Traditional Magic Spells for Protection and Healing

Traditional Magic Spells for Protection and Healing, Claude Lecouteaux, Inner Traditions. Historian and researcher Claude Lecouteaux, Professor emeritus at the Paris-Sorbonne University and author of over a dozen books on magic and folklore, has done it again. Painstakingly compiling a wonderful catalog of European spells, charms, chants and sometimes strange prescriptions — over 600 of them, to be precise — all while introducing and organizing them into a somewhat slim and unimposing volume.

As the title suggests, every spell therein contained involves either healing or protection, and the reader will likely be amazed at some of the concoctions our early magical ancestors came up with. The sources span nearly the entirety of Europe, with scores of medieval and renaissance remedies, with some spells being around 2000 years old.

Of special interest to some is the inclusion of spells learned from Transylvanian Romani by Romanian ethnologists in the 19th century, but there’s plenty more for everyone, whatever the uncomfortable ailment or unfortunate hex may be. Looking for a Hungarian headache remedy? How about a Slovenian charm against poison? A French rat conjuration? Perhaps Marcellus’ scrofula cure is more your speed. Any way you slice it, this book of old antidotes and orisons can be easily cross-referenced thanks to its alphabetized sections, helpful index and rather thorough bibliography — for all the students and scholars out there. Ultimately a discrete treasure for any occult library.