Folklore of the Scottish Highlands (14 page)

Belonging as it does to the category of folk belief connected with witchcraft, good and bad, the widespread belief in the power of certain people, voluntarily or involuntarily, to inflict woe on others by means of a glance of their eye, is one of the most rich and interesting aspects of Highland folklore. Carmichael collected a huge body of lore about the Evil Eye, and recorded many fascinating methods and incantations whereby its powers may be overcome:

Four to work sickness with Evil Eye,

Man and woman, youth and maid

Three to repel ill will,

Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

Deeply-rooted and ancient traditions underlie the widespread belief in this evil power; it filled people with dread, and many feared it so much that their whole lives were hemmed in and affected by tabu connected with it. A certain rhyme must be said on the first Monday of the quarter, a dangerous day:

The first Monday of the quarter,

Take care that luck leave not thy dwelling.

The first Monday of the Spring quarter,

Leave not thy cattle neglected.

According to Carmichael, some men observed this injunction so closely that they kept their beasts indoors all day on those ominous occasions, only letting them out at nightfall, lest the Evil Eye should fall on them. Only the eye of their owner was permitted to rest on them.

There were many antidotes for this form of witchcraft, and Carmichael was given an interesting example of this by a man who was a stonemason. One Spring, his father was busy with the ploughing when a man from the other side of the loch came across to see if he could get some oat seed. He was given this, and went home the way that he had come. He was very grateful for the favour that he had received. On the instant that he turned away, the man’s mare apparently fell down dead. The mason’s father ran into the house shouting that the man to whom he had been so generous had put the ‘Eye’ on his horse. The man was then followed so that he could repair the serious damage he had caused. The offender was one of the unfortunates who could not prevent his power, and he was extremely distressed about the occurrence. He explained his powerlessness over his unfortunate faculty. He then went three times sunwise round the mare, singing a rune of aiding and praying to the Trinity to undo the damage that the Eye had done to the animal. As soon as he had finished this ritual, the mare lifted her head and rose up alive and fit. The man with the ‘Eye’ said again how the episode had distressed him, but that he had no means of averting it.

There are innumerable fascinating charms for the Evil Eye in the Highlands. According to one woman, a native of Bonar Bridge, in order to counteract the ‘Eye’ one must rise early in the morning and go to a boundary stream over which the living and the dead have passed — a very magical point. One must then lift a small palmful of water from the lower side of the bridge, in the name of the Trinity. Next one must retrace one’s steps with the palmful of water in a wooden bowl, and sprinkle the sacred liquid on the backbone of the animal on which the Evil Eye has rested. All must be performed in the name of Christianity. Next the water in the bowl must be sprinkled behind the fire-flag again in the name of the Trinity. According to this informant, to follow the procedure closely would be certain to bring about complete healing in the stricken animal and destroy the force of the Evil Eye:

Thy strait be on the fire-flags,

Thine ailment on the wicked woman.

A moving incantation, a splendid blend of pagan magic and Christian faith was collected by Carmichael in the island of Barra. Three mouthfuls of water in which a silver coin had been placed must be drunk by the victim, the first mouthful in the name of the Father, the second in the name of the Son, and the third in the name of the Holy Ghost:

It is mine own eye,

It is the eye of God,

It is the eye of God’s Son,

Which shall repel this,

Which shall combat this.

He who has made to thee the eye

Surely lie it on himself,

Surely lie it on his affection,

Surely lie it on his stock.

On his wife, on his children,

On his means, on his dear ones,

On his cattle, on his seed,

And on his comely kine.

On his mares, grey and brown,

On his geldings in the plough,

On his flocks black and white,

On his corn-barns, on his coarse meal.

On the little fairy women

Who are reeling in the knoll,

Who are biding in the heath,

Who are filling the cavities.

Another means of countering the power of the Evil Eye was recorded by Carmichael at Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire. One must take a clay vessel and go, once again, to running water, over which both the living and the dead cross. On the lower side of the bridge where this happened, one must go down on the right knee, lift a palmful of water in the hollows of the hands and put it in the dish, repeating the following words:

I am lifting a little drop of water

In the holy name of the Father;

I am lifting a little drop of water

In the holy name of the Spirit.

One must then rub a little of the sacred water into the two ears of the person, or on the part afflicted by the ‘Eye’, and down the spine of the afflicted animal saying:

Shake from thee thy harm,

Shake from thee thy jealousy,

Shake from thee thine illness,

In name of Father,

In name of Son,

In name of Holy Ghost.

The remainder of the water must then be poured on a grey stone or a fixed rock, so that its holy powers should not be abused. The name of the person or of the animal must be mentioned at the same time as the healing water is being applied.

Threads were used both to enchant and to remove enchantment in the Highlands, as well as to cure certain maladies, and this persisted well into living memory. The charm of the threads was made to sick animals, generally cattle. The threads in question were made into a cord of three ply and of three colours. This was symbolic of the Trinity — black, symbolic of the condemnation of God; red, symbolic of the Crucifixion; white, symbolising the purification of the spirit. The cord was twisted three times round the tail of the animal which had been bewitched, and it was then tied in a very complex triple loop. Carmichael records how in February 1906 a Benbecula man came across to North Uist in order to buy a horse. Observing a fine animal outside the house of a certain crofter, he praised the beast and continued on his way. He had hardly passed out of sight when the horse had fallen to the ground and was rolling in agony. People knew this Benbecula man was reputed to have the ‘Eye’, so the owner of the horse immediately went to a woman versed in counteracting this distressing power. She twined with her teeth three threads of three ply, and different colours, and instructed the owner of the animal to tie these, one after the other, round the base of the horse’s tail, in the name of the Trinity. He did as the woman advised, and at once the animal recovered. The charmer told the horse’s owner that she had inherited this knowledge and power from her father, a very devout Christian, much given to prayer. She apparently was able to ascertain from the beginning of her prayer whether the illness had been brought about by natural sickness or by the Evil Eye. If the sickness was natural, then she would advocate conventional cures; if due to witchcraft, then she brought about the remedy by the power of her prayer. She maintained that the Evil Eye of a man, although less venomous than that of a woman, was more difficult to counteract then that of a woman. A common effect of their powers on all true charmers or healers is the illness and weakness that they themselves experience after having performed their cure, sometimes almost to the point of death. To remove the damage brought about by witchcraft involved a severe struggle against the powers of evil and inevitably resulted in total mental and physical exhaustion. Such white witches or charmers believed that their power came from God and that it was incumbent upon them to use it, no matter how unpleasant the consequences to themselves may be. Not to use the gift would involve its weakening and ultimate loss.

An interesting incantation appears in the Records of the Presbytery of Kintyre and Islay, dated November 1697. A Malcolm MacMillan confessed he had practised a charm with a string, and some words he spoke over the string were entered into the Records in Gaelic. He used the string for the cure of rickets, demonic possession and other sudden distempers; he put the thread to his breath and said into it:

I place the protection of God about thee,

Mayest thou be shielded from every peril,

May the Gospel of the God of grace

Be from thy crown to the ground about thee.

May men love thee

And women not work thee harm.

When cattle were being sent to pasture, or returning home from it, the person in charge of them would leave one or two beasts to follow behind, in the belief that this would ward off the Evil Eye, which allegedly required the whole stock to be in front of the herd.

One very moving story about belief in the power of the ‘Eye’ and deep faith in the ability of white witches to undo the results is told of a little boy from Leitir, Loch Duthaich, who had the misfortune to have the ‘Eye’ put on him. The child became desperately sick and the parents were in despair; all conventional remedies failed. Finally the distracted father was advised to make the long journey to the head of Loch Carron where there was a woman famed for her powers of counteracting the fierce force of the Evil Eye. All he was required to do was to take some small piece of the boy’s clothing with him. The charmer took the piece of cloth, went away, and performed some secret rites. She then told the man to return home where he would find his little son fit and well. This he did, and was amazed to find the child sitting on his mother’s knee, lively and completely restored to health. But this particular cure took heavy toll of the charmer; the virtue had entirely left her, and for a day and a night she hung between life and death; she said she was always very ill after performing a counter-spell, whether it be for man or beast.

Charm for thwarting the ‘Eye’:

Twelve eyes against every malice,

Twelve eyes against every envy

Twelve eyes against every purpose

Twelve eyes against every hope

Twelve eyes against every intent,

Twelve eyes against every eye,

The twelve eyes of the Son of the God of life,

The twelve eyes of the Son of the God of life.

The writer has heard many traditions of the above kind, still extant amongst the old people in the Highlands and Islands, but there is understandably a deep reticence to talk about such things, and any detailed information known is usually imparted in strictest confidence. In central Perthshire there are still lingering memories about working the Evil Eye by means of sticks, the willow being used for this purpose; it was not possible to get an exact account of how this was done, but the counter-charm was performed by means of rowan. The whole process, however, was regarded as a close secret.

Belief in the power of the Evil Eye then was extremely potent and widespread in the Scottish Highlands and has a long ancestry in the Celtic world. One of the earliest Irish tales, the magnificent mythological story of the war between the gods of Ireland, ‘The Second Battle of Moytura’ (see bibliography: Ross, A.,
Druids
) concerns the malevolent god Balor Beumshuileach, ‘Balor of the Evil Eye’. The eye was kept permanently closed, so great was its power of destruction when unlidded; when Balor’s men were hard-pressed in battle, it took several men to lift the lid with sticks. The eye then sent out such potent rays of evil magic that the entire opposing forces could be wiped out by a single glance.

In the Inner Hebrides the charm for curing the Evil Eye must allegedly be made on a Thursday or a Sunday; in different places, different rhymes were used. Campbell, in his
Witchcraft
, recounts how an Islay woman achieved miraculous cures for the ‘Eye’ by using the following rhyme, which he publishes rather unwillingly, as such things were not easily divulged to strangers — or indeed at all. In this case, an ancient charm had been transformed into a Christian prayer, which, as we have seen, must so often have been the case:

If eye has blighted,

Three have blessed,

Stronger are the Three that blessed,

Than the eye that blighted;

The Father, Son and Holy Ghost;

If anything elfin or worldly has harmed it,

On earth above,

Or in hell beneath,

Do, Thou, God of Grace, turn it aside.

This rhyme had to be repeated three times, in traditional Celtic fashion.

Certain river stones were believed to have magical properties and these could be used both as amulets against evil, or, in the case of black magic, as charms to promote harm. In Glen Lyon in central Perthshire, every house, including the church (
30
), has its gateposts capped by a pair of fantastically shaped stones which have been worn into these weird forms by the action of the strongly-flowing river from which they have been taken. Local people will tell you that they are purely decorative, but one old man, well-versed in the traditional lore of the glen where he and his ancestors had always lived, informed the present writer that it was an ancient local belief that these strange stones from the nearby river had powers of keeping evil forces from the dwellings and the church. It was interesting to note that the War Memorial, higher up the glen, which is conical in shape and composed of ordinary stones, is crowned by a very fine example of these singular, water-worn boulders.

River stones believed to be possessed of remarkable powers were often blackened in the fire, and incantations were made over them in order to bring harm to some unfortunate person who had incurred the hostility of the charmer. At the end of the nineteenth century, in the same area of central Perthshire, such a curse was carried out by means of a circle of blackened stones, the right state of the moon, and ritual chants; the victim did in fact die, although in normal health at the time. It became known to the local people what had been done, and by whom, and the man in question was evicted from his holding by the landlord or, as they put it locally, ‘sent over the hill’. The writer had this information from an old man, a native of the place where the event happened, whose father had actually witnessed the incident; the spot where the circle of blackened stones was made is still known. The alleged magical properties of certain stones are further discussed on p110 ff. Some charms were incanted for specific types of evil magic, others to counteract enchantment in general. One of the latter, much used in the Outer Isles, is associated, like so many, with the beloved saint, Brigit or Bride, originally a powerful goddess invoked widely over the pagan Celtic world and in Christian times venerated as Saint Brigit of Kildare where, in true pagan fashion, nine virgins perpetually attended her fire, which was never allowed to be extinguished.