SEXUALITY IN THE NATURAL AND DEMONIC MAGIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES

hroughout the Middle Ages especially the later Middle Ages ideas of magic played a large part in the formation of deviant sexual behaviours and it was believed that magic played a main role in sexual malfunctions and abilities. Natural magic formed the basis in the early Middle Ages for controlling sexual desires and behaviours. Demonic magic became the prevalent basis for sexual magic and atrocities in the later Middle Ages. Johannes Nider is credited with writing the first widespread work on demonic witchcraft the Formicarius in 1437, but far more influential was the Malleus Maleficarum, published in 1486.1 It was believed that through demonic magic, witches could control sexual desire and abilities. Demonic magic was also suspect because tradition held that witches would give themselves sexually to demons or even to the Devil himself as part of a trade for their powers. The natural magic of the early Middle Ages as a whole, but particularly in regards to sexuality was not the same type of social threat as presented by the fifteenth century developing ideas of demonic magic, its control over sexuality, and its sexual perversions. For creating or dispelling certain aspects of sexuality, natural magic used physical objects found in nature which, through various methods, were applied directly to, or in direct proximity to, one of the two involved parties. Natural magic operates on the basis of the belief that certain stones, plants and parts of animals have inherent magical properties that one can exploit.2 Sexually, there were numerous ointments, potions or powders that could be used for various effects. Authorities frowned on natural magic because it was possible to cause harm to people accidentally, as in the supposed love potion that killed Louis X, or on purpose, as was the case with the old woman who caused monks to burn with love for her because they have eaten this much of my shit.3 Conversely, natural magic was not as serious as demonic magic because if the object that was causing the sexual effect was removed, the affected person would revert to their original state of sense and ability such as the case with the Count whose former mistress had placed a jar that contains certain objects of sorcery ... so that you would have impotence ... for as long as [it] remained there.4 Natural magic was often used for the purpose of increasing sexual pleasure or the frequency at which one was able to perform, and common prescriptions for these goals were to drink the juices of certain plants or to anoint ones genitals with a mix of animal bile and crushed plant seeds prior to intercourse.5 Other common ingredients were animal genitals testicles were particularly common semen, blood especially from birds and various plants, such as valerian and vervain.6 It can be seen that natural magic used corporal objects to enhance or inhibit sexual desires and abilities in the Middle Ages. Demonic magic had the ability to induce some of the same sexual desires or inabilities as natural magic, but did so through the medium of the esoteric activities of witches or the demons themselves. In the late Middle Ages, the definition of maleficum very closely associated with sorcery changed from simply meaning a harmful deed to meaning more specifically the magically motivated supplication to and worship of demons.7 In the fifteenth century, the idea arose that all
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Bailey, 1971, 28; Mackay, 2009, 1. Kieckhefer, 1991, 36. Kieckhefer, 1991, 37; Mackay, 2009, 179. Mackay, 2009, 280. Kieckhefer, 1991, 35. Kieckhefer, 1991, 36-37. Bailey, 2001, 961-962.

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Megan Pepin

magic was caused by the power of demons working through the medium of a witch because the use of a human was more of an affront to God.8 Demons themselves were believed to have been able to take semen from a man as a succubus and deposit it into a woman as an incubus, and as such the demon could pervert the procreative act, which was the main approved reason for sex.9 Through witches, demonic magic was frequently exercised to cause male impotence through illusory castration, a phenomenon which gained monumental acclaim in folk belief because of the nest of penises story in the Malleus Maleficarum.10 Although demonic magic was known to be able to cause many of the same effects as natural magic such as impotence and great sexual desire it was most scandalously known for the sexual perversions in which its participants supposedly participated.11 One of the reasons witches were viewed as evil was because of the sexual abominations in which they were believed to have engaged with demons or the Devil himself. In nearly every account of witches meetings, there are accusations of feasts, dances, cannibalism or human sacrifice, and most prominently orgies with each other as well as with demons and the Devil.12 These evils allowed for witches to be used as the Devils gateway.13 While copulation with demons is usually portrayed as pleasurable, copulation with the Devil is almost always associated with discomfort and fear.14 It is possibly for this reason that witches were sometimes said to be tormented and molested by demons.15 Despite this torment, they are also described as participating happily in sodomy, homosexuality and other crimes against nature and in submitting to him in the form of a bull, a fox, or even a hare.16 These perversions of sexuality were one of the main reasons why witches were seen as a threat to society. They willingly opened doors to demons and the Devil for the sake of the power to control others, often in terms of more sexual perversions or incapabilities. Demonic magic in the later Middle Ages was viewed as creating and enabling sexual abominations more strongly than the passive natural magic throughout the Middle Ages. Natural magic had physical, removable roots and could thus be fairly easily reversed, if not avoided. Demonic magic had non-corporal roots and was worked through witches spells from the intentions of demons. When witches were associated with demons and the Devil, the results were some of the most perverted sexual atrocities possible in the Middle Ages. Sexuality and magic were closely linked in the medieval period, and this connection was viewed as dangerous and harmful to all people involved. Megan Pepin

WORKS CITED
Bailey, M.D. Battling Demons Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania University Press, 1971. Bailey, M.D. From Sorcery to Witchcraft: Clerical Conceptions of Magic in the Later Middle Ages, Speculum 76, no. 4 (2001): 960-990. Bailey, 2006, 389; Smith, 2002, 92. Mackay, 2009, 129. 10 Smith, 2002, 90; 92-93. 11 Kieckhefer, 1991, 42; Smith, 2002, 92-93. 12 Russell, 1972, 238-239. 13 Denike, 2003, 17. 14 Russell, 1972, 250 and 285. 15 Denike, 2003, 17. 16 Russell, 1972, 250.
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Sexuality Bailey, M.D. The Disenchantment of Magic: Spells, Charms, and Superstition in Early European Witchcraft Literature. American Historical Review 11, no. 2 (2006): 383-404.

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Caciola, N. Mystics, Demoniacs, and the Physiology of Spirit Possession in Medieval Europe. Comparative Studies in Society and History 42, no. 2 (2000) 268-306. Denike, M. The Devils Insatiable Sex: A Genealogy of Evil Incarnate. Hypatia 18, no. 1 (2003) 1043. Kieckhefer, R. Erotic Magic in Medieval Europe. In Sex in the Middle Ages A book of Essays, ed. by Joyce E. Salisbury, 30-55. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1991. Mackay, C.S. The Hammer of Witches A Complete Translation of the Malleus Maleficarum. Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press, 2009. Russell, J.B. Witchcraft, European. In Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol. 12, ed. by Joseph R. Strayer, 658-665. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1989. Russell, J.B. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972. Smith, M. The Flying Phallus and the Laughing Inquisitor: Penis Theft in the Malleus Maleficarum. Journal of Folklore Research 39, no. 1 (2002) 85-117. Summers, M. The History of Witchcraft and Demonology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1965.