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                        The Sacraments were yet another opportunity for miracle to become enmeshed
                    with magick. Local villagers re-interpreted the sacraments. Mass was seen as
                    magick ritual, and sacramentals were used as talismans. Although this was
                    unapproved of by the church. Candles were blessed and taken home and used
                    to protect the in habitants of the house from evil. (this sounding familiar??) Wax
                    tapers were used to keep harm from newborns. Holy water was always sought
                    after to protect against evil. Blessed palm fronds were also used to ward off evil,
                    along with saving crops from fires, storms and lightening! Communion bread
                    was used to conjure against harm and to even render some invisible! The
                    sacred host could even put out fires! By simply touching the altar cloth it could
                    cure leprosy!

                        With enforced Christianity came the switch-over from traditional hedge magick
                    to Parish Christianity. The difference between the two is negligable. For
                    example there is not much difference between an amulet and a saint medal. The
                    dividing line here is difficult. Only the church could conduct magick, if a priest
                    performed it, it was called a miracle if a layperson performed it, it was called
                    evil and in league with the devil.

                       By the end of the 15th century the two types of magick had melded seemlessly
                       with the European ritual cycles. Ritual cycles were very important in invoking
                    divine aid and in performing miracles. The calender was broken up into the
                    great feasts of the church: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and Carnival/Lent.
                    On the eve of Lent there was Carnival a celebration of inversion. This was
                    perhaps the most popular of holidays. Morality was turned upside down. The
                    least popular youth was made mock pope. In Germany a procession of
                    prostitutes marched during carnival. Carnival was allowed as a satirical means
                    of removing desires, as a way of letting common folk let off steam. Inumberable
                    holidays existed. There were very few days that were not a celebration of one
                    saint or another. Here are a few of these celebatory days.

                        January 20-The Feast of Fabian and Sebastian-After this date no trees could be
                                     cut down!
                   January 21-Saint Agnes Day-This day involved the ceremonial blessing of a
                                       lamb.
                   January 22-Saint Vincents Day-No vines could be cut on this date.
                  February 2-The Feasts for Fertility-This celebration was necessary to turn winter
                                        into spring forty days after Christmas.
                   February 2-Feast of Purification-This feast day was also known as Candlemas.
                   February 5-St. Agathas Day-Agathabrot was distributed for heath on this day.
                   February 14-Saint Valentines Day-This day was to celebrate mating and new
                                    light.

                    The blending of religion and magick may be best seen through the example of
                    saints and miracles. Since magick was disallowed by the church, a saint with
                    her or his rituals could accomplish for Christians what magick used to. A saint
                    is a person whos good works through life, chastity, piety and general behavior
                    vastly outweighed thier sins. Each saint has a vocation: to intercede between
                    God and Christians. A saint will beg your case before God. Christ is the
                    greatest of universal saints and Mary is next then the 12 apostles.

                         The local belief of saint-veneration differed. In Germany, it was believed that
                    gifts should be awarded to still living saints. That way the saint would reward
                   the gift giver from heaven. If the saint did not reward the gift-giver after death
                    the saint was obviously not a very good one!

                          Just as there could be sub-par saints there are also faulty relics. The way to
                     make these disobedient relics work was to humiliate them, for example some-
                     one might have sworn at St. Jeromes tooth! The collection of relics reached a
                    fevered pitch in 1200. It was believed that if a person owned a relic, that person
                    held a special bond over the saint. Theorectically the new dead saint was to be
                    buried and the church would perform an investigation and the body would be
                    exhumed. The corpse would then be brought out on holy days. At the death of
                    each saint local parishioners would ravage the body for relics, sometimes NOT
                    waiting for the body to be dead!

                        Most everyone knows who Dr. Laura is, she despises anyone that is either gay,
                    or bi, and follows the dictates of the bible to the letter!!!! I received the following
                    letter from a friend that I thought was appropriate to put here to show there
                    is room for acceptance for everyone, thanks for sending this Kyra!!!!

Dear Dr. Laura

                       Thankyou for doing so much to educate people to God's Laws. I have learned a
                    great deal from you and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as
                    I can! When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I
                    simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination.
                    End of discussion!

I do need some advice from you however regarding some of the specific laws
and how to best follow them!

                       1. When I burn a bull on the alter, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord
                    Leviticus 1:9. The problem is my neighbors, they claim the odor is not pleasing
                  to them. How should I deal with this?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as it suggests in Exodus 21:7. In
this day and age what do you think would be a fair price for her?

                         3. I know I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of
                    menstrual uncleanliness Leviticus 15:19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have
                    tried asking but most women take offense.

                      4. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations around us. A
                    friend of mine claims this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians, can you
                    clarify?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly
states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

                         6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination
                    Leviticus 10:10 it is a lesser abomination then homosexuality, I don't agree. Can
                    you settle this?

                         7. Leviticus 20:20 States that I may not approach the alter of God if I have a
                     defect in my site. Does my eyesite have to be 20/20 or is there some wiggle
                     room here?