the october country

Corey Brickley

Corey Brickley

“She imparted to me those terrible secrets of the Black Arts which were deep in her soul.“  From Weird Tales, 1936.

Here are all the vintage images I’ve so far encountered that, for one esoteric reason or other, are categorized as “occult.”

Wondering about this post?  Wait for the dissertation (TBA). For now:  Weblog ◆ Books ◆ Videos ◆ Music ◆ Etsy

The pulp illustrations of Virgil Finlay have been a mainstay of this blog for many years (and you can enjoy more of them here), but this piece had a particularly interesting afterlife - as Tellers of Weird Tales describes... 

Faust and the Magic Mirror, from Goethe’s Faust by Willy Pogany (1908)

Jan Parker - Witchcraft and Black Magic, 1971.

“Now that’s what I call magic—seein’ all that, dealin’ with all that, and still goin’ on. It’s sittin’ up all night with some poor old man who’s leavin’ the world, taking away such pain as you can, comfortin’ their terror, seein’ ‘em safely on their way…and then cleanin’ ‘em up, layin’ ‘em out, making ‘em neat for the funeral, and helpin’ the weeping widow strip the bed and wash the sheets—which is, let me tell you, no errand for the fainthearted—and stayin’ up the next night to watch over the coffin before the funeral, and then going home and sitting down for five minutes before some shouting angry man comes bangin’ on your door ‘cuz his wife’s havin’ difficulty givin’ birth to their first child and the midwife’s at her wits’ end and then getting up and fetching your bag and going out again…We all do that, in our own way, and she does it better’n me, if I was to put my hand on my heart. That is the root and heart and soul and center of witchcraft, that is. The soul and center!”

Granny Weatherwax moodboard

Discworld characters: (4/?)

Characters’ moodboards: (54/?)