Workers at a London construction site were mystified when they unearthed a sealed stoneware bottle with some very strange markings including the image of a scary bearded man.聽The bottle, obviously buried a long time ago, was identified by archeologists as a 鈥渨itch bottle,鈥� meant to provide protection from witches鈥� spells.聽Back in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was a powerful belief in witches and their ability to cause illness by casting a spell.聽But the evil spells could be fended off by trapping them in a 鈥渨itch bottle,鈥� which if properly prepared, could actually reflect the spell itself while also tormenting the witch leaving the witch with no option but to remove the spell allowing the victim to recover.聽More than two hundred witch bottles that had either been buried in the ground or hidden inside walls have been found, but the only one that was completely sealed was the one discovered at the London construction site.聽
After x-rays revealed that the bottle was half-filled with liquid and contained a variety of pins and nails, it was carefully opened and found to contain human urine, hair, fingernail clippings, brass pins and a dozen iron nails, one of which pierced a small leather heart.聽 The liquid was handed over to chemist Alan Massey who determined it to be of human origin.聽More specifically, it was the urine of a smoker, as evidenced by the presence of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine.聽Historians suggest that the shape of the bottle represented the witch鈥檚 bladder and the nails and bent pins immersed in urine would somehow cause the witch to suffer pain every time he or she passed urine.聽The only option for the witch was to therefore remove the spell.聽As far as the leather heart pierced by the iron nail goes, we can only assume that it was to cause heartache for the witch.聽The hair, nail clippings, and pieces of what may have been belly button fluff were perhaps placed in the bottle to identify the person or persons who were to be protected or cured.聽And the bearded face etched into the bottle was probably there with the hope聽of scaring off evil.
Such superstitions were understandable at a time when there was little understanding of disease and when physicians did not have much to offer in terms of effective remedies.聽But what can we say about the numerous formulas offered today on the Internet to prepare witch bottles to protect against entities, spirits, demons and negative energies?聽 hey even throw in some scientific terms.聽 鈥淎fter charging, the bottle becomes an energetic trap for any force that intends to cause you harm.聽It is aligned to your energy field through the use of your on DNA.鈥澛燱hat is to be put into the bottle?聽Rusty nails, broken glass and dead bugs along with menstrual blood or semen, which I guess provide the DNA.聽As you fill the bottle you have to recite the following: 鈥淚nsects from beneath a rock, needles, nails rusting fast, Keep all harm inside and locked, within this dungeon made of glass.鈥澛�
Then you start peeing into the bottle to 鈥減rovide a link for the energy to follow into the jar and remain.鈥澛燜ollow this by adding 鈥渢hree pinches of salt and a handful of earth, feeling its connection to the planet and its ability to transform waste into fertility.鈥澛� ou then seal the bottle with drippings from a black candle as you intone: 鈥淚 charge you bottle to trap all harm.聽 Keep me safe away from danger.聽Inside darkness calls to darkness to be carried below into the grave.鈥澛� ow the bottle is ready to be buried.聽We鈥檙e told not to worry should the bottle should be disturbed or broken since, 鈥渢he negativity will not be released because it has already been neutralized by the salt and the handful of earth.鈥澛燘ut alas, we鈥檙e informed, the bottle will cease to function.聽No problem, as a replacement can be readily made.聽The ingredients are not hard to gather.
Granted, not many people today are likely to be making use of witch bottles.聽At least not of the variety I just described.聽But there are plenty of witch bottles available for purchase, they鈥檙e just not called witch bottles.聽 hat鈥檚 because we鈥檙e too smart these days to believe in witches鈥� spells.聽But how about a belief that illness stems from a disruption of the body鈥檚 鈥渆nergy field鈥�, despite the fact that there is not one iota of evidence that any such energy field exists.聽Yet, you can buy an Electro Physiological Feedback Xrroid machine or a QuWave harmonizer, or just a simple hologram equipped 鈥渆nergy bracelet鈥� to realign or repair the body鈥檚 non-existent energy field that has been disrupted by exposure to the damaging effects of modern life such as electromagnetic radiation, genetically modified foods and of course, 鈥渃hemicals.鈥澛燭hese devices have as much chance of affecting our health as a witch bottle.聽The belief in nonsense does not change, it is just bottled differently.
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