Medicine and Magic II: Healing Souls

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Societas Magica

Organizer Name

Marla Segol

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. at Buffalo

Presider Name

Phillip A. Bernhardt-House

Presider Affiliation

Skagit Valley College-Whidbey Island

Paper Title 1

Healing-Place for the Soul: Magic and Medicine in the Ancient Egyptian Library

Presenter 1 Name

Mark Roblee

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of Massachusetts-Amherst

Paper Title 2

Embryologies: Medical and Ritual

Presenter 2 Name

Marla Segol

Paper Title 3

A Thirteenth-Century Version of the Almandal: Newly Discovered and Described for the First Time

Presenter 3 Name

Vajra Regan

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Toronto

Start Date

10-5-2018 1:30 PM

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