Marla Segol
(University of Buffalo)

Abstract of Paper
presented at the 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies
(Kalamazoo, 2026)

2026 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program

Session on
“Grimoires of the Greater West: Conversations on Solomonic Magic“

Sponsored by

• Societas Magica
• Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Organized by

Gal Sofer (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
Matthew Melvin–Koushki (University of South Carolina–Columbia)

Paper Title:

“Sympathy or the Shock of the Strange?
The Magic of the Amniotic Sac
in Medieval and Early Modern Hebrew Grimoires”

Abstract:

This paper will explore the use of the amniotic sac in fertility magic and as a substrate in Hebrew Grimoires and spells such as the Seven Levels, the Shorshe ha Shemot, the Sefer Raziel HaMalach, and others. It explores the amniotic sac as a substrate and as a materia magica, in order to better understand the powers attached to human reproduction in medieval and early modern Hebrew Grimoires. What sort of ritual theory does it articulate? Is it simple sympathetic magic, is it the shock of the strange, or a theory of magic tied to reproductive power.

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