Author: A Solitary Pagan

The late Lewis Spence, who was an authority on Ancient Mexico and also on the subject of Atlantis, made an extraordinary discovery, relevant to the history of the witch cult, in a pre-Columbian manuscript. This native Mexican painting, known as the Codex Fejervary-Mayer, shows quite unmistakably, a picture of a naked witch wearing a pointed hat and riding on a broomstick. Spence stated in his Ency...

A tho is the name given to a carved head of the horned god of witchcraft, owned by Mr. Raymond Howard of Norfolk. In 1930, when Mr. Howard was a boy, he lived with relations on a farm in Norfolk. Here he met an old lady called Alicia Franch, who lived with the Gypsies or Romanys. She took an interest in the boy, whom she first met when he was playing by a roadside pond on the day of the summer sol...

The black-handled knife that is the traditional witches’ weapon. It is used for drawing the magic circle and for controlling and banishing spirits. The use by witches of a magical weapon of this kind is very ancient. A picture upon a Greek vase of circa 200 B.C. shows two naked witches engaged in ‘drawing down the moon’, that is, invoking the powers of the moon to aid in their ma...

Belief in the astral plane is part of the common heritage of occult philosophy which is shared by witch and ceremonial magician alike. The word ‘astral’ is derived from the Latin astrum, a star. It was used by medieval occultists to designate that super-physical medium by means of which the influence of the heavenly bodies was conveyed to the earth, and affected all things upon it. In ...

Lucius Apuleius is best known to us as the author of The Golden Ass, one of the most famous romances in the world, containing as it does the story of Cupid and Psyche. His importance to the study of witchcraft rests on the fact that The Golden Ass is a romance of witchcraft, and illustrates the beliefs which were held about witches in the pre-Christian world. This work of Apuleius proves that witc...

It is most convenient to mark the circle with chalk, paint or otherwise, to show where it is; but marks on thecarpet may be utilized. Furniture may be placed to indicate the bounds. The only circle that matters is the onedrawn before every ceremony with either a duly consecrated Magic Sword or an Athame. The circle is usuallynine feet in diameter, unless made for some very special purpose. There a...

It is probable that all alphabets were originally magical. Only in later times did they come to be reduced to the more prosaic transactions of mere record and trade. The names which the letters were given often concealed some religious secret, which they enshrined in an abbreviated form. Also, the number of the letters, and their divisions into consonants and vowels, had an inner and arcane meanin...

Anderson, Victor (1917–2001) Cofounder of the Feri (formerly Faery) Tradition of Witchcraft. Victor H. Anderson was born on May 21, 1917, in Clayton, New Mexico. When he was a young child, his family moved to Bend, Oregon. An uncorrected condition or ailment left him nearly blind for life. In Oregon, Anderson met and was initiated at about age nine into the Craft by Witches who called themselves f...

(Cichorium intybus) GFolk Names: Succory, Wild Cherry, WildSuccoryGender: MasculinePlanet: SunElement: AirPowers: Removing Obstacles, Invisibility,Favors, FrugalityMagical Uses: Chicory is used to remove allobstacles that might crop up in your life. Itis carried for this purpose.At one time it was thought to make itspossessor invisible, and to open lockedboxes and doors if held against the locks.B...

(Castanea sativa, C. dentata, C. spp.) GGender: MasculinePlanet: JupiterElement: FirePowers: LoveMagical Uses: Use chestnuts in love spells, orfeed to a loved one.