Dancing on Fire

The hot, humid days of summer will soon be upon those of us who live in the northern hemisphere. I look forward to warmer weather. Here in New England, the temps are up and down. We have a saying not to plant our gardens until after Memorial Day, for fear of frost.

Today, we’d like to tell you about another hot topic—fire dancing, or nestinarstvo. May 21 marks the celebration of Kostadinovden, the Day of Saints Constantine and Helena. You may be familiar with Constantine and his legalization of Christianize across the Roman Empire and making it the dominant religion. But, did you know he had an association with the fire dancing as well?

A popular legend says that God once looked for an assistant from among unmarried men to help Him manage people. God wanted to find a good way to test a person’s loyalty. Then an idea came to Him: a fire dance. He built a fire that burned toward the heavens. It burned for a long time. When only glowing embers remained, God said the whoever could walk on the coals with his bare feet would be His assistant. Only Constantine was brave enough to try. He danced on the coals unharmed, proving to God his heart was pure, and so he became God’s assistant. Constantine’s task thereafter was to make sinners dance upon the embers. This was done in an effort to burn away their sins, since people believed fire had magical powers to purify whatever passed through it—both objects and souls.

Even though fire dancing is an ancient ritual of pagan origins, St. Constantine, who was said to worship fire, permitted it to continue. However, the ritual was almost wiped out during the 1912 Balkan War. Today, it continues in remote parts of the Strandja Mountains, such as the village of Balgari, because these places were difficult to reach during the war.

The Thracian word nestia means “fire.” Some say nestinari originates from the Bulgarian word nistina or istina (truth), since the dancers were true Christian believers. Others say that Nestinarstvo comes from the Greek words for fasting (nisteía) and fire (estia), because prior to conducting the ritual, the dancers fast and abstain from alcohol and evil thoughts to prepare themselves with the sacred dance. Some texts say Thracians originally performed the ritual in honor of the Great Mother Goddess Bendis and her offspring, Sabazios, the Sun god.

In the time of the Thracians, priestesses performed the ceremony. They were considered to be sun brides and wore their headscarves in the same manner a bride did. Today both men and women participate, and either a man or a woman can be the lead dancer.

The ability to dance on coals is considered a divine gift, one often passed down within a family. This lead dancer chooses her replacement when she can no longer perform the ritual. Often the successor is a son or daughter, since people believe the parent passes on to his child not only the skill to walk on coals, but more importantly, the ability to predict the future.

The Nestinarstvo celebration is performed to ensure health and fertility, not only for people, but also for animals and land. It holds traces of Dionysian mysteries that mark the rebirth of nature and the world.

Those present at the dance form three or nine circles around the area where the dancers perform the ritual. These circles are associated with the Sun, the “Fire of Heaven.” Both fire and water are connected with the ritual. Fire has protective properties and increases the Sun’s divine power, while water has the capacity to heal. The dancers claim that while they are in a trance, the coals look as if they’re covered with water.

Magical aspects of the ceremony have also survived. In ancient times, the nestinari were leaders of the village. While they were in a trance, they contacted their ancestors, then made predictions and performed healings. Nowadays, nestinari claim reverence to the saints gives them protective power so they can dance on embers without injuring themselves.

Once they have entered a trance or prihvashtane (possession), the dancers feel pulled toward the fire with all their senses. The outside world disappears as they communicate with the saints. As they dance, they neither see nor hear what is happening around them while they leave their physical world and enter the invisible realm. The path they walk along on the embers is viewed as a temporary death, that allows them a new birth from which they receive knowledge from the beyond. They believe Saint Constantine embodies himself not only within the nestinari, but also within the instruments and music that play while the nestinari dance, much like a pagan belief that the gods could reincarnate themselves in sound and instruments.

To find out more about this and other Bulgarian customs, check out our book Light Love Rituals.

It’s Not Just a Tree

The cover of our forthcoming book, Magical Healing Trees in Slavic Folklore, is a painting that is part of Alphonse Mucha’s Slav Epic series. This series depicts key battles and cultural events among the Slavs. The first installment portrays a moment from the sixth to eighth century and is called “Slavs in Their Original Homeland.”

Our cover image is called “The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree.” In it, a youth organization called Omladina, from the 1890s, are swearing allegiance to the goddess Slavia, who sits in a linden tree.

This tree is among the most cherished among the Slavs. For me, growing in Eastern Europe, the linden was part of a tradition. Every year when the trees started to bloom, my mother gathered the flowers and dried them on old newspapers in a cold room. I can still imagine the fragrant aroma in that room. It was like entering heaven.

The soft, gentle scents were the pure perfumes of spring. Once the blossoms dried, my mother stored them in paper bags and used them throughout the year for tea. Linden tea was a miracle brew that my mother used to cure anxiety, cold, fever, sadness, broken hearts, runny noses, you name it… a universal herb. The gentle aroma soothed me when I was sick. And, each sip of the tea, which was mixed with lemon and linden honey, gently coated my throat. It was as precious as pure gold.

Flowers Blossoming Tree Linden Tree.

Among our ancestors, the tree has been dedicated to various Slavic deities, among them Svetovid, the Slavic god of war and abundance. Later on, after Christianization, the linden tree gained an association with the Virgin Mary. She was believed to live or rest among its branches.

Old trees such as the linden have been called saints. These are one of the species that people were forbidden from cutting down. To do so, meant death—either to the cutter or to someone in his family. A man who broke a branch from a tree was said to have gone berserk. He recovered only after he returned the branch. Others who cut down the tree became lost in the forest.

Stories circulated about trees that bled blood and not sap. One such tree was born out of a knee of a girl who was killed. This tree stood on the top of a mountain. Local people venerated it, much to the dismay of a priest. When he tried to cut it down, blood coming out of the tree blinded him.

To find out more about the linden tree and other trees sacred to Slavs, be sure to check out our Kickstarter campaign. We’ll be launching it on Tuesday, May 2, around 9 a.m. Eastern Time. If you follow the campaign now, you’ll be notified the moment the campaign launches. You don’t want to miss out.

Sacred Forests

We’re deep into looking at trees these days, but we wanted to share this excerpt about a holy place in Bulgaria from the trees book we’re working on. Are there any such places where you live? Have your grandparents or other older people passed down stories of miraculous healing to you? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

The sacred site of Krustova Gora, Holy Trinity Cross Forest, in the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria, is a place of great spiritual significance and is well-known for its healing power. What gives it this ability is a piece of Christ’s cross, which stories say has been buried in Krustova Gora (Cross Mountain), at a location where the mountain forms the shape of a cross.

It’s interesting to note that the symbolism of the cross predates Christianity. In many ancient cultures, the cross has been viewed as portraying the tree of life, as well as being associated with the sun and fire. Among the ancient Thracians, the four directions of the cross have specific meanings. Although left has often been considered “sinister” in some cultures (and, in fact, the word sinister comes from a Latin word meaning “left), among the Thracians, that direction was the more sacred of the two.

Right and left to them represented the earthly and celestial realms, respectively. Rituals in which actions took place from right to left were ones that took the participant from a lower level of consciousness to a higher one. This was standard practice in blood sacrifice rituals and enabled a sick person to become filled with power.

North and south were also sacred directions among the Thracians. North was the direction associated with mankind and south for immortals and the souls of the blessed. Rituals that included right-to-left and north-to-south movements were an attempt to unify the earthly and heavenly realms with the goal of providing healing.

The holy relic at Krustova Gora is said to be one that Saint Helena gave to her son, Emperor Constantine. According to one story, this piece of the cross made its way to Kurstova Gora after a Russian tsar seized it from a Turkish sultan. Believing that the relic brought his troops and empire victories, the sultan sent his troops after the Russians. The latter had changed their route and arrived at Kurustova Gora and left the relic with the monastery. The monks living there buried the piece of the cross before they were killed during the subsequent invasion.

Church tradition states that Helena had gone in search of Christ’s tomb and discovered it in 326. She placed the cross in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but kept a piece of it. On September 13, 335, the church was consecrated. The next day, the cross was displayed outside the church, where a congregation of people could venerate it.

In honor of this event, on the eve of September 14, Holy Cross Day or Feast of the Cross (official name of Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Creating Cross) many pilgrims travel to Holy Trinity Cross Forest, praying for God’s blessings to cure their illnesses. They climb the mountain peak for a vigil that ends when the sun touches a metal cross that has been erected there. This time of year is associated with the arrival of autumn, when the sun begins its journey toward winter. In mythology, it is the day when day and night crisscross, being of equal duration, called the crossover of the sun.

If you’d like to learn more about the holiday, check out our previous post on the subject: Hope & Miracles.

If you’d like to hear more about trees, we’ll be launching our Magical Healing Trees Kickstarter campaign in early May. The campaign and our eventual webstore will be the only places you can get a digital copy of the book. Print copies will be available later this year on retailers, but you can get an early copy through our campaign, plus other cool stuff we’ll be offering. Click the link to our campaign above to follow it now, so you’ll be notified when it goes live.

Also, we’re part of the Storytellers Oracle Deck project. You can find out more about this and follow the other authors on our website: Storyteller’s Oracle Deck. We will be offering the “Wisdom” card as part of this project.

The Magic of World Trees

Since ancient times, civilizations have considered trees and nature sacred. A Bulgarian saying goes “There is a sacred forest but no sacred field.” Fields were where the people toiled so they could survive. It was a part of their everyday lives. But the forest was the mystical, the unknown. To venture there purposefully was to seek a spiritual awakening.

Whenever I drive through the countryside in the New England area in autumn, I can appreciate why trees have inspired awe. The hillsides are awash with a multitude of colors, God’s patchwork quilt placed lovingly upon the land. Or simply walking in the midst of a forest gives me a sense of peace and security.

Trees rise high above the land, spreading their branches to the sky and digging their roots deep into the ground. Some species, like oak, ash, and walnut, are bestowed with the title of “World Tree,” an honor making them like a supreme god among trees. This deeply venerated tree was seen as a force of strength and protection.

The three parts of the tree symbolize the nature of the universe. The crown represents the heavens and all its inhabitants: birds, as well as divine spirits. The trunk signifies Earth, the home of men, animals, and preternatural creatures like nymphs and fairies. And roots represent the underworld, the realm of the dead and creatures like snakes, fish, and dragons, which may embody demons or other beings of darkness. Since the world tree sat at the boundary of all three realms, it was seen as the means to traverse from one to the other.

World trees and other age-old trees were treated with respect. It was forbidden to break or cut their branches. Those who disobeyed suffered calamities—even death. Instead, people would hold rituals beneath the trees, and let the blood of sacrificial animals soak into the roots.

Perhaps the best-known World Tree to the western world is the Norse Yggdrasil. As far as I know, the Slavs do not give their world trees a particular name, but different trees species are called World Trees, a primary one being the oak. In our middle-grade fantasy series, we call the world tree in Dragon Village (Zmeykovo) the Znahar Tree, since znahar is the word for a wise old woman who heals with herbs and charms. The Firebird roosts in this tree, protecting it. The eagle is another animal you may find within the branches of Slavic world trees. Both birds are considered messengers of the gods.

World Tree. Illustration by Dmitrij Rybin. Stock illustration via Depositphotos.

The following is an excerpt about the Slavic World Tree from our book, A Study of Dragons of Eastern Europe.

World Tree

Prevalent in many of these creation myths is a cosmic tree, or a World Tree, that grows out of the water and supports the land. It’s known by various names: “tree of life, tree of knowledge, tree of the Garden of Eden, tree of the cross, Shaman’s tree.”  It’s also been called “a golden fruit bearing tree,” a “straight tree—tall and lean,” and a tree whose branches are “pure silver, dotted with golden bees.”

Ancient civilizations considered nature sacred, and they deeply venerated the World Tree as a force of strength and protection. The three parts of the tree symbolize the nature of the universe. Branches represent the heavens where divine spirits reside. The trunk signifies Earth, which is the home of men and preternatural creatures like nymphs and fairies. And roots represent the underworld and the dead who dwell there. Like nature itself, all these creatures live in harmony with one another.

Many illustrations display the serpent coiled at the tree’s roots or along its trunk. However, in popular belief, it can also live in the tree’s crown as a dragon—thus showing the creature’s dichotomy of being both an evil viper and a benevolent guardian. Also inhabiting the branches are magical birds, such as the firebird (the messenger of divine will and the protector of the fruit of life, the magic apple), nightingale, falcon, and eagle (the symbol of light and heaven). Other birds found there include doves, swallows, roosters, and peacocks. Even bees make their home in the tree’s branches.

The snake and the bird are the most widespread personifications of a human soul. This belief relates to the shaping of the idea about two worlds of death—one below the earth and another above the clouds. Therefore, the images of snake and bird merge to create the winged dragon.

Over time, the benevolent dragon and the eagle have become interchangeable in folklore, thus associating the dragon with both heaven and earth as a cosmic mediator between the two. And so, from serpent to dragon, the creature becomes connected to all three parts of the universe: the roots and the dead, the trunk and the living, the branches and the divine beings.

• The Dead. The World Tree has been called the “Path to the Souls of the Ancestors,” and it symbolizes “the transformation and transition between the worlds.” It’s a place where the souls of the dead reside, and a place from which one can enter the realm of the ancestors, often called the “other world” or the “beyond.” This is a place where not only the dead, but also mythical creatures, live. (You’ll read more about the other world in the “Dragon Slayers” chapter.)
• The Living. The World Tree has a place in the daily lives of people. It underlines “the inseparable connection between the cosmic balance, life—fertility—marriage—death.” Many life-cycle rituals involve trees—especially fruit-bearing trees, symbolic of this World Tree.
• The Divine. Among the Slavs, the World Tree is often oak and sacred to the god Perun, wielder of thunder (who in later beliefs becomes St. Iliya or Elijah, who fights against destructive dragons). In folklore, the tree may also be a cypress or sycamore.

In particular, a budnik (a special log burned at Christmas to celebrate the rebirth of the Mlada Boga or Young God, when the days begin to be longer after the winter solstice) acts as “a mediator between the heavenly and earthly life.” People perform rituals “to magically strengthen the vitality of the World Tree, during the transitional time between the old and the new year, and to further reinforce the equilibrium and order in the universe.”

The more that is discovered about trees, the more awe-inspiring they become.

Make sure to follow our upcoming Kickstarter campaign for our book, Magical Healing Trees in Slavic Folklore, to discover more fascinating information about trees. The main focus is on Slavic beliefs, but general information about the included trees is also included.

For further reading, check out Iva Kenaz’s Tree Magic: The Path of Druids, Shamans, and Mystics.

Also, be sure to check out the Kickstarter campaigns that are part of the Storytellers Oracle Deck project.

The current project is Tales of Akatsuki: Special Edition Hardcovers, which runs from February 14 to March 2, and the oracle card is for CHARM.

Fierce heroines, brooding heroes, and heart fluttering romance collides with anime and fairy tale influences in this fantasy series.

Love and Marriage and Apples

February is the month for lovers!

Did you know that among the Bulgarians, the main tree for love and marriage is the apple? This is one reason it’s part of wedding rituals. The fruit is an ancient symbol of abundance, health, and fertility, and apples are said to have the power of love.

Apples play a role in Bulgarian courting and marriage rituals. At a secret sedyanka (half-working, half-party evening gatherings between young people), young women of marriable age performed many rituals. The last one of the evening was to attach apples to a wooden apparatus used to wind wool and twirl it around as a way to encourage young men to twirl around the girls. After this, the young woman would give her apple to a young man of her choice.

At weddings, an apple covered with gold foil topped the wedding banner as a sign of fertility. In addition, an odd number of apples (also covered with gold foil) were stuck into branches of the branches of the wedding tree (kum’s tree), which could be the crown of a small tree, a bush branch, a forked stick, or a distaff.

Other wedding customs involving apples were that an apple was placed in water in which the bridegroom washed. Afterwards, the apple was brought to the bride’s home and placed in water she would use to wash her hair. After the wedding, the couple would eat their first official meal as a married couple at the bride’s home. This could involve feeding each other apples and lumps of sugar.

Rituals with apples even continue after the wedding. In some areas, the bride is brought into a garden that has an apple tree. Three boys will throw her veil onto the tree. The woman’s brother-in-law puts three reds apples into a bag he brought with him that holds the bride’s wedding shirt as a symbol that healthy children will be born to her.

Apples also are believed to bring children to couples who have trouble conceiving as the story below demonstrates.

Mary and Golden Apples

In Christian lore, Mary once planted three trees that produced golden apples. She entrusted them to Michael to guard. These golden apples play a role in fertility rites in the church of the Dormition of Mary (The Golden Apple) in Gorni Voden in southern Bulgaria. People say the icon of Mary holding a golden apple produces miracles for women unable to bear children. One local story tells of a bed-ridden woman who was unable to go to church to pray to Mary for a child. She asked relatives to light candles for her and to give Mary an apple as a gift. Soon afterward, the woman recovered from her illness and became pregnant.

Childless women or married couples often make pilgrimages to the church and perform rituals to enable them to conceive. Mary’s icon is decorated with apples and wreaths made of leaves from an apple tree. The priest first reads a prayer for childbirth, then the man and woman eat an apple, divided between them.

Rebecca’s Mom’s Apple Pie

Apples also remind me of my mom’s apple pie baking. It was great to eat hot or cold. I haven’t made one in a while, but I scrounged through my box of recipes until I found it. The cold days ahead are a good time for baking and reminiscing.

You can use the premade pie crust from stores, if you want. You’ll need two: one for the bottom and one for the top. I always prefer to make mine from scratch, however. They are so much flakier and tastier than the store ones.

CRUST

This makes enough for the top and bottom.

2 cups flour

3/4 cups shortening

4 Tablespoons cold water

*Mix flour and shortening together with a pie crust maker until flaky.

*Add the cold water and continue mixing until it forms a thick paste.

*Divide into two and roll out each piece until it’s large enough to place into a 9-inch pie plate. Place one sheet onto the bottom. It’s okay if it overflows the edges some. You’ll trim that off later.

*Take a fork and prick the pie crust. (I do a circle of about 5 around the bottom, 1 in the middle, and more around the sides.)

FILLING

6 to 8 apples (I normally use Cortland, but you can choose others for more or less sweetness. Harder apples will take longer to cook.)

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon corn starch

Cinnamon (to taste)

Dash of lemon juice

*Peel, core, and slice into about 1/2-inch wedges 6 to 8 apples.

*Combine the other ingredients and pour on top of the sliced apples.

*Shake the bowl until the ingredients cover the apple slices.

ASSEMBLING

Pour the apples onto the pie crust. Top them with chunks of butter.

Fold the second pie crust in half and lay it lay it over the apples from the middle. Gently unfold the other half to cover the pie.

Trim both edges of the crust, either to the edge of the pie plate or leaving a little extra (since the crust will shrink some as it bakes). Crimp the two together all the way around the pie. Use a fork to then squash them down.

Prick the top of the crust with a fork, the same as you did the bottom.

BAKING

Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes (until it bubbles). You may want to put some kind of foil pan beneath it, since it’s sticky and makes a mess.

Bake an additional 15 minutes at 400°F (to brown the top).

Alternately, you can use a baster to spread can milk over the top of the crust to make it brown.

Eat warm with ice cream or let cool and top with whipped cream, and enjoy a favorite treat!

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Sources are from our book Light Love Rituals: Bulgarian Myths, Legends, and Folklore and our upcoming book, Magical Healing Trees in Slavic Folklore, which you can find on our Kickstarter that will launch in May. Don’t forget to also check out other Kickstarter campaigns that are part of the Storyteller Oracle Deck project.

Original source of “Mary and the Golden Apples,” which appears in Light Love Rituals: Baeva, Vihra, “A Local Cult, a Universal Symbol: The Golden Apple in Gorni Voden, Southern Bulgaria,” Our Europe, Ethnography – Ethnology – Anthropology of Culture, Vol. 2/2013, pp. 73-88, http://www.ptpn.poznan.pl/Wydawnictwo/czasopisma/our/OE-2013-073-088-Baeva.pdf.

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The month of February, you can also find many Kickstarter campaigns on “Kickstarter is for Lovers” promo.

Love pink valentine’s banner with hearts. Vector illustration.

Colorful and Cheerful

All the glitter of Christmas is over. The tree and decorations have been taken down. I miss the lights, the holiday colors and greenery of a fresh Christmas tree. Even the trees outside are bare. Nature feels empty. From time to time, I catch a glimpse of a red dot on the treetops, and know it’s my favorite cardinals that are preparing for spring.

This weekend I was cleaning my closet and opened a box to discover a small colorful rug, a gift from my mother, hidden with other memories from Bulgaria. The flowers on it are woven together like a multi-colored rainbow and touched my soul with happiness and warmth.

Throughout the ages, our mothers and grandmothers have woven the beauty and wisdom of nature into carpets, shirts, and other traditional clothing. Each stitch tells a story or is a code for well-being and health.

Colors play an important role in our lives. Some evoke joy, others nostalgia. Everyone has favorite colors. Every culture has its own meaning about colors, so much so that it would take a whole book to describe them.

Today I’ll tell you about the meaning of some colors in Bulgarian folklore and how you can use them to bring yourself luck. Who doesn’t want luck and good news? We all need them.

White

A white thread symbolizes woman. This is the color of purity and innocence, joy. For the Bulgarian, it’s the color of beauty. In many songs it’s about a white bird, white maiden, white flower, white horse, or white cloud. Festive clothes for christenings and weddings are white.

Newlyweds walk to the new home on a path made from white cloth. The white color of the wedding flag is a symbol of the sun and the purity of the bride. Angels dress in white robes, and priests do also, as a symbol of purity and knowledge. In the past, the color of mourning was white; through this color, mourners joined the world of the afterlife and the souls of their loved ones.

Red

Red, one of my favorite colors, is a sign of warmth, vitality, flame, and the fire of love. It’s the light of the rising and setting sun, fire and blood. The apple in the Garden of Eden is red, Mary is painted wearing a red praying mantle, and a man’s belt is also red as a symbol of masculinity and strength. Women of child-bearing age wear red color in their clothing. Children and grandmothers don’t wear red. The traditional wedding veil is red.

A red thread symbolizes man. Red threads are also used for the new year’s survacha, a ritual object made of a wooden stick. We have more about the ritual in our Light Love Rituals book and how you can make one. It is a fun activity for both old and young.

The red thread has magical power and is used in many Bulgarian traditions and amulets. It’s used to make martenitsi, a gift of friendship that’s worn until the arrival of spring. I love this red and white amulet, and it’s one of the most beloved by all Bulgarians. You can also learn about them in our book Light Love Rituals, as well as how to make one in our children’s short story The Miracle Stork.

Red thread is used to embroider a baby’s clothes. It’s also put in the bride’s bouquet and worn by pregnant women.

Gold

This color is associated with the sun and the afterlife. In rites, it symbolizes the transition from this world to the other world and vice versa.

Green

Green signifies fertility, health, revival. In the Bulgarian Peperuda (butterfly) ritual, in which they pray for rain, a young girl is dressed in green and paraded around the village. People from each household pour water over the greenery-covered girl and pray for rain.

Blue

This color is the symbol of water and the sky. It’s the color of a glass talisman that protects against evil forces, the “evil eye.”

Black

Black is a heavy color, as well as brown. I don’t like to use them in my paintings. Black is used in black magic and attracts bad forces and unhappiness. When saying goodbye to loved ones, a black ball of yarn is rolled in front of the ceremony to protect the dead person from evil forces.

Amulet for Luck and Happiness

It’s believed that white, red, and blue threads twisted to the left make a strong talisman for good luck, against demons and bad turns of fate. Two people should twist the threads and say twelve times out loud: “God give us luck.” People then wear the twisted thread on the arm as a bracelet until the threads become dirty. At that point, the person throws the threads into a river or burns them and makes a new amulet.

I don’t follow any strict instructions. I like to make up my own ritual. Try it out with a friend or a family member and share with us if it brings you luck.

We wish you a happy and blessed new year. We have so much planned out for the coming year, and we’ll be launching new projects on Kickstarter, so be sure to follow us there. First up will be a book on Magical Healing Trees to complement our book on Herbs. As part of this project, we are working with other authors to create a unique oracle deck. Visit the website we’ve set up for it to find more details: https://storytellersoracledeck.wordpress.com/

Later in the year, we’ll be launching the completed Dragon Village series—plus plenty of goodies to go along with the books—and all new covers! We’re also setting up our website to be able to more easily sell books direct, where we can offer special discounts unavailable on retailers.

Article source: Bulgarian spells and fortune telling (in Bulgarian) by Lilia Stavreva

Equal-Opportunity Witchcraft

October is a month filled with magic that culminates on Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, when witches, goblins, and other creatures of the night prance about. Although many people see magic as a fun party trick, others take it more seriously. Magic and witchcraft have been around probably as long as mankind has existed and has been perceived differently over the ages and by various cultures.

Our latest book is about Baba Yaga, because she is considered the most powerful Slavic witch. You may think of the word “witch” as applying only to females, but this is incorrect. Men are called witches, too, and practice magic. In Slavic languages, common words for a male witch are ved’miak or vedun, and ved’ma for a female, the root of the words comes from vedat’, which means “to know” and came to be associated with sorcery. Among the peasants, people like these who had supernatural powers were called “people with knowledge.”

But their knowledge was meant to cause harm and misfortune. As a child I heard my grandmother and other people in the village frequently talk about someone using dark magic. People in Slavic villages still perform secret pagan rituals that focus on the four elements: fire, air, earth, and water. In Bulgarian and Slavic folklore there are a lot of rituals for making and breaking spells. There are spells for love, money, health, you name it. We included some in our book 77½ Magical Healing Herbs.

Even when these witches or sorcerers died, they still could inflict harm on people. In such a case, they were called “heretics.”

Today, the word implies a connection with the Devil, although this was not the case for trials for witchery among the Slavs for the most part. This kind of sorcery was not associated with religion. Those who practiced it, instead caused harm to an enemy’s person or property, being accused of causing diseases and famine, and using the forces of nature.

Although these sorcerers looked like their neighbors, they could be found out because they possessed a tail. At least those who were born a sorcerer had a tail. Others who trained to become one could be given a tail that eventually grew on him. Other features that were harder to conceal were his busy eyebrows, his penetrating glance, and his desire to be secretive. He was also a bachelor with a little black book, only this one didn’t contain names of his female conquests… It held magical knowledge about herbs and spells.

We hope your Halloween will be filled with a lot of magic, laughter, and candies. Wear your favorite costumes and please be careful with the spells. We don’t want to see a lot of ugly frogs hopping around after Halloween.

If hear a noise in the sky, look up. Who knows? Perhaps it’s Baba Yaga flying on her mortar, visiting a friend to have some fun.

And don’t forget to take a look at our campaign about Baba Yaga. It’s ending on November 1, so don’t miss this opportunity: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/a-study-of-baba-yaga?ref=d97tft

If you’ve never logged into Kickstarter before, you’ll have to create an account. But then, you’ll have access to all the great projects going on every day, not just for the Witchstarter program.

 

Dragon-Repelling Herbs

October 26 is Dimitrovden, St. Demetrius’ Day or St. Dimitar’s Day. This saint is sometimes called the twin of St. George, the mighty dragon slayer. But did you know that St. Demetrius also fought dragons? I bet he never came across Baba Yaga when she was in dragon form, though.

What? You didn’t know she could appear as a dragon or giant snake in fairy tales? She is so huge that when she opens her mouth to swallow the hero, her jaw reaches from the clouds to the ground. Unlike the Bulgarian version of this dragon, this incarnation is always evil. But, there’s no need to worry, unless you’re the hero’s brother. Your sibling may toss you into the dragon’s mouth so he can escape.

In these stories, the dragon is defeated in a couple of ways. One is to toss in so much salt that she has to go to the sea to quench her thirst. Another is to hide in a blacksmith’s shop. When the dragon Baba Yaga arrives, the blacksmith will tell her to stick her tongue through the keyhole and grab the hero. While she does this, the crafty blacksmith will pinch her tongue with red-hot tongs and hold her there while the hero makes his way outside to kill the dragon Yaga.

But there are other ways to defeat dragons. By herbs. A few are used mainly to stop the amorous advances of a dragon, such as Melilotus officinalis (called komuniga in Bulgarian folklore), Gentiana cruciate (called tintyava), and Tanacetum vulgare (tansy). However, if you just want to drive away an angry dragon, such as a Baba Yaga one, you might want to stick with wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris). It’s one of the most effective anti-demonic herbs to protect you from dragons and other evil entities.

Its greatest magical strength lies in its buds and tips. Hang a bunch of the herbs around the house (preferably in a bedroom or hallway), or burn it as incense for a short time and in small doses. Its smell will drive out every unclean, evil force from your home—whether it’s a spirit or simply anger and negative energy. Another way to drive out evil spirits is to gather wild wormwood on Eniovden (Midsummer’s Day, June 24), make a broom with the stalks, and sweep the unwanted beings from your house. If you can’t harvest the herb on that day, do it when the moon is waning. This is when wild wormwood will be more powerful.

Common methods for applying the herbs include:

• Wearing them as a small bouquet or corsage. Bulgarians like to include a geranium (здравец, zdravets) among the flowers. Its leaves smell nice and protect against the evil eye, and bring health and strength to the wearer. Men often pin the herbs onto their shirt, while girls make herbal and floral wreaths to wear in their hair.
• Burning them and spreading the smoke like incense, including burning hay in a field that contains the herbs. The smoke from burning herbs will protect and purify you, and its smell will sicken the dragon so she’ll no longer come near you. It may even kill the dragon.
• Soaking them in water, then sprinkling the water on the victim or the place where the dragon resides.

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We have more interesting topics like this in our book 77½ Magical Healing Herbs. You can get the book here: https://77-1-2-herbs.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders.

Or if you want to find out more about dragons, check out our book A Study of Dragons of Eastern Europe.

And don’t forget to take a look at our campaign about Baba Yaga. It’s ending on November 1, so don’t miss this opportunity: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/a-study-of-baba-yaga?ref=d97tft

If you’ve never logged into Kickstarter before, you’ll have to create an account. But then, you’ll have access to all the great projects going on every day, not just for the Witchstarter program.

The Miraculous Power Locked within Chestnuts

What do you know about Baba Yaga? You’re probably saying she was a witch. But she is more than that. She is a healer who uses nature. We haven’t uncovered any of her secret recipes, but we’re sure she used some like the ones listed below. She loved autumn, so she is sure to have had a supply of chestnuts in her cupboard. You can find out more about her through our Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/a-study-of-baba-yaga?ref=d97tft

I remember as a child walking on the streets of Sofia in the spring under the wild chestnut trees. Their aroma wrapped us like a soft silk scarf. Then, in the fall, their leaves turned golden, and their fruits were falling to the ground. The trees are gone now, but the memories are still alive. When I visited France last October, I walked along Seine River. Chestnuts covered the sidewalk. I saw an old woman picking them up and putting them into her pockets. This remind me of an article I read while we were working our 77 1/2 herbs book about magical healing powers.

If you look at the bold chocolate color of wild chestnuts, you’ll agree that it’s a true symbol of autumn. Oh, you may say, and also Christmas, since everyone knows “The Christmas Song,” which starts with “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”

Image by rawpixel.com: https://www.rawpixel.com/image/2253257/free-illustration-png-chestnut-vintage-shells-curls-illustrated.

The Bulgarian folk medicine name for the fruit is horse chestnut. Petar Dimkov, a famous healer, calls it a natural miracle that has collected energy and life force from the sun. He says the fruits protect people from bad energy, because chestnuts filter out electric smog. If you carry it in your pocket, the fruit will provide you 30 to 40 percent protection from radiation caused by mobile devices. If you carry it in your hand, you can also reduce emotional imbalances, migraines, nervous irritability. Having trouble sleeping? Put chestnuts under your pillow, and you’ll be nodding off before you know it.

Chestnuts have even greater effects when they’re used in herbal recipes. They’re anti-inflammatory and have pain-relieving qualities. This makes them good for arthritis, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, sinusitis, and more complaints. To help with varicose veins, break chestnuts into pieces and put in a container. Pour alcohol over it so they are covered, then let it stand in a cool, dark place. When the alcohol changes color, the tincture is ready to use. Rub a little on your skin every night.

Looking for a solution to hair loss instead? The white part of chestnuts is good for that. Dry the chestnuts, then grind them. Wash your hair with the diluted white powder. This should stop hair loss and even grow new hair.

We have more interesting topics like this in our book 77½ Magical Healing Herbs. You can get the book here: https://77-1-2-herbs.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders.

And don’t forget to take a look at our campaign about Baba Yaga. It’s ending on November 1, so don’t miss this opportunity: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/a-study-of-baba-yaga?ref=d97tft

If you’ve never logged into Kickstarter before, you’ll have to create an account. But then, you’ll have access to all the great projects going on every day, not just for the Witchstarter program.

Sources:

Angelova, Iliana. “Петър Димков за ползата от дивите кестени.” [Petar Dimkov on the benefits of wild chestnuts.] https://gotvach.bg/n-114180-Peter_Dymkov_for_the_benefit_of_wild_chestnuts.

Mateva, VILLIES-Violeta. “Рецепти с кестени, които ще ви излекуват и разкрасят.” [Recipes with chestnuts that will heal and beautify you.] https://gotvach.bg/n-77503-Recipes_with_chestnuts_that_will_heal_and_beautify_you.

Sweet Sweet Marsh Mallow

The ancient Egyptians extracted the marsh mallow’s (Althaea officinalis) sap by hand and mixed it with nuts and honey, a delicacy reserved for gods and royalty. The marsh-mallow root was once also an ingredient in the marshmallow treats that we now consume. In the 1800s, French candy makers combined the plant’s sap with egg whites and sugar. And like that, the sweet treat was available for everyone, not just gods and nobility. As demand increased, the labor-intensive process changed, and gelatin replaced marsh-mallow sap.

It has also been used for thousands of years as a folk remedy to treat digestive, respiratory, and skin conditions. Even today, in traditional medicine, the mucilage mixed with water forms a slick gel that coats the throat and stomach to reduce irritation when taken internally, and it soothes chapped skin when applied externally. Boiling the flowers in oil and water and adding honey makes a gargle for sore throats.

It’s also a magical herb that’s burned as an incense to cleanse inside and out. You can gain protection against demons and spells by anointing yourself with oil in which the plant’s leaves and flowers have been steeped. Besides cleansing and protection, the herb is a favorite of benevolent spirits. You can call on them for help by keeping a jar of the marsh-mallow root and a dish of water on your altar. In addition, the plant is associated with deities of love and beauty, making it a practical herb for fertility and attraction spells. If you gather the seeds under a full moon and add them to sachets and love powders, you can fight infertility and impotence. Putting a vase of the flowers on your windowsill will help a wandering love return home. Marsh mallow also has an association with death and rebirth, and the herb is used in rituals for the dead. In addition, it is planted near graves, and its flowers decorate graves to honor the deceased.

Our book 77½ Magical Healing Herbs provides much more information about the magical and healing properties of herbs, the ones used in the Eniovden (Midsummer’s Day) wreath, plus much more… You can get the book here: https://77-1-2-herbs.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Kickstarter

If you’d like to learn more about Baba Yaga, we are running a Kickstarter campaign during the month of October, starting on October 4. This will be part of the “Witchstarter” program that Kickstarter is promoting. Along with our campaign, you’ll find all kinds of witchy items to browse through. We’ll be sharing many of these with you in our weekly newsletter, so be sure to follow along.

You can get a preview of our Baba Yaga campaign here. We welcome your feedback.

If you’ve never logged into Kickstarter before, you’ll have to create an account. But then, you’ll have access to all the great projects going on every day, not just for the Witchstarter program.