Lancashire Folk-lore: Illustrative of the Superstitious Beliefs and Practices, Local Customs and Usages of the People of the County PalatineHarland, John
History
Lancashire Folk-lore: Illustrative of the Superstitious Beliefs and Practices, Local Customs and Usages of the People of the County Palatine
Harland, John
Folklore -- England -- Lancashire; Lancashire (England) -- Social life and customs
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It will be seen that the first three lines of this charm are a sort of
gibberish, with an admixture of Greek and Latin words, constituting in
itself a charm, supposed to be efficacious in expelling or restraining
evil spirits. With the fourth line, then, we begin our translation.
"As it is said in the seventeenth chapter of St. Matthew, at the
twentieth verse, 'By faith ye may remove mountains: be it according to
[my] faith,'[51] if there is, or ever shall be, witchcraft [or
enchantment] or evil spirit, that haunts or troubles this person, or
this place, or this beast [or these cattle], I adjure thee to depart,
without disturbance, molestation, or trouble in the least, in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." [Then
follows the Lord's Prayer in Latin, ending with the word "Fiat" (be it
done), instead of Amen.] These words are endorsed or written outside the
paper in two lines:--
"Agla + On [or En] Tetragrammaton."
In a charm cited in the _Heptameron, or Mercurial Elements_ of Peter de
Abano, these are called "the three secret names." The first two are
names given to the Deity by the Jewish cabalists. The third (which is
also the last word in the second line of the charm) is one also
frequently in use amongst Talmudists and Jewish writers, meaning
literally "four-lettered," as descriptive of the sacred and
unpronounceable name ("Jehovah," written in Hebrew by four letters). The
word is here endorsed, as if to authenticate the whole charm, and to
show that it is the production of an artist who understood his business;
for "tetragrammaton," and "fiat," are words of such potency, that a
charm without them would be of no efficacy whatever. The Rev. Richard
Garnett adds to his account of this charm (in May, 1825):--"I should
think that the document is of no great antiquity, probably not more than
thirty or forty years old. It was doubtless manufactured by some country
'wise man,' a regular dealer in such articles. There are, I believe,
several persons within twenty miles of Blackburn, who still carry on a
trade of this sort."
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[In the _Heptameron_, already quoted, is "The Conjuration of the Lord's
Day," which runs thus:--"I conjure and confirm upon you, ye strong and
holy angels of God ... [here follow various names of angels, including
those 'who rule in the fourth heaven'], and by the name of his star,
which is _Sol_, and by his sign, and by the immense name of the living
God, and by all the names aforesaid--I conjure thee, Michael, O! great
angel, who art chief ruler of the Lord's Day," &c.].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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