A very long time ago, I posted this ritual on my personal website. It gained alot of attention. Unclear on the direction my writing and research was taking me, I deleted the website after so many years running. Over the past few years, I received numerous emails asking for the return of this little historical ritual. Now that we are dusting off, The Pagan and the Pen, I think there couldn’t be a more suitable place to park this little tidbit. Here’s hoping all the regulars that haunted this little piece before, stumbles back upon it….
Now, once upon a time, in one of my encyclopedias, I found a word I had not seen before, Oborot.
The meaning and origins of Oborot can be found living within Russian lore. It’s meaning clear…Werewolf.
An Oborot is a person transformed, literally, into something else. And that’s exactly what this little incantation is supposed to do….transform a man or woman into a Werewolf.
Legend says, in order to use this powerful magic, you will need a few things.
- The incantation must be done in the woods or forest.
- A copper knife
- A tree that has been cut down. A tree stump.
You must go into the woods and stab the cut tree with the copper knife. Then, walk around the stump repeating this incantation:
On the sea, on the ocean, on the island, on Bujan,
On the empty pasture gleams the moon, on an ashstock lying
In a green wood, in a gloomy vale.
Toward the stock wandereth a shaggy wolf,
Horned cattle seeking for his sharp white fangs;
But the wolf dives not into the shadowy vale,
Moon, Moon, gold-horned moon,
Check the flight of bullets, blunt the hunters’ knives,
Break the Shepards’ cudgels,
Cast wild fear upon all cattle,
On men, on all creeping things,
That they may not catch the grey wolf,
That they may not rend his warm skin!
My word is binding, more binding than sleep,
More binding than the promise of a hero!
Once you feel the surge of power, you must spring or jump over the tree trunk three times. Legend says if you do, you will be transformed into a wolf. Afterwards, you are free to run off into the wilds of the forest!
Further reading:
- The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters by Rosemary Ellen Guiley
- Baring-Gould, Sabine. The Book of Werewolves. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1865
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