Editing Werewolf (section)

=== Becoming a werewolf ===
Various methods for becoming a werewolf have been reported, one of the simplest being the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolfskin, probably as a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin (which also is frequently described).<ref name="Fate">Bennett, Aaron. "So, You Want to be a Werewolf?" [[Fate (magazine)|Fate]]. Vol. 55, no. 6, Issue 627. July 2002.</ref> In other cases, the body is rubbed with a [[Flying ointment|magic salve]].<ref name="Fate" />

The 16th-century Swedish writer [[Olaus Magnus]] says that the [[Livonia]]n werewolves were initiated by draining a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a set formula. Ralston in his ''Songs of the Russian People'' gives the form of incantation still familiar in Russia. In Italy, France and Germany, it was said that a man or woman could turn into a werewolf if he or she, on a certain Wednesday or Friday, slept outside on a summer night with the full moon shining directly on his or her face.<ref name="Woodward" />

In other cases, the transformation was supposedly accomplished by [[Satanism|Satanic]] allegiance for the most loathsome ends, often for the sake of sating a craving for human flesh. "The werewolves", writes [[Richard Verstegan]] (''Restitution of Decayed Intelligence'', 1628),<!-- DO NOT FIX SPELLING, THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE ORIGINAL ARCHAIC TEXT -->{{blockquote|are certayne sorcerers, who having annoynted their bodies with an ointment which they make by the instinct of the devil, and putting on a certayne inchaunted girdle, does not only unto the view of others seem as wolves, but to their own thinking have both the shape and nature of wolves, so long as they wear the said girdle. And they do dispose themselves as very wolves, in worrying and killing, and most of humane creatures.}}

The phenomenon of repercussion, the power of animal [[metamorphosis]], or of sending out a [[Familiar spirit|familiar]], real or spiritual, as a messenger, and the supernormal powers conferred by association with such a familiar, are also attributed to the [[magic (paranormal)|magician]], male and female, all the world over; and [[Witchcraft|witch]] superstitions are closely parallel to, if not identical with, lycanthropic beliefs, the occasional involuntary character of lycanthropy being almost the sole distinguishing feature. In another direction the phenomenon of repercussion is asserted to manifest itself in connection with the bush-soul of the West African and the ''[[nagual]]'' of [[Central America]]; but though there is no line of demarcation to be drawn on logical grounds, the assumed power of the magician and the intimate association of the bush-soul or the ''nagual'' with a human being are not termed lycanthropy.

The curse of lycanthropy was also considered by some scholars as being a [[Divine judgment|divine punishment]]. Werewolf literature shows many examples of [[God]] or [[saint]]s allegedly cursing those who invoked their wrath with lycanthropy. Such is the case of [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]], who was turned into a wolf by [[Zeus]] as punishment for slaughtering one of his own sons and serving his remains to the gods as a dinner. Those who were [[excommunicate]]d by the [[Roman Catholic Church]] were also said to become werewolves.<ref name="Woodward" />

The power of transforming others into wild beasts was attributed not only to malignant sorcerers, but to [[List of saints|Christian saints]] as well. ''Omnes angeli, boni et Mali, ex virtute naturali habent potestatem transmutandi corpora nostra'' ("All angels, good and [[fallen angel|bad]], have the power of transmutating our bodies") was the dictum of [[St. Thomas Aquinas]]. [[St. Patrick]] was said to have transformed the [[Wales|Welsh]] King Vereticus into a wolf; [[Natalis of Ulster|Natalis]] supposedly cursed an illustrious Irish family whose members were each doomed to be a wolf for seven years. In other tales the divine agency is even more direct, while in Russia, again, men supposedly became werewolves when incurring the wrath of the Devil.

A notable exception to the association of Lycanthropy and the Devil, comes from a rare and lesser known account of an 80-year-old man named [[Thiess of Kaltenbrun|Thiess]]. In 1692, in [[Jürgensburg]], [[Livonia]], Thiess testified under oath that he and other werewolves were the Hounds of God.<ref>Gershenson, Daniel. ''Apollo the Wolf-God''. (Journal of Indo-European Studies, Monograph, 8.) McLean, Virginia: Institute for the Study of Man, 1991, {{ISBN|0-941694-38-0}} pp. 136–137.</ref>
He claimed they were warriors who descended into hell to battle witches and [[demon]]s. Their efforts ensured that the Devil and his minions did not carry off the grain from local failed crops down to hell. Thiess was ultimately sentenced to ten lashes for idolatry and [[Superstition|superstitious belief]].