Sugar And Moss

Gay/Queer Witchy Patches from swinku

Hello, witches! Since I’m always harping on about learning your history and checking your sources, I thought I’d help folks get a head start by compiling some source material.

To that end, I’ve started a Dropbox folder with a stash of historical texts on witchcraft, magic, and related topics. Nearly everything I’ve managed to find so far is public domain (thank you Project Gutenberg), with the exception of a very thorough herbal grimoire I found online some years ago and a book of witchcraft from the 1970s that appears to be out of print.

I will be continuing in this vein with future texts that I find. Everything will be public domain or cited to the source that it came from, in PDF format. I will NOT be including PDFs of any book currently in circulation with a copyright linked to a living author or estate. The point of this folder is that everything in it should be free for sharing and open use as research materials.

Below is the initial list of titles. I tried to include as many as I could find, with a focus on some oft-cited classics. I will be adding new texts as I find them.

A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witchcraft and the Second Sight, by David Webster (1820)

A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718, by Wallace Notestein (1909)

British Goblins, Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions, by Wirt Sikes (1880)

Curiosities of Superstition, by W. H. Davenport Adams (1882)

Daemonologie, by King James I/VI (1597)

Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, Edited and Selected by W. B. Yeats (1888)

Irish Witchcraft and Demonology, by St. John Drelincourt Seymour (1913)

La Sorcière, or The Witch of the Middle Ages, by Jules Michelet (1863)

Lives of the Necromancers, by William Godwin (1834)

Magic and Fetishism, by Alfred C. Haddon (1906)

Magic and Witchcraft, by Anonymous (1852)

Modern Magic, by M. Schele de Vere (1873)

Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics, by Richard Folkard (1884)

Practical Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing, by William Walker Atkinson (1908)

The Devil in Britain and America, by John Ashton (1896)

The Discoverie of Witchcraft, by Reginald Scot (1594, 1886 reprint)

The Extremely Large Herbal Grimoire (date unknown, internet publication)

The Golden Bough : A Study of Magic and Religion, by Sir James George Frazer (1890)

The Illustrated Key to the Tarot, by L.W. de Laurence (1918)

The Magic of the Horse-shoe, by Robert Means Lawrence (1898)

The Mysteries of All Nations, by James Grant (1880)

The Mystery and Romance of Alchemy and Pharmacy, by Charles John Samuel Thompson (1897)

The Superstitions of Witchcraft, by Howard Williams (1865)

The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut by John M. Taylor (1908)

The Wonders of the Invisible World, by Cotton Mather and A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches, by Increase Mather (1693, 1862 reprint)

Witch Stories, by E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn) Linton (1861)

Witch, Warlock, And Magician, by W. H. Davenport Adams (1889)

Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

Witches’ Potions & Spells, ed. by Kathryn Paulsen (1971)

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that these texts are (with few exceptions) more than a century old, and may contain depictions, references, or language that are outdated and inappropriate. The point of including these documents is to provide access to historical texts for research and reference. Inclusion in the collection does not equal unconditional agreement with or wholesale approval of the contents.

Take everything with a grain of salt and remember to do your due diligence!

A Compleat History of Magick, Sorcery, and Witchcraft, by Anonymous (1715)

A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Yeers Between Dr. John Dee and some Spirits, by John Dee (1659)

Crystal Gazing, by Northcote W. Thomas

Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of the Witches, trans. Montague Summers (1486, 1928 translation)

Occult Science in Medicine, by Franz Hartmann (1893)

The Book of Ceremonial Magic, by A.E. Waite (1913)

The Complete Herbal, by Nicholas Culpeper (1652, 1850 reprint)

The Devils of Loudun, by Edmund Goldsmid (1887)

The History of Witchcraft and Demonology, by Montague Summers (1926)

The Old English Herbals, by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde (1922)

Devil-Worship in France, by A.E. Waite (1896)

Magic and Husbandry: The Folk-Lore of Agriculture, by Lewis Dayton Burdick (1905)

Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas, by Hamilton Wright Mabie (1902)

The Book of Black Magic, by A.E. Waite (1910)

The Book of Were-Wolves, by Sabine Baring-Gould (1865)

The Encyclopaedia of Gardening, by T.W. Sanders (1822)

The Folk-Lore of Plants, by T.F. Thiselton-Dyer (1889, facsimile copy)

The Greater Key of Solomon, Vol. I & II, trans. S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1999 from the 1916 deLaurence edition)

The Handbook of Palmistry, by Rosa Baughan (1885, facsimile from the Bodleian Library)

The Prose Edda, intro and notes by Rasmus B. Anderson (1897)

The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, Books 1-3, trans. S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1998 from the 1900 Watkins edition)

The Vampire, His Kith and Kin, by Montague Summers (1928)

A Manual of Cartomancy and Occult Divination, by Grand Orient (1909, facsimile)

A Manual of Occultism, by Sepharial (1914)

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism, by Lewis Spence (1920)

Demonology And Devil-Lore, Volumes 1 & 2, by Moncure Daniel Conway (1879)

Demons and Tongues, by Alma White (1910)

Fortunes and Dreams, by Astra Cielo (1917)

General Book of the Tarot, by A.E. Thierens (1930)

Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, by Sir Walter Scott (1884)

Magic and Religion, by Andrew Lang (1901)

Magic and Mystery, A Popular History, by Alfred Thompson (1894)

Magic, Black and White, Charms and Counter Charms, by T. Witton Davies (1910)

Numbers, Their Occult Powers and Mystical Virtues, by William Wynn Westcott (1911)

Occultism and Common Sense, by Beckles Wilson (1908)

Practical Astrology, by Edgar De Valcourt-Vermont (1901, facsimile from The Library of Brigham Young University)

Psychic Self-Defense, by Dion Fortune (1930) 

Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, by John Gregorson Campbell (1900)

Telling Fortunes by Tea Leaves, by Cicely Kent (1922)

The Black Pullet, by Anonymous (18th Century)

The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, By George Frederick Kunz (1913)

The Golden Wheel Dream-book and Fortune-Teller, by Felix Fontaine (1862)

The History of Magic, by Eliphas Levi, trans. by A.E. Waite (1922)

The Lesser Key of Solomon, trans. by S. L. McGregor Matthews (1904)

The Leyden Papyrus, trans. by F.L. Griffith and Herbert Thompson (1904)

The Mysteries of Astrology and the Wonders of Magic, by Charles W. Roback (1854, facsimile)

The Place of Magic in the Intellectual History of Europe, by Lynn Thorndike (1905, facsimile)

The Secret Book of the Black Arts, by Unknown (1878, facsimile)

The Symbolism of the Tarot, trans. by P.D. Ouspensky (1913)

The Witches’ Dream Book and Fortune Teller, by A.H. Noe (1885)

The Witches’ Pharmacopoeia, by Robert Fletcher (1896)

Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland, by J. Maxwell Wood (1911)

I’m very pleased to include The Lesser Key of Solomon and The Black Pullet in this latest update. I’ve been mining the depths of Project Gutenberg and Global Grey Ebooks, and today I hit paydirt. I’ll keep digging, so stay tuned for more updates.

Aradia Or the Gospel of the Witches, by Charles G. Leland (1899) [Please note that this title has been updated since publication and newer editions are available in print.]

Clairvoyance and Occult Powers, by William Walker Atkinson (1914)

Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, by Thomas Crofton Croker (1827)

Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters, by H. Addington Bruce (1909)

Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, by Charles MacKay (1841)

Practical Occultism, by J.J. Morse (1888)

Signs, Omens and Superstitions, by Astra Cielo (1918)

The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, by W.Y. Evans-Wentz (1911)

The Fairy Mythology, by Thomas Keightley (1870)

The Gardnerian Book of Shadows, by Gerald B. Gardner (1949-1961)

The Human Aura, by William Walker Atkinson (1912)

The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs, by T. Sharper Knowlson (1910)

The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, by Robert Kirk (written 1691, pub. in print 1893)

Alright, I'm breaking character for this one because it involves me personally.

Again, as far as I know, saying tarot is endemic to romani culture is akin to saying moneylending is endemic to jewish culture.

As far as I am aware, the roma are not the only people to divine with tarot cards, and they did not invent the practice.

And again, the author of this blog is ethnically Romani. Although I am fairly isolated from the culture, I have access to people who aren’t. When I asked my culturally romani family members about this, they said they had never heard of this concept.

Now, that doesn’t inherently mean I am correct. I am completely open to the fact that I may be wrong about this. However, it does mean that I am going to have to ask for proof beyond “I saw some people say this somewhere“ because as far as I know, the earliest citation for romani people using tarot for divination people is from Elphias Levi’s Key of Mysteries (1861), and the earliest citation for divinatory tarot as we know it was from by Jean-Baptiste Alliette in approximately 1780, when he and Antoine Court published a guide for performing cartomancy with the Tarot of Marseilles.

Additionally, philosopher and tarot historian Michael Dummett noted, in his book The Game of Tarot. "it was only in the 1780s, when the practice of fortune-telling with regular playing cards had been well established for at least two decades, that anyone began to use the tarot pack for cartomancy.”

Yes, the Roma people did read tarot for work, especially when there weren’t many other jobs available to them. No, they did not invent the practice. Occultists in Europe did, several centuries after the oldest tarot cards we know about were made and spread across Europe as a card game (the oldest deck is from like 14th century Italy for a game called tarrochi, and in the 16th century, the Marseilles deck spread through Europe by the thousands as a game deck which at the time was called tarau, but I could have spelled that wrong)

In the 1780s, there was a revisionist movement among Occultists to find the “secret origins” of tarot which would unlock the secrets of the universe (sourced from Robert M Place’s the Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination). This meant that every popular and mystical worldview/belief system at the time, including Kabbalah and Hermeticism, were attributed to tarot, and the Roma people were believed to have brought the decks to Europe from Egypt (which, as I mentioned...isn’t true). The cards ARE believed to be descended from Chinese money cards (in the same family of games as Mahjong) and Arabic Mamlûk cards, but those were introduced to Europe WAY before tarot was used for divination

Do Roma people have their own traditions and practices regarding tarot? Probably. I’ve heard that from at least one person claiming to be a Roma tarot reader. But I don’t know for sure because if those traditions do exist, they would be closed to me so I wouldn’t have access to them. The cards themselves are not closed, though

If you want books recs to start looking at the history of tarot, Place’s book that I mentioned is great, as is Paul Huson’s Mystical Origins of the Tarot

Fight a God. Just go for it, dude. Why not. If you fail, just keep trying until you either win or the god gives up and moves on.

Learn to cast some protective wards. That god has friends, and they're going to come for you. You best be ready.

Curse your enemies. Do it. Destroy them all. Make them pay. Everyone's like all "Don't start out by cursing people! Boo!" and I'm like, those people should get cursed too.

Try to befriend a Crow. You'll probably fail, but crows are neat.n Why not give it a try?

Pace Yourself. Like sometimes take a break, read a book, and maybe have some tea. You can't just sprint your whole way -- you gotta rest too.

Curse your enemies again. They are your enemies and they deserve it.

1) please don't fight Gods! Like ever! EVER!

2) Learn cleansing banishing and protection

2. I mean, that's already in there, so I don't know why you're repeating it.

2. If you have harnessed magical power so strong you could kill someone with a curse, you don't need a beginner witch tip post on Tumblr.

2) I can't understand how curses are beginner friendly. Beginners are just starting to learn the basics and curses are not a basic practise. If you are not careful with fire of course you are going to burn the house down

2. Why aren't they though? You fuck up a healing spell, you could hurt someone. You fuck up a curse... and nothing happens. "Whoops, I accidentally made my enemy have a great day!" is like the most benign side effect. "Beginners shouldn't curse" is a thing people keep repeating, but I don't think they actually consider the "why."

Like you've never given me a why.

This was an obvious joke post, but beginners should fuck up. That's how you learn. Every mistake I ever made as a young witch made me a better one. Every time I ended up out of my depth, I became more resourceful. The best, real advice I'd give any beginner witch is to jump into the deep end and try to swim. That's how you find out what you're ready for.

That, and find out if any herbs you're working with are poisonous or have any drug interactions.

I absolutely love both making and eating cookies. They’re a rather versatile dessert and snack, and since the main flavor profile for most cookies comes from one or two ingredients, they’re full of potential for adding in some magic. I’ve made up a list of some cookies and their possible correspondences, but the magical potential of cookies are definitely not limited to those I’ve listed. 

Gingersnaps for success 

Snickerdoodles for luck 

Lemon Cookies for friendship

Chocolate chip cookies for love and vitality

Sugar cookies to sweeten a relationship or situation

Lavender Shortbread cookies for peace

Peanut Butter cookies for energy

I’ve only listed one or two correspondences for the cookies I’ve named, but they certainly have more than that going for them. A quick search can tell you what correspondences or associations apply to your ingredients. And it should be noted that cookies like shortbread and sugar cookies have some added potential because you can add different flavors to them (peppermint, orange, rose, etc.) to make use of whatever correspondence your situation needs. 

When an old house razed,

And red brick remains,

Take it and crush it

In Our Old God's names,

Then lay it or cast it,

Or blow it about,

Shining tongue speak,

And rust flow about,

Above or below, within or without

On Tuesday, my shadow told me to go next door to the abandoned property and view the place closely. There, guided by his influence, my eyes went straight to the ground, where I located remains of red bricks once used for the house. The housritself having been razed to the foundation, this felt like an interesting opportunity. "On Tuesday, no less," I mutter to myself.

Reaching down, I grab as many pieces of brick as my hands can carry, and walk home. Once at my altar space, I begin grinding down the brick. As I do, memories of uncertainty and unsafe fill my head. I feel my heart beat pickup when thinking if my step-dad pinning down my mother on the couch. I feel my breathing increase when I recall being chased out of the house by my father. My mind pulls up the memories of being beaten by a babhsitter, told I will eat whatever I throw up.

And as I grind, I give these feelings to the powder. I pour them into the red brick, which pours it's own knowledge out to me:

As the house is spared from wind, so as the walls hold up the roof and the roof protects from rain, so too shall I protect and defend they who hold me on their person. I shall stand strong against strong enemies, and crush with martial force those who seek to overstep or harm. I shall, by my creation and then destruction, imbue any working with these same gifts. Use me in your witch powder, and I shall further grant it power and strength, the fortitude to do all you need and more. I break skulls that bash themselves into me in attempts to gain entry. I crush under my weight the curse and the jinx. I eat what remains into my rusty body, and keep it, transmitting it into force and form, until my form is released.

Divination in all of its forms (tarot reading, tasseomancy; palmistry; pendulums, etc,.), can be quite exhausting and require large amounts of energy. These teas and tea blends will aid you in divining by enhancing your psychic power, and/or boosting your energy.

Tea Blends:

Psychic Tea (Scott Cunningham)

3 parts Rose Petals

1 part Cinnamon

2 parts Yarrow

Brew the tea, strain it and drink a cup before performing any form of divination as this tea enhances psychic awareness.

Tea for Divination (Moura)

1 tbsp China black tea

2 tbsp Lemon Balm

1 tbsp Rose Hips

1 tbsp Mugwort*

Brew the tea, strain it and drink either before divination or sip during/throughout.

Teas:

Jasmine Tea

Jasmine is said to induce prophetic dreams, which can aid in the growth of psychic power and psychic awareness making this tea a good choice of drink to be had before divining. 

Drink 1 cup of this naturally sweet and fragrant tea before sleeping the night before you wish to divine.

Vanilla Tea

You can brew your own or buy ready-made Vanilla tea/tea bags. Vanilla enhances psychic ability and allows the benefits of this enhancement to be better felt and absorbed. 

Drink Vanilla tea before and during any divination work to open yourself up and be more receptive.

Peppermint Tea

Peppermint tea heightens your psychic sensitivity, as well as working to clear the mind and sharpen focus. It can also be used to cleanse the mind and body of any negative energies beforehand.

This tea should be consumed before any psychic or divination based activities. 

Some Other Things to Consider:

Some herbal tea blends may not be to your taste but this can be remedied by adding honey to taste. 

Other herbs, such as Cinnamon, are used to add oomph to magick and can be added to tea blends and teas to do just that. If you don’t want to add pre-ground and grainy Cinnamon to your drinks, you can use a Cinnamon stick to stir instead. This will add the oomph you’re after without altering the taste too much.

If you want to make your brew even more potent, stir clockwise. This adds positive energy to your tea.

Celebrate on the correct days!: Yule is a solstice sabbat, which means it’s on the day before, of, and after the winter solstice*. It’s NOT December 25th.

Hang all kinds of evergreens everywhere: Do you know why? Because while snow is very pretty at first after a while the never ending blinding white and brown and black starts to drive you slowly insane. Holly and Mistletoe are the two brightest green plants you could get your hands on during winter so of course they were everywhere!

Light a massive bonfire**: It’s dark and cold and everyone is miserable. Burn some shit! If you aren’t a heathen then Yule is about the rebirth of the sun god(dess?). Welcome that guy back with the best sun imitation you could get!

Leave feed out for Odin’s Horse: Kids would leave out hay or treats for Odin’s Horse(Sleipnir) to eat while he road in the wild hunt. A gift given means a gift must be returned and so Odin(also known as the parents) would leave treats for the kids. Yes this is where Santa came from.

Make winter clothes: Winter was the time when all the housework was done because, well, you can’t plant when the field is under five feet of snow. Clothes were often made during this time and given to the family.

Welcome guests into your home: If there was one thing the Germanic people valued it was hospitality. Friend who has no were to go? Come on over! Your kid’s friend who comes from a tricky home? Why don’t they stay a night or two. Everyone is invited!

Anything that still has Yule in the name probably comes from the original:  Yule log, Yule boar, Yule goat. These are all from the original feast day. 

Yule is a feast to celebrate the wild hunt: So make a feast!

And finally, throw one hell of a party***: Yule is a Norse holiday guys. There was no such thing as a low-key party in that culture. The majority of their myths can be summed up thusly; partying, beating up someone who ruined the partying, partying because they beat someone up. Have fun!

*These are the days I do it because celebrating for 12 days - 2 months is impractical.

**Don’t be dumb with fire.

***Don’t do anything illegal.

Green Salt can be used in spells for abundance, prosperity, healing and luck.

It can also:

Used with Black Salt, it can help bring good luck faster.

Carried in a sachet when looking for a job,

Use on Gardening tools to help bless them for a good season. (Do not put directly on plants) 

How to make

In a Mortar and Pestle, blend natural salt (sea, rock Himalayan) and green flowers or herbs such as mint, dill or basil. You could add green food coloring for a more intense green if you choose. Blend ingredients together, while focusing on your intent and desire

This is a spell I created for those who wake up early in the morning and want to cast a positive energy over their day! I work in the morning and always light a candle when I do so, so I started saying this spell and it really improved my morning hours. I hope this can be helpful to you!

You will need:

A candle of your choice 

Matches 

Good intentions!

Steps:

 Charge the candle by holding it into your hands and focusing your positive intentions for the day. You can imagine success during the day, a feeling of peace or comfort, etc. When you feel you’ve thought of all you could, get your match.

You can use your match as a ‘petition paper’ substitute for those who do not want to burn paper or for people who live in a dorm room (like me!). Using a pen or marker to write a word on a match that summarizes the energy you want to bring into your day today. I usually write ‘happiness’ or ‘love’. 

Strike your match and light your candle, visualizing your intent. Say the following spell aloud as you light the candle:

I bless this day ahead  With this fiery candlelight With this flame, my intentions living With this match, they ignite From the moment I wake To the second I sleep May happiness be mine to keep 

What is Channeling?

Channeling is allowing a nonphysical entity to use your physical body, in order to accomplish something. If that sounds, vague, it’s because it is. Channeling takes many different forms and intensity levels! Depending on how it’s done, it can be a medium-difficulty task or one of the most advanced things a spirit worker can do. 

Types of Channeling

I once heard channeling described as a car ride, and in my experience that’s very accurate. The car is your body, and you’re in it with an entity. Sometimes you’re in the driver’s seat, and the entity is in the back seat giving directions. Sometimes you or the entity is in the passenger’s seat: not calling most of the shots, but able to reach over and grab the wheel if needed. Sometimes you’re in the backseat watching the entity drive, and sometimes you’re in the trunk. In practice, this can take a number of forms.

Speaking on Behalf. This is the kind of channeling people do most often. The entity isn’t controlling you, just feeding you lines which you can then relay to a third party. You’re translating their messages to something other people can comprehend. If you’ve ever answered a question for a spirit in their words, you’ve done this. 

Isolated Channeling. The entity takes control of just a part of the body, usually the hands or fingers. This is mostly used for things like automatic writing.

Assuming Form. Also known as consensual possession. The entity is in the driver’s seat, speaking and acting for themselves without your help. Some people will call this “horsing.”

Possession. While the word “possession” could technically cover all of this, within the spirit work community it’s usually reserved for channeling where the human did not consent beforehand. This doesn’t necessarily mean in a violating way- I once had a friend who got possessed just long enough for an entity to yank them out of danger; once I was taken for just a moment to convey a quick (but very direct) message to a devotee, and snapped out of it right after. 

Reasons to Channel

Everyone will have a different reason to channel but most of them fall under a few categories:

Helping Someone Else. You’re channeling on behalf of someone who can’t [easily] reach the entity themselves, in order to ease communication between the two parties. This is often seen with mediums contacting spirit guides and Ancestors.

Aid in Other Works. The entity is better suited to accomplish a certain task than you, so you let them take the lead. This is often seen with a familiar or spirit companion, someone the practitioner works with closely enough to know their strengths and trust them. 

Easier Communication Overall. Channeling is a way to get really familiar with an entity’s energy. Again, we often see this with spirit companions and is more to bond than to achieve another goal.  This would include automatic writing or letting a spirit experience things “through” you. 

Ritual Invitation. In some traditions, it’s common to invite deities to ritual events. Often, some type of channeling/possession is expected and is usually reached through ecstatic experiences. It’s taken as a sign the deity has arrived at the party, either a sign the offerings have been received or a time for the deity to convey important messages. 

Before-You-Begin Essentials

Know How To Protect Yourself. This is non-negotiable. Is your discernment tuned enough to spot an impostor or malevolent entity? Do you know how to end a session early? Do you know how to banish a spirit in an emergency? If the answer is no, then study up and return to channeling when you’re ready. 

Know Your Entity. Channeling, by nature, puts the practitioner in an intimate and vulnerable place, so you don’t want to give that access to an entity who may misuse it. If it’s your first time channeling, make sure you trust this entity with your life. 

Don’t Channel Alone. When you channel, you’re in an altered state of consciousness. Having someone grounded near you helps keep the session on track and keep you out of trouble should you need it. (Either by forcing an entity out if needed or just keeping you from climbing that tree.) 

Other Notes

It’ll Probably Take a Lot Out of You. Have something ready to ground and rehydrate yourself after a session, and make sure you don’t have anything high-demand planned after. 

Start Small. No need to jump head-first into the most advancecd and high-intensity types of channeling! Start with automatic writing or painting and get used to the feeling and work your way up.

Don’t Make It Weird. Basic etiquette still matters. Channeling is not a pass to give unsolicited messages to other practitioners, speak on behalf of their deities to them (unless they’ve specifically asked), or say hurtful things cushioned by: “What? It wasn’t me who said it.”