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| CATEGORIES ABOUT DEAL WITH THE DEVIL | |
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| christian mythology | |
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| faust | |
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A deal with the Devil, '''pact with the Devil''', or '''Faustian bargain''' is a cultural motif widespread wherever the Devil is vividly present, most familiar in the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles , but elemental to many Christian Folktale s. In the Aarne-Thompson typological catalogue, it lies in category AT 756B – "The devil's contract." According to traditional Christian belief in Witchcraft , the Pact is between a person and Satan or any other Demon (or demons); the person offers his or her Soul in exchange for diabolical favours. Those favours vary by the tale, but tend to include youth, knowledge, wealth, or power. It was also believed that some persons made this type of pact just as a sign of recognising the Devil as their master, in exchange for nothing. Regardless, the bargain is a dangerous one, for the price of the Fiend's service is the wagerer's Soul . The tale may have a moralizing end, with Eternal Damnation for the foolhardy venturer. Conversely it may have a comic twist, in which a wily peasant outwits the Devil, characteristically on a Technical Point . Among the credulous, any apparently superhuman achievement might be credited to a pact with the Devil, from the numerous European Devil's Bridges to the superb violin technique (now attributed in part to Marfan Syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome ) of Niccolò Paganini . OVERVIEW It was usually thought that the person who had made a pact also promised the demon to kill children or consecrate them to the Devil at the moment of birth (many Midwives were accused of this, due to the number of children that died at birth in the Middle Age and Renaissance ), take part in Sabbaths , have Sexual Relations with demons, and sometimes engender children from an Incubus , or Succubus in the case of men. The pact can be oral or written. An oral pact is made by means of Invocation s, Conjuration s, or Ritual s to attract the demon; once the conjurer thinks the demon is present, he/she asks for the wanted favour and offers his/her soul in exchange, and no evidence is left of the pact; but according to some Witch Trial s and inquisitions that were performed, even the oral pact left evidence, namely the Diabolical Mark , an indelible mark that could be used as a proof to determine that the pact was made. A written pact consists in the same forms of attracting the demon, but includes a written act, usually signed with the conjurer's Blood (although sometimes was also alleged that the whole act had to be written with blood, meanwhile some Demonologists defended the idea of using red Ink instead of blood and others suggested the use of animal blood instead of human blood). These acts were presented often as a proof of diabolical pacts, though critics claim there is no proof of whether they were authentic, written by Insane persons believing they were actually dealing with a demon or just were fake acts presented by the tribunals of the Inquisition . Usually the acts included strange characters that were said to be the signature of a demon, and each one had his own signature or seal. Books like '' The Lesser Key Of Solomon '' (also known as ''Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis'') give a detailed list of these signs, known as Seal Of The Demons . According to Demonology , there is a specific month, day of the week, and hour to call each demon, so the invocation for a pact has to be done at the right time. Also, as each demon has a specific function, a certain demon is invoked depending on what the conjurer is going to ask. THEOPHILUS, SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS The predecessor of adapted the text of Paulus Diaconis for a narrative poem that elaborates Theophilus' essential goodness and internalizes the forces of Good and Evil, in which the Jew is ''magus'', a necromancer. As in her model, Theophilus receives back his contract from the Virgin, displays it to the congregation, and soon dies. A long poem on the subject by Gautier De Coincy (1177/8 – 1236), entitled ''Comment Theophilus vint a pénitence'' provided material for a thirteenth-century play by Rutebeuf , where Theophilus is the central pivot in a frieze of five characters, the Virgin and the Bishop flanking him on the side of Good, the Jew and the Devil on the side of Evil. ALLEGED DIABOLICAL PACTS IN HISTORY Musicians
Non-Musicians
DIABOLICAL PACTS IN FICTION In print
Other works depicting deals with the Devil include:
In film
In music
In television
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