In the 16th century girdle measuring was a common practice for
wise women to see if evil spirits or faeries have invaded a persons body.
Any unexplained weight gain especially after an illness was considered
very suspicious. Their girdle or belt would be measured and if the wise
woman believed it to have increased in size charms and incantations
would be said over it. Then the belt would be measured again and if it did
not show a reduction in size it would be chopped into bits and buried.
This was supposed to be a sure fire way of getting rid of unwanted possesions.
Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles
I have found another remedy for those bewitched dating from 1683- Doctor Lilly's Last Legacy
Take two horseshoes, heat them red hot and nail one on the threshold of the
door but quench the other in the urine of the party bewitched; then set the
urine over the fire in a pot or pipkin and put the horseshoe into it. Make the
urine boil, with a little salt unto it., and three horseshoe nails until it is
almost consumed: what is not boiled away cast into the fire. Keep then your
horseshoes and nails in a clean cloth or paper and use the same manner three times.
It will be the more effectual if it be done at the change of full of the moon.
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