“the black fox that lies down
to sleep beneath you,
the moon staring
with her bone-white eye”
― Dream Work
to sleep beneath you,
the moon staring
with her bone-white eye”
― Dream Work
“In Europe, what seems to bond toads and toadstools strongly is their shared role as potentially toxic "agents of death", and their close associations with magic and the supernatural. In Christian thought, both were seen to represent the dark and evil threads of nature's tapestry. Both appeared in late medieval art in representations of hell, particularly in the work of Flemish artists.”
―
―
“It was not beauty at all that she wanted, or depressed though she was, she would have bought a ticket to somewhere or other upon the Metropolitan railway and gone out to see the recumbent autumnal graces of the country-side. Her mind was groping after something that eluded her experience, a something that was shadowy and menacing, and yet in some way congenial; a something that lurked in waste places, that was hinted at by the sound of water gurgling through deep channels and by the voices of birds of ill-omen. Loneliness, dreariness, aptness for arousing a sense of fear, a kind of ungodly hallowedness - these were the things that called her thoughts away from the comfortable fireside.”
― Lolly Willowes
― Lolly Willowes
“The wild gods live with the wild plants. Once, all of our gods were plants and animals. The allies are the ancient gods, their wisdom is the ancient substrate of our volition; they are the maternal transmitters of our vision and dreams. Anthropomorphic gods were the children of the plant gods. That is why destroying wild habitat is parricide, because the gods cannot live without their habitat, and it was the gods that made us, and gave us our culture.”
―
―
“One recurring characteristic of the traditional British magical practitioner, whether they be labelled 'black witch', 'white witch', 'conjuror', 'cunning man', or 'wise woman' etc. is the presence of a familiar spirit; who it seems was a primary source of the practitioners occult power and magical knowledge.”
― Silent as the Trees: Devonshire Witchcraft, Folklore & Magic
― Silent as the Trees: Devonshire Witchcraft, Folklore & Magic
Nightshade’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Nightshade’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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