forest magic from the world of antiques & folklore…
Once upon a time most of Europe was a tapestry of ancient forest and heath. Mornings high with birdsong, stoking the hearth at dusk, the creak & whisper of night-time creatures and watchful trees under a rising moon…. who hasn’t yearned to smell the woodsmoke & magic of those times?
The forests are much smaller now, but our ancestral love for them remains, so If you’re looking for ways to call the magic of the forest into your home, or maybe even into your pocket…. read on.
Our ancestors depended on the forest for food and shelter, they lived as kindred to it’s animals, birds, and plants.
But as anyone who’s ever read a fairy tale knows – this could also be a place of danger, of wild beasts, lost pathways, spirits, ‘fairy folk’, and sorcery…
It’s little surprise that the forest was always associated with both the presence & the practice of magic.
This is not only true for Europe but of the world over.
For every forest place has it’s tales of resident spirits, wise trees, magical guardians and portals between the worlds. We grow up on the dark warnings of fairytales and mythos that sometimes reach back through millenia,
Yet surprisingly, its not all that easy to find authentic old objects and art that reflect this deep seam of magical lore.
whether for decorating a home, a personal altar, or for protection on a journey to connect with this ancient ecosystem – here are some traditional objects, charms, and artifacts of forest magic that can still be found today…
Amulets & the ‘other’ folk
Of all the amulets to be worn for a forest journey, among the most trusted was a piece of iron.
People have always known that there were unseen entities sharing their forests, and that not all of them were friendly…
Whether a knife blade or horseshoe nail, a key or a fragment of ‘sky iron’ (meteorite) – Iron is a widely accepted defence against enchantment by malevolent Jinn, Sidhe, Trolls, and other ‘fairy’ type beings (known differently according to where in the world your forest is…).
Many of these entities were notorious in folklore for bewitching humans who venture into their territory. From lost directions to lost years, lost eyesight, sour milk, stolen babies, and even madness, there are hundreds of tales of forest fairy ill-deeds.
The most commonly held traditional protections against fairy-trouble were Salt and Iron.
Iron Amulets
Many antique keys have a high iron content, small keys have been used as amulets across the world and have a multitude of magical associations.
Certain African amulets are traditionally hung on a hand made iron chain (although I don’t know the original meaning behind this practice).
Iron holds ancient protection magic in the Himalayas. Tibetan Thogcha (Sky Iron) amulets can sometimes be found that are many hundreds of years old and the shaman of Tibet and Nepal wear heavy hand made iron chains hung with amulets and bells.
Hand forged iron nails have been used in protection magic in Europe for centuries.
I’ve seen all of these types of iron amulet (and more) in the antiques world, but by far the easiest to find are antique iron keys and knives.
*btw – If you’re ever planning on gifting a knife to your favorite entity dodging forest travller, don’t forget that many people believe this invites bad luck, and the remedy to this is to ask for a penny in return so that the knife becomes ‘bought’ instead of given.
SALT
A mainstay of protection magic in numerous cultures, much like iron, salt carried on a journey was thought to make an excellent amulet against the supernatural dangers of the forest.
For a journey, tradition would have your salt carried in some sort of pouch or bundle, and in the home salt was a valuable commodity to be kept safe in either a wooden or pewter ‘salt box’.
The Green Man
Grandfather of the forest…
He comes up a lot in my posts, mainly because there are many wonderful antique carvings that can still be found here in the UK. The best are usually carved in Oak and date from the 15 to early 19 hundreds. Some are old furniture panels, others from disused churches and dilapidated buildings. Occasionally he turns up in stone fragments from fountains or Country House gardens.
The most affordable antique green men appear in miniature on Victorian wares like mirror frames, silver lids, and drawer fronts.
It will take a while to find him and you’ll need to dodge hundreds of modern reproductions, but eventually I promise you he’ll turn up…
Artemis – lady of the Beasts
This classical Greek Goddess is often portrayed as a nubile and seductive deity but her original role was something much more earthy. As protector of the forest and it’s creatures she was particularly concerned with pregnant and birthing animal mothers and their offspring.
Sprinting through the trees with her bow and quiver, it was she who decided which lives the human hunters could sacrifice, and she who would punish those who broke the sacred rules of the hunt. Images of her appear in antique book plates and engravings as well as occasionally in sculpture.
Beside her role as Lady of The Beasts, she is also a goddess of the most primal, instinctive side of the human spirit. Her symbol was the bow and arrows, but she was sometimes represented as a bear, or a tree, or the moon, so any of these might be placed on an altar or worn as an amulet to represent her essence.
Suitable pieces I see for sale in the antiques world have included fossilized cave bear bones (more easily found and less expensive than you’d imagine), Black Forest wood carvings of bear, from the great forests of Germany, Ancient excavated bronze or flint arrow heads, and sometimes also ‘Archers Rings’ – that are hard to wear as rings but make beautiful pendants.
For moon symbols the choices are almost limitless, I particularly love the crescent moon amulet jewellery that appears from almost every historical culture on earth.
Artemis’s special tree is the Cypress.
Baba Yaga
For an archetypal old forest witch it’s hard to beat Baba Yaga.
Although we usually think of her as a fairytale character, all hooked nose and eating children, – there are clues in her stories to something very ancient. She is a life and death mother, a teacher of wisdom, and a medicine woman from the depths of the female psyche*. She is also a queen among forest hags.
To be honest It will be hard to find any original antique Baba Yaga pieces outside of her Slavic homelands. But occasionally old book plates do turn up of the chicken legged shack and her jaunts through the night sky in a flying mortar and pestle.
For an easily found Baba Yaga motif I would probably choose a rugged old antique mortar and pestle, preferably in bronze, stone, or wood. She’s also known for her garden fence built from flaming human skulls stuck on pikes, – but those are a little harder to source…
*read the truly brilliant book Women Who Run With The Wolves, by ClarissaPinkola Estes for a soul-deep journey to Baba Yaga and other female archetypes in folk & fairy tales.
Magical Creatures of the Forest;
Wild Boar
Hugely important to the Celts, representing courage, fertility, and strength of spirit. Boar is steeped in ancient symbolism. Wild boar and their semi – domesticated cousins forest swine, have been deeply associated with magic pretty much across the world.
Ardwinna, Celtic Goddess of the wildwood rides on the back of a Boar, and in some very old images Baba Yaga does the same. There are Hindu gods and goddesses who shapeshift into Boar forms, and Norse Dieties Freyja / Fryr have strong boar associations, as do Pagan Irish and ancient Welsh deities including the sorceress goddess Cerridwen.
‘Fairy swine’ appear in some of the oldest forest myths and folktales.
A true forest creature, totemic boar and swine figures are found carved in wood from Africa, Papua new Guinea, island forests in the Pacific Ocean, and many other lands.
Cast beautifully in brass and bronze as Panjurli Bhuta (spirit boars) from South India, carved in jade and hard-stone from China and Tibet, on elaborate Chokwe ritual masks of Angola, and occasionally found in very ancient European pottery, bronze amulets, and jewellery.
All of these things can be found in the antiques trade and specialist antiquities sales.
There are also a fair few antique Boar Tusk pieces around, including tribal jewellery and silver mounted containers for snuff that can be found without breaking the bank.
Stag
Another important creature of forest magic, not only for his own sake but also as the embodiment of Cernnunos and other versions of the Horned God.
Authentic old horned god figures are rare but antique objects that call to stag spirit are plentiful
Things I look out for include the lovely Victorian fire pokers with a heavy stag horn handle, not expensive and perfect for tending either a cottage hearth or a ritual fire. Antique pocket knifes with Antler handles are also easy to find and useful for collecting supplies, whittling figures, and carving symbols onto wood or wax. Occasionally authentic Boline sickles and Atheme come onto the antiques markets, often with handles of forest-found antler.
I see very ancient eastern votive pottery with stag decoration from time to time, and bronze stag amulets also occasionally turn up in ‘antiquities’ sales. Antique stag Skulls and mounted antler racks are easily bought at any antiques market in Europe.
Among the other important magical forest creatures of varying traditions are Unicorn, Owl, Toad, Bat, Jaguar, Tiger, Bear, and Monkey. But as with all things magical – a lot depends on where you are in the world and where you’re rooted from…
A Few More Antique forest-born Ideas…
Antique Horn cups and Beakers – Easily found, inexpensive, historically used in both ritual and divination. In earlier times when small settlements nested below the trees and the village cattle would be grazed in glades and along the treeline. No part was wasted from a slaughtered Ox and both horn beakers and bone spoons could be found in the cottage kitchen.
Blast Horn, or Blowing Horn – A Favourite of the Norse, usually made from cattle horn but can also be found from Ram or Goat. A simple hand made bugle like instrument that makes a haunting & ancient sound for calling in the Genus Loci (or alternatively just for freaking out the neighbours…)
Acorn – Carvings of acorns have been used as amulets for centuries, can sometimes be found as antique ‘decorative’ pieces or in jewellery. The Oak was sacred to Celts and Druids, beieved to be the King of the forest trees. Oak apple was another very ancient pagan amulet of Northern Europe if you’re lucky enough you might find one when ferreting about in the woods.
Carved Wooden Panels & Corbels– often antique panels & Corbels are carved with the shapes of trees and foliage, they come in all shapes and sizes and bring a real vibe of old magic to any space. Found in fairs and auctions up and down the country as well as online or in architectural salvage yards. The best are often hewn from Oak.
Wooden Staff – so many beautiful antique examples to be found out there, Blackthorn is a traditional choice for anyone seeking protection from some of the less friendly forest entities… Blackthorn staffs and clubs were especially popular in rural Ireland.
And Finally – what about a beautiful Antique wooden Trunk or Carved Box to store these treasures?
These are an absolute mainstay of the antiques world – they can always be found, and in an endless variety of different woods, different styles, and different cultures or periods of history.
By her very nature the forest witch is a wildish creature,
And a long line of wildish ancestors trod this path before her…
From pagan Ireland we can still find tales of the woodland goddess Flidas, in her chariot drawn by deer.
Old European folktales tell of the Buschfrauen, a tribe of dwarf-like furry forest women who knew all the herbs for healing magic and danced to make the plants grow.
And from Northern Europe the Weisse Frauen, a goddess worshipping band of witches who appear to help lost travellers and foretell the future. Some say they are the ghosts of the old goddesses, driven deep into the forest by the arrival of Christianity, where they remain, dancing the fruit and berries onto the trees in springtime, and caring for their forest creatures, until the day comes when they can return to the world in all their glory.
I hope that you’ve found some inspiration here for pieces that will connect your inner forest witch with her rich and ancient lineage…
Go well, & happy hunting X
