Path: typhoon.sonic.net!feed.news.sonic.net!sjc70.webusenet.com!news.webusenet.com!cyclone.bc.net!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: paulhume@comcast.net (Paul Hume) Newsgroups: alt.magick Subject: Re: salt ! Date: 9 Jun 2003 14:11:52 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 24 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.107.93.163 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1055193113 639 127.0.0.1 (9 Jun 2003 21:11:53 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 9 Jun 2003 21:11:53 GMT Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick:348704 "CJN" wrote in message news:... > has anyone heard about, or had some practice in " the magic of salt" ? > is it some gaelic thing ? if not, where does it come from ? > in which kind of situations could it be used ? > > Thanks for your reply > > CJN Hoo doggies, magical (or antimagical) qualities of salt are all over the shop. You find it in all manner of hoodoo charms, f'rinstance. Salts (not just sodium chloride, to be sure) were considered one of the three principle forms of matter in alchemical circulations (sulphur, salt, mercury). The sacral nature of guest relationships were underlined at least in the Middle East with sharing salt between guest and host, and salt's repute in this matter survived in European custom for centuries, and to this day we have expressions like "below the salt" (referring to the less prestigious placement of lesser guests in mediaeval feasts), and "worth his salt" (referring to the inclusion of salt rations in soldiers' pay). Salt over the shoulder, of course, one of many folk survivals of salt charms, or using salt to pay off or drive away ill luck, potentially malevolent fae, etc. Paul