A 350-year-old magician's manuscript with a spell to 'get a woman to dance naked' has sold for £22,000.

The dense 476-page text also offers wisdom on how to make someone fall in love with you, lose weight and know if a 'sick person shall die'.

The manuscript of charms, remedies and spells is believed to have been penned by a rural folk magician from Essex in the mid-17th century.

He was part of a group that went by the name of the 'Cunning Men of Essex' and were respected in their communities for their supposed powers.

The manuscript has a number of bizarre spells and charms (
Image:
Tooveys/BNPS)

According to the manuscript, it is possible to 'make a woman dance naked' by saying the words 'ala aymala' or inscribing them in fresh wax, but this can only be achieved at full moon.

The spell reads: "When there be a full moon to inscribe in fresh wax, or speak the words 'ala aymala' and the lady will dance."

Dietary advice is offered 'to make a fat man lean again' by concocting a broth of fennel and drinking it every day for a month.

To make a woman fall in love, the manuscript suggests cooking her a broth made with pig bones and then consuming it together.

It states: "Write her name on parchment and throw into the fire on which you cook a broth of herbs mixed with pig bones and share with the lady."

On the more mundane end of the spectrum, there are instructions for 'how to catch pigeons' and 'recover decayed tobacco'.

The manuscript was expected to fetch a few hundred pounds but exceeded all expectations when it sold at auction with Toovey's, of West Sussex.

It achieved a hammer price of £18,000, with extra fees taking the overall figure paid by a private collector to £22,000.

Charlie Howe, book specialist at Toovey's, said: "This manuscript was penned by an Essex folk musician in the mid-17th century who was one of the 'cunning men of Essex'.

"There are recipes, spells and incantations to solve practical problems of people in rural areas and also more interesting conundrums such as how to make someone fall in love with you or get a girl to dance naked.

It had been expected to fetch a few hundred pounds at auction (
Image:
Tooveys/BNPS)

"These magicians were respected in the community back then, although one would imagine they wouldn't get the same response if they offered the same advice today.

"We believe it performed so well at auction because it is an unpublished manuscript and there is a strong interest in the market for items relating to witchcraft."

The cunning folk in Britain were professional or semi-professional practitioners of magic who were active from the Medieval period through the early 20th century.

They used spells and charms to combat malevolent witchcraft, enabling them to locate criminals, missing persons or stolen property

Other strings to their bow were fortune telling, healing, treasure hunting and making people fall in love.