The Witches' Book of the Dead (33 page)
Read The Witches' Book of the Dead Online
Authors: Christian Day
Offerings to Ma'at
: Ostrich feathers, though any feather will do in a pinch; symbols of justice. Joining justice advocacy groups or those that help crime victims can be a powerful gift to Ma'at.
Oneiroi
In Greek mythology, the Oneiroi are minor deities who personify dreams, and are important mediums for contacting the dead. The offspring of Hypnos, the god of sleep, the Oneiroi live in a dark cave in Erebos, the land of eternal darkness beyond the rising sun. They fly out at night like bats, led by Morpheus, their leader. Morpheus appears as a young man in the dreams of kings, bringing prophecies and important messages from the gods. The ancients believed that the Oneiroi delivered good and true dreams when they passed through a gate of horn, and false dreams when they passed through a gate of ivory. Black dreams are nightmares. Oneiros can be addressed as a personification of dreams in general. Call on them when you seek to dream of the dead.
Offerings to the Oneiroi
: An animal horn for true dreams; black cloth.
Osiris
An Egyptian deity best known as god of the dead, “Osiris” is a Greek name for “Ousir.” Originally, Osiris was a nature spirit, embodied in the crops that die in harvest and are reborn again each spring. According to the legend of his transformation as god of death, Osiris was a handsome king of Egypt who married his sister, Isis. In a treacherous plot, his brother, Set, murdered him and hacked his body to pieces. Using magic, Isis reassembled the body and breathed life back into him. They had sex and created a child, Horus. Set murdered Osiris again, and he descended into the underworld, the Duat, preferring to remain there. He is king and judge of the dead. The Egyptian
Book of the Dead
, a guidebook for navigating successfully to the underworld after death, has about 100 litanies to him. In the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris, his passion, death, and resurrection are reenacted in a fertility drama. His symbol is the sun. Call on Osiris to resurrect the spirits of those who have passed.
Offerings to Osiris
: Incense of frankincense and myrrh; lotus flowers; ale or wine; pine cones; vases of water; meats.
Persephone
Hades rules the underworld with his queen, Persephone. According to myth, Persephone (also Kore) was a lovely maiden of spring, the daughter of De-meter, goddess of corn and the harvest. Hades desired her, and Zeus, his brother, promised her to him without telling Demeter. One day Hades rose up out of a chasm in the Earth in his chariot drawn by black horses, and kidnapped Persephone, bringing her to the underworld. In her grief, Demeter caused all things on Earth to wither and die. Other gods entreated her to relent, but she refused in anger. Finally, Zeus intervened and ordered Hades to return Persephone to Earth. Hades acquiesced, but first made Persephone eat a pomegranate seed, which bound her to him forever. As a compromise, Persephone returns to Earth each spring, bringing a flowering of the Earth, and goes back to Hades each fall, bringing the death of winter. Her transits are marked by the equinoxes.
Offerings to Persephone
: Pomegranates; spring flowers and roses; first fruits; honey.
Santisima Muerte
An increasingly popular folk deity who originated in Mexico and is weaving her way through other parts of the world, Santisima Muerte (Saint Death) has become a powerful aid in the magic and prayers of all who call on her. She is a skeletal figure, similar to the Grim Reaper, cloaked in a hooded robe of varying colors (depending on the intent she is called on for). Her cult has simmered beneath the surface of Mexican culture since the 1900s, but probably has ties to Aztec worship. She is prayed to by Catholics, while Mexican Witches (brujos and brujas) invoke her for their spells. Call on Santisima Muerte for love (yes, she has long been known to return a wandering lover),
luck, healing, power, protection, and wealth. Whatever your cause, Santisima Muerte will aid you!
Offerings to Santisima Muerte
: Flowers, apples and other fruits; candles; money; Tequila or other liquors; uncooked rice or beans; chili peppers; cigarettes.
Thanatos
Greek god of nonviolent death, Thanatos brings an easy death on feathery wings and, much like his twin brother, Hypnos, brushes people with his wings to induce sleep. Together, they gently carry off the dead. Thanatos is usually depicted as a bearded older man. The Romans portrayed him as a young man holding a down-turned torch, or a wreath and butterfly, the symbol of the soul. Like Hypnos, he lives in a sunless cave. He is pitiless and has a heart like cold iron: whomever he grasps dies. Call on Thanatos when trying to bring a gentle death to the dying.
Offerings to Thanatos
: Poppies; figurines or images of butterflies.
Thoth
Thoth is the Egyptian god who created the universe and all mystical wisdom, magic, learning, writing, arithmetic, and astrology. Called “The Lord of the Divine Books” and “Scribe of the Company of Gods,” Thoth usually is portrayed as an ibis-headed man with a pen and ink holder, or as a baboon-headed man holding a crescent moon. Thoth is a healer and magician. He restored the eye of Horus, which was torn to pieces when Horus battled his evil uncle, Set, to avenge the death of his father, Osiris. The eye of Horus, also known as the
udjat
eye, became a funerary amulet and magical, all-seeing eye. Because of this magical act, Thoth became the patron god of oculists in ancient Egypt.
Thoth is an important guide to the souls of the dead. He is petitioned in many of the spells in the Egyptian
Book of the Dead
, such as the
opening-of-the-mouth spell to reanimate a corpse, which was spoken over a mummy by the high priest.
The Greeks associated Hermes so closely with Thoth that the two blended together, and became identified with the mythical figure of Hermes Trismegistus, patron of magicians and alleged author of the Hermetic books of occult philosophy and wisdom. The
Book of Thoth
, or the “Key to Immortality,” kept in a secret location, is said to reveal the secret processes for the regeneration of humanity, and for the expansion of consciousness that will enable mortals to behold the gods. The book is said to be contained within the Tarot.
Offerings to Thoth
: Quill pen and ink holder; the Magician card of the Tarot; images of eyes; images of the Eye of Horus; representations of mummies.
Appendix C: Resources
To perform the rituals and spells presented in this book, you will need to have access to special tools and resources. Whether the need is as simple and mundane as shopping for virgin olive oil and honey, or as mysterious as aquiring dittany of crete or a human skull, the following resources will put you on the right path for purchasing the proper tools that are vital to the practice of magic. I have included information for my own two shops, HEX and OMEN, and I am happy to provide reliable guidance and advice for whatever tools you seek.
Magical and Spiritual Supplies
HEX (Christian Day, proprietor)
246 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 666-0765
OMEN (Christian Day, proprietor)
184 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 666-0763
Angelica of the Angels
7 Central Street, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 745-9355
Crow Haven Corner
125 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 745-8763
Laurie Cabot's Official Witch Shoppe
63 Wharf Street, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 744-6274
The Magic Parlor
213 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 740-3866
Nu Aeon
88 Wharf Street, Pickering Wharf, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 744-0202
Necromantic Tools (skulls, bones, etc.)
The Bone Room: A Natural History Store
1569 Solano Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 526-5252
Westgate Necromantic
Necromance
7220 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 934-8684
Events for the Dead
Festival of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Ghost Tours
Bloody Mary's
Tours New Orleans, LA
The Salem Night Tour
NOTES
1
Outlet Book Company Staff,
Children's Classics: Cinderella and Other Classic Italian Fairy Tales
(Outlet Book Company, Inc., 1993).
2
Éva Pócs,
Between the Living and the Dead
(Hungary: Central European University Press, 1999).
3
J.M. Robertson,
Pagan Christs: Studies in Comparative Hierology
(London: Watts & Co., 1903), 353.
4
Thomas Kelly Cheyne,
Bible Problems and the New Material for Their Solution
(London: Williams & Norgate, 1904), 217–225.
5
Laurence Austine Waddell,
Makers of Civilization in Race and History
(London: Luzak, 1929), 24.
6
Harold Bayley,
Archaic England, An Essay in Deciphering Prehistory from Megalithic Monuments, Earthworks, Customs, Coins, Place-Names, and Faerie Superstitions
(Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1920), 111.
7
Robert Murch, “The Ouija Board,”
www.williamfuld.com/ouija1.html
.
8
Carlo Ginzburg,
Benandanti: de Goda Häxmästarna
(Benandanti: The Good Sorcerers) (Stehag: B. Östlings bokförlag Symposion, 1991. (In Swedish.)
9
www.rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de/persoenlichkeiten/C/Seiten/HelenaCurtens.aspx
(In German.)
10
Éva Pócs,
Between the Living and the Dead
(Hungary: Central European University Press, 1999), 122.
11
Daniel Ogden,
Greek and Roman Necromancy
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 17.
12
Daniel Ogden,
Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 189.
13
Daniel Ogden,
Greek and Roman Necromancy
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 44.
14
Daniel Ogden,
Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 188.
15
Daniel Ogden,
Greek and Roman Necromancy
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 44.
16
Ibid., 181.
17
Daniel Ogden,
Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 34.
18
Daniel Ogden,
Greek and Roman Necromancy
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 6.
19
Pierre Bonnechere, “Divination,” in
A Companion to Greek Religion
, Daniel Ogden, ed. (West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 158.
20
Lucan,
Pharsalia of Lucan
, trans. Edward Ridley (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.), 169.
21
Ibid., 172.
22
Daniel Ogden,
Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 195.
23
Ibid., 187.
24
Georg Luck,
Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds
(Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1985), 73.
25
Daniel Ogden,
Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 43.
26
Peter Levenda,
Unholy Alliance: a History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult
(New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2002).
27
Daniel Ogden,
Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: Sourcebook
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 64.
28
Craig Conley,
Magic Words: A Dictionary
(San Francisco: Red Wheel / Weiser 2008), 111.
29
Daniel Ogden,
Greek and Roman Necromancy
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 229.
30
Morton Kelsey traces the decline of dreams in Christianity in
God, Dreams and Revelation: A Christian Interpretation of Dreams
(Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing, 1991).