Medicine and Magic I: Healing Bodies

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Societas Magica

Organizer Name

Marla Segol

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. at Buffalo

Presider Name

David Porreca

Presider Affiliation

Univ. of Waterloo

Paper Title 1

Eating Words: Medical Charms as Healing Relics in Medieval England

Presenter 1 Name

Katherine Hindley

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Nanyang Technological Univ.

Paper Title 2

Magical Plants in the Healing Arts

Presenter 2 Name

Helga Ruppe

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Western Univ.

Paper Title 3

Occult Diagnosis: Physiognomy and the Medical Academy

Presenter 3 Name

Kira L. Robison

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Tennessee-Chattanooga

Start Date

10-5-2018 10:00 AM

Session Location

Bernhard 204

Description

Medicine and magic have a long and intimate history, in part because most late antique and medieval magical texts operate on a shared cosmology, and on a shared physiology. Both magicians and medical writers believed the body was a microcosm for the cosmos, and that to heal was an act of restoring balance. Both also used technology to restore balance by means of sympathetic action and supernatural aid. At the same time, there were significant differences between them. This panel will explore the similarities and differences between magical and medical theories and practices in late antiquity and the middle ages.

David Porreca