How to Break a Spell

Popular belief in the power of witchcraft survived in Brittany long into the modern era; spells and curses, for good or ill, abounded in the common imagination. Thankfully, the unlucky few caught under the malignant shadow of an evil spell were not always doomed but had recourse to wise practitioners able to undo the spells cast by others and to offer their own charms of unbewitchment.

To thwart the evil spells to which one could fall victim, certain practices were once popularly recommended, such as carrying unblessed salt or just nine grains of it, knocking three times on the shell of the eggs that one had just eaten or even spitting on the shoe worn on the right foot before putting it on. The special talismans and rituals designed to keep one safe from malevolent spellcasters and the Evil Eye were often as varied as they were imaginative and generally fell into two categories; proactive and reactive.

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In western Brittany, a morsel of black bread was a widely believed to protect against evil spells and was noted as a talisman to guard new-born babies from evil until they received the protection of baptism. In some parts of the region, it was traditional for one of the women present at the birth of a baby to remove the new mother’s wedding ring and put it in a glass of wine before applying some of the liquid to the lips of the new-born to protect it against the Evil Eye. Additionally, in several parts of Brittany, new-born babies were immediately passed through the fireplace in order to protect them against evil spells.

One well-known charm to protect against any evil spells cast against you called for a sou coin, nine grains of salt and nine stems of nine plants, namely: chickweed, common daisy, dovesfoot geranium, fumitory, greater celandine, ground-ivy, spotted medick, pilewort and verbena. It was first necessary to pronounce the Breton invocation Doue Araog Oll (God Above All) into a linen pouch and to recite the Pater Noster and Ave Maria prayers three times without taking a breath.

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After this supplication, three stems from each of the nine plants were placed crosswise on top of one another before a second layer of three stems each was similarly laid. Again, three Pater Noster and Ave Maria prayers were recited on the same breath ahead of the remaining stems being placed atop each other in the pouch. When the last of the stems was in the bag, it was then necessary to recite another three prayers under the same breathing constraints as earlier, before finally adding the nine grains of salt. The pouch was then sewn shut with a linen thread and stitched into one’s clothing where it would afford protection to the wearer.

Another once popular protection charm involved wearing or carrying in one’s pocket, a small pouch containing a chicory root that had been torn from the ground before sunrise on the morning of Midsummer’s Day. Although some people claimed that carrying the tip of a branch of alder and some of the tree’s bark in a small pouch was an equally protective talisman against the Evil Eye and other misfortunes. The tree’s sap, when collected before dawn on 10 March, was regarded as a powerful weapon in the fight against evil. Sadly, I have not yet been able to confirm the significance of that most propitious date.

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Many plants were also employed in the fight to protect whole households against the evil spells that might be cast towards them. For instance, a branch of beech or, if not readily available, birch was hung in front of the house as a most visible sign of defence. Similarly, a branch of holly was also believed to offer protection against evil spells and poisoning but branches hung in stables were also thought to repel cow sores. Wild celery, gathered by hand, was another plant popularly kept at home in the belief that its presence protected the household against the curse of the Evil Eye and misfortune.

Planting a branch of boxwood in one’s field on Palm Sunday was said to prevent witches from casting any evil spells on the field’s future harvest. However, it was the health and vitality of valuable livestock that was seemingly of most concern to the Bretons of yesterday as many traditional charms to ensure their protection have survived for us today. To guard against witchcraft, branches of elder were hung on stable walls and a double-rooted bramble fastened above the stable door. The presence of a goat in the stable was believed to protect the other animals against evil spells, while toads – a creature frequently associated with the evil spells cast to injure livestock in western Brittany – were often nailed to stable doors in expectation that their presence would ward-off evil. 

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To protect against witchcraft over the year ahead, it was long thought necessary to assemble, at dawn, all one’s sheep at a crossroads on Midsummer’s Eve and smoke them with the Herbs of Saint John picked, before dawn, on the previous Midsummer. Similarly, farmers drove their cattle through the embers of the Midsummer bonfires in order to preserve them from the malice of the magical korrigans over the year ahead. Farmers and their families most often protected themselves against the same threat by wearing a gorse flower and by hanging an inflated pig’s bladder, containing nine grains of wheat, from a ceiling beam in the main room. The latent evil posed by the supernatural creature known as the Bugul Noz or Night Shepherd was thought allayed by placing a cross made of rosehip branches in the stable.

Maintaining the health of one’s livestock and livelihood was a constant concern to the Breton farmer. To help protect one’s efforts from those who, for whatever reason, sought to inflict misfortune, bunches of tansy were hung from the beams in the stable to dispel evil spells and to help ensure cows produced a plentiful supply of milk; bunches of white wormwood and houseleek were also said to have been similarly efficacious. In the west of the region, a branch of Medlar, cut before dawn on the morning of Midsummer, was also thought to provide excellent protection against witchcraft.

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In eastern Brittany, it was believed that witches sometimes cast spells over the cattle at market by mixing the powdered liver of a wolf with their tobacco; in smelling this smoke, the animals suddenly went berserk in their efforts to escape. To combat the influence of such a spell, an amulet of greater periwinkle was placed around the left horn of the beasts. A more widely used charm to protect domestic animals against bewitchment saw them adorned with an amulet containing nine cloves of garlic mixed with a handful of coarse salt.

As late as the middle of the 19^th century, washing one’s face, first thing in the morning, with cow’s urine, or your own if one could not obtain that of a cow, was said to protect you all day from evil spells and the wickedness of the Devil because you became invisible to him. If you were unfortunate enough to be visited at home by a witch or anyone else capable of casting the Evil Eye, such as a tailor, throwing a broom made of birch twigs onto the ground in front of them was believed enough to counter any curse. However, if one of your animals had been cursed, it was necessary to invite the one you suspected of having cast the spell to visit your home; their appearance across the threshold was thought enough to nullify their curse.

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Other practices to break spells and lift curses called for significantly more ritual, such as one noted in the east of the region that required the purported victim to purchase an earthenware pot that had never been used. This item needed to be bought, without any bargaining over the price demanded, with a handful of copper pennies that, on no account, were to be counted. It was then necessary to visit the blacksmith or nail maker and invite him to put a handful of nails into the pot, without counting or weighing them; the nails had to be paid for in the same manner as before, with a handful of uncounted pennies. This done, the victim was required to return home, fill the pot with water and set it to boil over the fire. Once the water had started to boil, it was believed that the hot nails now tormented the spellcaster who, to escape this torture, revoked their spell.

A similar ritual to nullify an evil spell recommended that the victim purchase the heart of an ox and a handful of new nails; both items needed to be bought, without any haggling, with handfuls of uncounted pennies. The heart was taken home, hung in the victim’s fireplace and, every morning, nails were driven into it in the belief that the spellcaster would suffer such pain that they would cease their mischief and break the spell that they had cast.

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As with the proactive charms to protect against evil spells, many of the reactive charms once thought invaluable in breaking a cast spell, revolved around livestock and livelihood. If cattle were lost at night, a fire tripod or a knife with a curved blade was thrown into the fields in the expectation that this would preserve the lost beast from a fateful encounter with a wolf and protect it against the witch.

When cows failed to yield the expected amount of milk, it was not long before witchcraft was suspected of having dried the cow. To break the spell and chastise the one who cast it, the owner of the bewitched cow was required to boil a few pins in the animal’s milk; these were then thought to wound the spellcaster who, to escape the pain, lifted their curse. In the north west of the region, another way to break such a spell was to stick several pins into the heart of an ox which was then put into an iron pot hung over the fire; the spellcaster was now believed to feel compelled to present themselves to the accursed party.

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A more elaborate ritual for lifting this type of curse involved cutting some hairs from the cow’s head, withers and tail, soaking them in the animal’s water trough before sunrise on each day of Holy Week before wearing them to mass on Easter Day. In western Brittany, it was thought that such spells could be broken if the cursed animal was walked around a three-sided field. One was even thought able to turn the tables on the spellcaster if, while walking the cow, they threw salt over their shoulder while making certain incantations. Salt was also used in neighbouring Normandy to counter any evil spells suspected of having been cast on a new cow; molten salt was rubbed on the udder and around the base of the animal’s tail to lift the spell.

The influence of some malign spell was often blamed when a cow unexpectedly aborted and several means of countering such spells have survived to this day. One fairly widespread practice called for the farmer whose livestock had been thus affected to bury the dead calf with its legs pointed skywards in a pit in front of the stable. In the east of the region, one way to break the spell called for the heart of the dead calf to be hung in the fireplace of the farmhouse and be pierced with the barbs of a blackthorn tree.

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When farmers encountered difficulties making butter, a supernatural explanation was often the one most immediately reached for. In western Brittany, it was thought necessary to churn the milk in a neighbouring parish in order to break the curse while milkmaids whose butter was slow to take, averted the possible influence of the Evil Eye by immediately changing their churns.

Around the eastern town of Vitré, farmers were more aggressively proactive and would examine their dung heaps; the presence of a flat fungi, popularly known as a fromage blanc, served as confirmation that their cow was bewitched. To counter the spell, it was believed necessary to gather, after sunset, three round stones and throw them as forcefully as possible into the pool that stood closest to the dung heap. This ritual needed to be repeated on three consecutive nights. On the first night, the stones were thought to strike the spellcaster and command their attention. On the second night, the stones would cause the spellcaster severe pain, while on the third night, the spell would be lifted by the caster for fear of receiving more suffering.

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It was also in the district surrounding this town that a most curious character was noted at the end of the 19^th century; a sorcerer, dressed in goatskin, who roamed the countryside offering to lift the curses that had been cast upon the area’s farmers. He is reputed to have carried on his shoulder a large plank to which were nailed three other small slats of wood, all affixed with hooks from which hung moles in varying states of putrefaction. These rotting carcasses were carried from farm to farm and sold to those who believed themselves bewitched.

Upon one of the branches were the rotting moles claimed to thwart the spells cast against the making of butter. It was enough to bury one of these corpses at the entrance to the stable and immediately the milk which no longer provided cream gave it in abundance. The second slat carried the bodies said to preserve chickens if buried in the hen house. The final slat carried the animals who supposedly had the ability to prevent cows from aborting.

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There were also many practices recommended to help thwart the evil spells that had been cast against oneself. To counter a spell that had brought about a fever, it was necessary to drink from a bucket of water after a horse had drunk from it or to receive three sprinkles of holy water in three different parishes on the same Sunday. Similar protection was thought to be gained from drinking holy water on the eve of Pentecost or exposing oneself naked to the rising sun while reciting a certain number of Pater Noster and Ave Maria prayers.

Grains of salt, phials of holy water, religious medallions, written charms and pieces of coal were all once widely employed to protect against the power of spells and curses. Although faith or doubt, belief or disbelief, was arguably the strongest weapon wielded for and against the power of the spellcaster.

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