dark goddess – Teufelskunst

Novemberness

November was once known as Windmond, Wintermonat and Nebelung. It is the darkest month, hostile and chaotic. It brings storms, disorder and weird dreams. It is the month of the ‘wild hunt’, the Cailleach, Holle, Persephone, Hecate, Brimo and other gods and goddesses of winter and death.

It is raining and snowing and the earth is being saturated with water. The cold grayness is lit up by bright saffron blossoms, colorful tree branches and berries. Wild cherry trees color their crowns red; what looks like a fiery shield or warning sign is actually an invisibility shield against herbivores. By dropping their leaves the trees now ultimately strike their solar sails. Simultaneously the fallen leaves re-assemble to form a protective and nurturing blanket on the ground, for myriads of organisms to spend the winter underneath. Here the magic happens that alchemists seek to master. All of nature’s actions are inherently logical and perfectly adjusted.

November also brings weird dreams, messages of wyrd – the weaveress, who spins, weaves and cuts the thread that forms the fabric of a person’s fate or destiny. Noteworthy, is wyrd not only the base word for modern English weird. Today the word weird denounces something supernatural, uncanny or unexpected. But wyrd is also connected to the German werden = to become, Wort = word as well as Wurz = a herb. Originally these terms, to become and to grow (as a plant) and the concept of wyrd (fate) may have been closely linked. Indeed, the wort cunner uses herbs to change a person’s destiny. The shaman or healer uses herbs to drive out sickness and avert death, which increase in the absence of day light.

The weaveress is present in many different pantheons. Sometimes she is part of a triad of goddesses of fate such as the Norse Norns, the Greek Morai and Roman Parcea. Other times she is an ancient mother goddess presiding over the souls of the unborn and the work of women, especially spinning and weaving. Germanic tribes knew her as Holle/Holda, today also identified with Perchta. Slavic peoples knew her as Mokosh or Zorya.

Frau Holle is envisioned to guard a deep well or pool from which she releases the souls of children to be born and into which she receives again the souls of the stillborn. She guards the cycle of life and death, birth and rebirth. Likewise she judges the work of man, blesses those, who finish their tasks in time and punishes those who are late or lazy. In the short month of November we are reminded that the year is in its final quarter and that we too must come to a close with our projects and rituals, but also, that we must take care of ourselves.

November rituals: healing and cleansing rituals, start a dream journal, honor god(desse)s of death and winter, process seeds and herbs gathered earlier, plant bulbs and fruit trees, burn incense for protection and oneiromancy

November 25, 2023

Posted In: Feast Days

Tags: holda, brimo, winter, percht, hecate, perchta, dark goddess, underworld, frau holle, nigredo, november, vitriol, autumn, decay, dark season, mortificatio, seasons, wyrd, wild hunt, fates, cailleach, persephone

Lilith Incense

Completed on this new moon, 11/11 – 1,2 l of Lilith incense, blessed in a black moon triangle of manifestation underneath the talon feet of the skull-masked corpse queen.

Lilith Incense

This is the second incense blend dedicated to the qliphoth. It contains flowers, herbs and resins connected to the death moon and honors Lilith as the black queen of the night side. Lilith is a demonic deity, often associated with seductions and sexual perversions. Of the seductress it is said

“Her house sinks down to Death, And her course leads to the shades. All who go to her cannot return And find again the paths of life.” (Proverbs 2:18-19)

In the qliphotic working system Lilith rules the qliphah Gamaliel, which is referred to as “the obscene ones” within the qliphotic context, even though it rather translates as the “reward of god”. Gamaliel is seen opposite the sephirah yesod on the tree of life, which is associated with the planetary influence of the moon – the unconscious in which the other spheres are present yet dormant, like a lake filled with emotions and fluctuating reflections, situated in between the higher planes and the physical plane of manifestation. Therefore Gamaliel is connected to an inversion of these lunar flows, the dark of the moon, lunar eclipses and may be envisioned as a lake filled with black water or “soul matter”.

The absence of the sun’s reflected light facilitates recreation and healing, calm, meditation, genuine inspiration and independent creativity. It is also a period, during which the influence of the mundane and ordered world is weakened. A time of silence and looking inward or it may mark the beginning of a journey on a less traveled road… Ventures undertaken during the dark of the new moon are out of sight and safe from the light of the world. Hence it is also a time beneficial for criminals and unlawful acts.

In the darkness of a new moon strange and fantastic flowers may blossom, and in the redness of the eclipsed harvest moon the flow of life’s currents might be reverted, facilitating the occurrence of manifestations or incarnations from the other side.

Of Lilith is also said she is a mother of demons and rules over 480 legions of shadows. Among these ‘shadows’ are the souls of the children that have died as infants, in childbirth or due to abortion. In this context Lilith is envisioned as a demon who “snatches away the souls” of these children and she is portrayed with bird talons or referred to as “screech owl”. Hence protecting amulets against Lilith were hung above cradles for protecting the infant from the grip of Her talons.

Among the herbs sacred to this demonic deity are Mugwort and Wormwood (both potentially abortive). Both herbs are also often employed in astral workings, as part of incense for divination (e.g. in dream, necromancy etc.) and philters. Besides these, the blend contains flowers of Jasmine, Lilac, Lily, Lotus and Rose. Jasmine is a classic for any “lunar” blend. Sweet Lilac covers the stench of death. Lily is not only evocative in name but also perhaps the most iconic funeral flower and there’s just tons of religious lore connected to this flower. (To me the sweet morbid smell of white regal lilies is simply most evocative of Lilith.) Lotus is the flower representing female divinity and bears links to the realm of death, rebirth and resurrection. Lastly Rose, both white and red are the traditional flowers used in Her veneration, as they both represent mystery and sacredness.

Further ingredients are myrrh, dammar, a small amount of camphor and colored frankincense in red, black and silver – for red is the color of the blood, the red moon and gamaliel, silver evokes the astral and black is for the goddess veiled in darkness. Calamus root and musk seed address the seductress and dominatrix. Orris root as an aromatic binding agent most often employed in dream work may not be missing. White sandalwood adds a warm balmy scent and is a sacred wood traditionally employed in veneration and pleasing the souls of the dead.

And then there is willow bark, added not only because its typically associated with ‘female problems’ and facilitating the blood flow. This bark is harvested from an old hollow willow tree, for it was in the trunk of such tree that the creature named ki-sikil-lil-la-ke (translated as Lilith) had made its nest and the tree, named huluppu, is generally identified as a willow tree. In another account Lilith is also described forming the branches and further demons forming other parts of such tree.

Use this incense for general veneration of the dark goddess Lilith, in combination with the black mirror and scrying bowls and for other types of astral workings that aim at manifestations.

Scent: camphorous, floral sweet, slightly morbid

100 ml, limited to 11 jars

Note: There are 11 filled jars charged with the vibrations of this most auspicious date coinciding with the dark of the moon. They are available for purchase here and will also be listed in my Etsy online store.

Edit: all jars sold over night. More of this incense will be available after the next new moon, Friday, 11 December.

For ordering and all other inquiries write e-mail to info@teufelskunst.com

November 13, 2015

Posted In: Ritual

Tags: sitra ahra, dream work, dreams, gamaliel, lilith, manifestations, incense, nightmares, black moon, oneiric, new moon, queen of the night, nightside, willow tree, dark goddess

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Naamah Incense

One of the commissions I’ve been working on lately and now going into the official Teufelskunst program: the first qliphothic incense blend, an offering to the dark goddess Naamah. Naamah here refers to a demonic entity, sometimes also called the “younger Lilith”. She rules over the lowest sphere on the adverse or reverse tree. Her name is commonly translated as “pleasant one”. Naamah belongs to the sitra ahra, the “other side”. Her sphere is called Nahemoth and of all the adversarial or dark gods she is closest to the created world. Nahemoth is thus sometimes portrayed as a sphere permeated by dead tree-roots entangling with the roots of Malkuth of the tree of life: where the roots of the one tree end the other tree begins. Naamah is therefore associated with the element earth or “black earth”. Her womb is the gate through which the various inclinations of the other side manifest inside the created world. Her beauty is a mask, behind which are hidden darker intentions. She is sometimes also compared to the Whore of Babalon.

I was commissioned to compose an incense blend focusing on the “pleasant” aspect. Earthy, warm and musky notes define this blend, which contains various fragrant herbs connected to the darker seasons (autumn and winter) and the element earth as well as other herbs and flowers evocative of Naamah, such as red rose and belladonna. Some of these ingredients are venific in nature (Belladonna, Bittersweet Nightshade), hence this blend is recommended for advanced practitioners.

Besides this I had to find a suitable vessel and packaging. Having been recommended Miron glass before, the uv-proof dark-violet glass would be my first choice for the spirits of the night side. The slender 100 ml wideneck jar also has an elegant shape. Besides this I’m also offering the blend in 50 ml jars. Miron glass is more expensive than normal clear or brown glass. Hence the qliphoth incense blends are a bit more expensive than my standard offers.

For ordering please write e-mail to info@teufelskunst.com with the wished amount. I will get back to you with the full price including shipping and payment info. I accept payments with PayPal and SEPA bank transfer within the EU.

July 2, 2015

Posted In: Ritual

Tags: holy whore, naamah, nahemoth, ritual, sitra ahra, incense, worship, tree of death, babalon, nightside, black earth, dark goddess, dark gods