Human Animals

Frank Hamel

• Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9783849641849
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Folklore & Mythology
• Index: Social Sciences

Human Animals is a discursive, while at the same time an entertaining volume on a theme of peculiar significance. As to whether or not a human soul may enter into the body of an animal, or the soul of an animal that of a human person, is and has always been a subject shrouded in mystery and covered over with grave doubts and more or less heated arguments for and against the idea. In the present work on the transformation of humans and animals into other shapes, the author satisfies himself with quoting innumerable examples, ancient and modern, belonging to many races and climes, leaving the reader to judge for himself if he is for or against this remarkable concept of the passage of souls into other living forms. There are chapters on the ''Bush-Soul, " on human souls in animal bodies, on animal dances, the "Were-Wolf Trials, " on witches, on cat and cock phantoms, on the "Phantasmal Ghost, " each and all of which serve to make interesting reading.

Human Animals

Frank Hamel

Contents:

Human Animals

Preface

Chapter I - Introductory

Chapter Ii - Transformation

Chapter Iii - The Bush-Soul

Chapter Iv - Human Souls In Animal Bodies

Chapter V - Animal Dances

Chapter Vi - Man-Animal And Animal-Man

Chapter Vii - Scapegoat And Saint

Chapter Viii - The Were-Wolf Trials

Chapter Ix - The Were-Wolf In Myth And Legend

Chapter X – Lion- And Tiger-Men

Chapter Xi - Were-Fox And Were-Vixen

Chapter Xii - Witches

Chapter Xiii - Familiars

Chapter Xiv - Transformation In Folk-Lore And Fairy-Tale

Chapter Xv - Transformation In Folk-Lore And Fairy-Tale (Continued)

Chapter Xvi - Fabulous Animals And Monsters

Chapter Xvii - Human Serpents

Chapter Xviii - Cat And Cock Phantoms

Chapter Xix - Bird Women

Chapter Xx - Family Animals

Chapter Xxi - Animal Ghosts

Chapter Xxii - The Phantasmal Double

Chapter Xxiii - Animal Elementals

Chapter Xxiv - Animal Spirits In Ceremonial Magic

Chapter Xxv - Conclusion

Human Animals , F. Hamel

Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck

86450 Altenmünster, Loschberg 9

Germany

ISBN: 9783849641849

www.jazzybee-verlag.de

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Human Animals

PREFACE

From the abundant records and traditions dealing with the curious belief that certain men and women can transform themselves into animals I have collected a number of instances and examples which throw fresh light on the subject both from the point of view of folk-lore and occultism. The causes of transformation are various: contact with a were-animal, touching what he has touched, wearing an animal skin, rubbing the body with ointment, slipping on a girdle, buckling on a strap, and many other expedients, magical and otherwise, may bring about the metamorphosis. Removing the skin, burning it, or piercing it with the stab of a knife, or the shot from a gun, so that blood is drawn, are among the best-known methods for causing the human shape to be resumed, but the stab should be on the brow or between the eyes, and the bullet should be made of silver and is all the better for having been blessed in a chapel of St. Hubert, otherwise the attempt to break the enchantment may fail. The penalty for being a were-animal is death, but sentence is not passed until after some ordeal has been gone through, such as dipping the finger into boiling resin, innocence being established if the finger be drawn out unhurt. Any wound inflicted on the transformed animal is simultaneously inflicted on the human body, and in many other characteristics the nature of the were-animal is similar to that of the witch or wizard.

In " Balder the Beautiful " Dr. J. G. Frazer, after telling many typical stories, endeavours to establish a parallelism between witches and were-animals, the analogy appearing to confirm the view that the reason for burning a bewitched animal alive is a belief that the human being is in the animal, and that by burning you compel him to assume another shape. Since the sum of energy in the universe is held to be constant and invariable, the chain of transformation is thus continued, and form follows form, endlessly linked together. By some such theory the phenomena of life and death may be explained and the doctrine of immortality, usually applied only to the soul of man, can be reasonably extended to animals.

The belief that human and animal souls possess power and entity when externalised and apart from the living body is less widely held than that of persistence after death. It is one that bears strongly on the subject of animal transformation, as well as on the affinity which certain animals possess for some families, an affinity that is akin to totemism.

These preliminary suggestions will enable readers to grasp the scope of my book, which is intended to provide a comprehensive view of the subject and to familiarise them with the nature of the phenomena, even though it has been well-nigh impossible to classify and tabulate them fully, or to explain them satisfactorily.

I wish to express my thanks to Miss J. A. Middleton, author of " The Grey Ghost Book," for her kindness in reading my work in MS., and to her and others for suggesting interesting material.

FRANK HAMEL London, 1915

CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTORY

The belief that men can change into animals and animals into men is as old as life itself. It originates in the theory that all things are created from one substance, mind or spirit, which according to accident or design takes a distinctive appearance, to mortal eye, of shape, colour, and solidity. Transformation from one form to another then becomes a thinkable proposition, especially if it be admitted that plastic thought in the spirit world takes on changed forms and conditions more readily than in the world of matter. The belief of primitive races that all created beings have an immortal soul dwelling in a material body applies equally to the brute creation and to the human race. " In the beginning of things," says Leland, " men were as animals and animals as men." The savage endows brutes with similar intelligence and emotions to his own. He does not distinguish between the essential nature of man, of various beasts, and even of inanimate objects, except where outward form is concerned; and he senses, even more clearly than his civilised brother, the psychic bonds which unite man and the animals. Folk-lore abounds in incidents which are based on the impermanence of form and which tell of people changing into animals or animals changing into human beings.

The scientific problems of to-day which deal with the theory of breaking up matter into electrons may quite possibly have a bearing on this subject and may not be so far removed, as appears at first sight to be the case, from the intuitive beliefs of the savage.

Transformation was held to be accomplished in various ways, a sorcerer, a witch or the evil one himself being the agent through whom the change was effected. Certain people have had ascribed to them the power of self-transformation, a curious psychical gift which to this day appeals to imaginative people, and which may be regarded as a projection of mind in animal form.

Changes may be voluntary or involuntary, self-transformation belonging more frequently to the former class and transformation by sorcery, witchcraft or black magic more often to the latter class. The motives of a human being who wishes to change into an animal are naturally regarded with suspicion. Greed, cruelty, and cannibalism are accusations brought against those who were tried in the Middle Ages for the crime of lycanthropy, the transformation into a wolf or other wild beast. The desire to taste human flesh is a horrible but not improbable reason for the offence. The wish to inspire fear or to gain personal power over others are motives for impersonating wild and fearsome animals, as effective where superstitious people are concerned as the less common faculty of transforming actual flesh.

Savage races do not necessarily connect the idea of transformation with any thought of evil. They find the plan of impersonating an animal in its lair, for the sake of safety, say, extremely useful. They have also the best of reasons for developing a special attribute, such as the keen scent of the hound, the long sight of the eagle, the natural protective power against cold possessed by the wolf and so forth, imitative suggestion which occurs in many of their primitive customs. Thus the Cherokee Indian when starting on a winter's journey endeavours by singing and other mimetic action to identify himself with the wolf, the fox, the opossum or other wild animal, of which the feet are regarded by him as impervious to frost-bite. The words he chants mean, " I become a real wolf, a real deer, a real fox, and a real opossum." Then he gives a long howl to imitate the wolf or barks like a fox and paws and scratches the ground. Thus he establishes a belief in transformation by sympathetic or homoeopathic magic, and starts forth on his difficult journey in perfect confidence, the power of auto-suggestion aiding him on his way. Such customs are closely allied with the superstitions of the dark ages, when it was assumed without question that bodily transformation took place.

Involuntary change into animal shape was thought to occur as a punishment for crime, and was looked upon as a judgment of the gods. Few beliefs are more common among savages than that reincarnation in a lower form is the result of sin in a previous existence. Bats especially are held to be the abode of the souls of the dead, and to some races they are sacrosanct for this reason. Most animals have been looked upon as a possible receptacle of man's soul, and many primitive tribes believe that man can choose in which animal body he prefers to dwell. In the Solomon Islands, for instance, a dying man informs the members of his family i...

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• Human Animals