Urine, Fingernail-Filled 'Witch Bottle' Found
Due to a few discussions of "Witch Bottles" of late, I am reminded of an article that came out a couple of years ago:
June 4, 2009 -- During the 17th century in England, someone urinated in a jar, added nail clippings, hair and pins, and buried it upside-down in Greenwich, where it was recently unearthed and identified by scientists as being the world's most complete known "witch bottle."
This spell device, often meant to attract and trap negative energy, was particularly common from the 16th to the 17th centuries, so the discovery provides a unique insight into witchcraft beliefs of that period, according to a report published in the latest British Archaeology.
Lead researcher Alan Massey, a former chemist and honorary fellow of Loughborough University, believes "the objects found in witch bottles verify the authenticity of contemporary recipes given for anti-witchcraft devices, which might otherwise have been dismissed by us as being too ridiculous and outrageous to believe."
The rest can be found here: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/06/04/witch-bottle.html
I think that this was the likely origins of the Witch Bottle, as a device to counter witchcraft as opposed to one actively used by a witch, as in today, to... well, possibly do the very same thing! Such prophylactics were often a common prescription, a folk magic against folk magic, and often enough prescribed by lower church officials. Nevertheless, I find it fascinating to see such things of 400+ years old found in such a great condition and the evolution of idea and practices.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Grayson on -
A great place to visit is the Witchcraft museum in Cornwall, it's a facinating trip and they have a few of these here, as you can see from the example they show on their website.
http://www.museumofwitchcraft.com/displayrecord_mow.php?ObjectNumbe...
Thanks for posting this Sang
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Permalink Reply by Sangraal on
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I just find it fascinating how much witchcraft is to counter witchcraft. It's almost self-defeating. I think Buckland's BBB describes the construction of witch bottles in a fashion similar to the description in the article ...nails, glass, pointy, sharp things and urine, jarred and buried in the yard. This is the first reference I have heard of one buried upside-down, however.
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Permalink Reply by Rachel Ann (EisHexe) on -
I have heard of witch bottles being hung in windows as well. Almost like a type of dreamcatcher, only to catch bad juju. Don't know if this is common practice, or if it is unique to the practitioners who informed me.
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Permalink Reply by Seren Haf on -
Witch balls are often hung in windows, Id never heard of the bottles being hung there as well
Rachel Ann (EisHexe) said:I have heard of witch bottles being hung in windows as well. Almost like a type of dreamcatcher, only to catch bad juju. Don't know if this is common practice, or if it is unique to the practitioners who informed me.
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Permalink Reply by Rachel Ann (EisHexe) on
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The purposes of the two are very similar, though. Protection and absorption of negative energy. Maybe the folks I was talking to just felt like using them interchangeably? Whatever floats your boat? o.O
Seren Haf said:
Witch balls are often hung in windows, Id never heard of the bottles being hung there as well
Rachel Ann (EisHexe) said:I have heard of witch bottles being hung in windows as well. Almost like a type of dreamcatcher, only to catch bad juju. Don't know if this is common practice, or if it is unique to the practitioners who informed me.
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Permalink Reply by Albiana on -
The use of "contagions" or physical bits and bobs to help energetically link and fuse one's magic is a long, long-standing practice.
I've heard of containers filled with things to draw certain auspicious energies, and other times the container is to collect, tangle, confuse and confine errant energies, and still other times, to temporarily "house" a spirit/elemental/created being until such time as the spellworking has run its course.
Fascinating stuff....and as you say....amazing to find these magical relics, these powerful artifacts, still intact and obviously still working their powers in the world.
