Ephedra (Gnetales), both wind pollination and insect pollination occur. Little is, however, known about mechanisms and evolution of pollination syndromes in gymnosperms. Based on four seasons of field studies, we show an unexpected correlation between pollination and the phases of the moon in one of our studied species, Ephedra foeminea . It is pollinated by dipterans and lepidopterans, most of them nocturnal, and its pollination coincides with the full moon of July. This may be adaptive in two ways. Many nocturnal insects navigate using the moon. Further, the spectacular reflection of the full-moonlight in the pollination drops is the only apparent means of nocturnal attraction of insects in these plants. In the sympatric but wind-pollinated Ephedra distachya , pollination is not correlated to the full moon but occurs at approximately the same dates every year. The lunar correlation has probably been lost in most species of Ephedra subsequent an evolutionary shift to wind pollination in the clade. When the services of insects are no longer needed for successful pollination, the adaptive value of correlating pollination with the full moon is lost, and conceivably also the trait.

scholarly journals Litigants in the English “Court of Poor Men's Causes,” or Court of Requests, 1515–25

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-337
Author(s):  
Laura Flannigan
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Court ◽  
Relative Poverty ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Specific Interpretation ◽  
Star Chamber ◽  
Legal Strategies

The early-Tudor English government oversaw the rise of various centralised courts offering the king's subjects access to extraordinary justice in their private suits. One such new arena was the ‘Court of Requests’, an early equity or conscience court long overshadowed in histories of the period by the better-known courts of Star Chamber and Chancery. This article analyses the little-studied Requests archives to ask who sued there and when/why the court became associated with specifically poor men's causes. Focusing on the formative decade of ‘popularisation’ between 1515 and 1525, it finds that whilst litigants appear to have been largely from the lower sectors of society compared to their counterparts in the other conciliar courts, most petitioners opted for imprecise, rhetorical and non-static descriptions of their relative poverty – defined not just economically, but also in terms of age, property, and kin – in comparison to their opponents, appealing to the specific interpretation of conscience in Requests. The article thus scrutinises the methodologies we use for uncovering the demography of early-modern central courts, and has implications for understanding litigants' legal strategies, recorded identification as distinct from self-identification, and the theory and practice behind commonly-held ideals about the provision of royal justice for the ‘poor’.

Magic in Historical Theory and Practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-112
Author(s):  
P. G. MAXWELL-STUART
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Colonial America ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
The West ◽  
General Audience ◽  
History Of

Collected essays are a popular and useful way of throwing light on their proclaimed subject matter or period, and of bringing recent research to a more general audience. They are, of course, inevitably limited in their scope, although this does not necessarily imply that they are at all parochial. ‘Europe’ is a frequent and obvious geographical limitation imposed upon matter dealing with magic and witchcraft, and ‘early modern’ a common chronological set of termini. Thus, the recent Oxford handbook of witchcraft (2013) declares itself confined – a very broad confinement – to early modern Europe and Colonial America. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark's earlier Athlone history of witchcraft and magic in Europe (1999–2002) again takes Europe as its principal theatre, although its spread over six volumes allows the editors to begin with the ancient Middle East and extend chronologically to the twentieth century. By adding ‘in the West’ to the title of his collection, Collins therefore appears to be confining himself geographically (although ‘the West’ is remarkably large), while ‘from antiquity to the present’ extends to his contributors a brave allowance of time in a single volume. This volume, then, more or less follows an established pattern for this kind of scholarly work. How far does it succeed in matching the endeavours and achievements of its predecessors?

Transition in Knowledge of Chinese Geography in Early Modern Europe: A Historical Investigation on Maps of China

Cultura ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-65
Author(s):  
Jingdong YU
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
New Production ◽  
The West ◽  
Process Of Change ◽  
Geographical Knowledge ◽  
Historical Investigation ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
Intercultural Interactions

During the 17th and 18th centuries, European investigations into Chinese geography underwent a process of change: firstly, from the wild imagination of the classical era to a natural perspective of modern trade, then historical interpretations of religious missionaries to the scientific mapping conducted by sovereign nationstates. This process not only prompted new production of maps, but also disseminated a large amount of geographical knowledge about China in massive publications. This has enriched the geographical vision of Chinese civilization while providing a new intellectual framework for Europeans to understand China. Concurrently, it has formed another route for the travel of knowledge and intercultural interactions between the East and the West. Those interactions between space and knowledge have been reflected in the production, publication and dissemination of numerous maps of China in early modern Europe.

Lunar Cycle Influences Reproductive Performance of Crossbred Brahman Cows Under Tropical Conditions

2021 ◽  
pp. 074873042098363
Author(s):  
Alejandro A. Aguirre ◽  
Roberto A. Palomares ◽  
Aitor D. De Ondiz ◽  
Eleazar R. Soto ◽  
Mariana S. Perea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Full Moon ◽  
Lunar Cycle ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Crossbred Cows ◽  
Lunar Phases ◽  
Tropical Conditions ◽  
Service Conception ◽  
New Moon ◽  
Postpartum Estrus

Evidence has accumulated over the years indicating that the moon influences some aspects of the reproductive activity in animals and humans. However, little is known about the influence of the lunar cycle on the reproductive performance of cows under tropical conditions, where the environment strongly affects reproduction. This retrospective study was conducted with the aim of assessing the influence of the lunar cycle on some reproductive traits of tropical crossbred cows managed in a pasture-based system. Data from 5869 reproductive records from two commercial farms localized in the Maracaibo Lake Basin of Zulia State, Venezuela, were analyzed. Variables studied were first service conception rate, calving frequency, first postpartum estrous frequency, and pregnancy frequency. In addition to the lunar cycle, the effects of farm, season, and predominant breed were also considered. Data were analyzed using logistic regression and general linear model from SAS. First service conception was affected by lunar phases and predominant breed, but not by farm or season. For frequencies of calving, first postpartum estrus, and pregnancy, there was no main effect of farm, season, and predominant breed, whereas the effect of lunar phases was highly significant. First service conception was significantly greater in waning than in crescent phase of the lunar cycle. Frequencies of calving, first estrus, and pregnancy were highly correlated and showed greater figures around full moon and new moon. In conclusion, lunar cycle influenced first service conception, attaining greater values in the waning phase of the moon cycle. Frequencies of calving, first postpartum estrus, and pregnancy in crossbred cows showed a clear bimodal rhythm, whose greatest values coincided with new moon and full moon.

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