Question 157, from Samantha

Why do Christians have Christmas tree baubles when I’ve heard that they derive from “witch balls”?

Several pre-Christian traditions were reinvented, or ‘Christianised’ as Christmas was established. The date of Christmas was established as the 25 December, partly to supersede the Roman festival of Saturnalia1. And it is notable that even certain elements within the birth stories of Jesus contained in the gospels have parallels in pagan religion2. However, the link between Christmas tree baubles and so-called ‘witch balls’ is harder to prove. (more…)

Question 152, from Roger H, United Kingdom

Does ‘divination’ in Leviticus chapter19, verse 26 mean ‘Water divining’ or ‘Dousing’?

The Hebrew text makes no distinction about the means of divination – it just says ‘You shall not divine.’ The means by which you divine the future appears to be immaterial. The word used – ‘na-khash’ – can mean to ‘observe omens’ or ‘tell fortunes’. It can also be translated as something more mundane as to ‘learn by experience’.
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Question from RS, United Kingdom

I’ve been told that magicians used ‘Abracadabra’ as the name of God, because it means ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’. Is this true?

‘Abracadabra’ has a convoluted history as a ‘magical word’, but it has been claimed that it was used in medieval cabbala (or kabbalah) and derived from the initials of the Hebrew words Ab (Father), Ben (Son) and Ruach A’Cadsh (Holy Spirit). It was apparently used as a charm against fevers and toothache and may have formed part of incantation rites among the cabalists, a secret society which incorporated both Jewish and Christian ideas and used ritual magic, charms and mystical anagrams. They claimed to be able to converse with the dead and were often grouped in with alchemists and pseudo-Christian sects.

Kabbalah has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance recently, helped by a number of high profile celebrities, including Madonna, dabbling in it. ‘Abracadabra’ is now most commonly used as a nonsense word by stage magicians, most of whom it can be assumed are not trying to invoke the power of God to make their ‘spells’ work. Popular children’s author JK Rowling used a variant spelling ‘Avada Kedavra’ as the ‘last and worse’ cursing spell, ‘the killing curse’, in her book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [published by Bloomsbury, 2000, p.190] and may have been drawing on other traditions regarding the origin of the word.

Thanks for your question, RS.

Question from MF, USA

What are curses? Are they real, and how do you make them go away? Can you make a curse on someone else go away?

A recent news story from England, reported on BBC online, relates to this in very interesting way. The city of Carlisle in Northern England has a bloody history relating to a time when the ‘reavers’ of the lawless English and Scottish borders exerted a reign of terror during the Middle Ages. [On a tangent, that’s where the English word ‘bereaved’ comes from.] During this period the Archbishop of Glasgow issued a ‘curse’ upon the reaver families in 1525.

As reaver history centres on Carlisle, a local artist carved the words of the Archbishop’s curse on a special 14-tonne stone commemorating the turn of the millennium. In early 2005 a number of people requested that Carlisle Council remove the stone because since it had been installed the city has suffered widespread flooding, a large city-centre toxic fire and had borne the brunt of the foot-and-mouth epidemic that significantly affected the agricultural economy on which Carlisle depends. To make matters worse, the local soccer team were relegated from the Football League. [Full details of this story can be found online]

Ironically, a ‘white witch’ argued against destroying the cursing stone because: “A curse can only work if people believe in it… if the council destroys it, they would be showing their belief in the curse… destroying the stone would be very bad for Carlisle because it would feed that power.” [Kevin Carlyon, quoted in a BBC Online article ‘White Witch Warns of Curse Stone Power’, 8 March, 2005]

While it is not freelance theology’s intention to endorse Wicca or paganism, there is a certain element of truth in this statement. The Bible is fairly consistent in believing that words do have power, whether ‘blessings’ or ‘curses’. Oaths and vows are treated as seriously binding. However, while curses are regarded as, in that sense, ‘real’ by the Biblical authors, there is also a clear paradigm where God counteracts a human-uttered curse: Balaam’s curse on the Israelite nation is turned to blessing (Deuteronomy chapter 23, verses 4-5; see also Numbers chapters 22-24).

Within a Christian theological framework, curses are rendered powerless. A significant aspect of the crucifixion is that it included an aspect of being cursed because Jesus was ‘hung on a tree’(see Galatians chapter 3, verse 13/Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 23). Every curse invoked against a Christian is therefore dealt with, just as any sin or wrongdoing is dealt with, through Jesus’ death on the cross.

In terms of making curses on other people ‘go away’, in Matthew chapter 18, verse 18, Jesus tells his disciples that: “Whatever you bind on earth will be (or has been) bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be (or has been) loosed in Heaven.” This is a commission of authority to those who choose to follow Christ and it would naturally follow that curses and the subsequent effects of curses are included in this, as much as anything else.

Thanks for your question, MF.