Description The Witches’ Flying Ointment, a magical salve compounded from plant poisons, human remains, suspicious fats, and other appalling ingredients, was, when rubbed on the body, alleged to have given witches the power to fly. Emerging from the shadowy religious and magical texts of medieval Europe, it was certainly considered expressly diabolic. To the ointment was attributed use as a poison, but it also possessed otherworldly magical powers: the power to enable shapeshifting, nocturnal flight, madness and frenzy, and commerce with the spirit world… effects often aligned with the Christian Devil. In fact, a common accusation of witches was that the ointment — or knowledge of its manufacture — was obtained from the Evil One himself. But ointments conforming to these contours pre-dated the witchcraft persecutions of the Early Modern era, medieval magic, and the Devil himself, dating back to classical antiquity and beyond. Many had their origin in healing salves, or ointments used to drive away evil spirits, uses far more beneficent than the witchcraft associations formed in the Middle Ages. Given its use of psychoactive plants such as Belladonna and Henbane, the ointment has also attracted much speculation for its potential alteration of consciousness. Sometimes considered a “lost European entheogen,” it has also been the subject of considerable controversy among historians, with debate as to its prevalence and effects. Despite its beguiling persistence in the history of magic, however, the topic has received little serious treatment in modern occult and esoteric publications. Taking a wide view of the ointment through the lens of the folk herbalist, Corinne Boyer examines the broader phenomenon of magical salves, as well as preparations originating in apothecaries and early modern medicine. Attention is given not only to ingredients but to magical purpose, how the ointments were prepared and used, and in what context they appeared in print. Containing the most comprehensive collection of historical witchcraft ointment formulae, as well as extensive indices, The Devil’s Ointment is an essential resource for those studying the history of European herbalism, toxicology, and witchcraft.
