Table Of ContentThe Samhain Song Press
Ultimate Grimoire
and Spellbook
Of
Real Ancient Witchcraft
____________________
Being a Most "Un-Fluffy" Compilation
of Magickal Spells, Incantations, Herbal Lore
and Cures Gathered from Ancient and
Reliable Sources
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This Samhain Song Press Edition Copyright © 2008
by Samhain Song Press. View our complete catalog
of classic witchcraft and pagan quality reprints at
www.SamhainSong.com
ii
The Ultimate Grimoire and Spellbook Of Real Ancient
Witchcraft is Copyright © 2008 by Samhain Song Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any form without written
permission, except by a newspaper or
magazine reviewer who wishes to quote
brief passages in connection with a review.
A Samhain Song Press publication
View the complete Samhain Song Press catalog at
www.SamhainSong.com
Editorial, sales and distribution, rights and
permission inquiries should be sent via e-mail
to [email protected].
Traditional Sources /The Ultimate Grimoire and Spellbook
Of Real Ancient Witchcraft/Compiled from Various Traditional
Sources.
First Samhain Song Press Edition
ISBN 978-1-4357-4201-7
1. Spells. 2. Wicca. 3. Witchcraft. 4. Herbalism.
4. Magic 6. Magick. 7. Title
Legal Disclaimer: All information in this book is provided for
educational purposes only, as a folklore reference, and is not to
be construed as medical advice, or to diagnose, treat, prevent
or cure any disease, or as a substitute for competent medical
care.
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PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
One of the hottest debates raging in the 21st Century Neopagan
community concerns the definition of two basic terms – Wicca and
Witchcraft. Most followers of the peaceful, earth-centered, Goddess-
worshipping Wiccan religion (ala Starhawk, Silver Ravenwolf, Scott
Cunningham and their followers) consider themselves, by their own
understanding of the term, to be practitioners of witchcraft as well.
Religious Wiccan mostly view the two terms as essentially synonymous.
The other side of the debate is argued by a separate, perhaps a shade
"darker" subset of the pagan community, folks who call themselves simply
Witches (never Wiccans!), and who often believe that the witchcraft they
practice is not a religion at all, but rather a supernatural path to personal
power, a system of magickal beliefs and practices designed to bring their
minds, bodies and spirits into alignment with the sometimes violent, always
morally-neutral fundamental forces of nature. Such natural spiritual
alignment empowers them to bend and shape reality in conformity with
Will, sometimes to cure and create, other times to curse or destroy, as
appropriate to the situation at hand. These Witches generally view religious
Wicca as a naïve modern creation, a "fluffy bunny"1 social movement
closely akin to the crystal-waving New Age groups that have flourished
throughout America and Europe since the 1930s.
It is not my goal in this brief preface to take sides in the modern Wicca VS
Witchcraft debate, only to recommend The Samhain Song Press Ultimate
Grimoire and Spellbook of Real Ancient Witchcraft as an invaluable resource for
your personal research into the question. Note before proceeding that every
word you will read in the chapters ahead was penned prior to the year 1900
– half a century or more before Gerald Gardner's 1950's release of Witchcraft
Today, the book that is credited with having launched the modern Wiccan
tradition. Note also that the classic 19th Century works featured in this
omnibus collection both mine and preserve living veins of ancient wisdom,
folklore, superstition and popular belief that were already passing out of
existence when these works were composed, and which by Gardner's post
WWII writing days, had been long driven by modernization into cultural
extinction.
But fear not! The Samhain Song Press Ultimate Grimoire and Spellbook of Real
Ancient Witchcraft is no dull work of ethnology! This is a true spell book filled
with clear instructions for making magick happen, for cursing and curing,
for binding a lover, for recovering stolen objects and for punishing the thief,
for conjuring prophetic dreams, and every other imaginable application of
the supernatural arts. This is a book of real ancient witchcraft. It is at once a
practical guide to wielding magick the way our ancient ancestors understood
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it, and a mesmerizing window granting us an accurate vision of their times
and way of life. How the view through that window impacts your personal
position in the Wicca VS Witchcraft debate is entirely up to you.
For those Wiccans/Witches/Pagans who find Christianity distasteful or
troubling, be warned that some sections of this book, especially those taken
from John George Hohman’s Pow-Wows; Or, Long Lost Friend, make
extensive use of Christian language and imagery – but keep in mind when
you study these passages that the Christianity practiced by Pennsylvania
Dutch Pow Wow magicians is by no means the same Sunday morning
moralism espoused by your squeaky-clean Protestant neighbors or even the
robed priests manning the altar at the Catholic Cathedral downtown. Like
the Afro-Caribbean religions of Voodoo, Santeria, et al, Pow Wow (and all
other, genuinely preserved European magickal traditions) survived
centuries of Christian persecution by "embracing the enemy," painting the
ancient gods and spirits in the colors, names and stories of the Mother
Church, while secretly maintaining the inner integrity of the original
system. When you read these passages, see past the veneer to the truths
contained inside. Change "Jesus" to "Zeus" or "Thor" and "The Virgin Mary"
to "Hera" or "Freya," and the spell will still work. Real gods are not picky
about the names by which mortals invoke them!
Finally, please be aware that much real ancient witchcraft was, to put it
frankly, quite grotesque. Some spells in this volume call for the flesh of
human corpses or the body parts of animals. Any 21st century magick user
worth his or her salt, and with a copy of any "Wicca-101" table of
correspondences in hand, ought to be able to dream up a dozen non-lethal,
safe and legal substitutions for any such spell ingredient. There's more than
one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes, and only whacko teenage Satanists
and other low self-esteem losers actually do such things anymore. It's the
21st Century, folks -- Improvise! Cats are sacred to the Goddess in just about
every ancient culture on Earth. Skin one and you will pay… Witch or
Wiccan – be smart! Don't risk Divine Disembowelment!
Happy spellcasting!
Hrafen Starbourne, Editor
Samhain Song Press
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1 The term "fluffy bunny is used within Neopaganism as derogatory label for
Wiccans and other religious Neopagans who tend to focus primarily upon the most
accessible or emotionally uplifting aspects of the faith, while downplaying the more
serious, traditional aspects, often expressing their beliefs in a New Age or "sweetness
and light" manner.
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The Samhain Song Press
Ultimate Grimoire and Spellbook
Of Real Ancient Witchcraft
In Five Parts:
Part One:
Charms, Spells and Cures as Recorded In
Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms,
and Superstitions of Ireland
by Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde
Part Two:
Blessings, Curses, Spells and Strange Magicks From
ARADIA
or the Gospel of the Witches
by Charles G. Leland
Part Three:
Incantations and Specimens of Medical Magic From
GYPSY SORCERY
and
FORTUNE TELLING
by Charles Godfrey Leland
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Part Four:
A Collection Of Mysterious And Invaluable Arts And
Remedies, For Man As Well As Animals, With Many Proofs
From
JOHN GEORGE HOHMAN’S
POW-WOWS; OR, LONG LOST FRIEND
Part Five:
THE FOLK-LORE OF PLANTS
bY T.F. THISELTON-DYER
Part One:
Charms, Spells and Cures as Recorded In
Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms,
and Superstitions of Ireland
by Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde
Original Publication, 1887
- 9 -
THE FATAL LOVE-CHARM
A POTENT love-charm used by women is a piece of skin taken from the
arm of a corpse and tied on the person while sleeping whose love is sought.
The skin is then removed after some time, and carefully put away before the
sleeper awakes or has any consciousness of the transaction. And as long as it
remains in the woman s possession the love of her lover will be unchanged.
Or the strip of skin is placed under the head to dream on, in the name of the
Evil One, when the future husband will appear in the dream.
A young girl who was servant in the large and handsome house of a rich
family tried this charm for fun, thinking she would dream of one of her
fellow-servants, and next morning her mistress asked the result.
"Throth, ma'am," she answered, "there never was such a foolish trick, for
it was of the master himself I was dreaming all night, and of no one else."
Soon after the lady died, and the girl, remembering her dream, watched
her opportunity to tie a piece of skin taken from a corpse recently buried
round the arm of her master while he slept. After this he became violently in
love with the girl, though she was exceedingly ugly, and within the year he
married her, his love all the while remaining fervent and unchanged.
But exactly one year and a day after her marriage her bedroom took fire
by accident, and the strip of skin, which she had kept carefully hidden in
her wardrobe, was burnt, along with all her grand wedding-clothes.
Immediately the magic charm was broken, and the hatred of the gentleman
for his low-born wife became as strong as the love he had once felt for her.
In her rage and grief at finding nothing but coldness and insult, she
confessed the whole story; and, in consequence, the horror she inspired
amongst the people was so great that no one would serve her with food or
drink, or sit near her, or hold any intercourse with her; and she died
miserably and half mad before the second year was out--a warning and a
terror to all who work spells in the name of the Evil One.
EVIL SPELLS
Cathal the King
IT is said by wise women and fairy doctors that the roots of the elder
tree, and the roots of an apple tree that bears red apples, if boiled together
and drunk fasting, will expel any evil living thing or evil spirit that may
have taken up its abode in the body of a man.
- 10 -
But an evil charm to produce a living thing in the body can also be made,
by pronouncing a certain magic and wicked spell over the food or drink
taken by any person that an enemy wishes to injure.
One should therefore he very cautious in accepting anything to eat from
a person of known malicious tongue and spiteful heart, or who has an ill
will against you, for poison lies in their glance and in the touch of their
hands; and an evil spell is in their very presence, and on all they do, say, or
touch.
Cathal, king of Munster, was the tallest and handsomest of all the kings
of Erin, and he fell deeply in love with the beautiful sister of Fergus, king of
Ulster; and the lovers were happy in, their love and resolved on marriage.
But Fergus, King of the North, had a mortal hatred to Cathal, King of the
South, and wished, in secret, to prevent the marriage. So he set a watch over
his sister, and by this means found out that she was sending a basket of the
choicest apples to her lover, by the hands of a trusty messenger. On this
Fergus managed to get hold of the basket of fruit from the messenger; and
he changed them secretly for another lot of apples, over which he worked
an evil spell. Furnished with these the messenger set out for Cathal, and
presented them to Cathal the king, who, delighted at this proof of love from
his princess, began at once to eat the apples. But the more he ate, the more
he longed for them, for a wicked spell was on every apple. When he had
eaten them all up, he sent round the country for more, and ate, and ate, until
there was not aim apple left in Cashel, nor in all the country round.
Then he bade his chieftains go forth and bring in food to appease his
appetite; and he ate up all the cattle and the grain and the fruit, and still
cried for more; and had the houses searched for food to bring to him. So the
people were in despair, for they had no more food, and starvation was over
the land.
Now a great and wise man, the chief poet of his tribe, happened to be
travelling through Munster at that time, and hearing of the king's state, he
greatly desired to see him, for he knew there was devil's work in te evil
spell. So they brought him to the king, and many strong invocations he
uttered over him, and many powerful incantations, for poets have a
knowledge of mysteries above all other men; until finally, after three days
had passed, he announced to the lords and chiefs that on that night, when
the moon rose, the spell would be broken, and time king restored to his
wonted health. So all the chiefs gathered round in the courtyard to watch;
but no one was allowed to enter the room where the king lay, save only the
poet. And he was to give the signal when the hour had come and the spell
was broken.
So as they watched, and just as the moon rose, a great cry was heard
from the king's room, and the poet, flinging open the door, bade the chiefs
enter; and there on the floor lay a huge dead wolf, who for a whole year had
