RESEMBLANCE
Resemblance is the way in which two or more things are alike.
In Matthew Hopkin’s Discovery of Witches, he makes an argument based on the resemblance between the qualities that were advertised as witchcraft with people accused of being witches. These discoveries were drawn from ‘evidence’ such as physical evidence like a mark from the Devil; the witches’ teat or disability, testimony from others, maleficence, or confession. All of these aspects drew parallels between the conception of “making a deal with the Devil” and the characteristics of people accused. People who had not experienced demons are the ones who rejected it as they were not able to see the resemblance (Copenhaver 2015, 542).
In the book of Exodus 32, God sends snakes to punish the Israelite's for questioning His purpose which leads Moses puts metal snake on a pole as a cure for a snakebite. The ‘fiery snakes’ are meant to resemble the golden calf of Exodus, an incident of idolatry but also “a tool of illicit magic,” also known as “The Sin of the Calf” (Copenhaver 2015, 15). In this passage, the metal snake is supposed to resemble or remind the people of the golden calf of Exodus and not be idol in the eyes of God.
Julius Firmicus Maternus wrote about his instruction on astrology during the middle of the fourth century CE. He argues how the pattern of fate is formed in the likeness of the Cosmos. He says that God assembled man to bring strength and substance in the image of the cosmos by mixing the four elements (fire, water, air, and earth) in a small body, blending and balancing them all to “equipt a living being whose form imitates God” (Copenhaver 2015, 185). In this passage, the resemblance is between man and the cosmos or how we were formed in the likeness of the cosmos.
A physician named Hippocrates makes a declaration of naturalism in the fifth century BCE, by claiming since anything that a doctor can explain is an effect of physical causes, everything known to medicine ‘comes and goes’ in the same natural landscape. Also, divinity is immanent in an eternal cosmos. The physician's neighbors tried to cure epilepsy with spells and rites calling it a “sacred disease,” because they didn’t understand what was happening, which Hippocrates tries to correct. He says that the error is linked to people’s ignorance of attributing things they don’t understand to be “sacred” or “divine” when there is a physical cause in the brain. In summary, he opposes the resemblance of divinity with disease, suggesting that if we better understand medicine and the way that peoples body's change then we would be providing more help to them “without purifying or doing any magic or any other quackery” (Copenhaver 2015, 101-103).
Proclus, who taught that the bonds of likeness, love, and sympathy connect heaven and earth in a universe where all things are full of gods, proclaims objects like stone, plants and animals are empowered by kinship with the gods and anyone can see their working power. One example he give in this section is the lotus and its resembles to the lips of humans. Proclus says that when the sun is away the lips of the flower is closed but when it comes around the flower blooms and unfolds. He says, “If men open and close mouths and lips to hymn the sun , how does this differ from the drawing together and the loosening of the lotus pedals?” (Copenhaver 2015, 207-208). For the petals of the lotus resemble the place of a human mouth. Proclus gives another example seen in stones with golden rays that imitate the sun which are called Bel’s eye stones. They resemble the pupil of the eye and emit a glittering light from the center of its pupil.
In Aquinas’ Summa of Theology he argues that angels and demons never really assume bodies yet everything we read in Scripture has them appearing in a prophets vision which conflicts the Scriptures meaning. Aquinas says angels must assume bodies to connect with people in a friendly way and show them the intellectual relationship that humans hope to have with angels. An example of resemblance in this passage is when angels assume bodies they also acquire things that seem to be human qualities like speech. Aquinas says that angels do not speak through their assumed bodies but there is something resembling speech in that they form sounds in the air that resemble human voice. He goes on to say that angels also don’t actually eat and any food taken by angels is not really eaten, however it is symbolic of the human activity of eating and resembles “spiritual eating” (Copenhaver 2015, 307-308).
Key words for resemblance: likeness, similarity, parallelism, doctrine of signatures
Bibliography
Aquinas. 2015. “Incubus and Succubus: Summa of Theology, 1.51.2-3.” In The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment, Translated by Brian Copenhaver. Penguin Classics, 307-308.
Resemblance is the way in which two or more things are alike.
In Matthew Hopkin’s Discovery of Witches, he makes an argument based on the resemblance between the qualities that were advertised as witchcraft with people accused of being witches. These discoveries were drawn from ‘evidence’ such as physical evidence like a mark from the Devil; the witches’ teat or disability, testimony from others, maleficence, or confession. All of these aspects drew parallels between the conception of “making a deal with the Devil” and the characteristics of people accused. People who had not experienced demons are the ones who rejected it as they were not able to see the resemblance (Copenhaver 2015, 542).
In the book of Exodus 32, God sends snakes to punish the Israelite's for questioning His purpose which leads Moses puts metal snake on a pole as a cure for a snakebite. The ‘fiery snakes’ are meant to resemble the golden calf of Exodus, an incident of idolatry but also “a tool of illicit magic,” also known as “The Sin of the Calf” (Copenhaver 2015, 15). In this passage, the metal snake is supposed to resemble or remind the people of the golden calf of Exodus and not be idol in the eyes of God.
Julius Firmicus Maternus wrote about his instruction on astrology during the middle of the fourth century CE. He argues how the pattern of fate is formed in the likeness of the Cosmos. He says that God assembled man to bring strength and substance in the image of the cosmos by mixing the four elements (fire, water, air, and earth) in a small body, blending and balancing them all to “equipt a living being whose form imitates God” (Copenhaver 2015, 185). In this passage, the resemblance is between man and the cosmos or how we were formed in the likeness of the cosmos.
A physician named Hippocrates makes a declaration of naturalism in the fifth century BCE, by claiming since anything that a doctor can explain is an effect of physical causes, everything known to medicine ‘comes and goes’ in the same natural landscape. Also, divinity is immanent in an eternal cosmos. The physician's neighbors tried to cure epilepsy with spells and rites calling it a “sacred disease,” because they didn’t understand what was happening, which Hippocrates tries to correct. He says that the error is linked to people’s ignorance of attributing things they don’t understand to be “sacred” or “divine” when there is a physical cause in the brain. In summary, he opposes the resemblance of divinity with disease, suggesting that if we better understand medicine and the way that peoples body's change then we would be providing more help to them “without purifying or doing any magic or any other quackery” (Copenhaver 2015, 101-103).
Proclus, who taught that the bonds of likeness, love, and sympathy connect heaven and earth in a universe where all things are full of gods, proclaims objects like stone, plants and animals are empowered by kinship with the gods and anyone can see their working power. One example he give in this section is the lotus and its resembles to the lips of humans. Proclus says that when the sun is away the lips of the flower is closed but when it comes around the flower blooms and unfolds. He says, “If men open and close mouths and lips to hymn the sun , how does this differ from the drawing together and the loosening of the lotus pedals?” (Copenhaver 2015, 207-208). For the petals of the lotus resemble the place of a human mouth. Proclus gives another example seen in stones with golden rays that imitate the sun which are called Bel’s eye stones. They resemble the pupil of the eye and emit a glittering light from the center of its pupil.
In Aquinas’ Summa of Theology he argues that angels and demons never really assume bodies yet everything we read in Scripture has them appearing in a prophets vision which conflicts the Scriptures meaning. Aquinas says angels must assume bodies to connect with people in a friendly way and show them the intellectual relationship that humans hope to have with angels. An example of resemblance in this passage is when angels assume bodies they also acquire things that seem to be human qualities like speech. Aquinas says that angels do not speak through their assumed bodies but there is something resembling speech in that they form sounds in the air that resemble human voice. He goes on to say that angels also don’t actually eat and any food taken by angels is not really eaten, however it is symbolic of the human activity of eating and resembles “spiritual eating” (Copenhaver 2015, 307-308).
Key words for resemblance: likeness, similarity, parallelism, doctrine of signatures
Bibliography
Aquinas. 2015. “Incubus and Succubus: Summa of Theology, 1.51.2-3.” In The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment, Translated by Brian Copenhaver. Penguin Classics, 307-308.
Firmicus Maternus. 2015.
“Formed in the Likeness of the Cosmos: Instruction 2.1-2.” In The Book of
Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment, Translated by Brian Copenhaver.
Penguin Classics, 185-187.
Hippocrates. 2015. “Magi,
Purifiers, Gypies and Con-men: The Sacred Disease, 1-6, 21.” In The Book of
Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment, Translated by Brian Copenhaver.
Penguin Classics, 101.
Hopkins. 2015. “Proof Positive:
Discovery of Witches.” In The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment,
Translated by Brian Copenhaver. Penguin Classics, 542-547.
Num. 2015. “A Snake on a Pole.”
In The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment, Translated by Brian Copenhaver.
Penguin Classics, 15.
Proclus. 2015. “Attracting by
Likeness: On the Priestly Art.” In The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment,
Translated by Brian Copenhaver. Penguin Classics, 207-208.
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