"Begone, you tooth worm, drink no more blood!" — long before antibiotics, anaesthesia and X-rays changed the face of medicine, this is how healers all over the world might have tried to banish ailments with words.
In the Middle Ages, incantations were used to address disease "demons" or body parts directly, such as plague spirits or the "wandering womb" — blamed for abdominal pain or infertility. The idea of this personalization was to threaten the supposed source of the illness and persuade it to abandon the body.
To this day, incantations continue to be used in folkloric medicine or religious rituals across the world, most often in combination with herbs, massages and other treatments.
One of the oldest examples comes from the ancient region of Mesopotamia, largely today's Iraq. In a formula from about 1800 BCE, the "tooth worm" is described as living between the tooth and gum and drinking its host's blood before the god of wisdom, Ea, strikes it with a "strong hand." To cure the problem, an incantation was recited several times and a healing salve was applied to the tooth. The worm imagery helped served as an explanation for the toothache, as well as an adversary — in the form of a demon — to defeat, while the ointment soothed the inflammation.
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"Incantations tended to be used especially for certain conditions, not equally for everything," Catherine Rider, professor of medieval history at the University of Exeter, told DW. "They are commonly found for bleeding, epilepsy, toothache and childbirth," she added.
For centuries, the distinction between prayer and witchcraft was the subject of heated debates. In her book "Magic and Religion in Medieval England," Rider describes how religious scholars, confessors, and physicians constantly debated whether a particular formula constituted pious prayer or forbidden magic. Incantations containing Bible quotes or the names of saints were usually tolerated, whereas mysterious sequences of syllables were more often than not branded as potentially demonic.
Rider told DW that it was important to note that incantations were mainly used as complementary therapy, and added that "medieval medical books often list them alongside other remedies such as drinks or baths so that the practitioner and the patient could choose which approach to take."
According to the professor, specialist knowledge of symptoms and active ingredients did not contradict incantations, but were instead combined to form a comprehensive package designed to address the body and the soul.
Even older medicine followed this dual principle, with exorcists reciting spells to ward off spirits while applying ointments, incense, and potions, and using amulets to quite literally bind healing blessings to the body.
Prayers and magic spells also merged in traditional Islam. Certain verses from the Quran were believed to have healing powers and were recited over the sick, written on paper, or added to water that the patient drank.
The term "hocus pocus," often used to describe alternative healing, is an onomatopoetic imitation of the Latin Mass formula "Hoc est enim corpus meum" (This is my body). However, the term is mostly used in a derogatory sense, as medical professionals often regard homeopathy and shamanism as ineffective or esoteric.
Repeated words spoken with authority — whether by a priest, exorcist, or doctor — can reduce fear, subjectively alleviate pain, and strengthen a patient's willingness to endure demanding forms of treatment.
Catherine Rider is convinced that incantations also served as suggestive or psychological support for patients, similar to a placebo effect. "Most medieval doctors don't explain them in those terms, but there is one treatise by a medieval Arab physician called Qusta ibn Luqa that talks about how incantations also help if the patient believes they will work. So, at least one medieval doctor did recognize the placebo effect," she said. The scholar had outlined the placebo effect as early as 860 CE, Rider concluded.
In some cultures, illnesses were thought to be attacks by spirits or angry gods. In turn, incantations transformed the symptoms into a comprehensible story. Those who believed they knew which demon was responsible could better endure the pain and even painful treatment.
Nowadays, fever, toothaches, and depression are treated with medication, surgery, and psychotherapy. And yet, the history of incantations shows how powerful words could be in times of crisis as they made the invisible and incomprehensible more understandable.
According to the Bible, Jesus is said to have told a man cured from leprosy, "Rise and go, your faith has make you well." In all likelihood, the real miracle of these spells is not the supposed exorcism of demons, but the insight that healing almost always requires a conviction to hold on to.
This article was originally published in German.
