[The following is the fortieth of many posts–here is the first, here is the second, here is the third, here is the fourth, here is the fifth, here is the sixth, here is the seventh, here is the eighth, here is the ninth, here is the tenth, here is the eleventh, here is the twelfth, here is the thirteenth, here is the fourteenth, here is the fifteenth, here is the sixteenth, here is the seventeenth, here is the eighteenth, here is the nineteenth, here is the twentieth, here is the twenty-first, here is the twenty-second, here is the twenty-third, here is the twenty-fourth, here is the twenty-fifth, here is the twenty-sixth, here is the twenty-seventh, here is the twenty-eighth, here is the twenty-ninth, here is the thirtieth, here is the thirty-first, here is the thirty-second, here is the thirty-third, here is the thirty-fourth, here is the thirty-fifth, here is the thirty-sixth, here is the thirty-seventh, here is the thirty-eighth, and here is the thirty-ninth–about a fictitious discovery of ancient manuscripts of a religious text of narratives and magic spells. Its purpose for my readers and me is to provide a cosmology and mythography on which I am basing much, if not most, of my fiction–short stories and novels. If anyone is interested in reading this fiction, he or she can use these blog posts as references to explain the nature of the magic and universe in my fiction.]
Beautiful Woman’s Protection Spell
[Stand in a flat area of grassless dirt holding a long stick. Use it to draw a large circle around you, a deep cut in the earth. Pour water in the circular groove. Set twigs in a circle just inside the circle of water, and set the twigs on fire so there is a circle of fire as well as of water. Wait for a gust of wind to blow on your body to begin reciting the verse. Begin each repetition of the verse–nine recitations of it in total–with another gust of wind.]
Weleb, blow unwanted men away!
Nevil, bring only wanted men’s fire here!
Drofurb, build a stone wall around me!
Priff, wash away unwanted men’s foul filth!
Commentary: while the elders would surely have wanted the women of the tribe to be protected from male predators, the purpose of this spell is to allow beautiful women to be as coquettish around men as they like, without fear of unwanted men making advances on them. Since such actions encouraged lewdness, the elders disapproved of this spell.
“Epstein” Spell
Translator’s Introduction: the name of this spell as given in the original language referred to a man, Vorl, who devised this spell to allow himself and his circle of wealthy, powerful friends to indulge in all kinds of decadent, sexually predatory behaviour while being protected from punishment for it. We translators found it fitting, therefore, to replace Vorl’s name with one that today’s readers would recognize as equivalent to him. Accordingly, the elders considered these verses to be the most wicked of all.
[Use a large tablet of rock on which to carve the names of all of the participants of the orgy about to be enjoyed. Once all of the names are carved on it, begin chanting the verses while, on a windy day, burning a fire of twigs surrounding the tablet, then soaking the tablet in water while the fire continues burning and the wind continues blowing.]
Weleb, blow away those who accuse me!
Nevil, burn the fire of my lust in safety!
Drofurb, may the names on the rock stay secret!
Priff, wash away all of our sinfulness!
[After reciting this first verse nine times, use a chisel and hammer on the rock to break it up into pieces small enough never to allow anyone to recognize any name carved on it. Then, recite the following verse nine times.]
Weleb, blow away others’ suspicion!
Nevil, burn away all proof of sin!
Drofurb, grind all our guilt into gravel!
Priff, drown all our accusers into silence!
Comment: These are the last of the Amores spells found so far. As with the other sets of writings, as more Amores are found, so will they be translated and published in future editions of the Tanah.
Infinite Ocean 