魔法歷史History of Magic

同樣稱為「魔法」（magic），在不同時代可以是宗教儀式的一部分、被斥為異端或迷信的行為，也可以是學者探究自然奧秘的哲學。這個詞源自古波斯祭司階層 magoi 的希臘文稱呼。本頁按時代梳理西方魔法傳統的主要脈絡。The same word, “magic”, could in different eras be part of religious ritual, a practice condemned as heresy or superstition, or a philosophy through which scholars probed the secrets of nature. The word derives from the Greek name for the ancient Persian priestly class, the magoi. This page traces the main lines of the Western magical tradition period by period.

本頁只作歷史與思想描述，不提供任何可操作的儀式步驟。This page offers historical and intellectual description only, and provides no operational ritual steps.

古埃及與美索不達米亞Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

古埃及的 hekaAncient Egyptian heka

古埃及語中與「魔法」最接近的詞是 ḥkꜣ（heka），它同時也是一位神祇的名字，代表創世時神明所用的力量。在埃及人眼中，heka 並非與宗教對立的「邪術」，而是神賜給人類用以抵禦災禍的正當手段。祭司以咒語、護身符、儀式和寫有咒文的紙草保護生者與死者；王陵中的《金字塔文》、中王國棺木上的《棺文》，以及新王國的《亡靈書》，都包含大量幫助死者在冥界通行的咒語。學者 Robert K. Ritner 指出，埃及魔法的關鍵在於「說出、寫下、做出」的儀式行為本身。The ancient Egyptian word closest to “magic” is ḥkꜣ (heka), which was also the name of a deity, representing the power the gods used at creation. To the Egyptians heka was not a “black art” opposed to religion but a legitimate means given by the gods to humanity to ward off misfortune. Priests protected the living and the dead with spells, amulets, rituals and papyri inscribed with incantations; the Pyramid Texts in royal tombs, the Coffin Texts on Middle Kingdom coffins and the New Kingdom Book of the Dead all contain numerous spells to help the deceased pass through the underworld. The scholar Robert K. Ritner points out that the key to Egyptian magic lies in the ritual acts themselves — “saying, writing, doing”.

美索不達米亞的驅邪祭司Mesopotamian exorcist-priests

美索不達米亞有專門的驅邪祭司（阿卡德語 āšipu），負責診斷疾病和厄運的超自然原因，並以儀式驅除。著名的儀式文獻有：Mesopotamia had specialist exorcist-priests (Akkadian āšipu) who diagnosed the supernatural causes of illness and misfortune and drove them out through ritual. Well-known ritual texts include:

• 《Maqlû》（意為「焚燒」）：一套對抗巫術的長篇儀式，透過焚燒代表施術者的人像來解除巫術。Maqlû (“Burning”): a long series of rituals against witchcraft, which undoes witchcraft by burning figurines representing the sorcerer.
• Namburbi 儀式：用來化解不祥預兆所預示的災禍。Namburbi rituals: used to avert the misfortune portended by ill omens.

值得注意的是，在這些文化中，被懲罰的是「害人的巫術」，而祭司執行的保護性儀式則屬於正統宗教的一部分。「正當儀式」與「非法巫術」的界線，在之後的西方歷史中一再被重新劃定。It is worth noting that in these cultures what was punished was “harmful witchcraft”, while the protective rituals performed by priests were part of orthodox religion. The line between “legitimate ritual” and “illicit sorcery” was redrawn again and again in later Western history.

希臘化時期與赫密士主義The Hellenistic Period and Hermeticism

希臘魔法紙草The Greek Magical Papyri

現存的一批「希臘魔法紙草」（Papyri Graecae Magicae，簡稱 PGM）多出土於埃及，年代約為公元前二世紀至公元五世紀。內容混合了希臘、埃及、猶太和其他近東元素，包括護身、求愛、占卜、祈求神明顯現等各種儀式。它們是研究古代晚期民間宗教與魔法的珍貴原始資料，英譯本由 Hans Dieter Betz 主編。The surviving corpus of “Greek Magical Papyri” (Papyri Graecae Magicae, PGM) was mostly found in Egypt and dates from about the second century BCE to the fifth century CE. Its contents mix Greek, Egyptian, Jewish and other Near Eastern elements, including rituals for protection, love, divination and summoning divine apparitions. They are a precious primary source for the popular religion and magic of late antiquity; the English translation was edited by Hans Dieter Betz.

赫密士‧特利斯墨吉斯忒斯Hermes Trismegistus

希臘人把埃及的智慧之神托特（Thoth）與自己的信使神赫密士（Hermes）等同，稱為「三倍偉大的赫密士」（Hermes Trismegistus）。託名於他的著作分為兩類：The Greeks identified the Egyptian god of wisdom Thoth with their own messenger god Hermes, calling him “Thrice-Great Hermes” (Hermes Trismegistus). The writings attributed to him fall into two groups:

• 「技術性」赫密士文獻：涉及占星、鍊金術和魔法。“Technical” Hermetica: dealing with astrology, alchemy and magic.
• 「哲學性」赫密士文獻：主要是約公元一至三世紀以希臘文寫成的《赫密士文集》（Corpus Hermeticum），以及只有拉丁文本傳世的《阿斯克勒庇俄斯》（Asclepius）。內容討論神、宇宙與人的關係，認為人可以透過知識（gnosis）認識神並回歸神聖。“Philosophical” Hermetica: chiefly the Corpus Hermeticum, written in Greek around the first to third centuries CE, and the Asclepius, which survives only in Latin. They discuss the relationship between God, the cosmos and humanity, holding that humans can know God and return to the divine through knowledge (gnosis).

文藝復興學者曾相信這些文獻出自與摩西同時代的古埃及聖人，因而地位崇高。1614 年，古典學者卡索邦（Isaac Casaubon）從語言和內容分析，證明《赫密士文集》成書於基督教時代之後。這一考證是神秘學史上的轉折點。Renaissance scholars believed these texts came from an ancient Egyptian sage contemporary with Moses, and so held them in great esteem. In 1614 the classical scholar Isaac Casaubon showed through linguistic and content analysis that the Corpus Hermeticum was written after the beginning of the Christian era. This piece of textual criticism was a turning point in the history of esotericism.

新柏拉圖主義與神通術Neoplatonism and Theurgy

三世紀的普羅提諾（Plotinus，約 204/5–270）建立了新柏拉圖主義：萬物由至高的「太一」層層流溢而出，人的靈魂可以透過哲學沉思回歸太一。他的學生波菲利（Porphyry）和後來的楊布里科斯（Iamblichus，約 245–325）在儀式問題上有分歧。楊布里科斯在《論秘儀》（De mysteriis）中主張，單靠思考不足以使靈魂上升，還需要藉助神聖儀式，即「神通術」（theurgy，意為「神的工作」）。五世紀的普羅克洛（Proclus）進一步發展了這套學說。In the third century Plotinus (c. 204/5–270) founded Neoplatonism: all things emanate in successive levels from the supreme “One”, and the human soul can return to the One through philosophical contemplation. His student Porphyry and the later Iamblichus (c. 245–325) disagreed on the question of ritual. In De mysteriis (On the Mysteries), Iamblichus argued that thought alone is not enough to raise the soul; it also requires sacred rites — “theurgy” (“divine work”). In the fifth century Proclus developed this doctrine further.

新柏拉圖主義的宇宙觀——萬物之間存在「同感」（sympathy）、高層與低層互相對應——後來成為文藝復興「自然魔法」的哲學基礎。The Neoplatonic cosmology — that there is “sympathy” among all things and that higher and lower levels correspond to one another — later became the philosophical foundation of Renaissance “natural magic”.

中世紀魔法書Medieval Grimoires

基督教成為羅馬國教後，教會把大部分魔法視為與魔鬼交往。中世紀神學家一般區分「自然魔法」（利用事物的隱藏性質，例如寶石、草藥被認為具有的功效）和「惡魔魔法」，前者有時被容忍，後者則受到譴責。儘管如此，魔法書（grimoire）在手抄本中一直流傳，抄寫和使用者往往是受過教育的神職人員。歷史學家 Richard Kieckhefer 稱之為「教士的地下世界」。After Christianity became the state religion of Rome, the Church regarded most magic as traffic with demons. Medieval theologians generally distinguished “natural magic” (using the hidden properties of things, such as the powers attributed to gems and herbs) from “demonic magic”; the former was sometimes tolerated, the latter condemned. Even so, grimoires (books of magic) continued to circulate in manuscript, often copied and used by educated clergy. The historian Richard Kieckhefer called this the “clerical underworld”.

較著名的魔法書包括：Better-known grimoires include:

• 《Picatrix》：原為阿拉伯文《智者的目標》（Ghāyat al-ḥakīm），約成書於十至十一世紀的安達盧斯，十三世紀在卡斯蒂利亞國王阿方索十世宮廷譯為西班牙文，再譯為拉丁文。內容以星辰魔法和護符製作為主。Picatrix: originally the Arabic Ghāyat al-ḥakīm (The Goal of the Sage), compiled around the tenth to eleventh century in al-Andalus, translated into Spanish at the court of Alfonso X of Castile in the thirteenth century and then into Latin. Its contents centre on astral magic and the making of talismans.
• 《所羅門之鑰》（Clavicula Salomonis）：託名古以色列國王所羅門，現存多為文藝復興及以後的手抄本，版本繁多。Clavicula Salomonis (The Key of Solomon): attributed to King Solomon of ancient Israel; surviving copies are mostly Renaissance or later manuscripts, in many versions.
• 《宣誓之書》（Liber iuratus Honorii）：約十三至十四世紀，託名底比斯的霍諾留斯。Liber iuratus Honorii (The Sworn Book of Honorius): thirteenth to fourteenth century, attributed to Honorius of Thebes.
• 《Ars notoria》：以祈禱與圖形求取知識與記憶的中世紀文本。Ars notoria: a medieval text seeking knowledge and memory through prayers and figures.
• 《小鑰匙》（Lemegeton）：十七世紀彙編，其中《哥伊提亞》一卷列出七十二個靈體。Lemegeton (The Lesser Key of Solomon): a seventeenth-century compilation whose Goetia section lists seventy-two spirits.

十五至十七世紀歐洲的獵巫運動，主要針對被指控與魔鬼訂約的普通人（多為婦女），與學者的魔法書傳統關係複雜，不應混為一談。The European witch hunts of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries targeted mainly ordinary people (mostly women) accused of making pacts with the Devil; their relationship with the learned grimoire tradition is complex, and the two should not be conflated.

文藝復興魔法Renaissance Magic

費奇諾（Marsilio Ficino，1433–1499）Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499)

佛羅倫斯學者費奇諾受美第奇家族資助，把柏拉圖全集和《赫密士文集》譯成拉丁文（後者於 1463 年譯成，1471 年出版）。他在 1489 年出版的《生命三書》（De vita libri tres）中，主張以音樂、香氣、顏色和護符吸引行星的有益影響，藉此照顧學者的身心健康。他強調這是透過「宇宙靈氣」（spiritus）運作的自然魔法，而非召喚惡魔。The Florentine scholar Ficino, sponsored by the Medici, translated the complete works of Plato and the Corpus Hermeticum into Latin (the latter completed in 1463 and published in 1471). In his De vita libri tres (Three Books on Life, 1489), he advocated using music, scents, colours and talismans to attract the beneficial influences of the planets in order to care for the physical and mental health of scholars. He stressed that this was natural magic operating through the cosmic spiritus, not the summoning of demons.

皮科（Giovanni Pico della Mirandola，1463–1494）Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494)

皮科把猶太神秘主義卡巴拉（Kabbalah）引入基督教思想，開創「基督教卡巴拉」。他的《論人的尊嚴》演說常被視為文藝復興人文主義的宣言。Pico introduced the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah into Christian thought, founding “Christian Kabbalah”. His Oration on the Dignity of Man is often regarded as a manifesto of Renaissance humanism.

阿格里帕（Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa，1486–1535）Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535)

德意志學者阿格里帕的《論隱祕哲學》（De occulta philosophia libri tres）初稿完成於約 1510 年，全本 1533 年出版。全書分三卷，分別討論自然魔法（元素世界）、天界魔法（數學與星辰）和儀式魔法（神學與天使），是文藝復興魔法知識的綜合百科，對後世神秘學影響深遠。他晚年另著有《論科學之虛妄》，對各種學問（包括魔法）表示懷疑。The German scholar Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia libri tres (Three Books of Occult Philosophy) was first drafted around 1510 and published in full in 1533. Its three books deal respectively with natural magic (the elemental world), celestial magic (mathematics and the stars) and ceremonial magic (theology and angels), forming a comprehensive encyclopaedia of Renaissance magical knowledge with a profound influence on later esotericism. Late in life he also wrote On the Vanity of the Sciences, expressing scepticism towards all branches of learning, including magic.

約翰‧迪伊（John Dee，1527–1608/09）John Dee (1527–1608/09)

英國數學家、地理學家約翰‧迪伊曾任伊利沙伯一世的顧問。他在 1564 年出版《象形單子》（Monas hieroglyphica），1580 年代與靈媒愛德華‧凱利（Edward Kelley）進行「天使對話」，記錄下一套所謂天使語言，後世稱為「以諾語」（Enochian）。這些記錄後來被十九世紀的黃金黎明協會吸收。The English mathematician and geographer John Dee served as an adviser to Elizabeth I. He published the Monas hieroglyphica in 1564, and in the 1580s conducted “angelic conversations” with the medium Edward Kelley, recording a supposed angelic language later called “Enochian”. These records were later absorbed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the nineteenth century.

英國歷史學家 Frances Yates 在 1964 年提出「赫密士傳統」對文藝復興與近代科學的影響，引發長期討論；後來的學者對她的部分論點有所修正，但她開了把神秘學當作嚴肅研究對象的先河。The British historian Frances Yates argued in 1964 for the influence of the “Hermetic tradition” on the Renaissance and early modern science, sparking a long debate; later scholars have revised some of her arguments, but she pioneered the treatment of esotericism as a serious object of study.

十九至二十世紀的近代復興The Modern Revival of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

十八世紀啟蒙運動後，魔法在知識界被邊緣化，但在共濟會、玫瑰十字團體等秘密社團中延續。十九世紀出現明顯的復興：After the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, magic was marginalised in intellectual circles but survived in secret societies such as Freemasonry and Rosicrucian groups. The nineteenth century saw a marked revival:

• 埃利法斯‧列維（Éliphas Lévi，1810–1875）：法國作家，1854–1856 年出版《高等魔法的教義與儀式》，把卡巴拉、塔羅和魔法整合成系統，並提出「星光」（astral light）等概念，影響了後來幾乎所有英語神秘學團體。Éliphas Lévi (1810–1875): A French writer who published Dogme et rituel de la haute magie (Dogma and Ritual of High Magic) in 1854–1856, integrating Kabbalah, tarot and magic into a system and introducing concepts such as the “astral light”, which influenced almost all later English-language occult groups.
• 神智學會（1875 年創立於紐約）：由布拉瓦茨基夫人（H. P. Blavatsky）和奧爾科特（H. S. Olcott）創辦，融合東西方宗教思想，推動西方對印度與佛教觀念的興趣。The Theosophical Society (founded in New York, 1875): Founded by H. P. Blavatsky and H. S. Olcott, it blended Eastern and Western religious ideas and fostered Western interest in Indian and Buddhist concepts.
• 黃金黎明協會（1888 年創立於倫敦）：把卡巴拉、塔羅、占星、以諾魔法等整合成分級儀式體系，詳見派系和儀式頁。The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (founded in London, 1888): It integrated Kabbalah, tarot, astrology, Enochian magic and more into a graded ritual system; see the Orders and Rituals page.
• 阿萊斯特‧克勞利（Aleister Crowley，1875–1947）：1904 年寫成《律法之書》，創立 Thelema。Aleister Crowley (1875–1947): Wrote The Book of the Law in 1904 and founded Thelema.
• Wicca：1950 年代由英國人傑拉德‧加德納（Gerald Gardner）公開推廣，與 1951 年英國廢除《1735 年巫術法》的時間相近。Wicca: Publicly promoted in the 1950s by the Englishman Gerald Gardner, around the time of the repeal of Britain’s Witchcraft Act of 1735 in 1951.
• 混沌魔法：1970 年代末在英國出現，強調信念本身只是工具。Chaos magic: Emerged in Britain in the late 1970s, emphasising that belief itself is merely a tool.

歷史學家 Alex Owen 指出，維多利亞晚期的神秘學熱潮並非單純的「反現代」，而是與現代人對自我、意識和心理的探索緊密相關。The historian Alex Owen points out that the late-Victorian occult craze was not simply “anti-modern” but was closely bound up with modern explorations of the self, consciousness and psychology.

簡明年表Brief Timeline

參考資料References

1. Robert K. Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 54. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1993.
2. Tzvi Abusch and Daniel Schwemer, Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals, vol. 1. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
3. Hans Dieter Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.
4. Brian P. Copenhaver (trans.), Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
5. Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
6. Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
7. Owen Davies, Grimoires: A History of Magic Books. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
8. D. P. Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella. London: Warburg Institute, 1958.
9. Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life, ed. and trans. Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark. Binghamton: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1989.
10. Frances A. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964.
11. Deborah E. Harkness, John Dee’s Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
12. Alex Owen, The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
13. Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.