Episode 48 – Healing Magic

Episode 48 – Healing Magic
We discuss healing, magic, and medicine.
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)

Blog Post 170 – A Little Gift

Hi everyone!

I hope you’ve all had a festive holiday season and are looking forward to a fantastic 2013! I’m working hard on a number of projects at the moment, including new posts for the blog, getting new show topics and guests lined up, starting a New World Witchery contest, finishing a school project and an assignment for an academic journal, finding PhD programs, continuing work on any of the books I’ve got in the works (and looking for publishers for those books), planning out some second-half-of-the-year classes for my local magical group, keeping up with my reading list, learning a couple new languages (and refreshing my Spanish, too). Not to mention working a day job, being a father to two brilliant kids, and a husband to a very patient and very loving wife.

All of which is to say that life is very busy, but not so busy that I don’t decide to take on MORE crazy projects! (As a Gemini, having too many irons in the fire is par for the course, apparently). During the latter part of last year, I was listening to a conversation between Fire Lyte and Velma Nightshade on their joint podcast about the lack of witchy apps out there, and specifically how there isn’t anything that can integrate with their calendars like an almanac app. Well, I’m not a programmer of any kind, but I do know how to go through and use Outlook to generate iCal files, so I started working on something to fill that need. And here it is!

A Witch’s Calendar – iCal version for 2013 (Q1).

The calendar includes witchy holidays with lore, links, recipes, etc. I’ve included a number of the days I personally observe, and the full and new moons. Many of the links will bring you to the New World Witchery site for posts on the topics highlighted in the calendar alert, and some will send you to book recommendations, other sites with related lore and/or products, and so forth. For example, the calendar entry on New Year’s Day (which is when the whole thing starts…sorry for the delay in releasing it) includes a link to our entry on that day’s practices, a link to Sarah Lawless’ post on Hogmany, and a click-through to Lucky Mojo’s Chinese Wash, so you can start your year with a clean and lucky house.

It’s in a zip file, so please make sure that you can open those and that you know how to add an iCal file to your favorite calendar (a quick Google search will probably help you figure out how to do that).

I should point out a few caveats:

  • This is only for the first quarter of 2013. I’ll be working on getting other quarters up as soon as I can, but I wanted to get at least the first three months out there.
  • There may be one or two of these dates that have an entry with no links, or which are blank in some way. I’ll be correcting those in future versions.
  • It’s totally free and you can share it as much as you like, but please let folks know where you found it.

It’s sort of a New Year’s/Twelfth Night gift to y’all for being so spectacular, so I hope it’s useful to some folks out there. If someone out there is more technically gifted than I am and wants to undertake any improvements that integrate with this calendar, I’m a-okay with that. Just send me an email and let me know! And if you find this useful and all that, we’d certainly welcome donations to help support future work.

Here’s wishing you a very happy New Year! Thanks for all you’ve done for the show, and for being a spectacular audience!

-Cory

Blog Post 169 – A New Year, A New Contest!

Hi everyone!

If you’ve been following us on Twitter, you know we’ve passed some milestones recently and have been thinking of fun ways to celebrate. So what are we excited about?

  1. We just passed 666 followers on Twitter. Who doesn’t get excited about nefarious numbers?
  2. We’ve received over 100 reviews on iTunes, making us one of the top-reviewed magical/pagan shows there. Can we just say how much y’all rock for that?!?
  3. We’re entering our 4th season, which means we’ve got three years of New World Witchery under our belts!
  4. It’s a new year! Lucky 2013! What’s not to celebrate about that?!?
  5. Laine recently taught my wife and I how to play Cards Against Humanity. It’s sort of the cherry on the sundae of celebration we’ve got going on.

With all that cause for excitement, we thought it would be high time for a contest. We’re going to have a somewhat broader focus this year, and hopefully spend some time looking at spiritual and magical paths from places across the country, so in order to do that, we want some of your lore and magic! We’ve done this before for holiday lore, but this time around we want lore related to the following categories:

  • Love (example: “When your nose itches, someone wants to kiss you”)
  • Luck (example: “Babies born at 12:12 on 12/12/12 are considered extra lucky”)
  • Money (example: “An itch in your left palm means money’s coming your way soon”)
  • Health & Healing (example: “Putting a wad of chewing tobacco on a bee sting will stop the pain and heal it faster”)
  • Fortune-telling/Predicting the Future (example: “Monday’s child is fair of face…”)
  • Protection from Harm: (example: “Putting a piece of lightning-struck wood in your rafters will prevent storm damage and fires”)

Now, obviously, don’t use any of the ones from that list, but otherwise, it’s pretty much fair game what you want to send in. Each bit of lore gets you an entry in the contest. Just make sure that if you send multiple entries in the same email, you number them separately (i.e. in a numbered list, if possible).

When you do send your entry in, please use the following format guide:

[Name – preferably one we can use in the show, but let us know if you’d rather us keep it anonymous]
[Region/Location – as localized as possible; we don’t need an address, but “Southern Illinois” or “Foothills of the Rockies” would be lovely]
[Ethnic/Cultural Association – if applicable; such as “Italian-American” or “based on something my Lakota Sioux grandmother told me”]
[Type of Lore – love, luck, money, etc.]
[Your bit of lore]

So a sample entry might look like this:

Nigel Aloysius Gimmelschtump (but call me “Smackdown” on the show, please)
Western Kentucky
Something from my German-English grandfather’s family
Money
“You should always hold on to the first dollar you make at any job. As long as you have it, you cannot be fired from that job.”

That might seem a little complicated, but it will be enormously helpful if you can follow that format. And, hey, free contest, right? Also, my apologies to Nigel Aloysius Gimmeschtump, wherever he may be. And to anyone calling themselves “Smackdown,” for any reason at all.

So what’s in it for you? Good question! Well, we’re putting together three prizes, based on three areas of North American folk magic:

  1. The Braucher Basket – featuring a copy of Hex & Spellwork by Karl Herr, a copy of the new translation of The Long Lost Friend by Daniel Harms, a small folio of hand-written/painted charms, and a few other little goodies.
  2. Granny’s Gunny-Sack – featuring a copy of Ozark Magic & Folklore, by Vance Randolph, a copy of The Candle & the Crossroads by Orion Foxwood, and a little sack full of curios, herbs, and magical charms from the Appalachians.
  3. The Hoodoo Hamper – featuring Hoodoo Herb & Root Magic by Catherine Yronwode, The Master Book of Candle Burning by Henri Gamache, a candle or two, a lucky rabbit’s foot, and a selection of oils from our Compass & Key Apothecary.

See? Good stuff! Send us a couple of emails and you could win one of these awesome prizes! Just because I’m nitpicking, here are some other rules though:

  • You can only win one prize. If your name comes up after you’ve already won once, we’ll pull another name for the next prize. Let’s not get greedy.
  • No entering under multiple names/emails. If we catch you doing that, you get no prizes. Possibly we will also curse you. Or sell your name to telemarketers. Sort of the same thing.
  • While we are looking primarily for North American lore, we welcome lore from around the world as well.

This contest is going to have a deadline of March 31st 2013, so please get your entries in by then!

Thank you all so much for three great years of New World Witchery! We love y’all to bits and pieces, so good luck in the contest!

All the best, and thanks for reading & listening,

-Cory

Podcast 47 – Yultide Greetings! 2012

-SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 47–

Summary

This is our annual holiday special, featuring music, poetry, stories, and recipes! Here’s wishing you all the best for your holiday season and a happy new year to come!

Play:

Download: Episode 47 – Yuletide Greetings 2012

-Sources-

Stories & Poetry:

“Susie’s Letter from Santa Claus,” by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
“The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton,” by Charles Dickens
“The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus,” by Ogden Nash
A history of the Christmas candle in the window, from Fantasy-Ireland.com

Recipes (All cocktails this year):
After Five – Cory
Amber Dream/Winterbeer – Cory
Egg Nog, extra fancy – Laine

Don’t forget to follow us at Twitter!

Promos & Music

All songs used with permission/license, from Magnatune and MusicAlley, except as noted.

Playlist:

  1. “All Hayle to the Days, To Drive the Cold Winter Away,” Harper’s Hamper
  2. “Dancing Day I – A Virgin Most Pure,” Steven Potvin & Con Brio Choir
  3. “O Come Emmanuel,” Mary Ellen Kirk
  4.  “A v Jerusalime,” Kitka
  5. “Rise Up Bright Sun,” Leslie Fish*
  6. “The Huron Carol,” Tracy Helen
  7. “Green Grow’th the Holly,” Pagan Carolers
  8. “The Holly Bears a Berry,” Shira Kamen
  9. “The Holly/Witches Dance,” Harper’s Hamper
  10.  “I Saw Three Ships,” Dusty Hughes
  11. “Tapster Drynker,” Shira Kamen
  12. “Wassail,” In Nova Cantica
  13. “Tsarko Momche…,” Kitka
  14. “Chestnut, Daphne, Scotch Cap,” Music for a Winter’s Eve
  15.  “The Blood-red Rose at Yule,” Music for a Winter’s Eve
  16. “Nu zit Wellekome,” Ralph Rousseau Muelenbroeks
  17. “We Three Kings,” Jennifer Avalon
  18. “The Wheel of the Year,” Shira Kamen
  19.  “Patapan,” Fugli
  20. “Twelfth Eve, Christmas Cheer, Chestnut Vagary,” Harper’s Hamper
  21. “Le Brandevin,” Shira Kamen
  22. “Da Day Dawn,” Samantha Gillogly*

Underscoring music is “We Three Kings,” by Two Harps, and “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” by Tracy Helen, both from MusicAlley.

*Used by permission of the artist.

Episode 47 – Yuletide Greetings! 2012

Episode 47 – Yuletide Greetings 2012
This is our annual assembly of songs, poetry, stories, and recipes to get you in the yuletide spirit.
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)

Podcast 46 – Monsters

Summary
Laine triumphantly returns in this show about all sorts of monsters and cryptids. We’ll be looking at creatures from folklore to netlore, and figuring out which beasties are our favorites along the way.

Play:
Download: Episode 46 – Monsters

 -Sources-

  • Only one book referenced tonight, Daniel Cohen’s Encyclopedia of Monsters
  • Here’s a link to the (now discredited) series of post-tsunami sea creature photos Cory mentioned. The critters are real, but the story associated with them is not.
  • If you’re fascinated by the netlore Laine shares, particularly that of the Slender Man, check out the “Marble Hornets” web series

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-Celtic Myth Podshow
Promo 2-Transitioning Pagan

Episode 46 – Monsters

Episode 46 – Monsters
Tonight we talk about the monsters of American folklore, both old and new.
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)

Podcast 45 – The Bag Lady Show

Summary
This episode is a grab-bag of different items: a recap of PPSM3, some music from artist Leslie Fish, a recording of a mini-class, and listener feedback. Think “Mary Poppins’ traveling bag,” but full of NWW goodies.

Play:
Download: Episode 45 – The Bag Lady Show
Play:

 -Sources-

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.

We feature three songs by artist Leslie Fish, from her album Avalon is Risen: ““Hallows Dirge,” “Hymn to the Night-mare,” & “Lucifer”

Promo 1-Inciting a Riot
Promo 2-Lakefront Pagan Voice
Promo 3-Pennies in the Well
Promo 4-Borealis Meditation

Episode 45 – The Bag Lady Show

Episode 45 – The Bag Lady Show
This episode is a grab-bag of different items: a recap of PPSM3, some music from artist Leslie Fish, a recording of a mini-class, and listener feedback. Think “Mary Poppins’ traveling bag,” but full of NWW goodies.
(complete shownotes at http://www.newworldwitchery.com)

Blog Post 168 – New World Witchery Cartulary No. 2

Today we’re rounding up another group of links that readers of this blog might find interesting or enjoyable and sending them out into the world. I’ve not had as much time to write for the blog or record for the show as I’m knee-deep in the process of thesis-writing and researching places for PhD research, but I do continually find myself reading new posts, articles, and information that pertain to the various branches of folk lore, folk magic, and folk belief. Here’s a brief list that will hopefully give you some things to peruse while you’re waiting upon tenterhooks for the next riveting New World Witchery post or show.

I’ll start today in the realm of Pennsylvania-Dutch magic. There’s a brand new edition of the pow-wow classic The Long Lost Friend available from Llewellyn, edited and annotated by Daniel Harms.  Hohman’s text is presented here in several formats, including the original 1820 edition (with the German language version) and in an expanded 1856 English translation. Many of the spells are pulled from a third edition, the 1837 “Skippacksville” version. It’s a surprisingly stuffed text with a tremendous amount of folkloric value, and if you have any interest in American folk magic at all I highly recommend getting it.

In the same vein, if you enjoy braucherei, hexerei, and pow-wow, but want to explore it in a Pagan/Heathen context, I cannot recommend enough that you hurry over to Urglaawe. This is Rob Schreiwer & Co.’s site which helps collect—in English and PA-German—the vast stores of Germanic magic which exist on both sides of the Atlantic (with a heavy emphasis on the beliefs and practices of the Pennsylvania-Dutch in America). Schreiwer will be part of an upcoming episode of the show, and he’s a brilliant mind with a tremendous amount of information in his head, so please take a look at the work he’s doing. If you’re a schuler of things Deitsch, you won’t regret it.

In a final nod to the Germanic cultures of America, I was recently introduced by SilverShadow and Dr. Hob to the fascinating phenomenon of courting candles. These little spiral-shaped candle holders would be lit and adjusted to provide light for suitors to visit their sweethearts. When the candle burned out, the beau had to leave. If a father liked a suitor, he’d adjust the candle to provide more time in the light; if not, he’d move the little key to make the candle burn out more quickly. I’m always fascinated by things like this, as I can see plenty of ways they can be used magically in addition to their more mundane applications.

Speaking of Dr. Hob, he’s been very active on his own website lately, Pennies for the Boneyard, with phenomenal posts on topics ranging from his relationship with Christianity and conjure work to a review of ConjureMan Ali’s Santisma Muerte book to a rather flattering and kindly review of our own cartomancy guide. If you’ve not come across his blog before, give it a visit and tell him we sent you.

You should also check out the fun and informative show he and SilverShadow are doing together, called Lamplighter Blues.

I’m reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for the first time as part of a book club, and if you haven’t read it, it’s worth the time. The story gives you a wonderful portrait of the strange, beautiful, and eerie city of Savannah, Georgia, as well as a specific murder trial that occurred there in the 1980s. A major portion of the story takes place in cemeteries, and a conjure woman whom the author names “Minerva” becomes somewhat crucial in the narrative. This is essentially a non-fiction book, though, and Minerva is actually Valerie Fennel Boles, widow to one of the Dr. Buzzards of Beaufort, South Carolina. Boles carried on Buzzard’s conjure work until her death in 2009, and the portrayals of her practice in the book—despite the appellate of “voodoo” which author John Berendt uses to describe what she does—are incredibly vivid and authentic.  You can read more about Dr. Buzzard in Jack Montgomery’s American Shamans, too, which we’ve mentioned here before.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Sarah Lawless’ latest venture has gone live. Go take a peek at the Poisoner’s Apothecary, and check out some of the projects she’s working on. I’m particularly excited about the range of pipes she’s carving for smoking rituals.

I think that will just about do it for today. If you enjoy these links, let them know who sent you and let us know what you like best in the comments section. And feel free to share what you’re reading/writing/learning these days, too!

Thanks for reading!

-Cory