The
magical garter has significance dating back to prehistoric times. Cave
art in eastern Spain that dates to the Paleolithic period shows a
sorcerer performing in a ritual while wearing nothing but a pair of
garters just below his knees.
In many traditions the
garter is worn only by a Witch Queen, or Queen of the Sabbat. However,
the traditional dress of Morris dancers consists of garters, usually
red, and "
Green Garters" is a traditional Morris Dancer tune.
In the trial recond of Margaret Johnson (Lancshsire 1633) the Devil was said to wear:
"a suite of black, tyed about with silke pointes (garters)."
If we take the position that the "Devil" was the Magister of the coven,
then we see that the garter is not the sole province of the Queen of
the Sabbat, but was also worn by men.
Red garters were
said to be worn by a witchcraft coven Summoner. The Summoner's job was
to advise members on meeting days and times. The red garters signified
to others that s/he was genuine. Gerald Gardner used the red garters as
a plot device to this effect in his novel about the witch cult,
High Magic's Aid.
In
some traditions the garter is prepared with green leather or velvet
with a lining made of blue silk. In others the garter is made of red
leather or snakeskin. There is usually one large, silver or gold buckle
on the garter, representing the Queen's own coven, with additional,
smaller, silver buckles for each of the other covens under her
authority. The garter is worn on the left leg, just above the knee. It
may be fastened with the large buckle or with silk ribbons.
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| Queens stitch garters, circa 1753. Wintertur Museum |
Pennethorne Hughes states that when a tortured witch
was likely to reveal others, he or she may be murdered in jail by the
other witches to avoid further arrests and tortures. To prove that the
murder had been done under those circumstances, a garter would be left
tied loosely around the victim's throat. Such a potential informant
would be known as a "warlock," meaning traitor. The case of John Stewart
of Irving in 1618 is one such example. John Reid, of Renfrewshire in
1696, is another. Many legends and folk tales have a garter as the
leitmotif.
The Witch Garter is found in English history as being linked to the creation of the Order of the Garter.
This order is Great Britain's highest and most ancient order of
knighthood. The most widespread story states that the countess of
Salisbury was dancing with King Edward III at a court function. As they
danced, the countess's garter fell to the ground. The king picked it up
and, to save her embarrassment, put it on his own leg with the words, "
Honi soit qui mal y pense"
(Shame be to him who thinks evil of it.") He went on to found the Order
of the Garter, with that phrase as its slogan. The precise date for the
founding of the order is not known, since the records have been
destroyed, but it is thought to be 1344 or 1350. The most likely date,
however, appears to be 1348.
Margaret Alice Murray
mentions that it took more than a dropped garter to embarrass a lady in
the 14th century, even a lady of the court. However, if the garter
dropped was a ritual one, demonstrating that its owner was in fact a
leader of the Old Religion, then there would be very real embarrassment,
particularly since there were high personages of the Christian Church
in attendance at the event. Edward's action, then, was incredibly smart
thinking, for in placing the garter on his own leg, he not only saved
face for the countess, but also proclaimed himself prepared to be a
leader of the Pagan population as well as the Christian. This was a
clever move taking into account that a large portion of his subjects
were still Pagan at that point in time. Murray is puzzled by Edward's
words, but if deemed as referring to the Old Religion itself, rather
than the action or the garter, then they make very good sense. Edward
then went on to form the Order of the Garter with twenty-four knights,
himself, and the Prince of Wales-a total of twenty-six, or the number of
two traditional covens. As Chief of the Order, the king wore a blue
velvet mantle powdered over with 168 tiny garters. Along with the one on
his leg, that made 169, or 13 times 13.
According to the
Key of Solomon by Mathers this is the proper procedure for making magical garters:
HOW TO MAKE THE MAGIC GARTERS
TAKE
enough of the skin of a stag to make two hollow tubular Garters, but
before stitching them up thou shalt write on the side of the skin which
was next the flesh the words and characters shown in Figure 8, with the
blood of a hare killed on the 25th of June, and having filled the said
Garters with green mugwort gathered also on the 25th of June before
sunrise, thou shalt put in the two ends of each the eye of the fish
called barbel; and when thou shalt wish to use them thou shalt get up
before sunrise and wash them in a brook of running water, and place them
one on each leg above the knee. After this thou shalt take a short rod
of holm-oak cut on the same 25th of June, turn in the direction thou
wishest to go, write upon the ground the name of the place, and
commencing thy journey thou wilt find it accomplished in a few days and
without fatigue. When thou wishest to stop thou hast only to say AMECH
and beat the air with the aforesaid wand, and incontinently thou shalt
be on firm ground.
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| Fig 8. "The Magick Garter" From the Key of Solomon |
*Note: This article was originally written by Laurelei for inclusion on the Blade and Broom blog.
