Author: A Solitary Pagan

In Witchcraft there is no formal priesthood although some witches working in a group or coven will have a High Priestess and High Priests who are leaders of that group. The fact that they are High Priestess and High Priests may not make them better witches, it simply denotes their standing and authority within the group. Having no formal priesthood means we do not reply on others to interpret or i...

The causing of illness, misfortune, calamity and death by the looks of strangers and by envious looks, amulets and incantations  ward the danger off. The evil eye exists around the world, dating to ancient times. The oldest recorded references to the evil eye appear in the cuneiform texts of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, about 3000 b.c.e. The ancient Egyptians believed in the evi...

From the Autumn Equinox until just after the Wild Hunt rides out around Samhain is the Season of the Witch. People all over the United States seem to know that this is true without being told so. The stores decorate for Halloween, reporters develop stories about local Witches, and Witches themselves feel a certain thrill in the chilly autumnal breeze that stirs something wild a...

Magick takes place at what TS Eliot in The Four Quartets called the ‘still point of the turning world’, that moment of timelessness that enables thought to be turned into reality on the material plane. It operates on the principle As above, so below’. This phrase comes from the beginning of The Emerald Tablet, attributed to Hermes Trismesgistos (thrice-blessed Hermes), thought to be a powerful fir...

Hermetica Forty-two sacred books of mystical wisdom attributed to the mythical Hermes Trismegistus, or “thrice great Hermes,” the combined Egyptian and Greek deities of Thoth and Hermes, respectively. The books, which date from somewhere between the third century b.c.e. and first century c.e., had an enormous impact on the development of Western occultism and magic. Many of the spells, rituals and...

The transformation of a human being into a wolf. There are two types of lycanthropy: a mania in which a person imagines himself to be a wolf and exhibits a craving for blood; and the magical-ecstatic transformation of a person into a werewolf (“man-wolf,” from the Old English werewolves , man, plus wolf), usually accomplished with ointments or magical charm . Werewolf lore has existed since antiqu...

A belief during the witch hunts, that the Devil, his demons and witches could transport themselves and others through the air. Flying (also called transvection) was done with the aid of a broom, fork or shovel, according to lore; some witches were said to ride demons who were transformed into animals such as goats, cows, horses and wolves. The Devil had the power to pick people up and whisk them t...

Also referred to as “drawing the quarters” this is a way of acknowledging the four cardinal directions and their Elemental associations, as well as the chosen deities of the coven or solitary Witch. In a coven, either the High Priestess, the High Priest, or another coven member will walk around the circle, stopping in each cardinal direction to invoke the presence of its associated Element and, if...

The best-known Biblical text referring to witchcraft is verse 18 in the twenty-second chapter of Exodus, which states: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” It is printed on the title-page of The Discovery of Witches by Matthew Hopkins, the notorious Witch-Finder General. His book was published in 1 647, “For the Benefit of the Whole Kingdome”. This supposed portion of the word of God has been ...