#byuncumber

While researching, I came across a publication by Aladin Borioli, who took some stunning photos of extant examples in German museum collections. I cut some of these out from a brochure of his publishing house (spector books), which I plan to frame and hang in my flat.

I’ve been thinking a lot about binding practices and how in different spiritual practices figurines and statues guard holy and sacred places. Since I felt such a resonance with these hive-figures, I wanted to create a miniature Spellbinding Hive for my Altar Space.

I collected a whole bunch of dandelion stems, that had already gone to seed and hung them up to dry. Once they were nice and crispy, I began braiding them into one long braid and startet sewing it to itself.

Wearing the Fraiskette around the neck was supposed to ward off evil, spirits, ghosts and protect from witches as well as the “Frais”, which is a historical Bavarian term for a type of epileptic fever or seizures in general. The chain was commonly given to small children – hung around the bedpost or placed beneath the pillow – and adults, who would wear them around the neck.

The chain was made from attaching a mostly uneven number of charms to any type of string, twine or chain to form a necklace. According to some sources this stems from the believe that there were 77or 99 different types of fevers one could suffer from.

Examples of charms used are animal bones, teeth, claws, antlers as well as fur, (semi-precious) stones, snail- and seashells, coral, coins or rosary beads, or metal charms like the mano-figa (ger. Neidfeige), saint-amulets and crosses. Each charm was used for their respective properties, that could vary from region to region. Oftentimes the strap used was of a red coloration, to enhance the warding power.

The Fraiskette was not the only type of charm against the Frais-Fever, other wards were Frais-Stones, -letters, -bonnets and -shirts (for small children), -keys, as well as the Fraisbett, where a necklace of snake vertebrae or (coix lachrima) seeds was placed beneath a pillow. This indicates that the Frais was common enough for people to fear it and find a variety of remedies.

The Fraiskette might also be related to the charivari, which is still used today as ornamentation on the bavarian Lederhose.

Between every group of regular hives one of the Spellbinding Hives was placed, to ward off the evil eye, bad luck, ghosts, plague or – as some believe – to scare the non-suspecting honey thieve, who would come during the night and spot a face between the other hives, and so abandon his pursuit.

The mouth of the mask would serve as the bee’s entry to the hive. In some examples the whole hive was formed like the torso of a person, but more regularly they took the form of the usual hives, to which a mask was fastened.

I couldn’t find much information about these online and I wasn’t sure of the terminology in English. There are some books about these I might invest in, if I find them sold somewhere.

In southern Germany, especially in Upper Bavaria, the time around 21. - 24.6. is when villages and communities will have a bonfire for St.Johns Day (Johannistag), where it is common to also burn a puppet of straw, called Hans or „Hanserl“. This is supposed to ward off evil spirits and witches, as well as bring luck and protection in the upcoming harvest time.

I made a little doll from leftover dandelion stems and cotton thread to burn tonight.

Me and my friends (who don’t practice witchcraft) whispered our worries and fears to the Hanserl and thanked him before I placed him on the fire.

He burned quite prettily and I took a video I might turn into a GIF later.

I also burned all my old homemade incense bundles, that I had made years prior. The days around Johannis are particularly good for picking the Johanniskräuter (St. Johns Herbs), and before picking new herbs, all old ones have to be burned since they have absorbed the houses energy and thus lost their power.