All Hallow's Eve Greetings

Krampus

 Krapus is the stuff of nightmares.  His name comes from the German and is translated as ‘claw’.  This counterpart to jolly St. Nicholas is the son of the Underworld Goddess Hel from Norse mythology.  

Human in size, he traditionally bears a dark and hideous mane, his body covered in matted fur and hellish burning eyes.  With a head possessing horns and the all too familiar sharp fangs from his gaping mouth, his is a frightening visage during this holiday season.  

Shaking his bells and chains, he hurries down the streets and lanes swatting at children with his birch bundle and peeks into windows in search of those who were naughty not nice.

Christmas celebrations in Germany begin to get underway in early December; the 6^th of the month is known as Krampusnacht or Krampus Night.  A shoe or a boot was traditionally left on the doorstep by the child of the house in hopes that it would be filled with goodies. To peek under the shade was risky business as Krampus was about and he knew all to well if that child had misbehaved.  The family would explain to the quivering youngster that "there would be no last minute reprieve and it would be down, down to the Underworld with you if Krampus discovers how naughty you have been!"  Alas! Krampus night was forbidden eventually by the Catholic Church, not because it was frightening for children, but due to its pagan origins.

 However, never fear, the tradition has been revived in parts of Germany and the Festival of Krampus is alive and well.  Children are still subject to a light swat and a scooping up but the Underworld condemnation has been replaced by feasting and merriment.

Perchten Pagan Festival

Perchta or Berchta, also known as Percht, is a goddess in Southern Germanic paganism found in the Alpine countries and means "the bright one".

The word Perchten is the commonly used when speaking of her entourage; it also refers to the type of masks worn in the mountains of Austria that are animal or fantasy-like.  

During the 16^th century it was believed that the Perchten took two forms, some were beautiful and benevolent bringing prosperity and good fortune to the inhabitants.  However, there is a darker more demon-like variety of Perchten known as 'Schiachperchten' who were terrifying.  They possessed ugly faces, protruding eyes, sharp fangs and tail of a horse; these were the ones that were called upon to drive out any demons or ghosts from the village.

A form of exorcists for home security, this particular form of Perchten were invited into the home in order to find and drive out any ill-spirits that might be hiding, causing misfortune and havoc for the inhabitants.

The tradition continues as part of the holidays of Salzburg and Austria today.

Perchten Pagan Festival

Witchcraft Today: 60 Years On

 by Trevor Greenfield  (Author)

In the sixty years following the publication of Gerald Gardner’s Witchcraft Today, new paths have appeared, and older ones emerged out of the shadow of repression and illegality, to express with a new and more confident voice their beliefs and practice, and share, with a steadily growing audience, their knowledge, their certainties, their questions and their vision. 

This book is a celebration of some of the many paths that Witchcraft/Wicca has taken and of the journeys that people have embarked upon.

Trevor Greenfield is the Publisher and Publicist for Moon Books and an Associate Lecturer in Religious Studies with the Open University. He lives in Worthing, West Sussex, and is married to Sue, with three children.

Letters from the Devil's Forest

An Anthology of Writings on Traditional Witchcraft, Spiritual Ecology and Provenance Traditionalism
by Robin Artisson (Author)

Concerning "Letters from the Devil's Forest: An Anthology of Writings on Traditional Witchcraft, Spiritual Ecology, and Provenance Traditionalism", the latest published work by Robin Artisson, occultist & writer of some renown. 

In this latest work, witch, metaphysician, and traditionalist Robin Artisson presents an in-depth and darksome interior vision of many dimensions of the old and nearly forgotten Art of true Witchcraft. "Letters from the Devil's Forest" is a lengthy anthology of Artisson's writings regarding every topic of essence and interest to the student or researcher of the half-remembered occult practices of "spirit-pacting" and spirit-allegiance: the timeless root-practices that underlie the genuine sorcerous traditions of the West.

Over 130 chapters, representing public and private writings done by Artisson in the last five years, but drawing on over 20 years of his own practice and in-depth researches, are brought together into one informative tome, to better serve the needs of the modern mystic or malcontent in search of a roadmap to the hidden angles of life's most seductive mystery: the mystery of sorcery, and the parallel mystery of spiritual ecology. 

The generous amounts of material housed in this encyclopedia of lore comes divided into nine major portions, including a detailed treatment of the lost occult anthropology- the very oldest human beliefs on death, the soul, and dying- and what these beliefs can mean for us alive today; many ethical, practical, and instructional essays on various forms of sorcerous art, focusing on material long pre-dating the modern occult emergence.

There are also essays on the strange themes and practices of the "Hidden Seasons" or the Witch-sabbats; in-depth daimonological ponderings and writings on the "Master Entity" himself, the Witchfather who stands behind genuine covenants of Witchcraft and the Master-Spirits who share our world and act as tutelary spirits to Witch-kind.

Included are scathing criticisms of the lies and falsehoods of modernity and insightful essays offering soul-satisfying alternatives to unquestioned faith in modern myths; sharp philosophical countering and criticism of the mainstream religions that have besmirched the world with their hatreds and absolutisms for centuries, and continue to torment the world today.

There are also foundational essays concerning "Provenance Traditionalism" or the secret tradition that emerges from the origins of Western culture and whose metaphysics and insights are still to be discovered encoded in folklore and mythology.

Also included is a potent selection of folktales and traditional stories, some original but most from deep in the folk-tradition, analyzed and elucidated to reveal the potent "soul-deep" codes that can transform men and women into wiser, more cunning people as they undergo their fateful journeys through this world.

 "Letters from the Devil's Forest" is a true treasury of the Hidden and Despised Art; it contains, in over 700 pages, almost ceaseless "Art-teaching" material, sorcerous maxims, gems of practice.  

Included are:invocations, poems, channeled writings, warnings, ethical and moral ponderings with regard to the sorcerous arts and to living outside of the mainstream of the modern and greedy spirit, inspirational quotes from past and present masters, wrapped together with Artisson's own sometimes sparkling, sometimes questionable brand of humor and wit, and crowned with original art flourishes and atmospheric ornamentation by Stephanie Houser.

The Author;The Witch
Robin Artisson has been studying folklore, mythology, and the interior metaphysics of sorcery and traditional witchcraft for over 20 years. His specialty areas of knowledge include spiritual ecology, occult history, herbalism and wortcunning, divination, and soul-flight or trance induction, along with a vocational interest in the extraordinary exploration of the eldritch dimensions of the mind, the soul, and the world.


Robin lives in the countryside of downeast Maine, near the craggy coast, under the shadows of the mountains and their forests. There, he carries on the relationships he has with the spiritual entities he has allied with over the years, and watches his daughters grow with much joy.

Liber Nox: A Traditional Witch's Gramarye

 Michael Howard (author)  Gemma Gary (illustrator)

In this concise and important treatise Michael Howard delineates between various modern neo-pagan Wiccan traditions, cunning folk traditions, heathen folk or the 'pagani,' and an assortment of ritual magicians and pathworkers in order to present a 'gramarye' distinctly for those who aspire to the 'Old Craft.' 

An experienced practitioner, writer, researcher, folklorist and magazine editor of the respected witchcraft magazine, The Cauldron (since 1976), Howard elucidates important elements of the Traditional Craft, including preparation rituals, tools of 'the Arte,' fellowship of the coven and the casting of circles, finally taking us through the Great Wheel of the Year and the assortment of sacred rites as performed within. The seasonal rituals are based on traditional witchcraft and folklore sources and have been specially written for this book.

Author: Michael Howard (United Kingdom) is the editor of The Cauldron magazine. He has published more than thirty books on a variety of occult subjects, such as Witchcraft and magic, Celtic history, and Paganism.

Author and Illustrator: Gemma Gary is an artist and writer based in the South-West of England. Her work primarily focuses upon the rites and verbal, inscribed and physical charms of operative folk magic and witchcraft.  Gemma is currently working on a number of other book projects relating to operative magic, traditional witchcraft, folklore and ancient sacred loci.

Horns of Honor

Horns of Honor Regaining the Spirit of the Pagan Horned God By Fredrick Thomas Elworthy, Edited and Introduced by Raven Grimassi

Originally released in Oct 2013, Horns of Power is well-worth mentioning again.  Academic in nature, it is fine reference book explaining the symbolism and significance of animal horns to ancient Pagans and also followers of early Christianity.  

For modern Pagans and Witches, horns play a major role as a symbol of fertility, power, and protection and yet there are few books that discuss the significance in a way that makes sense to a practicing Pagan.

 In Horns of Honor, neo-pagan scholar and award-winning author Raven Grimassi updates one of the few classic texts on horns, Frederick Thomas Elworthy’s classic 1900 text, Horns of Honor. Grimassi has added a new introduction, footnotes, and commentary to make this extensive overview of animal horns in cultures across time, accessible to the Pagan community.

'Horns of Honor' examines the religious and ritualistic significance of horns in many cultures, the ancient reverence for horned gods, and the horn as a positive symbol.

Fredrick Thomas Elworthy (1830 – 1907) was a noted scholar, folklorist, and antiquarian. He was the eldest son of Thomas Elworthy, woolen manufacturer, of Wellington, Somerset, and his wife Jane, daughter of William Chorley of Quarm, near Dunster; born at Wellington on January 10 1830, and was educated at a private school at Denmark Hill. Though studious from boyhood, he did not enter on authorship until middle life.

He became eminent first as a philologist and later as a writer on folk-lore. His two books on the evil eye and kindred superstitions contain much curious information gathered during travels in Spain, Italy, and other countries, in the course of which he made perhaps the finest collection of charms, amulets, and such-like trinkets in existence and destined for the Somersetshire Archeological Society's museum at Tauntor through the care of his widow. He contributed to Archæologia, was the council of the Philological Society, and in 1891-6 was editorial secretary of the Somersetshire Archeological Society.  He was a magistrate, a churchwarden, an active member of the Wellington school board, and a prominent Freemason.

After an illness which began in the summer of 1906 he died at his residence, Foxdown, Wellington, on December 13 1907. His other books include: The Dialect of West Somerset (1875) and The Evil Eye (1895) : an account of tie ancient and widespread superstition.

Raven Grimassi is a Neo-Pagan scholar and award-winning author of over twelve books on Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-Paganism including Old World Witchcraft and Italian Witchraft. He is a member of the American Folklore Society and is co-founder and co-director of the Crossroads Fellowship, a modern Mystery School tradition. He lives in Springfield, MA.

ISBN: 9781578635436

Book (Paperback)

Weiser Books

$19.95

Information Resources: http://redwheelweiser.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/

Corn Mother

James George Frazer discusses the Corn-mother and the Corn-maiden in Northern Europe, and the harvest rituals that were being practiced at the beginning of the 20th century:

"In the neighborhood of Danzig the person who cuts the last ears of corn makes them into a doll, which is called the Corn-mother or the Old Woman and is brought home on the last wagon. In some parts of Holstein the last sheaf is dressed in women's clothes and called the Corn-mother. It is carried home on the last wagon, and then thoroughly drenched with water. The drenching with water is doubtless a rain-charm. In the district of Bruck in Styria the last sheaf, called the Corn-mother, is made up into the shape of a woman by the oldest married woman in the village, of an age from 50 to 55 years. The finest ears are plucked out of it and made into a wreath, which, twined with flowers, is carried on her head by the prettiest girl of the village to the farmer or squire, while the Corn-mother is laid down in the barn to keep off the mice. In other villages of the same district the Corn-mother, at the close of harvest, is carried by two lads at the top of a pole. They march behind the girl who wears the wreath to the squire's house, and while he receives the wreath and hangs it up in the hall, the Corn-mother is placed on the top of a pile of wood, where she is the centre of the harvest supper and dance."

—The Golden Bough, chapter 45