IMPORTANT NOTE: None of the methods described in this article is meant to replace standard treatment of orthodox medicine. They are presented for their spiritual, folkloric and historic value, as well as means of complementary methods to be used alongside, orthodox medicine. Those that are not harmful anyway. I will not (!!!) be held responsible for anyone's lack of common sense. Full stop. If you are dubious about whether or not you should use some of the methods described or not... You should not. Use that as a rule of thumb.
Spiritual medicine should never replace the orthodox
medicine, and likewise, neither should the orthodox medicine substitute, or
suppress spiritual medicine. Each have their own spectrum of effects and
influence, which don’t necessarily overlap, though they can. Most of the times,
they can work combined, and they can complement each other.
 |
| Abracadabra, the written charm; written in manner suggested in "Liber medicinalis" was believed to fence off misfortune , and banishes and curse diseases. Some ( like A. Crowley for example ) speculated that the true form of the word is : Abrahadabra |
Let’s illustrate
it with an utterly simple example; a person having a fracture should certainly
not try to fix their bones with an incantation, but the person stricken with
the night-mares, should not get an operation for apnea. It’s not unlike proper
physiologically active substance applied for specific condition. Forgetting or
putting away the old methods of healing, because we live in a “modern age” is
equally stupid, as trying to heal a bacterial infection with the few words of
some dodgy chant. Everything has its
place in this world, and tossing away something old ; that’s effective and working, just to get
something new, which is not working, is the ugly example of stupid notion that
neophilia is.
Another, I must
say, and excuse the strong language; idiotic, misconception about magickal
healing is that some aspects of “alternative” medicine, such as herbal medicine
or aromatherapy equate with it. Nonsense, a good deal of alternative medicine,
is based on the holistic approach to the medicine, but obviously has rules and
limitations, and limits. What more, the mentioned aromatherapy and herbal
medicine are extremely scientific, in an orthodox way. Just because some ideology or practice is
old, or even ancient, does neither make it pseudoscience nor magickal. It’s
completely astounding to find even people in magickal community, confusing
alternative medicine and magickal healing. Magickal healing, unlike alternative
medicine, or as I prefer to address to it holistic medicine ( I do crystal
therapy myself ), Is plainly neither predictable neither limited. If you have
problems differentiating the two (alternative medicine and magickal or
spiritual healing), simply keep in mind the two main differences, predictability,
and limits. Now that (hopefully) we have obliterated the misconceptions, let’s
focus of magikcal healing here, more specifically on folkloric, or traditional
healing magick, for we have also the more “modern”, or “up to date” healing
magick, like candle work etc., of which I have written before on here.
Traditional,
folkloric and spiritual healing magick and its “modus operandi”
We could say that
the healing magick is indeed an ancient art. Or rather and ancient form of
magick. It eventually gave birth to the orthodox medicine. But it never stopped
existing itself, and with a good reason. It’s equally effective as it used to
be, for conditions which need to be treated with it. Ancient Egyptians would’ve
place powdered Malachite on their eyes to prevent the eye infections that were
so common in the valley of Nile. Hebrew people would read Psalms, and sometimes
would do elaborate community ceremonies, or rituals involving multiple people to
heal conditions and restore health Some of which, If we are to trust sources
like “Sixth and Seventh book of Moses” to describe these practices accurately,
were rather macabre, and involved torturing and maiming animals, as it were (
for example an eye healing ritual requires, among other things, eyes of dog to
be pierced with needles, in Sixth and Seven book of Moses psalmody section ).
Christian religion is very opulent in examples of miraculous healings performed
by Lord Christ Himself, and many Saints as well, including complete restoration
of lost organs, limbs etc. St. Cosmas and Damian, were
believed to have performed transplantation surgeries, of whole limbs easily and
successfully, with the Divine help, as early as in III century.
Though the
magickal and religious/spiritual healing, are definitely not one and the same,
the former is certainly influenced by the later. Which can be seen in
Christianized chants, appearing throughout Europe, for example, used to cure
burns, remove warts… or stop bleeding.
Many of these have found their way into the classic and old, medieval
grimoires, and latter texts such as; “Egyptian Secrets” by Albertus Magnus,
“Pow-wow’s of along lost friend”, folkloric works of Henry Middleton Hyatt, “Pettit albert” and
consequently many early and even some contemporary farmer’s almanacs. Even
during the “burning times” ( Inquisition ), this type of “magick” was
considered folk medicine, and was along with the apotropaic magick, condoned,
or even coveted, least one was happened to have
any kind of disagreement with
Inquisition authorities. But in such case, even walking down the street,
or eating an apple, or washing hair… You name it, the most mundane activity, could
have been twisted and turned around, to make-up for a shaky-leg, senseless
accusation. Otherwise however, folk healing magick, and apotropaic tricks were
completely acceptable. This is another reason, why the information about it,
and beliefs survived in great number of cases, in intact, raw forms, and is
present in readily accessible sources ( such as public books ).
And how does
exactly the traditional, magickal healing work?
It rarely, or ever, centers on
magickal and planetary correspondences,
or timing, etc. In fact, it has a rather raw approach, based on doctrine of
signatures, beliefs, lore and superstitions, as well as interaction with the spirits.
Indeed, in Easter
Europe, for example, there is abundance of rituals, some surviving from the
times of paganism, and others yet more ancient and more modern, trying to
appease certain spirits, and to get them
to heal a sick individual, which could either not be cured by orthodox
medicine, or was struck with specific, spiritual conditions, or “unnatural”diseases . In Eastern Europe, another common form of traditional/folk healing rituals
involves a form of Fairy magick , that is making pact with the fairies, and a
interestingly peculiar example, is
one where the sick person is left to lie
next to Burning bush ( the REAL burning bush, which would be Dictamnus
albus and not the decorative
Evyonumus ) plant, ritually chosen, and a burning candle with the offering to
the fairies. This odd ritual is
performed on the St. George’s day ( as commemorated
in Eastern Orthodox Christian Church ) which falls on 23rd / 24th
of April, in a forest where the Burning bush, a mystical plant deemed particularly
sacred to the Fae ( by Slavic people and
their descendants ) grows in abundance. But for the ritual to work, the plant
must be whole, undamaged, not even as much as single petal being nipped. After
a lengthy ceremonial actions, the sick person is left with the candle, and
offerings to the Fae ( Cakes, bread, honey, vine etc. ) to sleep through the
night, next to chosen plant. Hopefully, I can go into detail on this
fascinating custom/ritual on another occasion.
They can come in
form of incantations ( spoken magickal charms ) or written charms, for example,
various charms words written in form of
downwards triangle, created by removing a first and last letter from the word,
in each next line in which the word is written, like the “Abracadabra” charm for
example. There are similar charms, which
too employ the decreasing symbolism in a similar fashion but are rather
spoken than written, or in some cases both is done.
Finally, there
are beliefs about the use of specific items, or visiting specific places, that
are believed to possess miraculous healing and restorative powers, somewhat
alike to those of the Healing relics in Christianity, but to a less degree. A
common white, water washed tumbled stone is believed to possess power to remove
negative effects of an insect bite or absorb negative emotions, in European
witchery, a living hen can be applied directly to the snake bite to absorb the
venom, in Native American lore, sacred wells contain healing power that can
remove even terminal sickness and replace it with health, or even regenerate
tissues and cells, in worldwide spread folklore and Neo-paganism. In both
Vodoun and contemporary Voodoo, there is
a notion of a “cure-all”, an preparation, or a charm, that is supposed to
be an universal cure, somewhat like
early herbal medicine tonics, which were not to cure a specific aliment but
rather to improve and restore health in whole, in general.
So the charms,
incantations and items in the folkloric healing magick, seem to contain innate
healing powers, which do not even need to be directed in any specific way, as it’s
often done in modern rituals. They do not need grounding, focusing, centering
or releasing energy, nor is the knowledge about the specific, spell or ritual
needed, beyond the very instructions. They may appear with a closing word “probatum”[1]
in older Grimoires, which serves to illustrate this notion; and implies that they have been proved to be efficient by experience or trials/ experiment.
And before,
proceeding to illustrate with examples, let’s just make it clear, that folk
healing magick, is usually concerned with specific set of conditions, which may or may not be
treated by orthodox medicine as well. As I mentioned in the beginning of this
article, spiritual or magickal healing treats some conditions for which
orthodox medicine experts readily accept, that there is no known cure or even
treatment to them, and often considers removing spiritual conditions such as
“witchcraft”, “curse” or “evil spirits” an act of healing.
So called “witch
cake” is Your typical example of folk diagnosing and healing magick, even
though it was ( supposedly ) the reason for one of the very first witch trials as recorded in Salem. [2]
Following are
some examples to illustrate, or to be put to use. The sane ones obviously, If a
magickal recipe tells You to drink sulphur or acid, is there really anyone else
to blame but Yourself, If You do it ? That being said, before You proceed; please,
read once again the IMPORTANT NOTE, posted at the beginning of this article, for , once again, I
will not be held responsible for anyone’s lack of common sense.
To remove a toothache
“To remove a toothache, wrap a barley straw around a stone
and throw it into running water saying:
Oh, pain in my teeth,
Trouble me not so greatly!
Do not come to me,
My mouth is not thy house,
I love thee not at all
Stay thou away from
me;
When the straw is in the brook
Go away into the water”[3]
(In this example, we can notice the application of innless-absorbing qualities of the stone, and barley’s
toothache healing properties, combined with the principle of binding and
transferring magic. While still simple in terms of
plain performance, this one is a bit more complex in symbolism than your average folk healing magick procedures)
*
Voodoo cure all recipe
Mixing Jimsonweed, with Sulphur and honey, in a glass,
rubbing it against black cat and then sipping slowly, was supposed to cure all
ills and pains and solve all problems, according to Louisiana Voodoo beliefs.
(!!! ) [4]
(Of course that Jimsonweed is poisonous, and that Sulphur is
harmful)
To cure any illness; witchcraft method
To cure any illness bore a hole into the side of a living
tree, and spit into it three times strongly. Then cover up a hole” [5]
To heal a burn
A traditional,
cunning folk method for healing the burns, from United Kingdom. Blow on the
place where the burn is thrice, as you chant:
“Three Angels came from North, East and West,
One brought fire, another brought frost,
And the third brought the Holy Ghost
So out fire and in frost
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost “ [6]
(The very chant comes in many variations, the variables are
most often the number of angels, two or three, or mention of ladies/giants/wise
men instead of angels, or the directions from where they came. The chant is
also popular in some parts of America)
Wart charming
A common method
of removing warts, includes decomposition of some organic substance, that had been used to rub it against the wart,
followed by appropriate chants/incantations. Incantations are many, they differ
from place to place, or even person to person, but they are usually very short,
they are easy to learn by heart, and they rhyme.
Often it’s suggested
that they are done, for three, five, seven or nine ( rarely more ) consecutive days, during the waning moon
phase, preferably, finishing on the day prior to the new Moon.
So for example,
one is to take potato, slice it on two halves, rub one half over the wart, as
they chant something like this:
“One, two, three,
warts go away from me,
one, two, three, four,
never come back no more” [7]
And then the
potato would be buried in ground to rot or decompose. Sometimes, it’s suggested to rub the wart counterclockwise, 7 or 9 times,
simultaneously chanting the chant for seven, or nine time, and then bury whatever was used to rub the
wart in the ground, and no more
repeating of the ritual was
needed. Frequently used are also apple, and bean seeds to rub the wart.
Another popular
method was to prick and make bleed the wart with a sharp-pointed object such as
needle, or pin, or nail, and then bury it. Alternatively, some methods require
to prick the wart, then let some blood drip on the piece or paper, or another
object (in some versions a coin), then
leave the object on the crossroads for someone to pick it up. When someone
does, the warts would pass on them, hence another example of magick of
transfer.
Finally there were
some liquids believed to cure warts effectively, like dandelion root juice,
lemon juice, vinegar, urine and other, but it’s not always clear which one of those
were plainly a mundane and which a magickal cure.
To remove toothache II
A Christian
influenced prayers speaking of Lord Christ walking to find Peter (or Peter and
Paul, or some other characters too, sometimes unknown men), who cries and
complains on toothache and the Lord heals him, is another very popular charm in
Europe and the States. It seems to suffice for a healer just to utter it with
respect, for the afflicted person to be
rid of the toothache. One version goes like this:
“Peter and Paul sat on a marble stone,
Jesus came alone,
Peter, said he, what makes you quake?
Lord and master, it’s the toothache.
Arise, Peter and be healed!” [8]
These type of
prayers are thought to rely on symbolism and channeling of Healing powers of
the Lord through, reenacting the situation, as it were.
To stop bleeding
“Was it not a happy hour when, when Jesus Christ was born,
was it not a fortunate hour when Jesus Christ arose from the dead. These three
blissful hours stop thy bleeding, and
heal thy wounds, that they may not
swell or fester, and within three or nine days be well again” [9]
( If You ever desire to try this ; I’d issue a word of
advice, I don’t suppose it’s meant to somehow magickaly cauterize the wound,
instead, after using some first aid
methods, like cleaning/disinfecting the wound, putting a plaster/bandage
etc. recite over wound three times to
ensure that the blood stops and healing starts ).
To remove fever
Recite the following, as many times as You can
Oknotinos
Knotinos
Notinos
Otinos
Tinos
Inos
Nos
Os
S
I have actually used this one with great success, as well as
the next one, with the same purpose. It comes from Rabbi Eleazar of the Worms,
from the Middleages.
To remove fever II
Hold a handful of salt for a while (I use right hand), then
toss it into flames, while saying: “Sickness burn, good health return!”
To cure unnatural eye disease
In the Hebrew lore, a demon called Shabriri, is believed to
weaken the eyesight, cause blindness, and several waterborne diseases. To
prevent it from accomplishing such effect, once a person starts feeling
negative changes, in regard to their eyesight, they should recite:
“My mother told me to beware of Shabriri, briri, riri, iri,
ri!” various times.
In case of waterborne diseases; one is to write
the decreasing demon name, in an inverted triangle fashion, starting with “Shabriri”,
and ending with “ri”, and carry it on oneself. It’s both considred to protect
and cure from the waterborne diseases. [10]
NOTES: This article was written and composed by myself. If You desire to use any parts of it elsewhere online feel free, but add credits (!!!); Shadow of the Shadows magick place, Shadow-333@hotmail.com or a direct link to this post.
CREDITS AND REFERENCES:
IMAGE CREDITS: Photo taken, and edited digitally by my minority
CREDITS AND REFERENCES:
* Text in the brackets following the examples, is my own
commentary
[1] See “Egyptian secrets: or white and black art for men
and beast” by Albertus Magnus for examples
[2] Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tituba
[3] Quoted from: “Witches potions and spells” by Kathryn
Paulsen, page 28st Peter Pauper Press 1971st
[4] According to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Voodoo
[5] Quoted from same source as given under [3] page 29th
[6] The chant text is retrieved from: http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol24/verbcharm.pdf
, Cassandra Eason mentions this method
of healing burns, saying how the person
who uses the chant blows three times on
the burn; that is how it’s custom done In Summerset. In her book : “Encyclopedia of magick and ancient wisdom
“
[7] Chant retrieved form: “New perspectives on witchcraft,
magic and demonology; Volume 5; Witchcraft, healing and popular diseases” ,
edited by Brian P. Levack
[8] As under [7] pg 28th
[9] Retrieved from the title suggested under [1]
[10] According to E. A. Wallis Budge; as stated in his
“Amulets and Superstitions”, though also
mentioned in the Talmud , Pesachim
112IMAGE CREDITS: Photo taken, and edited digitally by my minority
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