He has many names. Each province, each volost could have its own, special name: a wolf, a heretic, an obavnik, a charmer … But the essence is the same everywhere - a sorcerer, an intermediary between this and this light, a servant of black forces, an evil, bad person who harms people … Although sometimes it can help: to cure, to return a loved one, to dry the unfaithful, to ward off misfortune. Can. But he never does anything disinterestedly. You have to pay for everything …
Unlike witches and witchers, which are discussed below, sorcerers are not related to evil spirits, do not have tails, they receive their gift by inheritance, by inexperience, in childhood, or by their own voluntary decision. You can even become a sorcerer by accident, being next to a dying sorcerer relative. Take something from his hands: with the object, a gift will also be transferred, which is essentially a curse.
Those who want to become a sorcerer of their own free will face serious challenges. You can also learn spells and make a pact with the devil. According to him, Satan transfers demons to the sorcerer's disposal, an unclean force, which will serve him with faith and truth throughout the sorcerer's life. But after death, both the body and the immortal soul of the man come into the power of Satan.
You can find out the dangerous one like this: in a conversation he never looks into the eyes of a person, but only at the floor or the ground. The voice that distinguishes the warlock from normal people is that it is either too quiet or very loud. The sorcerer has a way of talking to himself. You were supposed to pass by the muttering person in silence, covering your mouth with your palm and not answering questions.
The house of the sorcerer is also easily recognizable: the smoke above the chimney in any weather winds around the upper masonry with swirls - this is a sorcerer who is forced by contract to constantly give the demons work (there should be no downtime), makes them "weigh smoke", twist a rope from dust and soot.
They recognized sorcerers at public gatherings and in churches. One Tula headman dispersed the sorcerers like this: he read, when all the peasants gathered, three times to himself "May God rise!", And all the sorcerers, taking their hats, dispersed.
On Easter Matins, the candles of the sorcerers are constantly extinguished. In this service, the sorcerer can also be recognized with the help of an egg: you need to take an egg laid for the first time by a young hen, paint it red and put it in your pocket. Then walk around the church with a procession, and when the priest proclaims "Christ is risen!", Take out the egg and look over the heads of the audience. All sorcerers will stand with their backs to the icons, and they will have horns on their heads.
Magi, sorcerers, okudniks, kobniks have been known in Russia since ancient times. In Svyatoslav's Izbornik of 1073, magic, divination, conspiracies (bayai), charms (divas) are condemned. The "feeding book" prohibits the creation of kobi (in ancient sources - magic, and in modern sources - evil, bad deeds) and divas. In Nestor's story about the death of Oleg, “sorcerer” and “magician” are synonyms, these are prophetic people who predict the death of Oleg.
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The sorcerer was always feared, but also respected. He could cause damage, he could put on a collar (bring illness to the person who offended him), or he could help: remove the evil eye, cure. Here is an interesting story, recorded recently, in 1969, in Eastern Siberia (the style has been preserved):
“My mother told me that someone in their family got married there, some cousins, or something …
Before, they will serve the wedding at the tables, then they go home for a walk. And then … There were friends, they were called - those who got along with this wedding.,. And they, therefore, bypassed some guy here, did not invite him. We thought that without him this wedding would pass without anyone.
And when we have served time, we must go for a walk. And they got up from the table and let's all go to bed, all this company They need to go, but they go to bed! And everyone is trying to the wall! Here everyone is trying to the wall - and that's it! So what happened? Let's go and bow to that uncle, we need to arrange a wedding: the guests all lie against the wall, that's all.
Well, then they went for him, he came. I stayed here. Then he gets up:
- Well, gentlemen, dear guests, welcome to us! - all stood up as one and went for a walk.
That's how it was that I heard, then heard!.."
In ancient Russian monuments, it is often mentioned about turning to the wise men and sorcerers for help in case of illnesses (especially children) or, if necessary, give someone a drink, a potion over which spells have been pronounced.
Witchcraft amulets (nauzes - knots, bindings), consisting of dried herbs and other potions (dried bat wing, coal, salt, sulfur, snake head or skin) or pieces of paper with a conspiracy attached to the body cross, were in great demand. The Magi, who knew how to do the sciences, were called nazniks or kazolniks.
Gradually, these amulets from witchcraft turned into protective ones against enchantments: incense and incense came into use as a savings tether worn around the neck. But back in the 18th century, people who were found to have ties with roots and herbs were accused of witchcraft and publicly punished.
More or less detailed stories about how to become a sorcerer from an ordinary person have come down to us from legends and stories - stories of the 19th century: Who wants to become a sorcerer or a witch must give up his father and mother, and from his entire family up to the twelfth generation. Renouncing, stand on the icon, laid face down, at a crossroads or other unclean place. One man, standing on the icon, heard a voice from behind: “Come here, climb here”, he turned around and saw a huge dog with an open mouth. "Yes, Lord, will I be able to climb ?!" - he exclaimed, and the dog immediately failed, and the unsuccessful sorcerer began to wither and died a year later … "There are very strong sorcerers who withstood special tests in the initiation rite:
“In the Tula province, he enjoyed the fame of a powerful sorcerer who could kill or cure anyone suitable, turn into any creature, a peasant who stood at midnight on Ivan Kupala next to a fern, holding a candle of human tallow in his hand, and when the fern blossomed, Satan from his throne gave him a flower and fell to sew it into the palm of his right
Trained sorcerers are usually weaker than those who received their terrible gift directly from the hands of evil spirits. Here is a story sent to Prince Tenishev's bureau at the end of the 19th century, which was reported as a true incident in one of the provinces:
“One young guy wanted to learn to conjure, and he went to his uncle, a sorcerer known in the area. They went to study at the bathhouse at night. The father and mother guessed why the uncle and his son went to the bathhouse, got up at night and went to eavesdrop on what the uncle-sorcerer was teaching their son. We went to the bathhouse and heard my uncle say: “First of all, renounce your parents and curse them. Curse the sky, sun, moon and stars. Do not believe in God and do not read Scripture. Work on holidays, go to the church for the sake of near-miir, so that people cannot guess that you are a real sorcerer. Now go and spoil your father and mother - who will be the first to open the gate, and if you don’t spoil any of your family, the devils will tear you into small pieces.”
When the parents heard that their son had denied them and God, they went home, locked the gate and went to bed. The son came up to the gate, knocked, knocked: no one hears. He began to shout: "Father and mother, unlock!" And the father and mother answer him: “You have renounced us, now you are the son of an unclean man. Go to your teacher, but we don't know you. " As soon as they permeated it, their son screamed terribly near the gate: "Father, my death!" Father and mother went out to the gate, looking - and their son was torn apart in parts: where the head, where the hand lay, everything is scattered everywhere. Parents waved their hand: "Such a dear to him!" And all this was in one village near Vladimir-city, in the Melenkovsky district …"
Who did not risk being torn to pieces by demons under such circumstances and did not want at least one living soul to know that he wants to become a sorcerer, learned witchcraft on his own, from books. Or by following techniques that they knew only by hearsay. Sometimes it's good. In the same Vladimir province in the 19th century, there lived a sorcerer with the sonorous name Ermak. Deciding to become a sorcerer, he got a black cat. AND…
“… And went to cook it in the bathhouse at midnight. He lit the stove, put the cat in the cauldron, suddenly hears a voice: "What are you cooking here?" - "Child". Damn him and says: “You will never learn to conjure. Sell me your soul, I will teach you. " Ermak agreed. The devil orders: "Let the blood out of your right hand and write with this blood a receipt that you sold me your soul for what I have learned to conjure and spoil people." Ermak wrote, gave the devil, and the devil took out his eyes, inserted others: "Now go and spoil whoever you know." From that time on, Ermak became a sorcerer, he saw through and through who could be spoiled and who could not. After all, not one of the strongest sorcerers can spoil an angelic soul, and if there is at least one unforgiven and unforgiven sin behind a person, not released by the priest or the one before whom the sinner was guilty, then you can spoil as much as you want. Therefore, you always have to go to confession in church to the priest and ask your neighbor who has offended you. Well, then …
Since then, Ermak has become a strong sorcerer and spoiled a lot of people. He himself died an unkind death: his woman stoked the stove, her wood was almost burnt out, only coals remained. She went to fetch water, and the sorcerer must have thought that in the stove, not coals, but gold glittered. He climbed into the oven and burned out. The sorcerer was buried in a cow cemetery, where fallen cattle and dogs and cats are buried …"
For the most part, the poorest peasants aspired to become sorcerers-sorcerers. In exchange for an immortal soul, they wanted to get the right wealth in this life, forgetting about the reckoning, terrible and inevitable. But folk parables show that the devil's wealth will not bring happiness and peace of mind.
In the past, it is sometimes told about those who did not survive the course of training in witchcraft - people cannot endure the terrible tests associated with accepting Satan into themselves, with dedication to him, but they have no way back, they die without becoming sorcerers:
“And there was more. One woman was found in the morning lying in a hut in the same shirt with her legs extended and a frog in her mouth. Everyone in the village knew that she wanted to become a witch. Yes, she didn't have the strength to lick the devil. So he, getting angry, lost time for nothing - she stuffed a slippery creature into her mouth and shoved it. I just didn't suffocate. But still nothing good came of it. She fell ill a little and died. The priest forbade burying in the cemetery. They tied her naked, as she was, to a horse's tail and dragged her to the swamp. There they threw them into the bog. I went to the bottom like a stone, just leaked out of the swamp and sulfur smoke went …"
In addition to devilish wealth, in the position of a sorcerer, people were attracted by the honor that sorcerers enjoyed. During weddings, they were seated in the front corner, so as not to harm the young, they were pleased in every possible way, the best pieces were served first, so that the bride and groom took the second place at the holiday. They went to the sorcerers in all difficult, confusing situations, they were not loved, but feared and respected.
Sorcerers used to conjure more for household chores, for women, for household chores and for love: to dry, force oneself to love, ward off an intrusive bother. They knew how to arrange so that their cock beat someone else's, someone else's milk was milked into their yard. They admitted or treated women's and children's diseases. Although they could send hail to the crops, and arrange great dry land. Young sorceresses were often concubines of old, experienced sorcerers, who, according to rumors, did not lose their masculine strength until their death. Such young people had to live with devil, water, demons and other petty evil spirits. Whether they liked it or not. Such is the fate. Occasionally, a beautiful witch could catch the fancy of a higher rank devils. Then, for the joys of the flesh, she could be "promoted" to a witch.
The difference between sorcerers and sorcerers is that the latter heal with herbs, while the former - holding the hand of evil spirits. When the patient comes to the sorcerer, he does not ask about the illness, but immediately says: "Hey, how many of them are planted in you!" or "Oh, what is planted in you!" - and drives out demons from the body of the suffering person. In this case, the patient usually sees the released demon in the form of an insect, animal, fish, worm … The sorcerer gives the patient a prescription drink, after which the demon himself usually erupts with vomiting. Moreover, he often drives out one, letting in the other.
“If the belly of the pullet swells, but she is not pregnant, then the devil is in her womb; the sorcerer casts out the unclean person by forcing her to stand above the smoke or by placing her on a bucket of water. Then, after a lapse of time, they find a swimming fish in it - this is the demon."
Diseases from sorcerers were considered pains in the abdomen, in the stomach, tumors - keels. Pains in the abdomen and in the pit of the stomach were sent with the help of drinks, while tumors were sent down the wind. With the help of black conspiracies, damage is directed downwind and sticks to the first person it meets, but it can also be launched on a specific person. Keels are launched into the forest, where they stick to trees. These are the nodules on the trunks that we often see. You can become infected with a keel by bringing a sick tree to the yard. If you do not burn it in the stove immediately, the keel can go to the owner of the house or the mistress.
Sometimes the keel is sent to the house in the form of, for example, a sparrow. No wonder the bird that flew in through the window was among many peoples a harbinger of misfortune. To protect yourself, you need to catch the bird, tear it apart and burn it in the oven, and only then you can put pots of food in the oven. The sparrow was generally considered in many provinces to be an unclean, sinful bird, because, according to some beliefs, it was the sparrows who carried the nails to the place of Christ's crucifixion, to Golgotha.
Olonets peasants believed that the sorcerer works seven days a week: if he does not spoil the Christian soul at least once a day, then he gets sick, withers and may even die prematurely. And since he knows about this point of agreement with the devil and what will happen to him in the next world, he tries to syrup people every day, sometimes exceeding the norm.
To strengthen the spell, Olonets sorcerers threw bristles in the wind, handfuls of small chips from their porch, and scattered garbage. All this, hitting a person, should have done him harm. Typically, these drugs caused skin diseases and more often molested children. They treated this attack in the bathhouse: the child was rubbed with a cake on red honey, necessarily three times in a row: the bristles had to stick to the honey. They saved themselves from wood chips by rubbing the sore spots in front of the burning stove with wooden oil. One witch, according to Zelenin's book, confessed that she had cut feathers from the tail of a rooster and “having burned them, let them fly in the wind. In the direction where the ash flew, there was a wind: anthrax or cholera appeared."
The inhabitants of Siberia suffered greatly from witchcraft with snakes: “Local sorcerers, holding a grudge against the villagers, made mowing impossible: thousands of snakes suddenly appeared under the feet of the mowers, they had to abandon meadows with beautiful grass and go to another place. When peasants exhausted by "worms" turned to sorcerers for help, they usually gathered snakes into a ball with the help of a finger-thick pole: it was stuck into the ground, and dozens of reptiles curled around it, and then crawled away somewhere …"
Now let's move on to another most important specialization of sorcerers - drying and drying. "To love her alone - the girl went to the sorcerer."
Women sometimes became wizards after the death of a witch-husband: they had to feed themselves, and they began to enjoy the fame of the deceased spouse, they took flour and food without giving back, nobody dared reproach them with this, they feared damage. Despite the fear and hatred that the sorceresses aroused among the peasants, they went to them in all cases of family troubles. These are married women. Girls and guys turned for other, understandable reasons:
“Healers and grandmothers know how to dry, remove love melancholy, but only sorcerers and witches can get dry. Love is a disease, in order to generate it, you need to deal with evil spirits. Drops rarely have the traditional origins of white conspiracies. As a rule, they begin immediately with the main part: “I will go out into the street, into the light of God, I will look in the open field. In the open field there are 77 copper light red-hot stoves, 77 on copper ones on light red-hot stoves 77 yagibabs, those 77 yagi-babas have 77 daughters …”The daughters of baba-yaga are asked to dry the servant of God (name). The conspiracy of the sorceress can talk about the carrot, which must be given to the beloved; for salt, beer, wine …
Witches can arrange a meeting even with a dead or dead groom: “The girl's fiance died, she kept grieving and crying, then she told the witch about her grief. She taught her: “Go on the new moon to the place where your dear drowned, and light a fire. At first, a lot of mermen will come out, you don't talk to them, and after that one will come out - talk to him. " Gave a spine with which you can find the dead. The girl went to the river, scooped up brushwood and made a fire. The roosters crowed, the water rustled and seethed. A lot of watermen came out and they say: "The soul has arrived." She is silent. Then they all left and appeared alone, asking to warm up by the fire, asking: "What, girl, are you looking for?" - "I am looking for a place where to enter the service." - "If you want, go to me to clean the house." The girl followed him: he is cold as ice and smelled like a dead man. We came to the crystal palace and began to live there. Once he (the owner-water manager) left, the girl took the spine, which the drowned people were looking for, found her waterman in one room and took them home. They began to get married all of a sudden, water gushed into the church, flooded the groom and took him back into the river …”(Vladimir province).
Sorcerers bring the greatest harm during weddings. All the troubles, illnesses, troubles between the young are organized by the sorcerers: “… They will get married, they will harness a couple of horses, but the horses will not leave; or suddenly the arc will burst on the way, or at a wedding feast a knife will fly into the window; the groom and the bride will become ill, will be ill for some time and will die; guests will crawl around the house and bark like a dog; suddenly the bride will seem to the groom, who took the girl for love, pockmarked, ugly, he will scream out loud, he can neither drink nor eat; spoiled the groom unstable, so he can't do any sin with the bride …"
During the wedding, the sorcerer is unable not to harm, even if his own children, son or daughter are getting married: “One sorcerer gave his daughter in marriage and, in order not to spoil her, asked his daughter-in-law to lock him in the closet for the time when they came for the bride from the groom … They took the bride to the crown, opened the closet - a dead sorcerer father lay on the floor … * * * Even in the 19th century there were many sorcerers, several dozen per parish, at the beginning of the 20th century, residents called one or two names of black sorcerers who know the unclean by force, and under Soviet rule, they completely grew. For example, in the early 1920s on Pinega, famous for conspiracies, there were already areas where they could not indicate the names of sorcerers at all and in this connection only the old dead were remembered, but there were many stories about sorcerers. In the current troubled years, sorcerers have become active again. But already for a lot of money …
Sergey OKMAN