Paint magical symbols on walls/ceilings for a specific purpose, using salt water or lemon water. If you get the chance to do it before you repaint a room, do it the same color before you paint over it.
Walk your property boundaries with cornmeal and water (separately), asking blessings and friendship of the spirits of the land to guard and protect those who live there.
Salt water left out in the center of a room all night will absorb negative energy. Wash it away with flowing water in the sink or outdoors next morning.
Placing a mirror in a window on each side of your home, facing outward will reflect negativity back to the sender. Likewise hanging a witch ball (a polish glass globe) in the window will absorb and return negative energy.
Bells or wind chimes hung from the doors guard against intruders and stagnant energy. Hang them where the air currents can ring them. They will set up movement in the air and clear psychic energy of your home.
Hang a mirror empowered to reflect negative energy inside, facing the front door.
Bury protective stones such as onyx, malachite, or amethyst under your doorstep, porch or steps.
Hang Pennsylvanian Dutch hex signs associated with protection inside and outside your house.
Hang an iron horseshoe above your door, with the open end facing upward.
This is gonna be a pretty long read but I ask that you please read it all.
I have had something on my heart for a while now. I have avoided this post for a long time because I was not sure how it would be received. I was not sure even how to say it.
I have been apart of the spiritual community since I was 13 years old. The second I got that lime green Dell laptop… I was in the trenches. Scouring through Youtube videos, reading books about Witchcraft and hiding them from my parents because they didn’t understand (they came around), and practicing spells on a beat up table I had gotten from Goodwill. I live and breathe this shit.
I eventually found the world of Hoodoo and never looked back. This practice has given me belonging. This practice has put food on my table. This practice has connected me to my ancestors. I LOVE teaching it. I love doing spells for others and using my gifts and my knowledge to bless others. I love baby witches that tell me I’m an inspiration.
But I have something to say.
Magick, Hoodoo, spellcraft, manifestation, all the forms Witchcraft takes, is simply a bandaid on a large wound.
It works. Of course it works. The miracles I have manifested for myself are otherworldly. The miracles I have co-created with others, the way it works in others lives and rearranges reality and makes the impossible possible.
But it does not change anything, not really.
See, I went around for years thinking that manifesting happened at an altar. And it does. With our candles, and our oils, and our herbs, we focus our intent and our energy on a single object or goal and we send it out into the universe and it rearranges things in our favor. The other part is though, we are manifesting all the time. Everyday. Every second.
Everything in your life, even the bad stuff, you have manifested.
Taking radical responsibility like this is….brutal. A lot of people don’t want to do it. A lot of people might even get mad at me for saying it and say that I am victim blaming, that I can’t possibly know everyone’s circumstances to make a statement like that…but here’s what I know for sure. We get what we are a vibrational match for. Like attract likes. What you seek is seeking you.
So when I say that Magick is a bandaid, I mean just because you can call it in, does not mean you can keep it.
The true Magick is changing your mindset. Your belief structure.
Your mindset is made up of subconscious belief systems and stories you probably don’t even know you have if you’ve never done the work to unravel them.
Lets take money for an example:
Lets say as a child you experienced living on the poverty line. You somehow usually had enough for the essentials like food and shelter, but not much for anything else. You grew up seeing your mom stress about the rent. You felt the fear in your household around paying bills. There were nights you went to sleep hungry but didn’t saying anything because you didn’t want to stress your parents out any more than they were and you knew things were tight.
You grew up hearing things like:
“There’s never enough hours at work”
“Money doesn’t grow on trees”
“Nothing ever changes in the hood”
Then say you come to me for a job spell. You’re tired of the current job because it does not pay enough and you are in a lot of debt and ready to make a change. You pay me, I do the spell, it works amazingly, and you score a job that makes double your old salary.
Then, within a years time, you get fired. Or laid off. Or you quit because it’s just too overwhelming.
Youthink it was a stroke of bad luck. Too good to be true. Or just not what you thought it would be.
Really, it was so much deeper than that.
You grew up in a household full of scarcity. You were taught there was never enough. That money was a limited resource. And if you grew up anything like me that money wasn’t for “people like us”. You believe you should always have “enough” but never more than that because you’ve never known anything else.
So even though your conscious mind came to me and wanted this job more than anything, your subconscious mind sabotaged it.
You do not mean to manifest struggle or terrible shit, but its all that you know. Its what you subconsciously think you deserve and are worth.
You can go through a hundred green candles and do spells to manifest the same $1000 twenty times only to watch it fly out of your bank account because it all comes down to one thing,
You are not a vibrational match for money.
Your conscious mind wants it, seeks it, hustles for it, but your subconscious mind says:
“money isn’t for people like us”
“money isn’t stable”
“money is scary”
“money isn’t easy to come by”
“money never sticks around”
All based on things you saw, heard, and observed as a child.
This is the same for love spells
I can burn every candle in my stash and manifest you the man of your dreams and if you have beliefs from childhood that say men are unstable, men always leave, men always cheat, love is painful, he will never be able to stick around because you are literally repelling the thing you want.
Your subconscious mind does not know the difference between a lie and the truth. It is not capable of discerning the things you heard as false. And up until around the age of 8, you are basically a walking subconscious mind because your conscious mind isn’t developed. So when you heard things about money, things about your self worth, things that you could or couldn’t have, you believed them.
So, my point is, this is a temporary fix by itself.
I can manifest beautiful things for you, and it will just fly right out of your life if you have subconscious beliefs that you don’t deserve it, can’t have it, or are scared of it.
You have to change your mindset. You have to unravel your limiting beliefs.
I started working with clients because I have a calling on my heart to help people change their lives. To redistribute wealth. To show people what’s possible in their lives. To inspire people to live their deepest desires. I thought I could do it through Hoodoo, and I have, and for the time being I will continue to take clients, but in the long term, I want to do so much more than that.
I want to rewire your brain for a beautiful life. I want to help you and teach you to manifest things as well as keep them.
I am now a coach for spiritual people. I teach people how to heal their shit and trauma around money and success so they can live an abundant life and manifest the desires of their heart.
This work is not hoodoo centered and I will not take hoodoo spell request or q’s there.
This blog will probably always exist. It is certainly not going anywhere anytime soon. I will for the time being still be posting spells, answering q’s, taking clients, etc. I will always probably practice Hoodoo in some capacity, if not only to connect with my ancestors.
And if you are Black or a POC, I especially want to help with this work. Everyone is welcome of course and I want you all there but this next message is specifically for black folks and poc) because this shit is in our blood. We are master manifestors. We know how polish shit and make gold. But too many of us struggle with money specifically because we think its our birthright. We don’t know things can be different. We have never seen it be different.
But it can, it is so fucking out there, but we have to rewire our brains. We have to be willing to face our demons.
It’s not that this shit doesn’t work, it’s that this shit doesn’t work alone.
Results on a recent love honey jar. Can you see the heart that formed? I love doing spells for clients because I swear all my clients are the best! If you want these kinds of results, you can shoot me a DM or email me at: [email protected]
I spent the full moon cleaning and cleansing bones. I find that winter is the perfect time for it. It’s the season of the Bone Mother, it’s when the Cailleach brushes her bony fingers along the harrowed fields and leaves them frozen and rendered, when Boreas swiftly descends from the mountains of Thrace with the cold north wind in tow.
(Pictured above: Sirius, being 19 years old, is an expert assistant at all things necromantic.)
In my personal practice, as with many others, the nature of my work often coincides with the season. The Light Months of Summer are filled with Life: the chickens and the goats graze in the grass — newborn chicks and kids in stride — and I tend to my witch’s garden of deadly nightshade, datura, castor, yarrow, henbane, mandragora, tobacco, aconite, vervain, mugwort, blue lobelia, American ginseng, black cohosh, and much more. The Dark Months of Winter are ripe with Death: dried herbs from the summer months are worked into charms and poppets, their sleeping roots woken from their black cloths and fashioned into manikins, alrauns, or spirit boxes. Things dead are given new life, and this applies to none more than bones.
Fiyero passed away in the summer of 2018 and was left buried for over a year. For those of you who don’t have the stomach for bucket maceration, or if you wish to give a proper burial as with Fiyero, I recommend the earth. It’ll take longer than bucket maceration for the bones to be cleaned of flesh and fur, but it gets the job done just as well.
The bones were separated and laid out on a cloth atop a butcher’s block. The air was thick with a chthonic and funerary incense of myrrh and juniper tips: Smoke as offering, smoke to mask the scent of moist earth. The din of drums and violins tangled with the smoke, the atmosphere heady and hallowed.
To clean the bones, I add hyssop and burdock root to spring water. Any number of cleansing herbs can be utilized here (sage, vervain, rue, etc.). It’s become a staple for me to also include a few splashes of Florida water — not only is it used to purify or as offering, but the floral notes sure do make a bucket of dirt and decay smell a hell of a lot better. The more stubborn bones are left to soak, while others are cleaned with the cleansing water and a brush. To sing is to heal, so a song to the spirit that resides in the bones is an effective way to appease them, especially if their death was less than pleasant (if they were hunted, killed for sport, or a number of other ways).
The bones can be cleaned and returned to the earth as an act of respect, or if the spirit wishes only to rest. If they’re willing to work with you, then a number of things can be done, from working them into charms or jewelry, made into art or decoration, or if you wish to consecrate them, they can be enlivened as fetiches or spirit houses. As for other remains, such as hides, I often have those made into drum skins for ritual drums.
(Note: I’ve had people ask where I get my bones. The majority of them come from livestock that have passed on our farm. They live long lives, and after they die, they’re treated with high respect and the parts of them that can become something new, do. Other sources include roadkill or humane bone collectors in the area.)
So I know I posted this before BUT while going through Leitao’s Book of St. Cyprian I ACTUALLY FOUND THE METHOD OF THIS DIVINATION!!!
SO here it is
The way of preparing a sieve for divination, as St. Cyprian did, after he became a saint
Take a sieve, attach a widely open scissor on its rim, and pick it up with your fingers (one on each side, each one with his own finger). Next, both people involved should pray the creed while making the sign of the cross over the sieve, saying afterwards: “sieve who sieves all of humanity’s bread, I beg thee Lord by the three distinct persons of the Holiest Trinity that thou does not stray from the truth, para gelao, traga matao, vaes do pauto a chiao, a molitao, may expect to deliver thee to prince Lucifer”.
After saying these words, speak to the sieve in these terms: “I wish for thee to tell me if this is to be true or if I am to be married: if I am, turn to this side, if I am not, turn to that side.” In short, ask anything that you need to know; the sieve only does not divine that which will not happen.
Pictured are galician cunning women performing this divination rite in the 1960s.
This post revisits and expands past discussions on this blog about how the lunar system of the traditional almanacs can be applied in folk magic. These texts have a long use in popular astrology, magic, and even folk medicine. And this approach to magical timing remains relevant for practitioners today, when the information is never more than a few clicks away.
Following Lady Luna
In the days when small family farms dotted the American landscape, a fruitful crop meant the difference between success and starvation. People naturally looked to the heavens for help, and the traditional almanacs – The Old Farmer’s Almanac,The Farmers’ Almanac and their cousins – provided useful lunar information that informed a host of traditions. Farmers used the Moon’s activity as a guide not only for planting and harvesting, but for many areas of life (from the most fortuitous day for a wedding, to the best time to have a tooth pulled). In parallel to this down-home practice, lunar timing can be found in grimoires and other magical texts dating back centuries, so it should come as little surprise that the almanacs earned a place in folk magic as well.
It’s important to say at the outset that almanac-based timing is entirely lunar – not solar like popular horoscopes – and relatively simple, without the complicated calculations of full electional astrology. The two key elements are the Moon’s sign and the Moon’s phase, which you can find in your favorite almanac or online. (My favorite site for this is Astro Seek. In print or e-book form, readers might enjoy The Witches Almanac alongside the traditional farming options)
Let’s begin with the moon’s signs.
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Attributes of the Signs
The Moon travels through a new sign of the Zodiac every two or three days. Each sign has four key attributes to consider:
Element: Each sign is associated with one of the four classical elements: Earth,Air,FireandWater. Broadly speaking, farmers who “plant by the signs” prefer to plant in Water or Earth signs, and prune or harvest in the Fire or Air signs. For magical and planning purposes, the correspondences of the elements can be used.
Humor:The four humo(u)rs relate to the four elements. In the classical medicine of Hippocrates, they were thought to be present in the blood and rule our temperaments and health. It can be useful to think of these as part of the “personality” of each sign – as well as how we as physical creatures embody the elements – and work accordingly. Fire signs are Choleric,Earth signs are Melancholic, Air signs are Sanguine, and Water signs are Phlegmatic.(Seethis link for more on the humors from the author of the excellent history Passions & Tempers.)
Planet:Each sign is ruled by one of the classical planets, which provide another useful correspondence for planning. Since the classical planets also rules a day of the week, you can match the appropriate moon sign to a compatible day of the week for extra oomph.
Body Part: Every sign represents part of the human body, as seen in the curious “Zodiac Man” illustration at the top of this post. Each body part or organ was thought to be especially sensitive when the moon was in that sign, leading to a tradition that one shouldn’t have surgery done on a region of the body when the moon moved through the associated sign. The body part associated with each sign is also often used as a nickname for the sign among old-time almanac users (as can be heard in this podcast interview of Appalachian farmers), so it’s listed beside the name below. Magically, the bodily association adds a useful additional correspondence.
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The 12 Signs
Now, let’s take a look at each individual sign and favorable workings or activities to pursue when the Moon is in it:
Aries ♈︎ (the Head): The Ram is useful for achieving rapid and short-term results, shoving a situation forward, boosting confidence, or confronting or controlling an opponent. (Element: Fire, Humor: Choler, Planet: Mars.)
Taurus ♉︎ (the Neck): The Bull is a fruitful sign associated with matters of money and prosperity, material goods, creature comforts, long-term goals, and achieving slow and steady progress that lasts. (Element: Earth, Humor: Melancholy, Planet: Venus.)
Gemini ♊︎ (the Arms): When the Moon is in the Twins, work for communications, travel, social interaction, tasks requiring cleverness, studying, and multitasking and other “Mercurial” pursuits. (Element: Air, Humor: Blood, Planet: Mercury.)
Cancer ♋︎(the Breast/Chest): The Crab is associated with home life, domesticity, family, and depth of feeling. (Element: Water, Humor: Phlegm, Planet: The Moon.)
Leo♌︎ (the Heart): The Lion is a positive sign of courage, determination, charisma and creativity, and it’s often said to be a strong sign for love and romance, as well as work relating to children. (Element: Fire, Humor: Choler, Planet: The Sun.)
Virgo ♍︎ (the Bowels): The Virgin is associated with matters of health, employment, professional skills, diet and weight loss, organization, and day-to-day routines. (Element: Earth, Humor: Melancholy, Planet: Mercury.)
Libra ♎︎ (the Kidneys): The sign of the Scales is appropriately one of balance, partnership, and justice. (Element: Air, Humor: Blood, Planet: Venus.)
Scorpio ♏︎(the Loins): Old-time almanacs often call the part of the body associated with the Scorpion “the Secrets” (i.e., the loins/genitals). This is appropriate, as the Moon in Scorpio is an ideal time for work relating to secrets, the esoteric, divination, research and investigation, uncovering mysteries, and sex. (Element: Water, Humor: Phlegm, Planet: Mars traditionally, but some today link Scorpio to the “new” heavenly body Pluto.)
Sagittarius ♐︎ (the Thighs):The Archer is an expansive sign, and his arrow points to personal growth, philosophical pursuits, the arcane arts, athletics, travel, and adventure. (Element: Fire, Humor: Choler, Planet: Jupiter.)
Capricorn ♑︎ (the Knees):The Goat is a great sign for stubbornly pursuing progress in areas of life pertaining to self-discipline, endurance, and control, including financial and practical matters. (Element: Earth, Humor: Melancholy, Planet: Saturn.)
Aquarius ♒︎ (the Legs):Despite being called the Waterman and having aqua in the name, Aquarius isn’t a water sign. (Don’t blame me; I don’t make the rules.) It is, however, a good sign for social relations, friendship, group work, and cultivating new possibilities. Some say it has an undercurrent of rebelliousness that can be tapped into to cause change. (Element: Air, Humor: Blood, Planet: Traditionally Saturn, but also the “new” planet of Uranus)
Pisces ♓︎ (the Feet):The Fishes swim deeply, and this is a strong sign for inner work of all kinds, including psychic development, dreaming, spiritual practices, and banishing negative energy. (Element: Water, Humor: Phlegm, Planet: Traditionally Jupiter, but also the “new” planet of Neptune.)
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Moon Phases
Running in parallel to the Moon’s journey through the Zodiac are its monthly phases. The current phase of the Moon is the second essential piece of information for lunar magical timing. The two basic trends are waxing (when the Moon appears to be growing) and waning(when the Moon appears to be shrinking). Generally, use the waxing phases for increasing and drawing something to you, and waning phases are best for reducing and pushing away that which is unwanted.
New Moon: Sometimes called The Dark of the Moon, the New Moon is a time for soul searching, personal reflection, breaking bad habits, retribution, and things to be done under the cover of darkness. It is the end of one lunar cycle and the beginning of another.
Waxing Crescent: Confusingly, some refer to this phase the New Moon, as it’s when a small shining sliver of Moon first becomes visible. Whatever you call it, this is the time for new beginnings in any domain of life, setting intentions, and planning – “planting seeds” that will blossom in the future. It is also an appropriate time to begin constructive work associated with the waxing moon overall – drawing, increasing, growth, health, friendships, love in all forms, success, and positive work in general.
First Quarter and Waxing Gibbous:Work for drawing and attracting success, increasing opportunities, growth, health, love in all forms, and constructive action in all areas of life.
Full Moon:This is the time to pursue the most vitally important things that one seeks to manifest or cultivate. The Full Moon is Luna at her most influential.
Waning Gibbous,Last Quarter,andWaning Crescent:The waning moon is a time for removing, repelling, reversing, releasing, and decreasing that which is undesirable or harmful.
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Putting It All Together
As you’ve probably guessed, the almanac timing system culminates in a combination of the Moon’s place in the Zodiac and its current phase. Using the attributes of both creates the best “lunar weather” for the type of work you seek to do. For example, you might do money-drawing work when the Waxing Moon is in Taurus. And if it’s a Friday (the day of Taurus’s planet, Venus), or a Thursday (the day of expansive Jupiter) so much the better!
The possibilities are virtually endless, and this post just scratches the surface. With an almanac is your guide, each day brings new opportunities to work with the greater cycles of nature.
have you ever laid eyes on someone while getting back from a day of hard work in the field and thought - we must wed this summer or I shall throw myself into the Dnieper! or have you ever felt overcome with fear that your beloved might be sneaking out every moonless night to the neighbouring village to kiss that girl with braids thicker than yours? or perhaps you have seen this fair shepherd boy lead sheep into the Carpathian meadows and you wished he would take a liking to you before Kupala’s Night comes?
fret no more, my friends!
here are some of my favourite slavic love charms that I’ve stumbled upon lately:
♥ - to ensure that they will find a good husband - and fast - girls would find the branch where the first bee swarming of the year would happen: the branch on which bees sat had to be boiled, and that concoction used to wash the body
♥ - to make a boy fall in love, girls would bake mole’s heart into the bread and serve that to their chosen boy - mole’s blindess would “go over the boy, as love is blind”
♥ - if a woman did not want to become pregnant - especiallyagain - she would have to walk in a circle around dead tree, saying “when this tree bore fruit, I bore children, when it bears again, I will”
♥ - if your beloved chose someone else over you, sneak close to their house during their wedding night, and throw over the roof: pin from a wheel to “close up the bride” or rope with knots tied on it to “knot the groom.” you know what that means.
♥ - to gain mad affection from a boy, girls would try to steal a thread from his hat - or even just dust from the soles of his shoes. then they would stick it into a lump of wax and throw into the fire, saying: “might you burn in longing for me like this wax is burning in the fire; might your heart melt for me like that wax is melting.” the boy would either fall in love madly - or get ill, and die. our foremothers did not favour the word “compromise”
♥ - to steal a boy’s heart, girls would steal his steps - cut out his footprint from the path, and take it with them.
♥ - to make sure that the chosen boy is stable in his love, girls would gather dirt from the path he walked on - again, best with his footprint - and put in into a pot, and plant there plants with flowers that bloom for a long time, and take good care of them.
♥ - to appear alluring and be desired by boys, girls would carry with them:a goshawk’s head, or swallow’s heart, or bat’s bones.
♥ - the most important love herbs that should be sneakily added to beloved’s food or drink: lovage (levisticum), adders tongue fern (ophioglossum vulgatum), sticky sundew (drosera), or poison darnel (lolium temulentum)
♥ - to awake desire in a boy, girls would either steal the water he bathed in and bathe in it themselves, or the other way around: sneak their own bathwater into the boy’s bath.
♥ - rub valerian into the clothes or possessions of a girl who’s trying to steal your boy - once she gets close to him, he will be overcome with hatred and disgust (or it will make him “wilt” with her. you know what that means.)
♥ - to become more beautiful, girls would sing to the sun, asking it to grant them its own fairness and charm, and make them as “bright and rich”
♥ - similarly, girls would ask the rainbow for similar favours: it was necessary to take off any shawls, caps, and ask “girl, girl, beauty in the skies, make me pretty so boys like me, and give me much blood so I can be full” (full as in full face, healthy, fatter - although as a strzyga I do love asking for more blood to be full as well.)
[examples come from Kultura Duchowa Słowian by Kazimierz Moszyński (volume I and II, 1934) and appear in the practices of many slavic peoples, especially from (historical and geographical) regions: Lesser Poland, Red Ruthenia, Belarus, Polesie, Great Rus, Moravia, Bulgaria, Little Rus and Ukraine]
This oil will grant you dominion over all around you and encourage them to do your bidding.
Calamus Root(Water/Moon)Also called Sweet Flag, it is considered to have the strongest of compelling virtues.
Licorice Root (Water/Venus) A commanding herb, especially useful as an aphrodisiac.
Depending on your intended use, consider the following:
Vetivert(Earth/Venus) For matters of physical or romantic attraction, it may also be used to strengthen hexing formulas. Powerful and efficient.
Oil of Bergamot(Air/Mercury)Which is a good commanding herb for matters pertaining to finances and business.
For a Commanding Oil of malevolent intentions, use Castor Oil(Air/Saturn) as a base. Otherwise, something like Olive Oil may be used.
Reduce your Licorice and Sweet Flag to a powder, focusing on their role in the formula. Add each subsequent ingredient, ground separately, being conscious of each effect on the blend. After adding all dry ingredients, add Essential Oil of Bergamot if desiring control over financial matters, and blend. Finally, dilute about 1 part of the blend into 3 parts of the carrier oil. Anoint the forehead, behind the ears, below the heart, under the left armpit, in the back of the neck, above the naval and between the thighs.
Red Thread - protection against enemies, malefica, gossip, evil spirits, afflictions of health. Serves well to overcome enemies, against the evil eye, invite love, luck, joy and auspiciousness.
Blue Thread - protection against evil words, evil eye, healing melancholy, subduing fiery aspects that detriment the person (such as harsh tempers and excessive work), dark blue aids in spirituality and legalities.
Green Thread - in correspondence to my previous posts on the colour green. Darker greens seem to help more strongly with works relating to love and herbal medicine. Mixing it with red thread combines the aspect of Fauna and Flora essentially combining two aspects of the forces of Nature. Aids healers.
Black Thread - good for saturnine spells, wards off malefica, enemies, evil spirits. Bringing good fortune, honours, dominating enemeis and incredibly strong protective spells.
White Thread - protection, blessing, peace, healing. Good in combination to red in spells to remove evil and protect the person against inauspiciousness. Strengthens lunar qualities in the person.
Yellow Thread - I can’t help but think of pestillence when I think of Yellow so I would view this as a colour for protection against sickness, bestowing good fortune and healing pestillence. I remember Backwoods Shamanism making reference to the colour yellow being used to petition the spirits related to the sickness to either inflict or leave the person afflicted.
Algol’s Degree is 26 Taurus according to Christopher Warnock. Furthermore, for election’s sake. the Star should be either rising or culminating on the ascendant or midheaven. The Fixed Stars are said to be rising or culminating 5-8 degrees on either side of the Midheaven or Ascendant with the Ascendant being preferred due to its strength. With that said, let’s get into it.
Algol’s stone is said to be Diamond. The plants associated with her are Black Hellebore with the addition of Mugwort according to Agrippa. The Bodleian MS says of Algol “Hellebore Juice with an equal amount of wormwood place under a diamond etc. to bring hatred and courage, preserve the members of the body and grant vengeance over those you wish’.
The Image of Algol is said to be the head of a man with a bloody neck.
Her Talisman brings the following effects: Success in petitions, obtaining boldness, preserving the body, reflects evil sent against the magus and protects against witchcraft.
Her talismans are favoured for spiritual protection. Black Hellebore is toxic as an incense therefore mugwort would be preferred. Black and red candles are good colours but Warnock mentions toning down the rough energies of Algol by way of white candles. She is a good star to work with but one that does not take well to disrespect in any form. She requires good focus and preparation in the working be it devotional, spellwork or the preparation of a talisman both before, during and after.
Invocation of Algol as given by Christopher Warnock:
said nine times
O’ Algol, Hail Unto You, Beta Persei. O Ras Al-Ghul, fearsome, powerful Star. I ask that you grant me personal protection (or protect these people and this space) from incantations and all attack, reflect all attacks back upon the attackers.
The Symbol of Algol
Extra Notes
Algol does hold a particular place in certain groups of black magick as a star suited to empower works, empowering the creation of monsters and the works of transformation and alchemy. It can be called upon to increase the power of the witch and is regarded as highly auspicious in the LHP. Due to its incredibly dark nature, as well as highly transformative effects, Algol does impose evolution onto the person calling upon Her. Saturating an area with this star’s energy has been known to cause its inhabitants to take on a darker nature. It aids in darker works of alchemy and enlightenment through darker avenues.
Green is my favourite colour and so I thought about doing a post to discern it and figure out its applications in personal craft. The thing about it, though, is that it seems to be an incredibly multi-faceted colour. I couldn’t pin it down to one single energy or face because it seemed to represent a lot of things without being confined to any of them. Every shade of green brings up new images when I look at them but one thing I did notice was this:
The Lighter the Green, the younger the archetypes. So a light green would be more representative of the maiden, the virgin, Persephone and so on and so forth. It has a sense of purity yet it still has a deep profoud wisdom behind it that is characteristic of the spirit of green. Even with that, let’s take Persephone, she’s not a unifaceted character but has a lot of aspects tied to her.
The Darker Shades of Green split up into two as well. Both of them seem to exhibit the same profound wisdom but one, what would be perceived as the more earthy type of green, is closer to nature whereas the more cultivated and clean type of green seems more tied to civility. The Earthier Greens seem to paint more of a feminine aspect of the Serpent, more tied towards the esoteric aspects of nature with an emphasis on flora. The Cleaner Greens seem to hold more potency over the powers of wealth, luxury, diplomacy and politics. All three of them bring up images of women but in different fields of power.
Earthier Greens bring up the image of a Lady garbed in green bearing a blade, at her feet is a coiling serpent and her clothes seem to be made of leaves. Cleaner Greens brings up a picture of a lady wearing black, her hair done in a regal fashion, sitting on a throne. Lighter Greens bring up the image of a young woman with flowers in her hair, wearing a white smock and holding a bundle of wheat in her arms. So you can imagine the confusion that I felt when it came to this.
So, here’s what I could at least figure out when it came to this colour.
Earthier Greens are best for workings when it relates towards herbal medicines, healings, working with the Serpent Force in relation to plants, working with the genius loci, nymphs, dryads and the like. She is also a good colour to work with when it comes to divination, especially through means that are rustic or natural such as bone reading, divination through the rustling of leaves and travelling in the Green. I couldn’t pin her down because she had a chaotic energy, much like the earth that she represents. The blade she holds could be a symbol of nature’s ability to create and to destroy. A certain aspect of her is very firmly grounded in psychopomp and chthonic virtues.
Cleaner Greens seem to correspond well to workings of honour, dignity, personal development, envy, jealousy, politics (in whatever way one may interpret that) and power. I keep seeing the image of a green jewel so it seems that this colour is also suited towards works of finances and the more luxurious aspects of Venus. The woman I see in relation to this colour is intimidating, potent but seems to be the more cunning aspect of the snake. So I would assume that this colour also serves well for works of Veneficium.
Lighter Greens correspond to fertility, youthfulness, beauty, healing, growth and abundance. It seems to have the optimism that the other two colours don’t really have, so I would also see this as a colour suited to emotional healing. She also seems to correspond well to workings of creativity and love. A sense of personal freedom accompanies her wherever she goes so I would also find that this colour relates well to self love, healing of issues relating to the self and to glamouries. That same ancient and aged wisdom of the other two aspects still shines through so, well still being optimistic, she is still a very practical and deep thinking individual. So, as a whole the colours could correspond to psychological work and the facing of one’s own issues.
Some other aspects I picked up on were transformation, rebirth, sorcery (in every means and aspect of the word), underworld travel, spirit work, working with the genii of plants, working with the feminine aspect of the serpent that relates to flora and psychic ability, I keep seeing a divination bowl in relation to this. Alongside this, sociability, friendliness, intellect and cunning.
As a colour of Venus, she also relates to the signs Taurus and Libra and thus takes on some of those aspects.
This seal was made using symbols from the Ars Vercanus to create a message saying, in effect, : Enchant future endeavours with good fortune and blessings. It also makes use of the upward triangle (a symbol of fire) combined with the symbol offered for Projection to represent projecting power into the spell and into the future. It also makes use of a bowl representing the womb (of creation) combined with the sigil proposed for earth to representing birthing it into physical reality. The lines on each side serve the role of protecting the spell while creating a circulation of energy through the talisman when empowered. The sigils are actually separate but have been integrated into a line to form the message as well as connect them all into one single spell.
Talisman Elections
Colours - Yellow Paper with Blue Ink (Jupiter - Blue - of Sol). Day - Sunday, Hour of Jupiter - preferably in the Day for Solar Empowerment Moon Phase - Waxing to Full
Incantation that can be used - Advanced Planetary Magick Jason Miller
I - YE (EE EUW - VIBRATED AT THE BEGINNING OF RITUAL)
Fill me with joy and jovial grace. Lift me up with your benevolent blessings. Crown me with majesty and magnamity. Kindly kings and majestic mediatoiors, augment my awareness, my assets and my vigor, that I may assist others in finding their joy.
(A bright blessing of Kingship and Wealth).
The talisman can be pasted on the wall of the business, kept on a money altar, folded and placed in the wallet, used as a base for the creation of servitors etc.
Blue is a strong colour against the Malocchio. You can incorporate it in rites to cure the evil eye or as a spell bottle filled with various things (like black eyed peas) to be kept as an amulet against the evil eye. I’ve heard of some people painting their porch blue to confuse spirits because, as the old homage goes, spirits can’t cross over running water. So keeping a blue welcome mat in front of your door can very well serve against evil eye or wandering spirits entering your home. Dark blue is the colour of Jupiter so a jar painted with the various symbols of Jupiter can be used as a money talisman, so good for money bowls or a talisman in the way that each thursday you place a coin in it for money to expand or grow. Due to Jupiter’s assocations with legalities (alongside saturn) and spirituality, it could also be a good colour for those types of works. Since Blue has associations with truth, expression and the voice, then one can assume that it can be used to expose the truth in court, or reversed in order to silence someone, create delusions or illusions and misguide someone to your advantage. To the same, it can be used discover the truth and considering its association with spirituality, it could be obtained through supernatural means (such as through dreams, scrying etc.). It does have a very watery, flowy and submissive energy though, and I do seem to find it as a very melancholic colour, so I do find that it can be used in order to heal someone of melancholy or to inflict it. Maybe I’m thinking of Sadness from Inside Out.
Iron is used in protective magick, sometimes cursing and othertimes war magick (basically anything under the rulership of Mars as Iron is a corresponding metal). Red soil is generally red due to a presence of iron nearby, and it rusts thus causing the red colour (similar to Mars). So, hear me out, what if we used red dirt as a powder. Red dirt to make a protective barrier. Red dirt mixed with a little bit of storm water to create a potent cursing paste. Red dirt as a base of martial powders, mix red dirt with black pepper and red pepper to make a warrin powder.
The Greek Magical Papyri states the following which can be used in bowl divination to the magus’s desire
Rainwater if you’re calling upon heavenly gods Seawater if the gods of the earth River water if Osiris or Sarapis Springwater if the dead
As to the above, I am also sure of its applications outside of its hydromantic usages. One could possibly also asperge an area with spring water or use spring water as a base for philtres, offerings or the glass kept on the altar in cases where one is to call upon spirits. Seawater has an astounding healing ability in magick and could be used in the glass or as an asperge for the communication of chthonic deities. Rainwater can be used in the creation of holy water with particular emphasis, especially in Catholic and other Folk Magick traditions, on water that is collected on holy dates such as Good Friday, Easter Sunday etc.
As the fingers each correspond to an element, and each hand to receiving or projecting, this can be used to the magus’s advantage in talismans Talismans of a watery nature are best anointed with the ring finger, for example. Feelings of being ungrounded or airy are counteracted by charming with the thumb (earth) of the left hand (disintegration). Furthermore are the various symbols associated with each of the elements including colours and words of power.
Some Epithets of Lady Agia for Protection Prayers and Magick
Hekate-Medusa - “Protector, Guard, Gorgon” Hekate-Ekiskopos - “Hekate, the One who Watches Over” Hekate Ephoros - “Hekate the Guardian” Hekate-Arkuia - “Hekate, Spinner of Webs, the Entrapper) Hekate-Apotropaios - Hekate, the Averter Hekate Soteira - Hekate, the Saviour Hekate-Pasimedeonsa - "Hekate, All-Guarding” Hekate-Melinoe - Hekate, the Soothing One Hekate-Lochias - Protector of Birthing, Child Birthing Goddess Hekate-Limenskopos - Hekate who guards the Havens
Obtain a virgin white candle and bless it in the name of the person’s health that you wish to affect. On a sunday, light the candle and say their name over the candle three times saying:
“Name, I pray for your health and light this candle in honour of it.”
Thereafter, break the candle and place it in a safe place where it won’t light anything on fire. As you do this, pray the Lord’s prayer backwards seven times. When this has been done, snuff out the candle. Take it and place it at a three way crossroads with a coin and a prayer to the spirits that lurk there saying:
All ye spirits ‘neath the reign of the Matron Hekate-Androphonos, see here my enemy. I give leave for you to take them and offer a coin for you.
Leave then and do not turn back. When you get home, wash yourself in salt water.
IF A HUMAN BEING OR ANIMAL IS BEING ATTACKED BY EVIL SPIRITS, HOW TO RESTORE THEM AND MAKE THEM WELL AGAIN:
Thou arch-sorcerer, thou hast attacked (name of person); let that witchcraft recede from him into thy marrow and into thy bone, let it be returned unto thee. I exorcize thee for the sake of the five wounds of Jesus, thou evil spirit, and conjure thee for the five wounds of Jesus of this flesh, marrow and bone. I exorcize thee for the sake of five wounds of Jesus, at this very hour restore to health again N.N, in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (said three times)
*As general practice, I do invoke God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit by way of the Cross and so can recommend this same usage by signing the cross over the person or anointing their head with holy oil, rowan ash, holy ash or the ash of an appropriate psalm or prayer.
FOR FRESH WOUNDS
Fresh is the wound, blessed is the day, happy the hour I found soon to stop and arrest thee so that thou will neither swell nor fester until mountains meet +++ (+ signifies the point on which the person signs the cross over the wound)
A REMEDY FOR COUGHS
When cherries are in season, dry the stems of black cherries between two sheets of paper (to prevent them from becoming dusty) and save them in a (paper) box. Draw tea therefrom, for every drawing use four saucers worth of water and as many stems as can be taken between three fingers (assuming it is the thumb and the index and middle). Boil it like any other tea and drink until the cough stops. (it is said that even the most violent cough can be cured by this remedy)
FOR A PUTRID MOUTH
Take blackberry leaves that have been boiled in water and wine, put a little alum to it. A mouth that is rinsed therewith will have a good effect.
(Extra note: I’d like to say that the same remedy, excepting the alum addition, was prescribed in Gemma Gary’s Black Toad. It’s primary usage was to aid in cankers in the mouth. Research was done on alum to find out that it was fairly non-toxic and had a significant reduction of plaque and gingivitis. I’d still take precautions of adding a proportional amount of alum to the mixture.)
The 1st day of the month is suited towards the beginning of all things The 2nd day of the month is suited to works of hate and enchantments against enemies The 3rd day of the month is right for naught The 4th day is good for enchantments and conjuration of wicked spirits The 5th day of the month is good for works of invisibility and enchantments against one’s ehemies The 6th day of the month is good for theft (of which it is not specified but I assume works of discerning thieves and the such) and knowledge of hidden goods The 7th day of the month is good for naught The 8th day of the month is good for obtaining the love of virgins The 9th day of the month is good for naught The 10th day of the month is good for naught the 11th day of the month is suitable for enchantments held in the afternoon the 12th day of the month is suitable for theft the 13th day of the month is good for works of love the 14th day of the month is good for works of invisibility the 15th day of the month is good for naught the 16th day of the month is suited for works of discord the 17th day of the month is good for works for the love of women the 18th day of the month is good for (the) theft the 19th day of the month is good for works of hate the 20th day of the month is good for naught the 21st day of the month is suited for works of invisibility the 22nd day of the month is good for love the 23rd day of the month is good for discord the 24th day is good for naught the 25th day is good for all sorts of enchantments the 26/27th is good for love the 28/29th is not good for love (so possibly works to break up lovers or cause disharmony in relationships) The 30th day is good against enemies the 31st day is as the first, good for beginnings.
This is the pile that for some people is related towards starting something new. It does not, however, only tie to that. The vision I saw beforehand was a bolt of lightning and the Buri Nazar. These are people that can be naive or try to see the best in people which leads to manipulation by people in power. You are currently coming out of a stage in relation to this but you need to do work in preventing it in future. You have a protective spirit watching over you and any protection spells that some of you have done prior have been heard. You need to protect yourself against gossip, mental and emotional manipulation, chaos and conflict. A good option is also to protect yourself against the Malocchio. You may find yourself at the point of envy or the target of verbal abuse or incantations. I highly recommend a protection spell that covers you against evil thought, word, eye and deed. Due to the appearancde of a thunderbolt, the oak tree would be of good aid in these types of rites.
Pile 2: The Five of Cups, the Seven of Cups and the Knight of Swords.
The Visions that appeared in this pile were a snake coming from underneath dead earth, a deep and vast river and a woman crying in it. She had a serpent coiling around her feet. I fear that this pile may be subject to betrayal and conspiracies against them. This pile needs protection against people working against them and I actually feel that a return to sender spell or a truth spell is in order. You may have been betrayed by friends, family or other and are suffering from sadness but what you are being asked to do here is to cut through it. I see the knight of swords as a Conquest and a Conquering Character. A lot of you may feel lost in this path, especialyl in the case of someone close to you hurting you. This pile needs to protect themselves against - conspirators, malefica, ill wishes, deceit and enemies.
Pile 3 - Two of Wands, Six of Pentacles and Four of Pentacles
The visions of this pile was a person lounging in an orchard underneath a bright sun. I first thought that this was a pile that had it a bit better until I was told to look closely at the trees. There I saw a man looking from behind the trees. This is a pile of people who work hard and have established themselves, some of you might have started your own business, gained a promotion, a raise or have developed a good career. What you need protection from, however, is a kind heart. Do not let people sponge off your success and do not let yourself give into people trying to manipulate you out of your hard earned assests. There’s a difference between charity for good and overgiving. You have such a nice heart that can cause people to want to take advantage of the gifts that you have, be it financial, emotional or spiritual. You may also have people who are jealous against you because you have achieved this level of material fulfilment, spiritual fulfilment, relationship fulfilment etc. You’re being asked to guard against and be aware of people trying to manipulate you, freeload off of your success and people who are sending the Malocchio or ill wishes because you have something that they wish they had.
So story, exams were upon us, the department was visiting and I wasn’t in the mood to be looked at or for them to pay particular attention to me. What’s a witch to do? A charm for invisibility apparently, and so too came an analysis because it worked incredibly well. I then found out at a later point from Lord Asmodeus why one of the components worked so well. So let’s get started:
By the Cross Seal of Shielding, may they be made unaware of my presence. In nomine Astaroth, Lucibel et Baalzebuth. Exat.
So first we need to start with an understanding of magick.
First is the need, the desire, the requiring of a result. That was the force that drove it, I had a desire that I wanted fulfilled and so I took the actions to shape the energy of that desire into something concrete. Essentially it can be discussed as the relationship between Wod (Inspiration) and Willa (Willpower. The Willa whishapes the Wod was guided by the above incantation into effect. The Willa was also fortified by personal belief in both my ability and the words I was using. So now let’s get into it:
By the Cross Seal of Shielding - this was extracted from the Viridarium Umbris and its office is described as: to preserve or protect a thing from attack and to stand as sentinel. By the first part of this incantation, I am enlisting a force to come to my aid. That being the force of the Cross Seal of Shielding. After a particular ritual, I had a small discussion with Lord Asmodeus that referred to the Cross Seal as a repellant of sorts. It just made sure that nothing came near you, it wasn’t a shield but normal means but was like smoke around the person that both obscured them from sight and made it more difficult for energies to enter, so they rather went away. Kinda the same thing as how burning incense keeps flies away because of its smell.
May they be made unaware of my presence - This is the willa of sorts, the chisel that shapes the energy that I called upon giving it a charge. That was to essentially shield me from the mind and sight of the persons I did not want to be seen by.
In Nomine Astaroth, Lucibel, Baalzebuth. Exat - by here I was doing a final invocation to the Infernal Trinity of the Grimoire Verum, Lucifer, Astaroth and Baalzebuth. This couid be seen as a final empowerment as I was proclaiming that the spell would be empowered and brought to manifestation by the Holy Forces of Lady Astaroth, Lord Lucifer and Lord Beelzebub.
So now, from this we have a set of things to work with.
1 - The Desire mixed with the will to shape it 2 - the Preliminary Invocation 3 - the Charge 4 - the Casting.
We have already discussed the Wod and Willa so now we’re going to make an example using the above formats:
Say I wanted to call upon the Forces of Saturn to aid me in a work. So I could call upon the Intelligence, the Olympic Spirit or the Spirit but in this case, let’s do the collective of it. Now why am I calling them (the Passion). I’m calling them to aid me in the protection of my home as Saturn has power over buildings and the like. So let’s get started with something simple:
I call the Forces of Saturn, be thou the succour of the protection of my stead. In nomine Aratron exat.
This is one example but I know this formula can be applied in many ways
I remember once walking between, or rather flying, as a pigeon. I used the feathers of a pigeon as an atavistic link in order to aid the astral projection. I draw on, however, Bird Magic by Sandra Kynes for this post of how the magick of the pigeon can be called upon.
The Spirit of the Pigeon can be invoked for rites pertaining to communication between the worlds. It is a bird that can aid in interpreting messagesa and omens (to which I feel that it can be invoked by the placement of pigeon feathers on the altar during divination or kept under the hat or in a bag for the magus to carry the energy of the pigeon with them wherever they go). It is also connected strongly to fertility and matters of the family and home. (To another extent, I feel to mention that frog amulets were worn in Egypt to call upon the benediction of the Goddess Heqet who would aid in the safe pregnancy and birth of a mother. So to the same I could assume that an amulet calling upon the Pigeon could fill the same purpose). It can also work in the matters of luck and love and to foster peace and security. The pigeon can also aid the magus in the development of adaption to matters in their life. The associations of this bird are air and the God Perun).
From the Viridarium Umbris, the following is given in relation to birds and atavistic spirits:
Goosefoot or Chenopodium, is used in incensees and philtres of flight for the assumption of the bird spirit (going forth as a bird) Celandine is strong associated with birds with a particular emphasis on swallows Gorse is the same with an emphasis on Wrens
As for a ritual calling, I can offer the following.
One can prepare a representation of the pigeon (statue or laminated picture) on an altar. Before it, one can place feathers of a pigeon, the food a pigeon would eat, a glass of water and an incense (which can be taken from the above), in which a ritualistic calling is said and the trance state entered where one can commune with the atavism of the Pigeon for advice or for enlisting its aid in the works. Alternatively, in spells, the pigeon feather can be used to waft smoke over an item to both imbue it with the smoke’s properties and the benediction of the pigeon, a pigeon feather can be incorpated into spells and so on and so forth.
FEHU: CATTLE, A REPRESENTATION OF GOODS WON AND EARNED. THE RUNIC POEM OF FEHU SAYS THAT WEALTH AND LUXURY IS A COMFORT TO ALL MEN BUT ONE MUST BE WILLING TO GIVE TO OBTAIN FAVOUR IN THE SIGHT OF THE GODS. THE NORWEGIAN AND ICELANDIC FORM OF THE ANGLO SAXON POEM DESCRIBES WEALTH AS THE CAUSE OF DISCORD AMONGST MEN. IT PROVIDES SUCCESS, ADVANCEMENT IN CAREER AND LUCK FOR THOSE IN DIFFICULTY. IT IS SAID THAT THIS LUCK, HOWEVER, IS NOT TEMPORARY AND THUS THE CHARM MUST BE RENEWED IN BOTH SPIRITUAL AND A SOCIAL SENSE. AN ACT OF CHARITY IS SAID TO BE THE BEST SUCH AS DONATING TO A CHARITY OR GIVING AID TO A PERSON IN NEED, ESSENTIALLY EMPOWERING IT THROUGH ITS MENTION IN THE ANGLO-SAXON RUNIC POEM. IT IS GOOD IN AREAS OF MONEY, FRIENDSHIP AND THE OBTAINING OF MERIT AND HONOURS. AT ITS MOST PRIMORDIAL LEVEL, IT REPRESENTS THE FORCES OF INCREASE, DECREASE, TOSSING AND TURNING, THE TIDES OF FORTUNE AND CHANCE THAT CAN BE FICKLE YET CONSTANT AT THE SAME TIME. ITS ENERGIES ARE DESCRIBED AS ERRATIC AND WILD AND ARE THUS CONSIDERED USEFUL TO INVOKE WHEN DOING WORKS THAT REQUIRE RADICAL CHANGE. THUS IN THE CREATION OF A RUNIC CHARM, USE IT AFTER THE SUBJECT RUNE IN ORDER TO SPEED IT.IT IS FURTHER SAID TO EMPOWER THE PSYCHIC FORCE, AID IN THE TRANSFERENCE OF POWER OR THE PROJECTION OF SUCH (IN WHICH IT IS REGARDED AS THE SENDING RUNE). IT IS USEFUL IN ALL FORMS OF MAGICK AS IT IS SAID TO DRAW THE POWER OF SUN, MOON AND STARS. IT’S VERBAL FORMULA CAN BE SAID AS FOLLOWS:
FEHU, FEHU, FEHU F F F F F F F F F FU FA FI FE FO OF EF IF AF UF F F F F F F F F F
ACCORDING TO THE BOOK AEGISHJALMUR – ITS DRACONIC ASSOCIATIONS ARE WITH THE DRAGON FAFNIR AND IT REFERS TO BOTH THE DRACONIC FIRE AND THE GOLD THAT IT GUARDS.
UTHARK: NIGHTSIDE OF THE RUNES – DESCRIBES FEHU IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:
IT REPRESENTS THE COMPLETION OF A PROCESS AND THE FOLLOWING RWARD.
IT DOES, HOWEVER, MAKE MENTION OF THE RUNE’S FORCES BEING MORE TAMED AS CONTRASTED TO UR. ITS STADHAGALDR (RUNIC POSE FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD) IS AS FOLLOWS:
STAND STRAIGHT WITH ARMS STRETCHED OUTWARDS. THE LOWER ARMS POINT UPWARDS WITH THE HANDS CLENCHED.
IN DIVINATION ACCORDING TO THE SAME BOOK, IT CORRESPONDS TO THE FOLLOWING:
WEALTH, REWARD, TAMING THE WILD, REWARD FOR HARD WORK, GAINING CONTROL OVER A SITUATION, FINDING NEW SOURCES OF RICHES. IT DOES, HOWEVER, CALL FOR ONE TO AVOID STAGNATION AND THAT ONE SHOULD USE IT WISELY AND RESPONSIBLY.
THE RUNE DOES HAVE THE ABILITY TO BE INVERTED UPON WHICH THE MEANINGS SHOULD BE INTERPRETED AS A CONTRAST.
IN A NORDIC KATABASIS, SEEKING KNOWLEDGE IN THE UNDERWORLD (HELHEIM AND FROM THE MOTHER HEL), THE RUNE IS DESCRIBED AS BEING THE FOLLOWING STEP:
THE MAGUS HAS LEARNT INTEGRATED AND LEARNT HOW TO CONTROL THE DARK AND WILD FORCES. THE POWERS OF DEATH AND DARKNESS CAN BE USED TO SERVE THE MAGUS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR WILL. THEY HAVE REACHED A STATE OF COMPLETION AND REWARD IN RETURN FOR THEIR SELF SACRIFICE.
FROM THE ABOVE, ONE CAN SEE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE MAGUS AND THE ALL-FATHER ODIIN WHO SACRIFICED HIMSELF IN PURSUIT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE RUNES.
THE BRIGHT FEHU IN DIVINATION TIES TO: SOCIAL SUCCESS, WEALTH, FORESIGHT AND A NEW BEGINNING.
THE MURKY FEHU CORRESPONDS TO GREED, BURNOUT, ATROPHY, POVERTY AND DISCORD
Scissors - Scissors can be used in a lot of rituals with a primary influence in cutting things. It can be used to cut illness, cut the evil eye, cut spells away from a person or cut away any influences. It can be used in protection spells, especially against malefica (open up a pair of scissors to protect against witches). So one ritual you could do was to open up a pair of scissors and place your target candle in front of the blades.
Coins - it can be used in spells of prosperity but also in petition to spirits. You attach the coin to a candle in payment to a spirit for a work to be done. Some rituals to San Ramon to stop a person from speaking make use of sticking the coin on San Ramon’s Mouth in both payment and symbolizing his ability to silence people.
Eggs - Eggs have been used in ritual cleansings in many cultures across the world, they’ve also been used in divination. Alternatively, they can be used as symbols of birth, fertility and gestation (good for working servitors). It can also be used as a base for many powders.
Chamomile - Chamomile has properties as a herb of peace, curse breaking, divination and good fortune. Rubbing a candle with blessed oil, salt then chamomile can be used as a curse breaking or cleansing candle. Washing a candle in rose water and covering it in chamomile can be used in bringing peace to the home. Covering a candle in honey or a syrup and covering it in chamomile can be used as a money candle.
Keys - used to open doors, close doors, welcome opportunity and as an offering to various deities and spirits. It can be buried at an area where one wishes to unlock opportunities with an offering. For example, burying a key at a bank, giving an offering of some coins and water and leaving it for a week or two before picking it up. It can be a potent talisman for financial luck, opening the door to things such as customers, loans (if loans were wanted), financial abundance, security and the like. A key can be taken and touched to each of the doors and windows of the house with a prayer to lock the door against thieves/spirits/misfortune and hung from a red cord as an amulet.
A good way to empower it is keep a few stray tassels at the end and to hang something from them (especially if the cord is to be hung from an area or placed on the altar) - for example, a red cord for protection could have a nail, a charm of a dagger or sword, a San Miguel medal, a pentacle or other symbol of protection when hung. A cord to welcome opportunities can have a key hung from it and so on.
If your hair has been braided into the cord, it is recommended that it be kept on you at all times.
Hang the cord on a doorknob to welcome, over the door to keep out, over the stove or hearth to work it by fire or the spirits of the home, by a window or hanging from the roof to work it by air (or alternatively tied from a tree branch), buried in the soil or wrapped around a plant (with permission and suitable offering) to work it by earth and kept in a small jar of water to work it by water. Put it in the graveyard (with permission, respect, suitable offering and safety) to work it by the spirits of the dead. If you can, bury it or place it in the grave of someone you were related to (like a grandmother). In the case that you have built a relationship with certain spirits, you can bury it there. For example, a money cord can be buried in the grave of a banker, a love cord buried in the grave of two lovers who lived happilly and so on. In the case that it is a eco-friendly material, tie it to a rock and throw it in the river to banish, cleanse, remove etc.
If an illness has been bound in the thread, bury it at the roots of a tree or in the river (with respect and an offering or it can be bound to a surrogate (like tying it to a potato so that the potato can take the illness. Then you bury the potato then as it rots, so too will the illness).
A black cord can be taken and knotted in the name of your enemy (saying an incantation such as: I weave the thread, I lock the chains. I bind you, N.N. Thereafter, blow on the knots and bury it or tie it to the roots of a tree or bind it to a rock and throw it into running water.
To obtain a dream oracle about a situation, take a good cord and make a knot in it (not tying it entirely so that there’s still a loop. You’ll see why). While you do this, say a prayer asking for the oracle in your dream as to find out the end or circumstances of the situation. Place it underneath your pillow and go to sleep. When you wake up, try and work through the symbols, images or full blow narratives that appeared in your dreams. If they were positive, tie the knot entirely to ensure it maintains itself until the end. If it was negative, untie the knot to avert it.
In the case of doing temporary knot magick, use slipknots as they’re easy to remove and you get to add stuff into it more easily.
Though the thread spell is used on its own, it can be complimentary to another spell. Enchanting a pink cord while knotting it can be used to bind two poppets together in a love spell.
Anoint the cord with various things as according to your will. Sugar water for spells of love, healing, peace. Rose water for the same. An infusion of mint for healing spells, money spells, cleansing spells. Infusions of basil to ensure unwanted spirits do not come into the home when the cord is hung over the door.
Weave black dog hair into a cord used for dark arts, black cat hair into a cord for luck and good fortune.
From Dr. Fian, use a wooden stake to hold your braiding for general spells and benefic magick. Use an iron nail for spells of bane.
To spell a person to remain loyal to you, a spell you could do is to place a pink cord under their side of the bed, under their chair or under the doormat when they step over it (partially knotted, not entirely done) and then when able (without them seeing), tie the knot fully to bind them to you. Keep it near you or place it in a place where it cannot be seen by others. Alternatively, this spell can be done to charm people in all sorts of ways.
This is a standalone post about holy water and some of the history and potential of its use in magical practice. There are several religions and sects which make use of water which has been consecrated by its clergy, and I am certain that these variants of holy water are not all the same. For now, I will be talking about Catholic and Orthodox holy water in particular. In Catholic and Orthodox traditions, it is traditionally used to spiritually cleanse places, people, and objects from evil, and as an aid in the consecration of many places and things for specifically holy purposes. The magical functions of holy water don’t usually differ greatly from traditional uses, though most Christian clergy members would certainly discourage this kind of application for non-Christian purposes. I hope this post can give you some insight into its practical applications. You are always welcome to ask us if you have questions.
In the future, I also intend to do some research and experiments to determine the difference between the effects of Christian holy water from different sects. So far, I’ve only had access to that of the Catholics, Anglicans (Church of England, who do not refer to their consecrated water as “holy water,” but otherwise employ it for similar ceremonial purposes), and Episcopalians (who differ from the Church of England in numerous ways). I have not collected holy water from the few other Christian denominations whom I understand to use it (such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, whose inclusion in my experiments is essential), but when I do, I intend to begin these experiments, and I may document the results here when my tests are complete.
The history of holy water’s usage in magic goes back at least as far as the dawn of its usage in Christianity. This was so common that by the 15th century, many witch-hunting manuals made mention of this. In addition, some of them mentioned uses of holy water to counteract witchcraft and demonic influence, though they acknowledged that in that context, one would often need to accompany such a blessing with prayers such as the Angelic Salutation (Hail Mary), Lord’s Prayer, or the seven Penitential Psalms. Despite the aversion toward magic the authors of these books had, we could reasonably consider these uses to be high magic of the Roman Catholic Church, which has many practices in that category. To begin, I will discuss some of this high magic advocated by inquisitors involving holy water.
In the Malleus Maleficarum, it is stated that men who perform Catholic exorcism rituals such as the aspersion of holy water are impervious to the works of witches. They were to sprinkle holy water in any place where people or animals lived in order to protect them from harm. They were also expected to say the Lord’s Prayer, ten repetitions of the Angelic Salutation, and the Glory be to the Father during this ritual. In addition to sprinkling the rooms or houses, exorcists would sometimes further bless a home by consecrating candles by sprinkling them before lighting them and burning some consecrated herbs in the dwelling.
There is also great emphasis on the belief that holy water is very useful for cleansing livestock and cattle who have been harmed or tainted by witches. It provides many methods for this, the simplest (and probably most reliable) being the act of crossing one’s cattle with holy water.
The same book also mentions that in many cases of demonic possession or influence, it is possible to drive the demon or evil spirit away by using holy water and making the sign of the cross. However, it details one case involving an incubus where this method was completely ineffective, and later says that the same victim tried this again, and it appeared effective at first, but was later shown to have failed. The book specifies that incubi and succubi can’t always be driven away with holy water, while it is sufficient for driving away many other forms of harassing or malicious spirits.
The last use of holy water detailed in the Maleficarum is an exorcism ritual intended to expel demons from a human host. I won’t recount the details of the ritual, here, but I will discuss the role of the holy water. In this ritual, for the duration of a great deal of theatrical ritual movements, prayers, and incantations, an exorcist is expected to continually sprinkle holy water onto the possessed person. According to the authors, this is the most recommended method of exorcism, and the holy water appears to play a very important role in its effectiveness.
Compendium Maleficarum contains an entire section describing the use of holy water as a method of counteracting or preventing witchcraft. In particular, it contains the story of a Catholic priest whose house was gravely haunted by a poltergeist. This spirit would extinguish lights, smash things, and move furniture very suddenly and violently. Apparently, he requested that the Church appoint another priest to protect him from this evil spirit, and the appointed priest ultimately succeeded by sprinkling the home with holy water and saying the appropriate rites (probably the same prayers mentioned in the Malleus Maleficarum, though the particular prayers used are not specified in the Compendium). There is a similar case mentioned later in the same section which details another haunted house in which doors are ripped from their hinges, and people sustained serious head injuries. Again, a priest sprinkling holy water and saying the appropriate prayers successfully solved the problem.
TheCompendiumalso refers to cases when people have been transmuted into animals by witches. In that case, it says sprinkling their foreheads with holy water is usually sufficient to reverse this kind of curse.
Marcellus, the Bishop of Apamea around the 5th century used holy water to destroy a temple of Jupiter. According to the accounts of this event, a demon was preventing the wooden parts of the temple from catching fire, and he threw holy water on the demon, which caused the flames to erupt and consume the temple as if an accelerant had been poured on it.
There is mention of a St. Theodore who cured all manner of sicknesses with his holy water, and who could drive away demons. I believe this to be the same St. Theodore who was the Archbishop of Rostov.
There is a story of a man who made holy water and used it to cure an epidemic of tainted meat and livestock, and prevent disease from unclean food.
St. Hubertus had his home invaded by armies of demons. He called on one of his men to get him holy water with consecrated salt, and holy anointing oil (probably of the kind described in Exodus 30) blessed by a priest. These appear to have been extremely effective tools for him to use to get rid of the invading devils.
TheCompendiumalso speaks of an indigenous Mexican child who was gravely afflicted with a fever which had similar symptoms to malaria. Apparently, his mother brought him to the church, and the holy water and prayers the clergy used cured his illness entirely.
There are brief mentions of some other cases of holy water treating demonic possession, magical poisonings, and other afflictions. Most of these cases are so briefly described that it isn’t worth detailing them here.
In addition to the use of holy water by the church, there is some record of medieval witches making use of it in various situations. Not all of these have documented purposes, but I will try to discern them based on what I do know. In particular, I have found one mention (in Nicolas Remy’s Demonolatry, another witch-hunting manual) of soothsayers writing the names of thieves on parchment and submerging it in holy water. The purpose of this practice isn’t specified, but it might be to cause thieves to return with their stolen goods and confess, or to “drown” them in their guilt.
TheMalleus Maleficarum does not seem to detail any malefic uses for holy water (probably to prevent people from learning of such uses), but there is mention of a man being tempted into the service of demons, and it is relevant that this happens on a Sunday, before church services start, and specifically “before the holy water is consecrated.” Here, he has to renounce his faith in front of God and everyone, and this is the primary part of his initiation into witchcraft.
Aside from inquisitors describing witchcraft involving holy water, there are a few well-respected magicians who mention the use of holy water. For example, Pietro D'Abano advocates the use of holy water to aid in consecrating a magic circle of protection.
Henry Cornelius Agrippa writes about a Rabbi named Hama, and says this Rabbi recommends using holy water as an ingredient of a special ink, which is made after undergoing many acts of purification (in addition to making an animal sacrifice). This ink is for making talismans and sigils against disease. I believe it is unlikely that this Hama was truly a Rabbi, but his ritual cleansing and symbol-making method appears to be theoretically sound (though demanding) and extremely thorough.
In addition to the above, Cornelius Agrippa says that it is proper to sanctify corpses of the dead with holy water, in addition to several completing several other steps in order to cleanse it, and ensure that it properly returns to the earth in order to protect the flesh from devils, and properly deliver it back into the hands of God (Cornelius Agrippa often had to disguise his practices as monotheistic and Christian, due to the attitudes of people in power during his time). Consistent with accepted uses, he also recommends sprinkling holy water to cleanse the mind, and to bring tranquility to other types of places and things.
TheThree Books on Occult Philosophy also mention that holy water can be sprinkled to give reverence to “the gods,” which clearly implies that its power isn’t limited to monotheistic situations, though it is also sure in this writing that the holy water in question is that of the Catholic Church.
InOf Magical Ceremonies, Cornelius Agrippa says that all tools used in your magic can effectively be consecrated with holy water, incense, the anointing oil described in Exodus 30 (he simply says “holy Oyl,” but this is the most likely meaning), the proper symbols, prayers, and mentions of relevant verses from scriptures. He also recommends, in addition to particularly strict adherence to religious (probably Jewish) morals for many days in advance, confession, and kindness, that we should wash ourselves with holy water before performing certain kinds of (non-Christian) high magic. In addition, he says the place (particularly, I believe he is suggesting rooms as the type of place you should work) in which you perform your work should be sprinkled with holy water after you enter.
In a more folk-magic context, we can use holy water in very simple miniature rituals simply to drive out everyday negative forces from our homes, or if we are to make a bit more of an ordeal of it, to consecrate our altars, saying as thorough and powerful of a blessing as we can muster (the consecration of a home altar should probably be given a lot more energy than many people will afford it). Here, it is again worthwhile to note that holy water’s function is not at all lost when dealing with non-monotheistic systems. Its usefulness is extremely durable, and our intentions can play a significant role in the nature of its effects. Aside from the fact that this is not a Christian application, there is very little about this use which would actually be frowned upon by clergy.
Finally, it’s important to note that in situations of devil-worship (which we should note is not limited to Satan-worship), there are such ceremonies as Black Mass, which are often designed as deliberate and direct parodies of the Catholic Mass, and these often employ Catholic holy water (among other stolen implements of the Catholic Church, if possible) in order to have a greater psychic impact on the world (the theory behind this is completely sound, as a parody of an important Catholic ritual which employs actual Catholic ritual instruments will, at the very least, affect the immaterial nature of the concepts it parodies through these physical connections).
I hope this post has been helpful and informative to you. Remember that the “acceptable” uses of holy water are completely capable of being adapted for similar or identical uses by non-Christian magic users, and that none of these practices are intended to replace proper medical treatment (though they may still be beneficial to the process of recovery from ailments). As always, thank you for reading.
