Book of the week: High Magic’s Aid by Scire

 

Book of the week 

High Magic’s Aid

By Scire

Written by Scire aka Dr. Gerald B. Gardner 

First published: 1949 by Michael Houghton

Edition shown: First Edition of paperback version, 1993 via Pentacle Enterprises.

This week we will look at a highly recommended and important book in the subject of witchcraft and Wicca. It’s important because it was written by Dr Gerald Gardner who was a 4•=7= O.T.O. Member and father of Wicca himself. This short but essential book serves as a guide to the beliefs, structure, history and practices of the modern British witch. 

His and other works were used in the formation of Wicca and Gardnerian Witchcraft in the UK. He based the book on existing knowledge and his experiences whilst in the company of the legendary New Forest Coven of England.

At the Occult Society we are lucky to have one of the First Editions of the paperback publication from 1993 complete with Gerald’s original artwork.The book also is important to us as two of our members including Carrie Grove knew a granddaughter of one of the Nee Forest witches who remembered the Coven’ s connection to Dr Gardner.

At 76 pages and 20 chapters this crams a lot in due to the very small text but of course modern, larger text versions are now available. At times the book can be a little confusing but that’s because he was trying to compile many different beliefs and concepts into a cohesive narrative.

You can read the original hardback version on The Internet Archive 

Link to used copies of the book

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/high-magic-s-aid-book-gerald-b-gardner-9780956618207

Get Knotted: Witches Knot Spells

 Get Knotted.

The None Knot Witches Ladder 

The Nine Knot Witch’s Ladder (often simply called the “Witch’s Nine-Knot Spell”) is one of the oldest and most widespread forms of knot magic in European folk witchcraft, particularly in British, Scottish, and Appalachian traditions. It is a classic example of sympathetic magic: by tying nine knots in a cord while speaking a specific incantation, the witch “binds” or “loosens” energy toward a desired outcome—most traditionally to bind an enemy, cause impotence, control the wind, or secure love, but it can be adapted for almost any purpose.

The Traditional Rhyme

The most famous version of the incantation (recorded in the 19th century but clearly much older) is:

By knot of one, the spell’s begun.

By knot of two, it cometh true.

By knot of three, so mote it be.

By knot of four, this power I store.

By knot of five, the spell’s alive.

By knot of six, this spell I fix.

By knot of seven, events I’ll leaven.

By knot of eight, it will be fate.

By knot of nine, what’s done is mine.

Each line is spoken as its corresponding knot is tied. The knots are usually tied in a specific pattern along a cord, rope, or thread (traditionally red, black, or white depending on intent).

Knot-Tying Patterns

There are two classic ways to place the nine knots:

The “binding” order (most common for curses, protection, or containment):
Knots are tied at intervals working from the two ends inward toward the center:
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – (center) 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9
This literally “ties the target up” and is used when you want to restrict or bind something/someone.

 The “releasing” order (for love spells, healing, prosperity, or raising power):
Knots are tied from one end straight through to the other:
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9
This is thought to “draw” the desired thing toward you.

Materials Traditionally Used

•  A length of cord, yarn, embroidery thread, hair, or leather thong (about 1–3 feet long).

•  Red cord → love, passion, life force.

•  Black cord → banishing, binding, hexing.

•  White cord → blessing, healing, purification.

•  Sometimes feathers, beads, or charms are threaded between knots to strengthen intent.

Historical Examples

•  In 17th–19th century Scotland and England, accused witches were sometimes found with knotted cords hidden in their homes; prosecutors claimed these were used to “tie up” the weather or cause cattle to stop giving milk.

•  Sailors bought “wind knots” from witches: three knots in a rope. Untie the first for a breeze, the second for a strong wind, the third for a gale. (This is why you still hear the phrase “three sheets to the wind.”)

•  In the famous 1618 Pendle witch trials in Lancashire, a knotted cord was presented as evidence of malefic magic.

Modern Adaptations

Today the nine-knot spell is used for:

•  Binding an abuser or stalker (ethical practitioners add “harm none” clauses).

•  Cord-cutting rituals (tying nine knots while visualizing a toxic relationship, then burning or burying the cord).

•  Manifestation ladders (adding beads or written petitions between knots).

•  Daily 9-day spells: tie one knot each day for nine days while repeating the rhyme, then keep or bury the finished ladder.

How To Untie the Spell

If you ever need to undo a nine-knot working, you reverse the process: untie the knots in reverse order (9 down to 1) while saying the rhyme backward or a simple release statement such as “By knot of nine, this spell unbind…” This is considered essential in traditional craft to avoid backlash.

The nine-knot practice remains one of the simplest, most portable, and most powerful tools in a witch’s repertoire—requiring nothing more than a piece of string.

The Three Fold Law in Witchcraft

 What is the 

Threefold Law?

The Threefold Law (also called the Law of Threefold Return or simply the Rule of Three) is one of the most widely recognized ethical principles in modern Wicca and many forms of contemporary Paganism and Witchcraft.

In its simplest form, it states:

Whatever energy you send out into the world—whether positive or negative—returns to you multiplied by three.”

Or, in the more poetic wording commonly found in Wiccan circles:

“Ever mind the Rule of Three,

Three times what thou givest returns to thee.”

It is both a karmic law and a practical warning: your actions, thoughts, intentions, and especially your magic have consequences that come back amplified.

Origins of the Three Fold Law

The Threefold Law is not an ancient pagan belief. It is a modern creation that emerged in the mid-20th century within Gerald Gardner’s Wicca (founded in the 1940s–1950s). Gardner himself phrased it in his writings, and it was later popularised by high priestess Doreen Valiente and by Raymond Buckland in the United States.

The concept appears to be influenced by several sources:

•  Eastern ideas of karma (action and consequence)

•  The Western occult idea that energy follows thought and intent

•  A possible misreading or reinterpretation of older folklore sayings (e.g., “a curse comes home to roost” or blessings being returned “threefold” in some medieval tales)

•  Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic dictum “Do what thou wilt” tempered with responsibility

Because of this, many reconstructionist pagans, traditional witches, and practitioners of pre-Wiccan folk magic reject the Threefold Law as a modern invention that does not apply to their paths.

How the “Three” Is Usually Interpreted

Wiccans and neo-pagans typically explain the multiplication in one (or more) of these ways:

Three levels of existence
What you do affects you on the physical, mental, and spiritual planes—so the return is “three times” because it hits body, mind, and soul.

Literal energetic multiplication
The universe amplifies the energy you put out and returns it at triple strength (some say 3×, others 9×, or simply “greatly magnified”).

3Three stages of return
The energy comes back in three waves or through three different events/people.

Most practitioners treat it as a guideline rather than a precise mathematical formula.

Common Misconceptions

•  It is not a universal law of witchcraft. Traditional witches, Hoodoo practitioners, many Heathens, and chaos magicians usually do not follow it.

•  It does not mean you can never defend yourself or curse. Many Wiccans interpret “harm” narrowly (only unjustified harm triggers the law), and defensive or binding magic is often considered exempt.

•  It is not the same as the Wiccan Rede (“An it harm none, do what ye will”). The Rede is about permission; the Threefold Law is about consequence.

Criticisms of the Threefold Law

Outside of Wicca, the concept is frequently criticized:

•  It can promote victim-blaming (“you must have deserved that bad return”).

•  It discourages realistic self-defense or justice-oriented magic.

•  It contradicts observable reality—plenty of harmful people seem to prosper without obvious threefold payback.

•  Some see it as a watered-down, “fluffy” morality imposed on witchcraft to make it more socially acceptable in the 1950s–1970s.

The Threefold Law is a core ethical teaching within Wicca and Wiccan-influenced neo-paganism, functioning as both a karmic warning and a call to personal responsibility. It teaches that whatever you put out—good or ill—comes back to you amplified, usually by three. While it is treated almost as natural law by many modern witches, it is a 20th-century innovation rather than an ancient universal principle, and a large portion of the broader witchcraft community does not accept or follow it.

Your Besom Buddy: The broomstick part 1

 Your Besom Buddy

The Witch’s Broomstock

In this two part series we take a look at the Besom or witch’s broomstick. We will look at the symbolism and purpose of the Besom and why it’s so important to witches.

Part One: The Besom: The Witch’s Broom, Staff of Flight and Sacred Tool of Power

Long before the image of a black-hatted crone cackling across a full moon became Halloween kitsch, the witch’s broom – properly called a besom – was one of the most potent and multifaceted tools in European folk magic. It was never merely something to ride through the night sky (though that legend has delicious roots). The besom is a threshold guardian, a purifier, a fertility charm, a wand, a staff, and yes, sometimes a vehicle of astral flight. Its power lies in its humble materials and its liminal nature: it sweeps between worlds as easily as it sweeps a hearth.

Ancient Origins: From Hearth to Hedge

The besom predates modern witchcraft by millennia. Archaeological evidence shows that bundled birch or heather twigs tied to an ash or hazel stave were used across northern Europe as early as the Iron Age for ritual cleansing. In Anglo-Saxon and Old High German, the word besom (besma, besen) simply meant “broom,” but the materials were never random.

•  Ash staves were chosen because ash is the World Tree in Norse myth, a conduit between the nine realms.

•  Birch twigs symbolize new beginnings and purification (still used to make sauna whisks in Finland for the same reason).

•  Hazel, sacred to Mercury and the underworld, carries knowledge and poetic inspiration.

“The besom will be yours for life. It will bind to you and you will become one with it. Care for and cherish it.”CAG

The besom is very much a part of a witch’s life. It becomes part of the family and will be with you in good times and bad. It hears you and learns from you.

The importance of the besom is never important than when it is a key part in a Handfasting Ritual, when two people dedicate their lives to each other as they jump over the besom. It marks a change from single life to married life . The besom joins them together as they pursue their new lives as one.

“John and I jumped over our beloved besom as part of our Handfasting Ritual. It travelled all the way to Avebury with us and the ritual will forever be within the memory of our besom” Carrie Grove.

These were the same woods used for wands and staffs. The besom, then, is a wand writ large: a great sweeping wand that clears both physical and metaphysical space.

In agrarian communities, jumping the besom was part of handfasting (marriage) ceremonies: the couple leapt over the broom for luck and fertility, a custom carried by enslaved Africans to the American South, where “jumping the broom” became a wedding ritual when legal marriage was denied. The besom thus binds love, home, and the ancestors.

Let your besom tell people if they welcome or not

Your besom can be a very visible symbol to whether you want someone around you or in your home;

Bristles down: welcome friend!

Bristles down:! Please go away

The Cleansing Power: “Sweep Away Evil”

“Sweep, sweep, sweep the ground,

All evil spirits must be bound.

With this besom, old and wise,

I banish all that creeps and flies.”

Every traditional witch knows never to use an ordinary household broom for magic. The besom is consecrated separately. Before any circle is cast, the witch walks the perimeter deosil (sunwise) with the besom held low, brushing the ground to remove stagnant energy and malevolent spirits. The bristles never truly touch the earth in high ritual; the sweeping is energetic, symbolic, psychic.

Old lore claims that laying a besom across a doorway prevents anything harmful from crossing the threshold, because spirits cannot step over running water or fresh broom bristles – both are moving, “alive” things.

The Legend of Flight

So how did the humble broom become a flying steed?

The answer is deliciously psychoactive.

In medieval and early modern Europe, many of the ointments used by cunning folk and witches contained powerful tropane alkaloids: henbane, belladonna, mandrake, and datura. These “witching herbs” were boiled in lard or oil with soot and sometimes baby fat (yes, the grimoires are that disturbing) into a substance called unguentum sabbati – the Sabbath ointment.

Because the skin of the vulva and armpits is thin and highly absorbent, women applied the ointment with a wooden staff or forked stick, essentially rubbing it into mucous membranes for fastest effect. An alternative method was to straddle the greased staff (your broom handle) and “ride” it, allowing the alkaloids to enter the bloodstream.

The result? Vivid hallucinations of flight, wild rides through the sky, meetings with the Devil or the Fairy Queen, and ecstatic dancing at the Sabbat. When inquisitors later asked how witches flew to the Sabbat, the accused – still half-remembering their visions – pointed to the household besom. The clergy, already terrified of women’s secret herbal knowledge, seized on the image. Thus the flying witch was born.

The broom became the perfect symbol: a common household object that concealed extraordinary power, just like the wise woman herself.

The Besom in Modern Witchcraft

Today’s witches still craft their own besoms at significant times – often at Beltane or Samhain – binding the twigs with red thread (for protection) or willow withes (for moon magic). Many decorate the handle with runes, ogham, or ribbons in the colors of their intent.

To make your own:

1.  Cut a straight ash, hazel, or rowan stave roughly your height.

2.  Gather birch twigs for cleansing, heather for luck, or willow for lunar work.

3.  Bind the bristles tightly with natural cord while speaking your intention.

4.  Consecrate under a full moon with smoke (mugwort is traditional) and salted water.

5.  Never let it touch the ground once consecrated, except when actively cleansing.

Hang it bristle-up by the front door to protect the house, or keep it beside the altar as your primary tool of purification and power.

Looking after your besom 

Keep it dry and clean . Cleanse it regularly by smudging. Remember to connect with your besom often to increase your bond. Decorating beams for special occasions is very common too. Don’t let anyone else use your besom . It’s for you only!

The besom reminds us that the greatest magic is often hidden in plain sight. It is the tool of the hedgewitch, the cunning woman, the wild grandmother who knows how to sweep a floor and, with the same motion, sweep away sorrow, illness, and the restless dead.

So the next time you see a witch on her broom beneath the moon, remember: she is not merely flying.

She is cleansing the sky itself.