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Poppet Magick
(Poppet Dolls © SilkyRose) Written and compiled by George Knowles A poppet is a life-like figure or doll made to represent a person or animal and is used in ritual, magic and spell-craft to effect change through the application of sympathetic or imitative magic (see Sir James George Frazer below). Sympathetic magic works on the principles of “similarity” and “associated contact” (i.e. like attracts and effects like). It is based on the belief that someone or something can be magically affected by doing something to an object in one place, that represents a person or thing in another place. To achieve this a poppet is made as a representation of a person or thing and contains items associated with or belonging to that same person or object. Once made and magically charged, any action performed upon the poppet, is thought to cause or effect a similar reaction on the person or object it represents. The use of poppets in
witchcraft and magic is an age-old practice, but their potential uses
have long been closely guarded secrets, and as such there are an abundance of myths, folklore and superstition surrounding their use. For
example, in more recent times poppets have been negatively aligned with the Voodoo Dolls of Haiti, which through popular fantasy fiction
portrayed in films and on T.V, are commonly associated with malicious intent -
revenge, hate or evil. Today
poppets are more likely to be used for protection, prosperity, luck, love,
health and happiness.
However, as and when a need has been identified, they can also be
used for banishing and binding to prevent harm.
(Poppet Dolls © SilkyRose) When used in ritual poppets can also represent various aspects of the Goddess and God. For example at Lammas (1st August), Corn Dollies are made from the last cut sheaves of corn and fashioned into stick like figures representative of the Sacrificial God in his guise as John Barleycorn the “Spirit of the Corn”. These are then ritually burned and their ashes spread or buried in the fields. Many believed that with the cutting of the last sheaves of corn, the “Spirit of the Corn” retreated into the soil, to sleep there throughout the winter awaiting his rebirth in the coming spring. In a similar ritual at Imbolc (1st February), Bridie Dolls are made to represent Brigit (also known as Bride) the maiden Goddess of Fertility. Again these are ritually burned, but their ashes are mixed with the new seeds and are ploughed into the ground in the hope that the “Spirit of the Corn” (the God) will awaken and ensure the next harvest.
(Corn Dollies made by Tamra L. Consbruck © 2008) The use of poppets and dolls in magic date back to ancient times and occurrences of their use have be found in India, Babylonia (Chaldaea), Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. In ancient Greece for instance, poppets called “Kolossoi” were typically used to bind deities for defensive purposes to protect one’s village, home and family. Today binding spells are commonly used and targeted at specific individuals to stop or prevent then from harming others. The ancient Greeks however used binding to secure deity protection for public as well as private defense. For example, the spirit of Ares, the God of War would be bound in a poppet, which was then placed in the village square to ward off invading enemies, thus preventing war. Similarly other protective deities could be bound and the poppet buried near the home to protect buildings and family. During the witch hysteria of the 17th century, at the infamous trial of the Lancashire Witches in 1612, Old Mother Demdike confessed and described the quickest way to murder someone by witchcraft as: “…to make a Picture of clay, like unto the shape of the person whom they mean to kill, and dry it thoroughly: and when they would have them to be ill in any one place more than another; then take a Thorn or a Pin, and prick it in that part of the body to consume away, then take that part of the Picture, and burn it. And when they would have the whole body to consume away, then take the remnant of said Picture and burn it: and so thereupon by that means, the body shall die.” In more recent histories, when African slaves were forced to leave their homes and sold into labour on American plantations, many brought with them small religious artifacts similar to a poppet doll called a “fetish”. A fetish is commonly a statue or object containing magical power, used to protect the owner from evil spirits or to control the owner’s destiny. In tribal Africa, these beliefs are incorporated into expressive figures that acquire their power through ritualistic carving and consecration. In addition, special herbs, sacrificial offerings and magical words are used to increase its power or appease its spirit. Some fetishes are hollowed out to hold herbs and other magical substances, while others are adorned with special charms and talismans to ward off evil and protect the owners. However, fearing the power such beliefs had on the lives of their slaves, any slave found in possession of a fetish was likely to be killed by his owner, or at the very least have the skin removed from his back by whipping.
(Bakongo fetish -
Congo, Agni fetish - Ghana, Baoule fetish - Ivory Coast, Bayaka fetish - Congo) Poppets can be
fashioned from all kinds of materials, such as: carved roots, grasses, grain stalks, corn husks, fruit, wood,
paper, mud, wax, clay, metal or lead, all formed into a human shape.
These can then be dressed in simply made clothes and stuffed with a
variety herbs, stones and other magical items needed to effect the purpose of the spell
or work. Ideally
personal items associated with the person the poppet is intended for, should be
included in its preparation i.e. it could be dressed in material taken from
clothing once worn by the person, a
sample of handwriting or a photograph, personal items such as a lock of hair
or nail clippings, and even bodily fluids such as blood, semen or saliva.
The important thing is to create a link between the poppet and the
intended recipient of the spell or work.
(Poppet Dolls © SilkyRose) Poppets can be as simple or as elaborate as you like, but as they are generally made to represent another person, care should be taken to learn all you can about them, before you determine the need and purpose of your intent. Do you need to curse, heal, harm or bind??? While the possibilities are endless, just like in any spell work, you’ll need to set a goal and the means of achieving it. Some believed that the more work you put into preparing your spell, or the more complex it is, the stronger and more potent your focus and intent will be. Like any ritual tool, once made, the poppet needs to be
consecrated, named and dedicated to the work in hand, then infused with personal
energy to bring into force your intentions. Sometimes this is be done by breathing life into the poppets mouth
through a straw. In this way the
poppet takes on a magical life of its own, which activates the spell or working.
Depending on the type of spell being worked, be it to curse, heal, harm or bind, various actions are performed on the poppet to cause a similar effect on the recipient. It can be pierced with pins, nails or other sharp objects to cause pain, cooled with water or heated with fire to cure a fever, or bound with cords to restrict movement. Once the spell or work is done, or success has been achieved, the poppet needs to be dismantled and ingredients used disposed of in an appropriate way, making sure that any link between it and what it represented is completely destroyed.
Sir James George Frazer Finally, the late Sir
James George Frazer (1854-1941) describes the use of sympathetic or
imitative magic in his now
classic book: The Golden Bough: a Study in Magic and Religion (first
published in 1890): “Perhaps the most familiar application of the principle that like produces like is the attempt which has been made by many peoples in many ages to injure or destroy an enemy by injuring or destroying an image of him, in the belief that, just as the image suffers, so does the man, and that when it perishes he must die. A few instances out of many may be given to prove at once the wide diffusion of the practice over the world and its remarkable persistence through the ages. For thousands of years ago it was known to the sorcerers of ancient India, Babylon, and Egypt, as well as of Greece and Rome, and at this day it is still resorted to by cunning and malignant savages in Australia, Africa, and Scotland. Thus the North American Indians, we are told, believe that by drawing the figure of a person in sand, ashes, or clay, or by considering any object as his body, and then pricking it with a sharp stick or doing it any other injury, they inflict a corresponding injury on the person represented. For example, when an Ojebway Indian desires to work evil on any one, he makes a little wooden image of his enemy and runs a needle into its head or heart, or he shoots an arrow into it, believing that wherever the needle pierces or the arrow strikes the image, his foe will the same instant be seized with a sharp pain in the corresponding part of his body; but if he intends to kill the person outright, he burns or buries the puppet, uttering certain magic words as he does so. The Peruvian Indians molded images of fat mixed with grain to imitate the persons whom they disliked or feared, and then burned the effigy on the road where the intended victim was to pass. This they called “burning his soul.”” End
Sources: http://silverbroomstick.multiply.com/journal/item/18/Poppet_Magick Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. Penguin Hutchinson Reference Library Copyright (c) 1996 Man,
Myth and Magic - Edited by Richard Cavendish The Golden Bough - by James George Frazer
Best wishes and Blessed Be
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Correspondence Tables:
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Traditions:
Traditions Part 1 - Alexandrian Wicca / Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC) / Ár Ndraíocht Féin (ADF) / Blue Star Wicca / British Traditional (Druidic Witchcraft) / Celtic Wicca / Ceremonial Magic / Chaos Magic / Church and School of Wicca / Circle Sanctuary / Covenant of the Goddess (COG) / Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) / Cyber Wicca / Dianic Wicca / Eclectic Wicca / Feri Wicca /
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An extract from the Malleus Maleficarum
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Sabbats and Festivals:
The Sabbats in History and Mythology / Samhain (October 31st) / Yule (December 21st) / Imbolc (February 2nd) / Ostara (March 21st) / Beltane (April 30th) / Litha (June 21st) / Lammas/Lughnasadh (August 1st) / Mabon (September 21st)
Rituals contributed by Crone:
Samhain / Yule / Imbolc / Ostara / Beltane / Litha / Lammas / Mabon
Tools:
Tools of a Witch / The Besom (Broom) / Poppets and Dolls / Pendulums / Cauldron Magick / Mirror Gazing
Animals:
Animals in Witchcraft (The Witches Familiar and Totem Animals) / Antelope / Bats / Crow / Fox / Frog and Toads / Goat / Honeybee / Kangaroo / Lion / Owl / Phoenix / Rabbits and Hares / Raven / Robin Redbreast / Sheep / Spider / Squirrel / Swans / Unicorn / Wild Boar / Wolf / Serpent / Pig / Stag / Horse / Mouse / Cat / Rats / Unicorn
Trees:
In Worship of Trees - Myths, Lore and the Celtic Tree Calendar. For descriptions and correspondences of the thirteen sacred trees of Wicca/Witchcraft see the following: Birch / Rowan / Ash / Alder / Willow / Hawthorn / Oak / Holly / Hazel / Vine / Ivy / Reed / Elder
Sacred Sites:
Mystical Sacred Sites - Stonehenge / Glastonbury Tor / Malta - The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni / Avebury / Cerne Abbas - The Chalk Giant / Ireland - Newgrange /
Rocks and Stones:
Stones - History, Myths and Lore
Articles contributed by Patricia Jean Martin:
Apophyllite / Amber / Amethyst / Aquamarine / Aragonite / Aventurine / Black Tourmaline / Bloodstone / Calcite / Carnelian / Celestite / Citrine / Chrysanthemum Stone / Diamond / Emerald / Fluorite / Garnet / Hematite / Herkimer Diamond / Labradorite / Lapis Lazuli / Malachite / Moonstone / Obsidian / Opal / Pyrite / Quartz (Rock Crystal) / Rose Quartz / Ruby / Selenite / Seraphinite / Silver and Gold / Smoky Quartz / Sodalite / Sunstone / Thunderegg / Tree Agate / Zebra Marble
Wisdom and Inspiration:
Knowledge vs Wisdom by Ardriana Cahill / I Talk to the Trees / Awakening / The Witch in You / A Tale of the Woods / I have a Dream by Martin Luther King /
Articles and Stories about Witchcraft:
Murdered by Witchcraft / The Fairy Witch of Clonmel / A Battleship, U-boat, and a Witch / The Troll-Tear (A story for Children) / Goody Hawkins - The Wise Goodwife / The Story of Jack-O-Lantern / The Murder of the Hammersmith Ghost / Josephine Gray (The Infamous Black Widow) / The Two Brothers - Light and Dark
Old Masters of Academia:
Pliny the Elder / Hesiod / Pythagoras
Biographies
A "Who's Who" of Witches, Pagans and other associated People (Ancient, Past and Present)
(Departed Pagan Pioneers, Founders, Elders and Others)
Pagan
Pioneers: Founders, Elders, Leaders and Others
Abramelin the Mage / Agrippa / Aidan A Kelly / Albertus Magnus - “Albert the Great” / Aleister Crowley - “The Great Beast” / Alex Sanders - “King of the Witches” / Alison Harlow / Allan Bennett - the Ven. Ananda Metteyya / Allan Kardec (Spiritism) / Alphonsus de Spina / Amber K / Ann Moura / Anna Franklin / Anodea Judith / Anton Szandor LaVey / Arnold Crowther / Arthur Edward Waite / Austin Osman Spare / Balthasar Bekker / Biddy Early / Barbara Vickers / Bridget Cleary - The Fairy Witch of Clonmel / Carl " Llewellyn" Weschcke / Cecil Hugh Williamson / Charles Godfrey Leland / Charles Walton / Christopher Penczak / Christina Oakley Harrington / Cornelius Loos / Damh the Bard - "Dave Smith" / Dion Fortune / Dolores Aschroft-Nowicki / Donald Michael Kraig / Doreen Valiente / Dorothy Morrison / Dr. John Dee & Edward Kelly / Dr. Leo Louis Martello / Edain McCoy / Edward Fitch / Eleanor Ray Bone - “Matriarch of British Witchcraft” / Eliphas Levi / Ernest Thompson Seton / Ernest Westlake / Fiona Horne / Frederick McLaren Adams - Feraferia / Friedrich von Spee / Francis Barrett / Gavin and Yvonne Frost and the School and Church of Wicca / Gerald B. Gardner - The father of contemporary Witchcraft / Gwydion Pendderwen / Hans Holzer / Helen Duncan / Herman Slater - Horrible Herman / Heinrich Kramer / Isaac Bonewits / Israel Regardie / Ivo Domínguez Jr. / Jack Whiteside Parsons - Rocket Science and Magick / James "Cunning" Murrell - The Master of Witches / Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone / Jean Bodin / Jessie Wicker Bell - “Lady Sheba” / Johann Weyer / Johannes Junius - "The Burgomaster of Bamberg" / Johann Georg Fuchs von Dornheim - the “Hexenbrenner” (witch burner) / John Belham-Payne / John George Hohman - "Pow-wow" / John Gerard / John Gordon Hargrave and the Kibbo Kith Kindred / John Michael Greer / John Score / Joseph “Bearwalker” Wilson / Joseph John Campbell / Karl von Eckartshausen / Lady Gwen Thompson - and "The Rede of the Wiccae" / Laurie Cabot - "the Official Witch of Salem" / Lewis Spence / Lodovico Maria Sinistrari / Ludwig Lavater / Madeline Montalban and the Order of the Morning Star / Margaret Alice Murray / Margot Adler / Michael Howard and the UK "Cauldron Magazine" / Margaret St. Clair - the “Sign of the Labrys” / Marie Laveau - " the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans" / Marion Weinstein / Martin Antoine Del Rio / Matthew Hopkins - “The Witch-Finder General” / Max Ehrmann and the "Desiderata" / Michael A. Aquino - and The Temple of Set / Monique Wilson / Montague Summers / Nicholas Culpeper / Nicholas Remy / M. R. Sellars / Mrs. Maud Grieve - "A Modern Herbal" / Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and Morning Glory / Old Dorothy Clutterbuck / Old George Pickingill / Olivia Durdin-Robertson - co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis / Paddy Slade / Pamela Colman-Smith / Paracelsus / Patricia Crowther / Patricia Monaghan / Patricia “Trish” Telesco / Paul Foster Case and the “Builders of the Adytum” mystery school / Peter Binsfeld / Philip Heselton / Raven Grimassi / Raymond Buckland / Reginald Scot / Richard Baxter / Robert Cochrane / Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves and the "The White Goddess" / Rosaleen Norton - “The Witch of Kings Cross” / Rossell Hope Robbins / Ross Nichols and the " Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids" (OBOD) / Rudolf Steiner / Sabrina Underwood - "The Ink Witch" / Scott Cunningham / Selena Fox - founder of "Circle Sanctuary" / Silver Ravenwolf / Sir Francis Dashwood / Sir James George Frazer and the " The Golden Bough" / S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn” / Starhawk / Stewart Farrar / Sybil Leek / Ted Andrews / The Mather Family - (includes: Richard Mather, Increase Mather and Cotton Mather ) / Thomas Ady / T. Thorn Coyle / Vera Chapman / Victor & Cora Anderson and the " Feri Tradition" / Vivianne Crowley / Walter Brown Gibson / Walter Ernest Butler / William Butler Yeats / Zsuzsanna Budapest /
Many of the above biographies are briefs and far from complete. If you know about any of these individuals and can help with additional information, please contact me privately at my email address below. Many thanks for reading :-)
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