Who among us has not dreamed of gaining superpowers? Heroes of comics and cartoons often get them just like that - by plunging into a successfully turned up tank with a mutagen or by being bitten by a radioactive arthropod. Dreams of supernatural power grow from the past, long before the first comics.
Our ancestors believed that herbs collected in time can bestow a person with a wide variety of abilities. And no radiation, perhaps fussing with evil spirits …
Night bloom
Ivanovo herbs, that is, collected on the night before the celebration of Ivan Kupala, were traditionally considered the basis of healing and sorcerous herbs in Russia.
The celebration itself is named after John the Baptist, but it is rooted in ancient pagan traditions. The collection of herbs, most likely, also comes from them, although many of the plants bestow protection from quite a Christian evil spirits.
Here is a weeping herb that makes demons cry and that is why it got its name. It also helps in the search for treasures and heals a cloud of illnesses, even hernia and depression. The modern name is willow loosestrife, a really extremely useful melliferous plant, the flowers of which can be eaten without any side effects.
Here is the bad wind, for which, most likely, the immortelle was taken, which also helps to get treasures, but first of all gives the ability to stop any bad weather. Especially appreciated by fishermen as a versatile remedy against water storms. It was believed that only blind people could find grass, who felt a tingling sensation in their eyes when grass got under their feet. Moreover, it was necessary to collect it only with the mouth.
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The famous rip-grass, before which no castle could resist, tearing iron to pieces, usually hid in meadow grasses. If the braid suddenly breaks out of the blue, it means that you do not need to swear because of the loss of a valuable tool, but dance with happiness: there is no price for the gap-grass.
At the same time, there were about a dozen of its varieties described in herbalists - zemzey, ant, leucorrhoea, etc. Adam's head allowed him to heal wounds, expose liars and see evil spirits. For example, it was considered shameful to use it to steal the invisible hat from the goblin.
The main "trump card" of Ivanovo herbs can be safely called a fern flower, aka Perunov fireflower, the list of properties of which would be the envy of any comic superhero. Here you have both clairvoyance, and absolute power over evil spirits, and the already boring finding of any treasures along with their opening, and the language of animals, and in general the knowledge of all the secrets at once. Wow!
Plakun-grass (willow loosestrife)
And all this is in full view, you just have to wait until the plant blooms, as luck would have it, reproducing exclusively by spores. But it seems that once a year, on the night of Kupala, it is possible with great difficulty to find a glowing flower, without being distracted by the tricks of the evil spirits, who do not at all want some man to gain complete control over her.
Heavy? Well, compared to the opportunities that are opening up, this is complete nonsense. But for some reason, there weren't so many who wanted to, and not at all because of fear of devils.
From treasure to prison
If you believe the word of the many popular resources describing herbal medicine in Russia, it might seem that only the lazy one was not looking for a tear-grass and ferns, and all kinds of sleep-herbs and bad wind were drying at home at any self-respecting Rusich. In fact, the more dangerous and thankless occupation was still worth looking for.
“When the great holiday comes, the day of the Nativity of the Forerunner, the husbands and wives of the enchantress go out through the meadows and through the marshes and into the deserts and into the oak groves, looking for mortal grasses and windmills, from herbal potion to harm to men and cattle; the same and the divia of the roots dig to indulge their husband. All this is done by the devil, with the Satanic verdicts."
This is what one of the 17th century church chroniclers writes about herbal gatherers. In this one can see not only an attempt by the Church to prohibit pagan rituals, but also, in general, an extremely ambiguous attitude towards herbalists in Russia. They were either disliked or even persecuted along with hardened criminals.
In which, oddly enough, there was a certain meaning. Although the most common belief was that herbs are best given to old and young, as well as innocent girls, very different people needed them.
In fact, most of the magical powers of Ivanovo and other herbs were useful exclusively for lovers of easy money. Judge for yourself - the search for buried treasures and treasures, hidden cellars is built into every second one. The ability to open any locks and locks will please the thief first of all - it is easy to take someone else's and get out of any prison.
Even the invisible hat fits perfectly into the comfortable life of a thief - why should an honest person be able to become invisible? In an extreme case, one could justify collecting herbs to fight evil spirits, but here the situation was twofold.
Maybe you want to protect yourself with the weeping grass from the annoying evil spirits (although it is still a question of why she decided to get you), or maybe you collect it in order to bind this very evil spirits and use it for your own purposes. Yes you are a sorcerer, go! Or a witch, depending on gender.
And age did not play a big role here - a caught unlucky herbalist, whether he was old or young, a dashing person or an innocent girl, could get hit on the back with batogs, or even face a serious term. Not that it stopped the most stubborn sorcerers and treasure hunters. It's just that on the eve of Ivanovskaya night, only the most daring and desperate went to the forest, and not all indiscriminately
Listening to the ground
The legend of the very first healer who could hear the whisper of herbs is not optimistic. Once upon a time there lived a witch doctor, a great connoisseur of the cherished herbs and from that a mighty wizard. All his life he devoted to helping people, not refusing to neither the prince, nor the peasant, nor the rich and nor the poor - everyone had their own good herbs, and completely free.
The rumor about the healer touched not only people's ears, but also reached the devil himself. All his life he tried to seduce the herbalist-sorcerer with wealth and power, but to no avail. Only the promise of eternal youth, whispered in the ear of a dying old man, had an effect - and the soul of the witch doctor was doomed.
Modern herbalist - Sergei Burnin, herbalist from Gorny Altai
With eternal youth, a good part of his conscience left, and a good wizard turned into a dubious sorcerer, doing evil no less than good deeds. At the same time, his guardian angel persuaded the Lord to take the life of a once pious person so that the soul would go to paradise, not overflowing with black sins. The Lord heeded the joint prayers of the angel and the Most Pure Virgin and sent the angel of death to the hermit.
But the devil was not asleep at that time, confusing the path of the formidable messenger and inciting the healer to do a couple of completely unpleasant things. As a result, the sins outweighed all the past good, and the herbalist's soul fell straight into the underworld.
And only once a year, on the Resurrection of Christ, the hermit's shadow is chosen from under the ground to wander through the forests and steppes again, listening to the familiar whisper of magic herbs. It seems like his forgiveness awaits at the very end of the world, but only if the sins of all other healers do not outweigh their good deeds …
It would seem that in the modern era, no one and nothing interferes with trying your luck every year on the eve of Ivan Kupala! But the old traditions are forgotten, gradually turning into myths, and it is not known whether modern ultra-strong alloys would succumb to the miraculous power of tear-grass.
Is it that for a real fern flower, scientists would have presented an award commensurate with a hundred buried treasures … Maybe you should still better listen to your native land and the herbs growing on it? If not magical, then at least unique. And there, who knows what abilities will open to new herbalists.
Sergey EVTUSHENKO