Over the last few months I’ve received a number of emails relating to the famous anti-nightmare charm of horse’s hair braided through a natural hagstone. Even though the post I wrote in which I mention these was from two years ago, around the time our podcast episode on Hagstones came out, interest in these really picked up around Đurđevdan of this year, when quite a few of you reached out asking if I’d ever make some of these for purchase.
I try to do something special for St. George every year, whether it’s a charm I can make available to help others or a private devotion to mark the victory of the spring season. This year, from Đurđevdan to Vidovdan, I’ve been working on a set of charms against the evil eye through the auspices of Sts. George and Vitus, whose aims are to anticipate, apprehend, and destroy the eye before it even befalls their targets. These charms are a collaboration made with my friend Vanessa of Sword + Scythe, crafted in honour of the Lance of St. George, Ascalon, and born of our mutual love of folk Catholic and Orthodox technologies. Vanessa’s are a gorgeous set of lance pendants whose garnets are set into sterling silver with a powder I created ritually on Đurđevdan, and mine are charm bags that combine that powder, a St. Vitus powder, and an anti-evil eye powder to anticipate, nullify, and deflect three traditional sources of the eye: jealousy, awe/admiration, and spite. Both will be made available at the end of the month, on St. Martha’s day—a dragon saint dear to the both of our fiery hearts.
In the process of creating this series with Vanessa, I also birthed a clutch of these writhing serpent defenders, both in honour of the good saint’s lance and horse, as well as in response to the increased interest in anti-nightmare magic. While deceptively simple—born of threading braided horsehair through a holed stone while muttering the famous charm recorded in Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft—these have proven time and time again to be incredibly effective in warding away hag riding and “evil sleep” of all kinds, while still allowing for spiritually significant omens in dreams to manifest their harsh warnings when they must. With the “Man of Might” rhyme lovingly whispered into each braid and knot, each hagstone awakened and hissed to awareness through the techniques of my training, and dragged through offerings of red, black, and white to vivify their potency in averting the Mora, these guardians too kissed the same powders present in my forthcoming Sts. George and Vitus charms against the eye.
I wanted to ensure these had an additional “boost” beyond the usual recipe, so I prepared them with some of the same methods and materia I had worked with continually throughout the Đurđevdan to Vidovdan period. Thirteen are available for purchase below to hang above your bed, guard you in sleep, and protect your spirit body while in flight with your familiars. If you’re interested in hearing more about nightmares and hag riding, check out the new Frightful Howls episode as well! Stay safe and bind the mare with her own hair.
All charms have sold. Thank you for your patronage!
Tha mon o´ micht, he rade o´nicht
wi´ neither swerd ne ferd ne licht.
He socht tha mare, he fond tha mare,
he bond tha mare wi´ her ain hare.
Ond gared her swar by midder-micht
she wolde nae mair rid o´ nicht
whar ance he rade, thot mon o´ micht.
With Cunning & Command 