Magic or Mystic?

Merlin got his ability to know the past from Satan, making him a witch who uses magic. However he then has the ability to know the future, which he got from God, making him a mystic. Since he has both abilities from different sources what would Merlin be? A witch or a mystic? What would he be tried as?

Frogs, ducks, and black cats, oh my!

"...when any novice is to be received among them and enters the sect of the damned for the first time, the shape of a certain frog appears to him, which some are accustomed to call a toad. Some kiss this creature on the hind-quarters and some on the mouth; they receive the tongue and saliva of the beast inside their mouths. Sometimes it appears unduly large, and sometimes equivalent to a goose or a duck, and sometimes it even assumes the size of an oven" (pg 115).

What interesting things await us once we have decided to go to the depths of Dante's Inferno! Not fiery gates or evil laughter, oh no! But frogs! Toads! A black cat will coil its tail in the corner! 

Depravity will happen with men amongst men, women amongst women! The assumptions presented in Chapter 4 and the exert "Pope Gregory IX: Vox in Rama" proved to be hilarious--what was assumed of what happens when you choose to leave your faith seems to be more realistically some crazy fantasy than real life.

Have Your or A Loved One (Usually a Woman) Dabbled in Witchcraft?

    "70. Have you believed that there is any woman who can do that which some, deceived by the devil, affirm that they must do f necessity or at his command, that is, with a throng of demons transformed into the likeness of women, (she whom common folly calls the witch Hulda), must ride on certain beasts in this infidelity, you should do penance for one year on the appointed fast days..." (Kors/Peters pg 64)

This quote, as well as the 20 or so others all sound like one of those financial compensation commercials. But, instead of getting money in return you get told to repent for believing your next door neighbor, Miriam, is riding beasts into the night but might also actually be Hulda in disguise. Or 3 demons in a trench coat riding a goat. You'll never really know but to cure you of this totally-not-delusion, you must repent on specific fasting days. From a modern mind this seems trippy but for that time, you couldn't trust anyone. Not even your goat.

The Interaction Between Magic and Religion

Throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, there is an interaction between magic and religion. The Green Knight is the magical figure that comes from no where and challenges someone to strike him a blow that he will return a year and a day from that date. Gawain is the religious knight that prays because he does not want to spend Christmas Eve alone and he wishes to attend church. Once Gawain has spent his time within the castle, that appeared out of no where, he starts getting dressed to meet with the Green Knight. "While he dressed himself in his noblest clothes-/ His coat with its finely embroidered badge/ Set upon his velvet, with stones of magical power/ Inlaid and clasped round it, with embroidered seams/ And richly lined on the inside with beautiful furs" (2025-29). Why, for the religious man, to have stones of magical power instead of a crucifix as a part of his attire for meeting a magical green man? Religion and magic are quite different from each other. Religion is structured and organized. Magic, on the other hand, what rules are there to follow? A green man can get his head cut off and survive and a castle can appear out of no where. Both of these instances seem more magical than some religious miracle. Magic and religion start off as two apposing ends; a magical Green Knight and a religious knight in red. The ideas of magic and religion end up becoming entwined within Sir Gawain. Gawain is a man of religion, by continuing to pray, and becomes one of magic, by wearing magical stones for his meeting with a magical green man.