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Various methods for becoming a werewolf have been reported, one of the simplest being the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolfskin, probably as a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin (which also is frequently described).
In other cases, the body is rubbed with a magic salve. To drink rainwater out of the footprint of the animal in question or to drink from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis.
In Italy, France and Germany, it was said that a man could turn into a werewolf if he, on a certain Wednesday or Friday, slept outside on a summer night with the full moon shining directly on his face. In other cultures, individuals born during a new moon or suffering from epilepsy were considered likely to be werewolves.
These differences created several types, somehow incompatible, of werewolves in modern fiction: cursed, enchanted, viral and spiritual.
Suggestion no doubt plays a large part in producing a belief in the power to change form at will, and the occult aspect of transformation is perhaps more interesting than any other view of the subject. Incantations, salves, herbs, drugs, perfumes, and other accessories of ritual are merely employed to strengthen concentrative force and to … Read more
Becoming a werewolf simply by being bitten by another werewolf as a form of contagion is common in modern fiction, but rare in legend, in which werewolf attacks seldom left the victim alive to transform. Modern authors were probably inspired by the kiss of the vampire to add this form of transmission of lycanthropy. The … Read more
According to German and Polish folklore, any person could transform himself into a werewolf by using a so-called wolf strap or magic belt. Whoever fastened such a strap around himself would turn into a wolf. A wolf strap was a gift from the devil. A person who possessed such a strap could not get rid … Read more
In the Balkanic Peninsula grows a flower that, people say, if eaten, transforms the eater into a werewolf. Lycanthropous flowers possess properties peculiar to themselves which are only discernible to those who are well acquainted with them. Their scent is described as faint and subtly suggestive of death, whilst their sap is rather offensively white … Read more