Satanic witches are real. We are not a work of fiction as many people in the pagan and Christian communities try to claim. There are people who connect with Satan.
Both atheist Satanists and theistic Satanists practice witchcraft. For many of us, Satan is a viable entity to work with. For others, Satan is a symbol of liberty, individualism, and rebellion against tyranny.
Satanic witches are not simply products of the religious cultural imagination. We are a very real and diverse group of witches who connect with Satan and/or infernal spirituality.
My spiritual experiences with Satan are also not works of fiction. They’re as valid as any other religious experiences.
Hail Satan!
Repeat after me…
You cannot remove the Devil from the Western Esoteric Tradition.
You cannot remove the Devil from the Western Esoteric Tradition.
You cannot remove the Devil from the Western Esoteric Tradition.
You cannot remove the Devil from the Western Esoteric Tradition….
Forewarning, this is going to be a very long post.
Many witches aren’t aware of the origins of their own craft. Unfortunately, trying to talk to them about it can make them defensive, as their teachers or sources might have once told them otherwise. A lot of the witchcraft that floats around today draws its lineage back to Wicca. The style of magic that they practice, often more ritualized than they know, does not consist merely of witchcraft. This is where people get defensive. Witchcraft, as it is known in folklore and history, is a kind of folk magic that often involves malefic intent. Even if one removes malefic intent from this, it is still majorly based in folk magic. When Wicca was created, Gardner (with a ton of help from Doreen Valiente) mixed folk magic with high magic. The major source that his high magic comes from is Solomonic in nature. His ritual tools, now known as the tools of Wicca, are interpretations of tools described in the Key of Solomon. A black handled knife, tempered with the blood of a black cat, would be used to draw circles and command spirits. This would change (and become much less macabre) in Wicca in becoming a general knife for magic and non-physical cutting. Though in Wicca, the white handled knife is for cutting, the Solomonic traditions hold it to be the knife to use in all other acts of magic, besides drawing a circle. Wands, swords, cups, and metal symbols are all commonly found in high magical traditions. But Gardner didn’t hide the origins of these things. He openly said that he borrowed from Sorcerers. Another thing to keep in mind is that Gardner was, as many other high magicians at the time, a Freemason. Though Freemasonry itself has little involvement in magic, the Freemasons themselves often take it upon themselves to study the Geometry of the Universe. When he left Freemasonry, he took the rituals and symbols with him, and neatly tucked them inside of Wicca. The rituals Gardner described and performed bear an uncanny resemblance to the rituals used by Freemasons. These things, over time, were forgotten by many who were drawn into the religion in search of witchcraft. The history behind it was lost, hidden, or forgotten. As time moved on, people left Wicca, but kept the style of magic it taught to them. Eventually, as it grew, more people pulled in more influences that were not originally associated with witches. Eastern spirituality, New Age beliefs, Kabbalistic and Thelemic techniques, etc. Now people are practicing a mixture of magical practices, ranging all from high magic to folk magic, but know it all as witchcraft. This unique combination birthed out of Wicca has come to be labeled Modern Witchcraft.
As far as traditional witches go, it changes, depending on the tradition or lineage your talking about. Even the kind of ‘traditional’ matters. You have all the followers of the Cultus Sabbati, the most popular of traditional witchcrafts, who are essentially witches working high magic (often going by the term ‘sorcerer’). Their witch imagery comes from the same place that all traditional witches pull from, but their ecstatic techniques are often quite their own. What isn’t their own was pulled from old grimoires. Generally speaking, most traditional witches interested in working high magic will pull their knowledge from classic grimoires. Agrippa, Goetia, The Key of Solomon, The Grimoirium Verum, The Red Dragon, The Black Pullet, etc. Then you’ve got the other half of traditional witches. Their practices are mostly based in folk magic and the witch lore found in the Early Modern Period (mainly from Europe and America). High magic is sometimes included, but the majority of their practices are spells and charms, rather than complex rituals and long evocations. That isn’t to say that they may not dip into ceremonial magic from time to time. Nor does it exclude spirit work. Folk magic still offers a plethora of ways to do spirit work without dipping into high magic.
Why is there such a sharp division between high magic and folk magic? It’s mainly due to the practitioners of both in the past and their relationship to wealth. High Magicians were the ones employed in the courts of kings, queens, and temples. They worked rituals with gods and spirits and stars to find prophecies, ensure a happy afterlife, appease forces, and generally work in the Universe in favor of the king or queen. Remember John Dee? These high magicians were wealthy, and their art costed a pretty penny. Their grimoires and objects of power were sold at extremely high prices, passed from hand to hand through time. That was though, after they had died. Folk magicians worked magic that the everyday person had to worry about. How does one stop and start storms, ensure good health, bring luck, curse enemies, make animals come home, etc? They worked their art to both harm and heal. Charms made of string, glass, bone, wood, parchment, and cloth were used to bring desired effects. Because witches were thought to be of lower wealth, the majority of witch workings described in folklore are of folk magic. Those folk magicians who had access to grimoires (which were very few) sometimes used them in concert with folk magic.
I noticed your use of the word ‘serious’ when talking about high magic. Be very careful there. It is true that high magic often takes a much more solemn tone, but folk magic is not to be dismissed. The witches in Scotland, described as being able to destroy entire fields of crops with storms, were thought to do so with folk magic. The witches in the Ancient Near East who fed images of their enemies to dogs to do them harm were also practicing folk magic. “High” and “Low” are not indicators of power. It is the relationship between Heaven and Earth.
Good answer 🙂 I wonder sometimes where people get the idea that ritual magic is more serious and that it is so separate from witchcraft. Both kinds of magic are equally serious and both types of magic users historically used grimoires and ceremonial forms. It is not a new Gerald Gardner thing for witches to use Solomonic Grimoires. I highly suggest anyone who thinks this do some serious research into the use of Grimoires in the early modern period by folk magic practitioners so they can correct their view. The material is plentiful to dispel this mistake.
I think it’s just because so much of what people see of witchcraft is the folk magic, so they kind of assume that ritual must be completely separated from it.
Not helping the case, because a lot of what I do is folk magic, however I certainly incorporate high magical elements when needed. As to why they deem it more serious, I think it’s just because ritual often includes a more stern setting. It requires steps and processes that rely on physical action steeped in symbolism. The same can be said for folk magic, but to an exponentially subtler degree. Solomonic grimoires have inspired witches in general. I myself have a black handled knife used to compel spirits. It’s an invaluable tool and not one to be lightly passed up.
As for the folk magicians not having access to grimoires, I think I should amend that statement. Cunning folk of Britain, and really in Northern and Western Europe in general, had access to grimoires that were made public. In Britain especially, “The Discoverie of Witchcraft” served as inspiration for many cunning folk. Excerpts and sections of it were put in cheaper publications. However, not all folk magicians did have access to it. The folk magicians of the early Americas didn’t have a large amount of high magic to pull from, unless it was stemming from the Bible or the Books of Moses. Those that moved to the Appalachian mountains from Ireland, Scotland, and Britain are famous for their magical work. Items of high magic are not usually found with them. When I say that few had access to grimoires, I mean full, original grimoires. The high magic that they had access to was accessible to the general public. The printing press allowed for certain grimoires to be reproduced and translated by a large amount. However, not all in Britain could read and write, and the grimoires owned by some cunning folk were thought to have served an alternative purpose for those who could not read, which was a cosmetic one.
Another reason this divide can happen is because of the witch trials and Inquisition, which held that certain arts, like necromancy and more ceremonial forms could only be practiced by men, because at the time, many of those ceremonial forms were in Latin, and the majority of women weren’t educated in Latin. It was also one of the reasons that women were discouraged from learning because there was the belief that they were more likely to be tempted into the service of the devil. Because of this, ceremonial and necromantic magic came to be seen as both more “serious,” “powerful” and “higher” than folk magic. Unfortunately, this tends to carry over, especially when terms like “high” and “low” magic are still used by some as an insult or ‘witchier than thou’ .
In his book Star.Ships, Gordon White makes a strong case for Oceania (the geographic region encompassing Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, and the island chains surrounding Indonesia) as the source for a pre-ice age, advanced human civilization, often referred to as Atlantis. According to Gordon, the sapiens’ migration out of Africa can be traced directly to Oceania and the population there.
After the last ice age, all of this area flooded, creating a basis for the ubiquitous flood myth and covering over a large percentage of the land mass in that part of the world. Remnants of that civilization migrated back west, and founded the great civilizations of antiquity.
Here’s my humble contribution of evidence. To follow the diaspora of magi from Atlantis, follow the bird. Our friend, Threskiornis (i.e. the Ibis, also the basis for my magical name).
Here’s
Threskiornis aethiopicus, the African Sacred Ibis.
Here’s where they currently live.
Note, they are no longer in Egypt, but certainly were in Egypt during antiquity, as evidenced by the hundreds of mummified Ibis found in tombs. When Egyptians saw the birds dipping their beaks in the Nile, it reminded them of a scribe dipping their pen in an inkwell, hence the Ibis being the animal most commonly associated with Thoth.
Now here is Threskiornis moluccus, the Australian white Ibis and their current habitat.
You may be saying to yourself, “hey, that’s the same fucking bird.” And you would be right. In fact, both belong to a superspecies complex, and only have minor genetic differences.
I propose that when the ancient magi took the Word of magick and culture with them, they also took the Bird, and that the spirit of Threskiornis has a pre-historic connection to humans and magick. Whether they went with humans out of Africa, or were brought to Africa on the return migration is yet to be determined.
Alternatively, the magi were lead by the spirit of Threskiornis as they migrated between the two, essentially following the Word.
Red is passion.
Red is shameless.
Red is the color of roses.
Red is the color of lips engorged.
Red is the color of the moon eclipsed.
Red is the color of the flow, the sacred rejuvenation of women.
In the area of Montechiarugolo, just slightly southeast of Parma there is a folktale told today with full conviction of its truth. This is the tale of la Fata Bema, or the Faery Bema—the tragic story of an open-hearted witch.
It begins at the Castle of Montechiarugolo, the likes of which changed hands a few times between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It eventually ended up in the possession of the Torelli family, the most notable exponent being a man named Pomponio—a prolific writer and poet. Thanks to him, the castle attracted many famous personalities over the years, particularly Pope Paul III and King Francis.
Pomponio was well loved by the people, especially for his parties. He loved to fill the villages with music and light. One fateful night in 1593 during such an event he attracted a group of strangers not entirely of the world; the lovely Fata Bema and her hulking companion Max.
They told fortunes throughout the village. During this time, Bema managed to make a pleasing impression. It was with reluctance that Pomponio watched them make their goodbyes. Max and Bema went on to travel the length of Italy—he as an acrobat (and presumably, a thief) and she as an infallible fortune teller; a woman with the power to see what others could not.
One day during the month May, Bema and Max returned to the area and set up a stage in the woods preferred by Ranuccio Farnese, Duke of Parma, who would often travel there to hunt boar. The young Pio Torelli, son of Pomponio was among the crowds that gathered. He approached to ask about his future. After some prompting, Bema reluctantly augured his death. “I see a lake of blood,” she said, “on which noble heads float and I also see the head of this child.” But none took her seriously. None, save the Duke himself; an irascible, sickly old man who had taken a vow to rid the country of witches and fortune tellers, in order to better his own health.
Immediately, Farnese had Bema seized to be taken to Rocchetta prison where she was to face a miserable sentence. Bema was saved only at the last moment at the border of Montecchio. She turned to ask for the aid of Pomponio and he agreed to intercede on her behalf, but only if she agreed to remain as a fixture of the castle. Thus, together they returned to Montechiarugolo where Bema was ordered to remain.
Eventually, Pomponio’s son Pio grew into a man who became quite smitten with the mysterious, elfin woman. Bema was a witch at court, ordered to help manage the household with her otherworldly knowledge. Bema shared his feelings but while together they often met, she still refused the offer of marriage—not for her sake, but his own. Bema explained that she was too lowly of status to marry him. Disappointed, Pio left to serve the Duke at Parma, if only to soothe his mind.
Bema feared she would not see him again—and unfortunately, she was right. Ranuccio Farnese, seeing an opportunity to seize some of the assets of the nobility had Pio arrested in a plot, along with several others. In a panic, she sent Max to free him from Rochetta prison and together the two escaped, but just one step from freedom they were confronted by Farnese’s men. The soldiers cut Max down and took Pio back to prison, where he waited to face his execution.
On May 19, 1612, Pio Torelli was beheaded in Piazza Grande (known now as Piazza Garibaldi) along with the others arrested in the Farnese plot, realizing the prophecy Bema once had given. Alone and distraught, the Fae remained in the fiefdom of Montechiarugolo, offering all she had to the villagers that lived there, caring especially for the elderly and infirm. Bema was universally admired for her strength and well-loved by the people. It was only some years later life that Duke Farnese forced her to move from the court to the country. There, she simply disappeared—and it was then that her legend began.
After Bema’s disappearance, a mummy was found in the dungeons of Montechiarugolo castle. With it, was a message: “This is the body of Bema,” it said, “who lives happily here and desires not to be taken from her bed.”
Surprisingly Bema remains there today—and not for a lack of people trying to move her! Every attempt to move the body of La Fata Bema from Montechiarugolo has been met with an array of natural disasters to the area, such as pestilence and flooding.
La Fata Bema is adored by the people and it is said she is a kind and gentle spirit. Certain legends report that she can be sometimes seen by lovers. Bema comforts the broken-hearted and those that suffer for love. She’s even said to visit young women on the eve of their wedding to offer gentle instruction and advice. But the most prolific legend of all is one in which the people still gather to witness.
They say every year the night between 18th and 19th of May, on the anniversary Pio’s death, Bema ascends the keep of the castle and turns her mournful gaze to the city of Parma—the city she could not reach to save the one she loved.
If you’re interested in reading this story in its entirety, check out the novel “La Fata Bema” by Alfonso Cavagnari!
What is written above was translated and compiled from several sources. Ordinarily, I would share them here but tumblr no longer tags posts that contain links of any kind. If you’re interested, simply send me an ask. I’d be happy to send you what I have.
The 16 Geomantic Figures are the primary Symbols used in the art of Divinatory Geomancy. Each Geomantic Figure represents a certain state of the World or the Mind, and can be interpreted in various ways based upon the query put forth and the method used to generate the figures. When Geomancy was introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, the figures acquired Astrological meanings and new forms of interpretation. The figures bear superficial resemblance to the Ba Gua, the eight Trigrams used in the I Ching, a Chinese classic text.
Each of the figures is composed of four lines, each line containing either one or two points. Each line represents one of the four Classical Elements: from top to bottom, the lines represent Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. When a line has a single point, the element is said to be Active; otherwise, with two points, the element is Passive. Because there are four lines, and since each line can be either active or passive, there are 24, or 16, different figures. The different combinations of elements yields different representations or Manifestations of the figure’s Energy. Each figure can be said to have a ruling Element, whereby that Element’s Energy and Manifestations correlates most closely to the figure itself. In the Middle Ages, when Geomancy was introduced to Europe where Astrology was the foremost Occult Science, the Geomantic Figures obtained Astrological correspondences to the Zodiac and to the Planets. Based on their Zodiacal correspondences, astrologers assigned new elemental rulerships based on the element of their Zodiacal ruler.
The Zodiacal rulerships followed from the Diurnal or Nocturnal Planetary rulership: Nocturnal figures are assigned Earth and Water signs, while Diurnal figures are assigned Fire and Air signs. Once the Zodiacal rulerships were agreed upon, all the following correspondences followed upon the Geomantic Figures, including what part of the body they each ruled over, different countries, planetary hours, body and character types, and so on.
So some of you already know I have been checking out other social media/blogging sites since the announcement came down. I tried. I really did. But there are two things that will keep me away from any social media site.
Character Limits – I am a writer. There’s nothing I can do with 500 characters or less. It’s just too fucking Orwellian. I wanted to like Mastodon. I love how it is user controlled and decentralized. But they need to get rid of the character limit. Want to talk about stifling expression? Don’t tell me to spread it on multiple posts. That’s just too awkward.
Mobile Only – Sorry, I’m old and I have a desktop with a 42″ inch screen so I can read shit. Also makes for pretty pictures. I gotta be able to do it sitting at my desk.
So anyone else have trouble with pillowfort sending registration keys? I sent them money and it has been over 24-hours. Not complaining too much, I assume they are mighty busy right now.
Just read the part where they send out keys the Friday after donation. My bad.
