I see in the t.v. show Supernatural, that when warding off spirits and demons they use rock salt. Is this an actual idea in lore; that salt repels evil spirits, or is it simply an idea that the writers for the show created? Also, the pentagrams that they draw on the floor to trap demon inside, are those real ideas as well, or just fictional? Are there really types of traps for demons? I know the Devil's Trap in the Key of Solomon, but I was wondering if just pentagrams work as well. If anyone has any information, please let me know. Thanks!

The idea of that is because Salt, Rock Salt is a pure form of salt it'self, and by using pure salt it purifies such things, like water has small traces of rock salt to purify, infact it's even used in the purification process. Just what i think at least.

I guess it depends on your beliefs but I know alot of people believe rock salt keeps demons away.

Me neither. I see it on tv like the haunting. But that show is someone else's story re-enacted so you are getting their account of the situation. So do i think that if these things exist you can keep them away with salt, probably not.... maybee it doesn't matter what the circle is made out of, maybee its more along the lines of the energy you put out. I was just thinking maybee if a group of people are using there combined thought/ energy to feel/keep safe in the circle its more their combined thought power doing it. maybee banded together combined energy they cant overcome... maybee thats why they portray it on tv as the entity looking for weaknesses in the circle to get to the people. Is there truth to it, i donno but in theory, who am i to say its not possible. I mean they say we only use a small percentage of our brain. Maybee the human body has more brain power to it, and we don't understand its full potential or combined potential. The ability of our brains is not even begun to be understood... no way is this based on fact its just a thought...

Okay, on the above posts, Black Swamp says he DOES know people that use rock salt, and Bankai, you say, "me neither". Did one of you mean the other? Black Swamp did you mean you that you don't know poeple or do you and Bankai didn't understand. I'm just trying to figure out what you guys said. Also, about the circles, the ones im referring to aren't made out of salt. (though those have been made on the show as well) I was just asking about simply drawn, spray-painted etc. circles of pentagrams, with any specific types of runes that contain and trap demons. If anyone knows please reply. Thanks!

Sorry i thought i read he doesn't know a lot of people.... sorry my bad

Salt was once considered a precious commodity, it was actually used as currency in some parts of the world way back in the yesteryear. I know Roman soldiers sometimes got paid in salt. So because it was so highly valued, superstitions inevitably formed around it.

Salt then (and still now) is symbolic. It symbolises the prevention of decay, which many associate with 'evil' and 'bad luck.' So, salt became quickly indoctrinated into many circles rituals for it's 'purity.' And is still in use today. I've met a few people that pour salt over doorways and window sills to prevent 'bad spirits' from entering.

-Akaebeel

I agree with what you are saying, but do you think it's because of salt's 'purity' that it became such a symbol, or it it because of it's 'ablility to purify'?

Indeed salt was valued as much as gold in the Songhai empire of West Africa, 1591,one pound of salt for one pound of gold. I did not know salt was used to prevent bad spirits from entering a home.
Very interesting. Aanica

So we're all agreed about the salt, as for the pentagrams, I think they simplified it for the show. There are circles that can be cast to trap demons and spirits, but I think it is inaccurate to call them pentagrams.

The pentagram is a perversion of the pentacle. The 5 points of the pentacle represent the elements; earth, air, water, fire and spirit. The spirit point of the pentacle points up towards God and heaven. The pentagram perverts this by pointing the spirit point down towards Satan and hell.

So a pentagram would have no power to constrain a demon.



And I just have to say; I had such high hopes for that show when I first heard about it, but I was quickly disappointed. I don't care who you are or what you use, shooting anything (bullets or rock salt) at a ghost will have no effect on the ghost.

Actually, the description of the pentacle and pentagram is not accurate. Generally speaking, and from what I know, a pentacle is the pentagram with a circle around it. Of course, there are variations of it, but that is also important to know. Many religions have used a variation of this and so what we believe to be true, may be completely different from someone else's truth.

Supernatural is just a show for entertainment. What goes on in that show is just fiction.

Salt as a Majical Substance
author unknown
more on salt...
http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/mhs/mhs39.htm


The natives of Morocco regard salt as a talisman against evil, and a common amulet among the Neapolitan poor is a bit of rock-salt suspended from the neck. The peasants of the Hartz Mountain region in Germany believe that three grains of salt in a milk-pot will keep witches away from the milk; and to preserve butter from their uncanny influences, it was a custom in the county of Aberdeen, Scotland, some years ago, to put salt on the lid of a churn. In Normandy, also, the peasants are wont to throw a little salt into a vessel containing milk, in order to protect the cow who gave the milk from the influences of witchcraft.

Peculiar notions about the magical properties of salt are common among American negroes. Thus in some regions a new tenant will not move into a furnished house until all objects therein have been thoroughly salted, with a view to the destruction of witch-germs. Another example of the supernatural attributes ascribed to salt is the opinion current among uneducated people in some communities of its potency in casting a spell over obnoxious individuals. For this purpose it is sufficient either to sprinkle salt over the sleeping form of an enemy, or on the grave of one of his ancestors. Another kind of salt-spell in vogue in the south of England consists in throwing a little salt into the fire on three successive Friday nights, while saying these words:

It is not this salt I wish to burn,
It is my lover's heart to turn;
That be may neither rest nor happy be,
Until he comes and speaks to me.

On the third Friday night the disconsolate damsel expects her lover to appear. Every one is familiar with the old saying, "You can catch a bird with your hand, if you first put some salt on its tail." This quaint expression has been thought to imply that, if one can get near enough to a bird to place salt on its tail, its capture is an easy matter. The phrase, however, may be more properly attributed to a belief in the magical properties of salt in casting a spell over the bird. Otherwise any substance mioht be equally effective for the purpose of catching it. The writer remembers having read somewhere an old legend about a young man who playfully threw some salt on the back of a witch sitting next to him at table, and the witch thereupon acquired such an increase of avoirdupois that she was unable to move until the young man obligingly brushed away the salt.

The ancient Teutons believed that the swift flight of birds was caused by certain powerful spirits of the air. Now salt is a foe to ghostly might, imparts weight to bodies, and impedes their motion; therefore the rationale of its operation when placed upon a bird's tail is easily intelligible.

In the Province of Quebec French Canadians sometimes scatter salt about the doors of their stables to prevent those mischievous little imps called lutins from entering and teasing the horses by sticking burrs in their manes and tails. The lutin or gobelin is akin to the Scandinavian household spirit, who is fond of children and horses, and who whips and pinches the former when they are naughty, but caresses them when good. In Marsala, west Sicily, a horse, mule, or donkey, on entering a new stall, is thought to be liable to molestation by fairies. As a precautionary measure, therefore, a little salt is placed on the animal's back, and this is believed to insure freedom from lameness, or other evil resulting from fairy spite. Common salt has long enjoyed a reputation as a means of procuring disenchantment. It was an ingredient of a salve "against nocturnal goblin visitors" used by the Saxons in England, and described in one of their ancient leech-books; while in the annals of folk-medicine are to be found numerous references to its reputed virtues as a magical therapeutic agent. In Scotland, when a person is ailing of some affection whose nature is not apparent, as much salt as can be placed on a sixpence is dissolved in water, and the solution is then applied three times to the soles of the patient's feet, to the palms of his hands, and to his forehead. He is then expected to taste the mixture, a portion of which is thrown over the fire while saying, "Lord, preserve us frae a' skaith."

The Germans of Buffalo valley in central Pennsylvania believe that a boy may be cured of homesickness by placing salt in the hems of his trousers and making him look up the chimney.

In India the natives rub salt and wine on the affected part of the body as a cure for scorpion bites, believing that the success of this treatment is due to the supernatural virtue of the salt in searing away the fiends who caused the pain. An ancient Irish charm of great repute in cases of suspected "fairy-stroke" consisted in placing on a table three equal portions of salt in three parallel rows. The would-be magician then encircles the salt with his arm and repeats the Lord's Prayer thrice over each row. Then, taking the hand of the fairy-struck person, he says over it, "By the power of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, let this disease depart and the spell of evil spirits be broken." Then follows a solemn adjuration and command addressed to the supposed demon, and the charm is complete.

In Bavaria and the Ukraine, in order to ascertain whether a child has been the victim of bewitchment, the mother licks its forehead; and if her sense of taste reveals thereby a marked saline flavor, she is convinced that her child has been under the influence of an evil eye.

In the Swiss canton of Bern a person is believed to be amply fortified against all kinds of spiritual enemies by the simple expedient of carrying a piece of fresh bread and a psalm-book in the right and left coat pockets respectively, provided one is careful to have some rock-salt either in each vest pocket, or inside a briarwood cane upon which three crosses have been cut. In Bohemia a mother seeks to protect her daughter from evil glances by placing a little bread and salt in her pocket; and when a young girl goes out for a walk the mother sprinkles salt on the ground behind her, so that she may not lose her way.

Holy water has been employed in the religious ceremonies of many peoples as a means of purifying both persons and things, and also to keep away demons. Sprinkling and washing with it were important features of the Greek ritual.

The holy water of the Roman Catholic Church is prepared by exorcising and blessing salt and water separately, after which the salt is dissolved in the water and a benediction pronounced upon the mixture. In the Hawaiian ritual, sea-water was sometimes preferred.

A Magyar house-mistress will not give any salt to a woman who may come to the door and ask for it in the early morning, believing that any such would-be borrower is surely a witch; but in order to keep away all witches and hags, she strews salt on the threshold. On St. Lucien's Day neither salt nor fire must be taken out of the house.

Among the Japanese, the mysterious preservative qualities of salt are the source of various superstitions. The mistress of a household will not buy it at night and when purchased in the daytime a small quantity is thrown into the fire in order to prevent discord in the family, and to avert misfortune generally.

In Scotland salt was formerly in high repute as a charm, and the salt-box was the first chattel to be removed to a new dwelling. When Robert Burns, in the year 1789, was about to occupy a new house at Ellisland, he was escorted on his route thither along the banks of the river Nith by a procession of relatives, and in their midst was borne a bowl of salt resting on the family Bible.

In some places in the north of England the giving away of salt is a dangerous procedure; for if the salt thus given comes into the possession of an evil-wisher, it places the donor entirely in the power of such a person.

In upper Egypt, previous to the setting out of a caravan, it is customary for the native women to throw salt on burning coals, which are carried in earthen vessels and set down before the different loads. While so doing they exclaim, "May you be blessed in going and coming," and such incantations they believe render inert all the machinations of evil spirits.

Furnace- A pentacle is a perversion of a pentegram is a perversion of a pentagon.

And not all inverse pentacle's mean the same thing. In some wicca trad's it is the symbol of the 2nd or 3rd degree. Can't remember which and to lazy to look. And of course a myriad of other meanings as well.

However I've never heard of just a simple pentacle being used to trap a demon.

A basic pentacle is a star with a circle around it. A basic pentagram is an upside down star with a circle around it. Obviously they get more complicated than that (Do a google image search for "key of solomon" to see some).




The simple ones have next to no power. I have drawn a basic pentagram in the air with my finger and stuck my hand in the area I drew it in and there was a noticeable temperature difference (1-1.5 degrees warmer) in the area. I told my friends and they did it also and noticed the same thing. So it at least has a little power.




I know that but I was really disappointed.

About these demon traps, does anyone know where I can find drawings or depictions of them? I think there may be drawings of them, or similar ideas, in the Key of Solomon books, but I haven't looked into that yet. If anyone knows if they're in those books, or any books/websites, please let me know. I don't really have a specific use for them as of now, but I was just researching them. Thanks.