The Tauta

In my book, Gold ‘n Silver, the Tauta are ancient magicians who mutter their spells at the intended targets. In the Bible and texts of Babylon, these were originally of, or associated with, the Mecashaphim.

They use a variety of other methods to cast including bumping into people or through sex magick. Afflictions are transferred between humans through the sex magick, and the physical impact of the “bump” from their body into another actually transfers afflictions and spells.

Often the victim of their magick is unaware of the hex or charm. The astute or initiated can see the mark of the Tauta on or near the ankle of victims as two dots-like a spider or serpent bite. In Syriac, ashaphim came to be synonymous with snake charmer.

Their magick is considered a dark shamanic path (which many ancients simply referred to as witchcraft) that blends many cultures and traditions, so it is difficult to defend against.

One being pursued by the Tauta will find that they see individuals muttering or moving their mouths very quickly around them. This form of spellcraft is around the muttering or murmur (different from the djinn whisper) so the victim will see the lips move faster than normal patterns of speech. This makes lip reading difficult for vampyre adept at interpreting such actions.

The Tauta is often controversial not only because of their methods and the targeting of those who have not wronged them (they are often hired to do harm) but because their name is quite similar to that of an ancient werewolf clan, the Tua/Tuah/Tuwa.

Tua speaks to werewolves having “two” faces or the second face.