Czech Sorcerer Mythology Archives

The Myth

The Earth Mirror is a magical object belonging to a wicked sorcerer in the Bohemian Forest. Through it, he can see distant events and use his magic to interfere with people far beyond his reach.

One day, a farmer was driving his empty wagon home between Lichten and Sehenmichnit when his oxen suddenly became unable to move it. No matter how hard he struck them with his whip, the animals struggled in vain, and the wagon remained frozen in place.

A little man emerged from the woods and told the farmer to strike the wagon’s rear wheel with his hoe. The farmer followed the advice, and the wagon immediately began rolling again.

When he returned home, the farmer discovered that his neighbour, a notorious sorcerer, was lying in bed with a chopped-off foot. The sorcerer owned a magical mirror through which he could observe distant events. When he saw the farmer and his wagon in the mirror, he had placed his own foot against the wheel’s reflection, magically stopping the real wagon as well.

By striking the wheel with his hoe, the farmer had unknowingly struck the sorcerer’s foot through the connection between the mirror and the real world.

The tale presents the Earth Mirror as a dangerous magical object that allows a sorcerer to reach across great distances, but also exposes him to harm through the very magic he uses against others.

Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: Sepp, Brother Strangelove
Category: Sorcerer

The Myth

The Strange Sepp was a mysterious man from Eisenstein in the Bohemian Forest who travelled from farm to farm, working wherever he was needed. He could serve as a farmhand, tend oxen, or take on almost any other job. He was known for his strange behaviour and his habit of laughing whenever something was stolen from him. He would simply say that a thief could be caught if one knew the right secrets.

One day, Sepp was helping a group of workers mow a meadow. During their midday meal, he hung his mower’s belt, drinking vessel, and whetstone nearby. When they returned, all three items had disappeared. The other workers mocked him and challenged him to use his mysterious abilities to get them back.

Sepp went straight to the village and gathered a piece of chalk, a wax candle, and a small empty cup. He drew a circle around himself, lit the candle, turned the cup upside down, and placed the light between his feet. Then he began reciting a dark spell.

The magic took hold of the thief, forcing him to turn back and return the stolen equipment, no matter how far away he had travelled. After witnessing this, the villagers stopped mocking Sepp and realised that he possessed genuine supernatural powers.

Yet Sepp’s strange abilities seemed to come at a spiritual cost. That same year, he was not allowed to receive confession, and whenever he attended church, he had to leave before the priest departed. He even declared that if he died that year, nobody should fetch a clergyman for him.

The tale portrays Sepp as a mysterious sorcerer whose knowledge could command supernatural forces, but whose relationship with the Church suggested that his powers came from a dark and dangerous source.

Sources

“Der seltsame Sepp” (The Strange Sepp). SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/sepp.html