CLASSICS 330 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Sympathetic Magic, Hecate
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Lecture 4: curse tablets and binding spells ii. The fundamental idea is to bind someone, not necessarily harm them. Usually not i curse but i bind . Though some go on to violent wishes. Imitative: figurines and other images of the target. Contagious: hair, nails, clothing can be incorporated. We"re probably missing a verbal component to many of these spells. A comparison to the material of the tablet: The spell caster is taking the tablet he is writing on and considering the characteristics of it, and using it to make his desire more clear for the gods he is asking to grant this. Persuasive analogy is a metaphorical type of thought that is not as direct. Trying to persuade whatever you think is making the magic work to be something else. Spell caster places this curse within the hands of someone in a grave (pasianax) with the belief that pasianax will deliver his message to the underworld.