Ways to become a Werewolf

Black magic and witchcraft

Olaus Magnus says that the Livonian werewolves were initiated by draining a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a set formula.

Ralston in his Songs of the Russian People gives the form of incantation still familiar in Russia.

Livonians said witches routinely transformed themselves into wolves by passing through a certain magic pool, another instance of baptismal rebirth in animal form.

In South America it is believed that certain sorcerers and witches know how to transform themselves into animal guise such as serpents, leopards, panthers, jackals, bears, coyotes, owls, foxes and other feared creatures. They will do this to do evil to or kill theirs enemy usually by drinking their the blood.

Pact with the devil

In other cases the transformation was supposed to be accomplished by Satanic agency voluntarily submitted to, and that for the most loathsome ends, in particular for the gratification of a craving for human flesh.

“The werewolves,” writes Richard Verstegan (Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1628), “are certayne sorcerers, who having annoynted their bodies with an oyntment which they make by the instinct of the devil, and putting on a certayne inchaunted girdle, doe not onely unto the view of others seeme as wolves, but to their owne thinking have both the shape and nature of wolves, so long as they weare the said girdle. And they do dispose themselves as very wolves, in wourrying and killing, and most of humane creatures.”

Such were the views about lycanthropy current throughout the continent of Europe when Verstegan wrote. The ointments and salves in question may have contained hallucinogenic agents.

It is said that humans who enter into a pact with the Devil himself do so out of desperation and often, in an effort to seek revenge for the death of a loved one. In popular European superstition, the Devil is said to appear in the form of a coachman whose carriage is drawn by black steeds. The Devil offers a potion that provides the strength needed to carry out the revenge, in exchange for the person’s soul. The potion is often in the form of a vial, the contents of which are applied to the human skin under the light of a full moon. The transformation into a werewolf will then begin immediately and the human has been

A sermon on werewolves

THE following curious specimen of a late medieval sermon is taken from the old German edition of the discourses of Dr. Johann Geiler von Keysersperg, a famous preacher in Strasbourg. The volume is entitled: “Die Emeis. Dis ist das Buch von der Omeissen, und durch Herr der Kunnig ich diente gern. Und sagt von Eigenschafft der Omeissen, und gibt underweisung von der Unholden oder Hexen, und von Gespenst, der Geist, und von dem Wutenden Heer Wunderbarlich.”

This strange series of sermons was preached at Strasbourg in the year 1508, and was taken down and written out by a barefooted friar, Johann Pauli, and by him published in 1517. The doctor died on Mid-Lent Sunday, 1510. There is a Latin edition of his sermons, but whether of the same series or not I cannot tell, as I have been unable to obtain a sight of the volume. The German edition is illustrated with bold and clever woodcuts. Among other, there are representations of the Witches’ Sabbath, the Wild Huntsman, and a Werewolf attacking a Man.

The sermon was preached on the third Sunday in Lent. No text is given, but there is a general reference to the gospel for the day. This is the discourse:

“What shall we say about were-wolves? for there are were-wolves which run about the villages devouring men and children. As men say about them, they run about full gallop, injuring men, and are called ber-wolff, or wer-wolff. Do you ask me if I know aught about them? I answer, Yes. They are apparently wolves which cat men and children, and that happens on seven accounts:–

1. Esuriem      Hunger.

2. Rabiem       Savageness.

3. Senectutem   Old age.

4. Experientiam   Experience.

5. Insaniem     Madness.

6. Diabolum     The Devil.

7. Deum         God.

The first happens through hunger; when the wolves find nothing to eat in the woods, they must come to people and eat men when hunger drives them to it. You see well, when it is very cold, that the stags come in search of food up to the villages, and the birds actually into the dining-room in search of victuals.

“Under the second head, wolves eat children through their innate savageness, because they are savage, and that is (propter locum coitum ferum). Their savageness arises first from their condition. Wolves which live in cold places are smaller on that account, and more savage than other wolves. Secondly, their savageness depends on the season; they are more savage about Candlemas than at any other time of the year, and men must be more on their guard against them then than at other times. It is a proverb, ‘He who seeks a wolf at Candlemas, a peasant on Shrove Tuesday, and a parson in Lent, is a man of pluck.’ . . . Thirdly, their savageness depends on their having young. When the wolves have young, they are more savage than when they have not. You see it so in all beasts. A wild duck, when it has young poults, you see what an uproar it makes. A cat fights for its young kittens; the wolves do ditto.

“Under the third head, the wolves do injury on account of their age. When a wolf is old, it is weak and feeble in its leas, so it can’t ran fast enough to catch stags, and therefore it rends a man, whom it can catch easier than a wild animal. It also tears children and men easier than wild animals, because of its teeth, for its teeth break off when it is very old; you see it well in old women: how the last teeth wobble, and they have scarcely a tooth left in their heads, and they open their mouths for men to feed them with mash and stewed substances.

“Under the fourth head, the injury the were-wolves do arises from experience. It is said that human flesh is far sweeter than other flesh; so when a wolf has once tasted human flesh, he desires to taste it again. So he acts like old topers, who, when they know the best wine, will not be put off with inferior quality.

“Under the fifth head, the injury arises from ignorance. A dog when it is mad is also inconsiderate, and it bites any man; it does not recognize its own lord: and what is a wolf but a wild dog which is mad and inconsiderate, so that it regards no man.

“Under the sixth head, the injury comes of the Devil, who transforms himself, and takes on him the form of a wolf So writes Vincentius in his Speculum Historiale. And he has taken it from Valerius Maximus in the Punic war. When the Romans fought against the men of Africa, when the captain lay asleep, there came a wolf and drew his sword, and carried it off. That was the Devil in a, wolf’s form. The like writes William of Paris,–that a wolf will kill and devour children, and do the greatest mischief. There was a man who had the phantasy that he himself was a wolf. And afterwards he was found lying in the wood, and he was dead out of sheer hunger.

“Under the seventh head, the injury comes of God’s ordinance. For God will sometimes punish certain lands and villages with wolves. So we read of Elisha,–that when Elisha wanted to go up a mountain out of Jericho, some naughty boys made a mock of him and said, ‘O bald head, step up! O glossy pate, step up!’ What happened? He cursed them. Then came two bears out of the desert and tore about forty-two of the children. That was God’s ordinance. The like we read of a prophet who would set at naught the commands he had received of God, for he was persuaded to eat bread at the house of another. As he went home he rode upon his ass. Then came a lion which slew him and left the ass alone. That was God’s ordinance. Therefore must man turn to God when He brings wild beasts to do him a mischief: which same brutes may He not bring now or evermore. Amen.”

It will be seen from this extraordinary sermon that Dr. Johann Geiler von Keysersperg did not regard werewolves in any other light than natural wolves filled with a lust for human flesh; and he puts aside altogether the view that they are men in a state of metamorphosis. However, he alludes to this superstition in his sermon on wild-men of the woods, but translates his lycanthropists to Spain. (From ”The Book Of Were-Wolves”  by Sabine, Elder & Co., London 1865 / The discourses of Dr. Johann Geiler)

Curse

Sometimes, the condition of werewolf is the result of a spell cast by a magician (St. Patrick of Ireland changed Veretius, King of Wales, into a wolf).

Infection

Becoming a werewolf simply by being bitten by another werewolf as a form of contagion is common in modern fiction, but rare in legend, in which werewolf attacks seldom left the victim alive to transform.

It is not always clear in films whether the bite of the werewolf infects the victim with some disease, or whether the person bitten must first be under some sort of curse. The source of this confusion is easy to understand. Some even state that the consumption of food prepared by a lycanthrope is enough to carry the infection.

To the old folk tale of a god’s curse, the modern disease of rabies was added. A person bitten by a mad dog or other animal over time becomes mad, and begins to behave like a beast. Traditionally, all madness falls under the domain of the moon. In movies, the bite of a werewolf acts in a very similar way to the bite of a mad dog.

Incantations

Note that these incantations are only supplied as examples to support the persistence of the Myth and its relationship with magical practices. They are known ineffective without the ointments, magic salves and other parts of the rituals.

Sacharow quoted an old Russian charm, to be spoken by one who wished to invoke the Moon-goddess and become a werewolf:
“On the sea, on the ocean, on the island, on Bujan, on the empty pasture gleams the moon, on an ashstock lying in a green wood, in a gloomy vale. Toward the stock wandereth a shaggy wolf, horned cattle seeking for his sharp white fangs; but the wolf enters not the forest, but the wolf dives not into the shadowy vale. Moon, moon, gold-horned moon, check the flights of bullets, blunt the hunters’ knifes, break the shepherds’ cudgels, cast wild fear upon all cattle, on men, on all creeping things, that they may not catch the gray wolf, that they may not rend his warm skin! My word is binding, more binding than sleep, more binding than the promise of a hero.”

Other traditional incantations

“Spirits from the deep, who never sleep, be kind to me.

Spirits from the grave, without a soul to save , be kind to me.

Spirits of the trees, that grow upon the leas, be kind to me.

Spirits of the air, foul and black, not fair, be kind to me.

Spirits of the dead, that glide with noiseless tread, be kind to me

Spirits of heat and fire, destruction in your ire, be kind to me.

Spirits of cold and ice, phantoms of crime and vice, be kind to me.

Wolves, Vampires, Satyrs, Ghosts!

Elect of all the devilish hosts!

I pray you send hither, send hither, send hither

The great grey shape that makes men shiver!

Shiver, shiver, shiver!

Come, come, come!”

“Hail, Hail, Hail, great wolf spirit, Hail!

A boon I ask thee, mighty shade.

Within this circle I have made.

Make me a werewolf strong and bold.

The terror alike of young and old.

Grant me a figure tall and spare;

The speed of the elk, the claws of the bear;

The poison of snakes, the wit of the fox;

The stealth of the wolf, the strength of the ox;

The jaws of the tiger, the teeth of the shark;

The eyes of a cat that sees in the dark;

Make me climb like a monkey, scent like a dog;

Swim like a fish, and eat like a hog.

Haste, Haste, Haste, lonely spirit, Haste!

Here, wan and drear, magic spell making,

Findest thou me – shaking, quaking.

Softly fan me as I lie.

And thy mystic touch apply.

Touch apply, and I swear that when I die,

When I die, I will serve thee evermore,

Evermore, in grey wolf land, cold and raw.”

“Make me a werewolf! Make me a xxx-eater!

Make me a werewolf! Make me a xxxxx-eater!

Make me a werewolf! Make me a xxxxx-eater!

I pine for blood! xxxxx blood!

Give it to me! Give it to me tonight!

Great Wolf Spirit! Give it to me, and heart, body, and soul, I am yours!”

“Come, spirit so powerful! come, spirit so dread.

From the home of the werewolf, the home of the dead.

Come, Give me thy blessing! come, lend me thine ear!

Oh spirit of darkness! oh spirit so drear!

Come, mighty phantom! come, great Unknown!

Come from thy dwelling so gloomy and lone.

Come, I beseech thee; depart from thy lair.

And body and soul shall be thine, I declare.

Haste, Haste, Haste, horrid spirit, Haste!

Speed, Speed, Speed, scaring spirit, speed!

Fast, Fast, Fast, fateful spirit, fast!”

“I (insert name) offer to thee, Great spirit of the Unknown, this night of (insert date) my body and soul, on condition that thou grantest me, from this night to the hour of my death, the power of metamorphosing, nocturnally, into a wolf. I beg, I pray, I implore thee-Thee, unparalleled Phantom of Darkness, to make me a werewolf, a werewol !”

“Come, oh Come!”

“Tis night! Tis night! and the moon shines white over pine and snow capped hill. The shadows stray through burn and brae and dance in the sparkling rill.”

Tis night! Tis night! and the devils light casts glimmering beams around. The maras dance, the nisses prance on the flower enameled ground.”

Tis night! Tis night! and the the werewolf’s might makes man and nature shiver.

Yet its fierce grey head and stealthy tread are nought to thee, oh river!

River, River, River

Oh water strong, that swirls along I prithee a werewolf make me.

Of all things dear, my soul, I swear, In death shall not forsake thee.”

Lycanthropous Flowers

In the Balcanic Peninsula grows a flower that, people say, if eaten, transforms the eater into a werewolf. Lycanthropous flowers possess properties peculiar to themselves which are only discernible to those who are well acquainted with them.

Their scent is described as faint and subtly suggestive of death, whilst their sap is rather offensively white and sticky.

In appearance they are usually white and yellow marsh flower. They have to be plucked and wornafter at sunset when the moon is full.

The Magic Belt

According to German and Polish folklore, any person could transform himself into a werewolf by using a so-called wolf strap. Whoever fastened such a strap around himself would turn into a wolf.

A wolf strap was a gift from the devil. A person who possessed such a strap could not get rid of it, however much he wanted to. Anyone who accepted a wolf strap also had entered into brotherhood with the devil, surrendering body and soul to him.

Polish legend said a witch could transform a bride and groom into wolves by laying a girdle of human skin across the threshold at their wedding feast. Later they would receive dresses of fur and would regain their human shape at will.

Among Teutonic peoples, it was thought donning special girdles made of the pelt of a wolf or the skin of a hanged man would effect the change. When tied around the body, a strip of leather made from wolf skin can turn a witch into a wolf.

If someone called out the name of a person who had turned himself into a wolf, that person would regain his human form.

Seventh Sons

In Galician, Portuguese and Brazilian folklore, it is the seventh of the sons (but sometimes the seventh child, a boy, after a line of six daughters) who becomes a werewolf.

This belief was so extended in Northern Argentina (where it is called the “lobizon”), that seventh sons were abandoned, ceded in adoption or killed.

A law from 1920 decreed that the President of Argentina is the godfather of every seventh son. Thus, the State gives him a gold medal in his baptism and a scholarship until his 21st year. This ended the abandonments, but it is still traditional that the President godfathers seventh sons.



The magic salve

In the Middle Ages, the wolf became a symbol of evil. Hysteria about werewolves broke out all over Europe. Thousands of people were accused of being werewolves and many were tortured and executed. The magic salve is frequently mentioned in witch and were-wolf trials. It is supposed to be a strong hallucinogenic. When rubbed over the body, it is absorbed into the bloodstream and causes effects similar to LSD. A person under the salve’s effect could imagine that he was an animal or that he could fly on a broomstick.

One recipi includes the following ingredients :

Other sources mentioned ingredients such as narcotics: Solanum somniferum , aconite, hyoscyamus, belladonna, opium, acorus vulgaris, sium. These were boiled down with oil, or the fat of little children who were murdered for that purpose. The blood of a bat was added, but its effects could have been nil. To these may have been added other foreign narcotics, the names of which have not transpired.

Other supersitions on ways to become a Werewolf

Being a child conceived under a new moonBeing born on a full moon friday (Italy)Being born on the winter solstice or Christmas Eve (Italy)

Being the elder son of priest

Being the 7th of 7 consecutive (Germany).

Drinking water out of the footprint of a savage wolf (Balkans)Drinking downstream from wolves or from where a wolf pack has drunkDrinking from haunted streams or pools (in the Harz Mountains in Germany)

Eating the brains or flesh of a wild wolf

Having tasted human flesh.

Getting bitten by a werewolf

Having sex with a werewolf and survive

Wearing the enchanted skin of a dead wolf or werewolf.Plucking or wearing or smelling the lycanthropic flower (Balkans)Wearing a belt made of the skin of a executed criminal

Sleeping outdoors at night on Friday while the light of the full moon shines in your face (Italy)

Not going to confession for 10 years

Being bloodily murdered on a full moon

Native American mythology

Native American mythology is quite interesting as the metamorphosis is not only viewed as curse but as a way to get closer to Nature and one’s totemic animal. This method would also probably include those who gain such a spirit through meditation or dreams. This is the source for many “spiritual werewolves. Shamanic rituals are often complicated and secret depending on the tribes’ own beliefs. It and can also be apply to other animals.

Being called by the wolf spirit.
Having a vision of the wolf spirit on a dream-quest
Having a Dreaming that one is a wolf or running with wolves
Performing a ritual taught by one’s animal spirit
Being cursed by a shaman
Performing a ritual invoking the wolf spirit

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