Debora Moretti- Spells and Potions

Spells and Potions: Magical Elements in 18th and 19th-century Folk Medicine

The advancement in witchcraft studies across Europe has shown that although decriminalisation of the act of witchcraft and magic did indeed take place across Europe from the end of the 18th century – mainly through a change in the legislation and a growing disinterest from European intellectuals and professionals – witchcraft and magic beliefs did not decrease at a popular level.

Folklorists, anthropologists, ethnographers, and medical doctors travelled far and wide across rural and remote areas of Europe to collect and study customs, traditions, and superstitious beliefs which included witchcraft and magic. This type of academic investigation, which carried on into the 20th century demonstrated that beliefs in witchcraft and magic were still present and alive across Europe, but they were no longer part of a public phenomenon. They became instead part of a private, domestic sphere in which day-to-day survival relied heavily on folk medicine.

Join me on this journey throughout Italy and discover the most popular spells, incantations, potions, and materials used in the 18th and 19th- century and see how some of them have survived into the 21st century.