Engraved with my Mabon sigil, this box celebrates the beginning of autumn and the harvest of the season. It is perfect for storing smaller sacred objects such as paper sigils, stones, crystals, amulets, beeswax candles etc. E.g. I fill seasonal boxes with sympathetic objects and place them beside the bed for inspired dreaming. This box measures ca. 14 cm x 16 cm x 3 cm and comes including:
1x Lughnasadh Incense
1x Mabon Incense
1x Samhain Incense
In addition are included seeds, fresh from the end of Summer ’24 gathered by Bussardflug and by myself:
Atropa belladonna
Aconitum napellus
Bryonia dioica
Conium maculatum
Datura stramonium
Digitalis purpurea
Hyoscyamus niger
Solanum dulcamara
Angelica archangelica
Artemisia absinthium
Foeniculum vulgare
Opoponax chironium (rare!)
Ruta graveolens
Salvia apiana
Salvia mellifera
Symphytum officinale
Comfrey seeds with little bones found in the soil beneath…
Along with the box can be ordered a custom pendant / herbal amulet filled with rare witch herbs and paraphernalia. Please e-mail me along with your purchase to discuss the details.
In follow to the wonderful feedback and many emails received after the last boxes had been sold, I spent the past weeks crafting and researching what would become the content of the next row of wooden seed boxes, these being numbers 31-36.
This time my focus was drawn towards magical herbs, which can be found on a blooming summer meadow and are traditionally used on the summer solstice. Many of these herbs are sown in April and May, hence the timing. Some annuals, such as poppies, you may be able to harvest already this summer, if sown now.
Besides this I wanted to include some new venific herbs, to accompany the well-known nightshades and popular poison plants. In my search my attention was drawn to the spurge, more precisely the caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris). Earlier I had been asked for spurge to use in a martial incense recipe and had trouble finding the right type. By chance I came across references pointing to the caper spurge with its poisonous milky sap, prominent size and auspicious shape. The plant seems to have been well known in Germany. It would be planted near one’s home as a protection against curses and it was used to break the spells of other witches. It was also thought to ward of moles and is hence also known as mole plant in English language.
Besides this I included the wild relative of the candle larkspur, named field or rocket larkspur (Consolida regalis), with its lovely deep blue flowers. The flowers are used in protection spells and the herb is planted to protect the home, similar to the closely related delphinium. The rocket larkspur is unfortunately in decline due to intensified agriculture. Another reason, to include it here.
A threatened herb with strong healing attributes is the lovely centaury (Centaurium erythraea). It has been attributed a plethora of benific properties and is rare to find in the wild these days. I am thus happy to have found a supplier of seeds for this rare healing herb. Another old and perhaps forgotten about healing herb of antiquity, which is now experiencing a renaissance is the wood betony (Stachys officinalis). Likewise the motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) was a popular healing herb in medieval times until interest in the plant declined. It makes for a nice background plant with other purple and pink flowering herbs and interesting addition to the ‘witch’s garden’.
In selecting the herbs I also paid attention to the 13 plants described in Harold Roth’s book “The Witching Herbs” (signed copies available here) and thus included seeds for each.
Altogether there are now seeds for over 50 different sorcerous benific and venific herbs contained in one box. The box itself is pyrographed stained and varnished by hand. The sigil on the box is the “Sigillum Major” or “Greater Sowing Seal”. It includes references to the work with plants, crossroad symbolism etc. and is also used as the official logo for Teufelskunst. The sigil inside the box is called “Sigillum Minor” or “Lesser Sowing Seal” and is an abbreviated form of the former, traceable in one stroke of a line. Each box is numbered on the bottom.
Printed sowing instructions in tabular form are included with each box. For detailed information on each herb please visit my plant blog.
Update: The boxes are sold. You can still e-mail me for the complete list of seeds contained in this series at info@teufelskunst.com. I will work on 4 more boxes this spring to round up the number before the summer solstice. Than that’s it for a while.
What took months in the making is now finally completed. With relief and some excitement we introduce the first set of Official Teufelskunst Pentacles as well as a new edition of our precious Teufelskunst Wooden Seed Boxes. Please read on for details and descriptions of each…
The Pentacles
The pentacle, or pentagram disc, represents the earth element upon the altar and acts as a focal point for manifesting the magician’s will and secondly it protects the magician and the work. In our previous post we have already discussed the meaning of the pentagram and hinted at various ways of using it in ritual. In our first collection we offer now three different types. The first version carries, plain and simple, a bold black pentagram enclosed within a circle and fits for any ritual work. The second version is more delicate and alchemical symbols of the four elements and spirit have been added to the disc, which makes this Black Alchemy pentacle also suited for higher ritual work. Both versions are pyrographed in massive Beech, a neutral wood traditionally used in letterpress printing. Several layers of blood-red varnish stain have been applied to the surface, whereby the bottom and side of the first discs is varnished black. At the back of each is pyrographed the Teufelskunst Sigilum Major (which you find on all our work).
Price: 50 Euro for 1 regular Pentacle / 66 Euro for 1 ‘Black Alchemy’ Pentacle
Besides these puristic versions done in Beech wood we crafted a series of dainty and intricately ornamented pentacles pyrographed in heavy Oak wood. These one of a kind Oaken pentacles possess a rougher surface and have a rustic look and feel to them. They are painted with a thin layer of Golden Oak varnish stain and like the beech pentacles are sealed with an additional layer of transparent varnish. Beneath follow descriptions and pictures of each.
WITCHCRAFT
Decorated with ornamental motifs of Oak leaves and acorns hiding two crescent moons. Crowned by thorn and trident, in reference to the path of thorns and the holy trinity, flanked by two devil’s representing the witches father and mother and the dualism in all nature. The symbols inside the pentagram are the same as those in the Pentagram of Solomon and are meant to protect the magician from danger as well as command the spirits. The very first in our series of Oak Pentacles it channels the overall beneficent aspects of its wood and the four elements.
Price: 99 Euro – available
WITCHCRAFT – one of a kind Oak Pentacle – 99 EUR
EYE OF G’D
Combining elements from classic black magical ritual grimoires this Oak Pentacle represents wrathful aspects of the divine. Starting with the ‘All Seeing Eye’, which upon closer examination occurs no longer human but demonic, from which flashes of lightning emerge, tearing the skies apart and sending forth the Wrath of G’d towards the earth, where men and beast have transformed into the evil dead roaming the earthly plane. The night has turned into day and the day into night; the dogs are loose, the trees are alive and reaching out for the lonesome wayfarer, whilst the devils in the sky are triumphing. Possible uses: workings of wrath, casting the evil eye, evoking mischief during the time of the Wild Hunt or Rauhnächte.
– Sold
‘Eye of Gd’ – one of a kind Oak Pentacle – SOLD
NEPTUNE
This unique Pentacle has been inspired by the mysteries of the Deep Sea and men’s Fear of the Unknown. There is the mask of the Green Man lurking behind the five-pointed star, but the foliage emerging from his face is made of seaweed and his beard becomes the tentacles of a monstrous Octopus. To the left and right are his devil companions occuring in the shape of winged and horned seahorses. He is the ruler over the watery element. Behind and around him the sea gives birth to a mighty, all-encompassing whirlwind. His trident is supreme. Once evoked he will not know good or bad. Possible uses: protection, weather magic, dream work, calling the old gods, invisibility.
– Sold
NEPTUNE – one of a kind Oak Pentacle – SOLD
The Wooden Seed Boxes
Upon request we have crafted a few more of our original seed boxes, which are pyrographed with our Sigilum Major (also called the Greater Sowing Seal) and twin devils – the overseers of our work. The lid and inside are varnished in bloodred, the sides are varnished black and coated with a thin layer of transparent varnish. Each box is numbered at the bottom, this set being #9-14. The boxes contain seeds from over 50 different Witch Herbs. Sowing instructions for all herbs will be provided online in the form of a pdf.
Price: 99 Euro – All Reserved
Teufelskunst Wooden Seed Boxes, November 2013
All customers who have reserved and pre-ordered will be notified during the coming days. If you wish to purchase one of the remaining pentacles or reserve one of the next row of seed boxes write to info@teufelskunst.com to receive the details concerning shipping etc.
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On another note, we are currently teaming up again with Occvlta who will do a new jewelry collection with our specially preserved flowers, herbs and mushrooms. With this small teaser we wish all our customers and followers a blessed Season of Light!
