AN ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF OCCULTISM
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Ab: (Semitic magical month). Crossing a river on the 20th of that month was supposed to bring sickness. In ancient texts it states that if a man should eat the flesh of swine on the 30th of Ab, he will be plagued with boils.
Abaddon: (The Destroyer). Chief of the demons of the seventh hierarchy. Abaddon is the name given by St. John in the Apocalypse to the king of the grasshoppers. He is sometimes regarded as the destroying angel.
Abadie (Jeannette): A young sorceress of the village of Sibourre, in Gascony. She was sleeping one day in her father's house while high mass was being said. A demon, profiting by the opportunity, carried her off to the Devil's Sabbath, where she soon awoke to find herself in the midst of a large company. She observed that the principal demon had on his head two faces, like Janus. She did not participate in the revelry, and was transported to her home by the same means as she had been conveyed thence. On the threshold she found her amulet, which the demon had taken the precaution to remove from her bosom before carrying her off. She made a confession of all that had happened, renounced her sorcery, and thus saved herself from the common fate of witches and sorcerers—the stake.
Abaris: A Scythian, high priest of Apollo, and renowned magician. In so flattering a manner did he chant the praises of Apollo, his master, that the god gave him a golden arrow, on which he could ride through the air like a bird, to that the Greeks called him the Aerobate. Pythagoras, his pupil, stole his arrow from him, and accomplished many wonderful feats by its aid. Abaris foretold the future, pacified storms, banished disease, and lived without eating or drinking. He made with the bones of Pelops, a statue of Minerva, which he sold to the Trojans as a talisman descended from heaven. This was the famous Palladium, which protected and rendered impregnable the town wherein it was lodged.
