Rubbing a Wart with a Coin Can Cure It

Details

In many traditional folk healing systems, rubbing a wart with a coin—especially a silver one—while reciting specific words or prayers, followed by discarding, burying, or offering the coin at a symbolically significant location (such as a crossroads or under a tree), was believed to cure the wart. The rationale behind the ritual was the idea of transference magic, where the unwanted ailment is passed from the body to an object.

Some versions of the superstition include:

Using a silver coin, thought to have purifying or protective properties.
Timing the ritual with the waning moon, symbolizing decrease and removal.
Washing the coin in holy water or wrapping it in plant leaves before disposal.
Repeating the ritual for multiple warts, one coin per wart, or rubbing all warts at once.

The wart would supposedly shrink and disappear over time, interpreted as the coin carrying away the affliction. Because many warts, especially in children, disappear naturally over weeks or months, the perceived success of this ritual further reinforced belief in its effectiveness.

Historical Context

This remedy draws on multiple folk medicine and magical traditions, particularly in Europe and early America:

The use of coins in healing rites reflected their perceived magical potency, given their value and frequent use in other charms.
Sympathetic magic—a belief that “like affects like”—is a core feature, seen in countless folk remedies.
The crossroads, where the coin is often buried, was considered a liminal space where spiritual and physical worlds intersected.
Friction from rubbing the wart may have had mild physical benefits, blending with ritual speech or prayer to create a layered healing act.
Similar treatments were used in wart cures involving potatoes, beans, and even live toads, all grounded in the idea of transfer and release.

The wart’s visibility, relative harmlessness, and common spontaneous regression made it an ideal candidate for folk treatment and “proof” of magical cures.

Modern Relevance

While medical professionals today attribute wart regression to immune response, the coincidental disappearance of warts following these rituals helped preserve their reputation. Studies suggest that belief-based or placebo effects may stimulate physiological responses in the immune system, offering partial validation for psychosomatic components of traditional practices.

Though rarely practiced seriously today, the ritual remains part of cultural memory, family folklore, and rural storytelling. In some communities, modified versions of the tradition are passed down as childhood rites, blending play with cultural education.

This superstition illustrates how folk medicine practices often combined tangible actions (like rubbing) with spiritual elements (coin rituals) to treat common conditions—sometimes with real, if unintended, effects.

Sources

Hand, W. D. (1980). Magical Medicine: The Folkloric Component of Medicine in the Folk Belief, Custom, and Ritual of the Peoples of Europe and America. University of California Press.
Morris, D. (1999). “Warts and All: Folklore Cures.” Clinician Reviews, 9(6), 145–152.

Quick Facts

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