On the eve of the May 14th Feast Day of Saint Cyprian of Antioch, as given in the pseudo-Baconian De Nigromancia, and in collaboration with the second iteration of the Vespera series with Jesse Hathaway Diaz and Dr. Al Cummins, I’m excited to reveal a new folk Orthodox charm made under the auspices of Saints Cyprian, Justina, and Theoctistus.
Watched over by their gaze.
Across many traditions, both Eastern and Western, the walnut is an important tree to St. Cyprian. Prized in Balkan folk magic for its ability to conceal, protect, cause confusion, and both draw and repel the harshest of spirits, here is a tree interlinked with St. Cyprian as Sorcerer and Saint, Diabolist and Exorcist, Thaumaturge and Theurge. The design of these potent wards is simple: a humble walnut, soaked in holy water drawn from the three different Churches named after the saints in the Balkans and Mediterranean, then cleaved open with a black-handled knife enchanted with St. Cyprian. Each stage of their opening, carving out, and enchanting were laden with oral charms and exorcistic prayers of St. Cyprian from the Orthodox traditions, with the shell itself being enchanted to be as the skull of Adam, said to be a miniature world unto itself, and also the beheaded soldier Theoctistus, whose flickering eyes before death beheld Cyprian and Justina both, glimpsing the fullness of their gnosis with the outpouring of his own blood.
The powder set within the walnut was similar in nature to that which went into last year’s Sorcerer’s Goat Horn Fetish, featuring dirt from four Churches dedicated to the saints, dirt from nine churches visited over the nine days of the Cyprians, dirt from nine cemetery gates, nine priests, nine nuns, nine bishops, the grave of a dead sorcerer who worked with St. Cyprian in life, black rooster, black cat, black toad, serpent, and goat. To this were added additional herbs and materia, including dirt and brick dust from unconquered castles and fortifications, a powder against the Evil Eye, and spell for averting the vampiric gaze of the living and dead alike. Finally, a snake vertebrae washed for Cyprian and a freshwater pearl washed for Justina were nestled inside as the eyes of our saints, forming a complete skull to watch over its keeper vigilantly, staring back towards anything that may inflicts its harmful witnessing upon them.
These walnuts then underwent one final consecration, receiving a litany of Orthodox prayers to our saints, and were commanded to assist their keepers by neutralizing and recycling any harm sent their way. They were bound in beeswax and purple thread anointed with holy oil taken from one of his monasteries, and strung on adjustable cord with seven crosses formed within. As Cyprian subjugated the demons, Justina in turn subjugated his magic, and the walnut tree subjugates the spirits under its bow, these wards break—then take—bewitchments and misfortune sent at their keepers and repurpose their severity for their own. The name of the charm itself is drawn from an Orthodox Akathist to Sts. Cyprian and Justina, in which Cyprian is referred to as the “wisest healer” in Oikos 7.
Wear around the neck or around the belt loop, bind to backpacks and purses, or place in the inner breast pocket as a sentry. Alternatively, keep above the bed or around the rearview mirror of the car for safety in dream and travel alike. These wards do not need activation, but may be anointed with an oil of Cyprian or any other holy oil once a month on a Saturday of your choosing.
Only 12 are made available. All charms will be shipped within a week of purchase.
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.
With Cunning & Command 