Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants (73 page)

⁴⁰
No risks or side effects worthy of mention are included in
Echinaceae: Handbuch für Ärzte, Aphotheker und andere Naturwissenschaftler
(edited by Rudolf Bauer, M.D., and Hildebert Wagner, Ph.D., from the Institut für Pharmazeutische Biologie at the University of Munich, Stuttgart: Wissenschaftlichen Verlagsgesellschaft, 1990).

⁴¹
I have limited myself in the description of therapeutic uses, in particular to the German doctor Lornizer—Lonicerus in Latinized form—whose herbal appeared in 1578 and was reprinted in 1679. Lonicerus processed the traditional wisdom of Dioscorides. Even though it was written and published at the same time as the witch trials, this herbal is surprisingly free of any demonization of the feared poisonous plants that were associated with witches, such as henbane and belladonna.

⁴²
From Golowin, 1973: 32f.

⁴³
In 1992 Esther Gallwitz presented a virtual treasure chest of plant symbolism that is also relevant in the context of witches. She based her work on the pictures by the old masters in the Frankfurt Städel museum. The herbs’ medicinal and magical significance have been derived over the course of history from, among other characteristics, their similarity with certain organs and body parts (following the doctrine of signatures, or sympathetic magic). Accordingly, they were organized into groups based on their activity and according to ancient folk traditions. In addition, some knowledge from the Germanic, classical, or Arabic medicine was included in the classifications. Thus, for example, the toad herbs were those attributed with having a healing effect on the womb, the member herbs were those that affect the reproductive organs, the aphrodisiacs were the ones that enhanced love.

⁴⁴
See Hartlaub (1961: 15) for example.

⁴⁵
In her collection of reports of the experiences of shamans, magicians, and visionaries, the American anthropologist Joan Halifax accurately described the
payé,
the shamans of the Desana people who live in Colombia: “The
payé
is a mediator and moderator between the spirit elements that govern the field of life and the social network that is vulnerable to supernatural forces.” Quoted for this edition from Joan Halifax,
Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives
, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979, 138.

⁴⁶
Theurgy
is the art of communicating with the gods through magical practices.

⁴⁷
See, for example, Werner Petermann,
Regenkulte und Regenmacher bei bantu-sprachigen Ethnien Ost- und Südafrikas,
Reihe Ethnomedizin und Bewußtseinsforschung, Berlin: Express Edition, 1985.

⁴⁸
From the appendix by Rätsch in Metzner. Rätsch considers this to be the oldest literary example of the use of henbane as a Germanic magical plant, and points out that such rituals were also performed for another plant, namely the mandrake, which also has a close relationship with the witches. Quotes for this edition from Ralph Metzner,
The Mead of Inspiration
, Boston: Shambhala, 1994, p. 239. (Trans.)

⁴⁹
Because agriculture was dependent on the weather “for growth and decay” and the people of Europe have been dependent on the productivity of the fields and the animals since the early modern era, this circumstance, which Leibrock-Plehn (1992: 175) commented on, is not surprising.

⁵⁰
As Paracelsus used the medicinal herbs himself, he was attacked often enough for being a “black magician” and a “breaker of the holy laws,” against which he vigorously defended himself (cf. Paracelsus, 1989: 308). See also page 164.

⁵¹
This concept of a spiritual force that stands behind the creation of nature does not necessarily have to lead to a distancing or alienation from and demonization of nature. This is illustrated, for example, in a statement by the Sioux Indian Petaga Yuha Mani: “We live off nature.” (From Joan Halifax,
Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives
, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979, 175.)

⁵²
According to Behling, 1957: 157.

⁵³
In the third edition of the
Realencyclopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche
, published by A. Hauk (Leipzig, 1899), the entry for
witch
contains references to witchcraft as a practice that “uses the help of unnatural energies, in particular subordinate ghosts.” The authors saw such a practice that can be “punishable because of its preconceived intentions” as a break with God, although they were incensed that the Catholics, the early fighters of the Reformation, and Luther himself had fallen under the spell of the beliefs of witches. Their expositions stated that “only the most faithful connection with the pure, innocent, and full truth of the evangelism” was able to free them from the bondage of superstition.

⁵⁴
See, for example, the obvious contradiction in the following statements by Hermann Wilckens: “They make weather, inopportune rain, thunder, hail, snow, ripeness, frost, beetles, and other insects, so that grain, wine, acorns, and other fruits in the field and in the woods are destroyed.” At the same time Wilckens determined that old women were not capable of such deeds because “weather-making is God’s and not human’s work. Humans are not as clever and as powerful as they think, especially crazy, old powerless women, and it is doubtful that they could achieve such a thing. On the contrary, if these old ladies could make weather, then one should not kill them, but honor them for their ability to make weather whenever and however we like” (Wolf, 1980: 476).

⁵⁵
For example, a broad knowledge of the heretical texts and folk magic practices must be attributed to Hieronymus Bosch because of the grotesque hybrid creations he placed in his magical world. However, it seems as if he never really distanced himself from the Christian way of “righteous belief,” for no sources indicate that he was ever accused of being a heretic or had any conflict with the Church. The same holds true for Hans Baldung Grien, as well as for Frans Francken the younger. See Härting, 1983: 177.

⁵⁶
See Hartlieb, 1989a, 16 and 1989b, 13.

⁵⁷
Klapper (1936: 26, 27) explained that the Rübezahl’s weather making and his ability to reveal himself in numerous forms must have been particularly reprehensible to theologians. Therefore they wrote him off as a devil or Satan, and erected a chapel on the highest peak of the snowcapped mountain. The chapel was dedicated to Mary in 1681, wherewith the spook was banned (29).

⁵⁸
In his inspiring investigation of Germanic mythology Ralph Metzner, the psychotherapist and deep ecologist, came to a different temporal classification of the three “all-knowing maidens” and placed such a linear definition as a whole into question. Metzner makes an etymological connection between the three Norns and the increased demonization of divination and magic: “Most scholars agree that the word
urd
is related to the Old Germanic
wurt
(destiny) and the Anglo Saxon
wyrd,
which means ‘destiny’ but also ‘power,’ or ‘magic,’ or ‘prophetic knowledge.’ In English the concept
wyrd
only remains in
weird
, which has come to mean ‘strange.’ In Shakespeare’s time,
weird
still retained its associations with magic and divination: the witches in
Macbeth,
who repeatedly warn the King of misfortunes about to befall him, are called ‘the weird sisters’” From Ralph Metzner,
The Mead of Inspiration
, Boston: Shambhala, 1994, p. 217.

⁵⁹
Sigrid Schade evaluated the literature that had been the classical models for Dürer in her contribution in van Dülmen 1987: 177ff., as well as in others.

⁶⁰
This was written down in the “Sagas of Antiquity” by Hyginus before 207 C.E. However, Dürer could have hardly known them, as the (subsequently lost) manuscript first appeared in the Bavarian region in 1535—in other words, after Dürer’s allegory. But the passage is also found in Apollonius, who, along with Virgil and others, found respect in the Renaissance.

⁶¹
By Maleuvre, in Pierre de Lancre,
Tableau de Inconstance,
an illustration in van Dülmen, 1987: 110.

⁶²
From Schade, 1983: 98 f.

⁶³
Friday the thirteenth of August is still considered to be a sacred day of the witch goddess Hecate, or, more precisely, of her successor Diana. This day, which comes only every few years, still continues to cause fear and panic (Reinhardt, 1993).

⁶⁴
This description was also used in the nineteenth century by Flaubert in order to present his Saint Anthony, with Venus as his temptation. (Gustave Flaubert,
Die Versuchung des heiligen Antonius
, Frankfurt: Insel, 1979.)

⁶⁵
In earlier times her dark aspect found expression in the Black Madonnas located throughout Europe. The Black Madonna provides a visible link between the pagan cults of Isis and Aphrodite and the Virgin Mary cult that caught fire in the later Middle Ages. The aspects of these goddesses that were at odds with contemporary theology were then cast upon the witch, who as we have seen became a figure of fear and derision in proportion with Mary’s success.

⁶⁶
Sappho enjoyed great popularity in Europe following her rediscovery by Renaissance scholars and poets in the fifteenth century.

⁶⁷
See Kerényi, 1966: 66. According to Kerényi, Aphrodite was also known as Androphonos, “the Murderous,” and as Anosia, “the Disastrous.”

⁶⁸
Quoted in German from Sallmann, 1991: 29. In this edition quoted from Robbins: 76.

⁶⁹
However, artists of the fin de siècle consciously took up the depiction of witches from pre-Christian and archaic examples, as Stelzl discovered (1983: 11), and rehabilitated them by blending witches with the iconography of the Parcae.

⁷⁰
The date suggested here follows that of Charles de Tolnay,
Hieronymus Bosch,
Eltville, Germany: Rheingauer Verlagsgesellschaft, 1984: 357.

⁷¹
Saint Anthony’s fire, or
Ignes sacre
(the sacred fire), was the name of an illness that appeared in epidemics during the Middle Ages. It is caused by ergot-poisoned rye flour—the primary food for gruel and bread. The afflicted, whom the disciples of Anthony took care of in great numbers, had horrible visions that were similar to those of Saint Anthony; thus he became their patron. In extreme cases of this affliction necrosis would occur, causing limbs to atrophy and fall off. Cf. Veit Harold Bauer,
Das Antonius-Feuer in Kunst und Medizin,
historische Schriftenreihe, Basel: Sandoz, 1973.

⁷²
To the medieval mentality this symbol-rich depiction could almost be read like a text. There were traditional meanings attributed to each of the elements Bosch has used here. Animal symbolism was especially prominent in medieval iconography. The association of Christ with the lamb has endured into modern times. Frogs were generally viewed with the same suspicion as the toad, and their aquatic environment was viewed by the medieval compilers of bestiaries as synonymous with the pleasures of the flesh. The egg, which was a well-known alchemical symbol to signify the transformation of base matter into a higher, more spiritual form, was also a symbol of sexual creation and a natural corollary to the frog holding it. The owl was associated both with spiritual wisdom and with the forbidden wisdom of the witches. The hedgehog, in addition to being a common medieval symbol for both theft and prosperity, would be equated with the hedge, widely viewed as the domain of the medieval witch.

⁷³
Fraenger, 1975: 346. Illustrations 117 to 131 in this book
(Hieronymus Bosch)
show the panel that has been described here. It can be seen in the Lisbon Museu Nacional de Arte Antigua.

⁷⁴
Fraenger, 1975: 342.

⁷⁵
Without naming specific sources, Michelet (1952, vol. 1: 127ff.) cites as examples various heathen customs of the Middle Ages that were dedicated to the cults of Diana, the moon, and Hecate.

⁷⁶
Gustave Flaubert,
Die Versuchung des heiligen Antonius
, Frankfurt: Insel, 1979: 112f.

⁷⁷
Following Kühn, 1948: 332.

⁷⁸
From Folke Nordström,
Goya, Saturn and Melacholy: Studies in the Art of Goya,
Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell, 1962, p. 198.

⁷⁹
Among others, see Sigrid Schade in van Dülmen, 1987: 177 f.

⁸⁰
According to Gessmann, no date: 118, and Jeanne Rose,
Herbs and Things,
New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1981: 274.