Witch’s Circles or Witch’s Rings
Since the time of paganism, the ancestors paid great attention not only to deities, but also to evil spirits, which just included witches, devils, mermaids, fairies. It was these folklore creatures that were credited with the appearance of the so-called “witch circles”.
As a rule, this is an overgrowth of mushrooms, in the form of a regular circle figure with an empty center. Most often, our ancestors met such rings only from poisonous mushrooms, and since then, beliefs began to appear in the life of the Slavs that mermaids danced around this circle under the light of the moon.
Not only the Slavic peoples had similar beliefs and legends, in the rest of the world they were slightly adapted to local folklore.
And if the people suffered from superstitious thinking and tried to get around such damned places as far as possible, then, for example, in France, the people went further, and trying to justify themselves, they blamed the fairies for everything.
In the XNUMXth century, in one of the French villages, a mass death of cattle began, and the locals decided to execute the shepherd who was watching the herd. The poor man had no chance of salvation, but his ingenuity saved him!
Having asked the court for the last word, the shepherd asked everyone to go with him to the pasture, where he showed those same “witch” circles, along the way saying that the herd of the perfect did not obey him and went into this circle.
No matter how ridiculous the decision of the court may sound, the shepherd was pardoned, because: “a person is powerless in front of an unclean force that wants to drink fresh milk.”
The people have always been famous for their ability to come up with certain rituals to save themselves and their families from evil spirits, and so, in order for the magic of the “witch’s circle” not to work, it was necessary to run around the ring from right to left nine times. If the ritual was performed correctly, then the person could now hear the conversations of witches, fairies, mermaids, in general, the inhabitants of this circle. If a mistake was made, then you need to be careful, the witches will call trouble.
There is also a belief that the circle is a place of imprisonment for people who disappeared in the forest. Goblin, with the help of witchcraft, hid people, and the mushroom circle appeared as a mark so as not to lose the entrance and exit.
According to the stories of old-timers, there were such cases when a person left for mushrooms and did not return. The village people could search for him day and night, but there was no use, and then, when all the searches were already abandoned, the person returned home. Only he believed that he was simply lost and wandered in the forest for a couple of hours, but in fact a week. It was believed that this goblin takes the traveler into his world, where it is impossible to find the way to the house, and when he has played enough, he lets him out.
It is difficult now to understand who and when thought of using the “witch” circle as a lie detector, but this is evidenced by numerous records of old protocols.
The essence of the method was that the suspect was driven into a mushroom ring and asked him questions, and either out of fear or something else, but the person began to honestly confess his evil deeds. It is surprising that those who visited the “witch” ring later said that an unknown force literally forced them to lay out the whole truth to the court.
It is impossible to say for sure whether mushroom rings really carry some kind of witchcraft power, and whether mermaids once danced inside, or maybe even a witch and a devil got married, but when meeting such a miracle in the modern world, it becomes a little uncomfortable, but on the other hand, the beauty and regularity of the form fascinates. Perhaps someday there will be answers to all these mysteries of nature.