#Polish folk witch

[dowsingfordivinity]

Dual faith folk witches

Polish Folk Witch (on instagram and Patreon) has an excellent article on dual faith practice and syncretism among folk witches: Dual Faith: the elephant in the room of the witchcraft community. The topic of dual faith keeps returning on a regular basis in the broader witchcraft community online, especially on the intersection of folk magic, paganism and christian occultism. Folk witches often…

[changingpathsresources]

Folk witches and dual faith

Polish Folk Witch (on instagram and Patreon) has an excellent article on dual faith practice and syncretism among folk witches: Dual Faith: the elephant in the room of the witchcraft community. The topic of dual faith keeps returning on a regular basis in the broader witchcraft community online, especially on the intersection of folk magic, paganism and christian occultism. Folk witches often…

[aleksandra-czudzak]

[slavicafire]

Tales of regional devils, elements of Christianity, remnants of beliefs in old Slavonic spirits and demons, combined with variations in folklore to provide a rich tapestry of demonology. Since in the majority of Polish witchcraft confessions there were no references to familiars, it can be suggested that the personification of the devil was an analogous concept. 

However, the familiar nature of devils could equally be perceived as a continuation of the tradition of the domovoi (house spirits), who were an important part of ancient Slavonic mythology. They were mischievous, rather than harmful spirits who looked afer the home and were placated with offerings of food. Christianity, according to Pełka and Baranowski, demonized these harmless creatures. The lingering spirit of the Christian could conveniently be viewed as a Slavonic water or forest spirit, and many of them were identified with liminal Christian situations, such as death without the appropriate rites, for example suicides or the death of unbaptized infants. Thus from a brief examination of the trial records and printed sources, one can see that the portrait of the devil serves a variety of purposes and beliefs and appears to be distinctly different within elite and popular cultures.

- Jewish, Noble, German, or Peasant? The Devil in Early Modern Poland by Wanda Wyporska.  [Demons, Spirits, Witches Vol. 2 :Christian Demonology And Popular Mythology - Gábor Klaniczay, Éva Pócs (Eds.)]

[horror-aesthete]

Wilczyca, 1983, dir. Marek Piestrak

[theverwitchproject]

I’m not dead and I’m looking for resources!

hello friends! I know it’s been Forever since I’ve been active here, I took a break from my practice because sometimes it’s hard to learn when there aren’t a lot of other witches who share your… theology? Philosophy on the potentially religious aspect of spirituality? Thoughts on deities, basically, is where I’m going with this.

anyway, that’s still something important to me, but my relationship with my religion has changed a bit and so I’m ready to try to get back into my practice and I feel a bit more focused about it, which is good, but it means I need specific resources and I don’t know how to find them myself because I’m still a very new witch in terms of experience.

I’m currently looking for resources about Polish, Scottish, and potentially Irish folk magics. I want to connect with my ancestors and learn more about the history and culture of these places as well, but I feel like I can trust Barnes & Noble and the vastness of the internet for those things far better than I can trust them for magic resources. Especially when it comes to Polish folk magic, because I know a lot of “new age” stuff is loosely but heavily based in Celtic (primarily Irish) magic and mythology.

I believe there’s a thread on Reddit? I’m not a Redditor so I’ll have to see if I can actually access it, but if anyone here has resources I would love to hear your thoughts!

[thenerdwitch]

As I feared, trying to connect to my Polish roots through magical traditions is quite difficult, because a lot of that stuff was lost or altered after Catholicism permeated the region. I've been able to find some folklore, and I've found a few leads on books of Slavic folk magic that at least touch on Poland, but most of my searching thus far has just turned up other witches of Polish descent trying to connect with their heritage and coming up with the same meager handful of texts and sources

[zepskies]

Hello! I was wondering... kinda cringy but can I request comparing hand sizes with Soldier boy headcanons

Hey love!! ❤️

Aw, it's not cringey. That's actually really cute! Let me see what I can do for you...

Pairing: Soldier Boy x Female Reader Word Count: 500 Tags/Warnings: 18+ only on this one, folks! For some smutty musings on those talented fingers.

Headcanon: The way you love Ben's hands.

You love playing with his hair, slipping your fingers through the soft strands.

But you also love his hands.

Despite the pampered lifestyle he led growing up, Ben is a very tactile person. He likes working with his hands.

You like to catch him when he's cleaning his weapons. He takes them apart and puts them back together expertly. His smooth hands and long fingers glide as they polish metal with a small rag.

You like to watch him try and fail to cook, ultimately burning the eggs. You like the way his hands move quick yet awkward with the wooden spoon scraping across the pan.

(He burns the bacon too. "It's better that way, extra fucking crispy," he grumbles, when you tease him.)

You like the strength in his hands, tempered just for you.

When his fingers brush across your cheek. When they graze your arm absently while something plays on TV. When he comes up behind you and rests a heavy hand at the small of your back. Or when they grip your hips and thighs and ass hard enough to bruise.

When those talented fingers tease you, slipping between your legs and finding the source of your pleasure with ease.

Long fingers slowly dipping inside your wet heat, exploring your inner walls with the practiced patience of a man fully familiar with every part of you.

They know where and how and when to twist and curl, making you utter broken gasps of his name and shudder from deep within.

And Ben gets something he loves: the sound of your voice as you come hard on his fingers, and make it known in his ear...

But sometimes, it's just as simple as laying with him in bed, afterwards, holding one of his hands in yours.

Your fingers trace over each and every one of his, noting the differences of his larger hand in your smaller one. You compare them in your mind: both different versions of smooth, his masculine to your slender. His blunt nails to your longer ones.

One night, you even line up your hand against his, like Tarzan and Jane.

His brows furrow. "The hell're you doing?"

A smile tugs at your lips. "Nothing. You've just got huge hands."

He snorts. "I have a man's hands."

You roll your eyes. Right. But your smile deepens when you bring the back of his hand to your lips. You turn it over and press a sweet kiss into his palm, closing your eyes.

Ben tolerates it.

Or so he'd have you believe.

Really, he just watches you as a tendril of warmth plumes in his chest. His lips hint at a smile.

There are wordless moments when he knows you love him.

He'll probably never tell you out right, but times like these are some of the ones he likes most with you.

They stay in his memory long afterwards. And when the darker ones threaten to cloud his day, he pulls these moments out like old photographs, imprinted on his mind.

AN: Hehe, hope you guys like this one! ❤️

Just so you know, there's a longer SB imagine coming soon (either this coming week or next), and it is ✨Angsty.✨ 😅

I'll probably release an interesting one next. Though the request was a bit niche, I really got into it! So I'm hoping you all will enjoy. It includes reactions from Dean Winchester, Beau Arlen, and Soldier Boy (Ben)...

Soldier Boy Masterlist

Main Masterlist

SB Tag List:

@melancholictearz @katherineann83 @sleepyqueerenergy @wayward-lost-and-never-found @thewritersaddictions @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @deanwanddamons @antisocialcorrupt @adoringanakin @theonlymaninthesky @teehxk @midnightmadwoman

@iprobablyshipit91 @agalliasi @venicesem @deans-spinster-witch @chriszgirl92 @lyarr24 @ladysparkles78 @solariklees @xsophianicolex @deansbbyx @mimaria420 @candy-coated-misery0731 @curlycarley @sarahgracej @bagpussjocken @ultrahviolentart @skyesthebomb @this-is-me19 @kazsrm67 @letheatheodore

@agothwithheavysetmakeup @jacklesbrainworms @foxyjwls007 @wincastifer @emily-winchester @tearsfortheyouth @solo-pitstop-vibes @dope-trope-105 @liuope @beautyvaliant @xxlaynaxx @chernayawidow @beskarfilms @tmb510 @iamsapphine @vanillawhiskeyflavoredkisses @roseblue373 @lacilou

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Protective household demons in Polish folklore

Belief in protective household demons was in all likeliness widespread among Slavic peoples from time immemorial. We do not know how those demonic creatures were imagined and what forms of cult were associated with them in the distant past, since the first sources on this subject we find in confessional literature of the late Middle Ages. In the XV-th century sermon fragment mentioned in previous chapters we find words of disapproval towards folk practice of „feeding” the protective spirits of the house called ubożęta (singular: ubożę).

”There are those who do not wash the dishes after dinner on Great Thursday and holy day, so as to feed the souls that they call vbosshe (ubożę) and others, believing stupidly that spirits need corporal things, when it is written that the Spirit does not have flesh or bones. Some purposefully leave the remains of dinner on their plates, to thus feed the souls or a certain demon that they call vbosshe, but this is completely ridiculous, because they often think, foolish and naive, that what they have left is food for the aforementioned vbesshe, since they care for it to attract good luck, but very often it is a dog that comes without them realizing and devours the remains.”

- Anonymous sermon, XVth century Poland, translation from „Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion”, red. Álvarez-Pedrosa

The same problem was also touched on in two other works, the XVI-th century „Postępek prawa czartowskiego przeciw narodowi ludzkiemu” (roughly translates to „The Progress of Devilish Deeds Against the Human Nation”) and XVII-th century „Czarownica powołana” (roughly „The Witch Appointed”), whose authors were critical of the common practice of the housewives leaving a special, separate evening meal to the protective spirits of the household. P. Gilowski in his XVI-th century „Wykład katechizmu Kościoła krześcijańskiego z pism świętych” (roughly „Explaining the cathechism of Christian Church from holy scripture”) counted protective household spirits among satanic apparitions and wrote „… there are various sorts of devils, earthly skryatkowie (the modern word would be „skrzaty”), domestic ubożęta…”. According to B. Baranowski on the territory of central Poland in XVII-th and XVIII-th century „the belief in all sorts of protective deities remained exceptionally deep. Quite often they were some sorts of household spirits. (…) One was supposed to leave them a little bit of food in the corner of the hut or in the hall and they would then ensure good luck and wealth of the house. Other creatures of this sort were said to live in barns. For this reason one of the boards in the roof of the barn would be left loose, without nails or a small hole would be made in it, and thus it was ensured that the spirit can enter the barn at will.”

The aforementioned ubożeta, skrzaty and other related protective house spirits, similarly to atmospheric and natural demonology, were included in the family of devilish beings during the Counter-Reformation. On this basis, completely new images of domestic demons were formed, such as the diabeł-latawiec (a character combining elements of an atmospheric demon, a protective household spirit and the devil) or a diabeł-chowaniec (devil-familiar). Both of these beings were credited with activities aimed at securing abundance and prosperity on farms. As a consequence, this led to the formation in the minds of the rural people of the dual nature of devilish beings, that could be either dangerous and harmful or good and caring. The latter group included, among others, guardian house demons.

Concurrently, in the second half of XVIII-th century Catholic clergy started their own varied efforts towards broader dissemination and popularization (especially in rural areas and small towns) of the cult of angelic beings in particular guardian angels. To the latter they would assign very specific protective functions which were supposed to result in complete erasure of traditional beliefs in household spirits that were still present in the popular consciousness. The Church doctrine of that time stated that every person has a God-assigned guardian angel whose task is to guard their charge from all kinds of dangers and temptations. An interesting aspect of that protection was the constant war guardian angels and devils would wage over the salvation of human soul. This concept also found it’s reflection in the developing folklore, for example in an eschatalogical piece „Przemowa Diabła i Anioła przy łożu Umierającego” (translates to: The Speech of a Devil and an Angel by the bed of a Dying Man).

- Polska demonologia ludowa by Leonard Pełka, amateur translation by Zarya-Zaryanitsa

[iftheshoef1tz]

I Come With Knives

Azris, 13k words, rated E.

A party on the continent, hosted by one of Koschei’s lackeys, goes awry. Nearly magicless, Azriel and Eris must survive on the continent together or die trying. Inspired by The Nutcracker, with a helping of Polish folk tales.

I’m so pleased to finally post this for my sweet friend, @krem-does-stuff!! I was so excited to get you for this year’s @acotargiftexchange, and I hope you enjoy it! Your theories about what my TikToks could mean had me rolling with laughter, because you were rather wrong, haha. I have so many more rat/Nutcracker-related TikToks to send you, and hopefully they’ll make (slightly) more sense once you’ve read this. I tried to incorporate all the desserts you gave me (raspberries are very important in this), and I tried to write Eris in a way that was new to me but still believable and delightfully mean.

Special thanks to @witch-and-her-witcher, @queercontrarian, and @yanny-77 for their beta skills; to Cee and Emma again for saying “send the TikTok” and holding my hand through the usual self-doubt; @pippsmcgee for shaking this fic until nearly all the present continuous fell out of it; @velidewrites for helping me translate a few things into Polish; @damedechance for helping me find something dirty to say; and, ofc, Dylan O’Brien. You know why.

Read on ao3.

Azriel stares out at the crowd, at the finery draped over every inch of this infernal castle, and he can almost pretend nothing is wrong. His leathers – he had refused to wear something more formal – creak as he shifts his weight, though it’s eaten up by the merry shouting of the crowd.

This invitation had come, bristling with glitter and tied with a ribbon, from one of the lesser noble houses of a small duchy close to the border with Rask. The duke and duchess were newly appointed and quite young, only in their eighties. Let bygones between continent and island be bygones, the invitation had crowed.

It stunk of a trap, and Azriel had come because there was no one else who could.

Rhys had Feyre, Nyx, and a death bargain no one could undo. They couldn’t spare Cassian, never mind that Nesta wasn’t ever letting Cassian out of her sight again. Mor and Lucien never figured into the equation, Lucien because he wasn’t stupid, and Mor because she wasn’t authorized by the Queen of Vallahan to go anywhere else on the continent.

It’s Amarantha all over again. None of the original players are here, of course; none of them would be so stupid. But apparently not smart enough to stay out entirely.

[springsteens]

POLUDNITSA (LADY MIDDAY)

🌾 Poludnitsa (from: Polden or Poluden, 'half-day' or 'midday') is a mythical character common to the various Slavic countries of Eastern Europe. She is referred to as Południca in Polish, Полудница (Poludnitsa) in Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian, Polednice in Czech, Poludnica in Slovak, Připołdnica in Upper Sorbian, and Полознича (Poloznicha) in Komi, Chirtel Ma in Yiddish.

🌾 She is a noon demon in Slavic mythology. She can be referred to in English as "Lady Midday", "Noonwraith" or "Noon Witch". She was usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white that roamed field bounds. She assailed folk working at noon causing heatstrokes and aches in the neck, sometimes she even caused madness.

🌾 In some accounts, she symbolizes the midday star, thereby being the sister of Zarya-Zarenitsa (the morning star; also called Utrenica), Vechorka (the evening star; also called Wieczornica/Vechernitsa) and Kupalnitsa (the night star; also called Nocnica/Nochnitsa); Poludnitsa is the second youngest among the sisters, with Zarya-Zarenitsa being the youngest and Kupalnitsa being the oldest.

🌾 Poludnitsa, who makes herself evident in the middle of hot summer days, takes the form of whirling dust clouds and carries a scythe, sickle or shears; most likely the shears would be of an older style, not akin to modern scissors. She will stop people in the field to ask them difficult questions or engage them in conversation. If anyone fails to answer a question or tries to change the subject, she will cut off their head or strike them with illness. She may appear as an old hag, a beautiful woman, or a 12-year-old girl, and she was useful in scaring children away from valuable crops. She is only seen on the hottest part of the day and is a personification of a sun-stroke.

🌾 Poludnitsa, according to beliefs, loves to dance. If she sees a girl lying down to rest in the field, she will wake her up and begin to persuade her to dance. If the girl agrees, she will be forced to dance until the “evening dawn“. Poludnitsa cannot be beaten in dancing; however, if such a girl is found, the noon spirit will present her with a rich dowry.

[heartof-lion]

Hades 2, and while I'll forever be on my 'you actually can do a retelling of the Hades/Persephone myth without treating Demeter like a helicopter parent AND giving her her justified rage, yes I'm looking at you Lore Olympus' bullshit.

Spoilers I guess as I got to the part of the game that isn't developed yet. I'll put them under Read More

Pro's:

This is a very well polished Early Access. I've yet to encounter a bug, and I can live with the fact that some image tiles don't exist yet, and some are just plain drawings.

All the minor deities/Mythological folk are done well. I'm never forgiving them for the lack of Ariadne (include her you cowards, you can include a Dead God, give me my girl). I do in fact keep wanting to punt Narcissus and I cannot wait for his image tile. He better be the twinkiest twink to ever exist. Echo, my poor girl, I just want to hug her.

Heracles, my beloved, they did your very justified rage right. You keep trying to tell Mel, And honestly I'm with you my guy. It is bullshit she gets all these Boons and you have to literally fight for it. Every time I get a Hera Boon I just want you to shake Mel and be like 'RUN GIRL'

Moros, don't make me love you, I'm trying here.

I'm loving how we're getting to see the effects of their dark side too.

Chronus. Death to Chronus but lord he terrifying. Eris is exactly the kind of maniacal shit stirrer she ought to be and I'm tossing your apple away the first chance I get. Icarus is obviously Bae (or was at one point) and oh honey.

Hecate and her Witches (Medea! Circe!) are exactly the kind of terrifying powerhouses they ought to be and while I won't forgive them for the six pack (WHY) she's just so Good. Caring, strict, and truly a believer in Mel and her task. Solid Mom A+

Cons:

Obviously it's not finished yet but for 30$ it's solid. I don't appreciate having to pay to be a Game Tester (pay people for that), but for a game I've looked forward to, for an independent studio? Sure, yeah I did it for Nightingale and that's literally just sticks and hopes. This is far more polished.

The story and its infinite replayability seems obvious in that literal Time will just rewind to where you don't defeat him, but I really hope you can pull the family out of their prison.

You have to fight the Goodest Boy. You maniacs, he's just sad, let me just pet him :(

Odysseus is great. But if he doesn't come off like the worst Crypto Bro that will not only have you believe in Crypto, but will also make you a fortune for you to realize he's ran off with 90% of it, but you have an infinite invitation to the castle he bought with your gains, he feels off. He's too nice. Also it feels wrong to romance him.

But this is funny

'Believe you got on his bad side' YOU ABSOLUTE NERD.

More when it's more finished I guess.

[marietheran]

What is the "Lenore" folk song?

Take what I say with a grain of salt because I've only read a few of the ballads and one paper about them (which I would love to link, if only it was in English), but, in general it seems to have been a folktale/folksong widespread in the area of Germany and Poland that the Romantics in both countries latched on to and made their own versions of.

Tw: slight horror and implied demonic activity in the summary.

To recount the story (I'm roughly basing it on the polish ballad by Adam Mickiewicz which I know best), it begins with a girl (in other versions named Lenore), who receives news her lover is dead in some war or other. Her family wants her to get over him; the girl fights this. First she mopes, then she blasphemes, then she meets up with a witch of sorts, who promises to being her lover back.

Cue a rider with horse arriving at the gates in the dead of the night. The girl runs away with him. They ride a long whiles (at this point several comments tend to be made on how "the dead ride fast", or asking the girl if she's not afraid), the rider three times asking Lenore to throw away her prayerbook, cross/crucifix and rosary (I think these three, in the polish version at least, but anyway, religious objects) because they impede him in some way. In a striking display of lacking in genre-awareness (or even awareness of basic spiritual realities, I'd say), the girl sees nothing alarming in this, and follows through with his demands. Pursuant to which, they arrive at their destination, which to her surprise turns out to be a graveyard. Fire flashes from inside the rider and he takes the girl into the grave.

[aleksandra-czudzak]

Devil with smilling belly, and two ladies.  Aleksandra Czudżak

[slavicafire]

Generally the style of dress was described rather than the actual physical manifestation of the devil, so one may assume that these devils were not monsters, or abnormally ugly. If they had had any particularly noticeable features, then perhaps they would have been mentioned. However, in one case, the devil was described as having horse’s hooves.

The only physical description was usually of the devil’s penis and it was an often repeated act that during sex, the devil’s member was cold; however, Agnieszka Jakóbka, during a second session of torture, confessed that ‘she enjoyed sex with the devil, and his nature was warm’.

- Jewish, Noble, German, or Peasant? The Devil in Early Modern Poland by Wanda Wyporska.  [Demons, Spirits, Witches Vol. 2 :Christian Demonology And Popular Mythology - Gábor Klaniczay, Éva Pócs (Eds.)]

[wszczebrzyszynie]

Wait, you play idv?? Out of curiosity, are you more of a surv player or a hunter player?

Also, favorite character to play or go against?

I do yeah 👍 im an axe boy main but idv is only truly enjoyable when playing with friends on vc so i usually play surv (lots of characters; currently its doc, painter and prisoner but i also often play perfumer, composer and priestess on bigger maps). My fav character to go against is either geisha (fun to kite) or less played/harder characters (i go insane whenever i see a mad eyes and dream witch is always welcome). As for survs none the moment i start a hunter match the world is my enemy and jesus himself is watching me suffer. Its the karma for everything i do in tarot. Enjoy an old painter in a polish folk costume