#traditional magic

[thesorceresstemple]

Hag stone and coin amulet, Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

[juniper-divination-and-witchery]

Lá Coille: Irish New Year Folk Traditions, Magic & Divination

New Year's wasn't a big deal in Ireland historically. Christmas mattered more. The agricultural year started on February 1st, not January 1st. And until the calendar reform of 1751, the legal year officially began on March 25th anyway.

But people still marked the turn of the year with specific customs—mostly about managing luck, blessing the household, and forecasting what the coming months might bring. These practices, documented in the 1930s Dúchas.ie Schools' Collection and Kevin Danaher's The Year in Ireland, reveal what mattered to rural communities: careful attention at threshold moments, communal celebration, and making do with what you had.

New Year's Eve: Bells, Cakes, and Wind Direction

Urban areas went bigger with the celebrations. In Drogheda, the Brass and Reed Band played at midnight, boats blew horns, church bells rang (Dúchas). In Longford, people waited up to hear bells from multiple parishes "ring out the old and ring in the new," then bands paraded from church to church while young people followed in procession (Dúchas).

The music shifted at midnight. One Longford account describes "lonely music" played during the final minutes of the old year, then "glad music" to welcome the new one (Dúchas). Old people gathered at "joins" to drink each other's health. Young people danced traditional sets—Siege of Ennis, Walls of Limerick, Bridge of Athlone—until almost morning.

Rural areas were quieter. A Clare resident noted that in the country, "there is not much show at all about the day. It is just like an ordinary Holiday quite different from the great fuss and joy always about Christmas" (Dúchas).

Weather Watching and Wind Direction

New Year's Eve was prime time for divination. Weather signs got read and interpreted, especially wind direction. In County Kerry, which way the wind blew indicated political fortunes — a west wind meant the Irish cause would flourish, an east wind meant English interests would prevail.

A Waterford account describes people staying seated through the evening, watching the wind. "They would remain seated until that night and be overjoyed when the wind blew from the west. However, they were sad when the wind blew from the east" (Dúchas).

For personal divination, girls tucked holly and ivy leaves or mistletoe sprigs under their pillows to dream of future husbands. A Longford family had each member draw two slips of paper with saints' names written on them—these became your patron guardians for the coming year. You kept the slips in your prayer book (Dúchas).

The Cake-Throwing Ritual

New Year's Eve was called Oíche na Coda Móire "night of the big portion" and eating a large supper supposedly ensured plenty for the coming year. But the real ritual involved baking a large cake or loaf, then throwing or pounding it against the door to banish hunger from the household.

Regional variations existed, but the structure stayed consistent. In Kilkenny, the wife or mother of the family would close and bolt all doors and windows, then take the "Christmas Loaf" and pound it against the door three times while saying in Irish:

Fógramuid an Ghorta, Amach go tir na d-Turcach; Ó nocht go bliadhain ó nocht, Agus ó nocht féin amach.

In English:

We warn famine to retire, To the country of the Turks; From this night to this night twelvemonth, And even this very night.

The household then gathered up the fragments and ate them.

Why the Turks? No clear answer. It appears in multiple accounts across different counties, suggesting it was a widespread phrase, but the specific reasoning is lost. Some farmers repeated the ceremony at the byre door to ensure fodder for the cows.

In West Limerick, the cake was rapped on the door with slightly different words:

Happiness in and misfortune out

from this night until a year from tonight.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Amen.

As is often the case with practices found of Duchas, Christian prayers have been grafted onto seemingly older hunger-banishment customs and are able to coexist.

First Footing Prep

People believed the first person or creature to enter the house after midnight determined your luck for the year. Ideal first footer: dark-haired man. Black cats also counted as lucky.

Many households hedged their bets. They'd send out a suitably dark-haired male friend or family member before midnight to perform the "lucky first footing" right after the bells rang. Others left it to chance—and were happy when the first visitor turned out to be a dark-haired boy, who'd get sweets or money for his trouble.

New Year's Day: Lá Coille and the Management of Luck

The Irish name for New Year's Day is Lá Coille (listen to the pronunciation).

The First Footer's Blessing

If you'd arranged for a specific first footer, he had a job to do. In one detailed Clare account, a man would be invited to arrive early on New Year's morning. No one else could enter the house until he arrived. When he showed up, he blessed the household for the coming year. "No woman should bless anyone that morning until that man has blessed that person" (Dúchas).

In Waterford, the ritual was slightly different. The first person to sit down that morning would walk around the house three times. The first two times, they'd stop at the door and say "God's blessing come in" ("Beannacht Dé isteach annsa" in Irish), and on the third circuit, they'd enter while saying it. Everyone seated inside would respond. The whole thing was done "so that God's blessing would be upon them during the new year" (Dúchas).

By the time these customs were documented in the 1930s, that particular practice had "long since died out" (Dúchas).

What You Should Not Do

New Year's Day came with an extensive list of prohibitions, all based on the logic that whatever you did that day, you'd be doing all year.

No spending money. Multiple Clare accounts specify this. "No money used be paid on New Year's Day" (Dúchas). Shopkeepers wouldn't give anything out on credit (Dúchas). If you spent money on New Year's Day, you'd be spending it all year (Dúchas).

No throwing out ashes or sweeping. "If you do, you are losing your luck" (Dúchas). Same went for throwing out water—"you throw your luck away" (Dúchas).

No polishing shoes. They had to be done the night before (Dúchas).

No digging graves. One Waterford account specifies: "earth should not be reddened. No grave should be dug on that day, but it could be closed" (Dúchas).

No crying, especially for children. "Children are warned not to cry on New Year's Day as they would be crying for the whole year" (Dúchas).

No red-haired women visiting. This one shows up repeatedly and specifically. "If a red haired woman came on New Year's Day you would not have a bit of luck for the year" (Dúchas). Another account: "If a woman, especially a Red woman, enters a house early on the morning of [New Year's Day], your house will be unlucky for the rest of the year. It is your enemy who would do that" (Dúchas).

The gendered nature of these taboos is hard to miss. Men blessed households. Women—particularly red-haired women—brought bad luck just by crossing the threshold.

What Should Not Do

Greet people with "I wish you a happy New Year" (Dúchas).

Eat a festive meal, though less elaborate than Christmas. Some families made pudding with currants, raisins, spices, and porter, then roasted a turkey or goose (Dúchas).

Give gifts. In Clare, people gave presents of seed potatoes to friends (Dúchas).

If you passed a graveyard on New Year's Eve or Day, say a prayer for everyone who died during the year.

Traditions Extending into the New Year

On Handsel Monday—the first Monday of the year—children went visiting for small money gifts. It was considered unlucky to refuse them. Some households gave small sweet cakes instead of coins.

This conflicted with another belief from Clare: giving out money on Handsel Monday meant "you would be giving it out the whole year round" (Dúchas). The customs didn't always align perfectly, even within the same communities.

Groups of men called "mummers" also went house to house on New Year's Day, singing and dancing and gathering money. A Longford account specifies "it is only the big men that disguise themselves, who are called 'Mummers'" (Dúchas). In Galway, boys went out to gather money and were also called mummers (Dúchas).

Looking at New Year's Customs from a Modern Lens

The threshold got treated with real care. The moment between old year and new year required attention, who crossed it first, what you said, what you did or didn't do. Luck wasn't fixed. You could lose it through careless action (throwing out ashes, spending money) or gain it through proper ritual (the right first footer, the blessing walk around the house, the cake pounded on the door).

The hunger-banishment ritual combines sympathetic magic (physically throwing the cake at the door) with Christian prayer (invoking the Trinity). It's not purely one tradition or the other. It's both at once, which is how a lot of Irish folk practices actually worked.

The gender dynamics are uncomfortable from a modern perspective. Women, especially red-haired women, coded as unlucky or even dangerous at this particular threshold. Men held the power to bless. These weren't neutral superstitions. They reflected and reinforced existing social hierarchies.

But the communal aspect matters too. People stayed up together, danced together, rang bells together. They walked around houses three times saying blessings. They gave children money or cakes. They remembered their dead at the graveyard. The customs weren't just about individual luck—they bound communities together at the year's turning point.

The specific customs might not translate directly, you probably don't need to banish famine to Turkey or worry about red-haired women. But the underlying principles still work: pay attention at transitions, gather community, speak blessings, consider what you're carrying forward and what you're leaving behind.

[weywardgrove]

Weyward Grove's Theme for May 2026 is: Magic

The theme to explore for May 2026 is magic. It seemed a fitting theme to open our prompts with. As you may already know, Weyward Grove is a project created with the intention of fostering exploration and celebration of magical and mystical traditions, as well as encouraging introspection and growth in one's own magical path and magical perspectives and understandings. This month, we're doing so by exploring the concepts, ideas, and functions of magic, as well as exploring our own beliefs and definitions surrounding magic.

Here are some examples of questions through which one can explore their beliefs and definitions of magic within their own practice/craft, culture, religion, etc.:

-What is magic? -Do we create magic ourselves? Or are there pre-existing magical currents we're utilizing? -Where does magic come from? What is its origin?

And some further examples of more introspective, philosophical ponderings to explore and play with this month:

-Does magic have a purpose? -If magic isn't "magic," what else might it be? -Are you a maker of magic? Or has magic made you? -What role does magic play in your life, practice, beliefs, etc.?

Feel free to explore these questions within your practice, play with them, answer them in any way you'd like. You can spend as long or as little with these questions as you want. Perhaps these questions birth further questions, which you are more than welcome to share and explore in your submitted posts, reblogs, or responses.

Need ideas of what to post? Weyward Grove encourages creativity, passion, and nerdiness of all sorts, so don't worry about getting "too crafty" with artistic mediums of expression, "too wordy" with written responses or journaling/logs detailing your process and answers, or "too into it" when sharing your opinions. Remember, answer in whatever way you're moved to — Q & As, essays, poems, digital art, photo diaries, mood boards, videos, audio, etc.

Join in: Use the submission feature on our blog to submit a post. // Make your own post using the tags #weywardgrove, #weyward grove, or #weyward grove community submission to ensure we see the post and can share it via a reblog on this blog. // Share shorter form answers via asks or replies. // Share your thoughts in reblogs to this post.

Please see the pinned post for more information on taking part and on our rules & guidelines. Feel free to send questions, comments, or concerns to @weywardgrove via DM or ask.

[sheydmade]

Hagstone + Toadsbone

I'm so excited to share a new online community for practitioners and students of folk, folkloric, and traditional magical paths — Hagstone + Toadsbone! 🕯️

We are a small community dedicated to the study and practice of folk and traditional magic. This is a place to share resources, ask questions, talk about your day-to-day witchy pursuits and get support as you navigate your magical path.

With the goals of building community, supporting fellow folk, folkloric and traditional practitioners, and sharing resources, discussion, and the like, Hagstone + Toadsbone aims to provide a safe community space (with a manual application and verification system) for folk, folkloric, and traditional witches of all ilk, creed, and background (excluding bigots), while also carving out private channels for BIPOC witches and LGBTQIA+ witches, as well as for practitioners of closed folk magical practices (yes, my fellow Jewish folk witches, there is also a private space for us).

INVITE LINK: Hagstone + Toadsbone

While I'm not the creator of this discord server, I am one of the mods and am close, long-time friends with the creator and can vouch for their intentions and their commitment to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled friendly community, as well as their commitment to keeping a respectful, safe space for all.

If you have ANY questions about this server or community, feel free to drop them in my ask box or in the comments below! Hope to see some of y'all there!

Again, here's the invite link for those interested in applying to join: Hagstone + Toadsbone

[divine-crows]

Using Cartomancy to Understand your Witches Compass

This is a method I've been doing to uncover archetypes, symbolism, and mythologies/stories (some of my own making, some are not). If you are personally attuned to divination, this may be a fun exercise for you!

I'd like to note that I'm not an authority by any means over the subject of the Witches' Compass, I'm still exploring and learning how it fits into my life. However, I'm really passionate about the subject so I'm quite eager to share this idea I've been working with.

[Process explained under the cut. Warning! This is a lengthy post]

There are probably more correspondences to the cardinal directions than I'm even aware of, and there are multitudes of ways you can correspond each element. I highly recommend finding a firm understanding of how you generally perceive each cardinal direction, that way you have a basis before you start.

First, a list of things I recommend for this exercise, but they aren't necessarily required:

Have a preexisting idea of what each Cardinal Direction means to you. For example, I meditated on each direction and got an idea of which senses and emotions were evoked by each direction.

Take advantage of how the time of day can be associated with the Compass.

Have an understanding of how the elements connect to your cards and what symbolism they possess.

Now, moving onto the exercise itself:

1. Select a deck from which you can work with.

Tarot. Playing cards. Whatever you feel will take you on this journey without hindering you with preconceived notions. In my case, I selected a playing card deck I consecrated for divination.

2. Select four cards that represent each element along with 'beginnings'.

In my case, I used the ace card and then meditated on each card until I felt pulled to ascribe a direction to each one. You may feel pulled to rely on predetermined associations when it comes to ascribing directions-- go ahead and do that if it feels fit.

3. Take the card you associated with "East", this is the first card you will be starting with. Meditate on what symbolism behind the card means to you and how it empowers the cardinal direction.

If you're working with unfamiliar symbolism, don't shy away from taking a day to research the hidden meanings behind each card. You may also ascribe any preconceived feelings or notions towards this cardinal direction while you meditate on this card.

4. When you feel like you've sufficiently connected to both the card and the cardinal direction, place it to the east. Place the others in one of the cardinal directions.

Since the other cards aren't the focus, it shouldn't matter how accurately the others are placed. However it's desirable to attempt some accuracy if it doesn't pull away from your focus.

5. Now, this is when you will invoke the Compass:

I am not one for consistently opening the compass the same way every time, but for this excersize specifically I felt it nessicary to start with rhythmic humming and chanting. Moving clockwise, I invoked the spirits of each direction. I used an "open arms" gesture as I spoke to better connect me to each spirit (a symbolic way of welcoming each one). When I finished invoking each spirit, I would bend down and place a hand on each card, imagining the spirits of that direction standing guard over their respective card. I also find it helpful to imagine myself as the center of a Compass, and the circle I walk is the bounds I traverse.

6. Stand/sit at the center (whichever is more comfortable for you) and state your intentions with this working:

In this instance, I had said something to the effect of "I ask the spirits to facilitate my exploration of the East direction." And then I specifically asked the spirits of the east to "help me better connect with the direction of the East through symbolism and mythos."

7. Close your eyes and let yourself be taken on a journey. While waiting for the journey to begin, imagine the aspects of the cardinal direction, and imagine sensations and feelings you associate with it.

How this journey looks will vary greatly from person to person based on their beliefs, notions, and ideas of the unseen world. For me, I was approached each time by a different Goddess who shared with me a pivotal story that shaped them, but for you it could be a wide variety of possibilities.

8. After your journey is done, write down what you experienced. I personally like keeping my compass open for this portion because I feel that it helps me recall better. After you're done thank each cardinal direction for it's part in the exercise, and then close the compass when you feel ready.

I strongly recommend taking the rest of the day to do other things. I found it was easier for me to fully understand and digest the experience when I split each component of the exercise into dedicated days.

9. Repeat with each cardinal direction, moving in a clockwise direction.

So after your work with East, you will delve into South, then West, and finally North.

Concluding Statement

I think that just about covers everything! I took heavy inspiration from the exercises created by Ian Chambers in his book "The Witch Compass" so I definitely urge you to read his work if my exercise did anything to help you open your eyes to the nature of your compass.

I myself am nearing the end of my cycle on this exercise (I'll be honest I'm waiting until winter solstice to fully harness the energy of the north for my final journey), and it definitely has given me a robust understanding of how each facet of the compass can represent me as a person.

I hope this idea can be as helpful to you as it was to me! Feel free --as always-- to share any ideas you have for exercises that can supplement this one or ideas that can work alongside mine!

[templeofthat]

Testification Spell: Saturnian

Personal Note:

It is necessary to undertake confession before this ritual work and to pray for the Forgiveness of sin.

Ritual Procedure

This ritual is based off the line: "let their tongues testify against them" and is used to reveal hidden information through the power of Zazel (the Spirit of Saturn) and invokes the power of Saturn to halt enemy works (turn things to stone).

Prepare a black candle by reversing it and engraving it with your intentions. Mine was with a familiar spirit and a few other words of intent, before drawing with chalk, the sign of Saturn and the magical symbols to cause one to be tormented by spirits from the Sixth Pentacle of Saturn

It is at this point that the candles and symbols are awakened by the four elements of Earth (drawing), air (breath), fire (the candle) and water (a libation). Sit down in front of the candle and light it, reciting the Our Father and a Glory Be. I'd recommend reciting Psalm 91 and Psalm 1 for this as well and the Apostle's Creed before beginning with the chant:

Io Ia Ho Zazel

Repeat this in multiples of 3 (the number of Saturn) or until you feel a presence in the room before praying firmly. An example prayer is:

"My Lord, see the candle I have established. Let the Lord arise and the enemies scatter. Blessed Zazel, in the Name of the Lord who is Fixed in Place, the Unmoved Mover, dash my enemies like clay before the iron rod. Let their tongues testify against them. Just as the trumpets brought down the walls of Jericho, let the sound of this prayer wake the Lord to action. Let the cosmos shake, let the world shake, let the Heavens shake, for the Lord reigns. Let him arise, and let his enemies be scattered like chaff before the wind, like the shadows at sunrise. Lord, send for your spirits, let them go against my enemies, let them step on their tongues that they shall testify against themselves and speak. Let those who work against me be trampled under your feet. Arise, o' Lord, and place thou a wicked one as ruler over him, and let the Shaitan accuse them at their side."

You can pray as you see fit, but you will get to a point where the Spirit will guide you. This beared results in a day. Much was revealed.

Type of Magic: Planetary

Although my mom didn't define the parameters fully on "dark arts", I consider this to be grey magic at worst

[slewfootwitch]

Question: What are everyone's procedures for crossroads dirt/dust? (for anyone who feels like sharing)

When I was mentored, I was taught that it was specifically the dirt from the dead middle of two crossed dirt roads. And that it had to be a proper road with a signpost, rather than just two crossed paths. But dirt roads aren't as common where I live now as they were near my grandmother's dairy farm, so I tend to take dirt from as close to the crossing as possible. I try to find a crossing that aligns pretty well with the north, east, south, west and use directional symbolism to determine which side of the road I take it from. Or, I use proximity to landmarks such as opposing the jailhouse or behind the courthouse for law work, or on the side of the cemetery for spirit work or healing by sending ailments to the spirits.

I'd love to know what everyone else learned and/or how they've adapted their methods over time.