Pop Culture Witchcraft of the Disney Variety

The rights to Roger Rabbit (and company ) are back in the hands of Gary Wolf

This is not a drill

I have a lot of thoughts on this, so most of this is going under the cut. Cool? Cool.

I have been dealing with a spirit-working related problem as of late.

I tried to do spirit work with a completely unknown (to me) source.

It was not of Disney; not in my regular wheelhouse.

It did not end well.

I am still dealing with the fallout.

A very large part of my work is necromantic in nature-- though I don't actually like the word "necromancy" for this. It brings to mind actions of compelling and threatening the dead to speak. Perhaps a better word would be "necrolatrist", which essentially means worship and/or veneration of the dead.

I work with a group of ghosts known as the Painted Dead (that was the name they gave me). These are the deceased animators, Imagineers, model-makers, architects and creatives. Not all of them are of Disney. A lot of my recent work was done with Max and Dave Fleischer, inventors of rotoscoping and pioneers of 20s animation.

Source: Carl Barks, "The Midas Touch", 1961; Don Rosa, "The Treasury of Croesus", 1995

Take a selection of coins. It is best if you have earned them yourself through various transactions, but spare change works too.

Put the coins in a dish. Sprinkle them with a mixture of peppermint, bay laurel and clover. Heat the dish over a flame (very carefully).

"The Midas Touch, myself I grant

with these coins I do enchant

copper gleaming, silver cold

that what I touch shall turn to gold."

Blow out your flame. Decant the coins into a pouch and sew up with green thread. Mark a $ on the outside of the pouch.

This is going to be a series of posts explaining how exactly my methodology works.

This is how I work. It is not universal. Your mileage may vary.

I've said before that my practice is pop culture witchcraft, done in a folkloric style. But what does that actually mean?

Well, the way I learned it, folk magic is based on relationships between things. A relationship can be organically made, say, by talking to the spirit of a plant or stone, getting to know it, and then employing it in magic. It can be artificially created, as in many examples of contagious magic-- an enemy's hair is put into a poppet; the poppet then "becomes" the enemy. It can be drawn between two things by way of simile, metaphor, or the recitation of a significant story in one's magical paradigm. The folk magic of the Early Modern Period (as far as Britain and the US go, anyway) overlapped with Christianity a lot, and Biblical elements were often used in spells in this manner. "As Christ's wounds were not infected by the piercing thorn, my wound shall not be either."

In addition, folk magic users worked magic for the concern of the everyday person-- magic to bring health, bring luck, make someone love another, hex another, draw in money, etc. etc. Their charms and spells were often short and to the point, though there was often overlap with the long-winded rites of grimoire magician and high magic.

My methodology functions in much the same way, especially in regards to the last point-- the recitation of stories. When I use the name of a Toon or reference a specific story element in a spell, I'm essentially saying "As long as power burns in this name/story, so shall my spell work." It's not so different from the Christianity example, really.

Source: Hocus Pocus Spellbook, pgs. 168-169 (Processes are my own words; incantations are taken from the book.)

For the Fulfilling Dream

A sachet of rose, marjoram and chamomile shall be made, sprinkled with water, and placed beneath the pillow of the user. If using on another, fill a poppet with this mixture and sprinkle that. Place on your bedside table.

"I grant thee gift of flight without a broom,

a future foretold in the light of the moon

rejoined are lost ones,

with radiance of suns,

awaken healed and feeling newly hewn."

For the Haunting Nightmare

Write their name on a white cloth, along with the object of the intended nightmare. Wrap this, written side in, around a thistle and seal the cloth in place with candle wax.

"Nightmare cloaked in thistledown, quilt and candle,

the sunset fades, and thou fallest from craggy cliff;

runnest from maddened mass

bangest on sarcophagus

arise with brow beaded and shoulders stiff."

For the Manipulating Dream

Make a poppet of the target and simply bind it with ivy. Whisper your wishes to it.

"I alight upon thy dreams to twist with bane,

controlling course of thy still-dormant thoughts.

Old is now turned new,

sky is green, grass is blue;

when thou wakest, thy mind's morphed

Source: Sleeping Beauty, 1959

To deter intruders, thieves, etc.

Take three nails (preferably iron) and a handful of rose branches, cut into pieces.

Go to the entrance of your home.

Bury the nails in a triangle shape by your front step. Scatter the thorns over the boundaries of the property. (If you live in an apartment, bury the nails in a flowerpot and the thorns in a square shape around it.)

"A forest of thorns, intruders' tomb

borne through the skies on a fog of doom

now go with a curse and serve me well

These things? The glyphs from the Owl House?

If you're into sigils or Chaos Magic at all, these are great for magic on the fly.

Besides being very good elemental representations, they can be employed by themselves or in groups. You could use the Light Glyph (bottom right) to bring light to someone's actions, or cheer to another person. You could use the Plant Glyph (bottom left) for all fertility and prosperity magic, or simply to help your houseplants grow.

Glyph combos are commonly used in the show itself (a masterlist should be easily found with a quick search), such as this invisibility glyph:

To employ in actual practice, one could draw it, fold it up and carry in the left pocket to become inconspicuous to strangers or passers-by.

Not everyone has disembodied hands lying around. This is a workable alternative.

Obtain one of those posable artist hands. These things:

Also obtain black acrylic paint, sesame seeds, dandelion roots and cemetery dirt.

Mix the herb materia into the paint with your left hand. Paint the artist hand black. (Two coats will probably be best.) Let dry.

Rotate the hand so that the palm is facing up. With hot glue, affix a tealight candle to the center of the palm.

The most-used ingredient in my Book for sleep and dream magic? Birch bark.

It is Bill Cipher's tree, after all (dream demon of Gravity Falls fame). He's been known to grant visions to those who sleep under their branches.

"Sixty degrees that come in threes,

watches from within birch trees..."

(Tertiary lore is information that was created by the fandom; based in canon but not necessarily canon in itself)

@toontownjusticedepartment