‘Mercury’ ‘Saturnia’ ‘I Am Adonai’ ‘Spirit Forest III’ Art By C. M. Kosemen

Oh mirror of the otherworld to what depth do you call.

Far beyond the threshold yet not that far at all.

Oh mirror of the otherworld to what visions do you see.

Stars that shine like diamonds in the blackness of the sea.

By staff, stone, flame, and bone! 🐐

Your Sight shall be in my Sight

in whose name you rest here

I will not disturb you

but hoped that you

in the name of peace may sleep

so that I may see the Hidden

and see its power

hear in celebration

and help in need.

Could you

O Holy Ghost

give to me of your power

In the name of the Holy Crucified One

Amen.

— From The Graveyard Wanderers— The Wise Ones And The Dead In Sweden by Thomas Johnson

These words were uttered as their speaker crossed themselves over a gravestone in a churchyard. When the speaker had finished the invocation, they then made the sign of the cross over each of their eyelids, three times. To the Klok— “The Wise Ones”, the folk healers and magicians of Scandinavia— graveyards, burial mounds, old execution sites and other such areas where the spirits of the dead dwelt were sacred places. In Sweden, these individuals were known as Kyrkogårdsgångare, or Graveyard Walker. The term is related to gengångare, which in Swedish means “those who walk again”. The word can be translated as “ghost”, but their form is entirely corporeal; not see-through or specter-like as phantoms in the Anglosphere tend to be.

The dead serviced the Graveyard Walkers in many ways. One could summon the spirits of the departed and ask for their service in everything from revealing secrets and hidden knowledge to obtaining lottery numbers. Or, a Graveyard Walker could utilize the dead in a more tangible fashion: both the left collar bone of an elderly man and the left ring finger of a corpse were considered to be among the best amulets for protection. (However, before the Wise One left the earthly plane, they must of course return the borrowed bone back to its original resting place.) Everything, right down to the very soil of the graveyard, was used: from rubbing Graveyard dirt on the skin to cure rashes, to drinking it in a slurry to restore a loss of appetite.

But how did one become a Graveyard Walker and a Wise One? There is the aforementioned invocation of course, but there was also the ancient practice of Uttesittning. Uttesittning is a ritual where one meditates in nature from sunset to sunrise, opening the soul and merging with the world of the spirits. There is one legend where one would go to a churchyard or any other places affiliated with burial or the dead for three consecutive Thursday nights to perform an Uttesittning ritual (Thursdays were important, as they were sacred to the old god Thor). On the third and final Thursday, a dark man might perhaps appear and reward the one performing this ritual with a gift. There are some stories that claim that the gift was a Book of Black Arts— a Svarteboken, or “black book”, also known as a Cyprianus (named after St. Cyprian). It was said these Black Arts Books would be written in blood, or written on black pages with white ink. A Wise One would keep all their spells in such books, which contained everything from Kabbalist literature to farm and home recipes.

The Wise Ones and Graveyard Walkers are endlessly fascinating to me, as well as folk magic in general. I hope to create many more artworks inspired by this topic, and I hope that I’ve piqued your interest in it as well!

For more books on this subject:

Gårdbäck, Johannesburg Björn. Trolldom: Spells and Methods of the Norse Folk Magic Tradition. The Ironwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology (YIPPIE), 2015.

Johnson, Thomas. The Graveyard Wanderers — The Wise Ones and the Dead in Sweden. Society of Esoteric Endeavor, 2013.

Sibley, J.T. The Way of the Wise. XLIBRIS, 2013.

A special thanks to my friend Eli, for all your insight into Swedish folklore and folk magic!

The book says that these are talismans that are meant to be re drawn on paper and carried with you to give the you these abilities.

The Book of Oberon

Kevin Lenaghan, “Stairway”, “Glass Palace”, and “Crystal Stairway” (2021)

The Sabbat was held as the Mirror rode high and full. The stang was lit, the spirit amassed, and the Dragon awoken from within the deep heart of the flames. The mighty serpentine force rose higher and higher as the mill was trod, the whole of the compass becoming bathed in the pale light of the vibrant stars bespekling the great black mare and the eldrich spirits attending the holy rite.

The sacred paint was enchanted and made manifest with blood, wort, and oil in the mysterious rites of the black cauldron. Then used to inscribe the first sigilum upon the brow of the beast, the witch’s hand guided by the dark whispers of the unknown ones.

The bestial, raw, and primal Scarlet King was beckoned forth, drawn toward the ensourceled goat skull at the base of the Great Tree. The hissing flames announced his arrival, the eyes opened and gazed upon us, and thus did He begin to speak…

Soon, I feel, shall the next sigilum be enscribed upon his ivory skull. Thus shall we continuing to therein enflesh the luminious bestial form and bring forth the great King to the Witches’ Sabbat.

The Weaver by Ulysses3art

Trump for Prison Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Like to charge reblog to cast

Sean Mundy

Cycles, 2020

Instagram //  Prints // Twitter

Join me on my journey to finally unbalance my hormones, toxify my body, boost my inflammation, maximize my cortisol and absolutely destroy my gut health.