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Noumenia News Issue 53                                                 View this email in your browser


 

 

Message from the Editor

Greetings fellow devotees!

Welcome to our special October issue! We had a lot of great submissions, so please enjoy!

Happy Halloween/Samhain/All Hallows Eve’/All Saints Eve, 
El Día de los Muertos or whatever it is you may celebrate at this time of year!


Lotus x


Editorial Staff 
Hazel, Deanne & Catherine

 Devoted
by Kalkea 
I created this image inspired by Hekate, and her associations with the Nicneven of Scottish Folklore.  The Nicneven, was Queen of the Elphame, also known as Gyre Carline, or Habetrot who presided over the Hallowmass Rides and also associated with Dame Holda, and the Cailleach, the Winter deity figure of the Scottish Landscape.  Here I've depicted her as Queen of the Elphame, a finely dressed women, who was always generous to her devotees, giving them all they could want in food/ wealth/health etc. She was said to have had the grip of all the craft - and to belong her is to accept her " light, and shadow - her blood and bloom". 

Hymn and Spell 

Hazel Anthea in Brasília Brazil 
 

Hekate this and every night I greet you

In your black face, in your emptiness

Lady of my life

Your love is enough for me

Your love is my food

Lady witch, give me the gift of vision

Understanding, love

Lady of the roads,

I gave myself the gift of enlightenment

Hekate

Undermine its healing waters from its springs

To all who are lost in their own illusions

In your own fantasies

Lady cover me with your blessings

Of prosperity and creativity

May your mantle spread over the land of men

Softening and shaping hard hearts

Great mother always bless us in our confusions

Always give us an option

And on that black moon night I spin your wheel

Hekate

Guide me through your labyrinths, protect me

 

 Witches’ Bottle to destroy negativity
 

Gather rosemary, needles, pins and red wine. 

The pins and needles drive away evil. The wine will submerge it and rosemary negative energies away. 

Fill a small bottle with the first three items, saying while you do this: 

Pins, needles, rosemary, wine; Keep against damage and enmity. So be for all eternity! 

When the bottle is full, fill it up with the wine. Then seal the bottle either using tape or a cork. Finally using a red or black candle, drip some wax on the top completely sealing it. 

Draw an evanescent pentagram on it, and leave it somewhere on your property where it can’t be seen.  

Hekate Anassa Eneroi 
by Laurie Bianciotto

Instagram @les.energies
Hymn to Hekate Triformis
by Candy Corn Ritual

https://candycornritual.bandcamp.com/track/hymn-to-hekate-triformis


I devoted myself to the Goddess Hekate under the full moon on December 6th, 2014.  Since then she's been an important part of not only my spiritual life but my creative life also, appearing as one of the major characters in my YA novel "Hesta the Dreamweaver" and inspiring me in all my creative endeavors.  I have had some incredible personal experiences with Hekate and it is truly with reverence that I've tried to honor her with this song.

Calling the Ancestors
by Deanne Quarrie

We call to those who have gone before,
Ancient Ones, loved ones
Who have left this plane,
Spirit helpers, all.
We are gathered here in sacred space
To reach beyond the veil.
We have reaped the harvest
And stored them for the coming year.

 

We face a time of cold and dark,
Of wind and sleet and snow.
It is the end of warmth and growth,
A time of death and quiet repose.
This is the night to lift the veil,
A time when you are near.
Draw close to us within this space,
Your message we would hear.

 

Speak to us of what you will,
Of things you know or need.
Speak to us of times long past,
Or that which is yet to come.
Share with us those things we feel,
But somehow cannot touch.
We know we know the things of old
Yet somehow they are lost.

 

They come to us from beyond the veil,
From this place that is no place,
From a time where no time exists.
They will speak to us of love,
For that is all there is.
Those who have come before
Stand ever ready to lend a hand,
Even though we do not always know they are near.

 

As you reach to them,
Try not so hard
To see a face,
But search for love within your soul.
Create a channel to summon forth;
A bond – a tie between us.
Form a link, with love unite,
And share the present moment.

 

Draw from them the love you need
And know the promise of tomorrow.
They will speak with us of times of old
And the future yet to come
And as you face the coming dark
And know it’s bitter cold,
Warmth will come once more
With the turning of the wheel.

 

Regular Features 
Crow Crafts
by Leonorah
 

A Modern Iynx for Hekatean Magick

Dua Lipa’s new music video with Hekatean symbolism was cool, but the discussion that ensued in the community after was even better! Sorita D’Este’s blog on Patheos, “Hekate’s Wheel & the Iynx Wheel”, inspired this craft idea. The Iynx’s repetitive whirring sound is perfect for entering a trance state, useful for the coming dark season. This tool could also be used beyond love-drawing spells to draw other essences into our lives. 

Supplies:

  • 3 Inch (approx. 7.6 cm) Wooden Round 

  • Pencil

  • Ruler

  • Hand Drill (Can be bought on Amazon or hobby stores, often used for model building)

  • Acrylic Paints in at Least 2 Colors (I suggest red, black, silver, or bronze)

  • Paint Brush

  • An Arm-Span Length of String, Cord, or Yarn (The stronger the better)

  • Scissors

Optional Supplies:

  • Mod Podge (Applique glue) 

  • A Printed-Out Picture of Your Favorite Symbol

Tips:

I learned the hard way that a strong cord is best. During testing, I used 3-ply 100% cotton yarn. On the third test spin the yarn snapped and the disc flew right at my sweetheart! If you’re using this for a one-off spell, you can get away with a weaker yarn or string. For intense meditative use or group use, maybe try a waxed or stronger woven cord! 

If you feel like getting extra creative, you can test different sized and shaped rounds to find the best sound. Different materials may also make different whirring sounds.

Instructions:

  1. Use the ruler and pencil to find and mark the center of your wooden round.

  2. Drill two holes with the hand drill on each side of the center mark. The two holes should be about ¼ inch apart. Make sure your holes are big enough to fit your yarn or cord through. 

  3. Add symbols to both sides of your wooden round.

  1. Paint your wooden round with your favorite Hekatean symbol. For the first one I made, I painted the Hekate Wheel that has been popularized with metallic red and matte black acrylic paints. It helps to think about how the symbol you choose will look when rotating fast. You can also add symbols related to the essence you wish to draw into your life if you plan to use the iynx for a single specific purpose.

  2. ALTERNATIVE: Print out your symbol and cut it out. Then paint the Mod Podge onto the wooden round and onto the back of the printed paper symbol. Press the symbol onto the round, then paint over the top side with Mod Podge to seal it. 

  1. Once your wooden round is completely dry, use the hand drill to reestablish the two holes in the middle as needed.

  2. Measure out and cut an arm-span length of yarn or cord.

  3. Thread the ends of the cord through the holes. Tie the ends together. 

How To Use Your Iynx:

Hook the cord/yarn loops around a finger on each hand with the wheel suspended in the center. Swing the wheel around to wind it up tight. Then, pull your hands apart pulling the yarn taught. The disk will spin, and the cord will unwind. It will continue to spin, winding up tightly in the opposite direction and drawing your hands back together. Loosen your hands, allowing the motion. Then pull them apart again, repeating the motions. As you build momentum, the disk will spin faster making a whirring noise. Concentrate on what you want to draw in as you make these motions. Chant, pray, speak words of power. 

If you do this craft, I’d love to see pictures or videos of you testing your new Iynx! Feel free to share in the Covenant of Hekate Facebook group and tag them #ModernIynx. You can also tag me on Instagram @That_Crafty_Crow. 

Into the Green

As Above, So Below ~ The Spirituality of Gardening

By Emma

Baneful Plants for Samhain 

Happy Halloween and a blessed Samhain to you all, fellow seekers. I don’t know about you, but for me this time of year feels like a liminal time. The veil between the worlds is thinning and if you listen carefully, you might just hear the sound of our mistress’s hounds as they walk the crossroads of the seasons. Hekate always feels closer at this time, even though it isn’t necessarily one of her sacred days. Perhaps it is because where I live, the days are darker and colder, either way, as I harvest the last of my datura pods and leaves and pluck the dried and dead henbane stalks from the plants, collecting the seeds for ointments and for planting next year, my mind drifts away to thoughts of Hekate and how I can honour her at Samhain.

The topic of baneful plants is somewhat controversial--after all these plants are toxic, some extremely so and as such must be handled with the utmost care and respect. But as dangerous as they may be, they are not all negative. In a way they remind me of Hekate. They have a fearsome and dark reputation, shunned by the love and light brigade for their harmful properties, but we’ve all seen the meme: the witch who cannot harm cannot heal. And besides, there is a hidden softness to these plants. Or rather not a softness, but a care for those willing to look beneath the thorny exterior. Toxic and psychoactive they may well be, but they are also potent medicines and can, when applied topically, allow the witch to get closer to her gods, to walk the crossroads. To fly.

Most of my work with baneful plants involves those which grow near me or that I harvest myself, mostly datura, henbane, wormwood, mugwort and amanita muscaria. There are several ways of using these plants and all, but wormwood and mugwort should only be used topically. It goes without saying that when you use these plants you should check with your doctor, especially if you have underlying health issues and take medication. I make ointments with all of the plants in various mixations, and these are psychoactive. I use these in trance, meditation and journeying. Some of those have led to a close encounter with the spiritual and divine, leading to a closer relationship with our own Goddess, Hekate. All of these plants are linked to the darker aspects of magick and spirituality for it is through the dark flame that true enlightenment can occur. But do not fear, as ominous as it sounds it is not all darkness, and the journey with these plants is one that should be enjoyed and not feared. For fear has no place in the mysteries of Hekate, and as we have all done at some point in our own journeys, we must overcome the fear of the unknown if we are to grow.

For those beginning their journey with baneful plants, I wholeheartedly urge you to work with mugwort and wormwood, perhaps the gentlest of the baneful plants mentioned above. While their effects may be more mellow than some of the other plants mentioned, this doesn’t make them any less potent for your magickal and spiritual endeavors. Both of these plants are edible, though be warned they do not taste nice at all and can be somewhat bitter. A word of warning though, if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive then please do avoid all of the plants I’ve spoken about here.

Make a mugwort tea before bed by steeping mugwort, lavender and chamomile in boiling water for around five minutes before straining. Drink it while it is hot for lucid dreaming. You can also make a tincture of wormwood and mugwort. Simply place the dried herbs into a clean jar and cover with a good quality alcohol like vodka, rum or brandy. Leave for at least a week but longer if possible and strain into a clean jar. Take a small measure before embarking on magickal work. You can even make an ointment from them and I’ve included a link here to one of my videos where I show just how easy it is to make mugwort ointment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpwz4lzMNUc&t=90s). 

Like our lady, Hekate, these powerful herbs can enhance your spiritual and magickal workings if you treat them with the respect they deserve. So happy herbal crafting and a blessed Samhain to you all.
The Hekatean Path
by Femi Heqet

“Dia de Finados” – The Day of the Dead in Brazil and a True Ghost Story

Merry Samhain / Halloween dear siblings and Hekatean blessings to all! 
 
The Witches’ season is finally here and it is a great pleasure for me to share with you a little bit of my home country culture in this time of year.
  
Let us start with the “Dia de Finados”, or the Day of the Dead in Brazil, which is celebrated on 2nd November and despite not being a Hekatean celebration per se, it has many of its features. It is a day dedicated to the remembrance for the souls of those who died, and it was initially celebrated in 10th Century France, on 2nd November 998 AD by St. Odilo of Cluny. It was he who suggested that all members of his abbey should dedicate that day every year to pray for their departed loved ones. Nowadays in Brazil, it is a statutory holiday when millions of Brazilians go to cemeteries to light candles on the graves of their beloved departed ones. They would say prayers and give offerings of flowers, food and drinks. The ones who, for any reason cannot go to the cemetery, will go to church or light candles and give offerings at home or even at crossroads. Interesting eh?

Because it is a day dedicated to the Dead and their memories, spooky stories involving the souls are told from generation to generation. Some of them even today defy the most skeptical, due to so many witnesses and their confidence. The fantastic, yet true story that I chose to tell you today is one of them. This is one story that has driven hundreds of “believers” to the cemetery, even people without any relationship to this family.

The story goes as follows…

The year was 1936. The city is Belem, in the state of Para, Brazil where I was born. The Conte family, whose patriarch was a very well known businessman was having lunch when a stranger knocked at their door. He said:

“You don’t know me but I am a taxi driver and yesterday I drove a young lady from the cemetery to the church where she asked me to wait for a while. Then she returned and asked me to drive her back to the cemetery and later charge her father for the ride, who she said was Mr. Conte, from the shoe workshop. She told me to go there and charge him for the ride. So, here I am.” 

The family still had no idea who he was talking about, as they had several daughters. When the taxi driver described his passenger, they started asking the girls to find out who had been at the cemetery on the day before. But none of them had been there. The taxi driver then said pointing at a picture of a beautiful young lady on the wall. “It is that lady, the one in that picture, I recognize her!” The family was perplexed. “It cannot be that one, gentleman. That beloved daughter of mine passed away from tuberculosis 5 years ago!” 

The poor man got so scared that he left the house without saying a word and did not even want to charge Mr. Conte for the ride anymore.

Josephina.jpg

Photo of Josephina Conte from Facebook.

The young lady in the picture was Josephina Conte. She was born in 1915 and was the favourite of her father, an Italian shoemaker known by everyone in the town. When she got ill with tuberculosis at the age of 15, her father was devastated. One year after being hospitalized and isolated, she finally died in 1931. Her funeral was seen by most people in town. Her coffin was driven through the main streets of the city to the cemetery, which was a custom from those times. 

After that supernatural encounter, many other taxi drivers in town experienced the same and described Josephina as their otherworldly passenger. Her story thus became very well known in my city and in my entire home country. 

Another mystery also involves Josephina. According to her family, the small picture of a taxi, that looks like a pin, was found embedded in the picture at her grave in the cemetery. Nobody knows how it appeared. It was not part of the original photo engraved in marble to embellish her tomb.

To this day, hundreds of people visit her tomb either to ask her for spiritual assistance or offer her prayers and candles on the Day of the Dead or Dia de Finados in Brazil.

The original story in Portuguese can be found here:

http://g1.globo.com/pa/para/noticia/2013/11/sepultura-de-moca-do-taxi-atrai-curiosos-em-belem.html

 

Historical Devotions
by Deanne Quarrie, D. Min.

Feeding the Dead 

Most people love this time of year and I share much of that. Living in South Central Texas we only have two seasons, with perhaps two to three weeks in between what we laughingly call spring and fall. Because the winters are not harsh here, the step into spring feels different from those whose winters are frozen for months on end.  We do experience some relief when our temperatures finally drop a bit in October. Even then those drops are only teasers. We do finally get a briskness in the air in the wee early morning hours of dawn but when the sun rises overhead, any memory of that coolness is forgotten. This morning at 5:30 am, when I woke, it was 54 degrees (Fahrenheit). I stepped outside to smell and feel the air; so clean and cool. But now it is 85 degrees and rising, it once more feels like summer. We don’t have the sudden frosts that turn our trees to vibrant reds, yellows and browns. Yes, the leaves eventually turn and fall to the ground, but we have no heavy freeze and so our colors are pale compared to those in the North and colder climates.

Many Texans think the emotional feel for our two seasons is backwards, believing that summer, with its blazing sun, is the time to withdraw. Then in winter, when the weather is mostly mild, that’s the time to come out to play. This is a reversal of pagan thinking about the seasons in North America.
 
For me, it isn’t about the heat but more about the light. I used to suffer seasonal affective disorder. I know I am sensitive to how much light I require to maintain emotional health. When I began to embrace and understand seasonal change, and with it the naturalness of going within during the darker half of the year, anything associated with that disorder vanished. Finally understanding, I gave myself permission to retreat. It was such a simple cure.
  
Honoring the Ancestral Dead has ancient origins in many cultures, especially in tribal based cultures at this time of the year. They believed that this liminal time (this period between light and dark) is a time when the veil between the Worlds thins and that our ancestors can visit us. The ancestors were their Honored Dead, and they needed their help and support to maintain prosperous and healthy lives.  They honored their ancestors by having a celebration, much like we would throw a party. They prepared great feasts of food. They prepared places at the table for them and offered entertainment for their enjoyment.

Because of her association with the dead, Hekate is the Goddess most honored at the celebration. I too, take time during this change from light to dark, to honor my beloved ancestors. In fact, I honor all beloved ancestors, not just mine. One year I had an interesting experience in doing this. A friend of mine and I decided we would take our heaping plates of food for the ancestors to the local cemetery as an offering. When we arrived at the cemetery, we found locked gates. Determined to finish this deed, we slid under those big wide gates on our bellies! We quietly slipped into the dark with our food until we found a location we thought appropriate to leave our offerings. As we left them, we offered words of gratitude and love for the gifts they offered their loved ones, even in death.

With that we returned to the locked gates to once more slide under and go home. To our total mortification, there stood two local police officers called to the scene to apprehend reported intruders. Yes, that was us. We were lucky. We suffered no more than embarrassment.  We explained ourselves, apologized profusely and they let us leave with nothing but a kind lecture! That was one Feast of the Dead I will always remember.
 

Honoring ancestors comes with a personal message I wrote for my ancestors called the Litany of the Bones:
 

Litany of the Bones

Herein lie the bones of my ancestors,
Even as this body grows old and changes with time.
 

Herein lie the bones of my ancestors,
Their bones are my structure, my support and keep me going

 

Herein lie the bones of my ancestors,
While these bones may restrict me, I choose to be flexible

 

Herein lie the bones of my ancestors,
Their bones strengthen me and their strength becomes my own

 

Herein lie the bones of my ancestors,
Their bones are with me still and I bless the gift.

 
Adverts & Sanctuary Updates
Do you have an update you'd like to share about your sanctuary? Or do you have witchcraft wares you sell or services you offer such as cartomancy or spells? Advertise here! Email noumenianews@gmail.com for more information.
Become a Columnist! 

Is there a particular aspect of spiritual, magical or creative work you are passionate and knowledgeable about?  Do you want to develop your writing skills, and perhaps your portfolio?  Maybe you just sincerely want to see the CoH community grow and develop?

Noumenia News is looking for columnists - individuals who can commit to writing 300-600 words on a Hekate related topic for each edition (4 a year).  We've had some wonderful new columnists join us that are covering such topics as arts 'n' crafts along with gardens and plants and more. Here are some suggested topics we could still use columnists for:
  • Astrology, symbols etc.,
  • History (Interesting facts, images etc., related to Hekate's history).
  • Hekate in Popular Culture
  • Study of the PGM, Orphic Hymns etc.,
  • Interviews with CoH members.
We are also always interested in individual submissions! Want to be involved?  Email your proposal to noumenianews@gmail.com!
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