READER REVIEW @jan_TheGreenWitch
Irish Country Cures - copyright 1994
by Patrick Logan
Irish Country Cures is a book about folk medicine in Ireland, and distinguishes itself from ‘official medicine’ in that today as big as one quarter (1/4) of the medical practice in Ireland is done by people who are not on the Medical Register - are not ‘qualified’ doctors with degrees. As medicine has advanced folk medicine has declined therefore the author hopes that in writing this book that some will take a renewed interest in folk medicine and continue to record the practices before they are forgotten. He has ensured he took practices from every part of Ireland for the documentation in this book.
This book aligns itself with many western and global studies where the placebo effect, along with the ability to reassure a patient is often a cure unto itself. In addition, many folk cures are indeed less toxic and better suited to the cure of day to day illnesses. This book posits that
BOOK QUOTE:
“almost all physical illnesses — over 80% of them — will get better no matter what treatment is given….with over one third (1/3) of the people who seek medical advice cannot be found to have any physical cause for their complaints.”
The book does not imply nor does the author believe that these patients are dishonest, but but that they may be either tired, over-worried, or in need of telling all their worries to a sympathetic listener who can help out by offering common-sense advice, and medicine of some kind coupled with a few days’ rest.
Two remedies as example:
Hospital superstitions:
- relatives should accompany a patient upon admission to hospital
- unlucky for patient to go home from hospital on a Saturday
- wheel patient into operating room head first only (in coffins, feet go first)
- red and white flowers must never be put in a vase together for hospital patient or if this is done one of the patients will die (red means bleeding and white represents anemia)
- two black crows need to be chased away if they appear perched together at a hospital balcony as they forebode a death.
An Fiolun
-fiolun means harm or injury
- means enlarged and often suppurating glands which occurred in some cases of plague
- or possibly some form of chronic ulcer
- the patient needs to be completely buried in the earth - no harm will come to patient since the patient will only be buried entirely only for a moment;
- the disease is a pagan magic where the disease is transferred to the earth; the earth is a great healer and purifier;
- this is a transference cure.
I only recommend this book if you want to read all about Ireland and historical folk and magickal cures in history and some have survived in to today’s time. It’s interesting and many could be used in conjunction with typical medicinal cures.