Early Modern Fairy Sex Spell June 1, 2024
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
This month’s podcast is on sex and the supernatural. The most extraordinary text I ran across in preparing for our hour ride is the following spell from an early modern English text, edited by Frederika Bain in her ‘The Binding of the Fairies: Four Spells’, Preternature 2 (2012), 323-354. It describes the ritual you should complete to bed a fairy. It has been described to me as a ‘male masturbatory fantasy’. Perhaps. Unusually for a spell the spell-maker cannot help reflecting on his success with the fairy girls.
This said goo to thy naked beed wth her but laye youe one to þ[e] Ryght syde & lett lye one her lefte syde & do wth her what soo ever you pleasse or canste doo for wthowt doute shee is a woman + & you needeste not to feare her for shee shall haue no power to hurte the, beinge so bownde as is afore to the prescribed, nor the nether in the lyf hadiste soo pleasante a creature or lyvelye woman in beed wth the for bewtye & bountye nether quene nor empres in all the all worlde is able to countervaile her for I haue dyveres tymes provede her & haue had her wth me amen then when thou haste accomplishe it & fullfilled thie will & desier wth her then maiste Reason wth her of any mañ of thinges þt thou desyreste & in all Kynd of question you lyste to demande of her but in any wysse I advyse the to be well warre þt youe aske her not what she is and also I advyse the to be well warre þt youe never tell deweringe the tyme shee is bownd in frendshipe to the, what she doothe for the, to no boodye nor bye any other meanes dysclosse it for no kynde of occasion or besines hawe greate or whate soever it be, & sodowinge & ordyring thy selfe you shall be sewer not only to haue her Redye at yor comandemente, to come to lye wth the whensoever, it is thye will to haue thy pleasure on her but allso you shalbe suere to haue thy wille fullfyled & done in all other thinges þt you lest to demande of her amen.
The real question, as we set out in the podcast, is why have sex with a fairy: pleasure; binding; or is it about knowledge? drbeachcombing AT gmail DOT com
