Editing Magic (supernatural) (section)

====Incantation bowls====
{{Main|Incantation bowl}}
{{See also|Jewish magical papyri}}
[[Image:Bowl with incantation for Buktuya and household, Mandean in Mandaic language and script, Southern Mesopotamia, c. 200-600 AD - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC09714.JPG|right|thumb|[[Mandaic language|Mandaic-language]] [[incantation bowl]]]]
A common set of shared assumptions about the causes of evil and how to avert it are found in a form of early protective magic called incantation bowl or magic bowls. The bowls were produced in the Middle East, particularly in [[Upper Mesopotamia]] and [[Syria (region)|Syria]], what is now [[Iraq]] and [[Iran]], and fairly popular during the sixth to eighth centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noegel |first1=Scott |last2=Walker |first2=Joel Walker |title=Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World |date=2010 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=978-0-271-04600-6 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gb-jl0nef-4C&pg=PA83 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery |url=http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1961A316 |title=Incantation bowls |website=Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery |access-date=2013-09-06}}</ref> The [[bowl]]s were buried face down and were meant to capture [[demon]]s. They were commonly placed under the threshold, courtyards, in the corner of the homes of the recently deceased and in [[cemetery|cemeteries]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/108169/def2.html|title=Babylonian Demon Bowls|website=Michigan Library|publisher=Lib.umich.edu|access-date=2013-09-06}}</ref> A subcategory of incantation bowls are those used in Jewish magical practice. [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] incantation bowls are an important source of knowledge about Jewish magical practices.<ref>{{cite journal |first=C. H. |last=Gordon |title=Aramaic Incantation Bowls |journal=Orientalia |place=Rome |year=1941 |volume=X |pages=120ff (Text 3)}}</ref><ref>''Orientalia'' 65 3-4 Pontificio Istituto biblico, Pontificio Istituto biblico. Facoltà di studi dell'antico oriente - 1996 "may have been Jewish, but Aramaic incantation bowls also commonly circulated in pagan communities". ... Lilith was, of course, the frequent subject of concern in incantation bowls and amulets, since her presence was ."</ref><ref>J. A. Montgomery, "A Syriac Incantation Bowl with Christian Formula," AJSLL 34</ref><ref>''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' p. 217 Geoffrey W. Bromiley 1986 2007 "D. Aramaic Incantation Bowls. One important source of knowledge about Jewish magical practices is the nearly eighty extant incantation bowls made by Jews in Babylonia during the Sassanian period (ad 226–636). ... Though the exact use of the bowls is disputed, their function is clearly [[Apotropaic magic|apotrapaic]] in that they are meant to ward off the evil effects of several malevolent supernatural beings and influences, e.g., the evil eye, Lilith, and Bagdana."</ref><ref>''A Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature'' p. 454, David L. Jeffrey. 1992 "Aramaic incantation bowls of the 6th cent, show her with disheveled hair and tell how"</ref>