Magical Drafts And Potions
Arsenius Jigger was a notable potioneer, former Ministry of Magic employee, and professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Following his retirement, he traveled the world studying various forms of defensive magic and potions in the hopes of giving young people a solid foundation in magical knowledge upon their entrance into Hogwarts. The following represents the third printing since Jigger’s original publication of Magical Drafts and Potions in 1856. Although the content remains the same, the editor has left footnotes to denote changes in legislation, theory, and other relevant content.
Last Updated
05/31/21
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The Foundation Of Potions
Chapter 8
As those versed with a basic healing will note, while the recipe does provide separate magical ingredients that may assist in healing those who have been poisoned, the ingredients have not been added to flame or any external magical source either. Instead, the dittany and bezoar acted as magical agents curing any internal afflictions and poison, while the vinegar and charcoal acted as mundane healing agents.
As a cultural note, parts of the Arabian oryx are still used with relative frequency in potions in the Middle East.[1]
Scene from Oenét Emire by H.R. Millar, “Cúchulainn Rebuked by Emer”
Moving ahead in time, as witches and wizards began to undertake use of the fire and their own inherent magic in their brewing, it was the ancient Celts who pioneered strength potions as well as mind-altering potions. In this discussion of the Ancient Celtic people, the author begins his accounting around 800 BCE with what is known as the Halstatt culture, named after the Iron Age tribes of Halstatt, Austria. This archaeological site is still being investigated by magical and non-magical archaeologists, but magiarchaeologists have already found numerous magical artifacts, including evidence of early potioneering.
In Celtic culture, as in many cultures at this time, witches and wizards (or druids) often held positions as priests and other high religious posts within communities. It is in fact thought that the Tuatha Dé Danann, the mythological race of Celtic pseudo-deities, may have actually grown from early communities of powerful magical persons. Each clan in the Celtic tradition boasted its own druids who helped the clan prosper and thrive, particularly in times of war. As such, Celtic witches and wizards were responsible for discovering many strength and endurance potions, as well as certain battle-centered healing to assist those who had been fatally wounded in some form. One particularly well-known witch from the Celtic tribes was Ailidh of Aiadava (375-284 BCE), a druidess who was notorious for her particularly stunning strength potions. Fortification Fluid, which utilizes primarily salamander blood, griffin claw, and dandelion root, is an invention of Ailidh’s that is still used by wizardkind today.
The Celtic druids were also famous for their Draft of Oblivion, a strong mind-bending potion that could selectively eliminate certain memories entirely from the drinker. The most well-known instance of this potion’s effects is in the narrative Oenét Emire, or “The Only Jealousy of Emer.” The tale speaks of the warrior Cú Chulainn and his wife Emer, and of a curse put on Chulainn when he attempts to kill two exotic-looking seabirds in honor of his wife. It turns out that these seabirds were Fand and Lí Ban, who are reported to be otherworldly women in Irish mythology, but who may in fact have been Animagi instead. Throughout the course of the story, Chulainn falls in love with Fand, and although he had many affairs throughout his life, this love is the only one that brings Emer to jealousy. In the end of the narrative, the druids give Chulainn and Emer a Draft of Oblivion, causing Chulainn to forget Fand entirely while Emer forgets her jealousy.
This Draft of Oblivion still boasts remarkably powerful properties today, rivalling those of Lethe River Water. The recipe primarily consists of lovage, scurvy grass, mistletoe berries, and valerian. Only a magical person with thorough experience and understanding of this potion should ever brew or use it, owing to its remarkable strength and troubling side effects if used incorrectly.
An inscription depicting an Egyptian hair-growing potion
Via Blaine Harrington III/Corbis
TMagical practices in Egypt, known as heka, consisted of some of the most powerful and advanced spells of which we have record today. Part of the power of heka, however, also comes from the mystery associated with it. Egyptian magi were a deeply distrusting and skeptical community, and they hid the secrets of many of their spells and potions so that we still have little evidence of their methodology today. In ancient Egypt, the written word and reading were affiliated with power and magic. Thus, if a person could read a spell or a recipe, it was believed they could wield the magic affiliated with that spell. Much magical knowledge was thus kept to oral tradition, passed on from master to apprentice in order to keep this knowledge hidden from competitors or foes.
What little we have uncovered of Egyptian potions indicates that they specialized in beautifying and love potions, and they also made ample use of the scarab beetle in intelligence and healing potions. The illustration above portrays a hair-growing potion from Ancient Egypt that utilized porcupine quills, the feather of an ibex, and fairy wings, as well as other local Egyptian magical plant essences. Fairy wings, parts of roses, ginger, and unicorn hair were also used in many Egyptian beautifying potions. In contrast to the hair-growing potion, bat blood was also used by many Egyptian magical women to brew certain serums to remove unwanted hair.
As any witch or wizard who studies love potions can attest, these potions - indeed, we believe even including these ancient potions in Egypt - do not create true “love,” as defined as the comfort and joining of two souls. Instead, it is believed that, as modern love potions, these potions utilized aphrodisiacs to create focused physical attraction as well as other psychological manipulations to create infatuation and intense admiration. However, the secrets of Egyptian “love potions” are among the most mysterious and yet-unknown of Egyptian potioneering, so the author hesitates to make assumptions as to their nature, taking into account the sophisticated and advanced technology displayed by Egyptian magic overall.
Ancient Egyptian civilization, which begins according to many accounts in 3150 BCE with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under one pharaoh, leads nicely into the next chapter on potions in classical antiquity and early medieval Europe, for in their dealings with Egypt, Greek and Roman wizards were often envious of the secrets of heka to which they were not privy, and there are many accounts of failed plots to coerce Egyptian magi to disclose their secrets.
[1]Subsequent to this publication, the use of Arabian oryx in potions was outlawed through an act by the International Ministry of Magic. The species actually went extinct in the wild in the 1920s, and only began to be reintroduced to the wild in the 1980s, at which point, these strict laws came into effect.
