miscellaneous witchcraft

Woe to the red dragon! Woe to the land, sundered beneath the splinters of a table round! Woe to the house of Pendragon! Endless is our grief, and eternal our patience

Merlin, the heavy hand of fate/with a heart of equal weight/Harder then, and harder still/to keep the King, to watch, to kneel

King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot, the boar of Cornwall, the once and future king. He is a quasi-historical figure, who would’ve fought back against the Anglo-Saxon invasion in the 5th century. Here is a brief, incomplete, mostly inspirational list of offering ideas to revere him with at your personal altars!

Sword imagery! I’m lucky enough to have a beautiful antique from a Catholic fraternity to offer him.

Other weapons, especially daggers or knives.

Dragon imagery, specifically in red, as the red dragon is the figure of his nation.

Royal offerings such as furs, jewelry, purple and red fabrics, good foods and wines.

Store books regarding Arthuriana on his altar place.

Stone and rocks to mimic henges and stone circles.

Boar and bear imagery, such as bone or figures.

North Star imagery, as he can be symbolized with Polaris and Ursa Minor/Major

Red flowers and plants, as he is the King beneath the green.

Apples for the isle of Avalon where he currently resides.

Your favorite pieces of Arthurian poetry. You can doll these up with custom aged paper, pretty handwriting, and fancy pens!

Figures of knights, their horses, and their weapons.

Crystals associated with leadership, perseverance, stress relief, courage, and strength.

Scrap metal, though this may be born out of both UPG and a personal obsession with the stuff.

Rune sets made out of stone and rock.

Make him a playlist! Here are some songs I recommend from my own devotional playlist: Unsteady by X Ambassadors, Spirit of Albion / Wooden Box by Spiral Dance, Caesar by the Oh Hellos, King by Amazing Devils, Viva La Vida by Coldplay and Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons.

Devotional jewelry. I have a small metal sword I found in an antique shop I wear as a necklace. Unlike my necklace for Persephone, which I wear all the time, I use the sword necklace more like prayer beads. Which now that I think of it prayer beads are also fantastic offerings!

Merlin, also spelled Myrddin, the wild man and the wisest wizard. The prophet who foretold everything from Arthur’s arrival, death, return, and as far as the destruction of the world. Here is a brief list of offering ideas for him!

Store your divination tools on his altar space, or create some unique for him! I keep a separate set of Hellenic runes and his own pendulum in his space

Store your witchy/spiritual books on his altar space

Sun, star, and moon symbolism

Dragon imagery, particularly red dragons

Hawk feathers or imagery. He is heavily associated with hawks and similar birds of prey!

Goblets or fancy glassware, perhaps for water scrying.

Objects and altar cloths in blues, reds, greens, golds and silvers

Crystals associated with wisdom, divination, power, with strong space associations, and intelligence

Several tales place him in an observatory, so an devotional activity might be staying up to date with astronomy news

Said observatory is often said to be made of glass, so offer him glass bobbles and art pieces

Devotional jewelry/prayer beads! The process of making such things can be a meditative worship experience within of itself

Place rocks into a circle to mimic stone hedges and monoliths

Similarly, a rock garden! Could double as a place to charge crystals or sigils

Ask him questions regarding magick, and devote advancements in your spellwork to him

Representations of the thirteen treasures of Britain, a list of which can be found here

Devotional jewelry, especially necklaces that double as pendulums!

Make a playlist for him! Two songs from my personal playlist are Spirit of Albion by Spiral Dance, and Heart of the Darkness by Tommee Profitt

Do you like digging through rarely translated Welsh manuscripts and crusty PDF’s searching for a little known truth that cannot be found? Do you enjoy wild goose chases but religious this time? Do you want a spiritual practice focused on digging in and coming to your own conclusions? Do the legends of King Arthur and his knights inspire a spiritual admiration? Then, you’ve stumbled upon the right tumblr post.

This is meant to be a base level introduction to Arthurian Paganism, an open path anyone from anywhere can follow. I am not an expert, and and do not wish to be treated as such. However, I do think I have enough information to springboard someone else’s journey.

Let’s gets started!

As an Arthurian pagan, I find myself clutching to scraps of fiction and impossible quests. Arthur loves sending us to little few pdfs of ancient to somewhat modern texts, panning the past for the truth. Whether or not Arthur even existed is a grail quest within itself! So when I read stories offering something as supposedly concrete as a prophecy, especially a prophecy foretelling the coming of Arthur, I get excited.

This post contains an excerpt from King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, by Thomas Malory and edited by Rupert S. Holland. This book is free on the Apple bookstore where I read it. Here is my personal commentary and understanding of, again, this prophecy, or moreso a specific quote from it. Take this with as much or as little salt as you desire.

I stole a bit from the wish everyone used to make when they saw the first star in the sky because I felt it might have the right power attached.

What you need:

• your voice

• your energy

• a place to sleep

What to do: Lay down and get comfy wherever it is you want to sleep, you don’t need to make any movements or anything.

Focus on how you feel when you’re peaceful and half asleep, or how you remember it feeling for my friends with insomnia.

Keep focusing on that and envision these words floating out of your mouth to activate them( they can glow, dissipate, or anything you want them to do):

I wish I may, I wish I might

Have the sleep I need tonight

Not too early, not too late

Make me rested when I wake

I wish I may, I wish I might

Have the sleep I need tonight

Queen of Briton, Albion, and Camelot. Gwenivere the flower bride. Gwenivere with the shining gray eyes. Gwenivere the sovereign of the land. Gwenivere, the once and future queen. Here is a brief list of offering ideas for her to use in your own practice!

Jewelry, especially in gold and floral designs. Antique jewelry especially.

Crown and throne imagery, she is the eternally reigning queen afterall.

Altar cloths in reds, purples, and grays.

Crystals associated with the element earth, with leadership, bravery, ferocity, and determination.

Dragon imagery, particularly in red.

Dragon egg imagery!

Fancy calligraphy tools and pretty stationary

A little specific, but those beautiful sowing scissors that look like birds

Antique tea sets, could double to store smaller offerings

Strategy games such as chess, particularly fancy boards or even just single pieces you happen across

Bricks in which to build her castle, stones in which to pave her path

Dolls! Vintage ones, ones in historical dress, cute lil knight dolls

Maps. Maps of her kingdom, the world, ones that mark battlefields or historical out of date ones

Divination tools with earth imagery

Pressed flowers

Botanical books about local or British plants

Store your athames and other ritual blades on her altar

How it feels to work with Knights of the Round Table+ :

King Arthur

He takes a backseat in most of my practice, but plays a very important guiding role. If I ever doubt or simply don't know where or how to proceed, I usually feel him nudging me in the correct direction. He is very subtle, and does not give clear answers.

He likes more wood-y incense, and more often gives messages or signs with animals (primarily birds) than everyone else.

Queen Guinevere

She is another one who takes a backseat, and I only really feel her presence around when I am doing tarot or spells that pertain to spring, love, or curses. She is much less subtle than Arthur when it comes to giving signs.

Sir Lancelot

Lancelot works best with others, as working with him alone often leads to a lot more exhaustion afterwards ( at least in my experience). He adores all forms of art and loves to help out when painting, writing poetry, or anything else.

He likes being talked to, especially if it is outside in a wooded area, or someplace near a body of water. He is also open to offerings of alcohol.

Sir Gawain

Gawain is one of the primary knights I work with. He is an excellent hand when it comes to working on any form of protection spells; and even has helped to guide me to make new types of baneful protection spells. He can be worked with alone, although he can be frustrating at times, since he is so stubborn and wants only the best work to be done.

He is extremely understanding otherwise. He just wants you to do your best work.

He likes apple-related offerings. Horse, sun and nature related imagery. He likes it when you devout physical labor or a meal to him.

Sir Mordred

Mordred is hard to work with, and he does this on purpose. He wants to test your ability and to constantly be improving. He can do some good protection work, but he enjoys doing success spells or rituals that improve your spiritual awareness or meditation.

He works similar to how I see people describe Loki-- he is a trickster who will put you through hell, but it is a needed hell. If someone is treating you poorly, he will find a way to make them pay for it.

He enjoys dragon or wolf imagery. I find I best connect with him when outside at night during the rain or snow (just be safe).

Sir Galahad

I have only worked with Galahad once or twice. He is rather quiet, but his overall presence is calming if not overwhelming. Despite this, he will plainly tell you if you are doing something wrong and may offer you a pointer on the correct direction. He enjoys roses.

The Green Knight

I work with the Green Knight twice annually around Christmas-New Years and at the beginning of spring. Once, for letting go of my past and cleansing myself for the new year. And again, for bringing incoming success and prospertiy for the year.

He does not want or need offerings; all he wants is for you to find fulfillment in your life and contentment in yourself. In my case, doing success/prosperity rituals work best when paired with sex magic when working with him.

Nimue

Nimue often feels somewhere between an older sister and a school teacher. She is going to help you, but she will not hold your hand. She has been in your shoes before and knows how it feels, but she is equally aware that the struggle is worth it. She provides a reassurance that everything will be worth it in the end.

She likes any water-related imagery, especially water lotus'. She also prefers if you connect and work with her outdoors rather than indoors, preferably near some body of water.

This is a spell designed to give you more dreams and more meaningful dreams! It’s one of the more complicated crafts I’ve done lately, but it has been so worth it. I’ve done this a few times and have fine-tuned the recipe, so hopefully it works well for you! (And as always, substitutions can be made if need be. One of the reasons there’s so much stuff in it is because I just attract herbs that are good for this type of spell, apparently.)

What You Need:

Representations of the four elements (or another way of consecrating things. I use the elements but you do you.)

A stuffed animal that you’re comfortable sleeping with, even better if it has a hole already forming somewhere

Needle and blue thread

A small drawstring bag. Blue is optimal

A blue candle (if you want a larger emphasis on prophetic dreams, replace with or add a purple candle!)

A small piece of amethyst or amethyst chips (Amethyst particularly resonates with me and is also good for divination. It also is a general power enhancer.) 

A small piece of red jasper (For vivid dream recall.)

Rosemary (for dream recall)

Chamomile (sleep aid, prophetic dreams)

Hops (to enhance sleep magic)

Mugwort (for prophetic dreams)

Bay leaf (for prophetic dreams)

Lavender (sleep aid, dreams)

Coltsfoot (nightmare ward, dreams)

A sigil of your intent

Scissors

Best performed during a full moon on a Monday.

What You Do:

Design your sigil beforehand to save time, if you wish.

Perform your ritual spell starters, be that casting a circle, grounding/centering, calling upon deities, whatever. I like to ring a bell to mark the beginning and end of a ritual and focus my mind onto the sound If you’re working with the elements, this is the time to call upon them.

Light the blue candle.

Bless/ consecrate your stuffed animal, priming it for instruction. Let it rest as you continue onto the next step.

Fill the pouch with each of the ingredients, stating what each one is for and what it will be adding to the mix. “This is rosemary. It will aid me in remembering my dreams.”

Draw the sigil onto the bay leaf as you add it, or draw the sigil on a piece of paper, fold it, and add it to the bag.

Pull the bag shut, give it a little shakey-shake. Say a little prayer, poem, or chant if you desire.

Take your stuffed animal, and open up a hole in its back. Move the stuffing around and put the bag inside. I like to place it where its “center” would be if it was a living thing. If your animal already has a hole elsewhere and you would prefer to use that, I feel that should be fine. I think keeping it close to the “heart” is nice though.

Sew the hole shut with the blue thread.

Consecrate the stuffed animal one last time, explaining its purpose to bring you prophetic dreams (or whatever variation!) and that magic will flow through the entire animal. It is now ready.

Close down the ritual and clean up as usual.

(You’re not at all greedy! Send as many asks as you like! You’re actually currently my only ask right now and I’m so glad that you like my moodboards!)

Prayer to Freyja, Weaver of Magic

Lady of gold and falcon’s wing, Whose heart beats with fire and moonlight, I call to You, Freyja, Mistress of seiðr and the deep currents unseen.

You walk between the worlds, Threading fate with hands both tender and strong, Teaching the wise to bend the wind, To speak the language of root and stone, To hear the hidden pulse of all things.

Goddess of desire and fierce will, You remind us that love is not weakness, That beauty can be a blade, And longing a lantern in the dark.

Grant me the courage to shape my own thread, To weave with skill and truth, To call forth what is mine without fear, And to release what binds me in shadow.

Let Your magic fill my breath and my bones, So that I may see the secret paths, And walk them with grace and wild power, As one who honors You.

creating an altar to yourself: an exercise in manifestation and passive control

recently my best friend told me about a change he made to his personal practice that completely revolutionized the way he felt fortune flowed for him. i've seen people talk about creating an egregore of themselves or their alter ego, but this approach is uniquely secular and occurred completely detached from this online space.

and what was it he did? well, he created an altar to himself.

and i know what that sounds like, but hear me out. this isn't so much an altar of worship or reverence--at least not in the way we think about those things--it's a passive spell that runs in the background, an act of self-care for his past self, boosting his self-confidence for his current self, and manifesting the person he wants to become.

hypersigil wallpapers 📱📷✨

these wallpapers are here for example, and i'd prefer if they weren't actually used by others. please make your own hypersigil wallpapers, you can use mine as inspiration!

i make hypersigillic wallpapers to remind myself of my manifestations and magical aims throughout my day-to-day. these can be made very simply or as complexly as you desire. i like to use these when i have no energy to do real spellwork, because i can do it all from my phone!

i include things that bring me dopamine (fandom imagery, nature, aesthetic images, etc.) to draw my eye

i add pertinent esoteric symbols (runes, sigils) and pngs (tarot figures, esoteric arts) onto the wallpaper

i add manifestations, incantations, or other reminders to the wallpaper in cute fonts

in my substack article on hypersigil spellbooks, i have a description on hypersigils which i'll put an excerpt of below the cut. i will also include the apps that i use to make these wallpapers personally, although you can use almost any photo editing system.

New Job Spell Jar

Spell jar for helping the job search, getting a new job, or going into a new job.

Ingredients: 

Salt - for protection

Shells - for wealth

Moss - for prosperity and luck

Oats - for wealth

Hyacinth - for protection and happiness

Sugar - extra boost!

Black pepper - for courage 

Stick a small note in with a sigil of your choice, I used my ‘I will get a job with good hours, a good pay, and that I enjoy’ sigil and chanted as such while preparing the jar)

I added a spread of cards I had a personal connection to regarding wealth, working and new ventures. Left it to charge on the windowsill overnight by the full moon.

I don’t have many crystals so I’m not about to sacrifice them to a spell jar any time soon, but if you have enough, consider adding citrine, jade or tigers eye (or whatever has a strong prosperity/good fortune connection in your opinion, or just quartz)

The originals

The Optionals

For the Beginner

The God of the witches; Margaret Murray

Treading the Mill; Nigel Pearson

The Devil’s Dozen; Gemma gary

The black toad; Gemma Gary

Traditional Witchcraft A Cornish Book of Ways; Gemma gary

A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the occult

Mastering Witchcraft; Paul Huson

The crooked Path; Kelden

The Witch cult in western Europe; Margaret Murray

folk witchcraft: a guide to lore, land, and the familiar spirit for the solitary practitioner; Roger J horne

The Witches' Devil: Myth and Lore for Modern Cunning; Roger J horne

A Broom at Midnight: 13 Gates of Witchcraft by Spirit Flight; Roger J horne

The Witch's Art of Incantation: Spoken Charms, Spells, & Curses in Folk Witchcraft; Roger j Horne

The black Book of Isobel Gowdie: and other Scottish Spells & Charms

Cartomancy in Folk Witchcraft: Playing Cards and Marseille Tarot in Divination, Magic, and Lore; Roger J Horne

Alive With Spirits: The Path and Practice of Animistic Witchcraft

Besom, Stang and Sword: A Guide to Traditional Witchcraft, the Six-Fold Path and the Hidden Landscape

The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, Brian P. Levack

The Malleus Maleficarum

The clovenstone working; Robin Artisson

Demons and Spirits of the land, Claude Lecouteux

Under the witching tree; Corinne Boyer

Letters From The Devil’s Forest; Robin Artisson

The magic of the horse shoe; Lawrence