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July 19 through July 25, 2021

We're in for a parade of astrological events this week, as Venus moves into Virgo on Wednesday, the Sun enters Leo on Thursday, and the Moon waxes full in Aquarius on Friday. So basically, a triple-header! Before the shifts occur, however, we'll need to embrace the purpose-filled energy of Monday's Scorpio Moon, attending things that have sat on the back burner for the last few weeks to clear a space for new energies. We could end up working late that day or find ourselves having to delegate to get everything on our list completed. Tuesday's Sagittarius Moon will cast a more light-hearted energy over the week, making harmony and fun an underlying theme as we move forward. Venus will move out of fanciful Leo and into more grounded Virgo on Tuesday, reminding us to be more humanitarian-based than self-focused for the next few weeks. It will be easy to tell when the Sun moves into Leo on Thursday, as we cast off the dog-days of summer (or dark days of winter in the southern hemisphere) and start to sense a higher energy and purpose to our movements. For the next four weeks, a heart-centered and ego-centered tone will move us forward, evoking our generous sides and promoting greater self-love and self-care. Friday's Aquarius full Moon arrives at the perfect time, as it promotes release and letting go of any ideas or mindsets that are holding us back. If we embrace this process and shift our thinking, it will be much easier to move into August with renewed hope, passion, and purpose.

Werewolves and Witchcraft, by Denny Sargent

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

A large number of those accused by the Inquisition of being witches were also accused of being werewolves. Surprised? There is a reason: Shapeshifting. It is shocking how common it was that people persecuted for witchcraft by the Church in old Europe were also often accused of being werewolves. Either accusation could get you burned alive, of course. When researching my book Werewolf Magick, this really surprised me. Further digging revealed that the surviving and suppressed ancient Pagan and Animist practices and beliefs embedded in old European folk magic were clearly remnants of pre-Christian sorcery from Norse, Roman, Greek, and Celtic practices. It seems that these Pagan beliefs merged and overlapped and many included shapeshifting craft. To show how entwined were-wolf (human-wolf) shapeshifting and witchcraft practices likely were, here is a quote from the witchcraft trial of Jean Grenieron from 1592 telling of how he entered a coven of werewolf shapeshifters:

"When I was 10 or 11 years old, my neighbor Duthillaire introduced me to the depths of the forest, to the 'Master of the Forest,' a black man, who signed me with a nail and then gave me and him a salve and a wolf skin. From that time I have run about the country as a wolf."—BaringGould, The Book of Werewolves, page 92

Those in the Craft may actually have werewolfery their tradition's lineage! Many accused (and real) witches, in their accounts, offered clues that helped me understand how werewolf magick and shapeshifting was part of my traditional Craft roots. In Medieval Europe, werewolves and witches were often linked together by the Church, and being accused of one often led to being accused of the other, shapeshifting to wolf form being one of the many gifts from the Devil! As I researched and wrote about werewolf magick, I unexpectedly discovered much that threw new light on ancient Craft practices, like using Fetches or familiars, also techniques used by ancient sorcerers like the Norse Seidr with their Flygia (fetches.) I believe that anyone interested in these old traditional Craft practices will find this research, and possibly my book, of great interest. So witches, no matter what, were often accused of being able to "turn into" toads, cats, ravens, rabbits, and wolves with the help of a spell from a demon or from "the horned one" or the "Devil," often called the Lord of the Forest. How far back does this idea of shapeshifting go? Cave paintings show "theriomorphs" (people changing into part animals) and there is one that is clearly a werewolf found in a cave in Portugal that is dated 40,000 years old. Surviving indigenous Shamans describe and craft similar images today. (If you are interested in further informationa bout this, I wrote an article on the Ulchi Shamans I met, did workshops with, and interviewed.)

Animistic and Pagan shapeshifting practices were very common in the ancient world in Norse, Celtic, and classical cultures. Greek historians like Herodatus and Roman historians such as Livy firmly believed in werewolf shapeshifters and claimed to have witnessed such rites. After the fall of the Roman empire, these traditions and practices went underground along with the "old religions" within surviving folk magick traditions and folk festivals that honored magickal powers, often connected with the wolf. Such Pagan shape-shifting rites may have continued in family and clan groups like "covens," which were destroyed by the Church when this heresy was discovered. I spent several years reading witchcraft trial documents, and even with the horrible forced confessions, werewolf shapeshifting appears multiple times; often the accused witches received their initiations and powers from the mysterious "Lord of the Forest," the horned and hoofed image of what the Church called the "Devil," but there were many wild, feral shapeshifting gods who were called "the Lord of the Forest" and who were associated with wolves, like the horned Faunus, the Celtic Herne, and many more.

What was called witchcraft in early Christian Europe was called Satanism by the clergy; and aside from the trial documents, we have many folkloric references to wild "werewolf" gatherings and festivals, often at Midwinter, that even now still continue in rural feral festivals that include horned gods and werewolves.

These sorts of wild, feral festivals and rituals along with the werewolf shapeshifting magic were seen as all part of the great evil that the Church set out to destroy with intense fervor, and their goal was clearly to eradicate all witches, heathens, and shapeshifting "werewolves," all being evildoers doing the Devil's work. By the early Medieval period, the clergy, bishops, and even the Pope wrote fiery sermons about the scourge of werewolfery and Witchcraft and the need to exterminate such evil. Here is an example from a trial in the 1600s of one "werewolf witch:"

"The fate of Peter Stubbe, a German man, was not so fortunate. After flat-out confessing to having made a deal with the devil, in which Stubbe was gifted a belt allowing him to shape-shift for the sake of killing …. he was publicly executed in 1589."—BaringGould, The Book of Werewolves, page 8

Such persecutions resulted in both voluminous records from trials but also essays by clerics full of an amazing amount of references that indicate their belief in the survival of pre-Christian magickal traditions and that contain a surprising amount about werewolves and shapeshifting. Yet some persecuted "werewolf witches" defended their magic as good, not evil! During his trial, a self-admitted sorcerer named Thiess insisted that werewolves were not evil but were working for good against "the devil" as "wolves of god." He testified that he would leave his body in werewolf form and journey to Hell to steal back precious things that the devils of hell had stolen. As "hounds" or "wolves" of god, they defended society by shedding human skin and taking up spirit bodies of wolves for the good of the whole community. They saw themselves as "spiritual wolf warriors" like so many "werewolf warriors’"of the ancient Pagan world were said to do. (From Witches, Werewolves and Faeries, Lecouteaux page 168)

The more common witchcraft trial transcripts are, of course, filled with litanies of crazy sins elicited from poor torture peasents who were then often executed. Reading these, you realize that the populace and inquisitors all deeply believed in the real existence of witches, demons, and werewolf cults. The question for me when researching was this: Did surviving remnants of "shapeshifting" werewolf shapeshifting witches really exist? In retrospect, I do believe there is enough evidence to say yes, and in the mind of the Medieval Church, there were a whole lot of these witch werewolves! Olaus Magnus, a cleric of the Church involved in such trials, wrote:

"On the feast of the Nativity of Christ, at night a multitude of werewolves gather at a certain spot then spread to attack animals and humans, they eat livestock, [and] drink beer in taverns they raid..."—Baring-Gould, The Book of Werewolves, page 53

I love that they all went drinking together, a tradition I assume still continues among witches and werewolves! There are many such accounts like this, but amidst the Satanic panic of the Inquisition, there were also tales that showed a surprising tolerance of werewolves. A nobleman and his servants were travelling in Lithonia (the Baltics) with and had to camp deep in the woods without food. One of the servants then revealed to him that he was a werewolf and could help. He transformed in the woods and returned as a wolf with a sheep in his jaws to feed them all, he then ducked back into the woods and emerged as a man again. One assumes they all ate well and forgave the werewolf for his affliction. What a great friend to have!

The Church declared that werewolfism was real in the 1400s, and up through the 1800s it was not uncommon to see such beliefs still discussed by learned men. The writer Rhanaeus, who in the 1700s studied much older witchcraft trial documents, had some important comments about the werewolf cults that echo comments in the Sagas about Norse shapeshifting sorcerers. One line states:

"They imagine in deep sleep or dream that they injure the cattle and this without leaving their couch."—, The Book of Werewolves, page 60

This type of trance-state and "astral projection" shapeshifting may refer to the etheric "Double,"dFetch or Fylgia, the possible mode of true shapeshifting and I discuss this in depth in Werewolf Magick.

Another important piece of the puzzle in these witchcraft trial documents concerns the actions of the coven leader, the "Dark Man of the Woods" or "The Lord of the Forest," who offered werewolf shifting powers to witches seeking initiation. The interrogators forced those being tortured to agree that this mysterious figure was "The Devil," but that was not a term they originally used. The mysterious and powerful "Lord of the Forest" in these documents often tests the one seeking initiation, marks them with a nail or sharp fingernail, then, after a potent ritual in the deep woods with the coven, this "dark man" gave the new witch a magickal wolf skin or wolf skin belt along with a special "werewolf" salve to rub on the body. Rubbing their bodies with the salve, doing a ritual, and wearing the skin or belt all together turned them into werewolves or wolves and this "Dark Man" then trained the new witches how to master shapeshifting. Even though these tales were recounted during torture, in a number of different times and places, they are numerous and fairly consistant. Here is one example:

In 1521 an Inquisitor named Boin elicited a confession from a "witch-werewolf" in rural France and this story. The "witch" had been in the forest seeking lost sheep when he was approached by a "black horseman" who asked him if he needed help. He told his story of his lost sheep. "The Master" offered to help him and gave him some money. They met in the forest days later at an agreed-upon time and to the man's surprise, his sheep were there! He was in awe and agreed to follow this "Dark Lord." At their next meeting, he renounced Christianity and agreed to "bind himself" to "Moyset," the Master's name. They met again in these woods another day and this time many other witches were present and he joined their ritual. They all danced "a special dance while holding green tapers burning blue flames," then stripped and rubbed the special salve on their bodies and "quickly changed into wolves."—BaringGould, The Book of Werewolves, page 70

Here is one specific part of the story that I believe indicates ancient shamanic shapeshifting practices were involved. The man who transformed into a werewolf noted in testimony that he was "horrified at his four wolf's feet, and the fur which he was covered with," but that he oddly found that could travel with the"speed of wind," something modern shamans say as well about "spirit" or astral travels.

Though this transformation was done with the help of the "Master," oddly he then added that: he couldn't perceive him [the Master] until he returned to human form. Again, this may indicate an awakening from a spirit or astral journey because he would not have been able to see the "Master" while "out of body."

Such werewolf "shapeshifting salves" were likely psychoactive ointments and are often mentioned in trial documents as also being used by witches to "fly to the sabbat" and the ingredients mentioned were often the same. Most of the ingredients in these ointments were powerful psychotropic herbs such as belladonna, henbane, and aconite and would certainly be able to launch any witch into astral journeys, just as similar spirit travel is still induced by shamans today with amanita, psilocybin, and peyote. Shamans with whom I spoke mentioned being exhausted after such "spirit journeys," and this matches a number of accounts of witch-shapeshifters being exhausted for days after such astral adventures. This exhaustion is also noted in the Viking Eddas regarding Norse Eigi Einhamir or "Skin Changers." You likely know of the warrior sorcerer-shapeshifters called "Berserkers," which means Ber (bear) Sark (skin) because such they "put on the bear skin," meaning shapeshifted, before battle. Less known are the dreaded UlfSark—those who shapeshifted into werewolves in battle. Such werewolf-warriors were also well known and honored in many places in the ancient world. The infusion of Norse Paganism and magick throughout Europe likely contributed to the "werewolf magic" of the European witches.

Accused witches were also said to"ride to the sabbat" on the back of wolves or werewolves! Of course, to the priests of the "new religion," such spirits were demons sent by Satan and were sometimes referred as "Fetches" or "Familiars" or, in Northern lands, "Flygia" and were also condemned by the Church, of course.

This has been but a short description of what I feel was a major infusion of Pagan and Animistic rituals and occult practices in the folkloric and "craft" beliefs and magic in a chaotic and transforming Medieval Europe, some of which continues with us today. While our current Craft traditions are most likely not continuations of extant "covens" from this time, I know the book of shadows of the witchcraft tradition I was initiated into contains bits and pieces of lore and spells that clearly are older than much of the rest. Some are Welsh, some are archaic runes, and others are practices used for "visionary" shapeshifting. It is both logical and, at least from what I've found, clear that most all Craft traditions I know of have things lurking somewhere in the shadowy pages of their Books of Shadows! May you have many powerful wild and wolfish full moons and don't forget to howl for our shapeshifting witch ancestors!

Much more on this topic can be found in Werewolf Magick and in the Werewolf Pack Magick: A Shapeshifter Book of Shadows, available September 2022. You can also check out werewolfmagick.com.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2021. All rights reserved.

I have no kids and I'm not pregnant. Last night I had a very vivid dream that I was in labor. In the dream, I was clearing out a friend's house and got awful cramps, which later I discovered were labor pains. In the dream, I didn't know I was pregnant until I was told. I wanted to push but I had to get to the hospital by sitting in front of the ambulance; they wouldn't pull over. When I got to the hospital, there were no beds and I was anxious because I needed to push. A nurse pointed me into the emergency room, which was covered in blood with a bullet hole in one of the beds. My boyfriend looked for a better place and couldn't find one, but found a room off of that area that was filthy. The nurse reappeared and told me to be patient and rang the labor ward to let them know. It was an American hospital; I am from Ireland. I woke before I gave birth. It was a scary dream and it felt so real my stomach was sore when I woke up. What do you think it means?
Erin

Susyn:

It's not unusual to awaken with physical symptoms after having a very intense dream. Though this dream centered around the idea that you were pregnant and you awoke with soreness in your abdomen, I do not feel it was prophetic in nature.

The subconscious will try to communicate various concerns through our dreams, but it does so symbolically, so the events in our dreams should almost never be taken literally. By looking at each segment of this dream and its meaning from a metaphysical angle, you may be able to connect this experience to something else you are currently going through.

Let's begin with the fact that you were clearing out a friend's house when you went into labor. This transition often represents an ending in one area of your life and the beginning of a new phase you are about to enter. As you cleared out space in one area, a new life began to show itself. Are you in the midst of any transitions? This could include changing jobs, moving from one place to another, or reaching a turning point in your relationship. If you can relate this message to a transitional event currently taking place, the rest of the dream should begin to make sense.

It may be that you are unaware of the changes that are about to take place based on the fact that in the dream, you did not realize you were pregnant until you went into labor. In this case, the dream is revealing that change of some type is on the way. This dream is also a reminder that you can't hurry these changes, for you are not able to push (things forward) or find a proper place in which to make things happen.

In looking for a place to give birth, you came upon a bloody room. When we encounter blood in a dream, whether it's our own or belongs to others, it also suggests that new life is on the way. This theme is repeated when you discover you are in an American hospital, which suggests that the changes coming your way are foreign and unfamiliar you.

It's easy to see why this dream and the transition it portends might cause you worry or concern, for often when we are moving into a period of change, we feel rather powerless over what is going on around us. No matter how we try, we have to surrender to a higher plan and divine timing.

Though the baby in the dream never arrived, this dream is asking you to be prepared to experience a life-changing event. Babies are always blessings in dreams, so this event should prove positive. More is sure to be revealed, so take this dream as a hint of wonderful things to come.

*****

Oceania:

In your dream, the fact that you wanted and needed to push suggests that you need to push something old out of the way in order to make room for something new that is pushing its way into your world! This new baby has been gestating and taking shape for a while now, though you may not have noticed it. That you didn't know you were pregnant in the dream until you were told suggests self-neglect or denial about what's going on within you.

In the dream, you were helping a friend rather than attending to your own needs. You were in pain before your body got your attention. Close your eyes and perform your own ultrasound. Notice any feelings in your body and give them a voice. You might begin with I feel... and see what words come up.

That the hospital was foreign to you, one of the beds was covered with blood and a bullet hole, and neither the nurse nor your boyfriend could find a clean bed for the delivery all mean that you are skeptical about your support system - perhaps rightly so. Don't wait for someone else to do this for you. Be a fierce mama and take care of business. Name the baby by identifying your immediate goal! Don't let your agenda go by the wayside in order to serve someone else's needs or desires.

You were clearing a house in your dream. Similarly, you must make way for your child, whether she turns out to be a project, a change, intense feelings or an emerging aspect of yourself. You may have to let go of some actual stuff to clear space and eliminate distractions so that you can properly attend to this new life. You may have to let go of activities in an overcrowded schedule. You may need to step back from certain people - perhaps the friend in your dream or the boyfriend whose offering of a filthy room was not good enough. Perhaps you just need to assert yourself more with them.

The speeding ambulance heading for the emergency room suggests a sense of urgency with all of this. Part of you wants change right away while another part knows that rushing won't help because the ER won't be ready. Wisdom lies somewhere inbetween: We must patiently honor divine timing, yet be ready to take action when the time is right!

That the nurse finally rang the labor ward to let them know you'd arrived means things are falling into place. Make your final preparations! You are in labor now, so you're close to manifesting your creation. The process may be painful, but you can't stop now. Take some deep breaths and relax; it's time for the final push.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.