AMULETS, TALISMANS AND CHARMS.
From very remote times a somewhat curious link has existed between the
art of healing and religion, and those who proposed the cure of the
body or the soul have ever sought to work upon that uncanny chord we
call superstition, which pervades more or less all classes of mankind.
The influence of superstition manifested itself in many ways, and
among others the belief in amulets, talismans and charms survives even
to-day. Two thousand years ago they were dispensed by the priests, and
afterwards by those who practised medicine, alchemy, and astrology,
during the middle ages, when medical practice was mainly composed of a
mixture of white magic, witchcraft, and religion.
An amulet consisted of an object in wood, stone, or metal, carved or
painted; also certain words or signs, written or spoken, which were
supposed to possess some mysterious virtue or hidden property, and
avert disease and death from the wearer. The word means something
that is suspended from the neck, or bound round a part of the body,
to strengthen it; to drive off disease or poison, bringing about
certain results of a peculiar character, and invested with supernatural
virtues. Portions of animals and herbs were also used for this purpose.
Talismans were objects, usually of metal or one of the precious stones,
worn about the person to ward off danger, ill-luck, or the evil eye, as
well as for their supposed medicinal virtues.
By their means it was thought possible to hold commune with the world
of spirits. Their origin is lost in antiquity, but they were used by
the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, and Jews hundreds of years before
the Christian era, and afterwards by the Greeks and Romans. It is
probable the Jews learned the use of amulets from the Egyptians at
the time of the captivity, by whom they were very generally worn.
Egyptian amulets were mostly composed of stone or porcelain objects,
fashioned in various forms. Some were emblematic of deities, such as
the nilometer, which was a symbol of Osiris, while others represented
human heads or the figures of animals. Many were engraved with zodiacal
symbols which had special significance. The crab was worn to ward off
fevers, the bull to guard against the evil-doing of others, fishes
kept away gout and kindred diseases, and the scorpion rendered the
wearer invulnerable to the bites or stings of venomous reptiles. It was
customary with the Egyptians to attach certain amulets to the bodies
of the dead to protect them from evil spirits, and they are frequently
found suspended from the necks of mummies. Amulets are worn in Egypt
to-day, and also in most Mohammedan countries. They usually take the
form of a small strip of parchment, on which is written some cabalistic
sign or a few lines from the Koran, the whole being enclosed in a small
leather or tin case, and hung around the neck. Amulets were also known
and much used by the early Greeks. Pliny mentions their virtue, while
Galen, Dioscorides, Cardamus, and other ancient writers on medicine,
speak of their value in warding off disease. Galen tells us that the
Egyptian king, Nechepsus, who lived 630 years B.C., wore a green
jasper cut into the form of a dragon, surrounded with rays, which,
applied externally to the region of the digestive organs, was said to
wonderfully strengthen that part. The Romans were also great believers
in the power of the amulet, and in the declining era of the great
empire the custom of wearing them became so general that the Emperor
Caracalla made a public edict, that no man should wear an amulet about
his person, under heavy penalties.
Amulets have been known to that curious nation the Chinese from the
earliest period of their history, and are still worn by them. They are
sold by the priests in the form of small pieces of metal, chains, or
characters written on a piece of skin or parchment, and worn as a charm
against accident, sickness, etc.
To enumerate all the extraordinary objects used as amulets in early
times, and the wonderful virtues attached to them, would fill a volume,
so we must be content to mention a few of the most curious.
The amulets and talismans probably held in the highest esteem were
those in the form of precious stones. They were supposed to be
influenced in some mysterious way by the planets, and to be the abode
of spirits. Five or six hundred years ago a lady would present her
knight with a talisman on his departure on some adventurous or warlike
expedition; this often took the form of a jewel set in the hilt of his
sword. The diamond was thus supposed to endow the wearer with courage,
and make him more fearless than careful. A jacinth had the reputation
of being able to strengthen the heart, and was often worn close to
the region of that organ, fashioned into the form of some animal or
saint. The sapphire was supposed to possess a Divine gift of sharpening
the intellect, and was also worn as a preventive against the bites of
venomous animals. A wearer of this stone was also said to have the
power of resisting “necromantick apparitions”. The emerald was worn
in a ring to prevent giddiness and strengthen the memory. Garcious
quaintly states: “It takes away vain and foolish fears as of devils
and hobgoblins, folly and anger, and causeth good conditions; if it do
so being worn about one, reason will tell him, that being beaten into
powder and taken inwardly it will do much more”. Great faith was placed
in the ruby as an amulet to ward off plagues and pestilences. Cardamus
says: “It has the power of making the wearer cheerful, and banishing
idle and foolish thoughts”. The amethyst was supposed to promote
temperance and sobriety, and cause the wearer to abstain from strong
drinks and from taking too much sleep. By other writers it is also
said to quicken the wit and repel vapours from the head—altogether
a very useful kind of amulet to have about. The chrysolite was said
to ward off fevers; while the onyx, worn round the neck, was supposed
to prevent an attack of epilepsy. The opal was believed to cure weak
eyes, and the topaz to cure inflammation and keep the wearer from
sleep-walking. Lapis-lazuli, worn as a jewel, was said to make the
wearer fortunate and rich, while amulets of jasper resisted fevers
and dropsy. Ancient warriors often carried an amulet composed of
bloodstone, which was supposed to stop bleeding when applied to a
wound. The old Egyptian amulets were mostly carved in stone, porcelain,
carnelian, or lapis-lazuli, etc. They were fashioned in many forms, the
most common being the heart, the symbolic eye, two fingers, disc and
horns, snakes, the tat, and the papyrus sceptre.
[Illustration: The Tat. The Heart. The Pillow. The Eye. Two Fingers.
Papyrus Sceptre.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN AMULETS OF GOLD AND CLAY FOUND IN MUMMY CASES.]
Coming to those fashioned in metal, amulets of gold were also highly
esteemed. The precious metal was supposed to strengthen the heart,
drive away melancholy, fever, and other infirmities. Silver was
attributed with the possession of similar properties, but in a lesser
degree. Zoroaster and Paracelsus advocated the use of metallic amulets.
Special value was attached to those made from a peculiar metal called
_electron_, which was composed of seven metals fused together in fixed
proportions. Amulet rings were always worn on the third finger, which
was called the medicine-finger by alchemists, through which they
believed the heart was most susceptible to influence. Written amulets
usually consisted of some cabalistic character, or a few words written
on a small piece of skin or parchment. This was either enclosed in
a tiny case and suspended from the neck, or bound against the body.
It was not uncommon for the physician of the fifteenth century to
write his prescription in mysterious characters, and hang it round
the neck of the patient, or bind it over the part nearest the seat
of the complaint. Of written amulets perhaps the most famous formula
was Abracadabra, which, when written on a piece of parchment in the
following manner, was said to protect the wearer from most diseases:—
A B R A C A D A B R A
A B R A C A D A B R
A B R A C A D A B
A B R A C A D A
A B R A C A D
A B R A C A
A B R A C
A B R A
A B R
A B
A
Another common formula was the sign A II, which, inscribed on
parchment, was worn round the neck to prevent sore eyes. Others were
composed of astrological signs and certain numbers. A favourite
inscription was A B R A X A S, supposed to ward off fever and
pestilence.
The Jews used the fifth and sixth verses of the sixteenth Psalm as
an amulet to discover hidden thieves, it being supposed that on
repeating these words they would be compelled to come forth from their
hiding-places. The modern burglar requires an amulet of a somewhat
stronger nature in these prosaic days. A curious charm for warts,
used some 400 years ago, was to write on seven little wafers the
following words: Maximanus, Walchus, Johannes, Martinianus, Dionysius,
Constantius, Serapion, and sing a prescribed incantation first into
one ear, then into the other, and then above the patient’s poll, after
which a virgin was to hang the incantation around the patient’s neck,
when the warts would disappear. Another amulet to charm away warts was
an iron ring made from the chain of a gibbet. The following incantation
was supposed to stop bleeding from the nose: Make the sign of the Cross
thrice, repeat the Lord’s Prayer thrice; then say the _Ave Maria_, and
repeat the words Max, Hackx, Lyacx, Iseus, Christus. Among the many
strange and curious articles worn as amulets the old philosophers seem
to have had the greatest veneration for certain mysterious stones, such
as bezoar, the origin of which in most cases is exceedingly doubtful.
Dark and weird are the legends relating to the power of the toadstone,
that amulet so highly prized by witches and astrologers. Among other
properties it was supposed to protect its owner from the bites of
venomous animals. Lemnius tells us of “a stone of the bigness of a
bean, to be found in the gizzard of an old cock, which makes him that
wears it beloved, constant, bold, and valiant in fighting and sports”.
Such amulets brought big prices, and were eagerly sought after. The
toadstone was much esteemed as a charm against the bites of snakes and
reptiles; it also had a reputation for curing weak eyes and headache.
Orpheus believed that when this amulet was worn by a public speaker he
could always compel and hold the attention of his audience. A charm
against the evil eye consisted of a quill filled with mercury, sealed
at each end, and worn bound to the body. A small portion of the plant
called St. John’s Wort was carried about the person as a preventive
from harm by witches or devils. A toad, well dried in the sun, put into
a bag and hung round the neck, low enough to touch the region of the
heart, was used to allay hæmorrhage; and a very well salted herring
split open and applied to the soles of the feet was a noted remedy for
ague. An emerald suspended from the neck was worn as an amulet to ward
off the same complaint. _Aqua divina_, a famous remedy, supposed to
possess “magnetick power,” was prepared by macerating a human body in
water and distilling it twice or thrice. Human bones, various parts
of a mummy, and other equally gruesome objects, were supposed to be
endowed with some mysterious power to ward off accident, disease, and
death. In some parts of the country, especially in Cornwall, eel skins
were and are still used, tied round the legs to prevent cramp; and
two sticks laid crosswise on the bedroom floor were supposed to charm
away the same painful complaint. It is still a common custom in other
country districts to pass a weakly child through the split branch of a
tree in order to make it grow stronger; and a certain class have the
strongest belief in a charm of a romantic nature that is worked with
the gum called dragon’s blood.
A famous amulet, the remarkable history of which inspired Sir Walter
Scott to write _The Talisman_, was “The Lee Penny,” which we believe is
still in existence, and held in veneration in some parts of Scotland.
The singular history attached to this coin was as follows: Sir Simon
Lockhart, of Lee and Cartland, was a well-known knight in the time of
Robert the Bruce and his son David. He was one of the chief Scottish
knights who accompanied Lord Douglas on his expedition to the Holy
Land with the heart of King Robert Bruce, and was there engaged in the
war with the Saracens. Tradition goes on to state that he captured in
battle an emir of great rank and wealth, and fixed a price at which
he should be ransomed. The aged mother of the prisoner came to the
Christian camp to redeem her son, and on pulling out a large purse
which contained the ransom, a peculiar pebble inserted in a coin fell
to the ground. The old woman, it is said, showed such haste and anxiety
to recover it, that it gave the Scottish knight a high idea of its
value—on which he refused to set the emir at liberty till the amulet
was added to the ransom. This the woman consented to do, and also
explained to Sir Simon the use of the talisman, which was of great
repute. When dipped in water the liquid assumed the properties of a
styptic and a febrifuge, etc. Sir Simon Lockhart, after much experience
of its value, brought it home, and left it to his heirs, and it is
known as the “Lee penny” from the name of his native place. The coin
is said to be of the early Byzantine period. The most remarkable part
of its history, as stated in the introduction to _The Talisman_, was,
that it escaped condemnation in an extraordinary manner when the Church
of Scotland impeached many other cures of the kind which savoured of
the miraculous, as occasioned by sorcery, and censured the appeal to
them; “excepting only that to the amulet called the ‘Lee penny,’ to
which it had pleased God to annex certain healing virtues which the
Church did not presume to condemn”. It still exists, and its powers are
sometimes yet resorted to.
For epilepsy, a curious custom was to take the sick man by the hand and
whisper softly in his ear, “I conjure thee by the sun and moon, and by
the Gospel of the day delivered by God to Hubert, Giles, Cornelius, and
John, that thou rise and fall no more”.
When picking simples for burns the following charm was repeated:—
“Hail to the holy herb,
Growing on the ground,
All in the Mount Calvary,
First wert thou found.
Thou art good for many a sore,
And heal’st many a wound;
In the name of Sweet Jesus,
I take thee from the ground.”
To produce sleep, the following is recommended to be repeated:—
“In nomine Patris up and down,
Et filii et spiritus sancte upon my crown,
Dear Christ upon my breast,
Sweet Lady, send me eternal rest”.
The following was supposed to stop the flux:—
“In the blood of Adam death was taken,
In the blood of Christ it was all to slaken,
And by the same blood I do thee charge
That thou do run no longer at large”.
Singular virtues were supposed to be attached to a “dead man’s hand”.
In a Roman Catholic chapel in Ashton-in-Mackerfield, there is preserved
with great care in a white silk bag, a hand, which is still held in
veneration, and wonderful cures are said to have been wrought by this
ghastly relic.
The hand is said to have been that of one Father Edmund Arrowsmith, who
was executed at Lancaster in 1628, for apparently no greater offence
than that of being true to his faith. After his execution one of his
friends cut off his right hand, which was preserved for many years at
Bryn Hall, in Lancashire, and afterwards removed to Ashton.
This “Holy hand” was formerly held in great esteem in Lancashire, and
pilgrims came from all parts of the country to receive its touch,
which was reputed to cure various diseases. It was believed to remove
tumours when rubbed over the part, and restore health to the paralysed.
There is a curious superstition still prevalent in some parts of
Lancashire, that when cat’s hair gets into the stomach it causes
sickness, which may be cured by eating a piece of egg-shell once a day.
Consumption was believed by the ignorant to be produced by drinking
water which had been boiled too long. The cure was to dig a hole in
the earth, lie in it face downwards, and breathe into the soil. This
extraordinary remedy was also largely used for coughs, asthma, and
those suffering from hysteria.
A curious charm is still practised in Devonshire as a cure for the
complaint called a white swelling or white leg. Bandages are used
to tie round the afflicted limb, over which the following charm is
repeated nine times, and each time followed by the Lord’s Prayer:—
“As Christ was walking, He saw the Virgin Mary sitting on a cold
marble stone. He said unto her, ‘If it is a white ill thing, or a red
ill thing, or a black ill thing, or a sticking, crackling, pricking,
stabbing, bone ill thing, or a sore ill thing, or a swelling ill thing,
or a rotten ill thing, or a cold creeping ill thing, or a smarting ill
thing, let it fall from thee to the earth in My name, and the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.’”
This comprehensive charm would seem to cover a multitude of ills indeed.
The following charms are taken from a MS. of the year 1475:—
_A Charme to Staunch Blood._
“Jesus, that was in Bethlehem born, and baptyzed was in the flumen
Jordane, as stente the water at hys comyng, so stente the blood of thys
man N, thy serwaunt, throw the virtu of thy holy name + Jesu + and of
thy Cosyn swete Sent Jon. And sey thys Charme fyve tymes with fyve
Pater nostirs, in the worshep of the fyve woundys.”
_For Fever._
“Wryt thys wordys on a lorell lef + Ysmael + Ysmael + adjuro vos per
angelum ut soporetetur iste Homo N. and ley thys lef under hys head
that he wote not thereof, and let hym ete Letuse oft and drynk Ip’e
seed small grounden in a morter, and temper yt with ale.”
It is said that the inhabitants of Colonsay had an ancient custom of
fanning the face of the sick with the leaves of the Bible.
Many and varied are the charms for curing warts. “For warts,” says
Sir Thomas Brown, “we rub our hands before the moon and commit any
maculated part to the touch of the dead.” Grose tells us to “steal a
piece of beef from a butcher’s shop and rub your warts with it; then
throw it down the ‘necessary house,’ or bury it; and as the beef rots
your warts will decay”.
The leaf of the castor-oil plant worn round the neck was believed to
ward away devils, because the leaf is like an open hand.
In Bale’s _Interlude_ the following charms are given:—
“For the coughe take Judas Eare
With the parynge of a Peare,
And drynke them without feare
If ye will have remedy:
Thre syppes are for the hyckocke,
And six more for the chyckocke;
Thus my pretty pyckocke
Recover by and by.
If ye cannot slepe but slumber,
Geve Otes unto Saynt Uncumber,
And Beanes in a certen number
Unto Saynt Blase and Saynt Blythe.
Give Onyons to Saynt Cutlake
And Garlycke to Saynt Cyoyake,
If ye wyll spurne the heade ake.
Ye shall have them at Quene hyth.”
Amulet rings were made from various metals, and worn to ward off
disease and misfortune.
In Berkshire there is a popular superstition that a ring made from a
piece of silver collected at the communion is a cure for convulsions
and fits.
Rings were also made from coffin-nails dug out of a grave, and
coffin-hinges, and used to cure cramp. Boorde, in his _Introduction to
Knowledge_ (1542), says: “The kynges of Englande doth halowe every yere
Crampe Rynges, ye which Rynges worne on one’s Fynger doth helpe them
whych hath the crampe”.
One of the favourite charms of the early Britons was the _anguineum_,
or snake’s egg, which was supposed to be produced from the saliva of
serpents, and besides its healing properties it got the credit of being
able to float against the current.
Many of the ancient writers believed that all charms were impotent
without the repetition of certain words. Thus the following words
are recommended by Barrett to be repeated as a charm against flux of
blood:—
“In the blood of Adam arose death,
In the blood of Christ death is extinguished.
In the name of Christ I command thee, O blood,
That thou stop fluxing.”
A piece of clean new vellum bearing the letters
יהרה
was considered a powerful amulet against ague.
Pliny makes several allusions to the poison of toads, and Juvenal tells
us of the lady
“Who squeezed a toad into her husband’s wine”.
The life of James VI. of Scotland was once attempted by a woman named
Agnes Sampson, who confessed on her trial, that in order to compass
the king’s death, she had hung up a black toad for nine days and
collected the juice that fell from it. The toadstone was greatly valued
as an amulet against a great variety of diseases. It was often set in
valuable rings, which were handed down from generation to generation.
Some are said to have borne a figure resembling a toad on their
surface. They varied in colour, some being dark-grey, and others of a
brownish fawn colour. These stones were supposed to grow only in very
old toads, and to be extracted when they were dying. In reality, they
were manufactured of fused borax and many other materials.
The toadstone was supposed to be specially powerful against witchcraft
and poison. When placed in proximity to the latter, or applied to
one bewitched, the stone was believed to sweat or change colour. It
was sometimes given internally as a remedy for fever or the bites of
reptiles. The toad itself was also credited with medicinal virtues,
and was given in plague and small-pox. Aubrey gives a process for
preparing the toad for internal use, in which “twenty great fatt toads
are directed to be stewed slowly, while alive, in a pipkin on the fire.
The calcined remains are again heated, and then finely powdered.” Sir
Kenhelm Digby speaks of their virtues, and recommends toads for quinsy,
bleeding at the nose, and, above all, a most valuable remedy in king’s
evil and scrofula. Within the last fifty years “toad doctors” visited
most country fairs, often selling bags containing the legs torn from
the body of a living toad for six or seven shillings each.
Among other curious charms used by the Romans to prolong life,
especially among the aged, was the singular practice of being breathed
upon by young girls. This custom is frequently mentioned by ancient
writers, and was believed to be efficacious also in prolonging life
in certain diseases. A reference to this singular charm is recorded
by Kohansen in an inscription which was discovered at Rome, cut in a
marble tablet, and which ran as follows:—
“TO ÆSCULAPIUS AND HEALTH,
this is erected by
L. CLODIUS HERMIPPUS,
who by the breath of young girls lived 115 years and 5
days
at which physicians were no little surprised.
------
Successive generations lead such a life.”
------
In later times amulets in civilised countries merged into the wearing
of images of saints, or consecrated objects, and the use of scapularies
by Roman Catholics at the present time. There is little doubt that
the custom of wearing precious stones in rings, and the charms worn
as pendants to watch chains, originated in the amulet and talisman.
Who can say that the belief in such charms has even yet died out? How
many people are there at the present day who do not carry about them
some coin, token, or object, to which they would probably be ashamed
to confess, they attach some mysterious virtue? The belief in keeping
a crooked sixpence or a broken ring is evidence of that peculiar vein
of superstition that runs through most of us, which, strange though
it may seem, the advance of science and education has not altogether
dispelled.