Black Magic, and Poppets. Oh My!

Black Magic harms.
Curses and hexes are black magic.

This type of magic calls on evil forces and destructive elements.

During the Middle Ages, the church, hoping to end the old religion portrayed witches as doers of evil workings with Satan. It was said that during that time all witches practiced Black Magic.

Poppets.

Poppets are also known as Voodoo dolls, or wax dolls. Pins are stuck in to them to cause death.

They are often thought of as used in Voodoo Rituals but aren’t.

Poppets are a form of imaginative magic. The doll is made to look like a person; it’s given that person’s name. Then the figure is abused -a pin maybe pushed into it or it’s slowly melted.

Bridget Bishop (Yes that’s the one, from the Salem Witch Trials) used these poppets. One wall of the house she formerly lived in hid several poppets.

They are usually made of rags and hog bristles they had pins in them.

The Poppets reputation is wrong though, they also used for healings. Healing poppets are filled with herbs and stones in this case.

In 1964, two poppets were found at a castle in Norfolk England. A clay figure of a woman with a Hawthorn pressed through it.

Thorns were commonly used in place of pins and needles, and sheep and cattle hearts were commonly used to make the actual doll.

Wolf’s Bane

Wolf’s Bane is a poisonous part of the perennial herbs, it’s part of the buttercup family.

These are divided into 2 genera: Aconitum and Eranthis. Flowering Wolf’s Bane and Monkshood are part of the flowering Aconitum family and are deadly.

They discharge aconite a poisonous substances. The most poisonous variety grows in Nepal.

Warriors there used the flower to tip their arrows. They’d then shoot their enemies’ wells turning their water supplies unusable.

We can assume that the skilled witches of the middle ages (which were extremely proficient herbalists) could use Wolf’s Bane for both deadly and healing purposes. Proper dosages of Wolf’s Bane can be an effective pain-reliever and tonic.

It’s been told that witches used Wolf’s Bane to turn themselves or others into werewolves. Extreme care would be required to prevent death. Correct dosages may have caused hallucinations.

Making the taker believe they’d shape-shifted into a wolf.

It’s also noted that Wolf’s Bane is used to keep one safe from Werewolf attacks.

*** I’m in no way reasonable if you are attacked by a werewolf while using Wolf’s Bane as an amulet. Or for any consumption of the herb. ***

**This month’s Full Moon is called Windy Moon.**

Anubis

Not a werewolf but…

The jackal-headed Egyptian god of the underworld. Anubis is sometimes called the Great Dog.

Dogs are greatly revered in ancient Egypt.

Anubis had a place of honor in the pantheon of gods.

In the Middle Ages, Christians believed images of Anubis confirmed legends of werejackals that attacked unwary desert travelers.

Some ancient cults saw Anubis as a conduit for healing, others believed his priests wearing, dog-headed masks were assuming the god’s role as judge of the underworld and were stealing souls of hapless victims that the pretended to cure.

**The Full Moon this month is named Death Moon.**

Book of Shadows

Originally, witchcraft was an oral tradition. A witches’ believes weren’t written until the Middle Ages when witches were persecuted. At times, they would meet in the shadows in hopes of staying hidden. They books they began writing in were called Book of Shadows. Anyone found with a book was sentenced to death. There was one book per family or coven.

When a witch died, the Book of Shadows was burned. Once it was deadly to be a witch, individual witches began keeping their own books. Usually they’d copy the coven or family’s book and then add their own interests. The High Priest or High Priestess kept another Book for the coven.

 

Things the Book of Shadows had were The Rede and laws, Holidays, Esbats and Sabbats, Handfasting and handparting, divination, spells, chants and songs, and dances. Coven history and any by-laws were also recorded.

Depending on the tradition the witch or coven practices individuals might be allowed their own Book of Shadows, Some would be allowed to copy the Coven’s book but only certain parts depending on the level of knowledge the copier was at.

 

It’s believed that the Book of Shadows should be handwritten because the book is powerful some of its power is transferred to the writer. The title page should always be handwritten.

 

Ponderings of an Insomniac

Last night I got to bed 30 minutes earlier than normal. Do you think I would have gotten to sleep more, No that would have been too nice.

My mind went into a state of pondering. I’ll try to share as much with you as I can remember.  I’ll write it down here as it happened.  It gets really weird and crazy.

First I went over my to do list…It’s so long I won’t even bother here.

I wonder why the moon has been coming out during the night and why is she coming out during the day. That seems too weird Moon is for the dark night, the sun is for the day. I can’t even find her in the daytime. I wonder if she’s too close to the sun to see her. Orion moved a lot too.

I’ll have to actually go outside in the cold to see him soon. I don’t want to go outside, I prefer standing in the doorway, and it’s a little warmer there.  Maybe the moon is sad looking at Orion, so she’s hanging out with Apollo. That makes sense. Artemis is spending time with Apollo. Why am I thinking about this, I’m tired I want to go to sleep.
–Sigh-

Wouldn’t she be mad at Apollo though, he tricked her into killing Orion, but what if seeing Orion dead hurts more? I wouldn’t want to see either. That was cruel of Apollo; he was her twin and tricked her into killing her lover. Poor Artemis.
–Sigh- I need to get to sleep.

No more moon. No more moon.

Sleep,

Sleep,

Sleep.

Go to sleep.

Sheep. . . can I count sheep.

1

2

3

4

5

What if a zombie and a vampire were after the same woman? That’s dumb, but they both use humans for food.

–Sleep fool, not zombies, vampires, or werewolves-

Werewolves, I need to learn more about werewolves. Why are werewolves always vampire enemies? Zombies should be added into that.

I wonder if the vampire said, I’ll drink from her first then you can have the carcass, would a zombie go for that compromise.
-Sigh- Go To Sleep!

What if the zombie got impatient and attacked while the vampire was still eating? The vampire would kick the zombie’s butt.  That’s what would happen! Are you so sure? A zombie is a big threat, a threat to a human but not a vampire.

Vampires are much faster and more agile even though zombies have superhuman strength so do vampires. The vampire would run circles around the zombie in no time. So a vampire would win.

I hope my zombie-writing friend doesn’t get mad at that idea. Oh well, the vampire would still win.
–Sigh- Please brain shut up and let me sleep!

I wonder would a vampire eat from a zombie if that was all it could find. Nah, zombies are rotting, a vampire couldn’t ever want that. Could a zombie eat a vampire…. We already went over this a vampire is too fast…

Okay but what if the vampire is in his day coma, but some vampires don’t… Let’s just go with this.

Okay the vampire is asleep in his day coma and a zombie finds him. We’ll go with the ‘sleeps from sun up to sun down version’. So the zombie bites the vampire. Nah, WAIT zombies eat other zombies.

No vampire, wake up. Don’t let the yucky zombie eat you!
–Sigh- Are you serious? GO TO SLEEP.

If there were zombies in the middle ages, how did you defend yourself? They could get too close if they fought with swords. Everyone would be infected then.

Ooooh what about the Roman soldiers? Could they fight zombies?

Roman soldier zombies!

No thank you the only thing worse than that is a Gladiator zombie.

Sh*t now I’m just scaring myself!
–Sigh- I refuse to think about anything else! It must be close to 2 AM now. Please just let me sleep.

Or let my characters start talking to me again. I could use this time writing not thinking uselessness.

Good pondering!!!  (-Sigh- this is a good idea, where’s my tinfoil hat?)
I won’t share. I might want to write about this… My tin hat is on, so no one can get my idea.