#St. Walpurgis

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[from my flickr files :: My Great Aunt Anna’s albums from Carnegie Tech::1910]

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Tonight some of the Celtic (and sundry miscellaneous pagan) folk will be lighting bonfires. It is the eve of Mayday, the usual date of celebration of Beltane - a fertility and fire festival held at the approximate midpoint between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. On the actual day there is likely to be prancing around maypoles.. In the Christian calendar, the festival is associated with St Walpurgis, an 8th century Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire. She no longer gets an official feast day, but Walpurgisnacht involves the lighting of bonfires on May Eve... 

[Ian Sanders]

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“Nothing is ever lost as time passes, it merely metamorphoses into something as wonderful or, in some cases, into something even better than before.”

― Carole Carlton, Mrs Darley's Pagan Whispers: A Celebration of Pagan Festivals, Sacred Days, Spirituality and Traditions of the Year

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“At Bealltainn, or May Day, every effort was made to scare away the fairies, who were particularly dreaded at this season. In the West Highlands charms were used to avert their influence. In the Isle of Man the gorse was set alight to keep them at a distance. In some parts of Ireland the house was sprinkled with holy water to ward off fairy influence. These are only a mere handful out of the large number of references available, but they seem to me to reveal an effort to avoid the attentions of discredited deities on occasions of festival once sacred to them. The gods duly return at the appointed season, but instead of being received with adoration, they are rebuffed by the descendants of their former worshippers, who have embraced a faith which regards them as demons. In like manner the fairies in Ireland were chased away from the midsummer bonfires by casting fire at them. At the first approach of summer, the fairy folk of Scotland were wont to hold a "Rade," or ceremonial ride on horseback, when they were liable to tread down the growing grain.”

― Lewis Spence, British Fairy Origins

[wiccan-twink]

Happy Beltaine!!!!

wishing the loveliest of Beltaines to all my twinks how are y’all doing my lovelies everyone else i hope y’all have a wonderful Beltaine too teehee

[horror-in-my-veins]

Holiday horror movies part 5

Jaws -1975- Independence Day

Killer Party -1986- April Fools Day

Knock Knock -2015- Fathers Day

Krampus -2015- Christmas

Kristy -2014- Thanksgiving

La Noche de Walpurgis -1970- Walpurgis Night

Leprechaun 2 -1994- St. Patrick’s Day

Little Witches -1996- Easter

Lovers Lane -1999- Valentines Day

Macario -1960- Dia de Los Muertos

[zip-sketchbook]

Sketch zur Walpurgis-Nacht!

[thewritehag]

Happy Beltane and Walpurgisnacht!

[greenwitchcrafts]

April 2024 witch guide

Full moon: April 23rd

New moon: April 8th

Solar eclipse: April 8th

Sabbats: None

April Pink Moon

Known as: Breaking Ice Moon, Budding Moon of Plants & shrubs, Budding Tree Moon, Eastermonath, Frog Moon, Green Grass Moon, Growing Moon, Hare Moon, Moon of the Red Grass appearing, Moon When Geese Lay Egss, Moon When thd Ducks Come Back, Ostarmanoth, Planters Moon, Seed Moon, Sucker Moon & Wind Moon

Element: Fire

Zodiac: Aries & Taurus

Nature spirits: Plant Faeries

Deities: Anahita, Bast, Ceres, Cernunnos, Hathor, Herne, Ishtar, Kali, Tawaret & Venus

Animals: Bear & wolf

Birds:  Hawk & magpie

Trees: Bay, forsythia, hazel, lilac, pine & willow

Herbs:  Basil, chives, dandelion, dill, dogwood, dragon's blood, fennel, geranium, milkweed & thistle

Flowers: Daisy & sweetpea

Scents: Bay, bergamot, patchouli & pine

Stones: Angelite, beryl, diamond, garnet, malachite, quartz, ruby, sapphire, sard, selenite & zircon

Colors: Blue, brown, crimson, gold & green

Energy: Authority, balance, beginnings, change, fertility, growth, leadership, opportunities, overcoming obstacles, personal skill development, re-birth, self-evaluation, self-reliance, spirituality, temper control & willpower

April’s full Moon often corresponded with the early springtime blooms of a certain wildflower native to eastern North America: Phlox subulata—commonly called creeping phlox or moss phlox—which also went by the name “moss pink.” Thanks to this seasonal association, this full Moon came to be called the “Pink” Moon.

Other celebrations:

• Walpurgis Night - April 30th

Also known as: May Eve

The origins of the holiday date back to pagan celebrations of fertility rites & the coming of spring. After the Norse were Christianized, the pagan celebration became combined with the legend of St. Walburga, an English-born nun who lived at Heidenheim monastery in Germany & later became the abbess there. Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling "pest, rabies, & whooping cough as well as against witchcraft". Christians prayed to God through the intercession of Saint Walpurga in order to protect themselves from witchcraft, as Saint Walpurga was successful in converting the local populace to Christianity. Although it is likely that the date of her canonization is purely coincidental to the date of the pagan celebrations of spring, people were able to celebrate both events under church law without fear of reprisal.

Walpurgis Night is still a traditional holiday celebrated on April 30th in northern Europe & Scandinavia. In Sweden typical holiday activities include the singing of traditional spring folk songs & the lighting of bonfires. In Germany the holiday is celebrated by dressing in costumes, playing pranks on people & creating loud noises meant to keep evil at bay. Many people also hang blessed sprigs of foliage from houses & barns to ward off evil spirits, or they leave pieces of bread spread with butter & honey, called ankenschnitt, as offerings for phantom hounds.

Sources:

Farmersalmanac .com

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kines

Wikipedia

A Witch's Book of Correspondences by Viktorija Briggs

Encyclopedia britannica

Llewellyn 2024 magical almanac Practical magic for everyday living

[talonabraxas]

Walpurgis Night. Hexennacht. April 30.

A Short History of the Night of the Witches The origins of the image of Walpurgis night being a witches’ sabbath are unclear. However, it is striking that it coincides with Beltane and maybe other pagan festivals in earlier time. Goethe presumed in one of his poems such an origin.

St. Walpurga For Christians, Walpurgisnacht is also known as the Feast of Saint Walpurga, that is celebrated from the evening of April 30 to the day of May 1st. Saint Walpurga or Walburga was the daughter of St. Richard the Saxon Pilgrim and sister of St. Willibald and St. Winibald. When her father went on a pilgrimage with her two brothers to the Holy Land, he left Walpurga, who was only 11 years old at the time, with the nuns of Wimborne Abbey, where she was educated and learnt how to write.

She traveled in an attempt to bring German pagans to the Christian faith and she also authored Winibald’s biography, which is why she is considered as one of the first female authors in Germany and England. Walpurga became a nun in Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm, the monastery founded by her brother Willibald, where she became the abbess after his death in 751. Walpurga herself died on February 25 on 777 or 779 and she was canonized by Pope Adrian II on May 1st, around 870, when her relics were transfered to Eichstätt, Germany.

St. Walpurga is prayed to for protection against witchcraft and it is believed that during the night of April 30, she is able to ward off spells, witches, and evil spirits. This belief may stem from the overlapping of her canonization with Hexennacht or the Night of the Witches, the celebration that has its origin in ancient fertility celebrations. Hexennacht is a Germanic tradition more prevalent in the 17th century, when witches and sorcerers gathered together celebrate.

To protect against their magic, the Western Christian Church appointed the night of April 30 to St. Walpurga’s Feast. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Walpurgisnacht was popularized and its witchy connotations were revived through the literature of the time, such as in Jacob Grimm’s work who wrote in 1833: “There is a mountain very high and bare… whereon it is given out that witches hold their dance on Walpurgis night”.

Goethe also dedicated a poem to the celebration called “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” (The First Walpurgis Night), which was set to music by Felix Mendelssohn and published as his Opus 60 in 1843. The poem contrasts sharply with the Walpurgisnacht described in his main work “Faust”. In his ballad, Goethe relates the superstitions around Walpurgis night to the usage of devil’s masks by pagan’s in order to exploit the superstitions of their Christian suppressors and to protect their identities.

[atamascolily]

Looking back over my screenshots again, I noticed something that bothers me: "Walpurgisnacht" is a name supposedly given to this witch by magical girls (and not what she calls herself, unlike the other witches we encounter), and yet that name appears in heavily stylized runes on her countdown signs in the original series. Why is that? Am I missing something?

The same runes are also in the Eternal movie, although they are a bit more legible. Nothing else appears to have changed overall, although the shading/contrast on the ring and "peacock tails" (probably stylized lotus flowers common in Buddhist mandalas?) is switched up.

The art style here is reminiscent of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European woodblock prints during the time of the original witchcraft trials. This movement was stoked in large part by the widespread proliferation of lavishly illustrated printed pamphlets, which detailed witches' misdeeds in lurid detail, and popularized many archetypes we now associate with witches, from brooms and black cats to deals and dances with the Devil.

Witches dancing with devils, featured in The History of Witches and Wizards (1720).

Similar woodblock prints, likely representing primary sources, can be seen in the background in Homura's apartment as part of her research into Walpurgisnacht, including several with dancing figures.

These figures can be seen as Walpurgisnacht is ultimately broken up in the final episode.

Just for some fun visual parallels, compare to this shot from the recap movies that wasn't in the original TV release. The main difference is that all of the figures of Homuras are the same, whereas the ones in Walpurgisnacht's circle seem to be different.

The woodblock print in Homura's apartment depicts all the dancers as identical, while the later shot makes them look more like Walpurgisnacht's individualized familiars--which they might well be. Comparison to the Clara Dolls--a large number of familiars repeatedly described as being a match for or counterpart to magical girls with individualized designs--is also inevitable.

Ironically, the Christian saint Walpurga was supposed to protect against witchcraft, but her saint's day (April 30-May 1) ended up being conflated with the witches because it occurred at the same time as Hexennacht (German for 'Witches' Night'), when witches were said to dance with/in honor of the devil on Mount Brocken--and thus when people were most in need of St. Walpurga's protection. Goethe draws on this tradition in Faust, Part One (a major influence on PMMM) for the scene where Mephistopheles takes Faust to the Brocken in order to witness the celebrations--which is also one of the texts depicted in Homura's apartment.

Another sheet reads "Ein Narr"--German for "the fool", another recurring motif associated with Walpurgisnacht (and also Homura).

Given the accuracy of these documents, these woodcuts are presumably based on eyewitness accounts (possibly magical girls, since ordinary people see Walpurgisnacht as a storm) where Walpurgisnacht appeared but was apparently not permanently defeated. Combined with Walpurgisnacht's ability to appear--and presumably disappear--without warning, and the fact that she's large enough to show up on radar as a storm, this suggests to me that Walpurgisnacht might be a time traveler or possess a similar ability to "exit the stage" and only reveal herself at the most dramatic moment(s) possible. Not only would this fit with her cog/stage motif, it would make her an even more fitting narrative foil for Homura, and add yet another parallel between them.

For both witches and ordinary humans alike, Walpurgis Night is traditionally celebrated with dancing and bonfires. Not only is Homura's name is a homonym for 'flame', Rebellion is chock full of ballet motifs, and she is last seen dancing alone in the moonlight late at night--presumably during the "witching hour" (which, depending on the source, is either between 3-4 a.m., or the hour immediately after midnight. Given the earlier scene of Homura becoming a witch as the clocks strikes midnight, I lean towards the latter interpretation).

Even more suggestively, Homura is now diegetically the Devil and appears to have taken on Kyubey's role as a contractor. If so, this strongly implies that she (and/or her double?) will have a personal relationship with magical girls as the one to whom they sold their souls to gain their power, just like historical witches were said to do with Satan. And given that these historical witches supposedly gathered on Walpurgis Night to honor the Devil... well, that does put Walpurgisnacht's likely (re)appearance in a new light, doesn't it?

...and if the 'Walpurgis' of Walpurgis no Kaiten is indeed the same Walpurgisnacht we saw before, then some timey-wimey/reality-bending/fourth-wall breaking shenanigans are afoot.

It's funny because "what were YOU doing at the devil's sacrament?" is usually meant as a tongue-in-cheek joke, but if PMMM continues to take these references seriously, we might actually get to find out!

[luc3]

1+1=1

[or Before / After - After - After]

I never celebrate Ostara (it's Ostara?), not my cup of tea, after the Solstice, I impatiently wait for the Equinox, and especially for it to lead to Walpurgis. BUT hello, COUCOU to 'my' mutuals, may the winds be favorable to you all 💚 . Here, we experience a lovely month of May. (oh wait,)

I have classes on public property at the largest Psychiatric Hospital in my town. I don't know if there's a connection, but this last month has left me technically knocked out.

Plus, Lent is coming. 😱

I started preparing these two mother tinctures around the winter Solstice. Mother tinctures because I let the plant infuse in pure ethanol for a lunation and a half. First time trying this method. Before I always cut with water, about 2 to 1.

I believe an 'even more' mother tincture is with the root of the fresh plant. But I have not yet had permission to uproot a St. John's Wort plant. (Unlike Datura, but this time I decided to try a tincture only with seeds from my oldest plant.)

Tadaaaa.

The Datura is not ready yet so I won't say anything about it. But given the state in which I am psychically (therefore mentally and physically), very 'parasitized', both by the living idiots, the dead idiots, by the living twisted people, the dead twisted people, the twisted ones from the other beyond, those of the lower astral, etc., St. John's wort became vital.

It is the blood that my liver no longer has, triple-purple blood. LIFE.

I'm taking advantage of this beginning of the month to start a cure. And as Lent arrives, and I am in panic about what I have decided to give this year (meat, among other things..-> while we found a wonderful mountain farmer some time ago who makes delicious meat 😢), I pick up Celandine (in great shape at the moment in my region), a little, I must say very veeeery little Absinthe (that's managed by the Good Neighbors from here), AND Nettle. It's going to be disgusting and the more disgusting it is, the more space it makes.

Also, to take back space and let's say it, to take back my territory, I don't like complicated things, so I worked on a very simple rite of purification, of oneself and of space, which only requires a wooden spoon as a tool, and nothing but salt and water as ingredients. I think aficionados here will have understood what it is about. I practiced this purification after meditating on drums, and the result is always very effective on me. What a surprise, I had a lot of pain in my lower back after purifying myself! Afterwards I made a few other small adjustments.

I am now ready to start stressing about Lent again. 😱

[hedgewitchgarden]

On a crisp afternoon last spring, visiting student Yair Berzofsky found himself in the largest park in Prague captivated by the sight of a human effigy burning on a tall pyre. He took notice of the children in play armor who ran past him wearing giant purple hats and jousted with foam swords as adults drank, danced, and beat drums. The figure in the bonfire was part of this year’s Čarodějnice, a celebratory burning of winter witches. Berzofsky watched the woman’s frame crumple as celebrants took turns roasting sausages and marshmallows over the fiery branches.

“The witch burning was not the reason everyone came,” he later tells us, adding that the event was a testament to Prague’s “ability to not just rehash an old tradition, but to turn it into a reason to celebrate its heritage.”

At the end of each winter, Czechs and diasporic Slavs celebrate Čarodějnice, a variation of the ancestral Walpurgis Night—the Christian Saint Walpurga’s feast day, during which observers light bonfires to ward off witches in Europe and the United States. While some see a witch-burning parties as distasteful, as it recalls a dark history of persecution and murder, Čarodějnice harks back to similar pre-Christian traditions. Berzofsky fondly recalls the event’s warm and charming energy: “In a weird way, I felt at home.”

The witch burning evokes customs associated with Slavic gods and goddesses. As author Michael Mojhe describes in his writings, some deities in the Slavic pantheons lived on through equivalent Christian saints, but others were abandoned. Two critical examples are Jarilo, god of war, vegetation, and spring, and his oppositely aligned sister Morana, goddess of witchcraft,  death, and winter.

While Slovakians reimagined Jarilo as St. George during Christianity’s spread across Europe in the late 900s, Morana was not. This was partially due to the Catholic Church’s patriarchy but also because she lacked a counterpart in a Christian tradition vehemently opposed to witchcraft and a female god. The burning or even drowning of her effigy, much like the one Berzofsky witnessed, is a Pagan tradition both celebrating winter’s end and ritually recognizing her cultural death.

Like the continued celebration of Čarodějnice, this story follows those of Slavic descent reclaiming an ancient faith tradition—namely, witchcraft—that endured centuries of erasure from Christian institutions. Both of us, authors Emma Cieslik and Alexandra Sikorski, are from Polish American families and grew up in the Catholic Church. It wasn’t until Sikorski began researching contemporary Paganism that we learned of Slavic religious practices prior to the sweep of Christianity in Europe. Researching the contemporary reclamation of Slavic witchcraft as an aspect of cultural identity—especially when invasion and destruction threaten that culture, as in Ukraine now—has become for us a way to reclaim parts of our heritage we never knew existed.

The term Slavic, or the culture of Slavs, encompasses an ethnolinguistic group of multiple ethnicities and cultures that share similarities in food, language, and cultural practices across Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe. The Slavic world extends from Russia in the east to Czechia in the west to North Macedonia in the south. Beyond these countries are Slavic immigrants and their descendants, including both of us, who exist in diasporic communities around the world.

“In Slavic Paganism, there are broad practices, but there are also some specific to the regions within each country,” Stephania Short, a Slavic Pagan, explains. These specific practices are often what come under threat. Invaders have fought over and died for rich farmlands of what is now Ukraine for hundreds if not thousands of years, making Russia’s recent attack on its sovereignty feel like a continuation of centuries-old conflict. It may come as no surprise that a long history of Slavic immigration, religion, and war shaped various Slavic practices and traditions. For Short, part of her witchcraft involves connecting with her Ukrainian ancestral roots—an act made all the more essential by recent events.

“People are looking for ancient meaning,” says Slovakian tour guide Helene Cincebaux. “I think there’s a fascination with Slavic culture, the rituals—maybe the plants, the herbs, things they did. They were natural healers.”

Witchcraft and Paganism existed in Slavic regions long before Christianity found a home. Even when witchcraft faced persecution, its traditions persisted, reimagined within the constraints of the new dominant religion.

In the UK, the 1950s emergence of Wicca, a nature-based, Pagan duotheistic religion, led to the repopularizing of witchcraft and other alternative belief systems. In the same way that native religions varied across Slavic areas, the term “witchcraft” does not refer to a singular identity. “Witches,” including those who do not use this term but exist under the umbrella of witchcraft, participate in a variety of practices and hold diverse spiritual beliefs. These include contemporary Paganism, folk Catholicism, and Wicca.

Where one person uses tarot, another may not. Where one person views hexes as inherently unethical, another may not. Where one person venerates deities, another may not or may only venerate one. Despite this diversity of practice, some people avoid using the term “witch” because it was and may still be used as a derogatory label for people holding spiritual power outside Christianity, as well as those who exist outside social norms.

In Eurocentric and Americentric beliefs, the prototype for a witch is a woman or femme presenting person who is targeted because of their practices. during the second wave of feminism, some women turned to witchcraft as liberation from the patriarchy, finding empowerment in venerating goddesses. Together, they could create a community through common practices in witchcraft, such as yearly festivals that mark the passage of time. According to a survey conducted by researcher Helen A. Berger between 2008 and 2010, 71.6 percent of contemporary Pagans, including various religions and witchcraft, are women. The faith has also become a safe haven for some LGBTQ+ individuals.

Ever since Christianity spread to Slavic Europe in the 900s, people who existed on the margins of society were accused or and persecuted for witchcraft, including literate women and individuals with limb differences and disabilities. It became a scapegoat identifier for people the Church deemed dangerous or different. Similarly, queer researcher Mara Gold explains, “those accused of witchcraft were generally those that didn’t fit the norms of the gender binary, including [LGTBQ+] people and poor older women discarded by society.”

Polish photographer Agata Kalinowska’s monograph Yaga supports and holds space for LGBTQ+ individuals within witchcraft. The diary, which includes photographs documenting thirteen years of queer women’s spaces, takes its name from Baba Yaga, a ferocious witch from Slavic folklore. For Kalinowska, this title is important because it speaks to how Baba Yaga creates space for queer witches:

Now there are women in Poland who empower such figures of older independent women… women who know a lot about nature, power of plants, the importance of female and nonbinary friendships. They are Yagas, they don’t belong to the world created around beauty myths, they queer the system.

Witches of the Church

“A lot of witchcraft is heavily intertwined with Christianity,” explains Sara Raztresen, a Slovenian American witch. Although Christianity sought to erase native religions, many Pagan traditions became embedded in Christian practice. Converts tethered Pagan deities to saints with similar iconography.

After the Catholic Church arrived in Slovenia, locals began to identify Kresnik, the god of the sun, fire, and storms, with St. John and St. George. So Kresnik, the head deity of the Slovenian pantheon, is no longer as prevalent as the saints who inherited his role. Kresnik, St. John, and St. George are among the entities with whom Raztresen actively communicates.

On those days, she sets her altar with offerings associated with the deity with whom she intends to speak. For Kresnik, this includes herbs and flowers related to his role as patron of summer, such as chamomile and daisies. When the deity makes their presence known, Raztresen asks questions that are answered through the tarot cards she pulls, acting as a conduit between the two.

One of these practices is “kitchen witchcraft,” a broad practice that encourages intention and focus, using many on-hand food ingredients with magic and symbolic meaning. For kitchen witch Raztresen and others, their practices often involve using ingredients key to their ethnic backgrounds, such as meats, grains, spices, and more that are native to their ancestral homelands. Kitchen witchcraft and other ethnic household rituals allow people like Raztresen to connect with their heritage even if they live far away.

However, the intermingling of Christianity and witchcraft among Slavs doesn’t erase the stigma the Catholic Church perpetuates against witchcraft. Today many Slavic witches practice their craft as a form of opposition against religious institutions. Raztresen says, “[Church goers] all want you to do the white button-up collar thing in Church,” but there’s a great diversity of Christian practices that include elements of witchcraft and folk traditions.

Similar to experiences across the world, the Church inquisitors in Slavic regions interrogated, tortured, and executed a number of witches. Scholar Michael Ostling states in early modern Poland, the Catholic Church executed approximately 2,000 people for witchcraft, most from the lower socioeconomic classes. The best documented example of this persecution is perhaps the 1775 Doruchów witch trial in Poland, where the Church executed fourteen women, although historians have debated the year and number of victims.

Immediately, marginalized people and their loved ones, as well as other concerned citizens across Eastern and Central Europe started questioning these claims of witchcraft. It wasn’t until 1776 that Poland outlawed torture and the death penalty—partly in response to the Doruchów witch trial. Today, more than two centuries later, people like Raztresen are exploring how their own ethnic traditions are rooted in pre-Christian pagan and witchcraft practices. They are reclaiming how practices persecuted on threat of torture and death lived on through cooking, praying, and sewing traditions.

The Strength of Color

Stephania Short was introduced to spiritualism at the age of thirteen after watching her mom pull tarot. By ninth grade, she “didn’t necessarily believe in God,” and as the years went by, she grew more connected to her Ukrainian roots. She reached out to family members and went to her mom to learn more about Ukrainian cultural traditions and spiritual beliefs. Like Raztresen, Short practices her witchcraft to celebrate her Slavic heritage.

“Paganism kind of allows you to practice with everything that our ancestors would, so everything is based off of the land,” she says. Plants and herbs that are abundant in Ukraine, such as rosemary, are important in her craft.

Like herbs, colors hold meanings in Ukrainian witchcraft traditions. Short explains, “Red is a symbol of strength and protection. Gold symbolizes abundance and prosperity and good luck. Blue symbolizes peace and healing and just kind vibes all around.” With this knowledge, she now intentionally decorates her pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs, with these colors to welcome the spring.

Deepening the importance of the color red in Ukrainian witchcraft, poppies represent strength and prosperity. Short aims to incorporate the flower into her spell work and practice “as a form of appreciation for [her] ancestors.” To Short, spells may be made with and for a diverse array of occasions and situations. She defines them as “basically manifestations: energy or intentions that you’re pursuing out for the universe to grasp onto.” Herbs, like rosemary or poppy, and flame may speed up this process. Even the color of the candles may impact the spell. “All elements you use connect to your intentions with the spell, as they carry their own energies.” For Short and many other Slavic witches, the study and practice of Slavic witchcraft involves learning the meanings behind these cultural beliefs.

When winter bleeds into spring, effigies of Morana are drowned or burned just as Berzofsky witnessed, ushering in new life. The Catholic Church banned this practice in the fifteenth century, so the residents of some Slavic countries replaced her with an effigy of Judas. But the custom of burning Morana lived on. Short’s cousin introduced her to Morana. Before, she hadn’t been aware that Slavic Paganism contained so many deities. However, she doesn’t “believe in gods and goddesses necessarily.” Instead, she views it as alluring and something she needs to acknowledge.

Short discusses Slavic and Ukrainian witch practices on social media, from beliefs surrounding native gods and goddesses to the use and meaning of native Ukrainian herbs in spell work. The importance of this has risen in light of the current war. “I’m maybe a little biased, but the Russians’ goal is to eliminate our culture,” she says. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian witch has become a symbol of solidarity for some—recalling the woman of the past who fights for her cultural heritage (her native religion) in the face of erasure and destruction at the hands of the Christian Church.

Images of Ukrainian witches appear on the Ukraine War NFT Collection and among Ukrainian cosplayers around the world, alongside messages showing the strength of Ukrainian people. Madame Pamita, a Ukrainian American witch and author of Baba Yaga’s Book of Witchcraft, explains that during the invasion, traditions and practices have grown more dear, more important to preserve. Ukrainians and other people in Slavic diasporas see the rediscovery of their traditions and practices as a healing tool.

Healing

Emblems of Slavic witchcraft have been interwoven with messages of Ukrainian solidarity, including motanka dolls, 5,000-year-old symbols of feminine wisdom and guards for families within Ukrainian folk traditions. Motanka dolls are talismans unique to each family and symbolize connection between familial generations.

Madame Pamita’s grandmother was a baba sheptukha (баба шептуха), a healer who made motanky (мотанки) spirit dolls, but her grandmother died before she was born. Although she heard about these practices, she never knew how to perform them. Others share a similar experience of unfamiliarity, but a mother-and-daughter team in British Columbia are changing that by creating and selling motanka dolls as a fundraiser for Ukrainian relief.

With attention on agency and the self, Slavic witchcraft encourages healing and identity formation. It focuses on reflection and connection. Even if they aren’t recognized as religious practices, the cornerstones of many Slavic witchcraft traditions can be uncovered in small Ukrainian dolls, Slovenian kitchens, and large celebrations. Ukrainians and their allies are preserving these traditions for solidarity, fundraising, and strength.

The presence of magic may not be obvious, but it is simply a matter of perspective. That perspective may bring people closer to culture they may feel disconnected from in diasporic communities or from being part of a marginalized people. It may bring them their own version of spiritual happiness and cultural enrichment.

Emma Cieslik is a museum professional in the Washington, D.C., area and a former curatorial intern at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Alexandra Sikorski is a writing intern at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and a master’s student in public anthropology at American University. When she isn’t researching contemporary witchcraft, she enjoys dissecting material culture and design.

[mamaangiwine]

Walpurgis/Hexxen:

A Holiday of Duality.

This year was the first year I have ever celebrated Walpurgis/Hexxen.

We had a get together with close friends.

A small fire.

The night before had been spent venerating a cardboard likeness I made of St. Walpurga; offerings of fruit and rose petals were made. We approached her with prayers for protection, and petitioned her for prosperity.

The next night, we burned her.

I feel this holiday occupies the opposite side of my own personal "Wheel of the Year" from Hallows-Eve. Where that holiday is meant for reflection and reverence of the dead- this one is an affirmation of life and a celebration of those who are living.

The word "witch" has been used to persecute many people; Jewish, Islamic, LGBTQ, as well as PoC, and so I feel it is now more important than ever to affirm our exisistence. Therefore, the "witches" will get their justice and burn the symbol of a world that wishes for their destruction. In doing so we free St. Walpurga from her physical representation, hoping that she will carry our prayers with her.

When we burned the effigy the wind kicked up. We threw the offerings in, reducing orange peels, strawberries and flowers to ash. We then presented a rock, and asked the Freed Saint if she would be good enough to assign a local spirit as our protector and guardian.

The wind kicked up again.

Howled, as the sky went gray.

The spirit attached itself to the rock, and it is now our happy responsibility to honor and praise it as a sign of gratitude for its pressence in our lives.

[light-lanterne]

hello ! it is i, angel (he/him)~ welcome to my halloween pinned post !! it will only be here for a few days —until the end of day of the dead—, but i felt it important to change my layout for the spooky season so here we are 👻

beneath the cut you can find a list of the regular tags i use in this blog, but before you proceed, there are a couple important things i should inform you about:

first, i will be partaking in @bylerween2023! this is a terrific event organised by some lovely bylers whom i adore, and it means i will be posting a few little creepy stories i've been preparing for a short while over the next couple weeks. some of them will be short fluffy prompts (tagged under 🪄 or "samhain alms"), which i shall post daily and should be enjoyable for anyone who reads them. some others, however, will be ficlets cemented in horror and gnarly themes (tagged under 🪦 or "walpurgis hexes"), so it is in your best interest to pay attention to the tags before reading. ...which brings me to my next point, which is that if you don't want to see any of my mature, chilling fics, you might want to filter out the tag "dark byler agenda". i use this tag regularly when delving into dark themes such as cannibalism, gore, murder, possessive love, murky morals and so on, so it serves as a blanket tag to block if you want to avoid such topics with ease. (the appropriate warnings will be provided in each pertinent post, too, so again, mind the tags and be safe, okei ?)

and that's it !! please help yourself to some freshly baked pan de muerto, take a gander at my general halloween tag (🎃), and let the frightful season begin !!

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general tags

for the most part, i tend to reblog things i enjoy. most of them are st adjacent, but sometimes you might see stuff from other fandoms ~

📝 character analysis / theories 📔 headcanons 🎨 art 📚 fanfiction 📸 photo posts 🔮 sleep token 🪐 other fandoms ♡

personal tags

although sporadically, i do post nonsense of my own. all my original posts are marked with this little guy: 🧸 peruse at your own risk.

✨ my writing ♡ 💗 all-time favourite posts 🌙 general posts 💕 asks 💡 my analyses 💘 friend-related tags ♡ ⚰️ personal nonsense

[shredsandpatches]

Here's the link for my concert tonight (Saturday, March 11) if anyone's interested! It starts at 8 pm local time, which is US Central (GMT -6). Last night's performance was terrific so I think it's gonna be a great night.

On the program are Beethoven's incidental music for Goethe's play Egmont, and Mendelssohn's Die erste Walpurgisnacht which we are singing under the English title "The First Walpurgis Night." The latter piece (based on another text by Goethe) is the only one that involves the chorus, and it posits an Enlightenment-era rationalist origin story for the legend of witches' sabbaths on Walpurgis Night by depicting a plucky band of German pagans who outwit their Christian oppressors with raucous choral music (and pitchforks). It's not very well-known today but it ought to be -- it's fantastic music and the message is a good one for our times. If we make enough noise, maybe we can also drive off the bigots for another day.

[horror-in-my-veins]

Holiday horror movies part 7

Nightmare Beach -1989- Easter

Noc Walpurgis -2015- Walpurgis Night

Outback Vampires -1987- Christmas

Pontypool -2008- Christmas

Red Christmas -2015- Christmas

Red Clover -2012- St. Patrick’s Day

Return of the Living Dead -1985- Independence Day

Santa Jaws -2018- Christmas

Seance -2006- Thanksgiving

Silent Night, Bloody Night -1972- Christmas

[snacking-on-art-2022]

Mariano Barbasán Lagueruela  (1864–1924) 

Walpurgis Night

The Mass of St. Walpurga or Walpurgis Night is observed on April 30 in parts of Northern and Eastern Europe, from Sweden to the Czech Republic. It is known as ‘Walpurgisnacht’ in German-speaking nations, ‘Valborg’ in Sweden, and ‘Čarodejnice’ in the Czech Republic. Walpurgis Night is also known as “the other Halloween.” For example, on April 30, a traditional Walpurgis Night ritual involves the burning of an effigy of a witch on a campfire. In Sweden, this is bonfire night, once thought to ward off evil spirits but is now a fun way to get rid of excess gardening trash.

[ncwortcunning]

Walpurgis Night is the night before St. Walpurgis' feast day, a Saint who defended against rabies, whopping cough, and the powers of witchcraft. Thus witches must celebrate the night before in fear of the saint's power.

And if you have more pagan tendencies (I love DIY religion) then Walpurgis Night is "the other Halloween," so if you're riding your broomstick to and from the Sabbat tonight, go easy on the wine and mead. By all means, enjoy!