Garlic in Folklore, Myth and Magic

Garlic, it is synonymous with protection, vampires and the Evil Eye. It has had a place in folk magic and religion since Ancient Egypt. It has also been associated, historically, with currency, sexual health and courage. Like courage, it is available to everyone.

In order to highlight garlic's protective properties, let's spend some time in Italy. According to Vito Quattrocchi in his writings on magical Catholicism (specifically Benedicaria and The Sicilian Blade II), the plant is synonymous with Saint Michael . That being said, in Southern Italy and Sicily, garlic is Saint Michael--or it is invested with his energy. His book, Benedicaria (which I highly recommend for enthusiasts of folk magic, esoteric Christianity and faith healing), contains a procedure for imbuing a head with the Saint's power of on your altar. According to Sicilian folklore, garlic was placed at the foot of the cross to protect Jesus from demons in his "weakened state," as Quattrocchi puts it.

In an historical context, Pliny claimed that garlic was burned as a spirit during the taking of oaths. He named the plant several times in remediation and ancient medicine. It has been used around the world as an antiseptic, to dress wounds and fight off infection, well into the modern era.

On a magical level, garlic is probably best
know for its European uses. Here we have popular customs for repelling unwanted neighbors, spirits and the Evil Eye. Strings of garlic were usually hung by doorways and whole cloves or heads were placed on the windowsill. This is where the widespread link with vampires (psychic or otherwise) derives, in part.

Garlic can still be used in the magical or talismanic ways listed above. It can be incorporated into kitchen magic or protective work seamlessly. Garlic is readily available, always near us to lend a hand.

Exotic and Mundane

Folk magic is like a cup a tea. Leaves, exotic and mundane, get mixed around. Time and pressure are involved. In the end, a satisfying infusion takes place. And like tea, it's part of everyday life.

I have been a student of Wicca. I have, as a child, called myself a Christian, too. I've tried to be a Neo Pagan and I've gotten to experience the world of Vodou. In the end I've found that magic isn't dependent or exclusive to a religion, because like tea it can be infused everywhere, in any saucer or pot. It was truly folk magic, whether Hoodoo or Stregonaria or Brujeria, that resembled the earthy, alluring, poetic style captured by the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen, the magic of folklore and fairytales.

Eggs rolled over the body and cracked in a tub; Pennies and candy arranged at the four corners of a crossroads; Candles and amulets dressed in oil; Blue beads and silver worn to repel the Evil Eye-- In my mind this is all much more primal and effective than "invoking the God and Great Goddess," attributing magic solely to the word of fertility when it serves a wider, all engrossing drive.

By February 24th, Streghe Pages will be revised as The Crucibile: A Folk Magic Journal. The Crucible will serve an ecclectic brew steeped in many leaves. Hoodoo, Rootwork and Conjure will be explored as well as Stregonaria, Italian faith healing, and Gnosis based Christianity. Pagan religious structures will also be explored from an animistic perspective.

Details on the nature of this shift can be found in the previous entry or by contacting me below.

On Lilith

The devil is in the details.

Lilth has no canon.  She has no official iconography, mythology, back story or religion.  Over analyze her and the details fall apart.  Lilith has associations, scattershots of a legacy reaching as far back as the Sumerians.  She is similar to Tiamat, Nammu, Lammashtu and Bellit-Illi, local spirits of child birth, sex and murder.  She is supposedly the wind spirit Lilitu or a handmaiden of Innana.  She is also the ex-wife of Adam in Judeo-Christian mythology, the Queen of Demons.  In Islam she is related to several Djiin.  She is viewed as a goddess by Women's Liberation movements, Wicca and Neo-Paganism.  Psychologists say she is a neglected part of the Dark Feminine.  She is also known as the Queen of Witches, Sheba and the Black Madonna.  Try to unravel the sequence and you're back at zero.

In the past, I've experienced Lilith. She was the first spirit I've worked with who produced physical manifestations of her presence. It inspired a kind devotion throughout my teens and early twenties. Being open in my interest, I received many questions from Wiccans and Neo Pagans. Many of them wondered how I could work with her as the energy from the Garden of Eden and believe in spirits like Hera and Isis.  They wanted to know why I couldn't pray to Lilith as a goddess. The answer is simple: she isn't. She simply isn't a Christian, Jewish or Pagan energy. She belongs to no one.

As such, I've discovered Lilith is not the most approachable entity on a long term basis. She will not accept altars or daily devotions for very long. She needs to be free to approach you when she chooses, flitting in and out of your life when it's appropriate.

If you are working with Lilith and absolutely need an altar, I suggest keeping it in a room separate from any other saints or spirits. She accepts, in my own experience, jewelry, incense and gifts or wine, rum or whiskey. She responds to red as a candle color and her totem animals are jackals, black cats, panthers and the owl.

Stregoneria and the Future of Streghe Pages

As many of you know, Stregoneria is a relatively modern term denoting Italian and Italian American folk magic.  Being a folk magic framework, it is not a religious practice, though many of its enthusiasts are Catholics or Pagans of some kind. In several ways, it is comparable to Hoodoo and Brujeria, though this is still being researched.  As is the identical case with Stregheria (and yes, I am rolling my eyes right now), it translates (more or less) to "witchcraft."  The frustrating thing about this terminology is that the later, Stregheria, is hard to separate from Neo Pagan, Gardenian influenced Wicca and the efforts of writers like Raven Gramassi.   And while there is nothing wrong with said influences or paths, I prefer to work and practice and write within a folk magic perspective.  This has always been the case, since this blog was created in 2010.

In the past I have been able to proceed, using Stregheria to denote witchcraft and folk magic with an Italian or Italian American slant. But lately, I find it's hard to write the above word without implying Diana-based or Neo Pagan Wicca.  And I've increasingly inspired these associations by using the word Stregheria.  It should also be fairly obvious that I work with Gnostic and Catholic saints, energies and terms associated with a Judeo Christian paradigm and the lwa and orisha of Vodou, Santeria and what we're calling African Diaspora.  I am, at heart, a folk magician, who enjoys animism and spirits of various paths.  I am not a Pagan or a Christian, per se, though I do have some Gnostic slants in my worldview.  And the older I become, the more traveled and cultured and experienced I become in folk systems, the more I discover that Italian American magic is not my exclusive influence, neither in writing or daily practice..

So what does this mean for Streghe Pages?

I'd like to write for a larger group of readers.  I'll always search for ways to educate others about Italian and Italian American folk magic, but I'm also very interested in Brujeria and Hoodoo, as well as Conjure and Root Work.  I'd like open other avenues, moving forward.  In the next week, I'll be reviewing this blog and revamping the name, URL and style. Streghe Pages will live on.  That is guaranteed.The entries with an inherent Italian basis will continue to be linked in the page marked The Strega Diaries at the upper right.  This will continue to educate readers on Italian folk magic and organize a resource.  All upcoming entries, of course, will be added to the main page first, but archived and collected in The Strega Diaries, if they pertain to Italian and Italian American magic, for easy reference. 

I Work With: Baron Samedi

Baron Samedi, the lwa of the dead, is always hungry. He is perhaps the most iconic of the Vodou lwa, in appearance and attitude. Renowned for obscenities, vulgarity and a lust for life, he walks a fine line between the living and the dead.

In my experience, Baron Samedi is interested in personal transformation, the protection of children and magic. He communicates using the vehicles of sleep and trance. He has expressed himself most vividly to me during shifts in consciousness. Like most well known lwa, he has certainly been known to walk a personal path with his initiates. He strikes a Shamanic balance with the world of Vodou. He is, in my mind all, an excellent teacher and mentor. His caring, sensitive side is often underplayed in public forums.

Offer Baron Samedi rum, whiskey and cigars as his favorite staples. Remember that when we are discussing spirits, we are discussing personalities. As such, the Baron is fond of music, spicy foods and sunglasses. He has tastes, likes and dislikes! Once I offered him red wine and he showed up in a dream afterward to insist I never offered it again! His totem colors are black and purple. He is known by Papa Gede in Santeria. Baron Samedi can affirm your faith in spirit, in life after death and your own intuition. He can teach us all to value life.

I Work With:Saint Jospeh



San Giuseppe, the patron of carpenters, the
unemployed and people providing for their families has a long history with folk magic. As related in a previous entry, the benevolent saint entered my orbit during a time of unemployment.  Since then, he has become my patron saint.

Saint Joseph is petitioned for a variety of needs and reasons in magico-religious traditions. As Saint Jospeh the Worker he helps the unemployed secure employment and the employed stay at work. As a builder of homes and provider he is traditionally invoked to sell houses. Traditionally, his statue is buried in the yard or, in apartments or buildings where a lawn is lacking, a flowerpot. He is also invoked for a peaceful death, as he was surrounded by Jesus and Mary at his end.

Renowned for his compassion, Saint Joseph may ask you to exercise charity in your own life. He is often depicted with lilies, the death flower and yellow or purple robes. Yellow is the color of his novena candles and purple relates to his place in Heaven. With his special place in God's court, he can relate our petitions to the highest levels. For this reason (and to demonstrate his familiar compassion) he is shown carrying the infant Jesus. His special day is Sunday. Remember as you are praying or working with Saint Jospeh, that you are forming a relationship with this generous, gifted man, a humble but energetic saint.

I Work With: Danballa and Aida Wedo

In Haitian Vodou, Danballa is credited with creating the earth or world egg. He is usually depicted as a white serpent with his wife Aida Wedo, the rainbow. The two serpentine lwa (spirits) are inseparable and never travel without each other, according to my earliest teacher. Indeed, in my experience, one is never very far behind the other.

I first encountered Danballa when I was praying to the Hebrew deity Asherah (often viewed as the estranged wife of the Judeo-Christian God in the Old Testament). While meditating, I sensed a white tower and later, the vision of a black man in a white robe appeared. Later, I discovered this man was Legba, though I never heard his name or read it at this point. Suddenly, the skeletal outline of a snake hovering through space filled my mind. In the next instant, I heard my name. It was loud enough to break my concentration, as I was sure it came from the room. What I did next surprised me. I sat on the floor and cried. That's how beautiful the voice was.

This is the only experience with Danballa I can share, though I have experienced further contact with the lwa and his wife. The nature of these incidents are far too personal to share on a blog. In person, I've been happy to share the faith affirming stories, with friends and extended family. Personal miracles and affirming faith are, in my mind, some of their specialties.

Danballa is often snynchronized with Moses or Saint Patrick. He appears, to some, as a tall old man with a light skin tone and long white hair with a long white beard. Aida Wedo is often depicted as an actual rainbow or a woman with a serpent's head. They both enjoy offerings of white food (eggs and rice, especially) and candles and, in my experience, frankincense.