Podcast – Page 36 – New World Witchery – The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft

Podcast 54 – Raising a Magical Family

Summary

Tonight we look at raising children in a magical household and around a magical lifestyle. We also discuss negotiating the ‘spouse-space.’

Play:

Download: New World Witchery – Episode 54

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We reference several books and ideas, and manage to skip some we should have mentioned. Please check out the links below for more on this topic:

I mention and HIGHLY recommend Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona books, including the original Strega Nona, Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons, & Strega Nona’s Harvest. He also has a great collection of Mother Goose rhymes to check out.
I talk about how I’m currently terrifying my delighted four-year-old with Roald Dahl’s The Witches.
As an introduction to fairy tales, I recommend the Fairy tale collection from Golden Books, or learning the ones found on Sur La Lune’s website.
A beautiful and gentle film about living with magical companions is Hiyao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro. You can see a (shaky) clip of the “umbrella dance” I mentioned here.
Laine didn’t mention it, but her magical childhood was heavily influenced by F. H. Burnett’s The Secret Garden.
There are some great magical & craft-based children’s activity ideas in the Waldorf educational style found at the blog Alina’s Adventures in Homemaking.
I would definitely recommend scouting as a good introduction to nature & wonder for kids. Check out Spiral Scouts, the Pagan-friendly scouting group, or the more mainstream alternatives of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.
And of course, Laine takes much parenting inspiration from the aunts in Practical Magic.
In that vein, here is the Simply Recipes brownie recipe – for making brownies for breakfast.
You can’t go wrong with the wonderfully witchy and motherly Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom blog. For fun, open-spirited, and nature-oriented activity ideas, I highly recommend the blog At Home with Momma Skyla.

If you have feedback you’d like to share, email us or leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you!

Don’t forget to follow us at Twitter! And check out our shiny new Facebook page!

Keep an eye out for more info on the New Orleans Magical Meetup on Novemer 8-10, 2013! You can follow the official Facebook page, or watch the website for more details!

Finally, keep an eye out for Fifty-four Devils, Cory’s soon-to-be released expanded cartomancy guide! Should be available within a week or so!

Promos & Music

Title music: “Homebound,” by Jag, from Cypress Grove Blues. From Magnatune.

Promos:

Episode 54 – Raising a Magical Family

Episode 54 – Raising a Magical Family
Tonight we discuss raising kids around magic and in magical households. Plus we look at mixed faith marriages and the “spouse-space”
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)

Podcast 53 – Papisticall Charmes

Summary

Tonight we’re looking at the concept of “magical Catholicism,” or folk magic using Catholic symbols. We’ll have a couple of saint stories, a brief history of the traditions, and a bevy of practical applications.

Play:

Download: Episode 53 – Papisticall Charmes

Play:

-Sources-

Relevant blog posts (and podcasts) mentioned in this episode:

Blog Post 115 & 116 (Cursing Psalms)
Blog Post 122 (Bibliomancy)
Blog Post 134 (Brujeria & Curanderismo Intro)
Blog Post 135 (The Magical Catholic)
Blog Post 136 (Papisticall Charmes/More Catholic magic)
Blog Post 137 & 138 (Curandro Spells)
Blog Post 160, 161, & 176 (Saint Magic)
Podcast 34 (Biblical Magic)
Podcast Special (Magical Saints)

(All of these can be easily found by navigating to the “Magical Systems” resource page of the NWW site, then looking at the subheadings of ‘Curanderismo & Brujeria’ and ‘Other Magical Systems’)

Books worth seeking out on the topic:

Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft
Draja Mickaharic’s Magical Spells of the Minor Prophets, Spiritual Cleansing, & A Spiritual Worker’s Spell Book
Joshua Trachtenberg’s Jewish Magic & Superstition
A chapbook called The Magical Powers of the Holy Death
Chris Bilardi’s The Red Church and John G. Hohman’s Long Lost Friend
Curandero by Cheo Torres
Magical Powers of the Saints by Ray T. Malbrough
Denise Alvarado’s Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook
Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints, & Sages, by Judika Illes
Gerald Milne’s Signs, Cures, & Witchery
Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints
I didn’t mention it in the episode, but I’d HIGHLY recommend the new release The Conjure Workbook: Working the Root, vol.1, by Starr Casas—it’s conjure and rootwork, but heavily influenced by the author’s Catholicism and very useful stuff, to boot!

Other worthwhile resources:

Check out the Yahoo! Group Catholic Folk Magic
The site fisheaters.com which has several pieces of information that veer towards the esoteric which are worth checking out (such as “St. Anthony’s Brief” or “Holy Oils”) [A warning: this site is very traditional, and thus its viewpoints may be controversial; browse at your own risk]
I would highly recommend the Library Page of the Curious Curandera website, where you’ll find a number of free titles on magical Catholicism, including “How to Pray the Rosary,” “Saints and their Patronage,” and “Prayers for Different Needs.” There are a few (very good) pay titles, too, but it’s hard to beat the wonderful free texts. Her courses are marvelous, too!

Legends of St. Expedite come from http://saintexpedite.org/history.html and luckymojo.com/saintexpedite.html
The legend of Saint Charlene was adapted from an essay by Donna McGee Onebane (http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/CharleneRichard.html#tab2)

Special thanks to Listener “V” for your spells from Cartagena!

If you have feedback you’d like to share, email us or leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you!

Don’t forget to follow us at Twitter!

Promos & Music

Title music: “Homebound,” by Jag, from Cypress Grove Blues. From Magnatune.

Additional Music:

“Veni Creator Spiritus – Gregorian Chant” – performed by Coral Vertice – from archive.org
“St. Stephen” – live track performed by the Grateful Dead – from archive.org

Promos:

Episode 53 – Papisticall Charmes

A look at various Catholic folk magical practices from the New World.
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)

Podcast 52 – Fairies

Summary

In this episode, we’ll be talking about Fairies in the New World. We have an interview with author Signe Pike, a discussion about fairies in our personal lives, poetry, story, and song.

Play:

Download: New World Witchery – Episode 52

Play:

-Sources-

“The Fairies,” by William Allingham (introductory snippet from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory)
Some good authors to seek out for fairy tales and interpretation: Katharine Briggs, Marie Louise von Franz, Jack Zipes, Andrew Lang, Jakob & Wilhelm Grimm, Charles Perrault, Sheldon Cashdan, and Bruno Bettelheim.
Our lovely guest Signe Pike can be found at her website or on Facebook, and we highly encourage you to read her excellent book Faery Tale: One Woman’s Search for Enchantment in a Modern World.
The story “How to Tell Corn Fairies if you See ‘Em” comes from Carl Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories.

If you have feedback you’d like to share, email us or leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you!

Don’t forget to follow us at Twitter!

Promos & Music

Title music: “Homebound,” by Jag, from Cypress Grove Blues. From Magnatune.

Featured song: “The Mushroom Song,” by Tricky Pixie, from Mythcreants.

Incidental Music: “I Vo Bene,” by Shira Kamen, from Mistral. From Magnatune.

Episode 52 – Fairies

This episode focuses on fairies in the New World, plus we have an interview with Signe Pike.
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)

Podcast 51 – Magical Places

Podcast 51 – Magical Places

Summary

This time around, we’re looking at a variety of magical locations from legend, myth, and folklore. Plus we have the results of our Spring Lore Contest!

Play:

Download: Episode 51 – Magical Places
Play:

-Sources-

We draw much of our primary theme from Judika Illes’ Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft (and you can find a lot of that information in condensed form in Judika’s Weiser Field Guide to Witches).

Also:

Cory mentions Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, which is an excellent read if you like magical cemetery stories.
Laine cites the classic “Allegory of the Cave,” which is definitely worth a read.
We also mention the episode on “The Horned Women,” which involves a magical well.

We apologize for the echo effect in the first ten minutes of the show. It does go away and get better right around minute eleven.

If you have feedback you’d like to share, email us or leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you!

Don’t forget to follow us at Twitter!

Promos & Music
Title music: “Homebound,” by Jag, from Cypress Grove Blues. From Magnatune.

Promo 1- Inciting a Riot
Promo 2 – The iPod Witch

Episode 51 – Magical Places

Episode 51 – Magical Places
This show centers on a variety of magical locations from legend and folklore.
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)

Podcast 50 – Mountain Magic

Summary
Watch out for the Hill Witch! Today we look at magical lore from the mountains (Ozarks and Appalachians). We’ll have discussion, stories, and even some music!

Play:
Download: Episode 50 – Mountain Magic

-Sources-

Episode 50 – Mountain Magic

Episode 50 – Mountain Magic
This episode features a discussion on mountain magic, plus some folklore and music from the Appalachians.
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)