The Pilgrim's Manual: an Excerpt (A & B)
This manual was penned by the pious man Robert of Clent upon his death-bed in the year 1374, after travelling for many years as an agent of the Lord. His purpose was to assist his brothers who were of a less wordly nature than him. It is a text of practical faith, and of syncretism: a primer on plying Good Works in places afar.
One wonders if Robert knew, as he lay in that cloister, that his great work would still used today by those fair men and women of the cloth who take to the road.
A
Adders - the milk-drinking serpent, the scourge of many a cowherd. The pest's oil cures deafness and its shed skin can draw out thorns and splinters when rubbed upon the afflicted spot. If one is bitten, seek out that same adder and wring it for oil. If unsuccessful, the application of a fresh sheepskin or a live pigeon will have to do.
Alabaster - when powdered and made into ointment this can be a balm for cripples.
Amber - the orange tree-stone can be rubbed on sore eyes and sprained limbs, or worn on a string for chest ailments.
Arum lilies - little white trojans: bring them not indoors or to healing-sanctums. Save them for funerals.
Ash - a village does well to maintain an ash sapling grown from seed and never touched by knife. When a resident is afflicted with hernia, split it down the middle and hold it open with wedges: pass the afflicted through the gap and bind the cleft back up - as the rift heals, so shall the spillage. Never use the same tree twice, though the ash of a used Ash can still be used as a cure for lameness and swellings in cattle, warding off serpents, preventing bewitchment, and attracting lightning.
B
Bay - as the tree can grow back from its mere roots, so too can it be used to spark life in one who has been relegated to a corpse. The foil to the Ash: its laurels ward away lightning.
Bees - holy beasts, their hives a perfect model of a kingdom, down to their rulers taking quick offence. If one is to keep a hive, it must be treated as a member of a household: told of deaths and births and marriages, properly adorned and gifted with festival foods, kept away from quarrelling or rudeness, and never bought with money (bar gold coins).
Beetles - to kill one ushers rain immediately, and twenty beetles more to the blighter's funeral. A beetle found accidentally and worn around the neck can act as a doctor for whooping coughs.
Bells - the peal of a bell wards away demons of the air.
Birds - it is direly unlucky for a wild bird to enter the home. This rule applies even to depictions. A cage contains the bad luck. Beyond the home, to be hit by bird droppings is obviously lucky.
Blackberries - while delightful, unlucky to pick after mid-Autumn. To pass under the arches of a bramble is a cure for various ailments: cough, hernia, boils, and rheumatism.
Black Sheep - a single black sheep in a herd brings forth luck in the extreme, both good and bad: the path forwards is to disregard the whole matter entirely and slit the newborn's throat before it can baa.
Blade-bones - shoulder bones are taken as a tool of general divination by those that live in the extremities of the land. Their method: stick nine pins into such a bone and install it under your pillow to see the object of your scrying in dream. The water in which a blade-bone has steeped can also be used as animal medicine.
Bleeding - bleeding is best staunched with cobwebs, a carp's head-bone, heliotrope, or verbal charms.
'Blessing the Throats' - a cross of two blessed candles placed upon the throat draws out blockages.
Blue beads - a string of blue beads worn around the neck and never removed wards away bronchitis.
Bones - burning bones echoes forth and leads inevitably to bone-ache. Despite this, hedons have been known to purchase sacks of bone ash to dust their flagons (apparently for tooth-ache, but I doubt this).
Bread - a hollow loaf indicates incoming death, or in some parts pregnancy. The first loaf out of an oven should be not cut but broken by hand, lest the rest be too heavy.
Broom - "buy a broom in May, sweep a soul away".
Buckets - housewife rituals exist where a bucket - sometimes with a lit candle held within - is jumped over. This is apparently to assist with child-bearing.
Burial - 'tis common to banish the unwanted through irregular burial. The most common one encounters involves beheading the corpse, with their head placed betwixt the poor fool's feet or under their arse. The soft-hearted merely bury fiends face-down. Other options include burial at a crossroads or placing a seed or stake in the corpse.
On the other hand, those missed dearly should have their pets and steeds interred besides them to aid their soul in travelling on.
Burns - verbal charms are most effective for healing burns. Such invocations usually feature angels of fire and frost.
Butterflies - one who crushes the first butterfly of Spring will likewise crush their enemies. A white butterfly signals prosperity, brown poverty.
Written some time ago. Inspired vaguely by Warding. Researched using 'A Dictionary of English Folklore' by Simpson & Roud.