Traditional witch, diviner, and spirit-worker from the Balkans. Fascinated with folk magic, grimoires, saints, devils, necromancy, Quimbanda, traditional astrology and dragons.
Dearest Karcists! It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since we last announced our St. Nicholas’ Day group working. We were incredibly touched by the success of last year’s St. Nicholas’ Day Candle Service, which allowed Key and I (Sfinga) to raise over $2000 USD for our Cabula as part of a winter fundraiser. This year, we’ve decided to continue in our newfound tradition of December Nikoljdan (the Serbian Orthodox feast of St. Nicholas on the 19th of December) workings and open up this opportunity again into an even more involved community rite. As the winter grows and the days approach the longest night, we intend to take up the banner of Sveti Nikola once more and build on this opportunity to instantiate a yearly tradition of workings by our hands for the community—both in magic and in proceeds.
By donating to this group rite, your name (or the name of a loved one—please contact us if you would like the name to be different from that which appears on the PayPal receipt) will be dressed in two different petitions: a ritual of fortune, levity, and joy from myself, Sfinga, and a ritual for road opening, insight, and wisdom from B. Key. The goals are closely aligned with the previous year’s rite, and they will likely keep these themes going forward throughout the years with some changes determined by divination, albeit the methodologies will vary in the spirit of St. Nicholas’ many traditions. This year, we will be working primarily with by the light of the sorcerous lamp, calling on the saint as both navigator amidst the stormy seas and devil perched on the perilous cliffs.
Key and I will once more draw on our familiarity of St. Nicholas veneration from the Serbian and Dutch folk traditions. Last year’s working was a candle service, and this year candles will only be one part of a greater whole, in which we will construct two complex oil lamps (one for the saint and one for the devil, as is tradition) with each name given directly to the herbal matter within. From these two mothers we will create many daughter-lamps which we will complete the feast with by floating them out into the lake to light the voyage for each named party’s prosperity, success, luck, and cunning insight into future possibilities in the new year. We will also prepare a feast for the saint and all the spirits that walk with him. In addition to a medley of Serbian and Dutch foods, a slava bread will also be prepared, whose crumbs, along with Thursday salt and a prosperity powder, will be added to the daughter-lamps we will float into the waters before midnight. We’re looking to double the offerings and double the effort for this year, and continue the momentum ever forward in love, honour, and gratitude to all the communities that have nourished us and whom we hope to continue nourishing in return!
This time will also mark the beginning of a series of workings on Sveta Varvara (the 17th of December on the Old Calendar for St. Barbara), linking the trinity of successive days of 17th (Varvara), 18th (Sava Osvećeni), and 19th (Nikola) for the growing of Christmas wheat and oracular power. Several charms will grow out of these workings which we will keep you updated on, including an exciting collaboration we’ll be able to speak more on in the new year.
A blog post containing pictures and our reflections on the ritual will go live in the days following the feast so that all who participated may have a record of its completion. The rite will be performed on the 19th of December.
If you would like to submit your name for this working, please use the link below. Subscribers to our Esteemed Initiate tier on Patreon are automatically entered into this rite at a discount as part of their monthly group ritual service.
All proceeds will go directly to our Cabula, as was the case last year, in the spirit of the Winter holidays. As always, we hope that this intersection of our traditions and communities serves you well in your New Year’s petitions and plans, and provides an ample boost to all you seek to grow and harvest in the coming months!
Thank you for participating in this year’s rite! A follow up post will be made available in the coming days.
On the Eastern Orthodox feast of St. Michael the Archangel, Maria of Green Dragon Healer and I continued our work of producing charms adapted from the folk Orthodox tradition. We are deep in the Wolf Days now, and St. Michael the Archangel is one of the foremost wolf saints, known in Serbia as the Dušovadnik or Soul-Taker. It is to him that we light the final candle upon a dying person’s bed to guide their soul into the afterlife, and his sword that touches the water that bathes the corpse upon rest. Drawing on Serbian and Greek traditions, Maria and I celebrated his feast with koljivo, pear liquor, incense, and light. While koljivo is typically given only to those saints that have experienced an earthly death, typically excluding angels as well as the likes of St. Elijah, in this case we prepared the traditional dish in honour of the many ancestors and souls supplicated in this work.
The charms presented before the icon.
These charms are born of a recipe Maria and I divined on, drawing on our shared training and familiarity in Orthodox folk magic. Their purpose is primarily that of protection—against evil eye, curses, vengeful spirits, and outright spiritual assault—as well as the cultivation of spiritual valour, being the bravery, confidence, and raw might that helps one conjure and command, and make effective one’s petitions and prayers. Created under the aegis of St. Michael, who gave unto Solomon the very ring of fealty that allowed him to command the demons, we crafted our charms with the guidance of our spirits to empower those who hold them with increased authority, that their prayers are amplified by the celestial choirs and chthonic wolves alike; that each oral charm and prayer uttered have more vigour, tenacity, and power in manifestation, dragging others into being with every repetition.
A close up of the miniature icons Maria created.
These charms are primarily born of earth and fire, each housing a complex matrix of dirts gathered from cemeteries, churches, and places of power across Serbia, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, England, Canada, and the United States. In addition to dirts of nine nuns, nine priests, nine bishops, and nine cemetery gates, these charms also house dirt taken from the temple of Olympian Zeus, nine Orthodox churches dedicated to St. Michael, a Serbian ruin linked to the Master of the Wolves, and the banks of the river Acheron gathered by a dear friend who is also a traditional Balkan witch. Divination beans, rosemary, frankincense, Syrian rue, and a powder dedicated to St. Michael as Wolf Shepherd and Psychopomp are nestled within the heart of the charm along with many other unnamed ingredients, bound together by thread, gold sheen obsidian, yellow quartz, and custom miniature icons created by Maria. These icons were ritually prepared and anointed with a trinity of oils for protection, command, and necromantic power throughout the Wolf Days, while the core matrix was empowered from St. Demetrios’ Day to St. Michael’s, receiving an additional boost on Sts. Cosmos and Damian.
While the bulk of this work was carried out during this winter season, its inception was first born far back in the dregs of the old winter. Each charm contains a potent base of powders composed of burnt offerings, paper money, and talisman papers offered during the four most important days of the fifteen days of the Lunar New Year. While this custom is not Balkan in origin, Maria’s own fusion of practices from her training in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Taoist folk practices contributed to these charms heavily, as any practice that involves paying one’s debts to the ancestors, regardless of cultural and religious system, ultimately is one that will be recognized by the Master of the Wolves. During these days, Maria and I made offerings of fruit, cooked foods, rice, candies, alcohol, cakes, incense, and far more, with Maria reciting mantras she was given the transmission to use from her lineage in China to empower and uplift each prayer. It is the burnt offerings and talismans of these rites that were saved and incorporated into a powder for the charms you see here, ushering in additional protection, prosperity, and command by providing proof of previous pacts honoured, ancestors supplicated, and celestial guardians of the dead honoured in their own right during the turnings of the seasons.
These charms may be carried on one’s purpose for protection, authority, command, bravery, and an increased sensitivity to the celestial and chthonic guardians of the seasons. They may also be left on shrines, hung over doors, or placed with one’s ancestors for clearer messages, additional protection, passive increase to one’s authority in conjuration, and additional fortune in all ventures. One key boon these charms bestowed is an increased ease and levity when dealing with cemetery guardians, celestial judges, and any spirit of authority in charge of taking account of proper etiquette in liminal spaces. By relying on St. Michael’s command, the various priests, nuns, bishops, and mighty dead called on by dirt, spit, blood, and golden resin, and the additional lineage holders in both of our magical practices that attest to the efforts made to honour the seasons and their chthonic-solar emissaries, these charms assist their wielders in having increased luck, communication, and ease when entering cemeteries, churches, places of transition, and in the acquisition of raw authoritative power. While they pair well with our previous charms to Cyprian and Justina, they ultimately work on their own to increase authority, spiritual vigour, instil bravery before adversaries, soothe anxiety that can lead to spiritual offences, and instil command over the spirits of in-between spaces. Wield on your person when engaging in grimoiric work, hold when petitioning saints and angels, and deploy especially when you wish to move your ancestors to work for an intended goal in unison without fracture and disagreement. These charms are especially helpful to those who deal with ancestral resistance and blocks towards life decisions, as it soothes their worries through the authority of St. Michael and the memory of previous petitions, offerings, and supplications honoured and promises kept; encouraging them to keep their end of the same bargains.
Anoint with any holy oil heavy with frankincense weekly, especially on Sunday if possible, or burn the same incense below it.
All charms will be shipped out within a week of purchase. We thank you so much for your patronage and hope that they bring you luck, power, and vitality in the cold months ahead!
St. Michael’s Charms of Spirit Valour
Charms of might, vigour, bravery, protection, and valour through the aegis of St. Michael, as well as spiritual command over and in unifying the dead. Shipping included.
On the Eastern Orthodox feast of Saints Cyprian and Justina of Antioch, most holy and most powerful intercessors, a clutch of charms in honour of their exorcistic abilities and prowess were born.
I had been intending on making a set of these charms for the two saints inspired by Orthodox folk traditions, drawing from my training in different forms of saint veneration, folk magic, and oral charming in Western Serbia. After my last release for the holy pair, I wanted to make some amulets in their honour that would not only be more affordable, but whose proceeds would also be donated directly back to the teachers and sources of Cyprianic magic that have informed my practice across the traditions I have training in, named and unnamed, acknowledged and hidden. In divining on their ingredients, consecration, and nature, it became quickly apparent that I was to incorporate techniques and lore I learned across their Balkan traditions, most notably Serbian, Greek, and Cypriot. As such, I invited my good friend Maria of Green Dragon Healer to join me in their construction, and lend her Greek herbal training to the various recipes I had picked up on them in my travels.
Koljivo, freshly-baked bread, incense, wine, and prayer offered before the saints.
On the 15th of October, I used holy water I collected from a font dedicated to Sts. Cyprian and Justina on their feast in Meniko, Cyprus to bake a bread that was prayed over, charmed, and ensorcelled to grow with particular virtues necessary for the work. Maria brought over a koljivo she made and ornamented with powdered sugar and almond slices to present in offering alongside red wine, spring water, and black Orthodox St. Cyprian incense used for exorcism. We joined in offering a litany of traditional prayers sourced from various Akathists to the holy pair, and fumigated both the forty-one beans that would be used in finalizing the recipe as well as the purple cloth that would serve as their skin and surface of divination. Once set, we laid out the cloth in a large square and cast the beans before the saint, receiving the omen necessary to proceed with the original divined materia list immediately without modification.
Cutting half the bread into twenty-one small squares, we anointed each piece with a trinity of oils—one of Cyprian, one of Justina, and one of a mitigating stellar force that became known to us in the divination to carry forth the energy of Cyprian’s magician disciples and Justina’s pious nuns. Enlivening them once more as the fulfillment of the pact of each individual amulet, we layered all other herbs and materia over these squares, including pieces of incense, herbs associated with Cyprian and Justina across the Balkans, and various mineral and animal ingredients, finally dividing the forty-one beans that approved of the formula between them all. Each amulet bag was then tied up with purple thread, over which was layered white hemp cord that holds together a real freshwater pearl and a small hagstone each.
The nest of charms within their crown.
Each hagstone was dragged through dirt, blood, milk, and holy water, the serpent which passed through the hole of its egg vivified from the vespers of his first Orthodox feast on the second of October to the day of the fifteenth, with both the revised and the old Julian calendars being honoured together. Through the amulets, dragon and pearl are married once more, each hagstone being bound to a freshwater pearl anointed with holy water, holy oil, and tears from the icons of Cyprian and Justina in their name. Pearls are especially sacred to St. Justina, and as the holy water and holy oil themselves were either gathered or purchased from monasteries and churches bearing their names on their feast days, so too were the pearls enlivened in honour of the temporal and spatial dimensions of their veneration and faith.
One exemplar from amongst the clutch.
These charms were then prayed over extensively across traditions. Over nine days, Maria recited daily exorcistic prayers intended for lay use from the Greek Orthodox tradition, empowering them to keep away evil spirits, restless dead, vampires, and all manner of malefica. During that same period, I offered a Serbian Orthodox prayer for protection against witchcraft and the familiars and servants of other sorcerers, including those sent to spy in spiritual voyeurism. Finally, they were programmed to benefit their owners in empowering the communicative abilities and oracular manifestations of friendly, allied spirits, thereby acting not only as wards against those unwanted but also granting Cyprian’s saintly cloak of authority and magical prowess to those spirits who follow their sorcerer as closely and dutifully as his own disciples.
The students of Cyprian and the nuns of Justina were supplicated throughout this process, lending their hands and vows to the trinity of bread, pearl, and hagstone to affirm that these charms will continue to empower the ability of their owners to receive recipes, workings, and instructions for the cultivation of different spiritual activities directly through them. Hold in your hands as you meditate with your spirits or place it on a shrine that you wish to communicate better with or boost the powers of. Cleanse your body with it by wiping it down each limb and under the toes to rid yourself of malefica. Carry on your person to neutralize prying eyes and ill intents. Place at the feet of Sts. Cyprian and Justina in prayer and then move by your bedside to incubate magical instructions in dreams. When divining on recipes with your spirits, hold this charm in your hand or have it by your divinatory tools in order to hear the spirits more clearly. Anoint on Saturdays with an oil of St. Cyprian, a holy oil, or an oil of rosemary to keep fresh and empowered.
Sts. Cyprian and Justina’s Charms of Exorcistic Power
One charm bag for keeping away the hungry dead, malefica, and witchcraft, and empowering the protective dead. Shipping included. All proceeds will be donated to different sources that have informed Sfinga’s Cyprianic practice, be they teachers, temples, or churches.
After many months of prayer, supplication, and consecration, these charms, born of the fiery hands of Sts. George and Vitus, are at last available.
I’ve teased the mention of these for some time both on the podcast and on our official Discord server for our Patreon supporters, but the origin of these vigilant eyes began early in April of this year, when I first began to flesh out the shape of what my yearly offering to St. George would involve. While not always resulting in a public charm to share with the world, this practice has been one that has helped mark the triumph of the spring and summer seasons through the auspices of St. George, Jarilo, and all the spirits that follow under his red banner. This year, the thematic motif elected through divination was that of St. George’s lance, specifically in its capability to blot out that most difficult and tenacious foe: the consuming voyeurism of the evil eye. So when my great friend Vanessa of the illustrious Sword + Scythe informed me that she was working on a charm for St. George’s lance as well, I was absolutely over the moon.
We spent the “George season” of his Catholic to Orthodox feasts workshopping what a collaboration in honour of this mighty saint might look like. Divination revealed that my own charms would require a base of three different powders, each prepared at a different point of the season between Đurđevdan (St. George’s Day) on May 6th and Vidovdan (St. Vitus’ Day) on June 28th—a time period associated with the vanishing of the Pleiades from the night sky so that those seven sisters (or brothers) may consult with the Mothers of the Sun, Moon, and Winds respectively. The first would be a powder of St. George’s lance, born of herbs traditionally harvested on his day for vigour, stamina, potency, and protection, united under the image of his spear to seek out, identify, and neutralize the evil eye. Born, fed, and sealed on his day, this was the same powder I mailed Vanessa to include under each garnet faceted in their gorgeous sterling silver necklace charms.
Slava bread made on Vidovdan presented to my icon corner.
The second was a St. Vitus powder created and fed on Vidovdan from traditional herbs and materia under his watchful gaze, birthed to lend these charms the ability to detect, identify, and anticipate sources of malefica, Evil Eye, intrusive scrying, and magical attack. I offered and prepared a full meal to the saint including fish, projara, ajvar, olives, cheese, a slavski kolač, and many more offerings as part of this work. The kolač itself would become an integral part of the charms to come, as each charm bag includes three dried squares of this bread to represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (as well as George, Vitus, and the Mother of the Moon as a folkloric figure invoked in this work).
The third is an anti-evil eye powder to anticipate, nullify, and deflect three traditional sources of the eye: jealousy, awe/admiration, and spite. This formula was born out of several recipes and herb lists I collected across Croatia and Serbia, which were then confirmed and added to through divination. A brief list of some of the most vocal allies that went into its creation include: blackthorn, hawthorn, garlic, red pepper, fulgurite, salt, hyssop, dogwood, wheat, mica from a prominent witch mountain, yew, rosemary, valerian, fur of a black wolf, ground pearl, and much more. Additionally, powders I created with the instructions of my mentors in Balkan witchcraft for the Pleiades, the Mother of the Moon, and the Forest Mother were also included in this dust to further augment its virtues to the task at hand.
Each charm was tied up in cloth with red thread anointed in an anti-evil eye oil, and adorned with a glass nazar bead washed in seven holy waters sourced from sites of power in the Balkans, to watch for gossip, lies, threats, possessiveness (over one’s own work and spirits), and jealousy. I am immensely proud of these and have already given some out as gifts to close friends to test their abilities to great effect. The red threads are tied in a loop so that they may be hung in one’s home, facing the door or a prominent window of one’s choosing, so that their burning eye may blot out the venom of adversaries and intrusions with the might of St. George’s own spear.
The charms writhing beneath my tree of St. George.
Vanessa expertly made their own charms in the spirit of St. George’s immense ability to protect the weak and deliver decisive action in the face of danger. In addition to housing my powder, their charms include garnets that were prayed over on his Catholic feast day, washed with holy water, and placed with a St. George relic medal until they were set into the beautiful lances. I have been wearing mine faithfully in devotion to him and have already noticed its benefit as a protective amulet, especially in its precision and virility.
Vanessa’s photograph of our charms together.
I am immensely proud of our work together as the first of many other collaborations to come! Three dozen are available for sale below. Hang them above your doors and windows, or situate them to watch over where you sleep or work. These are slightly larger charm bags made to be hung in the home, in the car, or wherever the Eye’s consuming gaze watches you most. Vanessa has seven of their excellent charms available on their website available [here].
Sts. George and Vitus’ Charms Against the Evil Eye
One charm bag for voracious, proactive protection against all maladies the Evil Eye may bring. Shipping included.
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.
The clutch in the dusk sun.
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.
We mentioned that in light of the incredible success of our St. Nicholas’ Day Candle Service, as part of a fundraiser for our Cabula, that we would continue to occasionally release sorcerous goods as a way to raise funds for the communities we cherish, and the time has once again come! This time, we’re far from alone—in addition to Key and my (Sfinga’s) efforts, we’re joined by our talented and wonderful friends, some of whom you might have heard on the podcast before, and others whom we hope to have on in the future! In collaboration with Gari Noriyuki of Manticore’s Den, Mahigan Saint-Pierre of Kitchen Toad, Sarah Jezebel of Lovi Artes, Austin Fuller of Bane X Bramble, and Jackson Walker of Haus of Ophidious, the two of us are contributing our own work in service of our Foam-born Lady and our beloved temple. Our fundraiser’s mission statement holds:
In honour of our Cabula Mavile Kitula kia Njila, the seven of us have come together to present a bounty of offerings born of devotion towards spirit and community alike. Crafted in cooperation with spirit and in service to our Cabula, we are excited to share a collection of charms, devotional items, candles, perfume, and oils made to better serve the bonds between you and your spirits, while contributing their proceeds to the temple that nourishes our own.
What follows are two offerings, one from Sfinga and one from Key, crafted through communion of our patroness Aphrodite in all that She has revealed and taught over the last year and a half since our experience with Her, with the focus of Her providence turned from love of friendship to love of community. In cherishing bonds with spiritual siblings, friends, spirits, and elders alike, we present two charms to facilitate the growth of intimate bonds and trust between you and your multivalent kin as well, with all proceeds going to our Cabula directly.
Aphrodite’s Charms of Reconciliation
These charms, nestled in leather drawstrings bags for convenient and inconspicuous use, are built over a tripartite powder recipe I had received in my work with Aphrodite. I’ve called these “Charms of Reconciliation” as their chief purpose is to smooth over misunderstandings, confusion, ill-formed and clumsy statements, and serious offences between their holders and spirits. The offerings Key and I put out for our initial Foam-born Aphrodite collection were grounded in Agape, Eros, and Philia, with a special focus on the latter in its exaltation of friendship and comradery. This charm too is an extension of this, focusing on the hard work of friendship in its repair, and in fostering the skills necessary to mend and soothe what was bruised, especially with offended and neglected spirit bonds, in a greater commitment to integrity and care.
We’ve discussed many times on the podcast how careful one must be with their wording around spirits, and how different spirits qualify what counts as a “promise” in highly divergent ways. The base of this charm is built for the purposes of not only protecting against the anger and ire of offended spirits, but on channelling the grace of Aphrodite to awaken sympathy, understanding, and a psychic vantage of a more prosperous future through the cultivation of grace, forgiveness, and greater growth and care. Each charm contains three powders placed under the guidance of three stellar patrons: one of reconciliation and friendship through Venus in Pisces, one of excellent communication and wit through Mercury in Gemini, as well as one of psychic perception and seership through the Pleiades. In this way, the groundwork and trust built through better communication and pact-making can be further enhanced through the growth of seership and scrying, which will enable their owners to continue to negotiate and work together with their spirits with increased accuracy.
Additionally, each charm contains a fully consecrated copy of PGM X. 24–35, one of the “charms to restrain anger” which also works against “enemies, accusers, brigands, phobias, and nightmares”. This charm was written with consecrated ink on genuine papyrus and rolled tightly over a cinnamon stick previously included in an offering to Aphrodite, then bound tight in consecrated cord that was anointed in Key’s Oil of Nepherieri. This papyrus was enchanted not only for the resolution of these conflicts, but to motivate spirits to your side in order to assist you in remediating others, and in protecting you from slander and misunderstandings that could harm your reputation.
Ultimately, these are discreet charms born of love and a desire for deeper communion with spirits and communities alike. Each one has a genuine hagstone tied to it, specifically chosen from a batch of ones I keep on reserve because they were gifts, to not only allow slander, misunderstandings, gossip, and ill intentions to slip through the hole and be directed away from you, but also to carry forth that torch of friendship and generosity into the charm. The hagstones were washed in waters I had brought back from Aphrodite’s temple in Cyprus, as well as wine that had rehydrated the powder of doves given unto the goddess.
Their design is intentionally discreet, so that you can carry them with you to new places to ensure smoother communion with local spirits, receive favours and boons from spirits wherever you go, have an easier time communicating with new friends and beings, foster better community between yourself and others, and cement better pacts in the making. Carry yours with you to confer their blessings or keep them in your home and working spaces to cultivate their benefit for all your shrines. Hold them on your person when conjuring new spirits, or suspend them from your belt when working magic outdoors. Keep them by your bed for protection from nightmares and an easier time communing with spirits in your dreams. All that is needed is to whisper into the hagstone to ask for increased psychic ability and ease of conversation with spirits before sleeping, though they can also be suspended over the bed or placed under the pillow for the same ends.
All charms have sold as of May 23, 2025. Thank you!
Aphrodite’s Charms of Communion
Key’s contribution is a similarly discreet charm, being easily carried as a keychain or affixed to a bag or backpack. Created out of seven copper lamellas each engraved with the seven Greek vowels arranged in an acrostic, this charm was blessed through multiple weeks of conjuration and enchantment with the nymphs and daimons of Aphrodite to bring their bearers closer to compatible communities, mentors, and friends in whichever spiritual and vocational pursuits they desire. Be they training in a particular tradition or gaining favour in an industry for work, these copper talismans, as they jingle and chime, will stir forth the Venusian spirits of the airs to you and facilitate a smoother flow of social opportunities for lasting friendships and connections. Enchanted as the chimes of the very same nymphs we worked with in our Foam-born collection, these are easy to carry tools that can be divined with through sortilege, bound to keyrings and everyday wear, and hung in the wind to bring forth powerful new spiritual allies. They attract good spirits and favourable connections simply by their presence, so daily use through handling them is recommended. The affixed beads were similarly anointed in Key’s Oil of Philia and Oil of Nepherieri, boosting their potency.
Burn incense over them and jingle them together like bells while praying to draw your desired communities to you. Carry them with you to increase the chances of overhearing the right reference, meeting the right person who can introduce you to the right friend, or coming across the right post on social media. Use them to call new, friendly spirits to your side, and combine with Sfinga’s charm for ease of creating and maintaining pacts.
All charms have sold as of May 23, 2025. Thank you!
All purchases will be shipped out within two weeks of purchase.
We thank you so much for your support and appreciation! It is our honour and pleasure to benefit the wonderful sorcerers who patron our wares and listen to our podcast in their own journeys in magic, while also nourishing the temple that trains us to better move through the world as warriors and healers. Laroyê!
After a full month of gathering, conjuration, and consecration, I am deeply pleased to unveil a new offering in the holy name of Sveti Haralampije, or St. Charalambos—the beloved saint known in the Serbian folk tradition as the Gospodar Svih Bolesti, or “Lord of All Diseases.” Here is a saint so beloved and revered for his capacity to heal any and all ailments that his very feast, celebrated February 10th or 23rd depending on the calendar, is understood to be a last chance to ward off the Čuma, a spirit of disease and illness sometimes said to be the wrathful form of the folk saint Bibi, who is her kinder, protective face when placated appropriately. The Balkan traditions vary on which saint’s day is the true feast upon which the Čuma is propitiated, with Čumindan being for the majority of Serbia Sveti Atanasije, whose feast at the end of January aligns with one of the most common dates that Bibi herself is honoured. It is during this period, right before Sretenje or Old Candlemas, that various rituals are performed to placate her wrath so that she does not become the “right hand of the Devil” and lay waste upon our settlements in her black-cloaked form as wandering witch.
It was on St. Athanasius’ day that this work began, then, with the preliminary offerings given unto Čuma and Bibi in both guises: shoes so that she may walk freely, a walnut comb so that she may brush her hair, a mirror so that she may see herself, and various sweets that she may refresh herself. According to folk tradition, by showing her this kindness and welcoming her as a house guest, as opposed to denying her entry and sustenance, her wrath is cooled, and she instead enters as an aunt and ally, softened by the hospitality. Much of Balkan folk magic, of course, involves the naming of familial pacts, such that even troublesome spirits are given their valued role within the clan structure. As Čuma is given her kindness, so too is she implored to pass over us and return that kindness by sparing us from her hordes of plague witches.
These blessings were built upon through the important holy day of Sretenje (Candlemas), finally leading into Charalambos’ day proper. The Lord of All Diseases is likewise given as one of the candidate dates of Čumindan in other parts of the Balkans—though more importantly this, for some villages, is the true end of the Wolf Days (the winter season beginning in early November), and the last opportunity to thank and herald the Master of the Wolves. It is on his day that the serpents below begin to burrow their way ever closer to the surface of the light, stirred by Old Candlemas and drawn towards the first Saturday of Great Lent, Todorova Subota or Hroma Subota (Theodore’s Saturday or Lame Saturday), in which Veliki Todor and his todorci riders embark on their nightly procession.
St. Charalambos is particularly notable for having lived to 113 years old. He was brutally martyred despite his age, lacerated with iron hooks and flayed alive, his only response to his torturers being: “Thank you, my brethren, for scraping off the old body and renewing my soul for new and eternal life.” It should come as no surprise, then, that St. Charalambos is deeply linked to serpent power within the folk tradition, as is any saint who was flayed; his ecstasies being inherently intertwined with the healing potency of shedding the skin.
In addition to being a powerful healer, he is also the patron saint of apiaries and beekeepers, precisely because he was able to heal others with honey. A jar of honey was sanctified in his name on his feast, during which he was also honoured with freshly baked bread, and the honey from within was used to mark my front door as well as each icon of him that I possess, in honour of his power and in memory of his pact with Čuma.
It was this bread and honey that laid the groundwork for the charms I created with him. From the period of his feast to Todorova Subota, I continuously prayed to the retinue of wolf and serpent spirits to which he belongs, gathering the necessary herbs and preparing the sorcerous powders that would go within these charms. In addition to propitiating Veliki Todor with sacrifice, I continually kept my shrine to the Master of the Wolves in illumination throughout, reminding him through prayer and offering of the ledger of deeds and boons made good on. Throughout this process, I continually prayed for the petition to be allowed to create a set of charms under his auspices for the healing of disease and the prevention of illness, by way of creating mobile, portable satellites of this pact between the martyr and Čuma for others to benefit from.
When the time finally came to create these, and the requisite omens were revealed, I prepared a set of cotton muslin drawstring bags, suffumigating them with myrrh and anointing them with holy water gathered from a well sacred to St. Charalambos. The bread specially baked for and offered on his feast was divided into equal parts and placed within each bag as a promise of the fulfillment of its magic. Rosemar, thyme, basil, lemon balm, wormwood, broadleaf plantain, eyebright, and many additional herbs picked for their virtues in healing different parts of the body were wrapped around this bread, to which were also divided the full 41 beans used in divination to approve of the recipe and enchantment and a generous helping of specially-made Thursday Salt. In addition to several powders sourced from my own recipes and study, attuned to different deities and fixed stars relevant for this working, I also prepared for each bag one small reflective mirror that was anointed with the honey consecrated on his feast. Each mirror was presented before Čuma, reminding her that whomever carries this bag upon their person has paid her their due and has called her “Aunt”—meaning that as they are family, so too must she treat them kindly and spare them.
To verify that these pacts were confirmed, a specific physical omen was demanded of every single mirror, with no charm being complete without its verified appearance. Key, who was present for the making of these charms, was my secondary witness—we both had to agree that we witnessed the physical manifestation before continuing. The design of these charm bags are intentionally plainer and more subtle than many of my other offerings, so that they may be carried easily on one’s person as an ordinary Christian amulet that one could easily suggest was purchased from a monastery gift shop. My wish is for these to be kept in one’s purse or shoulder bag without any anxiety as to what others would think or feel if they were discovered.
The completed charms before his icon.
Finally, a cumulative offering was given unto Čuma in her guise as Bibi, with candy, mirrors, money, bread, and honey placed before her alongside a walnut comb in memory of her pact. After reciting a lengthy prayer in her honour, she was reminded that each mirror within the charms was given the same honey sweetening her tongue now in St. Charalambos’ cooperation and care, and as such the charms carry, independently of me as their maker, the same blessing and safety my pact with her generates for me. Key and I tied little wooden crosses to each bag using purple thread and oral charms, completing the consecration by extinguishing one beeswax candle’s flame into each cross before relighting it again to instill the spirit fully within. In this way, each cross has already suffered once in the place of its owner—just as we say that lightning does not strike the nettles (“neće grom u koprive” in Serbian, “wo Brennnesseln stehen, schlug der Blitz nicht ein” in German), for nettle already stings as lightning does—so too do many of our rituals involve putting out controlled fire first on the tongue or into the wood of the home so that we are already “bitten” once, and therefore cannot be again by accidents and tempests. Through calling on Christ’s resurrection, each charm was fully imbued and reminded of their pact; that they have already paid their toll to the spirits of disease, and that they have already suffered a blight once. In this way, their conjuration is complete, through the settlement of their virtues and the honouring of their place as wards against all disease and illness, and the swift curing of any aches, pains, and viruses that may come with time.
Carry these on you for protection and to cure ailments. These charms are fully self sufficient and do not need any upkeep, but praying to them, holding them between the hands and above the afflicted area of the body, and anointing the cross with holy oil once a month is always welcome. Pray for continued safety and protection against all blights, in the name of St. Charalambos and Christ Eternal, and walk through the world with renewed confidence and peace.
Twenty of these charms were made under the auspices of St. Charalambos and his retinue, drawing on traditional Balkan folk magical techniques as well as personal innovations through spirit teachings. If you would like to purchase one or more for yourself or a loved one, the link is below and includes shipping. Please allow a week for orders to be fulfilled and shipped to the address provided via PayPal.
All charms have been sold as of March 27, 2025. Thank you so much for your patronage!
O, milosrdni mučeniče, moli se Gospodu za nas, da nas sačuva od gladi i svake bolesti, i da nam podari izobilje plodova zemaljskih, i umnoženje stoke potrebne ljudima i svega što nam je na korist a ponajviše da se udostojimo, molitvama tvojim, Carstva Nebeskog Hrista Boga našega, Kome priliči čast i poklonjenje, sa Bespočetnim Ocem Njegovim i Presvetim Duhom, sada i uvek i u vekove vekova.
At long last, here is an offering two and a half years in the making, born of discipline, love, veneration, and deep, sorcerous hunger. In the holy names of Saints Cyprian and Justina of Antioch, the magician and exorcist, warlock and virgin, theurge and mystic, the nail of command and the palm of cunning—here are a pair of tools for the discerning karcist following in the legacy of these mightiest of exemplars.
It is no secret that these blessed martyrs are some of my most intimate and long lasting patrons, with much of my personal and professional life being dedicated to the exploration and study of their mysteries. As I am presently wrapping up a crucial project I have undertaken in their honour, it felt right to finally put out into the world a pair of magical fetishes created in reflection and fulfillment of this very journey, from the very pilgrimage Key and I undertook which resulted in us being forever changed on Aphrodite’s shores, to the thousands upon thousands of prayers collected upon each gathering of knowledge and communion. Whether you’re a devoted follower of Sts. Cyprian and Justina looking to establish a deeper relationship with them, or a karcist looking to harness Cyprian’s authority over magic and Justina’s capacity to unmake its very fabric, this pairing is born of their mutual inseparability in power and wisdom. Drawing on my training and initiation into several forms of Balkan folk Orthodox cunning crafts and oral charming traditions, as well as personal study under Orthodox folk practitioners who venerate Sts. Cyprian and Justina, both the prayer rope and the horn charm were crafted with the aim of sharing some of the potent magics that went into all the adventure and training these saints have opened the roads to across my travels.
The Virgin’s Tears Prayer Rope
The prayer rope adorning a charm and consecrated chonta wood staff.
While Cyprian’s appeal among magicians may allow his fame to at times overshadow his counterpart, it is Justina’s power that ultimately vanquished him, her exorcisms that sent back his spirits in the Confessio Cypriani, and by her grace that he came to find his eventual sanctuary within the crimson gash of martyrdom and the gleaming crown of sainthood. The holy pair are ever inseparable within Orthodox iconography, always depicted together side by side in their proselytization; their charms, spells, oil recipes, and prayers tying their fates to each other, his salvation into her dexterous hands, and her mysteries within his sinistral embrace.
This Orthodox style prayer rope was crafted in the aim of venerating the pair through the access point of St. Justina’s all-conquering prayers. An overtly Christian tool, it is designed with the Orthodox prayer rope in mind, albeit with the spacers featuring in such a way that it could be easily adopted to the use of the Catholic rosary. The main beads are howlites, woven between knots of purple (the bishop’s colour), each anointed with holy oil gathered from The Holy Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina in Fili, Greece. Large, authentic freshwater pearls—memories of Justina’s purity, vanquishing tears, and a marker of certain Balkan folk Orthodox mysteries relating to her magic—form the spacers, washed in holy water gathered from the font in the Church of Saints Cyprian and Justina in Meniko, Cyprus. Both churches were visited during their Orthodox feast days (on the different old and revised Julian calendars, allowing for them to be attended in the same month), and as such the materia was gathered during their very masses. Each pearl is also nestled between amethysts fed a black rooster on the Catholic feast, empowering them with the sacrifice of martyrdom and a calling out to Cyprian’s famed sorcery. The rope connects through a bone skull, itself anointed in an oil of sorcerous insight, the recipe given to me by a Croatian folk practitioner who works primarily with the two saints, and terminates in a small icon also purchased in Greece.
Woven together under the auspices of the virgin, this prayer rope is consecrated for the binding and elevation of spirits. Consecrated primarily through St. Justina’s purity and power, with flashes of St. Cyprian’s cunning woven throughout in the reddened amethysts, this tool channels the saints in their ability to tame, command, and civilize spirits, as well as in Justina’s capacity to break all enchantments. It is suitable for any and all prayers, including liturgies to the holy pair (as well as any other intercessory spirit, Christian or otherwise), the counting of mantras, and the building of power. It may be draped over candles, activated spell remnants, and the vessels of spirits to impose your petitions, increase the potency of workings, or to break a particular curse, crossed condition, or evil eye over an object belonging to or picture of a victim.
These prayer ropes are especially adept at removing the magic other sorcerers have cast. Simply uttering the Jesus Prayer over each bead, placing it over a glass of water and a white candle anointed with holy oil, and then consuming the water once the candle is burnt is enough to cleanse off most enchantments. If you feel the persistent snag of an evil eye or jealous gaze, or would like additional protection when venturing into the public, you may wrap the prayer rope around your left hand (the traditional way of carrying them when not being used) or wear it over your head as a necklace. When dabbling with infernal spirits, the restless dead, and those beings for whom vampirism is a primary nature, call on St. Justina’s aid and place the rope over your head to bestow her pearlescent caul of protection over you. The clever karcist will find many ways to drape this tool over goetic vessels, the sigils of disagreeable spirits, and dirt and materia collected from places of great violence in order to make their spirits hospitable to their commands.
There are nine available for purchase, either individually or as part of the bundle below.
All prayer ropes have sold out!
The Sorcerer’s Goat Horn Fetish
Twelve horns for the twelve disciples of Christ and the twelve students of the Black School, the thirteenth laid before the feet of St. Cyprian.
Just as the ropes were consecrated primarily through St. Justina, with flashes and empowerments laid by her companion, here their roles exchange in the creation of twelve horn fetishes. Each goat horn is filled with a matrix that has been worked on for three consecutive years of veneration, with the middle year being when the masses were attended in their monasteries in the Mediterranean. While the full list cannot be revealed, a small sample of the materia included are: dirt from three churches dedicated to Cyprian and Justina from three different countries, dirt from nine churches visited over the nine days of the Cyprians (the novena between Cyprian of Carthage and Cyprian of Antioch’s Catholic feasts), dirt from nine cemetery gates, dirt from nine priests, dirt from nine nuns, dirt from nine bishops, dirt from the grave of a dead sorcerer who worked with St. Cyprian in life, black rooster, black cat, black toad, serpent and goat materia, tears collected from their enshrined icons within an Orthodox church dedicated to them, horseshoe nails dipped in oils dedicated to Cyprian’s sorcery, an entire burnt Livro de São Cipriano, the same amethysts and pearls featured on the prayer rope, and much more.
Each portion was prayed over, offered to, and judiciously enchanted over countless nights, receiving a final consecration on Orthodox Epiphany of this year. While the base prayers and manners of conjuration were carried out in a folk Orthodox manner, these horns draw on a wide breath of Cyprianic study across traditions, including the Spanish and Portuguese Ciprianillos, Norwegian prayers from the Svartkonstböcker, and the saint’s presence in my lineage of Quimbanda. With each step requiring multiple passes in divination to be approved, these charms are some of the more complex that I’ve worked on, and it is a true pride and joy to share them. The horn shape and casing of black beeswax, pearl, and nazar beads were taken in inspiration from patuá technology, and while these charms are not themselves patuá strictly, they invoke my training in their creation as a part of my dedication to expressing my care for these saints in all the traditions that I know them in. Just as the amethysts flag Cyprian in the prayer ropes, the Nazars and pearls flag Justina here, always calling one with the other in each incarnation.
These fetishes are exceptionally versatile. Ultimately, they are consecrated for the purpose of opening roads into spiritual and sorcerous initiation—to bring their owners closer to new opportunities of study, meeting with potential mentors across traditions, the opening of roads to hidden opportunities for magical training, and the ability to travel widely in pursuit of wisdom. Inside each horn is a physical testimony to the studies I was able to undertake through the blessing and permission of many mentors across countries and cultural settings. Drawing on the legend of St. Cyprian as the chief exemplar of a Mediterranean sorcerer, who had sampled the offerings of countless mystery schools and lineages, these horns are made in dedication to Cyprian the eternal student of theurgy and thaumaturgy. On their own, even without direct use, they work to expand your network of reliable and competent contacts for the gathering of knowledge, resources, rare materia, affordable travel, and channels of communication. Simply speak your intentions into the open face where the Nazar lies and place it down by a shot of liquor (whiskey, gin, and brandy preferred) and a candle (white, red, or purple preferred if not beeswax) once a month to nourish its passive road opening, or increase it manyfold by making this offering daily and praying.
Additionally, the charms may be placed by your shrine to the saints to empower their presence, held to your mouth like a speaker to command spirits—or relay messages to the minds and dreams of others while enchanting them in ceremony—used as a wand when held point forward, and placed over other workings to empower them ever further under the auspices of St. Cyprian. While their passive benefit already is one which pierces the threads of fate to continually gather initiatory experiences, knowledge, and opportunities to you, the manner in which they may be actively engaged with in sorcery are fairly limitless. The dirt of the sorcerer who once worked with St. Cyprian within the horn acts as the “master” of all the nuns, priests, and bishops within, creating a choir that prays with and for your magical success in all your tasks. Speak into its mouth freely and allow the tears of Cyprian and Justina to shield, bolster, and purify your commands, straightening your wording and hesitation and projecting forth the ultimate authority in your workings. Even if you may swallow your tongue or stutter an utterance, the holy and sorcerous dead within will join you in their ceaseless prayer, maximizing your efforts and bolstering each petition to further compound their manifestation into reality. You do not need to be a devotee of Sts. Cyprian and Justina to work with these horns; they will lend their power to any who possess them—as well as the boldness to carve out a more potent, adventurous, and magically vibrant life.
There are nine available for purchase, each individually or as a part of the bundle below.
The prayer rope and horn together before the saints.
All goat-horns are now sold. Thank you so much for your support!
In the name of the holy martyrs Cyprian and Justina of Antioch, swift helpers of all who approach them, guide us and protect us against all enemies visible and invisible, grant us the power to resist our temptations, and in the hour of our end be our aid and lead us to victory so that we may be honoured and celebrated amongst the saints, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
On behalf of Key and myself, we truly cannot thank you all enough for your overwhelming support of our first foray into providing a group ritual service. With your generous support, we were able to raise over $2000 USD for our Cabula‘s furnace, all while giving back to the wonderful people who listen along to our podcast and follow our various lectures and online offerings.
As promised, we wanted to share a brief recap of the workings as we completed them. On my end, I and a good friend and fellow practitioner of folk Orthodox magic, Maria (recently featured on The Frightful Howls!) put together slava bread, koljivo, red wine, and baklava for Sveti Nikola before one of the several icons I have for him as the patron saint of my patrilineal grandmother’s family. For the over a hundred people who participated in the rite, I prepared one pure beeswax candle for each name, which I wrote across a piece of paper and anointed with holy oil, prosperity oil, and a protection oil specifically made to avert the Evil Eye. Crossing the names with a longform prayer to St. Nicholas in Serbian, I placed it at the bottom of a large, terra-cotta dish and filled it with Thursday Salt, flour, sorcerous powders of prosperity, and multiple kinds of grains to nourish the saint and his horse on their journey to fulfill each spoken and unspoken desire.
Sfinga’s table laid for St. Nicholas.
Each candle was individually anointed with the same combination of oils and placed within the dish, with a separate name spoken over each as they were lit. Maria and I stood vigil over the flames until the last extinguished, scorching the flour mixture until it was the same texture and appearance as the Thursday Salt. We then emptied out the bowl into a cloth bundle, over which we laid the bread and petition, and tied it up to be taken to church. After the mixture heard the mass, a bean divination was performed to elect where it should be buried for the greatest efficiency in manifestation, with the answer generated being by a riverbed. The day after Nikoljdan proper, I carried the bundle to the very same river I had consecrated all my tools for the Tuba Veneris, and let it lie there with an additional helping of rakija, incense, and prayer.
Sfinga’s candles reducing into the powder.
On Key’s end, he prepared a wash of fresh and dried citrus peels, cloves, star anise, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves inscribed with prayers, and allspice berries by boiling them all together, and allowed the aromatics to fumigate the candles used for the rite. This water was then allowed to cool, and mixed with holy water taken from three churches. A portion of this water was then used to wash the items on the shrine, the offerings of fruit, and the candles in the names of each respective donor, while the remaining two portions were divided into glasses and offered after receiving additional prayers and blessings to serve as vessels of refreshment and direction to the spirits inevitably called by the offering.
Key’s table set for St. Nicholas.
Key then hydrated a fireproof basin full of sand with another blend of holy waters from three churches, orange blossom water, and a splash of the herbal wash, then prayed over it a rosary dedicated to St. Nicholas, asking for his intercession. Each candle was then lit, naming each donor while doing so, then placed in the basin after pausing to interpret the omens that emerged from the candle as it pertained to each person’s condition. Appropriate oral formulas or prayers were offered to overcome corresponding blockages, uncross conditions, or wash away other forms of spiritual detritus.
Oats were then offered to provide sustenance to St. Nicholas’ horse, such that it may have the strength to bear each patron forward along their desired path, and the fruit offered before the saint with a prayer that he confer blessings of foresight, clarity, and prosperity on each patron. Incense was also offered to the Saint and the spirits present, and vigil was kept over the candles as further omens for the collective were observed and individual candles were maintained with additional remedies.
The candles burning down, each with their personal petition.
Each successive candle built off of the momentum of the last, eventually feeding into the sensation of the blustering squalls that drive the ships patroned by this saint forward, until the enchantment itself was caught by this wind and carried forth to each recipient.
Once our work was complete, we sent all the proceeds raised by the working to our Cabula, and gave the good Saint one final battery of prayers in thanks for his swift intercession, praising him for his good works and petitioning him once more over to elevate the wealth, prosperity, and luck of all those who submitted their names and the names of their loved ones to our group ritual. We are truly so grateful to each and every one of you who contributed to this first group offering, and look forward to offering more in the future for more good causes!
In honour of the holiday season, and the continual procession of some of the most important feasts and saint days shared in common by all three of our cultural backgrounds and magical services, we’re pleased to announce a special candle service held by Sfinga and B. Key on the Serbian Orthodox slava of Nikoljdan: St. Nicholas’ Day.
Recently on our podcast, The Frightful Howls You May Hear, myself and Key interviewed their Tata in Quimbanda de Angola, Tata Apokan (Jesse Hathaway Diaz), on the ins and outs of initiation, priesthood, and what it means to commit to a lifelong study in an oral tradition, especially in matters of co-creating community alongside elders and spirits alike. This was an exceptionally special episode to the both of our hearts and we’re absolutely delighted to continue having our Tata back on the podcast for many more to come! With the winter season fast approaching, and our temple in need of a new furnace, we wanted to contribute to our Cabula and our beautiful community at The Frightful Howls alike by offering our very first candle service fundraiser, in honour of an important saint at the heart of all of our practices.
By donating to this candle service, you will receive two workings performed on your behalf, or on the behalf of the person you wish to name: a prosperity ritual from myself, Sfinga, steeped in the association of Sveti Nikola as the Gospodar Vukova (Master of the Wolves), drawing on Serbian folk magical techniques, and a road opening and insight ritual from B. Key, drawing on Dutch folk magic and sailing lore. Combined under the auspices of the Serbian Orthodox slava of Nikoljdan on December 19th, both rites will be cast for you to bring fortune, as well as the clarity and vision to acquire and maintain it.
With St. Nicholas being perhaps the most important and celebrated slava in Serbia, it is no surprise that his cult inherited many of the qualities of the pre-Christian Dabog, the chthonic deity of healing, magic, death, wolves, mining, watermills, agriculture, and far more. Just as St. George, St. Michael, St. Sava, and St. Demetrius inherited many of the same qualities of Dabog through the cult of the Master of the Wolves, so too did St. Nicholas most prominently, as explored by the great ethnologist Veselin Čajkanović in his important work O srpskom vrhovnom Bogu. His cult is well-known throughout the Balkans and across its many religions, heralding reflections on divination, prosperity, travel, and seafaring.
It is these aspects that will be highlighted and honoured in my portion of the service. Each donation will allow you to submit your own name or the name of a loved one to the ritual, which will comprise of an offering of koljivo, slava bread, and red wine presented to the saint in the traditional manner of a Krsna slava, and a pure beeswax candle anointed with holy oil, prosperity oil, and protection oil. Each name will be added to the group petition and burned down into ash, which will be added to a charm of Thursday salt, holy bread, dirts from various Orthodox and Catholic churches of St. Nicholas from across the Balkans, and key powders prepared for this purpose. Once completed, the bundle will be taken to a mass for further blessing and then interred safely in one of three potential places of power, as bean divination performed on the feast proper will elect.
Key will draw on his own knowledge of Dutch folk magic and seafaring magics to open the roads to that same prosperity and grant the insight and divinatory ability to capture, retain, and protect the blessings to come in the New Year. Each name will be etched into candles fumigated with and asperged by an aromatic wash of citrus, clove, anise, holy water, world currencies, and other herbs for insight and security of received boons, blessed with prayers and recited formulas for the same purpose. Each candle will be presented to the shrine alongside an offering of citrus fruit to recollect the gold St. Nicholas so famously distributed in order to avert an unlucky future, and various grains associated with prosperity, diversion of misfortune, and a gentle nourishment of the senses, as to match the provisions of his journey by sea and to strengthen his guiding horse before travelling the road ahead. All of the edible components will then be donated to a nearby food bank in his name to continue this charity and distribute this enchantment to the world.
An Instagram post containing pictures and our reflections on the ritual will go live in the days following the feast so that all who participate may have a record of its completion.
All proceeds will go directly to our Cabula. We hope that this intersection of our traditions and communities serves you well in your New Year’s petitions and plans, and provides an ample boost to all you seek to grow and harvest in the coming months!
Our sincerest, heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated to this fundraiser! We not only met but exceeded our initial goal by double! A follow up post on the ritual as it was executed will be posted in the coming days. We’re so grateful to each and every one of you who contributed to this first group offering.
With Cunning & Command 