“As they entered the cave’s opening, the two young girls gasped in unison: the water inside was a radiant sapphire color. Once she had the gozzo situated toward the back, Mari leaned over in the boat and plunged her hand beneath the blue depths, feeling for the cave wall. She touched something spongy and soft, bringing it to the surface. It was a clump of sea algae. She held it out for Lia, pointing to a cluster of tiny spheres, resembling yellow bubbles, hidden among the algae. Fish eggs. “How many?” Pippa asked, leaning forward. Mari squinted in the low light, counting. “Hundreds,” she said, feeling pleased. “Because of the incantesimo dell’elemento?” Lia asked, fumbling over the words. “The one where we use the dried-up fish snout?” “Close,” Mari replied, “but not quite. For this, there is no need to change the composition of the water. Only the temperature of it, which is the incantesimo raffreddare.” Such cold-water spells resulted in good conditions for breeding. It also attracted tiny organisms, which meant food for larger fish. “Do you remember which tool that spell requires?” Lia frowned for a moment. “The mermaid’s purse.” “Right.” Mari nodded. “The shark egg-sack.” EggsWitchcraftLessonSharkWater MagicIncantation Spells Book:The Amalfi Curse Source: The Amalfi Curse
“Witchcraft? Seriously? In spite of this, I spent the next hour reading everything I could find online about stregheria. Its existence was a pervasive legend through Italy, particularly in the Napoli region: the first streghe were believed to have originated in medieval times in Benevento, while the sea witches specifically had originated in the Positano region. As a whole, the women were known for reciting strange incantations and venerating various amulets, the most important of which was a cimaruta, a sort of talisman necklace meant to protect the water. It featured tiny branches, like coral, and charms such as hearts or moons. These women, I learned, were largely practitioners of benevolent kitchen magic: they worked with babies and herbs and gemstones. Today, many women still practiced forms of stregheria, though they were taken about as seriously as other practitioners of the esoteric, like mediums or Reiki healers. Which was to say, not very seriously at all. On an obscure website about the legends of the streghe del mare, I stumbled across a register of sea-spell incantations and their associated tools. I thought the list seemed rather ludicrous--- mermaid's combs and century-long spells?--- but interesting, nevertheless, and I found myself googling images of hagstones and shark egg sacks.” ResearchItalianWitchcraftGoogle SearchSea WitchStreghe Book:The Amalfi Curse Source: The Amalfi Curse