The book "Secrets of the Slavic Witches" Let's start with the fact that the witch is a purely Russian word, comes from the word "know". Characters of Slavic mythology: Witch
What does a witch look like in the legends of the Slavs
There is a popular belief among Judeo-Christians that Witches are evil old women who are " servants of the devil, inflict damage, and fly at night on a broomstick". However, our Ancestors had a different opinion about what the Witch was. The ancient Slavs had a completely different meaning in the word Witch.
Translated from Old Slavonic Witch- this is the Knowing Mother (Witch). In the pre-Christian period of time, women with the status of a witch were highly respected members of society. This honorary title in the Vedic culture was given to a woman who raised virtuous offspring. The Slavs were Orthodox-Prav-Slavili (as they say now - pagans), that is why, after the spread of Judeo-Christianity in Russia, gloomy legends about witches began to appear, and this word itself acquired a negative connotation at the suggestion of the Judeo-Christians.
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witchcraft rites
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The Leading Mother used, of course, voloshba-witchcraft-magic. However, the magic Slavs was exclusively white. The forest witch turned to the forces of nature if she wanted to apply her spell, or increase healing properties decoction.
It is believed that many women in the ancient Slavic world owned magic, only some to a greater extent, and others to a lesser extent. Someone became a soothsayer or fortune teller, others were healers, others became midwives, and this was also considered a miraculous power, since it is a great miracle to help a new life come into the world.
But only those women who possessed all of the above skills became real Witches, about whom legends were made. It was them, with the spread of Judeo-Christianity in the Middle Ages, that they were mercilessly burned at the stake.
In harmony with nature
As the Slavic legends about witches say, the Knowing Mother must have extensive knowledge about nature, about the family, about the household.
A young girl could not get the status of a Knowing Mother for a number of reasons.
Firstly, because she had not yet become a mother herself, she had not gone through all the difficulties and hardships through which (according to the ideas of our ancestors) every woman must go through.
Secondly, she still does not have enough knowledge about this world, that is, she does not know. Young girls who studied Vedic culture and magic were called witches.
If a young woman after marriage did not manage to give birth to offspring, then she was returned to her parents' house. It was believed that for some reason the magical forces of nature left her. Another one is associated with this. interesting fact. The word "marriage" family relationships, among the ancient Slavs meant a relationship just with a woman who cannot have children. If someone decided to marry such a woman, then their relationship was called marriage.
Slavic legends about witches say that the witches knew all the Vedic rituals, conspiracies, whispers, spells. Not a single holiday or significant event, such as a wedding, seeing off to another world, or sowing and reaping, could not do without the presence and rituals of the Witch or the Vedun. It should be noted that not only women were engaged in magic among the Slavs, among men there were also owners of magical powers.
Over time, ideas about what witches look like have changed significantly. But knowledgeable people still remember that the title of the Witch is not an insult at all, but an honorary role, and maybe a mission.
About Witches to watch from 1 minute 44 seconds.
WITCH AND BAGA YAGA
In Slavic mythology, witches are sorceresses who have entered into an alliance with the devil or other evil spirits in order to gain supernatural abilities. In different Slavic countries, witches were given different guises. In Russia, witches were represented as old women with disheveled gray hair, bony hands, and huge blue noses. They flew through the air on pokers, broomsticks, mortars, etc.; went to dark deeds from their dwellings without fail through chimneys and, like all magicians, they could turn into different animals, most often forty, pigs, dogs, cats. Such witches could be beaten with anything, but pokers and tongs bounced off them like balls until the roosters crowed. Such a beating ritual was preserved for a long time in the villages (remember the famous “Viy” by N.V. Gogol).
Bats, a black cat lived next to witches in fairy tales, pomelo and magical herbs were certainly present. The witch could take the form of a young attractive girl.
To communicate with evil spirits, witches flew to the Sabbath riding a broomstick, a goat, a pig, into which they could turn a person. Witches were considered especially dangerous during the calendar holidays, when their intervention could damage the harvest and the well-being of the whole society. The ancient Slavs believed that on these holidays (especially on the New Year), witches can be seen rushing in a storm along with all evil spirits.
"Baba Yaga is going to fight with a crocodile ...". Splint
According to legend, witches, like sorcerers, die in terrible agony, trying to pass on their "science" to someone. After death, they begin walking from fresh graves to the old ashes to taste pancakes, exhibited until the legal 40th day, to vent their anger and settle scores unfinished during their lifetime. Soothes them with an aspen stake driven into the grave.
Peasant girls confided their secrets to village witches-witches, and they offered their services to them.
One girl, who served with a rich merchant, complained: "He promised to marry, but he deceived." “And you bring me only a piece of his shirt. I will give it to the church watchman to tie a rope on this tuft, then the merchant will not know where to go from longing ”- this was the witch’s recipe. Another girl wanted to marry a peasant who did not like her. “Get me the stockings off his legs. I will wash them, I will say water at night and I will give you three grains. Give him that water to drink, throw grain under his feet when he rides, and everything will be fulfilled.
Sorcery. Village witches were simply inexhaustible in inventing various recipes, especially in love affairs. There is also a mysterious talisman, which is extracted from a black cat or from frogs. From the first, boiled to the last degree, an “invisible bone” is obtained. A bone is equivalent to walking boots, a flying carpet, a hospitable bag and an invisibility cap. Two “lucky bones” are taken out of the frog, which serve with equal success for both love spells and lapels, i.e., causing love or disgust.
In Russian folk tales reflected the belief in the sorcery of cat and frog “bones”, which are very easy to get: if you boil a black cat in a cauldron, you get a “hook and fork”, and if you put two frogs in an anthill, a hook and a spatula will come out. With a hook they hurt the one they want to attract to themselves, with a fork or spatula they push her away if they manage to get bored or disgusted ...
In Slavic mythology, Baba Yaga is closely associated with the witch-sorceress.
The “classical” Baba Yaga, according to the tales of the Eastern and Western Slavs, lives in the forest, in a “hut on chicken legs”, devouring people. The fence around her hut is made of human bones, on the fence - skulls, instead of a bolt - human leg, instead of constipation - hands, instead of a lock - a mouth with sharp teeth. Baba Yaga roasts kidnapped children in the oven.
Most often, she is the antagonist of the main character of the tale. Arriving in a mortar, on a broomstick or poker to the hut and finding the hero there, she pesters him in every possible way, preparing to cook “dinner”, “lunch”, etc. from him. One leg of Baba Yaga is bone. In some tales, it is reported that her eyes hurt or that she is an old woman with huge breasts. Communication with wild animals and the forest makes it possible to derive her image from the ancient image of the mistress of animals and the world of the dead.
However, the idea of the Slavs about space was also reflected in the image of Baba Yaga, it is no coincidence that in folk legends she symbolizes the wind - an assistant to the spring revival of nature, and in the oldest versions of the legend, the image of Baba Yaga is also known - the giver, the hero's assistant.
“... In the forests, where the noise of the wind is constantly heard, Baba Yaga lives with an angry voice ...” - probably, in these words there is a hint of that noise. Her fantastic dwelling, turning like a windmill, according to the usual sentence: “Hut, hut, stand back to the forest, front to me,” testifies to the obvious connection between the image of Baba Yaga and the images of the horse-wind and the flying carpet, with which she bestows her pets. Her countless herds, rich stables, the ability to fly through the air and certainly with a strong noise so that her flight is heard from afar (“Baba Yaga - a bone leg rides in a mortar, drives with a pestle, sweeps the trail with a broom”) - all this also testifies to her connection with the elements.
In understanding winter, a winter snowstorm and a cold, Baba Yaga appears as a cannibal sorceress, like the classic myth of Saturn devouring her children. But in Russian fairy tales, the plot about how Yaga eats his children appeared much later than other plots. Apparently, this is an independent interpretation of the ancient story by the narrator, who wanted to annoy the evil witch.
Usually Baba Yaga was portrayed as a married old woman, however, her husband does not appear in all fairy tales, most often he is known under the name of Koshchei the Immortal. In many fairy tales, Baba Yaga is accompanied by three daughters - Yagishnas, who share with their mother the meaning of natural elements - wind, storm and snowstorm.
So, on the one hand, a sorceress, personifying the winter state of the earth, with assistants - a storm, winds, a snowstorm, and on the other, a bright heroine, an assistant to good fellows, personifying the summer natural cycle.
Each of the centers of Slavic culture was a clot of social and aesthetic experience, a mirror of millennia. Many ideas and symbols of mythological thinking were "run in" and "turned" by the flow of history to the utmost degree of perfection. This, for example, applies to such fantastic creatures known in Slavic mythology as the Unicorn and the Phoenix bird.
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People believed that beings with supernatural abilities lived next to them. They scare some, but sometimes you can expect help from them. The witch is one of these characters. She is credited with both evil and good deeds. Who is a witch, do they really exist? This issue should be considered in more detail.
Mystical stories about such women are not uncommon today. Popular rumor ascribes to them mainly negative qualities. However, to understand what a witch is, it is necessary to delve into the history of our people. The answers may be hidden much deeper than a superficial layman's eye can see.
Modern ideas about witches
The definition of the concept of "witch" in our time includes mostly only negative qualities. This word is sometimes used with a clear desire to offend some of the fair sex.
Such a woman, according to most people, is endowed with a certain evil power. A witch can harm a person different ways. According to the general opinion, she is known with evil spirits, flies on a broomstick and does terrible, terrible things.
Outwardly, this character looks like an ordinary woman. She can be young and beautiful or old and scary. Moreover, at will, the sorceress can change her appearance.
What do witches do?
Beyond a certain appearance, rumor endows such entities with behavioral features. There is a clear description of the witch. Who is a witch? Different people answer differently. Yes, and her behavior is also quite diverse.
Many agree that sorceresses periodically fly to the Sabbath. There they exchange experience and knowledge. Also, the typical behavioral features of this evil spirit include harmful actions against people. The witch can steal pets, spoil crops, contribute to the deterioration of the weather.
This is one of the most harmless acts. The witch, according to our ancestors, could send diseases to the entire settlement, steal children, and also hung out with the devil himself. She could seduce men.
At the same time, such a woman performed special rituals. She brewed a potion, cast spells. Since the Middle Ages, the image of a witch has been supplemented with new details. Today, this character is more like a horror movie.
The Slavs were afraid of such women. But in Europe they were tortured and killed. How many innocent girls burned then at the stakes of the Inquisition, were drowned in the rivers, it's hard to even count! Indeed, in those days, to fall into the category of a witch, it was enough just to be beautiful.
Gaining power
All witches can be divided into two categories. The first includes girls who received their special gift at birth. People believed that in a family in which only girls were born, there was a high probability of a witch appearing. It was also believed that if a pregnant woman was cursed, she would give birth to a child endowed with dark power.
Studying folk legends about what a witch is, one can distinguish another category of these creatures. A woman could acquire her gift during her life. Certain knowledge could be transferred to her by any devilry.
The ability to turn into animals
Studying the legends about that, one cannot ignore the stories about their ability to turn into animals. She performed various rituals. These included the use of ointments, infusions. Some could turn into animals or birds by tumbling backward through 12 knives, a fire in an oven, a yoke or a rope.
A strong witch did not even need such actions. She could turn into different animals at will. Most often, the owner of superpowers became a black cat, dog, toad, magpie or wolf.
Hunters used to tell many stories about how, after skinning their prey, they found a woman in beautiful clothes under her skin.
Sometimes the witch became a terrible werewolf. She scoured the houses at night, stealing children from the cradle. Sometimes she could even strangle a person she didn’t like in a dream.
Helpers
Moving forward in the study of the question of who a witch is, it should be said about her assistants. Usually they were presented in the form of a cat, snake, dog or toad. This is an evil spirit that helped the witch in her dark deeds.
When a woman received witch power, she was always given an assistant. It could even be a devil, a kikimora or other evil spirits. If for some reason the witch died before her time (for which a diabolical contract was concluded with her), the assistant still remained by her side. After death, a woman endowed with sinister power turned into a different entity. She could rise from the grave and continue her dark deeds.
Wanting to have fun, the witch could bring confusion to a person, forcing him to fulfill his commands. More N.V. Gogol described how the witch flew on horseback on Khoma Brut through the night field.
The ancient meaning of the word "witch"
However, all horror stories were invented much later than the appearance of the word "witch". It originates from ancient times. And it had a completely different meaning. When the ancient Slavs lived on these lands, they used it for a respected woman.
The meaning of the word "witch" is easy to understand, knowing its origin. It consists of 2 parts. This is the Lead Mother. In other words, a woman who knows has the highest knowledge. She has a lot of life experience. Such a woman is in harmony with nature and her Self.
The number of witches used to include midwives, healers, and fortune-tellers. They helped with advice, possessed the highest wisdom. Lead Mother is good wife. She knows how to predict the desires of her husband, suits them life together right. Previously, any woman who knew folk rituals and customs was a witch.
white witch
The truth is that the original concept of witches has been perverted. It is now misunderstood. The true witch is in harmony with herself, the higher forces of the universe. She does not believe in religion, but she feels God around and within herself. She feels how everything is connected in this world. The witch knows that everything is endowed with its own subtle energy and consciousness. And she can control these forces through herself.
A wise woman uses her gift for the good of others, and not for her own selfish benefit. Such a witch is called a white witch. Even after centuries of distorting the concept of such an entity, people today are aware of the existence of a good force.
To understand who a white witch is, one should refer to the original meaning of this concept. Initially, almost all women with higher knowledge were white. They brought good, healing power into the world.
Do witches exist today?
People are often interested in questions about who witches are and whether they really exist. To answer them, you need to decide what kind of entity we are talking about. Fairy tales about a woman on a broomstick who turns into a cat or a snake raise certain doubts.
But if we take into account that the sorceress has the highest knowledge, then such witches do exist. They receive their abilities from higher powers. It cannot be taught.
The witch feels the energy of this world so subtly, is in harmony with it and with her Self, that she can even control her powers. Moreover, she can do this for both bad and good purposes. However, every bad deed will return to such a woman a hundredfold. After all, with the acquisition of certain knowledge, the responsibility of a person also increases.
The modern witch is indeed wise. One gets the impression that she draws her knowledge from some hidden, internal sources. Many people do not understand this, it scares them. Everything unknown is treated with caution. Therefore, witches are still feared today, attributing various terrible deeds to them.
The development of the modern witch
In search of an answer to the question of who a witch is, one should consider the types of modern representatives of this class. The first is considered a woman who does not have any knowledge. She can brazenly deceive the townsfolk for her own selfish purposes. This is not a real witch.
The second category includes women who have some knowledge, but do not feel higher powers. This is the initial stage of development. Over time, such sensitivity can visit such a woman. She becomes not just smart, but wise.
But some people can use knowledge for bad purposes. These are envious evil women. They are unable to find harmony in themselves and in the world around them. They take their anger out on those around them. However, they cannot harm a pure developed personality.
Witches are not to be feared. It is better to strive to develop your personality, to seek higher knowledge. Wisdom is the true power that a person can have.
Unlike Christian statements that claim that the Witch is an evil woman flying on a broomstick and serving the devil, in fact, the Witch from Old Slavonic is the Knowing Mother. Slavic terms or names, such as: Witch, Witcher, Vedun, Vedunya have a common root “ved”, which means nothing more than “know or know”.
Among the Slavs, this is not at all a designation of the dark essence of a person, and even more so it is not an abusive expression. It is customary to call a witch wise women and women who know how to handle magic.
The magic of the Slavs more often turned to the forces of light and the forces of Nature. So, if you found out about this for the first time, know that the Witch does not carry anything bad in herself. A witch can be called a midwife and a fortune teller, and just a woman who occupies a certain position in society.
It is believed that in the ancient Slavic world, most or even all women possessed magic (to one degree or another). Someone, of course, at the level of divination and rituals, others at a deeper and more powerful level. However, most women, having become adults and wise, having known all the hardships of life, having learned all the instructions and knowledge of their ancestors, became Witches. They know how to use the magical power of Nature, communicate with mysterious forces the underworld and use it for good or bad purposes. Slavic Witches knew all the rituals, various spells, whispers, conspiracies. If a person had an assumption that he was jinxed, then to whom, if not to a witch, should he turn!? Before sowing or before harvesting, the witch must have whispered over the field so that the hard work would be a little easier for the spirits of the Earth. Starting from the construction of a house and ending with weddings, most of the events in the life of the Slavs were accompanied by the presence of the Knowing Mothers or Veduns, who gave their strength and helped to call the necessary forces of nature, so that the pagan Slavs always lived with nature and other worlds in one closely connected life and did not forget who they actually exist.
Of course, as a result of the wild persecution of Witches in Europe (where they were subjected to inhuman torture and painful death), the active propaganda of the terrifying essence of all wise women and knowing men, the very word Witch suffered a strong conceptual change. Now, the Witch is understood as a hunched old woman, whose companion is a black cat, and a broom is a means of moving to the Sabbath. And yet, the more Russian people know the true meaning of this word, the faster it will be forgotten like a bad dream and everything will finally fall into place.
Who is a witch, or 64 qualities of a woman
Who is the Witch? Usually they represent an evil and terrible fury-old woman who is engaged in evil witchcraft, eats small children, etc. This image has been implanted in our consciousness for many centuries in order to hide the truth and ancient secret knowledge. Why this was done and is being done is a topic for another article. So who is this witch?
By medieval Christian standards, a female witch is a servant of the devil, allegedly possessing a supernatural ability to harm people and animals. Even now the attitude of Christianity has not changed. How many women were burned at the stake by "harmless" Christians. I wonder why in the Middle Ages there was such an attitude towards women?
Witch (from other Slavic "to know" - to know) - a woman practicing magic, witchcraft. The Slavic word "witch, sorcerer, sorceress" has the Old Russian root "ved", meaning: "know" ("know"). But the true meaning of the word Witch has been twisted. And now in modern Russian the word witch already has an abusive and envious meaning.
A witch is a knowing, knowing mother. Leading women know how to find family happiness. To be a good mother, you first need to be a good wife, and before that, a good woman!
A real woman (witch) must have 64 qualities necessary for a full-fledged family life.
The qualities of a woman that make her perfect
1. Have the determination to follow your husband.
2. The ability to deliver the greatest pleasure to the spouse.
3. The ability to guess and get ahead of the wishes of her husband.
4. The ability to be collected in any situation.
5. Possession and management of sexual power for the embodiment of highly spiritual ancestors in their children.
6. Cleanliness.
7. Knowledge of love games and the art of lovemaking.
8. Agility in love positions.
9. The ability to beautifully undress.
10. The ability to arouse the interest of the spouse by their behavior and attire.
11. The ability to present yourself.
12. The ability to excite a husband.
13. The ability to leave, without disturbing, a sleeping husband.
14. Know ways to fall asleep after your husband.
15. Be able to sleep in any position.
16. The ability to do various massages, maintain longevity and health.
17. Healer treatment: herbal medicine, conspiracies, healing with vitality.
18. Household and ritual witchcraft, knowledge of folk customs.
19. Knowledge of the basics of star reading: favorable and unfavorable days.
20. Ability to communicate with the elements of nature.
21. The ability to use their cosmos; knowledge of hair styles and the ability to style hair.
22. Knowledge of various characters.
23. The ability to show the necessary character.
24. The ability to express and subdue your feelings.
25. Knowledge of the necessary protection of one's honor and dignity.
26. The ability to reason, identify patterns and draw conclusions.
27. Ability to express thoughts eloquently.
28. Knowledge of games that develop the mental abilities of a person.
29. Conducting economic calculations, knowledge of measures, weight, volume, density.
30. Knowledge of the tax system.
31. Ability to negotiate and conduct business.
32. The ability to prove one's case.
33. The ability to recognize the qualities and abilities of people.
34. The ability to solve dreams and interpret signs.
35. The ability to settle down and create comfort in any environment.
36. The ability to make utensils, household items and toys from clay.
37. Making fabrics and yarns from various materials, making and decorating clothes; knowledge of the hidden meaning of patterns and characteristics of products.
38. Preparation of paints; dyeing of fabrics, yarn, clothes, utensils, knowledge of the basics of color science.
39. Knowledge of the properties of stones and the ability to use them.
40. Cooking art and preparation of drinks.
41. Knowledge of wild plants, their use in everyday life, nutrition and treatment.
42. The ability to get a good harvest in the garden, preserve it and make food preparations.
43. Knowledge of animal husbandry.
44. Communication and play with animals; their training, the suggestion of the necessary actions.
45. The ability to recognize the state of a person by his handwriting, to express himself beautifully and competently in writing.
46. The ability to convey with the help of painting and drawing one's state and perception of the world around.
47. Making garlands, wreaths, bouquets and knowing their hidden meaning.
48. Knowledge of fairy tales, epics, legends, proverbs, sayings and folk songs.
49. Making dolls for games, rituals and witchcraft.
50. Composition of poems, songs and their performance.
51. Knowledge of favorable and unfavorable musical rhythms, sizes, melodies and their reproduction on various instruments.
52. The ability to move plastically and dance to different melodies.
53. Art in entertainment games; dexterity and dexterity.
54. The ability to determine the terrain.
55. Ability to juggle various objects.
56. The ability to deceive (“deception” is what is next to the mind, with the truth: tricks, tricks, practical jokes, sleight of hand, cunning).
57. The ability to guess the intended numbers, names, objects, phrases
58. Knowledge of games based on guessing (riddles, puzzles, charades, hide and seek).
59. Ability to mislead opponents.
60. Knowledge various games for a dispute.
61. Ability to cry.
62. Ability to propitiate an angry spouse.
63. The ability to manage the jealousy of her husband.
64. Conscientiously fulfill their duties even in the event of the loss of a husband
The scriptures give three reasons why these arts should be studied:
1 - By applying these arts, it is easier to win the favor of a lover.
2 - A woman who owns these arts, naturally occupies a place of honor in society.
3 - Knowledge of these arts contributes to greater charm, affection and attraction of a man to such a beloved.
Such a Witch woman will be protected by the Most High Ancestor Family; it is impossible to impose an alien worldview on her, such a woman is dangerous for any religion. Better to burn it and destroy it. This is what the valiant Christians did in the name of the prophet they crucified.
But before becoming a Witch, the girl was taught and prepared to become Vesta - the one who carries the message. Vesta became a witch after the birth of a child. If the girl did not comprehend the necessary skills and qualities, she became the Bride. BUT love union with the bride was and is defective, i.e. marriage.
Thanks to technological progress, we consider ourselves more advanced than our ancestors, but in reality we have no idea about some of the things that they owned. Much knowledge has been lost and destroyed.
We all love to challenge each other. Husband to wife, wife to husband, looking for flaws in each other, forgetting about their own. Instead, you should think: “Do I myself live up to my claims to another person, to the world?” And it turns out that we still need to work and work on ourselves. And by changing and developing ourselves, we change the reality around us. better than those around us.
The next time you are offended by your husband or begin to make claims with other men, read this list and think about whether you should change yourself. The same applies to men.
IN EDMA - in the pre-Christian, pagan period - these are, most likely, female witches, "knowing" (after all - knowledge, know - know), who during their lifetime played the role of the coastline of the clan, village; women who knew herbs and their medicinal properties who knew conspiracies and treated people, communicating, as it was believed, with spirits. How the characters of pagan mythology were images with dominant positive features.
Witch - in Slavic beliefs - a woman endowed with witchcraft abilities by nature or who has learned to conjure. In fact, the very name of the witch characterizes her as “a knowledgeable, possessing special knowledge"("to witch, to witch" means "to conjure, to tell fortunes").
Christianity in the fight against paganism turned the witch into a witch, endowed only negative traits. She began to be depicted as an old, gray-haired, disheveled woman with a hooked nose, wild eyes, bony hands and a small ponytail, living with the devil or making a deal with him. Witchcraft was declared a crime.
Witch has properties. She can turn into a crow, an owl, a cat, a dog, a pig, or she can appear as a young beautiful woman. A witch flies on a broom, shovel, poker or on a goat, flying out of the chimney at home.
“They say about witches that they have a tail, they can fly through the air, turn into forty, turn into pigs and other animals, throwing themselves over twelve knives.”
“The king himself went out to the square and ordered all the witches to be covered with straw. When straw was brought in and surrounded, he ordered to set it on fire from all sides in order to destroy all witchcraft in Russia, before his own eyes. The frying pan of the witches engulfed them - and they raised a screech, scream and meow. A thick black column of smoke rose, and magpies flew out of it, one after another - apparently-invisibly ... So, all the witches-crossdressers turned into forty and flew away and deceived the king in the eyes.
With their witchcraft charms, witches send damage to plants, animals and people. If a witch in the field binds several bunches of cereal plants or cuts a narrow path of ears of corn, then the entire crop dies - she takes it to herself. She can spoil any cattle, she can milk cows, no matter how far away, she can deprive them of milk: if she only draws a circle on the ground and sticks a knife into its center with a conspiracy, then the milk from the cow she has conceived will flow by itself.
Witches are to blame for the illnesses of people, especially if it is not known what and why this or that person is ill. Droughts, hurricanes, heavy, damaging downpours, hail, epidemics, crop failures, etc. began to be explained by their insidiousness. But, knowing certain methods of action, the witch can be disarmed, made peaceful.
“They say, in order to frighten a witch and disarm her actions, you need to in the hut where she is, in the cross of the window frame, in the jamb of the door that serves as a crossbar, or in the garden under the table, stick a knife, and the sorceress will be submissive.”
“If a sorcerer or sorceress ties a doll in bread, then you need to remove it with a poker and take it out of the pen, looking around or burn it right away, do not pull it out. They also do this: they take an aspen peg, split it, grab the doll into the split and pull it out. From this remedy, they say, the culprit of the doll suffers greatly - he gets severe pain in the lower back.
In order for the soul of a dying witch to leave her body faster, it was usually supposed to break the floorboard - apparently, it was believed that such and such a soul could only go straight underground. In other places, it was believed that it was necessary to raise the mother or make a hole in the roof - evil spirits could not come for the witch in the usual way.
Such a transformation of ideas, characteristic of many images of pagan mythology, is largely due to the desire of Christianity to establish its undivided dominance in the minds of people, for which all the deities that were previously worshiped had to be presented as servants of the Antichrist. In addition, the image of a witch embodied the Christian idea of a woman as a vessel of sin.
In Slavic mythology, these are sorceresses who have entered into an alliance with the devil or other evil spirits in order to gain supernatural abilities. In different Slavic countries, witches were given different guises. In Russia, witches were represented as old women with disheveled gray hair, bony hands, and huge blue noses.
Peasant girls confided their secrets to village witches-witches, and they offered their services to them.
One girl, who served with a rich merchant, complained: "He promised to marry, but he deceived." “And you bring me only a piece of his shirt. I will give it to the church watchman to tie a rope on this tuft, then the merchant will not know where to go from longing, ”such was the witch’s recipe. Another girl wanted to marry a peasant who did not like her. “Get me the stockings off his legs. I will wash them, I will say water at night and I will give you three grains. Give him that water to drink, throw grain under his feet when he rides, and everything will be fulfilled.
Village witches were simply inexhaustible in inventing various recipes, especially in love affairs. There is also a mysterious talisman, which is extracted from a black cat or from frogs. From the first, boiled to the last degree, an “invisible bone” is obtained. A bone is equivalent to walking boots, a flying carpet, a hospitable bag and an invisibility cap. Two “lucky bones” are taken out of the frog, serving with equal success for both love spells and lapels, that is, causing love or disgust
In Moscow, according to researchers, in the 17th century, witches or witches lived on different sides, to whom even boyar wives to ask for help against the jealousy of her husbands and to consult about her love affairs and about the means of how to moderate the anger of others or harass enemies. In 1635, one “golden” craftswoman dropped a scarf in the palace, in which the root was wrapped. On this occasion, a search was appointed. When asked where she took the root and why she went to the sovereign with it, the craftswoman answered that the root was not dashing, but carried it with her from “heart pain, that her heart was sick”, she complained to one wife that her husband was dashing before her, and she gave her a reversible root, and ordered to put it on a mirror and look into the glass: then her husband would be affectionate to her, and in the royal court she did not want to spoil anyone and did not know other homies. The defendant and the wife to whom she referred were exiled to distant cities.
In one village there could be several witches, sorceresses. On the Tersky Coast of the White Sea, until recently, residents called villages where there was traditionally "a lot of blackness", and, accordingly, there were many sorcerers and sorceresses. Sometimes witches were considered subordinates of an older, "strong" sorcerer. There are also references to the eldest, chief witch. From sorceresses (mostly grandmothers involved in healing), witches are distinguished by an unkind character and more diverse abilities and skills. The traditional appearance of a conjuring witch is a woman in a white shirt, with long flowing hair, sometimes with a kuban (pot) over her shoulders, with a pail or basket on the head, in the hands. She knows how to move quickly (fly) on a lutoshka (linden stick without bark), on a broomstick, a bread shovel, and other household utensils. All these magic tools of the witch indicate her special connection with the hearth, the stove - in the house the witch usually conjures at the stove. If you overturn the grip at the stove, then the witch will lose the ability to conjure (Vlad.), But if you turn the stove damper with the bow inward, then the witch will leave the house and will not be able to return to it (Vol.). The witch flies (flies out of the chimney) with smoke, a whirlwind, bird. In general, the chimney is a favorite way of witches from house to house, and the smoke, curling in especially bizarre rings, is one of the evidence of the presence of a witch in the hut: she has “the first smoke from the chimney never comes out calmly and quietly, but always twirls and twists it in clubs in all directions, whatever the weather” (Vol.).
The witch turns into a needle, a ball, a sack, a rolling barrel, a haystack. However, most often it takes the form birds (magpies), snakes, pigs, horses, cats, dogs, rolling wheels . In some regions of Russia, it was believed that there were twelve possible forms of a witch. The ability to quickly transform and the variety of forms taken distinguish the witch from other mythological characters. Turning around, the witch somersaults on the stove hearth (or underground, on the threshing floor) through the fire, through knives and forks, through twelve knives, through a rope, etc. There are also more well-known (according to fairy tales) ways of wrapping - for example, rubbing with magic ointment. A witch casts spells, turns around and flies or runs in the form of animals most often at dusk, in the evening, at night. A witch, a sorceress is a creature and a real (in Everyday life she is an ordinary peasant woman), and endowed with supernatural powers and abilities. According to Russian beliefs, a witch has power over various manifestations of the existence of nature and man. From witches and witchers "depends on harvest and crop failure, illness and recovery, the welfare of livestock, and often even a change in the weather."
In the records of the XIX-XX centuries. such a skill of the witch as damage and theft of the moon is also mentioned. In the Tomsk province, it was believed that witches first learn to “spoil” a radish and a month, and then a person. The month is "spoiled" as follows. Baba, becoming "okarach" (on all fours), looks at him through the bath trough and conjures. From this, the edge of the month should turn black as coal. In the Astrakhan province, a story is recorded about how a witch “stole” a month during a wedding, and the trainees (participants in the wedding) did not find the way. And in the archives of the Kursk Znamensky Monastery there is a record of the 18th century, which tells how a witch removed stars from the sky. The connection with the Moon, characteristic of the most ancient deities, supernatural beings, testifies to the antiquity of the origin of the image of a witch. However, in Russia XIX-XX centuries. such beliefs (and even more so stories about a witch flying, eating, sweeping the moon and stars with a broomstick) are not as common as, for example, in Ukraine, among Western and southern Slavs. In Russian materials, a witch, conjuring over the Moon and stars, usually retains her human appearance, although she can be compared with an eclipse, a cloud. This does not allow us to see in the image of a witch only animation, personification natural phenomena. The witch sometimes imitates the elements, then subordinates them to herself, then, as it were, dissolves in them, merging with the elements, acting through them.
The image of a witch arose at the crossroads of ideas about “living” elements, about a woman endowed with supernatural abilities, as well as about animals and birds with special properties and abilities. In order to fly, a witch turns into a bird, a horse or becomes a woman rider. The "occupations" of flying witches are varied. In the guise of a magpie, a witch-little thing harms pregnant women (see, less often - flies to the Sabbath (Tulsk., Vyatsk.) Or steals the Moon (Tom.). In Russia of the 19th-20th centuries, stories about magical flights or trips of witches on a person are popular , wrapped by her in a horse (or, conversely, endowed with special powers of a person on a witch-horse - Orel., Kaluga., Vyatsk.) The long-standing distribution of this plot is evidenced in the Nomocanon, which mentions the healing by Archbishop Macarius of the “wife turned into a mare” To wrap a sleeping or gaping person with a horse, it is enough for a witch to throw a bridle over him. The bridle and collar are traditionally one of the most "witchcraft" items. Russians believed so much in the transmission of witchcraft through everything "belonging to horse harness and in general to riding" that to for example, outsiders were categorically not allowed to royal horses, and in Eastern Siberia, damage by witches to people, livestock and objects is still called “putting on a collar”.
In the stories of the XIX-XX centuries. flights and trips of horse witches (witch riders) are aimless or end in the marriage (sometimes death) of a witch tamed in the form of a horse. Narrations about the flights and trips of witches to the Sabbath (as well as about the Sabbaths themselves) were not received in the Great Russian provinces. widespread. In a story from the Vyatka province, for example, it is not so much about the Sabbath as about the fate of a person who accidentally fell on it: a magpie witch (and after her the witch's husband who turned into a magpie) arrives at a gathering of sorceresses. The husband is immediately forced to leave him (“until the witches have eaten him”) and flies away on a horse drawn and animated by his wife. Having jumped off his horse at the wrong time, he then gets home for half a year. Witches also have power over the weather, especially moisture and rain. In the Voronezh province, it was believed that a witch could drive away the clouds by waving her apron.
According to beliefs (albeit more characteristic of the southern and southwestern regions of Russia), a witch hides and stores rain, hail, and a storm in a bag or pot. Believing in a special connection between witches and water, since Ancient Russia those suspected of witchcraft were tested in the following way: they were thrown into a river, a lake, and those who did not drown were considered witches (apparently suspected of being able to influence water). This custom can be regarded both as an execution, and as a purification, a sacrifice. During severe droughts, witches were usually sought out who had conjured a drought (perhaps even holding rain somewhere in or "in themselves"). Belief that a witch can somehow attract (or "draw" into herself) moisture - to hold back the rain, to rake in the dew, to milk the cows - is especially common in Russia. One of the most traditional occupations of a witch is milking other people's cows. Usually at dusk, at night, turning into a snake, a pig, a cat and secretly sneaking up to a cow, the witch milks her, while she can do without a milker, pulling the udder with invisible hairs (Raven.).
In a story from the Tula province, a rich peasant's cows do not give milk. He is advised to guard with an ax, sitting under a chicken perch. At night, a cat comes into the yard and, turning into a simple-haired woman, milks a cow in a leather bag. A man cuts off a woman's hand with an ax, and she disappears. In the morning it is discovered that he cut off the hand of his mother, who turned out to be a witch. The gathering decides not to let her out of the yard. A cow milked by a witch dries up the udder, she withers and dies. They also talk about more complex methods of witch milking: without touching the cows, the witch milks them by sticking a knife into the plow (which causes milk to flow out of the knife), or calls, calls out to the cows, listing their names. According to the word of the witch, milk fills the dishes prepared by her at home.
The actions of witches are also connected with the annual cycle of nature. They are especially significant and dangerous in the middle of winter and on the days of the summer solstice. In the southern regions of Russia, there are stories that on January 16, hungry witches kill cows, and during the summer solstice (on Ivanov, Petrov days, July 7 and 12) they try to get into the stables and get close to the cattle. Solstice and big days calendar holidays(for example, Easter) - a kind of festivities of witches, accompanied, according to Russian beliefs, not so much by sabbaths, but by the activation of all forces and creatures inhabiting the world: “witches and sorcerers fly out of their caves to guard treasures, spoil cattle, destroy spores in bread, make creases, so that the reapers writhed, to make empty, so that it would not be threshed, ”etc. (Psk.). Fearing witches, on such days they tried to leave the cows together with the calves in the stable, so that the sucking calf would prevent the witch from taking milk, thistles were hung on the door of the stable, a young aspen tree was placed in the door of the barnyard, they propped up the door of the stable with aspen logs, sprinkled flaxseed. Stinging nettles were placed on the windows of the hut, and in general they tried not to sleep on the night of The day of Ivan so as not to become a victim of witchcraft tricks. In the Smolensk province, before Ivan's Day, a Passion candle and an image were placed on the gates of the barnyard (a day later, the candle could turn out to be bitten by a witch, whom she prevented from entering the barnyard). In some regions of Russia (especially southern and southwestern), on the night of Ivanov's day, a symbolic burning of a horse's skull or an effigy depicting a witch took place. Calling cows driven out to the healing dew of Ivanovo, they simultaneously take away the dewy moisture that gives health, fertility, and milk.
According to customs, peasant women also "scoop dew" in the morning of Ivan's Day, "carrying a clean tablecloth over the grass and squeezing it into beetroot" (Volog.), or ride in the dew, trying to draw health and strength from it (Olon.). “Dew scooping” by peasant women is aimed at acquiring health and well-being; “raking in” the dew by a witch means “raking in milk” and spoiling health, spoiling a cow. Apparently, in some of their qualities, dew, milk, rain seemed to the peasants a single substance, the embodiment and guarantee of the fruitfulness of the land, livestock, people. Witches, on the other hand, had the ability to take away or “absorb” this fertility into themselves. The milk that is given out retains a connection with the witch who took it away: if such milk is boiled, then the witch will experience terrible torment (Perm., Sarat.) Or “everything inside will boil” ( South). If you stick a knife into the butter made from this milk, blood will come out (Novg.).
Milk seems to be inside the witch, in which there is some resemblance to a yard snake or noon snake ( cm. ) It is difficult to say whether the witch "imitates" a snake or the image of a supernatural snake is one of the components of the image of a witch. One way or another, but the idea that witches can keep fertility, harvest ("abundance") in themselves, was noted even in Ancient Russia.
During the famine in the Rostov land, the skin behind the shoulders of women suspected of witchcraft was cut, releasing the “abundance” drawn into them. In the beliefs of the XIX-XX centuries. a milking bowl, a pot, a basket on the head and behind the shoulders of the witch, obviously, are also considered as vessels intended for “taken away” milk, dew, rain, harvest. The witch, thus, turns out to be associated with the most diverse elements and forces of the world: she and the snake , and a bird, and a horse, and wind, and smoke; she and a woman endowed with supernatural abilities - perhaps once a servant of various snake-like, bird-like, and other deities, an intermediary between them and people.
In Eastern Siberia, there is still an idea that a witch can command snakes, frogs, evil spirits (devils). A witch, endowed with the ability to influence almost all essential aspects of life (especially moisture, water, fertility), may have been is also associated with the highest female deity of the East Slavic pantheon - (Old Russian “moksh” means “conjure”, and “mokosha” means “bewitching woman”). The role of a witch commanding diverse forces and creatures could be not only harmful, but also necessary. Many researchers of the customs of the Eastern Slavs note the special vocation of women in the matter of witchcraft, keeping witch secrets and ancient beliefs. E. Anichkov believed that in Russia (starting from the 11th-12th centuries) “with the decline of the role of the Magi”, the “original bearer of secret knowledge"- a woman," witchcraft becomes family, domestic" [Anichkov, 1914].
Indeed, even in the XIX-XX centuries. in especially important or critical cases (during epidemics, deaths of livestock) they tell fortunes, conjure ordinary peasant women. At the same time, their appearance, actions often repeat the appearance and actions of witches: women in shirts, without belts, with loose hair, walk around on pokers and brooms, plow the village during epidemics, blocking the path of the disease; or they run around the house on Maundy Thursday, driving away evil spirits, trying to “protect”, keep prosperity and well-being in the house. Women’s divination (like the woman herself, especially connected with nature and elemental forces) primordially seemed as necessary as dangerous. In the village of the XIX-XX centuries. a witch is almost always a negative phenomenon, a source of various troubles: “Whatever happens in a peasant family, the witch turns out to be guilty.”
In addition to damage to the weather and livestock, damage to fields, health, people can be attributed to the witch. Usually the witch "spoils" the field, making "creases and twists": wringing and tying, twisting the stems, pressing the ears to the ground, she "binds fertility", prevents the ripening of cereals and destroys the harvest. According to popular beliefs, if a witch makes a hall or a gap in the field, a gap (lives through a strip), then the evil spirit begins to drag the grain from this field to the witch's bins (Yarosl., Tulsk., Orl.). In the hall, the twist cannot only be pulled out, but even touched without the risk of becoming fatally ill, therefore, in the Tula and Oryol provinces, for example, they were removed with a poker or a split aspen stake. The hall could be destroyed by a sorcerer who burned it or drowned it. For this purpose, they also invited priests who served in the prayer field. The antiquity of all these performances is evidenced by the monuments of ancient Russian and medieval literature. In the collection of the XV century. among confessional questions addressed to women we read: ... did you spoil the field with someone or something else, a person or cattle?
A witch can “spoil” people in many ways, chasing them in the form of animals (scaring, biting and even seizing, eating, “driving” in the form of a horse), slandering, spreading diseases through wind, water, various objects (and even through touch or glance ).The fear of witchcraft and witches, especially in medieval Russia, was strong; in many cases, even the clergy, like the highest secular authorities, "blindly believed in magic." The charter of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich mentions a sorceress woman who slandered about hops in order to bring a “plague plague” to Russia [Krainsky, 1900]. Witches were especially feared during weddings, to which they tried to invite a “strong” guardian sorcerer (see). Witches, witches, “blameless women” were tried and persecuted in Russia until the 19th century, also marked by litigation between “spoiled and spoiled”.
Numerous were extrajudicial reprisals against those suspected of witchcraft: testing, witches were drowned, and wanting to neutralize, they beat and maimed. It was believed that if you hit the witch with all your might, then she would lose her witchcraft abilities (or at least part of them). Less cruel methods: hit the witch with Trinity greenery or “nail” her shadow with nails, hit the shadow with an aspen stake, turn the damper at the stove, grip, etc. It was possible to find out who the witch was in the village mainly during big holidays. The peasants believed that by the beginning of the festive Easter service, witches would definitely come to church and even try to touch the priest (probably in order to receive sacred, magical powers emanating from him). Therefore, if during Easter matins you look at those present in the church through a piece of wood from the coffin of the dead, you can see witches with jugs of milk on their heads (South).
They looked out for witches at Easter and held a piece of cheese saved from Clean Thursday. “When the priest says:“ Christ is Risen! ”, All witches (with milkers on their heads) will turn their backs to the icons” (Sarat.). Witches could also be seen in the house, in the yard: if on Thursdays of Great Lent you make a harrow from aspen, and on Good Saturday hide behind this harrow with a lit candle and wait, you will see a witch (South).
In the Surgut Territory, they knew this way to catch witches: it was necessary to leave the entire post on a log from the morning firebox, and during Easter morning, flood the stove with these logs. Witches will flock to ask for fire, and if a floorboard is pulled out between them and the door, they will not be able to get out of the hut. However, the peasants were still afraid to irritate the witches and tried not to do this unless absolutely necessary. Dangerous during life, witches are restless, harmful even after death, continuing to frighten fellow villagers and relatives with their visits, and also persecute the victims they have chosen. The deceased witch often “bites”, “bites” people, personifying death, destruction. The dead witches take revenge on the priests who tried to expose them during their lifetime, they persecute both the guys who inadvertently rejected their love, and their suitors: “One guy in a strange village had a fiancee who died, and she was a witch. So that she would not torture the guy, the people advised him to go to her cemetery and sit on the cross of her grave for three nights, then she would leave him alone and do nothing to him. The guy went to the witch's grave for three nights and every night he saw her until the first roosters. All three nights she came out of the grave and looked for him. On the first night, she was looking for him alone, on the second night with her friends, and on the third, in order to find him, on the advice of the old witch, they brought with them a baby with a tail, who showed them where the guy was sitting. But, fortunately, at the time when the baby with the tail pointed to the cross where the guy was, the roosters crowed - and the witches failed. The baby was left with outstretched hand, and his parents were found by him; and this is important, because these people are treated with caution and they are watched so that they don’t do anything bad to the Orthodox.”(Tulsk).
In order to get rid of the persecution of the dead witch once and for all, her coffin and grave were "guarded" with special precautions. If the witch continued to “get up” and cause harm, the grave was torn apart, and the body was pierced with an aspen stake - aspen was traditionally revered as a tree that protects against witches. In general, after death, witches do not “get up” as often as the deceased sorcerers, and mostly only the first time after the funeral. In Russian beliefs, stories about witches of the 20th century. sorcery transformations, flights, trips of witches are described less frequently than in the 19th century, but ideas about the ability of witches to spoil cattle and people are still widespread. Witch, sorceress in the village XIX-XX centuries. as if personifies the troubles, dangers and accidents that lie in wait and pursue the peasants. It is an almost universal explanation of misfortunes, and in this capacity it is even necessary for the life of the peasant community.
In a spiritual verse written (by A. V. Valov) in Poshekhonye, Yaroslavl province, the soul of a witch, who has already completed her earthly existence, repents of her sins as follows:
“I gave milk from the cows, I lived a strip between the borders, I laundered the ergot from the bread.” This verse gives a full characterization of the witch's evil activities, since these three acts constitute the special occupations of women who have decided to sell their souls. However, if you carefully look at the appearance of the witch in the form in which it is drawn to the imagination of the inhabitants of the northern forest half of Russia, then a significant difference between the Great Russian witch and her ancestor, the Little Russian one, involuntarily catches the eye. In general, in the Little Russian steppes, young widows are very common among witches, and, moreover, according to the expression of our great poet, such that “it’s not a pity to give their souls for the look of a black-browed beauty,” then in severe coniferous forests, who themselves sing only in a minor tone, playful and beautiful Little Russian witches have turned into ugly old women. They were equated here with the fabulous Baba-Yagas living in huts on chicken legs, they, according to the Olonets legend, always spin a tow and at the same time “graze geese with their eyes in the field, and cook with a nomsom (instead of a poker and tongs) in the oven”, Great Russian witches are usually confused with sorceresses and are imagined only in the form of old, sometimes fat as a tub, women with disheveled gray hair, bony hands and huge blue noses. (Because of these fundamental features, in many places the very name of a witch has become a dirty word.)
Witches, according to the general opinion, differ from all other women in that they have a tail (small) and have the ability to fly through the air on broomsticks, pokers, mortars, etc. They go to dark deeds from their homes without fail through chimneys and , like all sorcerers, can turn into different animals, most often magpies, pigs, dogs and yellow cats. One such pig (in the Bryansk places) was beaten with anything, but the pokers and grips bounced off it like a ball until the roosters crowed. In cases of other Transformations, beatings are also considered a useful measure, only it is advised to beat with a cart axle and not otherwise than repeating the word “one” with each blow (saying “two” means ruining yourself, since the witch will break that person). This beating ritual, which determines how and with what to beat, shows that massacres with witches are practiced quite widely. And it is true, they are beaten to this day, and the modern village does not cease to supply material for criminal chronicles. Most often, witches are tortured for milking other people's cows. Knowing the widespread village custom of naming cows according to the days of the week when they were born, as well as their habit of turning around at the call, witches easily use all this. Enticing "authors" and "subbotoks", they milk them to the last drop, so that after that the cows come from the field as if they had completely lost their milk. Offended peasants console themselves with the opportunity to catch the villain at the scene of the crime and mutilate her by cutting off her ear, nose, or breaking her leg. (After that, a woman with a bandaged cheek, or limping on one or the other leg, usually does not take long to show up in the village.)
Numerous experiments of this kind are carried out everywhere, since the peasants still retain the confidence that their cows are not milked by hungry neighbors who do not know how to feed the children, but by witches. Moreover, the peasants apparently do not allow the thought that cows can lose milk from painful causes, or that this milk can be sucked out by alien-eating animals.
Witches have a lot in common with, and if you select outstanding features in the manner of action of both, you will have to repeat. They are also in constant communication and strike among themselves (it is for these meetings that “bald” mountains and noisy games of playful widows with cheerful and passionate ones were invented) - , in the same way, they die hard, tormented by terrible convulsions caused by the desire to transfer their science to someone, and in the same way, after death, their tongue sticks out of their mouths, unusually long and very similar to a horse's. But the similarity is not limited to this, since then restless night walks from fresh graves to the old ashes begin for the best case - to taste the pancakes put out of the window before the legal fortieth day, for the worst ~ to vent belated and uncooled malice and reduce the unfinished calculations during life with unloved neighbors). Finally, the aspen stake driven into the grave calms them in the same way. In a word, it is useless to look for sharp boundaries separating from sorcerers, as precisely as witches from sorceresses. Even the history of both has much in common: its bloody pages go back centuries, and it seems that they have lost their beginning - the custom of cruel reprisals against sorcerers and witches has taken root in the people to such an extent. True, even in the Middle Ages, the most enlightened church fathers opposed this custom, but in that harsh era, the preaching of meekness and gentleness had little success. So, in the first half of the 15th century, at the same time as in Pskov, during a pestilence, twelve witches were burned alive, in Suzdal, Bishop Serapion was already arming himself against the habit of attributing social disasters to witches and destroying them for this “You still cling to the filthy the custom of sorcery, said St. father, you believe and burn innocent people. In what books, in what scriptures have you heard that there are famines on earth from sorcery? If you believe this, then why do you burn the Magi? Do you beg, honor them, bring gifts to them, so that they don’t make pestilence, let down rain, bring heat, tell the earth to be fruitful? Sorcerers and sorceresses act with demonic power over those who are afraid of them, and whoever holds firm faith in God, they have no power over those. I mourn your madness, I beg you, step aside from the deeds of the filthy. Divine rules "order a person to be condemned to death after hearing many witnesses, and you put water as witnesses, say:" If she starts to sink, she is innocent, but if she swims, then she is a witch. so as not to drown, and thereby lead you into murder?
However, this word of conviction sounded in the desert, filled with the highest feelings of Christian mercy: 200 years later, under Tsar Alexei, the old woman Olena was burned in a log house as a heretic, with magic papers and roots after she herself confessed that she spoiled people and some of taught them witchcraft. In Perm, the peasant Talev was burned with fire and, under torture, they gave him three shakes according to a slander that he was letting people hiccup. In Tot'ev 1674. the woman Fedosya was burned in a log house, with numerous witnesses, according to a slander "damage, etc. When (in 1632) news came from Lithuania that some woman was slandering about hops in order to bring pestilence, under fear death penalty, that hops were forbidden to buy. A whole century later (in 1730), the Senate considered it necessary to recall by decree that the law defines burning as magic, and forty years after that (1779) the Bishop of Ustyug reports the appearance of sorcerers and wizards from male and female peasants who do not they only turn others away from orthodoxy, but also infect many with various diseases through worms. The sorcerers were sent to the senate as having confessed that they had renounced the faith and had an appointment with the devil who brought them worms. The same senate, having learned from the questions of the sorcerers that they had been beaten mercilessly more than once and forced by these beatings to blame for what they were not at all guilty of, ordered the voivode and his comrade to be dismissed from their posts, the alleged sorcerers to be released and released, and the bishops and others to forbid spiritual persons to enter into investigative cases on sorcery and sorcery, for these cases are considered subject to civil court.
And now, since the life-giving ray of light flashed for the first time in impenetrable darkness, on the eve of the 20th century, we receive the following news, all because of the sorcery question about witches:
“Recently (our correspondent writes from Orel), at the beginning of 1899, a woman (named Tatyana), whom everyone considers a witch, was almost killed. Tatyana had a fight with another woman and threatened her that she would spoil her. And this is what happened later because of the women's street squabble: when the peasants came together to shout and turned to Tatyana with a strict request, she promised them to turn everyone into dogs. One of the men approached her with a fist and said: “You are a witch, but speak my fist so that it does not hit you.” And hit her on the back of the head. Tatyana fell; as if on cue, the rest of the men attacked her and started beating her. It was decided to examine the woman, find her tail and tear it off. Baba screamed with a good obscenity and defended herself so desperately that many had their faces scratched, others had their hands bitten. The tail, however, was not found. Her husband ran to Tatyana's cry and began to defend, but the peasants began to beat him too. Finally, badly beaten, but not ceasing to threaten, the woman was tied up, taken to the volost (Ryabinsk) and put in a cold one. In the volost they were told that for such deeds all peasants would be punished by the zemstvo chief, since now they are not ordered to believe in sorcerers and witches. Returning home, the peasants announced to Tatyana's husband, Antipas, that they would probably decide to send his wife to Siberia, and that they would agree to give their sentence if he did not put out a bucket of vodka to the whole society. While drinking, Antip swore and swore that not only had he not seen, but never even noticed any tail on Tatyana in his life. At the same time, however, he did not hide the fact that his wife threatened to turn him into a stallion whenever he wanted to beat her. The next day, Tatyana came from the volost, and all the peasants came to her to agree that she would not conjure in her village, spoil no one, and not steal milk from the cows. For yesterday's beatings, they generously asked for forgiveness. - She swore that she would fulfill the request, and a week later an order was received from the volost, in which it was said that such stupid things should not happen in the future, and if something like this happens again, then those responsible for this will be punished by law, and, moreover, about this will be brought to the attention of the zemstvo chief. The peasants listened to the order and decided by all means that the witch must have bewitched the authorities, and that therefore, henceforth, one should not reach him, but should deal with his own court.
Note - a story about a witch
In the village of Terebenevo (Zhizdrinsky district, Kaluga province), the seven-year-old girl Sasha told her mother that she and her aunt Marya, with whom she lived as a nanny, flew every night to the bald mountain.
- When everyone falls asleep, the lights go out, Aunt Marya will fly in as a magpie and chirp. I will jump out, and she will throw me a magpie skin, I will put it on - and we will fly. On the mountain we will throw off the skin, make fires, brew a potion to give people water. A lot of women flock: both old and young. Marya has fun - she whistles and dances with everyone, but I'm bored on the sidelines, because everyone is big, and I'm the only one small.
Sasha told the same thing to her father, and this one rushed straight to Marya:
- Atheist, why did you spoil my daughter? Marin's husband interceded: he pushed the fool out the threshold and closed the door behind him. But he did not let up - and to the headman.
The headman thought, thought, and said:
- No, I can't act here - go to the priest and the parish.
He thought, thought the father and decided to take his daughter to church, confess her, take communion and try to see if the priest would undertake to reprimand her. However, the girl herself refused confession.
- Witches do not pray and do not confess! And in the church she turned her back to the iconostasis. The priest refused to chastise and advised the girl to be thoroughly flogged.
- What kind of magpie did she throw off, where did she fly? And you, fool, believe the chatter of a child?
Meanwhile, at the hut of the alarmed father, the crowd of men and women does not disperse, and the girl continues to chatter her nonsense.
In the volost, the complainant was believed and Marya was recognized as a sorceress. The clerk rummaged through the laws and announced:
- No, brother, nothing can be done against the devil: I did not find any article against her.
Suspicion fell on Marya, and the fame of the witch began to grow. The neighbors began to follow her every step, remember and notice all sorts of little things. One told me that she saw Marya washing herself, leaning over the threshold into the street; the other - that Marya drew water for days, the third - that Marya collected herbs on the night of Ivan Kupala, etc. Every step of the unfortunate woman began to be interpreted in a bad way. The boys around the corner began to throw stones at her. Neither she nor her husband could show themselves on the street - they almost spit in the eyes.
“If only you, father, would stand up for us!” the priest’s husband begged Maryin. The priest tried to convince the crowd and calm Marya, but nothing helped, and, in the end, the innocent and meek Marya died in consumption.
15 years have passed since that time. Sasha has grown up a long time ago, she assures me for a long time; that her story was pure fiction, but now no one believes her anymore: the girl entered in full sense and realized that this should not be told. She is a good girl, but not a single suitor will marry her: no one wants to marry a witch.
Probably, she, sitting in old girls, will also have to turn to the fortune-telling business, especially since such activities are almost not dangerous and very profitable. Neither daring fellows, nor fair girls, nor deceived husbands, nor jealous wives will pass by the fortune tellers, because even now, as in the old days, faith in “dryness” lives in people. There is no need for bald mountains or roadside uprisings, there are enough village rubbles to, learning the innermost secrets, diligently engage in love spells and lapels of loving and cold hearts: both to your advantage and to help outsiders. In such cases, there is still a lot of room for clever people, no matter how this tricksters are called: witches or soothsayers, fortune-tellers or healers, grandmothers or whisperers.
Here are some examples from the practice of modern witches and fortune tellers
One peasant of the Oryol province seriously offended his newlywed wife and, in order to somehow rectify the matter, turned for advice to the vaunted old woman healer, who was rumored to be a notorious witch. The sorceress advised her patient to go into the meadows and find among the stakes (pegs on which haystacks are attached) three pieces of such that stood driven into the ground for at least three years; then scrape shavings from each hundred heat, brew them in a pot and drink.
And here is another case from the practice of soothsayers.
“I don’t have washed water from my neighbors,” one girl who served with a rich merchant also complained to the well-known Kaluga witch, “he promised to marry and cheated. Everyone laughs, even the little guys.
“Just bring me a piece of his shirt,” the witch encouraged her, “I’ll give it to the church watchman, so that when he rings, he will tie this piece on the rope, then the merchant will not know where to go from longing, and he will come to you.” , and you laugh at him: I, they say, did not call you, why did you come? ..
Another poor girl also complained, wishing to marry a rich peasant who did not like her.
- You, if possible, get his stockings off his feet, - the witch advised. - I'll wash them and spit the water at night. And I will give you three grains: one you will throw in front of his house, and the other under his feet when he goes, the third when he comes ...
There are an infinite number of such cases in the practice of village witches, but it is remarkable that healers and witches are truly inexhaustible in the variety of their recipes. Here are a few more samples.
A man loves someone else's woman. The wife asks for advice.
“Look at the yard where the roosters are fighting,” the witch recommends, “take a handful of earth in that place and sprinkle it on the bed of your lovebird. She will quarrel with your husband - and again he will fall in love with his "law" (that is, his wife).
For dryness, girls are advised to carry bagels or gingerbread and apples under their left arm for several days, of course, primarily equipped with slander, in which lies the main, secretly acting force.
Only knowledgeable and chosen witches do not talk conspiracy words to the wind, but lay in the spoken things, exactly what will then heal, soothe and comfort, at will. It is as if a sore heart is filled with the most healing potion when they hear ears about the wish that the melancholy that has been pressing so far will go away “neither in singing, nor in roots, nor in trampling mud, nor in boiling springs”, namely, in that person, who offended, fell out of love or deceived with promises, etc. For lovers, witches know such words that, it seems, are better and sweeter than them and no one can come up with. They send dryness “to zealous hearts, to a white body, to a black liver, to a hot chest, to a violent head, to the middle vein and to all 70 veins, to all 70 joints, to the very love bone. Let this very dryness set fire to a zealous heart and boil hot blood, so much so that it would be impossible to drink it down or eat it in food, not to fall asleep, not to wash it off with water, not to go on a spree, not to cry with tears, etc. .
Only proceeding from the lips of witches, these words have the power to “print” someone else’s heart and lock it up, but even then only when there are slanderous roots in the hands, the hair of a loved one, a piece of his clothes, etc. They believe every promise and fulfill every order: they put a golik under the sled for young guys, if they wish that one of them would not marry this year, they burn his hair so that he walks like a lost one for a whole year. If you stain his undershirt or fur coat with sheep's blood, then no one will love him at all.
But the most real tool in love affairs is a mysterious talisman, which is obtained from a black cat or from frogs. From the first, boiled to the last degree, an “invisible bone” is obtained, making the person who owns it invisible. A bone is equivalent to self-propelled boots, a flying carpet, a hospitable bag and an invisibility cap. Two “lucky bones” are taken out of the frog, which serve with equal success for both love spells and lapels, arousing love or disgust. These cat and frog bones are also mentioned in fairy tales with complete faith in their sorcery. These bones are obtained very easily; it is worth boiling a completely black cat in a pot - and you get a “hook and fork”, or you should put two frogs in an anthill to get a “hook and spatula”. They hook the one they want to attract to themselves (or imperceptibly attach it to a scarf). With a fork or spatula, they push her away from themselves when she has time to eat up or is completely disgusted. Few rituals are required and the preparation is not particularly difficult. From ant heap it is necessary to lead backwards so that he cannot catch up when he goes to look for traces; then both tracks will lead into the forest, and there will be no trace out of the forest. In other cases, it is advised to go to that anthill for 12 nights in a row and go around it silently three times, only on the thirteenth night such a treasure is given into the hands. However, you can do without these approaches. Failure occurs only when the marked girl does not carry the hook fastened to her dress for three weeks in a row, etc. According to all the data given, we can conclude that the once influential and terrible power of witches, aimed mainly at love affairs , now closes within the woman's kingdom. In this, of course, one must see great happiness and the undoubted success of enlightenment. Already from many places, and, moreover, famous for their superstition, one hears, for example, such encouraging news:
- In the old days there were a lot of witches, but now you don’t hear something.
- The current witch is most often a bawd. So that. witches not only die, according to the old custom, on Sila and Siluyan (July 30), drunk on stolen milk from other people's cows, but, by many undoubted signs, under the new order, they completely prepared for real death.
Due to remoteness or directly due to the lack of “bald” mountains, closets and especially baths are recognized as quite convenient for dates, and there is a “witcher” to supervise them. Throughout the south of Great Russia, this is either, or , which, by common to all Slavic peoples I believe, walks after death and kills people.