Grimorum Arcanorum

When I was making this I was trying to come up with a name, and when I was a kid I always wanted to get my hands on the Grimoum Arcanorum, and since this is my blog for gathering useful witchblr spells and such, I figured why the fuck not steal that name.

[stagkingswife]

Sufficiently Advanced Witchcraft is Indistinguishable from Chores Part 3:

Tonight has ended up being energy management night, I don’t strictly schedule this particular chore, but is something that needs to be done at least once or twice a week.  Like taking out the trash, it doesn't necessarily need to be done on a specific day, but you know when it needs to be done. I’ve been doing this particular exercise to manage my energy since I was child.  My entire practice begins with keeping my energy organized and tidy. 

Get comfortable, whether that's sitting, lying down, or pacing around the room. 

Start taking slow, deep, and even breaths.   4 counts in. 4 counts out.

Feel your energy/power/magic/Whatever you call it as it naturally sits at the given moment:  Where is it in your body?  In streams throughout your body like veins? In pools along the path of your spine per at your major joints? Hovering just outside your body like an aura?  Feel it where it is and as it is, unmanipulated. 

Begin to draw all of your energy into a singular core.  Gather it from everywhere it sits in and around your body one handful at a time.  Pact it tightly and compactly, don’t let any spill or drift. 

This is where you manipulate your energy to make it easier to measure out with your need.   I spin mine into thread, but you could shape yours into a flower and pluck different numbers of petals depending on how much you need, a well that you draw different amounts of water from.  The metaphor doesn’t matter, only that you can easily and comfortably adjust how much energy you take and you can keep it small enough to fit within you. 

Shape your energy into its new form.

When you are done there should be no loose energy, no stray threads, nothing outside of that one core, everything should be wrapped up neatly and easy to conceal within any personal wards and glamours, of which I have many, and are my next maintenance task.  

My next maintenance step is up keeping my personal wards and glamours.  I’m not going to share my process for this, that’s a step too far, I can’t give away all of my secrets.  Suffice it to say that my personal wards and glamours - which focus on obfuscation, misdirection, and appearing to be less than I am -  rely on my energy being this carefully maintained.  I am very deliberately “hiding my light under a bushel basket,” I don’t want anyone - spirits, other practitioners, surprisingly intuitive strangers on the subway, etc. to know what exactly I’m working with in the power, presence, and energy department. *Note: recording of this energy exercise to come.

[stormcrow513]

Hagging Out November 2022 (Veneration)

First off thanks to the lovely @graveyarddirt for hosting these, this one's a giant ( and I do mean giant) of a mess my dear,

So, I had some plans on talking about my veneration of Hekate, I planned on getting it all typed out and scheduled to post on the first posting day,

But well shits rougher then the usual shit right now and I didn't get it done,

Then as I started writing in my head as I'm want to do, I had the realization that to write about my work with and veneration of Hekate I'd need to talk about my relationship with religion, I would actually need to start much earlier if I want to do the thing right,

Now I tired to write only about the religious side of my upbringing, but i jump tracks alot when talking and these sorts of things bleed into each other, so this is a long and winding tale, it think I elaborated to much in some places and to little in others, so if you want to skip this one I understand,

As I've aged and heard others stories, I've come to the conclusion that my religious upbringing is odd,

Starting with my mother, she was born in the fifties and raised by her aunt, her father's sister, because her parents were so abusive and nearly killed her, alot, her neighbor who fed her a lot, kept her alive had enough and called her aunt to take her, cause she was calling child services,

So given they barely fed her they sure as shit did not baptize her, and when her aunt got her, she did something pretty unusual, she decided not to have ma baptized as she thought ma should decide whether she wanted that or not when she was older,

Mas religious upbringing was, everyone who loved her taking her to their church, so her knowledge on religion is real fucking spotty, though she was pulled back in forth between Christian churches and Catholic ones primarily,

Jump forward to her having kids, we were all spread out myself coming third and last at the late age of 39 (this was in 92, she was treated like shit for it) she wanted to be baptized she wanted her girls baptized, the churches she tired refused her unless she took classes, she had neither the time or money to do this, so we went unbaptized,

I'm not sure if I knew this when I was a kid, I'm not even sure if I knew what that was, I don't think I did actually,

But ma still tired to give us, teach us what she knew, we had a couple childrens bibles, I was taught to pray to God, ma had an old crucifix that I can't remember who but someone has made a beautiful cross and snugged the curcifix into the center, I would pull this down and hold it when my sister told me vampires were out in our neighborhood,

We went to church on Easter every year until I was around 8 I think, though my sisters had stopped going I went with her up til then when we moved and she was going to a Church in the town we'd moved to, Im not sure why I didn't go with her that year I liked going with her, maybe it was the newness of it, I could tell she was sad, though she came back and declared we were never going to church again, only recently did she tell me it was because while she was there they had prodded her story out of her, her life her kids, her struggles especially with me, (no one in our circles in that time had even heard the term autistic, I was to most people just simple)

These people told her it was unfortunate God hadn't taken us both in childbirth.

I know right,

All told I didn't really have veneration in my life, I treated God I realize now much like I treated my mother, a comforting feature of my life, who I talked to all the time, and trusted, and loved, there was no understanding in me to treat God in a worshipful manner, or as sacred, I had no real concept of it really, respect sure, but even then respect with ma, I've always been on of those wolf cubs chewing on there mas ear, because it was safe to, unlike my father,

Speaking of who, most of my life he mocked my mother's beliefs but never offered any of his own, he never seemed to care, or believe in anything at all,

Until the last few years when he started on Facebook and realized he can add God into his homophobic and racist rants,

I only learned back when we moved here in 2017 that he's presbyterian, he said off hand like it was old news and not the first time he'd ever said shit about it

So all told, it was a weird upbringing add in my childhood addiction to the history channel (pre ancient aliens, thank fuck) and watching Jesus specials on Easter,

I still vaguely remember one where they talked about, Jesus fleeing to France and this tomb they said he was buried, which I might've misunderstood some of, but I came out of that thinking Jesus was crucified survived and fled with his family to France where he lived out the rest of his days and was buried there, so that was a thing,

Anyway my faith started cracking as I got around 12 I didn't understand why God never answered, other people seemed to pray and get their way, just slipped slid through life, not me,

13 my eldest sister died, I prayed every night for protection for my family, my animals, and yet my animals kept dying bad an my sister died at 26, in a car accident we will never know the cause of,

and I gave up on my mother's god, he wasn't listening, he didn't care about me,

The Father in heaven was just as unfeeling towards me as the one that lived in my house,

At this time, I long story getting longer, found Wicca/Witchcraft books, I ALWAYS believed in magic and desperately, desperately wanted to be a witch, but I thought you had to have a witch in your family train you, I had no fucking clue there were fucking books, until this girl on a Winx Club forum was fucking teaching fucking magic and recommending fucking BOOKS

It was a life changer, and life saver Cupcakedoll wherever you are I think you no, you saved my life thank you,

So, now I had the God and the Goddess I scorned God but prayed to the Goddess and was delighted to learn the Greek gods/ess of Xena/Hercules and Hercules the animated series, were included, I'd once prayed to Aphrodite after an episode of Hercules:tas but I didn't know other people did! I thought I was just being wrong and bad again, but here it was,

I was not alone, I was not the only person like me, my father and sister were wrong, I was not a freak,

I didn't know how to research shit, I'm still not great, getting better though, I just read what books I could find and put up aesthetic altars that I got nothing out of til I gave up on that aspect, I didn't have much room for them anyhow,

I mostly called on the Goddess and occasionally treated the rest like ingredients like the books said, though I did pray to Artemis whenever I saw roadkill that the animal would find peace,

I should also say that as I turned from God and unto the Witches road, my mother was turning her back on God as well, losing a child will do that to a person,

I was never in the broom closet with her or my living sister and father, I never announced it to him but never hid it, and with my sister I very much treated it like this is how it is now, I was always afraid of my second eldest sister and father, but in this thing I was defiant,

Ma bought me books and supplies, but she was uneasy about it, worried for my soul, but also unwilling to deny me something I wanted so bad, we did have a small blowout at a bookstore over some gothic vampire tarot cards, and ended up at home having a screaming fight, worst we ever had, and not the last over it either, eventually she came to terms with it all, she's always since I was born put more of her faith in me then anything else, she doesn't call herself a practitioner of anything, but she listens and follows my lead on things, she prays to Hekate as well,

I still did not get veneration back then at the start, and for years to follow and avoided my ancestors as I know almost nothing, and was starting to see the rot in my home life,

Fast forward to about 6 years ago, I'd been trying haphazardly to develop a relationship with Freya who is come across in a book a few years before, even got my hands on a statue, wasn't going great in hindsight, especially given that at the same time I'd read about her Marvel Loki happened, so googling it was hmm,

Anyway, I'm sitting on my ass infront of this haphazard altar space, doing this daily meditation thing from this book that had this 30 fucking minute thing, where it was like doom don't leave off a minute early and do it everyday, for like a month? I'd never been able to manage 10 minutes of meditating I don't know why I decided to fuck myself this hard but, I kept the commitment and I think it was good to prove to myself that I could,

So I'm sitting there going insane, trying to focus, going insane, hoping the timer goes off soon, going insane,

That's when she came to me: Hekate, I'd heard the name, but well she seemed super popular and I'm a contrary shit head so I hadn't been all that interested, but there she was, I can't remember what she said, and I think that might've been the notes Jazz ate as a puppy, but it stuck with me, that she came to me not the other way around, this was a first for me, and I've never seen her that clearly again,

I didn't do much with it, I was finally finding real info on Freya on Norse religion, I wasn't interested in going back towards the Greek end of things,

But when I was trying to get the purchase of this house to go through, it was really looking like my parents weren't going to get it, I did some magic, but still I was scared, we had to move we were running out of time, this had to go through , I panic prayed to Hekate while I was trying to sleep one night,

We got the house, whether that was me Her or both of us I'm unsure,

Still I was still unsure about changing tracks, as much as I derail the tracks in conversations, when I'm on one I have trouble switching,

I not long after moving ended up with two black puppies,

I had a vision one night, puppies curled up to me, of a woman's hand holding a torch, the flames blue,

I was like puh lease blue flames sounds more like Michael,

I've since seen others get blue flames from Her though I'm still unsure the why,

I was reading about the Norse dedicating the care of an animal to the Gods, I think it was Thor in that one, I'm outside letting them pee, they are running me ragged cause they were malnourished in the womb and put, due to the complications of there birth, and I think it messed them up in their heads, it's raining and they are shuffling around my feet, I'm scared they'll die, their not ok, for all they run in play, I pick one up hold them into the sky, into the rain, I call Hekate, I dedicate this puppy to you, I say other things I no longer remember, I pick the other up I do the same, I baptized them in the rain to a Titan, in what I can only call a divinely lead desperate delirium, but we'll they have nearly killed themselves multiple times, Pax took almost 4 years to fully potty train and they aren't nuttier then the incest puppies we had, but well look

Later I read someones blog post where they mentioned Hecate liking Mugwort and that the end of the month is a time to give offerings,

I start going outside and setting up a bowl with Mugwort and burning it as offering,

I read that you should wash your hands before praying to Greek Gods,

I start washing my hands before praying and setting out the Mugwort,

Slowly in skips I learn more and more about Her, and HOW to venerate her,

On the New moon of either January or February of 2020 not knowing what was to follow, I clean as much as I can, I wash and cleanse my body with Khernips, I take a tortilla with food on it like a plate, with the dust and hair from my vacuum, I go to the dirt road connecting to my driveway and place out my first offerings, I pray, I feel, something, loved, listened to, I know I will do this again the next month,

I have to change spots cause the food is untouched and this one lady thinks this is an HOA neighborhood, I change my spot to the backyard corner fence that connects to an alley and another property,

I spend my birthday at the beginning of March sick off my ass from something my ma picked up from some young guy at the place she gets her oil changed at, "poor kid was coughing all over himself, sounded like he was dying, hope I don't come down with it" we spend the month miserable and not sure if we have this new disease after all there's supposedly no cases in our area yet,

I pull my ass up, I'm fine, I'm feeling better, I say, I clean I wash my blankets, I shower cleanse and put out my offerings, I am committed,

I have done so every month since then, I have only bobbled once when my brain flipped dates once but I went out the night after when the moon was still dark,

I stopped having snake nightmares, the ones I'd been having yearly since a year or two after I started practicing magic,

I put up an altar in my room, I pray every morning as watched Jazz and Pax eat breakfast, least the murder each other, and every night as I watch Jazz and Pax eat their dinner least they murder each other,

Last year I asked for a sign from Her,

Fucking snake nightmare,

I keep learning, I keep growing, I put up an Ancestor Altar up around shortly after I first put Hers up,

I give offerings of water, to Her, to the ancestors, and the spirits of the household, every night,

I keep fucking forgetting that there's the November Hekate modern festival, and I missed it a fucking gain, and I only managed to remember Her Sacred Fires modern festival in May once

I stand at her altar and I feel peace, I feel love,

When she answers my prayers I give her a special offering, I thank her,

I stand at the crossroads, over an over, I feel no fear, I give respect and am given it,

Through Hecate I am learning veneration, I've learned how to plant my feet ask for what I need with gift in hand, to stand tall, in this life this path I've chosen for myself, that I've never been capable of walking away from, it's not all ok yet, but it will be,

I stand at the crossroads,

-Stormcrow

[ms-m-astrologer]

2026 Gemini Crescent Moon

Monday, April 20, 17:32 UTC, 15°39’ Gemini

Sabian Symbol: a woman suffragist haranguing

The key phrase for the Crescent lunar phase is “gather and mobilize resources.”

Ugh! This is such a pisser: the phase matures before we are even halfway through a big effing 36-hour long void of course Gemini Moon. Makes me think that the “woman suffragist haranguing” is a big old nag, probably hollering out nothing substantive - just screaming because she can.

This void Moon lasts from 05:17 UTC on Monday, April 20 (4-20 maaaan), until 17:00 UTC on Tuesday, April 21. A lot of mental puttering, pointless errand running, distractions up the wazoo, and so forth. Grab yourself a crossword puzzle magazine, plan on a very meandering walk, line up some interesting fanfiction to read.

The Moon enters Cancer on Tuesday, April 21, at 17:00 UTC - everyone is going to heave a big sigh of relief, and then feel pressured to do something right this very minute. But don’t. In most cases, it isn’t really going to be that urgent. Better to identify and weigh up options, using more of our “gut” than we might ordinarily do, and then “gather and mobilize resources” once the Moon enters a nice Opportunity Period. Between Wednesday, April 22, 11:30 UTC, until Thursday, April 23, 19:41 UTC, we can “use this dynamic OP suitable for many things, including creativity, technology, romance, and family life.” Much better vibes for decision making, I’d say.

Once the Moon enters Leo (Thursday, April 23, 19:41 UTC), well, guess what? It’s time to act on our plans, with a powerful First Quarter Moon. Stay tuned.

[elvensilk]

march 21 2025, k'emk'emeláy

[broomsick]

The sea is a temple. The woods are a temple. Your own bedroom is a temple. The world is imbued with the spiritual. Worship is an act, not a place, and it can happen spontaneously, in reaction to the beauty of a moment.

[ampervadasz]

[bemusedlybespectacled]

I realize this is a cast iron gate but I’m choosing to believe it’s a magic protection ritual

[princecharmingtobe]

It IS a magic protection ritual, and it summons an iron gate to protect you from intruders. 

[rando-posts]

“I cast Iron Gate!”

[diary-of-a-teenage-blacksmith]

As a blacksmith I have been called a wizard by several small kids

[chabochi]

Petroglyphs of Sikachi-Alyan, Nanaian village

[nietp]

Deer friends thousands of years apart

[nietp]

Elk-figure from Åskollen, Drammen, Norway.

[nietp]

Petroglyph of Sikachi-Alyan under the snow

[berrylvr]

not feeling your best?

very gentle yoga

you feel like shit (a self care guide)

disability accessible recipes

tips for baking with brain fog

stretches made more physically accessible

adjust your posture

the nine delights

different ways to rest

in-depth self care assessment

what to do when you've had a bad day

gentle ways to get back on track

how to feel your feelings

emotions & actions

[lailoken]

“Protection from (Bad) Witchcraft

Hartland and Wilkinson tell us in their ‘Folklore of Lancashire' that: ‘...according to a manuscript in Chetham's Library Manchester, Mother Bumby doth affirm... [that] the herb pimpernel is good to prevent witchcraft. The following lines must be used when it is gathered;

Herb pimpernel I have found

Growing upon Christ Jesus' ground;

The same gift the Lord Jesus gave unto thee,

When He shed bis blood upon the tree.

Arise up, pimpernel and go with me,

And God bless me,

And all that shall wear thee.

Amen.

Say this fifteen days together, twice a day; morning early fasting, and in the evening full.’

There is a reference to Mother Bumby in the play The Witch of Edmonton' written in 1621.

Another more popular protection from curses is to make an equal armed cross of rowan wood, tied with red thread, and place it on a threshold door. There are many variants of this spell or charm, especially in Scotland where rowan wood and red thread are some of the most common ingredients in protection magic. Rowan berries are sometimes strung on red thread and worn as an amulet in the form of a necklace.

George Sinclair wrote in 1685 ‘...cut the Rouan-Tree between the two Beltan [Beltane] days. If any Man or Woman, Horse or Cow shall have a piece thereof upon them, no Devils or Fairy shall have the power to medle with them'.

The old folk song ‘The Laidley Worm’ illustrates the power of rowan wood:

...The spells were in vain; the hag returns To the Queen in sorronful mood Crying that witches have no power Where there is rowan-tree wood!

It is said you can protect your home from witchcraft by simply planting a rowan tree adjacent to your front door. Or, to be even more secure, you could grow the tree over the portal to be protected: ‘I have seen a rowan tree trained in the form of an arch over the byre door and in another case over the gate of the farm yard...' wrote Dr James Napier in 1860.

In northern Scotland, a branch of the rowan was placed over farmhouse doors, after having been waved while the words ‘Avaunt, Satan!’ were solemnly pronounced.

Rowan tree and red thread feature in the ancient Scottish rhyme that lists amulets to ward off warlocks:

Black-luggie, hammer-bead,

Rowan tree and red thread,

Put the warlocks to their speed.

In some versions of the rhyme, the second ingredient is lammer bead, possibly corrupted from 'amber bead', amber being another protection amulet favoured by witches. It has been suggested that ‘black-luggie' might refer to blackthorn. Blackthorn is the wood used for making ‘blasting rods', the wand that a witch traditionally would use to direct a curse.

Another version of this rhyme is:

Rowan, ash, and red thread,

Keep the devils frae their speed.

And to protect cattle from witchcraft: ‘bind into the cow's tail a small piece of mountain-ash (rowan).’

In Cornwall, the countryman that suspects one of his cattle has been overlooked (by the evil eye) ‘...runs to the nearest woods and brings home bunches of care [rowan], which he suspends over the [affected animal's] stall, and wreathes round her horns.’

Or in Lancashire: ‘...cattle must be protected from witchery by sprogs of wiggen [rowan] over or in the shippens [cowsheds].’

We can see that rowan wood is credited with special protection properties that reoccur time and time again, especially when used in conjunction with red thread. Indeed, simply carrying a piece of rowan wood secreted about you is said to be one of the best amulets to protect you from a witch's curse.

We have seen that by far the best known protection charm for cattle is attaching rowan to the creature, or to the beams of the cow shed, but there are other methods: ‘Hang the first shoe put on the foot of a stallion, on the byre door, no harm will come near the cows.’ Or, a spray or leaf of a four-leaf clover fixed to a cow should also do the trick.

If a shrewmouse has run over one of your cattle, or if it has been exposed to a glance of the evil eye: ‘gently stroke the affected animal with a twig from a "charmed" ash tree.' We are told that an ash tree can be charmed by burying a horseshoe under it.

To protect your house, tie a hag stone (a naturally holed stone) to your door key. A variant of this charm is to tie a hag stone, or string of hag stones to the inside of your front and back doors. Odd numbers of stones are always used in a string.”

—

The British Book of Spells & Charms:

A Compilation of Traditional Folk Magic

by Graham King

[caveofthemorbid]

Woodcut Print By Liv Rainey-Smith Appears In “Arcanum Bestiarum”, Robert Fitzgerald (Three Hands Press, MMXII)

[breelandwalker]

Secular Celebrations - Spring Equinox

Next on the calendar is the Vernal Equinox, which marks the beginning of spring and the start of the growing season. In the northern hemisphere, this usually happens right around March 20th to March 22nd, depending on the year, while in the Southern Hemisphere, this occurs around September 20th - 23rd.

This is the time to start shaking off the winter and those cold weather blues. And as someone who is firmly on that Seasonal Affective Disorder train, believe me when I tell you that this is IMPORTANT. So when you think about what you’re going to do for the spring equinox, make sure you include self-care and a continuation of that cleaning kick you hopefully started back around Imbolc. Actually, every holiday observance should include a little bit of both of these things. Not just because they’re important, but because holidays are easy to remember, and even if you don’t always have time to fit these things into your schedule, it might be more feasible to work them into your holiday observances.

If the weather allows it, try cracking a window, even for a few minutes, and get some light and fresh air into your home. Even if it’s still chilly outside, sometimes it helps alleviate that dry, stuffy feeling we all get from being stuck inside with the heat on for months at a time. Open up those shades, let some sun in, turn on a sun lamp or one of those little antidepressant desk lights if you have one. Like the musical says, “Let the sunshine in.”

Or, if you can, get outside for a little while. Hopefully there will be a nice clear day that allows this. Look for signs of spring in your neighborhood - birds, flowers, buds on the trees, maybe some snowmelt if you live in a place that still has snow in late winter. If you have children, this might be a fun spring bingo type activity. The birds will be coming back, so scatter some seeds for them while you’re out and about. And speaking of snowmelt, melted snow and icicles can be used as a base for moonwater. Just make sure you select...er...CLEAN material to work with, and strain the meltwater through some paper towels before you store it for magical use.

You can also note the progress of seasonal changes in your journal or your planner, if you have one. This doesn’t always have a magical application, but it’s important to mental health to be able to track the passage of time through changes in your environment. If you have trouble with Seasonal Affective Disorder, or if you just hate winter, noting when the weather starts warming and the sun comes out and the early bulbs start to come up can be very encouraging.

Getting back to the subject of children’s activities, this is a great time for spring-related crafts, fingerpainting (you are NEVER too old for fingerpainting), and a discussion about why the seasons change and what it means in your household as far as traditions go. Your kids may be seeing their peers going on Easter egg hunts and getting baskets of candy, so if you’d like to do something similar but secular, maybe have a “signs of spring” scavenger hunt. If you want to decorate some eggs, go right ahead! Make some special witchy equinox eggs, why not.

If you want to make a special meal to celebrate the change in seasons, I suggest a breakfast. It’s the beginning of the yearly planting cycle, so why not mark it with the first meal of the day? Appropriate foods include bread, eggs, cheese, cured meats, preserves, sprouts, sweets, and pastries. So bust out that french toast casserole recipe, the good jams, and your best quiche lorraine and go to town!

Once you’ve recovered from the food coma, get cracking on that spring cleaning you started back on Imbolc. There’s always more to do! If you’ve finished decluttering one area, start on another. If you’ve finished one project, pick another one. Keep yourself motivated and moving as much as you can. If you’ve been meaning to start a new self care routine or exercise program, go for it. The world is waking up and coming back to life after a long winter’s nap; you can do the same.

Freshen up your household wards and protections while you’re tidying. This can be as simple as “cleaning with intent,” whereby you banish negativity or bad luck or sickness along with the dirt and grime, or as complex as a full casting to patch whatever needs patching, or anything in between. Get rid of any lingering stale energy from the winter. You’ll know best what needs to be done. It never hurts to have a freshly-cleansed home.

If you’re planning to plant a garden, the Vernal Equinox is a great time to start. Whether you’re buying seeds, filling starter trays, or just sketching out what you want to plant when the ground thaws, get a jump start on your green witchery. Housewares stores should begin stocking seeds around this time, or you can order free catalogs from places like Burpee, Seed Savers, or a local biodiversity co-op to help you plan.

Of course, not all of us have green thumbs. If you’d like a garden but can’t seem to keep your sprouts going, try putting together a succulent patch. These hardy little plants are easy to care for and harder to kill than the mutant offspring of a rabid zombie and the T-1000. (I can personally speak to this - I have two sprouts of aloe that are actively growing in trays that have no dirt or water in them. It’s a little bit freaky.)

For those who are more inclined to crafty activities, you can create a fairy garden with a couple of flowerpots, some moss or lichen, and whimsical miniature decorations like fairy gardens.

You can also bring fresh flowers into your home. Give yourself a bouquet or a potted plant for a splash of color and scent. Swap that wintry pine bunting for early blooms like forsythia, dogwood, pussy willow, and cherry blossoms. Some traditions call for a bonfire in March or April, on which the old bunting will be burned, but obviously, please only do this if you’re using actual pine boughs, not plastic and silk.

And silk flowers ARE valid seasonal decorations for the witchy home, by the by. If you don’t have access to fresh foliage or can’t keep houseplants for whatever reason, go with silk ones. They can stay up for months on your walls or on your altar with just a little dusting, and provide ambience and magical symbolism with comparatively little effort. Plus, you can save them from year to year to be reused. I have a set of seasonal garlands that I hang over my altar that is entirely composed of silk flowers and leaves, and they provide a really nice aesthetic without too much worry about dead flowers or crumbling leaves catching on fire from the candles.

We experienced the promise of spring on Imbolc, and now we see that promise fulfilled at the vernal equinox. Sketch out your goals for the upcoming season. Think about the positive changes you wish to make and how you intend to grow. Meditate on the importance of keeping promises, both to yourself and to others, and on making only those promises you know you can keep.

And remember - you’ll reap what you sow later in the year, so sow ever so carefully.

-from Hex Positive, Ep. 011 - Secular Celebrations (Nov 01, 2020)

Other Posts In This Series:

Imbolc

Spring Equinox

Beltane

Midsummer

Lughnasadh

Autumn Equinox

Samhain

Yule

If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop.

The Hex Positive podcast is a proud member of the Nerd and Tie Podcast Network.😊

[slewfootwitch]

Historical folk magic involves a lot of spells and charms that do not fit the life most of us live now. Until you consider that you can use charms to keep prey from escaping your hunt for a multitude of non-hunting related living targets.

[suterraintales]

Could you give an example or two?

[slewfootwitch]

Sure. Though I'm not sure whether you mean examples of how folk magic charms aren't exactly designed for the concerns of the modern practitioner or examples of ways folk charms which are for one purpose can be remade for another. Not to worry, though, I can give you both.

Bearing in mind that, just because they're not relevant to most lives today doesn't mean they're not relevant to any. I, myself, grew up in a farming family, so I am only a generation separated from their usefulness. But a large body of folk magic is focused on farm life and hunting. Of course, we love our farmers and sustenance hunters, but they do make up about 2% and 6% of the United States population respectively. The numbers for farming are much larger in other areas, but I am speaking on my own experience in participation and contact with bioregional traditional magic and folk magic communities in areas of Europe and the United States. Assuming that there is no overlap between the hunters and the farmers, that makes those bodies of charms useful (in their unmodified form) to about 8% of us living in the US and about 5.4% of the population in broad Europe.

As for examples of how these can be repurposed as non-farming and non-hunting charms: - There is a nineteenth century Swedish charm that attempts to summon three entities to bless one's gun sight for hunting. I won't include the entities because 18th and 19th century Swedish practitioners loved their Latin and Hebrew pseudo babble and, frankly, only one of them appears to be an actual name while the others appear to be the result of a bad cipher. [I am still waiting to hear back from Kabballah guy about this charm.] The spoken charm translates to "I, [nomen nescio], conjure and beseech you [entities] that you do not let this animal run, flee, or fold from my shot" (Gårdbäck). I have used this for baneful work with witch bullets by adapting the charm to something like "Spirits of Blood and Hunt and Prey, I do conjure and beseech you that you do not let [nomen nescio] run, flee or fold from my shot." It has seemed to work very well. - There is another 19th century Swedish charm used to "shame a rifle". In its original context, this would have been useful to someone breaking into a home, trespassing on property, or just wanting to cause someone a rough winter. But it can also be adapted for use as protection against a specific hex you're aware is being cast, for example if you've dreamt or divined it, or someone has threatened harm against you. The original charm translates as "Come Devil and all the evil spirits that are in the abyss, And withhold stone and fire from the gunpowder in the name of Evil" (Gårdbäck). It can be reworked into shaming a curse by saying "Come Devil and all the evil spirits of the abyss! Withhold life and power from curse as you would withhold stone and fire from gunpowder. Shame the book, the dagger, the candle, oh Devil, as you can shame all weapons in the name of Evil." - A final charm is an agricultural warding remedy for when there is a suspected hex on one's seeds and land that is causing them to go "a little bad". It is translated as "Take 3 spoons of sulfur, 3 spoons of salt, 3 spoons of sewing needles; put them in the center of the field, them no one has the ability to take power from the growth. Bury the same outside the seed barn" (Johnson). This can be used in a witch bottle to protect one's garden or in a witch bottle to protect any form of prosperity from magical interference.

Gårdbäck, J. B. (2015). Trolldom: Spells and Methods of the Norse Folk Magic Tradition. Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology (YIPPIE).

Johnson, T. K. (2019). Svartkonstböcker: A Compendium of the Swedish Black Art Book Tradition. Revelore Press.

[lesorciercanadien]

And that’s peecisely what us folk practitioners do!!!! Thank you for explaining your take on these :)

[ms-m-astrologer]

April 2026 Good Days

These are the days in April during which (1) the Moon is in a particular sign, and (2) making a flowing aspect to the ruler of that sign. (Almost always a trine or sextile, sometimes a conjunction).

Mercury:

Sunday, April 19, 16:18 UTC - Monday, April 20, 04:19 UTC

Good for short trips and running errands, chitchat, hanging out with siblings &/or neighbors, gossip, taking tests, and reading and writing (but nothing too ponderous).

Venus:

Friday, April 17, 15:58 UTC - Sunday, April 19, 06:44 UTC

Glorious for hanging out peacefully with loved ones (or alone!), cooking and baking, working in the yard/garden, and all other Venus-type activities.

Mars:

Friday, April 3, 12:11 UTC - Sunday, April 5, 17:07 UTC

Extended time for being thorough and getting to the bottom of things. It’s a little more purposeful than Mars energy usually is. Spring cleaning maybe?

Jupiter:

Monday, April 13, 08:55 UTC - Tuesday, April 14, 15:23 UTC

Peaceful and content. Good for cultivating positive attitudes, working on boundaries, and hanging out with and treasuring our family.

Saturn:

Friday, April 10, 23:55 UTC - Saturday, April 11, 13:15 UTC.

Getting a little more comfortable (if that’s possible) with Saturn in its “new” sign, Aries. We respond especially well to the solitude/independence piece, under this influence.

[faggot-of-the-cosmos-deactivate]

You, yeah you. Go work with random spirits in your backyard. Yeah yeahh working with gods is fun but yk that dead deer might want a friend.

[elvthron]

It changes completely to have a ritual inside your house or outside, especially in an ancient temple.

Connections with the deities can happen anywhere: in silence, in nature, in a room or even in the middle of everyday life.

But feeling that connection in an ancient temple was something different. The air still carried echoes of old rituals and sacrifices once offered to the chthonic goddesses and it felt as if their presence lingered quietly between the stones.

Thank you wormwood for being a gentle intermediary in this communion, and thanks for your divinatory essence helping to open the way toward the deities of the underworld. 🤍

[ginandjack]

Working on a gin tincture (as an anointing tincture, not for consumption) out of Lee Morgan's Standing Without Falling

[thegodwhocums]

would totally hear more about how you plan to use it, if you feel like sharing! (no pressure)

[ginandjack]

So, a lot of folks talk about the trap of witchcraft 101 and never advancing, right? I think that's partially the wrong take. Sure, there are an absolute glut of book with zero variation. And that can't be avoided. But! In any practice, going back to your basics, your foundations is such important work. It's what you return to during stress ir faklow times. It's what reinvigorstes you. So, if you've been at this a while, like i have, every so often you come across an author or point of view who's basics are just left or right of center of what you do, and that is a good thing! It has good implications. That creates elasticity and helps you play and learn. Oh, I've got a 3 soul model, well this is a 4 spirit courts/powers model. Relearn all your basic breathing and meditation and energy work with a different scaffolding of support. Learn these new techniques, even if you dont keep them as part of yourregular practice, you're growing and can speak on the process with a broader knowledge base. Do the same thing but new. Which is what happens when you read a book from someone from a specific trad viewpoint that's similar but not the same, which is clearly the case for me.

So, to your original question: Morgan has us create this as a self-anointing tincture. It's very lunar. You take one moon to make it, and it rests until the next moon, when it's used to catch the moon's reflection, anointing your entire nude body, and then you meditate nude, in the light of the moon, covered in the potentially skin sensitizing ingredients in the fetal position on the ground. I know that sounds like a lot, but it's another one of those: are you dedicated? Can you get out of your own societal conditioning? Do you trust yourself? Do you want to connect enough to do the scary or uncomfortable thing? Moments that still somehow get to us all. Like when people learn the Lord's prayer backwards in Huson's Mastering Witchcraft.

There's more reasoning to it that I'm glossing over because I do think folks should consider reading the book, and I'm not about to give it all away. But for obvious reasons (blizzard of 26) I waited till this most recent full moon to make it and will finish this in April.

(Had this really dope realization that each item in this tincture makes for a representative of the other things he's writing about in that chapter AND that this is a great base for also anointing stainless steel since there's almost no oils to tarnish it, mostly just alcohol and herbs. So it is connective, protective, and multi-use, even if it's primary use is moon juice lol.)

[windvexer]

The Wise and Subtle Arte of Reading Cards, full document

Ebook - The Wise and Subtle Arte of Reading Cards

Binder Margins - The Wise and Subtle Arte of Reading Cards

Original version as I copy-pasted it from the archive website

Quickref guide, 1 page front and back

If anyone has input on the slur disclaimer, I am open to input and replacing or altering my disclaimer for something more suitable.

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