A History of Witches Ointments
For the next issue of our quarterly publication FOLKWITCH we will be giving some form to the idea of the “sabbat” and the role of the witches gathering in the folklore and history of folkwitch practice.
I have decided to offer a lecture I gave some years ago in London before a private members society on the history of the Witches Ointment, the full article runs to 5k words but here below is an excerpt to wet one’s whistle for the coming publication of the full text in FOLKWITCH:
There are still a handful of copies of Folkwitch Issue Two available for preorder before they run out.
Ecstasies of Darkness,
the history of Witches Ointments
E.H. Wormwood
presented before the Last Tuesday Society
Myths & Histories, an intro
When we talk about witches ointment the image that comes to mind when viewed through the lens of 21st century ethnography is one of flying and transportation. We look at the narrative, as depicted mostly through the written document of confessions (where both torture and the notary’s religion surely shaped the content), as one of the salve as a secondary component of a larger sabbatic ritual.
Perhaps, as is now more generally accepted, the substance referred to as an unguent or salve, was more central to the ritual practices of the supposed witch than mainstream literature has long understood. That the substances in question were in fact so widely known by the general public that they were diminished in the eyes of the church and state. Seen as commonplace until such time as their use became a public taboo under penalty of law.
What aims had the establishment of the middle ages in suppressing the use of certain substances by connecting them with heresy and blasphemy? Could the witch hunts of the middle ages been merely an early example of drug prohibition used to suppress a minorities rights and take away their culture? That minority being women and “effeminate” men?
Grecian Witches & Roman Salves
In western culture the iconic representation of the witch comes from the Greek legends of Circe and her sisters. A Thessalian coven of sisters bound in the knowledge of the rites and uses of herbs and natural magic.
In Homer’s Odyssey we are regaled with the legend of Circe turning Odysseus’ soldiers into swine, leaving them grunting and writhing on the floor of her temple. In this legend specific plants are mentioned, a triumvirate of herbs from the Solanaceae family related to the common tomato. Henbane, Belladonna, Mandrake, all native to the Mediterranean climate. Though by no means the only herbs in their bag of tricks these three were in particular potent and central to the dangerous arsenal of the Grecian witches.
By the late roman period, on the cusp of roman christianization, these herbs were widely used in society as part of the pharmacopoeia commonly in practice. Joint aches, heart murmurs, tooth infections. These and a wide variety of now commonly labeled “poisonous” plants were used to sooth the pain and heal the lame of commoner and noble alike.
Yet it is in this period of Roman decline we see the first laws in relation to these herbs and their use. How the law interprets these plants and the products like salves connected with their use tells us a great deal about both the potency of the plants and the growing superstitions surrounding their use.
Under Roman law possession and use of these salves was slowly criminalized based both on the method of delivery and the intent of use. Further distinctions of “veneficia” (poisoning) and “maleficia” (magic poisoning) were outlined in law. The latter being a graver offense than the former.
In Roman court records we have testimony, by and against the accused, that possession of these herbs, though widely in use publicly, was considered evidence for probable cause for the practice of maleficia or witchcraft.
Those targeted, despite possession of substances identical to their neighbors medicine cabinets, were convicted of the crime of black magic and often sentenced to death. So we have a drug, whose possession though common, is used to suppress a given minority.
This is the beginning of an historic trend that, although commonly in use, certain drugs are used by the establishment to criminalize the behavior of a specific targeted minority for harassment and detention.
From its humble beginning the use of these plants spread across Europe by as early as the late Neolithic period. Burial sites as far north as Norway from the 5th century show possible healers in possession of large numbers of henbane seeds. At the Balfarg site in northern Scotland , a complex late neolithic site used for ritual purposes, we find the remnants of henbane seed use in the pottery and stoneware bowls used at the temple sites. (Moffat 1993) This plant, so far removed from its native habitat has made its way into the ecosystem of all of northern Europe. From Ireland to Poland and as far north as Norway and Iceland it can be found in waste areas through human diasporic migration.
As traders and settlers moved north and interacted with previously localized groups the spread of the propagatable seeds of the Solanaceae family was fed by a basic reality of their usefulness as medicinal herbs. Had the chemical constituents of these herbs not had a noticeable effect their use would not have been so widespread, nor their propagation over such a wide and alien habitat.
Viking Seeress (8th century)
That the Vikings had henbane in known use is evident in the archaeological record. Norse shamanic practitioners have been found buried with the seeds of henbane and both henbane and belladonna seeds have been found at sites in northern Scotland and Denmark.
In the Norse burials the seeds were kept in a specially decorated pouch and worn regularly by the owner. 300 to 500 seeds carried regularly indicates regular use, likely as a pain reliever among the public.
Much of the later reports of the effects of the use of the witches ointment points to complex hallucinations centered on sensations of flying, gatherings of motley beasts and creatures, and acts of sexual deviance often in groups.
Such ideas of physical transformation (shapeshifting), hosts of spirits and demons, and sexual arousal mirror the pre Christian mythologies of the northern people’s of Europe. Tales of fairy hosts, wild hunts, and feasts that transform men into beasts have long been a central part of the folklore of Europe.
The genesis of these folk tales and the spread of the Solanaceae herbs across Europe have a distinct parallel in the evolution of European culture in the pre Christian and early christian era.
By the 10th century, with the rise of monasteries across Europe the herbs continued to find themselves in heavy use. Monks and priests grew belladonna and henbane as part of their pharmacopeia. Having gardens of particularly manicured henbane, mandrake and belladonna the monasteries were clearly aware as early as the 8th century of their herbal usefulness.
It was likely these very monasteries that introduced the use of henbane and belladonna to give added kick to beer and ales. The production of spirits using a variety of herbs as both flavor and intoxicant enhancers goes back to the early history of the use of alcohol. But it was the introduction of henbane, long the predecessor of hops, as an ingredient in beer that popularized henbane to the wider public as more than just a medicine to relieve pain.
Such manicured gardens of monasteries are bound to fall to ruin, and even in their height of form be frequented by birds to whom the alien Mediterranean seeds are a tasty treat. Their pods and berries are helped to be distributed as the birds travel from region to region leaving the seeds in their droppings. The migratory birds of Europe providing a convenient transport system for the seeds of the Solanaceae plants as they continued to ingrain themselves into local habitats.
For the complete text one will have to find themselves in possesion of a copy of the spring vernal issue of the FOLKWITCH, available from Alkahest Press.
