Westcountry Witchery

It never took much to put a jink on a bloke; but then again, it never has. Which is a good thing if you're like me, and grew up bloody broke as shite. . . .
My profession, such as it ended up, employs thousands of ingredients for just as many different reasons. But you don't in fact need to land yourself with a dreadful apothecary receipt to get results. Lead from a church roof, a brick from the mill; a piece of hair, an iron nail. . . .
Sometimes, knowing how to use the fewest and simplest ingredients is where your true power lies.

Advice that Snape himself might have given is advice that I take to heart in my own practice. It's also the backbone of many folk magicks such as Hoodoo, developed in communities where the poor or disenfranchised may not have access to rare or costly things like ambergris, rose attar, or spine of lionfish.

But never mind fictional fancy and the stereotypical lore of witchcraft spun for children's books; such magic has real-life roots, and while a bit of hair is not likely to get you as dramatic a result as, for example, Polyjuice Potion, it has been used for plenty of other magickal methods via the principle known as "sympathetic magic" . . . which in turn may have real roots in quantum physics, i.e. the energetic connection of all things, particularly direct or recent links, and above all, intention.

I was thrilled to find this example of genuine old magick from Britain today on a social media group! I haven't posted a lot lately, especially about potions or Snape himself (we all know how fun moving is!), and I just adore stuff like this.

This elegantly simple but kind of sinister-seeming little charm does everything its worker needs it to. It's basically a prayer of intention, for good or ill, cemented in the material realm with ingredients and actions, instead of merely thought and energy. That's all a spell is! Any reasonably well-read or trained witch today could use the exact methods used to make this charm to craft their own brand-new spell.

Our mystery magioarchaeologist from social media posted the following:

(K. McGaw) Wanted to share this from an antique collector group I am in. The owner of the object is considering donation to a museum of witchcraft. I dont know the details of how it was found but thought it was worth sharing. . . .

Evidence suggests, however, that this is equally likely to be a curse as a good luck charm, if not more so. Those of us who study magick enough to understand the functions and commonalities of use in various ingredients or actions --- even across cultures and continents, as there are things very archetypal to the human experience that may now be embedded in what Carl Jung calls our "collective unconscious" --- can quickly spot the hallmarks. The presence of lead, for example, is suspicious, as is the iron nail through the packet: Lead is the dense base metal of the binding, shielding and limiting planet of endings and death, Saturn, and is a metal also used by early Hellenic people for curses. Iron nails suggest coffin nails, the iron of military weapons, attack and defense.

Folks on social media, as they are wont to do, were quick to post their admiration, but also their (not misplaced) reactions based in fear. The conversation was fascinating! :

(Dorian) Pretty awesome to hold history like that. Still gotta be careful of the lead, though.

(McGee) Legit old world method.

(Bowen) Is this an old hex or freezing spell? I don’t know anything about the properties of lead, but I work with nails and hair. I’m usually up to shenanigans or defense when I’m working with sharp things and biological material. Do I need to invest in some church lead?

(S. Haggard) Honey Lewis, I'm getting a big fat NO on the good luck thing!! Lead, hair, spell etched into the lead, sealed with an iron nail!!! Nope!! Not good at all!!! Poison, hardships, sickness, death. Is what that whole mess says to me!!

(Honey) That's what I was taught as well, maybe she has some insight we don't?

(Amber) Old world binding. Very effective! I use this still in times. What an amazing find. Being so old and still bound it may lead to a family curse.

(Dave) It may be "old world" but not necessarily that old. We still do stuff like this in the westcountry. Lead is/was used simply because it's malleable.

(Zoe) Thank you for sharing this cool old piece of history. Yew wood is also often used in spells. For good luck or protection take only wood that grows in a churchyard. Yew taken from other locations will have the opposite effect. I had an ancestor who would make such charms.

(Rea) Christians been doing magic for centuries, lots of old churches with curses chipped into the walls of areas used by priests only would you believe it? There have been some programmes here in UK regarding such things, i.e. "Mystic Britain". The witchcraft museum in Boscastle Cornwall also has a section on Christian witchcraft.

(Crystal) This is why I've always leaned towards Christian witchcraft. Regular Christians don't get it and that's fine, but this is my practice and my spiritual walk.

(Lynn) I’m not getting a good feeling from it at all!

(Hannah) One look at the photo and my head began to ache. The energies that I feel are not that good... so I dont think it is a good luck charm

(Lillian) My gut says it’s a charm to keep someone bound to a place. They didn’t likely know about lead poisoning, just that it was heavy. Using something from a church they believed would add divine power to the charm, and iron spikes also added luck.

(Hannah) Ya, maybe it’s an insanity curse.

(Stiles) It speaks to me a curse meant to pierce and weigh the person down.

(Kayla) That is a curse. Oh my god. That is definitely not a good luck charm.

(Loran) Yawl are brave! I wouldn’t touch it, and would return it back to where it was found.

(B. Merideth) We can all make our own conclusions of what this is, but The only one who knows exactly what this was used for is the one who had made it.

(Roseanne) I saw documentary 'Mystic Britain' lately on Smithsonian channel and it was about witchcraft, pagans, mystic monuments etc. That is a curse and not at all lucky. It showed where curses were written or etched into walls, roof, and such in churches, homes, gathering spots and gates etc. very interesting documentaries, worth watching. but beware of that charm as you call it, its not good.

(Kings Bridge) So the family curse thing really grabbed my attention. How does someone find out if their family is cursed and how to undo it?

(Zoe) Kings Bridge if you have a sensitive in your family they may be able to discern this info. Otherwise use a pendulum and ask yes/no questions. How it’s undone depends on how it was cast. Recall the game of 20 questions as a child. You should be able to work your way thru to a solution.

(Zee) Iron nails were nailed to the head of a grave to stop the dead rising... theremust be similar significance in this item similar... and no I wouldn't handle it either!

(Macks) Iron has always been used against evil generally because it’s cheaper than silver and available to peasants. But that’s why cemeteries have cast iron gates.

(Nikola) To me it looks like some binding spell has been made. That folding and the nail doesn't look good.

(Cassandra) I havent seen anything like this before but didnt get good vibes from it.

(Lili) Vegetable matter would have disintegrated long ago, but Keratin (which is what hair is made of) doesn't. So no matter what it looks like, chances are it's old, brittle hair.

(N. Brewer Lombardi) It’s a Gossip Remover Spell. Witches would take the hair from a person and seal it with earth mud. Then close the spell with a rusty nail to keep it shut permanently. Or a wooden box nailed and buried. One who speaks ill is damned to never speak again.

(Lina) I see it and think spindle for spinning wool!

(A. Davies) I think some have to take into consideration the age of this object. We’ve learned a lot from very modern magick which some are vastly different than something created many decades ago. A charm could have been considered good or bad depending on who made it and their intention. The separation between a good or bad hex wasn’t a “thing” way back when. It was merely working magick. The inscription very well could be promoting good life, money, children, etc. and include the individual’s hair.

(Lili) Any charm made by a Witch is a "True witch's charm". This one is just old and historic which gives us a delightful connection to our collective past.

(Mary) What a find! I wonder what the spell says inside.

(Natasha) "Mine rivalle Marye may fhe be stricken with boyles and wartes hairye!"

lol.

Speculation about curses aside, our historical Westcountry witch may not have been aiming at outright evil, even with a binding or cursing. Just the opposite. She, or he, might have been trying to stop a vicious landlord, a thieving neighbor, a local county-wide bully or corrupt official, an abusive husband, a home-wrecking seductress; even a "demon" of either the Biblical kind or a curse like alcoholism, hence the efficacy of church ingredients (Hoodoo is another folk magick practice that actively embraces the use of Bible verses and Christian elements) . . . we may never know!

As a final note:
Such is the miracle of our age, compared to even twenty years ago, that witches and mages of all stripes can come together and converse about topics like this. Where once we were isolated, having no idea when or if we would meet anyone else who understood our perspective or knew similar skills, we can now share knowledge and opinion. Of course, nothing tops meeting in person, and truly communicating on all levels; typed verbal exchange alone can easily devolve into petty insults and argument. But still, it is exchange.

Do I like social media companies, their filthy rich political bastard CEOs and what they stand for? No. Am I grateful for the means to meet? Yes. I rebel by simply never buying any damned ads. But greed exists in any human dynamic, going back to before ancient Egypt, so I will be honest in saying I am grateful for the Internet, this miraculous gift of petroleum and technology, including its role as a means of magical revival. And, for that matter, revolt.

For my future reading list:

The Black Toad: Westcountry Witchcraft and Magic, by Gemma Gary

Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World, by John G. Gager.