Witch Bottle

From Traditional Witchcraft Wiki Project

The purpose of the Witch Bottle is to redirect whatever ever harmful magic is directed at the Witch onto the witch bottle. It is made with a variety of different objects contained within. Traditionally, such things as bent nails, shards of glass, needles and other sharp objects were used in conjunction with blood, hair, and/or urine. The witch bottle is then sealed and hidden in an undisclosed location. Witch bottles have been found under the hearth, sealed in walls, and under floors. As long as the witch bottle remains hidden it remains effective.

Witch bottles were used by Witches, Cunning folk and common alike. In some cases it is said the witch bottle should be heated until it explodes with dire results to the offending practitioner that cursed the person the bottle is created to represent.[1]An old tale tells how Cunning Man, James Murrel, once made a Witch-Bottle for a girl that was cursed by a Gypsy. The bottle was heated at midnight until it exploded and the next day the charred remains of the Gypsy were said to have been found. It was also claimed that James Murrel himself was a victum of a Witch bottle, but the claim was made by a rival Cunning Man after his death.

The origin of the Witch Bottle dates approximately to the 16th century. The Witch bottles were most common in the 1600's, however, one such example as the Navenby bottle, found buried under foundations in the rural Lincolnshire village of Navenby, has been dated as early as circa 1820.[2]

One of the most common types of bottles used for this purpose was a globular German stone bottle known as the Bellarmine or Greybeard, and in Germany as Bartmann or Bartmannzeug.[3]The name Bellermine was supposedly given as a satirical comment against the bearded Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino (1542-1621)who wrote Disputations about the Controversies of the Christian faith Against the Heretics of this Time) (3 vols, Ingolstadt, 1586-1593).[4]

The distinctive feature of the Bellermine is the embossed face of a bearded man. It should be noted that the Bellermine or Bartmann bottles were being produced with the bearded masks long before the connection to Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino.

Glass phials and wine bottles have also been found to have been used as witch bottles.

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