#paper magic

AN: A short story i did with Amelda knowing some magic cause she is half goetia. , along with some backstory with her parents. Also, Candy is letting me use her taglist.

Striker was sharpening his knives when Amelda came running up to him.

“Papa, Papa!”

He smiled, letting it sink in. Her calling him papa always make him smiled. He turns to look at her, seeing her excited face.

“Yeah babygirl?”

“Look what i can do.”

he watched as he she took out a sheet of paper, her tongue poking out in concentration as she folded it into a crane. Then she closed her eyes and the crane glowed.

He watched as the bird suddenly moved and started flying.

“Isn't it neat?” she said, looking at him with a big grin.

Striker blinked and grabbed Amelda, breaking into a run.

“Millllllieeeee!”

666

Vassago looked at Amelda, his gaze contemplative as Amelda blinked up at him.

Striker watched them, his hoof tapping impatiently. Millie and Esme were watching with him, wondering the examination of the little owlet.

“Well, this is unexpected.”

Strikers blind eye twitched, he was close to snapping from the tension.

“Ya think?” he snarled, “I thought she couldn't get powers cause shes half imp.”

"Well technically, we don't know any goetia hybrids.” Vassago explained, “We just assumed she wouldn't have any.”

“Why paper, though?” Millie asked..

“Well, Ars Goetia usually have elemental magic.” Vassago said, “Mine is the stars, Stolas is space and that peacock cabron was ice.”

He then look at Amelda, who was folding another piece of paper.

“Her family, well Archer's family, it was earth, specifically plants.” he said, “And paper technically comes from plants.”

The rest of the group nodded, seeing the sense of the theory.

The hear Amelda giggle, seeing she folded a horse and made it gallop around her.

“Can it be used in a fight?” Esme asked.

“Guess we just wait and see” Vassago said with a shrug.

They learned it was sooner then later.

Striker and Amelda were in some overgrown Royals house when they got attacked by raiders. They were hiding behind a corner when Amelda noticed they were near a library.

She sprinted to the door and pushed it open.

The next thing that happened was a tornado of paper.

The raiders were getting papers stick to their face and hands and finally their legs, literally smothering them with the pages.

The raiders fell to the ground, wriggling from their bindings and muffled yelling. Striker looked at them and then looked at Amelda, who gave him a tired thumbs up.

Guess it can be used for combat.

~ books read in 2022 ~

#10: The Glass Magician by Charlie Holmberg

A bit of history...

Origami is composed of the Japanese words oru (to fold) and kami (paper); it was originally known as orikata (folded shapes). This art and practice came to be after Japanese monks brought paper from China to their country in the sixth century. Because paper was handmade, it was an expensive, luxury item that was not commonly available; to add to that, the practice of paper folding was reserved for ceremonial purposes —which were, more often than not, religious in nature.

By the Edo period (1603 - 1868), thanks to paper becoming mass produced and more accessible, origami has also become a recreational activity. The first written instructions appeared in 1797 with Akisato Rito’s Sembazuru Orikata; and by the late 1800s, the term had morphed from orikata to origami.

In traditional origami, folding patterns and sequences were passed down orally or anonymously from generation to generation. Nowadays, there even exists designers that create —and even copyright— their models. Modern origami also focuses a lot more on adding a certain puzzle aspect to the models, and prioritizes the ability to create using only one sheet of paper without glue or scissors (of course, there exist ‘advanced’ models where you combine smaller, individual creations to make something even grander).

Akira Yoshizawa is considered one of the fathers of modern origami. In the 1930s he developed a system of folding patterns which employs a set of symbols, arrows and diagrams. These patterns were published by the 1950s and quickly became easily available, which contributed to making origami the widespread practice that it is today.

-> Did you know?

Europe has its own practice of folding paper. It was developed in Spain and dates back to the twelfth century, when the moors brought a tradition of mathematically based folding. It is known as papiroflexia or pajarita.

Of colors and patterns

Naturally, because we’re dealing with paper, it might come in all sorts of colors and patterns (especially if it’s origami paper, which can be usually found with all sorts of patterns on it). I can’t really cover every single pattern, —not with how comercial origami has become, but I’ll try to add some of the most basic ones you’ll probably be able to find.

For colors, I’ve borrowed @jasper-pagan-witch’s master list of correspondences. Of course you’re free to use your own correspondences!

Now let’s talk patterns. There’s a lot of possibilities for patters that you can find out there, specially after origami became something a bit more ‘commercial’. It is impossible for me to cover all of them, so I decided to compile a list of basic Japanese symbolism (since the practice is originally Japanese) that you might be able to find in paper design + basic geometrical shapes which can also be found, but do keep in mind there’s like a pattern for virtually anything out there. Once again, feel free to use your own correspondences!

The Sun: This symbol is derived from the mythological goddess of the sun, Amaterasu, from the Shinto religion. Because she founded Japan, it can be interpreted as a symbol for beginnings and for journeys, it is also considered a symbol of good fortune.

The Lotus: Purity, cleansing, enlightenment.

Folding Fan: Journeys, beginnings and ends, cycles, possibility. Also secrets, as they were used to convey secret messages in the past.

Chrysanthemum: Endurance, rejuvenation, happiness (from the National Japanese Chrysanthemum Day which is referred to as Festival of Happiness). Joy, beauty, good luck, longevity, fidelity, optimism.

Daruma: Wishes, achievements, perseverance, commitment, determination.

Sakura: Fleeting beauty, transience of life, renewal, new beginnings.

Butterfly: Metamorphosis, transformation, eternity (in close association to spirits and the afterlife, since they’re linked with recently departed spirits).

Cranes: Longevity, good fortunes. It is said that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, your wish will come true.

Plum: Refinement, purity, perseverance, hope, beauty, protection against evil and misfortune.

Gourd: Divinity, good luck, good health and prosperity.

Moon: Rejuvenation and new beginnings.

Koi: “According to the Japanese legend, if a Koi fish succeeded to swim upstream and climb the waterfalls at a point called Dragon Gate on the Yellow River, it would transform into a Dragon.” (Aung, 2015). This is the reason they’re regarded as a symbol of aspiration, perseverance, effort.

Acorn: Symbol of good luck.

Shapes: You can check this post and this post which I liked for shale correspondences.

Practical Uses

Paper-made things can actually be quite useful, since the folds make your creations very resistant. There’s a lot of things you can do to put origami to practical use, and I’m gonna list some that I’ve done myself, maybe you can think of more!

Boxes: for gifts, for storage...

Organizers: kinda similar to the above, but you can use them for like pencil holders and the like

Cellphone stands and other sorts of displays

Cute little gifts/details for your loved ones

You can even make yourself a wallet

Bookmarks!

I’ve even see people do trash cans, the possibilities are endless

Your very own friend

No but in all seriousness, there’s a lot of things you can do with origami. I personally use it a lot when it’s a special day, like Mother’s Day, to make creative and ingenious cards and decorations. There’s always something new to do.

Magical Uses

And now finally, what you were probably waiting for. Magical uses are just as varied as practical uses, and I don’t think there’s a limited way of incorporating it to your craft, but I’ll give you some examples!

Altar decorations and offerings: does your deity fancy a specific animal? I bet you can find an origami pattern to do it. A special flower? Check. Seriously, there’s a lot of things you can find patterns of. There’s also really pretty boxes and bases you can make to put things.

Meditation: for those of you who can’t lie still, folding paper while meditating might help you focus!

Spells: you can combine in sigils in this one. Just choose a paper of the pattern/color that bests serves your cause and choose an origami folding pattern that correlates and just, fold it while focusing on your intention, that’s it. You can activate/dispose of it with your preferred method but if you’re using fire do refer to @jasper-pagan-witch’s guide on handling fire.

Manifestation box

For the pro-curse folk, embed a curse in a little origami crafted by you and gift it to the person, it’ll last until they get rid of it ;)

And I’m sure there’s a lot more things you can come up with! After all, each path is different and these are just some of the things I’ve tried so far.

Thanks a lot if you’ve read until here, I hope you liked the lesson. I certainly hope to come back with a part two on how to get started on origami if you guys do end up finding this bit of magic interesting, please let me know!

May you find happiness and growth in your paths!

Sources

Hidden in Plain Sight

Adding a dust jacket to your witchy books

Yes, I know this is a repeat tip, but much like the broom tutorial, this is fleshed out! This post was pretty much my first Witch Tip that sparked these Wednesday posts last November. It was rough and a photo set and not formatted and blah blah. Figured I would revisit it for the anniversary! Also, I couldn’t figure out how to re-format it and reblog it because it was an old photo and caption thing...

I got this book at my local retailer and as usual when I get a hardback witchcraft book, I decided to cover it with wrapping paper. I do this for a few reasons and it takes just a couple minutes but has saved my books from damage numerous times.

Most witchcraft, supernatural, occult related books I get that are hardcover, don’t have dust jackets.

I can read a covered book in public without a hassle from strangers.

When they’re covered I can keep them out on the bookshelves without worry of house guests getting all skeeved out by yet another pentacle or misunderstood symbol on the spine glaring at them.

It protects my books...simple. There have been some near misses where the wrapping protected the cover from damage and that’s awesome.

You could go hog wild and recover all your non dust jacketed books if you’re a closet witch. Designate a specific wrapping paper for your spooky ones and witchcraft ones, and no one is the wiser. At most, they’d usually just think you had a cool idea of adding some color and festivity to your bookshelf.

You can also magic them up. Write sigils, messages, spells etc on the reverse side of the paper and know each book has a layer of protection, secrecy, memory retention or whatever you feel inspired to do.

Wrapping paper is out and about this time of year and benefits of the times we’re in, there’s usually a fair amount that aren’t related to the holidays, but rather colors, patterns and just neutral designs. Here’s a small walk through...it’s easy, but some small tweaks make it easier.

🦇Cheers, Barberwitch

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Original content of this blog is licensed under a Creative Commins Attributution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license

Photoset and tutorial below the break!

It’s time for yuletide paper magic! :D

Some of last year’s for comparison

Paper Magic

Jane Gordon-Clark

Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd, London 1991, 190 pages, ISBN 9780711206502

euro 25,00

email if you want to buy [email protected]

The approach and style of "Paint Magic" and "Fabric Magic" are followed in this guide to the uses of paper in interior decoration. Jane Gordon Clark aims to provide a wide range of elegant and original effects that can be achieved: on walls and ceilings, to create spatial illusion, to transform the scale and proportion of a room and to camouflage; borders that add architectural detailing and finishing touches; paper "paintings" and panels; decoupage; print rooms and silhouettes. Also covered, with practical guidance, are projects to transform furniture and accessories from windowshades and lampshades to small objects.

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