Friday 21 August 2020

Magical Dolls: A Poppet to Cheer You Up If You're Down


Yesterday I blogged that I'd knitted myself a small doll, or poppet, in bright colours with a happy smile, specifically to cheer me up. You can see it in the picture above.

My doll's been propped up by my computer as I work, and it has been doing what I intended. I've always found that having a few cheerful little toys around my workspace helps me feel better, and that's been even more true during the worries of a year of pandemic.

I called my doll a poppet, which is the name in traditional English magic for a figurine or effigy created as part of a spell. Many people only think of poppets as being used to stick pins in as curses, but they can just as easily be used for healing or helpful magic, like mine is.

If you want to make a doll like it, I used a pattern from the booklet Jean Greenhowe's Little Gift Dolls. You can download other Jean Greenhowe doll patterns for free on the official website: https://www.jeangreenhowe.com/patterns.html  Make sure you embroider a smiling mouth on the doll. To then enchant your creation as a poppet to cheer you up when you are down, you can do a spell. Cast a circle, then walk around it carrying your doll and say these words seven times:

By solid ground and fresh, clean air
By warming fire and water clear
By joy of spirit and all that's fair
This doll I make for comfort and cheer

There's more information about poppets in my book Pagan Portals - Poppets and Magical Dolls, viewable on Amazon and on my author page at publisher Moon Books.

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2 comments:

Jane said...

Aw, how cute your doll is, and I really like the spell. I'd love to clear all the clups out of the PC corner and turn it into an E-altar, but most of the clutter is a necessary evil.
It's funny how people often think of poppets as being just for bad voodoo, but the word poppet is from the same origin as puppet, and poupe (needs an acute accent on the e), which is simply French for doll, so they're quite harmless really.

Badwitch said...

Yes, absolutely. Poppet is a much older term than "voodoo doll", and does indeed come from the same origin as puppet. In the middle ages in England the word poppet was used for both children's toys and for effigies used in magic. In all honesty, they have probably been used a bit more often in the past for sticking pins into to harm people, but there are loads of examples of effigies being used for good luck or for healing. The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic has examples of quite a few curse poppets, but also ones used for beneficial magic. In traditional African magic, dolls were often used for fertility spells, for healing and as spirit houses.