This is the time of the year the terrible Nian comes out of the dark to feed, and roams the neighbourhood looking for vulnerable people it can snap up and crunch down. The Nian was originally indigenous to rural China and was close to extinction in the 1800’s, but over the years has interbred with…
Category: myths
Vanquish a Love Rival via Voodoo
Sometimes you need to get somebody out of the way. I’m well aware that it would be v. bad ju-ju to destroy an enemy or rival by use of the dark arts… but…. Let me make it clear now that we will not be using poppets, D.U.M.E oils, hexing, cursing, left-handed grimoires nor will we…
Follow The Bear
A straw bear or Wild Man is a vaguely man-shaped animated heap of straw with a pointy head that appears in Shrovetide celebrations in the more remote Bavarian villages and rather more unexpectedly, at the modern town of Whittlesey in the Fenlands of Cambridgeshire. In The Golden Bough, Sir James Frazer described many examples of…
Super Blue Blood Moon lucky horoscopes for you
The lunar situation is getting a bit complex, so let’s summarize. A Blood Moon is when a complete lunar eclipse makes the moon appear red. A Blue Moon is when an additional full moon occurs as well as the 12 usual full moons we have every year. As this only happens occasionally (like a Leap…
Killing the Corn-Spirit or Hello, Dolly!
In the village of Siddington in Cheshire in the shadow of the monolithic radio telescopes of Jodrell Bank, lives a gentleman with an unusual hobby. Raymond Rush makes corn dollies, and at Harvest Festival time decorates the local church with over 1,000 of these sinister pagan relics. In his workshop next to an old hand…
Mezcal Magic & The 400 Rabbits
Mayatl the ancient Zapotec goddess of mezcal is a beautiful woman with 40,000 breasts like agave pines. Living in the desert surrounded by shadowy holes in the ground, she flowered into being when lightning struck an agave plant – cooking, opening it and spilling the first mezcal across the sand. The holes are inhabited by…
Today the Gates of Hell open for Hungry Ghosts
The Hungry Ghost festival is held during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar, on the first night of the full Corn Moon. This is when the gates of Hell open and Hungry Ghosts are freed from the lower realms to roam the earth, where they seek food and amusement. These Ghosts are believed to…
TrollĂŻ? Yes indeedĂŻ! ScandĂŻ, mostlĂŻ
“Look at them, troll mother said. Look at my sons! You won’t find more beautiful trolls on this side of the moon.” – Traditional  In these enlightened days of science and technology and that, most people associate trolls with spiteful and/or mischievous people who anonymously trouble online folk. Hiding under a bridge of secret identity,…
You’re Always After Me Lucky Leprechaun
Top of the morning to you! For St Patrick’s Day this year, let’s locate a leprechaun. Before you start arguing that you only find leprechauns in Ireland, consider that there are more Irish natives living in New York City than there are in Ireland. Naturally leprechauns will have emigrated along with the people and their…
Branching out and blossoming forth at Yule
Consort of the Goddess and symbol of male energy in divine form, The Horned God is born again at every winter solstice. He is the King of the Wood, of the hunt and wild beasts. Â As an aspect of the Green Man – god of plants and new life – he represents fertility incarnate, and…
The New City Witches Cocktail Coven 