Lola Ferre, the research supervisor of thesis carried out by researcher Carmen Caballero Navas, responsible for the translation, introduction and indexes of this book published by the University of Granada, says that the discovery of “The women´s love book ” is due to the effort of researcher Carmen Caballero Navas, who revised for months the hundreds of manuscripts of the Institute of Hebrew Microfilmed Manuscripts of the Jewish National and University Library of Jerusalem until they found this book. According to Lola Ferre, “from that moment we set in motion a rigorous research about this book, which has revealed us new keys to understand the history of women, medical practice outside academies and language operation when writing without an appropriate terminology and for potential readers whose mother language or daily-life language was not Hebrew”.
The researcher and responsible for the edition, Carmen Caballero Navas, of the Department of Semitic Studies of the University of Granada, includes countless love formulas to win the heart of the lover; formulas to arouse passion, win people over, strengthen kidneys and improve coitus, medicines and other remedies for women to enjoy good health, to grow hair in any place, remove hair and prevent it from reappearing anymore, to dye hair blonde, whiten the face…
Herein lie some of the advices of the book to win the heart of the beloved woman: “Take the blood of a black cock and a black or white hen. Write your name and hers with both bloods on a blank parchment. Touch her with this parchment and she will love you; it has been tested and verified. And if you have an enemy, write his name and yours on a parchment with both bloods, mixed together, and your enemy will pay homage to you and will obey you thanks to the parchment.”
With a piece of bread: “take some bread leftovers of the woman you love, tie them with a piece of sky blue cloth, and leave them to dry by smoking them. All her body will dry with love for you.”
With the horns of a snail: “Take the horns of a snail in the name of the woman and put them in wax. Put (everything) into your mouth, kiss the woman you love and she will love you.”
With the eye of a calf: “Take the right eye of a calf, burn it and mix the ashes with olive oil; tell him to smear his penis with this concoction during the coitus.”
With human blood: “Take the blood of a man and a woman and put both bloods into a dove eggshell. Write his name and hers with the blood on the egg and close the hole of the egg with virgin wax. Afterwards, bury the egg in the ground the woman usually goes past and they will love each other.”
With an apple: “Take a red apple and write ´beautiful´ on it with the blood of your thigh; if she eats it, your love will be immediately stuck in her heart and nobody will be able to put it out.”
Reference: Professor: Carmen Caballero Navas. Department of Semitic Studies.
University of Granada.
Phone number: 958 243579
E-mail: carmenca@ugr.es
Dolores Ferre Cano.
Department of Semitic Studies.
University of Granada.
Phone number: 958 243580
E-mail: dferre@platon.ugr.es
