A few errors from Randi's book _An Encyclopedia of Claims,
Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural_:
abracadabra: "This is the name of the supreme deity of the
Assyrians." Not the name of any deity at all.
Abraham the Jew: Fair enough, but there was (allegedly) a
more famous "Abraham the Jew", who supposedly gave Nicolas
Flamel a manuscript describing the manufacture of the
philosopher's stone.
afreet: "In oriental mythology, the spirit of a dead person,
often a demon." Not the spirit of a dead person.
Aksakoi, Alexandre: Should be Alexander Aksakov (or Aksakoff).
amulet: "From the Arabic _hamulet_, meaning, 'that which is
suspended.'" Cf. the OED: "perh. in 15th c., a. Fr.
amulette; but app. not in reg. use till after 1600, when
adapted from L. amulêtum (Pliny), a word of unknown origin,
which has been conjecturally compared with mod.Arab.
himâlah, -at, lit. 'a carrier, bearer,' now applied inter
alia to a shoulder-belt or cord frequently used to secure a
small Koran or prayer-book on the breast, regarded as an
'amulet'; but the history of this word shows that the
resemblance between it and L. amulêtum is purely fortuitous,
and there exists no ground for ascribing the latter to an
Arabic origin."
Angels of Mons: "On September 29, 1914, the London Evening
News published a charming fiction story by Arthur Machen
titled 'The Angels of Mons.'" The short story's title is
"The Bowmen".
Arnold, Kenneth: "A private pilot who re****ted that he had
seen nine flying 'saucer-shaped' objects [. . .]" Arnold
re****ted crescent-shaped objects. (He compared their motion
to that of a saucer skipped over water.)
Arthur (King): "Arthur's legend is closely tied to the
equally imaginary magician Merlin." While he little
resembled the Merlin of Arthurian legend, an historical
Merlin (actually, Myrddin) did exist (perhaps more than
one). Several poems by this sixth-century Welshman still
survive.
banshee: "(Derived from the Celtic 'ben' for 'woman,' and
'sighe' for 'fairy.')" Correct form of the Gaelic is "bean
sídhe".
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna: "Madame Blavatsky wrote several
mystical books, among them _Isis Unveiled_ (1877), which was
shown to have been copied from previous works of other
authors, and _The Secret Doctrine_ (1888)." Around a fifth
of the 1500+ pages of _Isis Unveiled_ consists of
(acknowled) quotations from other authors. The charge of
plagiarism resulted from her failing to acknowledge that
some of these had been taken from secondary sources, rather
than directly from the (acknowledged) primary source. (Also,
the individual--a Spiritualist, incidentally--who had
promised the forthcoming publication of his proofs of these
charges of plagiarism never did so, claiming that they had
been destroyed in a fire.)
"This fifth group [viz., Aryans] was seized upon by the Nazi
theorists, along with the Rosicrucian ideas, as a basis for
their racial superiority notions." The Nazis had no use for
Rosicrucian ideas. The "Aryans" of the Nazis did not come
from Blavatsky, and bear little resemblance to her
"Aryans"--her "Aryan" race includes Jews, for example.
"Heinrich Himmler, the chief of the Nazi SS [. . .] was a
devoted follower of the racial theories of Blavatsky and
based the design of the SS on her teachings and on those of
Aleister Crowley and the Templars, the band of
twelfth-century knights who protected the pilgrims on the
crusades." The Nazis had no use for Blavatsky's racial
theories, which were explicitly anti-racist. They banned all
Theosophical groups and known members were sent to
concentration camps. Groups associated with Crowley were
likewise banned. If Himmler had been a follower of the ideas
of Blavatsky and/or Crowley, he would have gone straight to
a concentration camp.
Bluebeard: "He [Gilles de Rais] earned the name Bluebeard
(_Barbe Blue_) from his glossy black beard, and by that name
he has come down through history as a character in
children's stories." Gilles de Rais was identified with the
French folktale character due to his crimes (which don't
actually resemble the fictional character's crimes much).
Also, the folktale was originally written for adults, not
children (the most famous version is by Charles Perrault).
(I have no idea what Gilles de Rais' beard looked like.)
cambion: "The offspring of a succubus and an incubus." A
cambion is the offspring of an incubus and a human woman.
(Perhaps Randi was confused by the theory that the incubus
has earlier obtained the semen by copulating with a man in
the form of a succubus.)
Crowley, Aleister: "Crowley was a British Satanist [. . .]"
Crowley was not a Satanist.
doppelgänger: Randi conflates two different kinds of
double--(1) a stranger, identical in appearance, familiar
from classical comedies and sitcoms; (2) an apparition, also
known as a fetch or wraith, that appears as an omen
presaging death.
Fort, Charles Hoy: "Fort invented the word tele****tation, by
which *he* meant passage back and forth between outer space
and Earth, though the accepted meaning among psychics is
somewhat different." Fort used the word in the same sense as
psychics.
ghost: "From the German _geist_, for 'spirit.'" Though
cognate with the German word, "ghost" derives from Old
English _gást_.
gnome: "From the Greek _gnoma_, meaning "knowledge." The
word Randi has in mind is _gnomê_. "Gnome" does not derive
from it.
grimoire: Randi apparently accepts the _Necronomicon_ as an
authentic grimoire, though it is a fiction invented by H.P.
Lovecraft in his horror stories.
Hare Krishna: "The actual Krishna philosophy, as outlined in
the _Bhagavad Gita_, calls for an end to wars and for
universal love and food for all." The _Bhagavad Gita_ is
basically a pep-talk for a warrior about to engage in battle.
Iambilicus: The name is spelt "Iamblichus". (Perhaps he got
tangled up in Randi's umbilical cord.)
ka: "(also _khat_)" The _khat_ is the physical body; the
_ka_ is a sort of spiritual double. They are not the same thing.
kabala: "From the Hebrew word meaning 'collection.'" The
Hebrew word means "tradition."
Koreshan Unity: "The name David Koresh was adopted in 1990
by cult leader Vernon Wayne Howell (1959-1993), who followed
all these eccentric notions of Teed and fancied himself a
Christ figure." David Koresh followed none of Cyrus Reed
Teed's eccentric notions.
Krishnamurti, Jiddu: "(Né Alcyone, 1895-1986)" He was in
fact né Krishnamurti. (Alcyone was the name used for him in
an account of the various past incarnations of figures in
the Theosophical Society.)
kundalini: "From the Sanskrit meaning 'serpent power.'" The
Sanskrit means "(that which is) coiled". (The term "serpent
power" was coined by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodruffe) as
an English equivalent; the Sanskrit (not actually used in
this form) would be Bhujangi Shakti.)
kundalini yoga: "A form of yoga that preaches breath control
and various physical exercises--'ansanas'--to sublimate
***ual energy." The word "asana" (not "ansana") means "posture".
magnetic hills: "A strong example of this deceptive effect
is found at the 'Oregon Vortex,' a site on Interstate I-5
near Gold Hill, Oregon, near the California-Oregon border."
The Oregon Vortex is a classic amusement-park type "haunted
house", with various optical illusions; the magnetic hill
not among them.
Merlin: "In the traditional story, Merlin does not die, but
is spirited away to the Isle of Avillion, wherever that may
be." It is Arthur who is taken to Avillion (better known as
Avalon) in the traditional story. Merlin is imprisoned in a
cave by a sorceress (named something like Nimue or Vivian,
depending on how badly the scribal tradition has mangled it
along the way) he has been tutoring.
Necronomicon: (Same error as under grimoire.)
nymph: "An elemental spirit of the water." There are many
sorts of nymphs not associated with the water, such as
dryads, oak-tree nymphs.
odic force: "From the name of the Norse god Odin." Nope.
ointment: "A special flying ointment was prepared by boiling
the fat from newborn, unbaptized children. It did not work."
Considering that it also contained such ingredients as
belladonna, mandrake, and aconite (as Randi himself notes in
his entries for "flying" and "sabbat"), it might well have
worked after all.
Order of the Golden Dawn: "Founder S.L. MacGregor Mathers
said that he obtained his esoteric knowledge for the order
from 'Secret Chiefs' and 'Masters' while in trance." The
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded by William
Wynn Westcott, William Robert Woodman, and Mathers after
Westcott discovered a "cipher manuscript" and subsequent
(snail-mail) contact with a German adept.
reincarnation: "The idea that the spirit of a person leaves
the body at death and is reborn in another." Some believers
in reincarnation, such as Buddhists, deny the existence of a
spirit or soul.
runes: "Probably because of the primitive flavor of the
symbols, magical qualities have been ascribed to them."
Considering that those among whom this belief had no other
form of writing, runes probably did not strike them as
primitive.
Satanism: "This belief is a directly opposing power
structure to Christianity. The Devil replaces Jesus Christ,
demons replace angels." Most Satanists do not wor****p Satan,
or even believe that he exists.
Secret Gospel: "Clement of Alexandra, one of the early
fathers of the church, writing in the late eighteenth
century [. . .]" Randi must have an rather unorthodox view
of church chronology.
tantra: "A term referring to the ***ual aspects of various
Eastern religions, mostly concerned with conserving ***ual
energies and desires and directing them to other purposes."
The word _tantra_ refers to a type of Hindu or Buddhist
religious text. Some, but not all, of these concern the sort
of subject Randi mentions.
Tetragrammaton: "It varies from text to text. Some versions
are JHVH, IHVH, JHWH, YHVH, and YHWH." These are simply
different transliterations of the same Hebrew word.
Theosophy: "Astrology, clairvoyance, are not only
automatically accepted in Theosophy, but are im****tant
factors in its dogma." Theosophy has no dogma and does not
require any particular beliefs. (Cf. the Theosophical
Society's motto: "There is no religion higher than truth.")
UFO: (Repeats error listed under Arnold, Kenneth.)
voodoo: "Voodoo itself is most well-known for its use of the
wax doll to effect changes on a subject." The so-called
"voodoo doll" is not actually used in Voodoo.
Walpurgis Nacht (night): (German form should be
"Walpurgisnacht".) "The night of April 30, also known as May
Day Eve and Beltane." Beltane falls on May Day, not May Day
Eve. "The name Beltane derives from Baal, the name of an
early Semitic fertility god of decidedly priapic nature." It
does not; the OED says: "The rubbish about Baal, Bel, Belus,
im****ted into the word from the Old Testament and classical
antiquity, is outside the scope of scientific etymology."
witch: "A male witch is now often referred to as a warlock,
though not strictly correctly. The term should more properly
be applied to males of monstrous appearance who perform
magic." Nonsense. (One of the archaic meanings of the term
is goblin, ogre, giant, monster, etc., but that is distinct
from its use for a male witch.)
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1587154838/thedanclorenecro/
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Strange pleasures are known to him who flaunts the
immarcescible purple of poetry before the color-blind.
-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"
|
