Earlier this month I
had the pleasure to attend an excellent two-day conference in
Boscastle concerning the craft of cursing. Hosted by the Museum of
Witchcraft and Magic, it linked to the museum’s new exhibition
curated by Dr Louise Fenton, University of Wolverhampton. Dr Fenton
has been researching cursing and cursing poppets since 2010. The
museum itself hosts a wealth of cursing paraphernalia that includes
many poppets collected by its founder, Cecil Williamson. The
exhibition itself will continue until the end of the 2017 season, and
the museum is well worth a visit at any time!
Cursing
poppet in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. Boscastle, Cornwall.
The weekend saw a wide
variety of speakers whose topics reached not only across time, but
spanned the entire social spectrum and took us to places both near
and far. Mogg
Morgan was up first, speaking on Apophis and the Mother Of All
Curses. He led us to Ancient Egypt where Apep the serpent of
chaos dwells. Apparently Apep was a colossal demonic entity that
inflicted all types of harm with its terrible ‘Biting Eye’.
Mogg
Morgan at Boscastle, Cornwall. May 2017
It was enlightening to
hear that the mechanics of Egyptian cursing magic remain with us
today. They take the form of wax images, spitting, binding,
enclosing, trampling, burning and sticking. Mogg asked the question:
Could cursing magic have begun in Egypt? Specifically this might have
been during the period in Egyptian history known as ‘The Bad
Times’, a period of great despair occurring in the gap between the
Old and Middle Kingdoms.
Ritual
spitting when cursing Apep, the colossal serpent.
Of course we all
realize that tales of an eternal struggle between man and harmful
serpent occurred not only in Egypt as similar stories can be found in
many regions and religions of the world, both past and present.
England’s own Saint George is depicted fighting a great serpent
(dragon), and it is interesting that the image we best associate with
him curiously mirrors that of the Egyptian god Set overcoming the
colossal serpent.
Set
depicted fighting the colossal serpent, and St George fighting the
dragon.
As medieval medicine
has long been one of my ‘hobbies’ I was eager to hear Dr
Alexander Cummins speak on Curse-craft and Humoural Theory in
Early Modern England, and he did not disappoint. Humoural
Theory is an ancient system of medicine thought to have its
origins in either Egypt or Mesopotamia. It was used for diagnosis and
prognosis in the Classical period and throughout the Middle Ages, and
is still used today in Indian Ayurveda medicine. Dr Cummins explained
how this same system was also employed in cursing magic. Known as
Humours, four fluids are believed to affect the subtle
workings of the body on a variety of levels for they control not only
a person’s health, but the personality and temperament as well. In
humoural theory they are known as Blood, Phlegm, Yellow Bile and
Black Bile. The heart was thought to be the seat of the humours but
it was believed that the (Christian) Devil was able to affect how the
humours operated within the human body.
Dr.
Alex Cummins. Boscastle, Cornwall. May 2017.
Although I had not
previously considered this system of medicine for use in cursing, it
was fascinating to hear about the manipulation of humours to
negatively affect a victim’s emotional, psychological and physical
health. For instance, if the magic worker’s intent for the victim
is impending doom, anxiety or stupefaction, then the phlegmatic
humour might be targeted. Utilizing, of course, the appropriate
materia magica to attract, infuse and radiate the
necessary influences.
Humoural
Talismans. Image from Dr Cummins’ presentation.
During his talk on
Cursing and Ill wishing: witchcraft, the illness of a King and the
Death of a Prince, historian Jonathan Hughes suggested that
certain humours contained within the land itself (hot/cold/dry/wet)
might be disturbed when dug or ploughed into, thereby shift the
natural balance of the area to affect such things as the wellbeing of
those living nearby, atmosphere or even change in the political
climate.
Jesse
Hathaway Diaz’ talk on Cursing in Colonial Mexico definitely
brought some spice to the session; as did Demetrius
Lacroix speaking on The Art of Haitian Vodou Cursing.
Demetrius
Lacroix. Boscastle, Cornwall. May 2017.
On Saturday Demetrius
explained a system of magic where, as in ancient Egypt, the soul is
believed to be made up of several different layers each of which can
be targeted by a magical worker. Demetrius told us about Port au
Prince, in Haiti, where thousands of curses can be seen nailed to
trees. Not only that as everywhere can be found offerings of dolls,
tobacco, liquor and chicken or goat meat. He went on to say the art
of Ekspedisyon (to expedite) can cause zombification or death.
The art of Dispatch (to send, dispatch) commands a spirit to
help fulfil obligations or, for an annual fee, a spirit will help you
with medicines and healing. On the other hand the soul of a dead
person can be purchased to haunt your enemy’s dreams. Pelene (to
trap) causes the victim to be stuck in some way, unable to advance or
move forward in life. Crab shells are often used in this magic since
crabs can only move sideways, not forwards. The kidneys, heads, lungs
or stomachs of animals are often used in this kind of cursing magic
to represent the victim. I will leave to your imagination the
symbolism of binding such body parts with cords.
Jesse
Hathaway Diaz. Boscastle, Cornwall. May 2017.
On Sunday Jesse
spoke to us of how the religion of invading Conquistadores had merged
with the ethnic magic and practices of Colonial Mexico. It produced
an indigenous belief system ‘dressed’ in Catholic clothes. The
Christian cross itself was incorporated as a magical symbol of power
and the properties of Catholic saints were used for all kinds of
magic, both good and ill. Fascinating to me was the idea of seizing
the right-handed (good) power of a saint and funnelling it toward
left-handed (bane) practices. Stolen communion bread – concealed in
the mouth until well away from the church – could be used to curse
an enemy. While wax figures of body parts - a hand, a foot or heart,
etc. – that were typically placed at shrines for help in healing,
could be stolen away by the magical practitioner and used for sending
harm to an enemy instead.
Examples
of Christian magic in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. Boscastle,
Cornwall.
Wax
votive heart in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. Boscastle,
Cornwall.
Traditionally,
prayers were offered to statues of saints for help in healing and
daily life. St Anthony is
the saint to turn in order to find love and marriage. Gifts, candles
and petitions are offered to a ‘’right-handed saints’’ to
have them work their benefic magic on the petitioner’s behalf.
However using them as
‘’left-handed saints’’ is an entirely different thing. To
entrap or force a person into love or sex the statue of
St Anthony might be turned
upside down and its head replaced with a lemon, only to be returned
if the saint complied with the petitioner’s demands.
But the most surprising information for me about this tradition
was to hear that, once a year at Eastertime, there is literally no
god between 3pm on Good Friday and sunrise on Easter morning. It
makes sense, of course!
Saints
can be used as ‘’right-handed’’ or ‘’left-handed’’
depending on purpose.
As you might guess, it
has been difficult for me to write about only a handful of the
fifteen excellent speakers that were present at this conference. Each
one of them offered something very special and thought provoking to
the whole. I find myself wishing it had been recorded so that I
could listen to them all speak again! The museum staff put on some
fine conferences. Rumour has it that the subject for next year will
be Ritual Magic. In the meantime, should you wish to see the full
line up of speakers and their topics for this particular weekend, you
may find that information here
, while the museum’s blog account of the conference may be found
here.
See you in Boscastle!
Text ©Carol Keith 2017.
Photography ©Chattering
Magpie 2008 and ©Carol Keith 2017
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