By the pricking of thumbs

Sintober: Fox & Hound

The (man)hunt begins.

‘Fox & Hound’ is represented by a pair of local red fox vixens mauled to death by a gamekeeper’s hounds. Vital organs were exposed; neither had been shot. They were allowed to be torn apart while still alive.

I carried the rescued vixens on my back in a landscaping bag, their limp bodies thumping against calves as I slowly hunched my way through three snowy livestock fields, across two irrigation ditches, and over one stone wall to bring them home.

‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with these fucking foxes’ was short for ‘I know I need to ritually skin, dismember, and deflesh bones for maceration, potentially submit photos and location of dumped bodies to report a crime the police won’t give a toss about, find ways to discreetly and hygienically dispose of unused organs and muscle tissue, begin the resurrective process of rejoining spirit and bone, and summon the She-Wolf to help track down the scent of the fox-hunter’, and that’s exactly what I did.

Ritually extracted eyes were affixed to homemade fox-shaped cookies which were “released” where I found their savaged remains - new, unbroken bodies for the vixens to briefly inhabit as their eyes aided my familiar spirit in the manhunt. Their hearts, pelts, bones, and even the blood-soaked flattened cardboard boxes that they were dismembered on have all been preserved to enable me to direct a very local, very retaliatory Wild Hunt straight to the gamekeeper’s door.

Like the Witch Father, the Witch Mother is the dual-natured Archetypal Divine Feminine. She is life and death, creation and destruction, She is all. In Traditional Witchcraft, She is an initiator into witchcraft and the being that creates and molds the world to Her whim. The Witch Mother is essentially Witchcraft itself. 

In the same way it is hard to define and pinpoint the Witch Father, the Witch Mother is another enigmatic spirit essential to Traditional Witchcraft. Across cultures and centuries, She has been known by many names. Diana, Herodias, Frau Holle, Baba Yaga, Sa Rejusta, the Queen of Elphame, and Nicnevin are some of the names that She has gone by. 

As it stands, the Witch Mother is the Mother of all Witches. From her, we begin to learn the ways of the Crooked Path. Usually, it is by chance encounter that we meet Her, or one of Her emissaries, and we are put through trials. Through these trials, however, comes the enlightenment of the Path and we find our Witch Fire lit. With Her blessings, we are granted access to the unseen. 

The Witch Mother is a Dark Feminine Great Spirit. She is the primordial womb from which all life emanates. She forms the Earth to Her liking. The Witch Mother holds sway over life and death, the seasons, and even the turning of the day. She is the Magna Mater. She fiercely protects Her children and gives us the knowledge and tools that we need in order to defend ourselves from those wishing us harm. 

Her lore can be dark and sometimes violent. But it’s necessary as a protectress for Her family. When we prove ourselves to Her, She becomes a Great Ally for us in our paths. 

Baba Yaga

In Vasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga, we come to learn that Baba Yaga has mastery over the world. Through her servants, the days and nights turn over. In the story of Natasha, Baba Yaga has a towel that can create rivers and a comb that can create forests. Baba Yaga occupies the archetype of Witch Mother as the initiator and creatrix of the world. She gives these girls tasks which at first glance seem impossible but by their wit and cunning natures, they overcome them. This leads to Baba Yaga fulfilling her promise and granting them the boon they came to her for. For Vasilisa, the fire she seeks also burns her stepmother and sisters to ashes leaving her free from their oppression and hatred. 

Frau Holle or Mother Hulda

In the story of Mother Hulda, two step-sisters end up in the Otherworld and in service to Her. The first sister is hardworking while the other one is lazy. The hardworking sister drops her spindle into the well while trying to clean it and must figure out a way to get it out. She falls in and comes out in the Otherworld. She meets an apple tree asking for help to get its ripe fruit down from its branches and a loaf of bread asking to be taken from the fire before it burns.  Naturally, she obliges. Coming to a house in the meadow, she meets Mother Hulda who asks her for help around the house. This sister is very hardworking and listens to all of Mother Hulda’s requests, including how to fluff her pillows so the feathers fall so it will snow on Earth. Accomplishing this and asking to return home, she is sent back with gold falling all about her to keep.

The second sister, being lazy and greedy jumps into the well and into the otherworld wanting her own gold. She marches past the apple tree and the bread not stopping to help them, and comes to meet Mother Hulda and agrees to work for her as well. She performs well on the first day and gives way to laziness in the coming days. When she asks to go home, expecting to be showered in gold, she is told to “get lost” and is instead showered in tar. 

In this story, we see Her control over the weather and her home in the Otherworld. She has the power to bless and to curse. She expects those who want to learn witchcraft and the occult arts to hold up their end of the bargain. She grants power to those who are willing to work for it. 

Queen of Elfame

In several witch trials in Scotland, we see the Queen of Elfame make an appearance. In the trial of Bessie Dunlop (1576), she confesses that she has traveled to the Otherworld and has communed with the Queen of Elfame several times. For her kindness when in the guise of an old woman, Bessie is granted a familiar who teaches her natural remedies, knowledge of where to find lost items, and information about prophecies.

Several years later, in 1588, Alison Pearson (also styled as Alesoun Peirsoun) was burned at the stake for communing with the Queen. In Elfame, she learned of medicinal herbs, healing arts, and how to make charms and potions which she sold. 

In 1597, Andro (Andrew) Man confesses that he has lain with the Queen of Elphen and they begot many children together. He further confessed that through her, he would become knowledgeable in all things, help and cure all sicknesses except death. In his confession, Andro Man goes on to explain that “the Queen of Elphen has a grip of all the craft, but Christsonday (the Devil) is the husband and has all power under God.” They also have spirits in their company that are known to Man. 

Aradia: or the Gospel of Witches

In Aradia, it is attested that Diana is the Mother of Witches. She teaches her daughter, Aradia, witchcraft and charges her to go to Earth to teach humans this art. Specifically, Aradia is sent to teach the poor and the slaves witchcraft in order to free themselves from their lot in life. 

Walpurgisnacht & Beltane

Festivals of flight and fire, spent with friends, spent with witches, weather it was at the blackthorn tree of the otherworld, or the may pole of the folk.

The Spring May Day

+ links to walpurgis article and the history of beltane - a bannock recipe- a solitary beltane ritual and an explanation for making a maypole

Beltane Walpurgis article

In many cultures, there are different legends and lore surrounding the Beltane season–after all, it's a time that marks fire and fertility, and the return of new life to the earth. look at some of the magical stories about this spring celebration.

Contacting the Spirit World

The Leanan Sidhe

Like Samhain, the holiday of Beltane is a time when the veil between the worlds is thin. Some traditions believe that this is a good time to contact the spirits, or to interact with the Fae. Be careful, though—if you visit the Faerie Realm, don't eat the food, our you'll be trapped there, much like Thomas the Rhymer was!

Farming and Livestock

Hystory of Beltane article

Some Irish dairy farmers hang a garland of green boughs over their door at Beltane. This will bring them great milk production from their cows during the coming summer. Also, driving your cattle between two Beltane bonfires helps protect your livestock from disease.

Bannocks recipe

Eating a special oatcake called a bannock or a Beltane cake ensured Scottish farmers abundance of their crops for the year. The cakes were baked the night before, and roasted in embers on a stone.

Maypoles

Haw to make a Maypole

The pious Puritans were outraged by the debauchery of Beltane celebrations. In fact, they made Maypoles illegal in the mid 1600s, and tried to put a halt to the "greenwood marriages" that frequently took place on May Eve. One pastor wrote that if "tenne maiden went to set (celebrate) May, nine of them came home gotten with childe."

Fertility

Birthing stone

According to a legend in parts of Wales and England, women who are trying to conceive should go out on May Eve—the last night of April—and find a "birthing stone," which is a large rock formation with a hole in the center. Walk through the hole, and you will conceive a child that night. If there is nothing like this near you, find a small stone with a hole in the center, and drive a branch of oak or other wood through the hole—place this charm under your bed to make you fertile.

Babies conceived at Beltane are considered a gift from the gods. They were sometimes referred to as "merry-begots" because the mothers were impregnated during Beltane's merrymaking.

Gathering Morning Dew for a Perfect Complexion

Source

If you go out at sunrise on Beltane, take a bowl or jar to gather morning dew. Use the dew to wash your face, and you're guaranteed a perfect complexion. You can also use the dew in ritual as consecrated water, particularly in rituals related to the moon or the goddess Diana or her counterpart, Artemis.

Irish Culture and Customs

In the Irish "Book of Invasions," it was on Beltane that Patholan, the first settler, arrived on Ireland's shores. May Day was also the date of the defeat of the Tuatha de Danaan by Amergin and the Milesians.

Bridget Haggerty of Irish Culture and Customs says,

"In one account, a procession of 'May Boys,' dressed in white shirts adorned with colorful ribbons tied in knots, led what was known as a garland procession through the neighborhood. At the head of the parade was an elected May King and Queen. At each stop, they would ask for funds to help defray the cost of the May Day party to be held later. Before 1820, there are records of great May Pole celebrations in Dublin. In addition to dancing and drinking, the pole was often greased and a prize offered to anyone who could climb to the top. Other revelries included a wide assortment of sporting events, including foot races, hopping races, sack races, and wrestling. Dance competitions were also held and very often, the coveted prize was a cake."

British May Day Customs

Hawthorn - A solitary Beltane ritual

In Cornwall, it's traditional to decorate your door on May Day with boughs of hawthorn . Ben Johnson of Historic UK writes about the other Cornish custom of the "Obby Oss" :

Obby Oss

Obby Oss

"May Day traditions in southern England include the Hobby Horses that still rampage through the towns of Dunster and Minehead in Somerset, and Padstow in Cornwall. The horse or the Oss, as it is normally called is a local person dressed in flowing robes wearing a mask with a grotesque, but colourful, caricature of a horse."

Far beyond the threshold yet not that far at all.

Oh mirror of the otherworld to what visions do you see.

Stars that shine like diamonds in the blackness of the sea.

in fact, in my opinion:

deep knowledge of a few herbs that mean a lot to you > shallow knowledge of a large number herbs

Narrative Introduction in Anglo-Saxon Charms

When I was running WitchBox, I had to consistently write spells for others to perform on their own. I always contended with how much context to provide before the incantation part of the spell, where the spell caster physically speaks words. Providing context or instructions can serve as a pep talk to the person about to perform the spell. You're setting the stage for them, helping focus their intentions, and giving them confidence in the spell they are about to cast. It's a fine balance between physical actions and spoken word.

In Anglo-Saxon metrical charms, this magickal pre-amble is called narrative introduction (some scholars also refer to it as prose introduction). It provides context and mindset to the person casting the charm, and any physical actions contained within the narrative introduction are usually performed contemporaneously with the spell being spoken aloud, adding to the spell's power and intent.

In a charm called Wiþ Ymbe (Against a Swarm of Bees), we see the narrative introduction at work. It is very brief but very meaningful (as was the nature of the Old English language itself):

A moth or something laid eggs on one of the blackened bones from my SA/ vernal equinox rite.

a black bear

has just risen from sleep

and is staring

down the mountain.

All night

in the brisk and shallow restlessness

of early spring

I think of her,

her four black fists

flicking the gravel,

her tongue

like a red fire

touching the grass,

the cold water.

There is only one question:

how to love this world.

I think of her

rising

like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against

the silence

of the trees.

Whatever else

my life is

with its poems

and its music

and its glass cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness

coming

down the mountain,

breathing and tasting;

all day I think of her —

her white teeth,

her wordlessness,

her perfect love.