Black Cats and Evil Eyes (19 page)
Read Black Cats and Evil Eyes Online
Authors: Chloe Rhodes
Toads and frogs were a source of fascination in ancient times because of their ability to exist on either land or water. They were seen as symbolic of the
connection between the known world and the mysterious depths and were thought to possess magical powers. By the Middle Ages toads were known to produce poisonous secretions if attacked and this
fact, combined with their warty skin and preference for damp, shady spots, led to their being associated with witchcraft. (
See
If a Toad or Frog Enters the House
. . .) The toxins in their skin had
a hallucinogenic effect and were used by witches in ‘flying ointments’. At the time those using them believed the ointment actually enabled them to fly, though in fact they were simply
mind-altering enough to produce the sensation of flying in anyone who ingested them. Toad secretions also made them useful to witches as a source of poison for spells designed to harm or weaken
people, and one common antidote to such spells was to wear the powdered bones of a toad in a small box around the neck (
see
Wear a Toad around the Neck to Ward off the Plague
).
The wearing of a ‘toadstone’ became popular in the
sixteenth century and in 1558 ‘A iewell containing a Crapon or Toade Stone set in golde’ was
listed among the gifts given to Queen Elizabeth in her coronation year. Though these button-shaped stones were thought to be formed in the heads of toads, they were later found to be the fossilized
teeth of the Lepidotes, a Jurassic and Cretaceous bony fish that lived in both shallow seas and freshwater lakes, where toads later made their homes. The stones were worn around the neck as an
amulet against a range of ailments, especially those caused by poisoning or the bite or sting of a venomous creature.
Many medieval cures were thought to work based on the principles of sympathetic magic, or the idea that like cures like. As in modern homeopathy, medicines containing an ingredient from
something that could cause the same ailment was used as a cure. In this case it was hoped that a toadstone from a venomous toad would protect the wearer from the effects of any poison.
St John’s Wort has been known as a medicinal plant since ancient times and notes on its use appear in Pliny the Elder’s
Natural History
in
AD
77: ‘The seed is of a bracing quality, checks diarrhoea, promotes urine. It is taken with wine for bladder troubles.’ It was also used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to treat venomous
bites, menstrual pains, upset stomachs and ulcers, as well as to combat depression or melancholy. However, it was for its spiritual powers that the plant was especially revered, as illustrated by
its botanical name
Hypericum perforatum
.
Perforatum
simply means perforated, because of the tiny black ‘holes’ in the petals, which are actually oil secreting glands, but
Hypericum
comes from the Greek word
hyperikon
, which can be translated as ‘over ghosts’ (
hyper
means ‘over’ and
eikon
means ‘apparition’).
The plant’s strong odour (often compared to turpentine)
was partly responsible for this belief, as it was thought that the scent would act like an incense to drive
off evil spirits.
A poem said to date from 1400 reveals medieval attitudes towards the plant:
St John’s Wort doth charm all witches away
If gathered at midnight on the saint’s holy day.
Any devils and witches have no power to harm
Those that gather the plant for a charm:
Rub the lintels and post with that red juicy flower
No thunder nor tempest will then have the power
To hurt or hinder your houses: and bind
Round your neck a charm of similar kind.
In the thirteenth century St John’s Wort is described as ‘
herba demonis fuga
’ in a compendium of drugs compiled by the Salernitan physicians (from the celebrated medical school
of Salerno in Italy, established at the end of the first century) and was later given the name ‘
fuga demonum
’ or devil’s scourge, because of its perceived power to protect people
from the demons that haunted them. As medical understanding of psychological disorders grew during the
scientific revolution of the Renaissance, people continued to use the
word ‘demons’ to describe feelings of melancholy and the plant is now commonly used in the treatment of depression.
Death omens are among the most common superstitions, dealing as they do with the one thing that most people fear above all else, and death omens that are unmistakably directed
at an individual are the most sinister of all. This belief has been popularly held since at least the seventeenth century, though the anxieties behind it date back much further. Images of the
person are viewed with suspicion
in many cultures; some devout Muslims, Amish people, Native Americans and Aborigines prefer not to have their pictures taken, the former
because they view it as wrong to replicate anything made in the image of God, the latter because of an ancient belief that it steals a part of their soul. This notion has parallels in Christian
folklore too, in which the image of a person reflected in a mirror was believed to capture the person’s soul. (
See
Breaking a Mirror
.)
Stories in which such an omen had ended in the person’s death were passed down from one generation to the next as confirmation of its truth. The following instance was a particularly
spine-chilling example; William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645 and supporter of King Charles I in the English Civil War, was famously beheaded for treason. A 1668 biography of
him,
Life of William Laud
by ecclesiastical author Peter Heylin, tells the following, often repeated tale:
Going into his upper study . . . he [Laud] found his Picture at full Length, and taken as near unto the life as the Pensil was able to express it, to be fallen
on the Floor, and lying flat upon its face, the string being broke by which it was hanged against the wall. At the sight whereof . . . he began to fear it as an Omen of that ruine which
was coming toward him.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Heather Rhodes, John Rhodes, Annette Hibberd and Matt Hibberd, Aubrey Smith for his atmospheric drawings, and to Toby Buchan and the editorial and design team – in particular,
Ana Bježan
č
evi
ć
, Dominique Enright, Glen Saville and Andrew John – at Michael O’Mara Books.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barrette, Elizabeth, Blake, Deborah and Duga, Ellen,
Llewellyn’s 2011 Magical Almanac: Practical Magic for Everyday Living
, Llewellyn Publications, 2011
Bingham, Joseph,
The works of the learned Joseph Bingham, M. A.
(printed for Robert Knaplock, 1726), e-book digitized by Google
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham,
A Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the derivation source, or origin of common phrases, allusions, and words that have a tale to tell
, Cassell,
1905
Connor, Catherine,
Petronius the Poet: Verse and Literary Tradition in The Satyricon
, Cambridge University Press, 1998
Defoe, Daniel,
A Journal of the Plague Year
(first published 1722), Penguin Library edition, 1966
Delys, Claudia,
A Treasury of Superstitions
, Gramercy, 1997
Flexner, Stuart and Doris,
Wise Words and Wives’ Tales: The origins, meanings and time-honoured wisdom of proverbs and folk sayings olde and new
, Avon Books, 1993
Frazer, Sir James G.,
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion
(twelve volumes, 1890–1915), Touchstone, 1995
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen,
The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft
, second edition, Facts On File, 1999
Jeay, Madeleine and Garay, Kathleen, eds,
The Distaff Gospels: A First Modern English Edition of Les Évangiles des Quenouilles
, Broadview Press, 2006
Krämer, Heinrich and Sprenger, Jakob,
The Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger
(original publication c. 1486), unabridged online
republication of the 1928 edition by the Windhaven Network, Inc., 1998–2001
Oliver, Harry,
Black Cats and April Fools: Origins of Old Wives’ Tales and Superstitions in Our Daily Lives
, John Blake, 2006
Opie, Iona and Tatem, Moira,
Oxford Dictionary of Superstitions
, Oxford University Press, 2005
Origin of Superstition
, 1935 US radio presentation in thirty-nine episodes; no details given, but available from the Old Time Radio website:
http://www.otrcat.com/origin-of-superstition-p-1692.html
; mp3 format
Pickering, David,
Cassell’s Dictionary of Superstitions
, Cassell, 2003
Planer, Felix E.,
Superstition
, Prometheus Books, 1988
Potter, Carole,
Knock On Wood: An Encyclopedia of Superstition
, Longmeadow Press, 1991
Puckett, Newbell Niles,
Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro
(first edition, 1926), Kessinger Publishing, 2003; e-book or download available on the Internet Archive:
http://archive.org/details/folkbeliefsofsou00puck
Quigley, Christine,
The Corpse: A History
, McFarland & Co., 2005
Radford, E. and Radford, M. A.,
The Encyclopedia of Superstitions
, ed. and rev. by Christina Hole, MetroBooks, 2002
Rappoport, Angelo S.,
Superstitions of Sailors
, Gryphon Books, 1928
Roud, Steve,
A Pocket Guide to Superstitions of the British Isles
, Penguin Books, 2004
Sax, Boria,
The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, and Literature
, ABC-CLIO, 2001
Sikes, Wirt,
British Goblins: Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions
, J. R. Osgood & Co., 1881
Smith, Stephen Anthony and Knight, Alan (eds),
The Religion of Fools?: Superstition Past and Present
(conference: Colchester, 2005), Oxford University Press, 2008
Thompson, C. J. S.,
The Hand of Destiny: Everyday Folklore and Superstitions, 1862–1943
, reprint edition, Senate, 1995
Watson, Rev. Samuel,
The Clock Struck One, and Christian Spiritualist: being a synopsis of the investigations of spirit intercourse by an Episcopal bishop, three ministers, five
doctors, and others at Memphis, Tenn., in 1855
(first edition John P. Morton and Co., 1873), digitized paperback edition, BiblioBazaar 2009
Watts, Donald,
Elsevier’s Dictionary of Plant Lore
, Academic Press, 2007
INDEX
accidents, in threes
ref 1
acupuncture
ref 1
albatross
ref 1
All Hallows’ Eve,
see
Halloween
Allingham, William
ref 1
Annwn, Hounds of
ref 1
anti-Semitism
ref 1
Aristophanes
ref 1
Aristotle
ref 1
Athena
ref 1
Auguries of Innocence
(Blake)
ref 1
Augustus, Emperor
ref 1
babies:
amniotic membrane (caul) of
ref 1
and baptism
ref 1
christening of
ref 1
keeping cats from
ref 1
medieval, deaths of
ref 1
,
ref 2
nails of
ref 1
and yawning
ref 1
Bacon, Francis
ref 1
Balder
ref 1
Banister, John
ref 1
Bannatyne, Richard
ref 1
bats
ref 1
beds, and Fridays
ref 1
beef bones, burning
ref 1
Beltane
ref 1
Beware the Cat
(Baldwin)
ref 1
,
ref 2
birds:
albatross
ref 1
in Christian folklore
ref 1
cock
ref 1
gull
ref 1
magpie
ref 1
owl
ref 1
raven
ref 1
robin
ref 1
swallow
ref 1
swan
ref 1
thunderbirds
ref 1
black cats
ref 1
and Charles I
ref 1
as familiars
ref 1
see also
bubonic plague; plague
Blake, William
ref 1
‘Bless you!’
ref 1
Boer War
ref 1
Böhmerwald Mountains
ref 1
bones:
bats’
ref 1
beef
ref 1
burning
ref 1
Brand, John
ref 1
bread
ref 1
executioner’s
ref 1
breath:
holding, while passing a cemetery
ref 1
as life force
ref 1
soul linked with
ref 1
stolen by cats
ref 1
bridesmaids
ref 1
bridges, parting on
ref 1
brooms
ref 1
and witches
ref 1
Browne, Thomas
ref 1
see also
Black Death; plague
Bunch, Mother
ref 1
Caesar, Julius, assassination of
ref 1
Caesar, Tiberius
ref 1
candles
ref 1
in ceremony and ritual
ref 1
Canterbury Tales
(Chaucer)
ref 1
cats:
and babies
ref 1
black
ref 1
and Charles I
ref 1
Caxton, William
ref 1
cemeteries
ref 1
see also
graves
chairs:
empty
ref 1
rocking
ref 1
Characters, The
(Theophrastus)
ref 1
,
ref 2
Charles II
ref 1
Charon
ref 1
cheeks, burning
ref 1
chill, sudden
ref 1
Christmas:
and pagan solstice traditions
ref 1
and Yule logs
ref 1
Christmas cake, stirring
ref 1
Cicero
ref 1
cigarettes, lighting three with one match
ref 1
circles
ref 1
Clock Struck One
. . .,
The
(Watson)
ref 1
clocks:
broken, sudden chiming of
ref 1
speaking during chiming of
ref 1
clothes, new, and funerals
ref 1
cock, crowing of
ref 1
Cockaye, Oswald
ref 1
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
ref 1
,
ref 2
Collingwood, Capt.
ref 1
Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, A
(Wagstaff)
ref 1
Congreve, William
ref 1
corpse, touching, for luck
ref 1
Crimean War
ref 1
crossed fingers
ref 1
crossroads
ref 1
cutlery, superstitions about
ref 1
see also
knives; scissors
dark-haired men
ref 1
David Copperfield
(Dickens)
ref 1
,
ref 2
David, King
ref 1
De Divinatione
(Cicero)
ref 1
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum
ref 1
De Praestigiis Daemonum
(Weyer)
ref 1
De Rerum Inventoribus
(Polydore)
ref 1
dead, speaking ill of
ref 1
‘Death Tree’
ref 1
Defoe, Daniel
ref 1
and candles
ref 1
and knots
ref 1
Set/Seth
ref 1
‘Despot’s Song, The’
ref 1
Devil:
and bats
ref 1
and crying babies
ref 1
and empty purse
ref 1
everyday presence of
ref 1
and Fridays
ref 1
in Garden of Eden
ref 1
and horseshoes
ref 1
and Lilith
ref 1
and lying
ref 1
and magpies
ref 1
and mirrors
ref 1
and St John’s wort
ref 1
spells to counteract
ref 1
widdershins movement to summon
ref 1
Devil’s Bridge
ref 1
Dialogue of the Effectual Proverbs in the English Tongue Concerning Marriage
(Heywood)
ref 1
Dickens, Charles
ref 1
,
ref 2
,
ref 3
Diffie, Joe
ref 1
Diogenes Laërtius
ref 1
Discoverie of Witchcraft
(Scot)
ref 1
Distaff Gospels
ref 1
,
ref 2
,
ref 3
,
ref 4
,
ref 5
dogs
ref 1
Donne, John
ref 1
doors
ref 1
talismans mounted on
ref 1
Dracula
ref 1
dreams:
and bed-changing
ref 1
and candles
ref 1
of future spouse
ref 1
of lizards
ref 1
and secret enemies
ref 1
of shoelaces
ref 1
dryads
ref 1
Dundes, Alan
ref 1
earrings
ref 1
ears, burning
ref 1
Easter
ref 1
Eclogues
(Virgil)
ref 1
eggshells
ref 1
elder tree
ref 1
as ‘Death Tree’
ref 1
Elizabeth I
ref 1
epilepsy
ref 1
,
ref 2
,
ref 3
,
ref 4
drinking from skull to cure
ref 1
Évangiles des Quenouilles, Les
ref 1
and children
ref 1
and spitting
ref 1
eyes:
as amulets
ref 1
feathers, and fidelity
ref 1
feng shui
ref 1
fingers, crossed
ref 1
fire
ref 1
from match
ref 1
symbol of faith
ref 1
Flight, Edward G.
ref 1
flowers:
in Christian folklore
ref 1
on graves
ref 1
lilies, bringing indoors
ref 1
Folk Lore of Wales
(Trevelyan)
ref 1
Frazer, Sir James George
ref 1
,
ref 2
Freya
ref 1
Friday:
bed changed on
ref 1
and Devil
ref 1
superstitions concerning
ref 1
13th
ref 1
;
see also
thirteen
frogs
ref 1
and bad luck
ref 1
funerals
ref 1
and new clothes
ref 1
Gabriel, Archangel
ref 1
Gaule, Rev. John
ref 1
geometric forms
ref 1
ghosts
ref 1
,
ref 2
,
ref 3
,
ref 4
,
ref 5
of children
ref 1
and dogs
ref 1
and mirrors
ref 1
see also
soul: earthbound
gifts:
knives and scissors
ref 1
purses and wallets
ref 1
Golden Bough, The
(Frazer)
ref 1
,
ref 2
,
ref 3
Golden Dawn
ref 1
Golden Fortune Teller
(Mother Bunch)
ref 1
Golden Legend, The
ref 1
Gospelles of Dystaues, or Distaff Gospels, The
ref 1
graves
ref 1
holding breath while passing
ref 1
removing flowers from
ref 1
stepping on or over
ref 1
,
ref 2
and sudden chill
ref 1
Great Plague of London
ref 1
,
ref 2
,
ref 3
see also
plague
Hades
ref 1
hair
ref 1
cutting, at sea
ref 1
Halloween
ref 1
handkerchief, knotting
ref 1
Handlyng Synne
(Manning)
ref 1
Hawkins, Francis
ref 1
hawthorn:
cutting, and death
ref 1
Jesus’s crown of thorns made from
ref 1
Hazlitt, William Carew
ref 1
Hecate
ref 1
Henry VI
(Shakespeare)
ref 1
Hera
ref 1
Herod the Great
ref 1
Hestia
ref 1
Heylin, Peter
ref 1
Heywood, John
ref 1
Hod
ref 1
Hopkins, Matthew
ref 1
horseshoes
ref 1
in other cultures and traditions
ref 1
Hounds of Annwn, see Annwn, Hounds of
Howitt, William
ref 1
Idylls
(Theocritus)
ref 1
Igglesden, Sir Charles
ref 1
Iscariot, Judas
ref 1
,
ref 2
,
ref 3
and elder tree
ref 1
and bread
ref 1
and spiders
ref 1
sweat of
ref 1
thorn crown of
ref 1
John, Gospel of
ref 1
Journal of the Plague Year, A
(Defoe)
ref 1
Julius Caesar
(Shakespeare)
ref 1
knives:
crossed
ref 1
as gift
ref 1
knots
ref 1
Kreugar, Ivar
ref 1
ladders:
and Holy Trinity
ref 1
walking under
ref 1
‘Lady of Shalott, The’ (Tennyson)
ref 1
Langland, William
ref 1
Lanrivoare, Church of
ref 1
Laud, William
ref 1
Leechdoms
(Cockaye)
ref 1
legs, crossing of
ref 1
Life of William Laud
(Heylin)
ref 1
lightning
ref 1
and Yule logs
ref 1
lilies
ref 1
and Resurrection
ref 1
Lilith
ref 1
