nteresting facts about love magic
Annual love cycle
A similar procedure was performed in rituals of the annual cycle, especially the vegetative cycle, associated with stimulating and ensuring fertility and fertility of the earth. As early as the 14th century, in Slavic rituals of an orgiastic nature (St. John's Eve, Midsummer Night, Kupala, Kupalnocka), numerous pairs of young people excited by dancing and singing around lit bonfires indulged in sexual intercourse under the cover of night, on bare ground, on furrows of freshly plowed earth or grass. Sometimes intercourse was merely simulated - with props in the form of a large phallus, carved from wood and painted red (e.g., performed by a "grandfather" and a "grandmother" in folk rituals like "walking with a goat"). Such traces of phallic symbols can be found in many harvest customs.
Until recently, the custom was still observed in East Prussia, according to which a naked woman went to plant peas in the field, and in Finland women carried the grain to the field in the bottom of their menstrual shirt, in the shoe of a prostitute or in the stocking of an illegitimate child, as this was supposed to increase the reproductive power of the grain.
In the Germans, the sowing of grain was entrusted to women, especially married and pregnant women, and in the aforementioned Finns, before sowing, village women moistened the furrow with a few drops of milk squeezed from their breasts. There was thus a mystical solidarity between the fertility of women and the fertility of the land.
The body as a garment
One of the elements of love magic was also aesthetic procedures performed on the body. These involved a specific understanding of the body. Parts of the body were likened to a costume, as if clothing were used to describe bodily secrets. The skin constituted the outer garment, the inner membranes constituted the underwear, the inside of the body constituted the material package, and all together, overlapping, made the overall architecture of the body a social metaphor.
The treatment of the body as a costume, that is, as a way of "showing off," an image created for the use of the audience, goes back in history to very remote times. Perhaps in the primitive community, painting one's own body was intended to camouflage a person during a hunt, or stemmed from a desire to resemble appropriate animals, objects or landscapes.
But it also certainly had magical and parareligious overtones, especially as particular parts of the body quickly took on such significance, e.g. fingernails were primarily an attribute of the predator, helping to catch and tear apart prey (predators, when killing, are scarred by the blood they shed). Nails also had to be careful, as they were impure - cut nails had to be burned or stored as reservoirs of immense magical power; sometimes they were painted or specially trimmed to emphasize their effectiveness.
In the Egyptians, nail coloring was intended to get rid of evil spirits; the same was true in Asia and America. In England under Cromwell, on the other hand, colored nails could provoke accusations of witchcraft.
Hair was considered a remnant of fur and was associated with the overgrowth of animal body hair. When uncombed, they were associated with wildness and chaos, while the hairstyle was associated with submission to cultural norms and inclusion in the order of the human community (cf. the bride's loose hair and the wife's braided hair). Their constant growth was connected with the manifestation of the processes of rebirth of the Cosmos, hence they were attributed special power.
This was evidenced by the prohibitions on cutting the hair of priests (Leviticus 19:27), which, among other things, was supposed to signify their connection to the other world. And a person who was unclean was required to keep his hair in disarray (e.g. lepers, cf. Leviticus 13:45).
Body painted
Body painting - in addition to its religious aspect - also became a beautifying activity, intended to testify to the prestige, wealth and uniqueness of the person painting himself. In ancient Egypt, wealthy women used makeup. Their basic cosmetic (5,000 years ago!) was antimony - powdered lead sulfate mixed with sheep fat, with which eyebrows and eyelashes were emphasized.
Eyeshadows were also used - usually a thick green malachite paste (based on copper salts), which at the same time protected the eyelids from the sun. Azurite (aluminosilicate of sodium and calcium) was used as a blue eyeshadow, while ochre - a clay of intense orange-red color - was used for lipstick and blush. An expensive and exclusive cosmetic was powdered gold, used in powder or paste form (after mixing it with grease).
To paint nails, henna was used - a brown dye thickened with a substance rich in tannins, obtained, among other things, from acacia. Sometimes hands were also painted with it (a custom still preserved today, for example, in Morocco).
Body painting was also practiced later - in fact, throughout human history. In ancient Christianity, it was strongly argued against by Tertullian (c. 155 - c. 220), who claimed that:
"They sin against God who rape their skin with ointments, those who cover their cheeks with rouge, widen their eyes with black. Apparently, they do not like the work of God, and by correcting themselves they criticize the Creator, the artist who created all things. They criticize when they want to correct, when they want to add, and they take these additions naturally from the enemy artist. (...) What we add is the work of the devil. And it is a crime to add to the work of God the art of the devil."
In some cultures, body painting was and still is an important part of social identity.
"Body language" of the Papuans - including pierced noses and ears, teeth of hunted animals stuck in them, headdresses with feathers of birds of paradise stuck in them, painted faces - always mean something. They are meant to ward off enemies, honor holidays and family ceremonies, coax the opposite sex, shock. To intimidate the enemy, fighters apply red, gray and black paints to their faces. Their composition is usually a mystery, although black paint is known to contain ash from a burnt snake.
Amulets and the ornamentation of weapons, shields and armor also have magical significance. Different tribes and groups tribute different colors and designs. Occasions for "speaking with the body" are festivals, village or nomadic group festivals, family weddings, or the killing of a pig - accompanied by dancing, beating drums and singing.
Nowadays, in some social and cultural circles, the custom of coloring the entire body or large parts of it has emerged. Such makeup can last up to a dozen hours, but is impermanent, but emphasizes the uniqueness of the moment for which it is prepared, such as a ball, sports spectacle, carnival parade or a trip to the beach with loved ones. It is done with special markers or theatrical cosmetics, including body paint, and is gaining prominence today as a modern art form.
