Apotropaios - Written charms & the occasional curse

Written Charms	Charm found in stable wall, Ceredigion.
and the occasional curse

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So far I have records of about 20 of these from throughout England and Wales. No finds have yet emerged for Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, owing to their fragility, it is no surprise that not many of them have survived through to today. It is probable that many hundreds of charms remain to be discovered from the last couple of centuries.

Written charms are the result of a farmer or householder’s need to have their property or livestock protected by a supernatural spell. The person in need would contact the local cunning-person and ask him/her for a charm to protect the desired creatures or buildings. The charms themselves are little masterpieces to look at. They frequently contain astrological symbols and contain a mixture of old Latin bible related text and a kind of invocation to God or some greater power to protect the required items.

Charm from Ceredigion, West Wales. This particular charm was discovered in a mineral water bottle in a stable wall. Note the wheel design and the astrological symbols. To the left is the abracadabra triangle which is often found on written charms. In England they are more usually found between gaps in masonry or timbers.

Here is a typical extract taken from a charm found in Powys, Wales:
"Lord Jesus Christ be the preserver of William Pentrynant his cows, calves, milk, butter, cattle of all ages, mares, suckers, horses, of all ages yews, lambs, sheep of all ages, pigs, sows and prosper him on this farm to live luckily saved from all witchcraft and evil men or women spirits or wizards or hardness of heart amen." [from Merrifield, The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, 1987, Batsford, p151].

The preoccupation with evil spirits causing harm is obvious here. People perceived a power in the Latin rituals of the old Catholic church which explains their presence in the charms but clearly astrological symbols and the word-triangle of abracadabracadabra (in the above example) were seen as equally powerful.

There are also one or two examples of written curses. A particularly well known curse was made on the unfortunate Sarah Ellis - her name was spelled backwards on the curse.