The Irish, according to the saying of a wise man of the race, are
the last of the 305 great Celtic nations of antiquity spoken of by
Josephus, the Jewish historian; and they alone preserve inviolate the
ancient venerable language, minstrelsy, and Bardic traditions, with the
strange and mystic secrets of herbs, through whose potent powers they
can cure disease, cause love or hatred, discover the hidden mysteries
of life and death, and dominate over the fairy wiles or the malific
demons.
The ancient people used to divine future events, victory in wars,
safety in a dangerous voyage, triumph of a projected undertaking,
success in love, recovery from sickness, or the approach of death;
all through the skilful use of herbs, the knowledge of which had come
down to them through the earliest traditions of the human race. One of
these herbs, called the _Fairy-plant_, was celebrated for its potent
power of divination; but only the adepts knew the mystic manner of its
preparation for use.
There was another herb of which a drink was made, called _the Bardic
potion_, for the Bards alone had the secret of the herb, and of the
proper mode of treatment by which its mystic power could be revealed.
This potion they gave their infant children at their birth, for it had
the singular property of endowing the recipient with a fairy sweetness
of voice of the most rapturous and thrilling charm. And instances are
recorded of men amongst the Celtic Bards, who, having drunk of this
potion in early life, were ever after endowed with the sweet voice,
like fairy music, that swayed the hearts of the hearers as they chose
to love or war, joy or sadness, as if by magic influence, or lulled
them into the sweet calm of sleep. Such, according to the Bardic
legends, was the extraordinary power of voice possessed by the great
Court Minstrel of Fionn Ma-Coul, who resided with the great chief at
his palace of Almhuin, and always sat next him at the royal table.
The virtue of herbs is great, but they must be gathered at night, and
laid in the hand of a dead man to hold. There are herbs that produce
love, and herbs that produce sterility; but only the fairy doctor knows
the secrets of their power, and he will reveal the knowledge to no man
unless to an adept. The wise women learn the mystic powers from the
fairies, but how they pay for the knowledge none dare to tell.
The fairy doctors are often seized with trembling while uttering a
charm, and look round with a scared glance of terror, as if some awful
presence were beside them. But the people have the most perfect faith
in the herb-men and wise women, and the faith may often work the cure.
There are seven herbs of great value and power; they are ground ivy,
vervain, eyebright, groundsel, foxglove, the bark of the elder-tree,
and the young shoots of the hawthorn.
Nine balls of these mixed together may be taken, and afterwards a
potion made of bog-water and salt, boiled in a vessel, with a piece of
money and an elf-stone. The elf-stone is generally found near a rath;
it has great virtues, but being once lifted up by the spade it must
never again touch the earth, or all its virtue is gone. (This elf-stone
is in reality only an ancient stone arrow-head.)
* * * * *
The _Mead Cailleath_, or wood anemone, is used as a plaister for wounds.
* * * * *
The hazel-tree has many virtues. It is sacred and powerful against
devils’ wiles, and has mysteries and secret properties known to the
wise and the adepts. The ancient Irish believed that there were
fountains at the head of the chief rivers of Ireland, over each of
which grew nine hazel-trees that at certain times produced beautiful
red nuts. These nuts fell on the surface of the water, and the salmon
in the river came up and ate of them, which caused the red spots on the
salmon. And whoever could catch and eat one of these salmon would be
indued with the sublimest poetic intellect. Hence the phrase current
amongst the people: “Had I the net of science;” “Had I eaten of the
salmon of knowledge.” And this supernatural knowledge came to the great
Fionn through the touch of a salmon, and made him foreknow all events.
* * * * *
Of all herbs the yarrow is the best for cures and potions. It is even
sewn up in clothes as a preventive of disease.
* * * * *
The _Liss-more_, or great herb, has also strong healing power, and is
used as a charm.
* * * * *
There is an herb, also, or fairy grass, called the _Faud Shaughran_, or
the “stray sod,” and whoever treads the path it grows on is compelled
by an irresistible impulse to travel on without stopping, all through
the night, delirious and restless, over bog and mountain, through
hedges and ditches, till wearied and bruised and cut, his garments
torn, his hands bleeding, he finds himself in the morning twenty or
thirty miles, perhaps, from his own home. And those who fall under
this strange influence have all the time the sensation of flying and
are utterly unable to pause or turn back or change their career. There
is, however, another herb that can neutralize the effects of the _Faud
Shaughran_, but only the initiated can utilize its mystic properties.
Another grass is the _Fair-Gortha_, or the “hunger-stricken sod,” and
if the hapless traveller accidentally treads on this grass by the
road-side, while passing on a journey, either by night or day, he
becomes at once seized with the most extraordinary cravings of hunger
and weakness, and unless timely relief is afforded he must certainly
die.
* * * * *
When a child is sick a fairy woman is generally sent for, who makes a
drink for the patient of those healing herbs of which she only has the
knowledge. A childless woman is considered to have the strongest power
over the secrets of herbs, especially those used for the maladies of
children.
* * * * *
There is an herb, grown on one of the western islands off the coast
of Connemara, which is reported to have great and mystic power. But
no one will venture to pronounce its name. If it is desired to know
for certain whether one lying sick will recover, the nearest relative
must go out and look for the herb just as the sun is rising. And while
holding it in the hand, an ancient form of incantation must be said. If
the herb remains fresh and green the patient will certainly recover;
but if it wither in the hand while the words of the incantation are
said over it, then the sick person is doomed. He will surely die.
* * * * *
It was from their great knowledge of the properties of herbs that
the Tuatha-de-Dananns obtained the reputation of being sorcerers and
necromancers. At the great battle of Moytura in Mayo, fought about
three thousand years ago, Dianecht, the great, wise Druid physician
to the army, prepared a bath of herbs and plants in the line of the
battle, of such wonderful curative efficacy that the wounded who
were plunged into it came out whole, it being a sovereign remedy for
all diseases. But the king of the Tuatha having lost his hand in the
combat, the bath had no power to heal him. So Dianecht made him a
silver hand, and the monarch was ever after known in history as _Nuad
Airgeat lamh_ (Nuad of the silver hand).
* * * * *
All herbs pulled on May Day Eve have a sacred healing power, if pulled
in the name of the Holy Trinity; but if in the name of Satan, they
work evil. Some herbs are malific if broken by the hand. So the plant
is tied to a dog’s foot, and when he runs it breaks, without a hand
touching it, and may be used with safety.
A man pulled a certain herb on May Eve to cure his son who was sick to
death. The boy recovered, but disappeared and was never heard of after,
and the father died that day year. He had broken the fatal herb with
the hand and so the doom fell on him.
Another man did the like, and gave the herb to his son to eat, who
immediately began to bark like a dog, and so continued till he died.
* * * * *
The fatal herbs have signs known only to the fairy doctors, who should
always be consulted before treating the sick in the family.
There are _seven_ herbs that nothing natural or supernatural can
injure; they are vervain, John’s-wort, speedwell, eyebright, mallow,
yarrow, and self-help. But they must be pulled at noon on a bright day,
near the full of the moon, to have full power.
It is firmly believed that the herb-women who perform curses receive
their knowledge from the fairies, who impart to them the mystical
secrets of herbs and where to find them; but these secrets must not
be revealed except on the death-bed, and then only to the eldest of
the family. Many mysterious rites are practised in the making and the
giving of potions; and the messenger who carries the draught to the
sufferer must never look behind him nor utter a word till he hands the
medicine to the patient, who instantly swallows a cup of the mixture
before other hands have touched it.
A celebrated doctor in the south was an old woman, who had lived
seven years with the fairies. She performed wonderful cures, and only
required a silver tenpence to be laid on her table for the advice given
and for the miraculous herb potion.