Lachrymatory
What is a Lachrymatory?
A Lachrymatory or tear catcher is precisely that, a vessel to catch or keep tears in..
A Brief History...
Lachrymatories go all the way back to ancient Rome and Greece, starting as terracotta vessels that contained oils and perfumes, supposedly where mourners could collect their tears.
The word Lachrymatory is derived from the Latin word lacrima which means tear. Most older Lachrymatories were shaped like a bulb with a long neck and a bulbous base and while terracotta was mostly used to make them, other materials such as glass and other ceramics were also used.
However, there is no concrete evidence from these time periods to support the use of Lachrymatories as tear catchers during this time. Due to so many being found in tombs, the idea of them being used to catch and hold tears was popularised during the Victorian era, where designs similar to the Lachrymatory pictured above became more common as wearable items though, the bulb design did persist but different coloured glass was now readily available and bottles were embellished with intricate designs and metallurgy.
Today, while not so popular, Lachrymatories can also be used for happy occasions such as weddings and births to collect the happy tears to be given as momentos.
How To Use In Your Craft
As with incorporating anything into your practice, it's all about researching connotations and associations. In this case, a Lachrymatory can have both benevolent and baneful depending on what you want to use it for.
For benevolent use, a Lachrymatory can be used to trap someone's grief or sadness or bestow happiness and joy, given the recent use of collecting happy tears.
For babeful use, it can be used to bestow grief and sadness onto someone or take away someone's joy and happiness.
Obviously, there's no hard and fast rules for Lachrymatory use in standard witchcraft though it is possible that some traditions may have set uses for them, if yours do, please let us know so we can add them to the post!
Apologies for the delay, but the post is finally here, take from this what you will and if you decide to use a Lachrymatory in your practice, let us know how it goes!
Blessings,
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