A writer in Longman’s Magazine in the year 1898 records, as then extant, a west-country custom of placing a neatly cut cross of birch wood over cottage doors, on the eve of the 1st of May, to keep off the witches. The common practice amongst market-women and hawkers of spitting for luck on the first coin received in the day, is originally a precautionary charm against witchcraft. It used to be said in Somersetshire: Nif you do meet wi’ anybody wi’ a north eye, spat dree times. To spit will avert the ill-luck consequent on passing under a ladder. To make the sign of the cross with spittle on the sole of the shoe was supposed to cure the sensation of ‘pins and needles’ in the foot. We have already noticed the action of spitting in connexion with the ill-omened appearance of magpies.
Protection against Witchcraft
Whilst silver was considered to be the efficacious metal for missiles used against witches, iron and steel were held good for protective charms. In Lincolnshire it was formerly the custom to leave under the flag-stone at the entrance of an outer door a hollow place, which was filled with broken bits of iron, intended to keep off witches. It was necessary to protect the stable as well as the house, and this was sometimes done by hanging up implements made of steel or iron, as was customary in the time of Herrick, cp. Charm for Stables, Hesperides, 1648:
Hang up hooks and shears to scare
Hence the hag that rides the mare,
Till they be all over wet
With the mire and the sweat;
This observed, the manes shall be
Of your horses all knot-free.
The Horseshoe as a Talisman