Folklore of Wales

by Anne Ross

  Conjurors, when engaged in their uncanny [my emphasis] work, usually wore a grotesque dress, and stood within a circle of protection. I find so graphic a description of a doctor who dealt in divination in Mr Hancock’s History of Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant, Montgomery Collections Volume VI pp.329–30 that I will describe it:— ‘He [the raiser of the devils] was much resorted to by the friends of parties mentally deranged, many of whom he cured. Whenever he assumed to practice the black art, he put on a most grotesque dress, a cap of sheepskin with a high crown, bearing a plume of pigeon’s feathers, and a coat of unusual pattern, with broad hems, and covered with talismanic characters. In his hand he had a whip, the thong of which was made of the skin of an eel and the handle of bone. With this he drew a circle around him, outside of which, at a proper distance, he kept those persons who came to him, whilst he went through his mystic sentences and performances.’(Cf. the Irish Mogh Ruith, Ross, Druids)

  Charms in general

  Some believe that the curing of diseases by charms is purely due to superstition, and has nothing to do with common sense. In other words, it goes against orthodox medical practice and has no scientific grounds for success. However, the remarkable powers of the mind over material situations can hardly be doubted, hence the numerous miracle cures with which we are all familiar. If we can, as doctors believe, make ourselves ill due to negative thinking and attitudes, it is surely logical that the converse is the case and we all know the strength of the power of auto-suggestion. I think we can say without doubt that the so-called conjuror with his fancy dress and all its elaborate details was perhaps a folk remnant of the ancient tradition of the power of the pan-Celtic Vates: seers, prophets and healers. There are indeed, as Owen observes, ‘undoubted cases of complete cures through the instrumentality of charms’.

  Warts are one form of distressing affliction and they can, without doubt, be removed by faith in the power of the charmer to heal, and in his charms. Owen experienced many cases where the power of wart charms had the desired effect. Some of the simple cures which apparently have beneficial results which he lists (p.268) are, for example: the rubbing of the warts with the inside of a bean pod, which should then be thrown away; the rubbing of the warts with elderberry leaves plucked by night and then burnt, resulting in the disappearance of the warts; taking a piece of lean meat, wrapping this in paper, then throwing it behind one’s own back and walking away without glancing backwards. The person who picks up the object will also pick up the warts! This seems rather an un-Christian sort of cure!

  Styes (Llefrithen)

  This painful condition was believed to be curable by taking a knitting needle and passing it backwards and forwards over the stye, but without touching it, at the same time counting its age in this way — one stye, two styes, up to nine and then counting backwards until you come down to one stye and no stye, this counting to be done in one breath. Should the charmer take a breath, he would break the charm but he could try the cure again twice more. This would ensure the healing of the stye and its disappearance within 24 hours.

  Cattle charms (Swynion buchod)

  These were of course of great importance and value if they succeeded, as cattle in general are prone to no end of accidents resulting in injuries and diseases such as scour, birth problems, mastitis and gastric ailments. Most importantly of all, they must be protected from hostile supernatural forces and the llygad mal or llygad drug (‘evil eye’) which enabled witches most commonly to steal the milk from the cattle and to inflict various other ailments and disasters upon them. One contributor to the Montgomeryshire Collections told the Rev. Owen (p.269 f) that he had in his possession two cattle charms that were actually used in order to protect the livestock of two small farms. As we are looking back to the late nineteenth century here, these are particularly valuable and worth quoting in full:

  In the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen … and in the name of Lord Jesus Christ my redeemer, that I will give relief to … creatures his cows, and his calves, and his horses, and his sheep, and his pigs, and all creatures that alive be in his possession, from all witchcraft and from all other assaults of Satan. Amen.

  He also states that:

  At the bottom of the sheet, on the left, is the magical word, Abracadabra [a word used as a charm, first found in 1696], written in the usual triangular form; in the centre, a number of planetary symbols, and on the right, a circular figure filled in with lines and symbols, and beneath them, ‘By Jah, Joh, Jab.’ It was the custom to rub these charms over the cattle a number of times, while some incantation was being mumbled. The paper was then carefully folded up, and put in a safe place where the animals were kept, to guard against future visitations.

  Sometimes the charm was worn by the cattle, as we see below. This charm has a particular relevance to the appalling illness that has appeared over wide areas of the British Isles at the present time — it might be worthwhile for the distressed farmers to test the alleged powers of these ancient healing charms.

  Charm for the foot and mouth disease

  The cattle on a certain farm in Llansilin parish suffered from foot and mouth disease and old Mr H…. consulted a conjuror, who gave him a written charm which he was directed to place on the horns of the cattle, and he was told that this would act both as a preventive and a cure. This farmer’s cattle might be seen with the bit of paper, thus procured, tied to their horns. My informant does not wish to be named, nor does she desire the farmer’s name to be given, but she vouches for the accuracy of the information, and for my own use, she gave me all particulars respecting the above. This took place only a few years ago, when the Foot and Mouth Disease first visited Wales [c.1850].

  The following charm was given to the Rev. Owen by the Vicar of Bryneglwys, which was procured for Mr Jones, Tynywern, Bryneglwys, Denbighshire, who had it from his uncle by whom it was used at one time. Owen goes on to state that it was not easy to decipher the charm and four of the words towards the end are quite illegible therefore he has omitted them. The translation indicates the nature of the charm, which begins in the name of the Trinity. All charms in a Christian milieu, although they may be pagan in origin, tend to be fully integrated into Christianity, in which faith they have been accepted.

  In the Name of the Father, the Son, and

  the Spirit.

  May Christ Jesus the sanctified one, who

  suffered death on the cross,

  When thou didst raise Lazarus from his

  tomb after his death,

  When thou forgavest sins to Mary

  Magdalene, have mercy on me, so that

  everything named by me and

  crossed by me + may be saved by the

  power and virtue

  of thy blessed words my Lord Jesus

  Christ. Amen.

  Jesus Christ our Lord save us from every

  kind of temptation whether spiritual

  above the earth

  or under the earth, from the devilish

  man or woman

  with evil heart who bewitcheth the goods

  of their owner;

  his evil virtue, his evil excommunicated

  heart

  cut off from the Catholic Faith + by

  the power and virtue

  of thy blessed words my Lord Jesus

  Christ. Amen.

  Jesus Christ our Lord save us from the

  disease and the

  affliction, and the wrath and the envy,

  and the mischief, and

  the … and the planet of the sky and the earthly

  poison, by the power and virtue

  of thy Blessed words, my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

  The +s indicate that crosses were here made by the person who used the charm, and probably the words of the charm were audibly uttered.

  Another cattle charm spell

  Mr Hughes, Plasnewydd, Llansilin, lost several head of cattle. He was told to bleed one of the herd, boil the blood, and ta
ke it to the cow-house at midnight. He did this, and lost no more cows after applying this charm.

  A charm for calves

  If calves were scoured [had diarrhoea; 1764] too frequently and it was in danger of killing them, a hazel twig the length of the calf was twisted round the neck like a collar, and it was supposed to cure them.

  As these charms are old, very precious and becoming extremely difficult to collect in the field, I feel it is worthwhile quoting the last one as well in full (p.273). It is entitled Charms Performed with Snake’s Skin:

  1 Burn the skin and preserve the ashes. A little salve made out of the ashes will heal a wound.

  2 A little of the ashes placed between the shoulders will make a man invulnerable.

  3 Whoso places a little of the ashes in water with which he washes himself, should his enemies meet him, they will flee because of the beauty of his face.

  4 Cast a little of the ashes into thy neighbour’s house and he will leave it.

  5 Place the ashes under the sole of thy foot, and everybody will agree with you.

  6 Should a man wrestle, let him place some of the ashes under his tongue, and no-one can conquer him.

  7 Should a man wish to know what is about to occur to him, let him place a pinch of the ashes on his head, and then go to sleep, and his dreams will reveal the future.

  8 Should a person wish to ascertain the mind of another, let him throw a little of the ashes on that person’s clothes, and then let him ask what he likes, the answer will be true.

  9 Whosoever wishes to make his servant faithful, let him place the ashes in the clothes of his servant, and as long as they remain there he will be faithful.

  10 If a person is afraid of being poisoned in his food, let him place the ashes on the table with his food, and poison cannot stay there with the ashes.

  11 If a person wishes to succeed in love, let him wash his hands and keep some of the ashes in them, and then everybody will love him.

  12 The skin of the adder is a remedy against fevers.

  Charms for shingles

  The custom of charming for shingles (ryri) was, according to T.W. Hancock’s The History of Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant, more frequently performed in this parish than in any other in Montgomeryshire. Both the charmer and the patient were to fast before meeting in the morning of the healing process. It was a simple method of cure. The healer simply breathed gently over that area of the sufferer’s body which was inflamed. The healer then gently spat on the inflammation and around it. A few visits to the charmer were seemingly sufficient to bring about a cure; sometimes the charmer’s powers of healing were so great that one visit would suffice. The power of healing the shingles in this manner was alleged to have disappeared altogether; it would not appear to have been practised in this parish for many years. The possession of this remarkable healing power by the charmer who had to fast so rigorously beforehand was believed to have been derived from the charmer’s having eaten eagle’s flesh, or it having been eaten by an ancestor up to the ninth generation back. The belief was that the virtue was transmitted from the person who had eaten the flesh to his descendants for nine generations. The reason for this dislike of the eagle was believed to have originated by the shingles having been introduced into the area by a hostile eagle. The charm went as follows:

  Yr Eryr Eryres

  Mi a’th ddanfonais

  Dros naw m’r a thros naw mynydd

  A thros naw erw o dir anghelfydd

  Lle na chyfartho ci, ac na frefo fuwch

  Ac na ddelo yr eryr Byth yn uwch

  Male eagle, female eagle

  I send you

  Over nine seas, and over nine mountains

  And over nine acres of unprofitable land

  Where no dog shall bark, and no cow shall low,

  And where no eagle shall higher rise.’ (p.264 ibid.)

  Charm for clefyd y galon, heart disease

  The Rev. J. Felix, vicar of Cilcen, near Mold, when a young man, lodged in Eglwysfach, near Conwy. His landlady, noticing that he looked pale and thin, suggested that he was suffering from clefyd y galon, which may be translated as above, or as lovesickness, a complaint common enough in young people, and she suggested that he should call in David Jenkins, a respectable farmer and a local preacher with the Wesleyans, to cure him. Jenkins came, and asked the supposed sufferer whether he believed in charms. He proceeded with his patient as if he had answered in the affirmative. Mr Felix was told to take his coat off, and he did so, and then he was bidden to tuck up his shirt above his elbow. Mr Jenkins then took a yarn thread and, placing one end on the elbow, measured to the tip of Felix’s middle finger. Then he told his patient to take hold of the yarn at one end, and the other end resting the while on the elbow, and he was to take fast hold of it, and stretch it. This he did and the yarn lengthened and this was a sign that he was actually sick of heart disease. Then the charmer tied this yarn around the patient’s left arm above the elbow, and there it was left, and on the next visit measured again, and he was pronounced cured. ‘The above information I received from Mr Felix, who is still alive and well.’ He concludes:

  Sufficient has been said about charms to show how prevalent the faith in their efficacy was. Ailments of all descriptions had their accompanying antidotes; but it is singularly strange that people professing the Christian religion, should cling so tenaciously to its forms, so that even in our own days [late nineteenth century] such absurdities as charms find a resting-place in the minds of our rustic population, and often, even the better-educated classes resort to charms for obtaining cures for themselves and their animals.

  But from ancient times, omens, charms, and auguries have held considerable sway over the destinies of men.

  Divination

  One method of divination was known in west and mid-Wales as the Bible and Key Divination, which would enable one to find out the first two letters of the name of one’s future wife or husband was, according to Caredig Davies, very common, even in the early twentieth century. It was practised by young members of both sexes. The usual procedure was as follows. A small bible was lifted and once it was opened the key of the front door was placed on the sixteenth verse of the first chapter of Ruth:

  And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; my people shall be thy people, and thy God my God.

  Some people put the key in chapter VIII of Solomon’s Song, verses 6 and 7, instead of on the book of Ruth. Then the bible was closed and tied round with the garter taken off the left leg of the girl or young man who wished to know his or her future wife or husband’s initials. It was considered impossible for one person to perform this ceremony alone; he must enlist the help of a friend. The young suitor had to put the middle finger of his right hand under the loop of the key and take care that the bible remained steady. Then the one who was not consulting the future repeated the above verse or verses, and when he came to the appointed letter, that must be the first letter of his future wife’s name, the bible would turn round under the finger. Davies heard at Ystradmeurig that a few years ago:

  a young woman, a farmer’s daughter, tried this bible and key divination; and whilst the ceremony was going on, and her sister assisting her to hold the key under the bible and repeating the words, instead of the book turning around as she expected, she saw a coffin moving along the room, which was a sign that she was doomed to die single, and so it came to pass!

  The farmhouse in which the above young woman lived still stands and is sited near Ystrad Fflur (Strata Florida), Cardiganshire; Davies however was reluctant to name the house. He said that he had personally witnessed this divination being carried out once or twice but that he never once heard of the coffin appearing, apart from the case just mentioned (p.13–14).

  Divination by the teacup

  Divination by the position of tealeaves when a teacup has been drained of its liquid is a very widespread practice and
was certainly regularly carried out on both sides of my own family. In Wales, it was commonplace for young girls — who were always anxious to know what the future held for them in respect of love and marriages, the appearance of future husbands (or non-appearance, as the case may be) — to take part. This was especially popular with young people who were in love with each other and intended to marry. There was a particular woman in the parish of Llandysul who was an expert at reading cups. She lived in a small village, Pont Shaen, in Cardiganshire, and many young women and young men went to her for augury. There was another cup-reader living near Llandovery in Carmarthenshire c.1911, to whom young girls went for consultation.

  Welsh women were exceptionally fond of tea and they were quite able to read omens by means of the tealeaves without having to go to others who were supposed to be experts in the art. When several of them met together for tea, they assisted one another in reading their cups, for tea-drinking was the order of the day amongst the women of Wales. Once the cup was drained, it was turned round three times in the left hand, bottom up, and left to drain for a few minutes before being closely examined. Should the tealeaves be scattered evenly round the sides of the cup, leaving the bottom perfectly clear, it was regarded as a very good omen; on the other hand, when the bottom of the cup was black with tealeaves, it was a very bad omen. Some trouble and misfortune would be imminent.

  When the leaves made a ring on the side of the cup, it meant that the girl who consulted the cup would marry very soon. On the contrary, if the ring was at the bottom of the cup she would have disappointment in love and could even be doomed to die single. When the tealeaves formed into a cross or even a coffin, that was naturally considered to be a bad omen, but as a rule, a horse, dog or bird portended well. Two leaves seen in close proximity to the side of the cup foretold a letter bringing good news. Again, when there was a speck floating on the surface of the cup of tea before drinking, some people believed it meant a letter, a parcel or a visitor was coming. If the young girl should take it to represent her lover, she would prove his fidelity by placing the speck on the back of her left hand and striking it with the back of her right hand. Should the speck or the small tealeaf leave the back of the left hand and cling and stick fast to the right hand when striking it, this would indicate that the young man was faithful. But if it should happen that the tealeaf still remained on the left hand where it was placed, especially after striking it three times, the young man was not to be depended upon. Some women could even tell by means of the teacup what trade their admirer followed, the colour of their future husband’s hair, and many other such details.