“The image of Venus, according to the opinion of the wise Picatrix, is the shape of a woman holding up an apple in her right hand and, in her left, a comb similar to a tablet with these characters written on it: ΟΛΟΙΟΛ. This is her shape.”
Picatrix Book II Chapter 4 Paragraph 27, Trans. Attrell & Porreca (2019)
Drawn and shared with plenty of time for you to prepare before Venus enters Taurus on 4/20.
Use this image as the face of your paper talismans by whatever method you prefer, or to accompany a petition by writing what you want across the face of the image. Hold on to the image for however long feels appropriate, and dispose of it in a similar manner.
One of the ways I search for inspiration (and one of the ways I try to market my jewelry) is by producing a handful of annual lines. I dropped my first Pride Line in 2022, my first Samhain line last autumn, and this year I’m presenting my inaugural Beltane Line: seven (7) pieces that bring a vigorous and vital vibe that I hope you all will enjoy.
As part of this line, I am also introducing the first several pieces of what I intend to be a recurring series across seasons. These pieces, which I am calling Wood Wights, are mask-like figures that can be worn as “simple” jewelry or serve as the vessels for magical servitors or even familiar spirits. These mask-like images are meant to represent and resemble forest spirits, and would make ideal vessels for magical servitors or familiar spirits. Although some themes may be repeated – this year’s “forest king” and “forest guardian”, for example, are very likely to see future iterations – no two will bear more than a passing resemblance to one another.
Fascinus no.1 – Pendant or Earring(s)
The fascinus is an ancient apotropaic symbol dating back at least as far as ancient Rome, used as magical protection against disease and the evil eye. Yes, it is a penis with wings.
This fascinus, visually two-dimensional with its wings extending outward, was designed to be worn as earrings, either singly or in pairs, but is also available as a pendant.
This fascinus is very three-dimentional, with the wings rising high above the cock & balls, and was designed to be worn as a pendant or as a bracelet charm, but is also available as an earring or pair of earrings.
A small signet ring featuring an image of a coiled snake with a beard, an ancient Greek image associated with the Agathos Daimon, sometimes contracted to Agathodaimon, a power associated with the health and prosperity of the individual and their household. “Agathos Daimon” translates literally as “good spirit” and may also be understood as “good fortune”.
The specific image was inspired by one found on an ancient coin that I found.
Sterling silver pendant made in the image of a wooden mask with antlers. This image is based on my own visionary experiences of the Witchfather and the Sabbat.
Mask is an inch tall with the antlers bringing the piece to nearly two inches. The pendant has a pair of hidden bails behind the mask.
Originally, I had intended to mold this and make it a recurring design. Unfortunately, now that I’ve cast it up, I don’t think I can get a good mold of it. So this one will be unique, and I’ll make a new Witchfather mask with slightly different geometry at some point in the future. I will be selling this one for $255
Wood Wight no. 1 – Forest King Pend
A tall and noble face like tree bark with staring eyes and crown-like points. This shibuichi pendant has two pairs of hidden bails, ideal for wearing on either a thin chain or for stringing onto a more elaborate necklace. It is almost two inches tall and more than a quarter inch deep.
With a strong shield-like shape and an uncanny three-eyed face, this wood wight is called Forest Guardian. It has a hidden bail suitable for a chain up to 3mm and stands about an inch tall.
“The image of the Sun, according to the opinion of Mercurius, is the shape of a man standing on his feet as though wanting to salute those around him, and he is holding in his left hand a round shield; beneath his feet he has the image of a dragon.”
Picatrix Book II Chapter 4 Paragraph 23, Trans. Attrell & Porreca (2019)
Drawn and shared a little later than I’d hoped, but with a little luck you should be able to use this image to catch at least one of this Sol in Aries season’s elections.
Use this image as the face of your paper talismans by whatever method you prefer, or to accompany a petition by writing what you want across the face of the image. Hold on to the image for however long feels appropriate, and dispose of it in a similar manner.
“The second decan of Cancer is a girl seated on a snake throne, having a beautiful waist. Her body, adorned with jewels, is beautiful, and her garments are of a pale hue. She abounds with politeness and affection.” – Yavana Jataka, Chapter 3 Paragraph 12 (an Indian astrological manual, translator unknown)
Another astrological image from October of 2023 that never made it to the public blog.
I originally drew this image for an election sometime in 2022. It took a while to redo it for public consumption, and then (again) to actually share it publically. There are bits of the linework that I am no longer satisfied with, but I’m trying to err on the side of finishing and sharing things rather than tweaking them obsessively.
Feel free to download and print this image for your own rituals, and to share it with attribution, but please do not use it for any commercial purpose.
“The Third Mansion is Azuraye (that is, the Pleiades) and it is for acquiring every good. When the Moon is in this mansion, make the figure of a seated woman holding her right hand above her head and dressed in clothes.” Picatrix Book 4 Chapter Nine Paragraph 31 (trans. Attrell & Porecca 2021)
Picatrix calls the mansion Azuraye, but it is better known by a name given elsewhere: al Thurayya. I have made this image in silver, on a square ring as the Picatrix describes later, and gotten good results from her. I have long wanted to illustrate it for paper petitions, as well.
“The image of Mercury, according to the opinion of the wise Apollonius, is the shape of a bearded youth holding a dart in his right hand. This is his shape.” Picatrix Book II, Chapter 10, Paragraph 31. (trans. Attrell and Porecca, 2019)
I shared this image with my Patreon supporters back in October, but never publicly due to illness (physical and mental) and exhaustion. I’m still working on perfecting my digital illustrations: finding a balance in between speed and perfection, mastering line weight and movement. It’s really nothing like the pen and pencil work that I’ve done for most of my life.
Please feel free to print this image out to use in your personal rites, but don’t reshare without attribution or use for any commercial purpose.
Last year was a whirlwind escalation of my magical practice. There were also a handful of stumbling blocks. Some of it makes for good stories. Some of it does not. Ultimately, I collapsed about mid-October. That, combined with a second covid infection at the beginning of November and the worst Christmas depression that I can immediately recall, and a few sticks in the spokes of my mundane life, culminated in the longest magically fallow period I’ve experienced in some years.
I have, except for my trip to New Orleans, maintained my streak of daily offerings. I have not, however, managed to maintain my tarot practice, my journalling, my work with the Black Book, or the rituals I had picked up from Six Ways. I’ve done a bit of money-magic, trying to get the gods on my side against this shit economy; the utilities haven’t been shut off, so I’m counting those as successful … but only barely. What divination I have done has all come out nonsense. Where, last summer, the gods and my familiar spirits were present to the point of overwhelming, now I can barely sense them at all.
It would be overly dramatic to say that I’m bottoming out. It would also be untrue: I have definitely fallen farther, before. I have had more and crueler hands raised against me. But in this moment, I can’t think of better words to describe the feeling.
This is, of course, by no means the first time my magical practice has fallen off the rails. I have been here, and done this. I know what I need to do.
I need to take a real rest. Dial back my magical ambitions. Dial back my daily ritual to the barest of bones; I may or may not need to let it lapse, completely.
I need to cleanse and purify. Spiritual baths. Banishing rituals. Rites to avert the evil eye. Fumigate the house. Fumigate the yard. Re-assert my claim to the property. Take steps to reinvigorate my protective wards and spirits.
After that, come some choices.
Usually, when I come to a point like this, I find it helpful to do some kind of back-to-basics program. My current three-and-a-half-year streak of daily ritual began with just such a move: thirty days of sigils with concrete goals that metamorphed into work with my familiar spirits and grew into a much larger and more complicated daily practice. If I am to go back to basics, again – and I think that I am, in some sense or another – what is that going to look like, this time?
Beyond that, I have a number of magical projects that I got somewhere north of knee-deep into before hitting a wall. I have, in fact, more than I can reasonably continue with at the same time.
My work with the Hekataeon stalled out again while I was gathering materials for the next series of rites. While I have the goddess’ permission to continue, it seems that it may not be what I really want. Do I continue? If so, how? If not, what then?
My work with my idiosyncratic pantheon produced a handful of rites that I am collectively calling the Satyr’s Grammar. I have shared several of those here. It has been made clear to me that I should perform some (or all) of the rites I have already recieved before I can expect to be shown more.
I have half the parts needed to assemble an altar to the nine muses that I saw in a vision. When and where and how will I complete that work?
I have made astrological images a cornerstone of my magical jewelry business, but I feel like I have reached a point of diminishing returns when it comes to incorporating astrological images and timing into my own magical practice. If I am to continue my experiments in astrological magic, what is the best way to make that work both for me and my customers?
I don’t currently have the answers to any of these questions. As I write this, I am making frantic last-minute preparations for Paganicon, including final edits on the KC Sorcerous Arts Collective’s ritual. By the time this post goes live on the Obsidian Dream Blog, we will be winding down the convention and preparing to return home. Only after that, will I have real time to sort out my own shit.
The magical life is not a choice I made, any more than i chose to be a writer. It’s who I am as a person. The choices I have to make are “how” and “when” and “where” and “why”.
Two things I know for certain: I will continue to do magic, and I will continue to write about it.
I hope you all continue to come along for the ride.
Over the last couple years, my partner Aradia and I have found it necessary to develop a recipe for a cleansing spiritual bath. It’s the sort of thing we need a little too often to buy pre-packaged (and we’re pretty intense DiY types, anyway), but we couldn’t find a recipe we liked online. Plus, most of the recipes we didn’t like were all attached to places selling something and/or choked with popup ads. So, surprising no-one, we made our own.
Almost all of my herbalism and plant magic, I learned from Aradia. She is, as I may have mentioned before, a huge fan of the practice of recipes based on 3, 7, or 13 ingredients, with a strong preference for 13 on the basis of “more is better”. I initially wrote a 7 ingredient recipe, and when the time came for the next round, she had six more things to add. Together, we combined of what (few and partial) traditional recipes we could find online and supplemented them with Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (we grew up in the 90s). The final recipe (below) leans heavily on things that we like to keep in the house, regardless, so you’ll probably have many of them already on hand, as well. The measurements are idealized and more useful when making big batches, but they give you somewhere to start. A volume of each equal to a teabag or a cigarette will do the trick.
Ingredients:
black salt – 5 grams
fennel – 3 grams
basil – 1 gram
rue – 1 gram
lavender – 1 gram
thyme – 1 gram
benzoin – 1 gram
copal – 1 gram
bayleaf – 1 leaf
tobacco – 1 cigarette
anise – 1 star
peppermint – 1 tea bag
chamomile – 1 tea bag
Instructions:
Measure the ingredients into a reusable teabag for use or storage.
When making multiple doses simultaneously, you’ll find it convenient to put the single-unit ingredients (cigarette, teabag, anise star, bayleaf) directly into the bag, then mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl or mortar for consistent distribution and texture.
Store the baggies in a cool dry place if you’re not using them immediately. (I store mine in the same tote where I store the raw ingredients.)
When used, place bag of ingredients in a heat resistant container – a pyrex measuring cup, a metal pot or bowl, or whatever other vessel seems appropriate – with a mouth big enough to ladle the liquid back out of. Pour boiling water over the bag of ingredients and steep until no longer scalding but still warm.
Ritual:
This is my ritual. Yours will necessarily be your own.
I assemble the ingredients in the kitchen or my workroom.
When I am ready to use them, I bring them and a large bowl and a kettle of boiling water to my altar, where I make offerings of incense and candles and pray over them, asking my gods and familiar spirits to bless and consecrate the materials that they may cleans and purify me. Then I pour the boiling water over the ingredients and let them steep for 20-40 minutes, depending on where my heat sensitivity is at that particular day. This produces about a half gallon of bath.
When the bath is cooled enough, it take it in to my shower with me. I ladle the bath over my head, down my back, down my chest, down each arm, down each leg, and repeat until I have used the whole volume. As I do so, I pray extemporaneously to be washed clean and purified.
Once I have poured the bath over myself, one ladle full at a time, I sleuce it off of my body, always away from my head/heart. Then I take a mundane shower, again always scrubbing down my body and limbs, away from my head/heart. (This last step is an idiosyncrasy and a favor to the people I live with who have a sense of smell.)
If I am feeling particularly benighted, I will spend the steeping time in prayer and/or meditation, including performing the Stele of Jeu. If I am feeling well and truly fucked, I may follow up the bath with another Stele of Jeu and/or an application of uncrossing oil or even a full uncrossing candle ritual.
Use:
While I’m usually a big proponent of Chaos Magick and the benefits of fucking around in order to find out, after many years of finding out I have come down firmly on the side of “traditionalists are not wrong about maintaining a regular purification practice”. It is no more world-hating or puritanical to tell you to take your spiritual hygiene seriously than it is to tell you to wash your dick and your asshole. (Because we all know that it’s cismen who are the problem here, right?) Days or weeks of vegetarianism and/or sexual abstinence? I remain unconvinced. Regular baths, fumigations, or other spiritual purification rituals? I’ve switched teams and am now a full advocate.
So, in a more ideal world, I would be doing some version of this ritual somewhere between “every time the Moon is New” to “every Saturday” and following up with a sound-cleansing and fumigation of the house.
In the real world, I struggle to maintain the parts of my ritual practice between “daily offerings” and “enchantment as needed”. So in practice I end up doing cleansing baths in batches as I’m crawling out of depression holes and then maybe regularly for a week or three after. In fact, even as I write this I am winding up just such binge of spiritual purification. As such, I tend to make the baths in big batches, reducing the barrier of entry from “find where I hid the ingredients from myself” to “boil water and grab the bag”.
Hail and well met, friends. Thank you for joining me as I finally and proudly present my inaugural Samhain Line: six new designs and three unique pieces of jewelry perfect for spooky season.
Some of these have been in the works for a long time. Some of them were designed exclusively for this line. All of them are fantastic and much-needed additions to the Sorcerer’s Workshop. Would you like a tour?
Devotional Image of Persephone
An image of Persephone embracing her three aspects of Dread Queen (the skull), goddess of spring and flowers (the flowering vines), and patron of the immortalizing Eleusinian Mysteries (the skull’s mushrooms crown).
I received this image during an oracular session this spring, not long before Beltane, and is the flagship design of my inaugural Samhain Line.
The pendant is one inch across and 3/16ths of an inch thick, solid and made to last, with a loop that can be used to attach a cord or chain or any kind of bail.
The pendant is available in sterling silver or red bronze.
These pendants are not consecrated. That is your responsibility to perform in accordance with your traditions.
A devotional image in my signature style, featuring my take on Eliphas Levi’s iconic image of Baphomet as the Goat of Mendes.
To me, Baphomet is the queer and genderqueer god/dess of witchcraft and chaos magick. Their sexual and gender ambiguity is the point. Their theriomorphic imagery is the point. The fact that they are on the one hand a newly-revealed divinity and on the other hand share imagery with gods more ancient than the written word are the point. Their passage through modern Gnosticism as a vision of Sophia and/or the God Above God is the point.
* Talisman is one inch in diameter with an image on each side.
* Available as a pendant with an upeye suitable for a 3mm chain or with three rings suitable for stringing as a rosary piece.
* Available in sterling silver, shibuichi (a 3:1 copper:silver art metal alloy), yellow brass, or red bronze.
This piece is not consecrated. That is your responsibility to do in accordance with your tradition or gnosis.
Rattlesnake vertebrae earrings cast in silver or bronze with silver earrwires. The third design from my inaugural Samhain Line, perfect for goths, witches, and other lovers of dark vibes. Molds were taken from genuine rattlesnake vertebrae.
Tourmaline and Sterling Silver Rattlesnake Vertebrae Bracelet
The fourth new design in my inaugural 2023 Samhain Line, this bracelet is made of rough tourmaline beads and cast sterling silver rattlesnake vertebrae strung on silver wire with a hook clasp. These materials and design are ideal for grounding and protection magic, and as a stylish witchy statement piece.
The bracelet is available at lengths from approximately six inches to nine inches. The pictured exemplar with eight tourmaline beads and four pairs of vertebrae is nine inches long; shorter bracelets will consist of fewer beads.
A 1 inch coin depicting the seal of Astaroth as described in the Lesser Key of Solomon, better known as the Goetia. In the words of the anonymous author: “The 29th spirit in order is Named Astaroth, he is a Mighty & strong duke and appeareth in [the] forme of an unbeautifull angel, ridding on an Infernall like dragon, and carring in his right hand a viper (you must not lett him come to neare yu least he doe yu damage by his stinking Breath. Therefore ye Exorcist must hold ye Magicall Ring nere to his face and yt will defend him he giveth true answares of things present past & to come & can discover all secreets; he will declare willingly how ye spirits fell, if desired, & ye reason of his own fall. He can make men wounderfull knowing in all Liberall siences; he rules 40 Legions of spirits, his seal is this, wch weare as a Lamen before yu, or else he will not obey you.”
The front of the coin bears the image of the seal. The reverse may be polished or textured.
Use this talisman seal in your conjurations — traditional or modern — or as the core materia in a prosperity bag.
Work with demons at your own risk.
Each piece is hand-made to order and will include unique variations and blemishes.
A 1 inch coin depicting the seal of Asmoday as described in the Lesser Key of Solomon, better known as the Goetia. In the words of the anonymous author: “The 32d spirit in order is called Asmoday. he is a great king, strong & powerfull; he appeareth wth 3 heads, whereof ye first is like a Bull The second like a Man, The Third like a Ram, [he appeareth also] with a serpents Taile, Belching or vomitting up flames of fire out of his mouth his feet are webed like a Goose, he sitteth on an Infernall dragon carring a Launce and a flagg in his hands, he is ye first & chifiest under ye power of Amaymon, & goeth before all others: when the Exorcist hath a mind to call him, lett it be abroad, and lett him stand on his feet all ye Time of action, wth his cap of [off], for if it be on, Amaymon will deceive him, and cause all his doeing to be bewrayed, But as soone as ye Exorist [Exorcist] seeth Asmoday in ye shape aforesaid, he shall call him by his Name, saying, thou art Asmoday, & he will not deny it; and by & by he will bow down to ye grownd &c he giveth ye Ring of vertues he teacheth ye art of Arithmitick, geomitry, Astronomy, and all handicrafts36b absolutly; he giveth full and True answares to yr demands, he maketh a man Invisible, he showeth ye place where Treasures layeth, and guardeth it if it be among ye Legions of Amaymon, he governeth 72 Legions of Inferiour spirits, his seal is thus, to be made and worne as a Lamen before [thee] on your Breast.”
The front of the coin bears the image of the seal. The reverse may be polished or textured.
Use this talisman seal in your conjurations — traditional or modern — or as the core materia in a prosperity bag.
Work with demons at your own risk.
Each piece is hand-made to order and will include unique variations and blemishes.
Unique Devotional Image of Baphomet with Mexican Fire Opal
A one-of a kind image of Baphomet cast from a hand-carved wax, with a Mexican fire opal set over their head as the flame of gnosis. This image is, of course, a take on Eliphas Levi’s iconic drawing of Baphomet as the Goat of Mendes. It is also the product of my years of work with the god/dess, who is to me a deeply queer figure of creation – both creator and created.
To me, Baphomet is the queer and genderqueer god/dess of witchcraft and chaos magick. Their sexual and gender ambiguity is the point. Their theriomorphic imagery is the point. The fact that they are on the one hand a newly-revealed divinity and on the other hand share imagery with gods more ancient than the written word are the point. Their passage through modern Gnosticism as a vision of Sophia and/or the God Above God is the point.
The pendant is heavy, and the stone set in strong prongs.
The pendant is one inch across an eight of an inch thick.
I would be happy to add a jumpring to the arch bail at the top if you would prefer that.
It is not yet consecrated. That is your responsibility.
Unique Gorgoneion Prayer Beads and Protection Talisman
Prayer beads featuring my signature Gorgoneion protection talisman cast in bronze and strung on bronze wire with jet and tiger iron beadsbeads and bronze rattlesnake vertebrae and a bronze sword. These prayer beads were made in trance according to the whims of Spirit and will never be exactly reproduced.
The image of a Gorgon’s face, as seen on the front of the talisman, was a common protection symbol throughout ancient Greece and the Hellenistic world. The back of the talisman bears the names of the three attested Gorgons – Medusa, Sthenno, and Euryale – in Greek. This particular image was done in the Attic style, based particularly the Gorgon images found painted in kylix cups from the 4th Century BCE.
Unique Hekate Prayer Beads with Bronze Talisman and Key, Genuine Rattlesnake Vertebrae, Tiger Iron, Jet, and Amber Beads
The third and final of the unique pieces in my inaugural 2023 Samhain Line of jewelry.
Prayer beads featuring my signature Eye and Six Hands devotional Hekate talisman and wardrobe key cast in bronze, strung on bronze wire, with genuine rattlesnake vertebrae and beads of tiger iron, jet, and amber. The total bead count is: six 8mm tiger iron beads, ten 10mm rattlesnake vertebrae, thirty-two 3mm jet beads, fourteen 2mm jet beads, and fifteen 2mm amber beads, for a total of seventy-seven beads.
The beads were chosen and strung as the spirit moved me: six sets of nine beads interspaced with five sets of three, with seven beads and a key hanging from the central talisman.
The central talisman is a one inch bronze circle bearing an image of Hekate on one side — “O Six Hands crowning a flaming eye,/ Extending in every direction;” and her crossroads sigil, name, and epithets in Greek — “Hekate, Atalos, Apotropaia, Soteira, Rexichthon” — on the reverse.
The key is two and a half inches long.
The beads are thirty-six inches long with a six and a half inch dongle.
Yesterday I got the second new design for my Samhain line cast up, along with the first of the season’s three unique pieces. All three depict Baphomet as iconically illustrated by French mystic and grade-A weirdo Eliphas Levi. (He was a legit mystic, but being a Catholic mystic who does fake Christianized kabala and takes a fake Jewish name makes him a weirdo and kind of an asshole.) I’m really pleased with how they all turned out, and I’m excited to finally have some Baphomet pieces in my line.
The stock design is done in my signature style, and will be available in all four of my usual metals: sterling silver and shibuichi (both pictured above) as well as yellow brass and red bronze. It’s a one sided talisman and will be selling for $153 in silver, $130 in shibuichi, $88 in brass, and $123 in bronze.
The unique design was cast from a hand-carved wax, one of my best yet, and features a gorgeous orange Mexican fire opal as the gnostic flame. It looks so much better in person, and I’m really frustrated with my inability to get a good photo. I will keep trying, but do need to get it out in the world in the meantime. This piece is selling and shipping for $340.
