The Stob

Dreikönigssingen [ Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten ]  Wikipedia Segensbitte der Sternsinger an einer Tür des Klosters Marienberg/Südtirol → Hauptartikel : Sternsinger Die Tradition des Dreikönigsingens, auch Sternsingen genannt, geht auf mittelalterliche Heischebräuche zurück, die früher genutzt wurden, um sich in der kalten Jahreszeit ein Zubrot und einen Zehrpfennig zu verdienen. Das Brauchtum wurde in der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts wiederbelebt und wird vorrangig in katholischen Gemeinden in Deutschland, Österreich, der Schweiz und Südtirol praktiziert. Den Menschen, die sie einlassen, singen die Sternsinger ein Lied und sprechen ein Gebet bzw. sagen Gedichte auf. Dann schreiben sie mit geweihter Kreide C+M+B , verbunden mit der jeweiligen Jahreszahl, an die Haustüren oder die Türbalken ( Haussegnung ). Von diesen Anfangsbuchstaben der Namen Caspar, Melchior und Balthasar leitete man Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts „Christus mansionem benedicat“ („Christus segne (di

On New Years Day the Dinner (Lunch) for Good Luck in East Tennessee/Cumberland Plateau: Ham Hocks (Pork Knuckle), most people in the early 20th Century couldn't afford to buy a ham. The pig has the same symbolism as it did in the Medieval Period...abundance. Black Eyed Peas symbolizing money. Cornbread symbolizing gold (the metal), especially with "cracklin's" baked within (fried pork skin) Poke Greens (Salat)/ Phytolacca americana  symbolizing the green of US currency or Collard Greens (Brassica oleracea) Something Sweet to sweeten the New Year, Sweet Tea (tea brewed with sugar or molasses) or a sugary dessert. Whiskey or Moonshine (Corn Liquor) Sassafras tea ( Sassafras albidum) to clean the blood or clear away the 'old year'.  Sassafras roots were dug in winter and early spring, before the leaves grew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPnjuWsGzIs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3I4AmNw0rE

Puck Fair  (Medieval Irish) http://www.celticartscenter.com/Songs/Irish/AnPocArBuile.html In 1931, Margaret Murray tied the Puck Fair into her version of the witch-cult hypothesis , asserting that it was a pre-Christian festival in honour of the Horned God . [7] However, historian Jeffrey B. Russell and Brooks Alexander have asserted that "Today, scholars are agreed that Murray was more than just wrong – she was completely and embarrassingly wrong on nearly all of her basic premises." [8]

Old Buck, Fire Breathing Christmas Bull I was unsure if this custom was still going on in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  It apparently still is or was revived with some crazy, twangy, almost rockabilly, country music.  Related topics: Julbock, Puck Fair, Bwcca Gwid/Du, Mari Lwyd.

I have recently learned that Le Chevillage may have a different meaning in modern French, with an aggressive sexual connotation (unfortunately).  My understanding of Le Chevillage is older, related to folk-sorcery of Shepherds in France.  The old Le Chevillage was a curse by 'pegging' (a sharpened stick from certain trees driven into the ground with intent ).  Interestingly, I don't wonder that the 18th and 19th century shepherd sorcerers were unaware of the double meaning!  I have also been informed by older mountain people that the penis was referred to as one's "Root", somewhat similar to Stob (a sharpened stick).  Some sort of interesting word play and idealism going on here...?

I haven't posted in a while, as this has been and is a 'transitional period'. I'd like to point out two philosophical views.  One is that spirits are believed to be repelled by human inconsistency or infidelity.  The other is that humans have a cyclical nature, often to their detriment. Rev. Robert Kirk (The Scottish Folklorist) said that the inhabitants of Elphame/Elfame were angered by infidelity (the inability of people to keep secrets and to be consistent).  I'd like to point out that this why people are so happy about their superiority in the world (a glamour, if you will).  People think they have overcome nature (once again) because they have a few tech gadgets.   I hesitate to call it technology, because it does not advance our bodies, food supply, the problem of limited resources, etc.  It is gadgetry, pure and simple, not technology.  I.e. Farming was technology as it started civilization and some stability.  However, more and more people are convinced

Witch Trials of Old Virginia

John Hendrix - The Prophet of Oak Ridge   An obscure story from Eastern Tennessee, portrayed on Mysteries of the Museum and The Heartland Series.  He saw the building of the D.O.E. and the atomic bomb in 1910.  I don't care for the politics at the end and the incorrect speech.  No one, in the early 20th century would have said 'Howdy' or Y'all.  It would have been Y'unz/You'ins (from Scots-Irish English).

The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft in Holmavik NW Iceland

Legba, spirit of the Crossroads, the first called    One might meditate on the idea, 'theory' that the Stob (wooden stake), Stang (Pole) and the Poteau-Mitan have the same function...

Erosion of Mediocrity

One that forges their OWN PATH, will become aware or will already be aware that they will attract detritus, much like a stream clogged with dead branches, leaves, mud and stones.  Such debris will change the course of the stream.  I advise one to start over and 'cut loose by Our Art' that which feeds on your Gnosis and Inner Untamed Light.  It will proclaim itself the source of your blessings (which flee you in 'its' presence and reveal 'its' true intent) and will try to hold you with 'charm' because you are the source of 'its' fortune .  'Psalm of Overcoming" "I am the Light of my Eternal I, A Universe constant, Mine Enemies a constellation within, That has been absorbed. The Radiance of I, Is Withdrawn from those who Usurp. I am the light of Hell, beneath thy feet. No more Secrets Reveal'd. I am the Light of Earth, Around your Body. Your Fruit withers on the vine, Your Harvest ROTS in the Field. I am the Light

If one is wont to know the spirits of place, then simple steps must be enacted.  Bathe in the local rivers and streams (whether they are 'imaginal/imaginary' or physical) , sit in the 'nature' of the place you inhabit with thought, belief, willful purpose.  If old worn buildings, dark alleyways are the nature of your life, then no one can tell you that you that these are separate from the forests of old worn collapsing trees, rotting logs and woodland mires.  The oily pool on the street is the same as the woodland pool with the oily sheen on rotting logs, leaves and plant essences.  While, fouled for bathing, and potable elixirs...it is still a fetish of the local spirits.       Collect oddities from field, forest, beach, burg, and city which display unusual luminous properties that are peculiar and out of place from the mundane, 'natural order'.  Stand at the crossroads/cross-streets at midnight in devotion, watch Cain (The moon) as he shines in the streams, r

I suppose this will be an indelicate post for some...which is comedic to me: Osculum Infame is the Medieval derogatory term for a certain prostration to a spirit or human.  In Hoodoo and in Southern U.S. folklore people used the folk magic spell "Witch Kiss my Ass" whispered under their breath to prevent a Witch from entering the house or borrowing items (which could be used to control the household).  In the Middle Ages, Witches were said to kiss the 'Devil' on the posterior.  Usually, the 'Devil' was a male human Magister (Imaginal, Oneiric, rarely in the flesh, but usually projected into the 'Sabbatic World' and highly accomplished, as was the 'Mistress'-two people who manifested the spirits).  The posterior kiss was not an actual kiss but, spitting or breathing on the buttocks, which was a working to manifest secrecy, manifest the proceedings to 'the Void', so that 'shadows/invisibility', would protect those in involved, i

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcC85lL46MI This is the band Hexentanz and the song "Mark of the Witch".  The video comes from the Russian 'horror-comedy' 'Viy'.   Via MrsMisanthopy (Youtube).  The purpose of posting is to point out several mythic and 'folkloric' elements. 1. In German, "Hasch" is equivalent to "hashish" in the beginning of the song.  This was listed in several 'witches transvection ointments'.  Whether it was an addition by priests during the European witch trials or an actual ingredient, is still debated in scholarly circles. 2. The mention of the 'Erythraean sea' and 'the cave' in the song,  this is similar to other ideas of supernatural boundaries.  The idea that the three worlds or multitude of worlds have fixed boundaries. 3.  "Elder Oak, does the Dragon COIL around".  People will mistakenly point out, it was Ash the 'Dragon' coiled around (Yggdrasil).  While

Barvitus   Oddly enough, certain groups in Cornwall have a psychopomp referred to as the 'Helmsman' (which is both male and female or gender neutral, if you prefer).  The Sprite, Bucca Gwid/Bucca Du, is also considered male and female to some groups in Cornwall.  Whereas, Old/Ole' Buck is considered exclusively male to most 'groups' in the South-Eastern U.S.

Many of the 4th to 7th century Saints of Britain/Wales, Scotland and Ireland probably have a mythological origin.  This period has been referred to as the 'Dark Ages'.  Although, Ireland is least suspect, as European Scholars, usually, turned up there fleeing 'Gothic' or Northern tribes.  So, it might be plausible that certain saints were deified tribes-people or old spirits from Irish belief.  Obviously, this is my rehash of old and new scholarship on the topic.  Unfortunately, there are few definite answers, as historians rely on written material and little documentation remains from the era, hence the title, "The Dark Ages".