Conversations on the Occult: The Witches' Ointment

Special Edition Series #4 - Tea with Maxine - Historical Accuracy

Special Edition Series #3 - Tea with Maxine - On Initiation

Special Edition #2 Series - Tea with Maxine - Further Clarification on D...

Special Edition Series - Tea with Maxine

The Devil's Dozen - Thirteen Rites of the Old One - On the Blackchair

Published on Jun 12, 2015

The operations of magic and
witchcraft deal with the hidden worlds of spirit and the powers innate within
the natural world; within plant, stone and magical loci. The ‘Old One’, who in
folk tradition is often named ‘The Devil’ embodies both the ‘rend in the veil’
and the spanning bridge between the worlds of the material and spiritual, the
revealed and the hidden. It is through union with this entity that witches and
folk magicians gained access to the powers that reside within the hidden realms
and the natural world, and could awaken the potent fire within.

In traditional folk belief, the Devil existed also as an embodiment of the
chaotic forces of nature; a belief quite distinct and separate from that of the
Church with its ‘Satan’ figure. To the witch, he might also represent the
‘darker’ aspects of the divine; the keeper and the revealer of the divine
light, the psychopomp guide of souls, and the sentinel at the threshold unto
the mysteries of death and the Otherworld.

Something, it would seem, of the ‘elder divinity’ and the old ‘spirit of the
wild’ has lingered through to the present; permeating regional faery lore, the
calendar of ritualistic seasonal folk-customs, and traditions attached to
ancient landscape features. The themes of untamed, wild nature; its freedom,
its spirits, its power and its magic, so repugnant and threatening to the
Church, were grafted onto the diabolical; affording yet greater preservation of
the Old One for those who sought to stray from the path of limitation and
conformity, and tread instead the hidden ways of the witch and magician.

Historical witch-lore records varied rites of initiatory contact, via which the
worker of magic and witchcraft entered into a close, working relationship and
union with the Old One and the spirit world. Via such union, would the ways
unto curing ailments, exorcising ill influence, the attainment of desires, and
the destruction of the oppressive be known, and the old artes of the circle,
the spirits, the knotted cord, the pierced candle, the witch-bottle, the
magical image and the spoken, inscribed and herbal charms be mastered.

From this wellspring of inspiration ‘The Devil’s Dozen’; a modern ‘gramarye’,
or ‘black book’ of thirteen Craft rites of the Old One has been created and is
offered by a present day initiate of the ‘Old Craft’

Within its pages there are to be found thirteen rites – for both the ‘lone’
practitioner and the assembled companie – of vision, sacred compact,
dedication, initiation, consecration, empowerment, protection, illumination,
union, transformation and devotion.

‘They are my own creations all; given in hope that they may provide usefulness
or inspiration, and each a personal offering of devotion unto the starlit and
smoking altar of the Old One’ (from the introduction).

Original idea and Concept by Karagan Griffith (c)2013

"On the Blackchair" Opening and Closing theme music: "Holiday
Road" by Alex Collier and Joshua Lee Somak (http://goo.gl/f2qCpr),
Executive Producer: Karagan Griffith

RedBird/Logios Publishing (c)2013 All Rights Reserved

AMETH: The Life & Times of Doreen Valiente with Jonathan Tapsell

“Within Doreen’s teachings, one feels she is conveying a message to all, of a gateway to the Goddess and personal enlightenment” – Jonathan Tapsell

The Witch's Mirror - with Levannah Morgan

Levannah has been working as a witch for over thirty years and for most of that time has lived in Devon, in the south west of England with a wealth of magical traditions which are still observed in some of the more rural areas, it has shaped her witchcraft over the years and made it what it is. Magic is something that should be lived.

Much of the magic in this book is about apparently simple things, it is the author’ belief that these things, experienced with all the senses, and done with intent, can be deep forms of magic and have the most profound effect, and be just as powerful as complex rituals, if not more so.

Levannah was fortunate to have two wonderful magical teachers: Hereward Wake, had a lifetime’s experience of both witchcraft and ritual magic which he shared generously teaching how to worship the gods in ritual and how to voyage into the spirit world; how to look and to listen and to work with the hidden senses; when to act and when to be still and do nothing. The other, Cecil Williamson, who founded the Museum of Witchcraft, spent his life learning the ways of the traditional witch. He taught about the old witchcraft that was used in Devon: spells, charms and a myriad of ways of interacting with the spirit world.

A WITCHE'S MIRROR - THE ART OF MAKING MAGIC

The aim is for this book to be used rather like a recipe book to create your own magic and that it will help you to develop your own ways of working. It contains simple but profound magical techniques and plenty of practical projects for you to take and let the spirits guide you to make your own magic. You do not need any specialist art or craft skills, just enthusiasm, dedication, and a desire to work magic. A visiting witch once commented jokingly that a meeting of Levannah’s coven resembled an alternative Women’s Institute meeting, and she has always rather cherished that description. This book aims to pass on this experiential approach to witchcraft. All the craft and making activities described in this book are reasonably safe and they have been tried and tested, they are intended for adults.

Please do try this at home!

Original idea and Concept by Karagan Griffith (c)2013

"On the Blackchair" Opening and Closing theme

music: "Holiday Road" by Alex Collier and Joshua Lee Somak

(http://goo.gl/f2qCpr), Executive Producer: Karagan Griffith

RedBird/Logios Publishing (c) 2013 All Rights Reserved

A Cornish Book of Ways - an interview with Gemma Gary

Traditional Witchcraft - A Cornish Book of Ways is a 21st century version of traditional Cornish witchcraft, of the kind recorded by Hunt, Bottrell and others. This is no neo-pagan or modern wiccan manual, but rather a deep drawing up into modern times of some of the ancient practices of lore and magic practiced by the white witches, charmers, conjurers and pellars of the Cornish villages. Their presence was still current when the 18th and 19th century antiquarians and collectors recorded them, and, although the 20th century largely put paid to their activities, nevertheless their lore never completely disappeared, and it continues to provide inspiration for

practitioners today. Gemma draws on this knowledge, not only from published

material, but also from the experiences and workings of ‘wise women’ and

country witches living today.

Topics include the Cunning Path, the Dead and the Underworld (Fairy Faith), the Bucca, Places of Power in the villages and landscape, the Tools used by Cunning Folk

(working versions of what can be seen, for example, in the Museum of

Witchcraft), Village cunning, substances and charms, and Rites of the Year’s

Round. This book gathers much material together, some of which has not been

seen in print before, and thus provides a sourcebook of magical workings in

Cornwall today, which will be an invaluable reference.

Cheryl Straffon - Meyn Mamvro

Original idea and Concept by Karagan Griffith (c)2013

"On the Blackchair" Opening and Closing theme music: "Holiday Road"

by Alex Collier and Joshua Lee Somak (http://goo.gl/f2qCpr),

Executive Producer: Karagan Griffith

RedBird/Logios

Publishing (c)2013 All Rights Reserved

Letters from the Devil's Forest - On the Blackchair with Robin Artisson: Episode Two

The latest book by Robin Artisson.

Robin Artisson has been studying folklore, mythology, sorcery and traditional witchcraft including spiritual ecology, occult history, herbalism and wort-cunning.

Robin lives in the countryside of Downeast Maine.


Interviewer Karagan Griffith: Occultist, Alexandrian High Priest, Host of the Witchtalk and On the Blackchair Show.


Note: For those of you unfamiliar with ON THE BLACKCHAIR, the intro lasts a couple of minutes with dialogue and music running simultaneously then proceeds with dialogue only. 

Letters from the Devil's Forest - On the BLACKCHAIR with Robin Artisson...

From the maker of "Witchtalk" Karagan Griffith comes another fascinating interview from "ON THE BLACKCHAIR - CONVERSATIONS ON THE OCCULT".  


Robin Artisson has been studying folklore, mythology, sorcery and traditional witchcraft including spiritual ecology, occult history, herbalism and wort-cunning.

Robin lives in the countryside of Downeast Maine.


Interviewer Karagan Griffith: Occultist, Alexandrian High Priest, Host of the Witchtalk and On the Blackchair Show.


Note: For those of you unfamiliar with ON THE BLACKCHAIR, the intro lasts a couple of minutes with dialogue and music running simultaneously then proceeds with dialogue only. 

Southern Root Magic & Appalachian Conjure -

Enjoy a conversation with Orion Foxwood over the air with Karagan the popular host of Witchtalk, a radio show that features interviews with Pagans.

Orion grew up with the second sight in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, an area rife with the folk practices of the southern and Appalachian tradition. He is a witch and Elder in Romano Celtic-Traditional Craft, High Priest in Alexandrian Wicca and teacher of the Faery Seership tradition. He is also the founding Elder of Foxwood Temple and a primary founder of the Alliance of the Old Religion, a national network of covens in his line that have united to preserve the ways of his Elders. He was the co-director of Moonridge, a centre for metaphysical, Craft and Faery studies in Maryland. For over 20 years, he has lectured extensively across the United States and in the United Kingdom on the Craft, Faery Seership Tradition and Southern Folk Magic and conjure. He is the author of The Faery Teachings (RJ Stewart Books, 2007), a collaborative CD project with RJ Stewart named Faery Seership and his newly released book The Tree of Enchantment (Weiser books, 2008).

On the lecture circuit, he is best known for his teachings on traditional second sight and folkloric Faery practices originating in the ways of the Faery Doctors and Cunningmen of Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the conjurers of the American South. In the "other" professional world, he hold a Masters Degree in Human Services, is a licensed professional counselor and a public health administrator. His teachings are based in traditional folk practices aimed at direct spirit contact for substantive personal transformation.  For more information on what Orion offers visit: Orion Foxwood