The Hag's Daughter

Imbolc, St. Brigid’s Day, and Candlemas are coming up and my celebration this year has been strengthened by the Imbolc magic box I received from . After sharing about a newfound connection with Mary on my TikTok this morning, I found this in the box from Ash: a rosary honoring Brigid and St. Benedict. Rosaries have a long history of use in Marian devotion, so this is yet another sign that spring for me will bring new devotions and changes in my life.

Sometimes ancestor work is delicious. These are generally called kiflis in Hungary, but my family called them beles. Tracing my family’s origins and how it affected our linguistic relationship with Magyar has been a fascinating journey and shows why it’s important to realize that the idea that a country has a single culture is false.

A classic of traditional British folk magic: The Witch Bottle. This is a protection spell used to counter harmful magic cast upon you by a witch. One of the first references to it in writing comes from the 17th century and gives the basic recipe of salt, three pins or nails, and the afflicted person’s urine (still warm!). These were secreted in the walls of houses and continue be discovered, usually by unsuspecting new homeowners and builders.

Late summer/early autumn is a great time to harvest nettle stalks to make cordage. Which it’s a staple in bushcraft, I find that nettles offer a potent aspect of boundary and protection to my magical workings, so this cord will be used for protection spells.
I did wear gloves to harvest and strip these stalks, but after stomping on them to loosen the fibers, the sting is taken out of them enough to hold them in my bare hands.

Settling in to do some fiber magic…

She’s rustic, but I’ve made my Cailleach doll for Lùnastal. Blessed harvest to everyone.

I’ve been exploring the darker side of the path of the cunning woman, the one that involves power plants and visions. Veneficium perfume oil from is a beautiful ally and smells like walking in my garden right after harvesting mugwort.

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Looks ominous, but it’s just yarn…

Doing a spell for a little extra confidence and luck today…

Feverfew is an herb of healing and protection and it’s blooming at the perfect time this week.

Auntie Eobha's Folk Magic Course has officially launched today! Join my Patreon at the Apprentice level or higher to access the first lesson: What is a Folk Witch?

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Spent the long weekend in a cabin in the woods, surrounded by magical plants, like this wild foxglove.

Decided to take some glamour shots of the gorgeous jewelry I have from in my garden the other day. The quartz piece is one I wear as devotional jewelry and the indigo milk cap cameo was a custom order. I love everything I’ve bought from them!

I’ve been sharing a new project on TikTok: handspun, hand-dyed red string for my craft. Here’s the test skein in progress on my oak dealgan (Scottish spindle).

For me, summer is a tricky time in my practice. I’ve written a bit about cycles in my practice on my website today, inspired by a reading from . You can find it at the link in my profile.

There is a lot going around social media and Witchtok about how other people's craft or practice might not look like yours and that's okay. But I think it is also important to talk about how your craft might not always look the same from day to day. In addition to developing over the years, your craft may fluctuate in a cyclic faction, just like everything else does....

http://cailleachsdaughter.com/2021/06/15/cycles-in-life-and-in-craft/

Cycles in Life and in Craft There is a lot going around social media and Witchtok about how other people’s craft or practice might not look like yours and that’s okay. But I think it is also important to talk abou…

So much of my practice revolves around the dark that I don’t know what to do with myself during the light half of the year. So I’ll be here in summer hibernation.

Having a bit of a retreat to the woods.

Always use protection 😉
For the challenge, hosted by I’m sharing my everyday protective jewelry: my amber pendant with a hag stone on a red leather cord and my cherry amber and glass rowan berry necklace strung on red linen thread. Rowan and red thread, put the witches to their speed!

My patience and care is starting to pay off and the other night, I had fresh herbs for my evening tea. Lemon balm, catnip, and spearmint.

The 17 year brood is here. These cicadas are a potent symbol of renewal and persistence, as well as a reminder of the cycles of our life. Seventeen years ago, I was barely old enough to drink, navigating my transition into adulthood. In another seventeen years, I will hopefully be helping my own child through that transition. Where were you 17 years ago? How far have you come? How far could you go in another 17 years?

My craft does not always take place in my dedicated space, but when a friend is in need, you do a spell at your telework desk to lead her loved one home to her.
This is a beeswax vigil candle, anointed with my favorite protection oil, and some catnip flowers and a tin foil ball to attract her kitty home to her.

The new moon is a time for looking for the way forward through the vapors of the cauldron...

The first thing I did after blessing my new craft space at the new house was put up protection. I made this charm at Imbolc using three-ply, wool red string, hag stones, and an old iron key, and a little more... 😉

This space is somewhat sterile and aesthetic compared to my other social media spaces, but today is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Day, celebrated on the birthday of Hanna Harris, a woman of the Ohmésêhese nation who would have been 29 today if she hadn’t been r***d and murdered almost eight years ago. For all our obsession with Indigenous medicine and appreciating the beauty of the natural world that my ancestors stole from Indigenous people, we shy away from thinking of the continuing toll colonization has taken on Indigenous communities. See the link in my profile for more information on MMIW.

There may not be any hawthorn in my garden to herald the true arrival of Bealltainn, but according to the Farmers Almanac, dogwood blossoms are a traditional herald of safe planting weather, free from the threat of spring frost.

The poison path is not all belladonna and datura. Lily of the valley decorates that path, too...

I don’t work with many symbols in my practice, but I thought I should add something to the staff I finished yesterday, and I have a deep connection to the spiral. It is a common motif in ancient art from Scotland, as well as a beautiful symbol of the linear-yet-not-linear nature of time. And there’s also the connection to spiritual energy and the snake. So I finished my most ambitious magical project to date with a spiral, darkened with leftover coffee grounds from my spouse’s morning cup of coffee, and finished with dark tung oil.

Today on the blog, I’m sharing some thoughts about my path, using a new word I learned from — spae-wife (or spaewife or spey-wife, etc.). And I’m formally announcing that I am open for readings. Details at the link in my bio!

My friend Ash made a thoroughly enlightening video on IGTV the other day in which he explained the difference among the different kinds of Scottish folk practitioners. It was a delightfully succinct-yet-informative video, and it reminded me that Gaelic is not the only language of Scotland because he made sure to give Scots names for practitioners as well. It echoed the sentiments behind…...

http://cailleachsdaughter.com/2021/04/19/a-witch-or-a-spae-wife/

A Witch or a Spae-Wife? My friend Ash made a thoroughly enlightening video on IGTV the other day in which he explained the difference among the different kinds of Scottish folk practitioners. It was a delightfully succinc…

Looks like we’re going to have strawberries this year!

Bread is a staple of my kitchen practice. It focuses the mind, absorbs intention and energy, and connects me to the foods of my ancestors, particularly when I make a lovely sourdough loaf with local heritage wheat from . As I move into the next chapter of my home and hearth practice with the move to a new house, baking bread is helping me remember the through lines.

Of course, it is necessary to bless the new house! I’m thankful to find juniper for the blessing (sometimes called “saining,” though that is a specific ceremony) from and I’m using the gorgeous House Blessing candle that gifted me to light it. Filling the house with fragrant smoke and Gaelic blessings from the Carmina Gadelica makes for a perfect entrance into our new house. Eadar bhonn agus bhraighe!

New garden surprise! I had been doing battle with a giant mass of roots in one of our raised beds and I knew I didn’t get all of it. Well, I’m not actually mad about that now.

I enjoyed some lovely spring weeds and early herbs from my garden yesterday in anticipation of our landscapers coming today. Dead nettle pesto for lunch!

I’ve packed up my altar in preparation for our big move next week, so I’m reconnecting with the simple practices of my craft. All I need to read tea leaves is a cup of tea, which I make every morning anyway. How do you cut through the distraction and surplus in your craft?

This is an argument I've been following and I thought I would wade in because I have a different perspective. As a former classics student, my starting point with this question would not be to consult Google or a dictionary, but instead my Wheelock's Latin textbook, where the word "paganus" is described as "a countryman, peasant." It is also used as an adjective to mean someone that is from the country....

http://cailleachsdaughter.com/2021/03/29/what-is-a-pagan/

What is a Pagan? This is an argument I’ve been following and I thought I would wade in because I have a different perspective. As a former classics student, my starting point with this question would not be t…