Protection From Fairies: Juniper

Candle Magic Beyond Colors

A lot of people talk about color correspondences with candles, but a candle's potential in magic runs way deeper than that! Here's a list of things I don't see people mention as much:

Loading a Candle

Carve out a small hole in the bottom of the candle and stuff it with herbs, a name, whatever else you want to "fill" the candle with.

Carvings

Etch sigils, symbols, names, and other things into the candle before burning! (I like the idea of writing my problems/worries onto the candle then watching as they burn and melt away.)

Dressing a Candle

Much like loading a candle, mix your herbs in an oil or have a pre-made magical oil ready to cover your candle in before lighting.

Reversals

Chop off the top of the candle, flip it upside down, and carve a new wick out of the bottom (now top.) This is a good way to inverse its symbolism!

Shape of Candle/Container

Not all candles are little cylenders. Candles shaped like pyramids, spheres, hearts, skulls, or animals can all have those correspondences taken into account as well.

Life of the Flame

Some candles are meant to only burn for a short period of time then be blown out. (Like birthday candles.) Others are meant to burn continuously over multiple days (like yahrzeit candles or seven-day candles.) Others can be lit or extinguished as you please. Which one makes the most sense for your goals?

Burning or Beacon?

A candle flame is a light in the darkness, drawing things near. It's also literal fire which can burn away whatever it touches. Which one is your candle trying to do, burn out something undesired or serve as a beacon for what you DO desire? Plan accordingly.

Read the Wax

Always a classic, you can read the shapes made from the wax once the spell is complete to get a gage of how things went/are going. Followup information is always good and can tell you a lot!!

The…Other Children of Lir

Lost princes || A family dynasty || Judgment 

Continuing my (very very slooow and overly specific) journey through Irish tradition, I wanted to talk about some of the more mysterious personages.  Tw for two (brief) mentions of assault/dubious consent, without detail. Manannan mac Lir is probably one of the better known figures (which is why he’s the jumping off point for so much of my writing) alongside his foster son Lugh and his pupil Aengus - but he’s also given an extensive family of children, including Mongan, Eachdond Mor, and Gaidiar. None are quite as well-known or have stories so well-preserved (apart from possibly Niamh of the Golden Hair) but what we do know about them is interesting. Niamh could probably do with her own post so I’ll respectfully leave her out of this one. Aine is also given as Manannan’s daughter in certain sources but I couldn’t verify this and she would also need her own feature.

Mongan is interesting in that in most stories of his birth he’s half human, half tuatha de - if such a division can be considered clear cut. In The Voyage of Bran, Manannan stops Bran (another appearance of Lough Foyle) at sea to tell him that he’s going to concieve a son who’ll be a great hero. Stories vary but generally, Mongan’s father Fiachna (meaning crow) is fighting in Scotland. He’s losing, until Manannan shows up and says he’ll help, for a price. Fiachna makes the old mistake - “I’ll give anything” - and Manannan asks for his wife. In other (nicer) versions, Fiachna’s wife is well aware and the all three people involved consent. Mongan is raised in the Otherworld until his late teens, when he returns to start his job as King. Interestingly, he doesn’t seem that interested in ruling and spends his time drinking wine and playing games. He has to be prompted into making decisions by his father, and even then he retains a sense of ennui and longing to return to the Otherworld. He shapeshifts into children, a washerwoman, a priest - he has as many faces and is as fluid as you’d expect.

Eachdond Mor, Mongan’s older brother, is pictured sitting as Manannan’s left hand, accompanied by his ally Abartach, a trickster who shares a name with a character from the story of the Gilla Decair and a “wizard”/sidhe lord/creature from Garvagh in Ulster, and may be connected with Midir.

Gaidiar is Eachdond’s brother, and commits “adultery” with Becuma, a “woman of the sidhe” (in some tellings he assaults her, in others it is consensual) while they are both in prior relationships, for which she is expelled from Tir na Nog beginning a saga involving a king falling in love with her and accidentally cursing Ireland. Becuma, as the woman, is treated as solely responsible while Gaidiar - and the king - seemingly avoid repercussions. 

Both brothers in their very brief appearances are portrayed as powerful lords or kings in their own right, rubbing shoulders with Aengus, the Dagda, Finbhara and Bodb Derg. 

((I’ll probably come back and edit this since I know there’s a story I’m forgetting, but I’m too tired to remember it properly now, but hopefully somebody finds it interesting!))

Have you heard about Crom Dubh na Nollaig? In Ireland, he is far more different than he is in Scotland. In Ireland, he has two main backstories:

In association to Saint Patrick where he serves as a point of conflict

A god for whom people left flowers for at Altóir na Greine(Altar of the Sun) on Crom Dubh Sunday until the alter was destroyed for construction in the 1800's.

In parts of Scotland, however, Crom Dubh na Nollaig was the personification of the wind howling in the chimney during Yule/Christmas("Nollaig" is another name for Christmas), and his howling reminded children to behave or risk being taken by him. There is a short historic audio recording about him here.

(And before someone mentions it, yes I am aware the above image is of Krampus. It was the closest I could get)

New Moon February 20th. What will you be doing?

How To Get Free Books On Folklore

I do not believe in gatekeeping knowledge, so this post will be sharing how I get all my folklore books for free, legally.

To explain, when a book gets over a certain age and the copyright is not upkept, it falls under “public domain.” When that happens, many different websites will provide those books as a free download.

This is not restricted to one type of book, either. You can grab anything from Sherlock Holmes to history books, to folklore, and more.

If you are looking for a specific book, you may have to check more than one source, so I suggest bookmarking more than one website.

Example Websites:

Internet Archive

Project Gutenberg

Google Books

Open Library

Electric Scotland (Scottish books)

Sacred Texts

National Library of Scotland: Ossain Collection

Forgotten Books

Hathitrust

For me when I download a book, I then upload them to my Google library so that I can use the search functions as well as bring up the books anywhere, but a popular PC option isCalibre.

If you are interested in Scotland-specific folklore, I do have some suggestions of books you can start with.

Scottish Folklore Books:

(link) A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures by Katharine Briggs (1976)

(link) Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs by James M. Mackinlay (1893)

(link) Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1900)

(link) The Peat-Fire Flame: Folk-Tales and Traditions of the Highlands and Islands by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor (1937)

(link) Notes on Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland by Walter Gregor, M.A. (1881)

(link) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evans-Wentz (1911)

(link) Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland by J. Maxwell Wood (1911)

(link) Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

(link) Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs by James M. Mackinlay (1893)

(link) Folk-Lore From The West of Ross-Shire by C.M. Robertson (1908)

(link) The Fairy Mythology / Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries by Thomas Keightley (1850)

(link) Popular Tales of the West Highlands by John Francis Campbell (1862)

(link) Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales by Sir George Douglas

(link) The Scottish Fairy Book By Elizabeth W. Grierson (1918)

(link)

(link) Popular Superstitions of the Highlands By W Grant Stewart (1823)

Love Spell Masterpost

A collection of our favorite love (and love auxiliary) spells for Valentine’s Day and all year long. Remember to ask for consent before casting! 

Love (Attracting):

Shower Disks for Attracting Love 

Love Spell for a 3rd Party 

Jar for Attracting Romance

“Funnel of Love” Spell 

Love Drawing Bath Soak 

Bring Love My Way Spell

Simple Love Spell 

Simple Spell Jar for Love

The Love Stone

Love (Strengthening):

Love Spell Cocktail

Kitchen Witchcraft Pies for a Lover

Strength of Love Spell 

Spell to Strengthen Love 

To Make a Relationship Stronger

Lust and Sex:

Tea for Lust and Romance 

Spell for Passion

‘Shot to the Lust’ Mix

Sex Spell Candle 

Mermaid’s Kiss Enchantment

Sex Drive Sachet

Rose Romance Spray 

Spell to Improve Sex Life

Glamour:

Goddess Glamour Bath 

Goddess Glamour Shower Disks

Glamour Solid Perfume

Notice Me Glamour Spell

Lingerie Glamour Spray 

Glamour Facial Scrub 

Helpful website

While not as popular to celebrate today, Midsummer was once an important celebration in Scotland.

The day was eventually renamed “St. John's Day” by the church and major attempts were made to remove the old traditions associated with Midsummer.

Many of the old traditions involved using the purifying nature of fire, so a statute was enacted in 1581 forbidding the practice. Much to the annoyance of authorities at the time, even that did not stop the fires completely.

"...and in 1665, the Presbytery of Dingwall ordained that their congregations should be abjured to 'desist from the superstitious abuses used on St. John's Day by burning torches through their cornes and fires in their towns, and thereafter fixing their stakes in their kail-yards." The Silver Bough Vol 2 by F. Marian McNeill

How the fire was used could change slightly depending on the place. Some would light a fire by their door, while others would carry torches around their properties or light fires in a location that ensured the smoke would carry over their fields.

"On Midsummer Eve people in the Isle of Man were wont to light fires to the windward of every field, so that the smoke might pass over the corn; and they folded their cattle and carried blazing furze or gorse round them several times." The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer [1922]

Since the veil between our world and the Otherworld was thought to be thin at this time, that meant not only where more fairies around, but also that the magical protective properties of plants were at their strongest.

Birch branches might be hung over a door for protection, alongside elderberries and St. John's Wort.

"On Midsummer Eve, when their power is at its height, flowers and herbs are the only barriers to their incursions, and these are regularly spread at the doors of the houses to protect the inmates." The Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man by A. W. Moore[1891]

One of the strangest things folklore said you could gather are fern seeds, but you only have one night to do it. According to science, ferns spread through spores, but according to folklore, you can collect fern seeds on midsummer eve. Collecting them was a dangerous act since they were protected by fairies, but getting fern seeds could give you the ability to turn invisible.

Other common traditions are fortune-telling, collecting morning dew, feasts, dances, and weddings or betrothals.

"Midsummer Eve" by Edward Robert Hughes (1908)

Want more research and citations? I have a longer list on my website (scroll to the bottom of the post).

Scottish Folklore for Holy

There are many plants thought of protective in Scottish folklore, and Holly(cuileann in Gaelic) is one of them.

Holly . This name is probably a corruption of the word holy , as this plant has been used from time immemorial as a protection against evil influence . Folk Lore: Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland within This Century By James Napier

Much like rowan, holly could be placed inside the house above the door as a protective seal. If done, this plant was said to protect against evil intent(including from fairies), and nightmares.

The HOLLY . Pieces of holly along with rowan were placed inside over the door of the stable to prevent the entrance of the nightmare . My informant has cut the tree for this purpose. The Folk-lore Journal (Pg41): SOME FOLK – LORE ON TREES , ANIMALS , AND RIVER FISHING , FROM THE NORTH – EAST OF SCOTLAND

If planted near the house (outside) it was also said to protect from lightning. As it turns out, they may have been right.

“We now know that the spines on the distinctively-shaped holly leaves can act as miniature lightning conductors, thereby protecting the tree and other nearby objects.” The Holly Society,

It was considered bad luck to cut down a holly tree, but cutting of boughs for use was allowed.

The only time the tree was never to be trimmed was if they grew in in boarder hedges, due to the belief that witches would run on top of hedges, but the holly would act as a barrier to stop them.

It is even said that in 1861, the Duke of Argyll even had a prospective road rerouted to avoid cutting down the holly there.

If you haven’t given an offering to your deities/spirits/ancestors/etc in a while because you feel icky mentally or physically, here are some quick and easy options:

- water (drinkable, preferably)

- make a playlist of at least 3 songs (you can add more later if you’d like)

- talk to them, just say hi, tell them what’s going on in your life

- if you’re physically able, dance or exercise a bit!!

- read or re-read stories about them if they’re a deity

- recall fond memories you’ve had together, tell them why these memories are fond

- Buy or pick a flower/plant, put it on your offering space

- buy a lil pastry and offer it to them