Poppets are dolls used in sympathetic magic which are designed in the likeness of individuals in order to represent them in spells to help, heal or harm. The word “poppet” comes from the Middle Ages in England, originally meaning a small doll or child the source of the modern term of endearment, but the use of dolls to influence the fate of a person dates back much further.
In Egyptian times enemies of the Pharaoh Ramses III used wax images of him to bring about his death. In the third century BC the Greek poet Theocritus wrote of how a peasant girl Simaetha used erotic magic on her absent lover Delphis to get him to return to her by melting and burning wax dolls. Princess Caroline of Brunswick on the other hand allegedly jabbed pins into wax totems of her husband, the future George IV, in the hope of hastening his demise she didn’t succeed.
In this workshop Lucya Starza will talk about the history of effigies in both healing and cursing, and will offer a practical workshop in how to make a traditional poppet of protection for dark nights. The night will end with a spell to enchant them.
Lucya Starza
Lucya Starza is an eclectic witch living in London, England, in a rambling old house with her husband and cats. She writes A Bad Witch's Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk and is the author of Pagan Portals - Candle Magic. She edited the community book Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days and also contributed to Naming the Goddess, Essays in Contemporary Paganism and Paganism 101.
Image Credit - From the 1720 publication of "The history of witches and wizards: giving a true account of all their tryals in England, Scotland, Swedeland, France, and New England". Public Domain courtesy of the Wellcome Collection