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Stomach, and Catherine Green one into its Side.--A Picture in Wax or Clay
was delivered to the Man in black, who stuck a Thorn into the Crown of it,
Agar one towards the Breast, Catherine Green in the side; after which Agar
threw down the Picture, and said, There is Cornish's Picture with a Murrain
to it, or a Plague on it.--Margaret Agar delivered to the little Man in
black, a Picture in Wax, into which he and Agar stuck Thorns, and Henry
Walter thrust his Thumb into the side of it; then they threw it down, and
said, There is Dick Green's Picture with a Pox on it." In 1678[34] some
members of the witch coven of Paisley met together to make an image for the
destruction of Sir George Maxwell. A man-witch gave evidence "that the Devil
required every one of their consents for the making of the Effigies of Clay,
for the taking away the Life of Sir George Maxwell. Declares, that every one
of the Persons above-mentioned gave their Consents to the making of the said
Effigies, and that they wrought the Clay, and that the black Man did make
the figure of the Head and Face, and two Arms on the said Effigies.
Declares, That the Devil set three Pins in the same, one in each Side, and
one in the Breast; And that the Declarant did hold the Candle to them, all
the time the Picture was making." In New England in 1692,[35] the accusation
against the Rev. George Burroughs included the charge "that he brought
Poppets to them, and Thorns to stick into those Poppets." In medieval times
it is very certain that the recorders regarded wax images as being made only
for evil purposes, but it is possible that they were also used for healing
the sick. It was a common thing for a witch to be accused of casting pain or
illness from the patient on some other person or on an animal. When, as
often happened, the pains were those of childbirth and were cast on the
husband he was most indignant, and his indignation was shared by the male
judges to whom he related his woes. That a man should, be called upon to
suffer "the natural and kindly pains" which ought to be peculiarly the lot
of women was too terrible to be allowed, and the witch who did this
particular piece of magic was put to death. The case of the transference of
cancer from one patient to another is mentioned on p. 71. Unfortunately,
though the accusations of transference of illness are fairly common, the
method is never described in full. It may, however, have been by means of a
wax image, as done at the present day in Egypt, where an image of the
patient is made, pins are stuck into it in the places where the pain is
acute, and then the figure is destroyed in the fire, in the belief that the
pain or disease has been put into the figure and will be destroyed by its
destruction. It seems, therefore, not unlikely that, like other magical
ceremonies of the witches, the wax images had their good uses as well as
bad.
A ceremony, which had clearly once been for promoting the fertility of a
cornfield, was used at Auldearne,[36] but when recorded it had degenerated
into a method for destruction. "Before Candlemas we went be-east Kinloss,
and there we yoked a plough of toads. The Devil held the plough, and John
Young, our Officer, did drive the plough. Toads did draw the plough as oxen,
couch-grass was the harness and trace-chains, a gelded animal's horn was the
coulter, and a piece of a gelded animal's horn was the sock". In this
everything denoted sterility, but the method was clearly derived from a
fertility rite.
74
GOTW
Many of the magical charms and spells were for the healing of the sick or
for the prevention of disease. Thus Barbara Paterson was accused in 1607[37]
of getting water from the Dow-loch, and "putting the said loch water into a
stoup, and causing the patients lift it up and say, 'I lift this stoup in
the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for the health of them for whom
it was lifted', which words were to be repeated three times nine. Item, she
used this charm for curing cattle, 'I charm ye for arrow-shot, for eye-shot,
for tongue-shot, for liver-shot, for lung-shot, for cat-shot, all the most,
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost'." Though this might very
reasonably have been called a Christian prayer, it was reckoned as a
devilish charm when used by a witch. Another charm[38] for the preservation
of the reciter was used by Agnes Sampson, and was known as the White
Paternoster; it is clearly a confused version of a Christian prayer or hymn:
.
"White Paternoster,
God was my Foster.
He fostered me Under the Book of Palm-tree.
Saint Michael was my Dame,
He was born at Bethelem.
He was made of flesh and blood.
God send me my right food;
My right food, and dyne two,
That I may to yon Kirk go
To read upon yon sweet Book,
Which the mighty God of Heaven shoop.[*1]
Open, open, Heaven's Yaits,[*2]
Steik,[*3] steik, Hell's Yaits.
All Saints be the better,
That hear the White Prayer, Pater Noster."
The companion-charm[33] is the Black Paternoster, which has the distinction
of surviving to the present day in various forms as a charm to be said
before going to sleep. This seems to be the meaning of the epithets given to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]