* CHARM*

 The word is "sharper than the awl's sting, the hatchet blade," from it "friends and I can not hide out, not wash out in the bath, which "cannot be water down with a sour drink or with a bland drink neutralize" - that word really had a mighty power.
 It protects not only from a toothache, but also "from the flying arrow, from iron wrought and non-wrought, and from blue damask steel, and the red and white, and arrows tempered, and of copper, and from the wire, and from all the animals and their bones, and from every tree, Russian and overseas, and from every bird feathers in the forest and field, and from any human race, Russian and Tatar, and Cheremis, and Lithuanian, and German, and enemies and adversaries."

 Many spells and charms later become prayers. The Christian religious terminology in them coexists side by side with the Pagan.
 "Save me, the cross of the Lord, have mercy on my cherished friends and me, and fly the arrow into a tree with the tip, and with the tail in a bird and the bird in the sky, and the glue in the fish, and fish in the sea, and iron and lead, throw in the Mother Earth from me, the servant of God (name), and from my fellow advisers. Amen, Amen, Amen."

 But "the devil cannot be driven out by an "Amen" - as the saying goes, and the word protected people though probably in conjunction with other weapons... Pronouncing a spell, a person has strengthened confidence in the success of initiated work, awakened in his spiritual strength, and was tuned to a particular way.
 A hunting charm against the evil man, recorded by N. A. Ivanitskii, says: "I will rise with blessing, I'll go with the sign of the cross out of the door of the hut, from the door to the gates into an open field for the dark ravines, into the forest primeval, the quiet marshes, on the high mountains, I'll hunt in the woods precious animals, squirrels, martens, hares, foxes, game birds, wolves and bears. I will hunt geese, swans, and gray ducks on the blue seas, lakes, and rivers. If an evil man will hold malice against me, that let that evil man eat all sand from the shore of blue sea, and drink all seawater, count all trees in the forest and all roots and stumps of spruce and aspen, wear out barley chaff in the eyes and to gnaw gravel stone. As God's mercy in the storm rises, the same way would have bones and joints of the evil man ached. And like by God's grace thunder booms and the arrow flies over to the devil, it would have the same arrow fell on the evil man. Be my words are strong and precise."

 There were enough charms and spells from the fire, cattle diseases to attract and to dispel shepherd's magic, as well as spells against unjust judges and clerks. But, as you can see with the hunting and military incantations in the old years, men used spells and women, and later charms became the exclusively female privilege.

 Apparently, the effect of spells had the same psychological basis as the present-day hypnosis or self-hypnosis.

 Many common household spells were created just before action.
 Sitting down, for example, to milk the cow, a woman whispered or spoke softly, to be heard only by the cow: "As long as I, servant of God, Katerina milk you, my Spotty, you stand still, milk milking, stand as the high mountain, flow of milk rivers stands still, not move, not wave the tail, don't step from one foot to another."