Characters of Slavic mythology: Witch. Slavic witch: who is it and what did she know how to do

01.09.2014 0 11244

What did Slavic witches do? Until quite recently, residents of Ukrainian and Belarusian villages could tell about this. From them it was possible to learn that our native sorceresses could turn into a wheel from a cart, fly on a poker and milk a month like a cow.

Remember how in Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas" Solokha, the wife of the peasant Chub, on the eve of Christmas used chimney as a launching pad for flying through the sky? She flew, watched how the devil steals the stars with the moon from the sky, and returned back to the hut. And after Solokha, through the same pipe, the devil fell into the hut, which she had to hide in a bag, and on this very line the blacksmith Vakula then flew to St. Petersburg to the Empress.

Remember? Well, yes, you say, Gogol came up with all this in his Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka! Not certainly in that way. Gogol came up with a story about the blacksmith Vakula and his trip on the line to St. Petersburg for laces. But the information that some not too pious women can fly through the chimneys wherever they please, be nice to the devils and steal the moon and the stars from the sky (yes, they are the ones who do this, and not the devil at all!), Gogol does not invented, but learned from real folk beliefs.

Women who are credited with such activities are called Eastern Slavs witches, among the southern ones - veshtitsy, and among the western ones - enchantresses. As for the theft of celestial bodies, which the devil does in Gogol, among the southern Slavs this occupation was attributed precisely to the Veshtians - they could not only remove the moon from the sky, but also milk it like a cow!

Belief in witches and sorcerers was formed in ancient times and remained relevant until recently, as evidenced by the records of folklore expeditions collected in different Slavic lands. The examples that I will give here were recorded by the Polessky ethnolinguistic expedition on the territory of Ukrainian and Belarusian Polissya in the 80s of the last century, that is, only 25-30 years ago.

ERGO HUNTERS

From an ecclesiastical point of view, witches, like sorcerers, are heretics who have apostatized from God and associated with evil spirit. From point of view common people, witches are dangerous because they are different magical ways they take away the good from other people and appropriate it for themselves: they take away milk from other people's cows, crops from someone else's field, send diseases to people and livestock.

All this malicious activity is denoted by the general expression "spoil, send damage." If a child suddenly fell ill, a cow stopped giving milk or was milked with blood, they were said to be “spoiled”, and the witch was to blame. This activity is narrated by a Russian spiritual verse (recorded in the Poshekhonsky district of the Yaroslavl province), in which the soul of a deceased witch repents of her sins:

I gave milk from cows,
I lived a strip between the borders,
I washed ergot from bread.

Here the ergot that the witch takes away is a boon, life force possessed by all living things, including food. Bread can be spore, that is, hearty, healthy - you can eat a small piece of such bread and get enough. Unspored bread is empty, insatiable. A successful business in the hands of a skilled person is said to "argue". It is this ergot that the witch takes away from the crop, and she does this by squeezing a thin strip of ears of corn in a foreign field and transferring these ears to her barn.

NOT ONE GENOME

“There are native witches, and there are those who, perhaps, taught them. They took everything from their mother. My brother had a wife, she turned into whatever you want. He died and she remarried. She had a tail - it's darling. The second husband says to her: “Why do you have a tail?” And she says: “I am a born witch.” That's what they say about a darling: a witch with a tail. She turned into whatever you want: into a wheel and into a dog, she runs out into a cat. The village of Vyshevichi, Radomysl district, Zhytomyr region, 1981, was recorded by L. M. Ivleva from U. P. Steshenko.

It is believed that witches are native and scientists. Native witches are already born as such (usually from a witch mother), scientists learn witchcraft knowledge from other witches or receive it from evil spirits:

An ordinary woman can become a witch and gain secret knowledge by making a pact with the devil. Communication with evil spirits is a fundamental feature of a witch, which distinguishes her from a healer, who uses conspiracies and herbs in her practice, but does not communicate with devils. Among the Slavs, unlike the inhabitants Western Europe, the relationship of a witch with the devil is usually devoid of sexual overtones, but is in the nature of a business agreement: the evil spirit serves such a woman during her lifetime, but after death takes her soul:

“Witches go to holidays, to the crossroads where the roads converge. And as she already wants to practice witchcraft, the devil forces her: “Sign with blood!” They take blood from a finger and sign it. From then they know, and they do it!
The village of Nobel, Rivne region, 1984, recorded O, V, Sannikov from Ulyana Ivanovna Khodnevich, born in 1910.

FUCK YOU

The witch's relationship with the devils is of a dual nature: on the one hand, they are in her service and are obliged to follow her orders, on the other hand, they torture her, forcing her to engage in witchcraft sometimes against her will. In this case, in order not to harm people or livestock, the witch can direct damage to a tree or bush, and after that they will dry out:

“My brother went to sleep. He says: I meet a woman, as a mother gave birth, naked. And he says: “My dear, here I go, I go, I’m supposed to, I must go. I learned witchcraft, I know how, I need to. I’ll go to the oak tree, I’ll twist the damage on the bush - it will dry up, and that’s all. I will go to the forest - it will spin the forest, it will dry up. And as for the cattle of people, the barn - people will not even have cattle. "And he asks, and kisses his hands and feet, so that he would not inform his fellow villagers anywhere about her witchcraft. And he was silent."

The village of Ruchaevka, Loevsky district, Gomel region, 1984, recorded by E. V. Trostnikova from Varvara Adamovna Shatilo, born in 1901.

Ukrainians and Belarusians know beliefs about night flights of witches to joint gatherings (in the Russian tradition this motif is absent), but they are quite different from the West Slavic and West European stories about the Sabbath. They do not contain descriptions of the rampage of witches together with evil spirits - such details are more characteristic of the beliefs of the Western Slavs, which were influenced by European ideas.

On the night of Ivan Kupala, witches flock together to the highest or oldest tree in their area (elm, oak, poplar, willow) and there they dance, fight or have fun, distribute to whom what victims are intended. Less often, the meeting place is Osiyanskaya, Bald or Birch Mountain. They fly out of their hut through a window or through a chimney and fly on horseback on a poker or a birch stick.

PIGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEE

Most often, in Slavic beliefs, a witch turns into a pig, a cat, a dog, a large toad, and from objects - a cartwheel, a sieve and a haymack:

“Boys and girls walked in the street in the spring. The moon is shining, you can see everything. And the girls say to the lads: “And if there is a witch, what will you do?” The lads answer: “So we will drive her away.” And suddenly they see: a haystack goes down the street. Everyone crowded together and squealed, the lads ran in all directions. And a calf appeared from a mop and beats its hands like a clap. A haystack, a calf, a pig, a cat, a sieve - a witch can turn into everything. Once the boys go out into the street, they see: the sieve is rolling. They caught the sieve and put it in a hole, for which they hang it, drive it in, expand it - so it turned into a woman.
The village of Chelkhov, Bryansk region, 1982, was recorded by N. V. Borzakovskaya from Anna Korneev-na Kazimirova, born in 1920.

Usually the witch did harm by turning into an animal or an object, so there was a rather cruel way to find out who in the village was doing it. To do this, it was necessary to hide in a barn or in a field and track down the animal that would come there.

This animal was beaten or maimed (cut off an ear or a paw), and in the morning they found out which of the women in the village would be with a bandaged arm, leg or ear. She will be the witch. It was believed that a witch exposed in this way would no longer harm this person:

“There were two brothers. One gave birth to bread, and the other did not. The poor brother went to the healer, and he said: “Go to your field on Easter and sit there. If a chicken comes, cut off her wing, and if a pig comes, cut off her paw. "Here this man sits on the boundary and sees: the chicken is rowing the ground and everything in her field. She will take manure from her beak and throw everything on another field. The man chopped off the wing at that hen. And this was his brother's wife. And she was already lying sick. And that brother came to the poor brother and said: "My wife cut her hand." The poor brother went again to the healer, and he asked: "No one was left without a hand?" He said: "No one, only the brother's wife cut off her hand." The sorcerer says: “So you cut off her hand.”
The village of Berezichi, Lyubeshovsky district, Volyn region, 1985, recorded by N. S. Pukhevich from Maria Vasilievna Tyshkovets, born in 1918.

OH, ONCE, YES AGAIN

To drive the witch away from you, you need to hit not at her, but at her shadow, because the witch can "take her eyes off" - in fact, she is in the place where her shadow is, and not where she seems to a person. To beat her, like any evil spirit, you need only once and backhand, because from the second blow any evil spirit gains even greater strength.

According to other ideas, many blows can be inflicted on evil spirits, but with each one one should say: “One!” The witch will ask: “Say“ two! ”But this should not be done, otherwise she will acquire the same strength and destroy the person. Sharp objects (knife, sickle, scythe) and stinging plants, especially nettles, which are plugged into the windows and doors of the barn so that the milk could not be taken away from the cows.

A witch for her connection with the devil and her sins is punished with a heavy death. She cannot die until she transfers her knowledge to someone or until the ceiling in the house is dismantled, one plank is broken out of the roof (so that the devils serving her can fly away). For the same purpose, they opened the chimney, believing that “these ... well, these, her friends, devils are jumping through the chimney.

To get them out, they open a hole there.” chimney in Slavic traditions plays the role of a kind of communication channel between the human and the other world and is used in many magical practices. Therefore, Gogol's Solokha also uses her for her own purposes, and this is a sure confirmation that she was a real witch.

Elena Levkievskaya
leading Researcher RGGU, Moscow

Witch- in Slavic beliefs - a woman endowed with witchcraft abilities by nature or who learned to conjure. In essence, the very name of a witch characterizes her as “a person who knows, has special knowledge” (“to witch, to witch” means “to conjure, to tell fortunes”).

According to popular beliefs, witches "born" are kinder than "scientists" and can even help people, correcting the harm caused by "scientific" witches. In the Oryol province, it was believed that a "born" witch was born the thirteenth girl out of twelve girls in a row of the same generation (or, respectively, the tenth out of nine). Such a witch has a small tail (from half an inch to five inches). Sometimes witchcraft skills passed from mothers to daughters "by inheritance", and whole families of witches arose. According to popular notions, witches and sorcerers they cannot die and suffer terribly until they pass on their knowledge to someone; therefore, people endowed with witchcraft abilities, dying, could pass them on to unsuspecting relatives, acquaintances - through a cup, a broom, and other objects at hand. In the story, recorded in the Oryol province, the mother-in-law tries to teach her son-in-law to conjure. One of the residents of the Murmansk region told how an old sorcerer offered to “write off witchcraft from him” as a sign of his disposition, but she was frightened and refused. The witch could get witchcraft abilities even after concluding an agreement with evil spirits: the devils began to serve the witch, fulfilling all her orders, even those not related to witchcraft. For example, for the sorceress Kostikha, devils regularly worked in the hayfield (Murm.). Another witch was taught to conjure a devil in the form of a cat, which she picked up in the forest, and he eventually tortured her (Tulsk.). According to beliefs, evil spirits could also move inside witches, who began to "live with an unclean spirit." Narratives are recorded about how toads, snakes and other evil spirits crawl out of the body of a dead witch. In the Tula province they said: snakes, lizards, frogs gather on the chest of the deceased witch, and when her hut is burned “by the verdict of the rural community”, barking, screaming, voices are heard from there; in a ravine where coal is poured, a pit with poisonous snakes is formed. However, the witch does not always resort to the help of devils, limiting herself to her own skills and powers. In one village there could be several witches, sorceresses. On the Tersky Coast White Sea until recently, the inhabitants called the 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 healers (mostly grandmothers involved in healing) witches are distinguished by an unkind character and more diverse abilities and skills. The traditional appearance of a witch is a woman in a white shirt, with long flowing hair, sometimes with a kuban (pot) over her shoulders, with a platter or a basket on her head, in her 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 knock over 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 (Vlad.). The witch flies (flies out of the chimney) with smoke, a whirlwind, a 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 guises 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 being both real (in everyday life she is an ordinary peasant woman), and endowed with supernatural powers and abilities. According to Russian beliefs, the 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, a personification of 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, the witch turns into a bird, a horse, or becomes a female rider. The "occupations" of flying witches are varied. In the guise of a magpie, the witch-thing harms pregnant women (see. GAME-MARKET), less often - flies to the Sabbath (Tulsk., Vyatsk.) Or steals the Moon (Tom.). In Russia XIX-XX centuries. popular stories about magical flights or trips of witches on a person wrapped in a horse (or, conversely, a person endowed with special powers on a witch-horse - Orl., Kaluga., Vyatsk.). The long spread of this plot is attested in the Nomocanon, which mentions the healing by Archbishop Macarius of a "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 "witchy" items. The Russians believed so much in the transmission of witchcraft through everything “belonging to horse harness and in general to riding” that strangers, for example, were categorically not allowed to the 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 into 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 have power over the weather, especially over moisture, rain. In the Voronezh province, it was believed that a witch could drive away the clouds by waving her apron. According to popular beliefs (albeit more characteristic of the southern and southwestern regions of Russia), the witch hides and stores rain, hail, and storms in a bag or pot. Believing in the special connection of witches with water since the Ancient Rus' 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 after who had conjured a drought (perhaps even holding the rain somewhere in or "in themselves"). The belief that a witch can somehow attract (or "draw" into herself) moisture - trap rain, rake in dew, milk 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 talk about more complicated ways 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 the cows, listing their names. According to the word of the witch, milk fills the dishes prepared by her at home (see. CHURCH ). 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: on Ivan Kupala, “witches and sorcerers fly out of their caves to guard treasures, spoil cattle, destroy spores in bread , to make creases so that the reapers writhe, to make gaps so that they are not thrashed, ”etc. (Psk.). The material is taken from the site http://slavyans. myfhology.info Fearing witches, on such days they tried to leave the cows together with the calves in the barn, so that the sucking calf would prevent the witch from taking milk, thistles were hung on the door of the barn, a young aspen tree was placed in the door of the barnyard, they propped up the door of the barn with aspen logs, sprinkled with 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. Witches are also dangerous (especially on Ivanov, Petrov days) for the herd grazing in the field. 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 damage to health, damage to a cow. Apparently, in some of their qualities, dew, milk, rain seemed to the peasants to be a single substance, the embodiment and guarantee of the fruitfulness of the land, livestock, and 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 ( see SNAKE) . It is difficult to say whether the witch "imitates" the snake or the image of a supernatural snake is one of the components of the image of the witch. One way or another, but the idea that witches can keep fertility, harvest ("abundance") in themselves, was noted even in Ancient Rus'. During the famine in the Rostov land, the Magi cut the skin behind the shoulders of women suspected of witchcraft, 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 connected with the most diverse elements and forces of the world: she is both a 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 (werewolves, brownies, devils). The witch, endowed with the ability to influence almost all essential aspects of life (especially moisture, water, fertility), may have been associated with the highest female deity of the East Slavic pantheon - Mokosh (Old Russian “moksh” means “conjure”, and “mokosha” - “ bewitching woman"). The role of a witch commanding various 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 witchcraft, keeping witch secrets and ancient beliefs. E. Anichkov believed that in Rus' (beginning from the 11th-12th centuries) “with the decline of the role of the Magi”, a “primordial bearer of secret knowledge” - a woman, was put forward, “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”, maintain 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 it was 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 ideas is evidenced by the monuments of ancient Russian and medieval literature. In the collection of the XV century. among the confessional questions addressed to women we read: “... did you spoil a field of someone or something, 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 Rus', 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 Rus' [Krainsky, 1900]. Witches were especially feared during weddings, to which they tried to invite a “strong” guardian sorcerer (see. WITCH). Witches, sorcerers of the "blameless women" were tried and persecuted in Rus' until the 19th century, which was also marked by litigation between the "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 greens 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 annoy the witches and tried not to do this unless absolutely necessary. Dangerous during life, witches are restless, harmful even after death, continuing to frighten their fellow villagers, relatives with their visits, and also pursue their chosen victims. The dead witch often “bites”, “bites” people, personifying death, destruction (see. HERETIC). The dead witches take revenge on the priests who tried to denounce them during their lifetime, they persecute both the guys who inadvertently rejected their love and their suitors: “A bride died in a strange village, 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 XX 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 description of the evil activities of the witch, since these three acts constitute the special occupations of women who have decided to sell their souls. hell. 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 fact, in the Little Russian steppes, young widows are very common among witches, and, moreover, in the words 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 the harsh coniferous forests, which themselves sing only in a minor tone, playful and beautiful Little Russian witches 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. (According to these fundamental features, in many places the very name of a witch has become a curse.) 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 brooms, pokers, mortars, etc. n. They go to dark deeds from their dwellings without fail through chimneys and, like all sorcerers, can turn into different animals, most often forty, 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 sorcerers, and if you select outstanding features in the mode of action of both, then you will have to repeat. They are also in constant communication and strike with each other (it is for these meetings that the “bald” mountains and the noisy games of playful widows with cheerful and passionate devils), they die just as hard, tormented by terrible convulsions caused by the desire to pass on 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 until the legal fortieth day, for the worst ~ to vent belated and uncooled malice and reduce 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 sorcerers from sorcerers, just as exactly 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 listening to many witnesses, and you put water as witnesses, say:" If she starts to sink, she is innocent, if she swims, then she is a witch. But can the devil, seeing your lack of faith, not support her so as not to drown, and thereby lead you into murder?

However, these words 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 admitted 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 since the life-giving ray of light flashed for the first time in the 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 there should be no such nonsense 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, in the future, you should not reach him, but you need to deal with your own court.
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 red-haired girls, nor deceived husbands, nor jealous wives will pass by the fortune tellers, because even today, as in the old days, faith in “dryness” lives in people. There is no need for bald mountains, or roadside uprisings, and village rubbles are enough 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 fortune-tellers, 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 deceived. 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 things they say, 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. From the frog, two “lucky bones” are taken out, with equal success serving both for 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 the goblin 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, fastened to the dress, does not carry the hook on herself for three weeks in a row, etc. , 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.
1) Due to the remoteness or directly in the absence 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 witch, or ghoul-bloodsucker, which, in common with all Slavic peoples I believe, walks after death and kills people.

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. Witch is called 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 as nightmare 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. 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 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 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.

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-PravSlavili (as they say now - pagans), that is why, after the spread of Judeo-Christianity in Rus', 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 charms, or to increase the healing properties of the 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 that every woman must (according to the ideas of our ancestors) 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.

The attitude towards witches among all peoples was respectful and fearful, but each of them endowed this specific caste of women with their own characteristics. The names were also different. The word "witch" comes from the Proto-Slavic root -ved-, which was part of the lexeme "to know" and words of the same root. “Vedat” in Slavic meant “to know”.

The Slavs called witches women who had some kind of secret knowledge, wise in magic and able to do various fantastic things (fly, milk for a month, communicate with devils, etc.). The southern Slavs had another definition of these spiritually unscrupulous ladies - "veshtitsy". In the western regions, they were called "enchantresses", that is, those who know how to intoxicate, send spells, magic.

What Slavic Witches Could Do

Since pagans often attributed phenomena inexplicable to them to the actions of evil forces, witches were often blamed for all possible troubles. Over time, a specific image of the Slavic witch developed as a malevolent lady, with whom jokes are bad. If a cow in the village lost milk, the witch was to blame. Only Slavic witches possessed the ability to “take away” milk from a dairy cow.

How milk was taken from foreign cows

Women could be witches from birth (take over witchcraft by inheritance from their mother or grandmother) or "scientists". The first cows were milked by hand, as simple village women do. In order not to be noticed, they turned into objects (a wheel from a cart, a pitchfork) or animals (black cats, dogs, toads or pigs) and secretly made their way into the barn. The milking process continued until the cattle bled from the udder. Interestingly, women already born witches had a real tail.

"Scientific" witches became such by making a pact with the devil. They could get milk in another way. Once milking a cow by hand, the woman made a hole in the corner of her house and plugged it with a chopstick. After that, the witch could at any time pull out this chopik and get freshly milked milk, which flowed from the unsuspecting cow directly to the witch in the dwelling.

Milk, diluted with freshly picked dew, was a favorite delicacy of these women. Witches on holidays arranged receptions for evil spirits, where they treated them to milk with dew. Often milked for this purpose and a month in the sky. The milking of the month was usually done by the South Slavic Veshtians. These cases are described in Ukrainian folklore.

In addition to such dirty tricks, Slavic witches could send diseases, drought or hail, which destroyed the entire crop and threatened people with hunger. If the witch made "spins" from spikelets of wheat or rye on the field, she thus sent a curse on death. Also if there was a lunar or solar eclipse, this was necessarily blamed on the restless witch, who could not wait to lime the human race.

Witch flights

In order to milk the young moon or steal it out of mischief - which also often happened - the witch had to rise into the air. For the Slavs, the ability to fly was the most unusual of what these ladies could do. Slavic witches usually flew on a poker or broom (a large, roughly crafted broom). Among the Scandinavian peoples, similar characters soared into the sky on a spinning wheel or on a horse skull, to which a red rooster was harnessed.

Another means for flying is rubbing a specially prepared drug into the skin. It was prepared in advance from various herbs and other “magic” items, such as belladonna, fly agaric, snake fat, crushed wolf bast bark, etc. These recipes are described in the 17th-century monument “The Evening Sorcerer”.

Before midnight, the witch undressed and rubbed her whole body with this remedy. Both pomelo and secret ointment were also used for flights to the Sabbat. A Slavic witch flew out of her house through a pipe, using it as a kind of portal for a quick ascent into the sky.

Witches could fly on the back of the devil. To ride this creature, you had to first lure him into your house. The devil can fly in through a chimney or a hole in the ceiling. To make this happen, the witch kept a damper in the oven open or broke some boards in the ceiling. There are many ways to ride the devil among the Slavs. One of them is to spit on his tail, after which the evil spirits become pliable.

Contact with the devil

The main difference real witch from an ordinary rural healer who collected herbs and knew how to heal people, was the signing of an agreement with evil spirits. Thus, the woman sold her soul and after that did only evil. The sold soul always ended up in hell after the death of a person. It is interesting that witches communicated with the devils most closely and in ordinary life.

Some witches painfully experienced their forced communication with the devils. Other ladies felt equal to these beings. They could, for example, flirt with them or even communicate even more closely. Usually, intimate contacts with devils or incubus demons took place at regular gatherings of witches on Bald Mountain.

Stories about dancing with the devils at the Sabbath on Lysa Gora are characteristic of the beliefs of Ukrainians and Belarusians. Their folklore was influenced by the traditions of Western European peoples. Among the Russians, witches often gather in small groups on old poplar, elm, or willow. This usually happens on Kupala. During such gatherings, evil spirits decide who will get what kind of sacrifice for various unclean amusements.