Urine

Urine is an important ingredient in magical Charms, Spells, and countercharms. The magical potency of human urine is attributed to its personal connection to an individual, thus providing a sympathetic link for Magic and to the belief that urine influences health.

By the 16th century, physicians knew that the condition of urine could be used in diagnosis. Paracelsus wrote that urine, Blood, hair (see HAIR AND NAIL CLIPPINGS), sweat, and EXCREMENT retained for a time a vital life essence called mumia. These ingredients could be used to make a “microcosmic magnet,” which, through the mumia, would draw off disease. Alchemists also used urine in their experiments for longevity.

Numerous folk magic remedies are based on urine. Boiling a person’s urine helps determine if and how Bewitchment has occurred. The victim’s urine is then used to effect cures, usually by boiling, baking, burying, or throwing it into a fire. “Witch’s cakes,” containing urine and other magical ingredients, once were made to treat a host of ailments. In the early American colonies in the 17th century, witch’s cakes were used to treat smallpox. Ingredients included rye, barley, herbs, water, and a cup of baby’s urine. It was fed to a dog, and if the dog shuddered while eating it, the patient would recover.

A folk magic formula for killing someone by causing them to have jaundice calls for acquiring their urine and then buying a hen’s egg without haggling. On a Tuesday or a Saturday night, take the egg and urine to a place where you will not be disturbed. Make a circular incision on the broad end of the egg, and extract the yolk. Pour the urine into the egg, and seal the hole with a piece of virgin parchment, saying the name of the victim as you do so. Bury the egg, and leave without looking back. As the egg rots, the victim will become ill and will die of jaundice within a year. The only way to break the spell is for the spellcaster to dig the egg up and burn it.

An effective countercharm against Witchcraft prescribes securing the witch’s own urine, bottling it, and burying it. The witch is then unable to urinate.

In Alchemy, urine, like water, represents the unconscious and creativity. Both urine and water are names for the Prima Materia, the basic material of the cosmos. In depth psychology, the prima materia is the state of conscious chaos at the beginning of the process of individuation.

SOURCE:

The Encyclopedia of Magic and Alchemy Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley Copyright © 2006 by Visionary Living, Inc.