Necromancy and Other Prohibited Arts Quiz

Answer: Circe

Circe was a sorceress who turned Odysseus' men into swine. Odysseus managed to overcome Circe and free his men, and they later became lovers. Penelope was Odysseus' wife who waited faithfully for him to return for 20 years. Hecate was a Greek goddess associated with witchcraft and the underworld, and according to some legends, the mother of Circe. Medusa was of course a snake-haired gorgon.

Answer: The Witch of Endor

Saul is desperate for supernatural guidance but is finding it hard to come by, since he had previously driven out magicians and necromancers from his realm. He seeks out the Witch of Endor in secret and asks her to summon the departed spirit of the prophet Samuel to ask his advice. This goes about as well as expected: Samuel berates Saul for disobeying God and then predicts his downfall.

Answer: Simon Magus

Simon Magus was a Samaritan magician who founded a school of gnosticism and was reputed to have the ability to fly through the air. According to "Acts of the Apostles" he attempted to buy spiritual gifts from the apostles with money; the sin of simony is named after him. According to the account in the "Acts of Peter," Simon attempted to prove his divinity by performing acts of magic in the Forum, culminating in levitating to a great height. Peter put a stop to his shenanigans by praying for Simon's downfall - which occurs literally, as he falls and breaks his legs. Honi the Circle Drawer was a Jewish scholar who was said to be able to make rain. Abra-Melin the Mage was reputed to be a medieval Egyptian magician.

Answer: Giacomo Casanova

Casanova did own books on magic and was able to convince intelligent well-educated people that he had occult powers. However, he made enemies in high places who had him imprisoned without trial. Eventually he made a daring escape with an accomplice and went into exile for many years. Cagliostro was another self-styled magician, who died in prison in Rome after being arrested by the Inquisition. Lord Byron was another notorious Lothario and wrote a poem about the legendary Don Juan.

He managed to avoid prison though.

Answer: John Dee

Dee acted as an intelligence agent for Elizabeth while traveling abroad and used the code name 007! Edward Kelley was Dee's assistant for many years and claimed he could see angels and demons in a "shewstone," a polished piece of obsidian. There is a famous 19th century engraving that depicts Dee and Kelley performing a ritual of necromancy in a graveyard, but there is no evidence that this ever took place. Both Bruno and Agrippa wrote books on magic but had no connection with Queen Elizabeth.

Answer: Bluebeard

The story of Bluebeard concerns a wealthy and violent man who has murdered his previous wives and keeps their bodies hidden in a secret room in his mansion, and details his current wife's attempt to avoid the same fate. Blackbeard was a notorious pirate. "Yellowbeard" was a 1983 film spoofing the pirate genre.

Answer: Count of St. Germain

Count of St. Germain was a rather mysterious fellow who was feted by high society and possessed many talents in music, language, and conversation. He was in the habit of going to lavish dinners and yet not eating anything, which contributed to his mystique.

He was a contemporary of Casanova who described his as "the king of impostors and quacks." Aleister Crowley and Anton Szandor LaVey were 20th century occultists who were both known for telling tall stories about themselves, but neither claimed to be hundreds of years old.

Answer: Roger Bacon

Roger Bacon was a man of great learning who wrote about many scientific and not-so-scientific fields. The story of the "brazen head" has many variations, and it was sometimes said to be a work of necromancy. He was also said to have tricked the devil into giving him knowledge without losing his soul. Albertus Magnus was a German contemporary of Roger Bacon, and after his death also developed a fanciful reputation as a magician and an alchemist.

Answer: Hypnosis

Mesmer induced a trance state in his clients that came to be known as "mesmerism," a term which is now synonymous with hypnotism or hypnosis. Nowadays, hypnosis is not considered an occult phenomenon but a purely psychological one.

Answer: Madame de Montespan

Madame de Montespan was the lover of Louis XIV for many years and had seven children by him. Later, she was accused of poisoning romantic rivals and even performing black masses in which babies were sacrificed to magically maintain her hold over the King.

These allegations were never proven and many of the gruesome details were obtained from a midwife who was forced to confess to witchcraft under torture, so their accuracy is highly doubtful. The King eventually had these allegations suppressed. Madame de Pompadour was actually a mistress of Louis XV, not Louis XIV, and was never implicated in anything particularly unsavory. Madame Defarge and Madame Xanadu are fictional characters from Charles Dickens and DC Comics, respectively.