Shadow
shadow Container, shape, or essence of the soul. In folklore a person who has no shadow has no soul. In Magic a person’s shadow can be used for sympathetic magic and other purposes. Numerous superstitions are associated with shadows. A shadow can be sold to the devil for favour and gain. Loss of one’s shadow results in death. For example, in ancient Greece it was believed that a person who entered the sanctuary of Zeus on Mount Lycaeus without proper authorization would lose his or her shadow and die within a year. Seeing one’s shadow cast by the Moon is bad luck, even fatal. In Arabic folklore, a hyena stepping on a human shadow will cause loss of speech. In Romanian lore, a dead person will become a VAMPIRE if the shadow of a living person falls over him or her. A person’s shadow can be secured by magic to strengthen a building—but the person is doomed to become a vampire after death. In the lore of Slavic Muslim Gypsies, vampires are a dead person’s shadow. Injury done to a shadow will cause the same injury to the person’s body, according to widespread magical beliefs. A magician or a sorcerer must take great care not to involve his or her own shadow in casting a Spell, lest the spell boomerang back on the magician or the sorcerer. A shadow also is an astral Thoughtform that can be directed by a magician in a Psychic Attack.
The Encyclopedia of Magic and Alchemy Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley Copyright © 2006 by Visionary Living, Inc.
