CHAPTER 5

FANTASTIC BEINGS AND SPIRITS

The fantastic beings that appear in the charms and recipes for healing and protection bear different names depending on the eras and the cultures. It is important to know though that these names have a long history and they blur the specificity of those that carry them. For example, in modern times, the troll is no longer a dwarf or giant but a simple devil. Elves, meanwhile, were demonized in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In the European cultures after the Middle Ages, as the influence of the Christian Church shrank, these creatures enjoyed a resurgence. This is particularly evident in Romanian and Gypsy charms.

image  Lecouteux, The Secret History of Poltergeists and Haunted Houses; Lecouteux, Eine Welt im Abseits: Studien zur niederen Mythologie und Glaubenswelt des Mittelalters; Lecouteux, Demons and Spirits of the Land; Lecouteux, Les Nains et les Elfes au Moyen Âge.

440 image PROTECTION FROM THE NIGHT GODS AND FAUNS

The Magi assure us that those who are tormented by the night gods and fauns will be freed of their visions if they rub themselves in the morning and in the evening with the tongue, eyes, bile, and intestines of a dragon that have been boiled in wine and oil, and left to chill overnight in the open air.

image  Latin, first century. Pliny, Historia naturalis, XXX, 84.

441 image PROTECTION AGAINST ELVES, NIGHT SPIRITS, AND THOSE WHO COPULATE WITH THE DEVIL

To make an ointment against the race of elves, the spirits that walk the night, and those who copulate with the demon.

Take hops, wormwood, marsh mallow, lupine, verbena, henbane, cudweed, viper’s bugloss, plants of blueberry, leek, garlic, seeds of cleaver, corn cockle, and fennel. Put the plants into a pot, place them beneath the altar, and say nine masses over them. Boil them in butter and mutton fat, add a good quantity of blessed salt, and filter it through linen. Toss the plants into running water.

If he displays some evil temptation, or an elf, or a nocturnal spirit, smear his face with this ointment, place it over his eyes and wherever the affliction appears, make suffimigations of incense to it and bless him often with the sign of the cross—his condition will improve.

Elves and dwarves had the reputation of sending illnesses by means of invisible shot called aelfscot, dvergscot. In the Old English texts, there is often mention of the magic of the elves (aelfsidene) who suck the blood and cause an illness called aelfsogopa; another affliction is the water elf disease (wæterælfdle). The Scandinavian world has preserved a large number of charms against dwarves.

image  Old English, tenth century. Læce boc in Cockayne, Leechdoms, vol. 2, 346.

image  Lecoutuex, Les Nains et les Elfes au Moyen Âge, 152–56; Berthoin-Matthieu, Prescriptions anglaises; Bang, Norske hexeformularer, no. 42ff., “Dværge-besværgelse” and “Vise dvergin” no. 111, “For dverge-slag.” For more on wormwood (absinthe), see: Macer Floridus, De viribus herbarum, vv. 52–114; Camus, Circa instans, no. 1; Platearius, Livre des simples médecines, 2:70, cap. 22.

442 image HOLY BEVERAGE AGAINST THE ACTIVITIES OF ELVES AND AGAINST ALL TEMPTATIONS OF THE DEVIL

Write several times on a paten: “In the beginning was the Word,” until “comprehended it naught” (John 1:5); “And Jesus went all about Galilee, teaching” until “followed him great multitudes” (Matthew 4:23–25); “God by your name” until the end (Psalm 54); “God be merciful unto us” until the end (Psalm 67); and “Make haste to help me, O Lord” until the end (Psalm 70).

Take pulicaria [small fleabane], disme [musk], zedoary [white turmeric], canche [tussock grass], and fennel. Take a pitcher of consecrated wine, ask a person who is a virgin to go fetch in silence a half pitcher of running water taking it against the current. Then take the plants, put them all in the water, carefully take off the inscription on the paten by washing it in this water, then pour the consecrated wine over this beverage. Bring the entire thing to the church and have three masses sung over it, the one being Omnibus sanctis, the other being Contra tribulation, and the third, Sanctam Marian.

Sing these invocatory psalms: Miserere mei Deus (Psalm 57), Deus in nomine tuo (Psalm 54), Deus misereatur nobis (Psalm 67), Domine Deus (Psalm 70), Inclina Domine (Psalm 85), then the Credo, the Gloria, the Litanies, and Our Father.

Bless the beverage ardently in the name of the all-powerful Lord and say: “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, may it so be blessed!” Then use it.

image  Old English and Latin, tenth–eleventh century. Lacnunga, in Cockayne, Leechdoms, vol. 3, 10–12. For more on zedoary (Curcurma zedoaria) see Floridus, De viribus herbarum, vv. 2131–40.

443 image PROTECTION AGAINST AIRY SPIRITS

When airy spirits start habitually appearing, it is necessary to burn a little whale’s liver over hot coals. The spirits will leave without being able to return because of the odor.

image  Twelfth century. Hildegard von Bingen, Physica, V, 1, “Whale.”

444 image PROTECTION AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF DEMONS AND SPIRITS

Wearing a jasper adorned with an image of a hare that does not correspond to the celestial sign provides protection against the attacks of demons and spirits.

image  Latin, Italy, 1502. Leonardi, Speculum lapidum, 3:19, 5.

445 image CONJURATION OF THE SPIRITS

I’ve been told that you, male elf, female elf, are able to abduct the king from the queen and steal the bird from the nest. You shall know no rest or respite before being in the bushes so that you are unable to harm anyone.

image  Germany, eighteenth century. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, vol. 3, 502.

446 image  AGAINST ALL EVIL SPIRITS

To protect yourself against all evil spirits, you must make a silver ring in the second house of the moon and set in it a crystalline stone on which has been carved; then write “Gabriach” with the blood of a white dove on virgin parchment perfumed with aloe.

image  France, eighteenth century. London, British Library, Landsdowne 1202 4to, fol. 175.

447 image TO WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS

Our Lord Jesus Christ went down to his green field. There he met the Tuss and the troll, the vile one. “What are you going to do?” asked Jesus. “I am going to the home of the man named ______ to break his bones and suck his blood.” “I am going to send you back,” said Jesus, “under a huge rock where you will rot and where you are going to break yourself.”

image  Norway, nineteenth century. Nergaard, Skikk og bruk: Folkeminne fraa Østerdalen, 111; Amilien, Le Troll et autres creatures surnaturelles.

448 image PRAYER AGAINST THE DEMONS (MEANING TROLLS)

To expel nine kinds of demons out of men and, after, as many others that walk and fly between heaven and earth—of these remote evils that oppose us and which, in complete serenity, take pleasure in sating themselves:

I went out into the open meadow; there I met Envy. Virgin Mary, lend me your keys, I wish to paralyze all the animals with talons in the forest, their mouths, and their tongues and their livers and tongues, so that none among them can touch or harm anyone, may your rock sit in the ground of the forest or at the rounded top of the mountain.

The demons are clearly identified here with the emissaries of evil, they are personified and animalized. Their activity is incorporated into that of devouring.

image  Norway, Archives of the Cultural Studies Institute of Oslo (Blindern): “å for-driva torv (tövr) kjå [leu] ist”; Nelson, Charmes et bénédictions. Reflets de l’univers mental du monde médiéval, étude d’un corpus germanique. 8.

449 image AGAINST THE IELE

Repeat the following:

I, [full name], I am very happy that you have come and here I have been fasting since three Fridays, and here I am preparing you a large meal, specifically for your arrival. And I am sending prayers so that you may forgive me for any transgressions I have committed, because henceforth I keep a close eye on myself to avoid offending you ever again. And if I do sin again, have pity on me for I am the servant of God, and then your servant, me, [full name].

The Iele are wicked fairies. Iele is the third-person feminine pronoun of the first-person she. They paralyze people, crippling them and making them blind, mute, or mad, or they kill those they encounter. The meal mentioned in the spell has been around in the West since the Middle Ages; it is a propitiatory rite.

image  Romania, late eighteenth century. Bucharest, Biblioteca Academiei Române, MS Romanian BAR 1517, fol. 44r.

image  Lecouteux, “Romanisch-germanische Kulturberührungen am Beispiel des Mahls der Feen”; Timotin, Paroles protectrices, paroles guérisseuses. La tradition manuscrite des charmes roumains (XVIIe-XIXe siècle), 227.342–72; Timotin: “Irodia, doamna zânelor: Notes sur les fées roumaines et leur cohort fantastique,” in Les Entre-Mondes: Les Vivant, les morts, 279–94; “Un aspect méconuu des fées roumaines: Observation sur un texte magique manuscript,” Revue des Études sudest européennes 45 (2007): 433–43.

450 image AGAINST THE SPIRIT LOVER

One day when the saint and holy martyr George was taking his sheep to pasture, one of those that are called spirit lovers fled before him and went quite quickly to corrupt all his things and all the dishes of his master. And this cursed being became child, woman, and girl, and could assume a male appearance or several appearances. And the saint, when he grabbed him, tied him with a large restraint.

So, when you meet [full name], do not offend him for he is the servant of God, and do not offend anyone in his family or anything they own. Me, I was seized and freed this way, and anyone who was exposed as I was, should write these letters, burn them, suffumigate himself with them:

image

The spirit lover (zburător) comes from erotic desire, and this is the reason why it assumes the semblance of the beloved individual in both form and appearance; it is close to the nightmare. To protect oneself, it is necessary to barricade all the exits of the home and arrange four knives in the shape of a cross at the entrance to the chimney.

image  Romania, late eighteenth century. Bucharest, Biblioteca Academiei Române, MS Romanian BAR 1517, fol. 44r, “Pentru cei cu zburători”; Timotin, Descântecele manuscrise româneşti, 325.

image  Vinagradova, “Les croyances slaves concernant l’esprit-amant,” Cahiers slaves 1 (1997): 237–53; Lecouteux, “Un démon des croyances populaires: l’esprit-amant,” Mythes, Symboles, Littératures 2 (Nagoya, 2002): 21–32.

451 image AGAINST THE BITE OF THE MOUNTAIN TROLLS

Spit and spread [the saliva] over the wound and then say this prayer:

The troll blows, while sitting in the mountain with a ring around the neck and slobber around its mouth. Hold on, I am going to give you something else to do now! I command you to return with staff and crutch into the mountain and sit down, ashamed and upset, so that you are unable to do anything more, and I command you to stay there until the day of the Last Judgment.

image  Norway, Bøyun 5, 26, Archives of the Cultural Studies Institute of Oslo (Blindern), “Åtgjed mot tusse-bit”; Nelson, Charmes et bénédictions. Reflets de l’univers mental du monde médiéval, étude d’un corpus germanique, 281.

452 image AGAINST THE NASTY BITE

Nåsse and Tåsse were going their way

When they met Jesus Christ in person.

Where are you going?”

Asked Jesus Christ.

Then they told him:

I am going to [name]’s home,

I intend to afflict his flesh,

Suck his blood,

And break his bones.”

“No!” answered Jesus Christ in person,

“I forbid you this thing.

You shall not afflict his flesh,

Nor suck his blood,

Nor break his bones;

You shall no longer do anymore harm

Than a mouse does to a rock stuck in the ground.”

In his name:

††† Amen.

Nåsse and Tåsse are personifications of evil. Here again we find the theme of the encounter.

image  Sweden (Västergötland), 1722, Klintberg, Svenska trollformler, 68, no. 13, “mot onda bettet.”

image  Tillhagen, Folklig läkekonst, 277–79.

453 image AGAINST THE BITE OF THE TUS OR TROLL

Christ and Saint Peter were crossing through a cemetery. They met Tus-Tas taking a stroll. The father strolling, the mother strolling. “Brother Tus,” asked the Lord, “where are you going?” “I am going to the peasant’s farm, to strike, strike blood, and break a leg.” Christ struck him with his divine hand. “I command you to turn away from that you great traitor, by your Lord Jesus, and with one leap, to disappear again! By the three Names, by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!” Say the Our Father three times.

The Tuss are mountain trolls; in Norwegian, Berg-Troll.

image  Norway (Hallingdal), 1834, Svartebok in Ål, 11, Norwegian Folklore Archives (NFS), University of Oslo (Blindern), “For Tud sebide og Troldet.”

454 image TO PROTECT A WOMAN IN LABOR

In order to keep the evil spirits away until the newborn is baptized, a fire should be kept burning continuously in front of the tent of the gypsy woman giving birth: the women will fan the fire by singing:

Fire, fire, burn quick,

Burn rapidly,

And keep far from my little infant,

My little child

Phuvush; Nivashi too

Should flee away from your smoke!

Attract the good Urmen

So that this child may be blessed;

On this earth, on this earth

That he may be happy, happy!

Branches of the broom, branches of the broom,

And once more, branches of the broom,

Branches of the broom, branches of the broom,

And once more, branches of the broom,

I place into the blazing fire;

Fire burn fast,

Listen, the little child is crying.

Heinrich von Wlislocki collected the following variant from the Hungarian gypsies (Volksdichtungen, 141):

  Eitrá Pçuvuša, efta NivašyaSeven pçuvuš, seven nivašya
  André mal avenáArriving by way of the field
  Pçabuven, pçabuven, oh yákhá!Fire, seize them!
  Dáyákri punro dindálenThey want to bite the mother’s leg
  Te gule čaves mudárenWish to kill her little infant
  Pçabuven, pçabuven, oh yákhá!Fire, fire, burn quick
  Ferinen o čaves te daya!Save the mother, save the child!

image  Gypsies of Transylvania, nineteenth century. Wlislocki, Volksdichtungen, 140.

455 image FOR NURSING

When a child does not wish to take the breast, it is believed by the gypsies that the wife of a Phuvush has nursed it in secret. The mother places some onion greens between her breasts while saying:

Wife of the Phuvush, wife of the Phuvush,

May illness devour your body!

May your milk turn to fire!

So burn then in the ground!

Flow, flow my milk,

Flow, flow white milk,

Flow as long as I wish,

To soothe the hunger of my child!

image  Gypsies of Transylvania, nineteenth century. Wlislocki, Volksdichtungen, 144.

456 image A PRAYER AGAINST THE EXPOSED CHILD

Say the following prayer:

I arrived small;

I am as big as a horse

It is with men and women

That I wish to be worse!

I want to be a sucker of the head—No says Jesus!

I want to be a sucker of the neck—No says Jesus!

I want to be a sucker of shoulders, arms, and fingers—No says Jesus!

I want to be a sucker of entrails, stomach, and back—No says Jesus!

I want to be the new worms, sucker of kidneys and feet—No says Jesus!

I conjure you and make you disappear out of the skin and into the wall;

Out of the flesh and into the humus; out of the blood and into the river;

Out of the marrow and into the mountain,

And in the blue mountains, I command you to stay

Until judgment has passed!

The child left to die of exposure in the forest transforms into a demon. He can busy himself with people, sometimes in the middle of the day, sometimes in the morning, and sometimes in the evening, and he can suck out their organs completely, sometimes the head and/or back, and, if not, all their limbs. He was a particularly dreaded figure. In Scandinavian charms, it was common to banish a wicked spirit to the Blue Mountain (Heimman blaa, Bjergethla), a mythical place incorporated to Hell.

image  Norway, “Ei segla mot útbore,” Archives of the Cultural Studies Institute of Oslo (Blindern); Nelson, Charmes et bénédictions. Reflets de l’univers mental du monde médiéval, étude d’un corpus germanique, 346.

457 image TO DISPEL EVIL SPIRITS

Each morning upon rising, you will say: “O all-powerful Father! O mother, the gentlest of mothers! O admirable example of the feelings and tenderness of all mothers! O son, the flower of all sons! Farm of all farms, soul, spirit, harmony! O number of all things, preserve us, protect us, lead us, and be favorable to us in all times and all places!”

Then you will say three times: “My God, I place my hope in you, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and in myself.”

image  France (Troyes), ca. 1840, Laissez dire et faites le bien: Le Médecin des pauvres, 8.