The December 1910 issue of The Occultist featured an early advertisement for the RWS tarot deck. Pamela Coleman Smith’s iconic designs remain incredibly influential over a century later.
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, Fire and Water. 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. (See this 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, and 🌘Waning 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 - especially again - 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]
Possibly one of the most underrated Saints of Ireland, Saint Muirgen is one of my favorite saints to work with.
Born to a wealthy Irish family in a small town St Li Ban grew up comfortably. She didn’t experience tragedy until her town flooded completely, killing everyone except for her. Trapped in an underground room of her families estate, Li Ban managed to survive an entire year of isolation before her first miracle occurred. St Li Ban became a mermaid. Spontaneously she had the tail of a salmon, and so she was free. She spent the next century haunting the loch that was once her town, visiting the buildings that had once belonged to her neighbors. It was not until a passing assistant to a Roman saint saw her, and bade her to come ashore, that she interacted with the living. Upon arrival she was converted to Christianity and baptized, which imediatly killed her. The magic that had once kept her immortal had broken and she rose up to Heaven. God saw her, and saw the isolation and pain she had experienced, and so he sanctified her. No relics remain of her, and her veneration is not widespread, but she is a caring Saint who will always protect a lonely traveler, or part the mists that can fog our paths.
For Muirgen I lay her altar up in blues and greens. Her feast day is January 27, and on that day I will bake Irish sweets and stews for her to thank her for all she has done for me and my clients.
The firstmost rule is easily had:
Red cards are good and black cards are bad.
The secondmost rule shall bring greater fruits:
It deals with the meanings of each of the suits.
The Hearts count as love, family, and friends.
Diamonds are money, wealth, means, and ends.
Clubs shall mean work, callings, and plans,
And Spades are the troubles that plague every man.
The thirdmost rule toward number inclines;
Just note the card’s pip and read here their signs:
An Ace brings beginnings, And Two gives exchange,
Three shows things growing, But Four does not change.
Five is the body, Its health and its stead,
Six shows a path that the Seeker shall tread.
Seven brings troubles that Fate has assigned,
While Eight shows ideas and thoughts in the mind.
Nine heralds changes, And Ten is the end,
While Kings are the symbols of power and men.
Queens are the emblems of women and truth,
A Knave is a message, a girl, or a youth.
A self-contained one-off class introducing the Four Humours of fiery choler, airy blood, watery phlegm, and earthy melancholy, and exploring how they can be manipulated to both heal and harm. This class-bundle combines a two-hour long-form illustrated lecture with downloads of full scans of twenty-three early modern primary sources on occult medicine, cunning-craft, cursing, witchcraft, astrological magic and physick, (including fully searchable txt files scans of these sources), along with the illustrated slides themselves, and a fairly extensive list further recommended reading. No prior knowledge of humoural theory or the Four Elements is assumed.
Humoural theory is often discussed as simply a medical application of the Four Elements; and indeed, the moistures of the humours were strongly understood by this kind of occult philosophy. However, amongst the thermodynamics of passions and constitutions, amongst the hot, cold, dry, and wet influences that could elementally heal or harm, underlies the principle of equilibrium which ensured proper functionality. The four humours must be properly balanced, and while each person might have a unique elemental make-up - running naturally hot-headed or cool-tempered and so on - it was the balancing and unbalancing of humoural dispositions, stimuli, and influences, actions and re-actions, habituations and unaccustomed shifts that made working their magics so effective. To know how to balance the scales of well-being was to know how to tip them…
The tools and techniques of the hexing humouralist are a substantial toolbox. The sorcerous use of the angry gaze could literally “look daggers”; many varieties of erotic-malefic “love-apples” employed various bodily secretions; talismans could be constructed to make the target afraid of their own body; and inciting dangerous melancholy could encourage all sorts of fascinating suffering. In this recorded illutstrated lecture Dr Alexander Cummins will present these four elemental-humoural forms of cursework, and explore the underlying occult philosophy and magical application of humoural theory in medicine and maleficia.
Much early modern magic operated upon human subjects in manners apprehended and analysed through the lens of humoural theory. Humoural theory was the dominant medical model across Europe for over 1500 years, and engaged with through a variety of sorcerous methodologies. The four cosmological Elements’ corollaries in the moistures of mammalian bodies could be altered, innervated, or ennobled by magical materia and ritual. Most obviously, medical amulets attempted to re-balance a patient’s humours; to regain a vital equilibrium thought to underlie good health.
Conversely, many talismanic objects and sorcerous actions were employed to unbalance, debase, corrupt, or otherwise curse their targets’ humours - resulting in impairment of bodily functions, cognitive or emotional faculties, as well as spiritual debilities. Souring a target’s yellow bile would embitter their relationships in choleric rage. Overly heating or sweetening a victim’s sanguine humours could drive them insane with love-sickness. Infliction of fear, shame, and anxiety were inherently phlegmatic operations. Lastly, the griefs and sorrows of melancholia - ‘the Devil’s bath’ - could move a target to suicide, as well as attract the hauntings of unclean spirits.
In examining this topic, it is hoped students will be furnished with a good understanding of how to apply the classical understandings of elemental and planetary virtues of pre-modern occult philosophy and magical activity in understanding ill-health, disturbed well-being, and extreme states of impassioned experience and expression. The humours are not merely a way of applying elementalist readings to the body, they are a means of understanding the instantiated effects of the Four Elements themselves in the world through our embodiments of them.
I recommend this class to anyone interested in the four humors, which are a useful lens for thinking about how the classical elements interface with our bodies.
Learning about the humors is also helpful for the traditional folk practice of planning, planting, and spell casting with the Farmer's Almanac, as the moon's journey through the Zodiac is colored by the humoral associations of each sign.
Obeah is in the news again, since Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck said earlier this month that he hoped to see the Obeah Act repealed. Resp
An important article on the racist, colonialist origins of Jamaica's ban on Obeah, a traditional magico-spiritual practice, as the country debates its legalisation.
There’s a waitress at a diner in my hometown that’s pregnant, and my grandpa told me it was a boy. I asked how he knew, and he said if it was carried low, it was a boy, but if it was carried high it was a girl. He then told me that if you used a pencil like a pendulum over the pregnant person’s wrist, it will go in circles for a boy and back and forth for a girl. He told me he did it for all of his grandkids (there are six of us) and it was right every time.
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