CHAPTER II 



MAGICAL PRACTICES TO OBTAIN 

 CHILDREN 



It is still thought possible to obtain children in the 

 manner described in the stories. Use of vegetable sub- 

 stances. The Mandrake. Use of animal substances. 

 Use of minerals. Sacred wells. Use of water and other 

 liquids. Ceremonies to obtain a transfer of fecundity or 

 of the life of another. Bathing or sprinkling. Puberty 

 rites and taboos of girls considered as means to obtain, or 

 for the moment to avoid, conception. Conception by sun, 

 moon, stars, fire. Midsummer fires. The Lupercal. 

 Discussion of the meaning of the blows by the Luperci, 

 and similiar practices in Europe and elsewhere. Con- 

 ception by the foot. The attempt to share the fecundity 

 of another. The virtue of sacred vestments. Amulets. 

 Contact with sacred stones, images, and other sub- 

 stances. Marriage rites. Jumping over a stone, broom- 

 stick, or other object. Votive offerings and the throwing 

 of stones. Vows. Simulation. Belief in fecundation by 

 the eye and ear and by wind. The stories, beliefs, and 

 practices disclose an ancient and widespread belief that 

 pregnancy was caused otherwise than by sexual intercourse. 



SINCE then, amid all differences of race and culture, 

 birth has thus been held, broadly speaking over the 

 whole world, to have been caused on various occasions 

 in the marvellous ways enumerated in the foregoing 

 chapter, it is natural to ask whether it has also been 

 thought possible still to make effectual use of such 

 means to produce pregnancy in barren Women. The 



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