Written Gibberish and Magic November 16, 2014
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Keith Thomas includes in his classic Magic and the Decline of Religion a few precious pages on gibberish charms that were sometimes given out by ‘cunning men and women’ (aka witches) to those who wanted protection. These were typically worn about the neck of someone who wished for help against demons or better health. Some hint at connections with Anglo-Saxon England, some were the same as continental formula and almost all were absolute nonsense; at least they had become nonsense through repetition. In some cases though gibberish was just gibberish. Take this embarassing jumble of Greek and Latin from a fifteenth century Bavarian collection. It was used to drive demons out. It would have scared philologists too!
Amara Tonta Tyra post hos firabis ficaliri Elypolis starras polyque lique linarras buccabor uel barton vel Titram celi massis Metumbor o priczoni Jordan Ciriacus Valenntinus.
But what is incredible is that the penchant for written nonsense continued way into the nineteenth century. Take this strange hybrid English/Latin piece that sound dangerously intelligible and then degenerates. The very refusal to obey rules, and its obscurity was probably the source of its power. As time went on there was the recognition that an increasingly literate population needed some sops to their new knowledge. This particular instance was given to a mother in Taunton, Devon by a local cunning man in 1867, who hung it around her sick daughter’s neck in a callico bag.
In the name of the father son X and holy Ghost fiat Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil fiat and from henceforth no man nor Woman troble me for I bear on my body the X Mark of the Lord Jesus X fiat omnis spiritu Laudet Dominum mosem habo Prophet Exergot Deum dissipai inter Inimicos 17171 X Holy and blessed Jesus X save me and deliver me from my Afflictions and my enemies & troblos and thy blessed name shall have the honor and praise for ever Amen. Endorsed Female, 17171 X,
There then followed a triangle, a circle with dot in the contre, and smaller circle with a cross below.
In the same year another case describes a piece of parchment given by another ‘cunning’, though unfortunately the formula is not given we are told that there were ‘figures of the planets and extracts from foreign languages’. We’ve recently included a flawed Latin charm on this blog. Interest in these charms probably died out with widespread literary in the first quarter of the twentieth century in most western countries. Any late examples: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
29 Nov 2014: Chris from Haunted Ohio Books, ‘For late gibberish compilations, see this blog post about “The Black Book of Wizard Zittle.” This was a book called “The Friend in Need” containing healing formulae and charms. It was similar to the Pennsylvania Dutch Pow-wow Doctor book, The Long Lost Friend.’
