#Catherine Yronwode

[evilhorse]

The Penumbra column (from Robin Hood #3 circa December 1991)

[shadow27]

Catherine Yronwode, editor-in-chief of Eclipse Comics discussing criminal Republicans attacking comics and pop-culture to distract from their own corruption, lies, and crimes. While she wrote this in 1987, with only minor edits, it could be run today. That said, I can't imagine Marvel or DC comics running a piece like this, today.

(The Poem she quotes at the end is "Subterranean Homesick Blues"  by Bob Dylan)

[retropopcult]

Young Althaea Yronwode watches from the front row as the Women In Comics panel has a discussion at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con. On the panel, from left to right: Dori Seda (1951-1988, can only be seen partially), Unknown, Jan Duursema, Trina Robbins, Carol Kalish (1955-1991), Jo Duffy, Lee Marrs, Catherine Yronwode, Carol Lay, Terry Boyce, Melinda Gebbie.

[buggywiththefolkmagic]

Personal Do Not Read Witchy Author List

There will be a google doc with updates as I find more authors to avoid. These are all my own personal opinion and I do take the author's actions into account when judging their ability to write legitimate information.

TW: Slavery, serial killers, racism, TERFs, creeps, neonazis, asylums, and a slew of other super unsavory things. I tried to make this list as PG as possible while highlighting the issues with these individual people. 

*Alestier Crowley. *

   He's a literal piece of garbage. Misogynistic, thief of a toooon of closed practices, has entire cults still dedicated to him, called himself a voice of God (both Abrahamic and apparently like 5 Egyptian deities??? I mean excuse me sir how about no??) He also declared himself ‘above’ Gods back in 1922 calling himself Ipssissimus. I hate Crowley so much I have literally stuck a picture of him to a dartboard before. He can suck an egg in the afterlife. He also put his own wife in an asylum for 'alcoholism’ because she wanted a divorce. The only thing he ever did right was get kicked down a flight of stairs at a temple once by a poet.

*Anastasia Greywolf*

   Appropriates at least Jewish practices if not every Indigenous practice there is. Wholeheartedly encourages people to use magic instead of going to a doctor for things like oh I dunno EPILEPSY And claims she has spells for like Marvel-level super powers which uh no Ana. You don't. Lots of Christianity for a supposedly FULL pagan and wiccan author. Her spells are all controlled like...so wrong. So, so wrong. Don't ask please. I can't begin to describe it. Advocates for smudging and uses phrases like "Cherokee Rituals", and the Romani G-slur. 

*Gerald Gardner*

   Made his own branch of wicca, the first technically, and his own coven had to make rules just so he wouldn't spill everything to any reporter that asked. Used Crowley as a main resource.

*Jason Miller*

   Claims to do Hoodoo. A horrible formatter, and generally super dismissive of being a rootworker and other potentially closed practices, has not been initiated. Has claimed that anyone can petition/pray to Papa Legba without initiation because "Vodou is a congregational religion/practice". From the Vodou and Haitian Vodou practitioners I have talked to that is VERY incorrect, it may be congregational but you still have to be involved in the community to be trusted with those practices because so much of it has been bastardized for media and racism purposes. He is also a student of Catherine Yronwode, who is another SUPER problematic figure in the Hoodoo/Rootwork community.  

 A link of his own words on culture appropriation which includes mild inaccuracy towards Indiginous Peoples and that they don’t ‘own’ certain practices when it’s very clear the wording of those practices DOES in fact come from those peoples. He’s fine with people being Yogis, or Shamans, or calling satchel spells mojo bags, and other such phrases and won’t correct people if they use such words out of context because “language changes”. Also says if someone within a practice says it’s closed to go to ANOTHER AND ANOTHER until you find someone willing to teach you??? That’s not how it works sir.

Source: https://www.strategicsorcery.net/on-cultural-misappropriation/

*Lisa Chamberlain*

   Not an actual person. This is a ghost writer name for a bunch of garbage literally copy and pasted from wikipedia into books. I wish I was kidding. 

*Lisa Leister/Lester/whatever other spelling she's used.*

   Such a major TERF. Like JK Rowling level TERF. Claims magic comes from a womb so anybody that doesn't have one isn't a real witch. Like WTF lady.

*Raymond Buckland*

  Where to start...uses the G-slur often. (His grandfather was romani so it blurs the line of blood quantum.)  Very sexist and obsessed with the idea of a woman getting uh...undressed for rituals while men stay dressed and more things I cannot say ina PG space??? As magic?? VERY anti-minor and LGBTQA+. Toxic, just plain toxic. Can't do it. I have read his Blue Book and it's the least problematic thing he wrote. I'm alright with it.

*Silver Ravenwolf*   WhOOO boy. So super anti-christian, which is fine and dandy...if you didn't claim to be in a lineage of braucherei/hexerei. Wiccan, like the type of wiccan that says no other witchcraft exists and yet has written folk magic books??? She really needs to make up her mind. Claims Satanists don't actually exist. Claims most Jewish powers worshiped "the Goddess" (whoever that is)??? Very cult-like language about "not telling friends and family about your new life/reality/experience/whatever". Also SO MUCH APPROPRIATION. SO SO MUCH. She also gets her history wrong, on a lot of basic information that most non-witches know about like say the Salem Witch Trials.

*Catherine Yronwode* Ooh man. So Catherine Yronwode’s career started as a comic book artist. She’s worked on such things like the Elvira comic, DNAgents, and a gaggle of super controversial trading cards which included the Kennedy Assasination, a serial killer collection, and the AIDS epidemic. Of which she was sued for using one half of the Hillside Stranglers duo in said killer trading cards without his permission, the judge sadly threw the case out because and this is a quote, “ If Bianchi had been using his face as a trademark when he was killing women, he would not have tried to hide it from the police.” There were two more from her comic days, but those aren’t super relevant besides the one that pushed the envelope of what sort of trading cards should be sold to children. On the magical side of things, I will be blunt here: As one of the ‘big bads’ of the Rootwork/Folk/Hoodoo community? I really REALLY dislike her. She has made numerous false claims about New Orleans/Haitian Vodou and that it’s only a very recent practice, non-religious, and slaves never used it because it didn’t exist yet??? History books and entire generations will disagree. An example would be this link of an open letter to her written by a New Orleans Voodoo practitioner and someone she wrote a whole article about: https://conjureart.blogspot.com/2013/10/open-letter-to-cat-yronwode-and-lucky.html

She owns a few different websites namely https://www.luckymojo.com/, has written numerous Hoodoo based books, and actively has accused numerous people who have asked her for sources and or disagreed with her of plagiarism and has slung more mud that you can shake a stick at. 

She also praises a book on Marie Laveau and yet discredits herself by calling New Orleans Voodoo a new religion/neopractice??? She’s just confusing as all heck to me.

*Christian Day*   This guy’s just a creep. One stuck in the early 2000s mall goth phase even though he’s over 50. He also appropriates Hoodoo and owns two Hoodoo shops as well as multiple other witch shops in Salem and recently New Orleans on the French Quarter (Which is pure tourist fodder and not a reflection of true New Orleans Voodoo/Vodun/Rootwork). He has also harassed ex-employees so badly it’s landed him in court. His book The Witch’s Book of the Dead also reads very much like a list of accomplishments rather than anything useful. All about his television spots and experiences doing that. (Did I mention he was in an episode of Ghost Adventures? Yes, that one with Zac Bagans??? And it did not make us witches look too great, honestly speaking.)

Sources for Harassment Claims: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/salem-witch-gets-protective-order-against-warlock/

https://www.wcvb.com/article/warlock-christian-day-ordered-to-stay-away-from-salem-witch/8228072

*Yvonne and Gavin Frost*   I dunno how else to say this, I really don’t. These two? Pedophiles. Multiple writings of theirs included not-safe-for-work-or-children rituals that must include minors. Avoid. AVOID AVOID. AVOID ANYONE WHO USES THEM AS A RESOURCE! This should NOT be okay in any circle. They are VERY used within the Wicca religion so please be careful!!

*Orion Foxwood* Some of his information is very sound! I can’t fault him there. He does have a tendency to blend different traditions without actively TELLING you he’s blending them though. He’s and this is a direct quote, “He is a witch and Elder in Romano Celtic-Traditional Craft, High Priest in Alexandrian Wicca and teacher of the Faery Seership tradition. He is also the founding Elder of Foxwood Temple and a primary founder of the Alliance of the Old Religion, a national network of covens in his line that have united to preserve the ways of his Elders. He was the co-director of Moonridge, a center for metaphysical, Craft and Faery studies in Maryland” That’s an awful lot of traditions to juggle and not only write on but actively teach. He also performs conjure, which in of itself might not be an issue but Conjure usually blends into Hoodoo really quickly if one isn’t careful! A lot of the traditions he talks about from his family sound quite familiar, he’s clearly from Appalachia but his books on the subject blend in his other practices instead of keeping them separate. 

*Starr Casas*   She’s in the same category as Orion, only she doesn’t necessarily give her credentials to be teaching Hoodoo, and even wrote a whole book filled with Hoodoo love spells. She also co-owns a French Quarter Conjure Shop, which if you ask any practitioners from New Orleans...is catered to pure tourists and not a true example of the crafts from the area. 

*Shawn Engel*   I’m gonna be blunt here. More appropriation of the Jewish practices, Hoodoo, and other information that is just plain UPG without saying it’s UPG and encourages throwing hexes at political party members solo. I read The Power of Hex and had to put it down numerous times just to gather myself and not throw it away, I don’t know if it was tone or sheer level of appropriation...likely both.

*Kate Freuler*   Of Blood and Bones is chock full of Hoodoo, full stop. Only acknowledges that something comes from Hoodoo once and also gets basic mythology information on the Deities she mentions wrong in some cases. Also a lot of the book seems to be UPG because the bibliography is super small for a 300 page book.

*Dorothy Morrison*   I picked up Utterly Wicked once. A very odd book full of Hoodoo and Vodun spellwork and misinformation, the author is also Garderian Wiccan so even the writing of a book full of hexes is slightly...concerning compared to the Wiccan traditions and redes. Odd is the best I have to describe how I personally feel. I will say this again: Voodoo Dolls are not used to cause pain, stop bastardizing that single aspect of the practice. Thank you.

*Helena Blavatsky*

 I dunno how else to say this either, her philosophy and occult knowledge, called Theosophy is a portion of what inspired Hitler. Pure unadulterated racism veiled in a ‘Atlantian Race Theory”. Horrible stuff, read for a class project once and felt disgusting.

*Christopher Penczak*Whoo boy. On the surface he seems alright, one of the first ‘male’ witches I had ever heard of except for Scott Cunningham. But the more you dig into his work the more inaccuracies and Christian bashing you see. For example: Christianty was the first patriarchal society. Uhm...I believe you’re kinda forgetting the men who ran Rome and Greece there sir. He also fully proposes the ‘burning times’ were like a ‘witch holocaust’. NO! NO IT WAS NOT. You can’t compare the hundreds of years and MAYBE a thousand-ish people dying to the millions that died in the short timespan the Holocaust was a thing. Fuck Christopher for that comparison and also for claiming it was a ‘burning time’ to begin with. (History says that most were hung...or tortured. Burning is a very small number of that list in general. 

He makes a lot of sweeping statements and sees witchcraft as a religion and NOT a practice. He whitewashes, fully harps on the Wicca = witchcraft = religion thing and THEN hones in on the difference between “white and black” magic and how cursing is evil and yet highlights certain practices that actively practice...cursing...as they have for generations??? He (atleast) doesn’t demonize Satanism but does still backhand the idea anyway, that they CAN’T be witches because witches only ‘heal’. Cultural appropriation and fetishization of ‘Native’ practices while calling them primitive all in the same breath, I just can’t with this guy. I really can’t. 

*Amy Blackthorn* 

Owns a tea brand called ‘Blackthorn Hoodoo Blends’ she is white. When questioned by BIPOC individuals she complains and blocks them instead of explaining why she chose the name Hoodoo for just teas. TEA. She is also the author of Blackthorn’s Botanical Magic, Sacred Smoke (A book on smudging yikes on trikes), and Blackthorn’s Protection Magic. 

Proof of blocking: https://thisblackwitch.com/2016/04/01/blackthorn-teas-whose-culture-is-it-anyways/

*Tarl Warwick *

Is more commonly known as Styxhexenhammer666 on youtube and other social media sites. Has written a pile and I mean a PILE of occult based books including ones on Hermetic magic, ritualistic magic, demons, solomon, folk plants and healing, Kabbalah, and many MANY more. 

He makes no claim to being Jewish, and given his political wishy washiness, and multitude of controversies which includes claiming the Holocaust wasn’t ‘that many dead’, Charles Manson deserved release because he was ‘extremely innocent and didn’t kill anyone’, and fairly recently also wrote and published a book on Critical Race Theory and why it’s ‘garbage’. I can’t support him no matter how accurate some of his information may be (if any at all). 

*Temperance Alden* This really pains me to say, Temperance in her Wheel of the Year book made a claim that birth control “stunted her magical abilities” because it affected her hormones…in OTHER words unless you are a perfectly hormone producing WOMAN you don’t have great magical power. AVOID. AVOID. AVOID. That is a slippery slope to claiming medication will harm you, not to mention how TERF-y it is AND completely disregards that magic is for well…everyone. Such a stupid gatekeep-y concept. 

*Sarah Kate Istra/Dver*

Advocates for using ‘spirit animals’ regardless of Indigenous beliefs and concerns. Is also a known ally with the Piety Posse, a neo-nazi group of pagans who claim the term polytheist can only apply to them and if you aren’t a Hellenistic pagan…you aren’t pagan at all. They also advocate for animal sacrifices, blood tests to prove purity, and other horrible HORRIBLE stuff. 

*Sannion/H. Jeremiah Lewis*

Obvious Neo-nazi, keeps images of swastikas on his personal blog, and not the ones that the nazis stole from, the nazi one. And super SUPER transphobic.

*Edward P. Butler*

Major persecution complex, spends half his twitter complaining about how monotheists are destroying…I dunno…everything? Also defends Krasskova quite heavily. Antisemetic as well.

*Galina Krasskova*

Hellenic pagans watch out. Defends the AFA. A ringleader of the Piety Posse. There’s a lot more horrific stuff about her and I won’t go into extreme details. But TW: Romanticizes SA with deities, human sacrifice, animal sacrifice. Compares debating to the holocaust, lots of victim blaming, gatekeeping, and screams folkish. 

*Diana Cooper*

Racist. Hard stop. Also appropriates chakras. Has a weird belief that food controls skin color and that Africa will never be a good country because it’s the solar plexus of the universe…or something like that. I got 20 pages into the book and literally couldn’t go any farther. Did I mention this book was supposedly on dragons???

*Judika Iiles* So much appropriation, advocates for making altars and working with closed deities. Lots of incorrect information including dangerous spellwork like obsession spells. And one in particular that has roots in a racist stereotypes. Avoid please! 

[justforbooks]

Trina Robbins

American cartoonist and author whose pioneering work in comics included being the first female artist to draw Wonder Woman

The American illustrator and writer Trina Robbins, who has died aged 85, began her career in comics in her native New York in the 1960s as a contributor to the counterculture newspaper East Village Other. She also drew and wrote strips for Gothic Blimp Works, an underground comic.

Then came comic strips, covers and spot illustrations for the underground publications Berkeley Tribe and It Ain’t Me, Babe, often described as the first feminist newspaper, before before she put together an all-women comic, It Ain’t Me, Babe Comix (1970), followed by the anthology All Girl Thrills (1971) and the solo comic Girl Fight Comics (1972).

Her black heroine, Fox, was serialised in Good Times (1971) and another of her characters, Panthea, who first appeared in Gothic Blimp Works (1969), was a regular in Comix Book (1974-76).

She also became one of the 10 founders of Wimmen’s Comix, an all-female underground comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992, and in the late 70s was a contributor to High Times, Heavy Metal, National Lampoon and Playboy.

Later she adapted the 1919 novel Dope, by Sax Rohmer, for Eclipse Comics (1981-83) and wrote and drew Meet Misty (1985-86) for Marvel. She was also the first woman to draw Wonder Woman, in The Legend of Wonder Woman (1986).

Robbins’ wider interest in the history of girls’ comics led her to co-write a book about the genre, Women and the Comics (1986), with Catherine Yronwode, and later A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993), followed by a number of biographies of female comic pioneers, including Nell Brinkley, Lily Renée, Gladys Parker and Tarpé Mills.

Born in Brooklyn, she grew up in Queens, where her mother, Bessie (nee Roseman) was a teacher. Her father, Max Perlson, was a tailor who later wrote for Yiddish-language newspapers and published a collection of stories, A Minyen Yidn (1938), that was turned by Trina into a comic anthology in 2017.

At the age of 10 she graduated from reading wholesome animal comics to Millie the Model, Patsy Walker and others with female protagonists. The Katy Keene comic was especially influential, as it encouraged Robbins to make paper dolls and design clothing for them. She was also a huge fan of the jungle adventuress Sheena.

Having discovered science fiction at 14, Robbins began attending conventions, and at one such gathering she met the short story writer Harlan Ellison. At 21 he was five years her senior, but they dated briefly and he later wrote her into his film The Oscar (1966) as Trina Yale, played by Edie Adams.

Trina attended Queens College before studying drawing at Cooper Union, although she dropped out after a year. In 1957 she married the cartoonist Art Castillo; they moved to the Bay area of Los Angeles until he disappeared to Mexico and the relationship ended.

Working for a time as a model for men’s magazines, she was a cinema usherette when she met Paul Robbins, whom she married in 1962 following Castillo’s death. Her new husband wrote for the LA Free Press, which gave her access to the Byrds, Bob Dylan and other musicians, and she began making clothing to sell to musician friends, including Mama Cass.

Returning alone to New York in 1966 (she and Robbins eventually divorced, in 1972), she opened a boutique called Broccoli on East 4th Street, making clothes for exotic customers and having flings with a number of them, including the Doors’ singer Jim Morrison and the activist Abbie Hoffman; she also had longer relationships with Paul Williams, editor of Crawdaddy magazine, and the cartoonist Kim Deitch, with whom she set up a cartoon art museum on East 9th Street.

Her clothes-making got her into a song by Joni Mitchell, who wrote in Ladies of the Canyon that “Trina wears her wampum beads / She fills her drawing book with line / Sewing lace on widows’ weeds / And filigree on leaf and vine”.

After she had sold her boutique in 1969 and began to make her living in comics, there was no looking back.

Apart from her writing and illustrating activities over the years, in 1994 she became one of the founders of Friends of Lulu, a US-based charity that promotes the reading of comic books by women and the participation of women in the comic book industry.

Her later work on the history of women in comics produced three further books, From Girls to Grrrlz (1996), The Great Women Cartoonists (2001) and Pretty in Ink (2013).

She also wrote a number of books for children, starting with Catswalk: The Growing of Girl (1990), and including the Chicagoland Detective Agency series (2010-14) of bizarre high school mystery adventures.

For adults she wrote The Great Women Superheroes (1996), Eternally Bad: Goddesses With Attitude (2001), Tender Murderers: Women Who Kill (2003) and Wild Irish Roses: Tales of Brigits, Kathleens and Warrior Queens (2004).

Her most recent comic was Won’t Back Down (2024), a pro-choice anthology.

She is survived by her partner, Steve Leialoha, a daughter, Casey, from her relationship with Dietch, and her sister Harriet.

🔔 Trina Robbins, writer and illustrator, born 17 August 1938; died 10 April 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[ausetkmt]

[seeingisbelief]

A few notes:

Catherine Yronwode is a popular "Hoodoo author" ...she is a white woman. She's married to a Black man, and he shared all our secrets with her, so that's how she can write relatively accurate books. But do not support her.

Tayannah Lee McQuillar is an awesome African American Hoodoo author, as OP said. She produced the Hoodoo Tarot along with some other interesting works.

She also produced this amazing oracle deck that isn't listed on her author page for some reason.

https://a.co/d/8Msxwdw

Hope this helps!

Hey !!!!!

If you’re a African-American Hoodoo practitioner, please do not get these three books, as they are written by white people who are doing digital blackface.

Hoodoo is a closed African-American spirituality practice that only African-Americans can practice. We do not have a lot of resources or books written by African-Americans so I will try to provide all the books that I use by actual African-Americans.

It’s upsetting that I find a book about Hoodoo thats written by a white person or a non-African-American person. I don’t like that.

Some African American Hoodoo authors I suggest are:

Stephanie Rose Bird

Monique Joiner Siedlak

and Tayannah Lee Mcquillar

[carmenvicinanza]

Trina Robbins

Trina Robbins è la disegnatrice e sceneggiatrice che ha rivoluzionato il mondo dei fumetti.

Considerata tra le migliori fumettiste di tutti i tempi, compare nella Will Eisner Hall of Fame dal 2013 e nella Wizard World Hall of Legends dal 2017.

È stata tra le ideatrici di It Ain’t Me Babe Comix, il primo fumetto realizzato esclusivamente da donne e la prima a disegnare Wonder Woman dopo quarant’anni di egemonia maschile.

Ha contribuito a fondare Friends of Lulu, organizzazione no-profit nata per promuovere la lettura di fumetti di donne e incoraggiare il protagonismo femminile nell’industria dei comix e sul mercato.

Nata a Brooklyn, New York, col nome di Trina Perlson, il 17 agosto 1938, negli anni sessanta, prima di consacrarsi totalmente ai fumetti, aveva una boutique che realizzava abiti per star come Cass Elliot, Donovan, David Crosby e molte altre. 

Amica di Jim Morrison e dei Byrds, era una figura di spicco nelle comunità hippy di New York, San Francisco e Los Angeles.

A lei Joni Mitchell ha dedicato la prima strofa della canzone Ladies of the Canyon, contenuta nell’omonimo album del 1970: “Trina wears her wampum beads / She fills her drawing book with line / Sewing lace on widow’s weeds / And filigree on leaf and vine“.

Attiva politicamente e portabandiera del femminismo nel fumetto contemporaneo di cui è stata una pioniera, ha pubblicato i suoi primi fumetti sull’East Village Other.

Nel 1969 ha creato Panthea per Gothic Blimp Works, il primo tabloid underground statunitense. Nello stesso periodo ha disegnato il costume per il personaggio Vampirella per l’artista Frank Frazetta.

Trasferitasi a San Francisco, nel 1970, ha contribuito a fondare il quotidiano underground femminista It Ain’t Me, Babe. Con la collega Barbara “Willy” Mendes, ha co-prodotto il primo fumetto di sole donne, One-shot, e si è molto impegnata nella creazione di punti vendita e promozione delle fumettiste, attraverso progetti come l’antologia Wimmen’s Comix, alla quale ha lavorato per vent’anni e che ha presentato Sandy Comes Out, il primo fumetto in assoluto con una lesbica.

Si è schierata apertamente contro il fumettista Robert Crumb per la misoginia percepita nei suoi lavori, dichiarando: «È strano per me quanto le persone siano disposte a trascurare l’orribile oscurità nel lavoro di Crumb. Che diavolo c’è di divertente nello stupro e nell’omicidio?»

Negli anni, ha dato vita a numerose eroine raccolte successivamente in una serie di volumi antologici come Girl Fight Comics e Trina Girls.

Nel 1986 ha cominciato a disegnare i famosi fumetti di Wonder Woman prima di scrivere le avventure di Honey West, una delle prime detective private della narrativa popolare.

Trina Robbins è stata autrice di diversi libri sulla storia delle donne nel fumetto. Il primo della storia, scritto insieme a Catherine Yronwode, è stato Women and the Comics, del 1985, seguito da A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993), The Great Women Superheroes (1997), From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women’s Comics from Teens to Zines (1999) e Le grandi donne vignettiste (2001).

Il lavoro più recente Pretty In Ink, pubblicato nel 2013, copre la storia delle donne nordamericane nei fumetti a partire dalla striscia di Rose O’Neill The Old Subscriber Calls del 1896.

Alla fine degli anni Novanta ha collaborato con Colleen Doran alla graphic novel Wonder Woman: The Once and Future Story, sul tema degli abusi coniugali. 

Ha anche partecipato al film documentario She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry del 2014 su alcune delle donne coinvolte nel movimento femminista della seconda ondata negli Stati Uniti.

È morta a San Francisco, il 10 aprile 2024, in seguito alle complicazioni di un ictus.

[ravenrook]

I haven't read it all but I really enjoyed the intro to hoodoo from Catherine Yronwode's site Lucky Mojo. Even if you don't practice hoodoo, I think understanding the foundations is important, especially to differentiate it from fake hoodoo sold by grifters.

https://www.luckymojo.com/hoodoo.html

I like the podcast New World Witchery, they're kinda all over the US but often include things from the South. One of their more recent episodes is an interview with the Witch of Southern Cunning, who has their own podcast but idk anything about it.

Tbh I learned most stuff when I was in college when I'd put 'folklore' or 'magic' into the library search and sift through the results. Libraries often have local history sections, I've learned a lot from those. Find old songs on youtube and such, they can be wild. And talk to old people if you can. Don't straight up ask them about magic unless they're cool, but asking them about traditions and stuff can usually give you a lead.

I hope this gives you a direction to go in. I wish I could give more specific sources, I know I had them at one time but they seem to have run off.

(Came back to add the link to Lucky Mojo, the front page is for a paid course so didn't want anyone to get confused)

Anyone here know free sources on American deep south folk lore? Or magic related to the south?

[evilhorse]

The Penumbra (circa July 1991)

[babylon-crashing]

obi: shell divination

… from Catherine Yronwode's Throwing The Bones (2012)

Obi is a quick and easy form of West African fortune telling that was developed among the Yoruba people whose traditional homeland is now largely encompassed by the modem nation of Nigeria. A similar system from the Congo is called chamalongo or zinkola nkandi.

During the era of African abduction and forced slavery, many Yorubans were transported to the Caribbean. In Cuba, under Spanish rule, they preserved a great deal of their traditional religious practices and cultural beliefs, while ostensibly practicing the Catholic religion under the veneer of Santeria or “veneration of the saints,” more respectfully known as Lukumi. Both in the African homeland and in Cuba, the Yoruba pantheon of Lukumi consists of a supreme creator god and a number of orishas, powerful spirits who have been likened to forces of nature, to angelic spirits, or even to Catholic saints.

Theologically speaking, Obi is actually the name of an orisha, the most beautiful creation God ever made. He was perfect in every way and sparkling white in color, but he was arrogant, and because of this, God cursed him by giving him a rough and dark exterior, and so he became the Kola nut, which has a dark shell but is white inside. His fall from grace is replayed every time a Kola nut falls from a tree.

In the New World, where Kola nuts do not grow, it became the practice to substitute broken pieces of Coconut shell for Kola nuts, because a Coconut is also dark on the outside with a white interior. Obi is not often thought of as bone reading, but to many diviners, a mollusk's shell is its “bone” just as much as Kola nut's shell or a Coconut's shell or a Turtle's shell is, so as time passed, obi divination incorporated the use of four Cowrie shells with their tops cut off.

In recent years, especially among non-traditional diviners who think of obi as a reading system more than a Yoruban spiritual practice, any four flat items, including coins, Ox bone dominoes, or carved Yak bone amulets — in short, any four identical binary objects with the two sides differentially marked — have been used under the name of obi.

In traditional Yoruba divination, a prayer is spoken over the obi before use. Among other things it says, “May obi remove death, may obi remove sickness ... I honor the land, and the land speaks.” If you are a newcomer to obi who is coming from outside any Nigerian or Cuban system of belief, it is a good idea to take a moment to hold the items in your hand, pray over your “yes” or “no” question in your own way, and then gently toss the items onto your casting surface.

To understand your answer — that is, to learn how obi works — you first need to learn how the binary values are traditionally assigned to the items that are thrown or cast.

Cowrie shells are read as falling with the natural opening side or the cut side up or down; some obi readers refer to the “mouths” being up or down. Coconut shell pieces with adhering white edible flesh are read as falling with the “white” inside up or the “dark” outside up. Nontraditional flat items such as coins, marked bone disks, or tiles, are read as falling with the heads or tails side up; if you use four Ox bone and Ebony wood dominoes, for instance, the marked bone fronts are heads or “white” and the unmarked wooden backs are tails or “dark.”

The four pieces are cast in one throw. There are five possible outcomes. You will first need to memorize them by appearance:

• Alafia: 4 open Cowries; 4 white Coconuts; 4 heads.

• Etawa: 3 open and 1 closed Cowries; 3 white and 1 dark Coconut; 3 heads and 1 tails.

• Ejife: 2 open and 2 closed Cowries; 2 white and 2 dark Coconuts; 2 heads and 2 tails.

• Okana Sode: 1 open and 3 closed Cowries; 1 white and 3 dark Coconuts; 1 heads and 3 tails.

• Oyeku: 4 closed Cowries; 4 dark Coconuts; 4 tails.

You will next want to memorize the meanings attached to each of the five patterns, which are called the five ��letters.”

• Alafia: Blessings! “yes” to whatever you asked about — and you may get even more than you requested, or what you want will come about sooner than you hoped it would. If two “white” sides of the Coconut shells touch, the reading is “Alafia with Ire,” a great blessing. A second toss may be used to confirm this answer.

• Etawa: “Maybe.” You will probably get what you asked for, but you will have to work hard for it or you will have to accept some delays before the results materialize. Make offerings to the spirits. This is an incomplete sign, so Etawa always requires that a second toss be made to clarify the reading, and the outcome of this second toss will greatly modify the divinatory results.

• Ejife: “Yes,” but because the dark and light sides are in equal balance, you are cautioned not to ask any further questions on this particular subject. If two “white” sides of the Coconut shells touch, this is called “Ire,” and it is considered to be a particular blessing.

• Okana Sode: A simple “No.” What you asked about is not going to come to pass or what you wished for will not happen. However, even though darkness is greater than light, you may ask another question so that you can be answered in greater detail.

• Oyeku: This is a very strong “No.” There are negative spiritual implications as well, and you may need to undertake some serious spiritual cleansing in order to clear away the dark conditions or dead spirits that surround you or this issue in your life. In addition, Oyeku may mean that the spirits of the Ancestors or of the dead have something to say. You may ask again, if you wish, in order to gain further insights into the question at hand.

Regarding the second toss required if the first throw is Etawa, Dr. E., a priest in the Lukumi tradition and a member of the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers, explains:

“Different people interpret a first toss of Etawa in different ways. One way to see it is that obi is still thinking about the question; another way to describe it is that the divination needs further clarification.

“After Etawa, if the second toss is Alafia, Etawa, or Ejife, then the answer is 'Yes,' in various permutations.

“Etawa followed by Alafia means 'Peace after obstacles.'

“Etawa twice in a row means 'Yes,' but it also carries the further idea of 'Don't ask what you already know.'

“Etawa followed by Ejife means, 'Absolutely; you will be able to conquer this.'

“If the second toss after Etawa is either Okana Sode or Oyeku, the answer is going to be some form of 'No.'

“If Okana Sode follows Etawa, the answer is simply, 'No.'

“If Oyeku follows Etawa, the answer is, 'No, and the dead are asking to speak.”

Dr. E. also adds the following advice, “Traditional diviners always keep a gourd or a bowl of water next to them while casting. When Okana Sode or Oyeku fall, they will moisten their fingers in this water and then use their fingers to moisten the backs of the face-down shells and place them face-up before picking them up to cast them again.”

In February, 2012, Lukianos, also an initiate in a Lukumi tradition and a member of the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers, was a guest on the Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour Radio Show. We discussed some of the ways in which obi can move a binary reading beyond simple “yes” or “no” outcomes:

I asked, “In the chat room someone wrote, 'Does Obi ever change the question when you're asking it?' and, Lukianos, you posted, 'Obi does indeed have a perspective of its own, but usually when it changes the subject, it means I'm asking the wrong question.'

“Explain what you mean by that. what does 'Obi changes the subject mean, and what is 'asking the wrong question?'

'Lukianos replied, “So, there are two general instances where Obi 'changes the subject.'

“The first instance is when you have Oyeku come up. This is four mouths down. There are several different reasons Oyeku can come up.

“One: 'That question is closed. We're not going any farther with that.'

“Two: 'The dead or some other spiritual entity wishes to speak.' In this case, Oyeku marks a break, something to sort of get your attention and allow you to ask, 'Who is it who wishes to speak now?'

“Three: 'The obi need to be refreshed.' Because we're working with a system that comes out of West Africa, the notion is of cool cleansing water, so the idea is, when something gets overly hot or overly worked up, then in order to regain clarity, you have to cool it down, which is why I keep my obi shells in a cool bowl of water between tosses.

“But more often than not, what I mean when I say that obi 'changes the subject' is that I've asked a series of questions that I think make sense, based on what I understand of the situation, but I'll get answers that don ft make sense in terms of how they're paired. So I'll look at that and I'll think to myself, (Okay, let's assume, given the questions I asked and the answers I got, that all of these things are correct. What would have to be the case in order for that to be true?' And that convinces me to change the model that I'm using in asking the questions.

“So 'asking the wrong question' means that what I'm assuming may not actually be the case. It may not actually represent the situation. And then it's up to me as a reader to rethink it, step back, and then ask questions to clarify and figure out what I'm not understanding about the situation.”

I responded, “Yeah, that is key. That's really important, because the inclination of the newcomer is to doubt the system of divination. But if you step back and say, 'How did I ask the question that allowed this to come up?'often you'll see it. And that's when YOU are really learning divination, when you trust the divination system;whatever system it is.”

Lukianos agreed, “Yes, it's not about reading the signs in the divination; it's about asking the right question in the first place. Honestly, learning how to ask the right question is far more difficult than learning how to read the oracle itself.”

Let's summarize what Lukianos and Dr. E. just taught us about obi:

• Etawa requires a second casting. The outcome of the second throw modifies the meaning of Etawa.

• Oyeku, in addition to, “No!” can also signify the dead. This letter may point to the Ancestors or other discarnate spirits. Take a moment to pause, then ask who it is who wishes to speak, employing the “yes” or “no” system of obi to ascertain the name.

• Obi may require cooling down between questions. Keeping your shells in a clear glass bowl of water will calm and refresh them, as will moistening the “dark” sides of the shells that have come up when Okana Sode or Oyeku fall.

• If the answers don't make sense, re-examine the question. This is especially important when you are asking a question on behalf of a client who may not have told you much about the situation. Try reframing the client's narrative in order to uncover a more relevant question.

It is a misleading truism among diviners unfamiliar with obi to say that, because it is a binary system, it will only answer “yes” or “no” questions. As you can now see, there is a lot more to the obi shells than “yes” or “no.” With finesse and further training, you will be able to use obi to get at the deeper picture of any situation. Keep in mind that as with Chinese oracle bone reading divinations, the key to expanding a simple system's power is to ask carefully framed variations on the question.

(pages 33-39)

[browsethestacks]

Vintage TPB - Women And The Comics by Trina Robbins And Catherine Yronwode (1985) (Eclipse)

[cinematic-literature]

I Want to Go Home (1989) by Alain Resnais

Book title: The Art of Will Eisner (1982), edited by Catherine Yronwode

This is the first edition, published by Kitchen Sink Press

[grey-sorcery]

Each author on this list either because either they, their work, or their practice is misleading, appropriative, harmful, biased, bigoted, misogynist, racist, etc. Each of these authors have published media that is harmful to our community, or were a part of organizations that are. Several practitioners still live and/or practice based off of a lot of these materials. Several of these authors are known for producing media that is intended for newer witches, which just propagates and sustains harmful narratives within our community. Many of these authors are Wiccan, but why that is an issue will be for another article. The names highlighted in red are either especially harmful or very prevalent.

A blacklist of authors is intended to highlight problematic individuals, and/or problematic publications. Unless otherwise stated, the authors in this list should be avoided until a level of discernment is acquired through experience and research. Personally, I’d recommend avoiding all Theosophy publications completely.

Adam Blackthorn: Misleading, appropriative, and misogynistic

Aleister Crowley: Literal horse shit, appropriative, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, racist, overall very harmful

Alfred Percy Sinnett: Theosophy

Amethyst Raine: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic

Ambrosia Hawthorn: Misleading, appropriative, biased

Anastasia Greywolf: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic

Asenath Mason: Misleading, appropriative, transphobic, super harmful (self harm, blood magic, etc.)

Athena Crowley: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic

Brittany Nightshade: Misleading, appropriative, neo-pagan, transphobic

Cassandra Eason: New Age, misleading, appropriative, transphobic

Catherine Yronwode: Misleading, appropriative, racist

Charles Webster Leadbeater: Theosophy

Christian Day: Mason: Misleading, appropriative, transphobic, racist

Christopher Penczak: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic, racist

Clara Codd: Theosophy

Damon Brand: Misleading, appropriative, transphobic, racist, harmful (classism)

Dante Abiel: Misleading, appropriative, transphobic, super harmful (self harm, blood magic, godphoning etc.)

Diana Paxson: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

DJ Conway: Misleading, appropriative, transphobic, racist, neo-pagan

Donald Michael Kraig: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic, new-age, racist

Doreen Virtue: Misleading, appropriative, biased, transphobic

EA Koetting: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic

Edain McCoy: Misleading, appropriative, transphobic, racist, neo-pagan

Edred Thorsson: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

Edward E. Beals: Theosophy

Erin Lale: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

Frosts (Gavin & Yvonne): Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic, new-age, racist

Galina Krasskova: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

Gerald Gardner: Literal horse shit, appropriative, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, racist, overall very harmful

Gordon Winterfield: Misleading, appropriative, and misogynistic

Greg Shetler: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

Jasmuheen: Theosophy

Janet Farrar: Misleading, appropriative, and misogynistic, transphobic, neo-pagan

Jiddu Krishnamurti: Theosophy

Jose Silva: New Age, Misleading, appropriative, biased, racist, generally harmful

Kenny Klein: Misleading, appropriative, misogynistic, neo-pagan

Kerr Cuhulain: Misleading, appropriative, misogynistic, neo-pagan

Heather Garnder: Misleading, appropriative, misogynistic

Helena Blavatsky: Theosophy

Henry Agrippa: Biased, misogynistic

Henry Steel Olcott: Theosophy

Holly Zurich: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic

Lisa Chamberlain: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic

Lisa Lister: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic

Lisa Marie Basil: Misleading, appropriative, biased, racist

Luna Sidana: New-age, appropriative, misleading

Mabel Collins: Theosophy

Marian Singer: Misleading, appropriative, biased

Mark Puryear: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

Magus Incognito: New-age, appropriative, antisemitic, racist, overall super harmful

Mandy Morris: New-age, appropriative

Margarita Alcantara: New-age, appropriative, misleading

Michael W. Ford: Misleading, appropriative, transphobic, super harmful (self harm, blood magic, etc.)

Raven Kaldera: neo-pagan, transphobic, appropriative, racist

Raymond Buckland: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic, racist

Rhonda Byrne: New-age, appropriative, misleading, ableist,

Scarlett Wright: Misleading, appropriative, biased

Scott Cunningham: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic, racist, overall harmfull

Silver Ravenwolf: Misleading, appropriative, biased, misogynistic, racist, overall super harmful

Skye Alexander: Misleading, appropriative, biased

Sorceress Cagliastro: Misleading, appropriative, transphobic, overall terrible practices, super harmful (self harm, blood magic, etc.)

Stephen A. McNallen: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

Stephen E. Flowers: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

Stewart Farrar: Misleading, appropriative, and misogynistic, transphobic, neo-pagan

Suzannah Lipscomb: racist

Swami Bhakta Vishita: Theosophy

Swami Panchadasi: Theosophy

Tamara L. Siuda: Misleading, appropriative, and misogynistic, transphobic, neo-pagan, cult mentality

Talbot Mundy: Theosophy

Terence McKenna: New Age, Misleading, appropriative, biased, racist, generally harmful

Theodore Sheldon: Theosophy, New Thought

Theron Q. Dumont: Literal bullshit, theosophy

Three Initiates: Literal bullshit, theosophy

Trish MacGregor: Misleading, appropriative, new-age

Varg Vikernes: Misleading, appropriative, xenophobe, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, neo-pagan, arsonist, murderer, literal nazi, avoid at all cost

William Walker Atkinson: Literal bullshit, theosophy

Yogi Ramacharaka: Theosophy

Zanna Blaise: Misleading, appropriative, new-age, racist, classist

[skaldish]

Do ya know a good place to learn about Scandinavian folk magic? ( I know that this is a wide topic and theres lots of regional diffrences, just trying to find out as much as can)

This one provides a good general overview!

[daydreamerdrew]

Women and the Comics by Trina Robbins and Catherine Yronwode, published in 1985