Magick, Hermeticism, Art, and Naughtiness…

I am talking about crossing, banishing, controlling, conditioning etc...I do acknowledge that they cant be at the same place with oils, herbs and stuff that are for healing, protection etc. Do you keep them at the house just in a different place?

Kenneth Grant never divulged much actual praxis in his Typhonian Trilogies. Most of what is actually there is genuinely occult and you have to decipher it or piece it together in some way. One of the rare instances that he did outline an actual ritual is in his Outer Gateways.

The ritual is called "The Entreating of the Stones" and can be found in chapter 3 where he discusses Austin Spar

If I put on clothes that belonged to someone before they died, went to their grave and laid down on top of it, would anything occur other than laying on a dead person's grave?

This is one good way I make contact with the dead. There are many reasons why one would want or need to contact the dead and I have found this is useful for any reason.

Place an item in front of you to be used as an altar. Prepare the following items as you would to be placed on an altar (smudging, cleansing, etc.), smudge yourself and/or cleanse yourself with spring water, pure water, water s

I am hoping.....more than you can imagine, to be able to post a lot in this thread this weekend. I am working on an article and even a video that I HOPE to get up tomorrow. I am starting this thread with a picture (yes...believe it or not I am posting a picture of what I would consider SOME of my magickal tools!) of some of my pantry items.



It would be stupid actually to discuss EVERYTHING in the bottles. I will say Chris had been wanting to stop by an old antique store for years now and I never do. We had searched for appropriate bottles to house some of the things I use (which was mostly in bags and baby food jars) and could not find any I was pleased with. We drove by the store and he mentioned it again. We had just talked days prior about when we see something like that, we will turn around and go back. So I did and I was so glad I did. The lady was having a half price sale on everything but furniture, then we discovered all of the beautiful antique bottles she had. Hundreds of them! We had a great time picking them out and I had a great time filling them with things I like to use like grave dirt, sulpher, snake heads, dried snails, roots, black salt, vengeance tincture, oils, herbs, blood, brews, etc. and empty jars awaiting bottle curses and cures. Eventually these and all of the other hundreds of items I like to use, will be moved to my little dirt floor cabin that Chris and Caliban are going to build for me :D.

Tomorrow I intend to make myself sit down and write up a few items that are very useful for a hedgewitch that swims in hoodoo and what those items are used for...and how to use them. So....this is to begin the thread and I WILL post more in here tomorrow. Hopefully someone will have an interest in it.

My friend's blog posts often serve as my daily writing prompt, and I am totally guilty of posting comments on the posts that are longer than the posts themselves. :3 But if you like the Occult Corpus discussions, and particularly if you'd like to see more in the Pagan (including posts about deities worldwide), witchcraft, herbalism, or Wicca categories, here is the link:

A Witchy Life

I think she does well, and I think she's looking for traffic, so go at it. She posts regular updates, of reasonable length, with (in my opinion) better and better quality writing (and it was always good). And if you troll, well, you'll be moderated, so there! (Don't troll. She's nice. :P)

One of the books that had a profound effect on the development of my magickal path was Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorn Coyle. Have any of you read it?

I came across this book at a time when I was revisiting the occult interests of my late teen years. It marked the beginning of a shift in my understanding of what magic is all about to me. Even the title fairly shouts it.

Coyle is enthusiastic, reverent, and meticulous in her description of the Work. She brings a dynamism to her unique witchcraft tradition that evokes beautiful and empowering imagery. I never did work all the way through the exercises in the book, but it is comprehensive. I still use some of the practices I learned from this system.

Is anyone familiar with the Feri Tradition, or has anyone else benefited from this book? Do you think it's total crap? I'm interested to hear. :D

Inside Altar:

Choose place: Choosing the place for your altar is your 1st important step in preparing a sacred place for work inside or outside of the home. In this post I will address preparing an inside altar. One should take a walk throughout their home. Of course, you know your home better than anyone, but this needs to be a spiritual journey though your home. What you are looking for is a space inside your home where you may put a small table or utilize an item of furniture already in place. You can even use just an area in the floor if you desire. But you want to look for a particular area in which you can place sacred items to you altar, where they will not be disturbed by animal, human or outside forces, where you are comfortable, where you feel would be receptive to the energies raised and utilized around that area, where you will not be disturbed by others when spending time at the altar.

Cleansing area: Once this area is located, clear it of any unwanted items, furniture, etc. Sweep the area with a broom, preferably new and save that broom for altar purposes only. You can use a small hand made broom, make on yourself or just buy a small hand broom that can be used. Anything you sweep up needs to be thrown out the BACK door of the home or buried in a small hole behind the home. Once your area is removed of any unwanted items or debris, smudge the area with sage, sprinkle a bit of saltpeter around the outside of the area in which you intend to place the altar, and you are ready to place the actual altar into this area (or turn an existing item in the area into an altar).

Choose item to be “altar”: If there is a table or item in the area you want to use as an altar that is fine. If not, you need to locate an item that you wish to use as the actual altar. This can be a small table, a tree stump, a piece of wood large enough to place items on, a stool, a chair, a cardboard box, etc. It matters not what your altar actually is…HOWEVER….I discourage the use of non natural materials. I much prefer to use a wooden table, a piece of tree trunk, a large stone, something natural. After all, you are a Hedge Witch and your main focus is using nature in your work. Having an altar of a natural material will make it much easier to connect with that nature you love and respect. When you decide on an item for your altar, you will want to clean it outside of the home. Use your altar broom for this and dispose of any debris as stated above. Once the item is cleaned, smudge this item with sage smoke and sprinkle with saltpeter. You may now bring the item through the FRONT door of you home and place it in the area you have chosen. Make sure you place it in a way that you may sit or kneel in front of it in comfort. You are now ready to cover this altar if you desire.

Altar covering/cloth: Some individuals desire to cover their altar with a special covering or cloth. I know someone from long ago that covered their entire altar with moss and it was absolutely beautiful. You may not choose to have any covering on your altar and that is fine. For those who do wish to cover it, you alone will have to choose the item you desire to use. Of course you can go natural as my old friend did and cover it with moss, bark or forest debris. You may have a piece of cloth that has special meaning to you and desire to place it over the altar. If you have a clothing item of a passed loved one, you may desire to use it. A piece of silk from a friend, a quilt made by your grandmother, a scarf purchased or hand crocheted or knitted. The point is, you must choose this item and only you can make the choice of what you desire to use, if anything. Once again, when the item is chosen, you must smudge this item with sage smoke and bring it through the FRONT door of your home to the altar. This is your first interaction with your altar and a special moment. You may wish to change this item at every full moon, anytime you clean your altar, at the Solstices, once a year on Uncle John’s birthday or whatever. You may choose to use a different covering each time and that is fine. But this first one is special and you should indeed make it so. I would say something simple as you place the covering over your altar. Something like:

"Thee Lords and Ladies
Local Spirits
Kindred Spirits of Nature
I cover this altar in reverence to your being
May this covering provide protection to all present and who pass this way
And soak up the energy, knowledge and power that will surely be found in this sacred space"

Then place the item over the altar. It is done and you are now ready to personalize this sacred area for your work.


Choose items to go on altar: The items placed on the altar are all by your choice. There is no pre-written list of items you MUST have on your altar. I certainly cannot tell you what you MUST place on your personal altar. I can merely suggest items that I have found beneficial to my time at the altar. Take time and think about what you intend to use the altar for, who you desire to honor (deity, spirit, etc), your totems, your kindred nature spirits and then items will present themselves to you for use at your altar. Here is a small list of items I have found useful in the past.

Incense burner: you may desire to burn incense during prayer/ritual/meditation at your altar. If so you will want to have an incense burner available for this use. This again is best if it is an item from nature, a natural item that will allow you to burn incense SAFELY without fear of fire. I say this because many times I may leave it burning when I am done with my work, to burn out naturally, and you never want to risk a fire. You may desire to burn sage or other herbs in this burner as well. Placing sand in the burner is a very good idea. This sand can come from a local area or bought at a hardware store. It can be changed as needed. The old sand should be placed in a spot in the forest if possible or buried in a special area near your home.

Candle holder: You may desire one or more candle holders on your altar. These can be a piece of driftwood with a nail put through to stick a candle on for use, a beautiful glass or ceramic holder that caught your eye at a store, a rock carved through time that is perfect for candle placement, a mason jar, a lantern, whatever. It is a good idea to keep a container of candles handy for use. Hedge Witches are not known for much candle magick, but it can be incorporated into your practice and I have found them particularly useful in protection of travelers or healing prayers. Of course beeswax candles are a good choice, as well as soy candles. These can be expensive at times, so do not feel bad if you use a wax tea light candle. It will be fine.

Stone: Being a Hedge Witch, nature is the name of the game. Anything you add to the altar that has a special meaning to you, from nature, will be very useful and well accepted. We, Q and I, are rock people. Every time we go somewhere in the forest, we generally come back with a rock. This can be a small stone the size of a pencil eraser or a large rock that requires some belt tightening to get into the car. Our yard, porch and home are covered in stones. They have special meaning to both of us. A stone from a stream can give you a special spiritual connection to that stream that is needed in your day to day life. It can give you energy, rejuvenate you, give you peace when held to your lips, your heart as needed. The same peace you would find sitting beside that stream. So a favorite stone can have a special place on your altar. Gemstones and Crystals are other good choices. If you have a particular stone you are attached to, mine being kyanite (another plug Rose) and amber, then of course place that on your altar.

Earth: A good idea for a Hedge Witch Altar is to have a clay bowl filled with dirt and forest debris on your altar. It is obvious why this would be a good idea as the Earth is what sustains us and gives is the connection we need with the spirits we will be working with. It is just that added special connection you can place on the altar that brings us back to our roots and the depths of our work to begin with. This is especially helpful for someone who does not have the opportunity for whatever reason to make the trip into a forest or other natural area for their work. Pick up this bowl, stir the contents with your fingers, bring the bowl to your face and smell the delightful aroma of the Earth. It can take you to spiritual levels you never imagined possible. It is free, valuable, USE THIS GIFT.

Tree: Trees have such a special spirit about them and are important to us, whether for relaxation, root work, leaves for concoctions, twigs for teas and salves, bark for curses/hexes, or to guide us through confusing or difficult times. It is impossible however to plant a huge rowan or Hawthorn in your bedroom. What you can do it visit such a tree in a natural area and look for gifts it may leave you on the ground beneath it. Take those items to your altar. You may wish to take a twig and place it upright into a container and put on your altar to provide you with the connection you need to that tree. A plant, shrub, or large piece of bark will suffice as well.

Water: Water is our connection to many things. Water is healing and can be utilized so much in many healing rituals. It can be a connection to the spirit realm. It can provide a means of communication with various spirits and ancestors. Our ancestors crossed the dark waters and will travel back to assist we mere humans in our times of spiritual needs if necessary. Water is purifying, life giving. A bowl of water on the altar is always a good idea. If you must, use water from your sink. But I would highly suggest you make a trip to an unpolluted local stream, even if you must travel a distance to get to one. Take a gallon container of the water back home with you for spiritual purposes. You will not regret the time invested in this. You may also use water from the ocean, a lake, a freshwater spring, etc.

Personal items: Say you have a button from your deceased Mam-maw’s favorite dress, a piece of hair from your deceased Mother’s hair brush, an Umbilical cord from a favorite grandchild, a dried flower your lover picked for you when walking down a trail together. These items are perfect for your altar. Wings of birds who are familiar and special to you, feathers, talons, teeth of your totems, feet, fur, pictures of a loved one, etc. Those personal items are just that…personal! That is what makes your altar YOURS and you should personalize it with those items you choose to, that are very near and dear to your heart.

All items added to the altar must be smudged as stated before with smoke from sage. These items should be taken through the FRONT door of your home to the altar. If any item has been used by someone else prior to your use, you may desire to leave it in a bowl or plate of salt overnight for cleansing. STILL SMUDGE AS WELL.

I will be working on a post to follow that addresses the Use of altar, Cleaning the altar, Adding to and removing items, etc. and will get it posted as time permits. I also will be placing a new altar inside my home in the next few days and will video tape the process and post those videos as well.

Prayer is an often forgotten aspect of our spirituality when it comes to discussions of what we DO. It seems we prefer to talk about the deity, the guts of the working, the tools utilized in each ritual and spell and little discussion occurs about one of the most valuable aspects of any spiritual work: Prayer


Most spiritual traditions participate in prayer. These prayers come in various forms from communal prayer of many organized religions, in which a group is led in prayer, days of meditation and fasting, mantras, silent prayers spoken in times of need, secret prayers spoken in the backwoods never to be heard by anyone other than the individual and the spirit they have chosen to pray to and 100’s of other forms of prayer. In this post, I intend to address prayer and its meaning and importance to a hedge witch.


Prayer can be an important beginning to any working a hedge witch puts into place. It has numerous purposes. It clears the mind, prepares the mind, body and soul for ritualistic practice and event, connects us to the spiritual realm, called upon various spiritual beings to partake of the energy raised in the working or to assist in the need. These prayers do not HAVE to be spoken out loud. I prefer to, at times, speak repetitively out loud to particular spirits, especially when attempting to summon a certain presence for my working. At times however, I will sit silently and pray if desired. Most prayers have the “I want, I need, Please help…” status, and this is OK because we as humans feel a need at times to call upon those higher beings to assist us in comfort and need. Much peace comes about from just knowing you have spoken your need or problem to the spiritual realm and you feel it is in their hands and shall come to a desired ending if it is meant to be. These types of prayer are perfectly OK. I do this as well. However, often times I pray in thanks, in awe, in devotion without requests for myself are others. This too can bring about much peace and is a good practice for those who crave a certain level of energy in their spiritual life to “make it through the day” so to speak.


In these posts of prayer, I intend to write some prayers that may be used for various situations. I also intend to explain how simple and complex prayer can be and give guidelines to assist in connecting with ones own spiritual beings and write their own forms of prayer to give a more personal connection and meaning to the prayers offered in ones own working.


First I will explain why one should pray? In the next few days I intend to address the beginning of prayer, who to and what to expect.


Why should we pray? As stated above, prayer can prepare the body, soul and mind to enter a spiritual realm prior to any working as to be able to communicate with those beings of the spiritual nature and accept signs and communication from those beings as well. I can sit by a tree all day long and think about everything from work to kids to illness to political woes and financial issues and I will have done nothing but sit beneath a tree and worry and think all day. To CONNECT with that being and find reassurance, answers, advice, guidance, compassion and PEACE…one must make that connection spiritually with the essence of the tree being and in that come to an understanding of what the purpose or need is to be there to begin with. So in this situation, prayer can become a valuable port of entry, so to speak, to the spiritual realm so the tree becomes a living being to communicate with, not just a sturdy trunk to rest ones back against.


When the mind is clogged with so much “crud” from our mundane lives, it is often hard to concentrate on the actual work we intend to do in our spiritual life. I liken this to a sympathetic grandmother conversing with a grandchild in dire need. If the grandmother has issues with something as simple as ear wax build up they will have extreme difficulty in deciphering the needs of the child she adores. It becomes impossible for her to take care of any issues if she cannot clearly hear what those needs are. In this example, we are the grandmother and our desired outcome is the grandchild. If we cannot understand the desired outcome and needs, we cannot communicate those to the spiritual beings that we expect to aid and assist in the situation. The “ear wax” is what I mean by “crud”. When we clear that away, things become a lot simpler and the proper connection can be made. Prayer can become the tool to clear that crud away so communication becomes easier. Chanting is a good way to accomplish this. By chanting, I am speaking of repetitive words or phrases that begin to calm the soul and clear the mind of unnecessary “noise” so that one may accomplish their goals on the spiritual realm. This does not have to be complicated, written by some Mage during his 5 week stay in a wilderness area. It can be a one or two simple words that have meaning to the individual speaking them. They can be words of no scientific meaning. They can be a sentence repeated over and over. Words given to you in a dream, vision, as a gift from a spiritual being. “Om Shanti Shanti Om”, over and over and over. “Om Namah Shivaya” in song or simple spoke word. “hinhan waste’” which could be your animal totem spoken over and over, “hanta yo”, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. The point is, it does not matter what the words are, if they are effective in clearing you mind and aiding on concentration and openness to accept communication on a spiritual level, then it should work fine for you. These chants are hypnotic in nature and can calm even the most hyper, stressed and over worked minds.


Over time, a prayer is associated with the spiritual, be it Catholic, Holiness, Hindu, Buddhist, Satanist, Witch, etc. Regardless of what word you choose to describe “prayer”, it connects you to your spiritual being and when that connection is made, places you on a level to communicate with the deity and spiritual beings you choose to work with. Prayer can become your door to all things spiritual. It can be your connection and introduction of self to spiritual beings. When I sit beneath my mighty Hemlock and intend to enter the spiritual realm, my words are recognized immediately and I am greeted by old friends. It is as if we are introducing our entrance to a blind person. “Hello, here I am”


Prayer is also utilized as a means of making requests of spiritual beings and deity. It shows adoration and honor, respect, acknowledgment for the being as a higher power. It humbles us to the position to make such requests. It assists in placing the cares and concerns into the hands of those we trust and know the outcome will be just and compassionate. It is true a Hedge Witch does not focus so much on formality as some other spiritual paths and that is fine. But prayer does have its place for the wild wood witch. How is one to know the prayers and needs of a hawk, snake, junco, snail, tree or rock if one cannot pray themselves. And yes those natural, spiritual beings all around us, those who play such a vital role in the daily life of a hedge witch, pray. They pray as deeply and emotionally as any one of us is able to do.


Tomorrow I hope to extend this post by addressing the beginning of prayer and ways one can make the connections needed through prayer to achieve the goals and outcomes desired. Comments and questions greatly appreciated.

Many would argue that magicians and spiritualists from any given path (or lack thereof) inhabit castles in the sky, living in idle fancy like tropical Nymphs and medicated teen Vampires (compare to Aesop’s “The Astronomer;” although in his time Hubble and Sagan hadn’t hit the International Bestsellers list.) Indeed, from the Fox Sisters and even as far back as Noah and Moses—Mediums especially are regarded with ridicule, as charlatans or as tools for some ambiguous “enemy” or another. Leviticus 20:6 (circa 1440 BC) for example- "And the soul that turneth unto necromancy And unto soothsaying, to go a whoring after them, I will set my face against that soul, And will cut him off from among his people.” It’s nobody’s news, all over the world like nobody’s business.
This thread’s business is to provide some backing for us who actually made it past “OMG put that awful book down!”
All of us act as mediums from time to time: it’s a fact of life that we are never completely alone and that no man is a completely isolated phenomenon. Solipsists included.
As Mediums, we perceive, act on, react to and generally are influenced by external presences, be that other living people, animals, the dead, LVL 30 Neutral Outsiders, that Zubat you picked up near Viridian City (wait--what?!?!)… ad infinitum. How we approach this variable constant of interaction (if at all) differs widely between individuals and moments. Practical Mediumship typically brings to mind personal interactions between a living organism and a (usually) deceased organism, social relations between autonomous people and not with forces or principles—hence the term “High Mediumship.”
All of us (passively) channel this way, it doesn’t take a lunch break or a power nap because it’s a fact of life. Sometimes the channeled interaction reaches a séance-like degree, ‘possession’ by an energy, by a sentiment—even an abstract principal can hop the fence to liven up a rainy day or to be the death of a party. This includes the “Strange Attractors” of Chaos theory and all your favorite celebrity egregores. Applied High Mediumship is a skill, as alignment and invocation are customs. And the applications are endless—why sit on your pratt trying to figure out what Uncle dead Ted is really saying when you can be Limbo herself? Or cheer up a friend as Compassion personified? The paints are on the Palette, so to speak. Different paints are more on-hand for different people at different times, but this is the freekin’ Busan Mall of paints and we’re all a bunch of looters! “Choosing to” is the skeleton key, but a bolt cutter or two couldn’t hurt either. If you get the basic premise of what I’m saying, there’s plenty of ‘concrete’ potential here to be realized..

Eschereheye, Tzabaoth—get down on that podium; Merry Y2K joo foos—IO PANDAEMONIUM!

In the patriarchal religions, the Infinite is see as a male deity, even in China and Japan and other asian countries, where the Infinite is seen as a genderless force, Yin/Dark, is feminine and Yang/Light is seen as masculine. Although this may be a later corruption, as in early China Dark was originally the color of the upper and so Life, and Light was the color of lower and so Death.

It's in the spirit of the original Yin/Yang and the Lord and Lady of Wicca that I have been inspired to write this for the magical practioners and Wiccans wishing to hone their alchemy to the true placements therefore in the Cosmos.

In Judaic-Muslim-Christianity, and some other patriarchial based philosophies and religions, the Light elements, Fire and Air (half light), are seen as predominately male, while the Dark elements, Water and Earth (half dark), are seen as predominately female.
This is incorrect alchemy. Like I have noted before, Earth is a mixed element (an inversed triangle with a line through it), and Water is a pure. So Darkness and the last or bottom element is not Earth like in traditional and hermetic Kabbalism and Ceremonial Elemental Magic, and in Aristotle's thesis of the order of the 4 elements, but the last middle element. Water is the last element proper. Counterclockwise (linear, or objective reasoning), you can follow from West, Water on the compass, to North, Earth, East, Air, and finally Fire, South. Akasha or Spirit, is the center of the compass as it touches but is beyond (transcendent), of all 4 elements.

Wicca teaches the Lady is in the Heavens and Light, and the Lord is on the Earth and Darkness (Underworld). Even when the Lord rises as the sun god, he is the light bound under darkness, a sphere surrounded by a void, and so Sol, Christ, or Apolo, the sun (son, of the Goddess) god.

The other aspect is the Lord as the Green Man, Herne, Pan, or Cernunnos, who rules over nature, and is the Lord of the wild. This is the Lord in the center of the earth element, where as in the upper he is Christ.

In the lowest of the Earth and in the whole of Water, he is Hades, Lord of the underworld, or Christ fallen. Many Pagans sacrificed the sun god, so Christ is just a popular (but tanted heavily from it's meaning), name/archetype/incarnation.

The Goddess is the Lady of Light, which is proper as Fire is pure feminine (Spirit is non/both gendered), where as Darkness, Water is pure masculine.

It is in the mixed elements, where they come together for love, or war. Air or Earth, respectively. The Goddess as Earth Mother, Gaia, or Mother Nature, is an abstraction from the pure readings of the 4 elements. Earth is primarily masculine, though it has a feminine aspect, like Air has a male aspect. Earth as a mother is less popular throughout cultures, than as Earth as a father and so hard, or difficult. The father role though is usually not anthropmorphised, except as the Devil (a negative borrowing of the Lord as Pan), as the Lord of the World.

Anyway, Artemis/Athena as the Warrior Goddess is the primary attribute of the Air element, but the Air element is also giving and so the negative side (Dark part), is often seen as Christ (yes properly this is the high Earth), or Buddha, or another sacrificer for many.


I hope you enjoy this alchemy lession, when dealing with the anthropmorphised aspects of Yin and Yang, Light and Dark, and the proper order and placement of the 4 elements.

If you don't like this, you still can use the time honored alchemy, just be aware that this is a more subjective ordering (which can be at the ultimate anything), and not a literal objective analysis of the proper order of the 4 elements. Which I have spent my life to decoding and applying to the Cosmos, micro and macro, to truly align and balance reality to the power of Spirit, and eventually transcend all creation, which is the eventual destiny of the whole cosmos. As the more linear creation (the 4 elements) is just a part, not the whole, of reality.

One person asked in another thread, what was the purpose (goal) of Wicca? I think it's obvious and been written, to become one with nature while corporial and one with the entire cosmos in general. This is no different than the esoteric of any religion, magico-religion or not.

The Lord and Lady can been seen throughout the year and zodiac, like the 4 elements plus Akasha, and understanding of this connects us deeper in our spiritual quest.

I'm tired of seeing non-wiccan witches, ceremonial magicians, shamans and urban-shamans, chaos magicians, eclectics, etc, saying "Wicca is made up."

Yes Wicca is a modern religion, as aspect of the neopagan movement, but it's hardly made up. It's based upon modern scholarship which says witchcraft has it's roots in prehistory and continues throughout, polytheistic, monotheistic and atheistic cultures, unlike it's predecessor, shamanism, which died out, only continuing in remote primitive cultures, where civilization and history couldn't encroach.

At the beginning of the 20th century, anthropologists investigated prehistoric witchcraft and seen that it had continued, although changing according to culture, up untill the present times.

Wicca was just the result of this becomming an accepted fact in the sciences, and a result of revival and openness into witchcraft. For the first time in any culture, sense ancient prehistory.

Yes, Wicca isn't prehistoric witchcraft nor any of the "traditional," witchcrafts of the many cultures it survived in over history, it's the modern pinnacle which is open today.

Wiccans have been the main current for western modern society and modern society in general worldwide, for magic and ancient religious or magico-religious studies and revitalism of the practice, in the modern world. If it wasn't for Wiccans, magic, paganism, and the occult in general would be something still very small and a thing of the fringe and or elite.

Wicca does have a past history of ancient tradition, as it's the result of columutive archaeology, and so has all the past traditions to pull from, like a tree with it's roots to grow from. Just like Chaos Magic comes from Golden Dawn like groups of Ceremonial Magic.

So Blessed Be, and may the Horned God and White Goddess, smile on us all.

Even Chaotes like me, that don't believe in them, but respect history and neopagan efforts.

Warm greetings to all!

I've lurked about this forum for a length of time nigh equal to my career as a serious student of the spiritual arts/sciences, and my observations in that period have revealed to me a community of men and women well-learned in matters that greatly interest me. It is for this reason that I am presenting to you all an issue that has temporarily paralyzed my pursuit of a new magical path and tradition. Hopefully, with your aid, I might be able to arrive at a sensible and personal system of my own spiritual expression.

I have recently adopted a great fondness for the Wiccan path. Though its commendable features are many, I am particularly drawn to the flexibility that it allows in terms of choosing a pantheon for worship. My great privilege has been to meet Wiccans who have adopted their own conception of the Lord and Lady from almost every polytheistic tradition imaginable, yet, now that it is time for me to make similar choices for my own path, I find that I am hampered by uncertainty. You see, I have constructed my worldview through eastern, dharmic sources, and that influence naturally plays into the "pantheon," if it can be called such a thing, that I wish to integrate into my Wiccan practice. Avalokiteshvara and Tara would be my chosen expressions of the masculine and feminine principles, respectively. This is all fine and dandy on the surface, but does my decision hold up to deeper consideration?

The branches of Tibetan Buddhism that accept these figures as deities don't consider them as deities in the traditional sense; they are more meditative foci than anything else, albeit with significant properties. It is my intention to incorporate them into my practice of Wicca as "external" manifestations of the divine One, but, given my embracing of the concept of emptiness, I would also have to concede that these powers are in truth indistinct from my true essence and therefore indistinct from the Self (purposeful capitalization). Would this be terribly conflicting with Wiccan doctrine (please excuse the dogmatic connotations of that term)?

Also, if you see no major problems with the philosophy that I've introduced above, do you see any particular issues in choosing those two figures specifically? Would other deities serve more capably, or, as the chaos magicians profess, is it only my conviction that empowers them anyway (thus making the choice in pantheon less important than my personal comfort with the choice)?

This is the first in a series of articles I will be writing, in preparation for a Hoodoo Class I have planned for the near future.

People define “hoodoo” differently and I am not generally one to argue the true definition. Since hoodoo is a mixture of a variety of beliefs, it is very difficult to define it in a matter of a few words. And again, each person offering their view as to what it actually is, could offer a different definition and meaning as any other. To me, hoodoo is an American word. My guess would be that it came about around the beginning of the 19th century or possibly earlier than that. Most all would offer its meaning to refer to African-American folk magic. I think in my own personal experience through heritage would explain the definition as African folk magic mixed with a lot of Native American herbal knowledge with a little folklore mixed in. Most practitioners are generally black, but that is not to say other races did not practice hoodoo. My grandmother learned her “hoodoo” from her mother, who was ½ white/Indian and ½ black. She grew up in the mountains of Southern Appalachia. Her family lived in a cave for some years before settling near Bullet Creek and other areas on Starr Mountain in East Tennessee. My Mam-maw lived in an old house behind me when I was a child. Her husband had died, her family consisted of only a few members, none of which seemed very interested in taking care of her as she became bed ridden with cancer and other illnesses. I was around 10 when I started spending a lot of time at her house, taking care of her and killing rats in the woodpile at night. She would tell me stories and things she felt I needed to know. Before the bed became her “home”, she would tell me secrets of people that had wronged her and what she did to “fix them”. She showed me concoctions she made, roots, powders, salves, and other things she put together, usually to cause an ill effect on the person who had crossed her. I listened, passed it off as the beginnings of senility, and continued on until the day she asked me to wash her hair and braid it on top of her head like she wore it, back when she was able to go to church. It was not long after that she lay in her bed and recited scriptures from the bible over and over. She did not acknowledge anyone else was around, just recited the scriptures and appeared to be in great pain. I was 15 years old. I walked up to my house and informed my mother of what was going on. She made some phone calls and I stood in the living room of the 100 year old home and watched an ambulance take her away. I only remember seeing her once at the hospital where she lay in horrible pain for days before passing on. I missed her immediately, I still do. Thankfully, I was old enough to remember most of what she told me all those cold nights, while coal burned in the pot belly stove and I slept on a cot in the same room as her hospital bed. I have never had a desire to share her words or anything about that term “hoodoo” with anyone else. I have aged and what seems like a split second in time I went from a young maiden with the world in front of me, to an old crone with more of my life behind me than ahead. I feel drawn to share it now. For what purpose I do not know. But it has brought me to typing these words and who knows where it will take us.


Mam-maw rarely called what she did “hoodoo”. She never called it “witchcraft” or any other terms of that nature as well. I remember my mother referring to it as “witchcraft”. My Mam-maw used the word “conjure” once in awhile, but she mostly referred to it as “work” or “workings”. It was not until later in my life, after I did my bit with Christianity and explored other belief systems, that I finally came full circle and feel I am at a place I was supposed to always be. I prefer, as my Mam-maw did, to simply call it “workings”. “Rootwork” is another term often used in relevance to hoodoo. And indeed there is a lot of working with roots involved. There always was rootwork in this area with the Cherokee and other Indian Tribes. Working with roots, plants, trees, herbs, etc. was as natural as working with any other natural material offered by Earth.


Hoodoo, the word, is used to describe the act of magic involved, as well as the practitioner and the result of the magic. A noun, an adjective, a verb, it is all the same and the one word can be used as any of those. Some folks who practice hoodoo are often referred to as a hoodoo doc, hoodoo doctor, root doctor, etc. I guess the best way to describe what I consider to be hoodoo is a good healthy mixture of herbalism, root work, folk magic, ancestry, conjuring, workings, verbally translated through my Native American, black and white heritage dating back at least to the mid 1800’s through my direct blood line.


I do not think the origin of the word "hoodoo" is actually known. I may be quiet wrong in that statement, but I feel there can be a lot of debate and discussion to the origin, but there has not been enough proof to suit my skeptical mind as to the origin of the actual word. I have read it originated from an African language to mean “bad luck”, but again, I am skeptical about this. The reason being that I have also read that the word was used by Irish sailors who referred to ships as “hoodoo ships” when they wrecked at sea or became lost or other negative things occurred with the ship. This would mean the sailors, not the slaves, used the word in that form. It is possible they picked this phrase up FROM the slaves, but again, no one seems to know for sure. There is an account of a man named Daniel Cassidy mingling the word in reference to Irish Sailors and it being an Irish/Gaelic word Uath Dubh which was pronounced as hoo doo. This word means evil, dark, etc. Catherine Yronwode, in her book “Hoodoo, African American Magic” states “An Irish origin for the word would explain why a certain type of eerie geological rock formation across the Americas is also called a hoodoo -- Irish trappers and traders saw these weird objects as personified demons. The Irish origin of hoodoo does, believe it or not, make sense in terms of African American history, for a large percentage of American sailors during the 19th century, especially before the Civil War, were African Americans, and they mingled freely with Irish sailors in the Atlantic shipping trade and in seaports from New York to New Orleans.”


Others place the word as being Spanish. I found this possibility comically interesting, as my Mam-maw often insisted her mother was “Spanish” as to hide her true heritage out of embarrassment. Her mother was a product of an affair that her grandmother had with a hired slave. Then there are those who feel hoodoo is merely a mispronunciation of the word “voodoo”. I personally do not buy this explanation due to geographical differences in the two. In reference to America, people (particularly black) use the word hoodoo from a vast variety of geological areas. The use of the word “Voodoo” is primarily found in Louisiana. This would lead one to believe Voodoo originated from the Haitian community that resides heavily in that area and Hoodoo most likely came from another area of Africa and was spread to other areas of that culture. In Louisiana, the two words are not one in the same, they are completely different and referred to each other on their own, not melded into one belief or practice. As I was growing up, I never once heard the term “Voodoo” used in regards to any work my ancestors did with rootwork or any other conjuring, practice or workings in general. The term was never used or mentioned. We could argue the origin of the word for days, into weeks, and possibly never agree. Other words associated with hoodoo would be to “hurt”, “jinx” or “cross” someone if the work is done to harm someone. Uncrossing, jinxbreaking, etc. would be terms used to reverse the negative work placed on someone. Regardless of what word you choose to use, or what you choose as your definition and origin of the words associated with the practice, hoodoo for all intensive purposes is the use of herbal magic/lore, root work, mixing of cultures and lore to develop a work to cause change in the life of another, whether that change be positive or negative, requested or secretly imposed on the enemy.


There are no leaders, preachers, high priestess, etc. in hoodoo. Someone may CHOOSE to teach another individual, but there is no ladder to infinite wisdom, no title to be gained from knowledge or wisdom. It is simply “hoodoo”….simply! With that being said “Satan” is no part of hoodoo as well. There may be one deity that is recognized as “the black man” and some assume this is Satan of Christian belief, but it is not. He goes by various African names, but none of which are translated as the Christian Satan. One may call upon local spirits or spirits of ancestors when practicing hoodoo. You will not however hear a barrage of deity names called upon by general practitioners.

This pamphlet, Ben Whitmore's "Trials of the Moon", criticises the background scholarship of Professor Hutton's book more than its original research (though it has a bit to say on that too). It contains a rehabilitation of Leland for example, who is heavily albeit courteously, criticised in TOTM. Judging from those areas where I am a little bit informed myself, its scholarship is good.

The pamphlet is in my view a must-read for anyone interested in witchcraft history, there is a full-text download at: http://goodgame.org.nz/trialsofthemoon.html

I'm hoping this thread may open up a general discussion of witchcraft history. The extreme sceptical view, that self-identified witches and social witchcraft are inventions of the 20th century, is very much under question at present and in my view unsustainable. TOTM has become the standard polemic for that sceptical view and this pamphlet criticising its factual base is in my view important.

My path is of Wicca. To me Wicca is all about tradition and ancestry. It's about enjoying and utilizing my amazing gifts to communicate with animals, trees, spirits, etc. To me, it is also about creating powerful changes in the world, shaping my own reality, and seeing what i've manifested. It's about my close relationship to The God, and The Goddess, and the countless lessons they have to teach. To me, it's about celebrating and revering the Moon, the Sun, and the elements. I just enjoy all the parts of Wicca. It feels like I've always been Wiccan, even though this is not the case.

Hedgewitch's kill animals, curse their foes, amongst other things. No?
I know they work a lot of positive magick, but it seems that there are many negative hedewitch spells. So I wonder, do they accept the negativity some of their spells bring them? and How so?

Knot Magic is so rarely talked about that I think it deserves it's own topic. It has a reputation for having a very dark side since it' been used through the ages to 'bind' things and that doesn't exclude individuals. What we read of it in Wicca books is ways of it to be used for positive ends, but we can't deny its dark nature. Scott Cunningham shies to talk about it, calling it 'hands-of' sort of magic. I myself have seen a documentary about the destructive effects and the physical harm it cause. What has been your experience with Knot Magic?

Lately I've been drawn into voodoo, i've studied as much as i could and i identified with Baron Samedi so much I was drawn to him in particular.

A couple nights ago i drew up His veve and placed it on a black end table i was using as a makeshift altar, i wrote a small prayer under it and asked politely, if he thought i deserved it for what little i offered, for him to help me with something, i spoke respectfully but with a little profanity as he supposedly appreciates that, and i usually do anyway.

I layed bread and beer there for him, apologizing that i didn't have anything better to drink, and went to bed.

that night i was drifiting in and out of sleep and i swore i heard a very deep voice with an accent saying something, and i had one of the most insane dreams of my life that night, the most vivid part was my father trying to make me stop voodoo and samedi wrestled with him and beat him with a cane. he wore a black tailcoat and a tophat, i've been zoning out a lot lately, getting hotflashes and my fuse has been really short with people who talk about monotonous things, i've been looking for conflict and whenever i hear music i get the urge to convulse and dance. none of this was normal.

has anyone else experienced something like this? does anyone know if this is my mind playing tricks on me, or is something actually going on?

I searched OC forums and only found one mention of cantrip.

I read somewhere (don't recall) that a cantrip is a witch's trick. I would like to know more about this type of spell and have some questions.

• What exactly is a cantrip?
• What types, forms, classes do they assume?
• What is their usual effect?
• How powerful can one be?
• How does someone create a new cantrip?
• Can a cantrip be performed by any magician?
• Is there a list of cantrip spells in any book or body of text?

Thank you

Does anyone know where to find a PDF of Liber Noctis by G.StM. Nottingham? and has anyone already read it and have any opinion on the quality of the material

Do you think this book is legit? This book isn't about complex rituals, it is simply about folk magic. In this book Scott Cunningham is very straightforward and simple with the spells and information. Do you think he under exaggerates the difficulty of magick in this book, or indeed is elemental magick as simple as drawing symbols in the sand, saying incantations and then using the forces of nature to bring about the effect?

I've always been a fan of altars that look messy, cluttered, organic: Like something that's grown on its own with candles and knick-knacks. I like approaching the altar not only as a sacred space, a place to honor the sacred, but also as an art piece in itself. The majority of altars I've seen are really well-kept, clean and organized.

I'm curious to know what the preference is out there: Do you like altars (your own, perhaps) to be a hot mess or to function like an orderly mandala?

I'm looking for some resources that might help me to become familiar with the basics of witchcraft. I've read through some of the forum already and I've done some searching around the internet as well, but I've found that a lot of the things that I've stumbled upon have been very Wicca oriented.

I don't have anything against Wicca, and I'm not going to ignore it while I'm learning about various forms of witchcraft, but its predominance can make it a bit hard to find info on the traditions of witchcraft which show less Wiccan influence.

So, in the interest of an inclusive study sample, could anyone here point me towards some books or even websites which might be able to teach me a bit about some witch traditions that don't involve much Wicca?

Subtitled "Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic" Published in 2005.

Who else has read this? It is a paradigm-busting piece of scholarly work, which goes some way to reviving a weaker version of the Murray thesis.

Hello all...

I've recently found myself in an awesome/interesting situation. Two very old girl friends of mine have become very very close to me and each other over this past year. Prior to this, we'd never all hung out together. In fact, there was even some history of negativity through some of us. We belonged to different "social circles", if you will. However, I have always connected well to both of these wonderful beautiful young women.

As it were, the both of them have always held an interest in witchcraft and the occult. I would say that I have studied a bit more than they have as a solitary witch (and belonging to a Temple), but I can't say this is totally true. I believe that they are both at a similar point in their spiritual journeys where we could safely collaborate our energies together. I have tried to start covens with girl friends before in the past, but it never worked out right. I wasn't ready.

But because of life circumstances, I have brought the three of us together. We have this intense beautiful connection, something I haven't had with a girl or friends in a long time. So we've started talking about joining forces together to start a coven. We have done rituals together (with other people), and we have connected, but we haven't started a coven yet.

Turns out, we are each of our own elements. Together we make Water, Air, and Earth. But what of Fire? Do we need a final elemental to start working together? Or is there enough connection and power between us to simply begin? Can we substitute that last link with physical fire, and all of us asking the Element to be present with us? And if we are to start, how? Has anyone experience starting covens? I am sort of taking a leadership position, but I want things to happen naturally, as they have been.

Are there any good rituals for us to begin with? Can we begin? Tonight, we'll be doing a Lammas Ritual with some friends, not yet as our own Coven. I know we are ready, connecting, willing, feeling, sensing. It's our time... we should not sit idle...

Any advice or words are greatly appreciated.

xo
Indigo Zenith

Quite a few people will already have seen the following article by Mike Howard from the Cauldron about Monica English the alleged Old Craft witch from a Norfolk coven who belonged to Gardner's "Brickett Wood" coven. (Ron Hutton the sceptic's poster boy discussed the sources for the existence of this coven in the "Triumph of the Moon" without naming Monica English and referring to East Anglia rather than Norfolk. he doesn't dispute that it existed but notes that the sources are not entirely consistent). If not please have a look at it now, it or could be of considerable historical importance.

Howard quotes information from a catalogue about Monica English's reputation as an artist but does not give information enabling the catalogue to be traced, no doubt because the catalogue also listed the artist's home village. The coven is said to still exist, and no doubt its members would not wish to appear in the Sunday papers.

It seems to me that circumstantial evidence is converging to suggest that this coven is one of those claimed by Bill Liddell as "Pickingill" covens.

On September 25 2006 on the Pagan network Forum Bill Liddell, "Lugh", wrote :"I have never been able to discover the exact sites of the Nine covens. The Norfolk coven was sited quite close to Thetford."

On the Pickingill site Lugh wrote:
'Mike Howard advised me in personal correspondence dated 27th March 1997 : "Your comments about the gypsies and Pickingill covens has reminded me of an encounter I had in 1976 with a Romany called George Wells who lived in South London. He claimed to know of Pickingill people on the Suffolk-Essex border at Brandon, and others still in the New Forest area." '

Now the thing is Brandon is about six miles from Thetford, on the edge of the Littleport/Ely fens; and actually on the Suffolk-Norfolk-Cambridgeshire border.
If you read the Mike Howard article about Monica English you will see hints that the coven was in the fenlands or on its edge; and I propose that they were in fact the same coven. Lugh does say that the Norfolk coven was defunct in the 1930s, I don't that is a deal breaker however....

Must go now, I will get back to this. Some of Monica English's paintings can be found on the web, incidentally.