TIIK OCCULT SCf/:'.\C/:s. 



to possess a mpgniatural and invisible counsellor, whom he hud brought from 

 the planets of Venus and of Mercury, and whom he employed in his opera- 

 tions of astrology and magic. When this mysterious accomplice suddenly 

 deserted him he died of hunger. These great worshippers of science were 

 given to dabbling in sorcery and magic, but they did not turn their supposed 

 intercourse with the beings of the invisible world to an evil purpose. 



All the demouographers are agreed \\\*n\ this point that to obtain the 

 intervention of Satan in human affairs it was necessary to form a pact with 

 him (Fig. .104). " The pact which the magicians make with the demon," says 

 Martin del Rio in his " Disquisitiones Magic;e," "is the only base upon 

 which all operations of magic stand, so that whenever the magician wishes to 

 do something appertaining to his art, he is expressly, or at all events impli- 



Fig. 164. The Devil, attempting to seize a Alugiciun who had formed a pact with him, is prevented 

 by a Lay Brother. Fac-simile of a Miniature in the " Chroniques de Saint-Denis." Manu- 

 script of the Thirteenth Century. In the National Library, Paris. 



citly, compelled to invoke the assistance of the demon." The pact was formed 

 in three different ways: the first involved the performance of various solemni- 

 ties or ceremonies, in the midst of which the demon appeared in bodily shape 

 to receive the homage of the contracting party ; the second consisted in a 

 simple request written and signed by the person who bound himself to the 

 demon; the third, reserved for those who feared to face the demon, was 

 accomplished b}' the intervention of a lieutenant or vicar, and was termed the 

 tacit pact. All engagements entered into with the demon were based upon 

 impious or wicked promises, which the contracting party had to fulfil under 

 pain of immediate and violent death : these were denial of the Christian faith, 

 contempt for the exercises of religion, iiisolrt'iiry nut/ bankruptcy to God's com- 



