Charms in the Context of Magic Practice. The Case of Slovenia

Abstract

In Slovenia, charms or invocations are one- or two-strophe formu- lae that the medicine man or woman used at addressing the powers beyond to procure healing or to influence certain natural processes. They are as if a bridge between this world and the other, helping achieve to something on clearly supernatural or magical grounds. The following paper provides a brief insight into magical folk tradi- tions as preserved in Slovene oral and written sources. The present article gives a short overview of contemporary magical practices in Slovenia, introducing a healer with inherited gift and words and her usual healing methods. I will also present a systematisation of Slovenian invocations with text samples and some cosmological prin- ciples as reflected in charms. MAGICAL