Charming is a practice especially densely attested in German-language folk tradition, in which a person attempts, by quietly or half-aloud speaking a transmitted formula, to avert harm from a human being or an animal.
The word “besprechen” (to charm) here means to cover someone or something with a formula, that is, to envelop them in words and thereby protect them from harmful influence or to reverse an influence that has already taken effect.
Charming differs from the banishing spell in one essential respect: it is directed less at the expulsion or binding of a being than at the person or animal that is to be healed or protected.
The formulae of charming are, in the tradition, often shorter, more concrete, and tailored to particular ailments or dangers, such as bleeding, burns, the evil eye, erysipelas, or childhood illnesses.
At the same time, in many traditions the practice presupposes a special qualification on the part of the charming person, defined either by descent, age, sex, or an ability understood as a divine gift.
Charming belongs to the category of protective rituals and invocations.
Charming employs the spoken protective word as a means against illness and misfortune.
Charming denotes the protective or healing speaking of a transmitted formula over a person or an animal. In German-language folk tradition the practice is well documented from the Middle Ages into the early twentieth century.
It combines Christian elements, the invocation of saints or names of God, with pre-Christian structures, a mythological precedent, and a commanding formula.
Not everyone is regarded as qualified; rather, particular persons such as older women, the seventh son, or the midwife. In many traditions the formula is secret and must not be spoken aloud or in the presence of strangers.
The roots of charming reach deeper than the Christian tradition.
The Merseburg Charms from the tenth century, the oldest surviving German-language witnesses of this kind, display a basic structure regarded as characteristic of this practice: a mythological precedent in which a god or hero solves a problem, followed by the formula “As that came to pass then, so may it come to pass now”.
This structure, the so-called historiola type, is found in charming formulae from all across Europe, which points to great age and wide distribution.
In the Christian tradition the pagan names of the gods are replaced by Jesus, Mary, and the saints, yet the structure often remains recognizably similar.
The charming person appeals to the claim that Christ healed a wound, that Mary turned the fever away from the Christ child, in order then to continue: so too shall this wound heal, so too shall this fever recede. Canon law repeatedly condemned such practices, which speaks to their distribution and persistence.
In the Early Modern period, witch trial records, medical books of advice, and diocesan visitation protocols document that charming was widespread in everyday life.
Often these were women who charmed for their village or parish, that is, who kept formulae ready for wounds, illnesses of livestock, or harm caused by the evil eye. In the nineteenth century, folklorists in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland assembled extensive collections of such formulae.
The working principle of charming rests on the notion that language, when uttered correctly and in the right inner disposition, exerts an ordering force upon the cosmic information field.
The harm, the influence, the affliction, is regarded as something that has approached a person from outside. The formula names this affliction, declares it foreign and not belonging, and turns it away.
The appeal to sacred authority is central here: the charming person speaks not in their own name, but as a mediator of a power that stands above them.
This is the reason why, in many traditions, the practice is bound to a particular kind of person: not everyone may or can fulfil this mediating function. Where the personal qualification is lacking, the formula is regarded as without effect.
The secret transmission of the formula, from woman to man, from elder to younger, at a particular moment and under particular conditions, is likewise a fixed component of the logic of tradition. Formulae that are publicly known are regarded, in many descriptions, as spent or weaker.
The basic principle of charming is not confined to the German-speaking region. Related practices can be traced in nearly all European folk traditions. In Scandinavia the practitioners are called kloka gubbar or kloka gummor, wise men and wise women.
In England one speaks of “cunning folk”, who drew charming formulae from handwritten manuscripts. In Russia and the rest of the Slavic world there is the so-called sheptanie, the whispering of healing words, which is structurally closely related to the German charming.
In Ireland and Scotland, healing formulae are transmitted in Gaelic, the so-called ortha or eolas, which exhibit the same historiola structure. An Irish formula for the healing of burns appeals to Saint Brigid, who healed an injury, just as a Low German formula for the same problem refers to Christ.
Structurally related practices are found outside Europe as well. In parts of West Africa and in the Afro-Caribbean tradition there are known formulae that are spoken over an ailing or threatened person and are meant to bring about a protective or healing force.
In some regions of Latin America the colonial overlay of indigenous and Christian charming traditions has been preserved.
According to the tradition, charming is directed above all against influences that have acted upon a person from outside or continue to act. Among the most frequently documented fields of application are the following:
The evil eye, which in many cultures is understood as a force transmitted through envy or ill intent that causes illness or misfortune.
Spirits and ghosts, especially those that have remained restless after a person’s death and pursue or sicken the living. Witches’ spells and harmful magic, that is, influences exerted by another person with ill intent.
Certain illnesses of humans and of livestock, which in the pre-industrial world were frequently attributed to supernatural influence, including erysipelas, St. Anthony’s fire, worms, or the night-mare. And finally the alps and night-mares, which were regarded as the cause of sleep disturbances, fear of suffocation, and nocturnal terror.
In the tradition, charming is regarded as bound to particular conditions, which differ according to region and source but show a common core. The formula must be correct, that is, fully transmitted and spoken unchanged.
The charming person must be regarded as qualified. The charming should as a rule not be observed, or at least the formula itself should not be spoken audibly. In some traditions a particular time of day, often dawn or sunset, is prescribed.
Among the transmitted limits is also the notion that charming does not work against a more powerful adversary. Against a high-ranking demon, a simple healing formula does not suffice; there the complete banishing ritual is required. In this logic, charming is responsible for everyday influences, not for exceptional cases.
It has a close kinship with the banishing spell, but differs through its focus on the affected person rather than on the influencing being. In some traditions both forms are combined: the formula first charms the person and then turns the affliction away.
Related key terms: charming charmer faith healing healing formula.
Charming shows how deeply rooted the idea is that language and symbol can create a protective space around a person.
This thought, which runs from the Merseburg Charms through medieval blessing formulae into the folk medicine of the twentieth century, finds a modern expression in the iWell Guard: an object that gathers protective ideas from many traditions and, as a worn sign, maintains the connection to these traditions.
Personal experiences may vary. Not a medical device. No promise of healing.
