_Asherim_ (singular _asherah_), sacred poles, in Canaan, iv. 169, v. 18, 18 _n._ 2, 107, 108
Ashes from a pyre used to cause sleep, i. 148; of serpents in homoeopathic magic, i. 152 _sq._; of spiders in homoeopathic magic, i. 152; of wasps in homoeopathic magic, i. 152; of a blind cat in homoeopathic magic, i. 153; of the dead turned into rain, i. 287; scattered as a rain-charm, i. 304; scattered to make sunshine, i. 314; of holy fire rubbed on foreheads of warriors, ii. 215; of unborn calves used in a fertility charm, ii. 229, 326; strewn on the head, iii. 112; as manure, vii. 117; of human victims scattered on fields, vii. 258; of the dead swallowed as a mode of communion with them, viii. 156 _sqq._; in divination, x. 243, 244, 245. _See also_ Sticks, Charred
—— of bonfires put in fowls’ nests, x. 112, 338; mixed with seed at sowing, x. 121; increase fertility of fields, x. 141, 337; make cattle thrive, x. 141, 338; placed in a person’s shoes, x. 156; administered to cattle to make them fat, xi. 4
—— of dead smeared on mourner, viii. 164; disposal of the, x. 11
—— of holy fires a protection against demons, xi. 8, 17
—— of human victim scattered with winnowing-fans, vi. 97, 106, vii. 260, 262; scattered on earth to fertilize it, vii. 240; scattered on fields, vii. 249, 250, 251
—— of Midsummer fires strewed on fields to fertilize them, x. 170, 190, 203; a protection against conflagration, x. 174, 196; a protection against lightning, x. 187, 188; a protection against thunder, x. 190; put by people in their shoes, x. 191 _sq._; a cure for consumption, x. 194 _sq._; rubbed by people on their hair or bodies, x. 213, 214, 215; good for the eyes, x. 214
—— of the need-fire strewn on fields to protect the crops against vermin, x. 274; used as a medicine, x. 286
—— of New Year’s fire used to rub sore eyes, x. 218
Ashes of Yule log strewed on fields, x. 250; used to heal swollen glands, x. 251
Ashintilly, Spalding of, bewitched, iii. 299
Ashira, the, of West Africa, make fetishes out of clipped hair, iii. 271 _sq._; women the agricultural labourers among, vii. 120
Ashtaroth, Babylonian goddess, ix. 365 _sq._
Ashtoreth (Astarte), v. 18 _n._ 2 _See_ Astarte
_Ashur_, Arab New Year’s Day, x. 217, 218