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Friday 8 March 2019

Sympathy For Magic Cures

In the old days, sympathetic magic, often involved the idea that something that looked like something in or on the human body, would therefore have some impact on that part if used in a spell, potion or medicine.

Early Man Practised Sympathetic Magic To Aid The Hunt
Early Man Practised Sympathetic Magic To Aid The Hunt ......

It was also sometimes called imitative or correspondence magic.

Perhaps the most well known of the imitation type of the process is the use of  Vodou or Wax dolls, with bits the intended targets hair, nail clippings etc attached, allowing the magic practitioner to impact the human target, via their interaction with the effigy.

Voodoo Dolls Are Correspondence Magic
Voodoo Dolls Are Correspondence Magic

The less well known, but equally important is the correspondence part of the magic ..... It is based on the idea that one can influence something based on its relationship or resemblance to another thing. So for instance, the belief might well be that certain herbs with yellow saps, could, if administered correctly offer a cure for jaundice, or that the juice of the beetroot, being red is a sign that its good for the blood.

More obviously phallic-shaped roots have been used for centuries to try and cure male impotence ...

Walnuts And Brains Have Always Been Compared
Walnuts And Brains Have Always Been Compared ...

... and that walnuts, because the so obviously look like the human brain are good for intelligence, or as a treatment for some mental or brain disorders.

This latter hypothesis is actually backed up in some respects by modern science ... The University of California in Los Angeles has conducted studies that have indicated that a daily handful of walnuts can slash depression rates.      

Examination of the dietary and medical data of 26,000 US adults found that depressive symptoms were 26 per cent lower for those who consumed a small number of walnuts every day. These nuts are also known for their high anti-oxidant and omega3 content and so are already recommended as of a healthy diet.

They are now shown to be high in Linolenic fatty acid, which is linked to brain health.

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