Korean Folk Magic (Herbs): Sogeum

Me: I need a library card, but I just moved so I don’t have an ID with my address or any mail with it.

Librarian: -slides me a blank library postcard- Write your address on this like it would be mailed to you.

Me: Sure?

Librarian: -takes it back- Great! Now we have mail with your address on it!

Me: …does it really work that way?

Librarian: the rules don’t say it DOESN’T work that way. Here’s your new library card!

'Concerning The Powers and Virtues of Pine, Rustic Lord of the Lonely Places'

"The Pine stands as the ally of the Wayfarer upon the Path for its many uses, both practical and magical. The presence of Pines is an indication of life, as the Trees tend to grow in community and attract diverse beasts and worts to their domains. Dead wood provides excellent kindling for the fire, and live wood cut for timber is one of the most versatile and workable of woods. Nuts found within the cones provide a wholesome food to sustain the body; all species are edible. Its sap is both nutritive and medicinal, and, should additional sustenance be needed, the green needles may be brewed into a nourishing tea. Thus, though often found spreading its branches in the wild lands, the Pine-forest serves as a place of Sojourn and respite whilst walking the path in pilgrimage.

The Genius of the Pine, despite its preference for wilderness, is on the whole friendly toward man, hence its adaptation in many circumstances to domestic existence, and bestows the virtues of ingenuity and adaptation. In species it numbers almost one hundred, widely distributed throughout the world, and some kinds, such as the Bristlecone, may attain ages in advance of 4,500 years. Though numerous exotic conifers have come forth unto Albion in recent centuries, its principal Pine-warden is the magnanimous Pinus sylvestris or Scots Pine, which may be seen in its truly wild state now only in isolated places in the Highlands, however in certain hedges in East Anglia it curiously makes a home among the more usual hardwoods common there.

With most Pines, trunks of larger trees reveal sap-flows where the fragrant resin has hardened; this may be collected and used for varied purposes of Art, such as for fumigation or for making varnishes. However, not every Pine species produces resin of good and wholly aromatic quality, thus it is a matter of discernment which the simpler must arrive at by cunning and diligent investigation. Where a certain pine resin is left wanting with regard to its aromatic properties, it may still be used as an agent of binding.

Needles harvested and dried green will retain aromatic virtue and may be burnt, together with resin and cones, as a suffumigant strong in powers of earthing, and keeping haunting shades of the dead at bay. This power of removing ghost-infection is doubly potent in the resin.

The cones, after having expelled their seeds, serve as encharmed vessels for the work of thaumaturgy, each of the numerous hollows capable of being filled with a different enchantment. Likewise, the hollows of a cone may be packed with flammable unguents, aromatic resins and powders, and the whole set to roast slowly upon the hearth-fire of working as a splendid perfume. Such aromatic ingredients may be derived from the Pine direct, in the form of resin, ground bark and needles, and twigs, or from other worts and trees as dictated by Ingenium."

—

Viridarium Umbris:

The Pleasure Garden of Shadow

3: ‘The Book of Going Forth into the Field of Cain’

by Daniel A. Schulke

Thrjár by Maéna Paillet

{Barn Owls in The Oak} by {Mike Rae}

In modern Heathenry there is a concept of spirits known as the Disir (singular Dis). While there is some debate on the true origins of these spirits, it’s a common belief among todays Heathens that these are female ancestral guardians. I personally equate these spirits with The Mothers in Fayerie Traditionalism, those femme spirits that serve The Great Mother.

There are two modern festival/feast days associated with them: Mother’s Night, and Disablot.

But why not today? Why not Mothers Day? Today is a day that we celebrate the mothers of our respective families (blood and chosen) Today is a modern festival to venerate those enfleshed Matriarchs that we love and hold dear. To me it would make sense to extend that love and devotion to the Mothers that walk with us in the Unseen. Just sort of wondering out loud I suppose. I think in the future I might set aside time to honour all the Mothers in my life, Seen and Unseen.

Triangle and sigil cloths prepared and concentrated for use is scrying.

What is the distinction between a mage, a wizard, a sorcerer, and a witch? Is there one?

Hello there.

I think it's a question many have, and understandably so. I'm no expert in the anthropological distinction between traditions, but I'll do my best to answer.

To a certain degree, all the terms are somewhat conflated, but there is some nuance to the meanings behind the words.

Where my usage is cocnerned, Mage is a name that essentially describes any practitioner of any kind of magical tradition. It is basically synonymous with magician. Though, the former has become associated with fantasy fiction to an extent, while the latter has become more closely associated with illusionist performers.

Wizard is a term that was often historically associated with Cunning Folk, and Cunning Men in particular. The etymological roots of the word amounts to 'wise individual.' Though myth, folklore, and modern fiction have all done much to fantasize the term, the core connotation of the word is still—so far as I'm concerned—a member of the Wise.

A Sorcerer is a bit vaguer in its specific meaning, but it ultimately amounts to an individual who practices magic—particularly magic seen as "dark" in nature. Though the original meaning of the word referred to 'one who casts lots' (told fortunes/performed divination,) sometime in the 15th century, that meaning was displaced by the definition of 'one who conjures evil spirits.' With all that in mind, I would say that sorcerer and witch are the most closely aligned of the terms mentioned here.

Finally, and possibly most difficult to pin down precisely, is the title of Witch. Though the word does have posited etymological and historical roots in prophecy, necromancy and in generalized magic, its ultimate meaning became more clearly delineated as 'one with malignant supernatural knowledge and skills' As such (and for others reasons I'm sure you can find plenty of people discussing on the internet,) I would say that witch is a title that mostly accurately reflects a magical practitioner with the ability to use baneful power, and whose practice is generally associated in some way with Sabbatic Flight and rites of Initiation.

I hope that can help.

Some UPG, as a treat…

So angels (or the beings we refer to as angels) are the architects of creation. By their very nature they form reality out of the limitless potentiality. They form energy into matter, the take chaos and make it into order. This is instinctual and unconscious. They do it because it is what they are.

Daemons are the opposite of this. They are beings of decay and rot. I think of them almost like mushrooms. They thrive on and help speed up the entropy of reality. Matter to energy, order to chaos, again this is just what they are.

This is not a case of right it wrong, benevolence or malice. They are simply two ends on the spectrum of reality. They do not oppose each other as enemies but simply as opposites, doing their part in the grand scheme of things.

I carved a Sutekh icon for my altar from the same blackthorn branch that I carved Eris. He is stained with an 18-year-old red wine bequeathed to me by a dead bus driver (praise be to Albert! May he live forever!), blackberry and fig liqueurs, and icon. The black stain is part char from my stove, and part a mixture of ritual ash and Stuart Semple's Black 2.0. The gold is ol' Stuart's goldest gold, which I can't recommend enough really, and gold leaf. The red is a crimson alcohol ink I bought last year and immediately forgot I had. Turns out, it stains unsealed wood really well, and can be blended out with neat isopropyl alcohol on a paintbrush. This would ordinarily make me worry about drying out the wood, but beeswax and neem oil solves all problems.

SHOP / KO-FI / PATREON / INSTAGRAM

When someone blogs about a spell, consecration, ritual or any personal magical or witchcraft work, they usually leave something out intentionally or unintentionally, said or unsaid. My first witchcraft teacher taught me to always add something to my spell work and especially if a spell had an even number of components to make it odd by addition. As a witch you need to make a spell your own, something that you and your spirits add to the mix. While most anybody can use a well made spell without edit to reasonable success, a witch tends to seal theirs with some personal flair. I have not heard this specific advice repeated by any of my subsequent craft teachers; however, it rings so true and perhaps sensible that I have always held it. Of course my subsequent teachers have emphasized making your own spells. So the emphasis on personalized witchcraft holds.