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Table of Contents
About The Book
• Contains hardcover editions of Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells, Traditional Magic Spells for Protection and Healing, and The High Magic of Talismans and Amulets in a collector’s slipcase
• Analyzes more than 7,000 spells from the magical traditions of Europe and provides a comprehensive history of the use of talismans and amulets from the Middle Ages to today
Through meticulous study of his private collection of medieval manuscripts as well as his privileged access to the rare book archives of major European universities, Claude Lecouteux has become renowned in esoteric academic circles for his in-depth examinations of the myths and magical practices of the Middle Ages. In this deluxe boxed set are three outstanding examples of Lecouteux’s masterful scholarship, each in a deluxe hardcover edition housed in a collector’s slipcase.
In Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells, Lecouteux analyzes more than 7,000 spells from the magical traditions and grimoires of Europe, presenting a comprehensive dictionary of magic words, phrases, and alphabets. In Traditional Magic Spells for Protection and Healing, he shares more than 600 magical prescriptions from both pagan and Christian sources from the last 2,000 years. He provides an in-depth look at protection magic, including healing spells from rare texts and from the heavily guarded gypsy (Rom) tradition. In The High Magic of Talismans and Amulets, he provides a comprehensive history of the use of talismans and amulets for protection, healing, and divine influence. He reviews many different kinds of amulets and talismans used throughout the ages, such as a rabbit’s foot, horseshoe, gris-gris bag, and inscribed parchment charged through ritual, detailing the magical principles behind each object and showing that their use is still as widespread today as any time in the past.
• Analyzes more than 7,000 spells from the magical traditions of Europe and provides a comprehensive history of the use of talismans and amulets from the Middle Ages to today
Through meticulous study of his private collection of medieval manuscripts as well as his privileged access to the rare book archives of major European universities, Claude Lecouteux has become renowned in esoteric academic circles for his in-depth examinations of the myths and magical practices of the Middle Ages. In this deluxe boxed set are three outstanding examples of Lecouteux’s masterful scholarship, each in a deluxe hardcover edition housed in a collector’s slipcase.
In Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells, Lecouteux analyzes more than 7,000 spells from the magical traditions and grimoires of Europe, presenting a comprehensive dictionary of magic words, phrases, and alphabets. In Traditional Magic Spells for Protection and Healing, he shares more than 600 magical prescriptions from both pagan and Christian sources from the last 2,000 years. He provides an in-depth look at protection magic, including healing spells from rare texts and from the heavily guarded gypsy (Rom) tradition. In The High Magic of Talismans and Amulets, he provides a comprehensive history of the use of talismans and amulets for protection, healing, and divine influence. He reviews many different kinds of amulets and talismans used throughout the ages, such as a rabbit’s foot, horseshoe, gris-gris bag, and inscribed parchment charged through ritual, detailing the magical principles behind each object and showing that their use is still as widespread today as any time in the past.
Excerpt
DICTIONARY OF ANCIENT MAGIC WORDS AND SPELLS
PRAEMBULUS
From Abracadabra to the Avada Kedavra and Rennervate used in Harry Potter, everyone has become familiar with magic words; but novels, films, and comic books can provide only a simplified, distorted version of them. Shouted, whispered, chanted, recited, or muttered by a magician, wizard, or witch--using singular and even incomprehensible words to obtain supernatural effects--these perpetually evolving spells come down to us from the dawn of time. Thanks to the efforts of the scholars from a variety of disciplines, we now have a corpus consisting of tens of thousands of accounts at our disposal that can be found in charms, orisons, blessings, conjurations, and medical prescriptions.
THE USEFUL NATURE OF THE SPELLS
One of the purposes of magical phrases and words was the protection of people and property. It involved the prevention of something from happening or halting an action already at work.
Then there are the spells intended to grant one’s wishes. These range from desires for wealth--through the discovery of hidden treasures!--to catching fish, to winning the love of a person one lusts after.That the phrases may have been incomprehensible was of no importance as their use was based on an act of faith, relying first on the magic and authority of the text, then on the tradition. If they have been handed down, it is because they work, and the more impenetrable they seem, the more effective they are!
WRITING AND CODING
To write magic words or phrases, we are sometimes told it is necessary to use one’s own blood or that of animals--the most often cited animals are bats, cats (preferably black ones), roosters, and dogs.
Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells
From Abraxas to Zoar
Ablanathanalba:A word that means “You are our father,” endowed with magical properties and commonly used on Greek amulets and papyri. One on the collection of the National Library of France (n° 177) depicts an armed spirit with serpents for legs and a rooster’s head over the palindrome Ablanathanalba on one side. On the opposite side there is a winged god standing on the back of a reclining lion with magical letters. This was all intended to protect the bearer from fear. A Greek papyrus or curse tablet dating from the second to fourth centuries places it at the top of a series of words arranged in a triangle that shrinks one letter every line: ablanathanalba; aeêiouô; iaeôbaphrenemoun; ôuoiêea; akrammachamarei.
It can also be found in a Greek charm for obtaining victory in the phrase ABLANATHANALBA AKRAMMACHAMARI PEPHNA PHO’ZA PHNEBENNOUNI NAACHTHIP...OUNORBA.
A Coptic amulet on papyrus that may date from the fourth century, found in Egypt, bears this phrase: AKRAMMAHAMARIAABLANAPHANALBAA. On a gem intended to inspire love, Ablanathanalba is written in a circle around the first name, Faustina. A curse tablet found in Cypress shows the compound ABLANATHANALBASISOPETRON. On a phylactery discovered in Germany that was intended to protect several people, we read:
OYDAEAGANFOZL . . . UNI Ia Ia Iai Sabaôth Adônai Ablanathanlba Akra[machari Semeseilam Sêsêngembarpharangês, io io io
PGM XXXIII, 1-25; XXXVI, 211-30; D. G. Martinez, PMich 757: A Greek Love Charm from Egypt, Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1991; A. Mastrocinque, “Metamorfosi di Kronos su una gemma di Bologna:” A. Mastrocinque (ed.) Gemme gnostiche e cultura ellenistica, Bologna, 2002, 118.
Abra: Word of a spell intended to provide protection against a dwarf who was believed to transmit illnesses. Abra Iesus, Alabra Iesus, Galabra Iesus. This phrase is preceded by the equally widespread thebal guttatim.
Berthouin-Mathieu, 155; Deonna, W., “Abra, Abraca. La croix talisman de Lausanne,” Geneva 22 (1944), 115–37.
AB : RA : CA D.A: --B. R: A.: To chase away a cold fever, these words are written on a piece of bread that is then given to the patient to eat. The letters form the word Abracadabra
Abracula/Abraculus: A word featured in a reductive phrase intended to cure fever. It should be written on a note to be worn around the neck. It appears in a wide variety of ways in the manuscripts.
TRADITIONAL MAGIC SPELLS FOR PROTECTION AND HEALING
Chapter Seven
Protections
Magical protection essentially assumes two forms in our accounts: prayer or amulet. Every time there is a recommendation to carry or wear something on your person, the mental process conforms with the etymology of the word “amulet,” which comes from the verb amoliri, “to ward off, to protect.” The object--plant, mineral, artifact--is a phylactery to which is attributed a preventive virtue against illnesses, afflictions, accidents, and evil spells. People seek protection--when starting a journey by land or sea and when staying at home--against anything that could possibly befall them.
HDA, VII, 1611-16 (Reisesegen); E. Wickersheimer, “Figures médico-astrologiques des IXe, Xe et XIe siècles,” Janus 19 (1914), 157–77; Joan Evans, Magical Jewels of the Middle Ages and Renaissance Particularly in England, Oxford, 1922; C. Lecouteux, The High Magic of Talismans and Amulets, Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 2014.
PROTECTIONS WHILE TRAVELING
458. Protection for the Individual
If you carry verbena on your person while traveling, you should have no fear of thieves as it sends them fleeing.
Latin, fourth century, Pseudo Apuleius, Herbarius, cap. 73.
459. Charm for the Dangers of the Road
Repeat the following words. br />
I enter today upon the path taken by Our Lord Jesus Christ. May he be as gentle and good to me. May His pink and holy blood come aid me, and His five sacred wounds, so that I may never be captured or bound. May he guard me from all my enemies, may he protect me from drowning, swords, shot, and all manner of perils, bad company, and misadventure. May all bonds be removed from me, at once, as Our Lord Jesus Christ was liberated when he rose to heaven.
Middle High German, fifteenth century, Grimm, III, 499.
460. Another Protective Charm
Repeat the following words. I shall go and travel among you1 with God’s love, Christ’s humility, the holiness of Our Blessed Lady, Abraham’s faith, Isaac’s justice, David’s virtue, Peter’s power, Paul’s steadfastness, God’s word, Gregory’s authority, Clement’s prayer, and the waves of the Jordan.
f f p c g e g a q q est p t 1 k a b 2 a x t b a m g 2 4 2 1 qp x c g k q a 9 9 p o q q r.
The letters above are the initials of words that form a charm or orison, but we have not been able to pierce the secret.
O one Father - O one Lord - And Jesus passed among them - pursuing his path - In the name of the Father - the Son - and the Holy Ghost - England, 1584, Scot, XII, 9, 233.
462. Protection for the Voyage
Repeat the following verse.
I have crossed my threshold,
May Jesus be my companion!
Let my enemies sleep,
Assist me in all my actions,
On the water and on solid ground,
Be my solid help!
In the forest, against spirits and brigands,
In the plains against the laggards,
At day, against the invisibles,
At night, against the devils,
Without stop, for eternity,
Protect my blood and flesh. Amen.
Transylvanian Saxons, Nineteenth century, Wlislocki, 1893, 112.
463.Protection Bref
Joseph of Arimathea found this bref on the wounds afflicted on the side of Jesus Christ, written by God’s finger when His body was taken down from the cross. Whoever carries it on their person will not die an evil death if he believes in Christ, and he will be immediately delivered from any awkward situation, fear, and danger.
Fons - alpha & omega - figa - figalis - Sabbaoth - Emmanuel - Adonai - o - Neray - Elay - Ihe Rentone - Neger - Sahe - Pangeton - Commen - a - g - l - a - Mattheus - Marcus - Lucas - Iohannes - titulus triumphalis - Iesus Nazarenus rex Iudeorum - ecce dominicae cruces signum X fugite parte adversae, vicit leo de tribu Iuda, radix, David, alelujah, Kyrie eleeson, Christe eleeson, Pater Noster, ave maria, & ne nos, & veniat super nos salutare tuum: Oremus, and so forth.
In addition to the names of God, such as Agla, and some unidentified words, what we have here is an extract of the Mass of the Invention and exaltation of the Holy Cross, otherwise used as an exorcism, notably in the Roman Breviary and the Feasts of the Spanish Saints. Folk tradition mentions the Orison of the Holy Cross used against the temptations of the devil.
The prayers indicated here are the Our Father, the Angelic Salutation, the sixth request of the Pater Noster, and the Litany of the Saints, with a gap. It should read: Et veniat super nos misericordia tua Domine. Et salutarre tuum secundum eloquium tuum. England, 1584, Scot, XII, 9, 233 ff.
464. Protection against Dangers on Land
The sixth pentacle of Jupiter is used for protection against all kinds of the dangers on land if one looks at it with devotion every day while repeating the verse that encircles it (Psalm 21: 17), you will never perish. The four names on the arms of the cross are Seraph, Cherub, Ariel, and Tharsis, the masters of the four elements.
The True Minor Keys of King Solomon by Armandel, London: British Library, Lansdowne 1202 4to, 134.
THE HIGH MAGIC OF TALISMANS AND AMULETS
CHAPTER 4
THE MEDICINE OF AMULETS AND TALISMANS
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Before they become the subject of specialized treatises like that by Costa ben Luca, phylacteries could often be found in the medical literature. Hildegard von Bingen, for example, provides us a recipe for healing a possessed individual who is an epileptic.
If a person is in the power of an evil spirit, another person should place a sapphire on some earth, then sew that earth into a leather sack, and hang it from his neck. He should say, “O you, most wicked spirit, quickly go from this person, just as, in your first fall, the glory of your splendor very quickly fell from you.”
What smacks of magic according to theologians is often the remnants of iatromathematics and astrology. Jean Bodin noted in 1580: Because the Arabs knew the strength of celestial forces on the body, they did not want any doctor accepted if he did not also possess knowledge of Astrology and those who possessed both arts were called Iatromathematicians in Greece.
In the Sacred Book of Hermes to Asklepius it is said that each sign of the zodiac rules over the part of the body belonging to it and causes an illness in those surrounding it. If one wishes to be spared, one must carve the forms and characters of the decans in the stone that belongs to each one and add to it its plant. Once this has been done, one wears it like an amulet and thus has at his “disposal a powerful and auspicious remedy for the body.” This treatise gives us the names of the decans and their corresponding stones and plants.
We will revisit this topic.
Anthony of Florence (d. 1459) drew up a list of the most widespread superstitions of his time in Italy and imparts information that reveals we are dealing with universally held beliefs that touch on magical healing.
“Have you recited incantations or had them recited to obtain health?” he asks. “Have you written on an almond, a host, or any other things, speech [words] intended to protect against fever and worms? Have you recited incantations or had them recited against pains of the teeth, head, belly, or eyes, with a fava bean and the Our Father, or something similar? Have you crafted or had crafted amulets or talismans smacking of superstition, either by their words, or by their signs, or by the materials from which they are made, or by the way they are placed on patients, or by the way they are worn, or by the time and place in which they were written? If they smack of superstition, they must be burned and whoever refuses to so shall not be absolved because they are committing a mortal sin. Have you, as an amulet, worn a piece of parchment called Saint Cyprian’s Charter, or a charter of unborn or virgin parchment, in other words vellum, or some similar thing to recover your health, or for some other superstitious reason which does not naturally fall under the jurisdiction of the medical art or any other?”
Unborn parchment is that taken from a stillborn animal; some ancient authors go so far as to claim it was the skin of a stillborn child!
Michael Herr, municipal doctor of Strasbourg in the first half of the sixteenth century, left an interesting account in his New Bestiary in which he describes common animals and the remedies that can be taken from them. He tells us that the paw cut from a still-living rabbit reduces gout if carried on the person, and that a bone or paw from the same animal affords protection against stomachache. Rings were made from elk hooves because they granted protection against epilepsy, called “Saint Valentine’s Disease”; those made from the black callus of a buffalo’s hooves or horns prevented cramps if worn on a finger or toe, and, to increase its effectiveness, some people wrapped it in wires made from four different metals: gold, silver, copper, and iron. The dried tongue of a fox bound to the right arm and worn continuously protected one from afflictions affecting the eyes and face, and wolf excrement sealed inside a small clay pot worn at the neck removed pain. Michael Herr specifies that the turd must be white and must never have touched the ground, which is possible when it remained hanging in a bush. The string used to hang it from the neck had to be made from sheep that had been killed by wolves.
We find survivals or amazing correspondences with Michael Herr’s observations in the information provided by Paul Sebillot in his Folklore of France. For example, it was believed in the Vosges region that a ring made from the white callus taken from a donkey’s hoof is excellent against epilepsy.
PRAEMBULUS
From Abracadabra to the Avada Kedavra and Rennervate used in Harry Potter, everyone has become familiar with magic words; but novels, films, and comic books can provide only a simplified, distorted version of them. Shouted, whispered, chanted, recited, or muttered by a magician, wizard, or witch--using singular and even incomprehensible words to obtain supernatural effects--these perpetually evolving spells come down to us from the dawn of time. Thanks to the efforts of the scholars from a variety of disciplines, we now have a corpus consisting of tens of thousands of accounts at our disposal that can be found in charms, orisons, blessings, conjurations, and medical prescriptions.
THE USEFUL NATURE OF THE SPELLS
One of the purposes of magical phrases and words was the protection of people and property. It involved the prevention of something from happening or halting an action already at work.
Then there are the spells intended to grant one’s wishes. These range from desires for wealth--through the discovery of hidden treasures!--to catching fish, to winning the love of a person one lusts after.That the phrases may have been incomprehensible was of no importance as their use was based on an act of faith, relying first on the magic and authority of the text, then on the tradition. If they have been handed down, it is because they work, and the more impenetrable they seem, the more effective they are!
WRITING AND CODING
To write magic words or phrases, we are sometimes told it is necessary to use one’s own blood or that of animals--the most often cited animals are bats, cats (preferably black ones), roosters, and dogs.
Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells
From Abraxas to Zoar
Ablanathanalba:A word that means “You are our father,” endowed with magical properties and commonly used on Greek amulets and papyri. One on the collection of the National Library of France (n° 177) depicts an armed spirit with serpents for legs and a rooster’s head over the palindrome Ablanathanalba on one side. On the opposite side there is a winged god standing on the back of a reclining lion with magical letters. This was all intended to protect the bearer from fear. A Greek papyrus or curse tablet dating from the second to fourth centuries places it at the top of a series of words arranged in a triangle that shrinks one letter every line: ablanathanalba; aeêiouô; iaeôbaphrenemoun; ôuoiêea; akrammachamarei.
It can also be found in a Greek charm for obtaining victory in the phrase ABLANATHANALBA AKRAMMACHAMARI PEPHNA PHO’ZA PHNEBENNOUNI NAACHTHIP...OUNORBA.
A Coptic amulet on papyrus that may date from the fourth century, found in Egypt, bears this phrase: AKRAMMAHAMARIAABLANAPHANALBAA. On a gem intended to inspire love, Ablanathanalba is written in a circle around the first name, Faustina. A curse tablet found in Cypress shows the compound ABLANATHANALBASISOPETRON. On a phylactery discovered in Germany that was intended to protect several people, we read:
OYDAEAGANFOZL . . . UNI Ia Ia Iai Sabaôth Adônai Ablanathanlba Akra[machari Semeseilam Sêsêngembarpharangês, io io io
PGM XXXIII, 1-25; XXXVI, 211-30; D. G. Martinez, PMich 757: A Greek Love Charm from Egypt, Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1991; A. Mastrocinque, “Metamorfosi di Kronos su una gemma di Bologna:” A. Mastrocinque (ed.) Gemme gnostiche e cultura ellenistica, Bologna, 2002, 118.
Abra: Word of a spell intended to provide protection against a dwarf who was believed to transmit illnesses. Abra Iesus, Alabra Iesus, Galabra Iesus. This phrase is preceded by the equally widespread thebal guttatim.
Berthouin-Mathieu, 155; Deonna, W., “Abra, Abraca. La croix talisman de Lausanne,” Geneva 22 (1944), 115–37.
AB : RA : CA D.A: --B. R: A.: To chase away a cold fever, these words are written on a piece of bread that is then given to the patient to eat. The letters form the word Abracadabra
Abracula/Abraculus: A word featured in a reductive phrase intended to cure fever. It should be written on a note to be worn around the neck. It appears in a wide variety of ways in the manuscripts.
TRADITIONAL MAGIC SPELLS FOR PROTECTION AND HEALING
Chapter Seven
Protections
Magical protection essentially assumes two forms in our accounts: prayer or amulet. Every time there is a recommendation to carry or wear something on your person, the mental process conforms with the etymology of the word “amulet,” which comes from the verb amoliri, “to ward off, to protect.” The object--plant, mineral, artifact--is a phylactery to which is attributed a preventive virtue against illnesses, afflictions, accidents, and evil spells. People seek protection--when starting a journey by land or sea and when staying at home--against anything that could possibly befall them.
HDA, VII, 1611-16 (Reisesegen); E. Wickersheimer, “Figures médico-astrologiques des IXe, Xe et XIe siècles,” Janus 19 (1914), 157–77; Joan Evans, Magical Jewels of the Middle Ages and Renaissance Particularly in England, Oxford, 1922; C. Lecouteux, The High Magic of Talismans and Amulets, Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 2014.
PROTECTIONS WHILE TRAVELING
458. Protection for the Individual
If you carry verbena on your person while traveling, you should have no fear of thieves as it sends them fleeing.
Latin, fourth century, Pseudo Apuleius, Herbarius, cap. 73.
459. Charm for the Dangers of the Road
Repeat the following words. br />
I enter today upon the path taken by Our Lord Jesus Christ. May he be as gentle and good to me. May His pink and holy blood come aid me, and His five sacred wounds, so that I may never be captured or bound. May he guard me from all my enemies, may he protect me from drowning, swords, shot, and all manner of perils, bad company, and misadventure. May all bonds be removed from me, at once, as Our Lord Jesus Christ was liberated when he rose to heaven.
Middle High German, fifteenth century, Grimm, III, 499.
460. Another Protective Charm
Repeat the following words. I shall go and travel among you1 with God’s love, Christ’s humility, the holiness of Our Blessed Lady, Abraham’s faith, Isaac’s justice, David’s virtue, Peter’s power, Paul’s steadfastness, God’s word, Gregory’s authority, Clement’s prayer, and the waves of the Jordan.
f f p c g e g a q q est p t 1 k a b 2 a x t b a m g 2 4 2 1 qp x c g k q a 9 9 p o q q r.
The letters above are the initials of words that form a charm or orison, but we have not been able to pierce the secret.
O one Father - O one Lord - And Jesus passed among them - pursuing his path - In the name of the Father - the Son - and the Holy Ghost - England, 1584, Scot, XII, 9, 233.
462. Protection for the Voyage
Repeat the following verse.
I have crossed my threshold,
May Jesus be my companion!
Let my enemies sleep,
Assist me in all my actions,
On the water and on solid ground,
Be my solid help!
In the forest, against spirits and brigands,
In the plains against the laggards,
At day, against the invisibles,
At night, against the devils,
Without stop, for eternity,
Protect my blood and flesh. Amen.
Transylvanian Saxons, Nineteenth century, Wlislocki, 1893, 112.
463.Protection Bref
Joseph of Arimathea found this bref on the wounds afflicted on the side of Jesus Christ, written by God’s finger when His body was taken down from the cross. Whoever carries it on their person will not die an evil death if he believes in Christ, and he will be immediately delivered from any awkward situation, fear, and danger.
Fons - alpha & omega - figa - figalis - Sabbaoth - Emmanuel - Adonai - o - Neray - Elay - Ihe Rentone - Neger - Sahe - Pangeton - Commen - a - g - l - a - Mattheus - Marcus - Lucas - Iohannes - titulus triumphalis - Iesus Nazarenus rex Iudeorum - ecce dominicae cruces signum X fugite parte adversae, vicit leo de tribu Iuda, radix, David, alelujah, Kyrie eleeson, Christe eleeson, Pater Noster, ave maria, & ne nos, & veniat super nos salutare tuum: Oremus, and so forth.
In addition to the names of God, such as Agla, and some unidentified words, what we have here is an extract of the Mass of the Invention and exaltation of the Holy Cross, otherwise used as an exorcism, notably in the Roman Breviary and the Feasts of the Spanish Saints. Folk tradition mentions the Orison of the Holy Cross used against the temptations of the devil.
The prayers indicated here are the Our Father, the Angelic Salutation, the sixth request of the Pater Noster, and the Litany of the Saints, with a gap. It should read: Et veniat super nos misericordia tua Domine. Et salutarre tuum secundum eloquium tuum. England, 1584, Scot, XII, 9, 233 ff.
464. Protection against Dangers on Land
The sixth pentacle of Jupiter is used for protection against all kinds of the dangers on land if one looks at it with devotion every day while repeating the verse that encircles it (Psalm 21: 17), you will never perish. The four names on the arms of the cross are Seraph, Cherub, Ariel, and Tharsis, the masters of the four elements.
The True Minor Keys of King Solomon by Armandel, London: British Library, Lansdowne 1202 4to, 134.
THE HIGH MAGIC OF TALISMANS AND AMULETS
CHAPTER 4
THE MEDICINE OF AMULETS AND TALISMANS
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Before they become the subject of specialized treatises like that by Costa ben Luca, phylacteries could often be found in the medical literature. Hildegard von Bingen, for example, provides us a recipe for healing a possessed individual who is an epileptic.
If a person is in the power of an evil spirit, another person should place a sapphire on some earth, then sew that earth into a leather sack, and hang it from his neck. He should say, “O you, most wicked spirit, quickly go from this person, just as, in your first fall, the glory of your splendor very quickly fell from you.”
What smacks of magic according to theologians is often the remnants of iatromathematics and astrology. Jean Bodin noted in 1580: Because the Arabs knew the strength of celestial forces on the body, they did not want any doctor accepted if he did not also possess knowledge of Astrology and those who possessed both arts were called Iatromathematicians in Greece.
In the Sacred Book of Hermes to Asklepius it is said that each sign of the zodiac rules over the part of the body belonging to it and causes an illness in those surrounding it. If one wishes to be spared, one must carve the forms and characters of the decans in the stone that belongs to each one and add to it its plant. Once this has been done, one wears it like an amulet and thus has at his “disposal a powerful and auspicious remedy for the body.” This treatise gives us the names of the decans and their corresponding stones and plants.
We will revisit this topic.
Anthony of Florence (d. 1459) drew up a list of the most widespread superstitions of his time in Italy and imparts information that reveals we are dealing with universally held beliefs that touch on magical healing.
“Have you recited incantations or had them recited to obtain health?” he asks. “Have you written on an almond, a host, or any other things, speech [words] intended to protect against fever and worms? Have you recited incantations or had them recited against pains of the teeth, head, belly, or eyes, with a fava bean and the Our Father, or something similar? Have you crafted or had crafted amulets or talismans smacking of superstition, either by their words, or by their signs, or by the materials from which they are made, or by the way they are placed on patients, or by the way they are worn, or by the time and place in which they were written? If they smack of superstition, they must be burned and whoever refuses to so shall not be absolved because they are committing a mortal sin. Have you, as an amulet, worn a piece of parchment called Saint Cyprian’s Charter, or a charter of unborn or virgin parchment, in other words vellum, or some similar thing to recover your health, or for some other superstitious reason which does not naturally fall under the jurisdiction of the medical art or any other?”
Unborn parchment is that taken from a stillborn animal; some ancient authors go so far as to claim it was the skin of a stillborn child!
Michael Herr, municipal doctor of Strasbourg in the first half of the sixteenth century, left an interesting account in his New Bestiary in which he describes common animals and the remedies that can be taken from them. He tells us that the paw cut from a still-living rabbit reduces gout if carried on the person, and that a bone or paw from the same animal affords protection against stomachache. Rings were made from elk hooves because they granted protection against epilepsy, called “Saint Valentine’s Disease”; those made from the black callus of a buffalo’s hooves or horns prevented cramps if worn on a finger or toe, and, to increase its effectiveness, some people wrapped it in wires made from four different metals: gold, silver, copper, and iron. The dried tongue of a fox bound to the right arm and worn continuously protected one from afflictions affecting the eyes and face, and wolf excrement sealed inside a small clay pot worn at the neck removed pain. Michael Herr specifies that the turd must be white and must never have touched the ground, which is possible when it remained hanging in a bush. The string used to hang it from the neck had to be made from sheep that had been killed by wolves.
We find survivals or amazing correspondences with Michael Herr’s observations in the information provided by Paul Sebillot in his Folklore of France. For example, it was believed in the Vosges region that a ring made from the white callus taken from a donkey’s hoof is excellent against epilepsy.
Product Details
- Publisher: Inner Traditions (August 5, 2025)
- Length: 1056 pages
- ISBN13: 9798888502402
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