2024 Lectures and Workshops:

Albert Björn Shiell
LECTURE: 9 Natures Good and Bad – Icelandic Magical Herbalism
Icelandic folk magic is often overlooked save for the most commonly known magical staves and notions of Viking age witchcraft. In reality the magic of this small nation permeates every corner of the island, throughout time, from the Viking age settlers, to Catholic wizard priests, and later Lutheran ‘stave-crafters’. Icelandic magical herbalism is most often ignored or not deemed as useful as the galdrastafir many practitioners flock to. But the herbs and plants of Iceland have deep magic, known to the wise throughout the islands history. In this lecture we will discuss a little of the cultural and spiritual background that this branch of magical herbalism comes from, before diving into an exhibition of herbal workings gathered from around the country. Learn about the balance of power between Icelandic rowan and juniper, how one can harm and heal with goat willow, how yarrow and meadowsweet reveal the truth and moonwort opens paths. This lecture will mainly draw from the recordings of 19th and 20th Icelandic folklorists, while examining links to the distant past, as well as how Icelandic magical staves and spoken charms are worked with them for all sorts of uses.

WORKSHOP: Wrist in Rowan – Icelandic Magical Staves in Herbalism
In this workshop we will learn practical techniques for plant magic inspired by and built upon Icelandic folklore and galdrastafir tradition. We will learn how we can work plant materia alongside the use of magical staves. Which trees and plants the folklore tells us to use alongside them, and which trees and plants we work with locally to build on that folklore. We will cover a little on the history and tradition of staves in Iceland, how we can create our own staves and which plants may be better to work alongside them. Participants will leave with a small blend of Icelandic herbal tea, as well as printer resources on the material covered in the workshop.

BIOGRAPHY
Albert Schiell is a practicing folk magician and seiðkarl, hailing from Sussex, England. He has lived in Reykjavík, Iceland nearly 10 years, walking the land and working with the spirits that call it home. Author of Icelandic Plant Magic, his work focuses mostly on the union of Iceland magical plants, folklore and magical staves. https://pellarcrafts.com

David Simmons
LECTURE: Botanical Daemons: Constructing Living Spirit Settlements and Fetish Work
Drawing from many years of his own personal work with living plant fetishes and plant daemons and its application in the construction of assentamentos, (spirit settlements) within the context of Brazilian Quimbanda. He will demonstrate his own adaptation of these principles in the creation of living spirit settlements of fetish plants. He has personally worked with fetish plants in this way for many years now with great effects and results, most notably and extensively with mandrake. His approach will incorporate many eclectic elements from various traditions and forms of folk magic and he is greatly looking forward to sharing these fruits of his studies and experiences with a like minded audience.

WORKSHOP: Constructing a Living Mandrake Spirit Settlement Fetish
In this workshop David will be furnishing small mandrakes, pots, and various curio objects relevant within the context of folk magical traditions and The Brazilian Quimbanda. These curios will guide participants in the construction of their own living spirit settlement of a fetish mandrake. He will share some of his own experiences and also go over some basic recommendations for the care and growing of mandrakes. He will be touching upon some of the history and associations of mandrakes, The Brazilian Quimbanda spirit settlements, and fetish work.

BIOGRAPHY
David Simmons is a life long student of the occult, a master herbalist specializing in the witches poisons, an initiated Quimbandeiro, and a Qayinite. He contributed to the translation and English edition of the book Quimbanda, The Cult of The Red and Black Flame, his art work was featured in the Darkadya art books, and he has published numerous articles on the occult. He is also an alumni of The Viridis Genii Symposium returning now for his fourth year.rests of the Pacific Northwest.

Gabriela Sarna Wiraszka
LECTURE: Between the Serpent and the Bird – The Wheel of the Year and Harvest Ceremonies in Polish Slavic Traditions
The wheel of the year as it is observed through the various celebrations in Poland and other Slavic countries offers a well rounded perspective of how important it was for people to honor the seasons and the sacred dance of the sun and earth. Farmers would petition for the return of abundant crops to both the Nature Spirits and the Ancestors by creating elaborate celebrations throughout the year. By no coincidence the Catholic Liturgical calendar aligns with these pre-Christian ceremonies seamlessly and also observes seasonal Feast Days and the veneration of Saints who stand in for previous Deities and Spirits who would guard, bless and open the doors to each time and season.

In this lecture we will discuss the Polish Slavic wheel of the year as it moves through the eight recognized seasonal Sabbats as well as the Catholic Feast Days that accompany them. With an emphasis on autumnal harvest celebrations and the importance of grain and bread in its connection to Ancestral veneration we will look at the path that corresponds with the travel of the sun into the dark seasons and back again. Inevitably this observation will connect us to the journey of the souls of the dead that travel through both the lower and upper realms of the Slavic afterlife where they meet the blessings of the mysteries that help nourish the living and grant the return of life through the agricultural cycle.

WORKSHOP: Blood Kissed Oil and Wreath of Green – The Plants of John the Baptist and Kupala Night of the Slavic Summer Solstice
Saint John’s Wort growing abundantly around the Summer Solstice has been recognized for its various medicinal properties for centuries. Lovingly named after John the Baptist it is also reached for in magical uses for its highly protective and banishing qualities. In Slavic countries the Summer Solstice and John the Baptist Feast Day on June 24th, named Kupala Night or Kupalnocka, are very sacred and powerful times that open the doors to spirit initiations, divination and celebrations of water and fire. Various plants such as Saint John’s Wort as well as Mugwort and Fern accompany these ceremonies as both initiators and protectors during these times of summer magic in full bloom.

During this workshop, held within the auspicious time window of Summer Solstice and Kupalnocka, we will craft a protection oil of St. John’s Wort as well as a fresh wreath traditionally woven during this time of the year. Together, we will empower the oil with chant and charm to invoke the blessing of the plants, John the Baptist, and the magical time of the Summer season.

BIOGRAPHY
Gabriela Sarna Wiraszka was born and raised in Poland and immigrated to the US in 1989. Driven by a deep curiosity and love for the Great Mystery along with her Ancestral beliefs she has been immersed in creating, writing and tending to the seen and unseen world on both a personal and community level for the last 25 years. She is an artist, writer, and practitioner and teacher of Slavic and European Folk magic and healing. She is committed to share, research and help preserve the knowledge of folk healing traditions and beliefs from Poland and Eastern Europe. To find out more about Gabriela’s practice and offerings, please visit www.allgateswithin.com.

Jeremy Bechelli Ph.D
LECTURE: Fallen Fruit: The Devil in English Botanical Folklore of the Autumnal Harvests
While grown worldwide, the blackberry (Rubus spp.) is particularly steeped in folklore on the British Isles. We will explore the fascinating relationships between the Devil and the blackberry in autumnal harvest traditions. Beyond their presence in hedgerows and pleasant jams, blackberries assume a darker persona, imbued with whispers of fallen angels and demonic temptation. We will explore how folktales and harvest customs describe the blackberry as a forbidden fruit, enticing us with its sweetness while being stained by the Devil’s touch. Drawing connections between the wider autumnal celebrations, we will examine how these favorite fall fruits are often associated with the fallen angels. From mischievous tricksters lurking in the brambles to sinister spirits demanding offerings in exchange for bountiful harvests, this exploration will elucidate the complex relationship between fear, superstition, and nature’s bounty. Through analysis of folklore and cultural practices, this presentation uncovers the fascinating layers of lore embedded within the simple blackberry, revealing its unexpected role as a potent symbol of the Devil’s existence in the English autumnal harvest.

WORKSHOP: From Heaven to Hedgerow: A Phytognostic and Practical Experience with the Blackberry
Blackberries have numerous uses for herbalists and even more uses for occult herbalists. Starting with a general overview of the genus Rubus, we will explore the plant’s various phytochemicals, including the anthocyanins responsible for the blackberry’s rich dark color and the chemical constituents in the broader plant. Using various preparations, we will integrate theoretical and practical aspects of its mysteries and approach the humble blackberry from a phytognostic perspective.

BIOGRAPHY
Jeremy Bechelli received his Ph.D. in infectious disease pathology from the University of Texas Medical Branch and his M.S. in microbiology from the University of Rochester. Jeremy is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology studying tick-borne infectious diseases and endothelial pathobiology. Jeremy is a long-time student of European folk magic and studies occult herbalism, folk medicine and the traditional witch-lore and practices of the British Isles. Jeremy also owns Phytognosis, a business focused on plant based spirituality, incense, resins, and botanical curios. https://www.phytognosis.org

Jesse Hathaway Diaz
LECTURE: Seeds of the Seance: The Plants of Spiritism from Victorian Supernatural Botany to Caribbean Creole Espiritismo
Certain plants and scents have long been felt as aiding in the connection to the spirit world, and with the rise of spiritism in the 19th century, many such plants became renowned for assisting the faculties of mediums to deliver messages and commune with spirits. While many such connections were born from existing cultural associations and carried in to spiritist circles, we can similarly see the incorporation of specific plants and botanical products due to contemporary availability and efficacy through trial or observation, such as with Florida Water and other scented colognes. Flowers served both a heraldic role by inviting certain spirits to the session, and also often were notably produced as apports, objects materialized in seances in the presence of a medium, such as the famous Ixora crocata and the Golden Lily of medium Elizabeth d’Esperance. As spiritism spread in the Caribbean and increasingly creolized into the various forms of espiritismo, a treasure trove of Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous plant lore became part of the spiritist repertoire. In this lecture, Hathaway Diaz will draw on documented history and personal interviews with both spiritists and espiritistas regarding the role of plants in spiritism, as inspiration, apport and proof, as offerings and heraldry, and as tools for the work of spirits.

WORKSHOP:Aguas Floridas- Augmented Floral Waters in the Spiritist Traditions
Although not originally marketed towards the spiritual community, eaux de toilette like Florida Water, Kolonia, and Kananga Water were incorporated within Caribbean spiritist traditions quite readily. In this this workshop, we will dive into the history of prominent floral waters and in detail discuss their recipes, and their purported uses within the spiritist community, as well as common ways to augment them with chosen botanicals. Workshop participants will craft their own small samples of various waters by mixing their own scents and botanicals to have an amended floral water that may be used in similarly sympathetic work as spirit communication, spirit healing and more. An informal but focused spiritist session will close the workshop.

BIOGRAPHY
Jesse Hathaway Diaz is a folklorist, artist, performer and independent scholar with a Masters in Performance Studies from NYU. With initiations in several forms of witchcraft from Europe and the Americas, he is also a lifelong student of Mexican curanderismo, an initiated priest of Obatalá in the Lucumí Orisha tradition, and a Tatá Quimbanda. He co-hosts an occult themed podcast called ‘Radio Free Golgotha’, and edits the ‘Folk Necromancy in Transmission’ imprint through Revelore Press. For the better part of two decades, he has been involved with Theatre Group Dzieci, a New York based experimental theatre ensemble which explores theatre and ritual as a way, blending service with self-exploration and performance. Dividing his time between the Bronx and a farm in the Hudson Valley, his artistic and written work navigate the world-as-magic through exploring orality and transmission, decolonialism, ritual theory and praxis, herbalism and healing modalities through private study, apprenticeship, and community involvement. You can find his artistic and written work at http://www.jessehathawaydiaz.com

Katrina Pejovic
LECTURE: The Great Garland of the King: Balkan Herbal Magic of St. George’s Day
By far one of the most important saint feasts of the Serbian folk calendar, St. George’s Day is not only a prominent personal slava, but also the beginning of the ritual year, marking the ascent of the summer months. Deeply tied to older oral lore of gods, spirit guardians who protect communities, and the beings of disease that are kept at bay by them, this holy feast, celebrated either April 23rd or May 6th by church calendar, preserves some of the most outwardly prominent motifs of pre-Christian traditions within its scope of folk Orthodoxy.

Drawing on anthropological scholarship across wider Balkan traditions, as well as oral lore obtained through ethnographic research (and a lifelong personal study of Serbian traditions), this presentation will cover a wide array of beliefs and practices pertaining to the herbal folk magic of the dragon-slaying, horse-riding, Green George himself. By focusing on living oral praxis, we will cover a selection of trees and herbs and their folklore, specific timings and practices for harvesting, works carried out in the early hours stretching all throughout those best done in solitude at night, and never-before-translated oral charms for protection, love, divination, financial success, fertility, and more.

WORKSHOP: The Spear and the Sight: A Rite of Augury and Protection by Way of St. George and St. Vitus
The period between Đurđevdan (St. George’s Day on May 6) and Vidovdan (St. Vitus’ Day on June 28) is known across Serbian folklore as the time when the Seven Fairies (or Dragons) of the Pleiades are “missing” from the sky, on pilgrimage to the Mothers of the Sun, Moon, and Wind to pay homage to their guidance and protection. Much like St. George’s Day itself, the feast of St. Vitus is not only exceptionally well-known and respected throughout Serbia for its historic significance across the centuries, but is also a day marked by sorcery, divination, and rites to open and enhance the sight.

By using key ingredients collected in a traditional fashion on St. George’s Day in 2024, this workshop will bring the embers emerging in the full of springtime directly into the heat of the summer solstice. Sacred waters and herbs, traditionally cultivated by George, will be re-awakened by Vitus on his holy day together with participants, who will be taught their oral charms in their original language as well as in English translation. As a group, we will then share in traditional forms of St. Vitus’ Day divination, calling on the Pleiades to reveal the fortune and misfortune predicted for the coming season, and seize the oracular insights gleaned to capture what is fertile and ward away what brings ruin in the form of a potent protective charm. Building on existing practices for how to protect one’s health, joy, and luck from all manner of angles, we will expand upon lore of the herbs of Sts. George and Vitus (and their pre-Christian, Slavic forms of Jarilo and Svetovid) to gaze with clear sight—through the stellar crossroad of the saints, armed with their burning spears of benediction.

BIOGRAPHY
Katarina Pejovic is a PhD candidate at the Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto. Her SSHRC-funded research examines the legends and grimoires of the sorcerer saint Cyprian of Antioch, with a special focus on his presence in Eastern Orthodox traditions in the Balkans and Mediterranean. In addition to her work on St. Cyprian, she writes on various topics including grimoire history, folk Christianity, Western occultism, and traditions of divination, witchcraft, and magic in Eastern Europe. Her lifelong passion for the unique folklore, sorcery, and spirits of the Balkans forms the roots of both her academic studies and personal praxis; watered by ancestral veneration, enflamed by Quimbanda and dragon-fire, and nourished with an endless curiosity of mystery.

Phoebe Hidegard Finch
LECTURE: The Resurrection Plant – A Magico-Medicinal Overview of the “Rose of Jericho”
The Rose of Jericho is an emblematic magical herb with highly unusual properties. Lying somewhere between the plant and animal kingdoms (at least in popular understanding) this ancient desert plant “resurrects” its greenery even after years of total dormancy and has been observed to “travel” over vast distances before springing back to life.

Many are familiar with the magical uses of this classic Hoodoo curio. Others know the Rose of Jericho from its inclusion in a variety of Germanic Christmas traditions and other folk Christian rituals invoking the savior’s resurrection. The long history of its medicinal use, including as a topical agent to restore and extend youth, is less commonly discussed. The findings of contemporary scientific researchers add a fascinating angle to studies of the “Rose”. Recent findings suggest that the Rose of Jericho possesses both anti-aging and neuroprotective properties – fascinating in light of its long cross-cultural association with immortality.

This presentation traces the Rose of Jericho through history, folklore, and folk medicine. The beguiling Resurrection Rose will be examined through the lens of Southern Conjure, within folk Christianity, and in German-American Folk Magics. Both the “true” and the “false” Roses of Jericho will be discussed in this study. Several applications will be offered for present-day practitioners, from the magical, to the cosmetic, to the folk medicinal.

WORKSHOP: Resurrecting the Rose
In this workshop, participants will be invited to “resurrect” their own Rose of Jericho. Presenter and Root Doctor Phoebe Hildegard will then explain some of the plant’s uses within the tradition of Hoodoo & Southern Conjure. The “Roses” will be “trained” to work in the manner passed down by Phoebe’s elders, including Professor Charles Porterfield, and each participant will perform a simple and traditional spell for love, money, or healing.

This traditional Hoodoo “herb” is a form of spikemoss that reproduces through sporulation. Cultivation is challenging, but can be rewarding for those who are dedicated. We will end our workshop by discussing the difficult matter of propagating the Rose of Jericho and participants will leave with handouts and guides to best practices.

This workshop will utilize the “false” Rose of Jericho, Selinagella lepidophylla. Although it is called “false”, this is the classic Conjure curio. All participants will leave the workshop with their own Resurrection Rose which can be incorporated into their magical practice henceforth.

BIOGRAPHY
Phoebe Hildegard Finch is a traditionally trained conjurer, card reader, and writer. She currently resides in Denton, Texas as apprentice to old-fashioned Conjure Doctor Professor Charles Porterfield. A lifelong herbalist, her work with plants is the loamy heart of her craft, anchoring the arcane in the physical. https://www.phoebehildegard.com