224 



THE OCCULT SCIENCES. 



mauds, repudiation of all saintly personages, change of baptismal name, 

 horrible blasphemies, bloody sacrifices, &c. 



The oath of fidelity, which it was necessary to take to the demon, was 

 always pronounced in the midst of a circle traced upon the ground, accom- 

 panied by the offer of some pledge, such, for instance, as a piece of the 



Fig. 165. From the smoke ascending out of the abyss are born scorpions which scourge men. 

 Miniature from a Commentary upon the Apocalypse. Manuscript of the Twelfth Century. 

 In the Library of M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot. 



garments worn by the person taking it. These circles held an important 

 place in all operations of magic, especially in evocations : there were generally 

 three of them, and they were supposed to establish between the evoker and 

 the spirits evoked by him a line of demarcation which the demon could not 

 cross. Vervain, too, together with incense and lighted tapers, was almost 

 always employed. In addition to incense, the magicians and sorcerers also 



