witch

Grow a witchy garden

Against a dark sky all flowers look like fireworks. There is something strange about them, at once vivid and secret, like flowers traced in fire in the phantasmal garden of a witch.” – G.K. Chesterton What flowers should you grow in your witch’s garden, amongst the herbs for your potions and your outdoor altar? Foxglove, […]

Searching through the forest for mushrooms and Baba Yaga.

Many depictions in art of the Russian folk witch Baba Yaga show her with mushrooms, especially the Fly Agaric (the red-capped, white-spotted mushroom also associated in children’s illustrations with fairies and gnomes). As Baba Yaga is Russia’s most famous witch, hunting mushrooms is Russia’s favorite pastime, and both Baba Yaga and mushrooms are found in […]

The Cailleach

Happy Solstice! Winter has officially begun in the Northern Hemisphere. And bringing the brutal winter winds and blankets of snow is the Cailleach, The Storm Hag. The goddess of winter and wilderness who creates tempests in the seas and covers the land in snow. Cailleach literally translates as “old woman” or “hag”, and comes from […]

Harvest and Thanksgiving

This week, in Hag Stone Journal, we explore harvest festivals and Thanksgiving. I write about ancient harvest rites in Britain, sacred wooden spoons, Grandpa Fred’s oyster dressing, a New Moon releasing ritual, hints for hosting a Friendsgiving, and more. “Harvest festivals, like Thanksgiving, have a history that stretches back to ancient Greek women who honored […]

Traditions

Check out this week’s Hag Stone Journal issue on Traditions. We explore various traditions out of Appalachia, like granny magic, planting by the zodiac signs, and burial customs. Also Catholic novenas, poet Wendell Berry, bullet journals and more. Starting at $1 a week, you’ll receive new content every week, with over a dozen activities/topics around […]

Conjure your inner witch

Excerpt from Halloween Issue: For me, Halloween is a time to let my witch flag fly. It is a time when I connect to the crone in me: the powerful part of me that knows how to brew potions (of healing or poison), is at home in a cave, in the forest, or a […]