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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Warlock?

The term "warlock" has traditionally been used to refer to a male practitioner of the magical arts. 


  • It was especially popular in Scotland as an euphemism for "man witch" and is still used in the media today, but not in the contemporary witchcraft community. 
  • It's a contentious term that enrages many practitioners of magic. 
  • Its usage also suggests that the individual employing it is an outsider to the magical community, lacking in subtlety and decorum. 


Its origins are a matter of dispute; the two theories are not mutually exclusive: 


• It comes from the Old English waeroga, which means "oath breaker" but has also been used to mean "devil" in the past.

  • Waer denotes a promise, whereas loga, derived from the root word "to lie," implies "betrayer."  

  • This became Middle English warloghe, sometimes spelt warlache, and ultimately its current spelling.  

  • The term "oath breakers" is used to connect the warlock to Christian apostasy. 

 

• It comes from the Norse word vardlokkur, which may refer to a knowledgeable man who guards (or locks) the gates of knowledge. 

  • He creates wards by binding bad spirits to prevent them from entering via portals.  

  • This warlock is a spiritual warrior who uses protective magic, particularly defensive runes, to defend himself. 



If the term vardlokkur is used, it is derived from Pagan origins and alludes to authentic Pagan tradition. 

  • Vardlokkur may refer to the practitioner, but it may also refer to the magical tradition of binding harm and providing protection with runes. 



The term "warlock" is derived from both origins and may represent Christian views of Pagan Norse invaders in Britain. 


  • Regardless of where it comes from, the Anglo-Saxon word is firmly rooted in Christian tradition. 
  • It's a Christian term for people who are despised by Christians, and it's come to imply "backsliding Christian" at some time. 
  • It was used by witch-hunters on their victims. 
  • This term still has a sting to it, and it will raise eyebrows in many, if not all, witchcraft groups. 
  • Those who rely extensively or solely on Norse traditions, and who may even prefer the name, are exceptions.



Although the concept of lying witches offends Neo-Pagans, the point is that the term was created by Christian authority. 


  • The Church, not other Pagans, was the target of the violated oath. Pagans may have tried to maintain their traditions via deception, as has been done successfully elsewhere (Santeria, Vodou), by pledging allegiance to the Church with their fingers crossed while playing for time and safety. 
  • When they were apprehended, they were charged with "oath-breaking." 

The warlock is the British counterpart of the Muslim Moriscos and Jewish conversos of Spain.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is Whispering?

Whispering is a term used interchangeably with the term "spell-casting." 


Murmuring, muttering, or whispering charms, prayers, incantations, blessings, or curses are all traditional spell-casting methods. 


However, the usage of this term ultimately led to harmful stereotyping: 

  • Any woman seen mumbling or talking to herself, particularly if she was old, raggedy, or aggressive, was accused of witchcraft.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is Wanga?

Wanga is a Haitian word for a malicious magical item or package meant to hurt, but it has also become a catch-all term for any kind of amulet or talisman. 


  • It's also spelt "huanga" and may be used to refer to a charm bag or a mojo hand. 
  • Practitioners of different traditions may see it as a neutral word that isn't inherently evil.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is A Vucodlak?

 

Vucodlak is a werewolf who travels through life in the shape of a wolf. 


  • They fight their natural foes, the Kresnik, who are also well-known shape-shifters. 
  • Interestingly, despite the fact that the kresnik is said to be capable of transforming into any animal, its preferred forms are animals such as goats or horses, which are natural prey for wolves. 
  • Instead of dualist conflicts between good and evil, these confrontations between kresniks and vucodlaks may be seen as witch wars—clashes of occultists representing various groups or clans. 

Related to -  Kresnik.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is Voodoo?

To put it simply, foreigners have always regarded Vodou, and traditional African mysticism in general, with disdain. 

Vodou was ridiculed, denigrated, and banned because it was deemed the lowest form of Paganism and primitive superstition. 


Outsiders to the tradition in the United States popularized the spelling "voodoo." 


Vodou was previously widely depicted in mainstream horror films, exploitation films and pulp novels as a vicious, racist form of the religion (see Zombi). 


  • As a result, many practitioners dislike this name and favor Vodoun or Vodou, the official Kreyol spelling. 
  • The pejorative term "voodoo" persists in modern culture, as shown by phrases like "voodoo economics." 
  • However, the term "voodoo" is also used to describe the spiritual traditions that arose in New Orleans as a result of the large exodus of Haitian refugees during the Haitian Revolution, which started in 1791. 
  • Outsiders often used the term "Voodoo" to refer to any magical practitioner or witch, especially one of African origin, as in Lafcadio Hearn's renowned eulogy for Dr. John Montanet, The Last of the Voodoos. 
  • This is deemed disrespectful and wrong as well. Voodooist or Vodouienne are terms used by several practitioners.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is Vodo?

 

Vodo: A Dominican Republic-based variation of Vodoun. Vodoun is another name for Vodoun. 

Vodou, Vodoun: In the Fon language of West Africa, this term literally means "spirit." 


  • The lwa is referred to as "spirit," and Fon spiritual traditions focus on devotion to and contact with them. Vodou is the term given to this spiritual tradition. 
  • Vodou is still practiced throughout West Africa (in Togo, Benin, and elsewhere), although it is now most often associated with Haitian spiritual traditions originating from Africa. 

The foundation of Vodou is based on the Fon tradition, but it has developed in Haiti to include additional African elements, as well as European and Freemasonry influences. 

  • Vodou incorporates indigenous Caribbean customs as well. 
  • Although colonial authorities tried to repress African spiritual traditions, and Vodoun was outlawed, it thrived thanks to syncretism, with the lwa being associated with Roman Catholic saints. 
  • As a result, Ogou, Spirit of Iron, wears the mask of St James the Greater, who is usually portrayed with a sword in his hand. 
  • That sword holds the key to the forbidden spirit's identity. 


Vodoun is currently more publicly practiced, yet it still faces prejudice and persecution on a regular basis. 

  • Most adherents prefer the spellings Vodoun and Vodou over the variation Voodoo because they are more polite. 
  • Mambo, often spelt Manbo, are Vodou's initiated priestesses. Houngan is a Vodou priest who has been initiated. 

Related to - Lwa, Santeria, and Voodoo.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Völva?

Völva: Vala is another name for Völva. The Norse word for a female magician or magical prophetess is sibyls of the North-land. 


  • The name comes from the Swedish word völr, which means "stick." In magical ceremonies, this stick (also known as a stafr or gandr) was employed. 
  • The divination ritual known as seir was presided over by the völva. 
  • The völva traveled, giving her services in exchange for food and festivities. 
  • She re-creates the ancient processional, in which a god or holy item is carried on a cart. 


A written record of these activities has survived from a famine-stricken Greenlandic community anxiously anticipating the advent of the völva. 


  • She was welcomed with a sumptuous ceremonial feast consisting of the hearts of every conceivable animal. 
  • The völva climbed a platform after the feast, donning calfskin boots and cat's fur gloves (furry side on the inside). 
  • She sat on a hen's feather-stuffed pillow and asked a villager to sing the mesmerizing incantations. 
  • A young Christian lady volunteered, claiming that she had learnt the songs as a kid. 

The Voluspa (also known as The Sibyl's Prophecy or The Völva's Prophecy) is an Icelandic Norse poetry composed in the late 10 or early eleventh centuries, but thought to represent earlier traditions. 
  • It is regarded as one of the most significant, if not the most important, poems in the Poetic Edda. 
  • In answer to Odin's inquiry, the poem takes the form of a monologue given by a völva. 
  • When the völva awoke, she complimented the singing, saying that the ghosts had gathered to hear it. 
  • She was able to learn through these spirits that the hunger will be over soon, as well as other details, such as the singer's fate. “Little she stated went unfulfilled,” one witness claimed. 


Related to -  Seidh/Seir; 


DIVINE WITCH: Herta; 

CREATIVE ARTS: Dance: Processionals.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Volkhv Or Volkva?

A Pagan magician, priest, or shaman is referred to as Volkhv/Volkva (m/f) in Russian. 


Finno-Ugric and Slavic shamans and Pagan practitioners were referred to as "shamans" in the oldest Old Russian and Slavic literature. 


  • The term is said to have originated in Finno-Ugric and therefore may have previously referred to a particular technique, practitioner, or tradition. 
  • It seems to be derived from a root word meaning "wolf," and therefore may have previously denoted a wolf-shaman or werewolf. 
  • In addition, the term was employed to translate the Greek word pharmakos.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Vjestica?

Vjestica (Slavic euphemism for "witch") means "one who knows." 

Many Slavic languages have minor variants, such as vjescirica for female witch and viestae for male witch, derived from the same basic source as the English "witch" or "wicca" and the Russian "ved'ma."


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Vetulae?

Vetulae was a medieval euphemism for "witch," despite the fact that it properly meant "old lady." It was a derisive word, not a neutral one. 


  • Vetulae became a pejorative against all "bad women," including barbers, fortune tellers, converted Jewesses, midwives, and prostitutes, as its associations with witchcraft grew stronger. 
  • Henri de Mondeville (c.1260–1320) defined vetulae as a pejorative against all "bad women," including barbers, fortune tellers, converted Jewesses, midwives, and prostitutes, according to him.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is A Veneficia? Who Is a Venefica?

Veneficia, Venefica: Veneno was a poisonous and/or magical substance in Roman literature. 

A veneficia was a witch who concocted potions and poisons.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Ved'ma, Ved'mak, Or Ved'mar?

Ved'ma, Ved'mak, Ved'mar is the  Russian equivalents of the words "witch"; literally, "one who knows." 

  • The Ukrainian vid'ma and the Belorussian vedz'ma are two variants.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is The Vanir, Or Vana?

One of the two pantheons of Norse spirits, with the Aesir. 


  • The indigenous deities, the Vanir, were associated with sorcery, prophesy, and witchcraft. 
  • The Vanir are the source of occult tools and abilities like as runes and seir. 


DIVINE WITCH: Angerboda, Freya, Hella, Odin; 

Related to - Seidh/Seir; 


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Vampire?

Yes, everyone knows about Hollywood-style vampires that only come out at night, want to suck your blood, and are defeated by Christian symbols like crosses and Holy Water. 


Unless they both feature in the same horror film, those vampires and witches have nothing in common. Based on the works of Bram Stoker, creator of Dracula, this kind of blood-sucking vampire exists. 


  • Stoker was enthralled by mythology from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the new discoveries of South American blood-sucking bats in Europe. 
  • Stoker blended numerous tales and added his own unique vision to create a notion that continues to amuse and captivate millions of people today. His idea, on the other hand, has little resemblance to the original European vampire. 


The term "vampire" is used to describe a person who is undead. 


  • Almost all Central and Eastern European languages, whether Slavic, Finno-Ugric, or Romance, have similar-sounding terms relating to comparable ideas. 
  • Linguists think these terms come from the word "uber," which means "witch," and originally emerged in the Turkic languages of Asia. Upir, wampir, vampyr, upior, and more variations exist. 


Did you think the term "witch" was perplexing? 


One term (vampire, vampyr, upir) may mean witch, vampire, and/or werewolf in the Balkans.


  • Vampires were thought to be revenants in Slavic regions, living corpses of witches/sorcerers/magical practitioners who rose from the dead for various reasons. 
  • They are destructive at their most neutral because they do not follow natural rules; at their worst, they rise with the purpose of inflicting damage. 

Blood-sucking isn't mentioned at all in the original idea. 


  • Vampires need life-energy because they are in a transitional condition between death and life (mana, magic power, chi). 
  • This is best absorbed from individuals who are still alive. (It's worth noting that vampire bats virtually seldom harm humans.) 
  • Rather of sucking blood, life force is more likely to be taken via sexual energy or secretions, or by siphoning off mana or chi. 
  • Another theory is that the vampire is not dead, but rather a living practitioner who can send forth his shadow soul (and retrieve it as needed), and that this soul is perceived as a vampire. 

Nigel Jackson's Compleat Vampyre is a good place to start (Capall Bann Publishing, 1995).


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Are The Valkyrie?

In Norse mythology, the term "Valkyrie" refers to female warrior spirits commanded by Freya, and they are also known as "Odin's daughters." 


  • Valkyries battled on the backs of wolves and might change into ravens or swans. 
  • A Christian preacher reprimanded England in the early eleventh century for the growth of "wiccan" and "waelcryrian," which in contemporary English translates "male witches" and "Valkyries." 
  • These Valkyries were not spirit-maidens, but the female equivalents of male witches: real women who practiced magical skills and followed Pagan customs. 
  • Valkyrie may also refer to a Freya priestess. 


DIVINE WITCH: Freya, Odin 



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Paganism & Wicca - What Is An Upir?

Upir is the Russian term that technically means "vampire," but it also refers to vampires, werewolves, and witches, all of whom are intertwined in the mythology of the Balkans and Eastern and Central Europe.


  • When werewolves and witches die, they become vampires. 
  • The term "upir" is said to have originally referred to moon deity votaries or priests. 

ANIMALS: Wolves and Werewolves; VAMPIRE.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is Umbanda?

Umbanda is an Afro-Brazilian spiritual religion that blends Kardecian Spiritism, Roman Catholicism, and African traditions.

  • Umbanda became popular in the 1920s.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Trollkvinna?

 

Trollkvinna: Say it out loud: it sounds like "troll queen" in English. 


  • Trolls aren't simply those huge, obnoxious giants. 
  • Troll also means "to make move," "to sing loudly" or "to rejoice in song," "to sing or perform," or, most tellingly, "to fish by trailing a lure or baited hook." 

Related to - Allure


Trollkvinna is a witch in Swedish. 


  • There are witches who are not female trolls in Scandinavian mythology; female trolls, on the other hand, are indistinguishable from witches. 
  • Female trolls are frequently (but not always) gorgeous and intelligent, while male trolls are always ugly and dumb. Some researchers think that the term "troll" relates to surviving Neanderthals.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is Theurgy?

The ancient Greeks thought that individuals might train themselves to be possessed by deities via the practice of theurgy. Individuals who were ritually possessed functioned as oracles. 

Theurgy, which means "working with God," was the last significant expression of Pagan faith, and it served as a basis for subsequent magical traditions. Julianus the Chaldean, who authored The Chaldean Oracles in c.170 CE, coined the word "theurgy." 


In Theurgy, Hecate was a particularly important goddess. The declared goal of theurgy was to help the individual magician gain access to heavenly truth. 


There were a variety of approaches: 

• Theurgists recite incantations based on Egyptian customs to induce spirits to enter sculptures. The statue may then be asked questions. 

• Children who acted as mediums were put into trance states (see also Istinzal). 

• The spirit mounts, or briefly possesses, a theurgist who aids ritual possession via the use of clothes, equipment, and music in a manner similar to contemporary Santeria, Vodou, and Zar. 

Theurgy was labeled as evil when Christianity became popular. 


The last Pagan Roman Emperor, Emperor Julian, was an initiated theurgist who promoted other theurgists to prominent administrative posts. 

  • Julian was succeeded by a Christian Emperor, who ousted the theurgists from power and subjected them to Christian persecution once again. 
  • Proclus (February 8, 411–April 17, 485) was the last of the great theurgists, teaching Theurgy in Plato's Academy in Athens. 
  • Emperor Justinian outlawed Theurgy, along with all other Pagan practices, in 529. 



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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Táltos?

Táltos is Hungarian for shaman/wizard, sometimes translated as "magus," "magician," or even "physician," and today used to refer to any fairy-tale figure with magical abilities, whether human or animal, akin to "witch doctor." 

In fairy tales, the táltos is always a man, although documents from Hungarian witch trials show that women were sometimes accused of being táltos. 

Following the country's conversion to Christianity in the eleventh century, Hungary's strong shamanic traditions were repressed. 

  • A shaman who specialized in finding lost or missing objects, divination, healing, and weather magic was known as a táltos. 
  • One does not choose to become a táltos; one is born with the ability to do so. At birth, a táltos is recognized by the presence of a caul or at least one tooth. 

The removal of the tooth does not rule out the possibility of the kid becoming a táltos; nevertheless, the shamanic path is hampered, and abilities may be more difficult to get. 


  • Future táltos are usually quiet, sad, and glum children with extraordinary physical power and vitality. They have a strong desire for dairy and eggs. 
  • Around the age of seven, the aspiring táltos is blessed with a vision. An elder táltos comes to them in the form of a bull or stallion and challenges the kid to a fight. 
  • The younger must defeat the older in order to become a full-fledged táltos. Climbing the World Tree or a staircase to the sky with rungs made of iron hooks are two more ancient initiatory challenges. 
  • Others describe traditional shamanic initiations, in which they are cut into pieces, boiled in a cauldron, and then resurrected. 

Táltos, like the Benandanti, fight other táltos at predetermined intervals, typically involving the mystical numbers 3 and 7. (three times a year, for instance, or once every seven years). 

  • They fight as bulls, flames, and stallion-like creatures. 
  • The táltos differs from the Benandanti in that there is no notion of fighting outsiders: each táltos is a self-contained practitioner who engages in mental combat with one another. 

According to mythology, the first táltos was fathered by a wolf (reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood), with the mother being a young lady who was lost in the forest; among the tribes who created the Hungarian people are the Huns, who are accused of being the children of witches and desert spirits. 

  • This may connect the táltos tradition to that of wolf-shamans and wolf-warriors, or even to forest-based rituals in which one person is possessed by a wolf-spirit. 


Related to -  Haljoruna. 

ANIMALS: Wolves and Werewolves  

MAGICAL ARTS: Ritual Possession.


  • There are also táltos horses and bulls, which may be familiars or duplicates of human táltos. 
  • They may, however, be separate entities. 
  • The human táltos may have been taught and initiated by the táltos animal.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Talb?

Talb is a North African word that means "magician." 


  • The talb may be able to command, control, or at the very least collaborate with jinn.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Strigae?

Strigae: Strix is a Latin word that meaning "screech owl" but may also indicate "witch." 


  • It comes from the Greek word for "to scream." 
  • The term may be connected to the word goes, which means "howler." 
  • Owls are linked with birth, death, and major female goddesses like Athena and Lilith, thus it may have originally signified practitioners of Women's Mysteries. 
  • The term was then used by the Romans to refer to a particular kind of shape-shifting magical practitioner. 
  • The strix reflects the ancient Roman culture's dread of both magical activity and feminine authority. 
  • The Late Latin term strigae is defined by the Latin grammarian Fastus as "the designation given to women who perform magic." 
  • Strix is usually a woman. By day, they are humans, but at night, they change into birds, soaring through the skies eager for human flesh and blood, particularly that of infants. 
  • Strigae, like succubuse, are attracted to sex and human energy, or life force. 
  • Women removed their clothing and smeared unguents over their bodies, allowing them to shape-shift into owl form and fly out into the night to do mischief, according to tradition. 
  • The strigae, which swooped about at night producing ear-piercing screeches, are mentioned often in Roman literature from the first two decades of the Common Era. 
  • Women's heads and breasts were filled with toxic milk, and they possessed wings and produced eggs. 
  • In Lucius Apuleius' second-century Latin book The Golden Assault, a strix occurs
  • After consuming a potion and soaking in an anise-bay laurel potion, Pamphile the strix reverts to her original shape. 
  • It's unclear if the strix was meant to be regarded seriously from the start. 
  • Would visitors from the future, who had no background, understand the fact that contemporary monster movies were only for entertainment? 
  • The strix is reminiscent of legendary spirits such as Lilith and Lamia. 
  • Were the strigae the first followers of these spirits? 
  • This isn't just conjecture; there may have been a spiritual link: late Roman sources depict Diana as a strigae leader, but this could have been an effort to discredit Diana. 
  • The sirens and harpies, spirits with female heads and bird bodies, may also be linked to the strix.
  • During the European witch hunts, the idea of the night-flying, shape-shifting, sexually hungry, baby-killing witch reappeared with a fury. 


WOMEN'S MYSTERIES: Midwifery, Spinning; 

DIVINE WITCH: Diana, Lilith; Goes, Lamia.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Strigoii?

Strigoii is a Romanian term that refers to nightflying witches. 


  • Romanian is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin; the word comes from strix and is more akin to the ancient Latin term's evil, birdlike connotations than to contemporary Italian strega. 
  • Women born with a caul were thought to be more prone to become strigoii, particularly if they were also blue-eyed and red-haired. 

The strong negative image of the strigoii may stem from Christian views of old traditions and female practitioners in this area of the globe; being born with a caul seems to imply shamanic or magical abilities. 


  • Strigoii congregate in woods and cemeteries. 
  • Strigoii never die fully; they are buried with just their right eye closed. 
  • The left eye, which is on the dark side, is always open and vigilant. 
  • The strigoii will not be killed if nine spindles are thrown into their tomb, but they will be prevented from rising again. 

Widdershins is also mentioned in WOMEN'S MYSTERIES: Spinning.


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Paganism & Wicca - Who Is A Strega?

 

Despite being discouraged and persecuted, Italian magical practices remained surprisingly resilient. 


  • The Italian witch "Strega" is named, and "stregheria" refers to her whole skill of practical magic. 
  • The term has been used since the time of the Romans. Although the vampire bird connections have been forgotten, it is derived from strix.
  • Although strega is a derogatory term, it is also a fondly revered witch's title, comparable to "Baba" in Russian or "Mother" in English (as in Mother Shipton). 
  • Strega Nona, or "witch grandmother," is the protagonist of Tomie DePaola's series of children's novels. 
  • “Stregoni” is the masculine equivalent. 
  • Strega also refers to the whole system of stregheria in certain Italian regional dialects, thus one practices strega. 

Related to -  Stregheria and Strix.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is Spoiling?

Slavic evil magic, Spoiling is akin to the Evil Eye in that the spoiler exudes such tremendous anger, resentment, jealousy, and malevolence that no further or even conscious action is required—simply being there causes spoiling. 


Object-driven hexes and spells may also be used to do this. Plants, animals, humans, and their belongings wither as a result of spoiling, which is comparable to the Evil Eye. 


• Spells against a person are cast using magical packets hidden on their person or property. 

• Spells that target a community may be cast by manipulating flora, such as a twist of rye, or by Whispering.


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Paganism & Wicca - What Is Spiritualism?

Spiritualism is a religion or practice in which a medium makes communication with the spirits of the dead. 

  • Modern spiritualism arose in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, attracting both real metaphysical practitioners and con artists preying on the sensitivity of bereaved individuals seeking to contact loved ones. 
  • Seances, table-tapping, and physical manifestations like as ectoplasm were formerly commonplace in spiritualism. 
  • However, since these bodily symptoms are so readily manufactured, contemporary practitioners no longer stress them. 

MAGICAL ARTS: Necromancy.


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