witchythingscore

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also speaking of jakub różalski this painting of his is my FAVOURITE like yes girl snitch on the knight!!! get his ass!!!

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Bill Crisafi

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2022 Summer Solstice Tea

Green tea: II parts

Black tea: II parts

Sage: I part

Dried mango: 1/2 part

Rose petals: II parts

Lavender: I part

Lemon peel: I part

Orange peel: II parts

Calendula: II parts

Enjoy with milk and/or honey. Or biscuits. Or alone.

I hope you guys are taking the heat better than I am.

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The potatoes were also used to see how well you'll do with marriage. There were many other little magic traditions for this eve, and lots had to do with marriage! People were intense about previewing their husbands/wives in the diabolical mists of the future.

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Litha Focus

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A  witch in summer: moodboard

My ko fi

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◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯

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𖤓°⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

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Happy Walpurgis night!

Its name come from Saint Walpurga, who feast day is May the first. 

I regard her as the witches’s patron saint for that reason, with Saint Brigid and Saint Hildegard. Brigid have her feast day on February the 1st, a day regarded as the first day of spring. That’s why Irish people  still make, on that day, Saint Brigid crosses that are associated with witchcraft. As for Hildegard, she was a medium and wrote several grimoires about herbology and cryptozoology. 

Traditionally, May the first was the very beginning of hot season in ancient days, despite (like today…) these days can be cold due to the Ice Saints phenomenon. That’s why light fairies (seelies) ended their hibernation and dark ones (unseelies) would begun theirs.

 The ancient ones would be  terrified to cross the path of unseelies on their way to bed, and that night quickly get the reputation to be one of the biggest sabbaths of the year with one night exactly set six months later. That’s it: Halloween. The contrary happened (Unseelies woke up and seelies were going to bed) that night. You would spot no one outside on 30th April to May the first night (too afraid to met bad witches or even demons),

 and in some north European countries, it is still traditional to disguise as witches and have fun outside (well, except not, this year).

   So, one of the biggest sabbath, right? Unfortunately,  a meeting with your coven is not an option during an epidemic. But guess this is still a good night to do rituals.

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“Happy Saint Walpurgis day, witch!”

“Happy first day of fairy month, fairy!”

*Both* “Happy first day of Virgin Mary month, Christowitch!”

Not to mention that the Virgin Mary is fairies’s patron saint. Or that May the first is also Saint Joseph artisan day, to pray for issues with employment. Talk about a magic, female, busy day…

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[witchythingscore]

Happy Walpurgis night!

Its name come from Saint Walpurga, who feast day is May the first. 

I regard her as the witches’s patron saint for that reason, with Saint Brigid and Saint Hildegard. Brigid have her feast day on February the 1st, a day regarded as the first day of spring. That’s why Irish people  still make, on that day, Saint Brigid crosses that are associated with witchcraft. As for Hildegard, she was a medium and wrote several grimoires about herbology and cryptozoology. 

Traditionally, May the first was the very beginning of hot season in ancient days, despite (like today…) these days can be cold due to the Ice Saints phenomenon. That’s why light fairies (seelies) ended their hibernation and dark ones (unseelies) would begun theirs.

 The ancient ones would be  terrified to cross the path of unseelies on their way to bed, and that night quickly get the reputation to be one of the biggest sabbaths of the year with one night exactly set six months later. That’s it: Halloween. The contrary happened (Unseelies woke up and seelies were going to bed) that night. You would spot no one outside on 30th April to May the first night (too afraid to met bad witches or even demons),

 and in some north European countries, it is still traditional to disguise as witches and have fun outside (well, except not, this year).

   So, one of the biggest sabbath, right? Unfortunately,  a meeting with your coven is not an option during an epidemic. But guess this is still a good night to do rituals.

[witchythingscore]

A witch Easter: moodboard

My ko fi

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Since my first article on Easter witches, I’ve learnt that the custom was named Virpominen in Finland. When you google it, kids on photos are disguised as bunnies,  chicks, cats and witches, amalgamating the traditional creatures of the season and Easter witches.

 And…oh wait, there is still snow there in march and April? 

It begins actually on Palm Sunday, when children start to offer feathered branches.

Guess that witches appearance was XVth century peasants inspired, when witches were supposed to be any woman. But here, you can see that they dressed like anybody else during Victorian era. Apart from brooms it was possible to ride on a Billy goat,  or on a cat familiar if rendered big enough. 

And were they a stand in for Cupid on Valentine day too?

I was intrigued too by recurring symbols. Scandinavian witches have cats, because they are their familiars, of course. But I could not define the symbolism of putting a ribbon around their neck.

Witches also have teapots and horns, and, I don’t know…kind of shovels? Edit: Rather edgers, actually.

 Teapots and horns (you could drink in) were simply a reminder of feasts in Blockula. By the way, the island was an “ inverted land ” were women notably act as men. No wonder witches were all women then.

For the shovels (edgers), I guess it was to erase prints. Baba Yaga, the Slavic witch, was travelling in a barrel and erased her prints with a broom. But Scandinavian witches would fly directly on a broom, not a barrel, technically it let no prints on the floor. So, if someone know why the edgers? (maybe to ride on it like any farming tool, but witches had them in addition of their brooms actually…)

Modern era witches can see the disguised kids as offensive, because the virpominen tradition was inspired by the witches Hunt and persecution era.

 Scandinavian were that panicked of witches, they believed easily they could fly en masse to an island during holy week. But the suspicion and executions leaded to the harmless today celebration. I personally see nothing wrong in this, seeing it more as an homage to witches. I’m not offended easily in fact, for years now I just stopped to call “witch” a disagreeable woman because I see it as a compliment. “Shrew” or “monster” are more appropriate to me.

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Easter witches

I thought I knew the most I could knew about witches…But I still do discoveries on the subject. Did you know that (I discovered it while searching for the term on Pinterest to do a moodboard) there is a tradition of Easter witches?

Hell yeah! I’m not speaking about Wiccans celebrating Ostara, I mean being associated with the Christian Easter.

I did not know that this is a thing in Scandinavian myths. In these countries, people believed in “Blockula” (never heard of this before either), a magical island that would only appear to witches, and made only for them, where they met the devil. An inverted Avalon, in a sense.

During the witch trials (XVIIth century) Scandinavians were terrified of witches, who visited Blockula  between Maundy Thursday and Easter (which they can’t stand, I guess). Witches had the reputation to steal to their neighbors things they could use to fly on and go to Blockula. Brooms, but also forks, rakes, cattle, etc. Peasants in Nordic  countries had the habit to hide their stuff during Holy week so witches won’t “borrow” these.

After the fear of witches disappeared during XVIIIth century, Scandinavians started to homage witches ‘s passage  at the time of the year. Until today, children, mostly, (but not only, elderly too) will dress as witches and go from house to house between  Maundy Thursday and Easter and ask for candies, Halloween style, giving branches with feathers in exchange . 

Hence Easter greetings cards featuring witches (note that they would wear a headscarf rather than a pointy hat, have colorful rather than black clothes, and for some reasons travel with a teapot -maybe because it is a long trip and they need to drink).

As the sky was supposed to be obscured with witches at the time of the year, Scandinavia associate Easter with witches, as closely as bunnies.

Hence adorable illustrations suggesting that witches are  distributing eggs just like bunnies. D’awww!

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A witch in spring: Moodboard

My ko fi