Three fruit of belladonna, Seventeen caps of henbane seeds. Two feathers of a raven’s wing, and a clutch of nightshade leaves.The smoke burns high, the veil grows thin, the dancers come from deep within. The demons laughter, the shallow sound of sky filled hooves, and Odin’s hounds. The Sluagh tear and twist the way the hunter hunts his pious prey. We know All Hallow’s soon approaches the tide will turn as dark encroaches. A handful of belladonna leaves its fruit just three, as it deceives. A merry troupe of hyoscyamus bells and two lost feathers the story tells. The smoke burns high, the veil grows thin, the spirits come from deep within.
Of all the verdant gifts of nature, unto the artes and Wort Cunning of the West Country ‘Green Doctor’ and ‘Old Mother Green Cap’, the Ash tree is perhaps the most magical potent and reputable in West Country tradition; it is of great use for matters of protection, love, and the removal of diverse ills. Such is the power of the Ash, it is believed by employment of various methods to absorb or exercise ailments and bewitchment
And ‘tis an art well known to Wizards old
And wily Hags, who for fear and slave
Of the coarse halter, do themselves withhold
From bodily assisting their right game
Wherefore their carcasses do home retain
But with their souls at these bad feasts they are
And see their friends and call them by their name
And dance about the Goat…
And kiss the Devil’s breech, and taste his deadly cheer
By Henry More: Taken from “By Moonlight and Spirit flight; The praxis of the Otherworldly Journey to the Witches Sabbat” by Michael Howard (via gardenofthequeen)
Carve on oak. Smear with your blood. Carve with a human finger bone or an unused knfe and read this: I carve you 8 asar, 9 naudir, 13 thursa [rune names]. You shall explode to great discomfort, I forbid your backside to fall apart; Now shit or explode. This should be done with a full moon.
Salomonic Magical Arts, Fredrik Eytzinger (via ioqayin)
Oh my, that’s like a HUGE topic, and sources are rather scattered even in the Polish language (assuming you’re looking for resources in English).
I was trying to include some methods of protection in the series of posts about the mythological creatures, and some other informations you could most likely find under my Slavic customs tag. Many practices would be shamanic in nature. For the basics: important were some red accessories, salt, flour, chalk, candles of natural beeswax (or equivalent of modern gromnica, the so-called thunder candle), sharp objects, drawn circles, noise, smoke, many herbs (some might be described in the book “Polish Herbs, Flowers & Folk Medicine”), many magical symbols, rhytmical phrases and precise sequences of actions - it’s really too much to summarize quickly. You might find some informations in books like “Singing Back The Sun: A Dictionary of Old Polish Customs and Beliefs” or “Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore”. Look also around the various pages listed in Wiki article about Polish mythology / Polish folk beliefs and similar ones about other Slavic countries - many have useful resources listed at their bottoms. You’ll also find a few bits in articles like “The transcendental side of life. Aquatic demons in Polish folklore” [pdf] or “Coexistence or Conflict? The Problem of Dual Belief in Polish Folklore”. I’d reccomend you to browse through other resources on the pages of Folklorica and Studia Mythologica Slavica. There’s surely tons to discover, hidden among other topics.
Overally, frankly speaking, I don’t know of many good resources written in English that would describe that topic comprehensively (focusing more on looking for resources in my native language). I myself would gladly see some recommendations for a future reference.
I could probably prepare an overview post and translate some informations from my Polish sources, but it would definitely take some time.
Sources that arent wiccan or neopagan, ones that are preferably more historical or traditional, i.e. As found in Greek/Roman, Egyptian, Arab, and Baltic folk magic.
If anyone knows of any good ones id greatly appreciate it!
Liz then said, “This is whut the Devil wants the most: promise you won’t never preach no more, nor go to a 'ligious meetin. Then effen you git to be a witch, promise to do ennything you can to keep your pappy frum preachin' agin witches.
Now, hit ain’t a goin’ to be easy, and I ‘low you mought have to try more'n onct afore you git in. Whatever happens, you have to foller ‘structions zactly.”
Jonas promised, “Yep, Liz. I'll do zactly whut I’m told to do.”
So, following instructions, at midnight he sneaked into his father’s field and stole one of the black rams. He killed it and cut off its left horn, hiding the rest of the carcass in the woods. The next day being Sunday, he got a boy to steal a silver coin out of the collection plate of his father’s church. He melted down the coin and made it into a silver bullet, which he put to soak in toad's blood. He also went to Gladeville where he bought a pewter plate. Next, he scoured the hills until he found a spring whose stream flowed directly east. He then waited until Friday the thirteenth and returned to the spring as the morning turned gray over the ridge. He dipped some water from the spring with his ram's horn and poured it over the pewter plate. He did this seven times and repeated the verses Liz had taught him:
AS I DIP THE WATER WITH A RAM ’ S HORN ,
CAST ME CRUEL WITH A HEART OF THORN ,
AS I NOW THE DEVIL DO MY SOUL LEASE.
I RENOUNCE CHRIST AS MY SAVIOR ,
AND PROMISE THE DEVIL MY BEHAVIOR
’ TIL MY LIFE ON EARTH WILL CEASE .
MAY MY BLACK AND EVIL SOUL BE
OF CHRISTIAN LOVE AND GRACE FREE
AS THIS PLATE IS OF GREASE .
AND EFFEN I BECOME AN EVIL CRONE
FROM MY OUTER SKIN TO INNER BONE ,
I ’ LL NEVER GIVEN ANY CHRISTIAN PEACE.
Rain and shine, for eight mornings, Jonas came to the spring and repeated this ritual. On the ninth morning, he was supposed to become a witch and he took his gun and the silver bullet with him. He shot the bullet toward the sun as it came up over the ridge. They had told him that if the sun looked as if it were dripping blood as it came up, then he would be a witch. Jonas thought it did, and started home.
He had also been told that if he had become a witch, he would find a toad waiting for him when he got home which would be his familiar spirit or “imp.” But, there was no toad near the door, look as he might. This meant he hadn’t passed, and he’d have to do this all over again the next Friday the thirteenth. The second time, there was till no familiar waiting, either. But Jonas was stubborn, and he tried a third time before he became a conjure man. This took him two full years, but he said it was worth the time and trouble. Liz told him that it took so long because of the preachers in his family.
The Silver Bullet, and Other American Witch Stories (via ioqayin)
This is the whole triptych based on the religious origin story of Watership Down.
For today’s inktober I am thinking of going in and adding borders and stuff but we’ll see.
On the left is El-ahrairah, the middle are earthly rabbits, and the right is the Black Rabbit of Inle. In the whole triptych is contained the 3 worlds and basically all the major players.
It was great fun to do iconography for such a fantastic book!
The
160,023 convicts transported to the Australian colonies between 1788 and 1868
left leg-irons and chains a’plenty, but surprisingly little in the way of
clothing. Were it not for a strange folk magic ritual, unknown and
unsuspected until recently, the number of surviving convict garments, as
well as other fascinating relics, would be very sparse.
