Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery | Page 4

say the Creed and the Lord's
Prayer with faith and devotion, and then the enemy can do you no
harm. . . . Let no Christian place lights at the temples, or the stones, or
at fountains, or at trees . . . or at places where three ways meet, or
presume to make vows. Let none presume to hang amulets on the neck
of man or beast; even though they be made by the clergy, and called
holy things, and contain the words of Scripture; for they are fraught,
not with the remedy of Christ, but with the poison of the Devil. Let no
one presume to make lustrations, nor to enchant herbs, nor to make
flocks pass through a hollow tree, or an aperture in the earth; for by so
doing he seems to consecrate them to the Devil.
Moreover, as often as any sickness occurs, do not seek enchanters, nor
diviners, nor sorcerers, nor soothsayers, or make devilish amulets at
fountains or trees, or cross-roads; but let him who is sick trust only to
the mercy of God, and receive the sacrament of the body and blood of
Christ with faith and devotion; and faithfully seek consecrated oil from
the church, wherewith he may anoint his body in the name of Christ
and according to the Apostle, the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and
the Lord shall raise him up.
From very early times, says Lady Wilde, the pagan physicians of
Ireland, who were famous as skilled practitioners, were prominent
among the Druids. Although thoroughly conversant with the healing

properties of herbs, they appreciated keenly the influence exerted upon
the minds of their patients by charms, fairy cures, and incantations.
Therefore their methods of treatment were of a medico-religious
character, the psychic element being utilized in the form of various
magic rites and ceremonies, which were important healing factors. The
ancient Druidic charms are still in use among the Irish peasants, the
titles of pagan deities being replaced, however, by the name of Christ
and words of the Christian ritual. In this form they are regarded as
magic talismans, when repeated over the sick, and the peasants have a
strong faith in these mystic formulas, which have a powerful hold upon
their imaginations, having been transmitted to them through many
generations of a credulous ancestry.[13:1]
The peasants of Ireland do not wholly depend upon the skill of their
fairy-women. On the contrary, every housekeeper has an intimate
knowledge of the healing virtues of common herbs. The administration
of these is always accompanied with a prayer. After domestic resources
have been exhausted, especially if the ailment is believed to be of
supernatural origin, recourse is had to the witch-doctress.
In a volume entitled "Beware of Pickpockets" (1605), being a warning
against charlatans, occurs this passage:
Others, that they may colourably and cunningly hide their grosse
ignorance, when they know not the cause of the disease, referre it unto
charmes, witchcrafts, magnifical incantations and sorcerie. Vainely and
with a brazen forehead, affirming that there is no way to help them but
by characters, circles, figure-castings, exorcismes, conjurations and
others impious and godlesse meanes. Others set to sale at a great price,
certain amulets of gold and silver, stamped under an appropriate and
selected constellation of the planets, with some magical characters,
shamelessly boasting that they will cure all diseases and worke I know
not what other wonders.
The employment of amulets involves the idea of protection against
divers kinds of malicious spirits, including the demons of disease,
ghosts, fairies, and evil-minded sprites, surly elves, fiends, trolls, pixies,
bogies, kelpies, gnomes, goblins, witches, devils, imps, Jinn, et id omne

genus. Amulets served as preventives against bodily ailments or
injuries, misfortune and ill-luck generally.
Medieval practitioners, while utilizing material remedies to some
extent, relied more on the resources of occult science, whether in the
form of incantations or the revelations of astrology. The adept
consulted the stars to determine the prognosis of a case of fever, for
example. If he prescribed drugs only, his reputation suffered in the
popular estimation. In order to be abreast of the times, the shrewd
medieval physician needed to be well versed in star-craft, or at least to
make a pretense thereto. It is probable that many patients would have
despised a practitioner who looked only to his Herbal and store of
drugs, and neglected Capricornus and Ursa Major.[14:1]
In "Chambers's Cyclopædia," published in 1728, an amulet is defined
as a kind of medicament, hung about the neck, or other part of the body,
to prevent or remove disease. And a charm is described as a magic
power or spell, by which, with the assistance of the Devil, sorcerers and
witches were supposed to do wondrous things, far surpassing the power
of Nature. According to popular