Rag

From Traditional Witchcraft Wiki Project

In scotland, sailors and fishermen would buy a piece of rag with three knots within it, off witches who was said to try up the winds to fill there sails which the winds was relased by untying the knots as required: The first knot produced a wind to fill their sails; the second a strong wind and the third creating a tempest or storm.A image of this being worked by a cunning man in a book (published in 1555), called historia de gentibus septentrionalibus.

Another source in which a rag was used in wind charming, where in the confessions of Isobel Gowdie, she explained if she wished to raise the winds, she take a rag of cloth and wet in a pile of water; and beetle and knock the rag on a stone and say:

I knock this rag upon this stane To raise the wind, in Devils name. And it shall not lye, until i please again.

She then went on saying that if she wish to settle the winds, she would dry out the rag and say three times:

We lay the winds in Devils name, It shall not raise until i like to raise again.

References

• Embracing the Criminal Trials in Scotland: From A.D. 1488 to A.D. 1624
• Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus,1555