folklore – Page 21 – New World Witchery – The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft

Episode 154 – Halloween

Summary:

As the spooky season is upon us, Laine and Cory decide it’s time to put on our masks, grab our pillow cases, and head out to do some trick-or-treating. It’s Halloween on New World Witchery, where we discuss the origins of the holiday both historical and folklorical, the value of spookiness for kids, favorite Halloween movies and traditions, and why Laine gives out full bars on her doorstep.

Please check out our Patreon page! You can help support the show for as little as a dollar a month, and get some awesome rewards at the same time. Even if you can’t give, spread the word and let others know, and maybe we can make New World Witchery even better than it is now.

Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Clarissa, Leslie, Hazel, Amy, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Bo, Drew, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

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Download: Episode 154 – Halloween

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Some excellent sources on the origins of our contemporary Halloween practices include Halloween, All Around the Year and New Old-Fashioned Ways, by Jack Santino, and Consumer Rites, by Leigh Eric Schmidt. Cory also turned to his Holidays, Festivals, & Celebrations of the World Dictionary, edited by Helene Henderson for some of the information he shared.

We also mention Jake Richards’s book Backwoods Witchcraft, which has information on apple-head dolls.

In the realm of video, Cory mentions the documentary Halloween in a Box about the making and marketing of plastic masks. He also espouses his love for the Garfield Halloween Adventure and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! They both discuss the Halloween-themed episodes of Bob’s Burgers and Gravity Falls as well.

Check out Cory’s town and the light kerfuffle over an IT-related prank, and learn more about the Teal Pumpkin Project.

Promotional image modified from image via Pixabay, public domain.

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 Facebook page! For those who are interested, we also now have a page on Pinterest you might like, called “The Olde Broom.” You can follow us on Instagram or check out our new YouTube channel with back episodes of the podcast and new “Everyday Magic” videos, too (as well as most of our contest announcements)! Have something you want to say? Leave us a voice mail on our official NWW hotline: (442) 999-4824 (that’s 442-99-WITCH, if it helps).

Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Homebound,” by Bluesboy Jag, and is used under license from Magnatune. Incidental Music is (Magnatune).

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

Please think about checking out our Audible Trial program. Visit Audibletrial.com/newworldwitchery to get your free trial of Audible, where you can download over 180,000 titles (including some narrated by Cory). Your purchases help support this show, and there’s no obligation to continue after the free trial

Special Episode – Mr Fox

Summary:

We finish our Doorways into Darkness All Hallows Read with a retelling of one of the most infamous doors of all: the door to the bloody chamber in the English tale, “Mr Fox”

Please check out our Patreon page! You can help support the show for as little as a dollar a month, and get some awesome rewards at the same time. Even if you can’t give, spread the word and let others know, and maybe we can make New World Witchery even better than it is now.

Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Clarissa, Leslie, Hazel, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jessica, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Bo, Drew, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

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Download: Special Episode – Mr Fox

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This version of the story is adapted from the version in English Fairy Tales, by Joseph Jacobs

The rhyme at the beginning of the episode is “Some One,” by Walter de la Mare (public domain).

Promotional image modified from image via Pixabay, public domain.

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

Promos & Music

Music for the All Hallows Read specials is by Robert Rich, DAC Crowell, Rhonda Lorence, and Kourosh Dini, and is used under license from Magnatune

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

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

Special Episode – The Seven Gates of Hell

Summary:

As we continue in our Doorways into Darkness All Hallows Read series, we visit York, Pennsylvania to explore the Seven Gates of Hell.

Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Clarissa, Leslie, Hazel, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jessica, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Bo, Drew, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

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Download: Special Episode – The Seven Gates of Hell

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You can read more about the “Seven Gates of Hell” in York, PA at the Atlas Obscura site.

The rhyme at the beginning of the episode is “Some One,” by Walter de la Mare (public domain).

Promotional image modified from image via Pixabay, public domain.

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

Promos & Music

Music for the All Hallows Read specials is by Robert Rich, DAC Crowell, Rhonda Lorence, and Kourosh Dini, and is used under license from Magnatune

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

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

Episode 153 – Death Midwifery with Victoria Young

Summary:

We talk about the value of end-of-life planning from a practical and spiritual standpoint, and look at the work of death midwives with our special guest, Victoria Young.

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Find out more about Vic at the podcast they’re starting called Holle’s Haven. Vic is also a member of the Urglaawe Pennsylvania German Heathen community.

Vic recommends checking out deathmidwife.org for more information on death midwifery and associated practices. There’s also an annual luncheon at the Sacred Space/Between the Worlds conference for people to find out more.

Cory briefly mentions the book Sum, by David Eagleman.

Promotional image modified from image via Pixabay, public domain.

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

Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Homebound,” by Bluesboy Jag, and is used under license from Magnatune. Incidental Music is “Into Sea” by Kourosh Dini (Magnatune).

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

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

Special Episode – The Third Floor

Summary:

We begin our All Hallows Read stories for 2019 with a story of an eerie office space, and a doorway that may be a gateway to something terrifying.

Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Clarissa, Leslie, Hazel, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jessica, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Bo, Drew, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

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Download: Special Episode – The Third Floor

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Thanks to listener Bo for sending this in! We have adapted his submission slightly for use on the show, but much of what you hear, he wrote. A great story!

The rhyme at the beginning of the episode is “Some One,” by Walter de la Mare (public domain).

Promotional image modified from image via Pixabay, public domain.

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

Promos & Music

Music for the All Hallows Read specials is by Robert Rich, DAC Crowell, Rhonda Lorence, and Kourosh Dini, and is used under license from Magnatune

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

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

Episode 152 – Honoring Ancestors with Mallorie Vaudoise

Summary:

We discuss the power of connecting with ancestors (and just what we mean with that term), as well as finding spirituality while locked in a bathroom, with author, folk magician, and dancer Mallorie Vaudoise.

Please check out our Patreon page! You can help support the show for as little as a dollar a month, and get some awesome rewards at the same time. Even if you can’t give, spread the word and let others know, and maybe we can make New World Witchery even better than it is now.

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Download: Episode 152 – Honoring Ancestors with Mallorie Vaudoise

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Truly one of the best books I’ve read recently is Honoring Your Ancestors, by Mallorie Vaudoise. You can also find out more about her and her work at her website https://www.italianfolkmagic.com/. You can also find her at roadsideomens.com or on her Instagram page.

We also mention the books Land of Remorse by Ernesto de Martino and The Madonna of 115th Street, by Robert Orsi.

Promotional image modified from image via Pixabay, public domain.

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

Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Homebound,” by Bluesboy Jag, and is used under license from Magnatune. Incidental Music is “A River Begins” and “Into Sea” by Kourosh Dini (Magnatune).

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

Episode 150 – Tarot and Taoist Magic with Benebell Wen

Summary:

We talk about decks, divination, Taoist folk magic, and talismans with author and teacher Benebell Wen.

Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Clarissa, Leslie, Hazel, Amy, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Bo, Drew, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

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Download: Episode 150 – Tarot and Taoist Magic with Benebell Wen

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–Sources–

Please check out Benebell’s website (www.benebellwen.com) which has loads of free downloads, video lessons, tarot deck reviews, and articles available, as well as some spectacular paid content and lessons. I also highly recommend her book, The Tao of Craft, her tarot deck The Spirit Keeper’s Tarot, and her Chinese Bone Oracle deck.

One of the essays that first brought me to Benebell was her article, “Pagan Practices and Chinese Folk Religions,” which I read a bit of in this episode.

I read a few passages from the Tao Teh Ching, by Lao Tzu (Trans. by John C. H. Wu) and the I Ching, Trans. by Kerson and Rosemary Huang.

Promotional image modified from image created by Benebell Wen.

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

Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Homebound,” by Bluesboy Jag, and is used under license from Magnatune. Incidental Music is “Cave,” by Anthony Salvo (Magnatune) and “Ambient Gourd,” by Canton Becker (CC Soundcloud License).

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

Episode 149 – Seaside Sorcery

Summary:

In this episode we talk mermaids and manatees, sexy seashells, and far too many Disney movies. Join us down at the shore as we discuss the magic of (and around) the ocean!

Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Clarissa, Leslie, Hazel, Amy, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Bo, Drew, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

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Download: Episode 149 – Seaside Sorcery

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Books mentioned this episode:

Moby Dick
Lord of the Flies
Earth, Air, Fire, & Water, by Scott Cunningham

We also have an older blogpost about Seaside Sorcery you might be interested in.

We also mention a great film called Song of the Sea all about Selkies, and Cory mentions that he did the Audible narration for a pair of mermaid/sea dog novels called Tide and Anchored, by Deirdre Riordan Hall. If you’d like to know more about mermaids and other mythic sea folk, you can check out some of the lore on the Library of Congress Folklife Today blog. We also have a video on the connections between Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” and folklore over at our YouTube channel.

You can read about the myth of Dionysus and the dolphins at the Theoi website..

And Cory highly recommends the Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN!

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

Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Homebound,” by Bluesboy Jag, and is used under license from Magnatune.

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

Episode 147 – Everyday Magical Objects Redux

Summary:

This time we’re looking at a few more of the everyday objects our listeners have sent in and seeing what sorts of magic we can make of them. We talk astrology and wristwatches, trunk-or-treat altar spaces, and aromatherapy necklaces as magical door chimes. We hope you enjoy and share your own everyday objects with us!

Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Clarissa, Leslie, Hazel, Amy, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Bo, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

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Download: Episode 147 – Everyday Magical Objects Redux

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–Sources–

This is the third of our Everyday Magical Object episodes, so you might enjoy checking out our first two:

Thanks to listeners Marquita, Emily, Sarah, Jillian, and Chris for your suggestions of magical objects to discuss!

We also mention the episode with Lisa Marie Basile and her Underworld Spell, as well as our post on coins (see the YouTube video we did on them as well). Cory also talks about cars, which were part of his article for the upcoming Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies.

Here’s a pic of that “pulley wheel” we discuss:

We also mention J.K. Rowling’s story “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart” in Tales of Beedle the Bard. And Gravity Falls (seriously it’s worth watching if you like animation).

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

Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Homebound,” by Bluesboy Jag, and is used under license from Magnatune.

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!

Episode 146 – Besom Stang and Sword with Chris and Tara

Summary:

We sit down and visit with old friends Chris Orapello and Tara-Love Maguire about the evolution of their Black Tree tradition of magic, the ways folk magic and witchcraft fit into a contemporary world, how natural magic and climate change impact one another, and what being in the witchy publishing world is like.

Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Leslie, Clarissa, Hazel, Amy, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

Play:

Download: Episode 146 – Besom Stang and Sword with Chris and Tara

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You can check out our previous episode with Chris and Tara from 2016: Episode 86 – Local Witchcraft with Chris Orapello. You should also totally check out their show, Down at the Crossroads (formerly The Infinite and the Beyond).

Their book, Besom, Stang, & Sword, is available from Weiser Books and just about everywhere else. We did a review of it on our site, too.

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

Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Homebound,” by Bluesboy Jag, and is used under license from Magnatune. Incidental music is “Solitude,” by Julian Blackmore, also licensed through Magnatune. We also feature the song “Ask Me Anything,” by S.J. Tucker (used with artist permission)

If you like us AND you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will love our new show: Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast, now available through all the podcatchers!