Witte Wieven

 

The Witte Wieven are spirits of Dutch folklore and legend. The name itself means "Wise women," or simply "white women", as in Ladies in White, or female spirits and ghosts that gather together as a band of mist. The Witte Wieven prefer cool, damp bogs, thick woodlands, dense forests, murky swamps, lakes, marshes, fields and burial mounds. 

Described as mainly a group of nocturnal women dressed in grubby white gowns, but most of all as a trio. Associated with witches, or the disturbed spirits of violence and sinful lifestyles. Considered either vengeful or wanton in the afterlife, they're often made to roam around. These ladies in white are linked to undiscovered treasure. They can locate missing objects and money. 

Witte Wieven are said to live in holes, called Witte Wievenkuil, or just deep burrows in places like Barchem, Eefde, Bathmen and Luttenberg. It's known that to summon a witte wieven, one could go to these Witte Wievenkuil holes and throw in a cooking rod, roasting spit or any sharp object. However, this could anger the Witte Wieven.

Find articles about Witte Wieven:

Witte Wieven on Travel Diaries...

Storm Valkyrie

Swan maidens

The swan maiden is legendary woman that shapeshifts into a swan, and she's found in many cultures. Most of all are folktales that centre around a cloak made of swan feathers, that are worn by a beautiful woman. When she removes this cloak to bath in the lake, a man takes it away and then marries her. This is because she can't resume her swan form and stays a human. After she bares children, she may suffer misery by not having her cloak. Later she'll find her missing cloak, wear it and transform into a swan, then fly away. She leaves her grown children behind to miss her. In various stories, it isn't the man who hides her cloak but his mother. 

In Norse mythology, there are Valkyries associated with swans. Brynhild and Kara who wear clothes made out of swans' feathers. A hero in Germanic stories named Wayland is a blacksmith who fell in love with a swan maiden. Swan maidens appear in Celtic legends too, linked with water fairies. There is a beautiful swan maiden called Etaine who transformed and flew away from her husband. Then there is Caer, a swan princess with many swan handmaids. There is a goddess named Aine of swans. There is much and more of legends about swan maidens that I've not covered here.

A prehistoric grave of a swan maiden and her baby was dug up. About 6,000 years ago, a young mother was buried with her premature baby. It seemed that the mother died in childbirth and her infant didn't survive. They were both found together with a swan's wing. The grave is number 8 and found in Vedæk in Denmark. It's certainly clear that the bodies were tenderly treated by those who buried mother and her child. Beliefs in swans and the spirit world was important to ancient people as far back as time began. 

Storm Valkyrie

Magical windswept path

October is filled with powerful energies and magic, bubbling and sparkling as the rain falls. A recent storm arrived as the veil was lifted and that was no coincidence. This then resulted in an abundance of leaves and twigs at my doorstep. 

Big wild mushrooms sprouted overnight. A couple of fallen trees close by then blocked a lane, preventing cars using it. However it allowed plenty of time for birds and other animals to gather as much as they could for their nests. A stream broke its banks, causing a flood that turned into a new lake where families of ducks and swans all enjoy a cool Autumn swim. Various roots of trees dipped in the water!

The rough winds brought over extra seeds for the soil that went dry in the Summer, carrying seeds over to the farmlands and lawns, helping to plant new shrubs and develop into new saplings. Be thankful of the rain and wind as it gives us water and fresh air. Animals can find new homes where older trees fell from past storms.

Just like any Autumn and October, strong gusts of wind bring rain and always misery, but once again, it can also help the environment, cleaning it, sowing upon the ground, sweeping away dead leaves and dried shrubs that burned in Summer heatwaves, to wash them away up river and down into drains and tunnels. Spirits of majestic trees accept the storms that come seasonally. For their own fertile seeds will be sprayed across the soil far and wide. 

 

(All photos used on this post belong to ©Storm Valkyrie).

Storm Valkyrie 🌱🍃

The veil thinning and hunters moon

 

This is a time of Samhain, with the thinning of the veil, or to be more detailed, when energies become stronger and humans are more sensitive to the world. The full moon lies on the 28th this month and it's called "Hunter's Moon". This is near Halloween/Samhain/Alfablot and the full moon's influence will be strong. Other October moons are also called Blood Moon and Red Moon, which is symbolic of the season, the Autumn leaves and the warmth of food and hearth. Samhain is the last of the three harvest phases, and it's best to go for a walk and pick food carefully, foraging and cleansing. 

Here is a page at Farmer's Almanac about Hunter's Moon: Follow this link

It's a time you can choose to honour ancestors. You can remember them by lighting a candle, leaving red roses for them, walking through a graveyard, meditating and placing an apple under a tree. It shows your thanks for them, and that you keep them in your thoughts. You can also look at old family photos of loved ones, looking at your family tree, researching your ancestry, and carry dark coloured stones with you. Enjoy the season.

Storm Valkyrie