The Meaning of Witchcraft

«My Directorship of the Museum of Magic and Witchcraft at Castletown, Isle of Man, brings me a great deal of correspondence from all parts of the world;» — Gardner abre el libro con la credencial desde la que escribe: dirige el museo de Castletown, en la Isla de Man, y de ahí le llega la correspondencia que dice motivar el libro. La misma credencial aparece en *Witchcraft Today*.

«However, my more serious correspondents want to know the origin of witchcraft.» — declara que la pregunta que el libro se propone contestar se la ponen sus lectores: de dónde viene la brujería.

«Firstly, those who take the severely rationalist view that witchcraft was a kind of mass hysteria, arising from psychological causes.» — la primera de las tres escuelas que distingue: la racionalista, que ve histeria colectiva de causa psicológica.

«Secondly, those who maintain that witchcraft is real, and that it is the worship and service of Satan, in whom its devotees appear to be great believers.» — la segunda escuela: la brujería es real y es culto a Satanás.

«This is the attitude taken by that very prolific writer, the late Montague Summers, and his many imitators.» — según Gardner, esa segunda posición es la de Montague Summers y sus imitadores; lo nombra como su adversario principal.

«Thirdly, that school, headed by anthropologists like Dr. Margaret Murray, which has tried to look at the subject» — la tercera escuela, que encabeza Margaret Murray. La oración sigue en la plana siguiente.

«either superstitious terrors and theological argument on the one hand, or materialistic incredulity on the other.» — el final de esa frase: lo que, según Gardner, la escuela de Murray se propone evitar en los dos flancos.

«This school of thought maintains that witchcraft is simply the remains of the old pagan religion of Western Europe, dating back to the Stone Age, and that the reason for the Church's persecution of it was that it was a dangerous rival.» — según Gardner, la tesis de esa escuela: la brujería es el resto de la vieja religión pagana de Europa occidental, con raíz en la Edad de Piedra, y la Iglesia la persiguió por rival.

«I personally belong to this third school, because its findings accord with my own experience, and because it is the only theory which seems to me to make sense when viewed in the light of the facts of history.» — se adscribe a la tercera escuela y da dos razones: su propia experiencia y la coherencia histórica. La adhesión es declarada, no argumentada aquí.

«When I was out East, before I had any contact with witchcraft in Britain, I investigated much native magic without finding anything which could not be explained by telepathy, hypnotism, suggestion or coincidence, and frankly I considered magic as an instance of the curious things that people will believe.» — cuenta su propio escepticismo anterior: en Oriente no halló nada que no explicaran la telepatía, la hipnosis, la sugestión o la casualidad.

«In those days I was very much interested in Dr. Margaret Murray's theory that witchcraft was the remains of an ancient religion; but as all authorities seemed agreed that while there was evidence that some people may have been witches, there was not the slightest evidence that witches had ever been organised into covens;» — según Gardner, la objeción que en su momento le hizo descartar la teoría de Murray era la falta de prueba de que hubiera aquelarres organizados.

«I dismissed witchcraft as something which had possibly happened once, but even if it had existed it had been “burnt out” three hundred years ago.» — su posición previa, dicha con la expresión de los perseguidores: extinguida a fuego tres siglos atrás.

«They said that witches existed everywhere, and were both male and female.» — según Gardner, lo que decían los tratados antiguos: brujas en todas partes y de ambos sexos.

«However, in the late 17th and the 18th centuries public opinion seemed to change.» — data en el siglo XVII tardío y el XVIII el giro de la opinión pública sobre la creencia en brujas.

«I did not think that anyone, with the exception of the Rev. Montague Summers, dared hint that there might be anything in witchcraft today without being laughed at.» — concede a Summers, su adversario, el mérito de haber sido el único que sostenía la existencia actual de la brujería.

«However, after Dr. Murray's books appeared, some other people were bold enough to admit that there were some witches left, but said that they were only village fortune-tellers, impostors who knew nothing about the subject, and there never had been any organisation, and anyone who thought otherwise was just being imaginative.» — según Gardner, la concesión mínima que siguió a los libros de Murray: quedaban brujas, pero eran adivinas de aldea sin organización alguna.

«I was of these opinions in 1939, when, here in Britain, I met some people who compelled me to alter them.» — fecha en 1939 el encuentro que dice haberle hecho cambiar de opinión.

«Although I believe in reincarnation, as many people do who have lived in the East, I do not remember my past lives clearly; I only wish I did.» — declara su creencia en la reencarnación y a la vez su falta de recuerdo. La misma reserva, casi con las mismas palabras, está en *Witchcraft Today*.

«I was half-initiated before the word “Wica” which they used hit me» — el momento en que dice haber reconocido dónde estaba: la palabra *Wica* usada por sus iniciadores. El libro escribe *Wica* con una sola c, contra la grafía *Wicca* que emplea el prólogo de 2022.

«And so I found myself in the Circle, and there took the usual oath of secrecy, which bound me not to reveal certain things.» — el juramento que, según él, fija el límite de todo lo que el libro puede decir.

«I discovered the inner meaning of that saying in one of Fiona MacLeod's books: “The Old Gods are not dead. They think we are.”» — toma de un libro de Fiona MacLeod la fórmula con que resume su hallazgo.

«I am a member of the Society for Psychical Research, and on the Committee of the Folklore Society;» — declara sus dos pertenencias institucionales, que usa como respaldo de su intención de publicar.

«But I was met with a determined refusal. “The Age of Persecution is not over,” they told me; “give anyone half a chance and the fires will blaze up again.”» — según Gardner, la razón que le dieron los suyos para negarle el permiso de contarlo: la persecución no ha terminado.

«This Act is, I believe, unique in legally recognising the existence of genuine mediumship and psychic powers.» — sobre la ley británica que sustituyó a la de brujería: sostiene que es única por reconocer en derecho la mediumnidad auténtica.

«Any attempt to show witchcraft in anything even remotely resembling a favourable light, or to challenge the old representation of it as something uniformly evil and devilish, or even to present it as a legitimate object of study, can still arouse the most surprising reactions.» — describe la reacción que provoca incluso tratar la brujería como objeto legítimo de estudio.

«In particular, I denied that witches celebrated the Black Mass, or that they killed animals—or even unbaptised babies—as blood sacrifices.» — la negación central del libro, enunciada aquí como resumen de lo que ya había sostenido: ni Misa Negra ni sacrificios de sangre.

«They all said, “We don't know how to perform it, and if we did, what would be the point of doing so?”» — según Gardner, la respuesta de los propios miembros del culto a la pregunta por la Misa Negra: ni saben celebrarla ni le ven objeto.

«I am not the first to have pointed this out; Eliphas Levi, the celebrated French occultist, who was also a devote Catholic, stated in his book, Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, that the first condition of success in the practice of black magic was to be prepared to profane the cultus in which we believed.» — según Gardner, Eliphas Levi ya había señalado que la magia negra exige profanar el culto en que se cree, de lo que se sigue que un pagano no puede celebrar una Misa Negra. La grafía *devote* es la que imprime la fuente.

«Some may hold that anyone who does not believe in Transubstantiation is lacking in the True Faith and doomed to Hell.» — plantea el caso límite con que discute la acusación de profanación: quien no cree en la transubstanciación.

«I am told that certain Nonconformist ministers preaching against Transubstantiation obtained consecrated Hosts and held them up to mockery in the pulpit; but I have never heard that this made them witches.» — el ejemplo con que separa la profanación de la hostia de la brujería; lo da de oídas, y así lo marca.

«The point which those writers who persistently link the witch cult with the Black Mass fail to appreciate is that they can either maintain that witches are pagans, or that they celebrate Black Masses; but that in the name of logic and common sense they cannot have it both ways.» — el argumento central del libro contra la Misa Negra: paganismo y misa invertida se excluyen, porque solo profana el rito quien cree en él.

«Unlike a number of sensational writers, I do not wish to convey the impression that there are witches at work in every corner of the land.» — acota el alcance de lo que afirma y se separa de la prensa sensacionalista.

«They are generally the descendants of witch families, and have inherited a tradition which has been preserved for generations.» — sostiene la transmisión familiar del culto como vía principal de continuidad.

«all those frightful stories of the witches bringing babies to the Sabbat to eat them; what really happened was that witch parents dared not omit to have their babies baptised, for fear of instantly arousing suspicion, so they used to bring the babies to the Sabbat first, and present them in dedication to the Old Gods.» — su reinterpretación de las historias de bebés en el sabbat: no antropofagia sino presentación a los Dioses Antiguos antes del bautismo cristiano.

«Then, they felt, it wouldn't matter if a ceremony of Christian baptism was later gone through “for show.”» — el bautismo cristiano quedaba, según él, como formalidad de apariencia.

«However, as the persecution of the Old Religion grew more fierce, it became dangerous to admit children.» — data en el recrudecimiento de la persecución el abandono de la iniciación infantil.

«There are terrible records of children being hanged or burned with their parents, merely because they were of the witch blood.» — sostiene que hay registro de niños ejecutados por pertenecer a la sangre del culto.

«Margaret Ine Quane, for instance, who was burned as a witch here in Castletown in 1617, had her young son burned with her, simply because he was her son.» — el caso concreto que da, ocurrido en la localidad donde escribe.

«Hence the custom of initiating the children was less and less observed, and this, coupled with the wholesale extermination policy carried on at the Church's instigation, soon greatly reduced the numbers of the cult.» — su explicación del declive numérico: menos iniciaciones infantiles más exterminio.

«The witches are firm believers in reincarnation, and they say that “Once a witch, always a witch.”» — el factor de continuidad que, según él, sus perseguidores no previeron: la reencarnación, con la fórmula que atribuye a las propias brujas.

«Of course, witch rites today are somewhat different from what they used to be many centuries ago.» — concede la diferencia entre el rito actual y el antiguo, dentro de una tesis de continuidad.

«Then the great meetings, called Sabbats, used to be attended by large numbers of the population, who arrived provided with the wherewithal to cook a meal for themselves» — describe el sabbat antiguo como reunión numerosa que traía su propia comida. El tramo se corta antes del paréntesis que sigue.

«In fact, most traditional country merrymakings have some connection with the Old Religion; the Puritan Stubbes, in his Anatomie of Abuses, fiercely denounces the people who stayed out all night in the woods “Maying” on the old Sabbat date of May Eve; and Christina Hole, in her English Folklore, notes how the Northamptonshire “guisers”—folk-dancers dressed in fantastic costumes—are called “witch-men” to this day.» — según Gardner, la denuncia del puritano Stubbes y el dato de Christina Hole sobre los danzantes de Northamptonshire ligan la fiesta campesina con la Vieja Religión.

«In the Basque country of Pays de Labourd in 1609 the official investigator from the Parlement of Bordeaux, Pierre de Lancre, was horrified to find that the Sabbat was sometimes held in the local church, apparently with the priest's consent.» — según Gardner, el propio inquisidor Pierre de Lancre registró sabbats celebrados en la iglesia parroquial.

«He was particularly scandalised to find how many Basque priests sympathised with the Old Religion.» — continúa el mismo testimonio de De Lancre sobre la simpatía del clero vasco.

«But in the old times the churchyard was the regular place for village merrymakings.» — su explicación de las historias de aquelarres en cementerios: allí se hacía la fiesta de la aldea.

«In those days a churchyard was not, as it is today, a place of gravestones, but simply a green sward.» — precisa que el cementerio de entonces era un prado, no un campo de lápidas. La forma *gravestones* es como la devuelve la capa de texto, que une el guion de corte de renglón.

«Over and over again we find the Church councils complaining that the peasants (and sometimes the priests, too) were singing ‘wicked songs with a chorus of dancing women,’ or holding ‘ballads and dancings and evil and wanton songs and such-like lures of the devil’; over and over again the bishops forbade these songs and dances; but in vain.» — según Gardner, las actas conciliares repiten la queja y la prohibición sin efecto, y de esa repetición deriva la persistencia de la costumbre.

«However, I have never heard of a present-day witch meeting being held in a churchyard; I think those sensation-mongers who have described present-day witches as forgathering in graveyards are guessing, and their guess is a few centuries out.» — niega la escena del cementerio para el culto actual y la data varios siglos atrás.

«Witches do not use blood sacrifices; and only the type of mind which considers all recognition of the Elder Gods and their symbols to be “diabolical” would call their rites “obscene.”» — la negación del sacrificio de sangre, unida a la adjudicación del adjetivo obsceno a una disposición mental ajena.

«The taking of wine during the rites is part of the ceremony; it consists usually of two glasses at the most, and is not intended to be a “mockery” of anything, still less a “Black Mass.”» — describe el uso del vino en el rito y le retira todo carácter de parodia.

«In fact, witches say that their rite of the “Cakes and Wine” (a ritual meal in which cakes and wine are consecrated and partaken of) is much older than the Christian ceremony, and that in fact it is the Christians who have copied the rites of older religions.» — atribuye a las propias brujas la inversión de la acusación: la copia sería cristiana.

«In view of the fact that such ritual meals are known to have been part of the Mysteries of the goddess Cybele in ancient times, and that a similar ritual meal is partaken of, according to Arthur Avalon in Shakti and Shakta, by the Tantriks of India, who are also worshippers of a great Mother-Goddess, there seem to be some grounds for this statement.» — apoya esa afirmación en los misterios de Cibeles y, según Arthur Avalon, en la comida ritual de los tántricos de la India. El respaldo lo da como *some grounds*, no como prueba.

«It is a tradition that fire in some form, generally a candle, must be present on the altar, which is placed in the middle of the circle, and candles are also placed about the circle itself.» — describe la disposición del altar y las velas dentro y alrededor del círculo.

«The radiesthesia journal, The Pendulum, for March, 1956, carried an article called “Living Tissue Rays,” by Thomas Colson, from the Electronic Medical Digest.» — la fuente con que introduce el material científico que usará para explicar el poder del cuerpo: una revista de radiestesia de marzo de 1956.

«The first scientific proof that there is a personal electric field, a sort of electrical aura, within and in the air around a living body, was announced to the Third International Cancer Congress.» — según Gardner, el anuncio de un campo eléctrico personal en el Tercer Congreso Internacional del Cáncer.

«The Professor explained this by saying that certain rays were emitted from the human eye which were capable of producing this result.» — según Gardner, la explicación del experimento de Cornell: rayos emitidos por el ojo humano.

«For several years, he said, scientists had been reporting discoveries that living things produce ultraviolet rays.» — el dato que recoge del artículo: emisión ultravioleta de los seres vivos.

«In the human body they had been found coming from working muscles, and in the blood.» — sigue el mismo reporte: los rayos salen del músculo en trabajo y de la sangre.

«The finger-tip rays of several persons at Cornell killed yeast readily.» — el resultado que cita como prueba de la emisión: levaduras muertas por la yema de los dedos.

«The tip of the nose was discovered to be a fine ultraviolet ‘tube’.» — otro dato del mismo reporte, que reproduce con sus comillas simples.

«There seems to be no difference in the kind, but the volume differs.» — la precisión que conserva del artículo: la diferencia entre personas es de volumen, no de clase.

«The above extract gives the reason for the witches' traditional ritual nudity.» — el uso que hace del material científico: explicar la desnudez ritual como liberación de esa emisión corporal.

«It may seem strange that the beliefs of the witch and the discoveries of the man of science should ever find a realm in which they could meet and touch; yet this is not the first time such a thing has happened.» — declara el procedimiento del libro: buscar el punto donde la creencia y el hallazgo científico se tocan.

«This is not the witches' way, though they believe that helpful spirits, human or otherwise, come of their own accord to assist in their rites, and that those present who have developed “the Sight” (i.e. clairvoyance) may see such spirits.» — distingue el rito de las brujas de la evocación forzada: los espíritus vienen por su voluntad y los ve quien tiene *the Sight*.

«A popular belief about witchcraft, which is nevertheless erroneous, is the idea that a witches' coven must consist of thirteen people.» — niega que el trece sea obligatorio; el aquelarre de trece es una de las tesis que el corpus atribuye a Murray.

«Actually, it may consist of more or less than thirteen people; but thirteen is considered to be the ideal number.» — la corrección con su límite: el trece es número ideal, no requisito. En `murray-witch-cult` el trece figura entre los detalles que ella da por no explicables de otro modo; las dos formulaciones se consignan sin arbitrar.

«The word “Esbat” may come from the old French “s'esbattre,” meaning “to frolic, to enjoy oneself.”» — su etimología propuesta para *Esbat*, dada como posibilidad. Murray declara haber tomado la palabra de un solo testimonio francés de 1567.

«She has the position of authority, and may choose any man of sufficient rank in the cult to be her High Priest.» — la regla de mando del aquelarre: la sacerdotisa tiene la autoridad y elige a su sacerdote.

«In France the Maiden was sometimes called La Reine du Sabbat; in Scotland she seems to have been called the Queen of Elphame (i.e. Faery), and one old witch-trial has it that “she makes any man King whom she pleases.”» — según Gardner, los nombres de esa figura en Francia y en Escocia, y la fórmula de un proceso antiguo.

«The High Priest of a witch coven is, as we have seen, chosen by the Priestess.» — repite la regla de elección al pasar a la figura del sacerdote.

«Witches are constantly being accused of “worshipping the Devil.”» — enuncia la acusación que va a discutir en las planas siguientes.

«There is not one single text in the Bible which describes “the Devil” or “Satan” in this manner.» — su objeción a la iconografía del diablo cornudo: no viene del texto bíblico.

«The reason why people picture “the Devil” in this way is because from the very earliest times the Church has taught that the Old God who possessed these attributes was the enemy of the Christian God, and hence must be Satan;» — adjudica a la enseñanza de la Iglesia la identificación del Dios Antiguo cornudo con Satanás.

«being the famous cave paintings found at Ariege in the Caverne des Trois Freres, done by men of the Stone Age), that the High Priest who was the god's representative sometimes wore a ritual disguise, consisting of a head-dress bearing the horns of a stag or a bull, and a kind of robe of animal skins; sometimes, too, a mask which concealed his features.» — su explicación del diablo cornudo: el disfraz ritual del sacerdote, documentado desde las pinturas de la Caverne des Trois Frères. La oración empieza en la plana anterior.

«This custom seems to have been more particularly followed at the big Sabbats, when many people gathered outside the circle who were not actual initiates of the witches' mysteries, but came “for luck” (i.e. for the blessing of the Old Gods) or simply to enjoy themselves.» — distingue a los iniciados dentro del círculo de la concurrencia que se quedaba fuera.

«It will be seen that witchcraft is a system involving both magic and religion.» — la definición con que cierra el tramo: magia y religión a la vez.

«As I explained in my previous book, there are certain secrets of the witch cult that I cannot by reason of my pledged word reveal;» — vuelve a fijar el límite del juramento, remitiendo a *Witchcraft Today*.

«I doubt very much if any of them realises the reason behind them, “what made them work,” in fact; and what makes things work is the witches' secret.» — su respuesta a quienes le piden revelar los Misterios: lo que se ignora no es el rito sino la razón de su eficacia, y eso es el secreto.

«I think that this was probably the practical secret of the ancient Mysteries also.» — extiende esa hipótesis a los Misterios antiguos, marcándola como probable.

«However, I am not going to be drawn in this way to break my word;» — declara que no romperá el juramento aunque el argumento lo empuje.

«Certain of the present-day enquiries of psychical research, archaeology, anthropology, and psychology are beginning to converge in a manner that is gradually revealing facts about ancient beliefs and their effect upon human evolution which have not been realised before.» — sostiene que cuatro disciplinas convergen sobre las creencias antiguas y su efecto en la evolución humana.

«It is my hope that this book will be a useful contribution to these lines of enquiry, and perhaps assist in their convergence.» — sitúa su propio libro dentro de esa convergencia, en modo de esperanza.

«Upon the 1st March, 1956, Major Lloyd-George, then Home Secretary, as a result of a question asked in the House of Commons, said that black magic was an offence in common law.» — según Gardner, el ministro del Interior declaró en 1956 que la magia negra era delito de derecho consuetudinario.

«When pressed by M.P.s to define black magic, he said, “It is the opposite to white magic (at which there was laughter and ironical cheers) which is performed without the aid of the devil, so I assume the other is done with his aid.”» — la definición que, según Gardner, dio Lloyd-George en la Cámara, risas incluidas.

«If this be accepted as a definition, then authentic witchcraft is certainly not black magic, because witches do not even believe in the devil, let alone invoke him.» — usa esa definición oficial contra la acusación: sin creencia en el diablo no hay magia negra.

«The Old Horned God of the witches is not the Satan of Christianity, and no amount of theological argument will make him so.» — la tesis del libro sobre el dios del culto, dicha sin reserva.

«He is, in fact, the oldest deity known to man, and is depicted in the oldest representation of a divinity which has yet been found, namely the Stone Age painting in the innermost recess of the Caverne des Trois Freres at Ariege.» — data al dios cornudo como la divinidad más antigua conocida y la ancla en la pintura de la Caverne des Trois Frères.

«He is the old phallic god of fertility who has come forth from the morning of the world,» — la fórmula con que lo describe; la oración sigue en la plana siguiente.

«antiquity before Egypt and Babylon, let alone before the Christian era.» — el final de esa frase: antigüedad anterior a Egipto y Babilonia.

«Nor did he perish at the cry that Great Pan was dead. Secretly through the centuries, hidden deeper and deeper as time went on, his worship and that of the naked Moon Goddess, his bride, the Lady of Mystery and Magic and the forbidden joys, continued sometimes among the great ones of the land, sometimes in humble cottages, or on lonely heaths and in the depths of darkling woods, on summer nights when the moon rode high. It does so still.» — el pasaje en que enuncia la supervivencia del culto del dios cornudo y de la diosa lunar hasta el presente.

«Let me state right away that I personally maintain an attitude of thorough-going scepticism towards these things, and that even if they do exist I do not consider them to have any relation to the survival of the witch cult.» — se desmarca de los cultos satanistas que denuncia la prensa: escepticismo sobre su existencia y, si existieran, ninguna relación con el culto.

«The real thing is deeper hidden than this.» — su respuesta a las revelaciones periodísticas: lo verdadero no está donde la prensa lo busca.

«It is now well-known that most superstition is in fact broken-down ritual.» — el principio con que lee el folklore: la superstición como resto de un rito.

«The difficulty is, as I explained in the former book, that witchcraft has become one of the secret religions, wherein people can express their greatest longings and aspirations without being mocked at;» — define la brujería como religión secreta donde el anhelo puede decirse sin burla; remite otra vez a *Witchcraft Today*.

«With this Old Religion comes the knowledge of a type of magic, difficult at all times to learn, and more so in these days, when everything is against you in this respect; but which exists all the same as a closely guarded secret.» — sostiene que a la Vieja Religión va unida una magia difícil de aprender y guardada en secreto.

«Magic is in itself neither black nor white, bad nor good; it is how it is used, the intent or the knowledge behind it, that matters.» — su posición sobre la magia: instrumento neutro cuyo valor lo da la intención.

«Other people write asking me to expound more fully my ideas of the origins of witchcraft, and the only true answer I can give is, “I don't know”; but I have been doing a lot of research on the subject, and this book is largely the result.» — declara ignorancia sobre el origen y presenta el libro como resultado de una investigación, no como respuesta cerrada.

«not what I know, because I do not see how anyone will ever find the first beginnings.» — el límite epistémico que se pone antes de exponer su hipótesis: es lo que piensa, no lo que sabe. La oración empieza en la plana anterior.

«They are probably something like this: very primitive men, still rather like their animal kindred, lived happily and thoughtlessly until they were menaced by the slow coming of an Ice Age.» — abre su hipótesis del origen: la glaciación como presión que obliga al cambio.

«but when snow came they found that by walking upright they kept their hands» — la marcha erguida como respuesta a la nieve, primer eslabón de esa hipótesis. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«The airmen who drop a bomb could not make the bomb itself; they make intelligent use of a certain force which they do not wholly understand; and that is what magic is.» — su definición de la magia por analogía: uso inteligente de una fuerza que no se comprende del todo.

«If they misuse that force, and detonate the bomb in their plane, they may destroy themselves.» — el reverso de la analogía: el mal uso de esa fuerza se vuelve contra quien la usa.

«Magic has been classed as a trick closely guarded by the primitive magician.» — recoge la lectura corriente de la magia como truco guardado, para discutirla.

«It must be understood clearly that witchcraft is a religion.» — la afirmación que sostiene el libro entero, dicha sin rodeo.

«They considered it good that men should dance and be happy, and that this worship and initiation was necessary for obtaining a favourable place in the AfterWorld,» — según Gardner, la doctrina del culto sobre la danza y la iniciación como condición del más allá. La forma *AfterWorld* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte.

«Witches also say that they came because man wanted magical rites for hunting; the proper rites to procure increase in flocks and herds,» — atribuye a las propias brujas el origen del culto en los ritos de caza y de aumento del ganado.

«They think that in the good old days all this was obvious to the whole tribe.» — según Gardner, las brujas sostienen que lo que hoy es secreto fue evidente para la tribu entera.

«It is almost as if the Druids were the bishops, etc., who attended the House of Lords and made the laws, and had a magical religion, while the witches were the parish priests, who kept out of politics, and possessed a form of religion and magic of their own.» — su analogía para separar druidas y brujas: jerarquía política contra clero de aldea apartado de la política.

«In fact, they seem to consider the gods as being more like powerful friends than deities to be worshipped.» — según Gardner, la relación del culto con sus dioses es de amistad poderosa, no de adoración.

«To them the concept of an All-Powerful God, one who could simply say, “Let there be peace. Let there be no sickness or misery,” and all wars, sickness and misery would cease, and who for his own reasons will not say that word, and keeps men in fear and misery and want, is not fit to receive worship.» — según Gardner, el argumento del culto contra el Dios omnipotente: si pudiendo no lo hace, no merece culto.

«They quite realise that there must be some great “Prime Mover,” some Supreme Deity; but they think that if It gives them no means of knowing It, it is because It does not want to be known;» — según Gardner, el culto admite un Primer Motor incognoscible por decisión propia.

«So It has appointed what might be called various Under-Gods, who manifest as the tribal gods of different peoples; as the Elohim of the Jews, for instance, who made them in Their own image (“Elohim” being a plural noun), “male and female made They them”;» — según Gardner, de ese Primer Motor derivan dioses menores, y usa el plural de *Elohim* como apoyo.

«They can see no reason why each people should not worship their national gods, or why anyone should strive to prevent them from doing so.» — según Gardner, del esquema anterior el culto deriva una tolerancia entre religiones nacionales.

«This has always caused them to take a poor view of missionary enterprise, whether by the orthodox Church or by totalitarians such as the Communists.» — según Gardner, de ahí su rechazo del proselitismo, sea eclesiástico o político.

«It is usually said that to be made a witch one must abjure Christianity; this is not true;» — niega el requisito de abjuración que la literatura de los procesos da por sentado.

«That is the reason why witches do not think they were hypocrites “in time of persecution” for going to church and honouring Christ, especially as so many of the old Sun-hero myths have been incorporated into Christianity;» — según Gardner, la asistencia a la iglesia bajo persecución no era hipocresía para el culto.

«It must be understood that witches were, for the last two thousand years at least, the village priestesses, wise men and women, etc.» — su definición del papel social del culto durante dos milenios.

«They performed the rites which brought prosperity to the community; different from, but not opposed to, the official religion,» — sostiene que el culto no se planteaba como opuesto a la religión oficial, sino como distinto.

«Then the Druids in Britain contacted the first Christian missionaries, who may have been led by Joseph of Arimathea.» — recoge la leyenda de José de Arimatea con el verbo en potencial.

«They had long had a god called Hesus, and a tradition of a Divine Child, so it was not difficult for them to accept primitive Christian teaching.» — según Gardner, la conversión druídica fue fácil por el dios Hesus y la tradición del Niño Divino.

«The Saxons, at first heathen, were converted to Christianity by missionaries from Rome, and some laws against witchcraft were made.» — data en la conversión sajona las primeras leyes contra la brujería.

«After the Norman Conquest the Saxons became a race of serfs under Norman masters.» — el marco social con que explica el periodo siguiente.

«Later the two races tended to amalgamate and intermarry, becoming English instead of British and Saxon.» — la fusión de los dos pueblos como paso previo a la aparición del nombre inglés del culto.

«but when the Normans arrived they had a tradition of something like witchcraft.» — sostiene que los normandos traían ya una tradición semejante.

«William the Conqueror had wisely proclaimed that he was the ruler of the Church, and he appointed his own Bishops; but as the Church at Rome became more powerful it insisted on appointing non-English Bishops to all offices of profit.» — según Gardner, el conflicto entre la corona y Roma por los nombramientos episcopales.

«For if it was so difficult and expensive to get into the Christian Heaven and to dodge the Christian Hell, the witches' Paradise was simple and pleasant; but you had to keep your belief in it dark.» — su explicación del atractivo del culto: un paraíso barato y sencillo, a condición de callarlo.

«Such mass-conversions are apt not to be very sincere.» — la reserva con que lee las conversiones masivas al cristianismo.

«but the customs and beliefs of centuries are not altered so readily or so quickly as this.» — el principio de inercia cultural en que apoya la tesis de la supervivencia.

«They made good mercenary soldiers, who lived hard and liked fighting.» — dentro del mismo cuadro histórico, su caracterización de uno de los pueblos que discute.

«All I can say is that there is a witch tradition that this teaching among others was given and believed, namely that the ancient religion of Israel was the worship of the Elohim, the Supernal Father and the Supernal Mother, Who had made man in Their image, male and female» — presenta como tradición del culto, y no como hecho histórico, la doctrina de un Israel antiguo que adoraba al Padre y la Madre supernos. El límite lo pone él mismo: *all I can say*.

«this mystery was symbolised by the sacred Twin Pillars, Jachin and Boar, of Solomon's Temple;» — según esa misma tradición, los pilares gemelos del Templo simbolizaban la dualidad divina. La grafía *Boar* por Boaz es la que imprime la fuente.

«but after Solomon's time wicked priests arose who perverted the true faith, and instead of the Gods of Love, preached a solitary God of hate and vengeance.» — el relato de degradación que atribuye a la tradición del culto: de los dioses del amor a un dios solitario de odio.

«In this connection, I may quote from the Introduction to S. L. MacGregor Mathers' book, The Kabbalah Unveiled.» — nombra la fuente escrita con que respalda esa doctrina: la introducción de Mathers a *The Kabbalah Unveiled*.

«Now, for some reason or other best known to themselves, the translators of the Bible have carefully crowded out of existence and smothered up» — de Mathers, citado por Gardner: la acusación a los traductores bíblicos. La oración sigue en la plana siguiente.

«every reference to the fact that the Deity is both masculine and feminine.» — el final de esa cita de Mathers: lo que, según él, se suprimió al traducir.

«They have, however, left an inadvertent admission of their knowledge that it was plural in Gen. I. v. 26, “And Elohim said: Let Us make man.”» — continúa la cita de Mathers, con el versículo que da por prueba del plural.

«Now, we hear much of the Father and the Son, but we hear nothing of the Mother in the ordinary religions» — la queja de Gardner sobre la ausencia de la Madre en las religiones corrientes.

«What seems to have happened is that the Jews in hiding disliked roughing it in the British type of village, and slowly came back into the towns; but they dared not be known as Jews.» — su reconstrucción, marcada como conjetura, del regreso encubierto de los judíos tras la expulsión.

«It is noticeable that soon after the Qabalists began to mingle with them the Church began to persecute them.» — señala la coincidencia temporal entre el contacto con los cabalistas y el comienzo de la persecución, sin afirmar causa.

«Witches are inclined to smile at learned magicians, saying that they never could do much without a witch to help them; but they do acknowledge that in the terrible “burning times” many witches were sheltered and protected by magicians and astrologers, and perhaps this is all the more reason why they pay attention to the teaching of the Qabalists.» — según Gardner, la relación del culto con los magos doctos es de burla y de deuda a la vez.

«The fundamental idea of astrology is enshrined in the famous precept of Hermes Trismegistus, from the Smaragdine Tablet, “That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below, for the performance of the miracles of the one substance.”» — cita la Tabla de Esmeralda como principio de la astrología que, según él, brujas y magos compartían.

«Cyril Fagan, in his Zodiacs Old and New, says, “Ptolemy's ‘Great Construction’ and ‘Four Books’ were translated into Arabic and with the Moorish invasion were introduced into western Europe during the Dark Ages.» — según Gardner, la vía por la que Fagan hace llegar a Ptolomeo a Europa occidental: el árabe y la invasión mora.

«Under the Saxon kings there were laws against magic and witchcraft; but the punishment was usually only by a fine or by doing penance in church, and there is no record of it being actually inflicted.» — precisa que las leyes sajonas existían pero apenas se aplicaban, y que la pena era leve.

«Some will doubtless say that even if the witches did not know they were doing wrong, they knew it as soon as the Church proclaimed witchcraft to be heretical and sinful;» — se plantea él mismo la objeción sobre la conciencia de herejía. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«but to the witches it did not seem just that they should be condemned for doing what had been» — su respuesta a esa objeción, desde el punto de vista del culto. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«They were accused of following or consorting with “the fairies,” or Herne the Hunter, or Robin Hood, the Devil. To say he was not the Devil was heresy; and many people were brought to execution on that account.» — su reconstrucción del mecanismo judicial: la identificación de las figuras del folklore con el Diablo convertía la negación misma en herejía.

«That is, it was put to them, “Do you believe Herne, or Robin, or the Queen of Elphame, as the case might be, is the Devil?” If they said “No,” it was heresy. If they said “Yes,” they were convicted of diabolism.» — la trampa de la pregunta, expuesta en sus dos salidas.

«Probably many confessed to dealings with the Devil, so as not to get someone else, a human leader of a coven, into trouble.» — su hipótesis sobre las confesiones: protegían a un jefe humano de carne y hueso.

«However, he is one of the forms of the old god of the woods who presided over the May games.» — su lectura de Robin Hood como forma del viejo dios de los bosques.

«His name “Hood” probably means “Robin of the Woods,” as his equivalent in France was called “Robin des Bois.”» — la etimología que propone, marcada como probable, con el paralelo francés.

«If in England, as on the Continent, the persecution had been everywhere at the same time, it might have seemed different; but there would be a wild flare-up of persecution in the domains of one lord, because he or his wife had suddenly “got religion,” or because a new Bishop had come to the district.» — su explicación del carácter local e intermitente de la persecución inglesa.

«Sir Matthew Hale (1609–1676), in his History of the Pleas of the Crown, says, “Witchcraft, Sortilegium, was by the ancient laws of England of ecclesiastical cognizance, and upon conviction thereof, without abjuration, punishable with death by writ de haeretico comburendo.”» — según Gardner, la formulación jurídica de Matthew Hale sobre la competencia eclesiástica y la pena de hoguera.

«It took longer, but was none the less thorough, because everyone knew who followed the Old Religion.» — sostiene que la persecución dispersa fue igual de completa porque la pertenencia era pública en la aldea.

«Although Bishops occasionally burned witches as heretics, the general way of extermination in England was by hanging.» — precisa la diferencia inglesa: horca antes que hoguera.

«The Church said very plausibly that the pagans would not have made such statues if they had no model to work from;» — según Gardner, el argumento eclesiástico que convertía las estatuas paganas en retratos del demonio.

«I have said that there were no severe civil laws against witchcraft in early England,» — recuerda su propia afirmación anterior antes de matizarla.

«but this simply means there were no records, or at least none have survived, of trials in the Bishop's Courts,» — el matiz: la ausencia de leyes civiles no implica ausencia de procesos, sino de registros conservados.

«It was to enrich his nephew, her son, that she was said to have wrought spells with the aid of a “Devil,” Robin Filius Artis, or Artisson, who is described as “Aethiopis,”» — el caso de Alice Kyteler, con el nombre del supuesto demonio tal como lo imprime la fuente.

«Allowing for exaggeration, there seems not much doubt that she did attempt to bring her son luck,» — su lectura del caso: descontada la exageración, queda un acto de magia de fortuna.

«None of these matters were crimes by the civil law; but the Bishop quoted Bulls against sorcery promulgated by Pope John XXII.» — señala que la acusación no tenía base en la ley civil y se apoyó en bulas papales.

«The Bishop was actually imprisoned for making a false case;» — el dato con que muestra el abuso del obispo de Ossory.

«He left his easy jail in a grand procession, and attacked Lady Alice and her son again.» — la continuación del caso tras la prisión del obispo.

«But eventually William Outlaw, the son, was taken and tried at Kilkenny before the Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer and others, when a verdict was arranged that he should hear three Masses a day for a year, maintaining a certain number of the poor, and pay for repairs to the Cathedral choir.» — el desenlace judicial del hijo de Alice Kyteler.

«If his clerk bad not written down the songs the Bishop made, it is unlikely that this curious witch trial would ever have been recorded.» — señala que el registro del proceso se debe al azar de un clérigo copista. La grafía *bad* por *had* es la que imprime la capa de texto.

«The witches have vague stories of the “burning time,” which seems to have started about 1300,» — data hacia 1300 el comienzo de lo que el culto llama el tiempo de las quemas, y marca los relatos como vagos.

«the persecution was kept up by a spate of propaganda, until it was firmly fixed in the public mind that witches had commerce with the devil,» — adjudica a la propaganda la fijación de la imagen de la bruja en trato con el diablo.

«William Temple, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote in 1935, “Shelve the responsibility for human evil on Satan if you will; personally, I believe he exists, and that a large share of the responsibility belongs to him and to subordinate evil spirits.”» — según Gardner, la creencia en Satanás seguía declarada por la máxima autoridad anglicana en 1935.

«Her son, James VI of Scotland, afterwards James I of England, burned witches with zest, and brought in the death penalty in England; but he could not get the English to allow burning.» — su cuadro del giro legal bajo Jacobo VI y I, con el límite que encontró en Inglaterra.

«The Puritans in England took up the persecutions and hangings with vigour.» — adjudica a los puritanos el impulso de la persecución inglesa.

«Matthew Hopkins, the notorious “Witch-finder General,” and others who imitated him, made large amounts of money out of it.» — su lectura del cazador de brujas como negocio.

«For instance, it is on record that he received £28 øs. 3d. from Stowmarket, where the people, bamboozled into thinking that he possessed a commission from Parliament, actually levied a rate to pay this charlatan and his retinue.» — la cifra que da como prueba del negocio; la grafía de la cantidad es la que devuelve la capa de texto.

«Another of his moneymaking schemes is shown by Matthew Hopkins' “talisman against witchcraft” that we have here in this museum.» — vuelve a apoyarse en una pieza de su propio museo como respaldo material. La forma *moneymaking* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte de renglón.

«Hopkins sold these talismans as a preservative against witchcraft, asking a handsome price.» — describe la venta de talismanes protectores por el propio cazador.

«If any refused to buy, they ran the risk of being denounced as “favouring witchcraft.”» — el mecanismo de coacción que atribuye a esa venta.

«By ingenious methods he devised means of torturing prisoners and yet remaining technically within the law.» — sostiene que Hopkins torturaba manteniéndose dentro de la letra de la ley.

«However, people were ceasing to be as credulous as they formerly were; and a number of gentlemen, notably the Vicar of Great Staughton, John Gaule, protested against his activities.» — nombra a John Gaule entre quienes protestaron contra Hopkins.

«the idea being that if the person sank, he was innocent, but if he floated he was a witch, and consequently hanged.» — describe la prueba del agua en sus dos salidas.

«Not before 1735 were the penal laws against witchcraft repealed; and not until 1951 was the last Witchcraft Act swept from the Statute Book.» — las dos fechas legales con que cierra el relato de la persecución en Inglaterra.

«How many perished in the witch-mania throughout Western Europe, in the whole of its long course, will probably never be known; they are estimated to number nine million.» — da la cifra de nueve millones como estimación y a la vez declara que el número no se sabrá. El prólogo de 2022 opone a esa cifra las cien mil que manejan hoy los historiadores.

«there are still attempts to whip up persecution by getting sensational scare-stories printed, endorsed by churchmen who issue solemn warnings about “black magic” and “devil-worship.”» — sostiene que la persecución continúa por vía de prensa y de púlpito aunque la ley haya caído.

«Can anyone be surprised that adherents of this ancient cult prefer generally not to be known? Yet people are annoyed when I refuse to give them the names and addresses of persons whom I know to be witches, or to take them to where they can watch a witch meeting unobserved!» — declara que se niega a identificar a nadie ni a llevar curiosos a una reunión, y da la razón.

«she has the satisfaction of knowing that she is serving an ancient creed which she believes to be true.» — lo primero que, según él, obtiene una bruja del culto: servir un credo que tiene por verdadero.

«To some there is the fun of belonging to a sort of secret society. This is a harmless type of amusement, realised by many organisations, such as that of Freemasonry.» — compara el atractivo de la sociedad secreta con el de la masonería.

«If you have any power, you are among people who will teach you how to use it.» — lo que, según él, distingue al culto de una sociedad de recreo: la enseñanza del uso del poder.

«As one witch said to a reporter, “What do I get out of it? I get a life that holds infinite possibilities, and is entirely satisfying to me on all planes of consciousness. I have power to move in other dimensions and realms of being. I have communication with entities of different life forms, and by the» — el testimonio de una bruja a un periodista, reproducido por Gardner. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«development of new and magic gifts within myself I have certain powers of extra-sensory perception. I have knowledge, and the ability to bring about anything I really want in my own life. I experience forms of pleasures whose very existence is unknown to the majority of people. I have conquered fear. I have learned of the ordered pattern behind apparently unrelated things.”» — el final de ese testimonio, con la lista de lo que la declarante dice haber ganado.

«Another woman, a convert to witchcraft, told me, “When I was a little girl I used to be terrified of the dark and of being alone, because I often had the sensation of unseen presences around me. We were never encouraged to try to understand the spirit world. ‘Spirits’ were either banned altogether as a subject of conversation, or regarded with terror as evil. Since I have studied these things, however, I have lost this fear. Now I understand that just because an entity is not incarnate in flesh it is not necessarily evil, but that spirits are just like human beings in this respect; some are desirable companions and some are not. I know now how to deal with the ‘undesirables’, so I no longer dread them. This is one of the things that witchcraft has done for me.”» — el segundo testimonio que recoge, de una conversa: el miedo a los espíritus sustituido por un trato regulado con ellos.

«When one is studying any belief or religion, an honest scholar asks the people concerned what they believe, or he reads what they themselves say about their beliefs.» — la regla de método que reclama para su objeto: preguntar a los propios creyentes.

«Anyone who wrote about the Roman Catholic religion, using only the works of the early Protestant reformers, or who wrote about the same Protestant reformers using only what Roman Catholic writers have said about the Protestants, would not be considered a serious critic; anyone searching for facts about contemporary life in England who only read the Communist newspapers of this and other countries would be apt to form distorted views.» — los dos ejemplos con que ilustra esa regla y acusa a la historiografía de la brujería de no cumplirla.

«Yet it is a curious fact that until Dr. Margaret Murray investigated witchcraft about thirty years ago in her two monumental works, The Witch Cult in Western Europe and The God of the Witches, no writers ever seem to have thought,» — nombra los dos libros de Murray y le adjudica haber sido la primera en plantear la pregunta.

«The Church says that witches call up the devil, and fly through the air on broomsticks, and gives as proof the fact that people have been tortured until they confessed this, and that they caused storms and did all other sorts of evil. Now, I (whoever the writer may have been) do not believe in the devil, and I don't believe that anyone can fly on a broomstick; yet I am prepared to believe all the rest of what they were made to say under torture, and never try any» — pone en boca del historiador corriente la incoherencia que le imputa: descreer del vuelo y del diablo y creerse el resto de la confesión arrancada bajo tortura. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«At the time these authors were writing it would have been easy to investigate. Since then two wars, and changing social conditions, have disrupted the whole countryside. Only fragments of the old traditions remain.» — su lamento por la oportunidad perdida y el estado fragmentario de lo que queda.

«Witch-Goddess Moon, thy spell invokes The Ancient Ones of night. Once more the old stone altar smokes, The fire is glimmering bright. Scattered and few thy children be, Yet gather we unknown To dance the old round merrily About the time-worn stone. We ask no Heaven, we fear no Hell, Nor mourn our outcast lot,» — los versos que, según él, escribió un miembro del culto; el poema queda como pieza del culto, no como composición suya. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«I have endeavoured to tell as much as I can of what witches know and believe about themselves and their history.» — cierra la parte testimonial del libro y marca el paso a la parte argumentativa.

«Now I am going to discuss the probable origins of the cult, and to do this I shall try to show the various influences which may have been brought to bear upon it in Britain.» — anuncia el método de la segunda parte: orígenes probables por acumulación de influencias.

«When you begin to examine the origin of witchcraft, it is like excavating one of those prehistoric caves in France which are still occupied.» — la imagen con que describe su objeto: un yacimiento donde los estratos siguen habitados.

«So while I believe that we find the origin of witchcraft in the primitive hunting magic of the Old Stone Age people, one must try to see what different types of people have influenced it through the ages.» — su tesis del origen, enunciada como creencia y acompañada del requisito de rastrear influencias posteriores.

«Hole Cave in Yorkshire, under six inches of stalagmite, showing a dancing man wearing an animal mask.» — la pieza que aduce como testimonio del danzante enmascarado: un hueso grabado de Pin Hole Cave. La oración empieza en la plana anterior.

«Incidentally, the Pin Hole Cave is so called because it contained a deep hole into which the country people used to drop pins to gain their wishes;» — el dato de folklore con que ilustra la persistencia de una tradición mágica en un lugar.

«In various caves in France and Spain, often half a mile or more from the entrance, in prehistoric times circles have been made by putting stones together, fires have been lighted inside, and pictures of animals painted on flat stones are carefully placed face-downwards inside them.» — describe los círculos de piedra con fuego y placas pintadas boca abajo dentro de las cuevas.

«Here it is obvious that magical rites have been performed inside the circles to affect the animals depicted upon the stones, which have then been placed face-downwards to prevent the power raised being dissipated.» — su lectura del hallazgo: rito dentro del círculo y sellado del poder levantado. La afirmación va con *it is obvious*, no con una fuente.

«The researches of the Abbe Breuil and others show that the majority, if not all, of these old cave paintings were used for magic, and that originally the image or painting was done especially for the operation desired.» — según Gardner, las investigaciones del abate Breuil adjudican uso mágico a las pinturas rupestres.

«When I first began to write about witchcraft I realised that it seemed to be a Stone Age cult which began by practising hunting magic, and had found that the magic which would affect animals could be used to affect human beings, and to attempt to cause events to occur.» — su hipótesis inicial: de la magia de caza a la magia sobre personas y sucesos.

«I realised that the practice of magic had become a cult, which later grew into a religion, and that obviously at some later time foreign or exotic ideas had been introduced into the original simple folkmagic: but I thought that these ideas had only come in at a comparatively late date, via the Greek and Roman Mysteries.» — la secuencia magia · culto · religión, y la corrección de su propia cronología anterior. La forma *folkmagic* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte.

«seemingly simple ideas are apt to prove complicated on examination.» — la reserva metodológica con que introduce la complicación del cuadro.

«All other religions weren't real religions; they were just idolatry.» — recoge la posición que discute, dicha en el registro de la enseñanza recibida.

«But on investigation you find that there were very many well developed religions before the time of Moses, and that many of the ideas of Christ had been expressed by Buddha nearly five hundred years before.» — su objeción a esa posición: religiones desarrolladas anteriores a Moisés y anticipaciones budistas.

«As an anthropologist, I am accustomed to talk to people and try to find out what they believe on certain points, at the same time attempting to avoid the trap of reading into their answers my own preconceived opinions.» — se presenta como antropólogo y enuncia la trampa que dice querer evitar. La credencial es la que el prólogo de 2022 marca como autoadjudicada.

«There are many people better equipped than I am for this work of investigating the witch cult; but as far as I know no one is doing it, and it should be done quickly before any more of the old knowledge is lost.» — justifica su propio trabajo por ausencia de otros y por urgencia.

«I have this advantage, that having been initiated into a British witch coven I am in a position to talk to people who are initiated witches, and ask them what they believe, and they can trust me not to write down things which they do not wish to be known; because witches have a firmly rooted belief in their own powers, and the danger of these being misused if uninitiated people learn their methods.» — declara su iniciación como ventaja de método y, en la misma frase, como fuente de su reserva.

«In fact, they of all people keep the commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain.”» — su lectura del secreto del culto como observancia, no como ocultamiento.

«In investigating the witch cult I can only speak of British witches, because they are the only ones I know well enough and who trust me enough to tell me real things about themselves.» — acota su testimonio a las brujas británicas. El mismo límite está declarado en *Witchcraft Today*.

«Also, I think the same causes which have affected British witches would have affected those of most other European countries.» — la extensión que se permite a partir de ese límite, marcada como opinión.

«But when I began to look closer, I found that so many people did and believed much, or all, that the witches did.» — el hallazgo que dice haberle cambiado el cuadro: la creencia del culto era también la de mucha gente.

«Some could be only coincidences; but there were too many of them, and I knew that “Coincidence killed the Professor”; so I kept on until I began to think I saw a certain pattern shaping.» — su criterio para pasar de la coincidencia al patrón, con el dicho que lo resume.

«things to do and believe, and that meant that these things were probably true.» — el cierre de esa inferencia: lo natural de hacer y creer probablemente sea verdadero. La oración empieza en la plana anterior.

«As elephant herds are led by an evil-tempered female, so early tribes of hunters were led by a matriarch; that is, the strongest and strongest-minded woman ruled the tribe, and the men.» — su hipótesis del matriarcado primitivo, apoyada en una analogía animal.

«The matriarch and her daughters sat at home and governed the tribe because it was her magic which made the tribe.» — el fundamento que atribuye a ese mando: la magia de la matriarca hacía la tribu.

«Earl Russell, commenting on Malinowski's work, The Sexual Life of Savages in North-West Melanesia, points out that there is no word for “father” in the Trobriand language because no such concept exists.» — según Gardner, el dato de Malinowski comentado por Russell: ausencia de la palabra padre en trobriandés.

«Charles Seltman, in his book, Women in Antiquity (Pan Books, 1956), says of this: “Missionaries could not get along without such an idea and name, and they were forced to teach the Islanders the facts of procreation, which these happy people dismissed laughingly as plain nonsense.”» — según Gardner, la observación de Seltman sobre la enseñanza misionera de la procreación. El mismo apellido aparece antes en el libro como *Saltman*.

«Then perhaps some vigorous hunter, who liked experimenting, discovered that the matriarch's story that she made babies with the aid of a gooseberry bush, or her own magic, or whatever she told them, was not quite true.» — su relato del descubrimiento de la paternidad, marcado con *perhaps*.

«However, it was still a long time before the rule of the old matriarch gave way to patriarchy; that the understanding of the facts of procreation brought into prominence the male, phallic deity as “Opener of the Door of Life.”» — el paso al patriarcado y la aparición del dios fálico como consecuencia de ese saber.

«The Great Mother acquired a partner; but he was not yet her lord.» — el límite que pone a ese cambio: el dios entra como compañero, no como señor.

«Even so the case is in England and elsewhere today; the oldest families are the hereditary “witches” or “wise folk,” although unfortunately they had not preserved records of their family trees.» — sostiene la antigüedad de las familias del culto y consigna en la misma frase que no hay genealogías conservadas.

«In the Stone Age, when man possessed as yet no metal weapons, he had to rely on knives, spears, axes and arrows made from flint or stone.» — el marco técnico del que deriva su explicación del dios cornudo.

«It is no easy proposition to kill a great stag or buffalo with such weapons as these;» — la dificultad técnica que da por punto de partida.

«strategy of luring a herd of game into some favourable position where they either could not escape and were shot with arrows, or where they fell over a cliff or into a pit, and were there caught and despatched.» — la estrategia de caza que describe. La oración empieza antes, en la misma plana: el troceo la parte en el corte de chunk.

«It has been suggested by anthropologists that in order to get the herd where the hunters wanted them one of their number, probably the chief because he would have to be brave and resourceful, used to dress up in the horns and skin of an animal in order to act as a decoy.» — atribuye a los antropólogos la hipótesis del señuelo con cuernos y piel.

«When I was in Borneo fifty years ago, the Government had taken all the people's guns away, so they used to go out hunting deer with a pair of horns set up on a pole.» — el testimonio propio con que apoya esa hipótesis, tomado de su estancia en Borneo.

«It is very probable that the man who took the chief part in the hunt also took the chief part in the magical ceremonies, and became the priest of the tribe; because in those days religion and magic were closely related.» — el eslabón siguiente, marcado como muy probable: el cazador principal deviene sacerdote.

«Hence the horned hunter became the horned magician-priest, and eventually the Horned God.» — la conclusión de la serie: del cazador con cuernos al Dios Cornudo.

«There is a famous cave painting at Cogul showing a number of women dancing round a naked man, who wears garters, though there were no stockings in those days.» — la pintura de Cogul como testimonio de la danza en círculo alrededor de una figura masculina desnuda.

«One of these women seems to be holding what looks like a witch's Athame (magic knife); but unfortunately at some later date someone painted a horned beast over her.» — su lectura del mismo panel, con la reserva doble de *seems* y *looks like*, y el dato de la repintada posterior.

«Women seldom came into the pictures on the walls of the caves; but the Stone Age people made small statuettes of very fat naked women with their sexual attributes very much emphasised, obviously representing a fertility inducer or goddess.» — el argumento con que introduce a la diosa: las estatuillas paleolíticas frente a la escasez de mujeres en la pintura parietal.

«It is quite possible that the first priestess was the magician's (or god-representative's) wife.» — su hipótesis sobre el origen del sacerdocio femenino, marcada como posible.

«On the other hand matriarchy seems to have been very prevalent in early days, and it is probable that, as with witches today, the god-representative, or high priest, was the choice, and often the husband, of the goddessrepresentative, or high priestess.» — la hipótesis alternativa, que proyecta hacia atrás la regla actual de elección; la deja como probable. La forma *goddessrepresentative* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte.

«For remember, when I speak of magic I mean the magic which really exists, not what many people think of when magic is mentioned, such as waving a wand and something miraculous happening, or saying a rhyme and making signs and being forthwith rewarded by the appearance of a pantomime demon.» — deslinda lo que llama magia de la magia de escena antes de argumentar sobre ella.

«What this amounts to is that certain people were born with natural psychic powers.» — la base de su explicación: dotes psíquicas naturales en ciertas personas.

«So the community demanded that they should perform these rites, the more so when they discovered that they could join in the rites themselves, helping to raise power by wild dancing and in other ways.» — su explicación del paso del dotado individual al rito colectivo.

«the witch doctor in Africa today becomes unpopular if he cannot invent a good excuse for not doing something that is impossible, and this may be sharply pointed out to him with a spear.» — el paralelo etnográfico con que describe la presión sobre el operador mágico.

«We can only guess what their religious views were; though, as I have said, I believe they had their horned hunting god and their naked goddess of generation.» — declara que sobre la religión paleolítica solo cabe conjeturar, y en la misma frase enuncia su creencia.

«Their chief form of worship was probably the dance, a group dance performed with fanatic fervour in a circle, for by the circles they made in the depths of the caves they evidently had the concept that a circle magically constructed conserves power.» — la danza en círculo como culto principal, y el círculo como conservador de poder.

«To primitive people a dance is a prayer, by which they attain at-onement with the gods.» — su definición de la danza ritual como plegaria y como unión con los dioses.

«Much capital has been made of the idea that the Ancient Britons were “naked savages.”» — introduce la fórmula que va a discutir sobre los antiguos britanos.

«They were clean and healthy, in fact they were certainly much cleaner and healthier than, for instance, the inhabitants of rat-infested, plague-ridden mediaeval cities, where the streets were heaped with household garbage, and where the people regarded taking a bath as being a dangerous operation: or, for that matter, than the dwellers in our slum districts today.» — su réplica: la comparación de higiene favorece al britano antiguo frente a la ciudad medieval y al barrio pobre contemporáneo.

«From 3000 B.C. there was a constant immigration of New Stone Age people into Britain, who, while they first appeared as hunters, scouting parties in fact, soon possessed domestic animals and settled down as farmers and cattle raisers.» — data en el 3000 a. C. la llegada neolítica y el paso de la caza a la ganadería.

«They made magalithic burial mounds of the long barrow type, and appear to have had a cult of the dead akin to that of Osiris of Egypt; that is, a god of the dead, with his witch wife who mourned him and caused him to be reborn by her magic; while the dying god ruled the After-World and could get favourable conditions for you when you went there.» — el paralelo con Osiris y la pareja del dios muerto y la esposa que lo hace renacer. La grafía *magalithic* es la que imprime la fuente.

«It appears that some early peoples, the Egyptians and Assyrians, believed in the unhappy After-World, where the wandering soul might suffer from hunger, thirst and darkness, though not from physical pain.» — el contraste que traza entre el más allá desdichado de egipcios y asirios y el del culto.

«The people who built the magalithic long barrows may have believed that everyone who helped to build one of these great tombs would in time share in the buried leader's immortality under favoured circumstances, as it is thought was believed at one time in Egypt.» — su hipótesis sobre el motivo de los constructores de túmulos, doblemente acotada por *may* y por *as it is thought*.

«and all who were thus depicted would share his paradise, though continuing to work for him as servants.» — la creencia funeraria egipcia que expone: la imagen asegura el paraíso y también la servidumbre.

«They believed that in some mysterious way salvation depended on either the preservation of your body or of an image of it; so a great man would have a number of images of himself buried along with him, so that if the body was destroyed his life would continue by means of these magical images.» — la doctrina de la imagen sustituta del cuerpo, que después usará para explicar las figurillas de cera.

«It is likely, however, that this was a later Egyptian conception, possibly invented by priests and imagemakers to get more money.» — su reserva sobre esa doctrina: la data tarde y le atribuye un interés económico. La forma *imagemakers* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte.

«By now, I think, this body of primitive belief and practice had become a real religion.» — marca en ese punto de su reconstrucción el paso de la práctica a la religión, con *I think*.

«Whether they had only two gods, the old hunting god and the new god of death and resurrection, one cannot say;» — declara indecidible el número de dioses del culto primitivo.

«Also, the Great Mother became amalgamated with the witch-wife who brought her slain husband to life again, the personification of feminine allure and excitement, “The World's Desire.”» — la fusión que propone entre la Gran Madre y la esposa que resucita al dios.

«There is little doubt that ships from Crete came to this country regularly, and that they or the Mycenaeans brought the blue faience beads manufactured in Egypt circa 1400 B.C., large numbers of which have been found in graves in Wessex.» — la prueba material con que sostiene el contacto mediterráneo: las cuentas de fayenza halladas en tumbas de Wessex.

«The power of Crete was broken by the Greeks of Mycenae, who sacked the great Cretan city of Cnossus about 1400 B.C., and the ships of Mycenae and of Troy took over and kept up this trade with Britain until about 1200 B.C., when they were conquered by the Dorians, who were not seamen.» — la cronología del comercio con que explica la llegada de ideas religiosas.

«It is probable that they did have some communication with Britain; but by this time iron had ousted bronze, so there was no vital need for tin, which was Britain's great export at that time, from the mines of the West Country, and which was indispensable for making bronze weapons.» — el papel del estaño británico en esa red comercial y la causa de su declive.

«It is well known that ideas of all kinds tend to follow the trade routes; and by this means, and by means of the various immigrations of settlers, different religious ideas arrived here.» — el principio con que hace viajar las ideas religiosas: la ruta comercial y la migración.

«They laid the bodies in their graves in a curious manner, “crouching with the knees so close to the chin that the corpses must have been trussed into position,” as say Jacquetta and Christopher Hawkes in their Prehistoric Britain.» — según Gardner, la descripción de los Hawkes sobre la posición forzada de los cuerpos en los enterramientos.

«A body lying on its side in this position, under the rounded hillock of earth, may have been intended to mimic an unborn child lying in the womb of its mother.» — su interpretación de esa postura, marcada como posible.

«this custom may well be a mute witness to a belief in reincarnation.» — la conclusión que extrae de la postura fetal, con su límite dentro.

«Paley's chief argument as to the existence of God is this: “Supposing you found a watch; looking at it one would realise that this was no natural object, so its existence involves a designer and a creator, who might be human; but if in this watch was a full set of machinery which enabled this watch to manufacture many other watches, each equipped with all machinery to construct many others, this would involve the existence of a God, to design and create such an article.”» — según Gardner, el argumento del relojero de Paley, que usa para tratar la generación como signo divino.

«To the ancient world, as nowadays in Paley's “Evidences,” the powers of generation were attributed to the bounty of God, and no one in those days would have dared to think that that which was the living symbol and evidence of God was “improper.”» — su argumento contra la lectura obscena de los símbolos fálicos antiguos.

«The Bronze Age people who built Stonehenge would appear to have worshipped the same principles.» — extiende ese culto de la generación a los constructores de Stonehenge, con *would appear*.

«It is the local custom to watch for this, though it is generally said that it is to see the sun rise over the Hele Stone, which is obviously phallus-shaped.» — su lectura de la piedra Hele; el adverbio *obviously* sustituye aquí a la fuente.

«There was a local legend, once thought to be a fairy tale, that the inner “Blue” stones had been transported from Ireland.» — recoge la leyenda del transporte de las piedras azules, señalando que se la tuvo por cuento.

«Whichever way it was done it was a colossal task, and there must have been a very strong driving force, either religious or political, to cause the people to undertake it.» — el argumento de la magnitud de la obra como prueba de una fuerza religiosa o política.

«It is on these pillars that carvings of early type bronze axes, and of daggers of Mycenaean type, have been found (in 1953).» — el hallazgo de 1953 con que apoya el contacto micénico.

«We have no real proof that this was the belief in Britain, and I am inclined to think that the early Stone Age people built largely with undressed stone, though they could dress stones a little.» — declara la falta de prueba y la sustituye por una inclinación propia.

«Then someone built a small circle of dressed stones in Wales; this became known as “lucky” or “powerful,” and for this reason the great chief or high priest ordered it to be transported to Stonehenge, which was already a sacred place (the old post circle and the bank and ditch).» — su reconstrucción del traslado de las piedras galesas por su fama de poderosas.

«Whether this was due to conquest of South Wales, or simply by order of the king, or high priest or priestess of the oracle, it is impossible to say; but it was done, and then this wonderful new temple was embellished by further works.» — deja la causa indecidible y conserva el hecho.

«The Egyptian priests boasted to Solon (circa 600 B.C.) about the ancient glory of Egypt, and how their ships two thousand years before made voyages of discovery outside the Pillars of Hercules, i.e. the Straits of Gibraltar.» — según Gardner, el testimonio de los sacerdotes egipcios a Solón sobre navegaciones atlánticas.

«Now, these dates seem to fit. There is nothing impossible in it; anyone could make the voyages in quite small boats if they went by easy stages and only travelled in good weather, that is if they were not pressed for time.» — su criterio de verosimilitud: encaje de fechas y posibilidad técnica, no prueba.

«What seems impossible is what we know was done, namely transporting the “foreign stones” from Wales.» — el giro con que invierte el argumento de imposibilidad.

«All these wonderful works cannot have been done by “ignorant savages”; their leaders must have been very intelligent men who received some education and have had great wealth, if indeed they did import Egyptian masons.» — su conclusión sobre los constructores, contra la figura del salvaje ignorante.

«It suggests that someone had seen the Egyptian work and tried to copy it in earth; but because of particular religious ideas had made it circular.» — la hipótesis de una imitación de la obra egipcia corregida por una idea religiosa propia.

«Now, while I quite agree that a circle is the easiest way to build a mound, all other nations seem to have found it easier to build their stone buildings quadrangular; but Stonehenge is circular, even the lintels being rounded inside and out.» — el dato con que sostiene que la forma circular fue una decisión y no una comodidad constructiva.

«This must have been for a good reason, and I can only think that they had found by experience that in some mysterious way a circle retains and conserves any power generated inside it, in the same way that a witches' circle functions.» — cierra ligando Stonehenge con el círculo del aquelarre por la misma función de conservar poder.

«It is said that in the Fourth Dynasty in Egypt the king had one hundred large ships of cedar.» — el dato que recoge, marcado como referido, sobre la flota de la IV dinastía.

«I think there were priest-kings, magicians, who worshipped their gods and worked their magic in this and at least some of the many stone circles in Britain.» — su tesis sobre el uso de los círculos de piedra, enunciada como opinión.

«The 1955 edition of the Ministry of Works Official Guidebook to Stonehenge points out that every sunrise during the year must have a sunset point directly opposite, and the opposite point of the sunrise on the longest day will be the sunset on the shortest day, the Winter Solstice.» — según Gardner, la observación de la guía oficial de 1955 sobre la simetría de orto y ocaso.

«It is calculated, therefore, that if the now fallen central stone of the Bluestone horseshoe was of the same height as its neighbours, the setting sun on the day of the Winter Solstice would have appeared exactly over it, and framed by the stones of the great trilithon.» — la consecuencia que extrae de esa simetría para el solsticio de invierno.

«The Hon. John Abercromby, in his book on Bronze Age Pottery, written in 1912, has called attention to this fact, and pointed out that in no religion or temple does one enter by a door, walk some way into a building, and then turn round to the entrance to face the chief point of worship.» — según Gardner, el argumento de Abercromby contra la orientación solsticial de verano.

«Now, the entrance to Stonehenge is at the north-east; hence if the most holy thing there is the point of the sun's rising, one has to turn one's back upon the altar at the south-west in order to view it.» — la aplicación de ese argumento a la planta del monumento.

«He therefore suggests that the great occasion here was the Winter Solstice, when the setting sun, on the day on which it symbolically “died,” appeared framed in the great trilithon, over the altar.» — la conclusión que atribuye a Abercromby: la fiesta era el solsticio de invierno.

«The writer of the Official Guide. R. S. Newall, F.S.A., suggests that the trilithon represents the door of the Netherworld, into which the sun passes at the Winter Solstice.» — según Gardner, la lectura de Newall: el trilito como puerta del inframundo.

«This, I think, is an important observation; but the trilithon has another significance beside that of a door into the Land of the Dead.» — acepta esa lectura y le añade la suya.

«In his very remarkable book, The Great Mother: An Exploration of the Archetype, Erich Neuman, a pupil of C. G. Jung, shows a number of representations in ancient art of the door, or gateway, or trilithon, as a symbol of the Great Mother, the Goddess from whom the sun-god is reborn.» — según Gardner, el material de Erich Neuman sobre la puerta como símbolo de la Gran Madre. El apellido va como lo imprime la fuente, con una sola n.

«I have described in my previous book, Witchcraft Today, how present-day witches secretly conduct a rite at the Winter Solstice which represents exactly the same idea.» — cierra el argumento haciendo coincidir el rito actual del culto con la orientación del monumento.

«The priestess, or female leader of the coven, stands behind a cauldron in which a fire is ignited, while the rest dance round her sunwise, with burning torches.» — la descripción del rito solsticial: caldero encendido y danza en sentido del sol.

«They call it the Dance of the Wheel, or Yule, and its purpose is “to cause the sun to be reborn.”» — el nombre y la finalidad declarada del rito.

«Another ancient monument I must mention, as typifying the “male-and-female” imagery of early religion, is the Men-an-Tol, meaning “Stone with the Hole,” near Penzance in Cornwall.» — el segundo monumento con que ilustra la imaginería de la pareja divina.

«The sexual significance of this group of stones is obvious; and the careful carving of the central stone must have entailed much labour, with the tools then available.» — su lectura del conjunto y el argumento del trabajo invertido.

«The stones are still revered by Cornish people, and it is an old custom for people to take their children to the holed stone of the Men-an-Tol and cause them to pass through it “for luck,” or to cure them of childhood ailments, notably rickets.» — la costumbre viva que aduce como resto del rito antiguo.

«A persistent legend, often referred to in early English literature, is that when Troy fell a number of its princes with their followers took refuge in Western Europe; and in particular Brutus, the great-grandson of Aeneas, settled in Britain and founded a city that is now London.» — recoge la leyenda troyana de la fundación de Londres.

«When Troy was thought, in later years, to be a purely legendary locality, this old story was ridiculed; but modern archaeological research has given it a new lease of life.» — su argumento de rehabilitación: si Troya existió, la leyenda vuelve a ser discutible.

«They worshipped the Great Goddess Danae, or Danu, and it is suggested that another band of these refugees went to Ireland, where they were known as the Tuatha De Danaan, “the Children of the Goddess Dana.”» — la conexión que propone entre los refugiados egeos y los Tuatha Dé Danann, con el verbo en pasiva.

«Robert Graves, who has written extensively upon this subject, considers that in Biblical times David derived his title of King of the Jews from marrying the High Priestess of the Goddess Michal at Hebron.» — según Gardner, la tesis de Robert Graves sobre la realeza obtenida por matrimonio con la sacerdotisa.

«Personally, I very much doubt whether anyone would ever take on the job of being king for a year, or even seven years, knowing he would be sacrificed at the end of his term; though he might do so if there was a good chance of being able to arrange for a substitute.» — su objeción a la doctrina del rey sacrificado al cabo de su término, que el libro discute sin nombrar a nadie, con la salida que él mismo propone: el sustituto.

«It seems that the husband of the High Priestess of the country's goddess automatically became king, or at least could only be recognised as being king through his wife; and if he died or were killed whoever married the widow would have a good claim to kingship.» — la regla de sucesión matrilineal que propone, con *it seems*.

«that when Christ was sent on earth the Lord called a mighty power called Michal, and this power was named Mary and she descended to earth with Christ in her womb, and he was born.» — la doctrina que recoge de un grupo cristiano sobre la potencia femenina llamada Michal.

«Many mystical sects in the Middle Ages believed in a female Holy Ghost.» — el dato con que apoya la presencia de lo femenino divino dentro del cristianismo.

«The priests of this church told me some years ago that Christ was born of the Father, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and that only a woman could conceive.» — el testimonio de oídas con que cierra ese argumento.

«This Mother and Son worship is not so different from the cult of the witches, although it may be heresy to say so.» — la equiparación que propone entre el culto mariano y el del aquelarre, con la reserva incluida.

«Accepting that in most people there seems to be an urge to have a god and a goddess, I think we may consider that this was the case four thousand years ago, and all the evidence of archaeology points to it.» — el principio antropológico que proyecta cuatro mil años atrás.

«In the British Chronicle, Geoffrey of Monmouth tells of the founding of London by Brutus, great-grandson of Aeneas of Troy, in the year 1103 B.C.» — según Gardner, la fecha que da Godofredo de Monmouth para la fundación de Londres.

«This was believed implicitly by all Londoners until Polydore Virgil was employed by the King of France and the Roman Church to discredit all records showing that the Tudors were descended from Arthur and the ancient kings,» — su versión del descrédito de la tradición británica: un encargo político a Polydore Virgil. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«suggestions that there was any civilisation in Britain until the Romans conquered the country; and he succeeded so well that we are only just beginning to re-discover the truth about Ancient British civilisation.» — el final de esa acusación y su consecuencia historiográfica.

«From the standpoint of the present day, the political purpose of discrediting the old British traditions is plain.» — enuncia el móvil político que atribuye a esa operación.

«A Church of England which derived its authority from Henry VIII was in a weak position; but a Church deriving its authority from Joseph of Arimathea was a very different matter;» — el interés eclesiástico que ve detrás de la disputa sobre la antigüedad británica.

«Geoffrey gave the lists of the ancient British kings and their reigns since Brutus, so the story was ably put about that as writing was unknown in Britain until the Romans came it was impossible that these names and records could have been preserved, so they must be false.» — el argumento de la iliteracidad que, según él, se difundió para desacreditar las listas de Godofredo.

«I believe that they have adopted the practice for two reasons—that they do not wish the rule to become common property nor those who learn the rule to rely on writing, and so neglect the cultivation of the memory.» — la razón de la transmisión oral, en el pasaje sobre los druidas: secreto y cultivo de la memoria.

«Later, however, the Ogham form of writing was evolved, seemingly in Ireland, and between the 2nd and 7th centuries A.D. it spread to Wales, Cornwall, Devon, Hampshire, and the Isle of Man.» — su dato sobre la escritura ogámica y su difusión.

«It was thought that the Phoenicians were the first navigators to visit Britain; they had no idea that the ships of Mycenae and Crete came here regularly.» — el estado de la cuestión que dice haber quedado atrás.

«Troy itself was dismissed as a myth, until Schliemann, following his dream, went and dug up Troy, and found to his surprise that there were not one but six Troys, in one of which he found a piece of Irish gold work similar to those found by Sir Flinders Petrie at Gaza, thus proving trade connections between these cities and the British Isles.» — el caso de Schliemann como modelo de leyenda rehabilitada por la pala.

«Another old British tradition, incidentally, was that the Tower of London was built by Julius Caesar.» — otra tradición que consigna sin defenderla.

«Though there do not seem to be any traces of Cretan traders other than the Egyptian beads and bronze goods they brought, it is very possible that they brought part of their cult of the Mother Goddess with them.» — su hipótesis de importación del culto de la Madre por vía comercial cretense.

«“No traces found” does not mean that there are none, only that they are not yet found or identified.» — el principio con que trata la ausencia de evidencia a lo largo del libro.

«It is said that there cannot have been any early British writing or some would have survived.» — la objeción que se plantea antes de responderla con su propio trabajo de campo.

«Twenty years ago it was the great point of the Higher Critics of the Bible that the Jews were utterly illiterate;» — el paralelo bíblico con que va a discutir ese tipo de argumento.

«so nothing could have been written before the Babylonian Captivity, because in all Palestine only four pre-Exile inscriptions had been found,» — la forma exacta de aquel argumento por ausencia.

«But I was with the Wellcome Expedition digging up the city of Lakish in 1936, and we found in a guard-house a large number of potsherds inscribed in ink with a reed pen.» — su testimonio de primera mano en Laquis, la credencial arqueológica que aduce.

«They were chiefly copies of the records of a trial, and one of them apologised for writing to so great a man on potsherds, saying that owing to the war the supply of papyrus was exhausted.» — el contenido de los ostraca y la frase que, según él, explica la ausencia de papiros.

«That explained matters; the pre-Exile Jews could and did write on papyrus imported from Egypt.» — la conclusión que extrae: el soporte perecedero explica el silencio documental.

«We also realised that there had been many inscriptions on stones, but the Maccabees, being intolerant puritans had destroyed them all because they were mostly religious inscriptions dedicated to the gods, the Elohim, whose worship they were attempting to crush out.» — su segunda explicación del silencio: la destrucción deliberada por motivos religiosos.

«Similar destruction both by nature and by the hand of man may have occurred in Britain.» — el traslado de ese razonamiento al caso británico, en potencial.

«So the King had them both brought to London, and burned together at Smith-field.» — el episodio del druida y su ídolo quemados juntos, tal como lo imprime la fuente con el topónimo partido.

«This idol named Hu, was obviously Hu Gadarn, and so much knowledge must have been lost by the death of that unfortunate Druid.» — su identificación del ídolo y el lamento por el saber perdido.

«We must also remember the systematic destruction of the manuscripts of the Mayas, and the burning of the wooden tablets covered with hieroglyphics on Easter Island by Christian Missionaries.» — los dos casos comparativos de destrucción documental que aduce.

«The Sumarians and Assyrians were a fine fighting race, they had most things close at hand, but though they had great mines of copper in Cyprus, they needed tin to make bronze.» — el motivo económico con que hace llegar a Britania el contacto mesopotámico. La grafía *Sumarians* es la que imprime la fuente.

«No one knows where this Temple of Heaven is; may it not be this giant Zodiac which is about twelve miles across and the figures are so huge they can only be seen from the air, but that there were known to be figures there is proved by many old stories?» — su conjetura sobre el zodiaco de Glastonbury, formulada como pregunta.

«This implies a strong central government, or a strong religious motive, at some very early date.» — la inferencia que extrae del tamaño de la obra.

«It is noteworthy that long afterwards the British were in the habit of making huge hill figures, white horses, etc.» — el dato de continuidad que aduce: las figuras de ladera.

«It always has been a puzzle why these figures seem to have been constructed as if they were intended to be seen from above and the Glastonbury figures are practically invisible except from the air.» — el enigma que deja planteado sin resolverlo.

«A French paper manufacturer named Montgolfier noticed that smoke rose upwards with considerable force and it struck him if he confined smoke in a bag, the bag would be carried up along with the smoke.» — el ejemplo de Montgolfier con que abre su argumento de que una técnica antigua pudo perderse.

«Napoleon had a Hot Air Balloon Corps, and obtained important military information in this way and part of his plans for the invasion of England (which the witches claim to have foiled) involved the transport of troops by a large fleet of balloons.» — el dato napoleónico, con el paréntesis en que atribuye a las brujas haber frustrado la invasión. La afirmación va marcada como reclamo del culto.

«If any Sumerian Priest did discover it, his King would surely be glad to patronise an experiment which looked like being useful in war.» — su conjetura sobre el globo en la Antigüedad, enunciada como condicional.

«There are, in fact, many ancient stories of “Flying machines” of various kinds, from many countries—the well-known Eastern “Flying Carpet,” for instance.» — el corpus legendario con que apoya esa conjetura.

«The whole affair folded up into a small cart, and was more portable than the military balloon, with its apparatus for making gas, etc.» — el detalle técnico que atribuye al artefacto legendario.

«upper region of the air”; but he fell down upon the temple of Apollo in the City of Trinoventum (London) and was dashed to death.» — el final de la leyenda del rey Bladud. La oración empieza en la plana anterior.

«St. Columba writes of this as a vast ship which could navigate both land and sea.» — según Gardner, la descripción del Roth Fail atribuida a san Columba.

«The Druid lent him the Roth Fail to demonstrate to the Roman Emperor that the Heathen Gods had more power than the Christian but the machine crashed at the trials and Simon Magus was seriously injured.» — el episodio de Simón Mago y la máquina druídica, tal como lo cuenta.

«Christian onlookers claimed that this was because they made the sign of the cross.» — la explicación cristiana del accidente, adjudicada a los testigos.

«I am not saying this was so. I am only suggesting what might account for the facts as we find them.» — el límite explícito de todo este tramo especulativo: sugerencia, no afirmación.

«About the period, circa 2500 B.C., it is said Assyria was the great power in the Mediterranean.» — la premisa histórica de su hipótesis asiria, marcada como referida.

«As far as we know, these Stone Age people were not warlike, most of their axes, etc., were tools, and metal armed and armoured people were much in the same position as European settlers with guns were among native tribes two hundred years ago.» — su caracterización de los pobladores neolíticos y la analogía colonial con que la ilustra.

«In those days there was a sort of free trade, and it is possible that Egyptian ships may have made the voyage in early times.» — la conjetura del viaje egipcio, doblemente acotada.

«There are very curious rock carvings in Norway and Sweden which have always been supposed to record the visits of strange ships at very early dates, circa 2000 B.C.» — los petroglifos escandinavos como testimonio de esas visitas.

«All this seems to point to the fact that during the Stone Age in Britain, a number of Mediterranean people did come by sea to Britain and further, and that this intercourse continued until the rise of Carthage which dominated Spain and cut off all trade with the outer sea by her competitors.» — la conclusión de la serie y la causa que da al corte del contacto.

«It should be remembered that while the outer circle at Stonehenge, circa 1200 B.C. was oriented to the Sun, the inner circle, circa 1800 B.C., was oriented to the stars and so would seem to have been built by a star worshipping people; who would presumably, have come from some country where the stars are brilliant and the skies clear.» — el argumento de las dos orientaciones como huella de dos pueblos distintos.

«And, I can only imagine that some absolute monarch of the Assyrian type could have given the order: “There's a nice stone circle in Wales, bring it here.”» — la forma en que imagina la orden del traslado de las piedras; el verbo es *imagine*.

«The answer is, I am trying to find out the history and origins of the tradition called “witchcraft,” and as it appears to have come from prehistoric times I must look at prehistoric times and see what they were really like.» — la justificación del largo rodeo prehistórico dentro de un libro sobre brujería.

«I find instead that early Britons were apparently fairly peaceful people who were farmers and cattle-breeders,» — su retrato de los primeros britanos, contra la figura del salvaje guerrero. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«The answer is, of course, that, as Professor Joad used to say, it all depends what you mean by civilisation.» — la salida con que desactiva la pregunta por la civilización británica antigua.

«Even when the Stone Age Britons could not make metal instruments themselves, they were in constant communication with people who used metal, though these might not have been always willing to supply them with such, even as European governments frown on supplying guns to primitive races.» — distingue no producir metal de no conocerlo, con otra analogía colonial.

«According to the guide issued to visitors by the present owners of the Well, “The masonry of the Well has been the cause of much discussion and is believed to be of pre-Roman origin.» — la fuente de la que toma la datación del pozo: la guía de sus propietarios.

«Sir Flinders Petrie was of the opinion that the Well might have been rock-hewn by Egyptian colonists in about the year 2000 B.C.» — según Gardner, la opinión de Flinders Petrie sobre el origen egipcio del pozo.

«Whether this is true or not I cannot say (and the extraordinary thing is that people seem to be so little interested in trying to find out!)» — declara no poder decidirlo y traslada el reproche a la falta de investigación.

«No one would have bothered to build a structure like this merely to conserve an ordinary water supply.» — el argumento con que atribuye función sagrada al pozo.

«It is notable that almost everywhere where a sacred well, or fount, or pool, is found, there is either a sacred tree nearby or else a local legend of one.» — la regularidad que señala entre pozo sagrado y árbol sagrado.

«We know today that in actual fact the waters of the warm Palaeozoic seas were the womb of evolving life for the first living things upon earth.» — el respaldo científico que da a la imagen del agua como matriz de la vida.

«There was no antagonism between old-world religions; no one claimed that his god was the only true one and all the others were false.» — su tesis sobre la tolerancia religiosa antigua.

«On the contrary, travellers respected the indigenous gods of the countries they came to, recognising them as different theophanies of the same Cosmic Powers.» — la fórmula con que explica esa tolerancia: teofanías distintas de las mismas potencias.

«Sectarianism and religious persecution were practically unknown. Hence religious ideas were freely exchanged, especially along the trade routes;» — de ahí deriva la libre circulación de ideas religiosas por la ruta comercial.

«Bronze Age civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean should have been unknown to Ancient Britain.» — el final de esa inferencia: nada impide que cualquier concepto religioso de la Edad del Bronce llegara a Britania. La oración empieza en la plana anterior.

«To sum up, it seems that at a very early date in the Stone Age certain secrets were discovered whereby what we call magic could be practised.» — el resumen del capítulo, con *it seems* como único respaldo.

«This faith was much the same throughout the ancient world, though of course with many local variations determined by national character.» — su tesis de una fe única con variantes locales.

«We are told by ancient writers that the Druids reverenced the sun, and we know that they were the priests of the Celtic people of the Hallstadt Iron Age culture who invaded Britain in the 5th century B.C. and occupied the south-eastern parts.» — lo que da por sabido sobre los druidas: sacerdocio de los celtas de Hallstatt, llegados en el siglo V a. C.

«This means it is unlikely that many of the defenders were killed, though they may have been reduced to a state of serfdom.» — su lectura de la invasión celta: sometimiento antes que exterminio, lo que permite la continuidad del culto anterior.

«There are many popular misconceptions about the Druids. For instance, it was at first thought, when British archaeology was in its infancy, that the Druids built Stonehenge.» — objeta la atribución de Stonehenge a los druidas.

«It is now possible and permissible to believe that there must have been a last phase when Stonehenge was administered by Celtic priests, though they had little share in its devising.» — según Gardner, la fórmula de los Hawkes: administración druídica tardía sin autoría del diseño.

«Most of what we know about Druidism comes from Julius Caesar and Pliny; though there is much traditional lore of the Welsh Bards enshrined in such books as Barddas, which was written down by Llewellyn Sion of Glamorgan, a Welsh bard and scholar, towards the end of the 16th century A.D.» — el inventario de fuentes con que trabaja el capítulo, incluida la tardía compilación galesa.

«However, it certainly contains thought which is not Christian in origin, and it teaches reincarnation.» — su argumento para no descartar el *Barddas* pese a su fecha tardía.

«Caesar's account in his De Bello Gallico is suspect, as its political motivation is obvious;» — su crítica de fuente sobre César.

«The Romans had a strong vested interest in atrocity stories against the Druids, as the latter were a unifying force among the tribes of Gaul and Britain,» — el interés que atribuye a la propaganda romana. Es el mismo tipo de argumento que aplica después a los tratados de brujería.

«However, I do not think the story of wicker-work images is pure invention.» — concede parte del relato romano que acaba de poner en duda.

«These popular festivals mostly date back to pagan times, and the images may originally have been pagan gods.» — su explicación de las efigies quemadas en fiestas populares.

«Some students of Druidism indignantly deny the charge that the Druids offered human sacrifices.» — consigna la posición contraria a la suya sobre el sacrificio humano.

«Alan Insole, in his book, Immortal Britain* says, “Our historians . . . ignore the fact that if a people were accustomed to celebrate their festivals in such a gruesome manner for generations, then on every sacred hill would have been found huge piles of burnt bones and skulls.» — según Gardner, el argumento de Insole por ausencia de restos.

«But none has ever been found.» — el cierre de ese argumento, que Gardner reproduce sin arbitrar entre las dos posiciones.

«Caesar mentions their objections to writing down their secret teachings, and the cardinal doctrine which they taught, namely that souls do not perish at death, but pass from one body to another (we would call this idea reincarnation).» — según Gardner, la doctrina druídica que transmite César, identificada por él con la reencarnación.

«This doctrine removed the fear of death, and hence was a great incentive to valour.» — el efecto que atribuye a esa doctrina.

«Cicero (De Divinatione) says, “I knew a Druid myself, Divitaecus the Aeduan.» — según Gardner, el testimonio directo de Cicerón sobre un druida.

«He claimed to have a knowledge of Nature which the Greeks call ‘Physiologia’, and he used to make predictions, sometimes by means of augury and sometimes by conjecture.”» — el final de ese testimonio, con la distinción entre augurio y conjetura.

«According to Pliny the Druids had a mysterious round stone, about the size of a small apple, which they called “the serpent's egg,” and which they wore in a case hung round the neck.» — según Gardner, la noticia de Plinio sobre el huevo de serpiente.

«It has always been recognised that Witches had certain words such as Coven and Athame, which did not seem to belong to any known language,» — el dato lingüístico que usará para ligar el culto con una capa antigua.

«It seems that in the original idea of kingship the king is the earthly representative of the god.» — la doctrina de la realeza divina que va a aplicar a Britania.

«In Egypt, from about 2750 B.C., the king was the sungod Ra or Osiris, a deity in earthly form.» — el caso egipcio de esa doctrina. La forma *sungod* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte.

«This was the case in Sumeria, also; but to preserve it the king had to enter into a form of sacred marriage with the goddess of fertility, by means of her priestess.» — el matrimonio sagrado como condición de la realeza en Sumeria.

«Wherever the doctrine of the Divine King was observed, as in Britain, it was the king's job to see that the land was fruitful.» — extiende la doctrina a Britania y fija la función real.

«If the crops failed, the king was held responsible; in some way he must have displeased the gods.» — la consecuencia de esa función: la cosecha como juicio sobre el rey.

«If the king's wife were not virtuous, the earth would not yield.» — la extensión de esa responsabilidad a la reina.

«Here we see the Druids, like the Sumerian priests, protecting the king and conducting a fertility cult, which apparently entailed a class of priestesses.» — su conclusión sobre la función druídica y la existencia de sacerdotisas.

«The Druids practised astrology and divination, and I think these are likely to have been the ancient customs of the country from at least the time when the Bronze Age invaders, the Proto-Celts, came here and built Stonehenge;» — data esas prácticas antes de los druidas, marcándolo como lo que él cree probable.

«The objection of some writers that Boadicea acted without a Druid, so there could not have been Druids in her time (A.D. 61), I think rather proves the point.» — invierte la objeción sobre Boadicea para apoyar su propio esquema.

«the Romans had suppressed the Druids in those territories of Britain and Gaul which were under Roman control, ostensibly on the grounds that the religion the Druids professed was barbarous and inhuman; but they may not have realised the strength of the witch cult, in which, while a man may not take the goddess's part, a high priestess may, by girding on a ritual sword, take the part of the god.» — su explicación de la actuación de Boadicea sin druida: la regla del culto permite a la sacerdotisa tomar el papel del dios, y no al revés.

«It is notable that Boadicea performed her divination by means of observing the actions of a hare.» — el detalle adivinatorio que enlaza a Boadicea con el culto.

«although Boadicea herself seems to have lost her life in it, it led directly to the replacement of the tyrannical Suetonius Paulinus by officials who ruled mildly for the next ten years.» — su lectura del resultado de la revuelta, contada como eficacia del rito.

«R. Borrow, in his Asiatic Researches, traced a great resemblance between the cults of the Druids and the Persian Magi (Pliny had formerly noticed the same thing), and General Charles Vallency believed that they were first Brahmins, then Chaldeans, then Magi.» — según Gardner, la serie de filiaciones orientales que propusieron Borrow y Vallency para los druidas. Los nombres van como los imprime la fuente.

«What I think myself is that there was an ancient cult possibly spreading from Sumeria and the Near East, and part of this required certain ceremonies in sacred groves of trees, “Paradises” as they were called, preferably on a hill, where at certain times a sacred marriage, in token or otherwise, took place in order to confer the Divine Kingship on the ruler, and on this the general prosperity of the land was thought to depend.» — su propia hipótesis, marcada como tal, sobre la difusión del culto y el matrimonio sagrado.

«The early Jews did the same thing, but having hills handy they usually planted their groves upon the “high places.”» — el paralelo bíblico de los bosquetes sagrados.

«In the very early days, descent was traced, not through the father, but through the mother.» — la premisa matrilineal de su esquema de la realeza.

«It was the priestess who enroyalled the king by choosing him as her mate in the sacred marriage; and the heir to the throne was not the king's son, but the man who married the priestess-queen's daughter.» — la regla de sucesión que se sigue de esa premisa.

«By circa 900 B.C. archaeologists consider that, owing to the successive immigrations from the Continent, the language spoken in Britain must have been recognisably Celtic.» — el dato lingüístico con que data la celtización.

«These vigorous people, the Celts, who brought their culture and their Druid priesthood to Britain, were an offshoot of the great Aryan invasion of Europe, the Mediterranean, and India, which had such a tremendous impact upon the ancient world.» — inserta a los celtas en el esquema de la invasión aria, propio de la antropología de su época.

«They were at first wild barbarians, but they became apt pupils of the societies they invaded, and they themselves may be the discoverers of the process of iron smelting, which first arose in the Near East circa 1500 B.C.» — su caracterización de los invasores como aprendices de los invadidos.

«However, in the old India of pre-Aryan times, as modern archaeologists have found by research at the old buried cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, the people worshipped the very same horned god and mother goddess as they did in Europe.» — el hallazgo de Mohenjo-daro como prueba de la universalidad de su pareja divina.

«It is considered that the Great Mother of pre-Aryan India and her horned consort are the prototypes of the Lord Shiva, the Lord of the Beasts (Pasupati) and the Lord of Yoga, and his bride Shakti, the Great Mother whose rites among the Tantrics strongly resemble those of Western witch covens.» — la genealogía que traza de Shiva y Shakti y su semejanza declarada con el rito del aquelarre.

«As we know that the ancient Gauls worshipped gods and goddesses, and the ancient Irish did the same, and the priests of both were Druids, it seems to dispose of the contention of some writers upon Druidism that the Druids were monotheists, and in fact forerunners of the Christian message.» — su objeción a la lectura monoteísta del druidismo.

«Certain writers on Druidism believe, however, that the Druids eagerly accepted the Christian faith when it appeared in Britain, and grafted Christianity on to their paganism.» — consigna la tesis contraria del injerto cristiano sobre el paganismo druídico.

«This I think was quite true of the type of early Christianity which came soon after Christ's death, but not of what Christianity had changed to by Augustin's time.» — su matiz: la distinción entre el cristianismo primitivo y el de la misión agustiniana.

«It is not generally realised that Christianity came to Britain from two different sources; namely, what has been called» — abre la distinción entre las dos vías de cristianización que sostiene el capítulo. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«Sir John Rhys says: Irish Druidism absorbed a certain amount of Christianity, and it would be a problem of considerable difficulty to fix on a point where it ceased to be Druidism and from which onwards it could be said to be Christianity in any restricted sense of the term.» — según Gardner, la formulación de John Rhys sobre la indistinción entre druidismo y cristianismo irlandés.

«They simply thought of certain saints and of Jesus himself as being great Druids.» — su descripción del modo en que, según él, se recibió el cristianismo en ese medio.

«It is generally recognised that some Druids at least carried on their practices, but called themselves “Cele De,” “Culdees,” meaning Servants of God.» — el dato de continuidad bajo nombre cristiano.

«The witches and the Druids certainly share a number of beliefs: a belief in a future life and in reincarnation; in the efficacy of the magic circle; in forms of prophecy (or, as we would call it, clairvoyance); in the sacredness of Stonehenge and other stone circles, which in later times became the traditional meeting-places of witches; and in an acute dislike of committing their teachings to writing.» — la lista de coincidencias que traza entre druidas y brujas.

«But perhaps the most striking link between the Druids and the witches is that of the four great ritual occasions the witches call “Sabbats.”» — señala el calendario como el vínculo más fuerte entre unos y otras.

«The King of All Ireland was ceremonially married to the goddess, actually to a priestess representing her.» — el caso irlandés del matrimonio sagrado.

«May 1st was Bealteinne (Beltane); two great fires were lighted by the Druids on each sacred hill, and the cattle were driven between them as a preservation against sickness.» — el rito de Beltane según lo describe.

«On Hallowe'en the little sun substituted for the big sun; the underworld began to dominate the upper world and you could see into the future.» — su descripción del sentido de Halloween en ese calendario.

«Now, the four great festivals the witch cult celebrates are Halloween, May Eve (the old “Walpurgis Night”), Lammas, and Candlemas, February 2nd.» — enumera los cuatro sabbats del culto.

«February 2nd is called by the Christian Church “The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary”; but it is actually derived from the rites of the Roman goddess Februa, who was worshipped with lighted torches.» — su derivación pagana de la Candelaria.

«It will be noticed that these four ancient festivals neatly divide the year into four parts, from which they are sometimes known as “the four Cross-Quarter Days.”» — la estructura del año que resulta de esos cuatro días.

«I would like to advance a suggestion in this connection which I do not think has been made before.» — marca expresamente como aportación propia lo que sigue: la correlación zodiacal de los sabbats.

«each take place when the sun is in one of the four fixed signs of the Zodiac; sometimes called the Kerubic Signs, because they are the Man, Eagle, Lion and Bull which, according to Kabalistic teaching, are the Kerubs or ruling symbols of the Four Elements.» — el contenido de esa aportación: los sabbats caen en los signos fijos, los querúbicos de la enseñanza cabalística.

«In Christian times these were adopted as the symbols of the Four Evangelists, the Man for St. Matthews, the Eagle for St. John, the Lion for St. Mark, and the Bull for St. Luke.» — el paso cristiano de esos mismos símbolos.

«The Sabbat of Candlemas takes place when the sun is in Aquarius; that of May Eve when the sun is in Taurus; that of Lammas when the sun is in Leo; and that of Halloween when the sun is in Scorpio.» — la correspondencia completa entre los cuatro sabbats y los cuatro signos fijos.

«again, to indicate vital, progressive stages in the unfoldment of consciousness.» — el sentido que atribuye a los signos fijos dentro de la enseñanza que expone: etapas del despliegue de la consciencia. La oración empieza antes, en la misma plana, del otro lado del corte de chunk.

«Personally, I think they were not; the witch cult was the religion of the soil, as it were, and the Druids were the more aristocratic religion, much as things were a thousand years later, when the witch cult was the religion of the peasants, but the Roman Church was the dominant power.» — su respuesta a si brujas y druidas eran lo mismo: religión del suelo frente a religión aristocrática.

«I doubt if the religion the Romans brought with them had much influence upon the witch cult.» — niega influencia significativa del culto oficial romano.

«the deified Emperors and Capitoline Jove was, I think, more of a national expression of feeling, like the figures of Britannia with trident and shield (though this is really a figure of the Great Mother Goddess), or “Uncle Sam” in striped trousers and a goatee beard or the pretty lady with short skirts, a very decolleté chemise, and the Cap of Liberty, labelled “La France.”» — su lectura del culto imperial como emblema nacional y no como religión, con el paréntesis que reclama a Britannia para la Gran Madre.

«However, it is different when one comes to the Roman and Greek Mysteries.» — el giro con que separa los Misterios del culto oficial.

«They are definitely magical in intention; but this intention is to make the participants better men and more worthy of salvation in the future life.» — su definición de la intención de los Misterios: mágica y a la vez moral.

«Orphism was perhaps the most important of the Mystery cults.» — la jerarquía que propone entre los cultos mistéricos, con *perhaps*.

«It is certain that many rites of the pagan religion were performed under the dissembled name of convivial meetings, long after the publication of the Emperor's edicts, and Psellius informs us that the Mysteries of Ceres existed in Athens until the eighth century of the Christian era and were never totally suppressed.» — según Gardner, el testimonio de Pselo sobre la supervivencia de los misterios de Ceres bajo apariencia de banquete. Es el mismo mecanismo que atribuye al culto de las brujas.

«It is probable, however, that the Mysteries were celebrated secretly in spite of the severe edicts of Theodosius and that they were partly continued through the dark ages, though stripped of their splendour.» — su hipótesis de continuidad clandestina de los Misterios, marcada como probable.

«The Roman Emperors Augustus, Claudius, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Septimus Severus, and probably Antoninus, were initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries, though so far as is known, Hadrian was the only imperial initiate to receive all three degrees, and it was he who brought the celebration of these Mysteries to Rome.» — la lista de emperadores iniciados que da, con la precisión sobre Adriano.

«About the beginning of the fifth century Theodosius the Great prohibited and almost totally extinguished the pagan theology in the Roman Empire, and the Eleusinian Mysteries suffered in the general destruction.» — la fecha y el agente de la supresión oficial.

«He begged Fotis to steal the magic unguent for him; but the girl stole the wrong box, and when he made use of it Lucius found himself changed, not into an owl, the bird of wisdom, but into an ass.» — el episodio de Apuleyo que resume, con el ungüento de transformación.

«The concept of witches as followers of the moon goddess, and enchantresses whom it was dangerous to meddle with, was already well known to the Roman world.» — sostiene que la figura de la bruja lunar es anterior al cristianismo.

«It should be remembered in this connection that for many centuries people had an extra-ordinary belief in the medicinal value of what would strike us as most grisly remedies; hence the use of such things does not necessarily indicate black magic.» — su argumento contra leer como magia negra los ingredientes repulsivos de las recetas.

«Mrs. C. Leyel, in her very interesting book, The Magic of Herbs* tells us some of these.» — la fuente en que se apoya para el material herbario.

«Their goddess is Hecate, and Hecate, in the vision which delivers Lucius from bondage, is declared to be identical with Isis, the gracious and lovely Queen of Heaven.» — la identificación de Hécate con Isis que toma de Apuleyo, y con ella la continuidad entre la diosa de las brujas y la Reina del Cielo.

«It is notable that Shakespeare in Macbeth makes his famous three witches invoke Hecate as the mistress of their charms.» — el testimonio literario con que cierra: las brujas de Macbeth invocan a Hécate.

«O Hecate, goddess in the heavens, goddess upon the earth, and Proserpine in hell; O mother of shadows, supreme queen of the host of the dead; send not against me thy legions, O Hecate, but rather cause them to serve me. O triple Hecate, great goddess who presides over enchantments, in this fire which is offered to thee the incense shall burn in thine honour. O Hecate, may thy divinity come unto me and thy power surround me, my Father in Heaven not being offended thereat! By Hecate, O spirit ruler of the air; by Hecate, suffering souls of the dead; by Hecate, O wandering souls of the region below; by Hecate, become my helpers, my servers, my guards.”» — el texto de la invocación a la Hécate triple que Gardner reproduce, con la salvedad al Padre celestial dentro del propio conjuro.

«Then, leaving the circle, take the incense in your hand to offer it to the spirits, and formulate your demand. Afterwards, burn an offering of bread and wine for the benefit of suffering souls in general; and when this is done, say: “By Hecate, in the silence of the night I have called upon the legions of the air, the vast army of the Good Goddess; to some I have offered the incense which delights them, to others the bread for which they hunger. Now, while the stars shine in power, and the forces invoked» — la parte operativa del mismo rito: salida del círculo, ofrenda de incienso, pan y vino. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«A veneer of Christianity is given to this ritual by the use of the Lord's Prayer and the proviso in the invocation, “My Father in Heaven not being offended thereat”; but the witch goddess is conceived of as being the ruler over “suffering souls,” i.e. souls in Purgatory, which is conceived of as a sort of intermediate region, from which souls can revisit the earth.» — su lectura del rito: el cristianismo es capa exterior y la diosa conserva el mando sobre las almas.

«The word which I have translated as “the Good Goddess” is “Obs” in the original; this sounds like a worn-down version of “Ops,” the goddess of earth and of fertility, the bride of Saturn, but may be connected with Obi Worship in Africa.» — declara su propia traducción y deja abiertas las dos etimologías posibles.

«The goddess who was the guardian of the seed hidden in the earth was, in many ancient Mysteries, also the guardian of the dead, whose promise of immortality and rebirth was symbolised by the rebirth of the corn each year.» — la identidad entre guardiana de la semilla y guardiana de los muertos que sostiene su lectura del culto.

«In A.D. 324 the converted Emperor Constantine decreed that Christianity should be the official religion of the Roman Empire.» — la fecha con que abre el cuadro de la cristianización imperial.

«As Hendrik Willem Van Loon says in his Story of Mankind, “The Christians still formed a very small minority of all the people (not more than five or six per cent), and in order to win, they were forced to refuse all compromise.» — según Gardner, la explicación de Van Loon sobre la intransigencia cristiana como táctica de minoría.

«The Emperor Justinian closed the school of philosophy at Athens, which had been founded by Plato, and, Van Loon continues, “That was the end of the old Greek world, in which man had been allowed to think his own thoughts and dream his own dreams according to his desires.”» — el cierre de la Academia como emblema del fin de la tolerancia antigua, con la frase de Van Loon.

«Waves of barbarians from the east, the Huns, the Goths, the Vandals, and their wild, brigand-like followers, battered at the Roman Empire.» — el marco de disolución imperial que precede a su relato británico.

«In A.D. 410 the Emperor Honorius recalled the Roman Legions from Britain, telling the Britons that he could no longer spare Roman troops to garrison the country; the need at home was too desperate.» — la retirada romana de Britania, con su fecha.

«The Church tried hard to produce something to replace the old Roman tradition, and to a great extent succeeded.» — su valoración del papel sustitutivo de la Iglesia tras el vacío imperial.

«They were bigoted, and generally poorly educated; but they did serve to hold the various provinces together when their natural leaders were thus abolished, and the curious position arose of Bishops commanding armies, or rather the local militia.» — su retrato de los obispos de ese periodo, con el reconocimiento y el reproche en la misma frase.

«The Council of Ancyra, A.D. 314, for instance, when Vitalis, Bishop of Antioch, St. Leontius of Caesarea, and many other Bishops, denounced pacts with the devil.» — el primer concilio de su serie sobre la legislación eclesiástica contra la magia.

«They also objected to vegetarianism; at least, their 14th canon orders that “clergy shall be deprived if they obstinately refuse to eat meat, or vegetables cooked with meat.”» — el canon que aduce para mostrar el alcance disciplinario de esos concilios.

«The 24th canon gives five years' penance to those who use soothsaying or witchcraft to cure diseases, or who follow the customs of the Gentiles (i.e. the pagans).» — el canon que penaliza la curación por medios mágicos.

«The 4th canon deprives those of the clergy who would not abstain from intercourse with all “strange women” (witches?).» — otro canon, con el signo de interrogación con que él mismo marca su conjetura.

«The Church here is clearly superseding the civil law. This was brought out more clearly at the Council of Angers, A.D. 453, with Leo, Archbishop of Boudges, presiding, the 1st canon of which is to the effect» — su tesis sobre el desplazamiento de la ley civil por la eclesiástica.

«The Bishop's militia was a formidable force; but this security was only built up at the price of losing humanity and toleration.» — el balance que hace de esa sustitución.

«The penalty for using witchcraft to cure diseases by the decree of the Council of Ancyra was five years' penance;» — repite la pena para contrastarla con lo que vendría después.

«No one alleged that she had harmed anyone; her specific offence was curing.» — el punto que subraya del caso: se penaba curar, no dañar.

«While school books talk of the Romans leaving Britain, actually there were very few to leave, apart from the Army.» — su corrección al relato escolar de la salida romana.

«One result of the splitting up into separate clan areas was the break-up of the Roman system of cultivation by huge farms attached to villas.» — la consecuencia agraria que enlaza con el resurgir del culto de fertilidad.

«These circumstances would have tended to increase the influence of the witch cult.» — la conclusión que extrae del cuadro anterior.

«The witches believed in fertility rites, and would use all their powers to make each small community grow corn, etc., in their little fields, as they had done in the pre-Roman times.» — la función social que atribuye al culto en ese periodo.

«Also, I think that here we have a clue as to why we do not hear anything of witches in the Roman times.» — su explicación del silencio documental romano sobre las brujas británicas.

«We know this because the Roman villas we dig up have not been sacked or burned; they have simply been denuded of anything easily portable and abandoned, and slowly become buried.» — el dato arqueológico con que sostiene el abandono sin violencia de las villas.

«Up to that time it is doubtful if the Wica had a distinctive name» — data en época sajona la aparición del nombre del culto, y lo dice en duda. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«The Saxon kings made the laws, and the British had to obey them, more or less (chiefly less), much as it was in Ireland fifty years ago.» — su cuadro de la convivencia jurídica entre sajones y britanos.

«They were the people, the priests and priestesses of the Old Goddess, who were recognised as of the people.» — su definición del culto antes de tener nombre propio: el sacerdocio reconocido de la comunidad.

«The Saxons hated and feared anything to do with magic.» — la actitud sajona que usa para negar mezcla de cultos.

«I have been asked, “Did the Saxons make changes in the witch cult?” And I say, “I don't think so.”» — su respuesta a la pregunta por la influencia sajona en el culto.

«Caesar records that the customs of the “Germans” were entirely different from those of the Celts.» — según Gardner, la distinción que ya trazaba César entre germanos y celtas.

«It is evident that Frey was originally the mate of Freya; but in later times she was “married” to Woden, and Frey became her “brother.”» — su reconstrucción de la pareja divina germánica y su reordenamiento posterior.

«The Saxons came in as heathen conquerors; they looted and killed and raped.» — su caracterización de la conquista sajona.

«Also, they hated magic. This is no condition for any mingling of cult practices.» — el argumento con que descarta el préstamo entre culto sajón y culto de las brujas.

«Their laws were clear on the subject: “If any wicca or wiglaer (male witch), or false swearer, or morthwyrtha . . . or any foul, contaminated, manifest horc-wenan (whore, quean, or strumpet), be anywhere in the land, man shall drive them out. . . .”» — el texto legal sajón que reproduce, con sus glosas entre paréntesis.

«Penalties were provided for destroying anyone by “wicca crafte,”» — la pena por dar muerte mediante el arte de la bruja, en la misma legislación.

«It is a curious fact that when the witches became Englishspeaking they adopted their Saxon name “Wica.”» — el dato que sostiene el nombre del culto: los perseguidos adoptaron el nombre de sus perseguidores. La forma *Englishspeaking* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte.

«The allusion to “man-worship” is notable, as it may well refer to the appearance of the old Horned God in the form of his priest, the god's representative, dressed in his ritual costume of skin and horns.» — su lectura del término legal *man-worship* como referencia al sacerdote disfrazado del dios.

«Yet, in spite of this and similar laws, the custom of the “Christmas Bull” or the “Wooser” was kept up in Dorset until the end of the 19th century;» — la costumbre superviviente que aduce contra la eficacia de esas leyes.

«In all this period there is only one influence that I can think of which might have affected the Wica, beside their having received a name.» — acota a una sola la influencia externa que admite en ese periodo.

«A number of the more conservative type of Romans believed that all these disasters were a punishment for their deserting the old gods who had always given victory to Rome.» — la explicación pagana de las derrotas romanas que recoge.

«It is said that after the Norman Conquest, when there were numerous Saxon risings in out of the way parts, the Norman troops sent to suppress these were often led by “French-speaking witches.”» — la noticia sobre brujas francófonas al servicio normando, marcada como referida.

«It was often said that the Normans kept witches as courtesans in their castles. I should imagine that this was quite likely.» — recoge la noticia y le añade su propio grado de crédito, sin más apoyo.

«William the Conqueror himself was the love-child of Robert the Devil, also called Robert the Magnificent, and a tanner's pretty daughter, Arlette or Harlotta, from whose name some say the word “harlot” comes.» — la genealogía del Conquistador que usa como indicio de paganismo familiar.

«When, on his gaining the realm of England, William the Conqueror was asked by Pope Gregory VII to do homage to him as King of England, he replied, “Fealty I have never willed to do, nor will I do it now. I have never promised it, nor do I find that my predecessors did it to yours”» — la respuesta al papa que aduce como prueba de distancia con Roma.

«a reply that must have increased his popularity with the witch cult as much as it pained the pious. His successor, William Rufus, lived to pain them even more, for he was an open pagan;» — la lectura que hace de esa respuesta y el paso a Guillermo Rufo como pagano declarado.

«Had the Church had its way, Rufus would never even have been born; for Pope Leo IX had curtly forbidden Baldwin, Count of Flanders, to give his daughter Matilda in marriage to William the Norman; but the couple wed in defiance of him.» — el episodio del matrimonio prohibido, que ofrece como indicio del mismo conflicto.

«Historians have often puzzled over the reason for the Pope's action, as they have over the reason for the Conqueror's father being nicknamed “Robert the Devil.”» — plantea los dos enigmas historiográficos que su hipótesis pretende explicar.

«If William and his family were, to say the least of it, half-pagan, the puzzle is solved.» — la conclusión condicional con que cierra el capítulo.

«He said, “In a word, magic attempts the physically impossible, and if this is so, then inevitably the believers in magic must be confronted again and again with evidence proving the failure of their magical efforts.”» — la definición académica de la magia que va a discutir, citada de su autor.

«But there is nothing “physically impossible” about rain falling.» — su objeción central a esa definición.

«What, however, they are trying to do in this instance, is to cause a natural phenomenon to occur as and when they wish it to do so.» — la reformulación que propone de lo que hace el operador mágico.

«Modern science is constantly attempting the same thing.» — el paralelo con la ciencia que le sirve de cierre.

«I define magic as attempting to cause the physically unusual.» — su propia definición de magia, formulada contra la anterior.

«Aleister Crowley defined it as “The Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with the Will.”» — según Gardner, la definición de Crowley, puesta al lado de la suya.

«S. L. MacGregor Mathers (Frater D.D.C.F. of the Order of the Golden Dawn) defined it as “The science of the control of the secret forces of nature.”» — según Gardner, la definición de Mathers, con su nombre de orden en la Golden Dawn.

«I doubt if the Grimm brothers had ever heard of rain-making; if they had, they might have described it something like this, “The magician threw a bowl of water into the air, so that it fell down in drops, waved his wand, and immediately rain descended from the cloudless sky.”» — su parodia de la magia de cuento con que reprocha a los académicos su fuente de imágenes.

«wax image of a man in the proper manner, stick pins into it and roast it in the traditional way, and tell the man what I am doing, and he dies of fright; I contend that he died as the result of a magical act.» — el argumento con que sostiene la eficacia de la magia sin apelar a lo sobrenatural.

«but in a day or two their hearts stop beating, and the post-mortem cannot find the cause of death.» — el dato clínico con que apoya la muerte por sugestión mágica.

«I have read that many people describe magic, or “attempted magic,” as being performed by imitating the result required, i.e. “showing the Power what to do,” and repeating a rhyme to make it work.» — la explicación corriente de la magia imitativa que va a matizar.

«I prefer to think that doing the imitative act, making the model of the thing, etc., are simply useful means of focusing the mind.» — su reinterpretación psicológica del acto imitativo.

«Aleister Crowley contended that sudden feelings of revulsion could have a great effect on some natures, and there is no doubt that he made the most extraordinary experiments in these directions.» — según Gardner, la tesis de Crowley sobre el efecto de la repugnancia súbita.

«Tantric secrets” which he used in his secret Order, the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis, or Order of Oriental Templars) were of this nature, and there is no doubt that he occasionally produced results, though I think this was because he himself had naturally exceptional powers; but he was fascinated by these, which I can only describe as revolting, practices, because they suited his nature.» — su juicio sobre las prácticas de la O.T.O.: concede resultados y los atribuye a las dotes personales de Crowley, no al método.

«As he said to me once, “The witch practices are fine for people who like that sort of thing, people of that nature; but I like something I can wallow in and keep it up for eight hours at a time”;» — el testimonio directo que atribuye a Crowley sobre las prácticas del culto. Es de las pocas frases del libro que documentan un trato personal entre ambos.

«I wish here that I could nail the silly lie that Aleister Crowley was a “Satanist.”» — la defensa de Crowley contra la etiqueta de satanista.

«Crowley, like most intelligent people, did not believe in Satan.» — el argumento de esa defensa: sin creencia no hay culto. Es el mismo que aplica al aquelarre.

«The statements I have read in “popular” articles about him, that he had “made a solemn pact with the Devil,” and “sold his soul to Satan,” are either sheer ignorance or journalistic invention.» — su adjudicación de esas afirmaciones a la prensa.

«In 1898, when he was twenty-three, he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which claimed descent from the original Rosicrucians.» — el dato de filiación con que sitúa a Crowley.

«It was from Liber Legis that he obtained his famous dictum, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the Law, Love under Will.”» — según Gardner, la procedencia de la fórmula crowleyana.

«Crowley maintained that “Every man and every woman is a star,” and, like the stars in the heavens, each had a proper course appointed to them.» — según Gardner, la doctrina de la Voluntad Verdadera y su imagen astral.

«Therefore, he said, the proper task of man is to discover his True Will and do it; and he recommended his Magick as a means whereby one could discover one's True Will.» — el uso que, según Gardner, Crowley da a su Magick: hallar la Voluntad Verdadera.

«He said further that the great aim of Magick should be to obtain the Knowledge and Conversation of one's Holy Guardian Angel, who would show the way.» — según Gardner, el fin mayor de esa Magick.

«All other aims of Magick were side-issues, valuable only as they conduced to the great aim, the Great Work; and if they were pursued as ends in themselves, they became Black Magic.» — según Gardner, el criterio crowleyano de la magia negra: el medio convertido en fin.

«He took the title of “The Beast 666” because he believed that the Apocalypse, in which this interesting character is described, is a prophecy of the ending of one» — su explicación del título que Crowley se dio. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«Many other occultists, including those of such extreme respectability that they almost curl up and die whenever Crowley's name is mentioned, agree that we are now in the transition period between two great Ages, the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius, and that this breaking-up of old forms of civilisation to make way for new ones is the reason for the world-wide strife and upheaval experienced in this century.» — extiende la doctrina de los eones más allá de Crowley y la ofrece como explicación de la crisis contemporánea.

«It will be seen that these matters bear no relation or resemblance whatsoever to the popular conception of “Satanism” so beloved by the writers of sensational fiction.» — la conclusión de su defensa de Crowley.

«Crowley was a poet of remarkable power and invention, and many of his rituals were composed in verse; probably for the reasons set forth above.» — liga la forma versificada del rito con la eficacia del ritmo.

«As we know in schools, the most prosaic lessons get repeated in a sort of sing-song, and they often fall into some sort of rhythm, the end words being distorted until they rhyme.» — el ejemplo escolar con que explica por qué el rito se memoriza en verso.

«Exactly; but I understand magic is knowing that certain things have certain effects, and how to make use of these effects to render people more sensitive to certain other influences.» — su definición operativa de la magia como técnica de sensibilización.

«In my own experience, the most important thing is who you are working with.» — el factor que da por decisivo en la operación mágica: la compañía.

«However, if this is felt by all the persons concerned, it is more than likely that practising together will induce the magical sympathy.» — la condición para que el grupo funcione, marcada como probable.

«It is not a case of pressing a button or on turning a tap.» — su reserva sobre la fiabilidad de la magia.

«For most things it would be easier to produce the results by ordinary methods of working in the usual mundane way; and it is, above all, not a way to make money.» — el límite práctico que le pone: no es atajo ni negocio.

«The plain fact is that under modern conditions magic is not the help that it was at one time.» — su valoración del rendimiento actual de la magia.

«As De Lancre said of the Basques, “They talk of nothing but the last Sabbat, they look forward to nothing but the next.”» — la frase de De Lancre que usa para describir el atractivo del rito.

«In my own belief, there are some things that can be done by magic, and some that cannot, and I doubt whether rain can actually be caused to fall by magic.» — su límite personal sobre lo que la magia puede hacer, incluido el escepticismo sobre la lluvia.

«But it must be remembered that I know one type of magic well, and am therefore inclined to believe that all types work in much the same way; I may be mistaken on this point.» — declara el sesgo de su propia posición y admite el error posible.

«However, the witches tell me, “In the old days people would want the witches to ‘make rain’ or ‘make dry weather’, and of course we couldn't; but if we said so our influence was gone.» — según Gardner, la explicación de las propias brujas sobre la presión de fabricar clima.

«Well, we were usually weather-wise, and we could sometimes get clairvoyantly what was going to happen.» — la salida que, según ese testimonio, se daba a la presión: predecir en vez de causar.

«It was no laughing matter, because in Africa the witch-doctor is sometimes killed (to encourage the others) if rain does not come.» — el paralelo africano con que mide el riesgo del oficio.

«The African practice is to say, “The Gods withhold the rain because someone has done something wrong; someone is making evil magic, or has committed incest.» — la fórmula de descargo que atribuye al operador africano.

«I think the British witches had in self-defence to invent some story; the Gods were wrathful because the Church had stopped the big dances in the proper places, or something of that sort.» — su hipótesis sobre el descargo equivalente en Britania, con *I think* y *invent* dentro.

«Possibly it was not very ethical; but the priests, and even more so the Puritans, were always blaming every misfortune, from twins to swine fever, on to “the malice of witches,” and, of course, claiming all good weather and all other good things as answers to their own prayers.» — concede el reparo moral y lo devuelve simétricamente contra el clero.

«It is a pity that no one ever thought to ask, before they got out the thumbscrews and the faggots, “If you really believe all this, why don't you put up big prayers in church to amend these things?”» — la pregunta con que expone la incoherencia que atribuye a los perseguidores.

«And when they said, “But we do, regularly,” to ask further, “Then do you really believe the witches are stronger than your God?”» — el segundo paso de esa misma pregunta.

«Just sixty years ago, Hiram Maxim tells us in Li Hung Chang's Scrap Book, the celebrated Chinese statesman, Li Hung Chang, was in England on a diplomatic mission, and the weather was exceptionally dry.» — la anécdota que introduce para volver el argumento contra la oración cristiana por la lluvia.

«He was amazed to find that we were praying for rain in the churches, having thought that we believed in nothing but trade and big guns, and he asked a Bishop, “Does your God answer your prayers, for I see the ground seems all dried up?”» — la pregunta del estadista chino al obispo, en el mismo relato.

«Li Hung Chang said, “That is very funny. All same like Chinese joss.”» — el remate de la anécdota, con que equipara la oración por la lluvia y el rito chino.

«Now, the witches were great herbalists, and working with herbs you naturally know that certain things are very good medicine, but too large a dose will kill.» — la vía por la que, según él, el saber del culto incluía venenos.

«Henbane, for instance, is good for asthma, but it is very strictly on the poison list.» — el ejemplo con que ilustra la continuidad entre remedio y veneno.

«In other words, in the language of journalese “This woman was given a course of secret instruction, in which she was taught the use of poisons.”» — su ejercicio de traducción al lenguaje periodístico, para mostrar cómo se fabrica la acusación.

«As I have stated, witches did know poisons, and I expect that in early days they were pressed to supply them, like Shakespeare's “poor apothecary” in Romeo and Juliet.» — concede el saber venenoso y lo explica por presión externa.

«There is not the slightest doubt that many people who were famed as magicians, alchemists and astrologers did supply poisons, and it is more than likely that some astrologers helped their predictions that some important person would die with a “little dose.”» — extiende el cargo a magos, alquimistas y astrólogos, y lo formula sin reserva.

«The interpretation of the use of words in journalese and propaganda is an important branch of anthropological research into such questions as these we are dealing with.» — declara la crítica del lenguaje periodístico como parte de su método.

«It may be truly said that the Holy Fathers and Inquisitors first systemised and formulated Black Magic.» — la tesis del capítulo: la magia negra como construcción de los inquisidores.

«The formidable Council of Constance, and the Formicarium, gave the list of witch crimes as ‘Second Sight; Ability to Read Secrets and Foretell Events; Power to Cause Diseases, Death by Lightning, and Destructive Storms; to Transform Themselves into Birds and Beasts; to Bring Illicit Love; Barrenness of Living Beings and Crops; and the Devouring of Children’.» — la lista canónica de crímenes de brujería que reproduce del Concilio de Constanza y del *Formicarius*.

«This Council had apparently never heard the yarn of witches flying on broomsticks, or they would doubtless have added that as well.» — el argumento cronológico con que data tarde la leyenda del vuelo en escoba.

«Such was the type of Council whose decisions encouraged people to believe in black magic and witchcraft and all kinds of superstition.» — su juicio sobre el Concilio de Constanza, del que hace nacer la creencia oficial en la magia negra.

«For instance, in 1571 a travelling conjurer exhibited several quite simple card tricks in Paris.» — el caso del prestidigitador con que ilustra la maquinaria de la acusación.

«He was tortured until he confessed that he had attended a witches' Sabbat.» — el desenlace de ese caso, con la tortura como productora de la confesión.

«Actually, it seems likely that what he said was dictated under torture, and possibly a number of innocent persons were burned in consequence.» — su lectura de la confesión como dictado, y la consecuencia que le atribuye.

«Between 1580 and 1595 over nine hundred people were burned alive in Lorraine alone, and a vast number fled the country, because of a witchcraft scare.» — la cifra que da para Lorena, con su marco temporal.

«For instance, in spite of the fact that in 1423 St. Bernardino of Siena had preached against Tarot cards at Bologna, calling them an invention of the Devil, in 1484 the famous miniaturist Antonio Cicognara was commissioned to paint a most beautiful pack of these cards for presentation as a gift to Cardinal Ascanio Sforza.» — el contraste con que muestra la ambigüedad eclesiástica ante lo adivinatorio.

«It is true that the Tarot cards could be used merely for gaming, but their greatest use, as occult students know, is for divination.» — su afirmación sobre el uso principal del tarot.

«The sinister Queen Catherine de Medici (she who had the Protestants massacred on St. Bartholomew's Eve) was noted for her interest in the occult arts.» — el caso de Catalina de Médici, que servirá para separar magia ceremonial de brujería.

«but it seems quite likely that Queen Catherine did in fact instruct him in her occult practices, and after his death his curious magical instruments were publicly exhibited.» — su grado de crédito sobre la instrucción mágica de Enrique III.

«Again, like Rasputin, it was rumoured that the serpent-eyed Leonora practised black magic, and that it was this which gave her extraordinary ascendancy over the Queen.» — el caso de Leonora Galigai, presentado como rumor.

«It was deposed that some books in Hebrew had been found in her apartments (which may possibly have been grimoires), and one of her servants said that he had accompanied her to a church in order to make a sacrifice of a cockerel there at midnight.» — la prueba del proceso y la conjetura que él añade entre paréntesis.

«Every man's hand was, of course, against the fallen favourite; but it does seem that the Maréchale associated with an Italian Jewish doctor named Montalo, who was a reputed sorcerer, and that she consulted a fortune-teller and carried charms upon her person.» — su balance del caso: descontada la saña política, queda un trato con la magia.

«Here, however, Leland fails to appreciate the distinction between ceremonial magic and witchcraft proper, as so many writers do.» — según Gardner, el error de Leland es el mismo de casi toda la literatura: confundir magia ceremonial y brujería.

«Both Catherine de Medici and Leonora Galigai may have been sorceresses; but they were far too good Catholics to be pagan witches.» — el criterio con que separa las dos cosas: la brujería exige paganismo.

«Ceremonial magic, black or white, the magic of the grimoires, is something quite different from witchcraft, and has behind it quite a different set of ideas.» — la distinción central del capítulo, enunciada sin rodeos.

«Some of these ideas date back to Ancient Egypt, and examples of them may be found, in the papyri of that land; but in the form in which they were known and practised in the Middle Ages they were definitely Christian in outlook and phraseology.» — su datación de la magia ceremonial y su carácter cristiano en la forma medieval.

«However, this was but a cast which they had been given in translation, for they are based upon the Jewish secret tradition, the Qabalah.» — el fondo cabalístico que atribuye a esa magia bajo su capa cristiana.

«Briefly, it may be said that ceremonial magic of this type works upon the premise that spirits, evil or good, may be commanded by the knowledge and use of those Holy Names, whether of God or of the angels and archangels, which that particular spirit is bound to fear and revere, by reason of its occult affinity and subjection to them.» — su resumen del mecanismo de la magia de los grimorios: el mando por los Nombres Sagrados.

«When evil spirits are evoked, they are commanded and constrained by the Holy Names of God to do the magician's will.» — la consecuencia de ese mecanismo, y el argumento con que niega que el grimorio sea satanista.

«It is not always evil spirits who are called forth; but nevertheless the beings who answer the magician's call or conjuration are generally considered as being tricksy, if nothing worse, and the magician is enjoined in the grimoires, or books of magic, to stand within a circle about which are written sacred names and sigils, so that the circle constitutes a kind of astral fortress.» — su descripción del círculo del grimorio como fortaleza, distinta en función del círculo del aquelarre.

«If a visible appearance of the entity evoked is desired, then a triangle is drawn outside the circle, and the spirit is constrained to appear within the triangle.» — la disposición del triángulo de aparición en la operación evocatoria.

«Isis is said in one legend to have acquired her power by obtaining and using the secret name of the Supreme God Ra.» — el antecedente egipcio que da a la magia de los nombres.

«The Qabalistic magic of names seems rooted in the Hebrew legend that King Solomon by his great wisdom discovered the Words of Power, the Secret Names of God, and bequeathed his knowledge to his son Rehoboam.» — la leyenda salomónica de la que hace derivar la magia de los nombres.

«This is the alleged origin of what might be called the classic grimoire, “The Clavicule (or Key) of Solomon,” which purports to be the actual document which King Solomon left as a legacy to his son.» — consigna la atribución salomónica de la Clave como pretensión del texto, no como hecho.

«the demon princes to give him are contained in the “Lemegeton,” and by these curious sigils, and the magical procedure and Names of Power given with them, they may yet, says the book, be bound to do the will of the magician.» — describe el procedimiento del *Lemegeton* y adjudica la promesa al propio libro, con *says the book*.

«I know personally a man who told me that he recently succeeded in evoking to visible appearance one of the spirits of the “Lemegeton.” This spirit has appeared to him on more than one occasion, and spoken to him.» — el testimonio de segunda mano que recoge sobre una evocación goética.

«Whether, of course, the appearance would have been visible and audible to a third person I do not know.» — la reserva con que acompaña ese testimonio.

«The appearance of the spirit was somewhat different from that laid down in the grimoire; though according to Aleister Crowley, who also practised the evocation of these spirits, this is not unusual.» — la divergencia entre la aparición y la descripción del grimorio, salvada con la autoridad de Crowley.

«It gave its name in what later proved to be the correct Hebrew spelling, and told the operator that creatures of its kind were not necessarily either “good” or “evil”; they were just different.» — el contenido del mensaje que, según ese testimonio, dio el espíritu.

«That is, they were on a different plane of evolution to that of the human race, and consequently it was misleading to classify them by human standards as being either “good” or “evil” spirits.» — la glosa que Gardner añade a ese mensaje, y con ella su posición sobre la clasificación moral de los espíritus.

«Its appearance was that of a being the height and build of a tall, strong man, but covered with what looked like shining scales, and having a head with what seemed to be either small, faun-like horns or high, pointed ears.» — la descripción física de la aparición, con las dudas del propio testigo dentro.

«The two grimoires mentioned above are the source-books for most of the other magical books of this and later periods, which either copy and adapt them, or at any rate closely resemble them.» — su tesis sobre la dependencia de la literatura mágica respecto de la Clave y el *Lemegeton*.

«Some light upon how such books came into Christian hands is thrown by the preface to a manuscript copy of the “Key” in the British Museum (Lansdowne MSS. 1203): “This Testament was in ancient time translated from the Hebrew into the Latin language by Rabbi Abognazar, who transported it with him into the town of» — cita el prefacio del manuscrito Lansdowne 1203 sobre la transmisión de la Clave. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«Arles in Provence, where by a notable piece of good fortune the ancient Hebrew Clavicule, that it to say this precious translation of it, fell into the hands of the Archbishop of Arles, after the destruction of the Jews in that city; who, from the Latin, translated it into the vulgar tongue, in the same terms which here follow,» — el final de ese prefacio, con la cadena de traducciones que el manuscrito declara. La grafía *that it to say* es la que imprime la fuente.

«During the Middle Ages many learned Christians, notably Pico de Mirandola, studied the Jewish Qabalah, ostensibly “to bring about the conversion of the Jews”; but actually to gain knowledge of its magical practices, which they then proceeded to give a Christian veneer to, so that later grimoires not only use the Hebrew Qabalistic Names of God and of the archangels to constrain the spirits, but also the names of Jesus, Mary, and the Apostles.» — su explicación del cristianismo de superficie de los grimorios, con Pico como caso. La grafía del nombre es la que imprime la fuente.

«The Wica seem to have been taught certain beliefs, most probably by the Kabalists, which they have incorporated into their own.» — la vía cabalística por la que, según él, entraron ciertas creencias al culto; el verbo va con doble reserva.

«But the High Priest managed to frighten the King in order to force him to disgrace his party's opponents.» — su lectura política del episodio de Josías y el rollo hallado en el Templo.

«So it is obvious that this Roll consisted of threats of the vengeance of the Lord against those who worshipped in the old manner, Astroth in the Temple, where Solomon placed her, the way which Hilkiah and his party wished to suppress.» — el contenido que atribuye al rollo, y con él la supresión del culto de la diosa en el Templo. La grafía *Astroth* es la que imprime la fuente.

«Now the Kabalists very plausibly say, “The Bible is full of stories of people who did the will of the Lord and prospered.» — la voz que introduce: la de los cabalistas, cuyo argumento va a exponer.

«Some at least of the Kabalists believed that the true story behind all these curious happenings was that Hilkiah and his party» — atribuye la lectura a algunos cabalistas, no a todos ni a sí mismo. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«It will be readily understood that the Wica are naturally interested in stories like this which showed the “dirty work” of the people who oppressed them, and the Kabalists, who secretly worshipped the Goddess.» — declara el interés del culto por ese relato y adjudica a los cabalistas un culto secreto a la Diosa.

«The witch tradition, on the other hand is not Christian or Jewish; it could be worked and was, by people who could neither read nor write; and its paraphernalia are of the simplest.» — el contraste que cierra la distinción: la brujería no exige letra ni aparato.

«The witches' circle is not cast to keep the demons out, because no demons are evoked; it is cast to keep the “power” in.» — la diferencia de función entre el círculo del grimorio y el del aquelarre.

«They share a belief in “the power of the name” to the extent that they do not like their Gods to be named unnecessarily, nor for Their names to be divulged; but this belief as we have seen, springs from a very primitive level of human development and instances of it can be found in almost all human societies.» — lo único que concede como común entre grimorio y culto, y lo explica por vía antropológica en vez de por préstamo.

«One thing, however, I must emphasise. I know of no grimoire which enjoins the magician to hail Satan as God, or to worship the Powers of Evil.» — la afirmación con que separa la magia de los grimorios del satanismo.

«In the higher type of grimoire, however, the practitioner is solemnly warned against using the knowledge contained in it for evil, and told that if he does so the evil will rebound on himself.» — la advertencia moral que atribuye a los grimorios mejores.

«Pope Honorius III, who preached the Crusades, is alleged to be the author of a famous grimoire to evoke spirits, the use of which was reserved exclusively to priests.» — consigna la atribución del grimorio de Honorio como alegada, no como asentada.

«Personally, I doubt whether an evil spirit could be induced to do good for anyone.» — su reserva personal sobre la operación central de esa magia.

«Whether this is authentic or not, the grimoire is evidently intended for the use of priests, because some of its requirements could only be carried out by an ordained priest.» — su argumento interno sobre el destinatario del texto, independiente de la cuestión de autoría.

«It is noteworthy that Pope Honorius III in 1223 wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury urging him to give an English benefice to Michael Scott the wizard.» — el dato documental con que sostiene la tolerancia papal hacia el mago.

«Michael Scott was evidently highly esteemed at the Vatican, as in 1227 Pope Gregory IX, the successor of Honorius, again made overtures on his behalf.» — la continuación de ese favor bajo el papa siguiente.

«Several witnesses said that after being anointed with oil Godfrey transported himself to the Sabbat (no broomstick?) and afterwards returned by the shaft of the chimney to his chamber.» — el testimonio procesal que reproduce, con su paréntesis irónico sobre la escoba ausente.

«Now, this points, incidentally, to very big chimneys which intercommunicated, so it is quite possible that at times people who wished to go in and out unobserved might do so via the chimney, thus getting into the house next door.» — su explicación material del tránsito por la chimenea.

«It is possible that Godfrey did this, though it is no proof he was going to a Sabbat; he might simply have been calling on one of the women whom he was accused of debauching.» — el límite que pone a su propia explicación: del hecho no se sigue el sabbat.

«At first sight it seems curious to some that the Church did not object to ceremonial magic, while they persecuted the witch.» — plantea la asimetría que va a explicar.

«I think the only answer is that the Church practised this kind of magic itself, and it knew that witchcraft practised a different form of magic because it was a separate religion, and that it involved the carrying on of a tradition of practices by certain families and» — su respuesta: la Iglesia perseguía la religión rival, no la magia. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«It would appear that throughout the ages there has been a fusion of occult beliefs.» — la tesis de fusión con que cierra el capítulo.

«While I doubt this latter part, I think that a secret tradition has been handed down;» — separa lo que acepta de lo que no en el relato de la transmisión secreta.

«Greek and Roman writers, and even those of a later date, have said “That when the ancient mysteries are spoken of, it should be understood that one and the same series of ceremonies are intended,» — la tesis de la unidad de los Misterios, adjudicada a los autores antiguos.

«Thus Strabo says the strange orgies in honour of the mystic birth of Jupiter resembled those of Bacchus, with those of Ceres, Rhea, Venus, and Isis.» — según Gardner, el testimonio de Estrabón sobre esa semejanza.

«Euripides says the rites of Cybele are celebrated in Asia Minor, and are identical with the Greek mysteries of Adonis,» — según Gardner, el testimonio de Eurípides en el mismo sentido.

«Now, we have a great deal of proof that these ancient mystics were in possession of much occult wisdom, and magical or semi-magical practices,» — su afirmación sobre el saber operativo de los antiguos mistas.

«The origin of the word “pagan” is from the Latin word “paganus,” meaning a villager or peasant;» — la etimología con que liga paganismo y campo.

«It is noteworthy that early mentions of witchcraft often say that witches assemble at the crossroads,» — el dato de las encrucijadas, que enlazará con Diana-Hécate.

«Lewis Spence, in The Encyclopedia of Occultism, speaks of Bensozia, “Chief Deviless of certain Sabbatic meetings held in France» — según Gardner, la entrada de Lewis Spence sobre Bensozia. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«There is no word in French exactly corresponding to our “witch,” which in the original Anglo-Saxon possessed two forms,» — el argumento lingüístico con que explica la confusión entre hadas y brujas en las fuentes francesas.

«Now, in France, as in Scotland, a large number of people spoke of “fairies” when they obviously meant witches.» — la equivalencia que propone entre hadas y brujas en el testimonio popular.

«It will be noted as a curious fact that the Church here appears to be maintaining that the stories of riding on horseback to the Sabbat to worship the Witch Goddess were all “illusions and phantasms of demons,” and people are enjoined not to believe in them.» — su lectura del *Canon Episcopi*: la Iglesia mandaba no creer en el vuelo al sabbat.

«This was in fact the official teaching of the early Church for many years, until it was realised that this attitude was untenable, when it was conveniently discovered that this decree of the Council of Ancyra was in fact apocryphal, and instead the people were warned that the Sabbat was real after all, and that it was a deadly sin not to believe in it!» — el giro doctrinal que consigna: del canon que negaba el vuelo a la obligación de creerlo.

«Many documents illustrating this volte-face on the part of the Church are quoted in H. C. Lea's Materials Toward a History of Witchcraft, to which I refer the reader for the details of this rather amusing sidelight on the infallibility of the Church's teaching about witchcraft.» — remite a Lea para la documentación de ese giro.

«Other terms for the Goddess were “La Reine Pedauque,” the Queen with the Goose-Foot (the “goose-foot” being itself a euphemism for her sign, the Pentagram); and “Frau Hilde” or “Holda” in the Teutonic countries.» — la lista de nombres de la Diosa y la identificación del pie de oca con el pentagrama.

«Dr. W. Wagner's Asgard and the Gods: the Tales and Traditions of Our Northern Ancestors says of Holda “. . . that those who were crippled in any way were restored to full strength and power by bathing in her Quickborn (fountain of life) and that old men found their vanished youth there once more.”» — según Gardner, el material de Wagner sobre la fuente de vida de Holda.

«The inner meaning in both cases is the same; the Goddess's gift is rebirth in a new body, reincarnation.» — la clave con que unifica esos materiales: el don de la Diosa es la reencarnación.

«Incidentally, this may be the inner meaning of the old British tale of Avalon, the Place of Apples.» — su hipótesis sobre Avalón, marcada como posible.

«Every old Celtic tale speaks of the afterworld as a place of apple-trees, but nobody seems to know just why.» — plantea el enigma antes de darle su respuesta.

«If the reader cares to make the experiment of slicing an apple across, he will see the answer: the core forms the sign of the Pentagram, the symbol of the Goddess of Rebirth and Resurrection.» — la respuesta que da, verificable por el propio lector: el pentagrama en el corazón de la manzana.

«In this position the human body resembles the figure of the Pentacle, or Pentagram.» — la segunda lectura del pentagrama, aplicada al cuerpo humano.

«Wagner, in Asgard and the Gods (1880), points out that Holda resembles another Goddess of Resurrection, Ostara, who, according to the Venerable Bede, gave her name to our festival of Easter.» — según Gardner, la cadena Holda · Ostara · Pascua que traza Wagner apoyándose en Beda.

«Afterwards the priestesses were declared to be witches, the bonfires, which cast their light to great distances, were said to be of infernal origin, and the festival of May was looked upon as the witches' sabbath.» — su relato de la conversión de la fiesta de mayo en sabbat por vía de la denuncia.

«The Church tried to dispel this dangerous attraction by spreading the story that the meat and drink of the witches were actually all kinds of horrible and disgusting substances, in order to make the Sabbat sound repulsive, so that people would not wish to go to it.» — su explicación de las descripciones repugnantes del sabbat como estrategia disuasoria.

«But the very monstrosity of these stories defeats its own ends; because what people on earth would get out of their warm beds at night and go long distances for the exquisite pleasure of eating muck and kissing a billy-goat a tergo?» — el argumento de verosimilitud con que rechaza esas descripciones.

«I think it is worth noting that, while most of the pictures illustrating the works of the opponents of witchcraft seem at first sight to be works of phantasy and imagination, if not of madness, on going through a number with a witch, we both noticed various things which were right.» — la concesión que hace a la iconografía de los perseguidores, apoyada en una lectura hecha con una iniciada.

«It is noteworthy that Joan of Arc at her trial freely admitted dancing round “the Fairy Tree.”» — el dato del proceso de Juana de Arco que enlaza con su hipótesis.

«It will be remembered how carefully Joan dodged the question, “Did St. Michael appear to you naked?”» — la evasiva que subraya en el interrogatorio.

«It is evident from her trial that Joan did not like telling a direct lie, but that she was an adept at evasion;» — su caracterización del testimonio de Juana.

«A careful perusal of her answers as given in the record of the trial yields some intriguing points, and I recommend it to the interested scholar.» — deja el caso abierto y remite al lector a las actas.

«That which particularly scandalised the priests who tried her was her persistent adoption of male attire.» — el cargo del proceso que le sirve de puerta para su hipótesis sobre Juana.

«Now, there is a tradition in the witch cult that a priestess may impersonate either the God or the Goddess, but that a male priest may only impersonate the God.» — la regla del culto que aplica al caso: la asimetría de la representación divina. Es la misma regla que el prólogo de 2022 objeta.

«So Joan in male attire may well have been impersonating the God of the witches, as Margaret Murray believes;» — su hipótesis sobre Juana de Arco, adjudicada expresamente a Margaret Murray y marcada con *may well*.

«This figure is identical with the Ace of Swords in the old mystical symbols of the Tarot cards, which are still used by occultists, and are the ancestors of our present-day playing-cards.» — la identificación del emblema de Juana con el As de Espadas del tarot.

«The meaning of the Ace of Swords in the old Tarot symbolism was “Triumph,” and, as the Old God's own symbol, it was, if Joan was His living representative, perfectly appropriate, the two fleur-de-lys being, of course, the national emblems of France.» — el desarrollo de esa lectura, con la condicional que la sostiene.

«The Church tried and condemned Joan for heresy, partly because that was what they were interested in stamping out, and partly because her heresy was easy to prove.» — su explicación del cargo elegido en el proceso.

«Joan became a national heroine and, as Bernard Shaw says, would be much amused to hear that she was a Christian saint.» — el remate del caso, con la frase que atribuye a Shaw.

«In all the witch trials it seems that a lot of the answers given were quite true, if you realise the fact that “the Devil” was simply a man, often wearing a mask.» — la clave de lectura que propone para las actas: el Diablo era un hombre enmascarado.

«He was the High Priest, who even at some rare ceremonies nowadays wears a helmet with horns, which are probably the remnants of the mask.» — la continuidad que traza entre esa máscara y el yelmo con cuernos del rito actual.

«For instance, Jeanne Belloc, in the reign of Henri IV of France, was indicted for witchcraft in her eighty-fourth year.» — el caso con que documenta esa lectura.

«She said the Sabbat was really a kind of masked ball, to which people often came disguised as dogs, cats, donkeys, pigs and other animals, though others were without disguise.» — el testimonio de Jeanne Belloc sobre el sabbat como baile de máscaras.

«This story alone should dispose of the idea that the “Devil” who presided over the Sabbats was any kind of supernatural being.» — la conclusión que extrae de ese testimonio.

«Gomme, in Folklore as a Historical Science (p. 201 et seq), stresses the importance of the act of initiation as applied to the witch cult.» — según Gardner, el énfasis de Gomme en la iniciación como definidora del culto.

«It is clear that the people who were from time to time introduced into the witch caste carried on the practices and assumed the functions of the caste even though they came into it as novices and strangers.» — la consecuencia que extrae: la iniciación sostiene la continuidad aunque cambien las personas.

«While it is unusual for members of the cult today to think of themselves as a “caste,” they certainly regard themselves as a kind of “family” apart.» — matiza el término de Gomme con lo que dice observar hoy.

«This is, I believe, one reason why the witch cult has survived the most cruel and determined persecutions that mankind has ever known.» — su explicación de la supervivencia por la vía del vínculo de familia.

«Leland says, in his Gypsy Sorcery (p. 435), There arose a class of judges and Inquisitors like Bodin in France and Sprenger in Germany who composed lengthy» — según Gardner, la descripción de Leland de la clase de jueces e inquisidores que produjo los manuales, con Bodin y Sprenger como ejemplos. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«treatises upon the manner of discovering witches and putting them to the test, and generally presiding over witchcraft trials.» — el final de esa frase de Leland: tratados de detección y prueba, escritos por quienes presidían los procesos.

«The cold-blooded cruelty of these textbooks can only be accounted for by the likelihood that their authors felt themselves justified through motives of fidelity to the Church of Christ and religion.» — según Leland, citado por Gardner, la crueldad de esos manuales se explica por la convicción religiosa de sus autores.

«The awful terror disseminated, especially among the more intelligent by the possibility of a charge of witchcraft being brought against them at any moment, brought about an intolerable state of things. The intellectual or rich might be arraigned at any time by any rascal who liked to bring a charge.» — sigue la cita de Leland: el terror recaía sobre los instruidos y los ricos, denunciables por cualquiera.

«It is curious that the more serious part of the population did not attempt to stop this terrible state of affairs; but they could not, because the whole system was countenanced by the Church, in whose hands all the persecution lay.» — el cierre de la cita de Leland sobre la imposibilidad de detener el sistema.

«We can understand what all this meant to the witch; what it would have meant to the Founder of the Christian religion, we may well wonder.» — el comentario propio de Gardner con que cierra el capítulo, ya en su voz.

«Someone asked me the other night, “Why do women take the chief place in witchcraft?” I had to say, “I don't know.”» — abre el capítulo declarando que no sabe por qué el culto es de preeminencia femenina.

«The easiest thing is to say it is a survival of matriarchy. It may well be, but I doubt if it is the true answer; because we do not know exactly what was the origin of matriarchy.» — descarta la respuesta fácil por circular: el matriarcado tampoco está explicado.

«It must be clearly realised that not all women are regarded as representatives of the Goddess.» — el límite de la doctrina de la representación divina en el culto.

«They should be Man's Ideal; in that way they may be worthy to have the spirit of the Goddess invoked to descend upon them.» — el requisito que impone a la representante de la Diosa; es la frase que el prólogo de 2022 cita para objetarla.

«If she is cross and selfish and ungenerous, it is certain she will never receive that divine blessing.» — la condición moral que añade a ese requisito.

«But as the Old God told the Goddess, “Age and Fate wither all things, and against them I am helpless.» — la fórmula del mito del culto sobre el límite del propio dios ante el tiempo.

«So a true Priestess realises that gracefully surrendering pride of place now is one of the greatest virtues, and she will return to that pride of place the next time, in another incarnation, with greater power and beauty.» — la regla de relevo de la sacerdotisa, fundada en la reencarnación.

«In a sense, the witch religion recognises all women as an incarnation of the Goddess, and all men as an incarnation of the God; and for this reason every woman is potentially a priestess, and every man potentially a priest;» — la doctrina general de la que aquellas restricciones son excepción.

«There are many types of beauty, and beauty of the spirit is greater than that of the body.» — el matiz con que amplía el requisito de belleza.

«Call these governing classes kings, priests, Nazis, or Communist Commissars, it makes no matter; they are all the same, though some are more ruthless than others.» — su equiparación de todas las clases gobernantes, dicha en su propia voz.

«Whatever labels they put on their policies, they are essentially the same, and entail the eternal “moral policing” of their subjects; and you must understand that any force which in any way obstructs or interferes with this constant “moral policing” will at once be opposed by the Powers that Be» — su explicación política de la persecución: el culto estorba a la vigilancia moral.

«Beauty and sweetness are a terror to all these organised tyrannies; so they must be debased and hidden as much as possible.» — la consecuencia que extrae para la figura de la Diosa.

«Robert Graves, in The White Goddess, has suggested that they came from the East.» — según Gardner, la propuesta de Graves sobre el origen oriental de esas ideas.

«The answer may lie in the ancient esoteric teaching that human affairs follow a certain cosmic cycle.» — la explicación cíclica que ofrece, marcada como posible.

«Perhaps it was necessary for the human race to descend into the “Kali Yuga,” or Dark Age, as the Easterns call it, or the “Age of Pisces,”» — el nombre que da a esa fase del ciclo, con las dos nomenclaturas.

«The same black poison corrodes them all; the warped lust for power, welling up from fears and repressions in the depths of the unconscious mind.» — su diagnóstico psicológico de las tiranías, en términos de represión inconsciente.

«The purpose of initiation was to give the neophytes esoteric instruction which would rid them of their fear of the unknown and help them to find a philosophy which made sense of the Universe» — su definición de la finalidad de la iniciación en los Misterios.

«There was no room for this sort of spirit in the witch cult, nor in the mystery religions which were its predecessors in the days of Bronze Age matriarchy, so long as they remained true to their traditions.» — la excepción que reclama para el culto, con la condicional que la acota.

«The Jewish puritans in Biblical times, who set out to destroy the “High Places,” seem to have started the idea, “Beauty is Evil”; I suppose because those whom they were seeking to destroy, the priestesses who worshipped the Queen of Heaven, were lovely; and perhaps because their young men were rebellious, asking, “Why» — su genealogía de la idea de que la belleza es mala; el verbo es *I suppose*. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«They spoke of the dangerous enemies of good Christians, who lay in wait in the dark to seize their souls for the Devil, and they proceeded to describe these enemies as wood nymphs, loreleis, and witches» — la continuidad que traza entre esa idea y la figura cristiana de la bruja seductora.

«We may call it the deeper layers of the unconscious.» — la traducción psicológica que ofrece de la noción tradicional que discute.

«I can only conclude that it is because there is a certain fundamental need for them.» — su explicación de la persistencia de esas figuras: una necesidad de fondo.

«We may know her best as Ishtar of Babylon, but she was worshipped under many names» — el paso a la lista de nombres de la diosa lunar. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«in the various countries where she ruled; Attar, in Mesopotamia; Ather, in Arabia; Astar, in Abyssinia; Atargatis in Syria, and Astarte or Artemis in Greece.» — la lista de nombres bajo los que, según él, se adoró a la misma diosa lunar. La oración empieza en la plana anterior.

«For she is the force which expresses itself in the giving and taking (or receiving again) of life, and she is also the “love force,”» — su definición de la diosa como fuerza de vida y de amor.

«We may think differently, but to the ancients the power and desire for fertility were gifts of the Gods.» — marca la distancia entre la valoración moderna y la antigua de la fecundidad.

«She is the Goddess of Magic and Magicians.» — la función que asigna a Hécate dentro de esa figura triple.

«Aphrodite taught her son Jason “to draw down the dark Moon, invoke Hecate; for she herself had not the power of magic.”» — la noticia mitológica con que separa el poder de la magia del de la belleza.

«The Rites of Hecate were performed at night; they were to turn aside evil.» — la finalidad apotropaica que atribuye a esos ritos.

«She is often represented in ancient art as three figures in one, Artemis, Selene and Hecate.» — la forma triple de la diosa en el arte antiguo.

«Artemis is the waxing moon, Selene the full moon, and Hecate the dark moon.» — la correspondencia de las tres figuras con las fases lunares.

«There is a curious superstition that the moon sends children, not directly, but by a giant moon-bird, to the different women.» — la creencia que recoge sobre la luna y la fecundidad.

«Almost everywhere in the non-Christian world the moon is served chiefly by women, though men take a subordinate part in the rite.» — la regularidad etnográfica con que sostiene la preeminencia femenina del culto lunar.

«But women have the magical power to work the fertilising activities of the moon, including rain-making and the care of a sacred fire, which must not be allowed to die.» — las funciones que atribuye a las mujeres en ese culto.

«In many of the African tribes, however, the ritual of rain-making must be carried out by naked women, who, taking water from sacred springs, throw it over themselves.» — el paralelo africano que aduce para la desnudez ritual.

«It is noteworthy that the 2nd of February is celebrated as Candlemass in honour of the Virgin Mary, Moon of our Church; but before it was celebrated on that day with torches in honour of the triune Moon Goddess of the Celts, Brigit, Bride or Brigentis, and on this day her new fire was kindled and blessed.» — su derivación de la Candelaria a partir de la diosa triple celta.

«Sometimes these priestesses were called “Vestal Virgins”; but usually considered as wives of the king, and often he gained his power by marrying one of these priestesses.» — vuelve sobre la realeza obtenida por matrimonio con la sacerdotisa.

«Robert Graves, in his book, The White Goddess, considers that the famous “Palladium,” on the safe keeping of which in the temple the safety of the country was thought to depend, was not a “respectable” statue of a clothed divinity, but a phallic image.» — según Gardner, la lectura de Graves sobre el Paladio.

«Thus “Virgin” was used in its ancient meaning, which was simply “unmarried.” That is, they were pledged to the service of the God.» — su precisión semántica sobre el término virgen en el culto antiguo.

«It is inconceivable that any Deity should condemn millions to such a life of long-drawn-out repression, unless you understand the idea behind it all, that is, “The Gods are not all-powerful, they need the aid of men and women.» — la doctrina que da por clave del culto: dioses que necesitan la ayuda humana.

«If sufficient nerve power is raised by the worshippers the God will become all-powerful.» — la consecuencia operativa de esa doctrina: el poder se levanta desde abajo.

«One of the earliest attempts to do this was the “Sacred Marriage.” The love was not merely for the satisfaction of those who took part; their powers were dedicated to a higher purpose, that of giving great power to the Gods, and at the same time bringing the Gods into communion with their worshippers.» — su lectura del matrimonio sagrado como técnica de levantar poder, no como licencia.

«People do at times attempt to produce a good effect by using evil means, and there seems to be evidence that some of the priests also used homosexuals for the same purpose (and to make money for themselves); but the main fact remains clear.» — la concesión que hace sobre los abusos del sacerdocio antiguo, en los términos de su época.

«It was believed that the Gods needed man's aid to perform the blessings required by the tribe or nation, and that it was a religious duty to assist the Gods in this good work.» — la formulación del deber religioso que se sigue de esa doctrina.

«At one time it was considered that education could only be obtained by long and frequent thrashings; now it is considered that if the lessons are made interesting and pleasant, better results are obtained.» — la analogía pedagógica con que defiende la vía placentera de levantar poder.

«Though I have heard the unpleasant way denounced, I have never heard the pleasant way described as “wicked.”» — el remate de esa analogía.

«It is evident from the above verses that the chief part in this cult was taken by the women.» — la conclusión que extrae de los versículos de Jeremías que acaba de citar.

«However, after the triumph of the puritanical party in ancient Palestine, the documents which we now call the Bible were carefully edited and expurgated to remove all favourable mention of the Goddess-Consort and her rites.» — su tesis sobre la expurgación del texto bíblico, dicha sin reserva.

«The only Christian order which consciously makes use of this power nowadays is the Jesuits, and it is noteworthy that practically every state in the world has at one time or the other had laws against this Order, because they were always influencing things too much in their own favour.» — su afirmación sobre el uso consciente de esa potencia por los jesuitas.

«St. Clement of Alexandria, who, before turning Christian, was initiated in the worship of the Goddess Cybele whose symbol was a crescent moon in perpetual union with the sun, says the following confession of faith was made:» — la fuente patrística de la que toma la fórmula de los misterios de Cibeles.

«Now, it seems obvious that “I have eaten from the timbrel and drunk from the cymbal” means that a sacred meal, or a species of Eucharist with food and drink that had been blessed was eaten out of the “working tools” of the cult, and this meal is known to have consisted of a cake of barley, and of wine.» — su lectura de la fórmula de Clemente como comida ritual con los instrumentos del culto.

«It is noteworthy that the witches' “sacred meal,” “Cakes and Wine,” consists of cakes (any sort) and wine, which are blessed and then eaten and drunk out of the “working tools,” and this blessing has at least a phallic or fertility significance.» — la coincidencia que señala entre aquel rito antiguo y el actual del aquelarre.

«In these mysteries, to demonstrate the truth that God is Male and Female, and that true blessedness consists in their union, it was customary for women at their initiation into the mysteries of the Great Goddess to sacrifice their virginity by entering into a sacred marriage, hieros gamos, which was consummated sometimes with a phallic image, sometimes with a stranger, and sometimes with a priest.» — su descripción del *hieros gamos* iniciático y de sus tres formas.

«The priest was considered an incarnation of the God; so was a stranger. He might even be the God himself.» — la doctrina que sostiene esa práctica.

«Now, allowing for the fact that early Protestant writers were prejudiced, there seems little doubt that until the time of Henry VIII at least, there were certain convents where the nuns were regarded as the brides of the priests and were regularly used as such.» — descuenta el prejuicio protestante y aun así sostiene el hecho.

«At least, it was only practised in strict secrecy; but the knowledge of its existence at one time was widespread, and during the French Revolution many unfortunate monks and nuns were ill-treated to make them admit these practices.» — su relato de la persistencia clandestina y del episodio revolucionario.

«That is, many priests and nuns, among others, were stripped, bound face to face, and ceremonially drowned, in what was called “Civil Marriage.”» — la descripción de *Les Noyades* con que ilustra ese episodio.

«While this was, of course, done in mockery, it illustrates what all the peasants knew, viz., that there was a Sacred Marriage, which they believed was still practised by the priests and nuns, and it amused them to kill them while they were celebrating it, even though involuntarily.» — la lectura que hace del episodio: para él, la parodia supone la creencia popular.

«As Charles Seltman so truly says in his Women in Antiquity (p. 30), There are occasions when nakedness becomes essential as an act of worship within a religion which has passed well beyond the primitive and magical.» — según Gardner, la formulación de Seltman sobre la desnudez como acto de culto.

«The idea is there in the Moslem rite of removing the shoes and washing the feet before entering a holy place; carried further, it was more reverent still to discard all contamination of clothes and to enter the shrine in cleanliness and purity, fearing no harm from evil spirits, because God is in His House.» — continúa la cita de Seltman con el argumento de la pureza.

«cult nakedness can be both cathartic and prophylactic, both cleansing and protective.» — la fórmula con que se resume esa función doble de la desnudez ritual.

«Thus it is evident from Attic painted vases of the 8th and 9th centuries B.C. that women mourners, and even the widow herself, walked naked in the funeral cortege of any Athenian citizen.» — el testimonio iconográfico que aduce para esa práctica.

«Coming nearer home, we observe Pliny's remark that in religious ceremonials in Ancient Britain the women and girls went completely naked after having stained themselves all over with a brownish sun-tan lotion.» — según Gardner, la noticia de Plinio sobre la desnudez ritual en Britania.

«The High Priestess stands for the Goddess, but at times can represent the God if necessary (that is, if a man of sufficiently high rank in the cult is not present); but no man can ever represent the Goddess.» — la regla de representación en su forma completa, con el paréntesis que la condiciona. Es la frase que el prólogo de 2022 cita en dos mitades para objetarla.

«In fact, through all antiquity the attitude towards women seems to have been much as in the witch cult.» — la continuidad que reclama entre la Antigüedad y el culto en materia de posición femenina.

«We tend to hush up the fact that this newly-won liberty has brought back what the Victorian writers dared only to express with hints, namely that when women get free some of them do what they like, in spite of all the Church's teachings.» — su lectura de la libertad femenina contemporánea como retorno de algo antiguo.

«All religious bodies professed to be extremely shocked at the Kinsey Reports, saying that only in America could such things take place, and that it could only happen in non-religious communities.» — la reacción eclesiástica a los informes Kinsey, que va a contrastar con datos británicos.

«Now, when you consider that women who are practising Christians are, to say the least, apt to be shy at admitting their, shall we say, laxness, we can only conclude that the true proportions are very much higher.» — su corrección al alza de las cifras declaradas, por sesgo de respuesta.

«Swinburne's famous verse tells us his opinions: Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; The world has grown grey at thy breath. We have drunken of things Lethean, And fed on the fulness of death. Which is a poetical way of saying that the Church has taken all» — los versos de Swinburne con que cierra el argumento y su glosa. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«Contrary to the reports of the Church, witches do not believe in or encourage promiscuity.» — la negación con que acota todo el capítulo sobre sexualidad.

«They also recognise a fact which many Christians seem to have forgotten, namely that there are six other Deadly Sins beside Lust.» — el argumento con que desplaza la lujuria del centro de la moral.

«Boissier is a valuable witness, as he is writing about things which occurred in the living memory of his own time, and he is by no means prejudiced in favour of witches, because his book ends» — su criterio para valorar a un testigo: cercanía temporal y ausencia de simpatía por lo que describe. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«the evidence which Boissier quotes also shows that those who attended the Sabbats were naked;» — el dato que extrae de ese testimonio hostil para apoyar la desnudez ritual.

«the witches, in order to scare people away from their meeting-place, impersonated the Wild Hunt;» — su explicación de la Caza Salvaje como recurso de disuasión del culto.

«As an historical religion, with a founder in time, the Faith has a meaning; but not so if it escapes—as it was already doing by the mid-first century of our era—from the formidable example and precept of its Founder.» — la distinción que traza entre el cristianismo de su fundador y lo que vino después.

«Many of these creatures were single-minded, dedicated, truculent, and not quite sane, for they believed themselves to be the consecrated instruments of God, and they had that fear and hatred of women of which such men alone can be capable.» — su retrato psicológico de los perseguidores.

«People in the Middle Ages were, in fact, going slowly mad, because of the appalling code adopted concerning women.» — su diagnóstico general de la época, formulado sin reserva.

«The Church never succeeded in obtaining universal acceptance of its sexual regulations, but in time it became able to enforce sexual abstinence on a scale sufficient to produce a rich crop of mental disease.» — la consecuencia clínica que atribuye a la disciplina sexual eclesiástica.

«It is hardly too much to say that mediaeval Europe came to resemble a vast insane asylum.» — la fórmula con que resume ese diagnóstico.

«The proceedings of the Court Christian, the Church Court, in many cases overruled the law of the land.» — su tesis sobre la primacía del tribunal eclesiástico.

«Chaucer tells us of the Archdeacon's Court, which concerned itself with sexual offences, witchcraft, defamation, wills, contracts, intestacy, lack of sacraments, and many other “manner of cryme which needeth not rehersen at this time, of unsure and symmonye also,”» — según Gardner, la enumeración de competencias que da Chaucer.

«The Summoner was assisted by spies and mischievous persons who encouraged litigants to seek the Court Christian rather than the common knowledge of their neighbours.» — el mecanismo de captación de causas que describe.

«But there was always the strong claim of the Church that all clerks (i.e. priests or lesser orders) were above the law and could break it with impunity.» — el privilegio clerical que expone como contraste con la persecución del culto.

«The Select Pleas of the Crown (S.P.C., p. 121) show that in 1220 a man charged with assault and killing in the Park of Lord Warenne claimed clergy, as he was an acolyte, and so got off scot free.» — el caso documental con que ilustra ese privilegio.

«In any case, it seems a clear verdict of “Not Guilty, but don't do it again.”» — su formulación irónica del resultado judicial.

«The Church clung obstinately to this privilege and the first attempt to mitigate this evil was that all who pleaded “Benefit of Clergy” were branded on the thumb to prevent them claiming it twice.» — la reforma parcial del privilegio y el modo de controlarlo.

«It is difficult for us to understand the mentality of those days.» — la reserva con que cierra el tramo histórico.

«Incidentally, this custom became known as Benefit of Clergy, and amounted to, in fact, that anyone who could read must be adjudged a cleric.» — la definición del privilegio de clerecía y su alcance real: bastaba saber leer.

«The test was a small verse of the Scriptures, which the accused was supposed to read in open court. I say “supposed” because it became a by-word that all criminals learnt it off by heart, and it was known as “The Neck Verse,” as it saved them from hanging.» — la prueba de lectura y su nombre popular, con la reserva que él mismo marca sobre el verbo.

«In a later age, those who removed the penal laws against witches thought that for priests and bishops to commit murder was “not quite nice.” For manners and opinions were changing slowly.» — el paralelo cronológico que traza entre la derogación de las leyes de brujería y el fin del privilegio clerical.

«Those who think of the Middle Ages as a period of Romance, all tournaments and feasting and romantic love affairs, must remember that this did exist in the days of such monarchs as Good King Rene of Provence, the patron of the Troubadors; but Pope Innocent III's Crusade against the Albigenses crushed most of it out.» — su lectura de la cruzada albigense como fin de la cultura cortés.

«But it has been said that between these two classes the only available careers for women in those days (Charles Seltman, op. cit.) were “The bourgeoise wife-cook-housekeeper, the prostitute, the nun, and the witch.”» — según Gardner, la lista de Seltman sobre las salidas vitales de la mujer medieval. Es el argumento social con que explica la persistencia del culto.

«The Church at times persecuted them, but usually they let them alone as long as they paid tithes on their earnings.» — el contraste que traza entre el trato a las prostitutas y el dado a las brujas.

«It is curious in these days to find witches regarded as a class or profession.» — señala como notable que las fuentes traten a las brujas como oficio.

«Ever since the “burning time,” witches always do everything they can to be inconspicuous, but in the early times it was different, before the reign of ecclesiastical lynch-law began;» — data en la persecución el paso del culto a la invisibilidad.

«The village priest was often regarded in much the same way; he may have bothered people about tithes, he was, all the same, undoubtedly a good influence;» — el paralelo entre el cura de aldea y la bruja de aldea en la estima popular.

«Women, they thought, should breed numbers of children to be monks and nuns, with enough married ones to carry the breed on, or they should be nuns and give up everything.» — su formulación de la doctrina eclesiástica sobre la función de la mujer.

«It is Christianity which invests women anew with frightening prestige; fear of the other sex is one of the forms assumed by the anguish of man's uneasy conscience.» — la explicación psicológica del miedo cristiano a la mujer, que toma del material que cita.

«All the fathers of the Church insist on the idea that she led Adam into sin.» — el punto de partida patrístico de esa doctrina.

«St. Augustine (A.D. 354–430) called attention with horror to the obscene commingling of the sexual and excretory organs:» — el caso agustiniano con que ilustra esa doctrina.

«Many theologians considered (and for that matter, apparently some of them still do) that original sin is involved in the very law of generation:» — extiende la observación al presente con un paréntesis.

«Some of the followers of St. Augustine even said that the Almighty was wrong in commanding Adam to “be fruitful and multiply” by the means provided,» — el extremo de esa doctrina que consigna.

«The Church has ever been curiously reluctant to credit the Great Architect of the Universe with knowing His job.» — la fórmula con que resume su objeción teológica.

«When the witch cult, on the other hand, regarded St. Augustine as being a singularly nasty-minded old man, and believed in the divine purpose and sanctity of its Horned and Phallic God and His Moon Goddess consort, one can also understand the “Why” of its beliefs and actions,» — la respuesta que da al título del capítulo: el porqué del culto está en el rechazo de esa doctrina.

«Probably it was the Church's influence which caused the most curious stories to be circulated about witches, and possibly the one which was most successful in causing fear and hatred of the craft was the story that they made wax images, and stuck pins in them, to kill the original.» — su explicación del origen de la creencia en las figurillas de cera.

«It is curious that the Church does not seem to have objected to this type of murder if it was practised by priests or laymen.» — la asimetría que señala en la condena de esa práctica.

«The Church knew very well that priests' magic at best was a “hit or miss” affair, but witches' magic worked, and so might be dangerous.» — su explicación de esa asimetría, adjudicando eficacia al culto.

«It also bore out what a witch told me long ago, “Before you can do any harm to your enemy by means of a wax image you must be in a genuine and spontaneous rage, as you would need to be before you knocked him down physically.”» — la condición emocional que, según ese testimonio, exige la operación.

«I have not the slightest doubt that some still know it though they won't admit so.» — su afirmación sobre la persistencia actual de ese saber.

«I was talking to a couple who had been present when the “Poppet” was made, and both said, “We saw it done, but still don't know how to do it,”» — el testimonio con que sostiene que ver la operación no la enseña.

«Witches may be angry and forget their teaching, but the others will not let them do any harm.» — el control interno del grupo que describe como freno del daño.

«And what about wax atom bombs? But don't ask witches, they don't know this art; it is sorcery.» — el deslinde que hace entre la brujería y lo que llama hechicería.

«But, and a very big but, if witches could kill their enemies so easily, why was there not a notable number of deaths among their “Oppressors”?» — su argumento contra la eficacia homicida que se atribuía al culto.

«I don't want for a moment to convey the impression that witches are more ethical than other people, and I think that when first attacked they hit back, but the actual “initiated witches” as distinct from the “Congregation” were few.» — la reserva con que evita idealizar al culto, y la distinción entre iniciados y concurrencia.

«Why? When it is thought that if a Witch is attacked, she must not fight back, yet the howl is ever, “She is so wicked.”» — la objeción que formula sobre la exigencia asimétrica de no responder.

«I think that the binding of this figure illustrates one of the uses to which a witch puts her cord.» — el paso del muñeco al cordón como instrumento del culto.

«Greek witches are always described as using coloured cords.» — el dato antiguo sobre el color de los cordones.

«It has been suggested to me that it might be merely that white cords would soon show dirt, but I don't think this is right, or they would use black, or dark coloured ones, though Italian witches use black cords or thread when making an evil charm.» — recoge una explicación práctica y la descarta con un argumento interno.

«In this Museum I have a dried-up lemon stuck with black pins and bound with black thread.» — vuelve a apoyarse en una pieza de su museo como respaldo material.

«It is said that Babylonian witches snared people's souls by tying knots in a cord, saying a spell at each knot.» — la noticia babilonia sobre la magia de nudos, marcada como referida.

«I say “so-called witches,” for everyone who sells charms and spells has not been initiated.» — el deslinde entre la vendedora de conjuros y la iniciada.

«And it is an old witch law that “you must never work magic for money.”» — la regla que da por antigua y que separa una cosa de la otra.

«Now, the Inquisition may have been composed of sadistic scoundrels; they were, however, certainly not fools.» — el principio con que trata las actas inquisitoriales: hostiles pero no absurdas.

«It must be remembered that the same charge was made against the Templars.» — el paralelo templario con que sitúa el cargo que discute.

«Dr. Margaret Murray thinks the cord was used as a means of execution of traitors; of this I have no knowledge, though the cases she quotes appear to me to be mercy killings, a man being taken, and subjected to the usual prolonged tortures, strangled himself or was strangled to gain a merciful death» — su desacuerdo expreso con Murray sobre el uso del cordón; declara no saber y da su lectura alternativa de los mismos casos. No se armoniza con lo que sostiene `murray-witch-cult`.

«It is clear . . . it had a firm belief in immortality.» — lo que da por sentado del culto antiguo dentro del material que cita.

«The question of the Druids. Their name is certainly connected with the Celtic root ‘dru’ for oak.» — la etimología druídica que da por segura.

«If we can show early examples of the use of the sacred groves, or rites connected with the oak, it will go a long way to show that a priesthood of the Druidic type existed in Britain before the iron-age Celts arrived.» — el criterio de prueba que propone para la antigüedad del sacerdocio.

«It is not unexpected to find evidence for the existence of two beliefs side by side and in the same individual.» — el principio de coexistencia de creencias que sostiene su tesis de supervivencia.

«The rites of the older faith, now regarded as superstition, are practised all over the country today.» — su afirmación sobre la vigencia de los ritos antiguos bajo forma de superstición.

«Many of the rites of Isis became Christian ceremonies; many pagan gods and goddesses were canonized as Christian Saints; Brigid became St. Bridget, Ma and Matrona became St. Mary.» — la lista de continuidades entre culto pagano y santoral cristiano.

«Mr. Lethbridge believes that the Goddess was at first a ferocious personality, a Goddess of death and destruction, but who distributed the apples of life and was of a maternal character; who later turned into a milder Moon Goddess to whom blood offerings were no longer made.» — según Gardner, la evolución de la diosa que propone Lethbridge.

«The first of May (May Day) is celebrated in Europe and America, but no one seems to know exactly why.» — plantea el enigma del primero de mayo antes de resolverlo.

«It is conjectured to be the remnant of some ancient fertility rite that once marked the coming of Spring.» — la explicación corriente, dada como conjetura.

«Now, the Roman Apollo was sometimes called Belinus, the god of Tyre was Baal; the Phoenician's god was Baal; and the great Irish god was Beal.» — la serie de nombres divinos con que liga Beltane al mundo antiguo.

«The witches have one of their most important festivals in honour of their Goddess on that day; however, as they worship the Moon, their day begins at sundown.» — la fiesta del culto en esa fecha y la regla del día que empieza al ocaso.

«Thomas Hall, one of the Puritan writers, said: “If Moses was angry when he saw the people dance about the Golden Calf, well might he be so to see people dancing the morrice about a post in honour of a whore.”» — según Gardner, la denuncia puritana de Thomas Hall contra las danzas de mayo.

«May we not assume that he knew that May Day was in honour of some goddess, whom the people still venerated, but her name is never mentioned.» — la inferencia que extrae de esa denuncia, formulada como pregunta: el nombre de la diosa no se dice.

«* I have this wax image on exhibition in my Museum of Magic and Witchcraft.» — la nota al pie con que remite otra vez a su museo; va con su asterisco tal como lo imprime la fuente.

«Why? And, if so, may she not have been the goddess of the Witches, whose name I am forbidden to mention, as I tell in Witchcraft Today.» — la abstención más explícita del libro: el nombre de la Diosa le está vedado por juramento, y remite a *Witchcraft Today* para la misma reserva.

«I wonder why it was chosen as a holiday for labour demonstrations by the very serious body, the Socialist International, as long ago as 1889. Did they know the Goddess promised freedom to all her children?» — la pregunta con que cierra el capítulo, ligando el primero de mayo obrero con la fiesta de la Diosa.

«While she has some of the most wonderful ancient monuments in the world, they mostly date from a time when writing was uncommon, and what was written was not usually inscribed on stone, though there are Ogham inscriptions in South Wales and at Silchester in Hampshire.» — su explicación del silencio documental sobre los dioses de Britania.

«Caesar tells us that the Druids used Greek characters in writing, though there are two so-called “Tree Alphabets” which were also used by them.» — según Gardner, la noticia de César sobre la escritura druídica.

«we have hardly any written records surviving; while the Roman extermination of the Druids and the general break-up of Ancient British tribal life have eliminated most oral traditions also.» — la doble pérdida, escrita y oral, que da por causa del vacío.

«In order to save the people's souls from Hell, the Bishops had the “priest” and his “idol” brought to London and there burned together.» — el episodio de Darvell Gadarn, ya mencionado antes en el libro, aquí con su marco completo.

«This was a terrible loss to our knowledge, as the “idol” may well have been a relic of immemorial age, and probably represented Hu Gadarn, Hu the Mighty, the ruler of the Celtic Hades.» — su identificación del ídolo quemado y el valor que le atribuye.

«Ireland was more fortunate, as there the Druids stayed on at the king's courts as wise men and magicians, and it was never conquered by the Romans or the Saxons.» — el contraste irlandés que explica la conservación de las tradiciones.

«Also in later years, many Irish priests wrote down the traditions of the country, partly to explain the coming of St. Patrick; but they included many tales of the ancient days.» — la vía por la que, según él, sobrevivió el material irlandés.

«Arthur himself seems to be a form of the Old God of Death and the After-World; for it is evident that even in Shakespeare's day he was regarded by the common people as the Ruler of the After-World.» — su lectura de Arturo como forma del dios de los muertos.

«King Arthur was, in some districts, regarded as the leader of the Wild Hunt, which definitely identifies him with the God of the Witches.» — el paso que da de la Caza Salvaje al dios del culto; el adverbio es *definitely*.

«The epitaph on King Arthur's tomb at Glastonbury as given by Sir Thomas Malory is an illustration of the ancient belief in reincarnation: Hic jacet Arthurus, Rex quondam, Rexque futurus, i.e. “Here lies King Arthur, who was king before and who shall be king again.”» — el epitafio latino que lee como testimonio de la creencia en la reencarnación, con su propia traducción al lado.

«that the legends of the Wild Hunt are the remains of one of the oldest traditions of the Ancient Gods.» — su tesis sobre el origen de las leyendas de la Caza Salvaje.

«Gwyn ap Nudd has outlived in tradition almost all his supernatural kin.» — la figura galesa con que documenta esa tradición.

«In later, semi-Christianised history he is described as ‘Gwyn, son of Nudd, whom God has placed over the brood of devils in Annwn, lest they should destroy the present race’.» — la forma cristianizada de esa figura, en el material que cita.

«He is the wild huntsman of Wales and the West of England, and it is his pack which is sometimes heard at chase in waste places by night.» — la descripción del cazador y su jauría.

«Later again, as paganism still further degenerated, he came to be considered as king of the Tylwyth Teg, the Welsh fairies, and his name as such has hardly yet died out of his last haunt, the romantic vale of Neath.» — el último eslabón de esa degradación: de dios a rey de las hadas.

«He knows when and where all the great warriors fell, for he gathered their souls upon the field of battle, and now rules over them in Hades, or upon some ‘misty mountain-top’.» — la función psicopompa que se atribuye a esa misma figura.

«Indeed, wherever we find a really old Christian sanctuary, we may be almost certain that it is built upon a still more ancient shrine of paganism.» — la regla que aplica a los santuarios cristianos antiguos.

«It was the deliberate policy of the early Church to do this, as they knew that the people would continue to go to their traditional sacred sites anyway, whether they were Christian or not, so they might as well be Christian.» — la política eclesiástica que da por causa de esa superposición.

«It may be noted, however, that the name “Gwyn” means “white,” and in the doctrine of the Druids the Higher Realms of the After World (what Spiritualists would call the “Higher Planes”) were called the Realm of Gwynfyd.» — la etimología con que liga la figura galesa a la doctrina druídica del más allá.

«One wonders if it might be a distant relic of paganism, with its hope for the soul in the After-World, and the promise of re-birth, as opposed to the grim Christian doctrines of the Last Judgment, and of Heaven being reserved for a chosen few, while the greater part of mankind were menaced with Hell and Purgatory.» — el contraste entre las dos escatologías que sostiene su lectura del folklore.

«He was regarded as a healing God as well as a God of the sea, or, as he was called, “The God of the Great Deeps,” and the Romans equated him with Silvanus, who was the King of the Wood.» — la equivalencia romana que recoge para ese dios.

«One wonders if this might not be a corruption of “Witch Hounds.”» — su conjetura etimológica sobre el nombre de la jauría de la Caza Salvaje.

«Now it will be noted from the foregoing quotation, firstly a connection in the popular mind between the Wild Hunt and fertility, and secondly a connection between the appearances of the Wild Hunt and the equinoxes and solstices, which are four of the witches' Eight Ritual Occasions.» — las dos conexiones que extrae del material folklórico, y con ellas el calendario de ocho fiestas del culto.

«Herne the Hunter, with his helmet crowned with stag's antlers, his wild band of followers, his association with “fairies,” and the huge oak tree, now apparently destroyed, beneath which he used to appear, is the British example par excellence of a surviving tradition of the Old God of the Witches.» — Herne como el caso británico mayor de supervivencia del dios del culto.

«He is the giver of fertility, both of the ground and of humans and animals; but he is also Lord of the Gates of Death.» — la doble función del dios que sostiene todo el capítulo.

«There is also an obvious resemblance to the Indian Shiva, who is the Phallic God as well as the Destroyer, and who is the consort of the Great Mother Goddess, Shakti.» — el paralelo indio de esa dualidad.

«The witches explain this duality by a ritual in which they invoke the Old God: “Thou art the Opener of the Doorway of the Womb; and yet, because all things that are born must also die, that» — la fórmula ritual con que el culto explica esa dualidad. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana; la misma fórmula se repite más adelante en el libro con una variante en la redacción.

«they may be renewed, therefore art thou Lord of the Gates of Death.”» — el final de esa fórmula ritual.

«Karma) against which he is powerless (because they are Cosmic Law) cause all things to wither and die: “But when men die at the end of time, I give them rest and peace, and strength so that they may return,” i.e. be reborn upon the earth, or reincarnated.» — la promesa del dios en la leyenda del culto, con la glosa que Gardner le añade: renacimiento.

«It is said that if a childless woman wishes to become fruitful she may do so by spending a night lying upon the Giant's phallus at the proper season of the year;» — la costumbre asociada al Gigante de Cerne, marcada como referida.

«and there is a story that when a local clergyman was incensed by the Giant's naturalistic appearance, and, being unable to put breeches upon him, proposed that part of the Giant's anatomy to which he objected should be ploughed up, he was prevented from carrying out this project by the indignation of the local people.» — la anécdota con que documenta la defensa popular de la figura.

«I think that Petrie was very nearly right, but that it really represents the Old God as Lord of the Gates of Death, which he is represented as holding.» — su corrección a la lectura de Flinders Petrie sobre el Gigante de Wilmington.

«Examination of this site has only just commenced, and it will be some time before any final conclusions can be reached; but enough has already been uncovered to show that one of the figures is a naked Goddess.» — la cautela con que presenta un hallazgo en curso y lo que ya da por sentado.

«It is very probable that this figure represents an ancient British Goddess, and I believe that close by it, over her head, has been found the shape of a crescent moon, and beside her part of the figure of a horse, or some kind of beast.» — su lectura del hallazgo, con los dos verbos de reserva.

«There are probably yet more figures of this type existing in the British Isles which modern techniques of archaeology, especially aerial photography, may yet uncover, and from which we will learn more of our Ancient Gods.» — la expectativa que deja abierta sobre nuevos hallazgos.

«This particular shaft had failed to strike the usual rich flint-bed, and it seems reasonable to suppose that the shrine was set up to counteract the sterility of this pit and ensure the abundance of the next.» — su interpretación del santuario hallado en una mina de sílex estéril.

«She it was who, in Bardic mythology, was the owner of the Magic Cauldron in which was brewed the “Awen,” the Draught of Inspiration, and in which old men became young again.» — el caldero de la inspiración en la mitología bárdica, atribuido a la diosa.

«I must not, however, give the impression that the people of Ancient Britain worshipped only one God and only one Goddess, who were exactly the same in all parts of the country.» — la reserva con que acota su propio esquema de la pareja divina única.

«But the two great realities with which all ancient people were faced were essentially the unchanging, unending ones of Life and Death; and these it was, together with that third elusive thing, magical power, which the Gods held in Their hands.» — el núcleo que reclama común bajo la diversidad de nombres divinos.

«Nor are the Great Ancient Ones mere concepts lingering in the leaves of old books and the minds of old scholars.» — su afirmación sobre la actualidad de esos dioses, contra su reducción a materia erudita.

«The Great Mother in Ireland was called Dana; the Welsh version of this name was Dön.» — la correspondencia entre los nombres irlandés y galés de la diosa.

«Arianrhod had a brother, who was also her consort, called Gwydion, and he was “The prime enchanter of the Britons.”» — la pareja galesa de hermanos consortes que consigna.

«Arianrhod, for instance, is said to have given birth to twin Gods, Llew, the Sun-God, and Dylan, the God of the Waves, and to have miraculously conceived these children by leaping over a wizard's wand.» — el nacimiento milagroso de los dioses gemelos, marcado como referido.

«Christina Hole, in her English Folklore, says, “Gypsies leapt over broomsticks at their weddings, and there was a form of marriage over a broomstick which was fairly common at one time, though it was not always considered binding if either party wished to default afterwards.”» — según Gardner, el dato de Christina Hole sobre el matrimonio de la escoba.

«Actually, I think this is more a Tinker than a Gipsy custom.» — su corrección a esa atribución, en su propia voz.

«At least, this is what Gipsies tell me.» — la fuente en que apoya esa corrección.

«Mothers were usually careful to prevent their daughters from stepping over a broom, and mischievous or spiteful people sometimes laid one where the girl would walk over it by accident; the reason being that if she strode over a besom or broom-handle she would become a mother before she was a wife.» — la creencia popular con que sostiene el sentido fálico de la escoba.

«The ivy-wreathed thyrsus carried by the Bacchantes probably had essentially the same meaning.» — el paralelo antiguo que propone para ese símbolo.

«Llew, the Sun-God, is the same as the Celtic Lugh whose festival, the Lughnassad is, as we have seen, that “Lammas” which is one of the witches' Sabbats.» — la identificación con que enlaza el panteón galés y el calendario del culto.

«It is a curious thing how, in spite of all the propaganda for “staggered holidays,” Lammas-tide at the beginning of August is still the period to which the working-class population most stubbornly clings as its favourite time for taking a holiday.» — el resto vivo del calendario antiguo que señala en la costumbre vacacional.

«Gwydion may be the same as the Teutonic Woden or Odin.» — la identificación entre el mago galés y Odín, marcada como posible.

«This gruesome tale was gradually transmogrified into the sailors' tradition of “Davy Jones's Locker.”» — su derivación del dicho marinero a partir del mito antiguo.

«It must be remembered that the words “Hell” and “Hades” do not convey to the early peoples the connotation which they have today.» — la advertencia semántica con que separa el infierno cristiano del más allá antiguo.

«“Hell” is called after the Goddess Hel who was the Scandinavian and Teutonic Goddess of the Dead.» — la etimología con que sostiene esa advertencia.

«But I think enough has been said to indicate that they were not mere “fertility demons” (whatever those may be), or tribal fetishes, but an Olympus of gracious beings which was undoubtedly the product of a poetic genius of which our race may well be proud—for there is plenty of Celtic blood in the English people.» — su conclusión sobre los dioses británicos, en los términos raciales de su época.

«The lecturer was speaking upon the subject of the Celtic Gods, when a gentleman in a biretta got up and condemned him roundly for not disparaging them, saying that they were “the Devil.”» — la anécdota con que cierra el capítulo sobre la identificación eclesiástica de los dioses con el diablo.

«As I understood there was only one devil, and he couldn't be them all at once.» — su réplica a esa identificación, por vía aritmética.

«A frequent allegation is made against witches by the sillier type of writer that they seek to desecrate Christian churches, and to wreck Christian graveyards.» — la acusación que abre el capítulo sobre símbolos.

«Did these people but know it, there should be few in this country more interested in the preservation of our old cathedrals and churches than the members of the witch cult, because it is in those very cathedrals and churches that some of the most interesting secret signs of the cult are to be found.» — su respuesta, que invierte la acusación: el culto tiene interés en conservar los templos.

«The answer is, by the average British craftsman, who at that time might or might not have been himself a Christian; who had, however, in the matter of building places of worship, no other master but the Christian Church to provide him with employment.» — su explicación de cómo entró la imaginería pagana en los templos: por la mano de obra.

«On the other hand, the Church itself employed the best craftsmen it could obtain; if it had stayed to make enquiry into their private beliefs, it might never have got its church or cathedral erected at all.» — el reverso del mismo argumento, sobre la tolerancia de hecho de la Iglesia.

«Just how unconvincing these explanations are the reader may judge as we progress; but even were they true of the more Rabelaisian and scandalous representations, they cannot account for the presence of symbols which are definitely pagan.» — su objeción a las explicaciones corrientes de esas tallas.

«Its intention is not obscenity, but simply a representation of the female principle of fertility.» — su lectura de la Sheila-na-Gig.

«It is, of course, an Irish name, because these figures were at first mainly discovered upon old Irish churches, though examples occur in Britain also, as we shall see, and upon the Continent.» — el origen del nombre y la extensión geográfica del motivo.

«Crude and primitive they are, certainly; but as sacred in their own way to the men who carved them as, for instance, a statue of the Madonna to the Catholic.» — la equiparación de valor religioso que reclama para esas tallas.

«Strange as it seems, the mediaeval clergy did not prevent the intrusion among the designs used to decorate churches of some crude symbols derived from the old fertility rites.» — el hecho que le sirve de prueba: el clero no lo impidió.

«At Whittlesford (Cambs) the Sheila-na-Gig is carved over a window of the church tower, accompanied by a sinister, human-headed quadruped.» — el ejemplo británico concreto que aduce.

«Baubo, in the sacred legend of Isis and Osiris, endeavoured to comfort Isis, heartbroken over the death of her husband Osiris; but all her efforts failed until at last in desperation she suddenly whipped up her skirts and showed her naked body to the goddess, who burst out laughing at the sight.» — el mito de Baubo con que interpreta el gesto de la Sheila-na-Gig.

«I suggest its underlying meaning may be that the bereaved one takes comfort and smiles at the sign of the Gate of Rebirth» — su interpretación de ese mito, marcada dos veces como sugerencia.

«It may be objected that no one but a believer would build a church; we have, however, the examples of Voltaire and Sir Francis Dashwood to the contrary.» — los dos contraejemplos con que responde a la objeción.

«The form of the Christian cathedral is, after all, based upon that of the old sacred grove.» — su afirmación sobre el origen formal de la catedral.

«Not all of them were witch-hunting fanatics. On the contrary, many of them were gifted with sufficient tolerance and wisdom to permit the Old Religion and the New to flourish peacefully side by side, and even to appreciate that “There is no religion higher than Truth.”» — el matiz que introduce sobre el clero medieval.

«According to M. D. Anderson, the six sets of reindeer's horns and the hobby-horse used in this dance are still kept in the church when not in use, and originally the dance took place in the church itself;» — según Gardner, el dato de Anderson sobre la danza de los cuernos conservada en una iglesia.

«The last-named conclave called it “this filthy custom,” saying that “it had been taken over from the heathen and commemorates them.”» — la condena conciliar de la danza en la iglesia, que él lee como reconocimiento de su origen.

«It was the Reformation which put an end to almost all church dancing; the practice was forbidden in Protestant Germany and Protestant England in the middle of the sixteenth century.» — data en la Reforma el fin de la danza en el templo.

«We have seen that the old naked Goddess of Fertility is to be found carved on British churches, whether secretly placed there by her devotees, or under the tolerance of a parish priest who either worshipped her in secret himself or else turned a blind eye to her pagan presence; and the Old God is also to be found there.» — el balance del capítulo, con las tres explicaciones posibles dejadas abiertas.

«This mask has been named the “Green Man,” because it has been suggested by students of folklore that it represents the figure known as “Jack in the Green” who used to take the leading part in the May Day festivities.» — la identificación del Hombre Verde, adjudicada a los folkloristas.

«It will be remembered that May Eve is one of the witches' Sabbats, and the old custom was to stay out all night gathering green garlands to deck the procession which was held on the morrow, when the phallic “Maypole” was erected —often, as we have seen, upon an old pagan site—and the people danced around it.» — el enlace entre la fiesta de mayo y el calendario del culto.

«Now, we have seen that Janus or Dianus was a form of the God of the Witches; the two faces depict his dual nature.» — su lectura de la máscara doble como figura del dios del culto.

«Closely akin to him are Faunus and Silvanus, and Pan, who was hailed in Hellas as “Pamphagë, Pangenetor,” “All-Devourer, All-Begetter”; and as “Chairë Soter Kosmou,” “Beloved Saviour of the World,” yet from whose name was derived “panic” as a term of terror.» — la serie de dioses emparentados y las advocaciones griegas de Pan, con su traducción al lado.

«The concept of fertility, of eternal, ever-renewing, upspringing life, is the basis of them all.» — el núcleo que reclama común a toda esa serie.

«May we venture to suggest that the foliate mask is not merely derived from the figure of “Jack in the Green,” but that both are derived from the same source—the Old God of Fertility?» — su hipótesis sobre el Hombre Verde, formulada como pregunta.

«The Old God makes an actual appearance as “The Green Man” in the old romance of “Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight.”» — la aparición literaria que aduce como testimonio.

«The figure of the “Green Knight,” weird and fantastic yet courtly and kind in a way that puts Sir Gawaine to shame, is typical of the Old God; and it is to be noted that his “wife” in the story is Morgan Le Fay, the Lady of the Moon, who appears sometimes as an old hag, and sometimes as an enticing young woman.» — su lectura del romance: la pareja del Caballero Verde y Morgana como el dios y la diosa.

«The romance was written somewhere between 1360 and 1400, and at its end are the words “Honi soit qui mal y pense,” which is the motto of the Order of the Garter founded in 1349.» — el dato cronológico con que enlaza el romance y la Orden de la Jarretera.

«It will be remembered that the Order of the Garter was founded ostensibly as a memorial of King Arthur's Round Table by that King Edward III who gave refuge to Lady Alice Kyteler when her coven in Ireland was persecuted by the Bishop of Ossory.» — el nexo que traza entre la Orden, Eduardo III y el caso de Alice Kyteler.

«It is difficult to see how enquiry could have been made into the tradition of an Order which did not yet exist, so the Garter must have an earlier meaning.» — el argumento cronológico con que atribuye a la jarretera un sentido anterior a la Orden.

«“Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight” is an English “Mystery Legend,” and as such I recommend its study to the interested scholar.» — la clasificación que propone para el romance y la invitación que deja abierta.

«Lady Raglan says, The fact is that unofficial paganism subsisted side by side with the official religion, and this explains the presence of our Green Man in a church window with the Virgin beside him and below him the sun.» — según Gardner, la formulación de Lady Raglan sobre la coexistencia de los dos cultos.

«It would certainly appear in this instance that he was regarded as a sacred being, and some at least of the worshippers may have accepted the picture of the Virgin as a representation of the Great Mother upon which the priests had put clothes.» — su lectura de esa vidriera: la Virgen leída como la Gran Madre vestida.

«It occurs to me that this practice may be the origin of the many legends of “Screaming Skulls.”» — su hipótesis sobre el origen de las leyendas de calaveras que gritan.

«The general form of the “Screaming Skull” legend is that a skull is preserved in some old house, and that any attempt to remove it is immediately followed by unearthly screaming, and sometimes by storms and “Poltergeist” disturbances.» — la forma tipo de esa leyenda, tal como la describe.

«While upon the subject of sculptures of the Old God in churches we must not forget the famous “Lincoln Imp,” who squats upon a spandrel on the north side—the “Devil's side”—of Lincoln Cathedral.» — el caso del diablillo de Lincoln, con la orientación que le atribuye sentido.

«Can we really believe that these carvings were executed by devout Christians?» — la pregunta con que resume su argumento sobre la talla de las catedrales.

«The carvings are a mute witness of something at least curious in the relations between the working man who made the great cathedrals, and their ecclesiastical masters;» — la conclusión moderada que extrae: un testimonio mudo de una relación tensa.

«The sign of the Pentagram, too, is found as a “Mason's Mark.”» — el pentagrama entre las marcas de cantero.

«I have tried in this chapter to cite enough examples of pagan signs in churches to prove my case.» — el balance que hace de su propio capítulo.

«Many of the queer old carvings in mediaeval churches are, of course, simply examples of the Rabelaisian humour of the times;» — la concesión que hace sobre parte del material.

«but it is a humour which, we may feel, has a distinct tang of paganism in it.» — el matiz con que recupera ese material para su tesis.

«yet we are seriously asked by some commentators to believe that they were authorised by Bishops and clerics to improve the minds of their congregations!» — su objeción a la explicación edificante de esas tallas.

«May we theorise that some, at least, of these extraordinary sculptures were the wordless protest of the members of the Old Religion,» — su hipótesis final, marcada como teoría: la talla como protesta muda.

«The Christian type is descended from the days when Christianity was a Secret Society, organised in small cells.» — su descripción del origen organizativo del cristianismo, en paralelo con el aquelarre.

«The late Aleister Crowley taught his disciples to bleat, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”» — su comentario sobre la repetición de la fórmula crowleyana; el verbo elegido es despectivo.

«Much as the late Henry Ford is said to have declared, “Every purchaser of our next year's model can have a car of whatever colour he chooses, provided he chooses black.”» — la comparación con que ilustra los límites de esa libertad prometida.

«Now this was very clearly pointed out by some of the early Christian writers, who believed that, among the most wonderful joys of heaven was looking over the walls at the people you saw being tortured in Hell.» — la doctrina patrística que aduce para contrastar los dos paraísos.

«The Inquisition also saw glimpses of the Promised City, and disliked what they beheld.» — su lectura de la reacción inquisitorial ante el sabbat como ciudad prometida rival.

«For they complained bitterly, “The Basques, man, woman and child, talked of nothing but the Last Sabbat, and thought of nothing but the next one.”» — la queja inquisitorial que usa como prueba del atractivo del culto; la misma frase aparece antes en el libro atribuida a De Lancre y con otra redacción.

«Hence, in this chapter I propose to enquire into what the Black Mass really was (and for all I know, is); who were the people who really performed such a ceremony; and what was the psychology of that state of mind which gave rise to it.» — el programa del capítulo sobre la Misa Negra, con el paréntesis que deja abierta su vigencia.

«The Grimoires have been often described as books of Satanism, and consequently people who have never seen one have been led to believe that these books enjoin the worship of Satan; nothing could be further from the truth, as the most cursory examination of them will reveal.» — su afirmación sobre el contenido de los grimorios contra la etiqueta satanista.

«The theology of the grimoires is of the most orthodox. God and His angels, Christ and the saints, reign above; the devil and his angels reign below.» — su descripción de la cosmología de los grimorios.

«He seems to have believed this, but H. C. Lea suggests that Weyer's motive in publishing this treatise was to illustrate the follies of superstition then current among priests about the powers of demons.» — según Gardner, la lectura de Lea sobre el propósito de Weyer.

«In a note, Mr. Lea's editor, Professor Arthur C. Howland, says, It indicates a curious state of mind that the invocation of these spirits is addressed, in the name of the Trinity, to Jesus Christ, praying him by the merits of the Virgin and saints to grant divine power over all malignant spirits, so that whomsoever the adept calls shall at once appear and perform his will, without injuring or frightening him.» — según Gardner, la observación del editor de Lea sobre la forma cristiana de la invocación.

«The theologians universally held that there was no sin in commanding demons, though it was heretical to supplicate them, and thus this formula eluded the laws against magic and sorcery.» — la distinción teológica entre mandar y suplicar que, según él, hacía lícito el grimorio.

«In later times, however, after the Reformation, this kind of magic was also condemned, as we read that according to the secular jurists, the possession of books of ceremonial magic of this nature was evidence sufficient to bring one to torture and the stake.» — el cambio posterior a la Reforma en el trato jurídico del grimorio.

«Much has been made in recent years by such writers as Hugh Ross Williamson and H. T. F. Rhodes of the concept of “Dualism,” meaning that idea which divides the Universe between a good God and an evil God, or “Satan,” between whom eternal war is waged.» — la tesis ajena que va a discutir, con sus autores nombrados.

«Valuable as the researches of both these authors are, I must beg to differ from them upon some important points.» — su desacuerdo declarado con Williamson y Rhodes, con el reconocimiento previo.

«They hold the idea that this Dualism is an important factor in the development of the witch cult, and with this I cannot agree, because both have the orthodox conception that Satan was the deity the witches worshipped, and from what I know this is not so.» — el punto exacto del desacuerdo y la base que invoca: lo que él dice saber.

«The people who ascribe powers to Satan which are almost the equal of those of God are Christians, whether orthodox or unorthodox.» — el giro con que devuelve el dualismo al campo cristiano.

«Druidism, the religion of the Celts, had no doctrine of an evil deity opposed to the God of Good.» — su afirmación sobre la ausencia de dualismo en el druidismo.

«There is no evidence that the religion of the Great Mother Goddess or the old Hunting God had any conception of a supernatural author of all evil.» — la misma afirmación para el culto de la Madre y el dios cazador, formulada por ausencia de evidencia.

«In the 4th century A.D., when paganism was engaged in a fierce struggle with the new creed of Christianity, Sallustius, who was a close personal friend of the Emperor Julian (called the Apostate because he tried to restore the old religion), wrote a treatise called Peri Theon kai Kosmou, About the Gods and the World.» — la fuente pagana antigua con que sostiene esa ausencia de dualismo.

«It is probable that this treatise was a kind of manifesto of the highest type of paganism prevailing at that time, and it is evident that its author was an initiate of the Mysteries.» — su valoración del tratado, con los dos grados de certeza en la misma frase.

«With regard to the myths of the Gods, Sallustius says, “For one may call the World a Myth, in which bodies and things are visible, but souls and minds hidden.”» — según Gardner, la definición del mito en Salustio.

«Hence myths are a means of teaching people divine truths.» — la consecuencia que extrae de esa definición.

«Sallustius positively denies the existence of a Power of Evil, or even of evil spirits, in the sense that they are “devils.” He says, The Gods being good and making all things, how do evils exist in the world?» — el núcleo del argumento de Salustio contra el mal sustancial.

«Or perhaps it is better first to state the fact that, the Gods being good and making all things, there is no positive evil, it only comes by absence of good; just as darkness itself does not exist, but only comes about by absence of light.» — la doctrina de la privación que Gardner toma de Salustio para su propia posición.

«It is impious to suppose that the Divine is affected for good or ill by human things.» — otra tesis de Salustio que reproduce.

«It is not unlikely, too, that the rejection of God is a kind of punishment; we may well believe that those who knew the Gods and neglected them in one life may in another life be deprived of the knowledge of them altogether.» — la doctrina de Salustio sobre la pérdida del conocimiento divino entre vidas.

«If the transmigration of a soul takes place into a rational being, it simply becomes the soul of that body.» — la doctrina de la transmigración en Salustio, tal como la reproduce.

«“Souls that have lived in virtue are in general happy,” he says, “and when separated from the irrational part of their nature, and made clean from all matter, have communion with the Gods and join them in the governing of the whole world.”» — el destino del alma virtuosa según Salustio.

«But he does not use the promise of Heaven or the threat of Hell as a means of making people good, for he continues:» — el rasgo que Gardner subraya de esa doctrina: ausencia de premio y castigo.

«Now, the thing that will, I think, strike most the consciousness of the reader who is well versed in the teaching of the higher types of spiritualist and occult circles generally is not the antiquity of this teaching of Sallustius, but its startling modernity.» — su valoración del tratado: lo notable no es su antigüedad sino su actualidad.

«Of course, not all of Sallustius' teaching stands up so well to the passing of time; for instance, he had the idea that the earth was the centre of the Cosmos; but the spirit of his teaching,» — la reserva con que acota ese elogio. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«The works of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Williamson are scholarly and of great interest; but I submit that upon this point they have been misled.» — repite su desacuerdo con esos dos autores conservando el reconocimiento.

«I propose to examine, therefore, who the Cathari really were and what they really taught.» — anuncia el examen de los cátaros como parte de su argumento.

«It stemmed originally from Manichaeism, and seems to have been preached in the Balkans by Paulicians, a heretical Christian sect which was descended from the Manichees, who held the philosophy of Dualism.» — la genealogía que traza del catarismo.

«They held the concept that there was not one God, but two; one good and the other evil.» — la doctrina dualista cátara, que le sirve para contrastarla con el culto.

«They said that the Good God had no concern with the world of matter at all, save to redeem men's souls from it as soon as possible.» — el desarrollo de esa doctrina sobre la materia.

«The world of matter was evil, illusive, and transitory.» — la valoración cátara de la materia, opuesta a la del culto de fertilidad.

«The Cathari accounted for man's place in nature, and his possession of a material body, by asserting that the Evil God had seduced a large number of the angels of heaven to separate themselves from the Good God, and that they had thus “fallen,” and become ensnared in the Evil God's realm, the world of matter.» — el mito cátaro de la caída tal como lo expone.

«The Good God had permitted them to exile themselves, but had decreed that the snare of the Evil One should become the instrument of their redemption, by means of reincarnation, until they won back again to their original state of blessedness and purity.» — la función de la reencarnación dentro de esa doctrina.

«From this doctrine they took their name; theirs was the religion of catharsis, a Greek word meaning “purification.”» — la etimología del nombre cátaro.

«They might own no property; but held all material goods in common, and laid out such wealth as they had upon relieving the sick and poor.» — la práctica social que atribuye a los cátaros.

«They built no churches; all the Vatican's pomp and display, they said, was a delusion of the Evil God.» — el rechazo cátaro del aparato eclesiástico.

«Their services were very simple, and their main sacrament, the Consolamentum, was intended to bring about the union, or rather re-union, of man with his Higher Self.» — el sacramento central del catarismo, en la interpretación que le da.

«These ascetics were known as “Perfecti,” and they seemed to have lived much as the early Buddhist monks, and, like them, to have been regarded with much reverence by the common people,» — la descripción de los perfectos y el paralelo budista que propone.

«It will be readily seen that this is a very different creed from that of the witch cult.» — la conclusión del contraste: catarismo y culto no son la misma cosa.

«In order to discredit them, the official propaganda of the Church spread abroad the same stories of “hideous orgies,” “obscene rites,” etc., etc., about the Cathari as it did about the witches, the Stedinger, the Waldenses, and the Knights Templars;» — la serie de grupos a los que, según él, se aplicó la misma plantilla de acusaciones.

«The preaching of the Cathars was a considerable thorn in the side of the Church, especially when they denied the validity of the Church's sacraments.» — el motivo del conflicto que señala.

«All who would join the crusade were promised the same remission of sins as they would gain by crusading in Palestine.» — el incentivo de la cruzada albigense.

«Now I am going to advance what I am well aware is a highly controversial view, which I fear may offend some people.» — el aviso con que introduce su tesis sobre la Misa Negra.

«That view is that the root of the practices known as the “Black Mass” is to be found in this latter belief, when it was held by spiritually ignorant people and unworthy priests.» — la tesis anunciada: la Misa Negra nace dentro del cristianismo, no fuera.

«It has nothing to do with the witch cult or the Cathars, and never has had anything to do with them.» — la consecuencia que extrae, dicha sin reserva.

«The Black Mass was—and I hope I am right in speaking of it in the past tense—a Mass which was performed by an ordained priest, with various magical ceremonies added, in order to use, or rather pervert, the power of the Eucharist to some magical end.» — su definición de la Misa Negra, que exige un sacerdote ordenado.

«I know that various alleged examples of “Black Masses” are to be found in the confessions of witches, extracted under torture; but what reliance can be placed upon such evidence when they were told what to say and tortured until they said it?» — su descarte de la evidencia procesal por el modo en que fue obtenida.

«Of course, it will here be argued, by those who complain that I have gone out of my way to claim that there is nothing diabolical about witchcraft, that I am a special pleader.» — se anticipa a la objeción de parcialidad que se le hará.

«If they will not listen to me, perhaps they will listen to the words of a man who officiated as confessor to those who were condemned for witchcraft at the height of the persecution in Germany in the 17th century;» — la estrategia con que responde a esa objeción: ceder la palabra a un testigo eclesiástico.

«When Phillip von Schornborn, Bishop of Wurzburg in 1642, was a young man, he asked Father Von Spee why his hair had turned white before its time; Von Spee answered that it was caused by the agony of mind that he felt when, in the course of his official duties, he had had to accompany to the stake those who were condemned for witchcraft; because “he had not discovered in a single one anything to convince him that she was justly condemned.» — el testimonio de Von Spee sobre las condenadas que acompañó al suplicio.

«Father Von Spee was not the only member of his Society who deplored the horrors and injustices of the witch-hunts; he was supported by two more Jesuits, Father Paul Laymann and Father Adam Tanner, and by a Protestant Doctor of Holy Writ, Johann Meyfarth.» — la lista de eclesiásticos, católicos y protestantes, que protestaron contra la persecución.

«All of these Churchmen wrote books protesting against the use of torture to extract confessions of whatever was required, at a time when to raise one's voice against the prevailing persecution was to court its immediate fury against oneself, and their works had considerable influence upon the restoration of sanity and humanity to a country in the grip of an hysterical reign of terror.» — su valoración del efecto de esas protestas.

«It is incredible how this is everywhere disregarded when almost all rage against the accused and hold as valid and true whatever bears against them, while whatever favours them is cast aside.» — de Von Spee, citado por Gardner: la asimetría probatoria de los procesos.

«That inquisitor is not incorruptible who sends agents to places to inflame the minds of the peasants about witches and promises to come and destroy them, if a proper collection is made for him; when this is done he comes, celebrates one or two autos de fé, excites the people still more with the confessions of the accused; pretends that he is going away and has another collection made; when he has exhausted the district, he moves off to another and repeats the same.» — de Von Spee: el circuito económico del inquisidor itinerante.

«Father Von Spee was an eye-witness of the things of which he writes.» — la credencial que Gardner reclama para ese testimonio.

«Von Spee goes on, What is to be thought of torture? Does it bring frequent moral peril to the innocent? In reflecting upon what I have seen, read and heard, I can only conclude that it fills our Germany with witches and unheard-of wickedness, and not only Germany but any nation that tries it.» — de Von Spee: la tortura como productora de las brujas que dice descubrir.

«The danger, therefore, is that many to avoid it will falsely confess whatever the examiner suggests or what they have excogitated in advance.» — de Von Spee: el mecanismo de la confesión falsa.

«I confess that I would at once admit any crime and choose death rather than such suffering, and I have heard many men, religious and of uncommon fortitude, say the same.» — de Von Spee, hablando de sí mismo, sobre el límite de la resistencia al tormento.

«I wondered at this and made enquiry and learned that in reality they were tortured, but only in an iron press with sharp-edged channels over the shins, in which they are pressed like a cake, bringing blood and causing intolerable pain, and this is technically called without torture, deceiving those who do not understand the phrases of the inquisitors.» — de Von Spee: la fórmula *sin tortura* de las actas y lo que encubría.

«The law prescribes that no one under torture shall be questioned about accomplices by name; but this is disregarded and names are put in the mouths of the accused for denunciation. This is not only customary in many places, but special crimes, places and times for the Sabbath, and other details, are suggested in the questions.» — de Von Spee: los nombres y los detalles del sabbat los ponía el interrogatorio.

«Some executioners, when preparing the accused for torture, will tell them what accomplices to denounce and warn them not to refuse; they will also tell them what others have said about them, so that they will know what details to confess, and thus make all accord.» — de Von Spee: cómo se fabricaba la coherencia entre confesiones.

«Thus the protocols are made to agree, and the evidence of guilt is perfect.» — el cierre de esa denuncia, y la razón por la que Gardner descarta la coincidencia de testimonios como prueba.

«I suggest that it was in fact widely known and whispered about that this type of perverted Mass was performed for magical ends, though decent Churchmen abominated it;» — su hipótesis sobre la difusión real de la misa mágica dentro del clero.

«This is proved by the charms containing pieces of consecrated Hosts which we have in this Museum; by such stories as that told by Montague Summers, who does not seem to realise the real significance of it, of ignorant country people who regarded the Ablution from the chalice which had held the Eucharistic wine as a remedy for the ailments of their children;» — la prueba material que aduce, junto con una historia de Summers usada contra su propio autor.

«The first reformed Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549), has a rubric which runs as follows: “And although . . . the people these many years past received at the priest's hands the Sacrament of the Body of Christ in their own hands . . . yet as they many times conveyed the same secretly away, kept it with them, and diversely abused it to superstition and wickedness . . . it is thought convenient the people commonly receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body in their mouths at the priest's hands.”» — la rúbrica litúrgica que aduce como prueba documental del uso mágico de la hostia. Los puntos suspensivos son los que imprime la fuente.

«It was people of this mentality who were the clients of priests who were prepared, for a consideration, to say a Mass for magical purposes.» — el vínculo que traza entre esa creencia popular y el mercado de misas mágicas.

«I believe that the Catholic Church permits priests to say Masses for some particular “intention” of one of their congregation, and, of course, in the hands of any upright priest such a practice is safe from abuse.» — la práctica lícita de la que, según él, deriva el abuso.

«Medical science was still comparatively in its infancy, and this added to the peculiar terror of death by poison, because those medical tests by which poisoners today can quickly be detected had not yet been devised.» — el marco con que explica el pánico al veneno en la corte francesa.

«Consequently, frightened people mistook natural deaths for the results of poison, and conversely deaths which were really by poison could not be proved.» — la consecuencia doble de esa ignorancia técnica.

«She had obtained her supplies of poison from one Saint-Croix, her lover, who pretended to be an alchemist.» — el dato del caso Brinvilliers, con la alquimia como pretexto.

«She received her clients dressed so magnificently that it was said the Queen of France had no finer robe than the one she wore when delivering her oracles; it consisted of a mantle of crimson velvet sewn with two hundred and five double-headed eagles in gold thread, and trimmed with costly fur; a skirt in water-green velvet, trimmed with French point lace; and shoes sewn with golden double-headed eagles to match those on the mantle.» — la descripción del atuendo de La Voisin, con el detalle del bordado.

«She has been described as one of the most amazing criminals in history, a description with which I agree.» — su juicio sobre La Voisin, tomado de otros y suscrito.

«Without knowing it, he had commenced to uncover a scandal the reverberations of which were to echo through every rank of the hierarchy of Versailles until they reached the throne itself.» — el alcance que atribuye al caso, hasta el trono.

«This tribunal was so called (i.e. “The Burning-Chamber”), not because it imposed sentences of burning, but because it was the custom for such extraordinary tribunals to sit in a chamber hung with black and lit with burning candles and flambeaux.» — la corrección que hace sobre el nombre de la *Chambre Ardente*.

«La Reynie was not permitted, as he himself records with some indignation, “to put her to the question.”» — el límite político que encontró la investigación, en palabras del propio investigador.

«La Voisin's guilt, however, was plain; her handsome income had for years been derived more from crime than from the profession of the occult arts, though she had also commanded high fees for her practice of the latter.» — su lectura del caso: el delito y la práctica ocultista son cosas distintas, aunque coincidieran en la misma persona.

«La Reynie had soon discovered that La Voisin had many acquaintances among the less reputable type of priest.» — el vínculo con el clero que aparece en la investigación.

«In spite of the fact that she had made an outward show of piety—she had actually been arrested as she left the Church of Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle, where she had been attending Mass—the Missionaires of St. Vincent de Paul had long suspected her of evil practices, and had had her under surveillance, without being able to obtain any positive evidence against her.» — el detalle de la detención y la vigilancia previa, que él consigna sin adornar.

«He could not believe it; yet it was so supported by the statements of other witnesses, with whom Marguerite Monvoisin could have had no contact since she had been arrested, that he dared not discredit it.» — el criterio de corroboración que atribuye a La Reynie: testigos incomunicados. Es el reverso del argumento que aplica a las confesiones bajo tortura.

«Madame de Montespan was determined to oust her and take her place, and she consulted La Voisin with a view to obtaining her desires by magical rites.» — el móvil que atribuye a Madame de Montespan.

«It does not appear, however, that this was a Black Mass, but merely a magical ceremony done under the forms of orthodox religion.» — la distinción que mantiene incluso dentro del caso más citado como Misa Negra.

«It is evident, from the details given, that the purpose of Guibourg's ceremonies was to evoke demons and compel them to obey his requests;» — su lectura de las ceremonias de Guibourg como magia de evocación, no como culto al diablo.

«It is said in The Key of Solomon, In many operations it is necessary to make some sort of sacrifice unto Demons, and in various ways.» — la cita de la Clave de Salomón con que enmarca esos sacrificios.

«They were called “faiseuses D'anges,” “makers of angels.”» — el nombre con que designa a las abortistas del caso, con su traducción.

«All her magical practices seem to have been founded on perversions of the Church's sacraments,» — su conclusión sobre el fondo de las prácticas de La Voisin: sacramentos invertidos, no paganismo.

«The root of all these horrors is the same; it springs ultimately from no doctrine, nor from any cult;» — la afirmación con que desliga esos crímenes de toda doctrina y de todo culto.

«Actually, however, she lay across the altar, on her back, her body at right angles to its length» — la corrección de detalle que hace sobre la posición del cuerpo en el rito, contra las descripciones corrientes.

«Mr. Rhodes has been egregiously misled.» — su desacuerdo directo con Rhodes sobre la interpretación del caso.

«He is described as “a Grand Duke of Hell,” and he is pictured in the Magus as a bearded figure with a fierce expression.» — la referencia iconográfica que da para uno de los demonios evocados, tomada del *Magus*.

«The purpose of the Black Mass at which these two demons were evoked was firstly to regain the King's favour, and secondly to destroy Madame de Montespan's rivals; hence the purpose of choosing this particular evocation is perfectly clear.» — su explicación de la elección de esos dos demonios por su función.

«Mr. Rhodes has been further misled when he says that the Mass was “offered” to Astaroth and Asmodeus.» — el punto exacto del desacuerdo con Rhodes.

«It was the blood sacrifice alone which was offered to demons; the Mass—Heaven help them! —was offered to God, in order to control the demons and make them obey.» — su corrección: la misa iba dirigida a Dios y servía para mandar sobre los demonios. Es la distinción con que sostiene toda su lectura de la Misa Negra.

«Two more masses were performed, at fifteen-day and threeweek intervals; the second took place in a tumble-down house at Saint-Denis; the third in a house at Paris, to which Guibourg was taken with his eyes blindfolded, and conducted thence again in the same way.» — el detalle procesal de las tres misas. La forma *threeweek* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte.

«She said that these powders were made according to different formulas, but that all were intended as aphrodisiacs, and were composed of cantharides, the powder of dried toads, the blood of bats, “et les plus ignobles ingrédients.”» — la composición de los polvos según la declaración, con la fórmula francesa que el proceso registra.

«According to a statement of Marguerite Monvoisin, however, Guibourg did practise this ritual; but it is not clear whether or not he practised it with Madame de Montespan.» — el límite que pone a lo que la declaración prueba.

«The purpose, however, was not a ceremonial desecration of the elements, but a perversion of the ancient Sacred Marriage.» — su lectura del rito: no profanación sino matrimonio sagrado pervertido.

«She went to La Voisin, and offered her one hundred thousand ecus to poison both the King and Mlle. de Fontanges.» — el punto al que, según el proceso, llegó Madame de Montespan.

«It might be thought a curious coincidence that the outbreak of the scandal of the “Affaire des Poisons” should coincide with the King's tiring of Madame de Montespan.» — se plantea él mismo la objeción de la conveniencia política del escándalo.

«However, had he merely wished to get rid of her, there was no necessity to have made a scandal that rocked the entire French nobility, and startled Europe; and in fact, when the discoveries of La Reynie's investigation were placed before him, the King and his two ministers, Colbert and Louvois, far from proclaiming the fallen favourite's shame to the world, made desperate efforts to conceal it.» — su respuesta a esa objeción: el poder ocultó en vez de exhibir.

«All those who could bear witness against her were imprisoned for life, by lettre de cachet, and La Reynie regretted that in this way many of the worst criminals, including the Abbé Guibourg himself, escaped the public execution that he would have given them by law.» — el desenlace judicial: silencio en vez de castigo público.

«If Louis XIV had wished an invention against Madame de Montespan, he would hardly have made one which was so humiliating to himself;» — su argumento contra la hipótesis de que el escándalo fuera fabricado por el rey: la invención lo habría humillado a él.

«Guibourg and la fille Voisin agree with each other upon circumstances so particular and so horrible that it is difficult to conceive that two people could have imagined them and concocted them all together, unknown to each other.» — el criterio de credibilidad que toma de las notas de La Reynie: dos testigos incomunicados coincidiendo en detalles particulares.

«I have treated this story at such length because, as I have mentioned, it is the only account I know of the Black Mass which is supported by anything worth calling evidence.» — la razón declarada de la extensión del capítulo.

«The conclusions which I have drawn from it may not be acceptable to all.» — la reserva que pone a sus propias conclusiones.

«Nevertheless, it is as clear as daylight (except to those of whom the old proverb says, “There are none so blind as them that won't see”), that the people who were practising the Black Mass in the 17th century were not witches, but priests.» — la conclusión del capítulo, enunciada sin reserva.

«Guibourg was not alone in his infamy; we have also the names of the Abbé Davot; Dulong, the Canon of Notre Dame, and Brigalier, a Royal Almoner; the Abbé Guignard, and the Abbé Sebault; Barthelemy Lemeignan, the vicar of Saint-Eustache, and another priest called Tournet: and a Bishop, Gille-Lefranc.» — la lista nominal de clérigos implicados que da como respaldo.

«H. T. F. Rhodes—upon the facts in whose book I cast no doubt, disagreeing only with the deductions he draws from them—tells us that between 1673 and 1680 at least fifty priests were executed for sacrilege, and that the majority, if not all of these, were associated with La Voisin.» — la cifra que toma de Rhodes, separando expresamente los hechos de las deducciones.

«Do not let me give the impression that by stating these facts I am attempting to cast a slur upon the Catholic clergy as a whole.» — la salvedad con que acota el alcance de su acusación.

«While witch-hunting butchers such as Institoris and Sprenger were at their hateful work, hundreds of kindly and decent parish priests were at theirs;» — el contrapeso que ofrece dentro del mismo clero.

«In the year 1951 the British Government of the day added an important chapter to the long history of legislation affecting witchcraft, and also, incidentally, to that relating to religious and personal liberty.» — sitúa la ley de 1951 en la doble serie: brujería y libertad religiosa.

«This Act is, I believe, a unique piece of legislation in that it legally recognises the possibility of genuine mediumship and psychic powers, and imposes penalties only on those who fraudulently pretend to the possession of such powers in order to make money.» — su lectura de la Fraudulent Mediums Act, con la fórmula que ya había usado antes en el libro.

«It is interesting to note how the laws relating to witchcraft have reflected the opinion and intellectual climate of the times.» — el principio con que lee la serie legislativa.

«It was not due to a new spirit of clemency in the Church, but to an increased growth of rationalism among the people, that the prosecution of witches began to dwindle and finally ceased.» — su adjudicación del fin de la persecución al racionalismo popular, no a la Iglesia.

«In 1736 James I's Witchcraft Act of 1604 was repealed, and replaced by an Act which said in effect that there was no such thing as witchcraft, and that anyone who pretended to occult powers was ipso facto a fraud, and should be prosecuted as such.» — el contenido de la ley de 1736, que niega la existencia misma del objeto.

«It may, of course, be the sheerest coincidence; but towards the end of 1951 a number of very strange things began to appear in certain sections of the Press, and they have kept on appearing at intervals ever since.» — el vínculo que insinúa entre la nueva ley y la campaña de prensa, marcándolo como posible casualidad.

«Black magic is not practised by a few crazy individuals. It is the cult of many organised groups.» — cita del material periodístico que va a discutir.

«I urge the authorities to keep a closer watch on strange and crazy-sounding societies.» — la petición que reproduce de esos artículos, y que él lee como llamado a la persecución.

«The reporter also said: “I have in my possession a dossier, the result of many years' work by an investigator, a Mr. A., who is out to expose these malignant people and their teachings and practices.» — el expediente anónimo en que se apoyaba la campaña.

«However, in spite of the fact that we were assured that Mr. A. was not a crank, the public have never been given the opportunity of judging this for themselves.» — su objeción de método: no se puede juzgar a una fuente anónima.

«We are not told what qualifications he possesses, nor was his true name mentioned.» — la ausencia de credenciales verificables en esa fuente.

«I do not suggest that the papers which have printed such statements as that which I have quoted are deliberately aiming for this object; but I do suggest that this vague smear-and-scare campaign is potentially more dangerous to Britain than the alleged activities of all the so-called black magic groups put together.» — su acusación, formulada con la reserva sobre la intención.

«I have never come across the slightest evidence that any such “Black International” exists outside works of fiction, and consequently I do not believe that it does.» — su negativa, apoyada en la ausencia de evidencia y declarada como creencia.

«What we do come across, time and again in history, is the tragic results which have accrued from listening to people's irresponsible imaginings and taking them for truth.» — el argumento histórico con que cierra: lo documentado es el efecto del rumor, no el complot.

«Between the covers of a thriller such things are no more sinister than the activities of Dr. Fu Manchu; but when they are presented as sober fact, which British citizens should get alarmed about, I think it is time to ask either for some of that awkward thing, evidence, or for a halt to be called until it can be produced.» — su exigencia de prueba, con la comparación novelesca incluida.

«All these preparations were said to be made to prove that people in Britain were interested in Black Magic.» — su resumen de lo que la prensa presentaba como prueba.

«Personally I cannot see it is so very wicked to attempt to release someone from a Black Magic spell.» — su comentario sobre el caso que el reportaje daba por siniestro.

«Except the utterly priceless comment of this reporter: “It is disturbing to get confirmation that there are adults in Britain who still wish to flirt with Black Magic.”» — la frase del reportaje que subraya por su desproporción.

«Oddly enough, no reference was now made to the dossier which, it will be remembered, contained detailed information about “unbelievable debauchery” in which “people who are nationally and internationally famous” took part in the course of their participation in the rites of black magic; notwithstanding that the same reporter was still responsible for the articles.» — la incoherencia interna de la campaña que señala: el expediente desaparece del relato.

«The writer goes on to quote—inevitably—the Rev. Montague Summers, “a retired Roman Catholic priest,” and a famous sensational writer.» — señala a Summers como autoridad recurrente de esa prensa.

«The word of one woman was not enough.» — su exigencia de corroboración para el testimonio central de la campaña.

«Not one word of corroboration of this woman's story was, as we shall see, ever printed.» — el resultado de esa exigencia.

«As a member of the Society of Psychical Research, I should have very much liked the opportunity to meet both these ladies; but nothing more was ever heard about them.» — su reclamo de acceso a los testigos, desde su credencial de investigador psíquico.

«Personally, after a close study of the peculiar technique of the sensational Press, I find the things they leave unsaid very much more intriguing than those they say.» — su método de lectura de la prensa sensacionalista: atender al silencio.

«We shall see later on how one piece of evidence about witchcraft in Britain, which I provided for them and was prepared to guarantee as genuine, they flatly refused to print, upon the most feeble excuse I have ever heard.» — anuncia el episodio en que él mismo ofreció material y fue rechazado.

«Further, Mr. X. taught her “to call upon Hell—‘Oh, Hell, help me!’” (Not, as one might have supposed, upon the receipt of his telephone bill, but as a form of prayer.)» — su comentario burlón sobre el testimonio publicado.

«I do want . . . to emphasise now the reality of the sinister growth of witchcraft in Britain today. . . . I believe that eventually unless this vast wave of wickedness is checked, black magic could bring about the absolute moral corruption of this country.”» — la tesis del reportaje que reproduce para discutirla; los puntos suspensivos son los de la fuente.

«I cannot see what was to prevent the person who was being “tested” from bringing back clay fresh from their own back garden, and spending the night in their bed.» — su objeción práctica a la prueba de lealtad que describía el testimonio.

«She continues: “Members of the circle were tested as to their allegiance.» — el testimonio publicado sobre las pruebas de lealtad del grupo.

«but to say that they are “witchcraft” and that the people who carry them on are “witches” organised into “witch covens,” is ridiculous and untrue.» — su objeción central a la campaña: el nombre está mal puesto.

«Why could not the sensational Press honestly say, “We have reason, from statements made to us, to believe that Voodoo practices are carried on in England. We think that this should be investigated and any excesses restrained”?» — la formulación que, según él, habría sido honesta.

«It is possible, of course, that a black woman, as she tells us she is, would use the word “witchcraft” thinking it the English word for “Voodoo”;» — la explicación que ofrece para la confusión terminológica de la testigo, en los términos de su época.

«Why was witchcraft brought into it?» — la pregunta que resume su queja contra la campaña.

«Now, this is another typical Voodoo touch.» — el criterio con que reasigna los detalles del relato al vudú y no al culto.

«Surely, if she had really been a High Priestess, she would have been in charge of the proceedings, and it would have been her place to reprimand, not to be reprimanded?» — su objeción interna al testimonio: contradice la regla de mando del aquelarre.

«It would appear that upon the occasion of the ceremony described above “Michele” was being sadly cheated; for if the grave was open late at night, as she says it was, surely it must have been empty?» — otra objeción interna, esta vez de verosimilitud material.

«They authorised this statement: “We cannot say no such thing is going on, but we feel sure that if it was we should have received complaints.”» — la respuesta oficial que obtuvo, y que él consigna como el estado real de la evidencia.

«I pointed out to him that the description of her injury—slight abrasions to the scalp and a patch of hair cut off—was also perfectly consistent with an injury that was self-inflicted.» — su objeción al caso del supuesto ataque, formulada como compatibilidad, no como acusación.

«He said, “How do you know?” I replied, “When an injury is self-inflicted, they are always careful never to do anything that really hurts; they'll slash hair, tear clothes, break their spectacles, put mud on themselves, but never anything that is painful.» — el criterio con que sostiene esa objeción.

«And indeed, what was to stop her alleged assailants—two men in a deserted street at 1.30 a.m., as she described them—from beating her unconscious and half-killing her, if they had chosen to? Yet all they did was to cut off a piece of her hair!» — el argumento de verosimilitud con que cierra el caso.

«“Dr. Gerald Brosseau Gardner is an authority on witchcraft.”» — la frase del periódico con que se abre el ataque contra él; es una de las pocas veces que el libro imprime su nombre completo, y lo hace citando a otro.

«“It is through him,” it was stated, “that many people get their first mistaken ideas about witchcraft.”» — la acusación periodística que reproduce para responderla.

«“He puts around the, to my mind, dangerous idea that witchcraft is not evil. “» — el cargo central que le hacía la prensa, en sus propios términos.

«“He seems to overlook that what may begin as an innocent dabble in search of excitement may lead eventually to devil worship.”» — la forma completa de ese cargo, con su argumento de pendiente resbaladiza.

«“In books Gardner has written and in his lectures, he goes out of his way to dismiss the idea that witchcraft in Britain is in any way diabolical. “» — la descripción que hacía la prensa de su propia obra.

«“He agreed that in ceremonies in some parts of the world it is necessary to have a nude girl on an altar.”» — la frase que se le atribuía en el reportaje.

«I have no recollection whatsoever of making the statement that most people would be shocked at witchcraft ceremonies; in fact, I don't think any normal people would be shocked at th» — su negativa a una de las frases que le adjudicaban. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«I believe, though I cannot be certain, that the compère was Wilfrid Pickles.» — la reserva con que da un nombre que no puede asegurar.

«There is still, in the collective unconsciousness of men's minds, a realisation of the rightness of the Old Sacred Marriage.» — su afirmación sobre la persistencia inconsciente del matrimonio sagrado.

«Let me make it clear, however, that the witch cult does not hold sex sacred as an end in itself, but as a living symbol and manifestation of the Great Source of All Things which men call God.» — la precisión doctrinal con que acota el lugar del sexo en el culto.

«It will be noted that the reporter does not say that I said witches used blood in their rites. He could not do so, because I had specifically denied it, both verbally and in print.» — su lectura fina del texto periodístico: lo que no dice.

«However, to clear up any possible misunderstanding, now or in the future, I will say it yet again: witches do not use the blood of sacrificed animals, birds, or any other living things in their rites.» — la negación repetida por tercera vez en el libro, ahora como declaración expresa para el futuro.

«Of course, the reporter may have misunderstood what I said to him; but upon his own admission he had read my book, Witchcraft Today, in which I made the same denial, not only once but several times.» — la concesión que hace al periodista y el argumento con que la retira.

«As I have previously stated in Chapter VII, blood was sometimes used in ceremonial magic, but this is a different thing from witch rites.» — la distinción que sostiene: la sangre pertenece a la magia ceremonial, no al culto.

«The ceremonial magician was generally a man who worked alone or with one or two assistants. If he wanted to raise power quickly, and was not too scrupulous as to how he did it, this might be one of his methods;» — la razón técnica que da para el uso de sangre en la magia ceremonial: soledad del operador.

«on the other hand, witch rites are worked by a number of persons, who especially if they are of witch families, may have inherited psychic or mediumistic faculties, and the power they generate is like that of a spiritualistic circle.» — el contraste: el grupo produce el poder que el mago solitario tiene que forzar.

«The methods they use do not need such rites as blood sacrifices, even if they were willing to use them.» — la conclusión del argumento, que hace innecesario el sacrificio.

«As this article constituted a personal attack upon myself and my views, I have deliberately reproduced here just as much of it as I could.» — declara el criterio con que reproduce el ataque en su contra: lo más completo posible.

«He had either to print that opinion, which would have spoilt the whole stunt, or else attempt to silence me and discredit what I said about witchcraft, and he chose to do the latter.» — su explicación del ataque como necesidad de la campaña.

«Not only did I achieve the status of a pin-up, but fan-mail started to come my way; our local postman had to give me a mailbag all to myself one day, and the daily deluge of letters kept up for weeks.» — el efecto que dice haber tenido el ataque. La forma *mailbag* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte de renglón.

«Many of the letters were evidence of the interest taken by people in all walks of life in what is generally known as the supernormal, and of their dissatisfaction with orthodox approaches to life and religion.» — la lectura que hace de esa correspondencia.

«However, they flatly refused to print it.» — el desenlace de la oferta de réplica: el periódico no publicó la respuesta del culto.

«I think, however, that the reader should have the opportunity of judging the witch's reply, so I reproduce it herewith.» — la razón por la que reproduce íntegra esa réplica en el libro.

«That paragraph appeared in a series of articles on witchcraft printed by a Sunday newspaper. It is perfectly true. I am a witch, and that is what I believe.» — la apertura de la réplica escrita por una miembro del aquelarre: acepta la descripción del periódico y se declara bruja.

«The only word I would disagree with is the word “satanic.”» — el único punto que la firmante rechaza de la descripción periodística.

«Whether or not my religion is superior to Christianity is a matter of opinion, but that it is much older is a matter of fact, as eminent anthropologists will tell you.» — la distinción que traza la firmante entre lo opinable y lo que da por hecho, apoyándose en la antropología.

«I have seen them invoked for many purposes and have invoked them myself; but I have never seen them invoked for a bad purpose.» — el testimonio en primera persona de la firmante sobre las invocaciones del culto.

«You want to know how these ceremonies are performed? Well, I can tell you this, that they are not performed with ridiculous obscenities so often attributed to them.» — su negación de las obscenidades atribuidas al rito.

«I have seen spirits, too, who have come to join in the rite; but they have been spirits of men and women—not demons—and I have felt that they came as friends.» — el testimonio de la firmante sobre los espíritus que dice haber visto en el rito.

«If I say that they have returned, and that I have spoken to them and they have answered me, you may not believe me; but it is the truth, and I know others who have had the same experience.» — la afirmación con que la firmante asume el descrédito de antemano.

«My answer is, because they are afraid of us.» — la explicación que da la firmante de la hostilidad eclesiástica.

«One day, I believe, the people of the world will turn back from the road of scientific, orthodox civilisation which has proved so stony and return to the life and religion of nature.» — el cierre profético de la réplica.

«The paper who promised to give a witch the chance to reply never even chose to reveal the fact that a reply had been offered, let alone received.» — el comentario de Gardner sobre el destino de esa réplica.

«“Your books,” says the newspaper ponderously, “in the wrong hands can be dangerous.» — el cargo final que la prensa le dirigía, sobre el efecto de sus propios libros.

«Because in the mid-eighteenth century a Sir Francis Dashwood formed the notorious “Hell Fire Club.”» — el motivo por el que la prensa ligaba West Wycombe con la magia negra.

«Now, this interested me, I had heard a lot of stories of what happened at Black Masses, but this was the first time I had ever heard that such athletic proceedings as the smashing of gravestones were part of the ritual.» — su objeción irónica al relato del destrozo como rito.

«So, in spite of the fact that Midsummer Eve has actually no particular connection with black magic, I went to West Wycombe to see what had happened.» — declara haber ido a comprobar en persona, y de paso corrige la fecha ritual.

«However, I could not find anybody on the spot, including the Curator of the “Hell Fire Caves,” who believed that a Black Mass had taken place there.» — el resultado de esa comprobación sobre el terreno.

«The damage was simply a piece of silly vandalism, and I satisfied myself that, although it might have taken four men to replace the stones from where they had fallen, a child could have tipped them over from their original positions.» — su explicación material del destrozo, contra el dato de fuerza que daba la prensa.

«A couple of mischievous schoolboys could have accounted for all the damage done.» — la conclusión del caso.

«The murderer has never yet been caught, nor the mystery of the crime solved.» — el estado del caso Charles Walton cuando escribe.

«Professor J. M. Webster, of the West Midlands Forensic Laboratory, giving evidence at the inquest, said that the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage, due to grave injuries to the neck and chest caused by a cutting weapon and a stabbing weapon.» — el dato forense del caso, tomado de las actas de la investigación.

«Cuts on the hands showed that the old man had attempted to defend himself.» — otro dato forense que conserva.

«A plane from the R.A.F. airfield at Leamington took aerial photographs of the scene of the crime; a detachment of the Royal Engineers searched the fields with minedetectors, looking for clues; four thousand statements were taken in the course of the investigation; but no arrest was made, and the crime remains upon the list of unsolved murders.» — la magnitud de la investigación y su resultado nulo. La forma *minedetectors* es la que devuelve la capa de texto al unir el guion de corte.

«According to Ex-Supt. Fabian, Supt. Spooner called his attention, immediately upon his arrival in the Cotswolds, to the possibility of the belief in witchcraft being a factor in the murder.» — el origen policial de la hipótesis de brujería en el caso.

«This book refers to the strong belief in witches and witchcraft, and says, “In 1875 a weak-minded young man killed an old woman named Ann Turner with a hay-fork because he believed she had bewitched him.”» — el precedente de 1875 en el que se apoyaba la comparación.

«In its big splash in 1955, the sensational paper, too, had mentioned the Walton case, adding that “It happened on St. Valentine's Day, 1945—traditionally a day of sacrifice.”» — el detalle que la prensa añadía al caso, y que él va a discutir.

«“The manner of killing,” says the paper, “was identical with that in a murder of 1875 in nearby Long Compton, of a woman villagers thought was a witch.”» — la equivalencia que trazaba la prensa entre los dos crímenes.

«The answer is that when Ex-Supt. Fabian wrote his book, in which he mentioned this unsolved crime, he said that it was done “not far from the stone circle of the Whispering Knights,” and that “it looked like the kind of killing the Druids might have done in ghastly ceremony» — el origen de la conexión druídica del caso, rastreado hasta el libro del policía.

«We can forgive Ex-Supt. Fabian for not being an archaeologist; but his definition of “not far from” as “twelve miles away” has proved a pitfall into which almost everyone» — la corrección de hecho que deshace esa conexión: doce millas de distancia. El tramo se corta al cambiar de plana.

«However, in another paper, in the issue dated March 15th, 1956, the same informant told quite a different story» — la contradicción entre dos versiones del mismo testimonio, que consigna sin armonizar.

«I should be greatly obliged if anyone could explain to me how thirteen people could dance round the body of a man which, according to the evidence given at the inquest by one of the three people who found it, was lying close against the hedge, in a bit of a ditch.» — su objeción material al relato del rito, apoyada en el acta de la investigación.

«It follows that either there are two “Ex-High Priestesses” living in the Midlands, both of whom are selling the same story to the newspapers, or else that the lady who has named the murderer of Charles Walton, and the black lady are one and the same person.» — la disyuntiva con que compara los dos testimonios de prensa.

«adjuncts, rests entirely upon the uncorroborated word of one person—a person, moreover, who, if we are to believe the newspaper accounts quoted, has been demonstrably wrong upon important particulars.» — su balance sobre el valor probatorio de ese testimonio.

«A person, further, who has either been very badly misquoted or else has changed her story when it was realised that the first version would not do.» — la alternativa que deja abierta sobre la divergencia entre versiones, sin arbitrar.

«If I am wrong in this presumption (and it is a presumption which I think is justified in view of the remarkable similarity in the stories told) then it is very easily susceptible of proof, and I think the woman concerned should be asked either to explain the matters I have pointed out, or else “forever after hold her peace.”» — declara su propia conclusión como presunción y dice cómo podría rebatírsele.

«The priest was Canon Bryan Green, the Rector of Birmingham, and by one of those funny coincidences which we keep coming across in these matters, Canon Bryan Green is a noted anti-Spiritualist.» — el nexo que traza entre la campaña contra la brujería y la hostilidad al espiritismo.

«Nothing can be worse or more depraved than the deliberate distortion of the beautiful and natural gift of sex for sensuous and perverted feelings of gratification. And this is what Black Magic does.» — la denuncia del canónigo que reproduce para discutirla.

«If so, I think he will find some difficulty in getting any doctors or psychologists to agree with him.» — su réplica a esa denuncia.

«regard to his second paragraph, it seems to me that the most earnest believers in the Devil these days, and the people who are always boosting his supposed powers, are churchmen like Canon Bryan Green.» — el giro con que devuelve la creencia en el diablo a quien la denuncia.

«The reporter went on, “I have just completed an investigation on the people active in Black Magic. Many appear rational and intelligent. Some are well known publicly. They claim to be practising an ancient pre-Christian religion. But this is merely a cover for obscene, degrading practices.”» — el argumento periodístico que convierte la tesis del propio Gardner en tapadera.

«If, however, this campaign originated as political propaganda, designed to foster class-hatred, it would indeed be singularly cheap and childish.» — la hipótesis política sobre el origen de la campaña, formulada como condicional.

«I do not know whether it is true or not. I have tried for many years to find any traces and have failed, but I think it very doubtful, and I shall not believe it until I receive evidence; there is, however, one thing which I do know to be true.» — su criterio declarado ante lo que no puede comprobar.

«A good number of people of rank and education are Spiritualists, and they often occupy some public position.» — el dato con que explica el material que la campaña presentaba como escandaloso.

«Personally, I incline to the latter course; in spite of all the sound and fury of this campaign, the public are not so naive upon these subjects as they were in the nineteenth century, or even twenty years ago, and I have reason to think that the inspirers of it have found that out.» — su lectura del efecto de la campaña sobre el público.

«The practice of magic, both white and black, is widely spread in my Devon practice.» — el testimonio médico que reproduce sobre la vigencia de la magia rural.

«People write to me from all over the country as though I were an antiwitch and could break the spells they believe in.» — el testimonio del mismo médico sobre la demanda de contrahechizos.

«Nothing is more calculated to prey on the weak minds and send borderline mental cases over the edge than to read article after article in the popular Press boosting “the terrible powers of Satan,” and alleging that Britain is riddled with black magic.» — el daño concreto que atribuye a la campaña de prensa.

«in his first article, this extraordinary admission: when, he says, he was an officer in the first World War, he was playing vingt-et-un, got fed up with losing, and called on the Devil to give him luck; he won the next game, and was so frightened that “I have never called on the Devil since.» — la credencial que, según él, exhibía uno de los autores de la campaña.

«And that, apparently, is the sum total of his practical experience!» — su comentario sobre esa credencial.

«By this time the cause of witch-hunting was rather scraping the bottom of the barrel for something fresh to say, and the papers had to eke out their yarns with hoary old legends about Aleister Crowley, and even with ordinary ghost stories.» — su diagnóstico del agotamiento de la campaña.

«The Rev. Montague Summers told me,” says the narrator, “of an exorcism he performed in Ireland, on a farmer's wife who, it was said, was possessed by an evil spirit.» — el relato de exorcismo atribuido a Summers que reproduce como muestra del material.

«It went straight into the cold mutton, and within a few minutes everyone present saw that the meat was alive with maggots.”» — el remate de ese relato, reproducido sin comentario.

«It has evidently not occurred to these good folk to find out by practical experiment just what would happen if they sprayed a room with ether, and then introduced fire of any kind, such as candles or burning incense, into it.» — su objeción física a uno de los relatos de orgías con éter.