Features of the functioning of the token blood in the texts of Ukrainian folk spells

The article examines the peculiarities of the functioning of the token blood in the texts of Ukrainian spells. In the article we determine dominant thematic groups of spells, in which the semantic content of the analyzed token is reflected. Blood is an integral part of spells from preoccupation, lessons, pain, wind, bedsores, scurvy, jaundice, erysipelas, hair, cutters, erysipelas, fever, snake or viper bite. The rest of the spells are aimed at stopping the blood in humans or animals. The symbolic meanings of the red color sign, its emotionally expressive charge, association with vital forces are considered. In blood spells, red has a special function. It enhances the imagery and impact of the text on the person. The blood in the spells is usually red. It is a constant epithet for the noun blood, which arose as a result of perception of the world through sight. In some texts with spells the token blood becomes a representative of the threat, functioning in the phrases black blood, fierce blood, and hot blood. There are spells in which we find a direct appeal to blood, because in such texts it is spiritual, alive. Often the token blood is replaced by the nomination bloody, red. Appeals perform a characterizing function; they act as a way of organization and are correlated with all the statements of the text. In spells of blood at people we often fix images of mythological three rivers: water, honey, bloody. Christian vocabulary predominates in the texts of Ukrainian folk spells of blood: the Lord God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, St. George, Elijah. The Mother of God is endowed with extraordinary opportunities in the spells of blood. She can lock the sea with a key, which means stopping the blood; or as she sews up the sea, so she sews up the wound so that the blood does not flow. Christian images of the Mother of God and God, function in personified appealing constructions of a commanding nature. The magic reflected in the texts with spells is a kind of primitive "science" aimed at achieving a pragmatic goal by means appropriate to the mythological picture of the world. Based on the idea of language as a suggestive phenomenon, the implementation of the influential function of language in the texts of Ukrainian spells is determined.