The Pooka or Puca or Pwca is a shape-shifting creature from Celtic foklore that can change into a horse, goat, cat, dog, or hare. If they take human form, they’ll have an animal feature like ears or a tail. Pookas are tricksters and can bring good or bad fortune. The character of Puck in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was based on this creature. Image: British Goblins, W Sikes, 1881
The nurikabe is a yokai whose name means “plaster wall” due to its ability to change into a tall invisible wall at night, confusing travelers. Some say poking on the bottom left of the wall will make it disappear, while others maintain it cannot be passed. Image: Bakemono No E, 1802
Title page of De Arte divina & sacra, sine Aenigmate tradita & del praxin conscripta by Anonymous, ca. 1700. At the top of the painting you can see the Greek God Hermes, representing the element Mercury, the peacock representing the end of the Nigredo stage, and the element of air, represented by the faces blowing. From Manly P. Hall’s collection of alchemical manuscripts Box 3, MS 14
Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Seven Deadly Sins, Published by Hieronymus Cock, 1558: ENVY, GLUTTONY, GREED, LUST, PRIDE, SLOTH, WRATH & THE LAST JUDGEMENT
I was interviewed by Sonora Taylor for Women in Horror Month for the online book festival Fright Girl Winter. It gets pretty saucy and esoteric!
“…many people use the ideas of good/evil people and entities to create meaning and structure in their lives through religion, fiction, and other belief systems. I believe this is a false, and ultimately fascist, dichotomy that needs to go.”
– Me from the interview 🙂
Danse Macabre, William Strang, 1891
Drawings from F. de La Rose-croix by Anonymous, circa 1700. Alchemy is sometimes referred to as ‘The Language of Birds’ due to different birds representing different stages in the alchemical process. Source: Manly P. Hall’s Collection of Alchemical Manuscripts Box 5
Title Plate and Charts from Knorr von Rosenroth’s Kabbala Denudata, 1698. Also known as Kabbalah Unveiled, the Latin portion of the text was translated by S. L. Macgregor Mathers, but the Hebrew portion was left out, bringing the 2,600+ page manuscript to less than 300 pages. Source: Embassy of the Free Mind
Masks of the Opata people, indigenous to Mexico. These masks may have been used in the Opatan spring procession rite known as the fariseo, which still occurs during Easter week in most towns and villages in Opata Country. Source: Museum of the American Indian
Umibozu is a sea monster yokai who creates storms and breaks ships. Often appearing at night, the yokai will sometimes request a barrel from sailors, who would give a bottomless barrel so it wouldn’t drown them. In some regions, fishers sacrificed their first catch to the gods to prevent Umibozu’s appearance. Images: Bakemono no e, 18th Century & The sailor Tokuso and the sea monster by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1845
Drawings and watercolor paintings of sacred geometry from Cabala, Unknown Author, 1700. The manuscript contains 13 images, a holy number that represents the oneness of God for the Jewish people, with no accompanying text, and prominently features a Star of David or hexagram. From: Manly P. Hall’s Collection of Alchemical Manuscripts, Box 17 MS 71
Tables showing occult correspondences of “seven rulers of the earth,” celestial spirits of the planets. The second chart shows how to recognize them in geomantic divination, and the correspondences to help with interpretation of the reading. From Theomagia, or, The Temple of Wisdome, John Heydon, 1663. Source: The Getty Alchemy Collection
