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Raising the Devil was not done with a Whistle, like calling a dog; or with a Beck of the Hand or Head, as we beckon our Servants when we call them silently to come near us; the Devil knew very well that his Affair must be clothed with Ceremony, or it would not take with the World, or at least would not hold long in it. The Pagan Rites were indeed loaded with Burthensome Ceremonies; all the Devil's Worship was filled with Conjurings and Mutterings, strange Gestures, Agitations, Ecstasies, and I know not how many Distortings of the Limbs and Countenances, wild Practices and frightful Noises, that filled the People with Terror, and with a kind of awful Horrour at the Majesty of their Gods.

(...)

A Learned Author, speaking of this Mystery of Southsaying, says, it came first from the Chaldeans, who taught it to the Greeks, of whom Amphiaraus was an eminent Proficient; but he mentions nothing of who taught it to the Chaldeans, in which I believe my Account is the most authentick; namely, that the Devil taught it to the Arab I have mention'd, or to some other, if any was before him; that these gave it to the Aegyptians, and Chaldeans, and Phoenicians, much about the same time, and that the Phoenicians taught it to the Greeks; their Prince Cadmus being an eminent Southsayer: and so you see its blessed Original.

From: A SYSTEM of MAGICK; or, a HISTORY of the BLACK ART. Being an Historical Account of Mankind's most early Dealing with the Devil; and how the Acquaintance on both Sides first begun., by Daniel Defoe, published 1728.

Note the name of the author, as well as his confidence in his own expertise. His observations on pagan "magick" are spot on though, as far as the psychology is concerned.

Description

Raising the Devil was not done with a Whistle, like calling a dog; or with a Beck of the Hand or Head, as we beckon our Servants when we call them silently to come near us; the Devil knew very well that his Affair must be clothed with Ceremony, or it would not take with the World, or at least would not hold long in it. The Pagan Rites were indeed loaded with Burthensome Ceremonies; all the Devil's Worship was filled with Conjurings and Mutterings, strange Gestures, Agitations, Ecstasies, and I know not how many Distortings of the Limbs and Countenances, wild Practices and frightful Noises, that filled the People with Terror, and with a kind of awful Horrour at the Majesty of their Gods.

(...)

A Learned Author, speaking of this Mystery of Southsaying, says, it came first from the Chaldeans, who taught it to the Greeks, of whom Amphiaraus was an eminent Proficient; but he mentions nothing of who taught it to the Chaldeans, in which I believe my Account is the most authentick; namely, that the Devil taught it to the Arab I have mention'd, or to some other, if any was before him; that these gave it to the Aegyptians, and Chaldeans, and Phoenicians, much about the same time, and that the Phoenicians taught it to the Greeks; their Prince Cadmus being an eminent Southsayer: and so you see its blessed Original.

From: A SYSTEM of MAGICK; or, a HISTORY of the BLACK ART. Being an Historical Account of Mankind's most early Dealing with the Devil; and how the Acquaintance on both Sides first begun., by Daniel Defoe, published 1728.

Note the name of the author, as well as his confidence in his own expertise. His observations on pagan "magick" are spot on though, as far as the psychology is concerned.