Acorus vulgare, Verspertillionis sanguinem, and
Solanum somniferum are boiled together in oil. To this is added Indian
Hemp and stramonium, and finally the blood and fat of night birds to bind
it all into an ointment.
Witches used this ointment in their ceremonies, perhaps to make themselves
fly. The active ingredients are belladonna, a powerful poison that can
produce delirium, hemp which is intoxicating and can produce hallucinations,
and stramonium, or thorn-apple, which dilates the pupils and also causes
delirium.
In all probability, if you ate this ointment, you would die from the
various poisons. It's not sure what might happen if you rubbed it all over
your naked body, but something, surely.
Here is an ointment to see spirits:
"Take the gall of a bull, ants eggs and ye fat of a white hen all
mixed together and anoynt your eyes to see spirits."
And another:
"Take 8 pints Sallet oyle and put into a real glasse and at first
wash it with rose water and marygold flower water the flowers being gathered
towards the east. Wash it until the oyle come white then put it into the
glasse and then put thereto the budds of holyhocke the flowers of marygold,
the flowers or tops of wild thyme and the budds of young hazel. The thyme
must be gathered near the side of a hill where the fayries used to be oft
and the grasse of a fayre throne there. All these put into the oyle in
the glasse and get it to dissolve three days in the Sunne and then keep
it for thy use. Ut Supra.
Anoynt under the eyelids and upon them morning and evening [to see visions].
If you fear the evil eye of a witch, carry a twig of rowan, ash, and
birch, tied around with a red thread, and the witch cannot harm you. You
can also use rue, groundsel, radish, or garlic for the same purpose.
