#witchcraft folklore

[reno-matagot]

French Folklore of the Devil

Where do we find Him?

CLVII • THE INCANTATION OF THE FROG

''According to a belief in Lower Brittany, to get in touch with the Devil, you must take a green frog on the day of the full moon and place it on an anthill while saying:

''Without fear or dread

Green frog continue on your way

Meet the Devil

So that he brings me a little gold

And that I have the means

To stay forever without working.''

Claude Seignolle • The gospels of the Devil

[reno-matagot]

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐅𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄

THE SABBATS

CCCLXXXIV ~ BARREN FIELDS

''In Allier, the fields over which sorcerers crossed the air on their way to the Sabbath became completely barren.''

CCCLXXXIV - THE “DEVIL’S TURNING PATH”

''Near Toul, grass no longer grows on the path that Saint Michael took when he was pursued by the Devil.''

CCCLXXXVI ~ THE SPINNER WITCHES

''In Gérardmer, it was said that the witches went to the Beheuille mountain on Friday evenings to spin the hemp intended for the rope which was to take them.''

CCCLXXXVI ~ THE DEVIL'S CIRCLE

''The Morvan sabbats took place on the mountain, in a deserted valley on the Peu side. This is where the Devil's circle is, where the grass is always withered, because it is trodden by the feet of demons and witches who dance their rounds there at midnight on the first Friday of the moon.

A poor man went there and never returned; another, having gone there astride a broomstick after having rubbed his body with a particular grease, returned one-eyed and mute. The Devil's Circle still exists, but the demons only return there twice a century, since a refractory priest established his retreat, during the Revolution, not far from this cursed place.''

Claude Seignolle, The Gospels of the Devil

[reno-matagot]

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄: 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒

CDXLVII • THE MILL THAT SALTS THE SEA

The Devil one day gave a sorcerer a mill which would grind whatever was asked of it, but a Newfoundland captain stole it from him to take on his ship. Arriving offshore, he ordered it to grind salt, and the mill obeyed so well that the hold was soon filled to overflowing. Alas, the captain not knowing the magic formulas to make it stop, the ship sank and the mill continued to salt the sea more and more.

CDXLVII • THE EVIL MASK

The Devil gave Princess Dahut, the daughter of King Grallon, master of the city of Is, an evil mask, which she offered to each young man she liked and who came to join her at night, thus hidden. But the next day the mask tightened and suffocated him... a black man then took the corpse and threw it at the bottom of a precipice between Huelgoat and Poullaouen...

Claude Seignolle ~ The Gospels of the Devil

[reno-matagot]

𝕿𝖔 𝖈𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖆𝖎𝖑𝖊𝖉 𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖊

A nail + 100 years and great patience...

''In order to cure the nailed horse, people have used at various times a process which, like many others, was based on the belief in transmission of the disease by a sunken object. In the 16th century, a witch, after having said certain words in the form of a prayer, drove a nail into the ground which she never withdrew; a hundred years later, it was driven into a wall, or into a piece of wood on which we pissed.'' Claude Seignolles, Gospels of the Devil (Magical remedies and processes)

[reno-matagot]

Burgundy Folklore 1

''In Échenant-sous-mont-vaudois, the witches met at the mont d'Urcerey: by means of spells, the witches of vocation forced all the old maids to become witches like them: willy-nilly, they had to ride the broom shouting:

''Aille! Poi dans bôs, poi dans brences, poi dans breussons!''

D'après Revue du folklore français, 1933