Some Said That The Rod Turned Only In The Hands Of Persons
Who Had Been Born In Particular Months Of
The year; hence astrologers
had recourse to planetary influence when they would procure a talisman.
Others declared that the properties
Of the rod were either an effect of
chance, or the fraud of the holder, or the work of the devil. Thus
sayeth the reverend Father Gaspard Schott in his Treatise on Magic.
'Propter haec et similia argumenta audacter ego pronuncio vim
conversivam virgulae befurcatae nequaquam naturalem esse, sed vel casa
vel fraude virgulam tractantis vel ope diaboli,' etc.
"Georgius Agricula also was of opinion that it was a mere delusion of
the devil to inveigle the avaricious and unwary into his clutches, and
in his treatise 'de re Metallica,' lays particular stress on the
mysterious words pronounced by those persons who employed the divining
rod during his time. But I make not a doubt that the divining rod is
one of those secrets of natural magic, the mystery of which is to be
explained by the sympathies existing between physical things operated
upon by the planets, and rendered efficacious by the strong faith of
the individual. Let the divining rod be properly gathered at the proper
time of the moon, cut into the proper form, used with the necessary
ceremonies, and with a perfect faith in its efficacy, and I can
confidently recommend it to my fellow-citizens as an infallible means
of discovering the various places on the island of the Manhattoes where
treasure hath been buried in the olden time.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 416 of 433
Words from 111095 to 111359
of 115667
