A broom placed on the doorsill will keep witches from entering your home. From The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Image source: Workshop of Rembrandt, possibly painted by Carel Fabritius, 1651.
Demons attacking a castle, La Forteresse de la foi, Alphonsus de Spina, France, 15th Century. Source: BVMM
Al-Khazneh, or The Treasury, is a massive temple carved out of a sandstone rock face in Petra, Jordan and built in 1 AD. Originally a built as a mausoleum and crypt, the statues that grace the opening are of mythological figures related to the underworld.
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Image with alchemical symbolism from the title page of Aufschlüsse zur Magie by Karl Von Eckartshausen, 1791. The title roughly translates to “Insights into Magic.” Eckartshausen is also the author of The Cloud upon the Sanctuary, an important book to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Source: The Embassy of the Freemind
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Biological Implications of the Nuclear Age, 1969 and Harpel’s Typograph, or Book of Specimens, 1870. From Wellcome Library and Double-M on Flickr
Pustahas were books of magic, made of tree bark, used by spiritual leaders of the Batak people of Northern Sumatra. The first of these pustahas is inscribed with instructions on how to protect oneself from evil. Source: KITLV & Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde
A Supreme Council 33 bookplate found in a book about Hermeticism. This secret society is the first Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Freemasonry. Their full name is “The Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) of the Inspectors General Knights Commander of the House of the Temple of Solomon of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America”. Source: Embassy of the Free Mind.
Rangda is the Demon Queen of the Leyaks, flying heads with dangling entrails, such as a heart and lungs, from Balinese folklore. They have long tongues and fangs, drink the blood of new born children, and feast on corpses in graveyards. At day, they appear human.
Image is an edit of a photo by Yves Picq, CC3 Attribution
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Palmistry diagrams from a German Chiromantia. The left hands are meant are meant for men and the right hands are meant for women. Unknown Author, Late 15th century. From the Bavarian State Library
Diagrams of Alchemical Instruments from a book by Johann de Monte Hermetis, 1680. The Latin/German title, roughly translates to to Explanation of the Center of the Triangle of the Center of a Dream; That is: Explanation of the Hermetic Golden Flow. From Embassy of the Free Mind
A superstition of the American South: If you wash a dog and then wash your face in the same water, you will be able to see spirits. – from North Carolina Folklore Journal, July 1966 Issue
Hmyail are Armenian prayer scrolls, meant for the home and travel, that were used in the 17th century for sermons, magical formulas, and warding off demons. From: The Library of Congress
