Tag: Ancient Egypt

Put the Dead to Work Spell (1)

 

Put the Dead to Work Spell (1)

 

An extremely ancient metaphysical practice that still survives revolves setting the dead onto somebody. Recorded practice goes back to ancient Egypt. Technically, one is merely requesting assistance from the deceased over a specific situation, problem or person. However, there is an inherent intimidation factor involved with receiving a visitation from beyond the grave: frequently there’s an element of something akin to calling in thugs to work over your enemy.

 

A trip to the cemetery is not required. If you know whose assistance you need, an altar maybe erected at home, so that you may discreetly request personal aid.

 

1. The minimum offering is a white candle plus either a glass of spring water or Spirit Water.

 

2. The altar may also be personalized so as to strongly attract the person whose assistance you seek: offer a favorite libation or meal. Set out photographs or objects that will beckon attention.

 

3. Write a brief, clear, concise statement of our desire on a piece of brown paper.

 

4. Place this within a conjure bag, together with graveyard dirt and seven coffin nails.

 

5. Carry this with you, retain it in a safe place in your home or bury it in Earth immediately.

 

6. If and when your petition is granted, bury the bag in Earth.

 

Magick Staff

Magick Staff

 
General History
A magik staff has many names; a spirit staff, a walking stick, a travelers weapon, a weary wanderers companion. It has been used as a carved record of ones long journey, a symbol of authority, a support for an exhausted traveler and a weapon. It’s an extension of one’s own arms and reach; as a pole to vault over creeks, or a deep ditch. Travelers used the staff to carry their traveling packs over one shoulder, or heavy loads across both their shoulders. It’s been used to defend against attack, or even to gain an upper hand in a battle.
In the Orient, many peasants were band from possessing weapons. But developed methods and learned how to use their common every day tools in lethal ways for both protection and battle. The staff is one of these many weapons and is used in various forms of martial arts.
In ancient Egypt, the staff can be seen in the hands of various royals, and politicians. Many hieroglyphs depict people of importance walking with a thin staff. Some topped with additional symbology to define the importance of the person or the office that person held within Pharaohs realm. It’s also a symbol of authority to Pharaoh. And can be found in his hand with a decorative head piece. Often a symbol representing an Egyptian God, such as Isis.
There are many Biblical references to the staff as well. The mostly commonly known of these is the staff given to Moses to rule over the snakes and desert. Later used in Pharaohs palace to swallow up the snakes of Egypt, laid upon the Nile to curse the waters and to part the sea so that Israel could escape Pharaoh’s chariots. The staff with hook on the top is often associated with the shepherd, and the ‘every-man’ or children of God. Again showing how a headpiece can define the position of the bearer.
Keeping a record of events in the carvings of a staff can be traced to the ancient Norsemen. Carving runes to tell a story or tale along it’s shaft was a practical and common practice amongst these travelers. It was also used to “skor” numerical information for the length of a measurement, a journey or trade. This method actually carried into modern day and we use it to keep ‘score’ during a game. This method of carving isn’t unique to the Norse however.
Celtic Shamans used a staff as both a symbol of authority, leadership and as a tool for spiritual journey. Often carved with mystical symbols, Celtic runes, or animals. These were the Shamans tool to help guide the path of his/her workings as well as the clan they administered too.
Druids used carvings as a method to record stories of the Gods, the history of Ireland and mythical tales of beasts and magik.
Native American Shamans also used their staves to record tales. We might think of a totem pole as a large example; but the same type of totem carvings can be found in smaller versions too. From tall walking sticks to smaller talking sticks. These were used to record a journey or a great battle.
In all of these various cultures, a staff is often decorated as well as carved. Topped with the antlers of a deer, decorated with leather, feathers and/or stones or beads. The staff is unique to it’s owner and their position in the world. Giving special meaning to that person’s life and their usage of the staff.
Today you can find many different types of staves. From spiritual usages to simple walking sticks of a hiker. Some Craft traditions require a person to be initiated as a priest/priestess before creating or possessing a staff. Other traditions see the staff as a tool used upon one’s journey into the spiritual world or as a tool to help guide your steps along the spiritual path. Personally I think if you want a staff and feel connected to this kind of tool; then make or find yourself one.

Making Your Own Staff

It’s important to note that you don’t have to make your own staff. You can easily find a woodcarver who has created some beautiful works of art and purchase one. Take it home and decorate it as you desire. I have both home made staves and purchased ones. My most favorite was purchased and decorated by me at home. So in some way’s it’s a combination of both.
A staff is typically made from wood. Depending on what energies you want to associate with your staff will depend on which wood you choose. There have many different types to choose from. Oak and Ash are the most commonly used on the pagan paths. Because of their spiritual reference to these two trees. But white pine, maple and apple are also popular choices.
But consider some other interesting alternatives. An Osage Orange tree (found around the US), is a beautiful light colored wood that gets darker as it ages, until it turns black. Crape Myrtle is a lovely white and very hard wood, and makes a wonderful staff material.
Sometimes the best way to choose a staff is to take a long walk through the woods and ask the GreatSpirits to guide you to the staff that’s meant for you. Be it fallen from a tree; a branch off a living tree, or a young tree just starting it’s growth. In either case; make sure you ask permission from the tree to have this gift; and thank the tree spirit and your guides for giving itself or part of itself to you. If you choose a stick that has fallen; make sure it’s not rotten or infested with bugs.
Take your staff home and clean it up. Decide if you’re going to peal off the bark or leave it natural. Set it aside for about 30 to 60 days in a dry place. A shed or in the corner of the garage are often good places. Lay it or hang it flat; don’t stand it on one end. You want it to dry out evening.
After it’s dry, the hard part begins. What are you going to do with it? You can carve one end as a head piece. You can take it to a wood crafter and ask them to carve a head piece like the one pictured here on the left. You can carve runes into the sides. You can decorate the staff with feathers or fur, leather, silk ribbons, yarn, beads, and just about anything else you find an association with. You can brand or burn runes or personal sigils in the shaft as well.
If you use a metal or stones to decorate your wand, make sure you understand the properties of that item on the wand. Just like wood, metals and stones have their own magikal traits as well.
Or you can even just leave it plain in it’s natural beauty. Nothing wrong with nature, or being minimal. The two staves pictured here (the wolf and the hawk) belong to my husband and myself. I decorated the wolf with leather, feathers, beads and shells consistent with a Celtic Shaman’s view. Where as my husband decided to leave his staff plain and simple. So it’s really up to you which way you decide to go.

 

Consecration

Many people like to cleanse their staff before they work on it. Others perform a ritual and bring the staff into a circle before any carving or decorating is done. These two methods allow you to clear the energy of the staff from sitting around outside, in the garage or store. And to add or imprint your own energies upon the wood. It’s also a chance to have your guides and the Gods/Goddesses come to work with you in the creation or decoration of the staff.
These methods are by no means set in stone. You can work on the wood and decorations and then take the staff into circle for clearing and cleansings. No matter which way you chose; the last thing you should do before actually using your staff is a consecration ritual. You want to imprint your desired use for this tool upon all the elements of the tool.
For instance, if this is to be used as your guide on the spiritual path of knowledge and experiences; and your staff has an animal headpiece; you might ask the GreatSpirits to give spiritual sight to your wolves eyes; or your hawks vision so that they might guide your steps upon your spiritual journey. When you take your staff out; you can imagine the gaze of your animal helping you to see the direction you should take, and the decisions you have to make.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Three

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Three

 

Stage 3: Raising or increasing the power

This is the most active and powerful part of the spell, and involves building up the speed and intensity of the action you started in stage 2.

Raising the power is especially easy out of doors as you connect, especially if barefoot or wearing thin-soled shoes, with the natural spiraling energies or straighter ley flows beneath the earth.

Grass or sand near a river or seashore is also energized by the water flow, especially around the week of the new and full moons. On a safe beach you can dance through the shallows.

There are many ways of raising power, limited only by your imagination. When working alone and in a potent natural setting, perhaps at a power time like sunrise, you will sing, away or move quite without prompting or run along the beach or through long grass round in circles or spirals like a dog let off the leash. Watch children playing for inspiration.

Most effective is a combination of words or sound and movement in such a way that your conscious mind is carried along by the power, like riding a carousel when everything blues except for the music. The purpose of this stage is not only to empower the symbol but also to empower yourself, since you are the vehicle to carry the magickal energies from the thought (mental) and spiritual (astral) planes to actuality (earth). This is the same process used by shamans to trigger their out-of-body or out-of-everyday consciousness.

Enchant the symbol with a pair of lighted incense sticks, one held in each hand, a few centimeters/an inch above the symbol. Move the right one clockwise and the left on anticlockwise. Move them faster and faster and chant faster and faster in order to draw in all four elemental powers.

Increase the speed and intensity so the incense sticks cross and uncross over the symbol. As you move the sticks rhythmically, recite your elemental chant continuously.

Alternatively you can move your wand clockwise in flourishes or a spiral, a smudge stick in your power hand in huge circles allowing it to dictate its own pathway and shapes. You can move the other hand anticlockwise in rhythm if you want.

A very simple chant is:

Air, water, fire earth,

Bring, I ask, this wish to birth.

 

You can continue over and over again at increasing intensity and speed, adding variants or weaving your own simple four- or five-word chants, around the natural surroundings and the elemental associations.

Other spells chant include goddess names, the most popular being Isis, Astarte (Ass tart-ay), Diana, Hecate (Hekart tay), Demeter (Dem eat-er), Kali (Karly) and Innana (In-arn-a).

Isis is the Ancient Egyptian mother Goddess; Astarte is the supreme female divinity of the Phoenicians, Goddess of love and fertility, associate with the moon and all nature; Diana, the Graeco-Roman Goddess of the moon and hunt and queen of the witches; Hecate, the Ancient Greek Crone Goddess of the underworld and waning moon; Demeter, the Ancient Gree Corn mother; Kali, the Hindu creatrix/destroyer Goddess and Innana, the Sumerian fertility Queen of Heaven and Earth Goddess in the Middle East area of modern Iraq. Feel free to substitute your own goddesses/gods.

You could instead move round and round the altar or circle, chanting and clapping, while stepping, stamping or whirling and twirling. Sufi spiritual whirling dancing has been eagerly adopted by the New Age as a way of altering consciousness. Trust your feet to follow the spirals of the Earth energies.

You can add the beat of a hand drum using your hand or a striker or use a tambourine. We can all play these, without training or a natural ear for more formal music. Just let your hands and feet set the beat and if you chant along they all harmonize. The simpler and more repetitive words and actions, the better.

Move and chant until you feel that the power has reached its height, like revving a car with the hand brake on or a plane whose wheels are starting to life off the tarmac.

Through visualization, individuals and groups can create a cone of power with the circle as the base, picturing a mass of stars or swirls of rainbow light collecting a light cone above you. Imagine the cone getting higher and brighter as the apex gets taller and the cone denser with rainbow light. As you swirl you may even see it.

When the psychic power peaks in intensity it is released through the apex as shooting stars. Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a firework display.

The Power of Words in Spellcasting

The Power of Words in Spellcasting

We already know, words have the power to heal, to express love, to praise and to comfort and negatively to hurt or criticize.

In magick, words spoke deliberately and rhythmically are one of the most significant ways to build the energies in a spell.

In Ancient Egyptian magick, the basis for modern magick, one of the major creation myths tells how Ptah the creator God, thought the world in his mind and then created it by speaking magical words or hekau. The generative power he used was called Heka, which is also the name of the God of magick. This power is equivalent to the concentrated life force. In some versions of the myth it is Heka himself who speaks the words that give form to the thoughts of Ptah.

The Ancient Egyptians believed that this creation power animated every spell as it did at the first creation. So to the Ancient Egyptians ever act of magick was a recreation of that first act of world creation, using words to bring thoughts into actuality.

Today We Honor The Goddess Nekhbet

The Goddess Nekhbet

In Egyptian mythology, Nekhbet (also spelt Nechbet, and Nekhebit) was an early predynastic local goddess who was the patron of the city of Nekheb, her name meaning of Nekheb. Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron deities for all of Ancient Egypt when it was unified.

She was seen as a goddess who had chosen to adopt the city, and consequently depicted as the Egyptian white vulture, a creature that the Egyptians thought only existed as females (not knowing that, lacking sexual dimorphism, the males are identical). They were presumed to be reproducing via parthenogenesis.

Egypt’s oldest oracle was the shrine of Nekhbet at Nekheb, the original necropolis or city of the dead. It was the companion city to Nekhen, the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of the Predynastic period (c. 3200–3100 BC) and probably, also during the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BC). The original settlement on the Nekhen site dates from Naqada I or the late Badarian cultures. At its height, from about 3400 BC, Nekhen had at least 5,000 and possibly as many as 10,000 inhabitants.

The priestesses of Nekhbet were called muu (mothers) and wore robes of Egyptian vulture feathers.

Later, as with Wadjet, Nekhbet’s sister, became patron of the pharaohs, in her case becoming the personification of Upper Egypt. The images of these two primal goddesses became the protecting deities for all of Egypt, also known as the “two ladies” and one of the titles of each ruler was the Nebty name, which was associated with these goddesses and beginning as [s/he] of the Two Ladies… with the remainder of that title.

In art, Nekhbet was depicted as the white vulture (representing purification), always seen on the front of pharaoh’s double crown along with Wadjet. Nekhbet usually was depicted hovering, with her wings spread above the royal image, clutching a shen symbol (representing infinity, all, or everything), frequently in both of her claws. As patron of the pharaoh, she was sometimes seen to be the mother of the divine aspect of the pharaoh, and it was in this capacity that she was Mother of Mothers, and the Great White Cow of Nekheb.

The vulture hieroglyph was the uniliteral sign used for the glottal sound (3) including words such as mother, prosperous, grandmother, and ruler. In some late texts of the Book of the Dead, Nekhbet is referred to as Father of Fathers, Mother of Mothers, who hath existed from the Beginning, and is Creatrix of this World.

When pairing began to occur in the Egyptian pantheon, giving most of the goddesses a husband, Nekhbet was said to become the wife of Hapy, a deity of the inundation of the Nile. Given the early and constant association of Nekhbet with being a good mother, in later myths she was said to have adopted children.

Wikipedia

 

Today We Honor The Goddess Nephthys

The Goddess Nephthys

In Egyptian mythology, Nephthys is a member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis, a daughter of Nut and Geb. Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and as the sister-wife of Seth.

Nephthys is regarded as the mother of the funerary-deity Anubis(Inpu) in some myths.  Alternatively Anubis appears as the son of Bastet or Isis.

Nephthys was known in some ancient Egyptian temple theologies and cosmologies as the “Useful Goddess” or the “Excellent Goddess”. These late Ancient Egyptian temple texts describe a goddess who represented divine assistance and protective guardianship.

Less well understood than her sister Isis, Nephthys was no less important in Egyptian Religion as confirmed by the work of E. Hornung, along with the work of several noted scholars.

As the primary “nursing mother” of the incarnate Pharaonic-god, Horus, Nephthys also was considered to be the nurse of the reigning Pharaoh himself. Though other goddesses could assume this role, Nephthys was most usually portrayed in this function. In contrast Nephthys is sometimes featured as a rather ferocious and dangerous divinity, capable of incinerating the enemies of the Pharaoh with her fiery breath.

New Kingdom Ramesside Pharaohs, in particular, were enamored of Mother Nephthys, as is attested in various stelae and a wealth of inscriptions at Karnak and Luxor, where Nephthys was a member of that great city’s Ennead and her altars were present in the massive complex.

Nephthys was one of the few national goddesses to serve as tutelary deity of her own district, or nome, in Ancient Egyptian history. Upper Egyptian Nome VII and its city, Hwt-Sekhem, were considered (at least by Greco-Roman times) to be the domain of Nephthys.

http://www.wikipedia.org

ANIMALS IN WITCHCRAFT

ANIMALS IN WITCHCRAFT

ANIMALS IN WITCHCRAFT-ANIMALS ON TRIAL

Witches and Cats

Locust on Trial

The Animals of Salem

The Animals of Finnish Witchtrials

The Trials of Familiars

Familiars of the Chelmesford witches
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WITCHES AND CATS

“The rise of Christianity in Europe heralded a fundamental shift in attitudes to
cats. During the Middle Ages, the cat’s links with the ancient, pagan cult of
the mother goddess inspired a wave of persecution that lasted several hundred
years. Branded as agents of the Devil, and the chosen companions of witches and
necromancers, cats, especially black ones, were enthusiastically tortured and
executed during Christian festivals all over Europe. It was also believed that
witches disguised themselves as cats as a means of traveling around incognito,
so anyone encountering a stray cat at night felt obliged to try and kill or maim
the animal. By teaching people to associate cats with the Devil and bad luck,
it appears that the Church provided the underprivileged and superstitious masses
with a sort of universal scapegoat, something to blame for all of the many
hardships and misfortunes of life. Fortunately for cats, such attitudes began
to disappear gradually during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with the
dawn of the so-called Age of Enlightenment. However, not until the middle of
the nineteenth century did cats eventually begin to regain the popularity they
once enjoyed in Ancient Egypt.”

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LOCUST ON TRIAL

The discussion so far has put me in mind of a terrific book I once read on
European animal trials, which were conducted up until I think the 17th century.
One example especially pertinent to the topic at hand: if a plague of
caterpillars or locusts or whatever infested an area, the local legal community
would put the swarm on trial. A locust would be captured and taken to the
courthouse. It would become the “defendant” , and would in effect stand-in for
the whole swarm. The trial would be conducted with all pomp and circumstance,
with a lawyer appointed to represent the swarm and etc. There were a number of
standard defensive strategies, and sometimes the swarm was even judged innocent
if their lawyer was especially able. If judged guilty, however, the locusts
were ordered to get out of town. If the infestation abated, the trial was given
credit. If the infestation continued, this does not appear to have been seen as
an argument against conducting animal trials in the future. I trust the
resemblance to the raindance ceremony is fairly clear here.

The author of the book (I cannot recall the title or author; I remember that it
was published in the early 1900s and the cover shows a reproduction of an old
print, portraying the public execution of a pig by hanging) argues that such
trials are an attempt by the human community to intervene in the natural order,
to exert its will over the world. I think this is a pretty insightful comment.

“Exerting human will over the world” could serve as a definition of the goal
of science. Bacon sometimes describes science as the human “conquest” of
nature, and certainly many modern critiques of science (feminist, for example)
have taken this to be the self-defined goal of scientific inquiry. I’m not
arguing for the ultimate truth of this particular position, but on the other
hand if you look at things along these lines than certain aspects of religious
and scientific thought seem to be closely related, at least in their purpose.
Bacon’s studies of heat are supposed to yield a (universal) process for making
heat, the shaman leading a raindance is trying to make it rain, the animal trial
is an attempt to bring the plague to an end etc.

Note that the various rituals used for bringing about these interventions don’t
have to work very well in each case for the ritual to be accepted within the
community. The community may simply accept that human powers are limited in
what they can accomplish. I believe that within alchemical studies this was a
common view; even if all the processes were carried out correctly, you might
still not create gold from lead or whatever, and in fact usually would not.
Note also that the ritual might have multiple functions within the community.
The rain-dance both be used for bringing rain and bringing about group
solidarity. These are not mutually exclusive. Again, I have read something
similar with respect to alchemical procedures; that the alchemist “purifying”
metals with his various tools is also going through a process of spiritual
purification. And certainly the animal trial, even if it does not drive out the
infestation, makes the community feel better. The community is “doing
something” about its situation, even if its acts are ineffective.

I also like the animal trial example because it muddies the waters here in
interesting ways. The conversation to date has concerned itself with
comparing/contrasting religious/scientific thought. Yet here we see legal
institutions using their procedures in a way that suggests a religious ritual.
Conversations on the distinctions/similarities between legal and religious
thought, and legal and scientific thought, would also be good to have.

************************************************************
THE ANIMALS OF SALEM

Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 by Bernard Rosenthal Cambridge
University Press 1993

p.18 John Hughes, while testifying about seeing beast transform into Sarah
Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, also mentions that on March 2 “a great white
dog followed him and then disappeared, and then that night in bed he saw a great
light and a cat at the foot of his bed.” (from Narratives of the WC Cases 1648-
1706 ed. G. LO. Burr)

p.21 Tituba’s testimony included many animals…black dog/hog/man/yellow bird
told her to serve him; yellow bird was accompanying Sarah Good (who had already
given accusers legitimacy); also said she saw a cat with Good on other occasions

p.22 T. saw 2 cats, black and red. “What did the cats do? Tituba did not
know. Had the cats hurt or threatened her? They had scratched her. What had
they wanted of her? They had wanted her to hurt the children. They had forced
her to pinch the children. Did the cats suck Tituba? No, she would not let
them.”

p.82 Bridget Bishop (owner of shuffle-board and cider teenage hangout) was
testified against by Wonn, slave of John Ingerson. He “told a story of
frightened horses, the vanishing shape of B.B. (at the time B. Oliver), the
appearance of an unknown cat, and mysterious pinchings and pain.”

p.124 Martha Carrier: 7 yr. old daughter Sarah was induced to confess that “a
cat, identifying itself as M. C., had carried Sarah along to afflict people when
her mother was in prison.”

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THE ANIMALS OF FINNISH WITCHTRIALS

I have studied over 1200 finish witch trials 1520-1700 (with PD Marko Nenonen)
and there is a certain role of animals. “Para” was a small “cat-like” animal,
used to steal milk and a butter called cow lucky especially in swedish
speaking west coast in Finland. The “Para” was not found out by judges, but it
had a long folk tradition. There are many examples where a neighboug was
accusing another by stealing “butter lucky” with “para”.

“Para” is just the same “trollcat” as it was in Sweden and Norway. You can
find “Para” in court protocolls in western part (Swedish speaking part) in
Finland (1520-1600), but not in finnish speaking parts on the country. So
“Para” can’t be shamanistic (Lappland) phenomenom, but it surely is known all
parts of Scandinavia.

As time goes, You could find “Para” in finnish speaking areas too, but in in
1500-1700. So we have learned it from swedish speaking people.

But, as we are dealing with animals, you can find other animals than “trollcat”
too. We have cases with “trolldog” which I mean the Devil with a shape of a
dog. Some of our accused had meet the devil with a shape of a dog (and a coat).

We have at least one case with a “metapmorphose”, where people have been accused
of being “werewolves”. In Estonia the tradition of those being wolves in night
time was strong. There were many cases like that.

I think, the idea of “trollcats” is not shamanistic, it is surely
Scandinavian!

There is quite a lot of articles abou “Para” (Trollcat) but only few of them
would be available in english.

But, there is one point we have to keep in mind. People were ACCUSED of having
“Para” and they were CONVICTED to using witchcraft, but they were never
CONVICTED TO HAVING PARA! The matter of trial was not, is there really
animal shaped “butter stealing” para, but it was a question of practicing
witchcraft or superstition!

In Scandinavia we have very old “lore”, written by one historian about
1200-1300, were a man was killed by “Mara” (bad dream animal?) because he had
not kept his promise to his Finnish wife.

Another instance of using “para”, other than trying have luck in stealing
butter, was a “Finnish way” to use a bear as a helper for killing someone’s
cattle. People believed that some (almost always a man) people had ability to
force bears to kill enemy’s horse or cattle. But I have no idea, if the
bear wanted some price of it’s doings (nourishment or protection).

Even in the oldest witch trials (before people had any idea about satanistic
pact with devil) witches were believed to use some animals as a helper of their
maleficium. So, this belief must be older than the christian theory of pact.

The bear cases seems to be common way to do harm among finnish speaking
people. In some rare cases the helper was a wolf. In some cases (1670s) the
helper was a dog, but it seems that the dog was not really an animal, but it was
a Devil with a shape of a dog.

Some ladies used cows (or even a pig) to ride to “Bl=E5kulla” (the Sabbath),
but those animals were usually “borrowed” for some neighbour and they
were not acting like a helper – they were forced to do so.

Lapplanders who had long shaman traditions used to use “animal spirit
helpers” to do things, but they were not accused of forcing real animals to do
any harm, as far as I know.

There is one big difference between using a “Para” and a bear. “Para” was
supernatural familiar, but bears were really acting animals whom could be
seen. Damage made by para was a loss of butter or milk lucky, but a damage made
by bear was real. Anyone could see the damage.

In some cases there was so called “tonttu” (tomptegubben or rgubbe in
swedish). They were not used as helpers, but You should give them some
presents for getting rid of harms they could do. People believed, that
“tonttu” was living in particular place and people living in same area were
disturbing the tonttu. So You had to do something to keep tonttu in good
mood. Tonttu was spiritual, because no one had never catch one. Tonttu was
not an animal, but small human kind of creature.

Then there was “Nekki” or “Nacken”. It was a creature living in lakes and
killing people by taking them under the water. Nekki was not a real animal and
it did not acted like a helper for anyone – it did what it wanted to do.

First little more about “para”. The belief of “para” helping to steal cows
must be very old, because in one finnish church there is a painting of para.
The painting is older than the belief that a Witch have a pact with the devil,
the devil then giving a “spiritum” to a helper for the witch (This belief
was not known in Finland until 1660s.)

Secondly, I think too, that a witch-hare (para)is common in Sweden. Probably
Finnish speaking people have borrowed in from Sweden, because there are
no witch-hares in our oldest mythology as far as I know. The witch-hare (para)
was mentioned in trials some times in the Swedish speaking area of Finland
(west coast), but not in Finnish speaking Karelia, suggesting it is borrowed.

Thirdly, I have to check my papers to find out is there any “pet
connection” in finnish witch trials, but without doing so I can’t remember
any cases where pet animals had some part of being helpers and neither did PhD
Marko Nenonen as we discussed today.

But I could find at least one case where a man was killed by his own dog. The
victim, Antti Yrjonpoika Paivikainen, was a customer of famous witch Antti
Lieroinen who did all kinds of maleficium for salary. After their contact
Paivikainen was found dead and the cause for that was his own dog. So
Lieroinen was thought to cause the death by using victim’s own dog to kill
him. This was not proved, but Lieroinen was executed for other witchcraft
he had done. This happend in 1643.

Fourthly, 27.3.1641 witch Erkki Juhonpoika Puujumala (“Treegod”) was convicted
in Turku Supreme Court. He was sentenced to death for many reasons – for
killing people with witchcraft etc. He has had an arguement with other
people and he had said that he was going change those people into wolves with
his maleficium. This was not proved to happen, but it was one prosecution among
many. By the way, Treegod said that he was 120 years old.

Fifthly, we have some cases where a witch has used a snake to do some crime.
One witch argued with his wife and then separated. Later that ex-wife get
pregnant from a snake, and later gave birth to some snakes. In one another
case the snake had gone inside of a woman (and they used a lappish healer to
try to get it out).

Snakes had also a strong part of shamanism, but I don’t know what really was
the function of shamans snake-shape belongings(??instruments??). Finnish
folkloristics seem to believe that the snake was for the shamans protection.

We had few cases where a snake’s head was used by magical meanings.

Sixthly, in 1732 court was dealing with a case, where Lauri
Heikinpoika Tervo accused his neighbor “of sending a bird with fire on its
head (nose)” to burn his house, which burned. Due to losses of protocols, we
don’t know how the case was handled, but I’m sure the court did not find
neighbor guilty. Birds have been known to used to carry fire in saami
tradition (says finnish folklorist Aune Nystrom).

Seventhly, we have found one case where a woman gave birth to some frogs, and
one case where a frog was put in a box and buried inside of a church. The box
was just like those boxes they used with human bodies.

Eigth, we have a case where they used a fish to heal sick person. The idea was
that the “Grande mal” (falling sickness) would be moved from people to fish.
So they did it, but unfortunately one innocent person touched the fish and
got himself sick. And of course the sickness was grande mal.

Ninth, I have a strong feeling, that finnish courts did not tried to found out
if the accused had animal helper or not. The law mentioned nothing about
animal imps or spirituals, so they were not needed as evidence. Maleficium
was maleficium and it could be proofed without any animal helpers or spirits.

10th According the old folk tradition the bear will not harm the cattle if
one takes a blind puppy dog and buries it with some rites in the land on area,
where the bear lives. But I have no evidence that this has ever been done.

11th In Finland was believed, that milking others cow, would steal not only
the milk but the further milk lucky too. I think this believe is common in
whole Scandinavia.

12th A bear could be sent to harm neighbour’s cattle. But at least in one
case (1746) shows, that it could also to sent back to harm the original witch.

13th I have no reason to believe that the animal (exept the bear or wolf
sended to do harm) were real ones. If it was so that the helpers were
real pets, why they did not execute the pets too?

I think that the judges has sent the animals to death as they did with cases
where humans had sexual intercourse with animal. They executed both! One
reason to not to do so could be, that the animal was not “guilty” for anything
because it could not differ the right and the wrong from each other. But so
did the raped animal neither.

14th The worms. At least in one case the witch used worms to destroy a pig. He
used some magical technique and the victims pig get “full of worms” as they
found out when they slaughtered the sick pig. Worms could be sent to a human
being too.

15th The lycanthropy. Werewolves had no part of finnish trials, but they had
one in Estonia. Why? The Finnish people have common roots with Estonian
people and our languages are still guite similar. Our oldest pre-christian
religion is common, and there is no werewolves in that tradition, as
far as I know. So, where the estonians got the idea about werewolves? I
think that they have adopted it from germans. Estonia has been under
strong german influence, but Finland hasn’t. So, I believe, that they must
have copied the idea from German “Werewolffe”.

According Maia Madar (Estonia I: Werewolves and poisoners, in Early Modern
European Witchcraft ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Gustav Henningsen,
Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990).

“Belief in werewolves was widespread. At eighteen trials, eighteen women and
thirteen men were accused of causing damage while werewolves. At Meremoisa
1623, the defendant Ann testified that she had been a werewolf for four
years, and had killed a horse as well as some smaller animals. She had later
hidden the wolf skin under a stone in the fields.” (page 270)

Maia Madar tells other examples, too. And in one case where 18-year old Hans
had confessed that he had hunted as a werewolf for two years, “when asked
by the judges if his body took part in the hunt, or if only his soul was
transmuted, Hans confirmed that he had found a dog’s teeth-marks on his own
leg, which he had received while a werewolf. Further asked wether he felt
himself to be a man or a beast while transmuted, he told that he felt
himself to be beast.” (page 271)

Madar writes: “It was acknowledged that people could be transmuted not only
into werewolves, but also into bears.”

So as a lawyer I must ask why they were confessing that they were hunting as
werewolves in Estonia. The answer must be torture. Torture was widely
used in Estonia ecen it was under the Swedish jurisdiction, where torture was
forbidden.

16th The devil in a shape of a dog. All over the Scandinavia we had trials
where the accused said, that the devil they’ve met had a shape of a dog. Why
the dog? Danish witchhistorian Jens Christian V. Johanssen writes (in book
mentioned above), that the popular culture (peoples believes) borrowed ideas
for wall-paintings in the church.

“In Ejsing church, Christ is tempted in the desert by the devil – in the shape
of a ferocious-looking dog! Popular imagination was so vivid that on given
occasions the devil came to take his form”. (Johansen: Denmark: The
Sociology of Accusations in Early Modern European Witchcraft.. page 363-364).

Well, so and so. But surely the popular culture appointed ideas from elite’s
culture.

17th The shamanism. I have not specialised about shamanism, so I’ll now follow
the ideas that finnish shamanism expert Anna-Leena Siikala writes in her
book “Suomalainen samanismi” (Finnis Shamanism), Hameenlinna 1992.

Siikala writes about moving the demon from someone to another. In finnish
folklore it is usuall to remove a disease from patient to an animal or some
idol, like wooden puppet. This is common between Middle- and East-Siperia
shaman too. She remind, that even Jesus removed demon from a man to some
pigs. (page 187)

There is information about this kind of “removing” in German and Estonia
too. In Finland this was usually done by soothsaying, but this was not
common in Middle-Europe or Scandinavia.

Siikala guesses, that this habit has very old shamanistic roots and that the
churhes middle-age tradition has forced this old religion. (pages 188-189)

In these cases animals are shamans helpers and they carry the evil demon
away. Shamans (spiritual) animal helpers are also spyes, Shaman can send
them far away to collect information what is happening. Helpres also
carry the information from here to the “heaven”. “Because shamans helper
animal do not only to take the disease to themselves, but carry it to
“heaven” (or “to the other side” as shamans say), they are=20 not usuall
(real) animals” (page 191).

Siikkala says, that middle age church adopted these old ideas and they used
the idea to their rituals (to carry out demons).

Shamans used to call their helpers for instance by singing (and using the drum).
In my opinion it is surely understandable that shaman was all the time
demonstrating to the audience, that he has very important helpers.

The shaman uses his helpers to fight agains other shamans helpers, too. So
when shaman is healing a patent, he first find’s out where the disease has
become, and then force it to go back. If the disease is caused by demon, you
have to fight against demon. If it is caused by other shaman with his helpers,
so the helpers must fight together. (as Carlo Ginzburg’s “benandati” did).

The idea about shamans fighting together is old and it is common in Northern-
Asia, too. In Siperia tradition the fighning shamans could take a shape of
animals.

But I could not find any reason to believe that the helper animals were real
animals in Siikalas book either.

According to Joan’s Witch Pages they executed a dog in Salem Witch trials.
This is something I had not pointed out earlier. If they really executed the
dog, so I’ll have to reuse my argument: why they did not executed other
suspected “pets” too (if the “pet theory” is right)?

************************************************************

THE TRIALS OF FAMILIARS

One reason why they may not have executed pets is because the law assumed
that these creatures were supernatural beings – by definition. If the animals
had been captured, brought to court, examined by authorities, etc., it
would have been difficult to avoid the conclusion that the witch’s cat or dog
was, in fact, no different from any other cat or dog. In addition, according
to folklore, these animals could not be killed by ordinary means because they
were spirits. We have found one account, for example, of a suspected familiar (a
poodle dog called Boye, belonging to Prince Rupert) being killed by a silver
bullet fired by a ‘soldier skilled in necromancy’ at the battle of Marston
Moor in 1642. Also, perhaps it was assumed that the familiars would perish as
soon as the witch was executed, since they were assumed to depend on
her/him for nourishment (coincidently, of course, the animals probably didn’t
survive for long once their owners were incarcerated and executed). However,
I agree with you that the fate of these animals is somewhat mysterious. My
guess would be that the witch’s neighbours dealt with them swiftly and
discretely, but I have no evidence either way. I wasn’t aware of the Salem dog
execution but will now look into this. In the bestiality trials, the animals
were not generally executed as criminals. Rather they seem to have been
regarded as polluted creatures which might have a corrupting influence on public
morality if allowed to remain alive. Thus, there was a particular incentive to
identify these (real) animals and kill them.

——————————————————————————–

Seasons Of The Witch – Ancient Holidays (and some not so ancient!)

Seasons Of The Witch – Ancient Holidays (and some not so ancient!)

 

Blessing of the Grapes – In Armenia, the blessing of the Grapes takes place on the Sunday closest to the Assumption (they coincide this year). No grapes are eaten until today when they are taken to church to be blessed, then distributed to the churchgoers when they leave. Women named Mary have parties in vineyards or their homes (because this is considered their name day — as in many cultures, the saint’s day associated with your name is celebrated like a birthday). Spicer, Dorothy Gladys, The Book of Festivals, The Women’s Press 1937

 

Hera Thelkinia – On the 20th day of the lunar month of Metageitnion, the Greeks celebrated this festival in honor of Hera as Thelkinia, which some translate as the Charmer and others as the Enchanter.

 

Cat Nights -Someone thought that cats deserved their own month-long holiday after the Dog Days and decided that this was the starting date for it. Makes sense to me.

 

Portunalia – An obscure Roman festival associated with the harbor god Portunus, whose symbol was the key. He may have been a god of gates, or the keys that secure grain storehouses. Until AD 17, this was also the dedication day of Janus’s temple. Considering the value of stored grain, which is both food in winter and seed for spring, it makes sense that blessing the keys or transporting the grain to the storehouse at harvest time would become a sacred ritual.

 

China: FEAST OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS. Wide variety of offerings for those who died orphans, paupers or beggars & those who died far from home. Those lonesome & desolate souls may return to inhabit leaves & grasses, & spread plagues. If offerings are made, they may stay away.

Deity of the Day for August 16th is Seth

 

SETH

This is the brother of Osiris who destroyed him and dismembered his body in order to take his throne. He is the Dark Serpent aspect of the God. God of drought and storm, Lord of the Red Land (the desert). In Sanscrit the word “sat” means to destroy by hewing into pieces. In the myth of Osiris…it was Seth who killed Osiris and cut his body into fourteen pieces. But it may be significant that the word “set” is also defined as “queen” or “princess” in Egyptian. Au Set, known as Isis by the Greeks, is defined as “exceeding queen”. In the myth of the combat Seth tries to mate sexually with Horus; this is usually interpreted as being an insult. But the most primitive identity of the figure Seth, who is also closely related to the serpent of darkness known as Zet, and often refered to by classical Greek writers as Typhon, the serpent of the goddess Gaia, may once have been female, or in some way symbolic of the Goddess religion, perhaps related to the Goddess Ua Zit, “Great Serpent”, the cobra Goddess of Neolithic times. Lastly, there is a theory that is pure speculation on Seth’s battle with Horus. First, we look at Horus as a Solar Deity. Then, we look at Isis as being the Full Moon (as she is the Goddess of Magick). Next, if we consider that Seth was originally female, then it is easy (or just convenient) to assign him/her to the new moon. Put these together, and the story of Seth attempting to mate with Horus, and then taking his eye, may very well be a story of a solar eclipse.

Deity of the Day for June 9th is THOTH

Deity of the Day

THOTH

Also known as TAHUTI, TEHUTI, THOT
 

Well-known God with the head of an Ibis. He’s a good all-rounder for Arts, Science, Music, Astronomy, Speech and Letters. A good egg. Thoroughly recommended.

If ever a God was greater than great it was THOTH. In one translation his name is prefixed with the word ‘great’ no less than eight times. Thith may have helped to reduce the embarrathment cauthed by having a name that lookth like a lithp.

His resume seems too impressive to be true — but most of the facts speak for themselves. He is the master of time, mathematics, astronomy, readin’, writin’, ‘rithmatic — and almost anything else you can point a pair of dividers at.

365 days in a year? Thank THOTH (see AAH for the full story). 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night? Thank THOTH. Circles having 360 degrees? Thank THOTH.

His bestselling BOOK-OF-THE-DEAD is still in print and you will never be able to hitch-hike to Heaven on the Nile without it.

He does have his eccentricities — he sometimes likes to revert back to the good old OGDOAD days and appear as a baboon. Not just any old baboon, but one that could have written the complete works of Shakespeare before Shakespeare existed. (Now there’s an idea — it’s always been known that Shakespeare could hardly write his own name let alone spell it, so who really wrote all those plays that bearded scene-shifter claimed as his own?) In the custom of the times he chose the head of an Ibis with a fancy wig for those high-flying occasions.

Encouraging RA to call himself Top God left THOTH free to run just about everything without any fuss or hassle. Pocket calculators? THOTH used the whole firmament, available to all on a grand scale. Think Sky.

To make it easier, all the stars and planets required for calculation are associated with favorite Gods. Need to work something out via Sirius? Log in and have HATHOR guide you. Need the moon for phases, time or tides? Go to THOTH; he chose to be Top Moon God alongside his best buddy KHONSU.

Cool, modest, unflappable, and a brilliant arbitrator, THOTH has stood the test of time, time and time again. Full ticks and tocks to this tip-top God.

He was also known to Greek God geeks as Hermes Trismegistus, possibly to avoid talking with a lisp.

Your Charm for May 3 is The Heart Charm

Your Charm for Today
 
 

The Heart
 
Today’s Meaning:
A course of eventsthat cannot be altered has been set in motion within this aspect. Accept whatever happens in the near future and do not waste your time fretting about it–you can do nothing.

General Description:
This was a favourite charm in Egypt, worn in order to frustrate magiciains, sorcerers and evil wishers from bewitching the wearer and stealing the soul from the heart; for it was the general belief that if the sould left the heart, the boyd would soon fade away and perish. The ancient Egyptians also believed that, after death, the heart was taken, in the underworld, and weighed against the symbols of the law; if found perfect, it was restored to the body, which at once came to life againa dn enjoyed everlasting felicity