As a vegan I’ve been asked, why do I use bones in my craft and crafts? My simple answer, bones are the leftovers, they are the link between the living and the dead, they are fantastic tools to tap into spirits and powers that we might not otherwise have easy access to. Throughout history animal parts; bones, claws, fur, have all been used for magic in various ways. In European history we can look way back to our distant ancestors use of animal skins for drums, curious medieval goblets made of ‘unicorn horn’ and folk charms using dried animal organs. In this article I want to discuss a few caveats to working with animal remains, as well as ways to working out how we can work with them.
Usually when we’re trying to work out the magical correspondences for something – unless we’ve been told via some type of spirit communication – we need to know the symbolic or everyday function of the specific thing. As an example, cat’s scratch people with their claws, claws are designed for defence, therefor cat claws are able to be worked with magically for defensive magic. Cat claws also work as a good example for concerned vegans because they naturally shed every few months. That sympathetic action of using cat claws to ‘scratch’ someone or something is what lends us help in our spell. For many people working this out becomes habit quickly, you can look at the way an animal behaves, the way a
plant grows, the elements that interact with it and the mythologies surrounding it and test the materia out in spellwork to see if it aids in the desired result. A raven's feather aids in knowledge and safe travel, takk Huginn og Muninn. The sly, cunning fox lends us its ability to hide things from view or deceive others. Horse teeth and bones lend us help in spells for strength and good health, these strong animals have carried humans and their burdens for centuries, and given us the phrase “Healthy as a horse”.
The casual use of animal remains in western magic seems to have declined since the days of Agrippa and even more modern folk magicians in the last 300 years. Even in Iceland the folk magic around animal remains tends to focus on things like the use of a horse or fish head in the creation of a Niðstöng, or other dramatic charms that aren’t common practice anymore. Meanwhile in the British Isles folk magicians and cunning men and women all ascribed their own uses to unusual animal remains. Some of these would be fairly easy to craft, one Cornish charm included in Gemma Gary’s great book, The Black Toad, tells us of a ‘Bee Bag’ a charm for luck that is simply a bag containing the dried bodies of a few bees. Commonly found things like bird feathers were tied together with rope or string and hung for protection along with Hagstones, stones with natural holes through them. The use of animal remains in modern witchcraft tends to lean more towards folkloric and traditional witchcraft threads, you don´t see that many neo-pagans using an animal skull as a vessel for spirit communication at the centre of their altar. Animal remains are everywhere in nature, so many working involving them are found easily anywhere in the world. Adapting these charms for creation using things found in Iceland is very easy.
As a long time vegan, and a long time witch, one thing I would suggest is not to follow old texts to the word. For example this quote from Agrippa’s 3 books: bk.1 Chap. XX1 “Moreover we must know that there are some properties in things only whilst they live, and some that remain after their death”. “Excrements such as hair, dung, nails, they must be taken from those animals, whilst they yet be living”. I personally have never experienced that any animal remain loses its power or virtues after the animal it came from has passed. Agrippa suggested the use of the blood of eagles, doves and many other now endangered or protected species, though to cut him some slack he did live in the 1500’s. A few brilliant modern equivalents of his recipes for planetary incense can be found published by a few authors, notably S. Aldarnay – Fumigations of the seven planets. In a future article I’ll share my own planetary incense recipes using materia native to Iceland. I would also be remised if I didn’t include a little safety warning about using remains you find. WASH YOUR HANDS, during this pandemic I hope people have learned how to do this, after picking up dead things, keep yourself clean. Take care when bleaching bones, if that’s what you want to do with what you find. If you find partial or full fresh animal remains that you would like to work, bury them and wait a good while for them to decompose. Be ever mindful also that aspects of the spirits of these beings will be lingering to some degree. So, make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep yourself physically safe, which brings me on to the most important part of this article...
Whether you have a deeper connection with spirit or not its recommended you ask the spirit of the animal for permission first. This is a something that I would stress to everyone, use your intuition or divination and wait for that yes. If the remaining spirit of the animal actively wants to be left alone and has assimilated itself into the local spirit ecology and wouldn’t care to be taken away from it then “it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie”. More commonly with feathers and single bones the spirits remaining presence is not so strong and usually the object can be used in your crafting, but don’t use this as a rule, and always do the extra work to find out. Aesthetics are great, but do you want pretty looking tools that don’t work? Or less visually pleasing tools that have given you permission and don’t contain spirits that will actively work against whatever magic you’re trying to achieve? In the age of #witchesofinstagram (a hashtag I’ll admit I’ve not been shy about using) it can be tough to wait that extra few weeks, months, years until you’ve obtained tools in the most ethical way - but as with many things - what you need usually arrives when you need it. There’s really no need to rush. On the odd occasion that something is more time sensitive there is always the option to substitute plants for other materia.
Plant substitutes are wonderful in a pinch, and as well as being effective they also help you develop a relationship with their plant spirits. In the UK and elsewhere in Europe many plants were given folk names related to parts of animals, such as ‘wool of bat’ being the spiky leaves of the Holly tree. Fenugreek was often called ‘birds foot’ and the famous ‘eye of newt’ in reality being mustard seeds. Where many of these folk names were just code that healers and witches might have used in the past, some do carry the same or similar virtues to the animal remains they are named after. Finding these folk names and comparing the virtues could be useful in place of animal parts which are otherwise unavailable to you. If your working is specifically calling on connection with the dead but you can’t find remains that would work perfectly, instead try working with plant spirits like Aconitum, Atropa or Digitalis. These 3 toxic plants have been used in a few different methods for connection with spirits and the spirit realm. Wash your hands or wear gloves when working with these toxic plants. Some animal parts work magically due to the sacrifice of that being, to collect a large amount of plant material in place of it would likely be most effective if a good amount of time and energy was sacrificed for the collection of that material. There are a great many plants whose virtues we can work with in place of animal remains where appropriate, I suggest Cunninghams herbal encyclopaedia, especially his tables of substitution and virtues for a good starting list.
I wanted to end this article with a few examples of what certain remains can and have been used for in folk magic and modern practice. Here are a few more commonplace examples. Egg shells – in hoodoo traditions ground eggshells are known as cascarilla powder, it can help with a variety of things, commonly protection workings. Horse hair has been worked with for binding spells while horse teeth can work for charms of good health. Wool has also been worked with to “pull the wool over someone’s eyes” and other workings of deception. Various sea shells found along the beach can be worked with in all sorts of workings. Scallop shells in particular are sacred to Aphrodite/Venus and St. James, include them for workings of love or fertility and as charms to aid woodworkers or veterinarians (who St. James watches over). Arctic Tern (Kría) feathers and bones can be crafted into talismans for safe and swift travel, and also work in spells of protection for hiding places/hidden objects. In Icelandic folklore a Tilberi, which is in many ways a form of Icelandic familiar spirit, was created from graverobbing a human rib bone and wrapping it in stolen wool, then sending it off to do your bidding, not a working I would recommend recreating. As I mentioned earlier cat claws can be add to defensive workings, but cat bones have also been used in magic in various traditions for good luck, sending ill health and even invisibility. There are so many ways we can continue to work with and honour animal spirits after they have passed. As long as you have the spirits permission, and you’re practicing good hygiene when collecting remains, then adding these materia to your practice can be so beneficial.
-Albert
Who is Albert?
Pellar, podcast host at Nornagaldur and strong Capricorn energy.
Albert has been practicing witchcraft for over 13 year, growing up in the south of England with ties to Ireland and Scotland, his practice revolves around mix of seiður, magical herbalism and folk magic from his homeland and beyond.
Make sure you follow him for inspiration Instagram
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