Protecting a warrior from death

Most often, victory goes to the one nobody took seriously.

For a charm to be a charm, it must be made by your own hands or commissioned from a craftswoman. No one will make a better charm than a mother for her child or a wife for her husband. If you are no needleworker, do not buy one off the shelf — commission it from a craftswoman instead. You will meet her, your energies will mingle — still better than buying something machine-made. What you picked up at the bazaar is no charm.

In olden Ukraine there was a tradition of embroidered charms — from everyday rushnyky (ritual cloths) and shirts to woven motanka dolls worked with embroidery. And to this day these little dolls, in their power of protection and their other callings, yield nothing to Vodou dolls.

When danger rose before the community — when men had to march to war or a pestilence began — women would gather in one house. And from sunset to sunrise they embroidered rushnyky and made protective charms. They did it in prayer. I know old prayers, recited back in the days of Prince Sviatoslav in my home place, the village of Stari Petrivtsi.

“Beneath the standing forest, beneath the dank bog, there stands a hut,

neither sewn nor thatched, and in the hut dwells the wicked Witch of Kyiv.

I shall go beneath the standing forest, beneath the murky bogs,

I shall enter the hut, to the wicked Witch of Kyiv:

“You, wicked Witch of Kyiv — bid your raven fly to the Khvalyn Sea,

to the house of copper, to peck the fiery serpent to death, and fetch the seven-pood key.”

The wicked Witch of Kyiv balked and stiffened over her raven:

“Not at my age to wander to the ocean-sea, to the Isle of Buyan,

to the black raven. Command it with my word of power —

the raven shattered the house of copper and pecked the fiery serpent to death.

With that key I unlock the princely terem (tower-chamber) of Sviatoslav;

I take down the hero's harness — the glorious champions, the warriors of Kyiv.

Clad in that harness, neither harquebus (an early firearm), nor arrows, nor fighters, nor wrestlers shall slay me —

neither Tatar, nor Khazar, nor Rus host.

I speak the charm, I, the handmaid (name), over the man of war marching to battle,

The finished rushnyk must be carried three times around the church, and then every warrior marching to war walked beneath that rushnyk.

In today's world, a woman may in a single night, in prayer, embroider at least a kerchief and give it to her husband, son or father. Best do it at night, from the 10th lunar day to the 17th.

“The fair red sun has rolled out from beyond the Khvalyn Sea,

the bright moon has risen from beneath the blue sky, white clouds have gathered from afar,

and singing birds have flocked to the city of stone.

And in that city of stone I (name) have borne a son (such-and-such) —

be thou, my dear child, unharmed always and everywhere,

led by the hand of the Lord amid woes and perils,

kept from cannon, arrows and harquebuses, kept from every torment,

anguish and sorrow, from every sworn enemy fighter, from every fist-fighter:

may fighters never seize thee, never see thee by night or day;

in bloody battle may foes never mark thee by bright sun or moon.

As the blind man sees nothing around him,

so mayest thou be invisible to thine enemy.

May no pike pierce thee, no bullet strike thee,

no axe or bardiche (a long-shafted axe) hew thee, no butt-end ever catch thee;

against thee may knife and sabre blunt themselves, may spears never fly true against thee.

May no noose close round thee that flies short, may water never dare to drown thee.

May thy body be harder than stone, thy shirt harder than iron;

return to my house unharmed, unconquered by weapon or by foe.

I entrust all the holy keys to the keeping of the Mother of God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now and ever, unto ages of ages. Amen.

The needles for such work must be bought on a Monday, from a woman older than yourself, before noon, without bargaining and without taking change. Needles bought on Great Monday of Holy Week, before Easter, hold particular power.

Threads are bought on a Wednesday from a woman older than yourself, before noon, without change — ideally in Holy Week: cotton, linen, and better still natural wool or silk, for fibres of animal origin, and the keratin protein in them, hold an imprint more firmly and longer than plant fibres.

You must make no knots. The start and the end of the work are hidden under the stitches. A knot means you tie it upon your own fate — and then you will have to untangle it.

The colour of the pattern matters greatly. Our forebears knew that every plant carries its own energy. Brown, for instance, can be drawn from many plants. When threads are boiled, say, in oak bark, the wish is to bring into the stitching the energy of long life, sturdiness and health.

Red is the colour of energy, a charm-colour — so red is embroidered for children, and cuffs are embroidered for grown-ups to keep their arms from aching. Red is also the wedding colour, and the rushnyk must be embroidered in it. Yellow is the colour of energy, of the sun, the colour of holiness, of the Heavenly Kingdom. Blue is yellow's opposite — the colour of the other world, of the cosmos and of water.

White is the colour of the Father, red the colour of the Primal Mother — and if such a rushnyk is embroidered in prayer, and parents then bless a married couple with it, it will guard the young family all their lives as a mighty charm.

Strength, prosperity, healing, transformation —

magic for animals, the guarding of physical things.

For protection they embroidered solar signs, the swastika (an ancient sun-wheel), cobwebs. The grapevine motif stands for fertility, happiness, a strong and numerous family, prosperity. The lattice is a cosmic emblem of fertility, a “field sown with starry seed” in eight-pointed stars. Alternating solar signs — radiant diamonds (emblems of Spirit, the masculine principle) — with images of the “queen” (a motif of three diamonds for the feminine principle) attunes a life to harmony.

The warrior spoke the charm over his own belt or some other possession. A mother may speak this charm too, for a son marching to war.

“God's warriors: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael,

Sometimes a mother or wife would write out a prayer of protection and sew it into the warrior's headdress for him to carry. The prayer's text is very dear to me — my grandmother taught it to me:

“Upon the Mount of Radiance, in the Land of Kinsmen,

there stood a tree. Beneath that tree the Mother of God slept;

she slept and rested, keeping her rest before three icons.

“My beloved Mother, dost thou sleep or sleep not, or merely liest thou thus?”

“No, my Son, my guardian, watcher over all the world —

I sleep not, I lie thus, seeing all Thy torment through my sleep.

As the unbelievers seized Thee and pierced Thy heart with a spear,

rivers of blood flowed; hallowed earth, where the grass drooped.

Where the sun rises, there the Mother of God walks;

in that church services are served, banners are read, prayers are said aright.

Whoever honours my suffering, let him take the Cross in hand.

Take it, carry it, tell of it — to the mute, the blind and the deaf!

Whoever reads this dream shall never drown in water nor burn in fire,

in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

And this prayer, copied out by hand in four copies, was hidden in the four corners of the roof — so that the house would stand whole.