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Crooked Paths

Crooked paths and bridges confuse all spirits, including evil ones, and will prevent them from accessing a place.

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Running Water

Water represents purity and will reject evil.  In folklore, crossing running water will enable a person to evade pursuing evil spirits and witches.  In the European witch hunts, suspected witches were sometimes “swum”, or dunked into deep water with their hands and feet bound.  If they floated, it meant that the water rejected them because they were evil, and so they were guilty of witchcraft.  If they sank - and usually drowned- it meant that the water accepted them, and they were innocent.

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Salt

Salt repels demons and evil things because it is pure in its whiteness, is a preservative, and is linked to life and health.  Salt is contrary to the nature of demons, who are intent upon corrupting and destroying.  It should be avoided in magical rituals for conjuring demons.

Salt repels witches and the evil eye.  A test for bewitchment is the inability of a person or animal to eat anything salted.  Inquisitors in the European witch hunts protected themselves by wearing a sacramental amulet that consisted of salt consecrated on Palm Sunday and blessed herbs, pressed into a disk of blessed wax.  One means of torturing accused witches was to force-feed them heavily salted food and deny them water.

Salt is a magical remedy for evil spells.  An old recipe for breaking an evil spell calls for stealing a tile from a witch’s roof, sprinkling it with salt and urine, and then heating it over fire while reciting a charm.  In American Ozark lore, women who complain of food being to salty are suspected of being witches.  One way to detect a witch is to sprinkle salt on her chair.  If she is a witch, the salt will melt and cause her dress to stick to the chair.

In superstition it is considered bad luck to spill, borrow, or run out of salt, perhaps because in times past, salt was a valuable and scarce commodity.  Spilling salt makes one vulnerable to the Devil; the bad lucky may be negated by tossing a punch of salt with the right hand over the left shoulder.

In Christianity, blessed salt is mixed with blessed water to make holy water.

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Fumes

Burned incense and herbs and sacrificed animals are not only pleasing to the gods, but repellent to demons.  The book of Tobit tells how the archangel Raphael taught a young man, Tobias, to produce fumes from the burned liver of a fish in order to exorcise the demon Asmodeus.

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Bells

Bells are used in many cultures as a powerful way to repel demons, other evil spirits, and the evil eye.  Bells are associated with the divine and have been used in magical and religious rites since antiquity.  Bells summon people to prayer and clear the air of odious presences.

Bell ringing to drive away evil spirits is described in Assyrian magical texts dating back to the first millennium B.C.E.

Nicholas Remy said that demons consider bell ringing to be “the barking of those mad witches,” and they are repelled by it with great indignation.  The revulsion of demons is evidenced in the fact that many bell ringers are struck by lightning, which is under demonic control, Remy said.

Bells are attached to clothing, tied to children and domestic animals, and hung in doorways.  Red tied, ribbons, and sashes increase the protective power of the bells.  

In lore, bells should be rung during storms, which are caused by witches and demons.  On nights when witches are believed to be about, such as Samhain (All Hallows’ Eve) and Beltane (also known as Walpurgisnacht), church bells were rung to prevent the witches and their demon familiars from flying over a village.  In witch trials, accused witches testified about being transported through the air to a sabbat on the back of a  demon or the devil and of being thrown off to fall to the ground when a church bell sounded in the night.

When a person dies, church bells traditionally are run to protect the journey of the dead from demonic attack as it travels in the afterlife.

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Amon

Fallen angel and the seventh of the 72 spirits of Solomon.  In hell, Amon is a strong and powerful marquis.  He appears first as a wolf, but on a magicians command, he will take on the shape of a man with a raven’s head and a dog’s teeth.  He accurately tells about the past and the future.  He makes men and women fall in love with each other, and he settles disputes between friends and enemies.  He rules over 40 legions of demons.

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Alloces (Allocen, Allocer)

Fallen angel and 53nd of the 72 spirits of Solomon.  A duke in hell, Allocen appears as a soldier who rides a large horse.  His lion face is red with flaming eyes, and he speaks in a loud and hoarse voice.  He teaches astronomy and the liberal sciences and gives beneficial familiars.  He rules over 36 legions of demons.

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Amduscias

Fallen angel and 67th of the 72 spirits of Solomon.  Amduscias is a great duke of hell who rules over 29 legions of demons.  He appears first as a unicorn.  He will take on human shape if commanded to do so, but this will cause musical instruments to be heard but not seen.  Trees sway at the sound of his voice, and he gives people the power to make trees fall and also gives excellent familiars.  

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