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Modern Survivals of Old Beliefs
L J Dickinson
(Old Cornwall 1935ish)
Those who have lived
in Cornwall for many years, and who are in touch with its country-folk,
often come cross old practices of witchcraft that they formerly thought
as exploded superstitions-for instance, about two years ago, a tale was
related to me by a woman who worked in my house, about a curious
happening in the Holsworthy district. She knew one of the persons
herself, and she also averred that the truth of the tale was vouched for
by a respectable tradesman in the district. It concerns a farmer and a
postman near Holsworthy. The postman delivered letters at the farm, and
to save time he made a short cut across some fields where there was no
path, and no right-of-way. The farmer forbade his doing so, and they had
a great quarrel. Shortly afterwards everything at the farm went wrong;
the crops failed, the pigs died, and the butter wouldn't come. On
considering the matter the farmer came to the conclusion that he had
been "overlooked," and he went to a white witch to see if his suspicions
were true. The witch gave him a glass of water, and told him to gaze
into it intently. He did so, and he saw forming on the surface of the
water, a face, which was the face of the postman! He felt so annoyed and
angry that he thrust his finger into the eye of the face he saw in the
water, and then he came away. Soon afterwards it was observed that the
postman had become blind in one eye. It had gradually withered away,
apparently for no reason at all, but every one knew it was because the
farmer had poked out the eye he saw in the vision in the glass of water.
 Besides
"ill wishing" or "over-looking," there are charms for benevolent
purposes, such as curing ailments, snake bites, rheumatism, removing
warts, etc. Here is a remedy for curing a stye in the eye, or what is
locally known as a "quillaway." You stroke the eyelid with a Tom-cat's
tail three times, three mornings running; and it must be done very
early, before the dew is off the ground. Another informant who knew of
this practice said a single hair was equally efficacious, but it must be
from a cat. In another cure for the same trouble, the charmer stands
with a rolling-pin and points it at the sufferer, who must say 'what are
you pointing at? The charmer replies Not you not you'. The patient then
says, "What are you pointing at?' 'At your eye," answers the charmer; "I
drive the stye away," and away it goes! Cats seem to be in favour for
medical treatment, even for curing measles. It is recommended by one
white witch in my neighbourhood that you should cut off the cat's left
ear, and drop three drops of its blood into a wineglass full of spring
water. You then administer the remedy to the child who has measles.
Other curious things are recommended in this district. For
whooping-cough you fill a little muslin bag full of spiders, tie it
round the neck of the patient, who wears it day and night, and the cough
departs; for asthma, spiders are again made use of. In this case the
webs of spiders must be collected, rolled up into a litttle ball in the
palm of the hand, and then swallowed.
I wonder whether there is a vestige of ancient knowledge behind some of
these ancient remedies? Is it possible that there may be an antidote or
antiseptic in spiders which forgotten lore was acquainted with, and that
practice has continued without the knowledge? We know that ants and bees
secrete formic acid from which formaldehyde, and also that common remedy
for sore throats, formamint, are made. And I wonder whether there is any
electricity in a cats tail which may stimulate a stye to depart? We know
that cats are very electric animals.
There was, till some years ago, an old man in Tintagel who was always
considered to be a wise-man or white witch. Old Martin, as he was
called, and whom I knew well, had many charms for various troubles, such
as warts sprains, burns etc. He cured a girl I know of warts, by what
resembles the "absent treatment" given by Christian Scientists. The
mother of the child went to him for help and all he asked of her was the
name of the afflicted one. Then he said, " Go home, her'll be all right"
and in a week all the warts had gone. This old man would never take
money for his charms all he would accept was a little tobacco on another
day, and the recipients of his benefits were not even allowed to thank
him. He had a curious spell for curing sprains. It does not seem quite
complete so perhaps he witheld part of it. What was told to me was this:
the charmer must take hold of the injured limb, and say, "As our Saviour
went over God's bridge, he caught his toe in a stone and he got a
sprain. Then comes Peter who stretched it out, bone to bone, sinew to
sinew, skin to skin. I hope every drop of blood in thy body will run, in
the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost." This was written as
Old Martin said it. Another charm of the old man's is for curing boils.
He divulged, it when very ill, to the District Nurse, and she confided
it to me. The spell has to be recited over the patient, using his or her
own name in the right place:-"Susie Brown, three angels came from the
west. One had fire, the others had water and frost. Out Fire! In, Water
and Frost! In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost."
An old man, in a parish not far from Tintagel, confided to the Rector's
wife a way of frustrating the evil intentions of the person who had
ill-wished you. This lady is a friend of mine and she handed on the
information to me. When you are ill-wished and you know who has done it,
you must procure a photograph of that person, and then you write his or
her name across the face in the picture, and throw the photograph in the
fire. You can't be hurt after that, for it breaks the spell. The old man
who told this charm to my friend had been ruined by a law-suit brought
against him by an enemy. He longed to obtain a photograph of the
ill-wisher, but so far had not been successful.
This tale seems to be a modern version of the ancient method of making a
wax image of one's enemy, and then melting it before a fire. Psalm 68,
verse 2, probably refers to the same practice: "As wax melteth before
the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God." An
adaptation of this psalm is used as a charm for curing snake-bite. A
former vicar of Bolventor (that lonely parish on the Bodmin Moor), gave
me an account of how a dog had been bitten by an adder, and its head had
swollen to the size of a football. The charm was repeated over it by a
"wise-man" in the locality, and immediately the swelling diminished and
the dog recovered. The words used were:-Let God arise and let His
enemies be scattered. Let them that hate Him flee before Him. Like as
the smoke vanisheth so shalt thou drive them away, and like as wax
melteth at the fire, so let this poison perish at the presence of
God, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen." My
informant said that in the case of a human being, belief in the efficacy
of the charm was necessary, but it did not matter for an animal. He also
added that the practice of charming was much resorted to by his
parishioners on the moor, and that when their animals are bitten by
adders, it is the wise-man who is sent for rather than the veterinary
surgeon. Sometimes they sent twelve miles for a charmer of special
ability. He justly said that if the wise-man had been successful, and
the people had suffered loss through their creatures dying in spite of
being charmed, the witch would soon have been forsaken for the vet.
It is the success of
the wise-man that makes him still popular, and which is to us is such a
curious problem.
cf Modern Survivals of
Old Beliefs L J Dickinson 'The Occult Review' November 1917
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