of their own, which were serene,
harmonious, and eternal. This contrasted with the change, death,
and decay that occurred in the earthly world. Also in this world,
Aristotle's four elements of earth, air, fire, and water sought
their natural places, e.g. bubbles of air rising through water.
The planets were called wanderers because their motion did not
fit the circular scheme.

God intervened in daily life, especially if worshipped. Saints
such as Bede and Hilda performed miracles, especially ones of
curing. Their spirits could be contacted through their relics,
which rested at the altars of churches. When someone was said to
have the devil in him, people took it quite literally. A real Jack
Frost nipped noses and fingers and made the ground too hard to
work. Little people, elves, trolls, and fairies inhabited the
fears and imaginings of people. The forest was the mysterious home
of spirits. People prayed to God to help them in their troubles
and from the work of the devil. Since natural causes of events
were unknown, people attributed events to wills like their own.
Illness was thought to be caused by demons. People hung charms
around their neck for cure and treatments of magic and herbs were
given. Some had hallucinogenic effects, which were probably useful
for pain. For instance, the remedy for "mental vacancy and folly"
was a drink of "fennel, agrimony, cockle, and marche". Blood-
letting by leeches and cautery were used for most maladies, which
were thought to be caused by imbalance of the four bodily humors:
sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic. These four humors
reflected the four basic elements air, water, fire, and earth.
Blood was hot and moist like air; phlegm was cold and moist like
water; choler or yellow bile was hot and dry like fire; and
melancholy or black bile was cold and dry like earth. Bede had
explained that when blood predominates, it makes people joyful,
glad, sociable, laughing, and talking a great deal. Phlegm renders
them slow, sleepy, and forgetful. Red cholic makes them thin,
though eating much, swift, bold, wrathful, and agile. Black cholic
makes them serious of settled disposition, even sad. To relieve
brain pressure and/or maybe to exorcise evil spirits, holes were
made in skulls by a drill with a metal tip that was caused to turn
back and forth by a strap wrapped around a wooden handle. A king's
daughter Edith inspired a cult of holy wells, whose waters were
thought to all