The

Golden Bough

A Study in Magic and Religion

By

Sir James George Frazer

The Macmillan Company

New York

1923

This rare early edition explores the myriad forms of occult practices found throughout the world and across many cultures. Traces the origins of supernatural beliefs and mysticism covering topics such as controlling the weather, magicians, druidry, ancient gods and goddesses, human sacrifice and sympathetic magic to name a few. Contents list below:

Chapter I: The King of the Wood

Diana and Virius - Artemis and Hippolytus - Recapitulation

Chapter II: Priestly Kings

Chapter III: Sympthathetic Magic

The Principles of Magic - Homeopathic or Imitiative Magic - Contagious Magic - The Magician's Progress

Chapter IV: Magic and Religion

Chapter V: The Magical Control of the Weather

The Public Magician - The Magical Control of Rain - The Magical Control of the Sun - The Magical Control of the Wind

Chapter VI: Magicians as Kings

Chapter VII: Incarnate Human Gods

Chapter VIII: Departmental Kings of Nature

Chapter IX: The Worship of Trees

Tree-Spirits - Beneficent Powers of Tree-Spirits

Chapter X: Relics of Tree-Worship in Modern Europe

Chapter XI: The Influence of the Sexes on Vegetation

Chapter XII: The Sacred Marriage

Diana as a Goddess of Fertility - The Marriage of the Gods

Chapter XIII: The Kings of Rome and Alba

Numa and Egeria - The King as Jupiter

Chapter XIV: The Succession to the Kingdom in Ancient Latium

Chapter XV: The Worship of the Oak

Chapter XVI: Dianus and Diana

Chapter XVII: The Burden of Royalty

Royal and Priestly Taboos - Divorce of the Spiritual from the Temporal Power

Chapter XVIII: The Perils of the Soul

The Soul as a Mannikin - Absence and Recall of the Soul - The Soul as a Shadow and a Reflection

Chapter XIX: Tabooed Acts

Taboos on Intercourse with Strangers - Taboos on Eating and Drinking - Taboos on showing the Face - Taboos on quitting the House - Taboos on leaving Food over

Chapter XX: Tabooed Persons

Chiefs and Kings tabooed - Mourners tabooed - Women tabooed at Menstruation and Childbirth - Warriors tabooed - Manslayers tabooed - Hunters and Fishers tabooed

Chapter XXI: Tabooed Things

The Meaning of Taboo - Iron tabooed - Sharp Weapons tabooed - Blood tabooed - The Head tabooed - Hair tabooed - Ceremonies at Hair-Cutting - Disposal of Cut Hair and Nails - Spittle tabooed - Foods tabooed - Knots and Rings tabooed

ChapterXXII: Tabooed Words

Personal Names tabooed - Names of Relations tabooed - Names of the Dead tabooed - Names of Kings and other Sacred Persons tabooed - Names of Gods tabooed

Chapter XXIII: Our Debt to the Savage

Chapter XXIV: The Killing of the Divine King

The Mortality of the Gods - Kings killed when their Strength fails - Kings killed at the End of a Fixed Term

Chapter XXV: Temporary Kings

Chapter XXVI: Sacrifice of the King's Son

Chapter XXVII: Succession of the Soul

Chapter XXVIII: The Killing of the Tree-Spirit

The Whitsundtide Mummers - Burying the Carnival - Carrying out Death - Bringing in Summer - Battle of Summer and Winter - Death and Resurrection of Kostrubonko - Death and Revival of Vegetation - Analogous Rites in India - The Magic Spring

Chapter XXIX: The Myth of Adonis

Chapter XXX: Adonis in Syria

Chapter XXXI: Adonis in Cyprus

Chapter XXXII: The Ritual of Adonis

Chapter XXXIII: The Gardens of Adonis

Chapter XXXIV: The Myth and Ritual of Attis

Chapter XXXV: Attis as a God of Vegetation

Chapter XXXVI: Human Representations of Attis

Chapter XXXVII: Oriental Religions in the West

Chapter XXXVIII: The Myth of Osiris

Chapter XXXIX: The Ritual of Osiris

The Popular Rites - The Official Rites

Chapter XL: The Nature of Osiris

Osiris a Corn-god - Osiris a Tree-spirit - Osiris a God of Fertility - Osiris a God of the Dead

Chapter XLL: Isis

Chapter XLII: Osiris and the Sun

Chapter XLIII: Dionysus

Chapter XLVI: The Corn-Mother in Many Lands

The Corn-Mother in America - The Rice-Mother in the East Indies - The Spirit of hte Corn embodied in Human Beings - The Double Personification of the Corn as Mother and Daughter

Chapter XLVII: Litverses

Songs of the Corn Reapers - Killing the Corn-spirit - Human Sacrifices for the Crops - The Corn-spirit slain in his Human Representatives

Chapter XLVIII: The Corn-spirit as an animal

Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirits - The Corn-spirit as a Wolf or a Dog - The Corn-spirit as a Cock - The Corn-spirit as a Hare - The Corn-spirit as a Cat - The Corn-spirit as a Goat - The Corn-spirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox - The Corn-spirit as a Horse or Mare - The Corn-spirit as a Pig (Boar or Sow) - On the Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirit

Chapter XLIX: Ancient Deities of Vegetation as Animals

Dionysus, the Goat and the Bull - Demeter, the Pig and the Horse - Attis, Adonis, and the Pig - Osiris, the Pig and the Bull - Virbius and the Horse

Chapter L: Eating the God

The Sacrament of First-Fruits - Eating the God among the Aztecs - Many Manii at Aricia

Chapter LI: Homeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet

Chapter LII: Killing the Divine Animal

Killing the Sacred Buzzard - Killing the Sacred Ram - Killing the Sacred Serpent - Killing the Sacred Turtles - Killing the Sacred Bear

Chapter LIII: The Propitation of Wild Animals by Hunters

Chapter LIV: Types of Animal Sacrament

The Egyptian and the Aino Types of Sacrament - Processions with Sacred Animals

Chapter LV: The Transference of Evil

The Transference of Inanimate Objects - The Transference to Animals - The Transference to Men - The Transference of Evil in Europe

Chapter LVI: The Public Expulsion of Evils

The Omnipresence of Demons - The Occasional Expulsion of Evils - The Periodic Expulsion of Evils

Chapter LVII: Public Scapegoats

The Expulsion of Embodied Evils - The Occasional expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle - The Periodic Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle - On Scapegoats in General

Chapter LVIII: Human Scapegoats in Classical Antiquity

The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Rome - The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece - The Roman Saturnalia

Chapter LIX: Killing the God in Mexico

Chapter LX: Between Heaven and Earth

Not to touch the Earth - Not to see the Sun - The Seclusion of Girls at Puberty - Reasons for the Seclusion of Girls at Puberty

Chapter LXI: The Myth of Balder

Chapter LXII: The Fire Festivals of Europe

The Fire-Festivals in general - The Lenten Fires - The Easter Fires - The Beltane Fires - The Midsummer Fires - The Hallowe'en Fires - The Midwinter Fires - The Need-Fires

Chapter LXIII: The Interpretation of the Fire-Festivals

On the Fire-festivals in general - The Solar Theory of the Fire-festivals - The Purificatory Theory of the Fire-festivals

Chapter LXIV: The Burning of Human Beings in the Fires

The Burning of Effigies in the Fires - The Burning of Men and Animals in the Fires

Chapter LXV: Balder and the Mistletoe

Chapter LXVI: The External Soul in Folk-Tales

Chapter LXVII:The External Soul in Folk-Custom

The External Soul in Inanimate Things - The External Soul in Plants - The External Soul in Animals - The Ritual of Death and Resurrections

Chapter LXVIII: The Golden Bough

Chapter LXIX: Farewell to Nemi

Excerpts:

Sympathetic Magic

"Charms based on the Law of Similarity may be called Homeopathic or Imitative Magic. Charms based on the Law of Contact or Contagion may be called Contagious Magic."

The Magical Control of the Weather

"There is a widespread belief that twin children possess magical powers over nature, especially over rain and the weather. This curious superstition prevails among some of the Indian Tribes of British Columbia, and has led them often to impose certain singular restrictions or taboos on the parents of twins, though the exact meaning of these restrictions is generally obscure."

The Marriage of the Gods

"At Thebes in Egypt a woman slept in the temple of Ammon as the consort of the god, and, like the human wife of Bel at Babylon, she was said to have no commerce with a man. In Egyptian texts she is often mentioned as "the divine consort,"and usually she was no less a personage than the Queen of Egypt herself. For, according to the Egyptians, their monarchs were actually begotten by the god Ammon, who assumed for the first time being the form of the reigning king, and in that disguise had intercourse with the queen. The divine procreation is carved and painted in great detail on the walls of two of the oldest temples in Egypt, those of Deir el Bahari and Luxor; and the inscriptions attached to the paintings leave no doubt as to the meaning of the scenes."

The Periodic Expulsion of Evils

"In Central Europe the favourite time for expelling the witches is, or was, Walpurgis night, the Eve of May Day, when the baleful powers of those mischievous beings were supposed to be at their height. In the Tyrol, for example, as in other places, the expulsion of the powers of evil at this season goes by the name of "Burning out the Witches." It takes place on May Day, but people have been busy with their preparations for days before. On a Thursday at midnight bundles are made up of resinous splinters, black and red spotted hemlock, caperspurge, rosemary, and twigs of the sloe."

Book Format:

Octavo, approx 9" tall. Book is bound in dark blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine;

Pagination: 752pp;

Condition:

Very good condition. Boards and spine are in good condition; boards rubbed; corners bumped; top and bottom of spine bumped; reverse sides of boards, and front and rear ffep’s yellowed; name and date in ink on front ffep; foxing to front and rear ffep’s; inner gutter hinge split to front and rear but still holding well; some marginalia and underlining throughout in pencil only; no foxing throughout; Binding is good.

Price: US$100.00

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