To Become “Invisible” (or To Go Unnoticed by Others)

To become “invisible" (or to go unnoticed by others), travel to the cemetery and find a grave that lies directly between two trees. Collect moss from the headstone and a bit of dirt from the grave and carry it home. When you are ready, combine the moss and dust and grind into a powder. Sprinkle this powder over your head and shoulders, saying: With this powder, I cloak myself in spirit to walk unseen as spirits do. Let me remain so until I wash this dust away.

Adaptation Notes: The original charm used as the foundation for this adaptations can be viewed here in its original Swedish, in the 1917 publication “Signerier och Besvärjelser: Svartkonst från Lappland". The original charm, titled “Att göra sig oslynlig", reads:

Att göra sig oslynlig

För att kunna göra sig osynlig förfar man på följande sätt: Man tager--köper--ett människoben en lördagsnatt mellan tolv och ett. Med en kniv skrapar man benet till mjöl. Därpå tager man mjölet och strör på huvudet och säger: "Härmig uti osynlig måtto som anden, som en gång haver varit förenad med detta ben och lämnar jag min själ i pant. Bonus Bister under Djävulens sigill i Guds Faderns, Sons och Helig Andes namn." När man åter vill bli synlig stampar man kniven i ett träd eller en husvägg.

English Translation:

To Make Oneself Invisible

To make oneself invisible, proceed as follows: Obtain—​​purchase—a human bone on a Saturday night between twelve and one o'clock. Scrape the bone into a powder with a knife. Then, sprinkle the powder over your head and say: "I make myself invisible, like the spirit who was once united with this bone; I pledge my soul as payment. Bonus Bister, under the Devil's seal, in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." When you wish to become visible again, stab the knife into a tree or the wall of a house.

This adaptation was made to eliminate the use of a human bone. At the time that this charm was originally written down (not published), corpse medicine was fairly common and it was possible (as noted by the author) to purchase human bones and other body parts from the apothecary. This is no longer possible and the use of human remains is not something I am comfortable with, so I chose to adapt this charm by utilizing the cemetery as a contagion element attached to spirit, rather than remains.

Sources:

• Johansson, J., & Lindskoug, O. (1917). Lappmannen Jon Johanssons signerier och besvärjelser: Svartkonst från Lappland. Maiander.