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"The witch bottle was a widespread and commonly employed method of sympathetic magic for countering witchcraft. A bottle was filled with the urine of a bewitched person, and some of his or her hair or nail-clippings were also put in, along with some sharp objects like thorns, pins or nails. The bottle was either buried or heated in a fire. The bottle represented a witch’s bladder, and the sharp objects were meant to cause the witch excruciating pain. This would force the witch to break the spell. There were numerous subtle variations on the practice."
… wrote Owen Davies, in his book "Witchcraft, Magic and Culture, 1736-1951" (Manchester, 1999), xiii.
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