Читать книгу Charms, Spells, and Curses - V. J. Banis - Страница 6

CHAPTER ONE

HEALING METHODS

It was in the healing of disease that the witch or practitioner of black magic came closest to being a specialist, and we cannot really afford to take their contributions lightly. Suggestions that men of science once thought laughable have proven to have bases in scientific fact—while much of what was once considered to be scientific fact is now laughable.

We tend to smile tolerantly when we learn that in many parts of the world people still turn to the local witch, witch doctor, or “peculiar old woman” for strange-sounding medical treatments. But if we are honest, we must admit there is not much difference between the primitive man who believes that the “juices of a turtle” will cure his physical aches and such modern children of science as the author himself, who adheres to a rather pleasant cold-cure, the sipping of hot toddies. Medical science refuses to corroborate what the users know, that these brews do make one feel better.

We are all aware of the use of suggestion in medicine; we know that doctors may prescribe harmless sugar pills for some patients. Christian Scientists and others rely more or less exclusively upon what is in effect the power of suggestion. Everyone laughs when chicken soup is referred to as “Jewish penicillin”—but we have no reservations about taking this timeless medicine.

The healing methods of witches in the Middle Ages were, in fact, probably at least as effective as those of the doctors of the time—and quite possibly more so.

Lignite (a variety of coal), if bound on the forehead, stops bleeding of the nose and restores lost senses.

Diamond is an effective antidote against the pestilence.

Chelidonium (an herb), if put in a yellow linen cloth and tied about the neck, will certainly cure fever.

Heliotrope stops bleeding and averts any danger from poison.

The following incantation will cure a child of worms:

Holy Monday

Holy Tuesday

Holy Wednesday

Maundy Thursday

Good Friday

Holy Saturday

Easter Sunday

Worms on the run day.

Repeat this incantation backwards, then forward, then backwards over the child.

The skin disease erysipelas can be cured by the application of silver to the afflicted area.

The sapphire has an especial property in that it prevents the eye from being affected by smallpox.

Egg Limpia: A limpia is advised for illness of the soul. The best is the Egg Limpia. A likeness of the patient’s face is drawn on an eggshell. The patient lies flat on the floor. The one conducting the limpia sucks away the evil by sucking certain regions such as the temples, the breast, the crook of the arm, until they redden considerably or until blood specks appear on the skin, indicating that the evil is beginning to emerge. When this soul poison has been brought to the surface, the egg is rolled all over the patient’s body. In this manner the evil is tricked into leaving the body and going into the egg, which it mistakes for the patient. When the egg has had time to absorb all the traces of the evil, cleansing herbs are sprinkled lavishly over the patient. He should then use an inhaling limpia, which is prepared in the following manner: the beard is cut off a billy goat; tie this at one end, pass it over an open flame, and inhale the pungent smoke. Another inhaling limpia is done with laurel leaves steeped in water, and either of these will suffice. If the soul illness is minor, an inhaling limpia alone may suffice to cure the condition. When the patient has inhaled the fumes as prescribed, the doctor may breath all over the patient for purification, and the process will be more effective if prayers have been said constantly throughout. Here a chicken may be used as well; if so, it too is passed over the patient after the sucking. In either form, the egg is broken afterward. The egg matter is smeared over the patient’s face and then washed off with water in which laurel leaves have been steeped. The full limpia is now done and the soul will be well again.

In case of illness, anoint or bathe the patient with rosemary water while praying over him. To make the water, steep two handfuls of rosemary leaves in two quarts of water overnight, having poured the water over the leaves while boiling.

Jacinth or hyacinth is a stone which strengthens the heart and is recommended as a soporific. It is ordered in cases of cough, rupture, and melancholy, in any of which cases it is to be drunk with vinegar.

Cagliostro’s Rejuvenation Course, by which the true sage is able to renew his youth, not once but time and again: A forty-day preparation must be performed every fifteen years. The first full moon in the month of May is chosen for the start of the process, which has to be carried out in the company of only one companion, who must be dedicated. Only dew is drunk, and this must be collected from the shoots of germinating corn upon a cloth made of the purest linen. For food the sage might nibble upon a piece of bread or biscuit. On the seventeenth day of the course, some blood is let. From this date after, Balm of Azoth is taken each morning and night. Six drops are to be taken on the eighteenth day; then the dose can be increased each day by two drops until the thirty-second day. On the dawn of the thirty-third day of the retreat a fresh bloodletting must be performed. Once this is done, the patient will immediately go to bed until the close of the fortieth day. As soon as the patient awakes after the second bleeding, he must take a grain of the Universal Medicine, which can be expected to produce convulsions, excessive perspiration, and purging in most cases. Now the subject may be permitted to take a little broth which has been made from lean meat, together with rice, valerian, vervain, and balm. The next day another grain of Universal Medicine will be taken. This medicine will be known as astral mercury in combination with sulphur of gold. On the thirty-sixth day a glass of Egyptian wine is drunk. On the following day the last grain of the Universal Medicine is taken. At this stage the patient may expect to fall into a deep sleep. During this sleep the hair, the teeth, the nails, and the skin will be renewed. On the thirty-eighth day a warm bath must be taken; herbs must be steeped in the water, and these will be rice, valerian, vervain, and balm. When the thirty-ninth day breaks, the patient must drink ten drops of Acharat Elixir in the medium of a small amount of red wine. On the fortieth day the subject will find that the work of rejuvenation has been completed and youth has been returned.

Jasper is a stone which prevents fever and dropsy. It is also highly reputed as a preservative against defluxions, the nightmare, and epilepsy.

Among the objects which possess curative properties are the bones of toads, old coins, and the teeth of wolves.

To cure most colds, take garlic cloves and chop them and wrap them in a small bundle. The patient must be put to bed under warm covers with the garlic bundle in a position as close as possible to his nose, to insure the constant breathing of the strong fumes.

Any medicine that contains gold leaf is especially effective in curing.

To cure drunkenness, ashes of toad mixed with brandy.

To ease the pain a baby suffers in teething, hang around its little neck a tooth extracted from a live mouse.

If the body is afflicted, take an eggshell and stuff it with horsehair; rub this on the afflicted part and it will absorb the disease, after which the eggshell and the disease may be easily discarded.

Betony, any plant of the figwort tree, gives relief from toothache.

Rue, a bitter woody perennial herb, is successful as an antidote for poison.

Those diseases of the breast which plague women can be made to disappear by the simple method of applying sedative cataplasms made of henbane. Henbane is a fetid Old World herb that contains a poison especially deadly to fowls; its leaves yield an extract used in medicine which has properties similar to those of belladonna.

Henbane is effective for irritable conditions; it can be used as a sedative in asthma or whooping cough.

For breast complaints of women, red clover is advised.

A sachet of belladonna applied to the stomach will ease the pain and convulsions of difficult childbirth. Belladonna is effective also for the gout and rheumatism.

If one has been bitten by a mad dog or by any venomous beast, he must drink wine in which verbena stalks have been boiled. Or he may apply to the wound directly leaves of the verbena plant.

Vervain and plantain are fine nerve tonics and can be used for feverish colds, fits, convulsions, and other complaints.

Take myrtle berries, dry and pound these, and preserve with the white of egg. When applied in the form of a plaster to the mouth and the stomach, they prevent vomiting.

Myrtle leaves applied in compresses on the forehead, as well as the temples and feet, will bring calm and healing sleep to sufferers of fever. Stubborn colds and severe head pains can be relieved by inhaling the warm vapors of an infusion of myrtle leaves. Myrtle is effective as well for chest complaints and night sweats.

Abscesses which often prove mortal under the scalpel of surgery can be cured by bean flour, applied to the breast. Some use ordinary white flour and honey for the same purpose.

Marshmallow, a European perennial herb, is the best cure for abscess.

To cure abscess, apply any of the following, alone or in combination—red clover, slippery elm, and aconacia, but only these.

Onyx has properties similar to those of jasper; also, it increases saliva in boys and sometimes brings terrible shapes to the dreamer, from which the future can be divined. If applied to the eye, onyx acts as if alive, creeping about and removing noxious matter.

Opal is said to recreate the heart, to preserve from contagion in the air, and to be fine for weak eyes, making them quickly stronger.

Mugwort is a cure for gout and for fever.

Lodestone is universally known to possess diverse magical properties. If one is ill, one has to hold the lodestone in one’s hands and shake it well. This will cure most wounds, snakebites, headaches, weak eyes; it will restore lost or weakened hearing.

Limachie is squeezed out of the head of a slug, which must be done the instant it is seen. This is an amulet highly effective against fever.

Red bezoar is known to have magical properties and is highly prized by all healers. It is a certain remedy against any poison and against contagion, whether it is taken internally or worn about the neck. There are nine varieties of bezoar and these differ greatly in composition, although all are found in the alimentary organs of animals; but generally these may be listed as those which consist mainly of mineral matter and those which consist mainly of organic matter. As to the origin of this stone, it is said that the stags of the Orient, when they became oppressed with years, fed upon certain serpents which restored their youth. But it was necessary to counteract this poison which was quickly absorbed into their systems, and for this purpose they plunged into running streams, keeping their heads above the water. A viscous fluid was distilled from their eyes, which was indurated by the sun’s heat and formed bezoar. But whether such is true or not does not lessen the effect of these stones.

Emerald can be seen to be an excellent preservative against decay; it promotes childbirth, and arrests dysentery. Also it heals the bites of venomous animals. It is good for the eyes.

Live earthworms should be placed on an infected wound to cause a cure.

To prevent food poisoning, unicorn horn is most favorable.

Mummy powder is regarded by most physicians as powerful in curing disease. For the best results this must be from the mummy of a saint, or that of a very healthy young person who has recently been drowned, or has been killed by a fall. Somewhat less effective, but still to be desired, are thieves cut down from the gallows or beheaded rebels. As this flesh yet radiates life power it can regenerate failing spirits.

If a red-haired person will boil children’s hair, this will produce an effective treatment for frost blisters.

Live toads are effective against bubonic pustules.

For very foul wounds, heap them with three handfuls of steamed pigeon’s dung.

Moss grown on a skull is sometimes effective for hemorrhage.

Frog’s eggs can be used as a disinfectant.

To bring forth the occult virtues in pearls, boil them in meat, then they will heal the quartan ague (malaria).

If pearls are bruised and taken with milk they will be beneficial to ulcers and will clear the voice. Worn in necklaces, these gems make their wearer chaste; as to their other properties, if they are crushed to a fine powder and mixed with milk, this drink will sweeten irritable temperaments; and crushed and mixed with sugar, they cure pestilential fevers.

Amber heals throat disease.

Cornelian which has been engraved with a man’s figure holding a scepter in his hand will stop hemorrhages.

Engrave on red coral a man bearing a sword; this will heal hemorrhages.

Rely upon agapis to cure sting and venomous bite, if it is dipped in water and rubbed over the wounds.

Agate stone is the very best healing for scorpion bite or serpent bites.

Here is a recipe for restoring lost youth, which should be used every seven years: On the first day of this performance, a plaster made of one ounce of saffron, two of sandalwood (which also is red), half an ounce of red roses, a measure of aloe wood, and a similar quantity of fine amber should be placed on the heart during sleep. These shall have been ground into a very fine powder and mixed with a half-pound of white purified wax, and then worked up with a sufficiency of oil of roses. This plaster must be taken off on wakening and then kept in a leaden box until used again. Now, the subject will live for some time on fowls, and these must be prepared in a certain way: for sanguine temperaments sixteen days is the prescribed time; for phlegmatics, twenty-five days are needed; and for melancholics, thirty days. He will obtain the number of fowls dictated by these times and by his appetite. These are to be kept in a large and airy yard with clear water but where there is no grass or any other kind of food for them, because they are to be given only the food which is here described: Make this of as many vipers as there are fowls. These are to be whipped in a tub until their heads and tails fall off. Then they will be skinned, and they must be soaked in vinegar and rubbed with coarse salt shaken onto a piece of rough material. Cut into small pieces, they are thrown into a large pot with half a pound of rosemary and the same of fennel, calamint, and spignel, and add half a pound of cumin. With pure water fill the pot two-thirds full and then bring gently to a boil and continue until the vipers are cooked. Add then a quantity of wheat finely sifted and of sufficient quantity to feed the fowls for the length of time which has been previously determined according to the subject’s temperament; this must be slowly poured in. This wheat is to be cooked until the essence of the reptiles has soaked in. The pot must be kept covered during this time lest the quality be affected, and it should be on a tripod so that it receives gentlest heat. The mixture will in time thicken, and if it is needed, a little water may be added to spare it burning. Finally, a preserve is added, which has been prepared ahead of citron, borage (a blue-flowered European herb), and rosemary, and a pound of fine sifted sugar. All of this is then poured in a new and air-tight jar. It must be taken every morning before breakfast and in the evenings before going to bed, half a spoonful. This will restore youth to even the oldest and most decrepit subject.

The iron that made the wound also will heal it.

If a patient suffers from a heart condition, he will cure it by eating a bull’s heart.

Balasius stone, if it is bruised and drunk with a quantity of water, will relieve infirmities in the eyes; it will also tend to help disorders of the liver.

The euphrasia, or eyebright, is good for the eyes, as can be seen because it contains a black spot.

Emerald on which is engraved the likeness of the starling will strengthen weak eyes.

A spider hung around the neck will protect against ague, or heal that condition.

Aetites or aquilaeus is a precious stone which has diverse properties. It is composed of oxide of iron with silex and alumina, and some say it is found in the neck or in the stomach of the eagle, depending upon whom one asks. It will heal falling sickness and prevent untimely birth. To prevent abortion it ought to be worn bound on the arm; if it is bound on the thigh it will aid parturition.

A cock buried under the bed will cure a patient of epilepsy in most cases.

Chips from a gallows or from any place of execution make an effective amulet against ague.

The eel has many marvelous virtues. Let him die out of the water and steep his body in strong vinegar and the blood of a vulture, and place the whole under a dunghill. The composition will raise from the dead whatever is brought to it and give life as before. Also, anyone who eats the still-warm heart of an eel will be seized with a spirit of prophecy and will be able to foretell future events.

A bloodstone can be employed for stopping the flow of blood from a wound.

Pink amethyst prevents drunkenness when it is attached to the navel. But it must be set in a silver plaque or medal, and must have a bear engraved on it. If it is dipped in water, that water will cure sterility.

Bake a spider and wear it around the neck as a charm. Spiders and their webs cure the ague.

A poultice of peeled onions which is laid on the stomach or even under the armpits will cure anyone who has taken poison internally.

This is a remedy for enchantment: Lick the child’s forehead in this manner, first upward, then across it, and then up again; then spit behind his back. This will be certain to work against a spell.

If you lick the forehead of a child with the tongue and you perceive a salt taste, this is certain proof that he has been fascinated, and the stronger the taste of salt, the more powerful the spell. If a death spell has been put, the tongue will be fairly burnt and only pure water will remove the briny taste.

To pull out a thorn easily, apply hare’s fat.

The root of gladen (iris) is a remedy for the disease known as Elf Cake, which causes a hardness of the side; take a root of gladen and make powder of it and give the patient a half a spoonful of this powder in white wine and let him eat the same quantity in his pottage at the same time and it will help him.

If afflicted by nightmares, it is best to hang a stone over the bed, which stone has a natural hole in it wherein a string may be put through and so be hanged over the sufferer.

Oak apples will not fail to tell if a child has been bewitched, even by a clever witch. Place a basin of clean water under the child’s cradle and drop into it three oak apples, keeping strict silence while doing so. If they sink, the child is surely fascinated, but if they do not, he is safe.

To cure a toothache, bore with a nail the tooth or the gum, after which drive the nail into an oak tree, the taller the better.

Amethyst expels poison when it is drunk in a potion.

To relieve asthma, take topaz in wine.

When drunk in a potion, amethyst will render the barren fruitful.

If a child has rupture, cure him by splitting an oak branch. Pass the child through the opening backward three times; if the splits afterward grow together the child will be cured, but if they do not the disease will continue.

This is an incantation to chase away nightmares:

St. George, St. George, our lady’s knight

He walked by day so did he by night:

Until such times as he her found,

He her beat and he her bound,

Until her troth to him plight,

He would not come to her that night.

Take Roman vitriol six or eight ounces, beat it very small in a mortar, sift it through a fine sieve when the sun enters Leo; keep it in the heat of the sun by day and dry by night; if a person be wounded, apply it not to the wound but to the weapon by which he received it and the wound shall heal.

In West Country England it is known as a fact that warts can be easily cured by this method: steal a piece of meat and bury it. Just so long as the theft remains unconfessed and the meat rots, the warts will continue to disappear.

For the cure of warts, first burn a stick at one end in an open fireplace; take it out, but do not touch the charred end, and let the burnt portion cool. The black soot must be cooled, and it will be most effective if it is chilled by being put in snow, but this is not essential. Lay the burnt end then on the warts; only the other end of the stick can be held by the hand, the charred tip must touch only the warts that it is to cure. Then throw the entire stick in the fire, still taking care not to touch the charred end which now contains the essence of the warts. If it is touched, it will merely plant new warts.

This is the way to cure warts most effectively, and other cures are best forgotten. Split a bean. Cut the wart. Some say that blood should appear, but it will work either way in most cases. Half of the bean must be placed on the wart. If blood has come, some of it must be absorbed by the bean. Burn the other half of the bean to nothingness, but retain the half that has covered the wart, and wait for a moonless night. Then, on such a night, take the half of the bean to a crossroads, arriving there exactly at midnight. Here bury the bean, all the while chanting, “Down bean, off wart, come no more to bother me.” This will remove the warts and they will not return.

You can stop an epileptic fit by reciting in a low voice over the stricken person this prayer: “Praeceptis salutaribus moniti, et divina institutione formati, audemus dicere. Pater noster... etc.” Before you have finished the Lord’s Prayer, the fit will have ended. Take care though to step over the man if he rolls on the ground, for if you touch him otherwise the illness will enter your own body as it leaves his. Another way to cure such a fit is to whisper the following into his right ear: “Gaspar fert mirrham, thus Melchior, Balthassar, aurum,” and he will recover. If the man can point out the spot where first he fell to the ground, you can make his cure complete by driving three iron nails into the ground at that spot, each time pronouncing his name.

Arthritis is cured by taking hog’s dung and charnell and putting them together and holding them in the left hand; and take a knife in the other hand and prick the medicine three times. And cast the medicine into the fire; and take the knife and make three pricks under a table, and let the knife stick there. And take three leaves of sage and as much of herb John or herb Grace and put them in ale and drink it last at night and first at morning; and this will ease the lameness infallibly.

To dispel worms in children, peach tree leaves should be preserved in vinegar with mint and alum and applied to the navel.

In times of plague chew burnet, any plant of the genus Sanguisorba, which will preserve you from contagion. Greater burnet is also useful for stopping hemorrhages.

Pound the flower of the marshmallow with turpentine and pork fat. Applied to the stomach, this cures inflammations of the womb. The root of the marshmallow plant, if it is infused in wine, prevents retention of the urine. If the seed of the marshmallow plant is pounded and kneaded into an ointment, this can be rubbed over the face and hands to insure against the stings of bees and wasps.

Royal comfrey, a plant of the genus Symphytum, is useful in bringing stillborn children from the womb. It will remove films from the eyes as well, if used in compresses. Royal comfrey is helpful to bones and ulcers, and its leaves are potent against inflammation.

Anet stalks can be cooked in oil and applied to the head to deliver one from insomnia.

Dill water is excellent for use in children’s complaints, as flatulence.

To remove herpes (shingles) and other skin eruptions, one should grind leeks and mix with barley flour and oil.

If one is troubled with ulcers on feet and legs, plantain leaves will solve this, if they are pounded and applied as a poultice. To stop dysentery, pulverize seeds of plantain in wine, or preserve the leaves in vinegar. To cure dropsy, eat raw plantain leaves after dry bread, without taking a drink. The root of the fresh water plantain, when infused in wine, is useful in neutralizing opium poisoning and other narcotic effects.

Viburnum leaves in red wine are a certain cure for epilepsy. Also, for convulsions and spasms, viburnum or cramp bark is used.

Some women after giving birth are troubled by insatiable hunger. This can be easily remedied by pounding the leaves and tendrils of grape vines into a poultice which is applied to the stomach.

The grapestone can be roasted and pulverized and applied in poultice for the cure of dysentery.

Wormwood, cooked in wine and taken in small dosages, saves women from the danger of miscarriage.

Fumigations of wormwood boiled and taken in a hip bath will deliver a woman of a stillborn child.

Nettle seeds are effective against pleurisy and lung inflammations, for which they should be cooked in wine. The leaves of the nettle may also be pounded and applied to sores and wounds for the prevention of gangrene and to aid healing. If one suffers from mushroom poisoning, a decoction of the seeds of the nettle plant is advised.

A little nitre mixed with oil is effective against poisoning, especially mushroom poisoning.

Nettle seeds should be mixed with honey and sucked for goiter and for consumption.

Nettle has many outstanding properties. It is famed for sweetening the breath. Also, if one will hold a nettle stalk in his hand and a milfoil stalk which has been picked while the sun was passing through the Lion, he will be made completely impervious to fear. For gathering fish, a fine bait can be made from nettle juice and juice of snake root; when the hand is anointed with the blend and plunged into a body of water, it will attract whole schools of fishes, which can be easily captured.

For henbane poisoning, take the juice of the purslane, a plant of the family Portulacaceae, with a sweet wine.

Angelica in wine is a good cure for interior ulceration. If this plant is reduced to a powder, a pinch of it swallowed with wine before breakfast in the winter will guard one from winter epidemics. In the summer, the powder should be taken with rosewater to preserve from ills of that season.

For ulcers of the lung, an infusion of thistles is used. If the thistle root be powdered fine and applied it will cure ulcers of the breast.

Aloe juice with vinegar will invariably cure falling hair. Rosemary, southernwood, and citric acid are also prescribed for falling hair.

Chewed raw, purslane cures mouth ulcers. The seeds of the purslane, when crushed and eaten with honey, are effective against asthma.

Raspberry leaves are effective in treating mouth ulcers.

Angelica leaves, pulverized with rue and honey, will prevent rabies when applied to dog bites.

Agnus castus in a strong decoction will work to preserve chastity; moreover, with smallage and sage in salt water it results in a liniment for the back of the head which will restore those who have been in a coma.

To be completely safe from vipers or any venomous reptile, one need wear a belt of juniper, leeks, or verbena stalks.

It is most dangerous to the health of a woman if she accidentally suppress her monthly flows. If this happens, she must be made to take up her cycle again by heavy doses of fresh parsley-leaf tea.

If the monthly cycle is overdue, a woman must take finely chopped agrimony, feverfew, and parsley, which are mixed with oatmeal grits and all cooked with fresh pork. Only the liquid is to be drunk and the meat must be promptly thrown away and not allowed to linger in the brew.

Dissolve in the mouth three grains of sea salt and spread this over the teeth and gums with the tongue; the teeth will never decay if this is done each morning regularly.

For a pimply face, boil tobacco leaves and apply as a lotion. Echinacia is effective also.

For hemorrhage of the uterus, get seven oranges and stew their skins in three pints of water until there is only one pint of liquid left. Toss in a handful or two of sweet sugar. Take twelve spoonfuls of this three or four times each day.

Barberry is good against piles and liver difficulties. The root of this plant, or of the sorrel or the plantane, when worn around the neck, will cure scrofula and scrofulous tumors.

The elder plant, especially the flowers, will reduce inflammation; elder flowers mixed with honey and rye flour will cure erysipelas.

A cure for erysipelas is this: Take two ounces of the oil of roses and mix well together with three ounces of oil of water lilies and five ounces of warm milk, either goat or cow.

Cucumber is excellent against freckles and skin blotches.

If one is troubled by complexion, especially blotches or patches of redness, this is what to do. Take the gall of a cow and mix this with eggshells which have first been dissolved in vinegar.

There is a certain cure for unpleasant complexion which if followed will do the job. Goose droppings are to be soaked in wine. Every day for nine days a dose about the size of a walnut must be taken. This will also end jaundice.

Erotic dreams may have a debilitating effect. To be rid of them one must take a sheet of lead and cut it in the form of a cross, which is to be laid on the stomach.

People have been known to choke on fishbones, which can be very dangerous. The best thing to do if this should happen is to put your feet in a bowl of cold water. If bread crumbs stick in the throat, stuff the ears with the very same bread and there will be results.

The pains of childbirth can be reduced and even eliminated if one will take eagle’s droppings and reduce them to powder, which is burnt over glowing embers to procure a fumigation. Another remedy is one ounce of raspberry leaf steeped in a pint of water; take this tea very often in large quantities after the first six months.

If one desires to make the hair grow, or to give the hair new life, he must roast bees. Take the ashes that result and mix these with mouse droppings. Infuse this blend in oil of roses. Now add the ash of roasted chestnuts, or roasted beans will do. Whatever part of the body you anoint with this, hair will grow there.

For dysentery or dropsy, goat’s blood should be heated and drunk. For jaundice, take the gall of a goat, mix with honey and apply as an ointment. The gall of the goat dried and put on the stomach will cure or prevent inflammation there. For dysentery, roast a goat’s head.

This is how you will cure a dropsical person without fail: Collect the droppings of a little unweaned dog and dry these and powder them. For nine days have the patient swallow this in any beverage, especially in wine. But if this is to work, the patient must not know the nature of this cure or it will lose its power.

You will bring a dead child from the womb if you apply to the stomach an ointment made from the juice of leeks, the fat of a he-goat, and the gall of a hare.

Liver ailments are best cured by taking a wolf’s liver, which has been dried and crushed, in Madeira wine.

Your children will cut their teeth painlessly if you rub their gums with hens’ brains.

You will ensure long life and good health if each day before dinner you will take two or three spoonfuls of honey.

If you will make a bracelet of raw silk and tie this about a child’s wrist, he will not suffer from convulsions. But this danger is present until the period of the first teething is past, and so this bracelet must be kept on at all times and taken off only to be replaced by a clean one. Another protection against these convulsions is to steep the seeds of the male peony in white wine; then make a necklace of these on linen or hempen thread. The necklace must consist of an odd number of the seeds, not an even number.

Here is how you can make yourself appear to be ill and have a temporary feverishness. Cook a stag beetle in olive oil and rub the pulse with this ointment.

Jacinth cures dropsy.

To bring about a stoppage of bleeding, red coral is wanted.

Hyena stone cures quartan ague as well as the gout.

Sapphire cures inflammations of the eyes, especially when engraved with the image of a ram.

Antracites, antrachas, and anthrax are the same stone, which sparkles like fire. It cures imposthumes. It is girdled with a white veining. When it is smeared with oil it loses color, but if dipped in water it sparkles the more.

A Babylonian invocation to the goddess Tasmitu, to remove sickness or evil spells:

I, son of ___, whose god is ____, whose goddess is ____,

In the evil of an eclipse of the Moon, which in-month and on-day has taken place

In the evil of the powers, of the portents, evil and not good, which are in my palace and my land,

Have turned toward thee! I have established thee!

Listen to the incantation! Before Nabu thy spouse, the lord, the prince, the first-born son of Isagila, intercede for me!

May he hearken to my cry at the word of thy mouth!

May he remove my sighing, may he learn my supplication!

At his mighty word may god and goddess deal graciously with me!

May the sickness of my body be torn away!

May the groaning of my flesh be consumed!

May the consumption of my muscles be removed!

May the poisons that are upon me be loosed!

May the ban be torn away!

Akkadian incantation against disease:

The wicked god, the wicked demon, the demon of the desert, the demon of the mountain, the demon of the sea, the demon of the marsh,

Spirit of the heavens, conjure it!

Spirit of the earth, conjure it!

Akkadian incantation for the plague:

Incantation. Wicked demon, malignant plague,

The spirit of the earth makes you leave his body.

May the favorable genius, the good giant,

The favorable demon,

Come with the spirit of the earth.

Incantation of the powerful, powerful, powerful God.

Amen.

An Akkadian incantation against ulcers:

That which does not go away,

That which is not propitious,

That which grows up,

Ulcers of a bad kind,

Poignant ulcers, enlarged ulcers, excoriated ulcers, ulcers,

Ulcers which spread, malignant ulcers,

Spirit of the heavens, conjure it!

Spirit of the earth, conjure it!

An Akkadian conjuration against disease:

The seven gods of the vast heavens,

The seven gods of the great earth,

The seven gods of the igneous spheres,

These are the seven gods,

The seven malevolent gods,

The seven malevolent phantoms.

Spirit of the heavens, conjure it!

Spirit of the earth, conjure it!

An Assyrian healing spell:

The man of Ea am I,

The man of Damkina am I,

The messenger of Marduk am I.

My spell is the spell of Ea,

My incantation is the incantation of Marduk,

The circle of Ea is in my hand,

The Tamarisk, the powerful weapon of Anu,

In my hand I hold,

The death spathe, mighty in decision,

In my hand I hold.

A Chaldean magic formula against headache:

Knot on the right and arrange flat in regular bands, on the left a woman’s diadem:

Divide it twice in seven little bands;

Gird the head of the invalid with it:

Gird the seat of life with it:

Gird his hands and his feet:

Seat him on his bed:

Pour on him enchanted waters.

An Egyptian spell for poison or one suffering from any venomous bite:

Fashion a hawk with two feathers on the head; this should be made of ivy wood and painted. Recite the spell below over it; open its mouth and offer it bread and beer and incense; then place it on the face of the victim. It will quickly repel the poison. This is the spell to be chanted:

“Flow out, thou poison, come forth upon the ground. Horus conjures thee, he cuts thee off, he spits thee out, and thou risest not up but fallest down. Thou art weak and not strong, a coward and dost not fight, blind and dost not see. Thou liftest not thy face. Thou art turned back and findest not thy way. Thou mournest and dost not rejoice. Thou creepest away and dost not appear. So speaketh Horus, efficacious of magic! The poison which was rejoicing, the hearts of multitudes grieve for it; Horus has slain it by his magic. He who mourned is in joy. Stand up, thou who wast prostrate. Horus has restored thee to life. He who came as one carried is gone forth of himself; Horus has overcome his bites. All men, when they behold Re, praise the son of Osiris. Turn back, thou snake, conjured is thy poison which was in any limb of _____, the son of _____. Behold, the magic of Horus is powerful against thee. Flow out, thou poison, come forth upon the ground.”

A Roman spell to banish pain:

Hang around the neck these words on a paper:

An ant has no blood nor bile:

Flee, uvula, lest a crab eat you.

A Roman incantation for dislocated bone:

Huat hanat huat

Ista pista sista

Comiabo damnaustra.