#Samhain projects

[mikaelsontrelbrid]

Just finished these. They’re small enough to read but also very much so not easy to figure out, let alone complete.

They’re just small Alkirian runes or Alkonirian Sand Runes, used in magic seasonally for things like Savkots and other holidays amongst them, The Day of Red Or as it stands in most of the rest of the places where the veil be thin, it’s known as Dragon’s Blood Day or Day of Dragons or Seven Dragons Day or Depending on the season it’s known as Fellkorian or Day of the Dragon’s Death. Most of the time it’s just either a stone or a giving of a new dragon, or a passage of dragon from one of those before and to the next one the same dragon gets passed down into another part of the general generations of the Clans, or the next leaders. Most of the other time, it is also a finding of a dragon or dragon initiation day. Therefore not much activity on the forefronts of some locations. It also includes a passage of teeth amongst many other things, which is at most 1-5 teeth per members of clan. Also I got bored a bit, so had to start doing some little detailed piece on the stones and all I could come up with was the Dragon Runes/Sand Runes themselves. That being said, not much else to go off of. Except for that I had to include the background on one of them. Beyond that, not much else to go within reasonable size of the pieces.

[hallowickit]

[floralfumofridays]

Floral Fumo Double Feature of the Week Second Part Hallow's Day/Hallowmas/Samhain Edition: Low Smartweed/Dog Smartweed (Persicaria longiseta)

So this is the next day, for Fumo Fridays because it lands on a friday and is also a holiday. This first picture does not have the plant I want to show but is made to follow along for story purposes. This tree is a Norway Maple that was shown before. Click here for Part 1

Yuuka noticed that the youkai carrying baskets were in groups, and remembered how Marisa was able to defeat her so easily, so she tries to search for an easy target. She finds a lone and innocent looking youkai in gaudy clothing sleeping on a tree. Yuuka thought of the youkai as weak, so she decided to attack with her giant spark spell at the poor sleeping youkai. After Yuuka attacked, she noticed that her attack didn't even work. The sleeping youkai surely would have woken up, but it never affected her. Yuuka tried to shoot simple bullets at the sleeping youkai, but then she found a gap that was taking in all of the bullets. She tried multiple times to shoot danmaku at the poor sleeping youkai, but gaps would instantly open just to take the bullets then immediately closed as if nothing had ever happened.

Yuuka tried one more trick: She took one big swing of her umbrella at the sleeping youkai's head, but then she woke up! "Oh dear, I wonder what's with all of the noise?" said the sleeping youkai. As the umbrella was about to hit, a gap immediately opened in front of the sleeping youkai's face and an arm quickly emerged to grab the umbrella. Yuuka became terrified, "My umbrella!" "Don't you know it isn't nice to attack a fellow youkai? Have some manners!" The youkai continued, "Hmm, it doesn't look like you're in no position to be attacking youkai. Maybe I should have picked more carefully which youkai come into the Outside during this time, I guess I'll escort you back... Although I'm supposed to be hibernating right now."

A gap had taken the two back to a much more familiar place. A swampy area in Gensokyo.

"Just what was that all about anyways? Why was I in the Outside? Outsiders don't fear youkai like me anymore," Yuuka questioned her. "Now now, it was just a mistake. I didn't understand that you are fading. Belief and fears in youkai are accelerated during this season in the outside to the point where it becomes much safer for youkai to tour, so I simply bring in many random youkai to participate in the "harvest" around the Outside for a while. I didn't understand your situation so well though," the youkai answered. "Fading? I'm fading?" Yuuka became worried. "Pardon me, I'm Yukari Yakumo, the Youkai Sage. Although I'm hibernating right now like the other sages. It seems a number of youkai are weakening recently. Perhaps I should have Ran investigate for me." "Yuuka Kazami, I've never met you personally before. I just made my own world because not even Gensokyo suited me, but then they kicked me out." Yuuka sighed. "I see, sorry about that. I do not think yours to be an original incident, the number of humans in Gensokyo have dwindled, it's threatening the balance of the world as we know it. Since I am hibernating, I will have my shikigami handle these matters for me," Yukari continued, "In the meantime, you don't look so well. Maybe you should mind your manners and focus more on attacking humans more instead of attacking anyone that you please, though. Especially a youkai in such a dying state as yourself." Yuuka sulked, "Well, where I landed there were only other youkai around. So I thought humans were no more." Yukari giggled, "Oh... You didn't mistake humans dressing in costumes as youkai? Let me explain: It's a western tradition on the Outside for humans to dress up as youkai in hopes that youkai won't attack them! Although, the tradition has spread to Japan in recent years, too. Surely, a youkai as old as you would know of it, right?" Yuuka thought about it for a moment, and became flustered. She flew away out of embarassment

Yuuka was relieved for a moment that her feeling so weak and fading was not her own individual issue, but a larger issue affecting Gensokyo. For a long while after she started her plot to change her "nature," she felt alive, she was in her own fantasy as if there was nothing to stop her. The reality was that she was fading, dying. Surely, hopefully, it has to do with this particular incident occurring within Gensokyo, and not her own plans.

Hallow's day(originally Samhain in Gaelic, pronounced sauin, means summer's end) was originally an Irish-Scots (it was both) holiday about liminality, the many interpretations which were passed through mostly oral tongue is that the boundaries between reality and fantasy that were said weaken through "gaps"/portals to allow supernaturals to travel from the illusion world to the reality, and they would play pranks on humans on this day. To prevent supernaturals from attacking, humans would dress up as the supernaturals themselves. Another more familiar interpretation it was also celebrated at the boundaries between summer and winter (autumn), light and darkness, life and death. so it would be ghosts that would enter and pull pranks. A necrofantasia if you will.

Only the eve is celebrated nowadays instead of the actual day, and thus, Halloween which is a mashup word of Hallow's eve. Because there are many interpretations to the festival because it was mostly passed through oral tongue and tradition, everyone has their own "truth" or their own "world" of celebrating. Also I am a bit late for this one.

The first photo is the Norway Maple, but I already talked about that one. The flowers in the second photo are the Low Smartweed or Dog Smartweed. The name of the genus is a bit hard to explain: Persica is the latin name for peach, but that word was named after the Persian Empire/Persia (Iran) long ago. Persica is often given to a scientific species names that are native to Iran and other surrounding areas (like Syringa persica, Persian Lilac). Persicaria as in the genus of flowers refers to the flowers mostly being pink like a peach, but there are still many that coincidentally bloom in Iran, too.

This flower is native to most of Asia. It is oftentimes confused with the more popular Lady's Thumb(Persicaria maculosa), another plant with a much larger native range, and american persicarias. All persicarias have a characteristic of appearing in swampy areas, and is considered a weed by many. The difference between them is easier to find not by its flowers, but by the leaves (A lady's thumb is smaller and has a spot in the middle of mostly each leaf, while a low smart weed gradually grows dark) and the stringlike parts of the branches. Many persicarias are sometimes foraged and have different flavors, but they tend to be peppery and spicy like a cayenne pepper.

Persicarias are a fragile annual plant that does not last long but spreads quickly. It gives one final cluster of blooms before winter, before its eventual and quick death. Although Dog smartweed is invasive to the Americas like the Norway Maple, and considered a "pest" even in places that it's native to. Unlike the Norway Maple, it is much easier to remove and kill. There are persicarias all around the world, and many nonnative ones in one place are lookalikes to native ones in another. If you can identify them as native to your area then it is best to leave them alone.

The Norway Maple looks like it's dying because of the leaves falling, but it's a perennial plant that is very sturdy and lives, and the tree will grow new ones. The Low smartweed looks like it's living because it blooms flowers, but it's fragile, at its final breath and will eventually die.

Also this post was made so late there are only a few hours until Nov 1st is dead everywhere in the world.

Persicaria... and fumos are a type of doll... Hmm....

[catrinasoleifiberart]

365 DAYS OF TAROT LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO

Happy New Year, comrades and welcome to Trin makes poor life choices! ✨🎃✨

So the thing is... fiber arts consumed me. Between the felting and the crochet, I have been creating at what is for me a breakneck pace - half a dozen sculptures, three separate painting series totaling about 20 paintings, three shawls, a handful of hats, dishcloths, and scarves, and a partridge in a pear tree. I averaged a completed project every two weeks all in the three years since I've been doing this, while struggling with a major health diagnosis and a move across the country. So let's ramp it up to 11 shall we 😈

Number of Days in a Year: 365

Number of Cards in a Tarot Deck: 78

Days to work per Tarot Card: 4.6

That's almost 2 cards a week. That's... probably unreasonably fast. If my partner were home to curb my enthusiasm before I scheduled this, they would probably say something along the lines of, "maybe for the sake of my mental health if not yours, please don't"

Okay look. A deck in a year is the dream. But it probably won't happen that way. We'll shoot for the stars and maybe I'll be too busy to think about the ten thousand ideas clawing for attention in my wooly teddy bear brain. Oh and before I get out of here and bleed my hands on this really smart idea of mine, please support my art endeavors.

[bells-and-feathers]

Been thinking about a new writing project and I'm very serious about this one so...

[skintyfenian]

gonna wear my Halloween costume from last year cause it didn’t get the recognition it deserved x

[fordarkisthesuede]

May I please ask for a character description of Jackie lant? I honestly don't feel like combing through every page of the fics she's in (I'm sorry if that came off as rude) I want to draw her but don't know if I made shit up or it was written (I'm bad with words I'm sorry) I also really want to draw her jack-o'-lantern outfit, if you have the time or want to if not, thank you for your time

You're asking about my girl?! My precious darling daughter?!

Pfft, no problem, baby-cake! Let's go!!!

Full Name: Jacklin "Jackie" Olivia Lant

Age: 26

Birthday: 🦂 November 2nd (Day of the Dead)

Height: 5'4" without shoes (John is a known 6ft tall for comparison)

Cup size: Just barely a C

Build: Dress size 6 (US measurements)

Eyes: Brown; frequently described as "autumn leaves".

Eyelashes are short and almost invisible without makeup, so she frequently uses a brown mascara.

Hair: In the fiery orange range of red-heads (don't forget the yellow-y bits!); curl level is 3C (tight corkscrews). Currently a bob style like this:

Fun fact, her hair was modeled after my friend Maddy :)

Eyebrows: small and yellower than her hair so is frequently filled in with light brown pencil to a straight shape like this:

Face: more round than oval; no visible scars

Skin: Caucasian; has freckles across her nose and cheeks + on shoulders and peppered along arms

Tattoos: none

Scars: bullet wound on left-hand abdomen above the hip, circa Dr. Crane in AtBoM; right-hand calf has a three-inch vertical scar from a childhood bike accident; outside of thighs have several horizontal scars from self-harm as a teenager .

Favorite clothes are autumnal colors and patterns; she favors orange, yellow, brown, and black, but will wear white and owns two pairs of worn blue jeans she wears frequently. Occasionally wears green accent pieces (favors Goosebumps slime green). Dislikes wearing blue tones outside of faded jeans. Never wears solid reds. Loves plaids, ripped pants, and Beetlejuice-style stripes. Dislikes Uggs, loves boots of all other kinds, flat sneakers, and black chunkier-style heels with straps. Can and has worn stilettos, just doesn't like having to skirt around grates in the city. Can wear any and all dress and skirt styles, but prefers knee-length or shorter.

Favorite clothing item: black zip-up hoodie with pumpkin orange skeleton torso print - the zipper goes all the way up through the hood to seal the face, and the hood-face print is a jack-o-lantern!

Her original "costume", from down in the secret chamber beneath the mausoleum in AtBoM (when she's trying to get every party-goer to help her take down Dr. Crane, who used that place as a hideout), is very reminiscent of Samhain from the old Ghostbusters cartoon:

That said, her "official" villain look is undecided, since we never had to really go that route. Her official weapons at the time were a sawed-off shotgun, a classic revolver, and backup in the form of her great-uncle's mob ties, but I'll also add in mace and brass knuckles, because it's Gotham and she always has those in her purse.

I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing what you come up with!!!

[authormarialberg]

Swamp Creatures

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Magic-Related Vocabulary

for your next poem/story

Amulet: An object worn, carried or placed to guard against negativity or other vibrations. A protective object.

Astral Projection: The practice of separating the consciousness from the physical body so that the former may move about unhindered by time, space or gravity.

Bane: A poison; that which destroys life. "Henbane" is poisonous to hens.

Banish: To drive away evil, negativity or spirits.

Beltane: An ancient folk-festival day observed by Witches that celebrates the fully blossomed spring. April 30 or May 1.

Censer: A vessel of metal or earthenware in which incense is burned. An incense burner.

Chaplet: A garland or wreath of flowers or leaves worn on the head, as in the chaplets given to classical Greek heroes as symbols of honor.

Clairvoyance: Literally "clear seeing." The ability to perceive facts, events and other data by other than the five "normal" senses, unaided by tools.

Curse: A concentration of negative and destructive energy, deliberately formed and directed toward a person, place or thing.

Divination: The art of finding things out through means other than the five senses, using tools such as tarot cards, crystal balls, and so on.

Enchant: "Sing to." Magically speaking, a procedure whereby herbs are aligned with your magical need prior to their use.

Evil Eye, The: Supposed glance capable of causing great harm or fear, once almost universally feared.

Fascination: The art of placing other people under one's power through sounds, gazes, colors, etc.

Hex: An evil spell; a curse.

Incubus: A male demon or spirit which was believed to sexually tempt and abuse women; the succubus was the corresponding female demon.

Infusion: An herbal tea.

Lughnasadh: An old harvest festival celebrated on August 1st or 2nd in Europe, reverencing the abundant (harvested) fruits of the Earth. It is still observed by Wicca.

Magic: The practice of causing needed change through the use of powers as yet undefined and unaccepted by science.

Magic Circle: A ritually-created circle (or sphere) that offers protection to the magician during magical rites.

Magician: A person of either sex who practices magic.

Magus: A magician.

Midsummer: The Summer Solstice, usually on or near June 21st, one of the Wiccan festival days and an excellent time to practice magic.

Pendulum: A tool of divination which consists of a heavy object suspended from a string or cord. The end of the cord is held between the thumb and forefinger; questions are asked and their answers divided by the movements of the pendulum.

Pentagram: A five-pointed star which has been used in magic for centuries. Highly symbolic, it is also a protective device.

Poppet: A small doll made of various substances to influence a person's fife. In herb magic, either a carved root or a cloth image stuffed with herbs. The use of poppets is known as "image magic."

Power Hand, The: The hand you write with; the dominant hand. This is a magically potent hand.

Samhain: An ancient festival day marking the beginning of winter. Also known as "Halloween" and All Hallows Eve. It is observed by Wicca with religious ceremonies.

Scry: To gaze into a pool of ink, fire, crystal ball, etc. to awaken and summon psychic powers.

Spell: A magical rite.

Talisman: An object worn or carried to attract a specific influence, such as love, luck, money, health; as opposed to an amulet which keeps forces from its bearer.

Wicca: A contemporary religion with spiritual roots in prehistory that worships the life-force of the universe as personified as a God and Goddess. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as "witchcraft."

Witch Bottle: A bottle or jar containing herbs, pins, shards of glass and other objects, designed to protect a person or area from evil and curses. Usually buried or placed in a window.

Witchcraft: The practice of natural magic, as that of herbs, stones, and candles. Spell-casting. Still used by some to refer to the religion of Wicca.

Wort: An old word meaning "herb." Mugwort preserves the term.

Excerpt from Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs More: Word Lists ⚜ Esoteric Vocabulary ⚜ On Magic

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice

I'm in the home stretch of my 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in PDX THIS FRIDAY (June 20) at BARNES AND NOBLE with BUNNIE HUANG and at the TUALATIN public library on SUNDAY (June 22). After that, it's LONDON (July 1) with TRASHFUTURE'S RILEY QUINN and then a big finish in MANCHESTER on July 2.

Margaret Killjoy writes fantasy stories of relentless tension, boundless wonder, thrilling adventure…and completely radical, unflinching anarchist politics. Her 2024 YA novel "The Sapling Cage" is a queer coming-of-age epic that motors with all the narrative energy of a genderbent Conan epic:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/24/daughters-of-the-empty-throne/#witchy

Today, Strangers In a Tangled Wilderness Press publishes The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice, a collection of three linked short stories set in Killjoy's celebrated Danielle Cain series, which Alan Moore called "ideal reading for a post-truth world":

https://www.tangledwilderness.org/shop/p/the-immortal-choir-holds-every-voice

Danielle Cain is a freight-train-hopping, anarcho-queer hero whose adventures are shared by solidaristic crews of spellcasting, cryptid-battling crustypunk freaks and street-fighters. In Immortal Choir, the action opens with Danielle and a motley band around a campfire in a dark Idaho woods, surrounded by the night-screams of some distant demonic presence. It's Samhain, and the veil between the realm of the living and the dead is as thin as it gets. Bad things are stalking the night.

To save themselves, they must court their own dead, welcoming them to their circle. They pile a camp-plate high with food for the dead to eat, build the fire up, and begin the tell the stories of their dead comrades, summoning them as a defense against the monstrous forces that stalk the All Saints night. This is the setup for the three linked short stories that make up this short book.

This is a great setup: a group of endangered comrades, huddled together against the darkness without, telling tales to buoy up their bravery. It's the framing device that makes The Decameron an enduring classic after 800 years and counting. In Killjoy's hands, it sings.

The first story is "The Troll King's Court," a ghost story about a Norwegian troll cult that came to America in a failed Manhattan-Adjacent Project to create a mystical superweapon with which to win WWII. It's ultimately a story about how the competent people who have their shit together in our lives are just as broken as the rest of us, and about the many ways that release, fulfillment and actualization can take place. It's spooky as fuck.

The middle story is "The Fairies of the Spring," which summons up the old, mean roots of the Fair Folk, the cruelty behind their beauty and merry laughter. Pratchett did one of these (Lords and Ladies), and so have many others – but no one's done it where the resistance comes from a motley band of queer punk club-owners in a rural town, who team up with local shitkickers to hunt the elves and banish them to their realm.

The final tale is "The Battle of Miami," a story about a streetfighting anti-globalist battle. It's a tale of Black Bloc tactics and true queer love, that lights up with joy.

Killjoy's really onto something with this series. She's tapping into the deep roots of fantasy – maybe the socialist parables woven into William Morris's stories. She's also connecting with the roots of urban fantasy (I was delighted to see a reference to Terri Windling's superb, absolutely amazing Borderland series).

These three tales stand alone, so there's no need to read the previous volumes before diving into this one. But you should read the other two, because they're great:

The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion (2017):

https://reactormag.com/excerpts-margaret-killjoy-the-lamb-will-slaughter-the-lion/

The Barrow Will Send What It May: (2018):

https://reactormag.com/excerpts-the-barrow-will-send-what-it-may-margaret-killjoy/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/18/anarcho-cryptid/#decameron-and-on

[the-mortuary-witch]

HERB AND FLORA PROPERTIES

A

ACACIA: exorcism, banishing, money, love, to be burned for alter offering, aiding in psychic powers, meditation, and protection.

ACORN: strength, money and wealth, and protection.

ADAM’S AND EVES ROOTS: (TOXIC) attract love and happiness.

ADDERS TONGUE: healing and divination.

AFRICAN VIOLET: protection and promote spirituality.

AGARIC: (TOXIC) encourage fertility.

AGRIMONY: protection, banish negative energy-entities, reverse spells, break hexes, promotes sleep, psychic protection, and returns spells to their senders.

AGUE ROOT: protection and break hexes.

ALDER: whistles entice the elemental earth, water magic, and strength.

ALFALFA: abundance, prosperity, money, anti-hunger, frugality, and providence. Place in the kitchen.

ALKANET: repel negativity, attract prosperity, and purification all heal-mental powers.

ALLSPICE: money, luck, healing, prosperity when burned, courage, magickal power, love, and lust.

ALMOND: prosperity, success in business ventures, money, wisdom, love, and anger management.

ALOE: protection, luck, money, repel evil, healing, beauty, success, and peace.                           

ALOESWOOD: love, spirituality, money, protection.

ALTHEA: protection, psychic power, and attract good spirits.

ALYSSUM: protection and to calm anger.

AMARANTH: healing, protection, healing heartbreak, and invisibility.

AMBER: healing.                                       

AMBERGRIS: lust and sex.

ANEMONE: health, protection, and healing. 

ANGELICA: protection, exorcism, remove curses and hexes, healing, visions, wards off negativity when sprinkled around the house, increases life energy bringing warmth of Fire element, and wards off negativity when sprinkled around the house.                          

ANISE: divination, psychic awareness, joy, dreams, luck, love, enthusiasm, Winter Solstice, and entices the spirits to aid in spells.

APPLE: love, healing, garden blessing, buried in the garden on Samhain as food for the departing spirits, to be shared with one you love,  immortality, happiness, luck, broken heart, spirit food, and the goddess.

APRICOT: love. 

ARABIC GUM: purification, spirituality, and protection. 

ARBUTUS: exorcism and protection. 

ARROWROOT: protection. 

ASAFETIDA: purification, protection, and exorcism. 

ASH: Prosperity, protection, healing, love, wands, leaves for prophetic dreams, sea rituals, longevity, peace, luck, purification, study, enhances magic, and besom.

ASPEN: protection, eloquence, and anti-theft. 

ASTER: love.                     

ASTRAGALUS: fortification, and strength. 

AVENS: exorcism, love, and purification. 

AVOCADO: beauty, love, and lust. 

B

BACHELORS BUTTONS: love.

BALM OF GILEAD: (TOXIC) love, manifestations, ease a broken heart, protection, and healing.

BAMBOO: protection, luck, break hexes, and wishes.

BANANA: prosperity, fertility, and potency.

BANYAN: luck and happiness.

BARLEY: healing, protection, and love.

BASIL: exorcism, love, protection, prosperity, wealth, repels negative energy, sympathy, wealth, flying, courage, business, fertility, healing relationships, and ensure faithfulness on masses.

BAY: psychic powers, protection, healing, purification, strength, wish magick, wisdom, good luck, fertility, banish negativity, energy, insight, divination, victory, prosperity, employment, mental power, and burn for psychic powers.

BAYBERRY: employment.

BEAN: love, protection, exorcism, wart charming, reconciliation, and potency.

BEECH: creativity, wishes, fertility, and balance mental health.

BEET: love.

BELLADONNA: (TOXIC) visions, astral protection, and divination.

BENZOIN: purification, prosperity, astral projection, confidence, and protection. 

BERGAMOT: success, money, confidence, protection, prosperity, employment, and unwanted advances.

BE-STILL: (TOXIC) luck.

BETONY: love, healing, burn at Litha for purification, protection; place under pillow to be rid of nightmares; sprinkle around doors to ward off despair, and psychic awareness.

BIRCH: purification, protection, exorcism, cleansing, beauty, catalyst, blessing, health, besom, and beginnings.

BISTORT: fertility and psychic powers.

BITTERSWEET: (TOXIC) protection, healing, and broken heart.

BLACK COHOSH: courage, love, protection, and potency.

BLACK HELLEBORE: (TOXIC) invisibility, exorcism, and astral projection.

BLACK PEPPER: courage and protection.

BLACK SNAKEROOT: love, lust, and money.

BLACKBERRY: healing, protection, prosperity, money, and pies for Lughnassadh.

BLACKTHORN: returns evil to its sender.

BLADDERWRACK: psychic powers, protection, money, water or sea spells, wind spells, travel, and psychic clarity.

BLEEDING HEARTS: (TOXIC) love.

BLESSED THISTLE: protection, animal healing, and abundance.

BLOODROOT: (TOXIC) love, purification, and protection.

BLUEBELL: luck and truth.

BLUEBERRY: protection.

BLUE COHOSH ROOT: courage, balance, and protection.

BLUE FLAG: (TOXIC) money, wealth, and success in business.

BODHI: wisdom, fertility, protection, and meditation.

BONESET: protection and exorcism.

BORAGE: courage, psychic powers, and carry leaves for protection.

BRACKEN: protection, healing, fertility, prophetic dreams, and rune magick.

BRAZIL NUT: love.

BRIAR: add to tea for clairvoyant dreams and protection.

BRIONY: (TOXIC) mage magick, protection, and money.

BROMELIAD: protection and money.

BROOM: (TOXIC) divination, wind spells, purification of the circle, and hung indoors for protection.

BRYONY: (TOXIC) pleasure and reveal secrets.

BUCHU: prophetic dreams and psychic powers.

BUCKEYE: luck, divination, money, wealth, prosperity, and gambling.

BUCKTHORN: protection, exorcism, wishes, and legal matters.

BUCKWHEAT: protection and money.

BURDOCK: protection, healing, wards off negativity, purifies, protects (washing floors or dried root on red string around the neck), happy home, clears space & holds the space safe, and spirit of north.

C

CABBAGE: luck.

CACTUS: protection and chastity.

CALAMUS: (TOXIC) luck, protection, healing, money, and purification.

CALENDULA: stress management , opening to the 3rd Chakra, and helps energy move outward from centre of body extending in all directions.

CAMELLIA: prosperity, wealth, and luxury.

CAMPHOR: (TOXIC) healing, divination, chastity, past lives, prophetic dreams, purification, psychic awareness, and unwanted advances.

CAPER: lust, love, and potency.

CARAWAY: protection, lust, healing, mental powers, repel negativity, psychic healing, vitality, energy, magickal power, and anti-theft.

CARDAMON: lust, love, and burned in love spells and in love sachets.

CARNATION: protection, strength, healing, altar offering to the goddess, strength.

CAROB: protection and health.

CARROT: fertility, lust, vision, and the God aspect.

CASCARA SAGRADA: protection, money, and legal matters.

CASHEW: prosperity, money, and communication.

CASSIA: psychic awareness, and spirituality.

CASTOR: (TOXIC) protection and repel negativity.

CATNIP: love, beauty, happiness, power, courage, positive cat magick, friendship, joy, anger management, depression management, and familiars.

CAT TAIL: lust.

CAYENNE: exorcism and healing.

CEDAR: healing, purification, money, protection, cleansing, courage, stopping sexual harassment, prosperity, aura field, and space.

CELANDINE: joy, protection, happiness, escape, legal matters, and depression management.

CELERY: lust, psychic powers, mental clarity, concentration, and peace.

CENTAURY: snake removing.

CHAMOMILE: purification, tranquility, money, sleep-rest (tea), love, luck, meditation, prosperity, incense for the God, gambling, hex breaking, legal matters, peace, dreams, dexterity, and protection.

CHAPPARAL: Fire element rituals, protection, and Spirit of South.

CHERRY: love, divination, burn chips at sabbats, creativity, and victory.

CHESTNUT: love.

CHICKWEED: love and fidelity.

CHICORY: favours, frugality, remove obstacles, invisibility, frigidity, and liberation.

CHILI PEPPER: fidelity, love, and break hexes.

CHINA BERRY: (TOXIC) luck and change.

CHRYSANTHEMUM: (TOXIC) protection.

CILANTRO: health.

CINCHONA: protection and luck.

CINNAMON: prosperity, success, spirituality, healing, lust, protection, love, psychic powers, passion, power, dreams, strength, astral projection, courage, money, purification, and personal empowerment.

CINQUEFOIL: money, protection, sleep, prophetic dreams, purification, lust, prosperity, and divination dreams.

CITRON: healing and eaten to increase psychic powers.

CIVET: love, lust, and sex.

CLOTH-OF-GOLD: animal communication.

CLOVE: protection, exorcism, purification, love, money, mental clarity, burn for wealth, wards off negativity, counter spells, cleansing, divination, luck, depression management, psychic awareness, prophetic dreams, happiness, and gossip.

CLOVER: success, protection, money, exorcism, love, fidelity, consecration, beauty, luck, youth, healing, faeries, and prosperity.

CLUB MOSS: protection and power.

COCONUT: purification, protection, chastity, and water.

COHOSH (BLACK): courage, protection, potency, and menopause.

COLTSFOOT: love, psychic visions, healing, wealth, and prosperity.

COLUMBINE: courage and love.

COMFREY: (TOXIC) money, root or leaves for healing, carry for safe travel, protection, stress management, safe journeys (Worldly or through Meditation), and Winter Solstice.

COPAL: love, purification, exorcism, protection, spirituality, earth element, sets sacred space, and allows guides and guidance to come.

CORIANDER: love, health, healing, protection, and longevity.

CORN: divination, protection, luck, and money.

CORNFLOWER: psychism.

CORNSILK: Water element and stimulates flow.

COTTON: luck, healing, and protection.

COWSLIP: youth, healing, treasure finding, luck, love, and psychic dreams.

CRANBERRY: healing, energy, and abundance.

CROCUS: love, visions, and wisdom.

CUBEB: love.

CUCKOO-FLOWER: love and fertility.

CUCUMBER: healing, fertility, and chastity.

CUMIN: exorcism, protection, prevents theft, fidelity, and love.

CURRY: protection and exorcism.

CYCLAMEN: fertility, protection, happiness, lust, and broken heart.

CYPRESS: healing, protection, comfort, longevity, peace, sleep, and liberation.

D

DAFFODIL: love, luck, and fertility.

DAISY: love, lust, luck, depression management, faeries and elves, and happiness.

DAMIANA: divination, love, lust, sex magick, dreams, visions, psychic powers, and opens door between worlds.

DANDELION LEAF AND ROOT: purification, divination, wishes, and calling spirits.

DATE PALM: potency and fertility.

DATURA: (TOXIC) protection, sleep, and break hexes.

DEERS TONGUE: (TOXIC) lust, psychic powers, and gossip management.

DEVIL’S BIT: love, protection, luck, and exorcism.

DEVIL’S SHOESTRING: protection, luck, gambling, power, and employment.

DILL:  love, lust, seeds draw money, leaves for protection, and flowers for love.

DITTANY OF CRETE: manifestations and astral projection.

DOCK: money, healing, and fertility.

DODDER: love divination and knot magick.

DOGBANE: love.

DOGWOOD: protection and wishes.

DONG QUAI: health, vitality, and fire element rituals.

DRAGONS BLOOD: power, protection, exorcism, potency, love, courage, fortune, catalyst, magick power, strength, purification, stimulates action of other herbs in incense blend, and stimulates movement of energy.

DULSE: harmony and lust.

DUTCHMAN’S BREECHES: love.

E

EBONY: protection and power.

ECHINACEA: strengthening spells, health, strength, and wards off negativity or undesirable energies.

EDELWEISS: invisibility and bullet-proofing.

ELDER: (CAUTION: SEEDS ARE TOXIC)  money, wishes, theft protection, exorcism, healing, prosperity, sleep, wards negative thoughts when used as wind chimes, blessings, do not burn the wood of elder for it is sacred to Hecate, see fairies in the trees at Litha, flowers used as an alter offering, berries for esbat wine, flowers added to candle spells directed at Hecate during the new moon, cleansing, and offering.

ELDERBERRIES: prosperity, protection, sleep, joy, visions, banishing, energy, ancient wisdom, contact with elementals, and invoke magic.

ELDERFLOWER: purifying and healing.

ELECAMPANE: love, protection, psychic powers, and anger management.

ELM: protection, love, and attracts elves.

ENDIVE: love and lust.

ERYNGO: peace, love, lust, and traveler's luck.

EUCALYPTUS: (TOXIC) healing, protection, joy, purification, and air element rituals.

EUPHORBIA: (TOXIC) protection and purification.

EYEBRIGHT: joy, psychic powers, mental clarity, mental ability and clarity, and visions.

F

FALSE UNICORN ROOT: connection to magical realm, and contains energy and intention.

FENNEL: protection, exorcism, healing, purification, virility, sacred to the God, hung over doors at Litha, strength, courage, and money.

FENNEL SEED: stimulates movement.

FENUGREEK: prosperity, wealth, money, mental powers, and clearing.

FERN: (TOXIC) money, wealth, eternal youth, protection, outside for rain, luck, riches, health, and exorcism.

FEVERFEW: protection, wards sickness, and wards accidents in traffic.

FIG: divination, fertility, and love.

FIGWORT: protection and health.

FIR: health, prosperity, and birth and rebirth.

FLAX: luck, money, protection, purification, beauty, psychic powers, healing, health, and initiates flow.

FLEABANE: exorcism, protection, and chastity.

FORGET-ME-NOT: mental powers.

FOXGLOVE: (TOXIC) faeries and elves, lust, and grow in garden for protection of the house and yard.

FRAGRANT BEDSTRAW: love.

FRANKINCENSE: exorcism, purification, protection, spirituality, power, meditation, blessing, concentration, banishing, courage, divination, healing, love, purification, consecration, sets sacred space, sets safe space for guides to come in, and spirit of East or North.

FUMITORY: money and exorcism.

FURZ/EGORSE: burn at Ostara for protection and as a preparation for any conflict.

FUZZY WEED: love and hunting.

G

GALANGAL: protection, legal matters, lust, health, money, psychic powers, break hexes, energy, strength, and courage.

GARDENIA: love, peace, healing, spirituality, and psychic awareness.

GARLIC: protection, healing, health, exorcism, lust sacred to Hecate, flowers for altar offerings, cloves for protection, anti-theft, wishes, and relief from nightmares.

GENTIAN: power, love, break hexes, wishes, and theft.

GERANIUM: (TOXIC) courage, abundance, health, love, protection, and fertility.

GIANT VETCH: fidelity.

GINGER love, money, success, power, aphrodisiac, psychic ability, apathy, lust, good health, magickal power, fire element rituals, brings into existence, bringer of the manifestation, 3rd chakra vitality, inner strength, stimulates flow of energy, and spirit of south.

GINSENG: longevity, sexual potency, protection, healing, love, lust, wishes, beauty, vitality, fertility, desire, encourages a long lasting affect, and strength.

GOAT’S RUE: healing and health.

GOLDENROD: prosperity, money, divination, and luck.

GOLDENSEAL: money and healing.

GORSE: protection and money.

GOTU KOLA: meditation.

GOURD: protection.

GRAIN: protection.

GRAINS OF PARADISE: love, lust, luck, money, and wishes.

GRAPE: mental clarity, money, fertility, garden magick, and happiness.

GRASS: psychic powers and protection.

GROUND IVY: divination.

GROUNDSEL: health and healing.

GUM MASTIC: magickal power.

H

HAWTHORN: happiness, fertility, powerful wands, protection, chastity, fishing magick, faeries and elves, purification, business, depression management, purity, and cleansing.

HAWTHORNE BERRIES: 4th chakra strength and vitality, love, and contentment.

HAZEL: luck, fertility, protection, wishes, nuts strung on cord in house or ritual room to invite the help of plant fairies, used for wands, healing, anti-lightning, love, aphrodisiac, wisdom, divination, mental powers, intelligence, and inspiration.

HEATHER: luck, protection, red to start or end an affair, white for protection, purple for spiritual development, use at Samhain to invite spirits to visit, rain making, and spirituality.

HELIOTROPE: (TOXIC) exorcism, prophetic dreams, healing, wealth, invisibility, money, spirituality, prosperity, and psychic awareness.

HELLEBORE (BLACK): (TOXIC) protection.

HEMLOCK: (TOXIC) astral projection, diminish libido, power, purification, charging, and alignment.

HEMP: healing, love, visions, and meditation.

HENBANE: (TOXIC) love, luck, divination, and invisibility.

HENNA: healing, health, love, change, and dying material.

HIBISCUS: love, lust, divination, and 5th chakra.

HICKORY: legal matters.

HIGH JOHN THE CONQUEROR: (TOXIC) strength, confidence, health, love, money, success, happiness, break hexes, increase strength, legal matters, anointing, and victory.

HOLY THISTLE: purification and break hexes.

HOLLY: protection, luck, dream magic, anti-lightning, balance, dreams, enhances magic, holiness, consecration, and beauty.

HONESTLY: money and protection.

HONEYSUCKLE: protection, money, psychic powers, confidence, broken heart, luck, happiness, healing, and depression management.

HOPS: healing, sleep, stress management, and opens the channel in and out of the body in relationship with the universe.

HOREHOUND: exorcism, healing, purification, protection, mental clarity, balance, banishing, and opens air element within body and in the world, opens channel for clear communication.

HORSE CHESTNUT: (TOXIC) healing and money.

HORSERADISH: exorcism and purification.

HORSETAIL: fertility.

HOUSELEEK: love, luck, and protection.

HUCKLEBERRY: protection, luck, dream magic, and break hexes.

HYACINTH: (TOXIC) business, court cases, sleep, depression management, love, protection, and happiness.

HYDRANGEA: break hexes.

HYSSOP: healing, protection, purification, wards negativity, prosperity, money, banishing, and dragon energy.

I

INDIAN PAINT BRUSH: love.

IRIS: purification, wisdom, courage, reincarnation, spirituality, and happiness.

IRISH MOSS: luck, money, protection, opens throat, and opens channel for clear communication.

IVY: (TOXIC) divination, protection, healing, fertility, love, and fidelity.

J

JASMINE: divination, love, money, prophetic dreams, sleep, prosperity, spirituality, visions, confidence, broken heart, astral projection, business, and court cases.

JIMSON WEED: protect against evil spirits.

JOB’S TEARS: luck, wishes, and healing.

JOE-PYE WEED: love and respect.

JUNIPER: protection, love, exorcism, health, anti-theft, banishing, peace, wishes, aphrodisiacs, sets sacred space, and spirit of north.

K

KAVA KAVA: lust, protection while traveling, astral projection, visions, luck, visions, protection, love, and opens one to receiving guidance and guides.

KELP: wind spells, psychic powers, protection, connection to divine source through the physical and spiritual, unity, life-force strengthening, and spirit of centre.

KNOTWEED: health, binding spells, and protection

L

LADY’S MANTLE: love and self control.

LADY’S SLIPPER: protection.

LARCH: protection and anti-theft.

LARKSPUR: protection and health.

LAVENDER: protection, call in good spirits, love, sleep, longevity, happiness, peace, healing, burn for purification, peace, use in bath for purification, burn at Litha as an offering, psychic awareness, chastity, liberation, menopause, childbirth, grief or loss, youthful vigour, stress management, travel, anger management, and attracts elves.

LEEK: exorcism, love, and protection.

LEMON: purification, love, friendship, longevity, cleansing, healing, peace, success, broken heart, anger management, and devotion.

LEMON BALM: love, success, healing, depression management, aphrodisiac, and soothes emotional pain after relationship ends.

LEMON VERBENA: protection, purification, love, power, beauty, youth, happiness, peace, mental and emotional balance, and Summer Solstice.

LEMONGRASS: psychic powers, mental clarity, lust, and repels snakes.

LETTUCE: love divination, sleep, protection, chastity, and luck.

LIQUORICE: love, lust, fidelity, aphrodisiac, meditation, and harmony.

LIFE-EVERLASTING: health, healing, and longevity.

LILAC: exorcism, protection, purification, beauty, love, peace, and psychic awareness.

LILY: protection, exorcism, repel negativity, truth, break love spells, strength, purification, and breaking hexes.

LILY OF THE VALLEY: (TOXIC) mental clarity, happiness, insight, depression management, and peace.

LIME: healing, love, protection, cleansing, happiness, and purification.

LINDEN: healing, protection, luck, love, sleep, bark for protection, leaves and flowers for immortality, good fortune, youth, attraction, and longevity.

LIQUID AMBER: protection.

LIVERWORT: love and protection.

LOBELIA: (TOXIC) healing and love.

LOOSESTRIFE: peace, protection, harmony, and purple restores harmony and brings peace.

LOTUS: protection, spirituality, love, lock opening, liberation, and mental powers.

LOVAGE: love, attraction, cleansing, and purification.

LOVE SEED: love and friendship.

LUCKY HAND: protection, luck, money, travel, and employment.

M

MACE: psychic powers, mental clarity, and divination. 

MAGUEY: lust. 

MAGNOLIA: fidelity, past lives, peace, sex, broken heart, beauty, and wisdom. 

MAHOGANY: anti-lightning. 

MADIENHAIR: beauty and love. 

MALE FERN: luck and love. 

MALLOW: love, protection, and exorcism. 

MANDRAKE: (TOXIC) potency, exorcism, protection, fertility, money, love, health, protection, catalyst, prosperity, divination, increase psychic powers, aphrodisiacs, cursing enemies, building, banishing, and protection in the subconscious, unconscious and underworld. 

MAPLE: money, longevity, and love. 

MARIGOLD: prophetic dreams, protection, legal matters, marriage spells, enhanced psychic powers, pick in full sun, business and legal matters, clairvoyant dreams, and mixed with water and rubbed on the eyelids to see fairies. 

MARJORAM: protection, love, happiness, health, money, depression management, and prosperity. 

MARSHMALLOW: healing, friendship, boundaries, love, protection, strength, and emotional balance. 

MASTERWORT: protection, strength, and courage.  

MASTIC: psychic powers, lust, manifestations, love, and magick power. 

MAY APPLE: (TOXIC) money and prosperity. 

MEADOW RUE: love and divination. 

MEADOWSWEET: love, divination, peace, happiness, harmony, and 3rd chakra. 

MESQUITE: healing. 

MILK THISTLE: creativity, protection, dispel, and transformation. 

MIMOSA: love, protection, prophetic dreams, purification, past lives, and visions. 

MINT: exorcism, protection, money, lust, healing, travel, alter offering for helpful spirits , love, luck, anger management, dreams, abundance, prosperity, and rejuvenation. 

MISTLETOE: (TOXIC) Healing, protection, love, fertility, health, exorcism, hunting, success, catalyst, lust, liberation, and sexual potency. 

MOLUKKA: protection. 

MOONFLOWER: liberation. 

MOONWORT: love, money, and divination. 

MORNING GLORY: (TOXIC) peace, happiness, and depression management. 

MOSS: luck and money. 

MOTHERWORT: balances within, self empowerment, and 2nd chakra. 

MUGWORT: astral projection, strength, psychic powers, protection, prophetic dreams, healing, divination, rub fresh herb on crystal balls and magick mirrors to increase their strength, pick on full moon night, clairvoyance, purification, sex, renewal, fertility, clearing, sleep, visions, opens one to the teachings of the subconscious and unconscious self, and 6th and 7th chakras. 

MULBERRY: protection and strength. 

MULLEIN: exorcism, health, protection, courage, love divination, calling spirits, dreams, and opens life energy flow through the body. 

MUSK: purification and sex. 

MUSTARD: fertility, protection, mental clarity, health, and money. 

MYRRH: spirituality, purification, protection, healing, exorcism, wards negativity, burn for purification and consecrations, banishing, sets sacred space, and ancient wisdom. 

MYRTLE: peace, money, love, youth, fertility, sleep, healing, and prosperity. 

N

NARCISSUS: peace. 

NASTURTIUM: healing. 

NEROLI: love. 

NETTLE: exorcism, protection, healing, lust, abundance, 3rd and 6th chakra, banishing, stress management, and gossip management. 

NIAOULI: protection. 

NORFOLK ISLAND PINE: protection and anti-hunger. 

NUTMEG: protection, money, health, luck, fidelity, break hexes, burn for prosperity, love, psychic awareness, and relief from nightmares. 

NUTS: fertility, prosperity, love, luck, use for tips on wands, gifts, and communication. 

O

OAK: protection, health, money, healing, potency, fertility, luck, the God, wands, burn leaves to purify the atmosphere, acorns draw money, burn wood for good health, acorns draw money, power, balance, and prosperity. 

OAK MOSS: court cases, money, and protection. 

OATS: money, offering to the god, and stress management.  

OLEANDER: (TOXIC) love. 

OLIVE: healing, peace, fertility, potency, protection, lust, victory, and spirituality. 

ONION: exorcism, healing, protection, purification, money, prophetic dreams, and lust. 

ORANGE: love, divination, luck, and money. 

ORANGE BERGAMOT: prosperity, success, energy, joy, friendship, success, prosperity, psychic awareness, peels for love, and incense for good fortune. 

ORCHID: love and psychic powers. 

OREGON GRAPE: money and prosperity. 

ORRIS: divination, protection, love, prosperity, money, clairvoyance, sex, and psychic awareness. 

P

PALMAROSA: healing and love. 

PALM DATE: fertility and potency. 

PANSY: love, divination, rain magick, mental powers, and strength. 

PAPAY: protection, love, and wishes.  

PAPYRUS: protection, wisdom, and self-insight. 

PAROSELA: hunting.  

PARSLEY: purification, protection, lust, love, fertility, and prosperity. 

PASSION FLOWER: peace, sleep, friendships prosperity, increase libido, popularity, anger management, and stress management. 

PATCHOULI: money, fertility, lust, break hexes, incense for drawing money, earth, underworld, business, confidence, court cases, love, desire, prosperity, protection, success, sex, and enemies. 

PAU D'ARCO: fertility, wards off negativity,  and clears. 

PEA: money and love. 

PEACH: exorcism, love, fertility, wishes, longevity, broken heart, and youth. 

PEAR: love and lust. 

PECAN: money, employment, prosperity, dreams, and discipline. 

PENNYROYAL: exorcism, consecration, strength, protection, peace, and healing. 

PEONY: exorcism, protection, and purification. 

PEPPER: exorcism, protection, use in amulets or grow for protection, and wards off negativity. 

PEPPERMINT: purification, sleep, love, healing, psychic powers, divination, money, apathy, exorcism, insight, lust, menopause, and clears energy and space. 

PEPPER TREE: protection, purification, and healing. 

PERIWINKLE: (TOXIC) Protection, money, love, lust, and mental clarity. 

PERSIMMON: healing, luck, changing sex, and insight into others. 

PETITGRAIN: protection. 

PILOT WEED: protection. 

PIMENTO: love. 

PIMPERNEL: protection and health. 

PINE: (TOXIC) protection, exorcism, money, healing, fertility, brush outdoor ritual area with a branch to purify and sanctify, burn for cleansing, needles in money spells, spirituality, gambling, dreams, cleansing, banishing, purification, prosperity, employment, birth, rebirth, strength, life and immortality. 

PINECONE: magic, human enlightenment, resurrection, strength, internal life, health, fertility, and regeneration.

PINEAPPLE: luck, money, chastity, hospitality, and protection. 

PIPSISSEWA: money and calling in good spirits. 

PISTACHIO: breaking love spells. 

PLANTAIN: protection, healing, strength, and snake repelling. 

PLUM: protection, love, healing, and self-confidence. 

PLUMERIA: (TOXIC) love. 

POKE: (TOXIC) courage and breaks hexes. 

POMEGRANATE: divination, luck, wealth, wishes, and fertility. 

POPLAR: money, astral projection, and success. 

POPPY: fertility, love, sleep, money, luck, healing, and invisibility. 

POTATO: healing, image magick, astral projection, separation, foundations, and earth energy. 

PRICKLY ASH: love. 

PRIMROSE: protection and love. 

PURSLANE: protection, love, happiness, luck, and sleep. 

Q

QUASSIA: love.

QUEEN OF THE MEADOW: power and protection.

QUINCE: protection, love, and happiness.

R

RADISH: protection and lust. 

RAGWEED: courage, faeries, and elves. 

RAGWORT: protection. 

RASPBERRY: healing, visions, protection, love, alleviates labor pains, spirit of centre, and spring equinox. 

RATTLESNAKE ROOT: protection and money. 

RED CLOVER BLOSSOMS: abundance, love, money, protection, success, and summer solstice. 

RED ROOT: clears energy and dispels. 

RHUBARB: health, protection, and fidelity. 

RICE: protection, money, fertility, rain, blessings, and weather magick. 

ROOTS: protection, divination, and power. 

ROSE: beauty, protection, purification, love, psychic powers, healing, divination, peace, luck, courage, catalyst, sex,  sleep, prophetic dreams, anger management, love divination, abundance, attraction, and prosperity. 

ROSE GERANIUM: protection. 

ROSE HIPS: healing, luck, call in good spirits, abundance, strength, and fall equinox ceremony. 

ROSEMARY: exorcism, protection, healing, love, lust, mental clarity, sleep, youth, burn for purification, wards negativity, love, blessing, consecration, cleansing, strength, wishes, dreams, beauty, theft, healing, psychic ability, spirit of south, grow to attract elves, and blessing. 

ROWAN: protection, success, psychic powers, healing, power, wands and amulets for knowledge, incense of leaves and berries for divination, fires to call upon spirits for help, grow for protection of the home, inspiration, wisdom, enhances magic, and attracts faeries. 

RUE: exorcism, protection, purification, break hexes, health, mental clarity, healing, blessing, consecration, use in altar oil, love, money and wealth, and gossip management. 

RYE: love and fidelity. 

S

SAFFRON: love, lust, healing, strength, happiness, psychic powers, wind raising, and depression management. 

SAGE: purification, protection, wisdom, longevity, wishes, health, immortality, intuition, divination, luck, prosperity, money, spirituality, menopause, psychic ability, clears, inner guide, longevity, and vision.

SAGEBRUSH: exorcism, protection, purification, joy, and peace. 

ST. JOHN’S WORT: (TOXIC) exorcism, protection, courage, strength, happiness, health, love divination, burn at Litha to send away negativity, wear for invincibility, willpower, gathered at Litha, power, and stress management. 

SALTPETER: unwanted advances. 

SANDALWOOD: protection, exorcism, purification, wishes, healing, spirituality, full moon esbats, wards negativity, spirit offering, luck, sex, banishing, astral projection, business, success, and mental powers. 

SARSAPARILLA: love, money, inner strength, grounding, and purification. 

SASSAFRAS: money, health, and healing. 

SENNA: love. 

SERPENTARIA ROOT: love and aphrodisiacs. 

SESAME: money, success in business, lust, happiness, and gambling. 

SHALLOT: purification. 

SHAMROCKS: faeries and elves. 

SHEPHERDS PURSE: sleep, depression management, and healing. 

SKULLCAP: peace, love, fidelity, stress management, and anxiety management. 

SKUNK CABBAGE: good fortune and legal matters. 

SLIPPERY ELM: halts gossip, aids verbal communication and development, enemies, friendship, and ends disputes. 

SLOE: exorcism, protection, and banishes negative energy/entities. 

SNAKEROOT: money, luck, break hexes, love, and lust. 

SNAPDRAGON: protection, break hexes, exorcism, prophetic dreams, prosperity, gossip management, and money and wealth. 

SOLOMON’S SEAL: love, exorcism, protection, and an offering to the elementals for their aid. 

SOUTHERNWOOD: love, lust, protection, and faeries and elves. 

SPANISH MOSS: protection. 

SPEARMINT: healing, love, and mental clarity. 

SPIDERWORT: love. 

SPIKENARD: health, fidelity, love, luck, strength, wisdom, and mental powers. 

SQUILL: protection, money, break hexes, and business. 

STAR ANISE: psychic powers, luck, good fortune, and spiritual powers. 

STEPHANOTIS: lust. 

STILLENGIA: psychic powers. 

STRAW: luck, attracts fairies, do not burn magik infused straw, it will bring ill-fortune, used as an image to protect an area, image magick, and fertility. 

STRAWBERRY: love, luck, joy, and broken heart. 

SUGAR CANE: love, lust, prosperity, and sympathy. 

SUMBUL: psychic powers, love, luck, and health. 

SUMMER SAVOURY: mental clarity and strength, and mental powers. 

SUNFLOWER: wisdom, health, wishes, fertility, happiness, friendship, and prosperity. 

SWEETGRASS: calling in good spirits, bringer of positive energy, clears, seals In, burned after white sage which clears, and spirit of east. 

SWEET PEA: strength, courage, friendship, chastity, truth, and love. 

T

TAMARIND: love. 

TAMARISK: exorcism and protection. 

TANGERINE: magickal power. 

TANSY: healing, health, and longevity. 

TEA: strength, courage, prosperity, riches, and health. 

THISTLE HOLLY: purification and hex breaking. 

THISTLE MILK: exorcism, protection, healing, strength, break hexes, and snake enraging. 

THYME: purification, courage, psychic powers, sleep, wards negativity, burn for purification, healing spells, love, renewal, youth, divination, prophetic dreams, faery folk, and romance. 

TI: protection and healing. 

TOADFLAX: protection and break hexes. 

TOADSTOOL: (TOXIC) rain making. 

TOBACCO: (TOXIC) healing, purification, and offerings. 

TOMATO: protection, prosperity, and love. 

TONKA: (TOXIC) courage, love, money, wishes, luck, friendship, and prosperity. 

TORMENTIL: protection and love. 

TREFOIL: decorate altar, protection, luck, when taking one, and leave a bit of ginger or milk poured into the ground as payment to the fairies. 

TRILLIUM: love, luck, and money. 

TUBEROSE: love, lust, peace, and psychic awareness. 

TULIP: protection, prosperity, and love. 

TURMERIC: purification (used with sea salt), fortification, strength, and clears aggression. 

TURNIP: protection, endings, and banish negativity. 

U

UVA URSA: (TOXIC) psychic powers. 

V

VALERIAN: protection, purification, love, sleep, prophetic dreams, peace, sex, friendship, anxiety management, and self esteem. 

VANILLA: love, lust, mental clarity, money, confidence, attracting people, magickal power, prosperity, success, and wishes. 

VENUS FLYTRAP: protection and love. 

VERVAIN: sleep, protection, purification, love, money, peace, healing, gather/burn at Litha, altar offering, brings riches, creativity, wards psychic attack, youth, chastity, astral projection, unwanted advances, anger management, and prosperity. 

VETCH GIANT: fidelity. 

VETIVERT: love, luck, money, break hexes, wards negativity, anti-theft, exorcism, wishes, peace, protection, prosperity, and divination. 

VIOLET: protection, healing, love, lust, luck, wishes, peace, sleep, insight, and visions. 

W

WAHOO: (TOXIC) courage, success, and breaks hexes. 

WALNUT: health, mental clarity, wishes, infertility, spirituality, and travel. 

WATERCRESS: healing. 

WAX PLANT: protection and power. 

WHEAT: money, fertility, and prosperity. 

WHITE WILLOW BARK: healing, blessings, binding, sacred earth connection between human and earth and spirit, protection, and spirit of east. 

WILD LETTUCE: love divination, protection, sleep, opens to the deeper consciousness, and attunes to deeper meanings. 

WILD PLUM: healing. 

WILD YAM: fortification, grounding, release, and 1st chakra. 

WILLOW: protection, healing, love, burn bark with sandalwood for divination, vitality, energy, ending pain, moon magic, wishing, spirits, death passage, besom, inspiration, and psychic energy. 

WINTERGREEN: protection, healing, break hexes, strength, good fortune, and opens channels. 

WINTER’S BARK: success. 

WISTERIA: spirituality. 

WITCH GRASS: exorcism, happiness, love, and lust. 

WITCH HAZEL: protection, chastity, healing, beauty, and unwanted advances. 

WOLF’S BANE: (TOXIC) protection and invisibility. 

WOOD BETONY: love, purification, and protection. 

WOOD ROSE: luck. 

WOOD SORREL: healing, and health.

WOODRUFF: protection, money, victory, add to Beltane wine to clear away barriers, success, changes, psychic awareness, and prosperity. 

WORMWOOD: (TOXIC, BURN IN WELL VENTILATED AREA, PREFERABLY OUTDOORS) exorcism, protection, love, psychic powers, calling spirits, protection while traveling, evocation, divination, scrying (stronger when combined with Mugwort) at Samhain, sacred to the moon, good luck, clairvoyance, divination, and safety in cars. 

Y

YARROW: healing, divination, exorcism, protection, courage, love, psychic powers, happy marriage (wedding bouquet), wards negativity, defense, protection, gather at Litha, happiness, fidelity, broken heart, prophetic dreams, spirit of south, clears, and stimulates movement. 

YELLOWDOCK ROOT: clears stuck energy and fortification. 

YELLOW EVENING PRIMROSE: hunting. 

YERBA MATE: love, lust, and fidelity. 

YERBA SANTA: protection, healing, psychic powers, beauty, and clears channel to divine life force. 

YEW: (TOXIC) Yule symbol for death and rebirth, used for dagger handles, raising the dead, psychic awareness, and spirits. 

YLANG YLANG: insight, love, past lives, peace, sex, and visions. 

YOHIMBE: (TOXIC) love and lust. 

YUCCA: protection, purification, and transmutation. 

[steviebunny]

So I have been loving your IWTV Rusalka story and I was wondering if in honor of the spooky season, can you please do a scene where the rusalka is forced to be part of the shows at the Thèâtre des vampires and later on, Armand announces that they are going to crash a Halloween festival in town and the rusalka uses her powers on the guests while she and everyone else are disguised by their Halloween costumes and masks?

Forced to Perform

A pumpkin, a fucking pumpkin is the costume chosen for her especially out from the rest. 

As if being pushed on stage wasn’t bad enough, being paraded around in front of mortal fools while dressed up as a gourd, projected vines serving as background while Santago plays some blathering all Hallows Eve farmer. Armand has also made the wise leadership decision to have a feast to honor the night of Samhain. 

Would this mean a set dining table with goblets of blood? A range of tourists to sample as a mock charcuterie? No, of course not. It means testing the new cast addition's powers and patience at some town festival all while dressed like an ugly, large, bright pumpkin.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad otherwise. Performing while not exactly a passion of hers is tolerable, skulking through crowds unnoticed is a honed skill from long ago. Now keeping all the victims still and witnesses from realizing their own cohorts are being torn to bits around them: harder. It would be a lot bloody easier if she wasn't wearing the itchiest, orangest, poofiest disguise in the world. 

Perhaps she wouldn’t have overexerted herself if her mind wasn’t focused on the itching.

Maybe that's why she collapsed. Or the utter exhaustion from listening to Santiago’s droning all evening. At least seeing Armand’s shocked expression brought a little laughter into her heart when she fell unconscious into Louis’s arms. 

When she came to a few minutes later surrounded by many more bodies than previously (both undead and numerous dead) she’d been stripped of the foolish costume thank the gods for conservative undergarments. The skin that was exposed to the pumpkin’s fabric was raised and raw…turns out even Rusalka’s can be allergic to fabrics that have been kept in storage since the 18th century. 

As morning approached the other vampires enjoyed their full bellies back at the theater, while Armand had to make it up to her in his and Louis’s apartment, making a moisturizer out of the two vampires' blood and some of Madeline's abandoned skin creams. She even made him beg to help her rub it into her skin, but notably didn't make Louis do the same. In fact, Louis had already finished caressing her back and was gently massaging her neck by the time she gave the coven leader reprive. 

First request! Keep em’ coming!

[lilmisssammy]

The Path Iceberg

This is an Iceberg for The Path- created by myself with editing help from my good friends Samhain, Torr and Gloria. If you don’t know what an iceberg is, it’s a chart to discuss different levels of knowledge for a specific topic, the farther you go down, the more obscure or dark the topics become.

Before you read, I need to state that there are discussions of Rape related to people aged 9 to 19, Death, Potential Triggering content within links, and Spoilers for The Path. 

Thank you! And Enjoy!

This is an Iceberg for The Path- created by myself with editing help from my good friends Samhain, Torr and Gloria. If you don’t know what an iceberg is, it’s a chart to discuss different levels of knowledge for a specific topic, the farther you go down, the more obscure or dark the topics become.

Before you read, I need to state that there are discussions of Rape related to people aged 9 to 19, Death, Potential Triggering content within links, and Spoilers for The Path. 

Thank you! And Enjoy!

Tier 1 - The Sky

The Path is a psychological horror art game created by Tale of Tales, now Song of Songs, in 2009. It follows a modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood as it's experienced between six sisters, the wolf-loving 9-year-old Robin, the precocious 11-year-old Rose, the tomboy 13-year-old Ginger, the brooding 15-year-old Ruby, the confident 17-year-old Carmen and the responsible 19-year-old Scarlet. Each sister takes turns walking to their grandmother's house, with the only rule being to stay on the path. And the only way to win is by dying. The Path is a walking simulator and is seen as one of the best representations of the fact gaming can be art. 

Tale of Tales was a Belgian game development company that ran from 2003 to 2015. It was founded by artists Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn in an effort to bring art to an interactive medium. They're known for games like The Endless Forest, Graveyard, Fatale, Sunset, and especially their cult classic The Path. In 2015 they ceased making commercial video games after the release of Sunset, and now work on art projects together under the name Song of Songs. Currently, they’re working on a remake of The Endless Forest, which is currently in its beta stage open for patreons!

Little Red Riding Hood is a fairy tale about a young girl with a red cape who meets a wolf on the way to her grandmother's house. The basic story has Little Red walking through the woods to bring food for her sickly grandmother, where she meets the wolf who wants to eat the food and her. The wolf tricks her into telling him where she's going while she stops to get her grandmother flowers. When she finally gets there, the wolf has eaten her grandmother and tricks her into getting into bed so he can eat her as well. Depending on the version, a hunter may come in and slay the wolf saving the granddaughter and grandmother from his stomach, or the grandmother could be unharmed in the wardrobe. 

Auriea Harvey is a digital artist and sculptor currently living and working in Rome. She’s one half of Tale of Tales and is specifically credited for Design, Direction and Character Design on The Path. She was also the author of the post-mortem on The Path which you can see I’ve heavily referenced throughout this whole post. She currently has an art exhibit at the Museum of Moving Image called My Veins are the Wires, My Body is Your Keyboard which features images, models and the ability to play the path! 

Michaël Samyn is a graphic designer and digital artist specialising in VR from Belgium, currently living and working in Rome. He’s the other half of Tale of Tales and is specifically credited for Design, Direction and Programming for The Path. His most recent work, apart from actively working on The Endless Forest, is The Viriditas Chapel of Perpetual Adoration, an utterly stunning VR experience you can get on Steam.

Tier 2 - Tip of the Iceberg

The Path as a game is about building your own interpretations of the character's struggles via item reactions and rooms in Grandmother's House. There are generally two main interpretations believed by most who play the game. One is that the game shows each girl's death, Robin being mauled to death by a wolf, Rose drowning after she falls off the boat, Ginger being strangled/electrocuted on the flower fields wires, Ruby getting into a car accident, Carmen being killed and chopped up, and Scarlet being hung by the string seen on her wolf’s claws. However, these are also usually viewed as metaphorical examples of the sisters feeling like they died after extreme traumas. Using the items and images as clues, there is a common consensus of what each sister went through that made her feel like this. Robin's is learning about death and the consequences of actions, Ginger's is getting her first period and being forced to grow up, Ruby's is falling in with the wrong crowd and getting into harmful behaviours, Carmen's is getting taken advantage of while drunk, and Scarlet's is falling under the weight of responsibility placed upon her to look after her family.

Some places reported that the game would be about rape or pedophilia, like this spread in a Dutch gaming magazine. Something that gives credence to the rape interpretation is the basis of Perrault's version of the tale where the wolf tricks the sister to take off her clothes and get into bed together, as well as the uncomfortable positions the sisters appear in after their encounter. Though, this is how Auriea addressed it in the post-mortem- 'Some say blindly that the game is "about rape." And while that could be one of the interpretations -- and I understand it -- for me, those black-out moments after meeting her wolf are the moments of realization. Those are the times when a girl grows. And what happens in Grandmother's House is not a murder but a shedding of childhood and an initiation to womanhood. Each girl is one step closer to her fate.'

The Path may have intended answers that are mostly agreed on, but the format of the game is purposefully set up so there is no wrong or right answer, allowing for more personal or specific interpretations. You may notice I didn't mention Rose in the last section- and that's because there isn't an accepted answer. The most popular ideas are either her blooming spirituality, or dealing with illness, though those are both contested. There are other popular interpretations for each character- Robin having a family member pass, Ginger being a lesbian or trans man in love with her wolf, Ruby's experience with ableism or addiction, Carmen experiencing society's sexualization of teenagers, Scarlet having extreme psychological issues, with Rose's ranging anywhere from the struggle of a gifted child, actually dying or even the creators not having an actual set intention! 

Each sister you can play as has their own Live Journal- Robin's is named Kid Red, Rose's Innocent Red, Ginger's Tomboy Red, Ruby's Goth Red, Carmen's Sexy Red, and Scarlets Stern Red. Here the sisters post about their lives and talk to one another and sometimes other people, there seems to be a group of people who didn't know these were fictional characters, and one person talking about the Rio World Cup. Nowadays, this blog project could be seen as an early form of an ARG, considering its interactive nature.

The Company of Wolves is a 1984 gothic horror film about a grandmother warning her granddaughter about straying from the path and never trusting charming men. Multiple stories are told about girls falling for people who are secretly wolves and how it became their downfall. There are similar themes of femininity and sexual awakening, as well as the usage of Charles Perrault's Le Petit Chaperon Rouge at the end of the movie and in the trailers for the game. 

If you've played The Path in recent times you may notice that there are various bugs that range from bearable, game-breaking, beautiful or simply funny. The creators have an image folder of beautiful glitches from developing the game and the VK fanclub has compiled some glitches found themselves.

The game is turning 15 this year- and as time goes on the web aspects that hosted information about it are slowly going out of date. There's been an effort to archive images, the character models for the sisters, and object textures. 

Jarboe Devereaux is an experimental rock musician probably best known for being an early member of the group Swans, who co-composed the soundtrack for The Path with Kris Force along with lending her voice to some narration in the soundtrack and trailers. A lot of her music is experimental and I honestly recommend listening to it if you want! At the moment she’s working on her next solo album to come out in late 2024, as well as considering a tour in Europe after the album is released!

The Path of Needles or The Path of Pins is a line from one of the earliest versions of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf asking which path she will travel down, the needles representing maturity while the pins represent childhood. It's said to be based on a French village in which a girl was sent off to become a seamstress for a year, as a sense of sexual maturation. This features heavily in the trailers as well as being part of The Grandmother’s Tale read by Jarboe, with it being referenced to by Ruby in her reaction to the needle. 

The Prologue is a short free version of The Path you can find on their website where you play as the mysterious Girl in White. You're unable to interact with items or go to grandmother's house in this version- but you are much more able to explore and find your way back to the path on your own, something you cannot do in the full game.

Izzzyzzz is a YouTuber who makes commentary videos who posts deep dives on things like famous fandom stories, old media and internet legends. In late 2021 they posted a video covering The Path which now sits at 1.4 million views, introducing a good chunk of the modern fan base to the game, as well as causing a surge in new content for the game, with a follow-up video in 2023! Their most recent video is about the game Palworld and it’s plagiarism, as well as having a new line of merch out.

Despite being released in English and Dutch only, The Path very quickly grew a fanbase in Japan and even more so in Russia. Screenshots from Auriea's post-mortem showed Russia was the second biggest purchaser of the game. The European social networking site VK has a fan club of 5.4k members as of writing this- as well as having produced 251 fanfictions on ficbook (for context, Rule of Rose, a game with similar themes and an overlapping fan base has 5 fanfictions on it) Japan's is a lot less archived, but on niconico you can find a lot of fan videos for The Path that is simply not there on the English net.

Though not like how it's used in other games- The Path has an inventory system in which you can collect, store and view items found in the forest. These are deemed "Distractions", and you're able to use these to unlock parts of grandmother's house. There are 30 items you can collect, the bread and wine are already collected which unlock the house and gate respectively, but there is also: A Knife (Unlocking a knife on the kitchen table), a Bullet (Unlocking a deer head), a Feather (Unlocking a Cage with a bird), a Mask (Unlocking the curtains in the kitchen), a Dead Bird (Unlocking a tv), Treasure (Unlocking a stack of money), a Needle (Unlocking pills), a Two-Headed Teddy Bear (Unlocking the bear in grandmother's house), a Boot (Unlocking a table), a Record (Unlocking a stereo), Flowers (unlocking hanging flowers), a Balloon (Unlocking Balloons on the ceiling), a Piano (Unlocking a Cobweb), the Playground Tower (Unlocking a picture frame), a Bunker (Unlocking beer in a fridge), and a Grave (Unlocking a Vase). Each sister then has three special items that unlock secret rooms. For Robin, an Open Grave, Swing and Shopping Cart unlock a crib with a birds-nest, a side staircase and a birthday party. For Rose, a Living Crow, a Skull and a Well, unlocking a long corridor of bathroom stalls, a flooding hallway of doors and a greenhouse. For Ginger, a Twisted Fence, a Climbable Tree and a Shed unlock a hallway, a bedroom and toys under the bed. For Ruby, a Scarecrow, a Wheelchair and a Car unlock a hallway, gymnasium and giant cage. For Carmen, beer, campfire and bath unlock a bush corridor, a basement and a row of fire. And for Scarlet, a cobweb, a clothing line, and a tv unlock a music room, a library and a hall of books.

Tier 3 - Beneath the Surface

Kris Force is an electroacoustic composer, performer and visual artist you'd probably best know from her work as Amber Asylum and with Neurosis. She’s an extremely talented multi-media artist, including such skills as painting, sound and photography. At the moment her most recent release was The Embrace, with Jarboe whom she collaborated with on The Path!

1001 Video Games To Play Before You Die is a spinoff book from 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, featuring games from 1970 to 2013, with The Path being listed right between Punch-Out for the Wii and EyePet the pet simulator. Listed as being so effective due to its interactivity.

The Girl in White, the mysterious forest girl who brings the sisters back to the path, seems to be tied with two of the sister’s Wolves. Ginger’s, The Girl in Red, and Carmen’s, The Woodsman. The Girl in White has a small tent next to the Woodsman’s area, as well as sharing the same skin colour, hair colour, eye colour and similar-looking boots. With the Girl in Red it’s much the same, the only things being different are the colour of their dresses, and the directions their pigtails point, and is directly named as the Girl in White’s twin. There’s even art of all three together named “The Woodsman’s Daughter” but not saying which one is his daughter. 

Fey Wolf, if you aren't familiar, is the name in the files for Scarlet's Wolf, the white-haired pianist found in the theatre. You'd not be faulted for seeing them as either an older woman or a long-haired man, or even a genderless ethereal being. The Fey Wolf was never specifically gendered by the creators, but insights about The Girl In Red Wolf reveal that she is intended to be the only female wolf.

Laura Raines Smith is an extremely prolific animator specialising in modelling and textures and was the main animator in a lot of Tale of Tales games. Some of her Tale of Tales animations can be found here, but she's also worked on games like Borderlands 3, Rage of the Gladiator and NHL 95. Her most recent work from what I can find was the animation and rigging on Saturnalia in 2022! 

If you’ve been in the community or if you’ve seen people discuss theories for The Path, you have probably seen the interpretation that Ginger is a lesbian, or transgender. This goes beyond just a shared headcanon, there’s a mountain of evidence for both camps that seems potentially intended. Starting with Ginger being transgender, just out of respect, in this section Ginger will be referred to with gender-neutral pronouns. Their appearance is particularly androgynous compared to their sisters, with a short bob cut and a black shirt and shorts- along with having the gender-neutral name Ginger that doesn’t quite fit the family naming theme that could be seen as a chosen name. Ginger also is associated with things that are seen as more masculine, their favourite video game is an action-adventure called Ico, they enjoy exploring the forest and trying to blow things up or fake crop circles, as well as having “boy” toys under the bed, little army men and dinosaurs. Ginger also notoriously dislikes things that are more “girly” like dressing up pretty, going as far as to make their entire family forget their birthday to avoid it. Their wolf can be seen as a manifestation of that, of all things girly and feminine, literally being only known as a Girl in Red- and the GIR’s obsession with barbed wire could be how they feel their feminity is trapping them. Ginger getting their first period is near-universally considered to be the “proper” interpretation of their route, but people who believe in Ginger being transgender use their overwhelming reaction to their first period being a sign of gender dysphoria, and fear of now believing they will be stuck to becoming a woman. This can be summed up in this image, of Ginger clutching their legs together with what's supposed to be in the middle being completely absent, instead with a drawing of flowers in place and barbed wire across, a clear sign of how they see their period as trapping them into womanhood. For the lesbian side, Ginger never specifically states that she doesn’t like men like Scarlet, but more shows her complete disinterest in them and romance in general. She mentions how she hates that “kissing stuff” and describes Carmen as “Hot, if you’re into that kinda thing.” While that does seem to show Ginger isn’t into romance at all, there are some things. The recurring image of two girls holding hands as a doodle can be found all over the game, and her general identity as a tomboy is sometimes seen in young lesbians yet to have come out, but most of the evidence lies within her wolf and their relationship. They’re clearly close, they have a handshake, and Ginger is more comfortable with affection with her than compared to her own grandmother, with the two girls hugging deeply and the GIR even lifting her into the air. The Wolf Encounter is comparably tamer and almost sweet compared to every other wolf encounter, ending with the Girl in Red grabbing Ginger’s hand and pulling her down to lie together in the sun. The final flashes show an image of the GIR leaning in, almost looking like she’s kissing something. On the GIR’s development blog, their relationship is described as “They are what is missing from each other's lives” as well as describing why Ginger was chosen to have a female wolf as “And the girl most likely to be attracted would be Ginger.” These development notes as well as the general tone of the wolf encounter seem to apply that Ginger and her wolf’s interactions weren’t as antagonistic as the others, almost as if her goal was not to hurt, but to trap her, seemingly to stay in the relationship.

If you’ve lurked on forums about the game for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard the question of “Getting an A” in the game's grading system, and speculation on how it’s possible. Well, I’m sadly here to tell you it’s impossible. Even if you get all of the items, all 144 flowers, successfully succumb to the wolf, and become Grandmother's favourite grandchild, you are unable to get an A. It honestly should not be a surprise- The Path is not supposed to be a normal game that rewards you for your completion, it’s… The Path.

Lisa Falzon is an Illustrator turned tattooer and multimedia artist from Malta. She was originally approached early on in the production to design the box art, though I don’t know if this was ever made or shared, and went on to inspire multiple other aspects of the game, being described as "Awkward Realism." She even drew Ginger when Tale of Tales interviewed her! At the moment she’s working in her own Tattoo shop called Upward Spiral Ink- her tattoos involve amazing detail and beautiful shading, I highly recommend checking it out!

Emriss, Redsbane and Bonedevill are three accounts found commenting and interacting with the sisters' live journals in the comments between 2008 and 2009. Most of Emriss' comments come from 2008, while all of Redsbane and Bonevill's are from 2009. The common through line is interaction with the accounts by the sisters and deactivation. Emriss plays a more neutral role, while Redsbane and Bonedevill lean more antagonistic with them referencing something bad happening to the sisters, Redsbane also seemingly implies the 'Bane' of the 'Red' sisters. With these accounts not archived on the Wayback Machine it's not clear if these were accounts used by the creators to provide interaction, or if they are actual fans playing along.

Ruby’s Leg Brace is probably the most iconic thing about her, with the rarity of video game characters using disability aids, her open usage of one is a welcome sight- but from the beginning of her development it’s not clear if she needs it. In her original plan sheet it’s noted that she may just be using it for show and later her description on the website saying “When asked about her leg brace, Ruby says she’s in pain, but she doesn’t specify where it hurts,” implying she doesn’t need it. Conversely, one of Ruby’s secret items needed is a wheelchair, and the final flashes put an emphasis on her legs and how they’re bent out of shape, seemingly saying she needed the leg brace due to a car crash, or an alternative reading is that Ruby was already disabled before the accident, as she gets violently thrown through a high school gym, as well as being the quickest character in the game, maybe signalling she used to be a school athlete before the onset of a condition or an accident.

Kirin San may be a kind of mysterious figure for non-Japanese fans of The Path, especially if you’ve gone through fanart, seeing a random man or giraffe in a little suit with the red sisters. The truth is, Kirin-San could probably be best described as the Japanese Izzzyzzz, being a big part of how the game became popular over there, with his playthroughs inspiring animatics and leading to a Japanese translation coming in 2010 from Zoo Corporation! This is a weird side note I didn’t know where else to put, but while I was researching this topic I found out that apart from translating games like GTA and Left 4 Dead into English, they also create hentai card games like Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire as well as developing medical prescription systems, so that’s hilarious. 

144 is described as the essence of the game by the creators, that it represents “a girl's restlessness, the sound of footsteps on dry leaves, the smell of pine trees, dim sunlight through filtering clouds.” The original working title of it was 144, with the original intent to have 144 red riding hoods. This was quickly abandoned due to the scale, but its importance remains, the 144 collectable flowers in the forest are the most obvious example of this, but it's all over the rest of the game. There are 36 items (144 divided by 4 being 36), 18 secret rooms (144 divided by 8 being 18), 3 secret rooms per sister (144 divided by 48 being 3) as well as six sisters (144 divided by 24 being six).

Something talked about in the postmortem but was not mentioned by name in the game is that The Girl in White is quite literally an older version of one of Tale of Tales past characters, The Deaf Mute Girl in The Pretty White Dress from 8. Her models were created based on making them look like the Deaf Mute Girl but at the age of 13. With 8 never coming out; the Girl in White is both the first occurrence of this character and the second time she was in a game.

Tier 4 - Middle of the Iceberg

An interesting detail that 1c changed when they translated the game into Russian is them choosing different names for the main six girls, unlike every other translation which keeps their original. The names are: Robin as Алина/Alina, Rose as Алиса/Alice, Ginger as Ада/Ada, Ruby as Агния/Agnia, Carmen as Алла/Alla and Scarlet as Аврора/Aurora. The translated names are no longer themed around red things, but around the alliterative A’s, probably due to their name puns being lost in translation.

This is an entry that’s probably more well known to people NOT into The Path, in that The Path is featured and shouted out by name in Hetalia. Yeah, Hetalia, that Hetalia the anime about personified countries that once was the second most popular Anime/Manga fandom on Fanfiction dot net, features The Path in both the anime and manga, with Belgium showing off the game as something from their homeland.

Something never mentioned in the games is that each of the sisters was given birthdays. On their livejournals, you can see posts of them celebrating Robin’s, Carmen’s and forgetting Ginger’s, but they aren’t the only ones with birthdays. On their live journal profile descriptions, their birthdays are listed as the 13th of October 2000 for Robin, the 13th of March for Rose, the 13th of September 1996 for Ginger, the 13th of May 1994 for Ruby, the 13th of November 1992 for Carmen, and the 13th of April 1990 for Scarlet. Rose doesn’t have her birth year listed but it’s probably just 1998, due to all of the sisters being spaced by two years. Something interesting is that all of the sisters were born on Friday the 13th, but only Rose would be her actual age as of the game release. Since the game came out on the 18th of March 2009, the actual character ages would be 8 for Robin, 11 for Rose, 12 for Ginger, 14 for Ruby, 16 for Carmen and 18 for Scarlet. Part of me thinks that this is why Rose’s birth year goes unmentioned on live journal, though if she wasn’t born in 1998 she would not fit the profile of being born on Friday the 13th, but it’s possible it was either a mistake or related to another entry on this iceberg.

Only mentioned in one development image and the development blog for Ginger’s Wolf, is the idea that Ginger and Rose were at one point supposed to be twin sisters, both being 13 similar to the Girl in White and her twin The Girl in Red being 13. In the accompanying image found on Flickr, you’re able to see above Rose her age is listed as 11, or as 13 if she was a twin. The thing is- the sister that has age 13 listed above her is very clearly NOT Ginger, it’s Ruby, and it’s Ginger who’s listed as 15. Well, they’re not listed by name, but Tomboy Red and Goth Red are the names used for Ginger and Ruby as seen on Livejournal, and their appearances are nearly identical to those from the final product. Especially weird considering that Ruby was the first character ever made for this game, and she was listed as 15 in that as well!

You probably noticed this if you looked at the image where Rose and Ginger are listed as twins, but they aren’t the only ones with stark differences that go unexplained. The Girl in White is listed as LDMGIAPWD, an acronym for the Little Deaf Mute Girl in a Pretty White Dress, simplified in print as the Girl in White and in fan discussions as the GIW. Another thing you’ll notice is that Scarlet has… A different design. With a long buttoned dress reminiscent of something straight out of a period piece set in an asylum, and a hat with things that look like antennas with flowers. And then it comes to… Rose and Carmen’s original names. Virgin Red and Sexpot Red. We’ll start with Carmen. Sexpot is a more crude way of describing someone who’s sexy, which is what Carmen’s nickname was then changed to. It’s still kind of a touchy issue with fans that Carmen, a minor, uses the name Sexy- but it’s still far more appropriate compared to Sexpot. Sexy gives more of a feeling that it’s self-appointed when compared to Sexpot which is more voyeuristic. And Virgin Red. Virgin has two contexts that are relevant here. Virgin within the context of purity and innocence, related to the Virgin Mary as an example of goodness not seeing bad. And Virgin within the context of never having sexual contact with anyone. Given the fact her name was then changed to Innocent Red and the fact she is ELEVEN- it’s likely that it’s related to that first interpretation, further giving evidence towards the view of Rose’s story being about her relationship to her spirituality. 

If you’ve read Rose or Ruby’s live journal you’d find out that on the 2nd of May 2008, Ruby dyed her hair black. That’s not surprising to begin with, you can see her with her hair as black throughout the game (Though sometimes it has a blueish look with some lighting)- a bit weird that it had to be pointed out as dyed due to all of her sister’s also having black hair (You can see Ginger’s black roots), but their live journals give a reason for why. In Ruby’s comment section, she’s asked about her original hair colour, which she replies was Green. It’s not clear if she means her hair was last dyed green, or if she has natural green hair. This seems like a reference to one of her final flashes that’s the same as another but with a green colouring. Anyway- this isn’t what we’re talking about. In the reply of that comment, someone calls her a liar, and says if it really was green, why did she get her sister to lie? What they’re referring to is Rose’s post about it- in which she says that Ruby had made her promise not to tell what her old hair is. There’s still a debate as to what her original hair colour is, and I don’t think we will ever actually get to know.

In 2022 @wammy4 on Twitter began multiple Twitter bots based on the sisters in The Path, posting various things sourced from lines in the game, live journal posts, quotes from grandmother's house and links to the game. It posted multiple times per day, now with so many posts it’s hard to keep track, but as of the fourth of April 2023, none of the accounts other than the creator has posted, due to Musk’s shutdown of free API bots and $100 per month bot subscription.

A staple of fandoms on the internet are Askblogs, where fans can ask characters questions and get a reply, usually with illustrated companions. The Path is no outlier, having a dedicated askblog on VK- with over 800 followers. It’s been active for years and has over 2 thousand different images, and has asks for all of the characters in the game, as well as gender-bent versions. If you can speak Russian I highly recommend checking it out, and even if you can’t, the art is stunning!

The Red sisters aren’t the only ones who have live journals, within the comments you can find Grandmother Red interacting with her grandkids, asking when they’ll next come down to see her. However this livejournal is different from the others given that hers is deactivated, even with the wayback machine- and her livejournal was never linked on the official website next to the others.

Fuco Euda is a Japanese-based surrealist painter focusing on the horrific, sensual and innocent, with girls nearly looking identical as if they were family, or the same girl. She was first referenced all the way back when Ruby was being designed as an artist to look into for inspiration. Her artbook LUCID DREAM is out, with a special bound edition if that’s something you’d be interested in!

Alice Knows Karate is an alt-pop band that takes inspiration from fairytales and J-pop, creating a unique nostalgic sound that feels straight out of a video game. They’ve got various albums you should definitely check out, but what we’re specifically talking about today is their 2018 album Fablewave, with their song ‘The Path’. It was originally posted on the head of the band Keiko’s YouTube channel in 2009, with an updated version coming ten years later. It’s outrageously good, it captures the essence of the game perfectly with amazing lyrics, and I got a bit too attached and it ended up as my number-one song on Spotify in 2023. The rest of Fablewave is also based on other fairytales and fairytale-inspired games, particularly ‘Alice, What Have You Done?’ based on American McGee’s Alice. Their most recent work is Grounded, and they’ve also been featured as the theme song for Penny Larceny: Gig Economy Supervillain! 

The Path was supposed to be Tale of Tales' first commercial project, and as so it included advertising, but being Tale of Tales, they did this the most extra way they could. Around where they lived, they made a Tear Off poster, with what I believe is Martha Samyan’s art of Robin. The poster asks the reader to choose the path of pins or the path of needles, while linking to the website. On their blog they provide a blank download of the tear-off poster so you can print it off, to draw on it and place it around you!

The Path was Tale of Tales' first foray into creating commercial games, and because of that, there are various different selections of merch, such as: Signed Posters, USB drives, CDs of the soundtrack, Polaroids, Shirts (via Redbubble) and a sticker. Nearly all of this, save the shirts on Redbubble, are no longer purchasable, being limited items when they came out, and then finally being sold in 2015 as Tale of Tales moved. I am still so mad I never got those Polaroids and am still madly searching for auctions of them.

The Rose Problem is a catch-all term I am using to describe basically ‘What the hell is up with Rose’. It’s no secret that Rose is divisive when it comes to interpretations- so much so that I couldn’t include her in the first interpretation section. So, what is it that makes Rose so difficult? Well, you can barely see her wolf, her house is almost all flooded and she speaks with flowery prose. The reason people seem to view her route as spirituality or disability is because of her continued mention of disconnect from herself. But there have been oceans of other disagreeing ideas, related to her perhaps going through puberty early, her experiencing guilt related to her family, her being potentially molested, or even her literally dying. It’s been put forward by some that Tale of Tales went into Rose not even having an intention in mind, or it shifted from one idea during development and becoming aimless during that period.

Scarlet is known to be the last created sister, Tale of Tales describe the making of her as being the first to be born and last to be made, and because of that, her wolf was the last to be made. The final wolf is named the Fey Wolf- related to the Fae Court. As an Irish person who’s in full belief of the Fae, I don’t see the resemblance. But that wasn’t his final name- maybe it wasn’t his final appearance. His original name, according to a rough floor plan of what Grandmother’s house would look like with the secret rooms was Boy Toy Wolf. That’s… A name change. Especially considering the fact Boy Toy refers to a young man in a sexual relationship, usually with an older woman, and the Fey Wolf is a sort of elderly-looking androgynous thing with a 19-year-old Scarlet who is not into relationships. But because the Fey Wolf’s making has no text, it’s not clear if his appearance or purpose even changed between the name change.

Quest3d was a tool used for making 3D applications, with an intuitive way of programming by using graphs and seeing it in real-time without the need for a compiler. On Mobygames only 8 games were ever listed as created by Quest3d, 6 if you don’t count The Path and The Prologue- with three of them being a Ship Simulator. I say was because it’s pretty much gone. You can’t open their unique file in anything so you’re kinda screwed if you want to do anything with the game files.

The Shrine and the Playground Sign are two interesting objects that you really can’t see in the rest of the game. They both appear along the path but not in the forest, and unlike the crow, you can’t interact with them. Though not immediately clear- the reason why those appear is to signal to the player that the Graveyard and Playground are accessible. That’s probably self-explanatory for the Playground Sign, but for quite a few people the Shrine may come as a surprise, including me before I researched it.

The Path, like everything, has speedrunners. There are two categories- All Girls and Failure%. There have been seven runs altogether, one in all girls and six in failure%. Failure% is reaching grandmother's house without interacting with any wolf, beginning when you gain control and ending when you leave first person in Grandmother's house. Though there are no guides available, the strategy is clear, using Ruby as she’s the quickest. The world record holder as of now is from Krayzar with a one-minute 35 seconds. There's only one speedrun for All Girls, and I’m going to be honest, I don’t think there’s a strategy, at least not one clear from the world record holder Multiwinner who admits that the run they sent in was their first and only attempt. If you want to try this out, go ahead! You’ll have the chance to make history!

In 2020 a zine by the VK fan club for The Path was released- featuring illustrations, comics and stickers, a full collection of all included is linked here. As far as I can tell, this is the only one of its kind! It really is a marvel, and I have said this for like the third time, but if you have a copy of this I would love to buy it from you. I do have to warn you- there is nudity in here of Ruby.

Tier 5 - Bottom of the Iceberg

Tale of Tales references three artists and illustrators that inspired the feeling they were going for The Path, naming them as Lisa Falzon, Fuco Ueda and Ray Caesar. For its first anniversary, three sets of interviews of those artists by the six red sisters. You can find the interviews here, but some highlights are: Carmen asking Lisa if she has a boyfriend followed by Scarlet asking if Lisa is a feminist, Robin asking if Fuco Euda's paintings showed "Good girls or naughty girls", and Ginger just asking if Ray Caesar would ever make a video game.

One of the more confusing things mentioned in the Post Mortem is the fact that Tale of Tales at one time considered creating a mechanic where you would have to dance battle your wolf. No, I am not joking. I just have one question. In a game about exploring your deepest trauma in a wolf-infested forest. Why did you make them dance?

The Path Tribute Project was a group of Vocaloid songs created based on characters in The Path on niconico. The project is from 2014, and due to this and a lack of updating links, I’m unable to find the original organiser of the project and one of the songs, but what I do have, is a Paste Bin of all the found links, the Tumblr blog it was advertised on, and a short compilation of all of the songs reposted on VK!

The canonicity of the grandmother house pages is up to discussion, with Rose, Ginger, Ruby and Carmen all seeming aware they’re in a video game created by these people with Scarlet not making mention of Kris’ involvement with the game. The outlier is Robin, who says not only is Jarboe real in their universe, but that she lives in a black house in their forest- and that she was the one who taught the family the Safe Song. There clearly is not a black house in the forest- the only house is Grandmother’s which is white. Maybe she’s referring to the tent in the Campsite, we never exactly do see the Woodsman go into it, or it could even be the Bunker, as it seemingly has a panel over the door, but neither of those are housey.

Given The Path’s limited characters and interactions, the game’s fanbase has never really been prime with shipping, the most you would see is Ruby and her Wolf along with Ginger and her Wolf. But one pairing stands among them all as the most. Ship to exist. The Woodsman, and the Fey Wolf. There’s a weirdly large amount of fanart for this, despite their status of never interacting or existing near each other, but I suppose what fandoms do best is see two men and decide they should kiss. Should I show examples of this? Yes. Am I going to? No. Just… Take my word for it and understand why I am not showing you a sweaty bald man making out with whatever the Fey Wolf is.

Shamus Young was a game critic and blogger who was an early modder in the Doom Community, and held some infamous views related to parts of The Path. I want to preface this by saying- Shamus Young passed away in 2022 at the age of 50, and out of respect for him and his family, I will be only relaying what he wrote instead of including my opinions. The reason Shamus gained a particular status in the fan community is for his interpretations of Rose and Carmen. Starting with Carmen- he states that he knew girls like Carmen in high school, that would “Find the biggest, strongest, best-looking complete-jerk they could get their hands on, and then endlessly whine about how ‘men are such pigs.’” He then goes on to explain that he believes Carmen was not raped, because despite being drunk she had taken the alcohol without asking, and that it was not rape because “She came on to him.” He does say that it “does not excuse the forester for sharing his beer and hooking up with an (in some states) underage girl-” and then proceeds to say “But I don’t think he’s a rapist.” At the end of the aftermath saying that “Maybe this one bad experience will make her more careful.” Rose’s analysis begins with him prefacing that “I don’t actually want to talk about this one, because it involves stuff I wouldn’t even bring up on my blog.” and then again stating “And I really hope you’ll keep a clinical head on when I bring this up and try to be polite even if you disagree, and furthermore I hope we can keep this discussion civil and remember that this is all open to interpretation.” Before he goes on to explain how Rose’s water motifs are a representation of discovering masturbation- that the reason why her wolf is a Cloudy Male figure is that “She knows she’s attracted to men but she doesn’t know what men look like yet, or how sex works”. As stated at the beginning of this entry and by Shamus himself, I’m keeping this civil and I am not shaming him for his personal interpretations.

There’s quite a bit of Micheal’s Daughter Martha present in the game at various points. Martha made the original pictograms, I believe the poster art was also by her- but the most clear inspiration is Robin herself. As mentioned in her Making of post, Robin’s outfit is based on her, specifically her outfit of her blue hooded cloak and stripey boots. Martha’s actually an artist now too! Martha Samyn is a textile artist and interior architect, with her last exhibit being at Texture Kortrvijk in January! You can actually see the start of her textile art related to The Path, showing off her Ruby-inspired outfit for her doll!

A last-minute change mentioned in the post-mortem was the fact that The Path did not contain any text until the playtest. And when I mean any text, I don’t just mean instructions- until they had people play the games they hadn’t thought to include text for the items, to show what the characters were thinking, because they saw that “Some players had difficulty to let their imagination work.” That’s a wise lesson for you all. Involve Beta testers.

The Path Fangame, titled The Path Fan Project, is a game by Kinder and Doll, a spiritual follow-up to The Path with less of a focus on horror and more on open-world explanation and interaction with the sisters. The graphics are astonishingly pretty, with quite a few new locations like a train, a cave, and a treehouse. The game also involves slight voices, giving the characters voices for the first time! I again urge you to play it, especially since I am unable to because of the age of my computer. 

The-Red-Path is a LiveJournal community never officially linked on the website like all the other LiveJournal profiles, with only six members- the six sisters. This account has only three posts, all posted in 2008, between April and August, only one of which I will be bringing up. On the 16th of April Robin asks whose turn it is to visit their grandmother, with Rose mentioning that they’ve all gone down the path already. There's a weird sadness in this post, with the normally boisterous Carmen asking why she couldn’t just go with anyone else.   

You have probably heard of the first urban legend about The Path, the ability to get an A, but this one you likely haven’t heard of. There’s a phone present on the road on the other side of the path, calling it will allow you to transport the sister back to the apartment without needing to go to grandmother’s house. The general idea is then, if you go through the wolf encounter, but turn around on the path and walk back to the phone- would you be able to call it and actually return back home without the sister disappearing? There have been testimonies of being able to do it, as well as fanfictions about the concept, and not a lot of checks due to the fact you can’t run after the wolf encounter and your speed is already extremely low. But I am going to come out and say, no, I don’t believe it’s possible. I don’t think the creators would have overlooked that idea, especially since they had a large number of beta testers, but I do really like the idea and I wish it was true.

That’s the end! I have quite a few things I left out, due to it maybe not being interesting or my losing of sources, but I’m glad I could finally do this. In all honesty, The Path changed my life. It’s helped me through a lot in my own journey of healing and accepting trauma, and I will forever be grateful. Happy 15th anniversary!

[essence-of-wicca]

Notice: This blog is meant as a collection of informational essays I have written. As such, it will not update with new posts, although existing posts may be edited in the future. Notices of major edits will be posted to @sova-witch

🕯🌒🌕🌘🕯

Introduction & Contents

Very many books and websites about Wicca put a lot of emphasis on spells and other practical applications, on the Witchcraft aspects. While those components are valid and important, sometimes that emphasis creates too much of a surface level aesthetic of being a Witch, and the spiritual basis gets overshadowed. This all occurs with the ever-present reminder that Wicca and Witchcraft are not the same thing, while simultaneously removing the distinction by focusing on the Witchcraft, and still labeling it Wicca. 

It is my aim with this project to bring the focus back around to Wicca as a religion of substance, rather than the aesthetic. It’s also meant to be informational, and provide perhaps a middle-of-the-road perspective on Wicca; I don’t believe one must be Initiated into any Tradition to be considered and accepted as a Wiccan, but I do believe there are things that are and are not part of Wicca, just like any other religion. That being said though, my focus is on what is, rather than what isn’t; I’m not interested in throwing shade at anyone else for their practices, choices, or preferences.

I am an Initiated Wiccan (2nd Degree Gardnerian), and an hereditary Witch. I was taught Wicca from a young age (mid-1980s) by my parents, and actively pursued Initiation beginning at about 16 (I’m now over 40). As such, honestly, I haven’t read extensively on Wicca, as I already had what I considered to be more than the basics. I do have a few reading recommendations, however, which I will share at the end of this series.

Everything I've written is solely my opinion, coming from my own experiences, thoughts, and interactions. I do not speak for anyone but myself, not even other Wiccans. Additionally, I will be talking about Wicca in general, and not the specific (Oathbound) Tradition I was Initiated into. Anything I seem to be stating as fact should be viewed as generally accepted, though keep in mind that opinions and practices will always vary, depending on who you talk to. Some of this information assumes a general knowledge of Wicca and Paganism more broadly, but if anything seems confusing or unclear, please don't be afraid to ask questions, either in comments or DMs.

I greatly appreciate your interest in my writings. Blessed Be.

Contents

Each title in this list has its own post. Simply keep scrolling to read in this order. After the 101 Series, I have included ritual scripts I have written as well.

Wicca 101

Definition

Categories

History

Ethics

Theism

Magick

Death

Celebrations

Elements

Roles

Tools

Names

Ritual

Recommended Reading

Scripts

1. Intro

2. Self-Blessing

3. Circle Opening:

Creating Sacred Space

Casting and Cleansing

Personal Consecrations

Esbat Deity Invocations

Sabbat Deity Invocations

Quarter Calls

4. Esbat:

Invocation

Drawing Down the Moon

Moonpool Meditation

5. Sabbats:

Samhain

Yule

Imbolc

Vernalia

Beltane (Supplement) (Appendix)

Midsummer

Lammas

Autumnus

Drawing Down the Sun

Sunmeadow Meditation

6. Cakes and Wine

7. Circle Closing

Credits

[thevirginwitch]

Celebrating the New Year

While those who follow the Wheel of the Year typically celebrate "The Witches' New Year" during Samhain, I wanted to throw together this presentation/event to give us all some ideas as we head into 2024!

2024 CALENDAR

Check out this post with a full 2024 astrological (and wheel of the year) calendar! 

2024 TAROT CARD

From your favorite tarot deck, pull a “Card of the Year”. This card will be the main “theme”, lesson, or general idea for your 2024! 

To dive deeper into the meaning of this card, feel free to use the spread below:

For more ideas, check out this post full of New Years Tarot Spreads!

JOURNALING PROMPTS

What are my “witchy” goals for the upcoming year? What are my “mundane” goals for the upcoming year?

What lessons or events can I reflect on from this year, to make 2024 more productive/better?

Write down one word to describe 2023.

What does 2024 look like for you?

SPELL & RITUAL IDEAS

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Deep clean your home, taking specific care to sweep dust/debris out of your front and back door. Even better if you move in a counterclockwise fashion throughout your home to banish any negative energies that may be lingering! To bring in “new” ideas, hang up new decorations that align with your new year goals, or add specific herbs that align with your intentions to window sills and the top of door frames. It’s also a great time to refresh any wards or protection symbols you might have around your house!

2024 CHARM BAG

Pull together a few objects that symbolize your new year: sigils, charms, herbs, etc. and throw them together in a charm bag. Keep this bag on your person when the clock strikes 12am! Keep it stashed away, and pull it out whenever you feel the need to have some of that energy with you throughout the new year.

MANIFESTATIONS

Utilize your favorite manifestation methods to bring your goals to fruition! My personal favorites include writing my “wishes” (or goals) on a bay leaf and burning it. However you prefer to manifest certain goals, new years is a great time to do so.

MAKING “NORMAL CELEBRATIONS” MORE WITCHY

If you are going to be around family or friends for new years, there are a handful of things you can make it a bit more witchy for yourself! For example: if you are drinking, don’t forget to pour out a small offering for your deities/God(s). If you have someone to kiss at midnight, and they consent to doing so, perhaps you could both perform some kind of ritual that involves the kiss “activating” the spell – for example, perform a “good luck” working for the new year, and involve the kiss as a part of the ritual!

Whether or not you celebrate the new year, I hope you all have a great holiday season!

Friendly reminder that this post was released 3 days early for my subscribers over on my Patreon! You can become a patron for $2/month and gain access to my unreleased drafts, research notes, early access to posts, and much more! You can also join for free to be notified whenever I post, and keep up-to-date on upcoming projects and announcements!

[sora-g-silverwind]

"Witchy"-ing everyone a Happy Halloween and a Sweet Samhain!

(And on the topic of Bakugaiden — if you're feeling generous this spooky season and would like to show appreciation for the English Bakugaiden sub project, the translator/subber behind the project could use some help with managing a difficult living situation! Check the deets on GoFundMe, drop some dollars if you're able, and boost the signal with your bomberbuddies.)

★ originally posted on deviantArt ♛ links to Ko-Fi, AO3, Bluesky → here ✿ sideblog: @sora-has-a-sideblog