House Of The Horned Serpent @houseofthehornedserpent - Tumblr Blog

At the crossroads ...

... So how did I end up here? The crossroad is a mystical and liminal place where the soul is sold, pacts are made, and witches meet the devil himself.

I do know that witchblr isn`t a real thing anymore, but yet here I am trying to blog again.

I was in awe of witchcraft since my early childhood and because of Charmed the witchcraft movement did arrive in Germany in the early 2000s.

I loved witchcraft as much as I loved books so naturally I dragged my mom to my favorite bookstore when I saw the spellsbooks in the window. She bought me my first book about modern witchcraft.

From there all began and I was practicing eclectic wiccan stuff, which I started to dislike after a few years. Where were the witches in the woods? Not the love and light ones, but the ones that helped the hero if he approached her the right way, but ate him whole when she disliked him. The ones that cursed and claimed their power and used it how they saw fit.

Here on Tumblr, I learned about traditional witchcraft with its folkloric elements and the darkness, power, and spirits I was missing in the eclectic forms of Wicca. So I read and learned a lot through the books of Gemma Gary, Paul Huson, Robin Artisson, and many other brilliant authors.

I formed a practice out of things I learned and bonded with the spirits of the land. But what I was still craving was the real-life community of witches I could practice with.

After reading Thorn Mooney's fantastic book "Traditional Wicca" I was reminded that Wicca in its traditional form was anything but love and light. That the Threefold law wasn't a real thing the Wiccan Reed meant something different.

After searching for a while I found a Gardnerian Coven, which wasn't the right fit. And I was a little disappointed, because what I found there wasn`t the community I hoped for, so I left.

After having struggles in my career and getting a big fat burnout, I saw a post from an Alexandrian Highpriestess in a Facebook Group. She was building a study group, which eventually should become a Coven. I shot in the blue ... and what should I say? I am an Initiate in her Alexandrian Coven and here I am ... an Alexandrian Witch working with spirits and in League with the Devil. Combining two paths that are contradictory for the most, but are complementary for me!

#wicca #folk witchcraft #traditional witchcraft #traditional wicca #alexandrian witchcraft #personal #witchcraft

enchantedbook

"Marguerite and Mephistopheles", Louis Icart, 1928.

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I've been called out by the familiars 😭

They say I need to spend less time stressing over my black book and more time doing the things in that book. They're right but oof 😅

houseofthehornedserpent

Do we have the same familiars? 🥲

creature-wizard

Reminder to the witchcraft community that:

Pretty much every claim of Christians stealing pagan holidays comes from sloppy scholarship and conspiracy theories. Please get your information from modern scholars instead of trusting random witch blogs/videos/infographics.

The witch hunts were driven by the early modern equivalent of QAnon, not by any credible evidence that a bunch of cryptopagans were out doing rituals in the woods at night. Most of the accusations were repurposed from accusations made against Jews for hundreds of years at that point.

Christianity and monotheism aren't the reasons you have to deal with patriarchy. It existed in polytheistic cultures long before either one existed, and it would still be here without them.

There are plenty of real reasons to be pissed off at Christians, both at present and throughout history. We don't need to make any up.

dvoeverie-stitches

Midsummer bonfire, Natalia Noszczynska

✨ Slavic Midsummer Night – Sobótka Ritual Print This atmospheric art print captures the mystical Sobótka – the ancient Slavic celebration of

visardistofelphame

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A while back I had taken the time to draw out this description of Andrew's altar. You can really feel his style through how he sets up the space. Made up of two separate altars: the High Altar and the working altar, they each serve a different purpose.

But, both heavily emphasise the images, icons and bodies of the various entities within the spiritual congress. The positioning of the different items have various meanings, perhaps how he arranged the fetishes on the working altar depended on the season (or other specific timing).

The double altars can represent the double nature of the sabbatic space, the seen and unseen circle.

Rereading through all this helped inspire my own interpretation of the double altar space. Shown in the second design, I spent time infusing my other practices into the design. On the top surface, the elemental weapons are placed around the altar - each placed at a specific point of the 8 pointed star. The Fetish Tree (Stang) is inserted in the center, where I would hang charms, talismans, amulets, etc.

Inside, there is a second 8 pointed star that would house the fetishes inside - each positioned at a point. The idea that I could rotate them below depending on the working. By condencing the altars in this way, it is easier to house the altar in the center of the circle (my preferred altar spot).

I'll be hunting for some good candidates for the project, hopefully I can find something fitting.

creature-wizard

Reminder to the witchcraft community that:

Pretty much every claim of Christians stealing pagan holidays comes from sloppy scholarship and conspiracy theories. Please get your information from modern scholars instead of trusting random witch blogs/videos/infographics.

The witch hunts were driven by the early modern equivalent of QAnon, not by any credible evidence that a bunch of cryptopagans were out doing rituals in the woods at night. Most of the accusations were repurposed from accusations made against Jews for hundreds of years at that point.

Christianity and monotheism aren't the reasons you have to deal with patriarchy. It existed in polytheistic cultures long before either one existed, and it would still be here without them.

There are plenty of real reasons to be pissed off at Christians, both at present and throughout history. We don't need to make any up.

nemfrog

Herodias, Diana and other mythological figures take part in a wild night. Illustration by Willy Pogány.

Atta Troll. 1913. Frontispiece.

Internet Archive

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Firmly believe that in order to continue learning and growing as a witch, you need to diversify the material you consume. If you're into folkloric witchcraft, don't just read books about folkloric witchcraft.

Read about capital-T Trad Craft. Read about traditions you're not a part of. Read trial records and try to parse the folklore out of that. Read about Wicca. Read about Neopaganism. Read about divination methods you might not use on the regular.

TRY THINGS. If a book gives a ritual, try it out. Take notes. How does it work? Can it be improved or optimized in your particular methodology? Would you try it again?

Get out of your comfort zone. The key to walking the crooked path is to never stop learning.

the-poisongarden

Marble statue of the witch Medea by William Wetmore Story, circa 1868.

stormbornwitch

"Let your craft be like a tree, firmly rooted in the old, but stretching into the new. Get your hands dirty, and find out what works and what doesn't work for you."

- Roger J Horne's Folk Witchcraft: A Guide to Lore, Land & the Familiar Spirit for the Solitary Practitioner

quietjustice

even if you’re using “old” as a benchmark for “true” or “effective,” animism is far older than monotheism, abrahamic faiths and ceremonialism. spirits having the capacity to work benefic and malefic magic (from a “what benefits humans” pov, I might add) or be variable in their natures is far older than black and white, good vs evil, angelic vs demonic spiritual dualism. working with spirits in a mutual fashion is far older than the dualistic, hierarchical (patriarchal) “control and command ‘rebellious’ ‘evil’ spirits and beg ‘good’ spirits for help.”

all spirits should be approached with respect and even reverence. knowing how to command and exorcise spirits who won’t leave and are causing you harm is a necessary and valuable skill. but praying and veneration on their own are not magic. asking/begging spirits for help is not the same as causing material change through an agreed upon exchange. and causing material change in one’s life is not “lesser” than centering one’s practice around (subjective, less measurable) “enlightenment” or “oneness.”

space-queen

the witchblr community isn't inactive btw

there are tons of us who are constantly trying to get a pulse back

but personally, the internet in general has been hard to navigate for me because people act like they're allergic to nuance and understanding that people are allowed to disagree with them but anyways

i'm gonna continue posting about witchcraft just as i have for the past 10 years and i really hope others do the same

it's not hard to dig through witch adjacent tags on this site in an attempt to form meaningful connections. you kinda just have to... do it.

space-queen

and on that note, i don't follow very many people at all - please reblog this if you want me to check out your blog!

i'm gonna peruse my follower list and go follow some folks from there.

sitting-1n-silence

The occult is so soooo male dominated that I think as a community we should really be acknowledging female voices in the occult more. So I wanna start a chain, where we all list prominent female voices in the occult.

Personal favorite writters of mine are: Gemma Gary, Dion Fortune, Florence Farr, Doreen Valiente, and Corinne Boyer.

Keep this going if you see it!

faustiandesire-deactivated20260

Some women occult writers and artists that come to mind:

Benebell Wen. Occultist and Chinese Taoist tradition expert that translated the I Ching and published one of the best books on the Tarot I know (Holistic Tarot).

Rachel Pollack. Great author that wrote many important and well-known books about the Tarot, including Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom.

Josephine McCarthy. One of the founders of the Quareia school of magic together with Frater Archer. She wrote books about the Tarot and land-based magic.

Pamela Colman Smith. The artist, illustrator and occultist that illustrated the classic Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot.

Ithell Colquhoun. British Surrealist artist and writer whose association with occult groups caused her to be expelled from the British Surrealist Group.

houseofthehornedserpent

Sybill Leek

Janet Farrar

Thorn Mooney

Laura Tempest Zakroff

Starhawk