Ultimate Grimoire and Spellbook

recovery from sickness, or the approach of death; all through the skilful use
of herbs, the knowledge of which had come down to them through the
earliest traditions of the human race. One of these herbs, called the Fairy-
plant, was celebrated for its potent power pf divination; but only the adepts
knew the mystic manner of its preparation for use.
There was another herb of which a drink was made, called the Bardic
potion, for the Bards alone had the secret of the herb, and of the proper mode
of treatment by which its mystic power could be revealed. This potion they
gave their infant children at their birth, for it had the singular property of
endowing the recipient with a fairy sweetness of voice of the most
rapturous and thrilling charm. And instances are recorded of men amongst
the Celtic Bards, who, having drunk of this potion in early life, were ever
after endowed with the sweet voice, like fairy music, that swayed the hearts
of the hearers as they chose to love or war, joy or sadness, as if by magic
influence, or lulled them into the sweet calm of sleep. Such, according to the
Bardic legends, was the extraordinary power of voice possessed by the great
Court Minstrel of Fionn Ma-Coul, who resided with the great chief at his
palace of Almhuin, and always sat next him at the royal table.
The virtue of herbs is great, but they must be gathered at night, and laid
in the hand of a dead man to hold. There are herbs that produce love, and
herbs that produce sterility; but only the fairy doctor knows the secrets of
their power, and he will reveal the knowledge to no man unless to an adept.
The wise women learn the mystic powers from the fairies, but how they pay
for the knowledge none dare to tell.
The fairy doctors are often seized with trembling while uttering a charm,
and look round with a scared glance of terror, as if some awful presence
were beside them. But the people have, the most perfect faith in the herb-
men and wise women, and the faith may often work the cure.
There are seven herbs of great value and power; they are ground ivy,
vervain, eyebright, groundsel, foxglove, the bark of the elder-tree, and the
young shoots of the hawthorn.
Nine balls of these mixed together may be taken, and afterwards a
potion made of bog-water and salt, boiled in a vessel, with a piece of money
and an elf-stone. The elf-stone is generally found near a rath; it has great
virtues, but being once lifted up by the spade it must never again touch the
earth, or all its virtue is gone. (This elf-stone is in reality only an ancient
stone arrowhead.)
The Mead Caileath, or wood anemone, is used as a plaister for wounds.
The hazel-tree has many virtues. It is sacred and powerful against
devils' wiles, and has mysteries and secret properties known to the wise and
the adepts. The ancient Irish believed that there were fountains at the head
of the chief rivers of Ireland, over each of which grew nine hazel-trees that
at certain times produced beautiful red nuts. These nuts fell on the surface
of the water, and the salmon in the river came up and ate of them, which