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Naples, Campania, Italy | | Date: 1897 | Notes: The following excerpt was taken from the book, "Naples in the Nineties, a sequel to Naples in 1888" by E. Neville-Rolfe (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1897).
CHAPTER VIII
SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT
We have incidentally mentioned in a former
chapter how extremely common the belief in
witchcraft is in Southern Italy, and we give
an illustration of an incantation with cabalistic
signs, and an invocation in Italian, which
fell into our hands recently in purchasing
some cigars of a tobacconist in Naples. On
unfolding the packet we found this curious
document.
The upper symbol consists of a black cross
between two black pillars ; both pillars and
the three points of the cross have red balls
at their extremities. At the arms of the cross
are the letters " G Z " in red ink, and " M Z "
in blue. To the left of the cross is the letter
" M," and beneath it, the letters " M M S " ;
and on the right of the cross the letter " O "
with a cross in it, in Italian fashion, and
beneath that the letters "TGO," the lower
" O," like the other one, having a cross in it.
Beneath the main cross is a capital " E " with
a spot of red ink ; beneath that again is a
picture representing the sun, with three double
triangles in red ink. Under these again are
"G" in red ink, "P" in blue, and "Z" in
black ink. Beneath these are two emblems.
On the left the all-seeing eye in a triangle
mixed blue and red, with blue and red lines
trending downwards to a parallelogram, which
appears to be reached by a black step. This
step is, however, cut off by the red perpen-
dicular line of the parallelogram, the upper
line also being red and ending in a circle
which is also red, the lower line of the parallel-
ogram being blue. Within the parallelogram
we see the configuration of a mountain, upon
the rise of which is a red pillar with a blue
ball over it ; and upon the summit are three
red crosses, the centre one being larger than
the others. Beneath the principal cross is a
nearly square rectangle, which is interspaced
by a cross of which the vertical is blue and
the cross-bar red ; the figure itself being three-
quarters red, and the rest blue. Beneath it is
a red ball. The circle in which the parallel-
ogram ends is all of red. Inside it are
seven red balls, and what seems to be the
sectional elevation of a cathedral church in
black, with two crosses upon it, the verticals
of which are black and the cross-pieces red.
An angular segment of the circle is also made
with a cross at the angle, of which the vertical
is black and the cross-piece red, as in the other
crosses.
On the right-hand side of the paper we find
a cross l with four cabalistic signs in red and
blue at the extremities of the four arms. At
the top the sign is red with a red ball above
it. The next sign to the right is blue with
a red ball ; the sign at the lower end of the
cross is a red interrogative sign (upside down)
with a blue ball above it ; and the sign on
the left arm of the cross is partly red and
partly blue, with a blue ball beneath it. 2 Of
the emblems within the rectangles of the cross
1 We have styled this symbol a "cross" for want of a better word.
The verticals and horizontals being of equal height, it is not properly a cross. We shall show further on that, in our opinion, it is a Swastika.
2 These may be letters of some alphabet unknown to the writer, as
also the signs in lower left angle and the upper right angle. The
former of these is something like the Hebrew "aleph."
it is extremely difficult to speak with certainty,
because every reader will admit that they are
difficult to distinguish. In the first quarter
we have to do with, there is a waxing moon
with something coming out of the mouth which
appears to direct attention to the red and blue
symbol on the left arm of the cross. The
incantation at the bottom is in bad Italian,
and written in lines of red and blue ink
alternately.
It runs thus :
In the name of the most High and of the Prince
Zacchiello in name of God I command thee Baracchiello
as thou hast had the strength given thee by God over
everything I command thee O Prince Baracchiello drive
off these clouds and get rid from the earth these formidable
waters from the earth flee O ye fogs and stop these
formidable waters from the earth I command thee because
thou teachedst me and I shall command thee and thou
must stop it in the name of God ZACCHIELLO.
The original Italian is, as we have said, very
incorrect, but the words written above are a
literal translation of it. We have put in no
stops because there are none in the original,
and we shall deal with the invocation as soon
as we have explained what we can of the
cabalistic signs in the body of the paper.
There can be no doubt that the paper was
a charm against floods ; and there must have
been two parties to the charm : first the man
who made it ; and secondly, the man who
bought it. Judging by analogy, one would
assume that some one suffering from a plague
of water, a thing so common in all parts of
Italy, went to a sorcerer, and obtained from him
(no doubt on payment) a charm to stop the
flood. If this is a fair inference, we may
assume also that the sorcerer acted on a
definite line, and that his cabalistic signs were
not made absolutely by chance, but were
copied or evolved from the writings of other
sorcerers to whom he had been a pupil, or with
whose writings he was conversant.
With these premises in our mind, we ex-
amined this writing with considerable care ;
and without in any way pledging ourselves
to anything above speculation in the matter,
we venture to offer the following interpretations
to our readers.
First of all, having puzzled over the matter
ourselves to the best of our ability, we sub-
mitted it to a lady of our acquaintance, not
a professional medium, who by her own con-
fession knew nothing whatever about the
matter. She is a lady absolutely above sus-
picion ; and the answers were written by
" Planchette " in the presence only of two other
ladies, also well known to the writer, of whom
only one knew Italian ; and she could not,
by any known method of thought-transference,
have influenced the two ladies who were
working Planchette, for the excellent reason
that the answers given were entirely out of
her knowledge.
The following is a verbatim copy of the
paper forwarded to us.
INTERPRETATION OF INCANTATION WITH CABALISTIC
SIGNS, AND AN INVOCATION IN ITALIAN
Q. Who is Zacchiello ?
A. He was an Astrologer in the days of the Borgias, a
follower of Pythagoras, and the parchment was used for
exorcism and incantation.
INTERPRETATION OF UPPER SYMBOL IN CENTRE
The cross between the two pillars " Jachin " and
" Boaz," the good and evil. " G " I do not know. " M"
is Michael and the " Z's" are Zacchiello. They are on the
left side from the figure who would be on the cross
typifying : the " blue " his earth experience beneath the
arm of the cross; the "red" the spiritual experience
transformed by that cross.
NAPLES IN THE NINETIES
Q. What is the " E " at the bottom ?
A. Eleazar. Represents the earth-bound soul.
SYMBOL ON THE LEFT HAND
The eye and the triangle are the unity in Trinity, the
mixed colours again representing humanity in divinity ; the
hill is Calvary with the three crosses. The window below
is Hades which has been opened by the central Cross.
The excrescences are the earthly element pushed outside
by the divine, and the pillar is again Jachin triumphing
over evil and expelling it in the shape of a ball. The
circle is the earth embraced by the divine, the balls are the
seven lamps of the churches of Christendom ; the segment
of the circle surmounted by the cross is Rome the first
dispenser of salvation, which has spread over that portion
of the globe. The remaining crosses are the Greek and
Anglican churches working in a circle distinct from the
true faith.
SYMBOL ON THE RIGHT HAND
This is the incantation to abate the plague of waters.
All the signs, which belong to the Kabbala, are still show-
ing the conflict between good and evil. The signs were
to be invoked in the name of the Blessed Trinity, whose
powers and symbols have been described.
The words are those written below and form an occult
exorcism.
Q. What is the date of this paper ?
A. This is a copy of an old incantation of Zacchiello
and used within the last sixty years in the floods of
1829.
Q. Give me the exact date of the floods.
A. August 1829.
Q. How did they read the incantation ?
A. They assembled together and a chosen prophet or
seer read out in solemn tones the invocation accompanying
it with the burning of incense, preceded by prayer and
fasting. It was read three nights when the moon began
to decline from the full.
Q. What is the meaning of the three letters " G P Z " ?
A.' "P" is the symbol of the Christ, "Z" is Zacchiello,
and " G " I do not know.
Q. What spirit is answering these questions ?
A. Cardinal Antonelli. 1
It is fair to add, on the testimony of the three
ladies who alone were present, that this ex-
planation was written straight off by Planchette
without any hesitation whatever.
Leaving Planchette behind, let us see what
we can make out for certain from our own
observation. First of all, who was Baracchiello?
We read in La Haute Magie 2 that the world
according to ancient belief was governed
by seven secondary causes which were the
universal forces designated by Moses under
the plural noun Elohim. These forces, being
contrary the one to the other, produce an
equilibrium by their contrast, and thus regulate
1 We omit the remainder of the paper because it contains a private
conversation between the spirit of the Cardinal and the ladies, which
we do not venture to publish.
2 Dogtne et Ritiiel de la haute Alagie, par Eliphas Levi. Paris, 1861.
the movement of the heavenly bodies. The
Jews called them the seven great Archangels,
and gave them the names of Michael, Gabriel,
Raphael, Anael, Samael, Zadkiel, and Oriphiel.
The Gnostics call the four last, Uriel, Barachiel,
Sealtiel, and Jehudiel. Other nations have
attributed to these spirits the government of
the seven principal planets and have given
them the name of their important divinities.
All nations have believed in their relative
influence ; and their astronomers divided the
ancient heaven amongst them, and gave each
one the rule over one of the seven days of the
week. The seven sacraments refer to this
great and universal division by seven. Baptism,
which consecrates water, belongs to the Moon ;
rigorous penance is under the auspices of
Samael (otherwise Barachiel) the angel of
Mars ; confirmation, which by tradition con-
ferred the gift of tongues, under Raphael the
angel of Mercury ; the Holy Eucharist, under
Jupiter; marriage, under Anael (otherwise
Oriel) ; the extreme unction, under Saturn ;
and holy orders, under the dominion of the
Sun. And to show the antiquity and uni-
versality of the idea, we have incorporated it
SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT 223
into our everyday language, and speak of our
friends as jovial, or martial, and of those we
dislike as saturnine, mercurial, or lunatic!
l The workings of magic are also seven in
number: (i) works of light and wealth, under
the auspices of the Sun ; (2) works of divina-
tion and mystery are governed by the Moon ;
(3) craft, science, and eloquence belong to
Mercury ; (4) wrath and punishment to Mars ;
(5) love to Venus ; (6) Ambition, and politics
generally, to Jupiter; (7) curses and death are
under the patronage of Saturn.
That the document before us is in great part
astrological, admits of no doubt ; for we find on
examining it that it bears pictures of the sun,
the moon, and three stars, and we shall see
further on that there are other signs of the
Kabbala upon it. Now these stars are the six-
pointed stars formed by laying one triangle
upon another ; and not the five-pointed star of
the Jews which had a mysticism of its own
belonging to it. 2 And if we are to take the
capital letters on the document to represent
the archangels of the Gnostics, we should have
the stars of Gabriel, Raphael, and Zadkiel
especially indicated by the initial beneath them ;
we find the invocation at the bottom is to
Baracchiello, who is the representative of the
planet Mars, as we have already seen, that is,
of plague and punishment ; we have " M " for
Michael ; " S " for Sealtiel ; and " O " for
Oriphiel ; thus leaving only the initial " T "
unexplained.
To turn to the other astrological symbol, we
find below on the right the sacred Swastika
which represents the primeval method by which
the Buddhists obtain the only fire which they
esteem to be really pure for their religious rites.
The Swastika thus became the emblem first of
fire, then of the sun, and as the sun is the basis
of almost all the religions of antiquity, the
Swastika was practically the emblem of the
Supreme Being. And the moon held a place
second only to the sun, for the moon-goddess was
ever associated with the sun-god in the East, in
Egypt, and even in Greece and Rome. Now it
will be observed that we have in this symbol
nine emblems. First the Swastika, secondly the
moon, thirdly, a cabalistic sign at the end of
each arm of the Swastika, and cabalistic writings
in the three remaining angles, at the intersection
of the arms of the Swastika itself. Thus we have
in this one symbol a representation of the sun,
the moon, and the seven planets.
The Christian portion of this talisman (to
deal only with the emblems) consists of the big
cross at the top round which Gabriel, Michael,
and Zadkiel's initial letters are placed. But the
most important Christian symbol is that one
which is below on the left hand, and on a level
with the Swastika. Here the Eye in the triangle
above the picture clearly represents the All-
seeing Eye of the Triune God, whose indivisible
Trinity is in no way arrested by the sacrifice
of Calvary, which is clearly represented beneath.
The red circle on the extreme right represents
the regenerate world and the seven red balls the
seven sacraments of the Church. The building
with the two crosses on it represents St. Peter's
at Rome with its vast dome and its magnificent
crypt, the crosses on it being turned in order to
show them. The segment of the circle sur-
mounted by the cross must represent the
Church in partibus infedelium ; for the Church
of Rome has never recognised any other church
as a means of grace. We think it quite likely
that the square beneath the centre cross
represents the gate of Hades drawn in red and
blue, to show that all souls pure and impure
must enter it. We notice beneath the gate a
red ball representing the purity of the soul
which has just descended into Hades. To
return for a moment to the upper symbol. It
strikes us as possible that it represents the three
crosses of the crucifixion ; the two side ones
being in profile do not show their arms, but are
set up to face the Cross of the Redeemer, and
not full-face as in ordinary pictures of the
crucifixion. It may be noted also that the
centre Cross appears to stand on the level of the
earth while the other two are sunk considerably
beneath, alluding perhaps to the doctrine that
the sacrifice of Christ was intended for the
whole world.
The diversity of colours must also have its
signification, as it is so persistently adhered to
throughout the whole of the document. Three
colours are used, red, black, and blue. In red
we have all the initials of the archangels ex-
cepting two, and of these two one is in blue, and
the other in black. The one in blue represents
a capital " P " of our character, and is beneath
the central star. We have treated this letter
as being an " R " because it is the Greek form
of that letter, and have attributed the initial
to Raphael. The central star may, however,
represent Our Lord, and the letter may stand for
a symbol of his perfect manhood, represented
in blue. We should of course have expected
"X P" (Chi-Ro) as this would have been the
proper emblem of the Redeemer, and we should
also have expected to have seen the middle star
larger than the other two. But on the whole
the suggestion of Planchette that the blue
belongs to things appertaining to the earth, and
the red to the regenerate world to come, is as
good an explanation as can be given, and is
supported by the fact that the Mount of
Calvary is all in blue, whereas the crosses on it
are in red. This opinion would have been
further fortified had the cross of the impenitent
thief been represented in blue, but this is not
the case. A certain amount of the drawings
are in black ink, namely, the whole emblem at
the top ; the " Z " beneath the star of Zadkiel;
and the small parallelogram which looks like a
step to Mount Calvary, but we think is really
intended to give depth to the picture. The
outlines of the church and the segment of the
circle are also in black.
With regard to the pillars "Jachin" and,
" Boaz," there seems to be nothing to indicate
their presence on the talisman. The left-hand
pillar at the entrance of King Solomon's temple
had the name " Boaz " inscribed on it, because
Boaz was the husband of Ruth and the great-
grandfather of David. The import of the word
is "Strength." The left-hand pillar was called
" Jachin," who is traditionally supposed to have
been High Priest during the reign of King
Solomon, and at the time of the dedication of
the Temple. 1 The meaning of the word
"Jachin" is "to establish"; and no doubt it
was a happy circumstance, which was probably
due to the literary genius of Solomon, that the
Hebrew words written on the pillars of the
main entrance of the temple should bear the
meaning " Establish in Strength." We have,
moreover, a symbol, traditionally well known,
consisting of the letter " M " to symbolise these
two pillars of the Temple ; for the letter " M,"
if widely spread out, shows two columns with
a carpenter's square between them. Thus,
magically interpreted, the letter " M " would
mean "Established in Strength and Recti-
tude," for of the last-named virtue the square
is always the emblem. Still, it must be ad-
mitted that the three " M's," which appear upon
the parchment, have no pretence to imitate the
symbolical " M," but are on the contrary in an
especially cursive character, and, in our opinion,
are much more likely to refer to the Archangel
Michael than to any characters in the Old
Testament.
We have given no explanation of the capital
"E" in blue, with a red ball coming from it
at the foot of the upper Christian emblem, and
we are unwilling to accept the explanation
given by Planchette that it refers to "Eleazar,"
although it is true that a noted sorcerer of that
name lived in the time of Vespasian. We
think it much more likely to stand for
" Eones," a Gnostic corruption of the Greek
word " Aionas," meaning "Ages," and intend-
ing to signify that the work of Christ on earth,
symbolised by the blue colour of the letter, was
to endure for ever, and, in fact, that his " soul
should not be left in hell, nor his flesh see
corruption."
The red pillar ejecting the blue ball is much
more likely to represent " Demas," the tradi-
tional name of the penitent thief, 1 than any
Old Testament character, and the more so that
"Jachin" was esteemed by the Gnostics to
personify the female principle, and would thus
have been essentially out of place on Calvary.
To sum up this document, we believe it to
be a tracing of a much more ancient incantation,
issued, to judge by the character of the hand-
writing, in the early part of the present century.
We consider that in it the astrological and the
Christian have been carefully blended, and that
although the interpretation given may be am-
plified and improved, it will be found that the
ultimate rendering of the riddle will be some-
what on the lines laid down by ourselves.
And with this reflection we leave the talis-
man to the study and consideration of our
readers.
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