In many cultures, urine is considered to be a powerful and versatile substance with a range of healing properties.
It is often used to purify the body and spirit, and is also said to be a powerful antidote to poison.
In addition, urine is also said to have supernatural powers, and is often used in rituals and spells.
Here are some of the most common superstitions about urine.
1. Fox Pee Kills Gardens
Among the Greeks was a belief that fox urine could kill vegetation. So, if the garden was in a terrible state, one could always blame it on a fox.
2. Bewitched Cattle
In Encyclopædia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, Volume II (Cora Linn Daniels) we read that:
“When cattle have been bewitched, it was commonly though in Yorkshire, that if a bottle of urine from the diseased beast were obtained, then, after being tightly corked, buried mouth downward, the witch would be afflicted with strangulation, and in her suffering, confess the crime and beg forgiveness.” (P. 602)
3. Keep a Dog Close
From out of Germany we find the strange belief that adding a bit of one’s pee to the dog food will keep the dog close and free from the urge to run away.
4. Cleansing Cow Urine
Among the Norse, cow urine was used to cleanse objects and people of negative energy.
It was also used as a disinfectant and to prevent infection.
5. Pee Makes You Beautiful
John Gregory Bourke, in his pamphlet Popular Medicine, Customs and Superstitions of the Rio Grande, writes:
“Young ladies will first rub their faces and hands with fresh beef tallow, and then, just before going to bed, apply a lotion of the warm urine of a little boy.”
Women in the Rio Grande were not the only people to use urine as a beauty aid. In fact, superstition tells us that baby urine, when used as a face lotion, will make men handsome and that washing one’s hands in urine will make them soft and beautiful.
6. Blackhead Remover
Continuing on with pee as a face lotion, in Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need (William Carroll), we find the following:
“Let urine remain in a pot overnight and next morning remove the scum and bathe your face in the clear liquid to get rid of blackheads.” (P. 24)
This was also said to get rid of freckles.
7. Throat Gargle
A person might also use their own urine as a gargle to cure a sore throat.
8. To Get Rid of a Sty
According to folk magic, the surest way to get rid of a sty is to pee on the road. The first person to walk on your pee spot will get the sty and you will be free of it.
9. To Prevent Swimming Cramps
An unusual way to prevent swimming cramps, according to superstitions, is to rub your urine all over your body.
10. Defensive Magic
And what is the use of talking about urine superstitions if we don’t mention the witch bottle?
From They Believed That? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Superstitions and the Supernatural Around the World (William E. Burns, 2022):
“Urine was a key ingredient in the form of defensive magic used in the British Isles and known as the witch bottle. The urine of the bewitched person was placed in a bottle, along with a variety of ingredients often including pins and needles, and then buried in a remote corner of the house.” (P. 83)
