Similar charms are found in various cultures around the world. During my time in the occult I came across somewhat similar ones in sources like the Egyptian Secrets, The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet, or Ancient Christian Magic so it's not like these are their own trend or something. What makes them special to me is simply that they come from around here.
Such magical workings were usually performed by old women known by a term that would be the equivalent of both old woman and hag in English. Whereas the stereotypical image of a witch in the western world is a woman with a pointy hat, the hags from around here usually looked like the old woman depicted in the above image. While some men also performed this role, women were predominant in this field. These people were often both feared and respected in their community and people took great care not to cross them. It was not uncommon for priests to send sickly people to the hags whenever their religious work could not provide relief from suffering.
Since we're talking about the past doctors were hard to find if not impossible in the countryside, especially the more we go back in time, so the hags had a complex role in the community that covered both a magical and a mundane side. Therefore, they often had the role of midwife and knew how to help women deliver as safely as possible and keep the babies as healthy as possible. They had extensive knowledge of herbs they used for both medicinal and magical purposes. Their divination skills allowed them to reveal people's future spouse as well as give an accurate meteorological prediction for the coming year and so on.I have selected a few of these charms from the book Folkloric Materials (translation) by Grigore G. Tocilescu, published in 1900, a source that contains quite extensive material relating to Romanian folklore. I have no idea whether it is translated into English or if its still under copyright so that maybe I could translate and publish it myself. Or maybe someone else will. Besides magical charms the book also contains all sorts of riddles, ballads, carols, outlaw songs, haiduc (Robin-Hood-like) songs, wedding songs, mourning cries and so on, gathered from different regions in my country.
You'll have to excuse me for not providing the exact practical procedure, but the source only gives brief instructions so I will translate them as they were written. And I'm no poet so you'd have to excuse me for not having translated them in rhymes wherever the case, especially since they contain archaic words that would lose their essence if I'd try to make the translation rhyme.
The existence of different terms for the same thing depending on region makes things more complicated. I will try to keep their meaning within the context of the charm itself. The words within round brackets are used whenever there is no English equivalent or it makes no sense, while those within square brackets are used to fill in the gaps resulted from the translation. Keep in mind some expressions found within this book make little to no sense in contemporary Romanian because one should know the woowoo slang of the day.
But anyway, let's get it on with the charms, shall we?
1. Charm for dry sun (heat-stroke) - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by old lady Dumitrana Dumitru Stoica from Rogojelu - Dolj
"Red sun, white, black, yellow, green / Rabid sun / Poisonous sun / Dry sun / Too dry sun (sun that's too dry) / Depart from NN's body / From [their] head / From the brains of [their] head / From the cartilage of [their] nose / You dry sun with fliers (A) / You dry sun with the Mother of the Woods (see this article) / With the moroi (B) / With the she-moroi / With the strigoi (C) / With the she-strigoi / Don't blow into [them] / Don't swell [them] / Don't strike them with the arrow / Depart from NN and bring [them] relief / Like the flying bird / Like sheep's wool / And go into pits / Into hellholes / To the shores of seas / To the hoofs of stags / And you leave NN / Clean, luminous / Like gold in a sieve / In the name of the Father and [the] Mother (Virgin Mary), most glorified and revered!"
Recipe: the incantation is made using nine river rocks and mugwort while saying
"As water washes all the rocks / So shall the heat wash away from NN / With the mugwort I embittered it / With the rocks I stunned it (turned it into stone) / From NN I calmed it!"
A - The "fliers" are considered spirits who make love to maidens at night so they could be considered somewhat an equivalent to incubi.
B + C - In general, "moroi" and "strigoi" (plural - moroi and strigoi) are the basis for the Dracula story. A simplistic interpretation of them would be undead who suck the life force (blood) out of the living. In reality though, things are a bit more complex as while the two terms mean basically the same thing in some regions, there's more differences between them in others. The moroi were considered either a evil spirits (not necessarily human) that sucked the blood of humans or the milk of livestock or the spirits of dead humans who returned from the afterlife to suck the blood of the living, usually attacking their immediate descendants. The strigoi were thought as being spirits of dead humans who could also change into animals or animal-like apparitions and haunt old buildings, roads, forests, etc.
Although I could be well off, I imagine the hag would've placed the nine river rocks into a bucket filled with mugwort infused water and wash them while reciting the second formula. She would've then placed the rocks on the affected person and recite the first formula, although I have no idea whether the rocks needed to be placed in a certain way. I also find it interesting those people associated heat-stroke with sexuality.
2. Charm against the moroi - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by Maria Niţă Urdoiu from Roşiorii-de-Vede - Teleorman
"Left have the moroi and the she-moroi / And the strogoi and the she-strigoi / And he who casts the evil eye and she who casts the evil eye / Had a maiden cast the evil eye (I think the essential meaning is curse) / May her locks fall off / May she be laughed at by girls / Had the curse been cast by a woman / May her tits crack open / May they crack open into four [pieces] / Four shall jump in the eyes of that who cursed NN / Had the curse been cast by a man / May his balls crack open / May his balls come apart into four [pieces] / Four shall jump in the eyes of that who cursed NN / You who cast curses / Come out from NN from the brain of [their] head / From the cartilage of [their] nose / Fro the face of [their] cheek / And go to the daughter of Crai (A) [the] Emperor / So she'd stuff you with foods / With full cups / So that you'd eat and drink / And forgive (forget and leave them be) NN / And leave [them] clean, luminous / Like the dew of [the] fields / Like the star in the sky / Like the clean silver / Like the day [they were] born! / Lick the sheep, the goats / The beautiful kids / I lick NN / Of [all the] evil eye / Of [all] foul / Run, evil eye / Or the rabid wind will catch up with you!"
Recipe: the formula is to be recited at the head of the sick person; in [case of sick] cattle (livestock) [it is to be recited] over wheat and corn fodder; it can also be said over holy water and the following is to be repeated
"Just as the polenta is kneaded in the pot / And the dough in a wooden trough / The bread [is cooked] in the over / So shall NN's heart be kneaded / I knock and make noise / [And] NN's heart I knead / Why do you knock and make noise? / NN's heart I knead."
One is to taste from the holy water and then rub holy water on the baby's bellybutton.
A - "crai" is a general term meaning lord, someone who rules and has dominion over lads and people.
Although the moroi were thought to attack their immediate living relatives, it was more common for them to attack the children of the family. The younger the children, the more they were susceptible of being attacked.
Also, the reference to kneading one's heart can be understood as their heart becoming healthy and strong. Or being helped to heal and gain strength in this case. I think the essence of the meaning would be that the person who's performing the charm is actually (re)building the sick person's heart and this "kneaded" term is used in many other such charms. I'm not a linguist although I think it's found its way into contemporary times with the baring more the meaning of building, as in structuring.
What I find interesting is the mentioning of wheat or corn fodder as being used in case of sick livestock. Besides the fact corn arrived in Europe a little over 500 years ago which gives the impression this charm dates more recently, both wheat and corn were not and are still not the usual animal fodder people around these parts use. Livestock are usually feed grass or hay or bran resulted from the milling of wheat or corn because people usually kept the wheat and corn for their own use. Wheat was and is also considered more valuable than corn so I think the instructions were adapted over time to include corn, making the charm much older than 500 years imo. Anyway, to feed livestock wheat or corn would be similar to someone eating an extremely expensive and healthy meal at the same time. So I tent to think the charm sees the livestock as being valuable to the people given they are fed valuable food, while the food itself is also more nutritional for the animals so it would help them recover quicker. Just speculating here...
3. Charm against the evil eye - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by old lady Manea Mateiu from Roşiorii-de-Vede - Teleorman
"Should NN suffer from the evil eye caused by the strigoi / By the strigoi with moroi / By the moroi with she-moroi / By the strigoi with she-strigoi / By the lion with she-lion / By the he-goat with she-goat / May their eyes crack into four [pieces] / And may NN's heart be strengthened (see previous example) / Like the foal is being built inside the mare / The calf inside the cow / The chicken inside the egg / The plum in the prune tree / The pare in the pare tree / The apple in the apple tree / The apricot in the apricot tree / The honey inside the beehive / The stem in the garden / So shall the heart of NN be strengthened / And may NN remain / Clean, luminous / Like blown gold / Like [a] sown wheat straw / Like the Holy Mother that let them (made them or "gave birth to them" in a sense that the Virgin Mary is the mother of all) / The charm from me / The cure from the Holy Mother shall be!"
Recipe: a green willow tree branch is used when the charm is spoken into water or holy water; the sick person is to drink the water and whatever water remains is to be thrown on a fence pole or onto a dog, along with the following words
"Just as rain and snow wash the hair / So shall the evil eye be washed away from NN / Whenever this fence pole shall suffer from the evil eye / So shall NN suffer from the evil eye."
If the water is thrown onto a dog or a cat, say the following words
"Whenever the cat or the dog shall suffer from the evil eye / So shall NN suffer from the evil eye / Then, not even then!"
4. Charm for giving birth (with ease) - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by the Witch Simina from Gresia - Teleorman
"The Hole Mother knelled with one knee / [And was] calling out for the good hour / Lord Christ commanded / The womb of NN [he] opened / The baby [he] made to come out / For I've been called from (by - ?) the mare with foal / From the cow with calf / And from the sheep with lamb / For they are due [to give birth] sooner / The good hour was coming / And it brings relief to NN / For she gave birth to the baby / After she rubbed herself with butter."
Note: these words are to be spoken while one mixes some fresh white butter with the handle of a spoon, then the butter is rubbed on the belly and the lower back of the woman who is in labor; the butter needs to be a bit warm, usually.
5. Charm to "put the knife" - i.e. curse - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by Bălaşa Petru Săceanu from Rovinari - Gorj
"Knife of brass / With seals / I'm not heating [you] / I'm not setting you on fire / But I'm heating / And setting NN's heart on fire / I'm making [them] swell / I'm making [them] bitter / I'm making [them] sick / I'm ending [them] / May you make [your] way through the guts / Through the heart / Through the liver(s) / May you prick [them] / May you stab [them] / May you make [them] sick / May you end [them]."
Note: the knife is enchanted with these words nine times a day, during both daytime and nighttime; the knife is heated into fire and every time after the above words have been recited over, the knife is to be thrust into the ground behind the door; after the knife cools down one is to heat it again and repeat the aforementioned words; when you thrust the into the ground say
"[I'm] not sticking the knife into the ground / [I] am stabbing it into the heart of NN / In [their] lungs, head, legs &c."
The reader is to understand that many rural homes back in the day were built directly on the ground around these parts as only those who were wealthier afforded to have floors or a foundation for their home. Even the homes that had wooden floors used to have at least one room built directly on the ground, usually a kitchen or a storage space.
6. Charm to "take away the knife" - i.e. undoing the above - documented by Ion Odor, as told by lady Lenca, the mother-in-law of Priest Ioniţă, from Ploieşti
"Knife with (containing) the evil ones / Knife with those from them (charms from witches - ?) / Knife from food / From sleep / From fatigue / From fever / Knife with ninety nine pricks / Knife with ninety nine [of those (apparitions) one] encounter(s) / Knife with ninety nine evil hours / Knife with ninety nine rabid winds / Knife with illnesses [from the] unclean one / Knife that is put (see previous title), put by a (she-)charmer in advance (before) / The (she-)charmer did not know how to forge you / (She did not know) Into who's body to direct you / Come out, be gone and be lost / Jump over and over again into the ground / As the crossroads [allow one to] depart on many ways / So shall all diseases and the knife (curse) depart from NN."
There is no instruction and no tool mentioned so I guess this is exclusively a spoken formula. Although, the following charm does mention the use of a knife in certain ways so it's possible this one would require the use of a knife too yet the source mentioned nothing of it. Note that the tone of the formula specifically identifies the person who cast the curse to be a woman.
7. Charm to "turn the knife" - i.e. return knife curse to sender - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by Tinca Bălan from Costeşti - Vâlcea
"Whoever put this knife to NN / Unsavory / (Without black pepper) / (Not spiced) / (Without garlic flavor) / I'm turning it [around] tied / Bound / To the door who gave it away / If [they] gave it with one hand / I return it with two / If [they] gave ti with two hands / I return it with three &c / If [they] gave it with nine / I return it with ten / It won't pass on over ten / May I turn their waist girdle belt into a bagel / [A] werewolf / May I send [them] the knives with courier horses / To the home of whom gave them / Gee up, you white bolder / May [it] take the knives to whomever gave them / If [they] find [her] standing (walking also works) on the road / Or sitting by a fire / Or eating at a table / Or chatting / Or in bed / Shove her under the bed / By the fire / Throw her into the fire / May madness find her / [May] disease fill her up / [May the] body of NN become lighter / (Having rid itself) of disease, of knives, of aches [caused] by workings [of the enemy] / And [may] NN remain clean, luminous / Like [the] Holy Mother that let [them]."
Recipe: a large knife and some frankincense are cleansed in water and using a cross; the water is then drank [by the victim] and any water that remains is thrown into the fire or into running water while repeating
"I'm not washing myself [because I'm] fat and beautiful (details about this saying in the link) / But I've washed myself of workings of the enemy / From off my body / My legs."
Note that the word give means to curse in this context and that's why I left it as it is. And just as in the previous example, the person who cast the curse is identified as being a woman.
8. Charm for brâncă - i.e. contagious disease specific to swine, characterized through lack of appetite and violet spots on the skin - discovered by G. N. Ţapu through a copy he received from Professor G. Popescu from Runcu, who took it from Priest Sandu, who died at the venerable age of 93 in Gemenea - Dâmboviţa
Recipe: it is to be copied as such on a piece of paper, then it is rubbed with honey and a bit of black pepper and hot pepper (maybe dry, crushed or powder perhaps) is sprinkled over it and it is placed on the affected area; in lack on honey one is to use cornflower soaked in yeast moonshine.
I find it nice they made the spiral counterclockwise to symbolize getting rid of something. I also find it nice they wrote the sentences above and below backwards. The sentence inside the spiral is not written backwards, being a sort of invocation. The pairs of letters in the corners appear to be some kind of Orthodox shorthand the church uses on icons and I won't go into guessing what they mean. Probably something along the way of Jesus Christ although idk...
The phrase above says "Lord give health to your servant NN."
The phrase below says "Brâncă I write you backwards [so you may] go backwards (redraw - gtfo)."
The phrase inside the spiral is written as a rhyme and says "[May] saints and doctors without silver (who healed for free) Cosma and Damian. Pantilimon and Ermolae (?), Samson and Diomid, Chir. (likely Chiril - i.e. Cyril) and Jon. (likely Jonathan) help us."
Saint Pantilimon or Pantelimon is widely known here even today as a saint who helps cure all sorts of illnesses and diseases. There's even hospitals named after him.
9. Spell to bind a man - i.e. husband or lover - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by Witch Maria Petre Crăsnaru from Aminişu - Gorj
The woman who wishes to bind her husband or lover is to take cotton or wool from his zăbun (specific type of coat men wore in the countryside). When she lies with him she will dip the wool or cotton in his semen, then she will tie it up inside a piece of cloth and keep it on her back side. She will then go to a grave of a dead man that bared the same name as her husband or lover, the man she wants to bind. She will tie the cotton to the cross of the grave and say the following words thrice: "Just as this dead man has forgotten his cravings and the delights of the world, so shall NN forget his earthly cravings and those of women."
I think nowadays someone can simply some fabric from their spouse's clothing since very few people wear wool clothes these days. The part about tying up the cotton inside a piece of cloth is somewhat unclear to me. I imagine the woman could tie it up inside a piece of cloth in a mojo-bag-style and then wrap a scarf around her waist and shove the mojo bag in between the scarf and her body, at her back side. I think this procedure can also be applied in cases of graves that have no crosses and instead have tombstones, in which case the cotton would be tied around the tombstone although it could be more apparent than in the case it's tied around a cross, especially at its base. I guess a solution could be found in cases where graves have only plaques.
10. Charm to unbind a man - i.e. undo the previous spell - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by Witch Maria Petre Crăsnaru from Aminişu - Gorj
The man who is bound, meaning that which is unable, is to take nine small living fish and swallow them with some water. Afterwards he is to say thrice: "Just as water flows and the fish are free in it and are not bound, so shall NN be unbound and free."
The fact the text specifically mentions the man is unable indicates to me he had become impotent as a result of a binding spell such as the previous one. Come to think of it, I do remember back when I went to my grandpappy's when I was a kind and hearing all sorts of gossip of certain women keeping their husbands as virtual slaves, while they were said not to be able to perform sexually. So I imagine the wife saw her husband as being a womanizer and preferred to have him for herself without being able to shag him, but instead she had him do all the chores around the home. I actually remember such a man because he was a neighbor of grandpappy's and that guy was obedient af.
11. Spell for love - documented by G. N. Ţapu, as told by Voica A. Ţapu from Roşiorii-de-Vede - Teleorman
"Good evening, holy wool / I thank you, young maiden / Have a sit / I'm not sitting / For I haven't come to sit / I have come for you to give me / Your target sights / So that [I] shall gather loves in them / So the world may die from them / Just as every beast and every bird cannot bare without you / So NN shall not bare without my words, my face, my eyes / And my eyebrows / Everyone / From the youngest to the oldest / [But] NN more powerfully."
"I woke up on Sunday morning / My eyes unwashed / The dew unshaken / The Holy Mother saw me / [She] came down from heaven / On a silver ladder / And [she] came to me / She sounded the horn / She gathered the loves / And stored them inside this pot / Just as the cow cannot resist the calf / And the sheep [its] lamb / And the sow [its] piglet / And the hen [its] chick / The goose [its] gosling / The gosling [its] goose / So shall all the girls / Wives / Priestesses / Brides / Priests / Deans / Tax collectors (can also mean military captains or police sergeants) / Counselors / Mayors / Notaries / Judges / The 'welcomers' (not sure about his one - either scouts or gatekeepers or something) / The boys / The logophetes (high ranking boyar that served as the chancellor of the prince and it can also mean administrator of estate) / From low[est] to high[est] / [But] NN more powerfully!"
"Rise, sun / [My] brother / Do not rise over weak fences / [Or] over stripped carpets / [But] rise over my eyes / Over my eyelashes / Over my eyebrows / That everyone shall gaze lovingly at them! / Whosoever shall step behind me (follow me) / Shall look into my mouth / Whosoever shall not speak to me / Shall have their heart explode inside of them!" (the underlined words will be explained in more detail)
Explanation: the girl that wishes to do [this working] of love is to go and collect fresh water from the well at sunset on a Saturday; the water is to be collected in a clean pot or bottle; once at the well, she shall recite the first part.
She is to wake up the next day (Sunday) before sunrise, take the water and begin to charm it with basil, a silver coin and a red thread; this part is to be done over the fireplace (or stove); after she finishes reciting the second part of the charm she will say the following: "Just as the fireplace burns with fire and the fire of (inside) the fireplace, so shall the heart[s] burn in [both] the young and the old, [but] more powerfully in NN, and just as the smoke seeks the chimney, so shall [the] young and [the] old shall seek me, [but] more powerfully in NN!"
Then the girl goes outside and turns to face the sun and recites the third part of the charm. She uses the charmed water to wash her forehead and eyes. She is to carry the silver coin and the basil on herself.
I'm speculating the meaning of the underlined lines is:
Whosoever shall step behind me - can refer to people who are following the person around and spying on them
Shall look into my mouth - can have a very similar meaning to the saying that refers to looking a gift horse in the mouth
So taken together, these two lines can refer to any haters the person might have and who are spying on and finding faults in them. I'm pretty sure this is the essence because the previous line says that everyone, presumably affected by the spell, will act lovingly towards the person, so anyone who might resist the spell for some reason and instead act contrary to its goal can pretty much drop dead, as the following lines say.
Whosoever shall not speak to me - pretty obvious meaning, especially in the context of the previous two lines
Shall have their heart explode inside of them - while this could also refer to those people being madly in love with the person, I think it's in the context of those people who are not affected by the spell and moreover, they are also haters of the person
Charming the water with basil, a silver coin and a red thread should be simple enough. A basil twig, a silver coin and a red thread are placed inside the water. The person is to recite the charm over them and add the extra bit from the explanation. I think by basil the source meant a small twig of dry basil flowers, since there are charms inside the book that mention fresh basil. I am intrigued by the mentioning of dew in this way - I made the translation word for word in that case. Dew has a powerful symbolism in esoteric practices and this is not the only charm from the book that mentions it in ways that insinuate its subtle meanings. This link offers brief and concise details about dew as seen from an occult perspective.
Bonus: from The Anthology of Romanian Popular Charms, compiled and edited by Radu Răutu
Spoken formula for love using the devil - documented by S. F. Marian, as told by Paraschiva, [wife] of Dean Dumitru Bărboşi
"Oschi, oschi / Scaraoschi! / By word may I learn [of] you / With my eyes may I not see you / [You] demon, evil goblin (or brownie) / Go to the one who's destined for me / Wherever he (or she) may be / [And] without causing him (her) delay / Grab him (her) by the hair / Bring him (her) [to me] on horseback / Strong as the wind / Fast as the thought / Over woods, valleys and mountains / Over rivers without bridges / And in the hearth of my home / May he (she) stay (find him/herself) naked in (wearing nothing but) his (her) skin / Go now, demon, run, be gone!"
The underlined phrase is basically to be understood as "gtfo of here and do as I asked of you!"
And there you have it, a bunch of relatively simple charms for several goals.
Hate on, dum-dums!
The Great Gazoo
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