Also called spell to cure a cold, cold remedy charm, healing spell for a cold, St Blaise throat blessing
A comfort ritual for someone with a head cold, alongside the strange and charming cold cures of the past, from Pliny's mule kiss to St Blaise's crossed candles and Maimonides's chicken soup. It eases the misery of a cold; it does not cure one, and anyone who is very unwell should see a doctor.
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Take care: This is comfort, not treatment. See a doctor for high or lasting fever, breathing trouble, chest pain or symptoms over ten days, and for babies and older people. No honey for children under one. Keep your face back from steaming water to avoid burns.
Pliny records the belief that a heavy head cold could be cured by kissing a mule on the nose. He gathered many remedies like it from popular lore without always endorsing them. It is a good example of a transfer charm, passing the illness to an animal; it is not recommended.
On February 3, the feast of St Blaise, a priest holds two crossed candles against each person's throat and prays that they be delivered from illnesses of the throat. Blaise, a fourth-century bishop of Sebaste, is said to have saved a boy choking on a fishbone. The blessing is still given in many parishes in the cold season.
Uses: two crossed candles
Maimonides, physician to the court in Cairo, recommended chicken soup for chest and breathing complaints. Generations of Jewish households turned it into the classic cold remedy, nicknamed Jewish penicillin, and small modern studies suggest warm soup may ease congestion.
Ordinary colds have always been too common for elaborate rites, so their cures are household ones. Pliny the Elder's Natural History, finished around 77 CE, collects dozens, including the mule kiss and honey for coughs. The Catholic blessing of throats on St Blaise's day, February 3, grew from a legend of the fourth-century bishop saving a choking boy and became a fixed part of the winter calendar in medieval Europe.
The twelfth-century physician Moses Maimonides recommended chicken broth for respiratory complaints, and the advice survived in Jewish households into the modern age. British folk medicine added red flannel and red wool worn at the throat. Searchers asking for a cold spell are usually after comfort, and the honest answer is that rest, fluids and warmth are the core of every tradition.
Hanging or carrying garlic to keep harm away, one of the most widespread protective customs in the world, from Homer's magic herb moly to the Balkan vampire lore that gave us Dracula's garlic.
A calming charm for a tension headache, drawn from ancient Greek and Anglo-Saxon headache charms and saints invoked against head pain. It pairs words with a cool cloth, water and rest. Severe, sudden or frequent headaches need a doctor.
Gaelic healing charms and prayers collected in the Scottish Highlands and Islands by Alexander Carmichael, spoken over sprains, toothache and other ills with the names of Christ, Mary and Saint Bride. Folk tradition only; see a doctor for any injury or illness.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
