recommendations – Page 8 – New World Witchery – The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft

Blog Post 77 – Book Review

For today’s entry, I thought I’d approach two books which share a lot in common and which can be useful to people who really enjoy candle magic. First up, there’s The Master Book of Candle Burning by Henri Gamache. This is a classic in many hoodoo circles, and falls into the same category of early 20^th-century magical texts as the reprints of Black & White Magic by Marie Laveau and Mysteries of the Long Lost 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th Books of Moses, also by Gamache. All of these small books (usually only around 100 pages each) contain lots of great information on their particular magical subjects, and all are the source of much debate regarding authorship (Marie Laveau most definitely did not write Black & White Magic, which is usually attributed to “N.D.P. Bivins,” whoever that might be).

Candle Burning, though, holds a special place in my heart. In its pages, Gamache outlines the “Philosophy of Fire” which he traces through a number of the world’s religions, especially linking it to Judeo-Christian and Zoroastrian practice. Most of what he describes is pseudo-history, though it offers some good food for thought, at times. What makes this book so invaluable to a magic worker are its spells. In its pages, it offers spells, prayers, and psalmic rituals for:

Gaining Happiness
Overcoming an Enemy
Obtaining Money
Stopping Slander
Healing a Troubled Marriage
Getting a Promotion
Defeating Feelings of Depression

There are so many wonderful rituals in this book, covering a wide variety of problems, that I can’t help but recommend it. The prayers (and psalms) are all centered around Judeo-Christian religious philosophy, but in a fairly non-denominational way (emphasizing God as a powerful force rather than as part of a Trinity or some particular theological concept). One of my favorite spells is the last one in the book:

TO CONQUER FEAR

Light your two Monthly Vibratory Candles [candles dressed to match you astrologically], two Daily Cross Candles [crucifix candles or candles inscribed with a cross], and the following Special Purpose Candle: one Red symbolizing faith and one Gold to soothe nerves. Read Psalm 3 giving special attention to verse 3:

“But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”

Affirmation [prayer]: “Dear Lord I ask you to help me with my needs in this life and smooth my way. Protect me so that no one may cause me harm. In your light, darkness flees. I fear not, knowing you are with me.” (p.106)

The book has its issues, of course. It makes heavy use of “black” versus “white” magic. It denounces the black magic as a “perversion” but then proceeds to provide numerous candle rituals for things like breaking up a couple or causing confusion. Still, if one can forgive it these foibles, it’s a great text to have on hand.

Similarly, The Magical Power of the Saints by Rev. Ray T. Malbrough proves itself a useful text full of practical candle burning rituals. There are many who do not like Malbrough, primarily because he blends hoodoo and Wicca in some of his books without letting the reader know which is which (his Charms, Spells, & Formulas is guilty of this, and apparently his Hoodoo Mysteries is even worse about it). However, most of the rootworkers who discuss him seem to offer at least some praise for Saints.

Malbrough focuses on the Catholic saints in candle form (and a number of condition candles, which are designed to invite specific conditions into a person’s life—e.g. Anima Sola/Lonely Soul, Just Judge, Lucky Bingo, etc.). When I picked up the book I thought it would mostly be about the cult of certain saints like Dr. Jose Gregorio or Santa Muerte or the Infant Jesus of Prague. Instead, I found it’s mostly candle magic focused on specific spells, much like Gamache’s text. It definitely has a flavor of Catholicism about it, and actually falls pretty close to what I would think of as New Orleans-style Voodoo (though the connections to things like the Seven African Powers are only cursorily glossed). For comparison, here’s Malbrough’s overcoming fear spell:

TO OVERCOME FEAR

Sometimes fear can be difficult to shake off when it gets hold of you. Then there are those people who get a thrill from putting fear and superstition in your mind.

Controlling candle, dressed with Controlling oil. Write your name nine times.
St. Dymphna candle, dressed with Peace oil. Write your name nine times.
Guardian Angel candle, dressed with Peace oil. Write your name three times.
Psalms 11, 31, and 141 [to be read aloud]
Take an Uncrossing spiritual bath made with sweet basil, boneset, elder, and bay leaves. To this tea add ¼ cup of John the Conqueror bath and floor wash. Immerse yourself three times in the water, and soak twenty minutes. Take this spiritual bath every three days until you have taken twenty-eight baths. Cary a mojo/gris-gris made with herbs for courage. This gris-gris must also contain a stone for courage such as agate, amethyst, aquamarine, bloodstone, carnelian, diamond, lapis lazuli, sardonyx, tiger’s eye, red tourmaline, or turquoise. (p. 134-35)

As you can see, Malbrough is much more complicated than Gamache, and he definitely infuses his rootwork with some more Wiccan ideas (such as the “stones for courage” he mentions for the mojo hand, none of which show up in any of the African-American hoodoo sources I’ve found). So long as you can separate the wheat from the chaff, though, this is a pretty solid little book with good candle burning rituals. If you have this and Gamache’s Master Book of Candle Burning you will cover most of your bases as far as hoodoo candle magic goes, so I certainly recommend picking up both. If you can only do one, I’d start with Gamache and try Malbrough once you’ve gotten the hang of a few of these rituals, though (perhaps an Obtaining Money burning so you can afford to buy the book?).

Thanks for reading!

-Cory

Blog Post 73 – Book Review

I know, I know, two book reviews in a row may seem excessive, but I spent a lot of time reading over the past few weeks, so bear with me. Plus, you may find some new books to investigate!

Today’s book is Blue Roots by Roger Pinckney. It’s about rootwork, hoodoo, and conjure, but not the broad, general kind so often discussed in other books and on blogs and webpages (including this one). Instead, Pinckney focuses on the healing and magical traditions of one particular group: the Gullahs. Primarily associated with the Savannah, Georgia area, the Gullah people inhabit a large swathe of the lower Atlantic seaboard, especially the islands just off the coast of George and South Carolina. They are often referenced as an “untouched” enclave of African-American culture, and portrayed as a sort of quaint and folksy pocket of rural Americana.

Pinckney does little to disabuse the reader of those notions, creating a fairly warm, nostalgic book about folk healing practices (and a little bit of magic, too) found on the Southern Atlantic coast. The author also spends a good bit of time examining the spiritual practices of the Gullah, with an emphasis on spirits, the dead, ancestors, and African Diaspora remnants. From a section on the “haint blue” paint commonly found around doors, windows, and porches in the Southeast:

“Prior to the [American] Revolution when coastal plantations produced indigo dye for English cloth, planters gave their slaves the dregs from the boiling pots, which the slaves used to decorate window frames and porch posts, in the believe the blue color kept the plentiful spirits at bay. When indigo cultivation declined in the 1780s, Gullah slaves continued the custom with blue paint. It is a practice that survives to this day, perhaps no longer for a spiritual repellent, but as a tradition, nevertheless” (p. 72).

The book generally does a good job of highlighting some of the beliefs and practices associated with the Gullah, and also pays wider homage to the Southern incarnations of hoodoo and African religion. Pinckney sometimes seems uncomfortable with rootwork as a magical practice, and prefers to refer to those who use herbs, roots, and animal parts as “root doctors” rather than “conjurers.” His attitude in general is that of a journalist who does not believe most of what he’s told, but who really wants to. He explains a lot of rootwork’s more magical components as methods of psychological intimidation. In his chapter “The Power of the Root,” he describes an hypothetical visit to a root doctor in detail, then concludes with this sentiment:

“And will the root actually help him? Probably so. If rootwork were not effective, the practice would have died out centuries ago. Most likely, one of the man’s [the client] confidants will mention the conjuration to another, and the news will go whispering through the community until the rejected woman [the target] hears that she has been rooted. And since she knows in her heart that all her subversion was wrong in the first place, she will immediately desist her sundry annoyances” (p. 62).

This perspective is not one I particularly endorse, as I truly think rootwork has power in and of itself, and that the spiritual and magical components are far greater than the psychological ones, but it is certainly not an invalid point of view.

Some of the best chapters in this book are about Sherriff J. E. McTeer and his battles with the infamous Dr. Buzzard. I mentioned both of these famous conjure men in my post on Who’s Who in Hoodoo, Part II, and they both feature prominently in Jack Montgomery’s work, American Shamans. Pinckney spends a lot of time on their lore and their recorded history, which sometimes differ quite a bit. Actually, the lore he presents in most of his chapters is quite good, and he uses a journalist’s nose for facts to substantiate or repudiate certain points, while never discounting the broader nature of a story’s “truth.”

This is a book that I recommend to those interested in Southern rootwork, particularly its history and social relevance. It’s not one you can learn a lot of new tricks from, but you can certainly pick up a few things as you read. If nothing else, Pinckney has a deep love and reverence for the Gullah, the South, and rootworkers at large, so the book feels like a conversation with a good friend. If you think hoodoo, particularly the kind found in the Carolina/Georgia islands, is your thing, check out Blue Roots.

Blog Post 72 – Book Review

Hi everyone,

I’d like to recommend a book today which falls firmly into the “fiction” category, but which has an amazing amount of conjure-related material in it. It’s called Mojo: Conjure Stories, and is edited by Nalo Hopkinson. I say “edited by” because this is a collection of short stories, and every one revolves around some deep South magical topic. Some are okay, some are quite good, and many are superb. The book features authors like science-fiction maven Barbara Hambly, African-American author devorah major, and dark fantasy genius Neil Gaiman.

Here are just a sampling of the stories in this excellent tome:

“Daddy Mention and the Monday Skull” by Andy Duncan – An aged convict contacts an alligator swamp spirit in order to get a beautiful singing voice (and consequently a chance at freedom), but winds up biting off a good deal more than he can chew.

“Heartspace” by Steven Barnes – A man goes to visit his estranged and dying father, only to walk into the middle of a conflict between his fiery half-sister and his father’s new wife—a Gullah woman with some powerful tricks up her sleeve.

“The Skinned” by Jarla Tangh – An old man who knows the secret behind the terrifying monsters lurking in his neighborhood decides he will confront the beasts, only to endanger his very soul in doing so.

“Death’s Dreadlocks,” by Tobias S. Buckell – The children of an African village caught in the crossfire of several warlords turn to Old Ma, who teaches them to see the ropy strands of Death’s hair all around them and avoid fatality. The children decide to follow the hair back to its source and put an end to Death once and for all.

“The Horsemen and the Morning Star” by Barbara Hambly – The Old Gods from across the sea ride their “horses” (slave devotees) in order to battle a plantation owner and his sorcerous friend, who are conjuring up their own forces—Satan himself—using the slave children as sacrifices to do so.

“Cooking Creole” by A. M. Dellamonica – A man who’s tried his hand at gambling, guitar playing, and other “gifted” talents decides to go to the crossroads one last time. He thinks he’s finally found his calling: he wants to learn to be a Cajun cook. But he doesn’t know just what this cooking school will cost him.

“Shining through 24/7” by devorah major – This strange tale revolves around a woman who tries to steal from a hoodoo woman. A hoodoo woman who happens to live near a chemical storage facility. A radioactive chemical storage facility. A strange but delightful story.

And these are only about half of the wonderful tales collected in this book. I picked it up out of my local library and loved it. If you have any interest in Southern folk magic, African-American religious practices, fairy tales and fantasy, or just plain old good storytelling, I highly recommend getting this book.

Thanks for reading!

Cory

Blog Post 68 – Be Our Guest?

So running with an idea (and a title lovingly borrowed) from Juniper over at Walking the Hedge and Standing Stone and Garden Gate, I’m putting out a call for submissions to our wonderful readers. I know we probably have at least a couple of writers out there as well, and we’d love to have you do a guest post for New World Witchery.

We’re going to have about 6-8 weeks of low posting from me, and we’d like to be able to post at least 3 articles per week if possible. So that means we need 18-24 well-written, proofread, researched, reasoned, resonant, and remarkable entries. Something tells me we’ve got a few folks who might just be up to the task, so if you’re interested, here’s the submissions guide:

1)      Each article should be no less than 300 words, and no more than 2000. 500-800 words is usually ideal length, but there is some flexibility.
2)      MS Word (.doc) attachments are ideal, with inline email text being a secondary preference.
3)      Please include all links with your submission. I may have to tweak them slightly to get them on the site, but I definitely can’t chase down links for you. Footnotes or endnotes should be similarly included.
4)      Any artwork must be in the public domain (try Wikimedia Commons to start) or your own original picture/art with authorization to use it on the site.
5)      All work must be your own. Citations are fine, along with short passages of material presented in a scholarly fashion, but please, no plagiarism.
6)      Please proofread your work. Excessive typos and grammar snafus will not be corrected or posted.
7)      You retain all publication rights to your material other than the first-time online publication rights. In other words, you’re free to submit this on a site like Witchvox or to a print publication, as long as you say that it was first published on this site. (I’ll also assume the right to reprint passages or references to your work in future publications, but I will not publish your article in its entirety without your permission).

Of course, I’m always happy to get nice, scholarly articles on the topics of hoodoo, pow-wow, curanderismo, witchcraft, etc. But what I’d really like is to get articles on the following topics, specifically:

Personal or family magical lore (such as magical practices, divinations, weather signs, etc.). Please include your family background (such as region or ethnic heritage), too, so we know where these things come from.
Regional magical lore, including things like witch stories, magical places, spells, famous witches, etc. Of course, please let us know which region you’re writing about (you don’t have to be too specific—“Appalachia” or “New England” would be sufficient).
Spell-work hits and misses. Tell us about spells you’ve done, ingredients you’ve used, charms you’ve said and what your results were.
Botanical or animal curios and your personal experiences with them. Are there ones you favor? Ones you shy away from?
Favorite spells and practices. Do you particularly like working with the dead? Do you have a favorite way to communicate with the Ancestors? Are you a sharp-shooter when it comes to love mojos? Tell us what you do and how you got so dang good at it!
Magical book reviews are also welcome, especially ones dealing with North American folk magic and witchcraft (not Wicca—there are lots of reviews on Wiccan books, so we don’t really want those here). History, folklore, and regionally specific spellbooks (like conjure or brujeria books) are all excellent candidates for review.

Other topics are welcome; just email and ask about them first. Not every article may get published on the site, so if we don’t select yours or if we suggest some revisions first, please don’t take it personally.

“Geez!” you say. “That’s an awful lot of work for not getting paid!” Ah, but there’s the twist in the plot! While we’re still a relatively poor blog and podcast, we’re gearing up for another contest. Anyone who writes a guest article that we post on New World Witchery will be entered for that contest. We’ve still got to work out just what we’re going to give out, but right now we’re looking at having three winners drawn at random. If you submit multiple posts and we publish them, you get an entry for every article we put up! Each winner will get a different, unique prize, so this could shape up to be a very interesting contest.

So, yes, technically you’re still not getting paid exactly, but you may wind up with something cool in the end. And you’ll be adding to the wealth of knowledge found here, so you are benefitting a whole wide world of witchy folk. Isn’t that a nice feeling?

So, if you’re interested in being a part of New World Witchery, email us your articles and maybe win a prize in the process! In case you can’t get the email from that link, it’s compassandkey@gmail.com.

Many thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you!

-Cory

Blog Post 57 – An Award!

So after spending nearly a week recuperating from my “swamp virus,” I used yesterday to catch up on emails and comment replies on the blog. Much to my great surprise and delight, someone had lobbed a shiny happy little blogging award our way. Sarah over at Crooked Ways has tagged me as a “Kreativ Blogger,” so I figured that’s as good a way as any to start the week! The rules are pretty straightforward:

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog
3. Link the person who has nominated you for the award
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate
7. Let the nominated victims bloggers know they have been tagged

So first things first, Thanks Sarah! It’s always an honor to be nominated. As for the logo, ::twitches nose::

Here it is!

I’ve already linked Sarah, so now on to the “7 Things” segment.

I grow and can my own food – I even teach classes on the subject sometimes. I prefer to do the hot-water bath method, as most people can get a stock-pot of boiling water pretty easily, but a pressure canner’s a little harder to come by. I love to put up things like tomatoes, pickles, jalapenos, salsas, apple butter, and brandied peaches (DELICIOUS over vanilla ice cream).
I’m a published poet – My work has appeared in Raving Dove Literary Journal, Merge Poetry Review, and a couple of other places. Why don’t I put my poetry on my blog? Because I didn’t say I was a very good published poet.
My first year of marriage was spent in Prague – My wife and I, who had not lived together before due to religious reasons, wed and moved thousands of miles away from our families and friends. We spent almost a year there, and it was really spectacular. Prague remains one of my favorite cities in the world.
I’ve also spent time in Spain (mostly in Murcia and Valencia) and Scotland, and made short trips to Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, and London. And I’ve visited 38 of the 50 US States. At some point, I’d really like to go to Greece, Italy, and Turkey. And eventually, I’d LOVE to go to Japan and possibly China (if its political climate ever calms down). My next big trip will probably be up to the Pacific Northwest, though, as that’s where my wife really wants to go. Really, I’d be happy to travel just about anywhere.
I’m a very lazy polyglot – I learn languages and then never use them, other than to show I can remember key phrases. I’ve taken courses in Latin, Russian, Portuguese, Czech, and Japanese, and my minor at University was Spanish. Plus I’ve tried to independently learn Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Yiddish, and German. Of all of them, Spanish has stuck with me enough that I’m still conversant in it, and I could probably survive in Japan long enough to begin picking that up again as well. Despite the fact my mother, my wife, and several of our friends all speak (or have spoken) French, I’ve never tried to learn that one, though.
I’m a trivia addict – I watch shows like Jeopardy! as often as I can, and I subscribe to the magazine mental_floss, which is basically full of trivia (like “10 Presidents Who Could Drink You Under the Table”). I can make hours disappear from my life by opening a box of Trivial Pursuit cards and just sitting and reading them. It’s kind of sad, really…
I have an odd phobia of rabbits. I’ve mentioned this before, and I’m not outright scared of them, but vaguely creeped out. Really, I only discuss it here to give myself a reason to link to the cause of my wariness: the cartoon version of Watership Down. The clip shows a few of the more brutal highlights of that particular film, but if you imagine an 8-year-old seeing any movie with this stuff in it, a fear of bunnies seems much less weird.

Okay, so now on to my Seven Nominees:

Sarah, the Witch of Forest Grove (of course) – She has some of the most creative work I’ve seen, and one of the most informative sites around. Big kudos to her.
Papa Toad Bone – His apotheca takes me out of the internet and puts me barefoot into the swamp, and I like that.
Juniper’s Walking the Hedge site – It’s lovely and she really puts a great deal of effort into making it a nice place to just go and visit.
Lady Lavona – She has two blogs that I just eat up, her main Cabinet of Curiosities site, and a Tumblr site called Witch Mountain. Both are easy to spend oodles of time on.
Jude over at Spirit Cloth always captures my attention with her amazing fabric works. They have a tangibly magical quality that just makes me want to curl up in all her scraps of cloth and live there.
My friend Saturn over at Pennies in the Well – It’s a pretty site, and her Mad Hatter episodes are fun, insightful, and just a pleasure to listen to. All her episodes are, actually, but the Mad Hatter ones really show off her creativity.
Finally, Oraia the Sphinx has a blog over at Sphinx Words that I really like, not just because she’s also my friend, but because her writing style is so familiar and pleasant. She has a way of getting into my head sometimes that is uncanny, so big kudos to her.

So that’s that. Again, huge thanks to Sarah at Crooked Ways (another very well-written and marvelously creative blog, if you haven’t checked it out)! Hopefully you’ll be seeing a couple more articles from me this week as I get back up to my usual posting habits. But for now, thanks so much for reading!

Be well,

Cory

Blog Post 51 – Book Review

Happy Friday, all. Today, to make up for a rather long post yesterday, I’m just doing a quick blurb on a book I’ve not referenced much here, but which will likely be cropping up as we get into discussions of things like curanderismo and brujeria. The book I’m looking at is called Spiritual Cleansing by Draja Mickaharic.

Mickaharic was an immigrant from Central Europe who arrived in the U.S. just as World War II was dawning. The occult seems to have interested him from a relatively young age, and he’s produced copious volumes on various magical themes. What strikes me as unique is that despite his Old World roots, most of his magical writings focus on what I would call New World systems, such as Caribbean, Southern, and Mexican folk magic.

Spiritual Cleansing is, according to its subtitle, “a handbook of psychic self-protection.” Much like Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self-Defense, this book is mostly aimed at beginning practitioners or those with little experience in occult topics. It’s chief goal is to help a person who might be facing all sorts of spiritual afflictions to remove those problems and prevent future recurrences. Mickaharic is very insistent in this text that his work is not to be taken as medical advice (which is a sound if common legal disclaimer in works like this), but also that it is only for basic spiritual cleansing and protection. He advises those with serious afflictions to seek out the help of a professional spiritual practitioner, and therein lies some of his charm. He takes his subject very seriously, and his tone comes across a bit like an admonition from a grandparent. This is probably because he was nearly 70 when the book was first published in 1982. A more recent edition came out in 2003 with additional material, including a chapter on “Quieting the Mind.”

Mickaharic’s work is incredibly practical. He discusses a lot of different spiritual cleansing techniques without high-flown language. Some of the topics he addresses are:

-Dealing with Malochio (the Evil Eye)
-Cleansing oneself with spiritual baths
-Using eggs to remove negative energy
-Burning incenses to fumigate oneself for protection
-The proper use of Holy Water

One thing that some readers may be turned off by is the matter-of-fact way he says to do things. For example, of burning incense he says “If we burn incense with no real purpose, we may find the forces [higher powers] decide we are calling a wrong number—and they will not act in harmony with our desires…To be able to use an incense properly we must first understand these rules” ( p. 78). He then goes into the rules as he sees them. In another passage, he advises against using rain water for spiritual cleansing because “Rain water is difficult to use as it has variable vibrations…[and] should not be used for any spiritual work except by those who have been specifically told to use it by a spiritual practitioner” (p. 67). I know such “this is this and that is that” statements are a big turn-off for many magical folk (and I have a feeling Laine would strongly disagree with Mickaharic on his perspective concerning rain water). But I’d like to offer up, as some small defense of this work, that it is written for an inexperienced magical practitioner. Someone with a better understanding of magic very well may be able to bend his “rules,” but Mickaharic is more concerned with the well-being of the reader he’s never met and wants to make sure they don’t get into anything they can’t handle.

Many of the spells and workings in this book are wonderful. Some bear striking similarities to hoodoo work (his home sweetening spells involve burning brown sugar, which is very common in hoodoo), and many are very close to curanderismo practices (the egg cleansings in particular strike this note with me). Some things in this book seem a little pedantic to me, of course, but then again I’ve been reading magical books for a long time. In the end, I still think the good of this book outweighs anything bad I can say of it, and so I’m recommending it to you. If you have an interest in spiritual cleansing and protection, or in Mexican folk magic, hoodoo, and other natural magical systems, this is a book well worth tracking down.

Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

-Cory

Podcast 8 – Magical Media Mania!

-SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 8-

Summary
Laine & Cory discuss their favorite witchy books, music, movies, and television.

Play:

Download: New World Witchery – Episode 8

-Sources-
Books
Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic, by Catherine Yronwode
Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells, by Judika Illes
The Red Church, by Chris Bilardi
Witches, by Erica Jong
Call of the Horned Piper, by Nigel Jackson
Earth Power; Earth, Air, Fire, & Water; Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, by Scott Cunningham
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
IT, by Stephen King
The Harry Potter Series, by J. K. Rowling
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Ozark Magic & Folklore, by Vance Randolph
Grimm’s Fairy Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Fairy & Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, by W.B. Yeats
Silver Bullet, by Hubert J. Davis
American Gods,, by Neil Gaiman

Music
Mer de Noms, by A Perfect Circle
The Alchemy Index, by Thrice
“The Christians and the Pagans” by Dar Williams
“San Francisco” by Scott McKenzie
“All You Need is Love” by the Beatles
Mythcreants, by Tricky Pixie (special thanks to the band for letting us feature their music!)
One Cello X 16, by Zoe Keating
The Dance, by Fleetwood Mac
“Night on Bald Mountain,” by Modest Mussorgsky
The Hazards of Love, by the Decemberists

Television
The X-Files
Supernatural
True Blood
Eastwick
Pushing Daisies
Jim Henson’s Storyteller
Shelly Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre
Bewitched
Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Movies
Practical Magic
Snow White
The Craft
Skeleton Key
Pan’s Labyrinth
Willow
Labyrinth/Dark Crystal
Sleepy Hollow
Fantasia
Kiki’s Delivery Service/My Neighbor Totoro/Princess Mononoke/Spirited Away/Howl’s Moving Castle, by Hayao Miyazaki

Promos & Music
Title music: “Homebound,” by Jag, from Cypress Grove Blues. From Magnatune.
Special thanks to Tricky Pixie for letting us feature “Tam Lin” and “The Mushroom Song”!

No Promos today, but special Podkin Love Shout-outs to Fire-Lyte at Inciting a Riot and Velma Nightshade at Witches’ Brewhaha.

Blog Post 47 – Fairy Tale Resources

For this week’s final post, I’m giving you a list of books, stories, websites, and other resources which you can use to dig into folklore and fairy tale magic a bit further. It’s not comprehensive, but just a few things to scout for at libraries and book stores, and which have something to say about magic without being tucked into the “New Age” section.

Books

Haints, Witches, & Boogers, by Charles E. Price – This book is chock-full of neat ghost stories, plus a few witch tales and some bits about magic in the Appalachian region. It definitely focuses more on the paranormal than the purely “fairy” aspects of things, but it also gives you locations for each of the stories, so you’d be able to visit them and connect the tale to a particular place, which I like.

Fairy & Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, by W.B. Yeats – So why am I including this book on a blog about American fairy tales? Well, if you look at these stories, and then look at fairy tales from the Appalachians (or anyplace where Irish immigrants settled), you’re going to see uncanny similarities. This book provides a lot of good stories about “fairy doctoring,” too, a practice which resembles the root work, shamanism, and witch doctoring found in North America.

The Granny Curse and Other Ghosts and Legends of East Tennessee, by Randy Russell – This is another one that is focused mostly on ghosts, but also has some really wonderful stories about magical beings, too. “Greasy Witches” is especially worth noting, because it is one of those stories that parallels an Irish tale found in the Yeats collection I previously mentioned.

Silver Bullet, by Hubert J. Davis – I discussed this book in Tuesday’s post, but I will reiterate that this is a book worth getting if you can. The stories are all sourced to their original tellers (mostly American sources east of the Mississippi) and provide a good overview of witchcraft in America (non-religious witchcraft, that is). Definitely worth scouting for at used bookstores.

Favorite Folktales from Around the World, by Jane Yolen – Again, not one specifically devoted to America, though there are several Native American stories here. What I like is that this book is a lot like North America in that it takes many disparate cultures and mixes them all together by common thread. If you’re looking for stories about magic, check out the sections “Not Quite Human,” “Shape Shifters,” and “Fooling the Devil.” They all have lots to say about witchcraft, without ever actually having to tell you that’s what they’re about.

Grimm’s Fairy Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm – If you like fairy tales, you probably already have this. If you don’t, you should, in my opinion. Just try to find an unabridged copy, as there have been numerous versions which “clean up” some of the scarier bits of the stories (where the witchy stuff lies, usually).

Spooky America Series, by S.E. Schlosser – This may be one of my favorite book series ever. S. E. Schlosser also runs a great website devoted to American folklore which will give you a good idea what her books are like. There are individual books for multiple American regions, including Spooky South, Spooky New England, and Spooky Southwest, as well as titles on individual states like Spooky New York or Spooky California. I love this work, and while it is somewhat more focused on ghost stories, there are plenty of tales about magic, witches, and mystical beings to be found. I cannot recommend this series highly enough.

I’m not mentioning Vance Randolph’s Ozark Magic & Folklore in detail here because I think I’ve said a lot about it already. But it is also worth reading for witchy folklore (albeit in less of a “story” format).

Websites

Sur la Lune – This is one of my favorite sites for fairy tales. It contains annotated versions of classics like Snow White and Red Riding Hood, with references to variant versions and symbolism interpretation. It doesn’t have just tons of stories, but there are at least a couple dozen of the best, and they’re wonderful. Plus, the art on the site is gorgeous.

Nursery Rhymes: Lyrics, Origins, and History – I referenced this site a few times in the post on Mother Goose, and it’s certainly a site worth checking out. It has little historical or folkloric notes on each of the rhymes it presents, as well as the words to the rhyme and some accompanying illustration.

Faerie Magick – This site, hosted by Fiona Broome, a paranormal researcher and enthusiast of the unseen, has a lot of interesting information on different kinds of fairies. Most of what she writes, she relates back to folklore, which is a big plus for me.

That’s it for this week! I hope you’ve enjoyed this little foray in to folklore. I’ll probably come back to this topic eventually, so if you have any questions or topics you’d like to know more about, please leave a comment or email us and I’ll be happy to try and work them in next time around.

Thanks for reading!

-Cory

Supplemental – Recommendation

Hi all!

I know I’ve already posted for the day, but I had to let you know about the latest episode of Standing Stone & Garden Gate. It’s a podcast I’ve recommended before, done by two friends of NWW, Juniper and Brendan, and it’s always worth a listen. The latest episode, however, is just phenomenal. I laughed, I thought, I laughed some more.

If you’ve not already done so, immediately go here and check it out!

Thanks, and enjoy!

-Cory

Blog Post 37 – Some Weekend Reading

Howdy everyone!

I thought that I’d finish up this week with another essay, this time one that I won’t actually be posting on the New World Witchery site. Instead, I’m going to provide a link to an excellent essay I found on Pow-wow magic, and then some notes I made while reading it.

The essay itself is written by David W. Kriebel, Ph.D. and has a distinctly academic tone. It focuses on the history and practice of braucherei in the Pennsylvania area, as well as examining some modern practitioners (most notably Don Yoder and Silver Ravenwolf (aka Jenine Trayer). It’s an interesting read, I think, but I’ll let you decide for yourself.

Here’s the essay: http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeIV/Powwow.htm

Some of the thoughts I had while reading this were:

Why is Pow-wow fading from the magical stage so steadily? Many spiritual and magical traditions have received increased attention in the past 30-40 years as the shiny patina of atomic-age wonder has begun to fade, yet Pow-wow still seems to be on the decline.
Is Pow-wow evolving into something else altogether? Kriebel mentions Ravenwolf’s book, which has had a mixed reception at best in the magical community. But her version of Pow-wow may just be where the practice is headed. Is that a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing, period?
The old books of Pow-wow, such as The Long Lost Friend and the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, get a good bit of attention in this essay. How relevant are they to the current practice of this magical system?
I love the story about Mountain Mary. It makes me wonder just how many of my local folk heroes might have been magically inclined.
The three levels of magical ritual (I, II, and III) which Kriebel mentions correspond well to various practices I’ve seen elsewhere (a simple charm from Hohman might be a I or a II, while Chris Bilardi’s complete brauche circuit in The Red Church is more of a III, I think). I wonder if the idea presented here about Pow-wow would hold true for other magical systems, like hoodoo.
One of the best things I come away with from this essay is in his conclusion, where he notes a 90% effectiveness rating for Pow-wow curing, which is remarkably good for any healing practice. In the end, I think that kind of a result defies any attempts to explain magic as pure superstition, but I may be wrong. What do you think?