#protective instruments

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Aspen

The wood of Christ’s cross, and thus in folklore a protection against all evil things.  Aspen is a favored wood for stakes for confining or destroying vampires.  Branches of aspen laid on the graves of vampires and witches will prevent them from rising up at night to terrorize people. 

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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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Amulet

An object believed to have protective power.  Amulets are used to ward of demons, evil, disease, bad luck, misfortune, witches, sorcerers, and anything harmful, especially of a supernatural nature.

Amulets to protect people, places, and animals against demonic attack and influence have been used universally since ancient times.  Most common are natural stones and crystals.  Metals such an iron and silver have special protective powers.

Amulets include objects made and imbued with protective power via prayer or magi and written inscriptions - prayers and charms - carried on the person or placed in an environment.  Amulets also can be sounds.  Noise, bells, gongs, chants, and songs, as well as fumes, are effective.