My particular hankering was to be tossed into a chasm, though these are not at all common around Basildon. I made up witch songs and caterwauled them out of the window at night. I communicated with other (invisible) witches in witch language scrawled over my cupboard door. Borrowing my mum's old milkpan, I would pass balmy summer evenings stirring livid stews of wild berries and gladioli over a bonfire at the back of our garden, then pour the resulting brew into jam jars and label them "potion". When I was a little girl, I thought I was a witch. Once the spell has worked, the poppet will be burned or buried, thereby releasing the spell. The poppet's leg might be bandaged as part of a healing ritual, or its mouth might be sewn up to prevent the living person it represents from spreading gossip. In a coven, the poppet may be consecrated on a witches' altar, attached by cord to both a woman and a man (according to the Wiccan belief, that male and female energy combined create the most effective magic), and given the appropriate symbolic treatment. Poppets are wax, clay or even Plasticene figures resembling the person on whom the magic is to be focused. A witches' ladder also refers to a string of 40 beads used like a rosary as an aid to concentrated repetition. Untying the first knot would unleash a light breeze, the second a stronger wind and so on. Witches' ladders have a long tradition in Cornwall, where they were commonly sold to fishermen before a trip out to sea. Tie the knots towards you to draw your object inward and away from you to dispel it. Following the same lunar pattern as for candle magic, each night tie one knot in the rope while strongly visualising what you wish to achieve. Don't talk about the spell and, once it's done, forget about it.ĭedicate a piece of rope to magic. Repeat the procedure the next night, and again each night until the moon has completed its waxing or waning. Light the candle and strongly visualise what you want to achieve for as long as you can maintain concentration. To draw something to you, begin the spell on a new moon to dispel it, begin on a waning moon. Candle magic, like most magic, is best done after dark. If it's something you want to dispel, write it from the bottom to the top. If you wish to draw something towards yourself, write its name from the top of the candle to the bottom. Pick a candle of an appropriate colour for the job (green or pink for love, yellow for wealth, red for strength, blue for good fortune, mauve for wisdom, brown for stability). Mash this into beetroot.'A good general-purpose spell that anyone who believes in it can do,' says Latham. To gain control of your shadow to make it serve you, prepare an offering of ground wheat, ripe mulberries and unboiled sesame, and uncooked throne (perhaps fig leaves). So exactly what to do with the recipe when it has been brewed or what a shadow can do when under ‘control’ are matters that await rediscovery. They were written as reminders for a practising magician, rather than as instructions for a neophyte. This magical recipe is typical of many surviving spells. The first group showed signs of tipsiness, while members of the second group remained completely sober. Another group were actually given that same small dose of alcohol in a drink, but not informed by the researchers that it was there. To illustrate the power of belief in drugs, known as the ‘placebo effect’, in a controlled experiment, a group of college students were informed that they had consumed a beverage that contained a measure of alcohol, when in fact it did not. Likewise, informing someone that they were under the effects of a potion could work as a strong disinhibitor, giving subjects an excuse for behaviour they’d rather like to indulge in anyway. If a potion inspired that confidence, then it was indeed effective. These were also effective, though arguably they worked because the users believed that they worked. Witches approached by lovesick clients would brew potions or use herbs in amorous spells. Drawing on a wide array of sources, from Greek dramas to curse tablets, and lavishly illustrated throughout, and packed with information, surprises, lore and learning, this book will offer an engaging and accessible way into the supernatural for all. Ancient Magic offers us a new way of understanding the role of magic in the ancient world, looking at its history in all of its classical forms.
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