Hello!

Recently I have been reading Steve Pollington's book 'Leechcraft', a collection of Old English texts that detail various medico-magic healing methods as used during and post what is referred to as the 'conversion' period. One particular project I have assigned myself is to identify the parts of the charms that have Pagan origins and to adapt them, re-Heathenise them if you will, for my own usage. I believe there to be a certain power in tradition and I would like to try and utilise that.

For example, in the Lacnunga, there is the following charm:



It isn't difficult to spot the possible survivals in that one. The writing on the Housel dish for instance is very much a survival in my opinion. The Housel dish itself, while at that point taking the meaning of 'the paten on which the Eucharist is offered', has a much older meaning and etymologically, has links to both 'holy' and 'kill' and ergo 'sacrifice' (sacrifice being the act of making something holy in order to gift it). Written magic is also a survival as surviving rune rings/skull fragments and a tablet weaving tablet can attest. As an interesting footnote, the tablet weaving tablet has a curse inscription on to transfer the bad luck to a person called Ingvar - a particularly clever piece of magic IMO as it utilises the runes and writing intent with the age old methods of woven magic. The herbs in question are probably just medical (can anyone here tell me if this is true?), the spotless/markless person fetching water in silence is quite obviously sympathetic as they are aiming for a purifying effect (Elf -influence was something that they wanted to be rid of at that point), the Catholic mass is used magically as a purification aid, as are the other sung prayers. The singing is also certainly a survival in my opinion. There are plenty of examples of sung magic in the lore.

There is much that can be learned from this charm. In fact it shows three different methods of purification in itself. Maybe the fact that there are three methods (the writing and cleansing of the Houself plate, the water brought by a spotless person in silence and the singing of prayer charms) is important? If you change out the Housel plate for your offering bowl (or blot bowl) and come up with some sung chants with the same purpose then Bob's yer uncle, Fanny's yer aunt - you have a new charm that is pretty historically accurate!

There are lots of other examples I could give you but I would probably bore because it's all really long winded:lol:

But does anyone else do this? What have you come up with?

Something that has occured to me though while doing this kind of thing and looking into Catholic Folk Magic, is that the people we often think of as being hung/burnt as witches, if they actually had practised any craft then it would have been this kind of Christian folk magic. They would have been calling on the Christian god to help them. In fact we know that Agnes Sampson (the lass that told King JamesI about what he said to his new missus on his wedding night) used to heal with herbs and Catholic chants. Probably not too dissimilar to what was here. We, as Pagans tend to think of the people that were executed as 'our own' in some way however whenever a Christian turns up saying that they practice Witchcraft, they get treated pretty badly, even though the way that they practice is probably not too different from those that were executed (if they did practice). This strikes me as being really sad and more than just a tad hypocritical.

One of my personal bug-bears to be honest. Not so much the hypocritical Catholic treatment of people who used different methods to appeal to the same god (I don't have a high opinion of the Catholic church anyway) but the claiming of these people by modern-day Pagans and witches as "our own" Look into any record, as you've said, of charms, healing, ill-wishing, witch-trials, from earliest times onwards and there's mention of supplications to the saints, the archangels, Jesus, Jehovah, and especially Mary.

I'm reading Artisson's Witching Way of the Hollow Hill at the moment, and the same themes and threads run through so many cultures and practises - similar to what you were saying in your blog about Odhinn, Jesus - in fact I've just read the chapter talking about how sacrifice of the self to really reach The Self is a common thread throughout mystical traditions.

I absolutely agree with you about using those common themes - there is real power in building upon strands which have been created and used throughout the centuries, by different cultures and beliefs - clearly there was *something* that worked otherwise why pass it on? Why bother continuing it?

I'm off to look at the herb usage - will be back once I've had a chance to do so.

All very interesting this, thanks for posting it

Another really good book on the cross-over between Paganism and Christianity is Religion and the Decline of Magic - goes into it in quite some detail

Something else that we often forget too is that in Scotland, Witchcraft was only made illegal in 1563 (I think) and so people would have done all of this stuff and possibly not seen any conflict with their Christian beliefs as at that time, the kind of people practising wouldn't have been able to read nor have had access to a bible for themselves!



While personally I cannot stand Robin Artisson as a person and am so distressed that nowadays he is going around calling himself a Heathen (it was probably only a matter of time, he's pretty much been everything else already ), that does sound pretty interesting. I do disagree that Odhinn sacrificed himself to himself to reach The Self in a selfish 'self-discovery' kind of way. Odhinn's motives were more in line with the 'great work' of trying to prevent Ragnarok.



Definately, it's my dream to build up some kind of corpus of re-Heathenised spells.



I look forward to seeing what you find!

If you look to the Carmina Gadelica, it too is full of (IMO) xianised spells/charms etc.

All quite fascinating stuff. And if you can access JStor, it has the motherlode of all such texts.

(Sacred Texts = http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/index.htm )

The Carmina Gadelica is a product of its era and so it's no surprise that it's full of Christianised spells and charms.

Unfortunately I have no JSTOR access, something which I will one day remedy...

Thank you for the link.

I second "Religion and the Decline of Magic" as very good on this topic and also "Witchcraft, Magic and Culture 1736-1951" by Owen Davies for a later period.

I also did a module on "Africa and the Black Diaspora" at Uni and it covered the syncretism of religions in Voodoo and Santeria - really interesting stuff.

I'm resurrecting this one, finally, and admitting I've drawn a blank with some of the herbs mentioned - perhaps someone else will have better luck?

But I said I'd report back after I'd read the Mary Beith Healing Threads book - it's a terrific book actually - I'd highly recommend it, and I'll start another thread on an aspect of that, but what's shining through is that the link between present witchcraft and past, isn't actually *that* far apart.

I don't know if it that the book is really set on the western fringes of Scotland, and has long been considered the "edge of the world" - even now, Argyll, the north west Highlands and the Western Isles are somehow "other" and this seems to have really set those areas apart from "civilisation".

Let me give you a couple of examples she cites:

1909. A Free Church minister (this is the uber-Presbyterian church remember, fornication, frivolity and fun is banned on Sundays etc), suffered from epilepsy and hadn't been cured despite many visits to Edinburgh doctors. "Blood was taken from the patient's left foot, and given to him to drink. The healer then cut a piece of nail from each finger and toe of the patient, some hairs from the eyebrows and moustache, and wrapped them in papers. Three straw ropes of the length of the patient's body were made, and then another three of the length of the patient's out-stretched hands and body. These ropes were put crosswise on the body of the sufferer with their ends folded and knotted. The knots were then cut and the cuttings put in papers, and the whole contents buried in a place where neither sun nor wind nor rain could get at them.

A black cock was to be buried at the spot where the patient had the fit for the first time. The sufferer was also directed to drink out of the copan-cinn (skull-pan) taken from an old cemetery on a small island, which he did for some weeks, reporting that the peculiar taste wsa fresh in the mouth the next morning as it was on the previous night"

And a more Catholic charm:

"Let me perform for you a charm for the evil eye,
From the breast of the holy St Patrick
Against swelling of neck and stoppage of bowels,
against nine conair and nine Connachair,
And nine slender fairies,
Against an old bachelor's eye and an old wife's eye.
If a man's eye may it flame like resin,
If a woman's eye may she want her breast,
A cold plunge and coldness to her blood,
And to her stock, to her men,
To her cattle and her sheep.

There are definitely some themes we've discussed on the site before coming through again - and it's clear that there were until recently (still?) beliefs that certain ailments had a supernatural origin and could be remedied like with like...

And if it was acceptable for church ministers, then clearly there was not, in all areas, a complete disdain and dislike for such remedies.

Apparently the Agnus Dai, though not technically a pagan construction, was highly revered as a charm. The Catholic church promoted very little of the elements such as relic worship, talisman and charms which are associated with it - but did very little to discourage it because although it was against Christianity (being pagan) it helped convert the masses over believing in such powerful magic. Not 'til the Puritans did it start to really fade out. So much Catholic folk magic is a straight transition from paganism. According to my aforementioned book.

I think I posted before that in C. L'Estrange Ewan's book he mentions powers of levitation being bestowed on Catholic priests.

Els, what do you interpret a 'housel dish' to be?



do you have sources for the etymology?



Hmm. Well, Pollington is very good on herbs. However, taking Mrs Grieves (which is used by many herbalists):
Pollington relates fennel to the 'Nine Herbs Charm'. Mrs Grieves records it as being preventative against witchcraft. She has it as a purgative.

Cristalan isn't in Mrs Grieves, and neither is hassock; you'd have to go back to Pollington.

Tansy, according to Mrs Gieves, is to expel worms in children, and agains fever, ague and hysteria. It was a plant devited to the Virgin Mary, and may be included in the charm on that account.

Zedoary is a mild purgative.

My own study of the Nine Herbs Charm indicates that a lot of weight was placed on purgatives in expelling magical illness. we're back to purification. The problem is: was this an original idea, or a Christian overlay?



Agreed. I think we're back to sympathetic magic, however you play it.

Dear Elswyth,

I very much agree with the gist of your argument here. Just wanted to make an observation on one point.



Scotland actually began a programme of universal, compulsory, education (provided free to the poor) in 1561, building on an already strong indigenous educational tradition. It was the first European state to do so, driven by the formidable zeal of the early Protestant reformers who were aiming at a root and branch transformation of society through the instrument of The Kirk. While it took time to develop, within a generation the Scots had the best educated population in Europe and were enthusiastically reading and arguing about the bible, which many continue in to this day.

It's very likely that the majority of those using spells of the kind you describe in Scotland by the beginning of the 17th Century were able to read, at least insofar as the Lowlands were concerned. I don't think that would have made them any less likely to make use of 'Catholic' folk magic, as Catholicism had deep roots in some parts and its ceremonies and myths would have been a very potent and accessible source. Folk magicians tend to be pragmatic and literacy may merely have given them a few more ideas.

Best Wishes,

John Macintyre

Well in the context of the charm, it's obviously 'the paten on which the Eucharist is offered' (Steve Pollington).




Yes. The Eucharist bit came from Steve Pollington - the footnotes from Leechcraft. The bit about sacrifice came from The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology by Walter W Skeat (p210)



Well yes - it's all sympathetic magic however it's the style of sympathetic magic that interests me and the beliefs surrounding that magic.

That was very interesting John - thank you for that (p.s I will get round to replying to your PM - things have just been crazy)

Although they may have been able to read, that doesn't mean they had any access to books...they were expensive then