Colm O'Driscoll
Correspondences:
Story: Red Dead Redemption Series.
Deity Of: The Great Wither, senescence and active decay, lichen and mold, blood feuds and retaliation, untamed wilderness, and natural disasters.
Symbols: Ouroboros, Triquetra, Triskele, Celtic Tree of Death, Hangman's Knot, and the Shamrock Knot (and technically all Celtic symbols).
Colors: Irish green, pitch black, white and gray, deep browns, creepy gold, and blood red.
Planets: Saturn, Earth, and Jupiter.
Dark Element: Rot (and thus can be used as a symbol of Earth/North).
Tarot: Decay (Herman-Holmes Tarot), Knight of Swords (Rider-Waite Tarot).
Zodiacs: Pisces and Libra.
Birthstones: Bloodstone and Black Tourmaline.
Holidays: All Snakes Day, and his birthday takes place on Samhain.
Herbs/Plants: Wormwood, apples, Irish ivy (poisonous!), deadly nightshade (poisonous!), blackthorn (poisonous!), and all herbs and plants corresponding to Rot.
Crystals/Gemstones: Serpentine and tobernite, obsidian and carbonado, arsenopyrite and galena, brown jasper and smoky quartz, brimstone and orpiment, and proustite and cinnabar.
Animals: Horses, reptiles (according to @faustcrybaby), corvids and owls, hawks and eagles (according to @08melancholie), opossums, and bobcats (according to @varoneatseyes).
Affirmation: “I’ve been bad.”
Offerings: Súgán nooses, wacky-weed, tobacco, tarnished gold coins, rusty horseshoes, and weathered spurs.
When To Work With: Days are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Times of day are twilight, midnight, and the hour of the dead.
Reasons to Work With:
Misleading Targets and Honeyed Lies: Traps, illusions, false truce glamours, psévdoskinesis, conning, deception, fraud, skulduggery, jiggery-pokery, hoodwinking. Risk: Being a con artist attracts hanging spirits — you may feel rope burns.
Leadership and Empowerment: Building loyalty in a group, finding followers, confidence in leadership positions, authority, developing a commanding and intimidating presence. Risk: Some allies may obey out of fear rather than faith.
Phthorakinesis and Taphokinesis: Spirit and ancestral work, necromancy, Irish psychopomps and Celtic deathwalking, mycokinesis, necrosis and rot inducement. Risk: The dead you wake won't leave — and they can be as violent as him.
Torture Methodology and Crudelitas Absoluta: Baneful magic, psychological warfare, psychic vampirism, tormentor intuition and creativity over the matters of torture, torture equipment proficiency. Risk: You might get addicted to their pain.
Shadow Work and Introspection: Exploring sin within oneself, confronting wicked ambition, retrospection, self-reflection, utilizing Colm as a dark mirror. Risk: Facing Colm's energy in yourself may justify his methods to you.
Serpentine Wisdom and Forbidden Knowledge: Absolute wisdom, the Dark Arts, the Black Arts, psionics, taboo knowledge, occult knowledge, esoteric knowledge. Risk: Knowledge arrives with a curse — you might not want to know.
As with all Holmesian forms, working with Colm will most likely damn your soul. Thus, it is imperative to wear a necklace of rope as a reminder of the price you've paid. A witch working with him would need strong wards, clear intentions, and possibly offerings to keep his influence from backfiring. You should also remember not to get scared despite probably facing damnation: it will either prevent you from working with him altogether or it will bring in the wrong kind of energy that will feed on your fear. Let go of any preconceptions of it being "evil" or "bad". Keep it good and be in a great personal space — happy and in a good mood. Be in your good senses.
When you're going to invoke him, it's a good idea to look out for...
Signs:
Sounds:
The whispers in Irish Gaelic, maledicting or calling your name.
The distant echo of gunfire when no battle has taken place.
The creaks of a noose rope tightening from a hanging tree.
The clopping of horses' hooves when there is none.
The distant whoops and hollers of O'Driscoll boys.
The sharp, serpentine, venomous hiss right beside your ear.
Scents:
The sickly-sweet odor of decay from flowers and flesh.
The aroma of gunpowder and blood when there's no battle.
The choking smell of necrosol ripped open by a shovel.
The stench of mold, damp wood, and something rotten.
The sweet-licoriceness of wormwood and rotting anise.
The muskiness of snake venom and gangrene.
Physical Sensations:
The cadaverous fingers dragging along your skin.
The invisible coil of rope tightening around your neck.
The skittering, wriggling sensation of formication.
The pinpoint prick of a blade tracing your ribs or throat.
The sudden wet, rotting lick up the back of your neck.
The lingering sense that a snake wrapped around you.
Sights:
The vision of a hanged man dangling from a tree.
The one staring back at you in the mirror is him.
The pair of eyes watching you from the shadows.
The eyes you have turn greener as flowers wilt at your touch.
The transportation of a pitch black horse like Colm's.
The vision of a rattlesnake dangling from a tree.
Tastes:
The mix of blood and necrosol when you wake up.
The earthiness of potcheen and absinthe down your throat.
The deathliness of gagging on embalming fluid.
The forbidden fruitiness of Granny Smith apples.
The deliciousness of bugs in your mouth (flavors can range).
The citrusness of snake wine (here's a post about it).
Snake Massage Therapy:
How Does It Heal?: These here serpents, they got a special way of helping with ailments of the body and soul. Their writhing motion and weight are believed to relieve stress, increase blood flow to tight muscles, potentially release endorphins and oxytocin, and connect with nature. They aim for inflamed areas where they can sense your pain and discomfort — entwining themselves around you in what feels like a hug and disappearing your physical pain.
How Is It Performed?: To begin, you must strip yourself of all clothing save for your undergarments and position yourself face-down upon a table or bed. The snake handler will take boa constrictors out of a box and place them on your back — you may feel a little tense at first as you hear them hissing and feel the flicking of their forked tongues on your skin. The handler may incantate as the serpents work their magic on you. There, there. Just let them work. You'll be feeling right in no time.
Additional Notes:
Courtesy of @esquilone:
There are people who enjoy crude, brutal villains — ones with no redemption, no depth — just blood in their eyes. Colm is the generic elegant-evil outlaw type turned up to eleven. He’s a shameless force of destruction, a meticulously calculated being who doesn’t try to justify himself — because he doesn’t need to. He’s a gang leader, sure, but he’s a quiet man, an observer who doesn't talk too much. He just exists. Just breaks. Just takes for his own advantage. He seems to absorb his victories silently, with no need for excessive or prideful celebration. And above all, he’s practical. He doesn’t act out of emotional wounds — he acts out of necessity. Colm always seems to measure the world with coldness — almost a kind of stoicism.
When he strikes, it’s because he has a plan, an advantage, or a direct interest. He doesn’t waste time on what isn’t worth the effort — and that’s one of his most defining traits. In that scenario where he kidnaps Arthur, he doesn’t do it out of blind hatred. He sees an opportunity. It's not emotion, it’s calculation, it’s thought-out and planned — but it’s not moral or sentimental. It’s a filter of utility. He doesn’t give in to directionless resentment and he shuts down everything that doesn’t serve his goal. He doesn’t explode. He waits. And when he acts, it’s precise, depending on how much power he’s aiming with. He’s restrained, silently dangerous, and a strategist without drama. Some people admire that. It’s not about likability. It’s about the coldness that unsettles and impresses….
He’s evil with the bitter taste of greenish poison for green is the sick blood that flows from the eyes when the mind no longer fits inside the head, because your brain rotted after its hanging, your body thrown somewhere that’s painted green and gray — because you are dead, rotten and full of worms coming out of the exposed holes of your body. Your decaying carcass is as dark as any trace of soul inside you. There are no more bright colors. Just death. And some curious ones might find death… attractive, and worthy of interest and admiration. On top of that, Colm leads the O’Driscolls — a gang of men who are, honestly, the definition of blatant violence. They’re wild, impulsive, and Colm, in the midst of that, comes across as the most composed — or at least, the quietest. That gives him an aura of command, of control of chaos, even if he doesn’t act like a beast in the way that the others do. And for some people, that’s interesting: the idea of someone who unleashes monsters but somehow still leads them.
Colm's cute snake hat — more specifically, a coiled rattlesnake with its rattle visible — brings forth a potentially powerful symbol: the snake-man. And this mythical figure, blending the danger of a venomous animal with the seduction of a silent predator, has its appeal. For those who like snakes, the fascination goes beyond appearance: there’s something about extreme patience, the venom (his regulated violent aura), and the promise of a precise strike. The charm lies exactly in the contained threat. The snake-man, as an idea, is often associated with total control, no anxiety, and no hesitation. He observes, calculates, and only then strikes. A snake can grasp, constrict, and slowly kill its prey, patiently waiting for death. Colm, with the snake symbol on his head, firm gaze and predator posture, embodies this. He is the danger that lures. And sometimes, that’s enough to draw anyone to him.
However, for those who prefer a more wholesome route, look no further than gremlin-boah's Zombie Colm: these sweet comic strips portray him as a good zombie whose harshness has been eaten away by his worms. He can't even bring himself to attack Kieran, and looks sad and confused when people are frightened by him. I've always had a thing for kind zombies, and they have a tendency to be great for beginner Spiritual Murderist witches — and are also the least damnable to work with too. Perhaps you'll go to the Circle of Heresy which is a common sin that many people accuse each other of anyway, it's essentially a huge graveyard. I'm sure anyone would like it there.
P.S. Many of the reasons to work with him and what he is the deity of overlaps with other Holmesian forms because all Holmesian forms are just different appearances of the same deity. You will also find that there are many other things that he is the deity of and why to work with him, and that this is merely a guideline. And you can decide what to do with this guideline. I'm merely an information provider, not a decision maker, and I encourage people to make the choice for themselves: work with him or not. Just don't worry about your damnation around me.
