Tag: poppets

Handwriting as Sympathetic Magic

Sympathetic magic is the umbrella term for magic spells or techniques that a person or thing can be affected through their name or an object that represents them. The most common form of this is poppet magic.

There’s two facets of this type of magic. The first is imitation, such as that of a poppet, where the object is created to imitate the target. The second is contagion or contact, where the object has been touched or comes from the target, such as hair or a shirt.

These terms originate from Sir James George Frazer of The Golden Bough fame. But sympathetic is a fairly worldwide phenomena and has been evidenced since prehistoric times. Archaeologist and anthropologists are studying modern hunter and gatherer peoples to partially inform over the actions of previous hunter /gatherer peoples. In short, there is a theory that some cave paintings are linked to sympathetic magic or were at least created by magicians and/or shamans in trance states (where they probably would be working sympathetic magics).

As said, poppets and hair are the most common forms of sympathetic magic, but there are many others. The soil from a footprint, someone’s pillow case, a shirt, fingernails, blood, skin, a favorite book, urine, underwear, jewelry, eyeglasses, and so much more. Pretty much anything can be used in this fashion. Including handwriting.

While the lore behind names carries a great many magical rules, such as don’t share your name with spirits. In fact, the fear of someone’s name being used against them magically is one of the reason magical practitioners take on false or magical names. Other reasons include anonymity, safety reasons, initiation rites, and magical ritualization (ie, the shedding of the modern self or of the mundane skin for magical acts), among others.

Handwriting is a very weird and rarely used magical component, but it can be so incredibly useful – and dangerous.

Think about it: you write your name out and your signature is your key and gateway to a great many things. You sign contracts, you sign checks, you sign a variety of things to something as being true. As recognizing it as something you’re agreeing to. It is the very essence of magic, in its own way. If someone has your signature, then it’s proof of your agreement. It’s held as a representation of you, in the mundane world. So your signature is as good as your hair or blood in the magical world. And it can be attached to any kind of spell and used against you.

Makes you think twice, doesn’t it?

Digital signatures should be counter in this, assuming that the signature is true to form. (Or as true as possible) Digital signatures are notoriously hard to get accurate compared to pen and paper signatures, so it may be that you’re automatically safe simply because you can’t actively replicate your own signature digitally.

Of course, you still wrote it and it was still accepted as a signature, so it could probably be still used against you, even if the affect isn’t as strong.

On the same vein of thought, handwriting is uniquely personal. You can probably tell who’s who just from the handwriting alone. This was especially true in the days before computers. It’s so personal that handwriting, such as a handwritten note, can be used in place of hair or a poppet in a sympathetic spell.

It has a variety of usages when one starts thinking of it, including but not limited to the following:

  • Love letters can be used in any number of love spells, including marriage, drawing a certain person towards you, or fidelity charms.
  • A signature or letter can be used to protect someone.
  • Career or success spells can be done by signing your name as the new title you want to achieve.
  • Write your name with your partner’s surname to encourage a relationship or even marriage. (Never thought that kind of school daydream doodling would come back at you like this, did you?)
  • If a patient writes down their symptoms, the written notes can be used in healing spells.
  • A landlord may use a handwritten note or contract to get rid of a renter who refuses to pay.
  • An IOU can be used to compel a repaying of favors.
  • A businessman could use a handwritten contract or signature to get rid of a bad client.
  • A customer can get back at a bad sales agreement or business by a mutually signed contract.
  • The signatures on a badly negotiated contract can be used to fix or create a new contract.
  • A vast number of curses.

So how can you protect your signature or handwriting? There’s a few ways.

First, you can take on a magical name, one that you use exclusively in dealings with the magical world. Like an online handle. You’re known by that and that alone. Sign magical dealings with that name. It’s still you, but there’s a degree of separation that might help mitigate magical spells against you.

You can also purposely write differently than you normally do when dealing with magical things. A good example would be writing a note to a fellow magical practitioner. Maybe you change how you write a few letters, just enough so that it throws off the sympathetic magic and disrupts it.

You can also consider writing in anti-magic ink. Essentially, this is handmade ink created with anti-magic or anti-witchcraft properties. Anything written in this would work like normal ink, but if used in a spell, the ink should counteract or at least mess up the spell in question. Of course, that holds true for your own spells, so be aware of that.

It’s something to think of. Magicians and practitioners tend to do a lot of handwriting, as part of our crafts and practices. It may be a good idea to keep track of how you write or who you share your handwriting with.

It’s also a good idea to think of how you can use your handwriting to represent you. Maybe writing out those affirmations will have more meaning that simply saying them aloud. Maybe you can write yourself a better, happier, healthier future. It’s worth exploring.

Poppet Healing Spell [Spell Saturday #63]

I was glancing through my healing spell section (which, I’ll admit, is lacking) and discovered I never posted a healing spell using a poppet. Which is super weird because healing poppets are my go-to for chronic illnesses and I like to think I specialize in poppet based magic. Plus, poppet healing spells are fairly universal worldwide and historic.

Let’s fix that today. Here’s a healing spell that can be used for any type of healing. Adapt the wording as you please to better accommodate your needs. You’ll need to make a poppet before using this spell so head over here for instructions to sew a poppet. Or you can check the notes for other poppet alternatives besides sewing.

 

What you’ll need:

  • A pre-made poppet with a healing focus
  • Two white candles
  • A glass of water

 

Place the two candles between and slightly above the poppet. Place the poppet in front of you and the glass of water below it, so that the water is closest to you. Take a moment to rest your mind, center yourself, and banish errant thoughts as much as possible.

Raise your energy, focusing on putting it into your hands. If energy manipulation isn’t your thing, raise power any way you can (chant, dance, meditation, etc).

Place your hand on the poppet and say,

“Poppet before me

I name you [target’s name]

What I do to you, I do to them

You are one in the same

Until this spell ends.”

Now this poppet can be used for any sort of spell on your target. You can keep this poppet so that you can cast healing or protection spells on the target several years down the line if you want to. Check out the notes for a way to end this spell.

It’s time to start the healing spell. Light the candles and gather the energy back into your hands, in case it’s waned. Place your hands over the afflicted area. If it’s not known, focus on the core of the body, especially the chest. Push the energy into the poppet, if you can. Focus on the person being healthy and happy. Envision this or speak your intent in your mind or aloud.

When you’ve established a clear image (whether mentally or verbally) of what you want, say the following

“I cleanse the sickness from [target’s name]

I gather it all and pull it free

Trendrils of illness and lingering pain, 

I remove it from [target’s name]’s veins

I pull all sickness and pull it free.”

Put at least one finger into the water, keeping your other hand on or above the poppet. Finish the spell by saying the following,

“I pass it all,

All the pain and sickness

Into this water that helped birth us all.

Absorb and cleanse the sickness [target’s name]

And disperse as soon as this water touches the earth.”

Continue to hold you want in this manner until you’re too tired to continue or you feel like the spell’s done. Then, immediate carry the water outside and dump in a patch of soil. Blow out the candles, cleanse the glass (or get rid of it), and put the doll somewhere for safekeeping.

 

Notes:

  • Poppet alternatives can be anything. You can use any humanoid shaped object (paper, a video game character like from The Sims, candle, carved from a root, etc) or you can pick something that’s representative like an animal figure or an object that is a good representation of them.
  • Healing focus refers to what the poppet’s stuff with. Healing herbs are an obvious choice. Select healing or light colors for the material. You can also stuff it with stuff that reminds the target of good, healthy times or photos of when they were in great health.
  • Regular water from your tap is fine here. You can also use purified water or enchanted or bless water. Caster’s choice but I recommend tap water or collected water from a lake, pond, river, stream, or ocean.
  • Use a cup or glass that can be washed and cleansed or otherwise disposed of.
  • Tealight candles are really good for a single use spell. If you’re going to use this spell over a long length of time, upgrade your candles to votives, tapers, or pillars so you can use the same candles for each repetition of the spell.
  • Use fire safety!
  • To end the connection of the poppet to your target, place your hand over the poppet and say, “Your job is done, thank you for all you’ve done. I end this spell. I un-name you now. And I bury you. Thank you for all you’ve done.” Then bury the poppet.

How to Make a Poppet House

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Pissed at your neighbors? Do the residents of the upstairs apartment hold band sessions at three in the morning? Or do you simply want to enchant a house, filling it with protective energies? Use a poppet house!

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A poppet house works just like a human-shaped poppet. It’s sympathetic magic with the purpose of working as a surrogate for your house. What happens to the poppet happens to the target.

Here’s some ways to build a poppet house.

  • A diorama or dollhouse
  • Sketch out a blueprint or layout
  • A photo collage
  • Computer programs for home designers or video games like the Sims, Minecraft, or even Skyrim or Fallout 4
  • Shadow box or a box in the shape of a house (example blow)

 

Once you have your poppet house established, you’ll need to connect your poppet house to your actual house.

This will vary depending on what you’re using as a poppet house. Generally speaking I recommend making a little charm bag full of the following and placing it next to or attached to the poppet house. For virtual proxies, stick the charm bag under or near the monitor or device.

When casting spells on the poppet house, hold the charm bag in your hands, stare at your image, and cast your spell.

Diorama’s or dollhouse have an advantage here as you can literally replicate whatever you use to connect your house to your poppet house.

Your charm bag could contain the following:

  • Nails from the house
  • Dirt from the house or yard
  • Dust from the house
  • Broken stone or wood from the house
  • A picture of the house
  • Bottle of water from the faucet
  • Ashes from the hearth, fireplace, or fire pit.
  • A realtor’s list of the house (# of rooms, types of rooms, general description)

 

See that house shaped shadow box on the wall above ^? Perfect for casting multiple little spells!

 

So what can you do with a poppet house? Anything! The list of what you can do is really endless.

  • Draw sigils onto the walls to protect it
  • Sprinkle healing water or oils to keep the residents healthy.
  • Dust the house with cursing powder to hex neighbors
  • Use symbols to encourage the residents to move
  • Coat the home in basil to keep up a happy home and wealth
  • Scatter magnetic sand on the model house of your dreams to bring it to you
  • Pepper the house with lucky powder to increase your family luck

 

This is a great way of practicing low-key magic. Instead of cleansing your house physically, you can do it with the model house. It’s also a fantastic way of keeping up the spells of your home while you’re away or to cast spells for friends, family, or enemies far away.

Originally posted over on my tumblr.

I Want to Go Here (Spell Saturday #41)

This spell’s perfect for if you want to go to a specific destination but don’t really know exactly how you’ll get there. Whether funds, companionship, or being able to get a ticket is a problem for you, this spell will help smooth the way to your dream destination. Or just getting you a ticket to that super awesome concert one city over.

Combine this spell with luck, money, or similarly purposed spells to ensure that you get to your destination in a safe and financially responsible way.

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This spell is actually an adaptation of an upcoming spell that was originally featured on tumblr. The tumblr post is a bit dated and combined the two spells together. I’ve updated and separated them out for your convenience. They’re still essentially the same spell.

 

What you’ll need:

  • A computer browser with online map or paper map
  • A poppet representing you made from a pencil or pen

 

First, create your poppet. I usually go with a pencil because it’s less likely to accidentally mark up my computer screen but you can use a crayon, marker, or whatever. You could also make a traditional poppet and use that too. To make a pencil poppet, just select a new, unused pencil and draw or write on it so it represents you. Maybe you write words that your label yourself with or you draw your face and typical clothing style. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. It just needs to represent you in some way.

Load up your map and center it so you can have your current location and the place you want to be in the same screen. You might have to zoom out quite a bit to get it just right.

If you’re sure you want to travel to a particular destination or by a specific destination, make note of those locations. So if you want to go to a stadium, make sure to drop a location pin on the map to indicate that. If you want to travel somewhere via the train, make sure you know where the train station is both locally to you and where you want to go.

Now find your house or current location. Make sure to a location pin there too. If you want to head to a specific destination like a friend’s house or a hotel, mark that location too.

 

 

Take a few minutes to research some typical means of travelling between you location and the destination in mind. So glance at airplane tickets or train schedules. Don’t pay attention to the price. Pay attention to the stops made or the route they take. If you’re travelling by car, make sure you note the highways used. Some online maps like Google may make this super simple for you by offering directions right there in the map.

Pick up your poppet and start at your home. Trace the roads, zooming in as much as needed, until you get to your travel method, like the airport or train station. Then move the poppet across, following the route until you get to your location.

While doing this, chant the following lines. Remember to adjust the chant as needed to make it more specific to you!

“I am here, house and home

But there is where I will be

Taking a trip, taking a journey

By boat, car, or plane

I don’t care

Just get me over there.”

If possible, use the poppet pencil in any trip planning from there on out for this trip. So circling dates, on printed out tickets, marking guide books, whatever. If you remember, take this pencil poppet with you when you go to ensure the spell continue to work as planned. You may want to leave the poppet pencil at your destination to finish the spell or bring it home with you, and throw it away. Up to you.

 

 

Notes:

  • If you’re using a poppet in your money/luck/protection/courage spells then use that poppet for this spell. It should only help both spells, not hinder them.
  • Pens are probably far more useful and convenient for this spell and it works exactly the same way. I just feel less guilty about leaving behind a pencil than a perfectly good working pen.
  • The chant should be adapted as much as possible to your purposes. If chanting doesn’t work for you, then skip it.
  • Printing out the route you’d have to take and keeping it and the pencil in your suitcase or by the door might also help the spell along.

 

Happy casting!

 

Originally adapted from a post here on tumblr.

Doll Spell for Employment (Spell Saturday #26)

This is for when you have a specific place in mind that you want to work at.

What you’ll need:

  • A tiny poppet (see below)

Make a tiny poppet. We’re talking smaller than hand-held. Thumb size even. Stuff that bad boy with all the money drawing ingredients you can get your hands on (need help? look at my list here.) Draw/paint/embroider it to look like you as much as you can. Doodle money in one hand and something like a paycheck (or more money) in the other. If the place has a uniform or a name tag, make sure you draw yourself in said uniform or name tag.

If you’re into this sort of thing, add something personal to it (hair, nail clippings, blood, a sock, etc). Your poppet may be too small for this but you can always rub your fingers over it meaningfully or spit on it.

Now say something over the poppet. You can use whatever you want, getting as details as you want, or you can use the following:

“Where this doll goes will be the place from which my money flows.”

Now go to the place and discreetly drop the dolls somewhere. In a potted plant, in the drop ceiling of the bathroom, behind a shelf, etc. Somewhere inaccessible. Bonus points if you get it in the manager’s office. Ideally this will be when you pick up the application, drop it off, go in for an interview, or talk to the manager.

Notes:

The easiest poppet to make, especially for this spell, is to simply draw a person on a piece of paper, fold it up as small as possible, and go from there. Poppets made of tissues, a glove, cloth, or clay also work. Use whatever’s the easiest to work with.

This spell requires some serious ninja witch stealth moves. Leaving the poppet in the bathroom or outside the building but in the parking lot is probably the easiest way to go about this.

Originally posted over on my tumblr.

Vanishing Spell [Spell Saturday #7]

While the title and purpose is loosely inspired by the Vanishing Spell from the Harry Potter series, this spell is a This Crooked Crown original.

The spell is not design to make something literally and physical vanish before your eyes but it is intended to remove the object in question from your life and give it back to the world around you. Essentially, it will banish something from your life and scatter it to the world around you.

Because of the specific purpose of this spell, it might not be the best sort of spell to use to banish something from your life like a curse or ghost. Instead, it may be more useful to speed up the selling of a particular item, making a house guest that has stayed too long go away, or something similar. This isn’t intended to be used in a baneful fashion but rather as a dismissal of the object in question.

Make sure you read the whole spell, including the notes, all the way through before attempting. The structure of this spell is specific for reasons outlined below.

Candle Smoke

Vanishing Spell by This Crooked Crown

What you’ll need:

  • Magical circle creating materials
  • Object you want to make disappear or a representation of it
  • 9 white candles and candle-lighting stuff

1.Get your object or the representation of it. If you want to make a non-physical object disappear, like guilt or a bad habit. Write down the thing or place something that represents and reminds you of the thing you want vanished.

2. Cast a circle. Your method of casting a magical circle can depend entirely on your paradigm and purpose. The circle needs to be big enough to hold the object or representation of the object you want to make disappear.

3. Light your white candles and place them outside of the magical circle.

4. Now say or think the following very clearly. Make sure you blow out every single candle at the “as this fire vanishes into smoke” line. This must be done entirely before the final line is said.

[Object name] stands before me

I want it gone.

Disappear [object] from my life

Scatter to the winds and be sent elsewhere

As this fire vanishes into smoke 

[blow out the candles]

[Object] vanishes from my life

5. Now you can clean up the spell, starting with the candles, then the magical circle, and finally the object itself. You may wish to burn the object, especially if it’s something that’s written on a piece of paper. Otherwise, make sure you remove the object from your sight and as close to a door if possible if you can’t just outright throw the object out.

Notes:

  • I am not one who casts magical circles. Outside of specific spells, I almost never cast a magical circle. I don’t see the need of it in my practice. Your style of practice is probably different though. There are hundreds of ways of casting  a magical circle. Pick the method you like best. I usually draw a circle in the dirt or with salt, sugar, or chalk.
  • You absolutely DO need a magical circle for this spell and it definitely should NOT be cast on a surface without doing the magical circle first. If you can’t or don’t want to do a magical circle, you’ll need a very empty space with nothing surrounding the object by a few good feet in all directions. Use common sense here folks. The spell is designed and exists on the theory that it can make stuff go away. So why not contain it in a specific space? An unconstrained spell of this nature might banish stuff you do want in your life like a favorite altar piece, your good coat, or your cat. Risk it if you want but you’ve been warned.
  • I specify nine white candles as nine is a popular number for rebirth or opening new doors in your practice. You can also use the same number of candles that you have number of exists in a room. For example, if you have two windows, a chimney, sink drain, and two doors in your room, you’d need five candles. You can always use just a single candle, if you prefer.

Interested in a pinable image? Try this one:

Vanish Spell

That’s everything! Happy casting!

How to Make a Poppet (tumblr repost)

Now, I’m going to be upfront:

  • This post was written during the process of making a poppet for cursing. While this post can be used for ANY poppet for ANY purpose.
  • Is image heavy; many of the photos are shaky. This is common when I photograph my spell work. I don’t know why but I have my suspicions.
  • Features photographs of charged ingredients, sigils, and spells.
  • Talks about curses
  • Features a mini how-to break glass safely.
  • This is an attempt to be traditionally neutral. I do things different than others and thus my own methods bleed through. Remember to work within and adapt to your own cultural background, paradigm, and practice.
  • Trigger warnings: blood, glass, curses, poppets, sigils, spells, energy, charged items, etc. I’m sure there are others I’m missing but there you go.

This is a follow along using simple ingredients. It starts with how to make the poppet, talks about filling it, making the face and personalizing it, and then finishing it up. Away we go.

First step is to get your materials.

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I really like using felt for poppets. It’s thick, comes in a wide variety of colors, comes in a pretty good size, is easily found, and cheap.

So grab two pieces of felt (I know there’s only one here but I had two), scissors, writing utensil (chalk or pen), sewing needle, thread (maybe different colors, maybe not), pins, a piece of cardboard (this one’s from the bottom of a shopping bag but any piece of cardboard, like one from food cartons), and your filling (more on that, later).

Now that you’ve gotten your materials, pull out your cardboard and sketch half of your poppet’s design. You can skip this step and just sketch on fabric but I like making a template to use in case I want to make more poppets this size and shape. But if you do want to make the template, sketch it out like so:

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Now mine’s pretty stylized, but that’s set for my particular practice. I sketched mine in chalk then again in pen. We sketch only half because of how we’ll cut the fabric. Go ahead and make it a bit bigger than you want it to be because of seam allowance.

Once your happy with the design, cut it out and lay the template on the folded edge of your folded felt (both sheets). See in the photo how the fabric is folded over? There you go. Now trace the template out on the felt. I used chalk.

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Since I’m happy with how it came out on the felt, go ahead and cut it out. Remember to not cut the folded edge and to cut all sheets of felt. You want two sides of the poppet.

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Ta-da! Pretty cute right? I like making my poppets big and fat. There are reasons I do this, but those reasons are specific to my practice.

Now put those pieces together as evenly as you can, pin them, and sew the edges. How you sew them depends on your practice and preference. Some folks like to sew with intent and purpose, literally sewing the spell in. I sometimes will hand sew them then machine sew over the hand sewing to strengthen the seams. Sometimes I machine sew first then hand sew. Other times I’ll do one or the other. With this particular poppet, because I was working quickly, I simply machine sewed it.

Make sure you leave space for you to stuff the poppet with!

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And here he is sewn together but for the head, which is where I’m going to stuff him. Where I stuff the poppet varies. Again, this might be a personal practice thing, but I leave open the spaces I want to effect first. With his poppet, I want to affect the mind, thoughts, and actions so I left the head open. If I wanted to make  a fertility doll, I would leave the legs and crotch area open and fill from there.

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Don’t forget to have someone help you if you need it! Having someone skilled in sewing can help out or answer questions. Any familiars, spirit guides, etc. can help as well. Also, don’t forget to eat and drink. Sometimes making a poppet is an all day affair. Kiki here decided she wanted to watch me work.

Now that break time is over, take a moment to feel proud of yourself. You made a poppet.

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Look at this guy! Now, you can either decorate first or stuff ’em first. Let’s talk about decorating.

Decorating can happen in all sorts of different ways. Painting, drawing, embroidering, etc. I chose to embroider. Here I used white to make a pair of eyes and a smile which is fitting for my target. I also embroidered a red star that represents my target.

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Stuffing is a huge part of poppets and what you put in your poppet depends on your purpose, practice, and preference.

Now the purpose of this poppet is to curse someone. My cursing base is red pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. On top of that I added poison ivy (to poison, irritate, and annoy), deer’s tongue (to control the tongue), peppermint (to cool the passions), broken glass (to make him feel as sick as his behavior makes me feel), and blood (my own, to give it life and power). I dripped anise empowering oil over it to boost the power.

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Other ingredients you can use follows:

Herbs, plants, and spices – the more exotic and everyday:

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You can also use things like infused oils.

Depending on how much time you have, you can soak and dry your fabric, ingredients, stuffing, thread, needles, etc in oils for extra power. You can also drip oils over the fabric as I did with this poppet to empower it.

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Other ingredients can be leftover candle wax. This is especially useful it you did a spell on the target previously and now you want to continue or enhance your work. Take that left over candle wax and put it in the poppet.

I keep my left over candle wax in a mug on a shelf.

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Sigils are also common, popular choices. You can write on the inside of the poppet or the outside. Making up new sigils for each poppet is time consuming but usually worth it.

This particular poppet doesn’t have any sigils on it, but here’s an example of the Necromancer’s house protection sigils:

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Now you can also include dirt, metal bits, sandpaper, sand, wood, and broken glass. I recommend with these items to wrap them separately in a piece of fabric then putting them inside the poppet.

Keep in mind what you’re putting in there and be careful! You don’t want to cut yourself.

I keep my broken glass in paper bags in my storage room, like so:

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A note on working with glass. Let’s say you have half a cup or bowl left from dropping it and you want to use it in spell work. Here’s how you can safely break the glass.

Put your glass on a rag then the rag on a thick folded towel. Don’t use your favorite or best ones as the glass might cut. Also, have a plastic bag or bucket nearby.

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Get another rag and put that on top. Double it up if you can but make sure all the edges of the rag touch the other rag and have a good clearance on all sides. Now fetch a hammer.

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Now smash. Be concise about it. Don’t just go to town. Make controlled strikes. Once you’re satisfied with the breakage, carefully transfer your glass to where-ever you intend to put or store it then take all the rags and towels and shake them over the trash. Then put them in the plastic bag or bucket and carry them to the laundry room to wash them clear. The other option is to toss them out.

So you’ve made your filling decisions but there’s still so much space! I typically stuff my poppets with scraps of material color coded to my own symbolism. This poppet’s limbs where stuffed with black felt coated with the herbs listed above.

Here’s an image of the poppet mostly stuffed:

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Once I was happy with the stuffing, I left enough space to finish my spell. I threaded red thread and outlined the eyes of the poppet (so my target can see the harm he’s done and open his eyes) and crossed over the mouth (to silence him). Like so:

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Then I finished stuffing his head, folded the fabric over, stitched up his head as shown above.

And this is what he looks like complete!

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Hope this helps some folks!

Original post is here.

Lirenne’s Hex (tumblr repost) (Spell Saturday #6)

This one is firmly planted in the realm of pop culture magic, specifically the Dragon Age universe. Taken from Dragon Age: The Masked Empire. So if you haven’t read the book and/or don’t want to be spoiled, skip this post (although, this spoiler is so out place you don’t really know the context without reading it). If you’re not into practicing pop culture magic or paganism, just past this one by.

As a character, I both like and dislike Lirenne. I might have liked her more if I knew more about her but she’s kind of archetype more than a fully fleshed out character which saddens me. She’s also a mid-book entrance character, an apostate mage that specializes in entropy with a bit of creation on the side. Despite this working against uneven characterization, she does have a fantastic hex on page 338 which she uses against a varterral.

For those who don’t know or don’t remember, the varterral is a guardian of elven ruins. You fight one in DA2 and read about one in DA: The Masked Empire. It looks similar to a praying mantis, but blind, venomous, and bound by magic. In The Masked Empire, the varterral “feels our movements through the ground, like a snake, and it tastes the guilt of those who dishonor this place.” (Felassan, page 332) This should bring back memories for DA2 players and readers of The Masked Empire alike.

Onto the spell. First, to quote the book:

Lirenne smiled, even as the varterral turned to Gaspard. “Spirit born of wood and stone and air, you were created to protect those now dead. You have failed in your duty.” She raised her hand, and her staff flared with pale light. “Fail again.” (page 338)

Now, how can we recreate this fantastic little hex in real life?

To defeat an enemy that is more powerful than you, especially someone in a position of authority, this spell would be perfect. This spell would be even better if followed up with a secondary curse. Here’s what you’ll need to complete this hex:

  • A substitute for your enemy. Poppet, picture, piece of hair/skin/nail/object they own.
  • What they’ve done against you or what they do
  • String of some kind

Get your substitute and center yourself. Rage is probably the emotion you’re feeling right now but it doesn’t have to be to rock this spell. Just be absolutely dead set on destroying them.

Pointing or death glaring at the substitute, really focus on the idea that your target will stumble, that for a moment their world will pause, shift, and in that moment, you will strike (that strike could be a second curse or a more mundane method of deposing them.) If you use visualization and/or energy manipulation, visualize the moment where your target will slip up and push your energy out in a sharp flash to cut at the knees, so to speak. (If they rely on their car for example, their knees might be their car’s health).

Now say,

“Creature of spite, ignorance, and hate, you were (trained/taught/granted/born,etc) to (what they’re suppose to be doing). You have failed at this.”

Wrap the substitute with the string, binding it. Focus on the legs but don’t forget the torso. You can also cross out/sew shut the face, eyes, mouth.

Finish up by saying “Now fail again.” Really push that idea of what you want to happen. Take the substitute and bury it at a graveyard or crossroads.

Want some examples? Here you go:

Here’s one for a cop on administrative leave after being a racist dick:

“Creature born of spite, ignorance, and hate, you were trained to protect. You have failed in your duty. Now fail again.”

Another one for a teacher who goes out of their way to harass girls who do not comply to the misogynist school dress code.

“Creature born of spite, ignorance, and hate, you were suppose to educate. You have failed in your duty. Now fail again.”

A third one for an ex-friend who fucked someone over.

“Creature born of spite, ignorance, and hate, you were suppose to stay loyal at my side. You have failed. Now fail again.”

And so on. Really, the uses for this simple spell are endless, to be honest, especially if you pair it up with a curse.
Happy hexing! See the original tumblr post here.

How to Make a Poppet

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Now, I’m going to be upfront:

  • This post was written during the process of making a poppet for cursing. While this post can be used for ANY poppet for ANY purpose.
  • Is image heavy; many of the photos are shaky. This is common when I photograph my spell work. I don’t know why but I have my suspicions.
  • Features photographs of charged ingredients, sigils, and spells.
  • Talks about curses
  • Features a mini how-to break glass safely.
  • This is an attempt to be traditionally neutral. I do things different than others and thus my own methods bleed through. Remember to work within and adapt to your own cultural background, paradigm, and practice.
  • Trigger warnings: blood, glass, curses, Gov. Rick Perry, poppets, sigils, spells, energy, charged items, etc. I’m sure there are others I’m missing but there you go.

This is a follow along using simple ingredients. It starts with how to make the poppet, talks about filling it, making the face and personalizing it, and then finishing it up. Away we go.

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