quietjustice

[quietjustice]

"you need protection as a pagan !!!!!!" "spirits can impersonate the Gods and block Them out when you worship !!!" "negative spirits are common so be careful your Deity isn't an Imposter !!!"

listen dude idk if you've felt a Deity before but I'm fairly sure that Dionysos blinking has enough power to incinerate a negative entity so why fear monger beginners when you could just Not

[quietjustice]

I think “traditional witchcraft” is one of those terms that’s been taken over by this spreading rot of new-age-neo-pagan-wicca-lite-consumerist-capitalist-“eclectic”-appropriative sameness. “folkloric witchcraft” actually fits what the former is meant to describe, and I hope it’s not next on the chopping block.

#I love seeing peoples’ individual personal practices that are still animistic and connected to the natural world and spirits #it’s where we get unique perspectives and methods #it feels so rare these days #I feel like the thing I’m describing ends up being boringly uniform in it’s pursuit of ‘eclecticism’

[quietjustice]

🌿Plant Spirit Devotion: Herbal Altars

So this is alittle unorthodox but I've been keeping/tending an Altar specifically for my current Herbal Ally, atleast for the duration of my active devotional to that Plant Spirit (my post about Plant Spirit Devotionals). Currently my altar is set up for Rosemary pictured below. The Purpose of these altars is not to worship or revere the Spirit in the same way that my Persephone Altar exists to venerate the goddess. In my mind a Herbal Altar exists as a dedicated space for the spirit which acts as a reminder of the spirit throughout the day, while the aromatics of the Herbs themselves and the general energy of the Plant is allowed to suffuse the area.

My Rosemary Altar pictured above contains the following:

Fresh Rosemary: Personally I think the most important thing on a Herbal Altar should be the plant itself, ideally a living plant but when that is unavailable the best alternative is fresh plant matter.

Dried Rosemary: Failing fresh plant matter, dried herbs can work just as well.

Rosemary Essential Oil: An essential oil or similar product made using the plant represents the myriad forms the Herbal Ally can take in your Practice.

A Herbal Flash card for Rosemary: This card not only has beautiful artwork depicting the Herb but on the opposite side contains information revolving around Rosemary's mundane and magical properties allow with a short botanical dossier. This is a representation of the Plants properties and what you can learn from it.

An associated Tarot/Oracle card: In My case I like to have a representative Tarot card for my Herbal Allies, I use the Bottanical Deck by Jessica Bott which happens to have a Card for Rosemary.

A tea light candle dressed in Rosemary oil and dried Rosemary: A representative of the Herb role in rituals, and in my broader practice. I plan on burning this on the last day of my devotional.

#this is an interesting idea #I work mostly w plant spirits so I’ll have to do this once I have the space

[quietjustice]

🌿Plant Spirit Devotional: 15 Day Exercise

Here's my concept for a method to facilitate bonding with a Plant Spirit or Herbal Ally over the course of a month. Obviously this practice takes far longer than a month to create a lasting bond with a plant spirit but hopefully this exercise helps provide some structure to the practice of bonding with a Herbal Ally. Feel free to use this outline yourself or modify it to your own needs.

15 days of Plant Spirit Devotion. Day 1: Introduction to the chosen plant. Day 2: The plants native habitat. Day 3: Cultivation, Foraging and Preparation. Day 4: Mundane properties (Culinary, Medicinal, Poisons etc). Day 5: Art inspired by / incorporating the chosen plant. Day 6: Magical correspondences. Day 7: Folk names and their origins. Day 8: Folklore and associated myths. Day 9: Deity / Spirit associations. Day 10: Plant's role in ritual: Cultural and Spiritual Significance. Day 11: Tarot / Oracle associations: Card spotlights. Day 12: Personal Sigil for the Plant Spirit. Day 13: Current Relationship with the Plant Spirit. Day 14: Personal goals when working with the Spirit. Day 15: Exercise conclusion, Take-aways and final overview.

My current plan with this exercise is to complete it each month for a different plant spirit / herbal ally, starting with Rosemary during February. Generally my plan is to spend the first half of the month bonding with the herb and researching it and the latter half of the month completing this exercise.

This Exercise was inspired by this post: link by @noctivague about a 15 day deity devotional. Thanks for the amazing idea!

[quietjustice]

i feel like the message a lot of people took away from the language of "The Fae aren't cute little forest nymphs" is that the fae are ACTUALLY all blood-hungry monsters that'll trick you and devour your soul, as opposed to the actual boring answer which is that Fae are, for the most part, just some guy

#most spirits are individuals with multifaceted personalities and should be approached with respect and a healthy amount of caution #being disrespectful (‘the fae’/good folk are all cute little forest nymphs) is how you get hurt #but an over abundance of caution to the point where you’re ‘protecting’/shielding against everything prevents channels of communication

[quietjustice]

Star Goddess of many names and many faces in various cultural personifications, make yourself known in me as my consciousness and imagination permit me... and burn in me your Sacred Flame.

Dea Stella dai molti nomi e dai molti volti in varie personificazioni culturali, fatti conoscere in me come la mia coscienza e la mia immaginazione me lo permettono... e accendi in me la tua Sacra Fiamma.

My artwork edit (illustrations are not mine) Free to reblog from my profile.

[quietjustice]

Mary has her own folk mythology, unrelated to the mainstream Christian myth – there are hundreds of Mary legends speaking of her causing the Sun to dance, raising people from the dead, curing the sick, helping in need. In legends, Mary travels in the boats without the oars, hovers in the air over the seas, lives in forests, walks on the surface of the lake waters leaving a permanent luminous ‘path of the Mother of God’, visits villages to wash her face in a well, takes a seat on the tree branches and on the barn beams; she is helping, punishing, and always requesting to build churches in her name.

… The legends about Mary illustrate that like these [pagan] goddesses, Mary is a force in people’s lives, a representation of an archetype, the Goddess of the essence of nature. While the other goddesses are no longer present in the current patriarchal religions, Mary is.

- Rasa Luzyute

#I love mary as a disguise for the goddess in patriarchal times

[quietjustice]

Rosa canina by Benjamin Vierling The Rose Labyrinth Pen & ink on paper ᛭ Illustration from The Green Mysteries By Daniel A. Schulke

[quietjustice]

Plantain amulets against illnesses

Plantain is one of the oldest healing plants, especially "plantago lanceolata" and "plantago major". It is also special because it was used by the germanic people as one of their own healing plants (and not one that was borrowed from ancient (Roman) scholars).

It even appeared in the Old English "Nine Herbs Charm":

"To the plantain, still sometimes known by its Old English name of 'waybread', the charm says: And you, Waybread, mother of plants open to the east, mighty within, carts ran over you, ladies rode over you, brides cried over you, bulls snorted over you, you withstood them all and you were crushed, so may you withstand the poison and infection and the evil that travels round the land. (Pollington, 2000, p. 215)" Source

Plantain was described to have many different healing properties, even claiming it could heal the plague and poison. In his "Kräuterbuch", Otto Brunfels (around 1488 to 1534) wrote that dried plantain roots were often put in a little pouch and worn around the neck to serve as an amulet against illnesses such as the plague and fever.

A different source from the 17th century states that as a remedy against fever you should hang 7 plantain stalks or wear 3 plantain roots (collected before sunrise) wrapped into a piece of cloth as an amulet around your neck.

Another source also says that an uneven number of plantain roots worn around the neck would help against fever. The root fibrils have to point downwards and when the root has withered, you should throw it over your shoulder into a stream.

Another source says that any roots collected between the 15th of August (Assumption of Mary) and 15th of September (Birth of the Virgin Mary) would be especially potent.

Sources:

Heinrich Marzell

Pharmazeutische Zeitung

[quietjustice]

Nine Herbs Charm

I always wanted to do a Nine Herbs Charm and this autumn i finally did it!!

The Nigon Wyrta Galdor (NWG) or, popularly, the Nine Herbs Charm, is an Old English healing spell—a galdor—intended to remedy a wound of some kind. The charm is recorded in a single manuscript, Harley MS 585 (ff 160r—163r), commonly known today as the Lacnunga (Old English ‘remedies’), which the British Museum dates to the 9th or early 10th century. The topics, themes, and entities the charm touches upon, such as animism, emphasis on the numbers nine and other multipliers of three, and the invocation of the Germanic deity Odin (Old English Wōden) stem from the pre-Christianization beliefs of the Old English.

These are the nine herbs that i used in my nine herbs charm. I changed some of the herbs for related varieties that i found in the forest behind my home (cause i really wanted this charm to have a really personal note).

Mugwort -> i used "artemisia vulgaris"

Plantain -> i chose to use both "plantago major" and "plantago lanceolata"

Lamb's cress -> i chose to use "cardamine flexuosa" from the forest behind my home and "cardamine hirsuta" that grows along our lawn

Betony -> i chose to use "stachys sylvatica" instead of "stachys officinalis" because that's the only variety i found in our woods

Chamomile -> i found some chamomile along the fields in our town

Nettle -> i chose to use 'normal' stinging nettles

Crab apple -> we have "malus sylvestris" in our garden so i used its leaves (i didn't use the apples cause i started collecting in November)

Chervil -> i used "anthriscus sylvestris"

Fennel -> i bought some fresh regional fennel from a local farmer's market, cut it into small pieces and slowly dried it in the oven

Mugwort | plantain | lamb's cress

Betony | chamomile | nettle

Crab apple | chervil | fennel

And here's an excerpt of a translated version of the Nine Herbs Charm:

Remember, Mugwort,

what you brought to pass,

what you readied,

at Regenmeld.

You’re called Una, that most ancient plant.

You defeat three, you defeat thirty,

you defeat venom, you defeat air-illness;

you defeat the horror who stalks the land.

And you, Waybread, plant-mother!

You’re open to the east, yet mighty within:

Carts creaked over you, women rode over you,

over you brides bellowed, over you bulls snorted!

You withstood it all—and you pushed back:

You withstood venom, you withstood air-illness,

you withstood the horror who travels over land.

Now, this plant is called Stune, she who grows on stone:

She defeats venom, she grinds away pain.

She’s called Stithe, she who withstands venom;

she chases away malice, casts out pain.

This is the plant that fought against the wyrm.

She is mighty against venom, she is mighty against air-illness;

she is mighty against the horror who travels over land.

You, Venom-loathe, go now!

The less from the great,

the great from the less,

until for both he receives a remedy.

Remember, Chamomile,

what you brought to pass,

what you accomplished,

at Alorford,

that no one should lose their life to disease,

since for him Chamomile was prepared.

Finally, this plant is known as Wergulu,

who a seal sent over sea-ridges,

to aid against venom.

These nine plants defeat nine venoms!

A wyrm came slithering, and yet he killed no one,

for wise Wōden took nine glory-twigs

and smote the serpent,

who flew into nine parts!

(...)

She stands against pain, she stands against venom,

she is potent against three and against thirty,

against a foe’s hand, against great guile,

against malice and bewitchment

from animal and spirit.

Now! May the nine plants do battle against nine glory-fleers,

against nine venoms and against nine air-diseases,

against the red venom, against the running venom,

against the white venom, against the blue venom,

against the yellow venom, against the green venom,

against the black venom, against the blue venom,

against the brown venom, against the purple venom,

against wyrm-blister, against water-blister,

against thorn-blister, against thistle-blister,

against ice-blister, against venom-blister.

If any venom comes flying from the east,

or any comes from the north,

or any from the west over folk!

(...)

(Source)

[quietjustice]

37.

Why does the Huntress hunt? No malice drives the arrow shaft no current bids the river run eyes that sight the target’s last a pair of hands that see it done.

Then, the killing point is what? A pattina of steps and pottery scrawl a mural painted on the wall the words that lace this very page the hunter’s art not found in rage nor found in a cage, nor found at all.

It’s the response to Mother’s call I hunt to hunt, as do we all.

[quietjustice]

Viridarium Umbris, Daniel A. Schulke

[quietjustice]

What do you mean by saying that “magic is the manipulation of symbols?” Like what does that mean in practice?

So there’s a piece of occult knowledge that tends to get lost as people grow and learn their various crafts. This is unfortunate, as it serves as a basis for almost all magical theory, and the loss of such knowledge severely hinders our ability to discuss why magic even works in the first place. This piece of super secret occult knowledge is as follows: in the physical realm, creatures are creatures and symbols are symbols; in the spiritual realms, creatures are symbols and symbols are creatures.

What this means is that when you go to sleep and you dream of a creature, such as a lion, or snake, or whatever, those creatures are observed to be symbols of strength, or rejuvenation, etc. If I were to dream of a dark, grasping creature of fire and earth, I might interpret that as representing a fear within my subconscious mind, making itself manifest in my dreams.

See as magic-users, we understand that in our dreams, we enter that strange mental-emotional copy of our own world that New Agers and Neopagans refer to as the “Astral Plane”. The Astral Plane is a close copy of our physical realm, but it is influenced by the consciousness of everyone around us, and it is highly malleable, so that the mental and emotional states of everyone from our neighbors, to our world leaders, to our cat, to the African violet we let die in 4th grade can and do influence its form.

So what does all this mean in reference to magic? Well let’s take a look back at the monster I described above. Now according to our rule, that creature can act as a symbol of my own fear (“creatures are symbols”), and because it can act as a symbol, then it is also something that I— as a magician— can interact with (“symbols are creatures”). So I might put myself into the mental-emotional state necessary to influence the astral realms, conjure said monster, and then inscribe the banishing pentagram of fire (a symbol, and therefore a weapon) in the air before the creature. By the laws governing its own existence, the monster is bound to obey me.

This law translates to nearly every form of spellcrafting that one can think of. Consider the tools that we use, for example. The wand is often considered an extension of the magician’s power, a physical tool that carries the symbol of magic as it passes through the astral plane. Herbs and stones carry with them the associations of relaxation, of wealth, of protection that we have placed on them since the dawn of time. Love magic can be represented by Venus, and Venus can be represented by the color green, and the color green can relate back to the energy centers at the heart on the spiritual body. We choose candles, cords, herbs, stones, spellcasting times, spirits to evoke and invoke, hand motions, even what words we use in our incantations in order to manipulate a universe of symbology. Every great magical lineage uses this simple rule to create complex symbolic systems, which can then be deciphered by the magical adept. But at its core, it really is the root of magic: the manipulation of symbols.

[quietjustice]

Witchcraft Alexander Rothaug (1870-1946)

[quietjustice]

Nigel Jackson, Diana · Herodias · Lilith

[quietjustice]

Darksome night and shining Moon, Hearken to the Witches’ rune, East then South, West then North, Here come I to call Thee forth.

By all the powers of land and sea, Be obedient unto me. Wand and Pentacle and Sword, Hearken ye unto my word.

Cords and Censer, Scourge and Knife, Waken all ye into life. Powers of the Witches’ Blade, Come ye as the charge is made.

Queen of Heaven, Queen of Hell, Send your aid unto the spell. Horned Hunter of the night, Work my will by magic rite.

By all the powers of land and sea, As I do say, “So mote it be.” By all the might of Moon and Sun, As I do will, it shall be done.

—-

Witches’ Chant

Doreen Valiente  1922-1999

—-

Graphic - Gerald Brom  (B.1965)

[quietjustice]

sekhmet arises from the sea to say howdy (digital, 2023)

#sekhmet