Love Potions Through the Ages

LOVE POTIONS THROUGH THE AGES A Study of Amatory Devices and Mores

Harry E. Wedeck

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Love Potions Through the Ages A Study of Amatory Devices and Mores Author: Harry E. Wedeck

Cover image: The abduction of Psyche, William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1895) Lay-out: www.burokd.nl

ISBN 978-94-92355-51-5 © 2021 Revised publication by:

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contents

Introduction — 9 CHAPTER I

ANTIQUITY — 13

Erotic cults—Rites, Periapts—Phallic symbols—Ceremonials—Concepts— Greece—Asia Minor—Egypt—Literary and historical testimony—Erotic manifestations in various ethnic areas—Search for amatory stimulants— Condemnation of pagan mores—Biblical instances—Sacredness of genitalia—Herodotus on Egyptian cults—Bacchic cult in European countries—Pervasiveness of phallus—Phallic emblems—Biblical references— Incantations—Spells—Philtres—Egyptian love song—Near East—Hittite ritual—Babylon—Canaanites—Greece and Rome—Biblical ethics—Hellenistic Age—Baths—Phallic food—Drillipotae—Yellow—Figurae Veneris—Erotic poems—Phallic divinities—Philodemus of Gadara—Dress—Athens— Panders—Biblical-phallic—Power of woman—Woman as an evil—Aphrodite— Love as an end—Initiation—Rites of Venus—Essence of love—Mysticism— Priapic—Asia Minor—Variant names—Generation—Talisman—Floral

CHAPTER II

GREEK — 85

Plato—Dioscorides—Nonnus—Theodora—Antonina. Belisarius— Demosthenes—Concept of love

CHAPTER III

ROMANS — 101

Testimony of the poets—Obscene deities—Amatory philtres—Amatory foods—Bacchic worship—Ovid on erotic practices—Ovid on philtres—Roman generative deities—Rites of Bona Dea—Generative tutelary deities—Phallic breads—Magic love spells—Assignations—Fescennini versus—Lamps— Larentalia—Heliogabalus—Nonaria—Nose and lips—Ovid—Imperial Rome

CHAPTER IV

ORIENT — 137

Hindu and Arab treatments and practices—Philtres—Other provocative preparations—Islam—Sterility—Potions—Perfume—Arab erotologist— Amatory principles

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CHAPTER V

INDIA — 155

Erotic manuals—Amatory practices—Philtres—Other means of stimulation— Temple prostitution—Search for husband

CHAPTER VI

VARIETIES AND OCCASIONS OF POTIONS — 177

Examples from Greek and Roman antiquity—Asia—Love cult

CHAPTER VII

POTENCY OF PHILTRES — 189

Literary testimony—Woman in the ascendant—Water—Inducements

CHAPTER VIII INGREDIENTS OF POTIONS, RECIPES, ANECDOTES — 197 Preparation of philtres—Illustrative legendary, historical, and literary anecdotes, allusions, and citations confirming potency of philtres—Divertive philtres—Medieval philtres—Macrobius—Herbs and plants—The Mill— Amatory procedures—French stimulant—Papyri—Lucian—River—Black Art potion—Inducements—Oriental—Flowers, etc—Variety of ingredients

CHAPTER IX

MIDDLE AGES AND LATER — 259

Philtres—Dispensers of preparations—Occultists and alchemists associated with preparations—Literary and historical references— Manuals and other erotic texts—Priapus as a saint—Phallic Society— Erotic mores in Europe—Clauder on philtres—Northern deities—Belts of chastity—The Congress: and other medieval practices—Divertive invocation—Privileges—Orgies—Boccaccio—Turkey—Loïstes— Shakespeare—Villon—Sects—Figurines—Demoniac unions—Astrological

CHAPTER X

MODERN TIMES — 343

Contemporary eroticism—Amatory customs—Potions—Publications— Experimentation in erotic stimuli—Literary mention—Popular press— Love spells and potions—Bayadère—Advertisements—Restaurants— Erotica—Books—Hippomanes

Selective Bibliography — 365 Post Scriptum 6

Introduction

The amatory motif is pervasive, timeless, and universal. In some of its phases and manifestations it has presented age-old provocations and, not infrequently, problems that are still unresolved.

Among such problems are involved the faculty of physiological potency, the urge to attract amorously, and, conversely, the problem of preventing such attraction in a designated instance, or of diverting it to another objective.

That, in brief, is the essence of the material means of effecting such a realization. In its various mutations, its protean diversities, it is the love-potion, the philtre, the mystic concoction that, once quaffed, will instil love and passion and desire and lust, that will replenish erotic inadequacies, that will awaken the ancient fons vitae, the symbol of animate being, the source, as the antique Hellenes sensed and exemplified, of all cosmic creation, of the totality of living generation.

The potion, then, is at least a hypothetically efficacious instrument for securing and preserving the amorous interests of the desired object. It also serves as an apotropaic device for diverting misplaced love, as the agent sees it, and redirecting it to the proper and preferred channel.

The actual means for the fulfilment of these erotic purposes vary with the ages, with ethnic groups and demographic alignments, with legendary and folk traditions and mores, with the disparate 9

levels of culture of a specific region. They present variations and adaptations in correspondence with climatic and epichorial conditions. But they retain the essentially common characteristic, the unchanging property, of attempting to shape and mould the amatory esurgences, in whatever degree, and whether transitory or of more enduring permanence, by impersonal, palpable, mechanistic and visual means.

It should be observed, as a terminus a quo, that the term philtre itself stems from the Greek philtron, a love-potion (from philein, to love, and tron, an instrumental suffix). It means, then, a love-charm.

The term potion is derived immediately from the Latin potio, a draught, whether of medicine or even of poison. The ultimate source is the Greek potos, a drink. In a general sense, therefore, a love philtre or potion is a concoction, usually liquid in form, but not necessarily so, intended to produce or promote amatory sensibilities.

In a wide and comprehensive denotation, the philtre will include any object or charm or periapt that serves the same erotic purpose.

This present survey touches on the use of the potion in the course of the centuries, in varying circumstances and disparate countries: on the fantastic factors that composed the final preparations; and on anecdotes, both apocryphal and authenticated, and episodes and occasional allusions that point up the treatment, its hazards, and even its humors.

With regard to the potions and similar concoctions and preparations of an amatory nature, a caveat must here be entered. All such philtres are considered in this book from an exclusively traditional,

historical, and academic viewpoint. They are not recommended in any instance for personal use, as they may involve unpredictable or even catastrophic effects: in no sense, therefore, should such prescriptions be utilized for empirical experimentation.

Harry E. Wedeck

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CHAPTER I

Antiquity Erotic cults—Rites, Periapts—Phallic symbols—Ceremonials—Concepts— Greece—Asia Minor—Egypt—Literary and historical testimony—Erotic manifestations in various ethnic areas—Search for amatory stimulants— Condemnation of pagan mores—Biblical instances—Sacredness of genitalia—Herodotus on Egyptian cults—Bacchic cult in European countries— Pervasiveness of phallus—Phallic emblems—Biblical references—Incantations— Spells—Philtres—Egyptian love song—Near East—Hittite ritual—Babylon— Canaanites—Greece and Rome—Biblical ethics—Hellenistic Age—Baths—Phallic food—Drillipotae—Yellow—Figurae Veneris—Erotic poems—Phallic divinities— Philodemus of Gadara—Dress—Athens—Panders—Biblical-phallic—Power of woman—Woman as an evil—Aphrodite—Love as an end—Initiation—Rites of Venus—Essence of love—Mysticism—Priapic—Asia Minor—Variant names— Generation—Talisman—Floral

IN ANCIENT GREECE, the climatic conditions, the long unending

summer days, the broad spaciousness of the sea, wine-dark and loud-sounding, as Homer describes it, the secluded pools and fountains and glades, the remote valleys, the snowy mountain summits were all alive, to the Hellenic perceptive and imaginative mind, with graceful nymphs and shaggy satyrs, with a multitude of anthropomorphic divinities, and with the alluring pipes of Pan. Under such conditions it was not difficult to conceive human life as dominated by the cosmic creative force, and to do homage and obeisance to the great god Dionysus, divinity of the fruitful wine, protector of all procreative and generative functions.

The generative and sexual activities of the Greeks were, in general, so freed from contrived restrictions, so much in harmony with their instinctive and developed sensitivity to beauty of form, of 13

movement, of rhythm, that artificial aids and inducements to amatory performance were far less necessary than they are in a highly complex and competitive and in a sense exhausted contemporary social frame.

Hence we do not constantly hear of the ad hoc use of philtres, potions, and analogous means of stimulation. Yet their existence is established, and in particular cases they were brought into effective use. Xenocrates, a Greek physician of the first century A.D., as Pliny the Elder records, advised drinking the sap of mallows as a love-potion. Such a philtre, together with three mallow roots tied into a bunch, would inflame the erotic passions of women.

Again, Dioscorides of Cilicia, in Asia Minor, an army physician who flourished in the first century A.D., produced a Materia Medica that treated drugs, remedies, ingredients in a rational, systematic manner. His text became a standard work, used for centuries, in both the East and the West. He recommends the roots of boy-cabbage, soaked in fresh goat’s milk. A good draught of this drink would be productive of intense excitation of the sexual impulse.

Many spices, plants, herbs that were described, either by the encyclopedists and historians or incidentally mentioned in dramatic literature, in occasional poems, anecdotes or in epitomes of legends and folklore, were of such obscurity and rarity that it is no longer possible to ascertain the corresponding modern equivalent. There was, as an instance, satyrion. It is frequently mentioned, both in Greek and Roman contexts. Actually unidentifiable botanically, it may have been analogous to the orchis. In Greek and also Roman antiquity it was reputed to constitute a potent aphrodisiac, and is 14

mentioned in an accepted and traditional sense by writers such as Petronius, who casually alludes to it in the course of his Satyricon as a common erotic aid.

The name satyrion is evidently associated with the Greek satyr, a wood spirit, partly goat-like, and partly human. Attendants to the rustic god Pan, the satyrs were known as bestial and lustful creatures, symbolic of the basic sexual passion of man.

Botanically, satyrion is a plant with smooth leaves, red-tinted, and equipped with a two-fold root. The lower part of this root was credited anciently with promoting male conception, while the other part was conducive to female conception. In its modern counterpart, satyrion has been associated with the Iris florantina.

There is another variety of satyrion, called Serapias. This has pear-shaped leaves and a tall elongated stem. Its root consists of two tubers that have the appearance of testes. Unquestionably, the association of the plant as an aphrodisiac derives from the orchidaceous configuration of the root.

Remarkable properties were attributed to the root of satyrion.

When it was dissolved in goat’s milk, the erotic effect was so vigorous and urgent that, as the Greek philosopher Theophrastus asserts in his Enquiry into Plants, the potion produced, on a particular occasion, some seventy consecutive coital performances.

Still another species of satyrion was erithraicon. This plant had a peculiar virtue. The mere holding of it, or carrying it, in the hand, occasioned a lustful desire. This fact is attested by Pliny, in his Natural History, in Book 26, 96 and 98, as well as by Dioscorides in his Materia Medica 3. 134. When the libido became too intense, let15

tuce was eaten to mitigate the effect, to allay the erotic provocation.

Greek mythology abounds in references to satyrion as an efficacious stimulant. The prowess of Hercules, the lusty warrior, as the Roman Petronius, Arbiter Elegantiarum, calls him, is attested in an amatory sense by the story of his visit to a certain Thespius.

Entertained lavishly as a guest, Hercules, fortified by satyrion, repaid the host’s entertainment by having intercourse with all fifty daughters of Thespius.

In Roman times the effectiveness of the root in arousing erotic excitation was common knowledge. Petronius, the voluptuary attached to the court of the Emperor Nero and the author of the remarkable picaresque novel entitled the Satyricon, alludes to the matter. One of his characters, describing the frenzied activities in a brothel, remarks: We saw many persons of both sexes, at work in the cells, so much every one of them seemed to have taken satyrion.

In a more general direction, important testimonies to manipulative and mechanistic means of arousing vigor are the references in Petronius, particularly the episode involving Quartilla: Quartilla came up to me to cure me of the ague, but finding her self disappointed, flew off in a rage, and returning in a little while, told us, there were certain persons unknown, had a design upon us, and therefore commanded to remove us into a noble palace.

Here all our courage fail’d us, and nothing but certain death seem’d to appear before us.

When I began, “If, madam, you design to be more severe with us, be yet so kind as to dispatch it quickly; for whate’er our offence be, it is not so heinous that we ought to be rack’d to death for

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it”: Upon which her woman, whose name was Psyche, spread a coverlet on the floor. Sollicitavit inguina mea mille iam mortibus frigida. Ascyltos muffled his head in his coat, as having had a hint given him, how dangerous it was to take notice of what did not concern him: In the mean time Psyche took off her garters, and with one of them bound my feet, and with the other my hands.

Thus fetter’d as I lay, “This, madam,” said I, “is not the way to rid you of your ague.”

“I grant it,” answer’d Psyche, “but I have a Dose at hand will infallibly do it” and therefore brought me a lusty bowl of satyricon and so merrily ran over the wonderful effects of it, that I had well-nigh suck’d it all off; but because Ascyltos had slighted her courtship, she finding his back toward her, threw the bottom of it on him.

Ascyltos perceiving the chat was at an end, “Am not I worthy,” said he, “to get a sup?” And Psyche fearing my laughter might discover her, clapped her hands, and told him, “Young man, I made you an offer of it, but your friend here has drunk it all out.”

“Is it so,” quoth Quartilla, smiling very agreeably, “and has Encolpius gugg’d it all down?” At last also even Gito laught for company, at what time the young wench flung her arms about his neck, and meeting no resistance, half smother’d him with kisses.

A peculiar situation in which erotic provocation or inducement to passion is conditioned by the concept of social prestige, or, in the contemporary idiom, status, is exemplified in a later passage in Petronius’ Satyricon: Going out full of these thoughts to divert my concern, I resolv’d on a walk, but I had scarce got into a publick one, e’re a pretty girl made up to me, and calling me Polyaemus, told me her lady wou’d be proud of an opportunity to speak with me.

“You’re mistaken, sweet-heart,” return’d I, in a little heat, “I’m but a servant, of another country too, and not worthy of so great a favor.”

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“No, sir,” said she, “I have commands to you; but because you know what you can do, you’re proud; and if a lady wou’d receive a favor from you, I see she must buy it: For to what end are all those allurements, forsooth? the curl’d hair, the complexion advanc’d by a wash, and the wanton roll of your eyes, the study’d air of your gate? unless by shewing your parts, to invite a purchaser? For my part I am neither a witch, nor a conjurer, yet can guess at a man by his physiognomy. And when I find a spark walking, I know his contemplation. To be short, sir, if so be you are one of them that sell their ware, I’ll procure you a merchant; but if you’re a courteous lender, confer the benefit. As for your being a servant, and below, as you say, such a favor, it increases the flames of her that’s dying for you. ’Tis the wild extravagance of some women to be in love with filth, nor can be rais’d to an appetite but by the charms, forsooth of some slave or lacquy; some can be pleased with nothing but the strutting of a prize-fighter with a hacktface, and a red ribbon in his shirt: Or an actor betray’d to prostitute himself on th’ stage, by the vanity of showing his pretty shapes there; of this sort is my lady; who indeed,” added she, “prefers the paultry lover of the upper gallery, with his dirty face, and oaken staff, to all the fine gentlemen of the boxes, with their patches, gunpowder-spots, and toothpickers.”

When pleas’d with the humor of her talk, “I beseech you, child,” said I, “are you the she that’s so in love with my person?” Upon which the maid fell into a fit of laughing.

“I wou’d not,” return’d she, “have you so extremely flatter yourself. I never yet truckl’d to a waiter, nor will Venus allow I shou’d imbrace a gibbet. You must address your self to ladies that kiss the ensigns of slavery; be assur’d that I, though a servant, have too fine a taste to converse with any below a knight.” I was amaz’d at the relation of such unequal passions, and thought it miraculous to find a servant, with the scornful pride of a lady, and a lady with the humility of a servant.

A still more elaborate scene concerns the techniques of recovering the faculty of erotic consummation. Encolpius, the narrator of 18

the Satyricon, is attached homosexually to the young Gito. He is in a state of incapacity. At this juncture he receives a note from Circe, the mistress of the maid Chrysis, commenting on his inadequacy: Chrysis enter’d my chamber, and gave me a billet from her mistress, in which I found this written: “Had I rais’d my expectation, I might deceiv’d complain; now I’m obliged to your impotence, that has made me sensible how much too long I have trifl’d with mistaken hopes of pleasure. Tell me, sir, how you design to bestow your self, and whether you dare rashly venture home on your own legs? for no physician ever allow’d it cou’d be done without strength. Let me advise your tender years to beware of a palsie: I never saw any body in such danger before.

On my conscience you are just going! and shou’d the same rude chilliness seize your other parts, I might be soon, alas! put upon the severe trial of weeping at your funeral. But if you would not suspect me of not being sincere, tho’ my resentment can’t equal the injury, yet I shall not envy the cure of a weak unhappy wretch.

If you wou’d recover your strength, ask Gito, or rather not ask him for’t—I can assure a return of your vigor if you cou’d sleep three nights alone: As to myself I am not in the least apprehensive of appearing to another less charming than I have to you. I am told neither my glass nor report does flatter me. Farewell, if you can.”

When Chrysis found I had read the reproach, “This is the custom, sir,” said she, “and chiefly of this city, where the women are skill’d in magick-charms, enough to make the moon confess their power, therefore the recovery of any useful instrument of love becomes their care; ’tis only writing some soft tender things to my lady, and you make her happy in a kind return. For ’tis confest, since her disappointment, she has not been her self.”

I readily consented, and calling for paper, thus addrest myself: “’Tis confest, madam, I have often sinned, for I’m not only a man, but a very young one, yet never left the field so dishonorably before. You have at your feet a confessing criminal, that deserves 19

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When flirtation needs a little help...

Before the first box of Viagra hit the counter, it was preceded by a three millennia-long search, by both men and women, for stimulants to achieve the ultimate erotic experience. Love Potions Through the Ages - A Study of Amatory Devices and Mores by the classic scholar Harry E. Wedeck is a context-rich study of all kinds of philtres, used in history to boost the sexual stamina and erotic joy or to overcome sterility. The scope of the love potion is broad and covers everything from the chemical to the magical and from the medical to the recreational and also includes the mystical experience.

This book takes you on a journey through our sensual and erotic past, beginning in the ancient Middle East and Greece and ending in the Renaissance period and beyond.

The erotic sciences of India and the Arabs pass in review, as do all kinds of recipes and local mores, the worship of obscene gods, Venus and the phallus, forgotten practices, love spells, demonic unity, and much more.

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Warning: All potions in this book are considered from an exclusive historical, and academic viewpoint. They are not recommended in any instance for personal use, as they may involve unpredictable or even catastrophic effects: in no sense, therefore, should such prescriptions be utilized for empirical experimentation.