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inksmudgedhands t1_iy4hs3n wrote

In the doodle, I don't see a person reaching out to another person and the other person holding their hands out. Instead, I see a nun with a habit getting slapped. With the lines coming out of her being action lines of her turning and feeling the sting of the slap.

Knowing folklore of this time, and how often the written word and figures be it drawn or created in poppet form were used to direct "magic" at a target be it good or bad, I think we are looking at a sneaky spell. Write down your target's name at a certain time over and over, draw what you want to happen and pray for it to happen. That's how basic spells worked back then.

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qtx t1_iy4tzbz wrote

What is it with people who simply won't believe what actual experts are saying and instead will make up their own version of events?

It's like, here are people who studied for decades to reach the knowledge they have now accompanied with the best scientific research available but nope, not good enough for me, I'll make up my own reality.

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inksmudgedhands t1_iy4x8xq wrote

Did I pee in your cornflakes and just forgot about it....?

Also, I am taking in expert knowledge. It just happens to be collected folklore and folklore practices. Grimoires were a thing and still are. Hidden in plain sight grimoires were a thing and still are. And during this time, simple written spells were all over the place. You can still find carved warding marks on the walls of older buildings throughout Europe with England being one particular country. Double Vs, Slashes, Daisy Wheels. Magic was extremely common.

Also, It is not clear why the name was written so stealthily, with a drypoint stylus, rather than ink. “Maybe it was to do with the resources that person had access to. Or maybe it was to do with wanting to leave a mark that put that woman’s name in this book, without making it really obvious,” Hodgkinson said. “There could have been some reverence for the text, which meant the person who wrote her name was trying not to detract from the scripture or compete with the word of God.”

They are making an educated stab in the dark here. As am I. Only it never really occurred to them to see it from a folklore perspective. They are almost using a modern perspective. A woman's name is secretly written in the book over and over again, therefore, the book must belong to a woman. True. But, also, given that it's on a religious text, in a religious setting, the name is hidden and repeatedly written with that accompany drawing, to completely ignore the folklore implications is missing out on a big potential clue to what is exactly going on here.

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