Your Friendly Neighborhood Swamp Hag

Master Post

Peasant girl in heather with sickle and basket. 1900 painting by Emil Zschimmer

Though this blog started as a place to showcase my devotional stitching to honor my ancestresses, over the last few years the babky (my Moravian grannies) have been pulling me in all sorts of directions. I’ve never really called myself a witch, though I think it is assumed by a lot of my readers because of the work I do, and I’ve gotten kind of lazy and use it as shorthand a lot (especially in tags) because it’s easy, but I tend to think of myself as a cunning woman and over the last couple of years a novice kořenářka (simplest definition would be root/herb woman, but so much more).

Antos Frolka (1877-1935)

My practice revolves around foraging and preserving wild plants, honoring the animals that I share the land with, honoring the calendar customs and folk Catholicism (that is often only a mask over older pagan customs) of my Moravian ancestresses, and YES—I still stitch! It all falls under the overarching umbrella of ancestor veneration.

Kroatische Stickerin, 1920, Othmar Růžička

Who were the Kořenářky?

My Herbal — Mostly print sources on plants I forage. Includes medicinal, magical, and culinary info. You can also find recipes from my bioregional apothecary, these are from my particular region and are meant to inspire as well as document my own research. Note: I’m beginning to add pages from my kořenářka journal.

My observation of Moravian Calendar Customs from 2022 to the present

2025 Stitching Projects

Moravian Embroidery Patterns

A repeat of the above patterns, but I recently found this somewhat different version:

Červenec/July Devotional Calendar

In a world of high infant mortality where baptism wasn’t always possible a rich and terrifying folklore grew.

This illustration depicts a Vukodlak (a Slavic werewolf or vampire entity) developing inside the womb of a deceased woman, by Serbian artist Ivica Stevanović. According to South Slavic legend, if a predatory animal passes over the grave of a pregnant woman, her unborn child risks turning into a monster.

I found this illustration on Facebook and was led research whether my West Slavic ancestors had any similar beliefs. The closest I could find was nekřtěňátko, the restless spirits of unbaptized or stillborn children, in Czech and Moravian folklore, this spirit of an unbaptized infant could become a wandering soul, sometimes appearing as lights, birds, or crying infants.

“This sad fate of so-called “unborn babies” was believed in especially in the Middle Ages. If a newborn died before it had gone through this ritual [baptism] its poor soul would have to wander for a long time in the ruin of its own damnation, because it could not rest in heaven or hell.”

“ . . . without having committed any crime, they were to be condemned to live in the underworld. Their souls were supposed to be trapped in purgatory which represented a kind of pre-hell. Purgatory was the place where these souls waited for Judgment Day. According to Christian tradition, the judgment of the living and the dead is supposed to take place on this day, and only at this time will the poor unchristened children have hope for the arms of God (note: some sources say that the souls of these children will not escape from purgatory even after the final judgment).”

“However, souls from this miserable existence can look out into the world on exceptional days. This is usually during important Christian holidays, such as Christmas or the Advent period in general. They appear on earth as nekřtěňátko, wandering in the darkness of the night.”

“One variation of the legend says that it is these wandering souls who lead pilgrims into swamps and marshes (quite literally bludičky). They deliberately lead them astray and lead them towards suffering and death.”

In some regional legends, they could transform into mischievous or dangerous spirits, similar to the "poroniec" in Polish (our West Slavic cousins) folklore:

“It was believed that an unborn or prematurely deceased child was driven by envy for not having had the chance to enjoy life. This envy was compared to the envy that drove spells, for example. Unbaptized children were buried haphazardly, meaning there was no room for them in cemeteries. Secluded places were particularly favored for their burial, so that no one could find their remains. It was in these places that the souls of these little ones were said to appear, so they were usually seen in bushes, forests, on riverbanks, or among marshes.”

“They were seen in the form of little lights (fireflies), but they were also said to appear to their mothers in dreams in the form of a black-skinned child.”

“To save the repentant soul of a child, it was recommended that wherever they cried, someone would hear them, take holy water, and baptize them. A cross would be made and the child would be said: "If you're a boy, call me Józek; if you're a girl, call me Anna," in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the child would stop crying because it demanded it .”

Nekrstenci (Unbaptised Children) by Ivica Stevanovic.

“Beliefs in the uncanny souls of deceased children constitute a rather extensive chapter of Slavic demonology. This particularly concerns fetuses aborted involuntarily or deliberately "poisoned." With the development of the Christian faith, especially among Western Slavs and the western part of the Balkans, the belief in unbaptized children developed rapidly. Kazimierz Moszyński's research indicates that the immense popularity of beliefs in the demonism of such souls even led to secondary folk explanations for the origins of certain demons, or semi-demonic beings, originally having little or nothing in common with these souls. Thus, among the Bulgarians, the soul of an unbaptized child becomes a mura , our nightmare . In certain areas of Little Russia, a stillborn child takes the form of a domowik or ubożenie , a friendly elf , after seven years . Meanwhile, in some areas of Great Russia, it was believed that the souls of stillborn children eventually transform into kikimores . All these transformations of the souls of unborn children testify to the fact that the belief in their afterlife activity was extremely alive and well-known throughout the Slavic lands.”

Original Czech and Polish language articles and intro art:

https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bludička

July 20

The Feast Day of Svaty Elias was not a huge observance in the Czech lands as it was with some other saints. In Christian times Elias became the heavenly rider who governed storms. His observances were often during those storms.

In Moravian folk imagination storms formed over the mountains. Thunderclouds gathering over the highlands were a living force.

Older Slavic ideas about Perun (the primary Slavic thunder god) were never explicitly preserved in Christian village prayers, but ethnographers have long noted that many of Perun’s characteristics—thunder, lightning, fiery wheels, protection of the community—were gradually transferred to Elijah. This wasn’t a conscious blending by villagers so much as a centuries-long evolution of popular belief.

Rather than elaborate celebrations, people remembered him during thunder and lightning, and when hail threatened the crops. The people’s response was both practical and devotional as they would make the sign of the cross and stop field work, praying to Elias that the storm would not damage the crops. They would close the shutters during storms and place the blessed Palm Sunday branches near the window and light the hromnička while praying to Svaty Elias.

Czech sayings for the feast day:

"Saint Elias, cuts off the first comb." —Czech saying

In the times of forest beekeeping and beekeeping in logs, that is, in prepared hollowed-out sections of trunks, the collection of "bee work" was carried out at this time.

Pray to St. Elijah to turn away hail.

"Until Elias, hay in the meadows is good, after Elias, spoiled."

This tells us that overgrown grass significantly loses its feeding value.

On St. Elias, summer in the morning, autumn in the afternoon. [Oh, how I wish Czech saying applied here on the bayou]

About St. Elias, storms often scare.

St. Elias comes with rain or a storm.

It is abundant in honey, like the honeycomb of Saint Elias.

Though there aren’t any explicit rituals associated with this day, I plan on returning to the Council Oak on the other side of the river to bless the amulet bag I made for an acorn the tree gifted me and my Čarodějné kameny (witch stones), which in Czech folklore are a protective amulets and sometimes considered a type of thunderstone.

Sources:

picking the flowers and leaves from the stems of plants, in order to store them properly for later use.

This is how I spend a couple of nights a week at high summer! 😂

Garble is a word with a spicy history, and we're not just saying that to curry favor with gastronomes. It is presumed that this word was passed from Arabic to Mediterranean Europe through trade in Eastern spices, and was first introduced into English from the Anglo-French verb garbeler, used for the action of sifting out impurities—such as dust, dirt, husks, etc.—from spices. In the 15th century, the English garble carried this same meaning as well as "to cull," i.e., to sort or pick out the best parts of something. If these origins seem curious given garble’s now more common meanings of "to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression" and "to cause to be unclear or confusing; to introduce error into," consider that one way of garbling someone’s story is to take bits and pieces out of context.

Two days of work accidentally deleted.

Tumblr I hate your editing (in)capabilities so much.

In addition to working on a tea blend for inflammation, I’ve been dabbling with one to support my hormonal health. This one has wood nettle, passionflower, red clover, elderflower, blackberry leaf, and mountain mint.

I made an herbal shower sachet this evening for a major cleansing ritual. I filled it with mountain mint, beebalm, elderflower, yarrow, and mullein flowers.

After I cleaned our whole living space from top to bottom it was my turn.

Then I dropped the herbs off at a rural crossroads (except the mullein flowers since they are invasive; I set them aside to re-dry and then I’ll burn them).

I’m feeling much better now.

For you young whippersnappers:

Working on a long infusion tea blend for inflammation. Pictured: goldenrod, blackberry leaf, selfheal, american plantain, yarrow and wood nettle.

Goldenrod = stiffness support

Blackberry leaf = tissue-toning support

Selfheal = restorative, cooling support

Plantain = soothing and balancing

Yarrow = circulation and stiffness

Wood nettle = nourishing, mineral-rich foundation

Still very much in an experimental stage—first cuppa was definitely bitter and medicinal. Not at the point of posting a recipe until I see if it does anything. We’ll give it a week or two.

Though I live in Arkansas, and work intensely with the land, I am not a native and not a member of Ozark folk culture. Though my practice is rooted in my own ancestry, it’s also rooted in my bioregion—so it doesn’t hurt to look at the folklore of other residents. I talked about Randolph’s background, and list my specific source for the following quotes, in my first of this series of posts.

"Bloodroot or red puccoon (Sanguinaria) is also supposed to be a great blood remedy, apparently because it has blood-red sap. By the same token a leaf shaped like a kidney, or a liver, or an ovary, or what not is supposed to designate a remedy for disorders of the organ which it resembles. The yarb doctors are all familiar with this principle, but they don’t seem to take it very seriously or follow it consistently."

"Bloodoot or red puccoon, pounded up fine and steeped in vinegar, is another very popular itch medicine."

"The skin disease called tetter is treated with spunk water or stump water—simply rain water which happens to be retained in a hollow stump. Bloodroot is good for tetter also, and there is another herb known as tetter weed, but this latter I have not been able to identify. The yarb doctors all insist that tetter weed is not identical with bloodroot (Sanguinaria) which is called tetterwort in some parts of the United States."

According to wikipedia: Tetter is an archaic term historically used to describe a variety of itchy, scaly skin diseases, rather than a single specific condition.[1] In pre-modern medical usage, it could refer to several dermatological disorders, including conditions now classified as eczema, ringworm (tinea), or other inflammatory or infectious skin eruptions.[1]

Photos are from my own work with bloodroot found in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest. In addition to the warnings below I would caution you to look into the laws regarding bloodroot in your own region. It is endangered in many areas due to over-harvesting. I harvested a couple of leaves and one root on Walpurgisnacht for ritual purposes, but promised this plant ally that this would be the first and last time.

⚠️ Please do your own research before using any of these plants—modern science doesn’t always agree with the lore ‼️