Ear-rings buried by Jacob--Solomon's Belief in
Spells--Reginald Scot's Recipe for preserving
Cattle--What Mr. Pennant says on Charms--Parts of the
Chameleon as Charms--A Condemned Sorcerer's
Charm--Virtue of Trees and Plants--Deities'
Crowns--Virtue of May Dew--Images Powerful Charms--How
the Romans regarded their Images--The Egyptians'
Confidence in Amulets and Charms--Evil Eye--Effects of
an Evil Eye, how counteracted--Charms for Horses and
Children--Sixpence-piece an Excellent Charm--Mothers
and Children protected from Fairies--Cold Iron--Holy
Things used as Charms--Filings of St. Peter's
Keys--Lustral Water--Curing Sick Children by weighing
them--Uses of Snow--Transferring Diseases from one
Body to another--Keys of a Consecrated
Building--Effect of standing on one Foot--Virtue of
Consecrated Bread--Virtue rewarded--Pricking the Image
of a King--Various Methods of securing Love--Indian
Charms--Cure for Corns--Simple Plan for getting rid of
a Troublesome Person--Curing the Hooping-cough.
There are people in existence, of opinion that the ear-rings which
Jacob buried under the oak of Sechem were charms, and that Solomon had
recourse to spells after his strange wives led him away from the true
faith.
Reginald Scot gives a recipe for a charm to preserve cattle from
witchcraft. Here it is: "At Easter you must take certain drops that
lie uppermost of the holy paschal candle; and upon some Sunday
morning, light and hold it so as it may drop upon and between the
horns and ears of the beast, and burn the beast a little between the
horns on the ears with the same wax, and that which is left thereof
stick it cross-wise about the stable or stall, or upon the threshold,
or over the door, where the cattle go in and out; and for all that
year your cattle shall never be touched."
Mr. Pennant says: "The farmers of Scotland preserve their cattle
against witchcraft by placing boughs of mountain-ash and honey-suckle
in their cow-houses on the 2nd May. They hope to preserve the milk of
their cows and of their wives by tying red threads about them." The
ancients had several superstitious customs touching the chameleon,--as
that its tongue, torn out when the animal was alive, would assist the
possessor to gain his law-suits; burning its head and neck with
oak-wood, or roasting its liver on a red tile, would bring thunder and
rain; that its right eye, torn out before the animal was slain, and
steeped in goat's milk, removed disease of the eye; that its tongue,
worn as a charm by a married woman, eased her pains; that its right
jaw dispelled fear; and that its tail prevented streams overflowing
their banks. A famous sorcerer, when under sentence of death, gave
directions how to prepare a potent charm. It consisted of a new
earthen pot--not bought nor bargained for--with sheep's blood, wool,
hair of several beasts, and certain herbs therein. The pot and its
contents were to be placed in a secret part in the neighbourhood where
its effects were intended to be felt, which might be either the
poisoning or tormenting of enemies. The charm could not be taken away
but by the person who secreted it or by a superior power.
Particular trees and plants possess peculiar virtues in consequence of
crowns for deities having been made from them. Thus we find Jupiter's
crown was composed of flowers, generally of laurel; Juno's of the
vine; Bacchus' of the vine, with grapes, and branches of ivy, flowers,
and berries; those of Castor, Pollux, and the river gods, of
bulrushes; that of Apollo, sometimes of laurel, and sometimes rushes;
that of Saturn, new figs; that of Hercules, poplar; that of Pan, pine
or alder; that of Lucina, dictamnus; that of the Horae, the fruits
proper to each season; that of the Graces, olive branches; that of
Venus, roses; that of Ceres, ears of corn; and that of the Lares,
myrtle or rosemary. Rue was detested by witches and evil spirits.
There was a heathen ceremony, called Dendrophoria, which consisted of
the carrying of one or more pine trees through a city, at times of
sacrifice in honour of certain deities. The pine or pines were
afterwards planted, and the branches thereof were supposed to possess
virtues not to be found in non-sacred things.
There was a spirit drawn from May dew, which had striking virtues
attributed to it. Images were considered the most powerful of all
charms. They were held in great reverence by the Romans and other
nations. The noble Romans preserved the images of their ancestors with
great care, and had them carried in procession at their funerals and
triumphs. They placed them in the vestibules of their houses, there to
remain, even though the houses happened to be sold, it being
considered impious to displace them. It was not, however, allowed for
every one who had the images of their ancestors, to have them carried
at funerals. The privilege was conferred on those only who had
honourably discharged themselves in their various offices in life.
Persons who failed in this respect, forfeited all right to bring their
images before the public; and the images of persons who had committed
serious crimes were broken in pieces.
The Egyptians had great confidence in the power of amulets and charms
to prevent and deliver from mischief. There was a class of persons who
gained their livelihood by writing billets, to secure the wearers from
the power of enchantment and all kinds of accidents. Their most
intrinsically valuable relic was the veil sent to the Sultan to cover
the Kaaba of Mecca. It was cut in pieces, and distributed over the
whole empire. Parts of it were worn by the faithful, as one of the
means of grace, and an assurance of divine protection; and these
charms were sometimes buried in the grave along with the individuals
who had prized them when in life.
The belief of the baneful effect of the evil eye, and of envious
commendations, was prevalent in the East. Virgil's shepherd attributed
to the malicious glance of an enemy the diseased appearance of his
flock. Pliny relates that the Thessalian sorcerers destroyed whole
harvests by speaking well of the crops. In Egypt, everything which
could possibly attract attention or excite jealousy was protected by
some counteracting influence. The eye of the malicious observer was
rendered harmless by a sacred sentence, written in conspicuous
characters, and placed in a particular way that the wicked eye might
see it. The horse, it was believed, carried his rider in safety if a
charm of blue beads dangled from the animal's neck. But the anxious
mother did not consider her darling child safe, though it had a charm
about its person, unless she frequently spat in its face.
When a mother had reason to suppose an evil eye had been cast on her
little helpless babe, her duty was to borrow a sixpence from a
neighbour, put it into a basin of water, and then wash the child with
the water so charmed. By these means the spell was removed. To pass a
child over a table was unlucky. Great apprehensions were formerly
entertained of the malignant influence and interference of fairies
with mothers in child-bed and children unbaptized. A Bible under the
pillow protected the mother, or a bottle of holy water at the bed-foot
did equally well; and the sacrament of baptism rendered the infant
secure from fairies and witches. If one meet or see anything unlucky,
all he has to do to avert evil is to touch cold iron. To prevent evil
in time of a thunder-storm, let a candle be kept burning until the
warring elements have ceased raging. And surely it has not been left
for us to tell the good Catholics, that, to extinguish a fire or stop
an inundation, their forefathers threw a consecrated wafer into the
midst of the flames or overflowing river. Every little Catholic maid,
who can count her beads, knows that if she cannot secure the
affections of the young man on whom she has set her affections, she
should unsparingly besmear him with the holy oil of her Church. We are
assured that, before Protestantism weakened the hands of priests and
rent the Church asunder, consecrated oil was regarded as an infallible
charm and love-philter.
It was the custom at one time for the Popes to send a golden key to
faithful priests, wherein was enclosed a small quantity of the filings
of St. Peter's keys, kept sacred at Rome. These charms were worn in
the bosom, to protect the happy possessor from disease, misfortune,
and evil spirits.
The ancients had their lustral water for sprinkling and purifying the
people. From them the Romanists borrowed the holy water used in their
churches. The ancients called _Dies Lustricus_, or Lustral Day, that
whereon the lustrations were performed for a child, and its name
given, which was the ninth day from the birth of a boy, and the eighth
from that of a girl. Lustral water possessed something like magical
virtue. On the great day of ceremony the nurses and domestics handed
the child backwards and forwards around a fire on the altars of the
gods; after this the infant was sprinkled with the precious water,
mixed with saliva and dust. There were public lustrations for
purifying cities, fields, and people defiled by crime or impurity. A
custom prevailed in the East, of curing sick children by weighing them
at the tomb of a saint. The counterpoising or balancing medium
consisted of money to be given to the Church.
It was generally supposed that the first snow which fell in the year
had particular virtues. Bartholin wrote a treatise on the uses of
snow, wherein he endeavoured to show that early gathered snow
preserved from the plague, cured fevers, toothache, and sore eyes. In
Denmark the people kept snow water, obtained in March, as a medicine.
Transplantation in natural magic was a method resorted to for curing
diseases by transferring them from one body to another. The
transplantation was effected either by the use of a medium or by
simple contact. If a gouty person desire to get rid of his troubles,
he is recommended to bore a hole in an oak, and deposit the parings of
his nails therein; and if one has whitlow in his finger, the pain
might be transferred to the domestic cat by rubbing the sore finger
with the ears of the animal.
The keys of a consecrated building, shaken over the heads of dogs,
horses, and cattle, when they are ill, effect a cure; and a faithful
worshipper finds relief from acute suffering by standing on one foot
and holding a wax taper in his hand, during particular portions of the
mass. It is common in some places to lay upon the altar, during mass,
the nails of a shoe taken from a horse which has become lame, to
restore the animal to soundness. Pieces of consecrated bread carried
home and preserved is a preventative against the bite of a mad dog.
The shepherd who first gives his offering will be rewarded by his ewes
bringing forth the finest lambs in the neighbourhood; and the horses
and cattle that are watered immediately after the owners or keepers
return from mass, will be saved from illness.
In 1589 the people placed on the altars of many of their churches in
Paris, wax effigies of King Henry III., and pricked them with pins and
needles during mass, in the hope of obtaining a speedy termination to
his existence.
The wearing of a ribbon which has been worn by a lady, or a lock of
her hair, near the heart, is supposed to be capable of securing her
affections. But if everything else fail, the proper application of
dead men's bones, holy relics, and magic spells will soften the hard
heart.
It is related by the Indians of Vixnu, that a ribbon tied round the
neck or arm, with the name "Laximi" (who for many years was worshipped
under the form of a cow, and sometimes of a horse) written thereon or
attached thereto, is a certain cure for all diseases; and is likewise
a preventative against accidents. Corns are cured by one stealing a
small piece of beef and burying it in the ground. As the flesh rots,
the corns disappear. Whenever either an enemy or friend becomes
troublesome, and it is considered necessary to get rid of him, the
desire can be accomplished by securing a garment belonging to him and
burying it in the earth. Just as sure as the burying of the beef
destroys corns, as certain will the concealment of the garment in the
earth send the obnoxious person to his long home. Fond mothers
endeavoured to cure hooping-cough by passing their afflicted children
three times before breakfast under a blackberry bush the branches of
which grew into the ground; other parents went out into the highways
in search of a man riding on a piebald horse, to ask him what would
restore to health their children affected with this painful cough.
Whatever he recommended, was adopted as a remedy.