On Superstition and the Bonds of Demons

...through the superior bonds, and through the names and virtues that rule over the things themselves. It should be understood that through these bonds, not only spirits but all creatures are bound, such as storms, fires, floods, plagues, diseases, the force of arms, and any animals. This is done by adopting those bonds either by way of adjuration, prayer, or blessing. For example, in the adjuration of serpents, one may go beyond natural and celestial things by commemorating the mysteries and the Religion—such as the curse of the serpent in the desert—and by further taking up that verse of the ninety-ninth Psalm: You will walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon (8) This is Psalm 91:13 in modern bibles, though numbered as 90 in the Latin Vulgate. The author suggests using scripture as a "bond" to control dangerous animals.. This superstition is most powerful in these matters through the translation of some sacramental rite to that which we intend to bind or hinder; such as, for example, using the rites of excommunication, burial, or funeral processions to exterminate diseases, serpents, mice, or little worms. Michael Psellus An 11th-century Byzantine monk and scholar whose work "On the Operation of Demons" was a primary source for Renaissance demonology. says in his book On the Operation of Demons:

” There is nothing that delights the opposing spirits quite so much as if a human, who is
” marked with the divine image, should fall into such disgrace, for they envy him.

I shudder to write (9) of the species of sorceries original: "sortilegiis" which the Author relates in this little book; certainly, I swear by holy shame, I am embarrassed to speak of those things which I would undoubtedly remain silent about, if I had not been compelled to state the truth on such a serious occasion:

” For in the evening, with the lights lit, at the time when we celebrate the saving
” passion of the Lord Referring to Good Friday., girls whom they have initiated into their sacrilegious rites
” are led into a designated house. Once the lights are extinguished—lest the light
” bear witness to the abominable crime they intend—they roll about lustfully with
” them, whomever each person happens upon, whether a sister or his own daughter.
” Indeed, in this matter they think they are doing something pleasing to the demons
” if they transgress the divine laws, in which it is cautioned that
” marriages should not be contracted between blood relations. Once this rite is
” performed, they are sent home. However, after a space of nine months has run its course,
” and the time approaches for the wretched offspring procreated from that unspeakable
” seed to be born, they gather again in the same place. On the fourth day after
” the birth, they snatch the unhappy infants from their mothers, and having
” scarred and cut their little bodies all over with a razor, they catch the
” flowing blood in Vials (10). And while they are still breathing, they throw them
” into a pyre to be burned. Then, afterwards, they mix their ashes with the blood
” contained in the Vials: and they compose an abominable drug, with which
” they infect food and drink, just as those who sprinkle poison into honeyed wine;
” and this is the communion of them and of the others who, ignorant of the
” hidden venom—

(8) Among the many authors on incantations, see APULEIUS, APOLLONIUS OF TYANA, AMADIGI cited by POSSEVINO in the apparatus of history, there being a translation by MARTIN LUTHER. Apuleius was a Roman novelist accused of magic; Apollonius was a famous miracle-worker; Antonio Possevino was a 16th-century Jesuit diplomat and scholar.
(9) Similarly, regarding the Gnostic heresy (XXVII), the Carpocratians, the Phibionites, the Cataphrygians, and the Pepuzians—EPIPHANIUS in Heresy XLVIII, concerning boys killed and initiated with blood. AUGUSTINE - Catalog of Heresies, etc. The author is citing early Church Fathers who accused various "heretical" sects of ritual crimes to show a historical precedent for these claims.
(10) This foul rite is said to have originated with SIMON MAGUS, according to CLEMENT OF ROME (whoever he may have been) in The Deeds of Peter, arising from a misunderstanding of those words: Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man. Simon Magus is a biblical figure often called the "Father of Heretics." The author suggests these "rites" were perversions of the Christian Eucharist (John 6:53).