mercury's fire

The Forbidden Arts from Sixteen92

Pyromancy starts a touch smokey and baking spices adjacent from the cardamon. Calms to a burnt and smoke scent with a touch of spice, but it’s fairly quiet on me. 

Chiromancy starts with a very cold metal feeling along with the leather and ink smells. Continues to smell of cold metal, very evocative. This one is easily my favorite of the set. 

Hydromancy starts violet with a touch of old timey cough syrup. That fades fairly quickly and the old cold green lichen and dust backbone of this become apparent. 

Aeromancy starts with cold and damp and old leaves. After it settles it does smell very much like the local Birch tree smells in winter, with a slight rose note becoming evident. After a couple hours it has faded to a frosty floral skin scent, pleasant in a weird way. 

Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans Ivo Dominguez, Jr - 2016

I had some difficulty settling into this and originally skimmed large sections. Somewhere around chapter ten things started clicking and I was able to finish reading from there, then go back and read the first nine chapters and appreciate them. Chapter ten talks about the moon phases, moon in signs, and how to pick the moon that works best for your magical intentions. Also of note, chapter 12 on the influences of the moons of fellow practitioners on the mutual work and chapter 14′s exercises for spiritual evolution.

Modern rulership astrology & uses natural houses as well (neither are my favorite), insightful on timings & conditions, explains use of magic(k) squares, gives references for Hermetic Qabala. 

The Crooked Path: An Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft Kelden, 2020 - ISBN 978-0-7387-6203-6

Starting with a brief but succinct overview of witchcraft and quick history lesson, moving fairly rapidly on to basics and building to more complex topics the author moves through instructional and practice exercises, covering a lot of ground and giving the aspiring practitioner a lot of foundational information. There are sections that ask you to work out your own ethics regarding dangerous work, plenty of good warnings are given for potential dangers, but the author does not omit information, leaving the reader to determine their own ethical path. The exercises build skills over the course of the book, starting simply and allowing the reader-practitioner to build skills and confidence before more complex and dangerous workings are introduced. 

The clear no-nonsense how-to writing style, bioregionalism, weather and seasonal magics really spoke to me. The Witch Father and Mother aren’t as appealing as topics, though I understand how fundamental they are to many. All the book sections are fairly short, giving the reader a good foundational overview of the areas of magic covered. 

Sigil Witchery: A Witch's Guide to Crafting Magick Symbols by Laura Tempest Zakroff - 2018

Halfway to a workbook the author gives you a lot of hands on practice (should you choose to) and shows you how she “solved” the brief she was given. Author is an expert at making things understandable and seem achievable with a reasonable amount of practice from the reader. The sigils she uses are not ritual or chaos style, but something more intuitive. I read this up because I am a fan of this author, I wasn’t expecting to be as charmed by the process as I am. 

Author currently blogs at https://www.patheos.com/blogs/tempest/author/ltzakroff

memoirs of a trespasser starts out vanilla almost like pipe tobacco with a little smoke and a very spicy note. Did not drastically change on my arm over the two to three hours from going from strong projection to skin scent. Feels like an autumnal scent to me, though I plan to test it in the summer as well. 

the soft lawn starts with a damp sweetness and a lightly powdery feel. The first time testing I thought it was just a touch too sweet, second test it seemed just right. It is a sweet floral spice with a touch of dampness on the nose though. After two hours the lingering skin scent of faint flowers and powder feels like it’s carried on a breeze. Liked it the second time, will continue testing.

telegrama starts with a strong vanilla and pepper hit, almost sneezing-ly strong. My wrist tingled as though I could feel the heat from the pepper on my skin. Vanilla stayed in the air, for half an hour after I could tell when I walked through the place I stood to apply. After the initial hit there is a powdery quality to the vanilla that develops (or is uncovered) and some white floral and linen scents. Unsure if I like this. 

slow explosion starts with a wood and sour scent, interesting but not settling into anything immediately. After a while I get what could be wet ash smells? Two hours in the drydown in nice, but I don’t feel like it hangs together. My chemistry turned this more into “rain storm at last week’s arson site” than anything actively combusting. 

A little bit of Intuition: an introduction to extrasensory perception Catherine Allan, 2019 - ISBN 978-1-4549-3676-3

At least half memoir recounting a great many synchronicities mixed with defining the assorted “clairs” and how to differentiate those from desires and projections. Some talk of ethics, boundaries and consent. Overall I enjoyed reading mostly as a memoir. 

cowboy grass starts hay-like, a little smoke and spice. Overall sweet and dry-grass, not overly green. After about an hour it’s sweet and powdery and soft. The powder has staying power for a while. Overall I don’t think this worked with my body chemistry.

burning barbershop starts medicinal and aftershave-like scents, really delivering on the barbershop half of the title. After 10 minutes there might be a faint smoke smell. Too old-timey-masculine for me after an hour, scrubbed. That said, could see this being a cult favorite in some circles. 

el cosmico starts resin and campfire with a green note and a very faint almost floral sneaking in at 5 minutes. After 10 minutes it mellows to a nice smokey woody background. 30 minutes it went through a slight burnt rubber smell when I checked my wrist, but wasn’t noticeable at arm’s length. Second trial I could get the mesquite  at the beginning this time. The green note smelled a touch soapy, and there is a slight ozone smell with the ‘burning rubber’ stage. I will probably try this a few more times in different temperatures. 

mississippi medicine starts super green and smokey. Develops spiciness and a slightly damp smell early on. Warm base comes through at 15 minutes, and I noticed the incense was dominant after about an hour. Three hours in it was skin scent only, incense and softness, very pleasant. Will test again. 

Currently reading: The Wisdom of Birch, Oak, and Yew by Penny Billington, 2015.

The Modern Witchcraft Grimoire: your complete guide to creating your own book of shadows. Skye Alexander, 2016 - ISBN 978-1-4405-9681-0

After the introduction gives a bit of history about Grimoires both historical and modern the first five chapters get deeply into the crafty side of making your own book. Part 2, “Using your Grimoire” moves on to types of magic, starting with the everyday and moving on to special occasions and giving a nice overview of the sabbats. Topics covered include the solar year, astrological magics, the lunar year and moon-phases, specific types of spells, verbal and visual spells, brief sections on tarot, runes and sigils, concoctions, tools, and a bunch of lists of sympathetic correspondences and symbols. 

Late Winter, final thaw (with luck.)

Divin’ Enfant starts with soft floral and a slight smoke + leather combo. And a little tang that becomes obviously tobacco quickly. Amusing, but the scent combo was not me. 

She was an Anomaly starts sweet and almost sugary (but not sticky) with a light floral. The iris gets stronger and the musk mellows out over time. At dry down it’s just a little too floral sweet. 

Fils de Dieu starts out lime + floral. Pleasant and light. Creamy coconut kicks in after 5 minutes. Soft, pleasant dry-down. This isn’t my usual scent profile, but I found it rather charming. Will try again in warmer weather, it seems like a late spring into summer scent.

Remarkable People starts sharp and sweet on spray. Might be too sweet? Teetered on the edge for all of projection time, skin scent wasn’t quite as sweet on me. I liked this on paper, but it didn’t remain balanced for my body chemistry. 

Tiny Reviews: Waking the Witch by Pam Grossman. June 2019

Entertaining and interesting interweaving of (mostly western) society’s historical to modern interactions with “the Witch” and the author’s experiences as given in memoir fashion. Brief and good bibliography. Enjoyable. 

Butch Femme first impression is aftershave, but quickly becomes a delicate floral + wood sawdust type mix. Quite lovely after 15 minutes, low projection overall. Reapplied with multiple sprays later in the day, detected a metalic-dry herb type note in the mix. 

Viridescent first impression is that I’m not sure what I am smelling at all. Green but dry, so hay-ish smells. Didn’t love dry-down, it ended up smelling sweet-floral-chemical on my arm. This one’s not for me.

Night Dreamer interestingly I can’t find this for sale or any reviews of it yet. First impression was occult shop sunbeams. Might have a very sneaky camphor-like note, background florals, some herbs. After 15 minutes it’s more patchouli-and-insense with a very subtle flower + warm background. Patchouli and I don’t always get along (can make me sneeze), and I’ll be sending this to a friend. I did like it overall, sneezing aside.

Metals first impression is herbal and sharpness. Wood, pine + resin. I can vaguely get a sweetness that’s probably ylang-ylang but it’s subtle on my arm. This one was my favorite.

Men of Blame first impression was smokey patchouli, but it quickly picks up a spice and subtle sweetness. Not overpowering, and this patchouli didn’t cause sneezing. I liked the skin scent a lot.

Aztec Noir first impression was cedar and medicinal. Pleasant, but not for me. Also sending to a friend.