New World Witchery – The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft
A show about magic and witchcraft in North America
-SHOWNOTES FOR PODCAST SPECIAL-
Summary
A tale of a famous witch from Maine, adapted from Richard Dorson’s “Buying the Wind”
Play:
Download: New World Witchery Special – Mother Hicks
-Sources-
Based on tales found in Buying the Wind, by Richard Dorson.
Promos & Music
“Grifos Muertos” by Jeffery Luck Lucas, from his album What We Whisper, on Magnatune.com
-SHOWNOTES FOR PODCAST SPECIAL-
Summary
This tale relates the events of a marriage that takes a turn for the worse when the husband finds out his new bride is a skin-shedding witch.
Play:
Download: New World Witchery – Special – The Boo Hag
-Sources-
“The Boo Hag,” retold by S.E. Schlosser, in her collection Spooky North Carolina. Also available on her website.
Promos & Music
“Grifos Muertos” by Jeffery Luck Lucas, from his album What We Whisper, on Magnatune.com
-SHOWNOTES FOR PODCAST SPECIAL-
Summary
The story of a brother, a sister, the devil, and a helpful witch. From the folklore of North Carolina.
Play:
Download: New World Witchery Special – The Devils Marriage
-Sources-
“Tales from Guilford County, North Carolina,” by Elsie Clews Parsons. In The Journal of American Folklore, v. 30, no. 116, 1917.
“The Devil’s Marriage,” retold by S.E. Schlosser, in her collection Spooky South.
Promos & Music
“Grifos Muertos” by Jeffery Luck Lucas, from his album What We Whisper, on Magnatune.com
-SHOWNOTES FOR PODCAST SPECIAL-
Summary
A short retelling of “The Black Cat Murders” to help set the stage for Halloween!
Play:
Download: New World Witchery Special – The Black Cat Murders
-Sources-
Witches, Ghosts, & Signs by Patrick Gainer
Promos & Music
“Grifos Muertos” by Jeffery Luck Lucas, from his album What We Whisper, on Magnatune.com
New World Witchery Special – The Black Cat Murders
A short retelling of “The Black Cat Murders” to help set the stage for Halloween! (complete shownotes at https://newworldwitchery.wordpress.com)
Those of you who’ve listened to Podcast 14 already know about this, but over the coming months there will be a series of concerts/events taking place across the nation called Strowlers. These are part musical concert, part sideshow, part pagan festival, and sound like they will be all fun! What are Strowlers, you might ask? According to the Dictionary of Theiving Slang, 1737 cited on the event website, they are:
“n. Vagabonds, Itinerants, Men of no settled Abode, of a precarious Life, Wanderers of Fortune, such as Gypsies, Beggars, Pedlars, Hawkers, Mountebanks, Fidlers, Country-Players, Rope-dancers, Jugglers, Tumblers, Shewers of Tricks, and Raree-show-men.”
There’s a whole fictionalized back story associated with the event in which America never won the Revolutionary War and thus is still subject to the whims of the English king, but I’ll leave the storytelling to the professionals. You can read more about it here.
The series of festivals is sponsored in part by bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton and folk-rocker SJ Tucker. The actual events will contain performances by a variety of artists, writers, and performers, including:
Strowler events will take place in:
These events sound like a great time, and offer a good bit more than a standard Pagan festival in terms of diversion and community. If you’ve listened to our most recent podcast, you know that we’ve got a special promotion going on that will get you 10% off tickets when you use our passcode. If you can’t listen to the podcast for some reason, simply email us with the subject line “Strowlers” and we’ll supply you with the discount code that way.
Please do go and see these events if you’re anywhere near them! They are going to be a lot of fun, I know, plus you’ll be supporting the Pagan entertainment community.
Thanks for reading!
-Cory
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
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:
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
In a lot of modern Pagan religions, such as Wicca and Druidism, there is a certain amount of emphasis placed on the moon. Phases of our celestial companion become symbolic stand-ins for various god and goddess figures, or particular aspects of those figures (as in the famous Maiden/Mother/Crone cycle). With the full moon upon us, I thought I might take a little look at just how American witchcraft interacts with that lovely sphere.
There is a great deal of lunar lore found in Native American legends. In one tale from the Kalispel Tribe of Idaho, the moon is equated with the famous trickster/father figure, Coyote:
“Once there was no Moon for someone had stolen it. The people asked “Who will be the Moon?” The Yellow Fox agreed to give it a try but he was so bright it made the Earth hot at night. Then the people asked Coyote to try and he agreed. The Coyote was a good moon, not to bright – not to dim. But from his vantage point in the sky the Coyote could see what everyone was doing. Whenever he saw someone doing something dishonest he would shout “HEY! That person is stealing meat from the drying racks!” or “HEY! That person is cheating at the moccasin game!” Finally, the people who wished to do things in secret got together and said “Coyote is too noisy. Let’s take him out of the sky.” So someone else became the moon. Coyote can no longer see what everyone else is doing but he still tries to snoop into everyone else’s business” (WWU Planetarium American Indian Starlore page).
The Cherokee thought of the Moon as brother to the Sun (an instance of the moon being seen as male, which appears in several cultures).
The image of the Man in the Moon is frequently found in American folklore. Many of these traditions hail from European lore, including poems found in Mother Goose:
THE MAN IN THE MOON
The Man in the Moon came tumbling down,
And asked the way to Norwich;
He went by the south, and burnt his mouth
With eating cold pease porridge.
(from The Real Mother Goose)
In other cultures, the moon contains figures less familiar to most Americans. The Old Farmer’s Almanac includes examples of the moon seen as a woman with child, a toad, a giant, a rabbit, and a boy and a girl carrying a bucket (as in “Jack and Jill”).
There are also particular moons associated with particular months. A good list of them can be found at the Farmer’s Almanac site, here. Many are linked with agricultural cycles (such as Green Corn Planting Moon or Harvest Moon), and some are clearly linked to hunting (like the Buck Moon).
There is a plethora of magical lore associated with the moon. My earlier posts on planting by lunar signs and weather lore both have lunar connections within them. Likewise, the witch initiations post mentions the practice of shooting at the moon to become a witch. Edain McCoy, in her book In a Graveyard at Midnight, also has a fun bit of moon magic:
“To remove a curse from your home, you can try shooting your shotgun out an open window at the full moon, while shouting a curse at the Devil. However, don’t try this if you live in a city or populated area, or you will likely find the police at your door” (McCoy, p. 107)
There are also beliefs about marriage and courtship dates associated with lunar phenomena – waxing-to-full moons are best for “tomcattin’” according to Vance Randolph’s Ozark Magic & Folklore.
Of course, witches can find lots to do under a full moon. Personally I find it to be an ideal time for:
These are only my thoughts on the subject, of course, and there are plenty of great sources on lunar folklore out there. And, of course, your mileage may vary when it comes to making the most of a full moon. I’d love to hear what you all do with regards to lunar-linked magic. Please feel free to share your methods, practices, ideas, and thoughts with us here!
Until next time, thanks for reading!
-Cory
-SHOWNOTES FOR SPECIAL – THE HORNED WOMEN-
Summary
A very short special in which Cory reads the fairy tale “The Horned Women,” then discusses a bit of the witchcraft in it. Happy Walpurgisnacht/May Eve/Beltane everyone!
Play:
Download: New World Witchery – Podcast Special – The Horned Women
-Sources-
“The Horned Women,” from Fairy & Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory.
Music
“Grifos Muertos” by Jeffery Luck Lucas, from his album What We Whisper, on Magnatune.com
New World Witchery - The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft 