Invocation des esprits, invocation du diable. Mots et pratiques de la magie en Europe occidentale
Invocation of the spirits, invocation of the devil. Words and practices of magic in Western Europe

Summary/Abstract: Present in the vocabulary of secret associations in ancient times, in sacrifices, in funeral rites, in divination or dream interpretation, the magician signals his presence through his semantic and functional polyvalence. In ancient literature, the passage of magic activities from public to private, and from soteriology to ethnography turn invoking the spirits into an incantatory practice focused on the high-performance power of vocal rites - words that are sung (lat. carmina), instrument of the ability to harm, or the will to destroy when they are expressed by blasphemous formulae (lat. defixiones).Since the 13th century, the word ‘magician’- first used as an adjective - has started supplanting the old couple fortune teller/ enchanter or ‘wizard using black magic’ whose ability to foretell the future is considered as a supernatural power. Under the pressure of demonologic texts writers, the devil’s associates - the sorcerers - will be entrusted with this power.Beginning with Renaissance the debate on evil spells opposes the supporters of diabolical interventionism in daily life (weather vicissitudes, natural calamities, Sabbaths, fiendish possessions, animal metamorphosis) to those supporting the fiendish illusionism. According to the first group - catholic and protestant theologians demonologists nurtured by inquisitorial literature and legal experts such as Lambert Daneau, Jean Bodin, Pierre de Lancre in France - the sorcerers signed a submission pact with Satan having as a result the hidden body marks of stigmata which were difficult to detect and required a subtle hermeneutics. As for the second group - naturalist philosophers, doctors and illuminated theologians - the magic practices are not inspired by demons or the devil. They have to do with the agents’ imposture, with envy, charlatanism and the willingness to deceive or make a living at the expense of others those practising them not being worth the penalty of burning at stake. By gradually displacing the juridical charge for evil spells witchcraft will no longer be considered a crime, fact which was officially established by the Edict of Louis XIV in 1682.

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