Poppet Magick: Patterns, Spells & Formulas for Poppets, Spirit Dolls & Magickal Animals - Silver RavenWolf 2018

Handling Your Spirit Dolls

Taking Care of Your

Permanent Poppets

Permanent poppets, such as those for family members, deity representations, or house spirits, may be used many times in magick. To keep the energy focused, process only one petition (or command) at a time with the doll. I realize that you may have many, many requests, but the more conduits you have open, the more chance of the energy becoming weakened. If there are so many problems you simply don’t know where to start, work for joy or clarity of mind (whichever you feel is more appropriate). You can also use a family member doll as a central focus, and place your petitions or requests in a conjuring bag, envelope, or cloth packet that is not physically attached to the doll. In this scenario, the doll would not be activated to “do” something; it is merely a representation of the recipient, giving a conduit for your work to travel easily to that person.

In rural Pennsylvania around the 1850s, women made colorful pockets out of quilted material to wear around their waist. These pockets carried any number of items and were held together around the body with a cord. You can use this concept by stitching a small apron with pockets for your doll or simply making a unique pocket to tie around the doll with string.

Just as with other magickal tools, the permanent doll should be kept in a sacred place and cleansed after the desire has been met. Cleansing can include clearing with sage or incense, holy water, chants and charms for cleansing, placing the doll in a bowl of salt overnight, or putting it in the direct rays of the sun or moon for several hours. Dolls or poppets that have a single mission, such as a doll for protection, should be cleansed and re-activated once a month, preferably at the same time—meaning if you originally empowered the doll on the full moon, then the next empowerment should be as close to a full moon as possible.

BEER AND CAKES OFFERED TO THE HOUSE SPIRITS ON FASCHNAUT DAY, THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH TRADITION OF MAKING POTATO-BASED DONUTS FRIED IN LARD ON SHROVE TUESDAY

If you set your poppets out all the time, they will gather negativity and dirt. Unless the doll is on display for a magickal reason, keep your poppet in a sacred place, away from prying eyes and sticky fingers. Wrapping your poppet in white or black cloth adds a level of protection—putting it in a safe magickal box is also an excellent idea. If poppets that have been used in magick are left lying around unattended, they will get into trouble, and on occasion this energy inverts the power of the poppet, causing disruptions in the home. If this occurs, cleanse and bless the poppet, then cover it in black or white cloth for at least seven days. If crossed conditions continue and you feel the doll is the root of the problem, ritually dispose of the doll, thanking it for its service, and make a new one.

Making Poppets for Others

You may wish to make a poppet for a close friend or perhaps you like constructing poppets so much that you want to sell them. In my experience, never make a poppet when you are sick, angry, or depressed, as this energy will be infused in the doll. As its creator, you have ultimate power over what goes into the poppet. It doesn’t matter that the doll has left your hands. Your birth energy is still there, even if you have cleansed the doll appropriately and added the magickal locking mechanism I spoke of earlier (see page 92).

I would like to add here, however, that there are always exceptions to rules. For example, if you have cancer or are plagued with a chronic disease, you can still make very blessed, very good poppets to give to others. When I say “sick,” I’m thinking of the flu, a bad cold, the worst hangover ever, or a stomach bug—conditions where your body and your mind are truly scraping rock bottom. Rest is what you need. You can make beautiful poppets later. However, if you are making a poppet while you are ill to destroy the disease (cold, flu, etc.) and plan to dispose of it (preferably by burning it) immediately—it will work just fine. For this emergency-I-am-sick poppet, include a large volume of salt and a little of banishing herbs such as dried olive leaf, rosemary, and white sage as your stuffing. Rub the poppet all over your body. Burn immediately outdoors. If you are too sick to do it yourself, have a trusted family member do it for you.

When giving a poppet to another person, be sure to indicate the initial intent of your work so that the new owner will be in sync with what you have created. Tell them what herbs or charms are in the doll, or better still, write an artful note to go with the doll, listing its purpose and the herbs contained within. Many people don’t know what herbs are safe to ingest or handle, nor do they think about the correspondences of those herbs. If the recipient has pets or children and you have included herbs that are considered poisonous, clearly tell the recipient not to allow pets or children near the poppet and why. A puppy using a poppet filled with garden nightshade as a chew toy would be a very, very bad thing indeed! If you are unsure of the safety of an herb, check online. Finally, take into consideration the individual’s aromatic likes and dislikes. I know a woman who hates the smell of lavender and won’t even buy cleaning products with the scent. Another can’t stand patchouli because it reminds her of someone she intensely dislikes, and a man I know is extremely allergic to jasmine. There is nothing worse than giving a poppet that took hours to construct with great care, only to have the new owner wrinkle their nose in distaste at the first sniff or roll on the floor with an acute asthma attack!

Unusual Circumstances

If you fall in love with creating poppets, spirit dolls, and enchanted animals, now and then you are going to experience strange circumstances. For example, I once made a protective doll and “sent” the doll to do its job, which was to turn back the negativity sent to my friend. What I didn’t know at the time but learned later is that the individual causing much of the unhappiness had an interesting hobby: that person constructed monster models. My poppet exploded an hour after I “sent” it. (Too bad; it was a neat one.) This is not to say the magick didn’t work—it did, and quite well—but know this: any poppet or spirit doll you make has a lifespan, and sometimes it will be over before you expected!

Dollies can also come back to you “wounded.” As in the example above, you aren’t the only person in the world making dollies, empowering unusual creatures, and employing them in magick. There is an entire fantasy and science fiction community that puts a great deal of power into their creations, yet they know nothing about the real magick like you do. Now and then, one of your permanent dolls may be somehow “off” in energy. It may have been “wounded” after completing its mission and you just didn’t notice. Take the time to cleanse, bless, and reconsecrate it. Change its clothing. Give it a new theme. Spruce it up! This is also a signal that you need to do a personal spiritual cleansing—you may be carrying negative energy of which you are unaware.

You may also come to a point where your creations seem to demand something of you—not in a horror story way but in a spiritual light. As they are tied to you because you are their creator, what they need may be something you may also need. For example, maybe you look at your house protection doll one morning and notice that you have a thirsty feeling. What does that mean to you spiritually? Perhaps both you and the doll should do a harmony ritual, a house cleansing, or whatever comes to mind. It is okay and not crazy to communicate and share with your doll in this way. There are days when I cleanse and bless cool water to offer to my dolls. I know that they represent the creative side of myself—and in offering the water, I am paying attention to that part of me that births joy through my art and words. Sometimes I put special foods on the altar and leave for twenty-four hours, or I might add toys, candy, new items of clothing, etc.

Using Storebought Poppets

Many craft stores now offer premade, expressionless muslin/cotton dolls ranging in size from small to large. You can also find kits of wood or foam. Or perhaps you want to do something with a standard doll purchased from a toy store. If you choose to use one of these dolls, I suggest you do a complete cleansing ritual for the doll separately before you perform your normal cleansing with all the supplies (such as additional embellishments, sigils, etc.). Unlike a skein of yarn or a bag of bells, the image form is extremely powerful in itself and has already begun to attract energy simply because of its shape. Manufactured dolls will carry the energy of the place, the workers, the shipping process, the store, and any employees who handled it.

Banishing all negativity is vital before you begin working with a preconstructed doll. Have you ever stood in a checkout line staring at the clerk in horror because they have a horrendous cold and are coughing all over your purchases as they run them through the scanner? You can see that scenario. How about if the clerk just came from a home where there is rampant alcoholism or abuse? They carry that energy with them, too; you just can’t see it like the effects of the cold or flu. A magickal cleansing will remove this type of negative energy, ensuring that your doll will perform as you desire. You can also add herbs or a sigil to such a doll by cutting a small slit in the doll’s back large enough to handle the insertion of your chosen items. Stitch the doll back up using the whip stitch, then proceed with the birthing ceremony and other magickal rituals you may wish to use.

Molded plastic animals and dolls can also be used in your magickal operations. Cleanse, bless, and consecrate them using the rituals and incantations provided in this book or use your own. I have a complete set of plastic spirit animals on a large shelf in my magickal room. I feed these symbols of the animal kingdom cornmeal and blessed water every day. I ask for their blessings and I use them to communicate with the spirits of these animals and birds. If I need something in particular, like protection for a family member, I will write my request on a piece of paper, draw the sigils I desire on the paper, and anoint with liquid fluid condenser and a magickal oil. Then I set the paper under the animal and ask the animal spirit for assistance. I either leave the paper for twenty-four hours or for seven days, depending on the circumstance, then burn the paper. Normally, the animal stays on the shelf with the others, but now and then I will move it or carry it with me. I also reposition my animals; there are fifty of them at this point. Sometimes the lions like it by the window near the gazelle and other times they would rather be on the sacred rocks.

Once, in desperation, I sent my husband to the store and told him to buy the biggest jug of army men he could find. He thought I was nuts. Maybe I was; however, I used those army men to battle a nasty issue—and I won.

The Mirrored Reversal or Protection Box

The intent of the reversal box is (depending on your wording) to send back or contain negative energy that has been sent to you by a particular individual. A mirrored protection box is to keep a person or animal from harm. The only differences between the two boxes are the ingredients used when making the box, the kind of poppet you choose to put in the box, and the wording when you charm both the box and the poppet. You also need to decide if this box is for a specific poppet and will be destroyed or buried, or if the box will serve for many different reversal or protection spells.

Supplies

·  a small box

·  black acrylic paint

·  sandpaper

·  glue

·  paintbrush

·  mirrors (whole or broken)

·  magickal oils and powders to match your intent

·  gloss varnish

·  acrylic sealer to protect the surface of the paint (optional)

·  a prepared poppet

Once you know the intent of your box (reverse or protect), consider magickal timing, just like you would when preparing to make your poppet. Reverse magick does better when the moon is in the third or fourth quarter, when the moon is in Scorpio, or on a Saturday in a Saturn hour. Protection lends itself to the moon in Cancer or on a Monday in the planetary hour of the moon, although you can use the planetary hour of Saturn or the first twelve hours after a new moon—your choice. Gather your supplies, then perform a cleansing and blessing rite.

Once the cleansing and blessing are completed, you are ready to construct the box. With sandpaper, smooth all the edges and surfaces of the box. This is to make the painting job easier and to prevent splinters. As you sand, you may wish to whisper the charm: “Wood and sand I command; as I say, so shall it be,” or intone your own chant or charm. Labels from purchased boxes can be pesky. Rather than wetting the label or using a liquid release material, you might try using a very sharp X-Acto knife. Gently insert the blade under one of the edges of the label and work the blade in toward the middle of the label. Turn the box and remove the blade. Insert blade under the opposite corner and work in toward the center. The label should easily pop off. Use the sandpaper to remove any tiny pieces of paper or glue.

The next step is to paint the box inside and out. I always add magickal powders and oils to boost the protective/reversal qualities of the box, and I apply three coats of gloss varnish. After the varnish is dry, empower the mirror pieces. For this box, I said:

I add these mirrors in the name of Hecate, Queen of Witches, Guardian of the Crossroads, and Commander of the Dead, that their reflection become a cage that will capture all negativity sent to me!

Affix as many mirrors as possible both on the inside and outside of the box with glue. Some practitioners break mirrors and use the shards, fitting them as close together as possible. This is done to help break up negativity.

THIS BOX WAS CONSTRUCTED WITH SEVERAL SIZES OF MIRRORS; I CHOSE THE PIECES THAT BEST FIT IN THE BOX. YOU CAN ALWAYS USE TINFOIL INSTEAD.

When the box is completely dry, empower it in a ceremony using black or dark blue candles. For the reversal box, hold the open box in your hands, and say:

Hecate, Queen of Witches, Guardian of the Crossroads, and Commander of the Dead! I call upon thee now to empower this reversal box so that any object placed within it will be caged in a jungle of reflection, illusion, and confusion so that whatever lies within may no longer effect any harm!

You can make your request longer or your intent clearer than what I have written here, or you can leave the specifics for when you lay your chosen poppet in the box, where you will want to call it by name and tell it that it can no longer harm you. The poppet can be bound with wire or twine and sprinkled with magickal herbs to suffocate the harmful individual’s power. Likewise, the protection box may hold a poppet of a loved one, the box acting as an enchanted shield of protection. What if you like the idea of this box, but you don’t have money for supplies or you need to make something right away and don’t have mirrors, etc.? No problem. Using the same idea, cover a small cardboard box or jar inside and out with tinfoil. Just make sure that the container has a lid and that it is also covered with the foil.

Where Do You Go from Here?

Make poppets! Lots of them! Craft them for yourself, your family, and your friends. Send the magick of love, healing, protection, and compassion into the universe! And most importantly, have fun! The next chapter contains twenty-one different poppet formulas. These recipes are just a beginning—a guide to help get you started.