The Magic Art and the Evolution of the King, Vol. 2 of 2 (Classic Reprint)

DEPARTMENTAL KINGS OF NATURE THE preceding investig-ation has proved that the same IRp.'ut. union of sacred functions with a royal title which meets us ~ental ill the King of the Vood at Nemi, the Sacrificial King at Rome, and the magistrate called the King at Athens, occurs . frequently outside the limits of classical antiquity and is a common feature of societies at all stages from barbarism to civilisation. Further, it appears that the royal priest is often a king, not only in name but in fact, swaying the sceptre as well as the crosier. All this confirms the traditional view of the origin of the titular and priestly kings in the republics of ancient Greece and Italy. At least by shewing that the combination of spiritual and temporal power, of which Graeco-Italian tradition preserved the memory, has actually existed in many places, we have obviated any suspicion of improbability that might have attached to the tradition. Therefore we may now fairly ask, l

Table of Contents

CHAPTER VII I-DEPARTMENTAL KINGS OF; NATURE Pp 1-6; The King of the Wood at Nemi probably a departmental king of nature,; pp I sq ; Kings of Rain in Africa, 2 sq j Kings of Fire and 'Yater in; Cambodia, 3-6; CHAPTER IX-THE WORSHIP OF TREES Pp 7-58; 1 I Tree-spirits, pp 7-45-Great forests of ancient Europe, 7 sq; tree-worship; practised by all Aryan races in Europe, 9-1 I ; trees regarded as animate,; 12-14 j tree-spirits, sacrifices to trees, 14-17; trees sensitive to wounds,; 18; apologies for cutting down trees, 18-20 j bleeding trees, 20; trees; threatened to make them bear fruit, 20-22; attempts to deceive spirits of; trees and plants, 22-24 j trees married to each other, 24-28 j trees in; blossom and rice in bloom treated like pregnant women, 28 sq; trees; tenanted by the souls of the dead, 29-33 j trees as the abode, not the; body, of spirits, 33 sq ; ceremonies at felling trees, 34-3~ j propitiating; tr~e-spirits in house-timber,