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Traditional Witchcraft - Blog Posts
P.1 Common Herbs A-Z
This is A-C of some common herbs and their uses
*longer read*
Acorn
Good luck
Protection
Wisdom
Personal power
A dried acorn is an excellent natural amulet for keeping a youthful appearance.
Allspice
Money
Luck
Healing
Obtaining treasure
Provides added determination and energy to any spells and charms. Burn crushed allspice to attract luck and money. Use in herbal baths for healing.
Almond
Wisdom
Money
Fruitfulness
Prosperity
Invokes the healing energy of the deities. Provides magickal help for overcoming dependencies & addiction. Associated with Candlemas and Beltane. Carry, wear, or use as incense to attract abundance.
Aloe
Protection
Luck
Place on the grave of a loved one to promote peaceful energy. Thought to relieve loneliness and assist with success. Hang in the home to attract luck and protection for those who live there. Grow in the home to provide protection from household accidents. Burn on the night of a full moon to bring a new lover by the new moon.
Apple
Love
Garden Magick
Immortality
Friendship
Healing
Place seven apple seeds in a bag with Orris Root to attract sexual love. Use in rituals to give honor to gods and goddesses of fertility. Considered the food of the dead, which is why Samhain is called the 'Feast of Apples'. Symbolizes the soul and is burned at Samhain in honor of those who will be reborn in the spring. When doing a house blessing, cut an apple in half -- eat half and put the other half outside of the home as an offering.
Apricot
Love
Add leaves and flowers to love sachets or carry apricot pits to attract love.
Banana
Fertility
Potency
Prosperity
Basil
Love
Exorcism
Wealth
Sympathy
Protection
Dispels confusion, fears & weakness. Drives off hostile spirits. Associated with Candlemas. Carry to move forward in a positive manner despite perilous danger. Strewn on floors to provide protection from evil. Sprinkle an infusion of basil outside of the building where you hope to be employed for luck in a job interview or in your business to attract money and success. Wear or carry to aid in attracting money and prosperity.
Bay leaf
Protection
Good fortune
Success
Purification
Strength
Healing
Psychic powers
Write wishes on the leaves and then burn the leaves to make the wishes come true. Place under the pillow (or use in dream pillow) to induce prophetic dreams. Place in the corner of each room in the house to protect all that dwell there. Carry bay leaf to protect yourself against black magick.
Black pepper
Banishing negativity
Exorcism
Protection from evil
Blackberry
Healing
Protection
Money
Sacred to Brighid. Leaves and berries said to attract wealth and healing.
Bluebell
Luck
Truth
Friendship
Incorporate into rituals of death & dying to comfort those left behind and ease their sorrow.
Blueberry
Protection
Though not recommended, blueberry is said to cause confusion & strife when tossed in the doorway or path of an enemy.
Burdock
Used for cleansing magick when feeling highly negative about oneself or others. Use in protection incenses and spells. Rinse with a decoction of burdock to remove negative feelings about yourself or others.
Cabbage
Fertility
Profit
Good luck
Lunar magick
Money magick
Cactus
Chastity
Banishing
Protection.
Bury with other banishing symbols for protection. Grow in the home or garden to prevent unwanted intrusions. Place in all directions of the home (north, south, east, and west) for full protection.
Cardamom
Lust
Love
Fidelity
Carrot
Lust
Fidelity
Cashew
Money
Celery
Mental powers
Psychic powers
Lust
Fertility
Male potency
Chamomile
Love
Healing
Reducing stress.
Add to a sachet or spell to increase the chances of its success. Sprinkle an infusion of chamomile around the house to remove hexes, curses and spells. Burn or add to prosperity bags to increase money. Burn as incense for de-stressing, meditation, and restful sleep. Wash hands in an infusion of chamomile for luck before gambling or playing cards. Use in bath magick to attract love. Keep a packet of the herb with lottery tickets for luck.
Cherry
Love
Divination
Gaiety
Happiness
Chestnut
Love
Chilli Pepper
Fidelity
Love
Hex breaking
Scatter powder around the house to break hexes and spells against you. Use in love charms & spells.
Chives
Protection
Weight loss *weight loss spells can be dangerous*
Cinnamon
Spirituality
Success
Healing
Protection
Power
Love
Luck
Strength
Prosperity
Burn as an incense or use in a sachet to raise spiritual and protective vibrations, draw money, and stimulate psychic powers. A popular herb for use in charms to draw money & prosperity. Wear in an amulet to bring passion.
Citronella
Draws friends to the home, customers to the business. Promotes eloquence, persuasiveness, and prosperity. Protects and cleanses the aura. Encourages self-expression and creativity (great for writers & actors!) and brings clarity to the mind. Repels insects and deodorizes
Clove
Exorcism
Love
Money
Protection
Coconut
Chastity
Protection
Purification
Coffee
Helps to dispel nightmares and negative thoughts and to overcome internal blockages. Provides peace of mind and grounding.
Coriander
Love
Health
Immortality
Protection.
Tie fresh coriander with a ribbon and hang in the home to bring peace & protection. Add to love charms and spells to bring romance or use in ritual work to ease the pain of a broken love affair. Promotes peace among those who are unable to get along. Throw the seeds in lieu of rice during Handfastings and other rituals of union. Use the seeds in love sachets and spells. Add powdered seeds to wine for an effective lust potion. Wear or carry the seeds to ward off disease and migraines.
Cucumber
Chastity
Fertility
Healing
Cumin
Fidelity
Protection
Exorcism.
The seed is said to prevent the theft of any object which contains it. Burn with frankincense for protection. Scatter on the floor alone or with salt to drive out evil. Use in love spells to promote fidelity. Steep in wine to make love potions.
Curry
Protection
Burn curry powder to keep evil forces away.
And as always, merry meet <3
Atti
(photo - attichaos)
Reblog if you're an active witchy account!
I need some active witch blogs to follow! <3
Planning for the Taurus full moon (10/28) I know that I want to do a financial stability ritual and house protections. But I haven’t reallyyyyyy planned.. I’m very excited to though!
I will post updates, also still have tarot pulls I want to post. ✨
A Simple Conjuring
Take a small taper candle and stick nine pins in it, top to bottom. At twilight, go into an empty room (or go outside, if the weather permits) and light it.
"Silver chime of falling pin,
let the sprites and spirits in."
This rhyme may be supplemented with further conjurations describing the spirit you seek. They shall appear when the last pin falls.
(You'd be wise to bring some sort of scrying device with you so that they can give you a visual.)
thank you for this! It really explains traditional ways and contextualizes it for today!
12 Things You Need to Know About Traditional Spells
Why are traditional spells so goddamn weird?
There is no black or white magic.
Elements That Make a Spell Truly Powerful
5 Signs that a Spell Book is Authentic
The Power in Witches’ Hair
Spell Ingredients in Traditional Witchcraft
We do not cast spells against haunted places.
Do not mistake grimoires for journals and scrapbooks.
We call it the Ritual of Wandering.
Shielding is entirely pointless.
Gold and Silver in Witchcraft
Why Blood Magic is Powerful
🌿Ancient goddess🌿
Make me powerful
Make me brave
Make me feel myself
Goddess Athena
✨Athena, my strenght✨
✨She has my back, she inpires me✨
Athena marks my path
Everyday Witchcraft
1. Meditate - still the mind, the breath, the heartbeat, open a channel through which the spirits can communicate if they wish to, listen.
2. Walk - honour the genii loci, notice the changing seasons, observe signs and omens, traverse the kingdoms of humanity, flora and fauna, give aid where it is needed.
3. Divine - build relationships with divinatory tools, sharpen skills, train intuition, ask questions, receive answers.
4. Invoke - the presence of spirits to assist in tasks, to protect on journeys, to grant guidance, maintain connections and uphold contracts.
5. Craft - use the hands to create, to construct, imbue each creation with spirit and purpose, a meal, a potion, a carving, a weaving, enchant the mundane and material.
6. Sing - the old songs, the power songs, the prayers, the chants, to heal, to awaken, to enforce, to ward, sing the sun to sleep and the moon to rising, sing in the bath, at the hearth, in the heart.
7. Read - widely and deeply, old and new, academic and popular, across boundaries and taboos, slowly and with full attention, take notes, research, reflect.
8. Write - record experiences, practices, thoughts. keep journals and grimoires, spellbooks and scripts, remember, elucidate, illuminate.
9. Draw - sigils and runes, symbols and signs. Carve, paint, scratch, blacken, redden, scrawl, in the sand, with salt, in the air, with chalk, ink, blood, charcoal, the mind.
10. Collect - herbs, woods, stones, feathers, bones, teeth, soil, the raw materials of natural magic, fill jars, boxes, bags, gather, forage, wildcraft, thrift, take that which is discarded, value the found over the bought.
11. Observe - the cycles of moon, sun, planets, stars, take heed with the eyes as well as the almanac, feel the sap rise, the birds migrate, the bulbs awaken, the leaves wither.
12. Renew - old spells, old wards, protections, and boundaries. Clean what is obscured, recast what has weakened, maintain what is working, replace what is lost. Tie up loose ends.
13. Communicate - with everything, stones, trees, spirits, the dead, that which grows in the garden and that which visits it, other practitioners, mentors, students, seekers, the younger self, the higher self, the wyrd.
In Italy the night between the 23th and the 24th of June is called “Notte di San Giovanni” (Saint John’s Night) but also “Notte delle streghe” (Witche’s night).
There are many folk traditions connected to this night, most of them involving water and herbs, particularly Hypericum perforatum, also known as Saint John’s Worth.
One of them is collecting a few herbs and leaving them in a water basin overnight. In the morning one would sprinkle their face with the water in a ritual to ward against sicknesses and the evil-eye.
It’s also said that tonight is a favorable time to collect herbs that will be used inside magic rituals.
Mother, Queen, Harlot
I feel the need to state that I am not a Thelemite and that my relationship and understanding of Babalon is informed mostly via direct contact with Her.
It was almost 10 years ago that I first felt Her presence. She would not give me a name but simply images, symbols, and emotions that represented her. I saw images of sex, blood, fire, blades, and serpents. Feelings of lust, love, passion, rage, sovereignty and feminine power.
Truth be told I wasn’t in the place to have a spirit like that be active in my life so it would be a few years before I set up a shrine to Her.
Her shrine was simple. An inexpensive goddess statue with a red costume rosary wrapped around it, a red candle, and a letter opener with a crown motif. I would burn incense and meditate on Her, sometimes seeking guidance, sometimes just simply being with her. I began referring to Her as “The Red Queen” while still not having a proper name. I was becoming comfortable with her ambiguity and in turn she was helping me become comfortable with myself.
It was around this time that I began working with a teacher who was helping me with visionary work and spirit flight. It was during one of our sessions that I made a breakthrough and came face-to-face with my Red Queen. She sat on a scarlet cushion in a rooms who’s lamps were draped with red scarves. Her hair was a deep brown almost black, her skin was an inhuman pale white. Her arm was casual laying across one upraised knee. She has gold bangles and armlets, gold anklets and rings, a gold hoop around her neck and in her ears, but ironically no crown. Her clothes were reminiscent of an Indian saree the colour of blood.
I sat across from her and bowed, placing my head on the cushioned floor. When I raised my head, she locked eyes with me.
“I am have many names, I am many. I am Ishtar, I am Innana, I am Lilith, I am the Queen of Heaven and Hell. But you, you will know me as Babalon.”
Thats when I returned to my body. I was flooded with joy and exhilaration, She had told me Her name, I had a better focus.
I knew that Babalon was a goddess in Thelema, but I knew next to nothing about Her other than that. To this day I still don’t really know much about her role in Thelema but I've been considering studying it. I’ve continued to go straight to Her when it comes to offerings, prayers, etc. Reading how others interact with her from time to time. Her shrine has grown but not by much, She’s comfortable with it being simple but beautiful. I have been searching for a new statue for Her though, something that I feel fits her better.
Babalon, The Red Queen, has been my strongest spiritual ally during my transition. She has held my hand and guided my feet as I find my femininity, rediscover my sexuality, and navigate the world as a woman. I’ve taken her epithet “Mother of Abominations” as a sort of trans mother goddess. Trans people are Her children and Her prophets. We are the drops of blood from Her Grail, we are the swords in Her hands. I doubt this is what Crowley had in mind when conceptualizing the goddess but honestly, I don’t care.
I’ve come to understand Babalon in three sort of facets or faces. The Mother (of Abominations), The Sacred Whore, and The Warrior-Queen. I don’t know if any other people would agree with me or if there is literature to back it up but this is my personal gnosis.
The Mother I already discussed above. The Sacred Whore and Warrior-Queen are both reminiscent of Ishtar/Inanna, but the Sacred Whore for me personally aligns with her Lilith aspect. Babalon-Lilith is feminine sexuality embodied, but even more she is the taboo side of femme sex, she is trans and kink, she is queer, she is unbridled and selfish, she is the side of our sexuality that is without limit and free. She’s taught me to not be ashamed of what I like and what I want when it comes to sexual satisfaction. My sexuality is mine and no one else's.
The Warrior-Queen is the aspect I am the least in touch with. I’m a pacifist person and seek non-violence in my regular life as much as I can. I have a rather hot temper that I’ve had to learn to keep under control. My most powerful weapon is my tongue and I’d rather talk my way out of a situation than ever resort to violence. Maybe my disconnect with the Warrior-Queen is that I need to recontextualize what it means for me, personally, to be a warrior. We’ll have to see how it plays out.
I’ll leave this post with an A.I. generated art piece I made as a devotional act using the phone app “Dream”
Triangle and sigil cloths prepared and concentrated for use is scrying.
Heresy As Healing
When I first got into paganism and witchcraft, I did what I think a lot of people do and took a very hard turn in to “fuck Christianity!” The literature and discourse of the early and mid 2000′s didn't help this mindset either. There was a lot of talk about how Wicca (I was an eclectic wiccan at the time) was the survival of an ancient pre-Christian religion and that Christianity stole its practices, holidays, and pretty much everything else, from paganism.
Needless to say my religious baggage went unpacked for YEARS?
That was until i left my more Wicca-inspired practice and found “traditional witchcraft”. In these spaces i found something that i had been lead to believe was impossible: Witchcraft and Christianity coexisting. Not only coexisting, but a style of witchcraft created by almost biblical teachings on their heads and pulling out the magic. Lucifer and Azaezel being sources of witch-power, Cain being the first Sorcerer, the witch’s horned one as the Devil! Seeing the witch-trials as not simply a tragedy, but pulling wisdom and magic from the confessions. All of this was new and exciting!
Beginning my research into this amazing new avenue was the first step in healing my heart and soul from the hitherto ignored scars left by my time in the Church. The more I walked this strange and crooked path, the more I found value in heresy. Calling to the Man in Black at a crossroads, flying from my body to the Witch’s Sabbath, reciting the Lord’s Prayer backwards. All of these were powerful in ways I never thought they could be. I laughed at myself. If you had told me at 18 that in 5 years id be dancing with the Devil, I would have raged about there being no Devil in the Craft. While I understand now why the 90s-2000s were so “anti-devil” and “love and light” I’m glad that we can now look at witchcraft and its history with a more nuanced lens.
Now in some ways I've come full circle. I am not a Christian, and I don't think i ever will be, but I pray to saints, I have a growing interest in Mary, I use psalms and bible verses in my spell work, i craft rosaries as a devotional act to the spirits I serve and honour. My patron goddess has even started to come to me with Marian imagery and titles.
In Fayerie Traditionalism/Fayerism we’re encouraged (sometimes outright told) to avoid and expunge all Abrahamism from our lives and certainly from our Sorcery. We’re told that there is no magic or value in Abrahamic traditions. This has been my biggest hurdle with this path. For me, i find so much power in using folk magic that would be deemed “witchcraft” by the Church, regardless of how much scripture is in it. I think to continue this idea of “there's no place for Christianity in witchcraft” does such a disservice to the history of witchcraft in Europe and the US. So many practices would not exist if our ancestors had not learned to synchronize and hide in plain site. I’m not calling on God when I use a psalm to heal, I'm speaking words of power that have been spoken for centuries by other healers and workers. When I pray the rosary, I do it to honor my ancestors who found comfort in it.
For me, the catholic folk magic and heretical aesthetics do not deter me from path of Fayerie Traditionalism, it is simply another avenue to the same goal. The spirits of this tradition have not shown any ill-will to how I work. Gwynn still comes when I call him “Devil” or “Master” and Gwynnevar herself told me to call her “Our Lady Down Below” or “Our Lady of the Mound/Hill” Taking back my power from Christianity and seeing the Wisdom in its heresy has made me a better person and a stronger sorcerer. I have not lost my faith in the Fayerie People but have come closer to them.
All this is to say:
Be free
Be powerful
Be a Heretic
Nema
The Herbs of Saint John
Before sunrise this morning I went out and took part in my first bit of French-Canadian folk magic (ie Sorcellerie). Since I’m really bad at timing things properly and planning ahead it was a little haphazard but overall I’m proud of myself for connecting with my ancestry.
I’ll provide links below but the quick and easy rundown is this: herbs are most magically potent on Saint John’s Eve and must be gathered between midnight and sunrise on Saint John’s feast day (June 24th). The herbs vary from place to place except for Mugwort (which sadly I haven’t found near my home), but I did find that yarrow grows in my yard which I find very exciting. The herbs must also be protected from sunlight for 24 hours before being dried and stored/used. If any of the herbs I’ve gathered this year remain by next Saint John’s Eve they must be discarded because they will have lost all power.
As I said before I harvested Yarrow from my yard but I was also able to gather some Bittersweet Nightshade, which for me has a special connection to The Great Earth-Indweller.
I added some Fayerieism flare to the gathering by performing a Plant Swaying Charm over both plants that I harvested from.
Blessings to you all
*the lighting is my porch light*
Half-formed ramble about magical identity
I’ve recently started coming to the realisation that, well that I don’t think “witch” really fits me anymore. This isn’t to say that I still don’t practice witchcraft or that it would be wrong to call me a witch, but more that my personal craft has developed in way that makes me question if it’s a moniker that still fits me.
Over the past several years, my craft has been moving more and more into the realm of charms and cures. I craft simple charms for people to gain luck and love. I walk folks through the processes of pulling off stagnant energy and uncrossing work. I still get requests to cleanse and bless homes. Owning a home and land for the past year has pushed me even more into the role of “village witch” I’ve started learning the language of my land, looking at potential plant and animal allies around me.
I think the two biggest influences for this change are my joining Fayerie Traditionalism/Fayerism and my study of folk magic
Fayerism focuses on spiritual ecology and the harmonious relationship between the Seen and Unseen worlds. Folk magic (as a magic of the people) is all about domestic life of the individual and the community.
All this is just a round about way of saying that I feel as if I’m growing into more of a “cunning woman” than a witch. My arte focuses on healing ailments (alongside modern medicine of course), attracting prosperity, and blessing those around me. I use my craft to help those around me whenever I and however I can, whether they be human or other-than-human persons.
And to be honest I’ve been moving away from the “witch” title for a while, although privately. Testing different mantles to find something that fit, sticking with “sorcerer/sorceress” for the most part. It wasn’t until last night that it stuck me how much like the cunning folk of Europe I’ve become.
I won’t correct any that call me “witch”, for as I said, I still practice witchcraft alongside other forms of magic. I’ll still be using the hashtag to appease the algorithms and I’ll still promote my services as a witch, but I think I’m going to start referring to myself as a “cunning woman” and see how that feels. I might even look into regional variants of the profession and see if the French had a localised term for the “cunning person/folk healer/white witch” as a nod to my ancestry
In modern Heathenry there is a concept of spirits known as the Disir (singular Dis). While there is some debate on the true origins of these spirits, it’s a common belief among todays Heathens that these are female ancestral guardians. I personally equate these spirits with The Mothers in Fayerie Traditionalism, those femme spirits that serve The Great Mother.
There are two modern festival/feast days associated with them: Mother’s Night, and Disablot.
But why not today? Why not Mothers Day? Today is a day that we celebrate the mothers of our respective families (blood and chosen) Today is a modern festival to venerate those enfleshed Matriarchs that we love and hold dear. To me it would make sense to extend that love and devotion to the Mothers that walk with us in the Unseen. Just sort of wondering out loud I suppose. I think in the future I might set aside time to honour all the Mothers in my life, Seen and Unseen.
Of Toads and Toxins
Warning: This post is super rambley and I’m sorry
(Shout out to Courir le loup-garou for being an amazing resource)
Three things have been on my mind a lot lately: ancestors, malefica, and the toad. So imagine my happiness and surprise when reading a blog post about Toads in French-Canadian folklore/folk magic being poisoners.
Since discovering French-Canadian sorcellerie via courir le loup-garou I have been trying to incorporate parts of it into my practice as a way of connecting with my Québécois roots. I’ve even recently found a language learning app that offers Canadian French/Québécois so I plan on learning the language as a way to further connect. Very very exciting!
I’ve also been slowly getting into using poisons more in my practice, specifically working with the plants spirits as allies and less working directly with them in herbal preparations. I’ve been particularly drawn to mandrake and foxglove. Foxglove specifically for its link to the fayerie folk so it makes sense to work with as someone who follows Fayerie Traditionalism.
~(I blame Coby of The Poisoner’s Apothecary for the poison path focus lol)~
In connection to the poison path is malefic magic. The idea of the witch as a poisoner, a blighter of crops, a caster of curses. Not that I’m someone who wants to just throw hexes around like they’re nothing but I’m more interested in studying them and researching how they operate magically.
The toad spirit has been one that has floated in and out of my craft for YEARS never fully leaving but not always being of high importance. I think that’s really because I’ve never figured out how to work with this spirit in a way that makes sense to my and my craft. Reading the blog on toads in French-Canadian folklore has given me some possible inspiration. I’m hoping to commune with the spirit of Toad to learn more of cursing and malefica and to employ my toad imp to carry out any curses or hexes that I may weave.
An invocation and a boon
Some UPG, as a treat…
So angels (or the beings we refer to as angels) are the architects of creation. By their very nature they form reality out of the limitless potentiality. They form energy into matter, the take chaos and make it into order. This is instinctual and unconscious. They do it because it is what they are.
Daemons are the opposite of this. They are beings of decay and rot. I think of them almost like mushrooms. They thrive on and help speed up the entropy of reality. Matter to energy, order to chaos, again this is just what they are.
This is not a case of right it wrong, benevolence or malice. They are simply two ends on the spectrum of reality. They do not oppose each other as enemies but simply as opposites, doing their part in the grand scheme of things.
VOCES MAGICAE
I’ve noticed a trend in modern magick that “the words don’t matter, only the intention” and this has never really been something that has sat well with me. If the words in spell craft “don’t matter” then why do we have such a long history of magickal words of power, incantations, prayers, liturgy and charms? The spoken word has always been one of the most potent forms or aspects of my magickal workings.
The last few years of working within Fayerie Traditionalism and the rites within “An Carow Gwyn” and “An Cawdarn Rudh” I’ve come into contact with barbarous names. Also called “voces magicae” these are words that are seemingly meaningless words that are supposedly magickal or powerful in nature. These words were/are usually bastardised words from languages that were not Greek or Latin. Incantations containing barbarous words come to us from The Greek Magical Papyri (Papyri Graecae Magicae or PGM), a collection of spells and rituals and liturgy from Greco-Roman Egypt. The power of these words comes not from any supposed meaning but from their sound of resonance. This can make employing them difficult because the magician must know the proper pronunciation. For this reason I am very thankful to Robin Artisson for giving phonetic spellings of any barbarous names (commonly referred to as “strange words” in the Fayerie Traditionalism material) used in rites and spells.
Other types of magickal words similar to these are ones Robin has given in “The Clovenstone Workings” the words of power given in that book are channeled words taught to him by the fayerie close to him. One such word is the word of the Gateway Ring: NURTANUMO. This word is in itself as spirit as well as an incantation. Speaking it correctly and with the correct ritual actions create a liminal space within which a sorcerer may commune with helpful and “friendly” spirits(I say friendly to mean that the word helps to keep out any spirit that might mean one harm or does not resonate with the purpose of ones magickal working). Along with NURTANUMO and other words of power given in “The Clovenstone Workings” they are accompanied by sigils formed by the letters of the word.
Another form of incantation or words of power that I want to start exploring is charms. I mean by this the spoken charms found in most forms of American folk magic. These re usually rhyming couplets that are believed to contain a power all their own, in some traditions though, one must be born a “charmer” to use them with any effect. Seeing as these come from forms of folk magic, many of these charms call upon the power of God, Jesus, the saints, apostles, or the Holy Trinity. Many pagans within the U.S. are coming into witchcraft and paganism from Christianity and carry with them some level of trauma. This in turn can cause hang ups of one kind or another when employing any types of magick that have any Christian trappings. I personally had these issues early on in my Path. Over time I came to a realisation that helped me (the following is UPG so take it accordingly) Power is Power. I personally believe that charms and and psalms that have a history of magickal use contain their own power that has been generated through belief. Generations of people spoke these words and believed in the power of them and so they have that power. Along that line of thinking is my belief that when I speak a charm it is not just me, but every person before me who spoke it for the same purpose. I am chanting and charming with the Ancestors and they bolster no only my Power but the Power of the charm. You can find collections of charms like this in the braucherei text “The Long Lost Friend”. Another source though not American is the “Carmina Gadelica” a collection of Scottish charms, hymns, prayers and lore. Gemma Gary as also written the “Charmer’s Psalter” a collection of psalms and biblical scripture used in English folk magic. (I do plan on getting my hands on all three of these eventually)
One last note on rhyming charms. I’ve seen a an explanation for rhyming couplets being used in magick as a way to enter into light trances to work magick. You write or find a charm that aligns with your purpose, and chanting it helps to “set your intention’ as you slip into trance. As far as I can tell this is a relatively modern explanation for their Power, it is however no less of an effective method. I have used this technique to help me enter trance, more specifically the level of trance I want when using glossolalia; speaking in tongues (another potent and powerful form of spoken word magick).
Looking back at the idea of belief giving words power. This idea is why I think it is possible to use incantations from media and pop culture in actual spell work. There are cases where a tv show or book will take a pre-existing spell or incantation and reword it slightly to fit the show or scene. In this case the ritual action accompanied by the spoken spell can have great effect. In other cases if you know how the spell operates within the fictional universe, this can signal your own spirit and those spirits you work with what you want to achieve. One personal experience I have with this is using the lost and found spell from Charmed. Anytime I employ this spell I fix an image of the object in my mind, breathe deeply, recite the spell three times, and then set the spell with a sharp clap and a “so mote it be”. In this way I’m not simply reciting the spell and expecting things to appear as happens in the show. I use the incantation in conjunction with real world magickal techniques and have always gotten positive results. Once I do this spell and continue searching I will often find the lost object within an hour, sometimes a day at most.
Regardless of your views on words in magick I think it does our history and Ancestors a disservice to simply dismiss them as an arbitrary or useless aspect of magickal practice.
Here’s my contribution to the #regionalwitchcraftchallenge started by Via Hedera
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So I wasn’t sure if I should have taken part in this because #Maine doesn’t really have anything (that I know of) that is specific to the region.
To make up for that, I try to incorporate as much of the local flora, fauna, and landscape as I can.
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-Maine black bear skull, gifted from a local hunter
-Novena candle (one side of my family is Catholic and that has started to influence my craft)
-Locally harvested cedar
-Two keepsakes of my departed grandparents
-Birch Water (à la “An Carow Gwyn”) with bark harvest from my property
-An antique rosary found while thrifting
-A hag stone from the coast of Maine
-Selected bones from my casting kit that are all local animals (red fox, coyote, beaver, bobcat)
-An arrowhead from our state museum
-Ritual blade made from white-tail deer
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A Healing and A Prayer
This past week I've been thinking about performing a healing work for someone in my life that has contracted COVID-19. As healing has never been my forte I've been a little nervous about how to proceed. I noticed something interesting every time i found my mind turning to it (the work) though, the goddess Iðunna.
Now, as someone who considers myself rökkatru, this was rather odd. Odd or not I decided that if it was THIS persistent, than there must be something to it.
So, earlier this evening, I dressed a candle, lit simple incense and honestly and earnestly prayed to the Lady of the Orchard. I'm not sure how well the prayer for healing was received (only time will tell) but I did feel a shift in the air when Her name first passed my lips. I believe that She at least heard me and hopefully answered my plea.
I'm not sure what kind of results I'm hoping to see, but I have decided that regardless of it I plan to continue building a relationship with Her.
“Oh great goddess of the Æsir, Our Lady of the Orchard
Please pass your blessing of restoration onto him that I love.”
