Charms, Wihta, and Story: An Animistic Approach to Modern Heathen Magic (Pt. 2)

In this, the second part of Charms, Wihta, and Story, I build on the foundation set down in part one, beginning once again with the charms, focusing this time on the causes of illness and how they may relate to some of the environmental challenges we’re face in our modern world. This leads to the consideration of what is to live reciprocally and be a good neighbor to our other-than-human kin on this mighty, fecund Earth.

From there, I move on the two most destructive emotions/traits identified again and again in the Old Norse and Old English primary sources: anger and greed. These - as will hopefully become clear - are not only enemies to the wellbeing of our own selves, but also to our communities, societies, and the very earth we live on.

After that, I move from the political to the practical and discuss spirit-caused illness: how to discern them, the importance of taking a holistic approach to healing, measures we can take to prevent spirit-caused illness, and the types of cures used historically. However, as discussed in part one of this series, the early English manuscripts blend Heathen, Christian, and classical healing traditions within their pages. This can make it hard for modern Heathens and witches to see them as valuable sources of magical information - or even relevant. Here I present a story-centric approach to deconstructing/working the charms to ease the way, allowing participants to glimpse some of the treasures within.

Finally, I discuss my experiments with the elements of charming that we don’t see in the primary sources: the internal processes of the charmer. I also provide a framework for creating your own charms and/or workings rooted in this storied, animistic worldview.

You will get:

• Audio and video recordings of the class (approx. length: 2 hrs 30 mins).
• Sig Gealdor Charm
• Finnish Iron Armor Charm
• Black Salt recipe
• Full bibliography.