Letters from the North

Dearest keeper of magic, This is the time of the year when the birthday of the bear is celebrated. Estonians still have the 13th of July in their calendar as Karhusepäev, the day of the bear. So do the ones in Finland, who follow the bear. Bear’s day can be celebrated by singing the origin of the bear spell. You can find quite a long version of the spell below. You can check my Instagram account for a shorter version. In that post I also sing the spell. But before the spell… If you want to...

View from Akka-Koli. Dearest keeper of magic, In Finland, the forest has always been the place you go to when you need something. Food. Silence. Medicine or healing. Connection to the ancestors… In the old Finnish worldview, you didn't just walk in and take. You asked. Because the forest had its own keepers, spirits, gods and mistresses who held the right to give or withhold. Tapio, the king of the forest. Mielikki, the forest goddess. Juonetar, the mother of all deer... These are the ones...

Dearest keeper of magic, The sun is at its highest and that means it is time for midsummer magic. In Finland, the celebration is today called juhannus, named after the Christian saint John the Baptist. But beneath the modern name, the old magic remains. Midsummer has been celebrated here long before the church arrived: as a feast of the sky god Ukko or as the celebration of the sun in the more ancient times. The bonfires still burn on the shores. The birch branches still stand by the door....

The bear was never called by its name. To speak it was to summon it. Instead, they used hundreds of other names: Honey-paw. The golden king of the forest. The apple of the forest. The old man. The bear was feared. Never named directly. And yet it was respected, and part of everything. The rhythm of the year. The turning of seasons. The boundary between the human world and something older and larger. Hunters found the bear by circling. They would start wide, a vast area of forest and slowly,...

Dearest keeper of magic, If you haven't found a lover (or sweetheart) by Whitsun, Finnish folk wisdom says you won't find one all summer. (Jos ei heilaa helluntaina, ei heilaa koko kesänä.) Another source says that a maiden needs to sleep next to a boy on the night before Ascension Day (Helatorstai). If not, they would not find a suitor for the rest of the year either. For that belief, I am afraid, this love spell comes a little too late. That is, if you want to find one to begin with :) As...

Dearest keeper of magic, Finnish month names are interesting, because they describe the time of the year very well. Toukokuu (May) means the month (or moon) of sowing. This is the time of Beltane, and in Finland Vappu, Helka-celebration or Touko-celebration. Everyone will be sharing you rituals including dancing and bonfires. The rituals call for fertility, manifesting abundance, love and good harvest, or keep the evil spirits away. These are also familiar in Finland. I was considering which...