The Frightful Howls You May Hear

Sfinga and Key tackle another hotly-requested topic: how to identify, divine on, and profile new spirits that may be approaching your court. In addition to considering temporary wanderers, distant allies of your spirits that may be stopping by to visit, and also those interested in coming by for only a season or a year, they consider some of the signs by which to recognize the activity of a new be...

Erudite astrologer, cutting-edge tech-wizard, and dear friend Jove returns to the pod to discuss the potent sorceries and spirits encountered on the dance floor. We touch on how spirits pulse within the vast realm of nightlife, from popular clubs to illegal raves, and how to harness the high peaks and clandestine whispers of the energies within them. In addition to reflecting on our own experience...

Our good friend Red Hu, returning from her excellent episode on Daji and Chinese Fox Magic, joins us to chat all things beauty and glamour. This episode shaped up to be a longer, free-form discussion on how to incorporate small glamours into everyday life, from scrying the products you put on your skin to protecting yourself from too much attention. We discuss the importance of finding the beautif...

Key finally gets the chance to share all about one of his most enduring loves: specialty coffee. In addition to considering its magical virtues and uses in sorcery and divination, from grounds to beans and liquid altogether, he explores the notion of tasting notes as a microcosm into how we learn to scry, perceive spirits, and identify information via remote viewing. This is a real nerdy one! Supp...

Key leads an overview of some of the basic history behind druggist's catalogues, receipt books, formularies, and their jump to and impact on full-time spiritual supply stores. Focusing especially on the case of Chicago, he considers the impact of the Valmor Products Company, and explores the branding, packaging, and art of these supplies and their ingredients within folk magic. Finally, Key of...

Matthew Venus returns to the show, this time with friend, witch, and author Kamden Cornell, to chat all things dolls and effigies! Both have written some of the most pioneering texts on doll and effigy magic in recent memory and have so many excellent insights to share on their creation, use, and innovation. In addition to a lengthy exploration of these techniques, we also chat about magical ethic...

The team welcomes dear friend Rebecca Beyer, the brilliant mind behind Blood and Spicebush. Folk magician, herbalist, witch, and student of Appalachian Folk Magic and Pennsylvania Dutch Braucherei, Rebecca joins us for a heartfelt conversation on what it is like to learn within an established spiritual tradition. Bringing her deep knowledge of foraging, ethnobotany, and Appalachian folklore and fo...

Sfinga and Key discuss an intriguing early modern vernacular grimoire first published and analyzed by Dr. Frank Klaassen. In reviewing its techniques, orations, and symbols (as well as its famous pentacle of the Apocalyptic Christ), the Dragon and Owl also consider the text's utility as a magical manual and its implied teachings from within its instructions. Support us on patreon.com/TheFright...

Traditionally trained conjurer, card reader, and herbalist Dr. Finch joins the show for a lush and evocative discussion on glamour, power, and sovereignty. Our conversation begins with her latest project, being an exploration of magical cosmetics born of her deep knowledge of rootwork. We quickly sprawl out to discuss the many facets of sorcerous agency in our lives, and consider some cornerstones...

The gang workshops the practical steps and philosophies behind deriving rituals and recipes from a diagnostic divination. From narrowing the scope aggressively by means of self-imposed limitations to allowing different spirits to collaborate on co-creating a solution to a problem, the Dragon and Owl cover a medley of case studies and their mediating factors for success.  Support us on patreon.com/...

We bring on our dear friend Maria of Green Dragon Healer to give us a boot camp in all things relevant for the Lunar New Year. We hope that this will be a yearly tradition in February to give our listeners some insight as to the major trends, important shifts, and key spiritual timings for the lunar calendar. While this episode is exceptionally thorough, going over many layers of relevant details...

In this episode, Key and Sfinga consider different mundane and magical ways to support protests against ICE in the United States, as well as broader efforts in protests and community organizing in general. In addition to practical and magical safety for on the ground organization, video documentation, and courthouse observation, the Dragon and Owl go over a greater body of potential rituals and wo...

Sfinga considers some of the key trends and forms of sortilege in the late antique Mediterranean world. In addition to the Sortes Astrampsychi and Homeromanteion, she specifically goes into the curious, so-called "Gospel" of the Lots of Mary: a booklet containing no sayings of Jesus, no testimony if his life or that of any other Biblical figure, but rather 37 short oracles for divination...

Key goes over some of the proposed origins, meanings, and uses of the most famous word square: the Sator-Rotas! In addition to considering possible Christian and pagan meanings alike, as well as the "Arepo problem", he considers the square's broader uses in magic and how its nature plays into its remarkable flexibility.  Support us on patreon.com/TheFrightfulHowls .

Multimedia artist, candle-maker, dancer, and sorceress Sarah Jezebel Wood joins the pod for a special solstice episode on the yuletide season. Sarah beautifully outlines some of the key motifs of the death and rebirth of the sun's light and the spirits, oaths, and magical practices that accompany it. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of Finnish folklore, she introduces us to the mischievous w...

Sfinga and Key are joined by author, witch, and dear friend Matthew Venus to discuss all the hard-won insights and incredible wisdom of his newest book, Ensouling the Effigy. Beginning with the exercises and foundational concepts of the book, the gang branch off to consider spirit trafficking more broadly, and go into key moments within their own practices and histories that taught them the most a...

Sfinga and Key strategize over the art of decoy magic - protection charms that send malefica and evil eye intended for you elsewhere. Whether as potent solitary wards, made in the Koschei the Deathless style layering of shells that hide and obscure, or as large, simple groups that disperse misfortune across a web, the Dragon and Owl cover various possibilities for their use, including for the prot...

The Dragon and Owl provide a rough sketch of how one can begin to cultivate the basics of a sorcerous practice. In addition to considering the most valuable skills to cultivate from the beginning, they also discuss how to refresh one's attitude towards disappointment and the inevatibilities of miscommunication with spirits, unsuccessful workings, and frustrations along the path. Support us on...

At long last, Key goes into one of our most hotly requested "sequel" episodes: a follow up on his exploration of the chaos magic of the DKMU. This time, he goes over one of its most notable offshoots and developments, being the Hexorian Movement. In covering the basics of its principles and appreciation for urban spirits, Key explores what it is to fall in love with the city you live in...

Sfinga and Key are joined by beloved friend and erudite astrologer Jove Spucchi to traverse through some of the most fascinating intellectual landscapes of modern occultism. In this free-form conversation, the gang explores Freudian psychoanalysis, the planet Saturn, scrying natal charts, Hellenistic astrology, outer planets and asteroids, somatic and body-informed spirit work, and living in tune...

Key and Sfinga revisit one of our most loved episodes (14: Gathering Materia) to review further strategies for storing, collecting, using, and navigating materia. The Owl and Dragon cover a medley of locations to gather links beyond dirt as well as how to make them last across years of workings.  Support us on patreon.com/TheFrightfulHowls .

Key leads the charge in introducing one of his favourite German grimoires from Das Kloster: Die Rufung des heiligen Christoph oder Das sogenannte Christopheles-Gebet. Drawing on his extensive practice with this text, he delves into the lore behind German treasure hunting magic, the figure of St. Christopher as its patron, and the range of literal and metaphorical treasures this text facilitates pl...

This hotly-requested episode is at long last here! Salt and Key talk nigromancy and the conjuration of demons from the medieval and early modern ritual magic traditions of Western Europe. From protocols of purity, compulsion, and cooperation, to maintaining control when the physical manifestations begin to flicker beyond the circle, the karcists reveal their most important tips and tricks for keep...

Sfinga and Key explore a sample of folk magical traditions involving that ever-faithful ally: bread. In addition to revisiting old debates over the leavened or unleavened Eucharist, they go over different techniques of capturing timing, forces of nature, and even stars in bread, finding thieves and cleansing ills, and helping the dead pass on into the afterlife with just water, salt, yeast, and fl...

Key walks the gang through an overview of his namesake magics of locks, keys, and tools and techniques to get around the former. Forays into binding and securing misfortunes and blessings alike, explorations of the origins of and techniques to create master keys, and the expediency of building a collection of love locks through less-than-licit means help give life to the diverse array uses of thes...