CHAPTER 4

DEVILS AND DEMONS

We should not be led astray: when the texts talk about the devil and demons, these names often overlie fantasy beings from folk belief, as I have shown in various studies. These creatures are gathered together and commingled in the same anathema by the Church. “Devil” and “demon” are generic terms that designate everything that is unorthodox, at the same time they mean the Christian devil.

416 A CHARM AGAINST DEMONS

Repeat the following charm:

Saint Anatole, you lord Severus, deliver so-and-so from the power of noon, the power of the sorcerers, the power of the devil, of all wicked enemies!

Angel Michael †, angel Gabriel, angel Ariel, angel Rachoel, angel Parachoel, angel Oriel, angel Raphael, deign to save so-and-so, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost! Saint Yriex, Saint Donat, Saint Severus, by the virtues of the present list we invite you to not allow the servant of God here present [name] to be attacked or obsessed by anything, by any demon of the hour of noon or of the night. Take pains to not act otherwise. Saint Donat. Amen.

  Latin, thirteenth century. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Lat. 13246, fol. 253v.

This is one of the rare Latin charms that mentions the demon of noon, the famous daemonium meridanum. The angels Oriel, Parachoel, and Rachoel are not in the Bible; they are most likely the seven angels of Revelation (8:6). The saints invoked are those from the third to sixth centuries.

  Lecouteux and Lecouteux, Contes, Diableries et Autres Merveilles au Moyen Âge, 45–47.

417 TO DESTROY EVIL SPELLS

Mugwort puts demons and noxious substances to flight.

In 1843, “Aaron” (Simon Blocquel) wrote that, to destroy evil spells, it was necessary to take stems of mugwort and steep them for three days in the urine of a virgin girl, then seal these stems in a belt that one had to wear.

  Latin, fourth century. Pseudo-Apuleius, Herbarius, 10§1.

La Magie rouge, 113.

418 TO SEND EVIL AWAY

Repeat the following charm:

† Enemy, by the passion of Our Lord, I conjure you to spare, not strike! † Enemy, by the blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I conjure you to spare, not strike! † Enemy, by the resurrection of the Lord, I conjure you to spare, not strike! The tormentor is tormented, Christ heals, Christ saves.

Enemy is the customary name for the devil. The reader will note the triple command that should lead to sending the evil back upon its author.

  Latin, thirteenth century. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Latin 13246, fol. 253v.

419 REMEDY FOR DEMONIACS

To put demons to flight, say this natural remedy:

Ocopo oxφ.e. Γ.e.i

  Latin, ninth century. Önnerfors, “Iatromagische Beschwörungen,” no. 36.

420  POTION FOR THE POSSESSED, TO BE DRUNK IN A CHURCH

Take corn-cockle, bugloss, milfoil, lupine, betony, barnyard grass, sedge, iris, fennel, lichen taken from a church, lichen taken from a cross, and lovage.

Prepare the potion with light beer, sing seven masses over the plants, add garlic and holy water and pour this into the beverages that he will later drink. Also sing the psalms Beati immaculi and Exsurgat, and Salvum me fac Deus. The possessed person should then drink the potion in a church steeple, after a priest has sung Domine sancte pater omnipotens over him.

The use of the Psalms for magical purposes was widespread. The recipe here calls for Psalms 119, 68, and 69. The Domine sancte pater omnipotens is a prayer found in France in the Rituel romain pour l’usage du diocese de Toulon, by the Bishop Louis-Albert Joly of Choin (Lyon: Chez led Frères Perisse, 1778, 279).

  Old English and Latin, tenth century. Læce boc in Cockayne, Leechdoms, vol. 2, 136–38.

  On betony, cf. Macer Floridus, De viribus herbarum, vv. 429–91.

421 PROTECTION AGAINST NIGHT TERRORS

When set in gold, chrysolite is said to be an amulet. It is a solid protection against night terrors. If pierced and threaded on the bristles of a young donkey, it will terrorize demons and, it is believed, torment them. When it has been set like this, it is best to wear it on the left wrist.

  Latin, eleventh century. Marbode, De lapidus, 11.

422 TO MAKE DEMONS FLEE

Whoever makes a ring from the iron bit of a donkey and wears it, will send demons fleeing and deflect fevers.

In itself, iron has always had the reputation for forming an obstacle to spirits, but this is the sole prescription that recommends the provenance and form. Pliny the Elder noted: Iron offers other remedies besides that of making incisions. For if a circle is traced with iron, or a pointed weapon is carried three times round them, it will preserve both child and adult from all evil spells: also, nails that have been removed from a grave, if driven into the threshold of a door, will prevent nightmares. (Historia naturalis, XXXIV, 44)

  Latin, twelfth century. Liber Kyranidorum, 123, 1ff.

  HDA, vol. 2, 717ff., “Eisen”; Mozzani, Le Livre des superstitions, 717–20.

423 TO DRIVE AWAY DEMONS

The beak of the needlefish, also called belonis, drives away demons if one wears it or uses it in suffumigations.

  Latin, twelfth century. Liber Kyranidorum, 198: 7–8.

424 ANOTHER CHARM TO DRIVE AWAY DEMONS

The needlefish from the sea is also called belonis. . . . Its beak, worn or suffumigated, drives away demons.

  Greek, fourteenth century. KURANIS III, R; Mély, Les lapidaires grecs, 117.

425 TO ECLIPSE THE DEVIL’S MALICE

Betony can sometimes eclipse the devil’s malice like other plants, because it appears with the dew and thus possesses the virtues of simples.

  Latin, twelfth century. Hildegard von Bingen, Physica, 1.56, “On Betony.”

Betony (Betonica officinalis) is a veritable panacea. The Pseudo-Augustus Antonius Musa (first century BCE) listed forty-seven therapeutic properties in his De Herba vettonica. It protects the body and soul from all charms and dangers. In the Germanic regions, this plant lent its name to a witch, Patonnyerinn, “she who digs up the betony.”

  Latin, first century. Pliny, Historia naturalis, XXV, 101; Heim, “Incantamenta magica,” 503; Musa, De herba vettonica; Müller, Die pflanzlichen Heilmittel bei Hildegard von Bingen; Feyringer, Das Speyrer Kraüterbuch mit den Heilpflanzen Hildegards von Bingen.

426 TO DRIVE AWAY EVIL SPIRITS

The fern possesses certain virtues reminiscent of the sun, and the devil flees from it. It drives away phantasmagorias, which is why evil spirits do not like it. Wherever it grows, it is rare for the devil to work his tricks; it execrates the place and dwelling where lurks the demon. The one who carries the fern on his person is safe from diabolical snares and attacks on his body and life.

In early antiquity, the fern was a sacred plant, a remedy against wounds, sciatica, and hypochondria. It was said to resist magic charms. In Russia, it was harvested in accordance with a strict ritual: before midnight on Saint John’s night, with a white napkin, a cross, the Gospel, and a glass of water, one went into the forest where it grew. One drew a circle with the cross that was then placed upon the napkin with the Gospel and the glass of water. Toward midnight, the fern was expected to flower. . . .

  Latin, twelfth century. Hildegard von Bingen, Physica, I, 47, “On the Fern.”

  Floridus, De viribus herbarum, vv. 678–710.

427 TO GET RID OF DEMONS AND WILD BEASTS

Carried on your person, a vulture heart will send fleeing all demons and wild beasts.

  Latin, thirteenth century. Arnold of Villanova, Opera, fol. 215v.

428 TO DRIVE AWAY DEMONS AND GHOSTS

Worn around the neck, the teeth of the joulie drive demons away and ghosts; its eyes repel curses.

  Greek, fourteenth century. KYPANIΣ III, I; Mély, Les lapidaires grecs, 111.

429 TO EXPEL A DEMON FROM THE BODY

Write on the right or left hand [of the possessed individual] tetragramaton, on the nape of his neck: Emanuel; on his chest: Sabaoth, and on his forehead: Agla.

  Middle French, fourteenth century. London, British Library, Harley 273, fol. 162v.

430 TO DRIVE AWAY A DEMON

To ensure that a demon or any air spirit depart the body of a person, he should carry panicaut (eryngium) root in his clothing and confitabitur tibi (Psalm 48:19), the evil spirit will immediately leave.

  Middle French, late fourteenth century. Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 2872, fol. 41v, a.

431  PROTECTION AGAINST THE DEVIL

You should always wear salad burnet around your neck, in this way the attacks and temptations of the devil will not harm you, nor will the magic potions you may drink or the bewitched food you may eat.

  Germany (Speyer), 1456, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussische Besitz, Codex mgf 817, fol. 14v.

Gian Battista della Porta recommended salad burnet against snakebite and kidney stones.

  Gubernatis, La Mythologie des plantes, 2:287–89.

432 FOR DEMON POSSESSION

Take the nemecite stone and on it carve the image of a maiden standing on a fixed wheel, and who is holding a rule in her left hand and a rod in her right, and one of her feet is resting on an ox. Beneath the stone place some mullein and pilot fish, and set it all in a gold or silver ring when the sun is in the sign of Scorpio. Know that this ring has marvelous virtues: whoever gives it to one possessed by the demon, that individual will confess his incontinence and the demon shall flee, and the man will remain sensible and virtuous. It is good against the dreams and fantasies to which the demon-possessed are prey, and against the fears of small children, and against all evil things that occur at night. . . . It is necessary for this individual to abstain from sin.

Many virtues have been lent to mullein, and it was used to treat skin disorders, rheumatism, and snakebite.

  Middle French, late fourteenth century. Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 2872, folio 41v, a.

433 TO DRIVE AWAY DEMONS AND THWART THE EVIL EYE

Mugwort is an herb; of all it is mine; its virtue is dear, it drives away all demons. If you fear curses, put three bouquets of it in your chamber, in this way demons will be unable to harm you, nor children, nor livestock nor anything at all; no kind of illness will affect the infant of a woman when she brings it into the world.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), nicknamed “mother of all herbs,” is one of the herbs of Saint John. According to Macer Floridus’s De viribus herbarum (ninth century), it helps with childbirth, gall and kidney stones, and destroys the effect of poisons. Apuleius claims that it drives demons away and thwarts the evil eye.

  Middle High German, Tyrol, fifteenth century. Zingerle, “Segen und Heilmittel,” 323.

434 AGAINST THE DEVIL

When a priest speaks these words in the ear of someone possessed by the evil Enemy, he will manifest at his request:

Amara Tonta Tyra post hos firibis ficaliri Elypolis starras poly polyque lique linarras buccabor uel barton uel Tiram celi massis Metumbor o priczoni Jordan Ciriacus Valentinus.

  Middle High German, Tyrol, fifteenth century. Zingerle, “Segen und Heilmittel,” 319.

435 TO CHASE AWAY NIGHTMARES, THE DEVIL, AND GHOSTS

The smoke of birthwort chases away nightmares, the devil, and ghosts. This is why it should be used to suffumigate newborns to provide them assistance.

  Middle High German, Speyer, 1456. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Codex, mgf 817, fol. 7v.

436 AGAINST THE NĂJIT

Lord, Lord, victor, vanquish! A năjit was coming out of the Red Sea and met Jesus Christ, [the Christ asked him]: “Where are you going, năjit?” It answered: “I am going to so-and so’s house to suck out his brain, spill his blood, and break his ribs.” And he said: “I conjure you, to not go to so-and-so’s home but to go to deserted areas, to find stags there and enter their heads, and drink the brains you find there, to break their ribs, and to curdle their blood. Go and never return, until the day that has been prepared for judgment. Fear God who is seated on the throne of the cherubim, which frightens all those who see it and all those who do not. And you, be even more frightened of the Lord, whose glory lives forever, amen.”

  Slavonic, Romania, tenth–eleventh century. Timotin, Irodia, doamna zânelor, 179–94.

Năjit designates both neuralgia and a demon that sends illnesses and fevers. The text was carved on a lead amulet that was worn around the neck. We find the same charm among the Serbians. It is based on a very common motif throughout Europe: the encounter of a major figure of Christianity with a demon.

  Timotin, “Les Charmes roumains manuscrits,” 72–108; Timotin, Descântele manucrise Româneşti (secolele al XVII-lea – al XIX-lea). Bucarest: Editura Academiei Române, 2010, pp.251-259; Timotin,“The Năjit between Prayers and Charms,” in The Power of Words: Studies on Charms and Charming in Europe, 216–30.

437 INCANTATION TO CHRIST FOR DRIVING THE DEVIL AWAY

Repeat the following incantation:

I conjure you, O devil, by the terrifying name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I conjure you, O devil, with Saint Mary, the holy mother of God, and with all the saints. I conjure you, O devil, with Saint John the Baptist.

I conjure you, O devil, with the head of the archangels Michael and with Saint Gabriel and Uriel and Raphael and will all the holy celestial powers that serve around the throne of the lord. I conjure you, O devil, with all the saints of On High, with Zachariah and Simon.

I conjure you, O devil, with the martyred saints Demetrius and George, and with the hierarchical saints John Chrysostom, Basil, and Gregory, with our brother [Saint] Nicholas and with the saints Sisinnius and Sinodor. I conjure you, O devil, with the life-giving holy cross that drives demons and all unclean spirits away. So that you may have no power from this day of today forward over the servant of God George Bratul. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and now, and so forth.

I conjure you, O devil, with the all-powerful, vigilant God. Unclean spirit, have fear of His holy name.

I conjure you, O devil, by He who breathed life into all beings and who is revered in trembling by all creatures.

I conjure you, O devil, with He who predicted fire would come from the heavens. I conjure you, O devil, with He who preached at the temple of Moses, with He who revealed himself in the bush on the mountain.

I conjure you, O devil, with He who slew the Egyptian official and caused drinkable water to gush from the stones. I conjure you, O devil, with He who said, “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.”

I conjure you, O devil, by the great name of Christ, of Sabaoth.

I conjure you, O devil, with He who restored life to Lazarus after he had been dead for four days.

I conjure you, O devil, with He who commanded the sea, “May your springs dry up and earth come to judgment before the living God.”

I conjure you, O devil, with He will come from heaven to earth and by the voice of the trumpet and fire of Whom will be shaken the pillars of heaven and the stars will fall.

I conjure you, O devil, with He who sits on the throne in glory and before Whom stand the countless crowds of angels, archangels, cherubim, and seraphim bursting into hosannas and singing and saying “holy holy holy.”

This phylactery carved on lead sheets was discovered in Oltenia, Romania. It was obviously designed to be worn. It is a veritable incantation based on anaphors and taking the form of an exorcism.

  Slavonic Serbian, first half of the seventeenth century. Stahl, “L’organisation magique du territoire villageois roumain,” 52ff.

438 A SPELL AGAINST THE DEMON

Repeat the following:

Flee from here, wicked scourge! Flee from here, wicked plague! Go far away from the naked skin. I will supply you with a dashing steed to carry you away and save you, a courser whose hooves never slip on the ice, never trip over a rock. So flee then, as I command you, on hell’s courser, on the wild stallion of the mountains! Flee by way of the deserts of Hell! Jump into the eternal abyss and never return! So flee then, as I command you, into the deep forest of the Lapps, into the dark Pohjola!

The Turju mountains designate neighboring Lapland, and Pohjola is the name of the polar regions, a mythical region that holds the roots of the world. What we have here is a spell for banishing evil into uncultivated wilderness.

  Finland, nineteenth century. Bartels, “Über Krankheits-Beschwörungen,” 26ff.

439 SPELL AGAINST GYLOU

Saints Sisinnios and Synidôros, help God’s servant [name] and his wife [name], and their children having this phylactery. And bind, and seal with lead any apparition and any aerial [spirit] and the unclean Gylou, who will have neither the power or the strength to approach the house of God’s servant [name], nor his wife [name], nor their children, neither at night, nor day, nor midnight, nor noon. Saint Marina bind and gag and vanquish any aerial [spirit] and demoniac and the unclean Gylou, far from the house of God’s servant [name] and his wife and his children. Saint George, Saint Theodore of Tyr and General, aid God’s servant [name] and his wife and his children. And vanquish and drive off and bind and seal with lead any demonic [spirit] and any apparition and any aerial [spirit] and any evil spirit far from the house of God’s servant [name] and his wife and his children.

Gylou (Gylloy, Gyllou) is a demoness with twelve names: she is responsible for infant mortality and often appears in the Byzantine exorcisms known as “Gylou’s papers.”

  Greece, nineteenth century. Cahiers Mondes anciens 1 (2010), §23.

  Greenfield, “Saint Sisinnios, the Archangel Michael, and the Female Demon Gylou,” Byzantina 15 (1989): 83–142; Oeconomidès, “Yello dans les traditions des peuples helleniques et roumains,” Laografia 30 (1975): 266–78.

Leo Allatius (1586–1669), De templis Graecorum recentiorbus (Cologne, 1645), on the “papers of Gylou.”