Saturday Spell

     This spell is specifically for working on a Saturday with the Moon Waning:

Spell to Attract all Good Things to your Home, and Repel Evil

     You will need three small magnets or three pieces of magnetic haematite, a red candle and a red pouch.

     At the top of your red candle draw a small straight line, and at the bottom a cross. Take all the spell ingredients to the heart of your home and light the candle there.
     Position the three magnets around the candle to create a triangle, then say:

Saturn, Lord of Earth's domain

Attract to my home all Good Things:

Peace, Prosperity, Contentment and Joy.

Cerberus, Guardian of the Underworld,

Fear, Fright and Banish all Evil from my home.

Powers of Earth, absorb all Evil influences,

Return them to their origins.

Powers of Earth, bring forth the gifts of Ceres,

Pour out the Horn of Plenty

Here in my home.

So must it Be!

     Leave the candle to burn down completely - make sure this is safe to do. Then stick the magnets together and put them in the red pouch together with any wax left over from the candle.
     Hang the red pouch above your front door.
     If you have more than one entrance to your home you can make pouches for each of them.

Vejovis

     21st if May is one of the festivals of this very obscure Roman deity, who was worshipped on at least three dates in the Roman calendar.
     On the 21st of May it was said that female goat was sacrificed to him, to avert plagues, and the phrase used to describe this means something like 'in the manner of a human sacrifice'.
     Vejovis is so obscure that even the Romans were not sure what he was the god of. He is depicted on coins and in statuary as a naked, beardless, youth, carrying arrows and accompanied by a goat. Because of the construction of his name ve-jovis he is interpreted both as a youthful Jove and as Jove of the Underworld - Ve-jovis could mean the anti-Jove or the darker, chthonic Jove.
     It is also thought that he may be a pre-Roman or Etruscan deity who has been carried into the classical panthaeon, but whose original function has been forgotten.
     Because his function was not clear, and yet he was obviously important enough to have his own temple sited in a valley between two other hilltop groves (which was discovered and excavated in the 1930's) and three feast days, he was assigned functions based on his appearance as youthful Jove and his attributes such as the arrows, which are also associated with Apollo (the arrows of Apollo are the sun's rays, in the same way as the arrows of Artemis are moon beams). Thus in later Roman times he was worshipped as a god of healing (as was Apollo), and he was believed to have been an escapee from Hades, the Underworld kingdom of Pluto, who made it to heaven and sought refuge amongst the gods there. As an escapee, he became the god of persecuted people, those escaping injustice or those suffering because of the prejudices of the majority (sounds like a good deity for Witches!)

     However, there is another interpretation which could be made of Vejovis, which looks further back than classical Roman or Greek mythology (which much of the Roman religion is based upon), to the time when it was not the male god who dominated heaven.
     No religion springs fully formed into being. All religions are based on and in those which preceded them.
     Islam and Christianity are based on the Jewish religion, and the Jewish religion is based on and incorporates elements from still older religions. Older religions where the Goddess was the supreme deity.
     And one of the oldest stories tells of the love of the Goddess for a mortal who is the youthful tender of flocks and herds, and, for one reason or another, the youth dies and his spirit is drawn down into the Underworld. The Goddess follows him into the Underworld and through sacrifice, magic and bargaining she enters a contract with the powers of the Underworld that her lover will be allowed to live on the Earth again, but only for a certain length of time and then he will be obliged to return to the Underworld - thus explaining the apparent 'death' of the Earth in Winter and its 're-birth' in Spring.
     Now let us look at Vejovis in light of this myth: Here we have a youthful god, associated both with flocks and with the Underworld. He is an archer (as was Attis, another lover of a Goddess), his arrows used to protect his flock of goats. And on the 21st of May to ensure that the flocks will grow and flourish, one of their number must be offered in place of Vejovis. This sacrificial goat fulfills several functions: it is an offering; it dies in place of the God allowing him to remain in the upper world; and it is the 'scapegoat', it dies so that plagues and suffering will not come to humanity, and it carries the sins of humanity to be buried in the Underworld.
     So perhaps Vejovis should not be seen as the 'anti-Jove' but as the 'proto-Jove', the god he was before he became Jove, Lord of Heaven, King of the Gods.
     Before Jove was all those things, he was Vejovis, a youthful god of flocks, who loved a Goddess, died and was reborn each year.

Cold Callers

I really hate cold callers. I hate getting up from the sofa to pick up the phone and find it is a recorded message telling me this is a very important call (no it isn't) and that I should listen carefully.
     Sounds more like an evil hypnotist: This is an important call. You will listen very carefully. Your will is not your own. You will now give me your bank details as I am a Nigerian business man who needs to put money into your bank account...
     What I hate even more is picking up the business phone to find that it is a cold caller posing as someone on official business and attempting to scare me into complying with whatever they are doing.
      But really the best one was the one I had who rang up yesterday:
      'Hello love,' he said, 'Can I speak to the business owner?'

     'You are speaking to the senior partner,' says I, 'And you have just put my back up.'

     Maybe I am naive, but I would have thought that by now, 2016, it would have sunk in to people NOT to make assumptions about who answers the phone in a business situation. Because I am female and answered the phone, the caller had immediately assumed:
a) that I was a person of little or no importance in the business
and
b) that I would not be the business owner.

     The caller was surprised that I had taken umbrage and protested 'I was only being polite!'

     I don't mind being called 'love', I am a Northern lass and that is quite normal where I come from. What I object too, in the strongest manner, is the unthinking and implied assumption that there will somewhere be a man who is my superior in the business.
     As our business is called Raven, we do still have some cold callers (and others who should know better, such as our bank) who ring up and ask to speak to Mr Raven. Sometimes, for a laugh I give the phone to Graham. He listens to them for a while then says, 'Actually you need to speak to the senior partner for that,' and hands the phone back to me.

    We live in a country where there should be equal opportunities for men and women to progress equally in the work place. Women everywhere know fine and well this still isn't happening.

     Redressing social attitudes is going to take a while yet.

     But I hope at least one or two cold callers will be starting to get the message.

The Brewmaster

     Some of you may recall in the autumn a piece I wrote about our return to the art of wine making (Going to Rack) with Graham's latest creations awaiting maturity.

     Well the time has come for the wine to be carefully siphoned from its demi-johns and into bottles. But not for us the new bottles and colourful labels, oh no, we have always been into re-using rather than throwing stuff away (as anyone who has visited our home will be well aware), so Graham has been stockpiling a variety of bottles for the last few months, and now was the time to use them.

     This turned out to be a job for both of us, as once the wine is in flow from the demi-john, it is difficult to stop it, so you quickly whip the siphon out of one bottle and into the next, and that turned out to be my job, together with getting wine running up my arms and dripping on the carpet. Graham did manage to 'theme' the bottles, so empty whiskey bottles now contain Carrot Whiskey, one kind of red wine bottles has the Autumn wine, and another has the Bramble, with the cider bottles being allocated the Ginger wine.

     And of course when the bottles are full, there is always some over for tasting.

    Which sometimes goes better than others.

    I think we can count that as a success.

    And yes, Graham was drinking out of the ceremonial jam jar.

    (I think the Bramble has turned out the nicest - you can really taste the fruit.)

St Expidite Prayers

      This saint, who is more than likely completely fictional, is prayed to any time you need quick or instant help with a problem. The name 'Expidite' means 'do it quickly' or 'hurry', so he is invoked to give quick results in all sorts of circumstances.
     The following is a prayer for help in a financial crisis - I found it at saintexpedite.org where there are lots of prayers for different purposes:

     Take a white and a green candle and scribe your name up the length of the candle from bottom to top. Light the candles and pray:

     I call forth the Power and the presence of St Expidite in my time of financial trouble. I offer my body, heart, mind and soul upon your altar of light. I have faith and trust and complete confidence that you will be my strength in this time of need, 
    Quickly come to my assistance.
    Bring to me [say what you need ] and find a way to bring this to me as soon as possible.
    My financial need is urgent. Be my light and guide in this situation, so that I may live with peace, love, prosperity and abundance, and in the praise of God.
     Amen

(You must now make a promise to give something to St Expidite when your need is fulfilled and you must carry out this promise.)

According to Vodu belief you must give him flowers, or a member of the household  'will pass'.

     And here is a quick one from the book 'Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork' a collection of folklore material by Harry Middleton Hyatt

Our dear Martyr and Protector, St Expidite

You know what is necessary and what I urgently need

I beg you to intercede before the Holy Trinity,

That by your grace my request will be granted

[State what you need]

May I receive your blessings and favours

In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Amen

Vodu practitioners use a red candle to invoke St Expidite, and remember to give him some flowers when your request is accomplished.

Lurking in the Layby

     Every morning around seven a.m. Graham takes our two blue merle rough collies (China and Maeve) out for a walk. They usually follow roughly the same route, going down the lane towards where Graham used to work (the factory is gone and it is now a storage depot for static caravans), then turning off through a gap in the hedge and across the fields to the strip of woodland which runs from the river bank up to the main road.
     This morning it was a bright and sunny spring morning and Graham was following his usual route heading down Brickyard Lane before turning off into the fields, when a car passed him and pulled up in the layby just in front of him. Graham thought this was either someone stopping to use their phone, or possibly another dog walker, as this is a popular circuit for many of the locals.
     A man got out of the car carrying an expensive looking and serious camera. Again nothing unusual in that, there are good views over the rolling farmland down to the Humber and across to the far bank. But the man came towards Graham and said, 'Oh thank goodness, I've been after this shot for ages!'
     Graham looked at him, waiting for a bit more explanation, and thinking, did the man want Graham to wait out of the way while the man took some photo's of the view, but no. He wanted a shot of Graham and the dogs walking across the field - if Graham didn't mind. It turned out he had spotted Graham and the dogs some time ago, but wasn't quick enough to take a photo and had kept coming back to try and catch him. 'I'll let you have a copy, if it comes out ok.' he said.
     Fame at last?

I was just going to put one picture up, the top one with the two girls gazing adoringly up at their master. But the bottom picture with Maeve having behind her ears scratched and looking as if she has a huge grin on her face was just too good not to share.

Confessions of a Witch

     OK this may ramble a bit, so I should get yourself a cup of coffee. And maybe a biscuit, or cake - yes, cake is always good.
     See?! And I haven't started yet!
     Alright: You know how every day I try and find something Witchy or Pagan or magical or interestingly alternative to put up on our Facebook page? Well I hope you do because most of the folk who read this will have come via the Facebook page.
     Oh heck, this is so hard!
     Right, well today is the anniversary of Issobel Gowdie's first confession of Witchcraft at Aulderne in Scotland 1662 'without torture', a happening so rare that it was noted in the records.
     And her confessions (four in all) are so detailed that they are compelling reading even after all this time. Not to mention the fact that she gives details of spells and magical workings which are either unique, or recorded for the first time. So little written about Witches historically, is in their own words, but the 'confessions' is purely the words of Issobell Gowdie, none of the questions posed to her are given, we can only surmise those from the answers of Issobell which are recorded.
     The transcripts of her four confessions can be found in the appendix to a rather dry three volume set of books recording Scottish legal cases from the 17th century (Ancient Criminal Trials of Scotland by Robert Pitcairne). They are stuck in the appendix because they are outside the remit of the main work, but they obviously fascinated the author and he felt they were so bizarre and intriguing that they had to be recorded.
     Also the author of those volumes was being sponsored in his work by another well-known author, Sir Walter Scott, and Pitcairne knew that Scott collected examples of folk lore and Witch magic (which Scott eventually published in his own book Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft where he makes reference to Isobel Gowdie).
     Last year I came across those three volumes with their incredible appendix and decided that perhaps it was time to give modern Witches the chance to read the words and learn some of the spells of a historical and almost legendary Witch. So I put them together in a book, made the language and spelling more accessible, added extensive notes and extra chapters expanding on the practise of magic and Witchcraft as revealed through the confessions, and in modern Witch practise.
     So here is my dilemma: I have written this book about Issobell Gowdie which relates directly to the post I have put on Facebook. So this is the ideal place to get some publicity for my book - so do I do it?
     Aaaaaargh! No, I didn't, because I find it soooo difficult to do the self-publicity thing. I come from a generation who were told 'It is wrong to boast.' and publicising my own stuff feels like that.
     So instead of a simple line at the bottom of the post telling you 'Issobell Gowdie - Confessions of a Witch' by C P Sempers is £5.95 and available from Raven, you have to read all this