The Spell of the Comb and the Mirror
12:58 Aug 09 2010
Times Read: 526
"O Lady of Shimmering beauty,
For whom the stars are shining jewels
And the Universe Her creation and plaything,
Weaver of destinies
And protectress of things wild and free.
Make me now, I do ask
To be thy daughter.
Make me one with thee
And grant me thy far-flung power.
Grant to this, thy Witch and Sorceress
Strength within and without
As eternal as the boundless sea;
The calm assurance of my powers
To make any do my bidding
And the winds, waters, and fires,
The hills themselves
Lend willingly themselves to me,
Give to me, who am of thy ancient Craft
The wisdom of ages, the lore of eons
Knowledge of light, knowledge of dark.
Grant me beauty ever more perfect
That I may reflect thee better.
Build magick within me,
Build power within me.
Poppets
12:56 Aug 09 2010
Times Read: 529
Make Your Own Poppets ...
How to make a poppet - let's start with some clingfilm! Magic Doll making in the 21st century - and the material isn't corn husks, or wax, but clingfilm!
Start by cutting off a square piece of cling film. That's the hardest part of the operation ...
Take a piece of film and fold it up to become the body and the legs of the doll Take a piece of film and fold it up to become the body and the legs of the doll
Fold the piece one more time and make a little ball out of cling film left overs.
The ball becomes our doll's head. Put it in the center of the first piece and fold it round. Now get a second piece and fold it, much as before. This will become the doll's arms.
Slip the arm strip in between the folded body/leg strips.
Get a piece of clingfilm, make it into a piece of string and tie off the poppet's head around the neck, and tie the arms in with a criss cross motion. You could use string for this, but I'm a purist in film doll construction and believe that whatever material you are using to make your doll, it should be cohesive throughout.
Our poppet doll person is beginning to take shape ...
Now, simply wrap lots of layers of cling film around the doll's extremities to shape them.
A tip: For small dolls, such as this one, simply score the cling film with a stanley blade or similar so you get a thin strip.
Keep wrapping. If the shape isn't to your expectations, just wrap some more. You could, if you wanted to, add some bits of crumpled film to shape breasts, hips and buttocks, but I didn't have much batteries left in my camera and made this poppet in a hurry, so I didn't.
Keep wrapping until you are satisfied with the basic shape of your doll. Then, use a sharp knife or a pair of hairdressing scissors to cut off the ends on the voodoo doll's arms and legs.
You can shape feet and hands, but again, as I was under time pressure, I didn't on this occasion.
And here is our little friend the poppet - completed in just under ten minutes!
And here are some poppets I made earlier - three little moppet friends.
I don't call them voodoo dolls, I call these poppets, which is the old fashioned witchcraft term where I come from, but who knows that still these days?
Yet, EVERYONE knows what a voodoo doll is. Even Google ...
An Example: Poppets As Worry Dolls
Twenty years ago, you could buy little bags with tiny poppets in them called Worry Dolls on every street corner.
It's been a long time since I've even seen these; they must be out of fashion now.
Here is how to make your own extra strength worry dolls using our poppet example.
Make some tiny little poppets as above - 7 would be good! - and find 7 different coloured pieces of string or thin ribbon (tip - you can pull a string from a piece of fabric).
Assign one topic to each colour - let's say:
* Purple: Magic/Spiritual/Religious worries
* Blue: Work/Study worries
* Green: Money problems
* Pink: Love problems
* Red: Physical/health/self esteem body problems
* Orange: Emotional Problems
* Yellow: Thought/Intellect/memory worries
Tie one of these around each moppet's neck, line them all up and one at a time, give them your worries to worry about.
They will not only worry for you, but also in real voodoo doll fashion set to work and go and resolve these worries for you.
There's one thing though. If you start worrying about a worry you have given over to a worry doll, you are taking the worry BACK to YOURSELF and the spell is broken.
Should this happen accidentally, go back to the doll and give it the problem afresh.
When the problem is resolved, you can take the ribbon off the voodoo doll and it returns to a neutral waiting state until you want to use it again for something.
PS: For more uses of poppets, check back regularly. New topic will be coming soon ...
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