#folk healing
The Mysterious Shrew Ash of London
An 1898 volume of the British journal Folklore reveals an interesting survival in the mid 19th century of the special powers long attributed to ash trees.
The Shrew Ash in Richmond Park in Greater London had already stood for centuries by the mid-1800s, when curious rites could still be seen happening at the venerable tree at daybreak. According to the correspondent in Folklore,young mothers would bring their sick — or bewitched — child to the tree under the cover of darkness. There, the child would be passed through an open place in the trunk as the mother and an old woman (called a “shrew-mother” or “witch-mother” in the article) would recite charms as the first rays of sunlight dawned upon the scene.
It was said that the proper word must be spoken as the first light reached the tree, or the charm would fail. Nonetheless, many healings were attributed to this curious practice and remarkable tree.
Say, ’Galbes, Galbat, Galdes, Galda’ or, write the following on paper and hang it in a pouch around the patient’s neck:
Peter sat at the gate of the Temple, and Christ said unto him ‘What aileth thee?’ he said ‘Oh my tooth!’ Christ said to Peter, follow me and thou shalt not feel the tooth ache no more.
Or if you prefer to use Latin in your charms write ’Strigiles, falcesque, dentatae. Dentium, dolorem persanate’ on a piece of paper and hang it around your neck.
-Graham King, The British Book of Spells & Charms
(I honestly can’t believe how fast this worked for tmj pain)
“8: Protection from Cramps † Thebal † Ech † Guth † E Guthany †. Write these names on parchment with the crosses; the one who carries it shall be protected from cramps.”— Latin manuscript in the British Library (Additional 33996,
folio 170v) adds that these names also cure spasms.
& England, fourteenth century. London, British Library, Sloane 2584, fol. 31r.
Prayer While Using The Hands To Remove Evil
This prayer is spoken aloud while making slow downward stroked on the afflicted person’s body (it may be used against nightmares as well.)
Before my spirit,
two hands and ten fingers,
Twelve angels of God,
all evil shall shun and flee!
In the name
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
(Sweden, 18th century)
