The Witch’s Toad as “Irreplaceable Confederate”
"For a witch the toad was the irreplaceable confederate in the fight against the god-fearing humanity, a never failing factotum, which was able to bring to life the evil intentions as well as protect his mistress from unfamiliar evil actions. De Lancre talks about various manipulations which should protect from evil magic and names amongst other 'remedia praservativa': “Mole’s bones, bat’s wings, toad’s stones, menstrual blood etc.” “In regards to the stone that is found in the toad’s head” reports Collin de Plancy, “Most authors are of the opinion, that such a rare object exists, but a few disbelieve the existence of this stone. To Thomas Brown (Essai sur les erreurs populaires, volume I, book III, 13, p.312) the stone’s existence doesn’t appear to be impossible because, he says, various rocklike substance are found every day in the heads of various fish. Some think that these stones are the mineral concrements that toads secrete to harm people. To get this stone one has to allow it to be devoured. One source promised the toad as having wound healing properties and being able to indicate poison through sweating. Interestingly “the toad’s ring” was not mentioned, which is still today preserved and displayed in the castle in Dessau and about which there is a legend that it was gifted to the Dutchess of Anhalt by the creatures of the ‘underground’." - from Ernst Hentges, “Die Kröte” translated from the German by E.H. Wormwood
A small sample of the translation of Ernst Hentges' “Die Kröte” or “The Toad: The perspective of the occult and the history of culture” that I translated for Alkahest Press. Preorders of the very limited edition are currently open at alkahest.press/shop