Blog of the 9 Mysteries

  The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi October 4th belongs to St. Francis of Assisi — one of the most beloved figures in Christian history, and a saint whose spirit reaches well beyond the Catholic Church. If you've ever seen a garden statue of a gentle man surrounded by birds, that's him. A Little About Francis Francis was born in the late 12th century in Assisi, Italy, into a wealthy merchant family. He walked away from that comfortable life to live in poverty, founding the Order of Friars Minor for men, the Order of St. Clare for women, and a third order for people who wanted to live his values without leaving ordinary life behind. He spent his days caring for the poor and ministering to lepers at a time when most people wouldn't go near them. He's remembered just as much for his tenderness toward animals and the natural world — he preached to birds, famously tamed a wolf that had been terrorizing a town, and referred to the sun, the moon, and even death itself as his ...

  The Feast of the Guardian Angels October 2nd is the Feast of the Guardian Angels — a quieter, gentler feast than Michaelmas just three days before it, but a meaningful one in its own right. The belief itself is old. As far back as the 4th century, St. Basil the Great taught that every person has a guardian angel walking with them through life, protecting and guiding them. The devotion grew steadily over the centuries until the Church gave it a fixed place on the calendar, and by the 1600s and 1700s, popes were actively encouraging the faithful to lean on their guardian angels often, not just on this one day. The idea at the center of it is simple and comforting: you were given a companion at the very start of your life, one who has been with you the whole way, and who will stay with you until the end of it. Not a stranger you have to introduce yourself to. Someone who already knows you. A traditional prayer, nearly a thousand years old: Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His...

  Michaelmas: A Day for the Angels September 29th is Michaelmas — the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. It's one of the oldest angel feasts there is, actually built on top of even older Autumn Equinox celebrations. For centuries it marked a turning point in the year: rents came due, harvests wrapped up, and in England a roast goose on the table was considered good luck for the whole year ahead. ("If you don't baste the goose on Michaelmas Day, you will want money all year," as the old Norfolk saying goes.) Underneath the folklore, though, Michaelmas has always really been about the angels — Michael especially, along with Raphael and Gabriel. So this feels like the right day to get reacquainted with all three. A quick reminder before we do: angels aren't former humans the way most saints are. They're their own kind of being — pure spirit, intelligent, immortal, and entirely devoted to serving as messengers between us and the divine. And they want to be calle...

  Harvest Moon & the Marassa: A Season of Fullness This year, the sky and the calendar line up in a way worth pausing for. The full Harvest Moon rises on September 26th — the moon that farmers once depended on for extra light to bring in the last of the crops before frost. That same day is also the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, who in our tradition are the Catholic counterparts of the Marassa: the Divine Twins. It's a fitting overlap. The Harvest Moon is about what's ripened, what's been gathered in, what there's finally enough of. And the Marassa are, in their own way, about fullness too — just a different kind. A little about the Marassa The Marassa are old — some say older than any other lwa in the pantheon. They're twins, but there are three of them. They're spoken of as male and female, and both, and neither, all at once. In Vodou teaching, this isn't a puzzle to solve so much as a truth to sit with: that one thing, doubled, often becomes somet...

  You Didn't Miss Mabon: The Harvest Is Still Happening by Mambo Samantha Corfield If you looked at the calendar, realized the Autumn Equinox has already passed, and thought, “Well, I missed Mabon,” I have good news for you. No, you didn’t. While many people celebrate Mabon on or very near the Autumn Equinox, in some circles the celebration extends from September 21 through September 29. And really, when you think about what Mabon represents, that makes perfect sense. The harvest was never a one-day event. Our ancestors did not walk outside on the morning of the equinox, harvest everything before dinner, have a feast, and call it done.  Harvesting is work! Harvesting took time. Crops ripened at different rates. Food had to be gathered, preserved, stored, shared, and prepared for the months ahead. The harvest was a process, and our celebration of it can be a process, too. Mabon is often called the second harvest on the Wheel of the Year. It is a time of gratitude, balance, abun...

 Greetings spellmaker readers!! The Autumn Equinox has arrived, and shortly thereafter, on September 26th, we will experience the wonderment and splendor that is the Harvest Moon. 🌚 Celebrated in Chinese culture with festivities and the serving of "mooncakes", immortalized in songs, such as the lyrical "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young, and cited in poetry and folklore, the Harvest Moon illuminates the night with a bright pumpkin glow. To me, it always seems the Earth is welcoming in the fall, and throwing hints at the fantastic show she is about to give us!! The Harvest Moon is special because moonrise occurs much earlier than usual. The name is very apt, because this extra burst of illumination enabled farmers to work at bringing in the harvest just when the days began growing cooler and longer. In the northern most regions, this allows near constant light above. The Earth may indeed laugh in flowers, but with the Harvest Moon, she installs gratitude for our sustenanc...

  The Equinox: A Moment of Balance On September 22nd, day and night settle into perfect balance before the year begins its slow tip toward darkness. It's a quiet turning point — not dramatic, not loud, just the world pausing for a moment before it leans into fall. It's a good day to do the same thing ourselves. Summer has a way of piling things up — plans that didn't pan out, energy we spent on things that didn't deserve it, tension we've been carrying without quite noticing. The equinox is a gentle nudge to set some of that down before the darker half of the year asks something different of us. You don't need anything elaborate to mark it. A few ideas: Take stock before you let go. Sit for a moment and think honestly about what this summer actually gave you, and what it simply used up. Both are worth acknowledging. Say thank you to what's ending. Even a season, even a stretch of hard months, deserves a little gratitude on its way out. It got you here. Rel...

  A harvest altar, for your home, from your home!  You don't need a single new purchase to build a proper harvest altar this season. Nor do you need to be of any particular path, faith or religion.  Walk out to your yard, open a few kitchen cabinets, and you'll find you already own everything worth putting on a shelf right now. This time of year hands you the whole thing for free. From the yard Autumn does most of the decorating on its own, so let it. Look for the colors already showing up outside, the deep golds, rust reds, and warm browns that only exist for a few weeks a year: A handful of leaves, the more curled and imperfect the better, in whatever mix of yellow, red, and brown you can find An acorn or a pinecone or two, still a little dusty from the ground An ear of corn, or even just a dried husk, for that classic golden harvest look A late sprig of rosemary or mint, still green enough to smell A smooth stone or piece of bark that catches your eye on the w...

Smudgie Sniffing the Mabon Candle   Mabon for Beginners: Simple Ways Anyone Can Celebrate the Autumn Equinox by Mambo Samantha Corfield You may have seen the word Mabon appearing on social media beside pictures of apples, pumpkins, candles, autumn leaves, and beautifully decorated altars and wondered, “Am I supposed to be doing something?” The answer is: only if you want to. Mabon is the name commonly used by many modern Pagans and Witches for the autumn equinox, one of the eight seasonal celebrations that make up what is often called the Wheel of the Year. In 2026, the astronomical autumn equinox occurs on September 22. Here at the House, we can think of September 21 through September 29 as our broader Mabon season, giving us time to notice and work with the change rather than limiting ourselves to one particular day. And you do not need a perfect altar, expensive supplies, a garden, a coven, or years of experience to participate. At its heart, this season is about something huma...

  Back to School, Back to Balance By now the backpacks are worn in, the routines are starting to settle, and for a lot of families, the real test of the school year is just getting underway. Maybe it's a student staring down a tougher course load. Maybe it's a parent trying to hold the whole schedule together. Maybe it's you, going back to school yourself, a little nervous about it. Whatever your version of "back to school" looks like this year, here are a few ways we like to support it. For everyday focus: our 9 Mysteries Learning and Study Charm is a small, wearable way to carry a little extra help into a hard subject. It's handmade and consecrated to support study and retention, so it's easy to tuck into a backpack, a pencil case, or a pocket and simply carry through the semester. For a quick nudge before a big moment: if there's one test, one presentation, or one rough patch that just needs a boost, the Study Hall spell is one of our 3-day budg...

 Hello spellmaker readers!! I hope that the September spirit has greeted you with peace and happiness. As we approach the second harvest festival of the Pagan year, Mabon, or in astrological terms, the Autumnal Equinox, the days grow noticeably shorter and the stillness of dark begins to take hold.  In the wheel of the year, one season always heralds the arrival of a new phase; changes take place in the natural world around us, and within us, our spirits follow suit. The autumn equinox is the precipice of the shadow half of the year, when daylight and nighttime fall in equal measure. We bid farewell, for now, to the sun drenched days of summer and celebrate the harvest, simultaneously preparing for winters inward journey. In many earth based faiths, Mabon is considered a time of balance, and the symbolism is all around. The sun enters the sign of Libra, which fittingly is represented by the scales. In this time of balance between night and day, light and dark, bright and shado...

  Weathering the Season: Protecting Your Home Through Hurricane Season If you live anywhere near the Gulf, you already know what September feels like. The air gets heavy, the news starts watching the water, and even when nothing is bearing down on you yet, there's a kind of low hum of worry that settles into a home this time of year. We believe your home deserves the same spiritual care you'd give yourself before a storm — right alongside the flashlights, the water jugs, and the plywood. A home that feels spiritually settled is easier to live in when the pressure drops, literally and otherwise. Here are a few simple ways to bring that sense of protection into your space this month: Clear the air before the weather does. A home holds onto tension — arguments, worry, restless nights — the same way it holds onto dust. Before storm season gets going, it helps to sweep that out on purpose rather than let it pile up in a corner. Set a threshold. Your front door is where the outside...

  A Room Just for You We've made something new, and we wanted you to be among the first to see it. It's called Your Casting Prayer & Meditation Room, and it's exactly what it sounds like — a quiet place you can return to before a casting begins, while the work is underway, and through the waiting period after it's complete. There's no expiration date on it. Whether your spell was cast yesterday or months ago, the door is still open. We built this because so many of you have told us the hardest part isn't the casting itself — it's the waiting. The wondering. The checking your phone one more time to see if anything's changed. We wanted a place for that feeling to land somewhere gentler than your own worried thoughts. Inside, you'll find: A prayer to Papa Legba, to open the way The St. Anthony prayer card, one of the ways we work with Papa Legba and your Heart's Desire A prayer you can adapt to any lwa you feel closest to Simple af...

Love Potion #9 Day Is Almost Here! Every year, one particularly wonderful old Spellmaker recipe gets its moment in the kitchen. September 9 is almost here, which means it is almost time for Love Potion #9. Love Potion #9 is one of those old magical recipes that is part spell, part kitchen magick, part folklore, and part Spellmaker history. Traditionally, it is prepared on the ninth day of the ninth month at the ninth hour , which means 9:00 a.m. on September 9 . This year, September 9 falls on a Wednesday. And this recipe is extremely committed to its theme. There are nine ingredients. Nine pink votive candles. Nine stirs. Nine minutes of simmering. Nine breaths over the finished potion. And finally, the names of nine goddesses associated with love are spoken over it. Apparently, once our magical ancestors chose the number nine, nobody was permitted to show restraint. 😂 I have a particular fondness for this recipe because it has been around Spellmaker for many years. W...

One of the things I love about spiritual work is that there are so many different paths and traditions available to us. Not everything has to fit neatly under the heading of witchcraft, Voodoo, or Vodou. Psalm magick has a long history and a character all its own. For generations, people have turned to the Psalms for comfort, protection, blessing, prosperity, justice, guidance, peace, and spiritual strength. Of course, many people simply pray the Psalms devotionally. But there are also longstanding traditions in which particular Psalms are used for particular spiritual purposes, sometimes along with candles, sacred names, incense, prayer, and anointing oils. That is where our Holy Spirit Psalm Oil comes in. Our Holy Spirit Psalm Oil is a one-ounce spiritual oil made with nine ingredients associated with Biblical tradition, including mustard seed, frankincense, lily of the valley, olive oil, and other ingredients traditionally connected with prayer and sacred w...

 Hello spellmaker readers. No doubt many of you have heard that at the age of 80, musician, actress, and American icon Dolly Parton has passed away. As someone who serves Erzulie Freda, it is no mistake that Dolly was always someone I admired. She was known for her over the top hairstyles and wardrobe, and celebrated every thing that makes it fun (even if it can be alot of work) to be a girl. But the thing about Dolly, is that she was a global superstar who never lost her sweetness, her love of her Tennessee homeland, or her extraordinary humanity. Dolly grew up in poverty- and yet her willingness to use her fortune to help others was one of the most beautiful things about her. She donated millions of books to children, helped fund a vaccine for covid 19, and donated money to many families who lost their homes in a devastating fire. Beneath her quirky southern charm, Dolly was a bright business woman, who channeled her love of her childhood country home into the Dollywood theme par...

  The Spirits Who Found Me Before I Found Them A reflection by Sister Bridget Corfield, House of the Nine Mysteries I was seven years old the first time I saw him. I had woken from a bad dream — the kind that sits on your chest and makes you afraid to open your eyes all the way — and in that fragile space between sleep and waking, I saw a man standing at the foot of my bed. He was wearing red. He was carrying what I can only describe as a sword. He did not speak. He did not move toward me. He simply stood there, steady and certain, and looked at me with an expression I did not have words for at seven but would now call watchful. Present. Deliberate. And then he was gone. For years — many years — I filed that memory away as part of the nightmare itself. A fragment of dream that had bled into waking before I was fully conscious. It was easier that way. It made sense that way. I was a child who had grown up in a spiritual house, yes, but even children who grow up surrounded by sp...

  What Living Inside a Spiritual House Actually Feels Like A reflection by Sister Bridget Corfield, House of the Nine Mysteries I did not know our house was different for a very long time. That is the thing about growing up inside something — it simply feels like life. The candles, the altars, the quiet acknowledgment of presences that most people cannot see and many are afraid to think about — all of it was just Tuesday to me. Just home. The moment I started to understand that we were different came gradually, the way most important realizations do. I was young, and the children around me were frightened of ghosts. Really frightened — the kind of fear that made them pull covers over their heads and sleep with lights on and dare each other to say certain names three times in front of mirrors. I watched all of that with genuine curiosity, because in our house, the spirits were not something to be afraid of. They were welcomed. They were part of the family in a very real and literal ...

  Finding the Sacred in the Ordinary: The Late Summer Garden Spring gets most of the attention when folks talk about gardens. The ground is freshly turned, the seed packets are full, and everything feels possible. By late summer, the garden has settled into what it is going to be. Some plants have grown better than expected, some have struggled, and a few never did much of anything at all. The garden is still beautiful, but it is no longer asking us to dream about what might grow. It is asking us to pay attention to what did. A late summer garden needs a different kind of care. The weeds have had plenty of time to get comfortable, the soil dries quickly in the heat, and vegetables can go from almost ready to overripe before we know it. This is when we have to keep walking through the rows, checking what needs water, what is ready to be picked, and what ought to be cleared away. The excitement of planting may be long gone, but the garden still needs our company. We cannot stay conne...

 Hello spellmaker readers!! It's finally August, and harvest season, with the observation of Lughnassadh on August 1st (if youre at all pagan coded like me) has commenced. Like many of us, fall, and especially Halloween,  is my very favorite time of year. This liminal space, somewhere between the green sunny days and long warm nights of summer, and the crisp, colorful, cozy autumn always warms my heart and makes my inner witch come to attention.  The crickets have begun their familiar song, lamenting summers end, children are preparing to return to school, and all the world has a dutiful buzz about it. This is merely a preface for the next 2 harvests, of course, the Autumn Equinox, and Samhain (and our beloved fet ghede here in our house.) But to me, with the sweet always comes the bitter. I cannot help but get a little sentimental about the end of swimming for the year (here in the northeast US, anyway), the long hours of daylight, and the easy, breezy nonchalance of sum...