Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Commentary for Berakhot 11:6

האי מאן דבעי למידע להו לייתי קיטמא נהילא ונהדר אפורייה ובצפרא חזי כי כרעי דתרנגולא האי מאן דבעי למחזינהו ליתי שלייתא דשונרתא אוכמתא בת אוכמתא בוכרתא בת בוכרתא ולקליה בנורא ולשחקיה ולימלי עיניה מניה וחזי להו ולשדייה בגובתא דפרזלא ולחתמי' בגושפנקא דפרזלא דילמא גנבי מניה ולחתום פומיה כי היכי דלא ליתזק רב ביבי בר אביי עבד הכי חזא ואתזק בעו רבנן רחמי עליה ואתסי:

Who wishes to perceive their footprints should take sifted ashes and sprinkle them around his bed. In the morning he will see something resembling the footprints of a cock. Who wishes to see them should take the after-birth of a black she-cat, the offspring of a black she-cat, the first-born of a first-born, roast it in the fire, pulverise it, then fill his eyes with it, and he will see them. He must pour the powder into an iron tube and seal it with an iron signet, lest the evil spirits steal it. He must also seal its mouth, lest he come to harm. Rab Bebai b. Abbai did this ; he saw the evil spirits and was injured. The Rabbis prayed for him and he was cured.

Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

So M. Edd. : Who wishes to know them.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

Orientals regard the cock as a power of darkness, possibly because it crows in the dark. Cf. Sanh. 63b where "Succoth Benoth" (II Kings xvii. 30) is identified with the hen, and "Nergal" (ibid.) with the cock. Note also the reference to the cock's comb on fol. 7 a, p. 37.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

Cf. R. C. Thompson, Semitic Magic, p. 61, "The ashes of a black cat are a popular form of magician's stock-in-trade in the modern Arabic books of sorcery."
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