The Occult in Narnia, Part 5 - The Magic Spell Book in Narnia
In this article, we will look at C.S. Lewis' provocative description of magic spells which Lucy used from a magic spell-book, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We will see what the Bible has to say about this subject. And, we will look at something that Aslan himself said to Lucy which will surprise you.
The Number of Times "Magic" and "Spell" Appear in Narnia Books
The word "magic" appears throughout the Narnia books, as would make obvious sense, since these books are meant to be about a magical land called Narnia, where Aslan, a lion, can magically fly, and animals can talk. But, the context of the word "magic" in the Narnia books is not used in the way some people might say, "That was a magical date" or "That was a magical outing." It is used to refer to supernatural power that can be controlled by way of magic rings or spells. This is nothing different than witchcraft, which also uses magic rings and magic spells to control something they call "the force." (See the References section at the end.)
By using the gutenberg.ca website, I tracked how many times the word "magic" appeared in Narnia books, and how many times the word "spell" appeared (in the context of a magic spell). There was one time the word "spell" was used in a sentence in the context of spelling a word. (In Prince Caspian: "...in the most abhominable,—don't forget to spell it with an H, Doctor..." [sic]) But, almost all appearances of the word "spell" referred to magic spells.
Below is a list of the Narnia books with the number of times the word "spell" (in the context of magic) and the word "magic" (including other forms such as magical) appear in the actual novel text of Narnia books:
- THE LION, THE WITCH and THE WARDROBE ("spell" appears 2 times; "magic" appears 23 times)
- THE SILVER CHAIR ("magic" appears 13 times)
- THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER ("spell" appears 24 times; "magic" appears 58 times)
- THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW ("spell" appears 5 times; "magic" appears 62 times; "Rings" [magic rings] appears 52 times; [note: "roarings" appears 1 time])
- PRINCE CASPIAN ("spell" appears 4 times; "magic" appears 31 times)
- THE HORSE AND HIS BOY ("magic" appears 3 times)
- THE LAST BATTLE ("magic" appears 3 times; "Rings" [magic rings] appears 7 times)
In total, the word "magic" appears 193 times and "spell" (as in a magic spell) appears 35 times in The Chronicles of Narnia books.
The Magic Spell-Book in Narnia
One example of the word spell is found in this short scene from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. C.S. Lewis writes:
'"I do not know, Madam," said Reepicheep. "But there is this. When I was in my cradle a wood woman, a Dryad, spoke this verse over me:
"Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter East.
"I do not know what it means. But the spell of it has been on me all my life."' [End quote] [1]
In the same story, there is a chapter titled "The Magician's Book." Lucy, the main character, is in a wizard's house, looking at a magic spell-book. C.S. Lewis writes a vibrant description:"She went up to the desk and laid her hand on the book; her fingers tingled when she touched it as if it were full of electricity. She tried to open it but couldn't at first; this, however, was only because it was fastened by two leaden clasps, and when she had undone these it opened easily enough. And what a book it was!
It was written, not printed; written in a clear, even hand, with thick downstrokes and thin upstrokes, very large, easier than print, and so beautiful that Lucy stared at it for a whole minute and forgot about reading it. The paper was crisp and smooth and a nice smell came from it; and in the margins, and round the big coloured capital letters at the beginning of each spell, there were pictures.
There was no title page or title; the spells began straight away, and at first there was nothing very important in them. They were cures for warts (by washing your hands in moonlight in a silver basin) and toothache and cramp, and a spell for taking a swarm of bees.
[...]
She turned on and found to her surprise a page with no pictures at all; but the first words were A Spell to make hidden things visible. She read it through to make sure of all the hard words and then said it out loud. And she knew at once that it was working because as she spoke the colours came into the capital letters at the top of the page and the pictures began appearing in the margins." [End quote] [1]
Here C.S. Lewis is describing a scene where a little girl (Lucy) is reading from a magic spell-book and causing magical things to start appearing. She even caused Aslan to magically appear, due to the spell she cast to turn invisible things visible. That is concerning, because Aslan is supposed to be a character that represents Christ.
Aslan Said Something Disturbing to Lucy.
