St. George’s Charms of the Red Shield

May 26, 2026 ~ Sfinga ~ Leave a comment

The time between the feasts of Sts. George and Vitus on the Julian calendar is always a deeply special period in my practice, marked with the ushering in of the warmer months, the celebration of the land’s fertility, and the adoration of the Pleiades as they go on their voyage to greet the Mothers of the Sun, Moon, and Wind. Now for the third year in a row, this time has also heralded the creation of charms, made in compact with St. George, to celebrate the many powerful expressions of his current as divine horseman, solar prince, and warrior of the light half of the ritual year.

These charms are made each year in offering to the saint, to celebrate his many virtues and to give back to the community that has so lovingly supported our work and podcast, and shared so generously of their own traditions, spiritual encounters, and theurgic philosophies. In the first year, the divination that sets this course flagged the omen of victory and triumph; in the second, both saints anchoring this period stepped forward to guard against the evil eye. This year, the omen which arose in the favomancy reading was to create a kindred of charms steeped in the well-attested magics of St. George as a protector of love—the love of friends, romantic partners, parents and children, and the love of new and old bonds alike.

On Đurđevdan, as with many key saint days, I spent much of the day cooking and baking in honour of the martyr. A fresh slavski kolač was made, this time simpler in shape than in previous years, being a smaller and flatter loaf intended to represent the coins worn in many traditional Balkan bridal costumes. The yeast was grown with holy water taken from a church of St. Petka directly when a wedding was taking place inside, and the Thursday Salt which seasoned it was specifically isolated in its batch for the stoking of fertility and the protection of love in one’s life. Various bajalice or basme (oral charms) were recited throughout the process of its incubation, in dedication to the yeast, water, flour, sheep’s milk, and the oven itself as it proofed, rose, and rose again.

The herbs themselves which went into each charm were harvested directly on the eve of his feast. Rosehips and St. John’s wort were sung to over the course of the eve until the dawn of the new day, nestled in the fresh leaves of bigroot geranium, one of the primary plants of St. George in the Balkans. To each bundle was added a hagstone, wrapped up in the leaf of the geranium so that it does not see sunlight until the first crack of dawn on Đurđevdan proper. In this way, the very spear or sword of our saint, being the first ray of light to touch our serpent stones, is that which awakens them from the slumber they have been kept in since their finding.

With this light filling the stones, they were then offered to, given only those red gifts requested within the reading. The stones were fed rooster, red wine, and red ochre, and then kept within the mixture veiled before the icon of St. George for two full weeks. In the meanwhile, the herbs themselves were adored, anointed, and sung to, and laid out before him as his meal was prepared. In addition to the kolač, I prepared proja sa kajmakom, ajvar, and belmuž, a St. George’s day delicacy of sheep’s milk cheese and white cornmeal. After presentation, the whole meal was sprinkled with the red mixture given to the hagstones as well as holy water and sheep’s milk with sprigs of basil, plantain, and geranium from my own garden. Once complete, the red cloth on which the whole meal was given was divided into sections to be used for the charms at a later date.

Upon the day of their assembly, once the hagstones were sufficiently enlivened, the charms were swiftly fastened with a final favomancy reading thrown to confirm their strength. Every aspect of this charm needed to be red: red with life, blood, lust, love, desire, sex, and consumption; the need for the other and to be needed by the other in return. The chart was positive in every way but one, demanding that one last ingredient, far more ephemeral and difficult than the rest, needed to be sacrificed in order for them to be complete. In addition to herbs, dirts, powders, a trinity of squares cored from the slava bread at its base, petals of a rose held in the teeth of two lovers dancing at their wedding (many thanks to the couple for allowing me to keep such a token!), and many more ingredients left unnamed, the hagstones, garnets, and the very red string that ties each charm together needed to bear witness to what were determined to be three “moments of true love”: one of friendship, one of romance, and one of filial love.

This request, while more complicated to fulfill than I can even begin to write publicly, out of respect for all those involved, was by far one of the most beautiful aspects to a charm’s creation I have had to undergo in some time. I immediately recalled the lessons learned at Aphrodite’s shores, of the tenacity, endurance, and victory of love for love’s sake over all misunderstandings, confusion, and despair. I was forbidden from completing these charms until this was done, until these binding elements and their serpent-eyes directly witnessed the very intensity they are sworn to protect. Once this was done, the beans approved swiftly, and I was able to complete them fully.

Twelve of the kindred of stones were dedicated to these charms, who made themselves known to me in dream as the Red Shields. This charm protects long-term relationships, marriages, and even newer joinings with the ferocity of loves lived across lifetimes. Keep on your person, by your bed, or at your shrines and whisper to its stone precisely what you need nourished and protected. Set them atop pictures or by candles to boost workings of commitment, reconciliation, affection, and far more. Their eyes blink with awareness and knowledge; speak to them as an ally and they will respond to you in kind. Tell them if you need more sexual vigour and passion, more dedication and commitment, more publicity and pride, or more understanding and levity. Keep them over petitions, smoke them with incense and anoint them with oils programmed for each purpose, or simply give them frankincense and holy oil monthly to keep them active and alert. Whatever aspect of love in your life needs passion and longing, whoever’s heart requires softening so that they come to understand your needs and perspectives, or whatever lack in your relationship requires strengthening, these charms are eager to serve.

The red cape of St. George covers your heart and creates for it a banquet: may the beloved propose union, the lover propose marriage, the friend propose deeper nourishment and the spirit propose deeper initiation into their current. The cunning sorcerer will be aware that these charms follow the dedication of their keepers; they ask for the same commitment, care, and levity to be shown by those who request their aid. In this way, while they cannot be used to compel or control, or to force unearned forgiveness and dedication, they will happily assist their keepers in cultivating the character and vitality to be that which they themselves seek, and to further draw those to them who would best treasure those qualities.

Only twelve are available. Each will ship within a week of purchase.

Additionally, ever since my last series of Man of Might charms against nightmares sold out, I’ve been frequently asked to bring them back. This year, I wanted to make the exact same charms albeit with a set of hagstones fed in the same manner for St. George in his feast day, being an even more boosted version of the previous iterations. White horse’s hair was braided through the loops while the “man of might” rhyme was repeated without ceasing. The stones were awakened alongside those programmed for the Red Shields above, though directed specifically to drink deeply of the red offerings and use their vitality to fight off any nightmares, night-demons, and attacks of malefica and witchcraft during sleep with the force of St. George’s spear. They are slightly more expensive than last year’s to reflect the effort and time that went into the supplication, sacrifice, and enchantment of each hagstone.

Ten were made in honour of the White Horseman. Each will ship within a week of purchase.

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.

Additionally, there is a bundle offered for those interested in getting both charms, offered at a slight discount.

My deepest thanks to each and every one of you for your support and care. My St. George keep and protect all that empowers, revitalizes, comforts, uplifts, and reddens your lives.

Sts. George and Vitus’s Charms Against the Evil Eye

July 29, 2025April 18, 2026 ~ Sfinga ~ 1 Comment

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].

Man of Might Charm Against Nightmares

July 20, 2025July 21, 2025 ~ Sfinga ~ 1 Comment

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.

St. George’s Charms of the Victory-bearer

May 19, 2024June 4, 2024 ~ Sfinga ~ Leave a comment

By the red cape of the soldier-martyr,
By the red wings of the adversary underfoot,
By the red-drenched spear piercing its maw,

The Charms of the Victory-bearer are born, baptized, and bled.

The charms at the foot of a pacted tree.

These potent bundles were first birthed on May 6th, the Orthodox feast of St. George, which this year happened to be the day immediately following Easter. I’ve much joked with friends about how much “longer” Lent felt this year in light of Easter being May 5th, but this too came with its own advantages. That the eve of Đurđevdan (St. George’s Day) was itself Easter provided the perfect folkloric confluence for a number of the key ingredients which went into crafting these sorcerous allies—fleetfooted, valiant, and unrelenting as the martyr himself.

Having collected the necessary herbs either on the eve or at dawn on the feast proper, retrieving each with the appropriate offering left in turn and through the auspices of a bajalica or basma (oral charm) specifically used on St. George’s Day for those very plants themselves, I began the core powder within the first hours of the feast. The shell of first red egg of Easter—a prized ingredient within the Balkan folk tradition—was crumbled and left to soak among the blood clots of an offered rooster, consecrated with the Jesus Prayer and given veneration through Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday all. On the martyr’s day proper, I baked the kravaj or kravajče, a solar bread intended to mimic the wreaths which would crown cattle for protection, the first sacrificial lamb for protection, and the milk buckets that would receive the first milking of St. George’s Day for fertility. Across numerous villages, and most famously recorded in Vrtovac—a village in Serbia that has been much-studied for its detailed St. George’s Day customs of sacrifice and fertility magic—this bread would be wrapped in geranium, sprinkled with salt, and placed by the nearest river as an offering; or alternatively divided up amongst anthills so that the ants themselves may “lock up” the fertility gathered to protect it from negativity and the Evil Eye.

At the same time, bread baked specifically for a saint’s feast is itself a powerful fetish to be used in the creation of charms. I was trained to add a little piece to each charm I make (a ritual bread that was prayed over for many hours was a key component in the Master of the Wolves charms we released last year), and this case was no different. The rest of the kravaj was divided up between spirits, friends, anthills, tree hollows, the dead, and a river, each with a corresponding oral charm spoken over the piece as Thursday Salt was sprinkled over its resting place, tied to its post with white horse’s hair.

As an additional offering to the martyr and the spirits of his entourage, I cooked belmuž—a sheep’s cheese cornmeal porridge—and gave portions to each of my assisting familiars and to the holy saint himself. The banquet was laid over a red cloth that was consecrated as his cape, fumigated in red Orthodox St. George’s incense I brought back with me from my last trip to Greece, and sprinkled with wine, rooster blood, sheep’s milk, and holy water with sprigs of basil and plantain. When the time came to make the charms themselves, it was this cloth that was divided into the 21 squares that would host the cores birthed on his feast.

Herbal materia, both freshly gathered and dried from previous corresponding saint feasts, were combined within a vessel along with personal fixed star powders made in my tradition, specific dirts corresponding with the nature of these charms, and the first red egg of Easter, which had itself undergone numerous rituals upon Christ’s rebirth. As the serpents of Aldebaran and Regulus were massaged for their dew, so too were the armies of St. George supplicated, in memory of his eternal triumph over the aždaja and his folkloric allyship with the zmaj. Propitiating the saint and the gods he masks alike, the raw powder was left incubate within the kravaj, veiled by his bloodied cloak against the glare of any stars not pacted to this working.

Finally, once the raw bundles passed their requisite three omens of manifestation—that they were indeed alive and bringing victory unto their bearers—I was given license by my spirits to bind them still. All three of us at With Cunning & Command and The Frightful Howls You May Hear take efficacy and results extremely seriously; nothing we offer to the world can be sold before it has succeeded in its tests of fealty and power. The trials these cores underwent were in line with their intended use: the overcoming of obstacles, the germination of fertility, the destruction of nightmares, the evil eye, and any other such spiritual malady, and the ultimate triumph of their carrier in matters of competition. Be they deployed for the protection of fertility (in matters of one’s own, those of animals and plants, or even those of other magical workings so that they may bear fruit), the defeat of enemies in matters where only one may prevail, or the destruction of jealous gazes, lingering spirits with ill intentions, or stray miasma and malefica brought home underfoot, the Charms of the Victory-bearer are the white-hot flash of the spear, the crack of the celestial whip, the hooves of the thundering hero-steed crushing each viper before it ever slinks across the threshold.

The base mixture includes allies such as basil, linden, geranium, nettle, chamomile, plantain, dandelion, and many other potent herbs collected in the dark such that they cannot be named. Dirts from the graves of 23 soldiers, 23 anthills, and 23 crossroads, as well as dirt from the village Başköy/Potamia where St. George was said to have been born, are combined with powders of Aldebaran and Regulus created in a manner taught to me in my tradition, as well as a more conventional Sun in Aries powder elected by Salt. Serpent bone, St. George incense, white beans from a chart that approved these charms with the most blessed omen of the Three Stars, and many more implements made their way into the bundles, which were then tied with red thread, a piece of carnelian, and a small pocket icon of St. George, finally bound over with white waxed linen thread. Each knot had the appropriate oral charm breathed into it, an offering of air bestowed as the final gift before they were once again perfumed in incense and left to breathe the sunlight for the first time since the feast.

Having received countless prayers, rich offerings, and diligent attention to omens, auguries, and folkloric expressions of St. George’s might in nature, these charms are finally available for purchase. They may be kept in one’s backpack or purse, nestled in their place of work, placed by the hearth or on appropriate shrines, or hung by the main door to your home. Give them a candle (white, red, or beeswax) and a shot of vodka, brandy, or whiskey once a month, preferably on the full moon to keep them refreshed and spry. These are workhorses and soldiers, aggressively targeting areas of weakness and conquering obstacles in your path. If you have an enemy you need to triumph over, or are looking to be the victor selected from among a pool of candidates, place the charm with a lit candle over a copy of your application with your petition written over it in red. Tuck the charm by your pillow or hang it over your bed to protect against nightmares and vampiric spirits, or to assist in conception and sexual virility. Gift the bundle to your protective spirits to act as arms for them, becoming a battery of power for them to wield against disease, poverty, malefica, and loss in the pursuit of securing steadfast agency.

If you’d like to purchase one for yourself, please click the link below. Shipping is included within the price. They will be mailed out within a week of purchase and a tracking code will be e-mailed to the PayPal address used to buy them.

All St. George’s Charms of the Victory-bearer are sold out. Thank you for your patronage!

It is not my hand that cuts these cords, but the hand of St. George upon his holiest day. Amen, amen, amen.