TEUFELSKUNST Occult Art Blog
TEUFELSKUNST
Occult Art Blog

Dried Mandrake Roots

Upon request, I am offering here some dried mandrake roots, which I have grown and harvested over the past years. For reference, the leave is ca 12 cm long. These roots are talismans. They are not meant to be made into incense. They can be oiled and/or fed with traditional offerings, such as red wine, milk and honey, herbal essences, bread, incense or tobacco smoke, coins, stones etc. If you purchase one, you agree to stay in touch about your work with the root. I am happy to give you guidance and set up a ritual practice with you based on your personal magical background.

Pricing from top left to bottom right:

93 € top left – sold
prices for the 2 small roots are negotiable (they are suitable to wear in a glass amulet with other herbs – a custom amulet can be made for you) – sold
83 € top second from right
111 € top right – sold
88 € bottom left – sold
center – sold
108 € bottom second from right – sold
131 € bottom right – reserved

Handdrawn mandrake root phytographs can be purchased along with the roots and start at 100 € per phytograph. If you commission a phytograph together with the root I will give 10% discount.

August 23, 2023

Posted In: Mandrake Project, Herbs & Seeds, Ritual

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Leave a Comment

“Dead Astronaut” is aLive

It’s wonderful to be receiving such feedback! Remember last year`s mandrake post about “Alien Monstress” and “Crippled Astronaut”? Well, who would have guessed that! First photo shows a recent post by obviously blessed and knowledgable David ‘Mr. Mandrake’ Simmons. Second photo is of the same root about a year ago and third is of my ink portrait, now framed and adorning D. Simmon’s wall. Thanks David!

In memoriam H.H. Ewers

July 17, 2023

Posted In: Art, Ritual, Garden, Pflanzenkunst, Mandrake Project, Herbs & Seeds

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Comment

Crippled Astronaut and Alien Monstress Mandrake Roots

Crippled Astronaut and Alien Monstress Mandrake Roots

Here come “Alien Monstress” and “Crippled Astronaut” mandrake root.

They are two of the first mandrake roots I had purchased back when starting out with Teufelkunst as a “sorcery supply”.
A lot has happened since then (such as moving across the country, motherhood and other things). Originally there were a few more of those old mandrake roots, but only these two survived the winters, drought and pests that came and went with the years. I took them out of their earthen homestead now, as I felt it was time. They are still sturdy and astronaut looks like she’s about to produce a new shoot. But as I am now busy preparing for presenting at this year’s VGS (see next post for more about my lecture and the workshop I am giving), and since I need to raise funds for new investments (ie a new laptop), I have decided to offer them for sale now. It is up to the new owner to decide whether he/she wants to dry them and care for their spirits in the form of a magical famulus or try a new round of growing and further fostering their green shape.

Along with the purchase you receive a portrait of the root drawn with India ink on ensouled paper. The drawing(s) will be shipped separately and a few months later after you have received the root(s), as I am yet to produce them.

Size, Weight and Pricing:
93 Euro for the “Astronaut” (~ 14 cm, 65 g) and 188 Euro for the “Alien Monstress” (ca 17 cm, 125 g)
Prices are without shipping costs. Please inquire for an individual offer ensuring safe and fast shipping to your country.

NOTE: I have more dried and live roots available (see pictures below). Please contact me for individual offers including shipping.

e-mail: info [a] teufelskunst.com

August 18, 2022

Posted In: Herbs & Seeds, Mandrake Project

Tags: , , , , , ,

Leave a Comment

ROOT Art Exhibition Online

Honored to have been asked to take part in “ROOT”, the inaugural online exhibition hosted by The Organic Centre & creatively coordinated by artist Sarah Ellen Lundy as part of the pairs ongoing collaborative ‘Project Earth’.

https://www.rootexhibition.com/

December 22, 2020

Posted In: Events, Exhibitions, Art, Pflanzenkunst

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Comment

Mandrake Roots and Art

This project began earlier in 2016, when parting with a few homegrown live mandrake roots and sending them to new homes. Part of the deal for the new owner was to commission a portrait of the very root they were to receive.

Each root is drawn with ink and quill on stained paper. Attention is paid to the peculiar shape and features of each root. The result are detailed portraits, which are not only unique pieces of fine art but which also give the owner a reference, when the roots are planted back into soil.

Examples of roots that have left my own mandrake family and joined new homes:

Available roots (prices including hand-drawn art, excluding shipping):

For ordering write to info@teufelskunst.com

October 6, 2016

Posted In: Herbs & Seeds, Pflanzenkunst

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2 Comments

Autumn Fire, October New Moon & Belladonna Harvest

Deadly Nightshade HarvestIn my part of the world the past new moon occured close to the midnight hour and when the moon was just entering into the sign of Scorpio. In addition friends and followers in Eastern Asia and most of North America could simultaneously witness a beautiful partial solar eclipse. An astrologically and magically interesting time, some would already hold their Samhain celebrations on this night, closing another circle, saying farewell to the old and inaugurating a new year. It is the beginning of a liminal time, when the veil between the world of the living and the other side thinnens. It is believed the souls of the deceased – both beloved or malign, familiar or nameless – come to visit and contact the living, in dream or even physically. Temperatures are dropping, you see your breath in the cold air. The trees are yet aflame in autumn colors but will soon turn barren. Winter is just around the corner.

I felt it sooner this year than usual, perhaps owed to the early arrival of summer, autumn and winter are coming earlier as well. And it feels like its going to be a cold one. I experienced some dark days and nights, where I turned inside and contemplated, what has been done and what can and will be done. I got inspired and wrote these lines:

Autumn Fire

I feel the change of season
this autumn fire
the nights getting longer
the impending darkness
this cold breath down my neck.

But I am aflame and
burning with passsion
to a degree that it
almost consumes me.

Memories and dreams
the future and the past
they are merging
in a round-dance of autumn leaves
in the yellow light of street lamps
or in the dim grayness of
one drizzly September day.

I am day dreaming
and the world around me becomes
like the surface of a pond
into which I dip my finger
and suddenly the whole picture
starts to ripple and disperse
and the voices of people talking to me are muted
and I hear something else.

Silence.

The veil is thinning.

I am dreaming of reconciliation.

I hear from a lot of people this year has been their worst by far. Some say they felt a strong negative Saturn influence in their life. Things being stolen or lost, relationships breaking apart, unexpected changes for the worse and in some instances also suicide attempts. There was a lot happening around me and for all I know there is little in life to rely on. Believes and faith, relationships and worldly values are questioned and challenged. And the idea that from loss and pain still something good or even better arises, may infact not always hold true. Yet the quality of conversations improves, deepens. Superficialties don’t suffice any longer. And I still feel lucky. I do have my self, my work, and spirits and friends to turn to. Even if they may be struggeling themsselves; as long as there is a shared will to continue and work towards better times – not sit and wait – there is reason for hope.

What really helps me during times, when there is apparently nothing positive at all, is the feedback I receive from you, my customers and followers. It does indeed mean a great deal to me. It is one reason why I’m doing what I’m doing and why I continue this project. Feedback such as this:

Having received one of your plant sigil card sets, I wanted to thank you for your work and express my gratitude in having received one. It is a beautifully crafted work, with an obvious spine of honesty, experience and exploration. A profound expression of the green, from the veils of the divine. – JR/O.

Thank you and all who write me messages, comment, like and fave! Thanks to over 2000 followers on facebook and 500 on tumblr, thanks to my watchers on deviantArt and elsewhere! Thanks to the loud and silent supporters and the imps and gnomes and wizzards doing ‘magic’ in the background and spreading the word! You know who you are.

And though it is true that this is often a lonely path we do take inspiration from another, consciously or unconsciously. I like to think that the same spirits contact us individually and sometimes they whisper the same and other times different things into our ears. Tuesday I thought about harvesting Belladonna under the waning moon. But the night was cold and rainy and there was no sharp shining crescent sickle to be seen that would have called for harvest. Thursday I read of Harold Roth‘s plan to harvest Belladonna under the new moon. I first thought no, lets leave them for another month or wait for next year’s Walpurgis. But then I gave it a second thought, went outside short before midnight and the conditions were just right.

Deadly Nightshade 'soulpainting'The midnight hour was the hour of Venus and the dark moon had just entered Scorpio. A fitting constellation for working with the poisonous (scorpio) green (venus), and the darker aspects of the goddess (black moon), of whom the Belladonna is evocative. The Deadly Nightshade also has connections to the Germanic myths of the Wild Hunt, especially the Valkyries, daughters of heaven and earth (Wotan and Erda), who accompany the souls of the warriors that died in battle, to their final destination in Valhalla, which is reflected in the German name “Walkerbeere”. The Wild Hunt is said to begin with Samhain and culminates during the Winter Solstice and following nights. My first abstract vision of the plant’s essence shows her infront of a dark stormy sky with flashes of lightning and blood is raining from black clouds.

I took two roots, grown in pots, and both about 3 years old. The plants have flowered ready and the lasts berries are also ripe. In fact the stems are already slowly dying back and new green sprouts come from the root base. So it was indeed good timing. Especially since the following nights were even colder and the green parts don’t survive freezing. It makes sense that the time around Samhain is traditionally the time for the last harvest, which is then put up in the home for drying.

I also encountered a surprise when digging up the second plant as it had grown a long tap-root. It wouldn’t take an end and I actually could not unearth it wholly. I had to dig much deeper to get to the end of the part still stuck in the ground and it turned out that entire thing was indeed over 40 cm long!

I removed the soil manually, then cleaned them in rainwater and put them on the harvest altar, together with previously harvested roots. I lit beeswax candles and offered libation. I noticed a spicy smell and, though I used gloves, felt actually a bit benumbed from the fumes. I learned that the alkaloids concentrate in the root during autumn and winter. It may well be possible these two roots have a higher potency. They are now drying slowly and I plan to later make fetishes with them that tie together visullay the mentioned astrological and magical aspects. Below are a few pictures to show you their raw beauty:

In September I had already gathered leaves and sprigs, which I put between newspaper pages for drying. What do you read in there? It’s been a Belladonna year for sure!

IMG_7617+ copy2Yet there are plenty of other herbs (and for that matter also seeds!) and so I find myself again running around the house and garden, collecting, sorting and processing all sorts of green harvest. It will still be a giant task to take photos of everything and make it available for ordering. I am also working on a larger herbal commissions, which includes labeling and filling custom bottles for a client.

At least I am ready now with rearranging our front garden (more about this later) and next is the raised bed. So lots to do this week until the official Samhain date. And I still have a very special interview in the making, as well as news concerning my contributions to the third Pillars Periodical Journal! But all in good time. 🙂

IMG_7979 copy+So long, after so much deadly nightshade here is now another plant, which embodies the month of October: the Chinese Aconite (Aconitum carmichaelii), or Herbst-Eisenhut, as it is called in German, is the last of the aconites to flower and brightens up the October month with its lush blue-violett inflorescences. It’s poisonous as hell too and another name for aconite was in fact Scorpio. The aconite, as the ‘king of poisons’ is in different ways to be seen as a counterpart to the belladonna or ‘queen of poisons’, who’s atropine is the physiological antidote in aconite poisoning. Now I certainly wouldn’t recommend doing the test. However I do like to grow them besides each other, for higher inspiration and guidance. In fact, I do have quite a few aconite and belladonna seedlings to plant out yet… Yep, lots do! 🙂

October 26, 2014

Posted In: Herbs & Seeds, Garden, Art, Feast Days, Ritual

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Comment

Aconite Root Fetishes

IMG_5629+ copy

Aconite Roots in glass tubes

Finally I could find fitting glass vessels for the remaining Aconite roots! These are tubes with a flat base and a natural cork stopper for sealing. They are 16 cm in height and perfect for herbal fetishes. A seal hand-inked on a cleansed piece of laid paper and info about the Aconite herb is included with each root fetish. – SOLD

Prices: € 10 for the one to the left, € 19 for each of the other two

Shipping: € 5,50 for registered mail international

For ordering write to info@teufelskunst.com

April 19, 2013

Posted In: Herbs & Seeds, Ritual

Tags: , , , , ,

Leave a Comment