A Collection Of Scandinavian Magic (北欧魔法录)

Bjerstedt has again generously translated some of the rare Scandinavian magic rituals to share with Magic SEA visitors. Please thank Bjerstedt for his time and hard work… Liew J!

-By Bjerstedt

Discover treasures

On a wand, that has been broken off from the tree during the night of Maundy Thursday, or a Sunday morning before the sun has risen, you shall draw with the blood from the comb of a white rooster these characters:

When the wand is carried over places where treasures are buried, it will turn in your hand by itself.

[Some of the characters are obviously planetary signs.]

Reclaim stolen goods

Cut off a piece of the thing that has touched the stolen item the most, and write upon it with the blood of a swallow:

Put this piece in the woods, under a tree whose trunk is repeatedly beaten by the branch of another tree when the wind blows. The thief will after this never get peace, neither day nor night, before he has carried the loot back, even if it's 20-30 miles away.

[As can be seen, Scandinavian folk magic often utilizes Sympathetic magic. The characters resemble some earlier Icelandic galdrastafir, so these may be very stylized bindrunes.]

Miscellaneous love spells

Take a red apple and write with your blood your own name besides the words: “ORSA - FORSA – FORSMA”, then it won't be long before she falls head over heels in love with you.

You can also write “S iopg f g li” on a piece of bread [or cheese] and give her to eat.

[The one you want to enchant has to eat the apple or piece of bread.]

If you want someone to love you, write in your hand before sunrise these letters:

“Toogras”

[It's implied that the hands have to touch for this to work.]

Incantation against shingles and Erysipelas

Rose, rose that is red,

tomorrow you shall be dead

in a lake where no one rows,

in the woods where no one lives,

under logs and rocks,

roots and branches,

you shall be denied by everyone.

[Both shingles (Herpes zoster) and Erysipelas are commonly known as “ros” in Swedish, which also means rose.]

Incantation against toothache

Like the waves in an acre of rye go and disappear,

your toothache shall perish and become nothing.

Chopping off the creakiness

Creakiness in the joints can be chopped off with an axe. The sickly joint is laid over a doorstep. Then the healer chops at both sides of the joint, while he and the patient exchanges these words:

-I chop and I chop and I chop.

-What do you chop?

-I chop the ridge of the creak out of the joint and in the vein.

[The last sentence is very hard to translate since it's very hard for me to understand exactly what it means.]

Incantation against warts and bunions

Wither, sharpen (?) like coal in ash,

man in soil, snow for the sun.

You shall become as small as a mustard seed,

and then nothing.

Incantation against ringworm

The Ringworm had nine daughters:

The nine became eight,

the eight became seven,

the seven became six,

the six became five,

the five became four,

the four became three,

the three became two,

the two became one,

the one became none.

[The number 9 is very common in Norse Mythology and folklore.]

Talisman against enemies

Carry a piece of paper with you with the following letters written on it:

T R X O V T V T T T V T O T

[This is possibly related to rune magic. It's mostly composed from the letter T, which corresponds to the rune Tiwaz, which represents the god of war Tyr.]

Incantation for long flax

Long flax, long flax, long as reins, tough as tendrons and white

as snow. Father this year and mother last year, silk worm with

frizzy hair.

Mala, mala, dunk, dunk.

Hooray! Hooray!

Incantation for binding the Nixie when bathing

Nixie, Nixie, needle thief;

your father was a steel thief,

your mother was a concubine,

went around the farms and did bad!

The Nixie is bound!

Incantation for warding of predatory animals

Now I recite for wolf tooth and bear paw,

that they shall not touch my cattle,

neither big nor small,

but now I put them,

so long behind the mountain of insanity [no idea what this means]

where the swan blackens

and the raven whitens.

Amen.

Warding off rats in the crop barns

When the first load of grains is loaded in, the ones standing in the barn asks:

-What are you coming with?

-We're coming with a load of cats.

Then they ask what the rats are having for food.

-Rocks, bones and mugwort.

Then the first load of grains is loaded in under absolute quietness. When putting in the following loads, you speak about cats the whole time.

“Court words”

I bind their hands,

I bind their teeth,

I bind their liver,

I bind their lung,

I bind their tongue,

I bind them with a snake tooth and snake neck.

My forward and their backwards in all the seven thousand names!

[This is an incantation for winning in court. You're supposed to recite it thrice, and blow on some salt after every time. You're supposed to put some of it in your shoes, and sprinkle some on the door to the court. There are some more instructions to it, but I haven't managed to translate those.]