hell of a good time

      This Post is for and dedicated to @ivycrownedwitch, who generously commissioned me for research by way of donation to the CvltSqvad Fundraiser, to gather together spells or talismans on warding, and protection during spirit flight. NGL, This was a bit of a tricky ask, and I honestly wasn’t sure where to start to find historical examples 😅 However, the search was not entirely fruitless at least from an operative witchcraft angle, and I found a few solid examples, and enough related information that anyone interested should be able to build out a warding method from a variety of materials for a variety of use cases. 

In The Viridarium Umbris,  Daniel Schulke  lists a variety of plants that could be allied to suit the purpose with a little ingenuity:

        Of further interest to the topic of protection while outside the body, are these sections of Roger J Hornes Folk Witchcraft: A Guide To Lore, Land, and the Familiar Spirit for the Solitary Practitioner::

      “Mallow is often prepared as an unguent and applied to the body in order to protect against harm and cushion the wearer from metaphorical “barbs” he or she may experience.”

       “[…] Simple talisman is made of rowan berries, pierced and dried, then strung on a red thread. Over it, the following charm is spoken to awaken its protective qualities:  

                        Rowan Berry and red thread,

                       Bring all evil to its sped.” 

     “[..] charm of defense and blessing was used against “elf-shot” a kind of attack from the spirit world that could be performed by faeries or by witches during spirit-flight. 

                       I charge thee against arrowshot,

                      against doorshot, against wombshot,

                      against eyeshot, against tongueshot,

                      against livershot, against lungshot,

                      against heartshot, all the most.

                      In our Lady’s name, I pray it.”  

      In Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways, Author Gemma Gary Provides the following: This recipe, apparently intended to be employed as a sprinkling powder: 

“To raise a protective boundary in preparation for potentially dangerous, harmful, or unfamiliar situations and in cases of suspected ill-wishing:

Clove Oil - 5 drops

Dragons Blood - 2 tsp

Fern - 3 tsp

Frankincense - 1 tsp

Holly - 1 tsp

Horehound - 1 tsp

Juniper - 1 tsp

Mint oil - 3 tsp

Mullein - 1 ½ tsp,

Pine needles - 1 tsp,

Alum 1 - 1 ½ tsp

As well as the following charm: 

“An old iron key, tied to a red cord that passes through a hag stone, is another charm that employs the holed stone to bestow otherworldy protection upon the home and all who dwell within it, whilst also making use of the potent protective qualities of iron”

In The Black Toad, The same author provides these examples of protective warding talismans, which could likely be put to good use for the purpose*:

The following paper talisman found in the Black Toad is an interesting example of talismanic magic, and several variations of this seal exist, a version also appears in Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft:

       Within The Galdabrok, (Flowers translation) are found a number of talismans for similar ends, which could also be leveraged specifically for the purpose of astral travel:

                        The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells By  Judika Isles is likely my least favorite texts to source, but does list the following: 

“ROLOR Square 

This magic square allegedly enables you to fly like a crow. Write the following onto parchment, preferably using Raven’s Feather Ink [Typo?] 

R O L O R

O B U F O

L U A U L

O F U B O

R O L O R

Pin this paper to your chest. Close your eyes, relax, and see whether you fly.” 

The same text recommends an incense for spirit flight,  originally authored by  Dion Fortune:

“Benzoin Dittany of Crete Sandalwood Vanilla bean Grind all the dried ingredients into a fine powder, burn on lit charcoal [..]”

As well as another incense, composed of Mugwort and Dittany of Crete, also employed as a powder, and recommends petition of the Goddess Artemis:

“Dittany of Crete and Mugwort, two herbs closely associated with Artemis, offer assistance with accomplishing astral projection, and protection during the journey.”

Burn the Herbs as incense to accompany your journey

fill a pillow with the combined herbs

Simultaneously appeal to Artemis for assistance with your goal”

And recommends maintaining Air Potatoes (Dioscorea bulbifera) on your property to prevent uninvited witches from reaching your home through spirit flight.

Again, thanks to @ivycrownedwitch​ for commissioning me for research by way of donation to the Cvltsqvad Fundraiser for Sloth!

The tradition that perhaps codified the image of the magical circle in the Western magical stratum is the Solomonic tradition, and in its context the more obvious use for it is protection. The theology the tradition emerges from dictates a need for insulating ourselves from the evoked in the same stroke that it sets the terms for the adversarial format of the operations. While recent developments should by now have enriched our world view sufficiently to dispel the belief that this is strictly necessary, there are, as usual, valuable insights to be garnered in the study of traditional ritual mechanics.

From what the texts say regarding outcomes, we can extrapolate a proposition that spirit manifestations are consciously visible to the naked eye, and that they present a real and immediate danger to the operator. That peril can be reasonably attributed to various specific aspects of any given system, less often recognised among those is the case of early formulae whose goal was obtaining a number of unknown spirits to manifest, all of which with unpredictable agendas. Or quite simply that in compelling a certain class of hostile spirits to appear, care will indeed be required.

This element of compelling is commonly done away with in modern systems, and the consequently subtler outcomes led its proponents to put in ink a conclusion that the sole purpose of the circle is to situate the magician at the centre of the magical universe. While that’s most definitely not the whole truth if taking into account recognitions aplenty of it acting as a protective device, there’s corroboration of its making entailing elaborate considerations such as the names of lower hierarchy, correct timing and more, and therefore it playing a more than passive role in ritual.

Andrew D. Chumbley in his Opuscula Magica Vol. I excellently ascertains the origins of names given to sorcerers translating to “the encircling ones”, alluding to the binding nature of the practice, and in subsequent paragraphs cites the observance of the cycles of the Moon and seasons providing the motif for the recognition of the geometrical symbol as meaning universe. Although he speaks primarily from the point of view of a distinct tradition, this is worth considering seeing as we can find the symbolism taken to length in the influential Peter de Abano’s Heptameron as well as the table of practice in Francis Barrett’s The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals.

Circles in Solomonic systems

The essentials of the designs seen in various Key of Solomon manuscripts and its predecessors remain more or less the same, with variations mainly around the magical names used on the boundaries. A distinct detail of these is that unlike late Latin formulae, they frequently feature an entryway into the circle that is to be sealed off once all participants step in.

Their exact diameter is the topic of heated forum debates, likely because most expect to be able to conduct the ritual at home and laying a nine foot circle indoors can be difficult for urban dwellers. Heeding the wording in early instructions, they almost never fail to account for the presence of other participants needing to fit in the space, which is certainly a factor of that suggestion. Though rather than looking at the measure as having a numeric significance paramount for the success of the operation, considering it has been more often not specified, I submit that the more interesting factor is the metaphysical implications behind these operations being experienced in groups apparently as a matter of course. I would also caution against assuming them needing to be conducted indoors, as several of the instructions we will see further ahead plainly advise otherwise.

Designs found in three of the manuscripts of the Hygromanteia feature a double circle with magical names written inset. The previously mentioned entrance is laid southside and shows the black handled knife pointing outwards, indicating it’s to be used for closing it. The use of the black handled knife is of summary importance. The blade is consecrated to Mars and it’s by its virtues that spirits are kept at bay. This knowledge is missing from ignorant analysis deriding the idea as if what it proposes is that a mere figure on the ground should be capable of so.

The circle for one of the evocation approaches in MS Atheniensis 1265[1]:

The following, from a French Key of Solomon manuscript, MS Wellcome 4670[2]:

Instructions in Harleianus 5596, another manuscript of the Hygromanteia, direct the magician to first burn incense and only then trace the circle, showing the process to be a form of ritual in itself.

In Atheniensis 1265 we find the following directions for procuring a location of the ritual[3]:

Go find a proper place to trace a circle. Let the place be at the peak of a mountain, in the woods, on a plain, in a cave, near the sea, in a garden, at a place where somebody was killed in old times and where neither the crow, nor a rooster, nor the voices of men can be heard, at a pure and trackless place, near a river, or near a meeting of three roads. It has to be far from people, where nobody can hear or see, and where the human voice cannot be heard, in order not to be obstructed by anybody.

The text emphasised above, conspicuously omitted from the same sentence in the later Atheniensis 115, carries huge practical implications best addressed in detail on a separate occasion, so I will only briefly note here that I believe these necromantic overtones are no accident, and in this communion lies a key to the practice of ceremonial magic. The dead will witness the ritual and their help is a possibility if honours and relief are offered.

In the later Key of Solomon, the instructions principally emphasise the need for isolation[4]:

The places best fitted for exercising and accomplishing magical arts and operations are those which are concealed, removed, and separated from the habitations of men. Wherefore desolate and uninhabited regions are most appropriate, such as the borders of lakes, forests, dark and obscure places, old and deserted houses, whither rarely and scarce ever men do come, mountains, caves, caverns, grottos, gardens, orchards; but best of all are cross-roads, and where four roads meet, during the depth and silence of night

Though in the subsequent paragraph offers recognition of the previous point[5]:

These arts or operations should he carried out at the prescribed time, but if there be no time specially appointed it will be always better to perform them at night, which is the most fit and proper time for the operations of necromancy

As stated earlier, at times we see the use of names or sigils of spirits found in the lower hierarchy in a bid for representing their authority, for in turn compelling the evoked to manifest, but on the circle itself. In a manuscript omitted in Mathers’ version of the Key of Solomon, MS Aubrey 24, the names of four demon kings are seen written around the circle at their respective cardinal directions. This exact same idea is seen in late Latin manuscript of remark, MS Wellcome 2000. It shows on its frontispiece an ourobouros circle with sigils of its four cardinal kings displayed on the outside[6]:

Peter de Abano’s Heptameron offers extremely elaborate instructions for tracing the circle. I will quote it in full for an accurate impression[7]:

The form of Circles is not alwaies one and the same; but useth to be changed, according to the order of the Spirits that are to be called, their places, times, daies and hours. For in making a Circle, it ought to be considered in what time of the year, what day, and what hour, that you make the Circle; what Spirits you would call, to what Star and Region they do belong, and what functions they have. Therefore let there be made three Circles of the latitude of nine foot, and let them be distant one from another a hands breadth

and in the middle [i.e. inner] Circle, first, write the name of the hour wherein you do the work.

In the second place, Write the name of the Angel of the hour.

In the third place, The Sigil of the Angel of the hour.

Fourthly, The name of the Angel that ruleth that day wherein you do the work, and the names of his ministers.

In the fifth place, The name of the present time [i.e. season such as Spring].

Sixthly, The name of the Spirits ruling in that part of time, and their Presidents.

Seventhly, The name of the head of the Signe ruling in that part of time [season] wherein you work.

Eighthly, The name of the earth, according to that part of time [season] wherein you work.

Ninthly, and for the compleating of the middle Circle, Write the name of the Sun and of the Moon, according to the said rule of time [season]; for as the time is changed, so the names are to be altered.

And in the outermost Circle, let there be drawn in the four Angles, the names of the presidential Angels of the Air, that day wherein you would do this work; to wit, the name of the King and his three Ministers

(cont.)

Notable among these cares is the laying of names and sigils of horary angels, an appeal to horary hierarchy imprinted in the circle itself. The Heptameron circle is likely the better example of a talismanic representation of the universe being fundamental for getting the attention of the evoked.

The following is Heptameron circle for the first hour of Sunday in the Spring[8]:

Similar instances of the observance of timing (and its conjoined hierarchy) can be found in the Sworn Book of Honorius, where the circles vary extensively with the class of spirit being evoked[9]:

Another application of this concept is found in The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals, albeit much more simplified, where the pedestal holding the scrying lapidary stands on a circle, around which the names of the planets, their ruling angels, and the names of four cardinal kings are depicted. In addition, the formula features a second protective circle design for the magician to stand on with usual names of God written on[10]:

A rather simple operation from Bononiensis 3632 (Hygromanteia) also makes use of a table of evocation. Interestingly, the protective circle is traced on the table itself and the spirit bound with a thrust of the knife at the centre of it. It’s unclear, however, where exactly the manifestation is to take place. It goes as follows[11]:

Lay a new tablecloth on a new table, and place an empty bowl upon it, together with two lit candles on candlesticks, one at each side. At the other sides of the table place another earthen bowl, a censer with lit charcoals and incense, and various peeled fruits. Then, take a knife with a black handle with your right hand, trace the circle three times around the table, and each time recite the following conjuration.

“I conjure you, Mortze, or human ghost, or haunting of this place, come to me now that I invoked you at this table that I prepared for you. Eat and drink from the food I prepared for you”

And when you see that he ate, conjure him this way:

“I conjure you, Mortze, do not defecate, do not urinate, until you tell me the whole truth in whatever I will ask you.”

Do this three times with the knife, around the table. And when you finish the three circles, thrust the knife into the table and recite the following: I nail you here, Mortze, or haunting of this place.

Though this is phrased as if the binding is based on keeping the spirit constrained in bowel discomfort, the element of feeding spirits is common enough both in the genre to warrant suggesting there’s likely a system of evocation in this formula. An illustration of the table described above[12]:

In my own approach I utilise a design quite similar to the one in MS Wellcome 2000. The sigils of the four cardinal kings are traced and honoured with incense along with a conjuration recited, so to interest them in facilitating access to their deputies. Rituals take place at an isolated grove at night. A replica of it is kept in my home temple for the occasional rite undertaken indoors. The complete formula may be published sometime in the near future:

Alternative means of protection

In traditions in and out of the Western current, examples can be found of protection provided via implements such as lamens worn by the operator or allegiances formed with superior or intermediary spirits. While this is assessed by some as a head-on approach, technically, protection is not being foregone altogether, but simply obtained through a different avenue.

In one of the more complete evocation systems found in the Greek Magical Papyri, PGM IV 154-285, the operator is directed to wear a philactery inscribed with various magical names during the course of contacting the gods the operation aims to put the magician in contact with. This formula interestingly begins with an initiation ritual for obtaining an alliance with Helios (Sun), it then providing the power for conducting the ritual[13]:

In Quimbanda[14], the role of the Exú rei (king Exú) is to both protect the Quimbandeiro and mediate contact with “hotter” types of Exús. Through his agency the Quimbandeiro is equipped to act without the need for protective regalia when working directly with these spirits. Tempting as it is to draw a line between it and Scirlin from the Grimorium Verum, note that the Verum nevertheless advises the use of a circle and does not forego with the usual precautions. There seems to be less distance between it and the Paredros from the Greek Magical Papyri, or the spirit animal in some forms of shamanism, when looking strictly at roles fulfilled.

In certain lineages of European witchcraft, it’s the alliance obtained during initiation, or the “taking” of the witch by a spirit that provides both the power and safety for working other spirits reliably. This in turn can be understood as something similar to what is seen in Palo Mayombe, where the pact with the nganga is what ensures that the palero remains protected in the course of the work[15]. My personal approach relies on devotional work conducted with a charged statue of Lucifer, who commands the pantheon and is considered a gatekeeper to the mysteries kept by it. From this work an artefact is confectioned which carries his authority and imparts protection.

In conclusion, how necessary a circle is varies with relationships, alternative methods of protection, or the depth to which the procedure takes the matter of spirit manifestation to. It’s a lot less problematic not using it once certain pacts are in place, at which point it has presumably been employed a few times.

Credits

With gratitude to Tomas Beaujean for reviews and various helpful pointers.

Ioannis Marathakis. The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. (Golden Hoard, 2012). p. 278. ↩

Stephen Skinner. Techniques of Solomonic Magic. (Golden Hoard, 2015). p. 161. ↩

Ioannis Marathakis. The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. (Golden Hoard, 2012). p. 277. ↩

S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers. The Key of Solomon. (http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol2.htm) ↩

Ibid. ↩

Stephen Skinner. Techniques of Solomonic Magic. (Golden Hoard, 2015). p. 153. ↩

Peter de Abano. Heptameron, or Magical Elements. (http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/heptamer.htm#part1). ↩

Stephen Skinner. Techniques of Solomonic Magic. (Golden Hoard, 2015). p. xxx. ↩

Joseph Peterson. The Sworn Book of Honorius. (Ibis Press, 2016). ↩

Outstanding craftwork by Ruth Hutchinson. ↩

Ioannis Marathakis. The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. (Golden Hoard, 2012). p. 119. ↩

Ibid. p. 277. ↩

Leonardo Drakon. PGV IV 154-265: Phylactery of 100 Letters. (http://voces-magicae.com/2015/01/27/pgm-iv-154-285-phylactery-of-100-letters/). The gorgeous philactery is his own artwork. ↩

In the end, the son suffers the Sins of the Father.

.:: Grimoires, the Devil, the Flying Ointment and Tools in Reconstructionist Traditional Witchcraft ::.

1.) Ok, so, let’s start from the Grimoires:I think we have to do a distinguish here between Protestant majority Countries and Catholic majority Countries. Catholic majority Countries had a less grade of alphabetization because they didn’t have the impulse, given by Luther, to translate the bible into the popular language and to use popular language for the mass (in Catholic countries the mass was celebrated until not so long ago in latin, and people didn’t understand anything of it).For example, in Italy, still in 1861 there were the 78% of analphabets, with the 91% in Sardinia and 90% in Calabria and Sicily (while Piedmont and Lombardy - the North - had 57% and 60%).This is directly connected to the possibility to read these grimoires and to have a more or less grade of distinction between high (ceremonial) magic and low (popular) magic. Moreover, there was a gender difference in alphabetization, therefore males were more alphabetized than females.So we can say that in Catholic majority countries there was less possibility to use grimoires by lower class people, especially by women, who were usually the demographics that represented the majority of witches; this is because they didn’t know how to read them, so we find less the use of ceremonial tools like athames, circles, etc. and more popular charms, “segnature” (I don’t know how this translates, in Italian they are movements of the thumb associated with charms, used to remove certain illnesses), etc.However sometimes people used symbols without knowing what they meant.People did something similar even for Christian prayers: in latin, used by Catholic mass until recently, the Lord’s Prayer has a part which says “dona nobis hodie”. People understood this as “donna Bisodia” (”woman/lady Bisodia”), and they though that she was a real person, and constructed an history of this character. They said that she was a very pious woman and that for her purity she was inserted inside of the prayer! People even used to say to more inclined to sin persons: “Ah, you are certainly not like Donna Bisodia!”.So this kind of interpretation was the most likely to be happened in Catholic majority Countries when lower class people who didn’t know how to read met grimoires (when they could because they were forbidden and expensive). In Protestant majority Countries, the lines were more blurred between folk magic and ceremonial magic.However, as I said before, Witchcraft and folk magic didn’t were the same thing. The majority of witches were also folk magicians, but the majority of folk magicians were definitely not witches: the majority of folk magicians were Christians. Therefore only a certain percent of folk magicians internalized the legends about the group of female spirits with the Domina Nocturna who went from house to house to eat and drink food and beverage offerings given for them by inhabitants of the house; only a certain percent of them believed to go with this cortège or with the Procession of the Dead; only a certain percent of them believed to go to the Sabbath (an evolution of the cortège from house to house); and an even more little percent emulated the Sabbath in physical reality.However, even in Grimoires we find a version of the cortège from house to house, even if it’s more Christianized than the ones that we usually find attested in popular culture, folklore and witch trials, where the Domina Nocturna was more a Goddess-like character (here the Dominae Nocturnae seem more a group of simple spirits). I quote from here: http://alexander-cummins.squarespace.com/blog/2016/11/9/the-rain-will-make-a-door-ii-how-to-see-spirits“To have Conference with the fairies In the House where those use when you intend to work be the last up. The night before the new or full of the Moon Then sweep the Hearth very clean And set a bucket of fair water on the Hearth so go to bed. And be you the first that shall come down the next Morning And you shall see as it were a fat or Jelly upon the water. Take it forth with a Silver Spoon and put it into A Silver or Tin vessel and so keep it And when you will work the night before the new or full of the Moon, If there be a Table in the Room Set a new Bowl full of new Ale upon the board And iii [3] new white cloths with iii [3] new knives with white hafts. This done make a fair fire of sweet cloven wood Then sit in a Chair with your face towards the fire Then take your foresaid stuff forth and anoint your Eyes therewith And sit silent And see all the house be quiet and at rest And when you have sitten so a while you shall see iii [3] women come in, But say nothing but nod your head at them as you shall see them do to you And they will go to the Table and eat and drink, when they have done let the first pass And the second But the third you may take and ask what you will of her. Probat. Gauntlet, p. 288-289 There are many obvious lunar themes present in this operation. Silver is the traditional metal of the Moon. The timings are by starts and ends of the lunar cycle. The Moon rules the phlegmatic humour, characterised with the coldness and moisture of elemental Water, which was considered to encourage imaginative reflection, feminine introversion, and both hopeful and fearful fixation upon the past and future. The ‘fat or jelly’ one cultivates and collects is a particularly phlegmatic substance, to be generated atop a ‘bucket of fair water’. This emphasis on fairness and cleanliness is also observable in the prevalence of white objects such as cloths, a colouring both lunar and ‘virginal’. This operation certainly has a very different take from typical ceremonial magic on the uses of white-handled knives! This working also foregrounds the importance of the hearth, the heart of a house; while also emphasising ambient stillness of the ‘quiet and at rest’ of the power of the wee small hours. The object of this experiment in full is to receive a ring of invisibility from one of the fairy ladies. We find the likely source of Gauntlet’s operation in Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft: This is the way to go invisible by these three Sisters of Fairies. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. First go to a fair Parlor or Chamber, and an even ground, and in no loft, and from people nine dayes, for it is the better: and let all thy cloathing be clean and sweet. Then make a Candle of Virgin Wax, and light it, and make a fair fire of Charcoles in a fair place, in the middle of the Parlour or Chamber. Then take fair clean water, that runneth against the East, and set it upon the fire: and if thou washest thy self, say these words, going about the fire three times, holding the Candle in thy right hand † Panthon † Craton † Muriton † Bisecognaton † Siston † Diaton † Maton † Tetragrammaton † Agla † Agarion † Tegra † Pentessaron † Tendicata † Then rehearse these names † Sorthie † Sorthia † Sorthios † Milia † Achilia † Sibylia † In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Amen. I conjure you three sisters of Fairies, Milia, Achilia, Sibylia; by the Father, by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost, and by their vertues and powers, and by the most merciful and living God, that will command his Angel to blow the trump at the day of Judgment; and he shall say, Come, come, come to judgment; and by all Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominations, Principates, Potestates, Virtutes, Cherubim and Seraphim, and by their vertues and powers; I conjure you thre sisters, by the vertue of all the royal words aforesaid: I charge you that you do appear before me visibly, in form and shape of fair women, in white vestures, and to bring with you to me, the Ring of Invisibility, by the which I may go invisible at mine own will and pleasure, and that in all hours and minutes: In Nomine Patris, & Filii, & Spiritus Sancti, Amen. Being appeared, say this bond following. O blessed Virgins † Milia † Achilia † I conjure you in the Name of the Father, in the Name of the Son, and the Name of the Holy Ghost, and by their vertues I charge you to depart from me in peace for a time. And Sibylia I conjure thee, by the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the vertue of his flesh and precious blood, that he took of our blessed Lady the Virgin, and by all holy company in Heaven, I charge thee Sibylia, by all the vertues aforesaid, that thou be obedient unto me, in the Name of God; that when, and what time and place I shall call thee by this foresaid Conjuration written in this Book, look thou be ready to come unto me, at all hours and minutes, and to bring unto me the Ring of Invisibility, whereby I may go invisible at my will and pleasure, and that at all hours and minutes; Fiat, fiat, Amen. And if they come not at the first night, then do the same the second night, and so the third night, until they do come: for doubtless they will come, and lie thou in thy bed, in the same Parlor or Chamber; And lay thy right hand out of the bed, and look thou have a fair silken Kercher bound about thy head, and be not afraid, they will do thee no harm: For there will come before thee three fair women, and all in white cloathing, and one of them will put a Ring upon thy finger, wherewith thou shalt go invisible. Then with speed bind them with the bond aforesaid. When thou hast this Ring on thy finger, look in a Glass, and thou shalt not see thy self. And when thou wilt go invisible, put it on thy finger, the same finger that they did put it on, and every new {Moon} renew it again: For after the first time thou shalt ever have it, and ever begin this work in the new of the {Moon} and in the hour of {Jupiter} and the {Cancer}, {Sagittarius}, and {Pisces}. Reginald Scot, Discovery of Witchcraft (London, 1584: 1665), p. 247-48 Finally, these two operations are particularly worthy of comparison with another very similar working from an edition of the Grimoire of Honorius, ‘To make three ladies or three gentlemen come to your room after supper.’ (Honorius, p. 188) Not only is the operation very similar to the working in Gauntlet, it provides key details missing from the former experiment: the visitors eat ‘three loaves of bread made out of wheat’. It also specifies more preparation for the chamber in which the working will be performed: ‘you will clean and prepare your room from the morning, doing everything while fasting. And you will make it so that no one spoil the room for the rest of the day and you will make sure that nothing is hanging or hung up around the bed, such as tapestries, cloths, hats, bird cages, curtains etc, and above all, place white sheets on your bed.’ Once again, the importance of clean white cloth is highlighted. There is also a potential for this Honorian operation to have dream incubation dimensions. One is instructed to ‘place a chair or an armchair next to your bed, then go to bed and say the following words’ – one does not sit in the chair, but leaves one by one’s bed before retiring. Moreover, immediately following the specified incantation we jump to ‘when the three persons have come, they will sit near the fire, drinking, eating, and they will thank the person, man or woman, who has received them’. No specifications are made as to whether they arrive while the operator is waking or dreaming. It is worth noting in passing that the text explicitly mentions men and women performing this working, with the gender of the operator determining the kind of visitors – ‘if it is a lady who did this ceremony, there will come three gentlemen; and if it is a man, there will come three ladies.’”

In fact, in the Complete Grimoire of Pope Honorius ( https://www.scribd.com/doc/300116379/The-Complete-Grimoire-of-Pope-Honorius-nodrm ), we can read:

“To make three ladies or three gentlemen come to your room after supper.   Preparation  You should go for three days without extracting any mercury[403] and you will retire upstairs. On the fourth day, as soon as you have dressed, you will clean and prepare your room from the morning [onwards], doing everything whilst fasting. And you will make it so that no one will spoil the room for the rest of the day and you will make sure that nothing is hanging or hung up around the bed, such as tapestries, cloths, hats, bird cages, curtains etc. and above all, place white sheets on your bed. (49)   Ceremony  At the end of supper, retire secretly to your room, prepared as above. Make a roaring fire; place a white cloth on the table and three chairs around it, and in front of each seat, three loaves of bread made out of wheat and three glasses full of clear, fresh water. Then place a chair or an armchair next to your bed, then go to bed and say the following words: Conjuration   “ Besticirum consolation veni ad me vertu Creon, Creon, Creon, cantor laudem omnipotentis et non commentur. Star superior carta bient laudem omviestra principiem da montem et inimicos meos ô prostantis vobis et mihi dantes quo passium fieri sui cisibilis. ”[404]  When the three persons have come, they will sit near the fire, drinking, eating, and then they will thank the person, man or woman, who has received them: for (50) if it is a lady who did this ceremony, there will come three gentlemen; and if it is a man, there will come three ladies. These three persons will draw lots between them to determine which one of them will stay with you. That person will sit down in the armchair or the chair that you will have intended for them near your bed and they[405] will stay and chat with you until midnight. And at that hour, that person will go with the other companions, without the need for sending that person away. As far as the two others are concerned, they will stand by the fire while the other will engage you in conversation and while that person is with you, you may interrogate them about any art or any science or anything that you wish and that person will give a positive response on the spot. You may also ask them, if they know of any hidden treasure and they will inform you of the place, the location and the convenient time to retrieve it, even if it is amongst their companions, in order to defend yourself against infernal Spirits, who (51) may be in possession of it and in taking their leave of you, they will give you a ring, which will give you luck in games when it is worn on your finger. And if you place it on the finger of a woman or girl, you will enjoy the use of her on the spot.  Note, that you must leave the window open, so that she can enter. You may repeat this same ceremony as often as you wish.”

From here we find more details:https://www.grimoire.org/spell/three-ladies-or-gentlemen

“How to cause the appearance of three ladies or gentlemen in ones room after supper (Spell) Alternate names: To make Three young Ladies, or rather three Spirits come into your room after Dinner

In The Book of Oberon, this spell is listed as “Experiment of Invisibility” and the summoner is given a ring of invisibility.

In Grimorium Verum (Recounted in “The Book of Ceremonial Magic” By A.E. Waite):

1. Preparation Abstain for three days from the hidden offices, and then shall your spirit be fortified. On the fourth day, you shall cleanse and prepare your chamber as soon as it is morning, immediately after dressing, the whole fasting. But see you do it in such a way that it will not be liable to disarrangement during the remainder of the day. Note that there must be no hangings, nor anything set crosswise, no tapestries, no hanging clothes, hats, bird-cages, bed curtains, &c. Above all, let the appointments be clean in every respect.

2. Ceremony

After supper pass in secret to your chamber, made ready as above; kindle a good fire; place a white cloth on the table, round which set three chairs, and before each chair, upon the table, let there be a wheaten roll and a glass full of fresh clear water. Lastly, draw up a chair and settee to the side of the bed and retire to rest, uttering the following

CONJURATION

Besticitum consolatio, veni ad me vertat Creon, Creon, Creon, cantor laudem omnipotentis et non commentur. Stat superior carta bient laudem omviestra principiem da montem et inimicos meos ô prostantis vobis et mihi dantes que passium fieri sincisibus.

The three persons, having arrived, will rest themselves near the fire, drinking, eating and finally thanking him or her who has entertained them; for if it be a young lady who performs this ceremony, three gentlemen will come; but if it be a man, three young ladies will appear. The said three persons will draw lots among each other to know which of them shall remain with you. If a man be the operator, she who wins will place herself in the arm-chair which you have set by the bed, and she will remain and commune with you until midnight, at which hour she will depart with her companions, without any need of dismissal. As regards the two others, they will keep themselves by the fire, while the other entertains you. So long as she remains you may question her upon any art or science, or upon what subject soever, and she will immediately give you a positive answer. You may also inquire of her whether she is aware of any hidden treasure, and she will instruct you as to its locality and the precise time suited to its removal. She will even appear there with her companions to defend you against the assaults of the Infernal Spirits who may have it in their possession. At parting, she will present you with a ring, which, worn on the finger, will render you lucky at play, while if it be placed upon the finger of any woman or girl, you shall there and then have your will with them. Observe, however, that you must leave your window open in order that they may enter.

The Grand Grimoire version is very similar.

The grimoires  The Book of Oberon Grimorium Verum The Grand Grimoire  lists this spell.”

Finally, Dan Harms (https://danharms.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/on-the-three-ladies-at-the-table/) connects this ritual with one, connected to the Dominae, described in “Le jeu de la Feuillee”:

“Many readers will be familiar with the famous ritual in the Grimorium Verum (Peterson or Stratton-Kent editions) to call three spiritual ladies or gentlemen to a table to gain their favor.   A similar ritual appears in the Book of Oberon, as well as in Sloane MS. 3853, and we have several other rituals among the literature of ritual magic that are along the same lines.  Those who are interested in other such examples might check out my article in The Faerie Queens anthology from Avalonia. Enough links to books!  I’ve made a discovery, via Katherine Briggs’ Anatomy of Puck, of another piece with a similar procedure that predates most ritual magic by centuries.  In the mid-thirteen century, Adam de la Halle, a playwright of Arras, composed a comedy entitled Le jeu de la Feuillee.  It consists of a number of short vignettes surrounding life in the French city – including a visit by three supernatural ladies. We have very little setup for their appearance, but it would appear that Adam – a character in the play as well as the playwright – and his friend Rikeche have put a table out for the fairies.  Although they are not present, others watch from the sidelines as three women – Morgan, Arsile, and Maglore – appear and take up their seats at the table.  All of them are enchanted by the preparations, save for Maglore, who notices that her knife at the table is missing.  The other two fairies engage her in some playful jesting, but Maglore will have none of it.  The sisters next talk of how the two should be rewarded.  Morgan and Arsile grant Rikeche success at business and riches, and give Adam happiness, fame in love, and a reputation as a poet.  Maglore, still put out, grants Rikeche baldness and condemns Adam to spend his time with his wife instead of running away to Paris.  The whole matter rapidly descends into farce from here. What is particularly interesting here is one detail from earlier in the poem:  a description of the back of Adam’s wife, “Ke manche d’ivoire entailles / A ches coutiaus a demoisele,” which the editor translates as “Sculpted like the ivory handle / Of those knives for noble maidens.”  He then draws a parallel between this phrase and the knives on the table of Morgan and the others.  It bears noting that some manuscripts, including Sloane 3853 and e.Mus 173, specify that white-handled knives should appear on the table to which the three mysterious women are called.”

2.) The Devil

When we talk about the Devil in Witchcraft we have the tendency to see him from a British perspective. In this way, the Devil is the God of the Witches, while the Fairy Queen is the Goddess of the Witches. However, this is true only in British Islands, because here the Fairy King was demonized and became the Devil, as Emma Wilby demonstrated in her two books “Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits” and “The Visions of Isobel Gowdie”.

However, despite what Brexiteers say, Europe is not only Great Britain!While in Great Britain the Major Spirits were mainly two, a couple of Monarchs of the Fairy Realm, male and female, in the rest of the Continent it was not so.In the rest of the Continent every other Country and even every region of these Countries had its own Major Spirit, which was not always a couple: sometimes they were both male and female, but the majority of times the Major Spirit was a female spirit and a minority of times a male spirit. Let’s take for example Italy: here we find, in different regions, different Major Spirits. We find Richella in Val di Fassa (Trentino), but also Berta in other parts of the same region, we find Madonna Horiente in Milan, the Lady of the Game/Lady of the Good Game in many regions of the North of Italy, we find Herodias and Diana in Tuscany, we find Herodias alone in Rome, we find the Apenninic Sybil in Umbria, we find the King and Queen of Fairies in Sicily, and so on. As we can see, only in one region there was a divine couple. Other regions had very different Spirits as chief of the Cortège of the Dominae Nocturnae, and the majority of them were female.However, if we read the trials, we see that more time passes during the persecution, more the Lady of the Game becomes the Devil.

So the Devil doesn’t necessarily is the Horned God. Sometimes the Devil is, like in Great Britain, a mask for a male God, such as the King of Fairies, sometimes like in Italy and in Basque Countries (where Akerbeltz, the black goat, is a symbol of Mari, a Basque Goddess), it’s a mask for a female Goddess, other times again (the majority of times), it’s just a reflection of the accusations and the belief of the inquisitors or the judges.

In fact we can say what the Devil really is, in a Country, only by looking back at before the demonization. If the trial starts with the person who talks about the Fairy King and at the end of the trial they admit to have gone with the Devil, the Devil was masking this character.If the trial starts with the person which talks about being innocent and at the end of the trial they admit to have gone with the Devil, this person is innocent and never worshiped the Devil and the Devil is just a delusion of inquisitors or judges.Moreover, if we see the Christendom attitude towards Witchcraft, we can distinguish the first phase, after the Canon Episcopi (906 CE), in which the sin was not the act of going with these Pagan spirits, but to believe that these visions were true. After the Malleus Maleficarum (1487), instead, Christianity changed the sin: the sin was not anymore to believe in the visions of the Pagan spirits, but to having gone with these Pagan spirits.So, while in the first phase Christendom used to report exact beliefs in order to eradicate them, in the second phase they used to distort these beliefs because they were just “delusions of the Devil”, therefore while before priests tended to say: “People, if you dream about going forth in the night with Diana, don’t believe in these visions, to believe in them is a sin!”, after they said: “Don’t lie, it wasn’t Diana, it was the Devil!”.So they just stopped caring about what people thought, in the second phase they started imposing their view that it was the Devil and not other entities, silencing the real names of the Gods/Major Spirits.

So we cannot trust the name of the Devil in trials, because trials happened in the second phase, we can trust trials just when they distort the initial character (such as the Fairy King in Great Britain) into the Devil, but we cannot trust trials when they talk about the Devil without connecting it with any previous character, because it maybe just a reflection of the hysteria of judges and inquisitors.

3.) Flying Ointment

First thing: I think that in order to use and make ointments, you have to be a professional herbalist. Please, before using any ointment you see online, check if the maker is a qualified herbalist, and please, don’t make an ointment at your home just reading a book. To be a professional herbalist you have to go to an university for years, you take a degree for that, you cannot improvise.

Said this, historically, there are two positions about Flying Ointment: the ointment as a symbol and the ointment as a reality.I don’t know which one is true, maybe the truth is in the middle as usual.

Éva Pócs supports the symbolic position. I quote from her book “Between the Living and the Dead: A Perspective on Seers and Witches in Early Modern Age”:

“The subject of flying ointment occasionally came up in Hungarian interrogations; nonetheless, it played no real role in precipitating trance. In our trials no evidence underpins the assumption of some European research that witches, including the Hungarian witches, made journeys with the help of drugs. […] References to flying ointment are generally traceable only in responses given to questions of the court and even then principally in confessions following torture. Flying ointment appears in the narratives as a metaphor for creating trance, in the context of flying with wings - that is, “really” flying - or in the legendary motif of turning into an animal. In Hódmezővásárhely, Maria Olah confessed under torture, “if we wish to be dogs, we become dogs … we were in the images of cats, we smeared [ourselves] with certain ointment … and climbed through the window” (1758, in Schram 1970, 1:341).”

Thomas Hatsis, however, in his book “The Witches’ Ointment”, support the opposite theory. We can read, in fact:

“The ointments come from the medical drugs outlined by Alonso Tostado and Abraham of Worms, found in various contemporary medical texts; they are not necessarily a part of the general belief in night flight but were nonetheless used by some people as an element in psyche-magical rites; some, perhaps, might have even been used entheogenically. The act of rubbing them on chairs, brooms, and so forth, most probably belongs to some obscure folk tradition associated with the Germanic goddess Frigg. Diana’s association with the devil probably stretches back to folk beliefs about female fertility and good fortune deities. The worship of the devil comes down to us from ancient stereotypes about heretics. Finally, the pact with the devil comes from the realm of high magic. To summarize: At the dawn of the witch stereotype, first conceived by theologians in the 1430s in a merging maelstrom of magical lore, heretical stereotypes, and folk notions, the ointments finally enter the ecclesiastical record alongside the new definition of the witch. Subsequent writers would weave these folk ointments tightly into the demonological fabric as a way to explain how all these so-called witches could fly to their Sabbats.“

So, according to Hatsis, the ointment was used by witches only after this new definition, that connected witches to devil worshipers, with the Malleus Maleficarum, but it wasn’t used by witches described by Canon Episcopi, who went in spirit with dreams and other techniques.

Moreover, he says in his videos why and how these ointments were real techniques and not just symbols, let’s see for example:

https://youtu.be/AAE6jrrNU3U

However, in most trials ointments appears to be done with “children fat” or things like that, which is not something entheogenic, nor definitely acceptable for today standards. In fact, even Hatsis admits that “we have reason to believe that sometimes people really did seek out the flesh of dead infants for their magical efficacies”. This evidence could support the symbolic position, because even if somebody used real flesh of real dead kids, the only way in which this would have worked, it would have been by mixing this anointment with dreams or other trance techniques.

We know, in fact, that there were formulas to use with the Ointment, so it’s possible that trance was in reality achieved through constant repetition, like it happens with eastern mantras.

So, resuming, I think that:- ointments are not the safest practice;- there is a debate about their use as real practices and not just as symbols in history;- if you want to use them because you believe in the realistic position about ointments in history, it’s important to be a professional herbalist to make them.

4.) The Tools in Reconstructionist Witchcraft

In order to understand the tools, we have to understand the practices. The practices are:

1) The Offerings 2) The Flight3) The Physical Gathering4) Magic and Divination1) The Offerings are towards:- The Patron Major Spirit, with the Table of Offerings;- The Animal Familiar;- The Ancestors;- The Plant Familiar;- Fairies/Spirits of Nature;- Household Spirit/Fairy2) The Flight:- To the Cortège of the Dominae Nocturnae;- To the Wild Hunt/Procession of the Dead;- To the Sabbath “in somniis”;- To the Night Battles;- To the Otherworld / Sybil’s Paradise / Elphame3) The Physical Gathering:- The Sabbath “corporaliter”;- The physical Cortège of the Dominae Nocturnae / the physical Procession of the Wild Hunt

So, as we can understand, the tools for the offerings are:

- A broom: for the cleaning and ordering before the offerings;

- A table or an altar: for the Major Spirit it’s better to use the kitchen table, however another table/altar is useful too. Here we’ll let offerings of food and drink.

- A table cloth, napkins, glasses, cutlery, plates, a chair, etc. for the table: because Major Spirits need to symbolically sit down and eat for the offerings of food and drink.

- Candles and incense: to honor the Major Spirit after we’ll have put in order the food offerings, to please them.

- One or two offering bowls where we’ll pour milk, bread and a drop of blood everyday for our Animal Familiar, or for the Household Spirit (but in this case without the blood) or for the Fairies (but in this case to pour it outside).

- A shelf or a shrine for our Ancestors, with a cloth, a photograph of them, flowers, offering candles or tealights, a match or lighter.

The tools of the Flight are, instead, considering that the main trance techniques are Hydromancy, Repetition of preyers or charms, Music (usually with a drum), Dance, Monotonous Focus and Dreams:

- A candle, a lighter/match and a bowl of water for the hydromancy;

- A drum for music and/or dance trance techniques;

- A grimoire (or a notebook) and a pen for dreams and visions.

The tools of the Sabbath are, considering that the Sabbath is composed by the bowing in front of the Domina Nocturna or the Patron Major Spirit, temporarilyincarnated by the Witches’ Queen chosen randomly between the witches; the discussions and advices about the spells performed; offerings of candles to the Domina; the banquet; dance and music; ritual sex (after having asked with trance techniques or divination if it’s ok for the Spirit).

- A representative candle or statue or image if the ritual is done by solitaries and so there is no Witches’ Queen or King;

- Offering candles;

- A table (or altar),table cloth, napkins, glasses, cutlery, plates, a chair, etc. for the banquet;

- A musical instrument (for example, a drum or a flute).

The tools of the Cortège are the same of the Sabbath’s because what changes is only that the Sabbath is in a single place while the Cortège is done in the house of a practitioner, and the members of the Company but the one who owns the house in which the ritual is done will impersonate the Spirits who will come in, will be welcomed by the owner, they will eat, drink, dance and bless with a wand all the house by touching all the rooms and the persons in it. The sex, in the case of the Cortège, will not be performed.So the only tool which is exclusive of the Cortège is:

- The wand.

“…There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago…”

So I have been thinking about our Contemporary conceptualization of the Christmas season a lot lately and it’s kind of interesting. So many things we associate with Christmas – Christmas trees, greeting cards, Santa Claus, his reindeer and elves, gift-giving in general – all of these things came into vogue in the 19th Century and are very sticky-sweet, in my opinion. They’re lovely, but not filling. If we just scratch the surface of the Christmas we know and love and peek back into its history, we find something much meatier.

Before the cheerful Christmas tree, a number of other plants were associated with Christmas. The holly, associated with sacrifice and the blood of Christ, and the parasitic mistletoe, associated with the death of Baldur in Norse mythology – these were the plants associated with Christmas before the Christmas tree became the standard.

Also, the Yule log. The Yule log, meant to provide light on the darkest night of the year, was a magic charm in and of itself. If it did not burn through the night, it would be a terrible omen. By watching the fire and coals of the Yule log, one could also predict who would give birth and who would die in the coming year.  

When our simple Santa Claus is reduced to his predecessors, one is left with Odin, ancient Norse God of battle, Saint Nicholas, the canonized former bishop of Turkey, and Father Christmas, the hard-drinking gluttonous representation of holiday merriment. And all of them brought ghastly friends – Odin, the spirits of the Wild Hunt and Saint Nicholas, his helpers (including Knecht Rupert, Krampus, etc.). Father Christmas, more of a personification of the season than a night visitor, undoubtedly brought many hangovers.

Before stories about reindeer, snowmen, or things of that ilk, there were ghost stories. Charles Dickens did not invent the Christmas ghost story in “A Christmas Carol,” but popularized an already-existing folkloric trend. If we look to the old tales of Christmas, we find stories about witches that rode the night air, cursing the birth of the Savior. There are stories about fairies, ghosts, and Devils that wreak havoc, frightening livestock and damaging property. In an era before television or radio, homemade storytelling was one of the primary forms of entertainment. And winter was the storytelling season.

You also have mumming, wassailing, and caroling – dressing up in colorful costumes and (sometimes drunkenly) begging for money door-to-door. As John Grossman notes in his book “Christmas Curiosities,” Christmas before the Contemporary Period resembles our Halloween more than it resembles the Christmas we know now.

Despite the title, to simply call this a means by which to trap a spirit is to disregard its main function. In actuality, the spirit snare is more accurately not only an abode for the spirit, but a tool to be used in the construction of spirit. This will become clear as you read below, but first I must preface by saying that the “skeleton” — the underlying structure — of this ritual can be adapted with a nearly boundless collection of replacement tools, ingredients, etc., e.g. while the following will incorporate a clay figure, this could be replaced with a doll (cloth, stick, etc.), a stone, really anything. What matters is the action and process, not necessarily the materials listed. With that being said, take this as an example, not the definitive or singular way to accomplish the same task.

For this method, you will need a few “ingredients:”

Sticks — (in the above photo) you can see I used sticks of varying sizes, but all of which were collected at local cemeteries

Twine

Clay — I used natural, air dry clay; but if you happen to have (or have access to) a kiln, actual clay would be ideal; avoid plastic-based polymer clays

Batting — I used Spanish moss; natural fibers are best; an old (clean) bird’s nest would work well, I imagine

Fluidum vītae*

Wire

Paper

Tobacco/Incense

Optional:

Paint and/or other decorative elements

Rum or other offerings

* By fluidum vītae I mean blood or sexual fluids. Ideally, an animal sacrifice would be made and the blood collected, but to tie the spirit to yourself blood, vaginal fluid, menstrual blood or semen can all be used.

Instructions:

Begin by collecting your sticks. It’s not necessary to go digging through cemetery refuse piles at the stroke of midnight under the light of the waxing moon (like some witches who will not be named: me), store-bought is fine. No, but really, just go out and get some sticks. Feel free to gather them from specific locations or of particular species that correspond to your aims in constructing this spirit. For example, sticks from your own property (cedar or oak) would work splendidly if you seek to create a protective spirit. Employ whatever correspondences personal or traditional. Try to keep the sticks no longer than your arm, and no wider than your thumb or they will be unruly to work with in the next step.

Once collected, the sticks must be fashioned into a sort of flexible mat that will be rolled and fastened later. Have patience. While it seems quite simple, working with a long length of twine can get tedious, especially at the beginning. Take the first stick and anchor two lengths of twine onto it near the center, leaving 6 to 8 inches between them. The rest is a bit like a puzzle, taking each stick and finding which fits well with the one beside it. You needn’t do this all at once, I simply tried fitting each as I moved along. Once you find one that fits,  secure it with twine: I used overhand knots because they’re easy and can be moved and tightened accordingly, the ones on the left going over and those on the right under (or vice versa). It’s a bit like macrame. If you know better knots or methods, by all means employ them. Make sure to leave the long tails of twine, as these will be used later to fasten the bundle.

Once you have woven the sticks together, it is time to work on crafting a figure. As I mentioned above, this doesn’t need to be a clay figure, but could be a small doll or stone or whatever makes sense to you. I have a penchant for sympathetic magic, so I simply molded a little, nondescript figure. Once it is complete and fully dry, take it and sit with it. Consider for what purpose you are constructing this spirit, what will its function be, and allow its characteristics to manifest. This is very much a sort of negotiation: the ambient energy can manifest in certain ways, you must sculpt it and guide it to meet your goals. Do not underestimate the power of music. Choose songs with intention. Now is NOT the time to hit shuffle. Once the spirit is assembled, and time has been spent with it, prepare the figure with smoke. I’m prefer tobacco because with each exhale you can impart its function, responsibilities, arrangements and characteristics. I suppose the same could be done with passes through incense smoke. The most important part is to give this spirit a name. Knowing its traits and appearance, you can decorate the figure to match. But not yet is the spirit tied to the figure.

To do this, scrawl the given name on a square of paper and roll it into a scroll. Dress the figure with the fluidum vītae (if you elected to do a sacrifice, make sure you specify what the sacrifice is for; don’t be wasteful), imparting “life,” and wrap the scroll around the figure with wire. Make clear the association of the spirit and the figure, call it by its name, give it the power it needs.

Place this fetish on the batting. Being that I used Spanish moss and it has a tendency to be messy, I also used a square of white fabric, placing upon in the nest of dry moss, then the figure. Make sure the fetish is nicely nestled, adding more batting if necessary. I then folded the cloth over it and tied either end like a nice, witchy Tootsie Roll. Place the assemblage on the mat or sticks and bring each end of the mat to meet. A little overlap is fine. Using the twine tails wrap the entire bundle, fastening it with an impermanent knot (in case you need to disassemble it).

It is good form to present an immediate offering, and do choose one that matches the ascribed function of the spirit. Rum is a great general offering, given its fiery nature, but if you’re not looking to incite the spirit to action, perhaps something tamer is in order.

One must first attain a piece of stone retrieved from the rocks at a crossroads between the edge of a shore and a railroad track. Then, to fumigate it with an incense or powder containing lupine, poppies, dandelion root, mullein, and larkspur. Bury it the day before Good Thursday beneath the threshold of your home. It will be unearthed at sundown on Easter Sunday. 

The next day, one must first attend the evening services of a church on Good Thursday, and bring with them, a beeswax candle to be lit as it goes on, by which, it will be blessed by these services. 

In order to begin communion with this spirit, place it’s bones, particularly the rib, about a candle or censer when the sun has set, with oil, candle, or incense of the seer or that which brings messages in dreams. Give it offerings and sustenance, but above this, give it speech and word. Commune with it in your waking life, and it shall return the message in your dreams. These dreams should be used to divine your relationship with it, and to know if to go through. This will be done for three nights, beginning on Good Thursday and ending on Black Saturday. If there is an altar to the dead, place it here. 

On the night of Easter Sunday, throw this rib onto a mound of sawdust and wood shavings. Tie a grey or black thread to one of its ends. Lay this thread to one side of the bone, keeping it upon the scattered wood. Then, light the blessed candle and drip wax over the thread, covering it in beeswax and sawdust. It is good to add in one’s own hair, nails, and so on, as you do this. Wrap the thread around the bone to it’s end, then go back once, and then back again another time, wrapping it around thrice, and binding this all in blessed wax.

Take the consecrated stone and bring it down to the earth before you as you face the north. Turn around counter-clockwise with it in hand to form a circle, and after doing so, stomp on the ground with your left foot thrice. Recite the following: 

Oh, great deceiving god Who’s form is the black dog And the roaming coyote That takes many forms And so, the first of beasts, may you spawn another Bestow upon this bone that flame you stole from heaven And invigorate the breath I give to it With that false current of life, some unholy light That as you give to me, you may give to my work

Prick the left side of your cheek with a razor so that it bleeds. Take three drops of blood and place them on the wrapped bone; one on the each end and in the middle. With vigor, recite the following:

This is now spirit of my own spirit For it is gifted the blood of my own blood And I shall name it “____” For it is born by my breath and word

Get down on your knees and breathe three deep breaths onto the bone. Upon doing so, your familiar has awakened, transformed, and become an extension of yourself. It shall feed on you and rely on you for sustenance. Feed it like a child or pup, but is much more than that. Put this creation into a special box of its own to keep, now. If a certain box was used during communion, use this one. The name you’ve given it is it’s secret name, with which whoever knows may have power over it. 

Antifa, an abbreviation for “anti-fascist,” is a movement opposed to fascism, full-stop.  Just like any other movement (the environmental movement, the feminist movement, the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement, etc.), antifa isn’t an organization but there are thousands of organizations of anti-fascists within the movement. Calling antifa or any other human rights movement “terrorists” is one of the oldest tricks in the books, right up there with calling human rights movements “communists.”  It’s an attempt to shut down support for antifa by mislabeling antifa.  Political leaders that have called anti-fascists “terrorists” have included Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, and Trump - all of whom are fascists (and for those of you reading this that think we’re not being fair to Trump - read this). When someone called antifa “terrorists,” they usually justify it by claiming that antifa “uses violence” to achieve political ends.  But there are some real problems with this justification.  As Philosophy Tube explained in their video about antifa (jump to the 20:48 mark), all political ideologies and movements are predicated on violence (e.g. the police, the army, militarized borders, etc.), “to say that a particular form of political engagement is bad because it features violence isn’t quite enough because they all do.  If anti-fascism and fascism are equivalent because they both feature violence, then every political position is equivalent, because they all feature violence.  What separates them is who the violence is being done against, and why it’s being done.”

Antifa will physically defend their communities from fascist activity.  If fascists aren’t actively encouraging people to discriminate, attack, and murder people, antifa aren’t “violent.”  Fascist violence is targeted at people because of who they are - disabled, LGBTQ+, a member of a different ethnic/racial group, a member of a different religion, people with different migration status, etc.  By contrast, anti-fascists target fascists because they are threatening to hurt people. Again, that Philosophy Tube video gets into this quite well around the 25:15 mark. Let’s also look at the “evidence” of “antifa violence” presented by the fascists in power in the U.S. recently: -the FBI could find no links between antifa and violence at the most-intense Black Lives Matter protests -the U.S. Justice Department found no connection between antifa and arrests made at the protests -none of the people facing federal charges in the U.S. were found to have any connection to antifa -An analysis of 217 arrests in DC and Minneapolis found that none of the arrestees were connected to antifa -Three days after Trump tweeted his plan to have antifa declared “domestic terrorists,” the White House tweeted a photo of a stack of rocks in LA, claiming they had been planted there by antifa to throw at cops, etc.  But an LA synagogue quickly pointed out that it was an anti-terror barrier they put in front of their synagogue to prevent a car bombing, (causing the White House to quickly delete their tweet).  -a purported antifa Twitter account calling for acts of violence at protests turned out to be a fake run by white supremacists.  -at the start of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis, a man dressed in all black and carrying an umbrella smashed out the windows of an AutoZone with a hammer after spray painting “free shit for everyone zone” on the wall.  But this guy wasn’t antifa, an anarchist, or a Black Lives Matter supporter - it turned out he was Mitchell Wesley Carlson - a white supremacist gang member, who was clearly trying to make antifa/anarchist/Black Lives Matter protestors look bad/instigate shit. Last year, when people talked about antifa “violence,” they referred to fascists being punched or having milkshakes thrown at them. So we see violence on the level one would see in a typical high school being elevated to “terrorist violence” if antifa commit it; we also see the Trump regime working with full-on white supremacists to try to frame antifa as the cause/instigators/provocateurs of “violence” at recent protests (and failing miserably at doing so). Philosophy Tube specifically addresses the “antifa = terrorists” thing at the 29:15 mark of the video by referencing the work of terrorist researcher & scholar Louise Richardson, who points out that terrorists want three things - Revenge, Renown, and Response and that the targets of terrorism are interchangeable (meaning that terrorist targets are symbolic, not specific).  Antifa action is motivated by self-defense, not terror; antifa’s notorious tendency to be camera/media-shy doesn’t equate with a desire for renown, and antifa don’t tend to make demands for government responses to their demands - they just want to shut down fascists.  Even if we were making demands for governmental response, every political movement does that and that one criteria thing does not a terror group make.  The other question is what is the extent/severity of antifa “terror” compared to fascist terror?  We listed above some of the “terrorist violence” opponents of antifa (read: fascists) have attempted to attribute to us.  A recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies looked at 900 politically-motivated plots and attacks in the U.S. over the last quarter century or so.  Here’s what they found: 

This chart could be replicated in just about any other country or region you’d care to name.  In Europe, for example, you are five times more likely to die in a fascist/extreme right-wing terror attack than you are to die in a terror attack committed by anyone else. Two immediate takeaways from this: 1) the deadliest terrorists are right-wing extremists/fascists. 2) if antifa are “terrorists” we are fucking bad at it, given we haven’t killed anybody. So are antifa “terrorists” or are they people trying to stop the most dangerous terrorists in the world and are trying to do so using the minimal violence themselves?  Is it logical to equate antifa “violence” with fascist violence?

What would it take for us to realize that the President isn’t a fascist?   Oh, man, that’s such a good question!  Let’s see:

More specifically:-he’d have to not have been forced to sign an agreement to not discriminate against black people after the Department of Justice successfully sued him for refusing to rent apartments to black tenants and lying to black applicants.  -he’d have to not have ordered his casinos to remove black staff from his view when he entered the building.

-he’d have to not have taken full page ads out in newspapers calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five - four racialized teenagers falsely accused of the vicious rape and near-murder of a jogger.  And he’d have to admit today that he was wrong about their guilt.  

-He’d have to not have been the leading proponent of a baseless conspiracy theory alleging that America’s first black president was not an American citizen.

-the whole calling Mexicans drug-smuggling rapists thing would have to not have happened.  

-the Muslim ban would have to not have happened.

-he would have to not have cut legal immigration in half.-he’s have to not have redirected ICE to arrest any undocumented migrant, not just ones that may pose a danger.

-he’d have to not regularly retweet an rebroadcast talking points from white supremacist extremists.-he would have had to condemn the white supremacist violence an terrorist attack in Charlottesville in 2017 instead of victim-blaming and implying that neo-nazis were morally equivalent to those opposed to neo-nazis.

-he would have had to refrain from continually attacking NFL players exercising their first amendment rights in protest of police murders of black people. 

-he would have to have not said that people coming to the U.S. from Haiti “all have AIDS or that people from Nigeria would never “go back to their huts” once they saw America.

-He would have to not have referred to Haiti and countries in Africa as “shithole countries” and lament the fact that fewer people from white, European countries were immigrating to the U.S. 

-He would have to not have made a career out of stiffing creditors or running a scam university.

-He would have not not have a history of sexually assaulting women which he boasts about.

-He would have to not have lied about seeing thousands of Muslim Americans cheering when the World Trade Center fell.-He would have to have not mocked a disabled person during one of his rallies.

-He would have to not have encouraged his supporters to physically attack protestors or pledge to pay for their legal defense if they were arrested for doing so.

-He would have to not have used propaganda strategies and terms from the Nazi Germany playbook like calling the media “fake news.”

-He would have to not have used white supremacist Darren Beattie as his speech writer.

-He would have to not have hired white supremacist Ian M. Smith as a policy analyst.

-He would have to not have hired white supremacist Larry Kudlow as his economic advisor.

-He would have to not have hired racist immigration consultant Stephen Miller.

-He would not have hired alt-right white supremacist and anti-semite Steve Bannon to manage his election campaign or as a top aide afterwards.

-He would not have hired Hungarian neo-nazi Sebastian Gorka as an advisor.

-He would have to not being using his position as President to enrich himself by doing things like insisting that all government staff stay in Trump hotels when traveling or overcharging the Secret Service for space in his properties or proposing to host a G7 Summit at his golf resort.

-He would have to not appoint unqualified family members like his daughter or son-in-law to important positions in his administration.

-He would have to not have ordered state agents to kidnap children from their parents, hold them in concentration camps, and then “lose track” of at least 1500 of them.  Or else turn them over to U.S. families for adoption, which BTW insofar as this can be described as “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group,” meets the UN definition of genocide. 

-He would have to not be refusing to provide children detained in his concentration camps with toothbrushes, toothpaste, or soap. -He would have to not be refusing to vaccinate children in his concentration camps, even after three of them died of influenza.  

-He would have to not be taking steps to deny citizenship rights to and deport native-born Americans who are Latino and live too close to the Mexican border.  

-He would have to not be signing more executive orders than any other president in living memory.

-He would have to not have ordered a pointless multimillion dollar military parade or the creation of the “space force.” 

-He would have to not have declared his own inauguration day “National Day of Patriotic Devotion.”

-He would have to not have publicly declared himself “a nationalist.”-He would have to not being taking away the legal rights & status of trans people, making them completely vulnerable to all types of discrimination.-He would have to not be attempting to subvert the 14th Amendment of the Constitution by revoking citizenship from people born in American to people without U.S. citizenship.-He would have to not have used the old racist trope “go back to your country” to call out four racialized Democratic congresswomen, who are some of his strongest critics.  

-He would have to not be ending automatic US citizenship for children born overseas b/c their parents are in the military and stationed there. 

-He would have to have not attempted to profit from the 2020 G7 summit by insisting it take place at one of the resort properties he owns.

-He would have to not have assisted & supported Turkey’s attempts to commit a genocide against the Kurdish people in Rojava (aka NE Syria).

-He would not have announced that he was declaring anti-fascists are “domestic terrorists” and would be outlawed.-He probably wouldn’t have advised governors to use the U.S. military against U.S. citizens protesting police violence in an effort to “dominate them.” -Fabricating evidence against antifa in an attempt to justify using military force against U.S. citizens seems alot like the Reichstag Fire to us.  -Having non-violent protestors tear gassed so he could make his way to a photo op is pretty fascistic, too.-He probably wouldn’t have taken out ads decrying the “dangerous MOBS of far-left groups” “DESTROYING our cities,” calling on Americans to “stand with the President against ANTIFA” and then illustrate the ad with the symbol the nazis made political prisoners wear in concentration camps. -When discussing the concentration camps China built for Uighur Muslims with the president if China, he probably shouldn’t have said “it was exactly the right thing to do.”-He wouldn’t have turned federal law enforcement agents into a literal Gestapo by dressing them up as soldiers but without any badges, nametags, or patches to identify what agency they are with and then deploying them in Portalnd without invitation or consent from the mayor or governor to abduct people. 

-Maybe his secretary of state wouldn’t be making public statements about how some human rights just aren’t worth defending (sorry, LGBTQ+ folk!).-He wouldn’t be talking about delaying the 2020 election.

If none of that had happened, then we’d see that Trump probably isn’t a fascist.  But that all happened.  So.Oh, and BTW, you’re dead fucking wrong about everyone that sees Trump’s fascism being against gun ownership.  Exhibit A: The Huey P. Newton Gun Club:

The Red Meal’s implements are not an offering to the spirit. 

The bread, and the wine, they are just a way of connecting to the spirits, giving them life for what they must do. 

And what they must do is secret. 

What they must do is eat away at you, not the bread and wine. 

They eat you, you become the meal. They whittle you done to the bones, and bring out the Fire. 

Christ did it, and showed his disciples how to do it. The Norse did it with their elf blots. Tantric Yogis do it with their bone pans. The Inuit magic users would do it by dreaming of their bones. The witches do it by drinking poisonous drinks and returning to the Sabbat. 

It’s all there to bring the sorcerer to the awareness of One. The point of All. Where all dualities, tripalities, inifinites, and ends become One and All. 

Within you, dear reader, is the Light, the Way, and the Truth. Like the Hanged Man, you must sacrifice yourself upon the Tree under which you have laid your offerings in order to obtain that which you seek. 

When you partake in the Red Meal, when you hold Houzel, you are made holy, and all those that you are with are also made holy (made whole) within the circle of your fellowship. You are made less of this, and a little more of that. To become Red and White. Living and Dead. Here and There. Other and Not Other. 

There are many different rites that look like the Red Meal, and many ways to perform it from the simplest to the most complex.  Here is one method:  Take yourself to a holy place. This may be a small shrine you have erected in your backyard, or within your home. Perhaps it is under a sacred tree, or within a graveyard. A cross-road is also a place of holy liminal virtue. Have with you a bit of bread and a red wine. 

Light before you a candle, or a flame of some sort, and say these words or words to this effect: 

“I light this flame in the name of All that Is,  That name within which all is conjoined in One The Most Ancient Providence,  Which is in all things.” Over the bread, draw an equal armed cross, and bless it in the name of the witching gods, however they may be known. Do the same with the wine.  Eat of the bread, and as you do so, say these words:  “I eat of this bread by the unknown name, With fearful dread and great terror For they are that which dies,  But is never dead.”

Drink a little of the wine as you say: 

“I drink this wine in the Lady’s name, For she shall gather me home again.” 

Then give the offerings unto the ground:

New York City: 100th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution

100th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution Tuesday, November 7 – 6:00 to 9:00 pm 25 Broadway, 7th Floor Auditorium, New York, NY

Join us to learn about how socialism established a planned economy, created industry and collective agriculture, wiped out illiteracy, ended women’s bondage, unemployment, and war and empire, and then defeated fascism.

In examining the immense achievements of the…

If you were to look up the definition of both of the words on a search engine (hello, Google!) they are defined as follows:

Curse: (aside from meaning vulgar words) is “casting the evil eye or an evil spell upon someone.”

Hex: to curse someone.

Oh, dear sweet Google, you have tried your best but in this instance, every witch will tell you that you are wrong.

The general consensus is that ultimately, curses are worse than hexes; the target tends to suffer more at the hands of a curse than they do at the hands of a hex. 

Curses:

Usually more serious than hexes.

Can live on through generations if that is what the caster intended.

Tend to be long-term in nature.

Usually, curses are borne of anger; of hatred and even a need for justice.

They can usually be reversed or undone; reversals can be done by the caster, and undoings may be done by the caster, target or a third party.

Hexes:

Often cast as a “one-off” piece of magick.

Their effects are apparent very quickly, but they are not long-term - seen sometimes as an instantaneous form of malevolent magick.

Hexes are borne of revenge and/or annoyance, and they usually cause irritation and subsequent annoyance to the target - hexes are a way for the caster make their target feel what they have been made to feel for a short time.

Due to their nature, hexes are usually over and done with quickly and do not require a reversal or undoing.

Both of these forms of magick, are forms of malevolent magick that is used for many reasons. Some people curse their abusers, or people who have hurt them and some people hex their ex-partners, or someone who has brushed them up the wrong way. Like all magick, what you do is circumstantial and no one can tell you whether you should or should not perform magick of this kind (I am pro-curse and hex, but not everyone is).

Common Cursing & Hexing Components:

Taglocks:

Bodily fluids (blood, spit, semen, menstrual blood, tears, urine, etc.)

Fingernails.

Hair.

Photographs.

Personal possessions.

Poppets.

Usernames/nicknames/names.

Herbs/Plants:

Cayenne Pepper

Chilli

Lemon

Black Pepper

Thistle

Thorns

Poppies

Mold

Other items:

Nails (rusted for potency)

Razor blades

String/yarn/chord

Cemetery Dirt

War Water

Needles

Bones

Vinegar

Mirror (broken or whole)

Broken glass

Dead Wasps

You’ll notice that I’ve bunched the common ingredients for curses and hexes in one list - that is because these two are simply lesser and greater forms of the same kind of magick, so you must bear in mind what your intent is when you choose your spell/ritual ingredients.

The State & Revolution: The economic basis of the withering away of the state

V.I. Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party, wrote ‘The State and Revolution’ after being forced underground to avoid arrest in August-September 1917. Although the pamphlet was not published until 1918, its conceptions were key to the Great October Socialist Revolution of October 25, 1917 [November 7 on the modern calendar], which was then only weeks away. Because ‘The State and Revolution’ retains…