A Lil Goblin Thinks

SO I’ve been writing poetry for a couple of months as part of my university coursework, and I’ve been writing about some Minoan deities. Now if you haven’t seen my posts about Asterius (the minotaur), you can find them here. I’ve worked with him for almost a year at this point, and these poems are a reflection on his family and some of the other characters that play a part in the Minoan section of Greek Mythology. 

What I’m wondering is if anyone would like to read the poems? The ones I have so far are about these deities; 

- Asterius

- Minos 

- Pasiphae

- Britomartis 

- Europa 

- Androgeus

- Theseus

- Glaucus 

- Dionysus Zagreus

Hello! For anyone interested I also wrote, edited, and self-published a novel last year! 

It is called The Velvet Mansion and the Discovery of Magic, by Shelby Rhodina

I decided to do a little social media update about my book because I’m getting ready to publish the sequel soon too! 

Summary: When Nav Green moves out with his best friend Robert to run an antique store, they're expecting more freedom, lots of noodles and getting to explore their town better. Instead, they make friends with art-store neighbours, run rings around The Velvet Mansion, and eat much better food than either of them expected. Nav finds living with Robert is easy, though Robert's grocery lists are questionable at times he seems to know more about living alone than Nav does. That is until they start talking about magic for the first time since their childhood. Robert wants Nav to see what he missed out on when he was living at home, while Nav just wants Robert to be a grown up now they've moved out.

When Nav finds a mysterious book one day, he's worried he'll get into something he's not supposed to. But when the book starts finding him too, he starts to panic. His friends all come together to show him not everything that's mysterious is dangerous, but Nav doesn't just disbelieve magic, he's afraid of it.

With a town full of almost psychic baristas, genuine medieval swords, and an underground network of businesses, no wonder Ebonwick was built on the work of artists. What Nav and Robert didn't expect to find, was that their town was built on a little bit of magic too.

Website: https://shelby4333.wixsite.com/my-site

Instagram (i mainly post updates here): https://www.instagram.com/shelbydraw01/

Oh! And my Redbubble, which has some goblincore designs as well that I’m super proud of: www.shelbydraw.com  

Goblins are most often polyamorous, and not just with other goblins but other races to as well. Goblins who ‘settle down’ and decide on a monogamous relationship have a ceremony where they publicly break-up with all their other partners in front of their ‘forever partner’. Goblins don’t have a concept of ‘marriage’ other than that concept, and don’t have a concept of ‘step-children’ either. 

Most goblins have little regard for the parents who didn’t raise them, as all goblins are raised by single parents or by the collective tribe. Goblins will have multiple babies at once due to the high risks of losing goblin children. Goblin siblings of the same birth will be very close but may not be with all other siblings.

Community care of children occurs if goblins need to build, protect, or hunt for the tribe for an unknown length of time. If this occurs 3-5 elder goblins will be put in charge of all babies, children, and grumplekids of the tribe.

This is one of the holidays I am incorporating into my Goblin Witch calendar. The origins of the holiday are purely fictional, and I wanted to create celebrations that weren’t tied around the seasons but more about cycles of creativity. 

Purpose: Gobletting is the same as ‘lambing season’ when goblin babies are normally born. This happens each year after the festivals of Jinglesnatch and Embernacht, when most goblin babies are conceived. The goblin pregnancy last 4-5 months, and all the babies are born around this festival, unless the babies are born to a goblin who lives outside of the community.  

When is it held: While it usually begins and ends with the births of goblin children that year, the day of Gobletting is usually held around August 20th-22nd, the peak of the goblin season. 

Before Gobletting

-  tie up/finish small jobs or activities

- start to make a list of activities you’ve wanted to do, but haven’t done yet

- look at inner-child activities/activities you enjoyed as a child

- do some cleaning to make way for new projects/new hobbies

- ask yourself what you might be able to nurture or grow during this time

Arts and Crafts

- Make a new goblin friend! This can be done by sewing, sculpting, drawing, or writing a new goblin person into the world! Goblins during this time are celebrating the birth of new goblets, and those that aren’t are usually excited about a new project or hobby they are hoping to ‘birth’ during this time.  

- Have a party! Doesn’t matter if it’s with a group, with your family, with your pets or simply having a teddy bear picnic!  

- Start a new hobby round this time! Any hobby will do, as long as you’re celebrating the new activity and not feeling bad if it’s not perfect. Goblins don’t strive for perfect, they strive for interesting.  

- Most goblins also love a bit of DIYGS (do it your goblin self) and this time usually sparks new ideas of things to make or do. This is a good time to look at how you can reinvent or remake something that better suits you, rather than throwing it away or donating it.  

- Make plushie friends, poppets, or something to cuddle with.  

Cleaning and Cleansing

- A very good time to clean out or reorganise the supplies you use for your hobbies. Clean tools that may be neglected recently, and organise your supplies so that when you have a new project you can find everything easily or figure out what you’re missing.  

- Clean-up and cleanse your hoard/collection: this could be dusting, washing, or simply sound cleansing the objects you have collected throughout the year. It might also be a time when you start a new collection or add to your collections to give them some new life.  

- Clean up the spaces you DO your favourite hobbies and activities, especially desks or workspaces. All goblins know that a workspace needs to WORK, and if something is too messy the workspace energy (the creative juices, so to speak) will die.  

Cooking

- Party food!  

- Anything simple, preferrably that you can eat with your hands.  

- Most food made at Gobletting reminds us of our own childhoods, good memories of foods, or even food that is deemed ‘too childish’ to eat when you grow up. NOTE: EATING THE CHILDISH FOOD SOMETIMES KEEPS THE INNER CHILD ALIVE.  

- Anything sweet that makes you feel happy. Goblins’ don’t have sugar most of the time, so Gobletting is a fun event for everyone. Goblin’s sugar substitutes are usually natural syrups like maple, but especially they enjoy honey for its ‘gold-like’ appearance.  

Decorating

- If you plan to decorate for Gobletting, it’s best to stick to cozy spaces, soft fabrics, and lots of colours. After this holiday is when goblins embrace the dark, so this is they’re last hurray of bright, garish patterns and colours!  

- Decorate with trinkets or pictures that symbolise parts of your youth, or things from your childhood that still inspire you today!  

Spellcasting and Divination

- During this day goblins will acknowledge their inner children, as well as any struggles they may have had during that period of their life.  

- Shadow work around the inner child is particularly popular

- Spells for creativity and inspiration

- Creating protective amulets  

- Placing wards around your room or home so that your creativity is focused and that you can actually complete projects

- Making your own divination tool/system! Goblin’s don’t have a universal system for divination, it’s more that each family has a different way of doing things. If you can’t afford divination tools right now, or you haven’t found one you enjoy, it might be a good idea to make your own!  

Other Activities

- Any activity that involves children or people younger than yourself can be done at this time. Its usually an excellent chance to gain inspiration or new ways of looking at the world.  

- Go for a frolic in nature and see what you find.  

- Have an ‘imagination day’ where you dress up, pretend you’re someone completely different, and go for an adventure this ‘someone else’ would have.

After Gobletting

- After this time, record some ideas or projects you’d like to do soon and schedule when you’d like to do them.  

- Reflect upon your childhood, are there any hobbies you used to have that would be helpful to return to?  

- Journal about your inner child, and maybe try and pick some things that help you feel more connected to that part of you.  

- After this time, record some ideas or projects you’d like to do soon and schedule when you’d like to do them.  

- Reflect upon your childhood, are there any hobbies you used to have that would be helpful to return to?  

- Journal about your inner child, and maybe try and pick some things that help you feel more connected to that part of you.  

If you made it this far, thank you! If you do anything for Gobletting (no pressure, though I will be sure to post what I did for this holiday) then tag it with the #goblettingseason tag so I can see! 

This is a little list of goblins and goblin-like creatures that appear in folklore and mythology. I am making my own world of goblins as well, but these are the ones that come ‘from Earth’ so to speak. 

Also, I’m not an expert on most of these, this is just little pieces of information about each one I could find. If anyone knows some more information about a specific goblin (especially the non-European varieties, though any other fun facts would be appreciated) then feel free to add them in the comments or let me know! 

Goblins appear in many human cultures, though this is often to the great embarrassment of the goblin community as a whole. The goblins who reached Earth were not really the best ambassadors for their culture, and so their names have mostly been scrubbed from the memories of goblinkind.  

European Goblins:

European goblins are often depicted as small, grotesque, almost monstrous creatures. Goblins sighted in these areas were vengeful tricksters, kidnapping humans or even cursing them.  

Redcaps; murderous and malevolent, these goblins inhabit ruined castles in Scotland, and are known for soaking their caps in the blood of their victims. They are short, thickset little men with long teeth, skinny fingers, large red eyes and hairy shoulders. The way most humans deterred these folk was to read out Bible Scripture to them. The Redcap was so horrified by the fancy words and crucifix that he burst into flames and left behind a large tooth.  

Hobgoblins; possibly the only good-natured goblin to set foot on Earth, the Hobgoblin was once considered very helpful and there was once one that resided in most European households. They were small, hairy little men, and did helpful household chores in return for protecting the home and being fed some table scraps by the human dwellers. They are very fond of practical jokes and could shapeshift (given this fact we can assume the Hobgoblin was a descendant of some Marsh Goblin community). Attempts to give them clothing would banish them forever, as goblins pride themselves on their unique style and efficient DIY skills.  

Boggarts; the malicious cousin of the Hobgoblin, Boggarts are house-dwelling goblins that have been angered by the humanfolk and wish to do them harm. Sometimes thought to be a Hobgoblin transformed by the disrespect of the humanfolk living in the house, other times an upset Hobgoblin may hire a Boggart to replace them. Boggarts cause mischief by making things disappear, souring milk, abducting children, placing its clammy hands on sleeping faces, pull peoples ears, and pulling the bedsheets off people. Salt and horseshoe at the door of the house can stop a Boggart from entering.  

Erlking; not actually a goblin at all, but an elf from Germany. The poor creature was probably devastated to be called a goblin by the humanfolk.  

Kobold; the true German goblin, Kobolds can transform into non-human animals, fire, candles, and some may even have a human-form. In human-form they often look like small children. There seem to be three types of Kobold; ones that live in human homes, those that live in the mines, and ones that live on ships and smoke pipes. There are some stories where Kobolds can only enter and exit a home via the chimney. House Kobolds look like four-year-old children, wear peasant clothes, some have red hair and even a beards, and some still may have small tails. Mine Kobolds are short with bent ‘ugly features’ and have black skin and instead of a heart that have a glowing orb which is seen when these Kobolds are invisible (which is most the time). Ship Kobolds have thin hands like frogs, and have no body heat. These Kobolds are invisible almost always, and do not like being tricked into being seen by humans.  

Trasgu; a goblin (possibly a gnome) who lived in Northern Spain, and has stories in a few mythologies. It was a mischievous goblin that tended to have a nervous character. Often appearing as a tiny man who limps with his right leg, has dark skin, wears red clothes and a pointy hat. He also has a hole in his left hand, horns, a tail, sheep's ears, and long legs. The female is smaller, with very thin long legs, and wears a tight dark brown dress. If treated well, this goblin would do household chores, if badly they would break kitchen vessels and scare the animals of the house. Either way though, they like moving objects around to prank sleeping humans, and any nocturnal noises are often attributed to the Trasgu.  

Possible Other Goblinfolk;  

Pukwudgie; a goblin-like creature found in Native American stories. Described as ‘little wild man of the woods that vanishes’ they had the ability to appear and disappear at will, shapeshift, lure people to their deaths, use magic, launch poison arrows, and create fire. They often look like a porcupine from the back and a half-troll/half-human being from the front. They used to be friendly with the humanfolk but not wish to be left alone, and could kidnap, push people off cliffs, attack them with knives, or use sand to blind them.  

Muki; a goblin found in the caves of the Andes mountains. It is said he is a pale goblin that mines in underground spaces. He does not have a neck, his voice is deep, his hair is bright blonde and very long, and has a white beard. His eyes seem to reflect light like the metal he mines, and he wears a helmet, miner’s outfit, and studded boots. Unbaptised children were said to become Muki’s if they were kidnapped by the goblins. These goblins do not age, whistle loudly, and warn miner’s of danger. He is partial to cocoa, alcohol, and female company, and will aid the miner’s in their work if presented with one of these things.  

Dokkaebi; known as ‘Korean goblins’. These folk were believed to possess inanimate objects, old household tools, or objects stained with human blood. They are often depicted as fearsome and awe-inspiring. They are often seen as mostly harmless but mischievous, and like to challenge travellers to a wrestling match. They make their own fire, tall and light blue flames, that herald their arrival. They have hats which grant invisibility, a magic club that acts like a magic wand, and they like red bean rice cakes. It is said that they brought good harvest, big catches of fish and good fortunes for humans, and defended them against evil spirits.  

These are my initial thoughts about how to make an altar with a goblincore theme/how the goblins would make altars in the fictional goblin culture I've been creating. 

These tips are definitely a little biased and based on what I have on my own witchcraft altar at home, but I haven’t seen anyone else creating a Goblin Witch Path so I guess I’m creating it all myself! Feel free to take some of these ideas or even comment some other suggestions/questions. I am slowly building this path and the goblin culture around it so I will probably add or change some things as I go. 

1. The Surface; traditionally goblins used to collect items on top of tree stumps or smooth boulders to create an altar. In more recent times goblins favour a chest of drawers which they can store collections or tools under the altar to share the power. 

2. Imagery; images of goblins is essential, either deities, family members, or a mirror to see the self in the magical space. 

3. Jars; goblins will collect their most precious treasures or ingredients in glass jars and will display these on the altar. 

4. Boxes/Plates/Bowls/Tins; goblins use vessels in a lot of their magick, some of these inherited, others created by the goblin themselves.

5. Divination Tools; goblin divining often involves charms, unique handmade runes, bones, or other objects from nature. 

6. Light; goblins view an altar is ‘working’ or ‘on’ when it is lit up by something. They may use candles, small lights, even glow-in-the-dark objects to achieve this effect. 

7. Noise makers; there will often be something on a goblins altar that makes a noise, whether that be bells, rattles, shakers, drums, singing bowls, or breathing instruments like harmonicas or ocarinas. 

8. Nature Treasures; goblins value what they find in nature, and showing parts of their collections on the altar is important. These might include mushrooms, crystals, shells, bones, leaves, flowers, sea glass, pebbles, water they’ve collected, even sticks if they have space! 

That’s all I have for now, but I thought this was a good starter kit without getting too specific yet. Thank you for reading!