Charms, Wihta, and Story: An Animistic Approach to Modern Heathen Magic (Pt. 1)

The first in a two-part series of classes tackling everything from historical charms and storytelling to animism, disease, reciprocity, and how it all relates to many of the challenges we face in the modern world.

In this class, I begin with a deep dive into the Old English magico-medical manuscripts, their origins and the various worldviews represented within them with a special emphasis on the Augustinian worldview and its animistic nemesis. From there, I move on to the question of what animism actually is, the implications of an animistic worldview for magical practice, and some of what might be thought of as the features of animistic magic, connecting those features with examples taken from historical charms.

Then I discuss storytelling as a feature of animistic magic in greater depth, examining the power of narrative and speech as a reality-shaping force, as well as some of the foundational stories you'll need going forth (including those of plants as allies with agency). Finally, I’ll root the theory in examples of powerful stories taken from the modern world before returning to the historical charms and the different types of stories we see there.

This provides the foundation for the material presented in part two.

You will get:

• Audio and Video class recordings (length ca. 3 hrs 29 mins).
• Journal prompts for deeper exploration of the Augustinian/Animist dichotomy within yourself.
• A full bibliography of sources.