music that takes you on a mystical adventure

Spirits and Fairies

In the wedding between Ferdinand and Miranda, Prospero calls Ariel to summons spirits. Three spirits appear; Iris, Juno, and Ceres. These beings end up blessing the happy couple. This immediately made me think of the three fairies in Sleeping Beauty. They also gave gifts to Aurora, like beauty, musical talent, and for true loves kiss to break Maleficent's curse. 

Prospero Just Can't Wait to be K̶i̶n̶g̶ Duke!

OK so I know this is ironic but bear (ha) with me. This song reminds me of Prospero because he wants to be king duke again and uses and abuses Ariel and to an extent his daughter to get his revenge. Scar wants to be king and plots revenge with the hyenas (what could go wrong?). And for those who don't get it, Lion King is the poor man's Hamlet so...connections connections. Anyway this song is what Prospero sings in the shower when he's getting ready to kill Antonio or whatever. This can also apply to Antonio and his plan to become king through assassination (sorry for the last minute addition).

Couldn't he just kill them?

If Prospero has all of Ariel's powers at his disposal, why are the tasks he asks Ariel to carry out for him so small? Why put people to sleep to eavesdrop on your enemies' conversation, play mysterious music here and there, mimic voices to cause drama in a group, and threaten enemies in the form of a harpy? Why is that the lead-up to the perfect revenge plan? Wouldn't it be easier for Prospero to get his vengeance simply by killing his brother? Or maybe just stealing the boat and stranding him on the island? But, no. That would make too much sense.

Colonization?

Music for Merlin

I really like to listen to instrumental music while writing or reading. While I read this long reading on Merlin, I was listening to the Game of Thrones soundtrack, and found the tone to be very fitting. This song especially was a joy to listen to towards the end of the reading, with the quote:

"His cry came from the pain he felt when he realized that he was being killed by a woman's cunning and that a woman's craft had defeated his own. The echo of the cry was heard throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom of Logres..."

Nothing better than a woman defeating a man who thinks he knows everything! To make this song even more befitting (for any GoT fans), this is the song that was playing during the scene where (SPOILER ALERT) Cersei killed off a massive amount of people in a church to save herself. This super long song has a super slow beginning that builds to a great climax of instrumentals, so if you're going to play it in class, I would recommend starting around 8:15 to see how grand it gets!

Meet Merlin in the Woods

I feel like this song connects to Merlin's torment after witnessing a fierce battle - where young men are "Beating the ground and are red with blood!" - and his subsequent flee into the woods (Monmouth 1). He's overcome by the darkness of Man and was so changed that he went 'mad' and abandoned civilization. When trapped, he played a game of foresight and truth with Rhydderch to barter for his freedom to return to the forest, which is present in the song lyric, "Show me yours and I'll show you mine."

Other particularly relevant lyrics in relation to Merlin's p.o.v. are:

"I have seen what the darkness does;
say goodbye to who I was.
I ain't never been away so long,
don't look back, those days are gone."

and

"Yeah, the truth is stranger
than my own worst dreams.
Holy darkness got a hold on me."

How Much Does Merlin Really Know?

Since Merlin is a prophet, did he know that the queen was going to ask him how the boy dies while changing the boy's appearance 3 different times? Is that why Merlin spilt the boy's death into three prophecies and not tell him all at once?

The tears must keep flowing...

The Differences

With the extreme differences in their lives and revelations how were they similar leading them both to be classified as mystics?

So Many Visions

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Being an Anchoret must be pretty lonely

After reading this text, I felt like being an anchoret has to be quite lonely. Like you literally become dead to the world. I couldn't imagine doing something like this for the rest of my life without being incredibly lonely or becoming crazy. I applaud her for being able to go into seclusion for the remainder of her life to contemplate what the meaning of her vision.

I've seen some shizz

I thought Faustus wanted to be emperor not mess with people

Doctor Faustus: The Kronk of the Elizabethan Era

Remember the babies...

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.

It's okay to eat infants so long as you put them back the way you found them

"[Infants] appear to be cut up into pieces, eaten, and gluttonously stuffed into the witches' stomachs. Then, through the mercy of the witch ruler, they are returned [in one piece] to their cradles" (Kors/Peters 78). 

 This quote demonstrates the complexity of the magic belief system and the absolute horror of what it would be like to actually believe these things were happening. I found myself pausing a lot while I was reading just to appreciate how much detail went into freaking out about witchcraft. It's all very well though out. And, yeah, it would be completely terrifying to think a bunch of women in the neighborhood sneak out at night, frolic around, eat a bunch of infants, and then everything's fine in the morning. You'd want to burn people too if you thought they reached for a bite of your baby whenever they wanted something to munch on at midnight.

How these documents influenced fiction

Did any details in the reading remind anyone of stories they've heard about witches?
(For example: the lamias in section 10)