Magia miłosna w Chamaile Aleksandrowicza
Love Magic in Aleksandrowicz’s Khamail

Summary/Abstract: In Muslim culture, “white magic” occupies a special place. Although prohibited by Islam as such, there are some areas of it that have been used for centuries and prove to be stronger than the official prohibitions. Love magic belongs to them. Its methods have been practiced in Muslim cultures “since forever” and included both pre- and extra-Muslim elements, as well as those related to Islam. These methods range from physical activities to magic formulas that incorporate Muslim elements, as well as texts that are only understood by a narrow group of magicians. These were therefore amulets, talismans, magic squares and special formulas and prayers, as well as strings of letters and secret signs known from classic Arabic magic books. All these elements can be found in the love magic of Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, and their examples are the methods of love magic included in the 19th-century Aleksandrowicz’s khamail. In this study, I will present 13 magical texts, transcribing them from the record in Arabic and providing an appropriate religious and anthropological commentary. I will also try to find sources and analogies to the methods and formulas used by the Tatars both in the old Arab-Muslim texts and in the people’s beliefs of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

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