#holda

Frau Holle is perhaps one of the most documented and recognizable Continental Deities. There's a lot to cover so you're going to appreciate the Read More link here, but for the uninitiated Frau Holle is in charge of:

The weather, the fae, the wild hunt, death, the milling of souls, beauty, babies, the home, spinning, chores, labor, and a slew of animals like cows and sheep.

We are a new and small, bilingual (Dutch/English) server, that focusses on Dutch (folkloric) magic, deities, and paganism. Our goal is to create a warm community where we can share resources, and talk about our practices.

We are an inclusive, queer-friendly, and staunchly anti-fascist and anti-racist server. No firth with fascists.

This is not an exhaustive list, just a list of sources that inform my practice. Readers will benefit from being able to read German (and sometimes Bavarian/Boarisch German).

Not all works are specific/exclusive to these folk practices and may include other traditions in addition.

I will be updating this list as I recall or find works to add to it. It is not alphabetized or organized in any specific way. If you’d like to recommend a title for this list, let me know!

Additionally, I cannot speak or vouch for any of the views or opinions of the authors. Some of these sources are certainly outdated and could potentially contain content that is offensive or bigoted, which is not something I endorse. Finally, there are some sources that are of debatable historical accuracy, so take them with a grain of salt.

Books

Pow-Wows or Long Lost Friend, John George Hohman

The Secret History of Christmas Baking by Linda Raedisch

The Old Magic of Christmas by Linda Raedisch

Night of the Witches by Linda Raedisch (a great resource for Walpurgisnacht)

Mountain Magic: Celtic Shamanism in the Austrian Alps by Christian Brunner

Alpine Magic by Christian Brunner

Pagan Christmas by Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling

Göttin Holle by Gunivortus Goos (also available in English)

Hausgeister! by Janin Pisarek, Florian Schäfer, and Hannah Gritsch

Queens of the Wild by Ronald Hutton

Witchcraft and the Shamanic Journey Kenneth Johnson

Niederbayerische Sagen by Michael Waltinger

Witchcraft Medicine by Wolf-Dieter Storl, Christian Rätsch, Claudia Müller-Ebeling (available in both English and German)

Der Heilige Hain by Christian Rätsch

Von Sonnwend bis Rauhnacht by Valentin Kirschgruber

Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1100 by Max Dashu

Spirit Beings in European Folklore 2 by Benjamin Adamah (I encourage you to read their sources as well, it’s important to find primary sources)

Deutsche Mythologie by Jacob Grimm (English as “Teutonic Mythology”) Please take Jacob Grimm with a grain of salt.

Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (There’s a lot of caveats to this, as it is highly outdated, but it is still a handy resource for reference. HOWEVER, good luck finding it. You might find some volumes available online but there are very few complete reprints of this encyclopedia, at least that are affordable.)

Tiefe Wälder, dunkle Legenden by Josef Probst

Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer (This is basically a 15th century manual to “witch hunting” and contains bigotry and a lot of factual inaccuracies. However, it has some content that can provide some insight into folk magic and superstition of the time. It is very violent and explains the torture process of those accused of witchcraft, so be warned)

Volksmedizinische Botanik der Germanen by Max Höfler

Trutmezzer by Frater Acher (Three Hands Press)

The Black Raven: A Study in the Folk Necromancy of Early Modern Germany by Alexander Cummins and Brian Johnson

Speculum Terræ: A Magical Earth-Mirror from the 17th Century by Frater Acher

The Language of the Corpse: The Power of the Cadaver in Germanic and Icelandic Sorcery by Cody Dickerson

The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil by Al Ridenour

Occult Germany by Christopher McIntosh

Journals and Scholarly Articles

Holda: Between Folklore and Linguistics by Thomas Leek

Perchten and Krampusse: Living Mask Traditions in Austria and Bavaria by Molly Carter

Divination: Mother Holle as Goddess of Seerdom by Ullrich R. Kleinhempel

Percht und Krampus Felix and Ulrich Müller

The Distribution of The Legends of Frau Holle, Frau Percht, and Related Figures by Erika Timm

Perchta the Belly-Slitter and Her Kin: A View of Some Traditional Threatening Figures, Threats and Punishments by John B. Smith

Holle's Cry: Unearthing a Birth Goddess in a German Jewish Naming Ceremony by Jill Hammer

Zentralblatt für Okkultismus: German journal of the occult with published periodicals from 1907-1933. Thank you to the IAPSOP for preserving and sharing these volumes. They also have other German occult and spiritual works of interest.

Content Creators

Ella Harrison

The Witches’ Cookery

Hanns Lohrer: “Frau Holle” (“Mother Holle”, “Mother Hulda” or “Old Mother Frost”)

To Holda

I’m in the thick of illness again. It’s the day before the winter solstice, tea and diffusers are plenty in my room, and the rain forecasted by the weather app is defiantly becoming a thicker and thicker snow.

Holda is not typically a goddess of healing. She’s a goddess of home and hearth, of chores and domestic duties, and from my experience, a goddess of cycles and natural change — the things that must get done to keep the wheels turning. She’s a goddess of fall and winter, the hibernating and fallow seasons, the rest and resetting period that must happen in order for the next season to begin. Perhaps this is why she can be so stern: she knows what must happen, and if you know what’s best for you, you should too.

But I turn to her today in memory of the last time I was really sick: riddled with days of fever, slipping in and out of delirium, hitting the point where I began feverishly wondering if I was going to pull through (turns out I had covid). I had a half-awake, lucid dream suddenly of being in a dark wooden cabin that was blackened with age and my back to an ancient stone hearth where I was given a bowl of soup and brought to sit by the fire. Small blue flowers — either flax or cornflower — were pressed into my chest. Geese flew past the window which looked onto an expansive rolling field at late sunset.

Today I’m not nearly as sick as I was back then, but I’ve been ill for a few days and am facing a few more of bed rest with another bought of covid. I’ve dropped my pagan practice over the last two weeks due to rushing around. I think of Holda, and the last time I had covid, and with the solstice tomorrow (one of Her days) I feel the need to not be alone.

I light her electric candle and invoke her through prayer. I explain that I have nothing to offer but the light today for I am too sick to give my usual.

And I feel profound gentleness. My goddess, a Lady who goes by many names and faces, many likely forgotten to time. Gentleness, both vast and steady and old. I feel her with me and I stand, asked to be in peace and just rest. I feel the hearth shrine become beautiful. I feel her sweeping out the cobwebs of my lungs.

Goddess of Duality

One of the things Spirit has been showing me is how everything contains its counterpart. Frau Holle embodies this so fully. She’s shown me her stern side, she’s shown me her caring side, but more recently she’s been reminding me of her natural side — the face that screams along in the winter wind, the wild spirit who leads the Wild Hunt. In a winter storm she is both the blizzard and the walls of the house that shelter us from it. She is the hearth and the reason its thick bricks exist.

Perhaps it takes being such fierceness to be such gentleness.

White Moonstone, Elderwood, Snowflake Obsidian, & Goose Bone.

This set of devotional beads was ritually hand-crafted in the name of the ancient Germanic goddess Holda, known by a wide variety of other names, including Holle, Hulda, Perchta, Berchta, Harke, and Werra.

This rosary was strung with White Moonstones, honoring her traditional epithet of "White Lady," as well as her Dianic associations. These are interspersed with handmade counter beads of Elderwood, since the Elder Tree is greatly significant to her—in part due to her own associations with the arboreal spirit known as Elder Mother. The counter beads are bracketed with small beads of Snowflake Obsidian, honoring both her association with the Winter, and her traditional epithet of "Dark Grandmother." The drop-bead is carved from scavenged Goose Bone, in honor of her sacred goose, which she rides as a flying steed while leading the Wild Hunt. The centerpiece connector is a vintage Pewter Wheel, which honors Holda's ties to the crafts of spinning and weaving. The Focal pendant is an Iron Sickle—the sickle being a traditional symbol of hers—which was ritually crafted in honor of the goddess.

She immediately displayed transplant shock, her leaves all died and she droopped all the way to the concrete. But I knew she was still alive. I read that it can take months to recover from the shock, so I removed all her dead leaves and used a stick from the yard to help her stand up straight. Then I patiently watered her and braced myself to wait months to see if she'd bounce back.

To my utter surprise, she's recovering much faster than anticipated! Look at her leaves!! And she's standing on her own now despite the intense wind we're having. I'm so happy!

I'm looking forward to tending this emissary of the Elder Mother.