Most of the time, I believe that bad things just happen. Not every misfortune is a product of the evil eye or a malefic spirit but part of the natural flux of life that keeps a necessary, healthy, wavering sort of balance. Rarely, however, I do find that something else seems to be at work. This can happen when a shift or transformation happens -- a birth, a death, moving house -- creating liminal times and spaces that make everything within its sphere more vulnerable (and desirable) to misery-making things. Scarlet Magdalene recently published a helpful guide on Patheos Pagan for deciding whether or not someone has been cursed or hexed; I recommend checking it out and giving it a good think if this sounds like your situation.
As I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I recently bought an old house in the mountains. Two months later, we still haven’t been able to really move in. January was a series of large and small disasters, expenses, inconveniences, and illnesses. It's almost comical, except that we’re so tired and overwhelmed and almost broke from it all.
I love to use ordinary every day ingredients and items from my kitchen cupboards for magical workings, it makes perfect sense to me to utilise things I already have without the need to spend a lot of money or order expensive and exotic items from thousands of miles away.
The first recorded find of a witches’ ladder was in 1886 during the repairs of an old house in Somerset, England. Within the roof space they found a pile of broomsticks, an old chair and a length of braided cord, with a loop at one end and lots of cockerel feathers threaded through the braid.
The hearth. The center of the home, the center of domestic life. For our ancestors, it was where food was made, stories were shared, textiles were crafted and mended. Eminent scholar of medieval traditions and folklore Claude Lecouteux writes: "Hearth is a generic term for designating the place where fire burns. The hearth can mean different things depending on the era and the region; it ranges from the simple fire pit of primitive dwellings to the more modern earthenware and cast-iron stove, and includes the open chimney, the fireplace, the oven, or the furnace" (The Tradition of Household Spirits, 69). So when I refer to the hearth, I mean the place where the fire dwells and provides warmth and sustenance.
Lots of plants have thorns on them; roses, brambles and blackthorn spring to mind and these thorns can be used for magic. Think about what a thorn does, they are protection for the plant, they guard it against predators and they are sharp and defensive. They can pierce, they can cut and they can draw blood.
Folk lore says that blackthorn thorns were always used to curse but folklore says a lot of things that we have since twisted around to our advantage but if that is the choice you make…thorns (any type) are very good for cursing and hexing spell work, rose thorns work especially well in affairs of the broken heart.
Anthony Gresham
I remember reading that the Romans were known for rejecting omens they didn't agree with. And making terrible mistakes when they defied the omens they...
Anthony Gresham
Pour a jar of mint tea over the stone. Step back two paces and set down the jar, bow twice, clap twice, bow once again. Say: "Thank you for your pre...
Jamie
Molly,Love the graphic.I kid you not. Many years ago, I was outside reading a book during a break at work. A crow feather fell out of the sky and land...
Anthony Gresham
Thank you for your review. I still don't think I'll go to the theater for this one, but it sounds like one I can record later in the year and actuall...
