Casual Temple

TRANSCRIPT

(Transcript is auto-generated; errors are unintentional.)

00:00:04 Merrily

Welcome to the Casual Temple podcast episode 28, and I'm your host, Merrily Duffy at the Casual Temple. Our mission is to discover our connection to the unseen world of spirit, and how that empowers us to know our true selves. But before we start a little favor, please review and rate the casual temple on your favorite podcast.

00:00:20 Merrily

Platform today, I'm so excited to have Nik also known as 𝔇𝔢 𝔖𝔭𝔬𝔢𝔨𝔢𝔫𝔨𝔶𝔨𝔢𝔯 on the show today. Nik is a Silesian German folk magic practitioner who has also been on an incredible journey of self discovery, exploring folklore, witchcraft and connecting.

00:00:33 Merrily

Spirits raised in Northwest Germany. Nik's childhood was steeped in their grandparents stories and the rich local environment. Despite growing up queer in a conservative setting, these influences led Nik to the online witchcraft community, where they realized that their family practices were essentially folk magic. We also learned about next research into the displacement of the Silesian people and its impact on the community.

00:00:54 Merrily

And and their descendants. I learned so much from Nik, so definitely stay tuned to the casual tempo where learning is fun and mental.

00:01:01 Merrily

Welcome to the Casual Temple. This week we're joined by Nik, also known as 𝔇𝔢 𝔖𝔭𝔬𝔢𝔨𝔢𝔫𝔨𝔶𝔨𝔢𝔯, who is a Silesian German folk magic practitioner living in Northwest Germany that has a Patreon which mostly focuses on their craft. The folklore of their culture.

00:01:21 Merrily

And just general wittiness.

00:01:23 Merrily

Ishutin Kika also has a wonderful YouTube channel which I recommend highly highly checking out. Nik, welcome to the casual tempo.

00:01:33 Merrily

Thank you for.

00:01:33 Merrily

Having me? Yeah. Thank you. Ohh gosh. Well we're you know, we're going to kind of jump right in as we usually do. So can we we start with sort of learning more about you and where you're coming from and how you know?

00:01:34 Nik

Yeah.

00:01:47 Merrily

How you are.

00:01:48 Merrily

Where you're at. So was there a moments or moments in your life that kind of?

00:01:52 Merrily

Led you to where you are.

00:01:53 Merrily

You'd like to tell us about?

00:01:55 Nik

Yeah. So there kind of have been multiple smaller instances that kind of nudged me into the direction that I'm going now. So there wasn't this like one big huge event that kind of changed everything.

00:02:08 Nik

I would say that what informs my perspective, both both as a practitioner but also as like just a person, as the ties to my culture and the way that I was raised in it. So for everyone that doesn't know me, I.

00:02:25 Nik

I am from northwestern Germany, born and raised and live here, so I'm very like I've got deep roots here in this place.

00:02:34 Nik

And I was like as a child, very influenced by the stories and fulfil that my grandparents told me. And they often brought me along trips throughout the countryside around my village where I live and showed me different places in nature and kind of explore the full core that was connected to them and.

00:02:55 Nik

Also taught me a bit about local.

00:02:58 Nik

Apps that go there and stuff like that.

00:03:00 Nik

And.

00:03:01 Nik

That quickly spiraled into me having a fascination with, like, folklore and full history, and all of that at a very young age. However, I did not really categorize it as cultural. At that point. It was just like fancy things that people around me told me, so that only became a later revelation when I really delved into witchcraft.

00:03:23 Nik

Actually, that the things that I was taught were true magic essentially.

00:03:29 Nik

And.

00:03:30 Nik

This.

00:03:32 Nik

You can kind of already see how these few instances kind of shaped my path in a way. So we start with getting taught these folk practices, but not realizing that this is actually folk magic and then better figuring out that witchcraft even is a thing and that there's this whole entire community.

00:03:44 Merrily

Hmm.

00:03:52 Nik

There online that talks about this kind of stuff and then making the connection later on between the things that I was taught growing up and witchcraft and this kind of led me to really throwing myself into the study of my local folk.

00:04:08 Nik

Magic.

00:04:09 Nik

And another big thing here for me is that.

00:04:14 Nik

And I feel like a lot of people who.

00:04:15 Nik

Grew up. You really will relate to this, that.

00:04:18 Nik

The countryside is not the most accepting place.

00:04:22 Nik

Let's say there.

00:04:22 Merrily

Hmm.

00:04:22 Nik

Are oftentimes a lot of more conservative people around here and is growing up where in this kind of environment.

00:04:30 Nik

So if it's marked sort of and that kind.

00:04:33 Merrily

Yeah.

00:04:33 Nik

Of.

00:04:34 Nik

Then mature on also in front the way that I kind of perceive the world and the things that I care about. And I can't even imagine what my life would have been like if I like, wasn't queer, or did not grow up in this environment because these things.

00:04:51 Nik

Truly shape like essentially the core of who I am as.

00:04:55 Nik

A person, right?

00:04:58 Merrily

Yeah, that's why. Yeah, that's a lot to go through. I definitely will wait. I currently live in Seattle, but my parents had moved us out north of Seattle, closer to Canada, actually in Washington state. And it was very rural and it was a big adjustment because.

00:05:15 Merrily

We came from the city.

00:05:18 Merrily

And you're just like, wow, people have a different way of thinking around here that I don't know if I'm down with, but that's OK.

00:05:27 Merrily

So thanks for sharing that. Oh, and I love that you.

00:05:30 Merrily

Starting with sharing how you know it kind of came with your grandparents telling you stories.

00:05:36 Merrily

And I mean like maybe I'm assuming kind of like folk channel slash fairy tale kind.

00:05:41 Merrily

Of things cool.

00:05:41 Nik

Yeah.

00:05:43 Merrily

And I know one of your videos, you kind of talked about that with sort of people maybe who are trying like maybe let's say German, American, American, German that has been kind of removed a few generations.

00:05:57 Merrily

In Germany, like one of the places to start, maybe is even just, I think you said like Grimms fairy tales or the fairy tales. Even if I recall.

00:06:07 Merrily

So I'm saying next, I think most people probably are familiar with Grimm's fairy tales. Is there one of the story? Not necessarily just the Grimms fairy tales, but that what your grandparents did tell you that, like, really resonated with you or a specific?

00:06:25 Merrily

Taylor story.

00:06:26 Nik

Yeah. So there are basically too many to count.

00:06:29 Merrily

OK, right.

00:06:29 Nik

But I really.

00:06:30 Nik

I really want to highlight the distinction between fairy tales and folklore because I was probably more attracted to folklore. So when you go through the Grimms fairy tales, for example, there are more or less.

00:06:36 Merrily

Oh yes.

00:06:38 Merrily

Hmm.

00:06:44 Nik

Unspecific, so they take place Once Upon a time, in a land far, far away, so they are removed, sort of from local culture, whereas fairy tale where there's folklore often has a very specific time and place that it is attached to. And this was.

00:07:04 Nik

But mostly kind of inspired me as a.

00:07:07 Nik

Child because I could.

00:07:08 Nik

Go to the.

00:07:09 Nik

Places that the full God talks about and there was a sort.

00:07:12 Nik

Relevance to these tales that I was told and I could they were more tangible to me. Let's just say because fairy tales are more like stories generally about the human condition, about reality, about how to go about life. Folklore is made by a specific community in a specific place for that.

00:07:32 Nik

Community and the teachings and knowledge passed down in the folklore is also very specific to that community and this is what really.

00:07:44 Nik

Influenced me most. I feel like because that is another aspect that led me to developing these strong groups in this place and just to give you an example, we have a lot of blocks around here and a lot of wetlands because northwestern Germany is.

00:08:05 Nik

Generally, constantly getting hit with like the wet air from the North Sea, so it's always cold, always wet. Lots of rain, overcast skies. Kind of like how I imagined Seattle to be up towards. Yes and.

00:08:09 Nik

Hmm.

00:08:19 Nik

Because of this climate, and because of the conditions of our soil, there are a lot of underground water deposits all around in specific areas and sometimes these can break in and swallow up in ground that is above. So if you build your house in these.

00:08:33 Nik

Areas there's a chance.

00:08:35 Nik

That it might one day just randomly get swallowed up.

00:08:37 Nik

The Earth and our folklore here kind of incorporates this theme. That specific places are kind of like cursed with the wrath of God or something similar like that.

00:08:50 Nik

So this really this natural disaster prone area has been kind of mythologized over time and the knowledge that specific areas are dangerous to build your.

00:09:01 Nik

House on are.

00:09:03 Nik

Incorporated into folklore and then passed on throughout the generation so that this information is being remembered and.

00:09:09 Nik

This.

00:09:10 Nik

It's just one example of how I kind.

00:09:14 Nik

Of.

00:09:15 Nik

Experienced the bookstore here and AM.

00:09:19 Nik

Constantly kind of blown away by the amount of intricate knowledge that exists within it.

00:09:24 Merrily

Yeah. Wow. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for explaining the difference between the two of like, fairy tale and folklore and what was captured in probably Grimm's fairy tales and.

00:09:35 Merrily

And how it relates to you, that's really cool. And now I'm thinking.

00:09:38 Merrily

About.

00:09:38 Merrily

It not to get into like a weird, but there have been landslides here in Washington state and probably for the most part people not even considering, even though it seems kind of logical that because of all the rain and.

00:09:53 Merrily

Melting snow that we get that that would happen a lot, but it seems like, you know, people are very.

00:09:58 Merrily

Surprised.

00:09:59 Merrily

And that, you know, and then and it's unfortunate because then, you know, people are in the in the path of of where that's going to happen. But because we haven't, you know, settled this area or been in this area very long, we don't know those tails.

00:10:14 Merrily

Kind of like what you're talking about of like, you know, this kind of happens. Maybe you need to prepare for it.

00:10:20 Merrily

So it's really interesting. Wow.

00:10:23 Nik

Yeah, I bet there are indigenous people.

00:10:25 Nik

In the area where you.

00:10:26 Nik

Would have like stories and knowledge about these things.

00:10:30 Merrily

100% Yes, probably mostly why they're like we want to have our places in certain areas and not be shunted into the area you choose. Yeah, that's very cool.

00:10:43 Merrily

So would you?

00:10:44 Merrily

Say that I mean it. Did you?

00:10:45 Merrily

Kind of did.

00:10:46 Merrily

Layer that into how sort of that upbringing helped you see the current world that you're in? How would you say that experience kind of affected you going forward as a child and then you know, on to becoming an adult?

00:11:03 Merrily

Of having the.

00:11:05 Merrily

Tails happen and you're like, oh, this seems like it's.

00:11:07 Merrily

Magic. You know where did.

00:11:09 Merrily

That all kind of fold into.

00:11:10 Nik

Yeah.

00:11:11 Nik

Oh well, for a long time I.

00:11:14 Nik

Umm.

00:11:16 Nik

Did not like. Not not push it away but didn't pay any mind to it, right? Really.

00:11:23 Nik

It only was later when I actually got introduced to the online witchcraft community that I started delving deeper into that.

00:11:33 Nik

I kind of.

00:11:35 Nik

Found my joy in research again and because of that now I am pursuing like academic degrees at university that kind of have to do with that. So for example I study both it's called.

00:11:49 Nik

Cultural and social anthropology, and then in my second.

00:11:54 Merrily

Like.

00:11:55 Nik

Field of study. I studied central European archaeology.

00:12:00 Nik

And these are two things which are very much connected to my upbringing, which is very like about land connectedness and really taking a look at how cultures over time interacted with the land.

00:12:13 Nik

And.

00:12:16 Nik

And one day I hope to actually be able to pursue a career in this field, of course. And even via like, online, personal sort of or the content that I share online is also about this. So I would say that.

00:12:30 Nik

The ways in which the knowledge of folklore and the interaction with culture here have shaped me are really in every aspect of my adult life now.

00:12:46 Merrily

Yeah, for sure. That's really cool that you were. You were able to find sort of an area of study and like just regular academic study that would relates to your very strong interest in this area. So that's really cool. I'm so glad that you found that for yourself.

00:13:03 Merrily

What would you say?

00:13:04 Merrily

Were some, you know you talked about?

00:13:06 Merrily

Kind of getting into the witchcraft community.

00:13:09 Merrily

But what were some favorite? Uh, well, actually, sorry. Let me back up, actually.

00:13:15 Merrily

Did you have?

00:13:16 Merrily

Any support or guidance with your experience like sound like you had? Maybe your family was a little bit supportive, maybe not in?

00:13:23 Merrily

The witchy stuff. But I don't know.

00:13:26 Nik

Yeah. So I guess my.

00:13:30 Nik

Really. Well, it depends. Some people in my family are very.

00:13:35 Nik

Much pro this stuff.

00:13:37 Nik

And are very.

00:13:38 Nik

Much interacting with the witchcraft sphere and some ways other parts of my family are just like retelling the folklore and some.

00:13:49 Nik

Parts of my family don't want.

00:13:50 Nik

Anything to do with it and.

00:13:53 Nik

Generally, they just don't really care about what I do, so at least it's not done that criticizing everything that I do. So I guess that's something very good, but in ways of support.

00:14:03 Merrily

Right.

00:14:05 Merrily

Yeah.

00:14:13 Nik

It's it's kind of a tough one because it depends on how you define support. Like my grandparents still teach me some of these practices, so that's support in a kind of way, but they.

00:14:26 Nik

Don't.

00:14:26 Nik

Do it under the guise of passing these ancient witchy tradition on to you. Now they just do it because.

00:14:32 Merrily

Right, yeah.

00:14:34 Nik

I feel like it or I.

00:14:35 Nik

Asked.

00:14:38 Nik

Yeah. And definitely going back to the stuff that I was saying, the other aspect that shaped me growing up queer here, I did have support in the form of friends in that respect and that also kind of.

00:14:54 Nik

Like shaped me.

00:14:56 Nik

In the way that I realized that.

00:14:59 Nik

My immediate.

00:15:00 Nik

Relatives weren't necessarily always the people that I could or should look for and support, but that I could also rely on other people outside of my family who.

00:15:06 Merrily

Yeah.

00:15:11 Nik

Would be there for me.

00:15:12 Merrily

Yeah.

00:15:14 Nik

Oh yeah, that's.

00:15:15 Merrily

That's a. That's a really good point, because I'm making. What are you talking about? That's making me think of some of the friends I had in your high school or outside of high school. Young adult growing up and yeah, a lot of times it's, you know, people from the queer, gay, lesbian communities are always.

00:15:34 Merrily

Very much.

00:15:35 Merrily

Relying on their friends, right because their parents weren't getting it yet. So. So that's cool. Yeah, that makes sense. That you would have the support of your friends. And then at least, you know, with your family, they're not kind of getting on you about the witchy stuff. So I think that's the.

00:15:57 Merrily

Ohh man ohm. So what were some of your?

00:16:01 Merrily

Did you have any favorite books that you're reading?

00:16:04 Merrily

Kind of along those lines that you.

00:16:06 Merrily

Yeah, I'm sure.

00:16:06 Nik

You do. I have prepared for this.

00:16:08 Nik

I bet you did.

00:16:11 Nik

So.

00:16:14 Nik

Are lots of these books are very, very specific about my path, so they might not be applicable to most people. So one thing that really shared to me was.

00:16:29 Nik

This book, which I mean the German title is Die schönsten deutschen Volks- und Heldensagen, which in English would be like.

00:16:36 Nik

The most beautiful German folk tales and tales of heroes. Something along those lines. And this book is actually quite old. It's, I think from the 70s lot about and it contains the the Nibelung Saga, which is a.

00:16:56 Nik

How to expect an ancient medieval epic? Sort of.

00:17:00 Nik

And if you.

00:17:01 Nik

Look at the Norse Eddas, for example, parts of the Nibelung saga are also represented in there because it goes that.

00:17:08 Nik

Way back put that far back and.

00:17:12 Nik

That also means that it was likely told in some version during the Pagan times in Germany as well, and.

00:17:20 Nik

This is just.

00:17:21 Nik

I feel like.

00:17:23 Nik

And almost essential read if you're interested in anything to do with Germanic paganism or German folk magic, because there are a lot of mythological themes which pop up in these stories that are relevant, in my opinion.

00:17:36 Nik

And I was so lucky that this book kind of compiles all of these.

00:17:40 Nik

Stories into one.

00:17:41 Nik

I don't think they produce this anymore, but well.

00:17:45 Merrily

That's cool. You have it though.

00:17:47 Nik

And.

00:17:48 Nik

Another book which is most definitely out of print by now is something that is called Volkskunde im Tecklenburger Land which the Tecklenburger Land is like a micro region within northwestern Germany that is kind of sort of in my area.

00:18:07 Nik

And this book was made in the 1960s.

00:18:11 Nik

Basically compiles a lot of folk customs and folk stories from my era, and this is sort of my Holy Grail in a way, because this talks about everything culture wise that I'm interested in how traditional crafts work, how traditional stories are told, and what wedding practices traditionally look like in my region.

00:18:32 Nik

What did wedding gowns look like as one of their worldwide by?

00:18:35 Nik

The way and.

00:18:38 Nik

This is just.

00:18:38 Nik

A treasure trove of information I feel like.

00:18:42 Nik

Now we get also into stuff like.

00:18:46 Nik

Germania by Tacitus, which is like a which.

00:18:50 Nik

Is also available in.

00:18:51 Nik

English for everyone interested. This is basically a.

00:18:56 Nik

A book written by a Roman historian who interacted with.

00:19:01 Nik

Or not directly interacted with, but interacted with people who interacted with the Germanic tribes around like the 1st century sea.

00:19:09 Nik

Believe.

00:19:10 Nik

And this is just a very interesting read. If you want to know more about the traumatic packets around that time specifically.

00:19:19 Nik

And and because of the same reason. Also Beowulf, which is also a Pagan-esque tale which has some Christian influences but still.

00:19:31 Nik

And.

00:19:33 Nik

Now we get to stuff about.

00:19:36 Nik

Silesia, which you also mentioned in the intro that is also part of my family history, sort of. So anyone who is unaware Silesia is a region in southern Poland in the north of the Czech Republic and in the very east of Germany and.

00:19:53 Nik

Lot of German speaking peoples that were expelled after World War II and some very horrific and gruesome ways which I won't get into. But part of that history also is that Polish speaking peoples, which lived in areas which are now in modern day Ukraine and Belarus, also got.

00:20:13 Nik

Them take it from their homes and then placed into the now empty buildings and towns in Silesia which was previously inhabited by many German speaking peoples. And this book, German title In den Häusern der anderen [In the Houses of Others]. The Polish title is Poniemieckie.

00:20:31 Nik

Talks about these perspective of the new Polish arrivals in Silesia and what struggles they had and how they tried to connect to this foreign land that they suddenly found themselves on, which they didn't really have any real ties to and.

00:20:47 Nik

Painful history that comes with that. So even though this isn't comforting, witchy, it's really shapes the way in which I go about learning about my specific situation. Practice. You last spoke on here, also available in English, basically just available in English is.

00:20:48 Merrily

Yeah.

00:21:07 Nik

Next year by.

00:21:10 Nik

Who is a Danish scholar of the religion? The history of religion? Who basically.

00:21:20 Nik

Compiled a bunch of traditional folk holidays from around northern Europe and also parts of Central Europe, and he talks basically about how these seemingly overtly Christian practices still have some animist and Pagan.

00:21:39 Nik

Books and how they are observed and is seasonal cycle that helps local communities to sort of better.

00:21:48 Nik

Become a part of the seasonal cycles within the environment that they find themselves in, so.

00:21:55 Nik

I could go on and on with how many books I have, but these are just some of the highlights. I also have a couple of videos I believe on my channel where I go more into depth into my book recommendation. So anyone who's curious about that can help over there and watch them.

00:22:09 Merrily

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. It gave me like, as you're describing the books, it was giving me like a nice.

00:22:15 Merrily

Kind of through line of.

00:22:17 Merrily

Kind of where who you are and where you're at.

00:22:21 Merrily

And like, really good recommendations too. And I'm like, Oh yeah, Tacitus, I feel like that has been referenced in a lot of books I've read as well. Those Romans are always documenting their.

00:22:32 Merrily

Craft getting to other cultures.

00:22:34 Merrily

So that's pretty funny.

00:22:38 Merrily

Oh gosh, something.

00:22:40 Nik

Yeah.

00:22:41 Merrily

Yeah, there's something about the. Yeah. How you were explaining.

00:22:44 Merrily

The the or the lesson?

00:22:47 Nik

Silesian yeah.

00:22:49 Merrily

That was like, super interesting. I didn't know that that history and wow, you know, I learned something new and wow. And I can see how that would be something you would want to learn about because that sort of energy of displacement, you know, I'm sure kind of lives in like, present day in some form, you know.

00:23:08 Nik

I mean there.

00:23:09 Nik

This is just a really like perfect part of history that I actually got to study through my university, which I interviewed both family members who directly experienced this explosion and also their descendants and other people outside of my family as well, and.

00:23:22 Merrily

Wow.

00:23:27 Nik

I feel like it was really shocking to witness this sort of violent disruption between the ties of a people and the land that they're on, like me as an animus. My heart bleeds sort of.

00:23:40 Nik

And even generations down the line, this was also very apparent in my research. Even people who were born after the explosion in.

00:23:48 Nik

Their sort of.

00:23:49 Nik

New land that the people have now found themselves and still carried this sort of pain with them, and oftentimes they also experienced some form of discrimination, discrimination from the Germans.

00:23:59 Nik

Because they were sort of the.

00:24:02 Nik

Refugees and we're kind of down on.

00:24:03 Merrily

Right.

00:24:05 Merrily

Yeah.

00:24:07 Merrily

Yeah, that is definitely like a heavy subject to look into. But my goodness, yeah, I'm only relating in the fact that my dad is Irish American, you know? And while they weren't forcibly expunged from Ireland, it was a matter of, like, you know, the.

00:24:27 Merrily

To poverty and, you know, people had to leave, you know.

00:24:31 Merrily

And I definitely see that the repercussions of that in in you know our current sort of family DNA. So wow, that's so cool that you get to look into it and like, interview people and interview your family. Wow, what a.

00:24:46 Nik

Gift.

00:24:46 Nik

Actually.

00:24:48 Nik

Polish folk which, who you had on.

00:24:50 Nik

Your channel.

00:24:50 Nik

Yes, yes.

00:24:51 Nik

She actually lives in Silesia now, and I got to have this amazing talk with her on my channel about our different perspective, sort of she as someone who lives in Sweden now and me, as someone who had family there, which?

00:25:03 Nik

Got exposed and.

00:25:06 Nik

Our two perspective kind of from two pieces of this puzzle and.

00:25:10 Nik

It was really.

00:25:10 Nik

Amazing to be able to connect with her.

00:25:12 Nik

In that way.

00:25:13 Merrily

Yeah, I did see that on your channel. Yeah, I definitely everybody should check it out because I was, I was going to check it out before I ran out of time. Yeah. Joanna is amazing. So I'm glad that you were able to have such a really cool conversation. Wow. I'm so excited. But definitely look at that.

00:25:30 Merrily

OK. Well, thank you for giving us a slice picture of of of you and everything. So what would you say, you know, as a German folk magic practitioner, what is your day-to-day kind of practice or how do you like have that?

00:25:47 Merrily

In your kind of day-to-day life, how does that work for you?

00:25:52 Nik

I guess some people might imagine something very elaborate when they see like, which is online, sort of, but to be honest, my practice.

00:26:01 Nik

Is very like.

00:26:05 Nik

Mundane in a way that it weaves itself sort of through my day-to-day life without making a bunch of spectacles sort.

00:26:13 Nik

Of.

00:26:13 Nik

So one thing that I always do is at the at night for when I go to bed, I do a quick prayer to my ancestors and thank them for.

00:26:24 Nik

Much more common and protect.

00:26:25 Nik

For me to kind of keep the line of connection open to do something to connect with them, and the benefit of that is that I can do.

00:26:34 Nik

That.

00:26:35 Nik

Fairly quickly it can be just a quick little prayer and that I can like build on if I feel it necessary. So if I want to string them along.

00:26:46 Nik

For every show that I'm doing, for example, I want to do some definition with that I might light a candle and if I want to go a step further, I might give them an offering in the form of tea or something. From there, traditional cultural cuisine for example.

00:27:02 Nik

And.

00:27:03 Nik

Other than that.

00:27:04 Nik

Another thing that really gets like click overlooked in the witchcraft community. If you are a full magic practitioner, your practice also involves things which might look very mundane and not witchy to most people. So.

00:27:20 Nik

Let me grab this example sure.

00:27:23 Nik

I I actually made an Instagram post about this very recently, but this is basically a flute.

00:27:30 Nik

Made out of a Willow branch and this is called Fruit Peak in in low sax, which is a minority language in my area, so it's not German, it's distinct from German. Actually it's more closely related to English than it is to German.

00:27:46 Nik

And this tool is something that.

00:27:50 Nik

Represents sort of the first like instruments that humans in this part of the world were able to make because all you need to create this suit is.

00:27:58 Nik

Basically a Willow branch and a knife and that's.

00:28:01 Nik

It so it's very practical in the way and this tradition.

00:28:03 Merrily

MHM.

00:28:06 Nik

More or less than sort of last quote UN quote in many parts of my area. But I recently got my grandfather to teach me how to make this.

00:28:16 Nik

And.

00:28:18 Nik

This is also a part of my practice which involves like uncovering these old traditions.

00:28:23 Nik

And even though it might not be.

00:28:24 Nik

Overtly witchy. It's still.

00:28:26 Nik

So.

00:28:27 Nik

Part and connecting to the land and the seasonal cycles because you can only make these flutes in spring when the SAP is rising and they would becomes more malleable. So this automatically ties you both to the landscape because you are probably going to use a local bill and to the season because you need to pay attention when the what.

00:28:47 Nik

It's basically good for you to use. Mm-hmm.

00:28:49 Nik

Hmm.

00:28:50 Nik

And.

00:28:51 Nik

On top of that, you're engaging with an ancient ancestral tradition, which is where the ancestor worship part comes in. So taking care of these traditions and passing them on to others is also a big part of my practice, I'd say.

00:29:08 Merrily

Oh, that's cool. Yeah. I never considered that, but that's a good point. It's like you're kind of uncovering.

00:29:15 Merrily

Sort of these folk practices, but they're kind of inherent like, you know, they're kind of connected to the land and and that in the spirits of the land, I'm sure. And so that, yeah, that makes sense that it would kind of just inherently sort of be witchy in its own way.

00:29:31 Nik

Yeah. I mean a lot, a big part of it is how you engage with.

00:29:36 Nik

The tree that you're.

00:29:37 Nik

Taking the word from because you need.

00:29:39 Nik

To build a.

00:29:40 Nik

Action and here in Northern Germany we have a thing called Saxon and ancient guy called hard willows. I don't know if that's to let you know, but basically you will cut the top parts of the branches of the world off and do that over our product period of time until.

00:30:00 Nik

And there are like these naughty heads building on top of the Willow, where a bunch of smaller little branches will spring from, but they are very like.

00:30:12 Nik

What is the word?

00:30:13 Nik

They are very, very.

00:30:14 Nik

Close to each other and these branches and.

00:30:19 Nik

They are very good to.

00:30:20 Nik

Use and crafts so you can make fences out of them and you can make baskets out of them. And because these branches are so close together and valuable.

00:30:32 Nik

Wildfire often uses them to build nests in.

00:30:35 Nik

So the interaction with this tree and the changing of this tree both benefits the humans who take the wood and the wildlife who uses this and uses that as a nesting ground. And if you regularly interact with this tree, for example through making fruit Peaches.

00:30:51 Nik

And you're going to set up notice when you will need to, like, cut a few branches off again so that the top part doesn't become too heavy and like breaks apart the tree. So this is an important part of.

00:31:07 Nik

Regional animism, which?

00:31:11 Nik

Is a deer.

00:31:13 Nik

And the system of land connectedness that ensures that every.

00:31:18 Nik

Sort of creature, the.

00:31:19 Nik

Humans, the animals who use the Willow tree, the.

00:31:21 Nik

Willow Tree itself kind of thrive.

00:31:24 Nik

Hmm.

00:31:25 Nik

And this is basically what folk traditions.

00:31:27 Nik

Are all about.

00:31:28 Nik

OK.

00:31:29 Merrily

Oh, cool. What a cool example. Yeah, that that was a really good illustration of that. I've definitely seen that because around here in Seattle, we have a lot of trees. But yeah, people will have to cut them.

00:31:39 Merrily

Probably because they kind of died at the top or whatever. Exactly how you explained. And yeah, you do see kind of like little little trees coming out of the stump. So that's interesting.

00:31:51 Merrily

Yeah. And I like that you're kind of building this relationship with this tree and then all the animals that are kind of visiting, that's a really cool.

00:31:57 Merrily

Picture love that.

00:32:01 Merrily

So the next question is, we're around, I hope this makes sense, but what is your experience of the accessibility of ancestors and land spirits? And I can elaborate if that.

00:32:14 Merrily

Didn't wasn't clear.

00:32:16 Nik

Yeah. So.

00:32:17 Nik

I feel like it's going to be a bit.

00:32:18 Nik

Different for everyone but.

00:32:21 Nik

To be the ancestors and land experts are very accessible because I'm in a very fortunate position.

00:32:26 Nik

I live in a.

00:32:27 Nik

Village, which my ancestors are buried, and I also am not a colonizer on this land. So I feel like the spirits would be more open to me than there would be. For example, in North America.

00:32:41 Nik

If that makes sense.

00:32:42 Nik

Yes, and.

00:32:45 Nik

Through these hotels, again, I keep coming back to this. There are also ways described in them how to interact with the land spirit. So you sort of have a cultural guidebook of what to do with your local land spirits, how to interact with them, what not to do, what to do, what offerings to give them, etc. So that makes them.

00:33:05 Nik

Very accessible to me and in my personal experience.

00:33:09 Nik

Both ancestors and land spirits.

00:33:12 Nik

Are more kind than I imagined because.

00:33:16 Merrily

Hmm.

00:33:17 Nik

It's some folkets and especially online. These beings can often be painted as like very wrathful and very easy to anger. If you were stuck up a ritual or stuff like that and.

00:33:34 Nik

I did have a lot of anxiety surrounding that initially, but yeah, in my experience, which surprised me, they are very like, forthcoming and forgiving and they really.

00:33:48 Nik

Will reach out a guiding hand in a way so I've never been smithed by any of the beings that I work with, which is good, that have been actually very helpful. So for me personally, they are very accessible, but I guess for other people, different parts of the world and the other circumstances.

00:33:56 Merrily

Yes.

00:34:08 Nik

The same thing might not be true.

00:34:10 Nik

Right.

00:34:11 Merrily

Right. Yeah, that's a good point about sort of.

00:34:16 Merrily

Probably the reason why it was like either easy and or easy and sort of you got like a instant sort of oh, it's it's not scary. It's kind of welcoming sort of feeling from this particular experience is because of how you laid it out like your family has been there for generations. It's kind of you're very connected to the land.

00:34:36 Merrily

But I'm wondering, like if you have a suggestion like for somebody who isn't connected to the land and I know maybe that might be something, you know, you're you might not know how to answer.

00:34:48 Merrily

But especially somewhere in America, where we're full of, you know, it's like full colonizers, full people who were brought here.

00:34:56 Merrily

Like how would?

00:34:56 Merrily

You even start like you're connecting with.

00:34:59 Merrily

The land with, you know, land spirits that aren't connected to your biology or your. I don't know if that like, how would you start?

00:35:09 Nik

Yeah, I'm myself. I am not sure because I.

00:35:13 Merrily

Right.

00:35:13 Merrily

Often.

00:35:15 Nik

Have a very hard time getting into an American frame of mind.

00:35:20 Nik

Because it's sort of foreign to me and I feel like I cannot solve the American problem.

00:35:27 Nik

But I if I were to take a guess, I'd say that.

00:35:33 Nik

Approaching your First Nations would be a good start to find out whose land you're on. What are the people called? Where are you? Are the newest representatives of these people? But.

00:35:50 Nik

Folk tales, if they are willing to share.

00:35:51 Nik

Do they have?

00:35:53 Nik

Much practices do they have and kind of respectfully judge engaged with the original inhabitants of this land first, who already knew all the stuff about lands, birds there and then to go off of that. This is my broad suggestion, of course. Take this food.

00:36:09 Nik

With a mountain of salt because I am a European and I don't feel like I should be your first source to look at when trying to engage with your then.

00:36:19 Nik

Spirits.

00:36:20 Merrily

That's a good point. Yeah, I think your suggestion, though, is pretty sound. Personally, but that's just again, from my own personal experience and thinking. But yeah, yeah, definitely. And it's sort of what I've gotten to because my ancestral spirits have asked me to connect with the spirits of the land.

00:36:40 Merrily

I'm out here in Seattle and it's mainly the Duwamish, Indian Nation, Native nation here.

00:36:47 Merrily

So yeah, I have my plans of like working that all out. So that was interesting that at least your suggestion kind of lined.

00:36:54 Merrily

Up with that, but.

00:36:56 Merrily

Yeah, definitely connects with the the native peoples and lands where you're at.

00:37:02 Merrily

America, let's try let's.

00:37:04 Merrily

Try that first.

00:37:07 Merrily

OK, so and I know you explained this on a couple of your videos and you're really good at like kind of giving a nice explanation.

00:37:18 Merrily

So you can kind of categorize these things. It's helpful for me, but what would you say? And I know this is kind of hard for you specifically. The difference is between like ancestors, land, spirits and then health spirits, if there is even.

00:37:33 Nik

A difference, but yeah, if you look at folklore.

00:37:38 Nik

Things are very messy, at least in my era.

00:37:41 Nik

The thing is that there are no direct hot borders between any of these categories. I mean an ancestor isn't someone or isn't just someone who you're blood related to, right. Let's get that misconception out of the way first, like your ancestors can be people off the land.

00:38:01 Nik

There before you, even though your ancestry is from somewhere else, your ancestors could also be ancestors of practice. So if you are a writer or a Smith.

00:38:11 Nik

Or what have you.

00:38:13 Nik

People in that field who are very prevalent, for example, they could also be considered to answer.

00:38:20 Nik

So the term ancestor is a very wide.

00:38:25 Nik

Idea and.

00:38:27 Nik

Land spirits.

00:38:29 Nik

In a way.

00:38:31 Nik

Can also be ancestral spirits to you. I would say that most of them were never human. They're sort of the personifications of a place and house birds, I'd argue, are then the personifications of your home or land spirits which inhabit.

00:38:51 Nik

It's your home with you.

00:38:53 Nik

And.

00:38:55 Nik

In our folklore, it's emphasized time and time again how important it is to have a reciprocal relationship.

00:39:02 Nik

With all of these.

00:39:04 Nik

However, I also say that your ancestors, who were human, can sometimes become Lance birds or even house birds. Oftentimes you'll find stories of the first person who builds a home becoming then the health spirit after they pass, and then guiding the people who live in that home after them.

00:39:24 Nik

2 hardships.

00:39:27 Nik

Sometimes you will even have stories of like people marrying house birds or land spirits and then they will become the ancestors of the next generation, for example.

00:39:40 Nik

So these terms are.

00:39:41 Nik

All very loose in a way, but.

00:39:44 Nik

You can't kind of categorize them as sort of.

00:39:48 Nik

Blobs of color with that sort of intermingle between them, and they are on a gradient and not like these hard boxes. I hope that made sense.

00:39:56 Merrily

Right. Oh, yeah, that's beautiful. I love how you explain that. Yeah. Wow. Very cool. Yeah, it is sort of like these.

00:40:05 Merrily

These spirits, or they kind of do sort of. It sort of fits somewhere. But they. Yeah, exactly. They kind of bleed, might bleed into other things. So that's really cool.

00:40:15 Merrily

Yeah. Thank you. So I would, OK. So the next question is mainly and you again you explained things so beautifully.

00:40:23 Merrily

So I I I'm hoping you you you can explain this as well but I comfort my practice currently is a hermetic practice, right. And it's very much sort of in my practice it's balancing. So the masculine and feminine energy and that's just how you know for me it's just how my brain is organized and how it makes sense for me to do that.

00:40:44 Merrily

And I know you've explained that you approach your magic in your practice in a non gendered way. Can you help us eliminate that?

00:40:54 Merrily

For me and our audience.

00:40:54 Nik

Yeah.

00:40:55 Nik

UM if?

00:40:56 Nik

You are a a medical practitioner or a.

00:41:00 Nik

Someone who's into like ceremonial magic. These things might sound bonkers to you, but for me as a folk magic practitioner approaching magic at a non gendered way very much makes sense, because the spirits that I work with in folklore aren't gendered in the way that you might expect. They have sort of a.

00:41:22 Nik

Cluster of different properties, all of which could not be sorted neatly into one or the other category. So there are more.

00:41:32 Nik

Again on a grade.

00:41:35 Nik

Also, just for me personally, the concepts that you will often find in which is circles of the divine masculine and feminine.

00:41:43 Nik

For me it doesn't hold up under.

00:41:45 Nik

Screwed me and.

00:41:46 Nik

I might try to some.

00:41:50 Nik

What you see that aren't necessarily.

00:41:54 Nik

Like common to find individual online circles.

00:41:57 Nik

But I realized that this might be our tech.

00:42:02 Nik

For me, I just see the divine feminine, for example, as an amalgamation amalgamation.

00:42:10 Nik

As a sort of concentration of properties which are.

00:42:17 Nik

Just stereotypically 1950s housewife esque. So you have like.

00:42:23 Merrily

All the divine.

00:42:23 Nik

Feminine is receptive and passive and nurturing and kind and soft, and she doesn't go to work really. She just takes care of the children and then the back by masculine becomes the.

00:42:37 Nik

Hyper aggressive or brutish strong.

00:42:42 Nik

Figure that just overpowers everything in a lot of these.

00:42:46 Nik

Circles and that would be quickly.

00:42:49 Nik

I see it sliding into very like.

00:42:52 Nik

Right wing territory, in a way. I don't know if you are on Tiktok and have witnessed this trend, but there was this trend of embrace your divided family and on TikTok and was basically just a bunch of trapped wives trying to make like misogyny appealing to the young generation in the way that they just talked about.

00:43:09 Merrily

OK.

00:43:12 Nik

Giving your.

00:43:16 Nik

What?

00:43:16 Nik

How do you say giving your?

00:43:20 Nik

What's the English blood autonomy? That autonomy giving your autonomy up to your husband to embrace your divine feminine so you can be your true divine self? Sort of that route. And this is a very slippery slope that you start out with this.

00:43:25 Nik

Turner.

00:43:34 Nik

Got that?

00:43:38 Nik

Standard system and then you kind of think about what is the one feminine and masculine to you and you and.

00:43:45 Nik

These thought patterns that just basically replicate very harmful stereotypes that we have in society and that can very quickly lead into.

00:43:56 Nik

Very bad territory, politically wise, which is unfortunately very prevalent in our community and specific groups of people will go after these people. They will harp on that. They will use this as a gateway to open the door to these sort of powerful narratives.

00:44:15 Nik

And this is just one reason why I don't really vibe with this concept.

00:44:19 Nik

And gotcha.

00:44:21 Nik

In German foot magic, you.

00:44:22 Nik

Have like 4 hollow.

00:44:24 Nik

This both like allowed to be like sexy and dramatic and also can be an old ugly hack who eats your children with. That is basically the polar opposite of what most people think of as divine feminine. So this is basically my perspective.

00:44:37 Merrily

Yeah.

00:44:40 Merrily

Yeah. Wow, cool.

00:44:42 Merrily

Yeah, that is really well explained and I feel like in the example of, say, these people.

00:44:47 Merrily

On TikTok, which?

00:44:50 Merrily

OK, yeah. I can't go on to talk. Basically is what I'm hearing. But is that?

00:44:55 Merrily

It just seems like I don't know, like a strange way of approaching being an individual and human being. And that's unfortunate. Yeah, I like how you explained sort of in your either working with spirits and then kind of looking at your own folk tales. It doesn't really make sense because they're not really living in.

00:45:16 Merrily

Those boxes. So yeah, thank you for walking us through that. That was awesome.

00:45:22 Merrily

OK. And I know we're going to talk about your Patreon and sort of what you know you and your patreons get up to you. So can you tell us?

00:45:30 Merrily

A little bit more about that.

00:45:33 Nik

Yeah. So on my Patreon, I basically post about 3 blog posts each month, one small blog post for the last year, and then as you as you choose book as you get like 2 bigger blog posts and all of them are related to German food magic and subway and my patrons.

00:45:53 Nik

Get to vote on the topic that I cover and some of them they also.

00:45:56 Nik

Get to vote on.

00:45:58 Nik

Video topics, for example.

00:46:00 Nik

And each month, each month also leaves a patron exclusive video in which I perhaps give some hot takes which aren't as welcome on YouTube. So my ideas about how I don't think that divine favorite and vascular are a thing would radically fit into that category.

00:46:18 Nik

Other than that, depending on the tier, patrons also get like a shout out to my YouTube videos and stuff and I want to make things a bit more attractive in the future. Recently launched like A.

00:46:34 Nik

Function which you can have like chat rooms with your patrons so.

00:46:38 Merrily

Lord.

00:46:38 Nik

If.

00:46:38 Nik

There is interest in my Patreon community. Specifically, I might consider doing like.

00:46:42 Nik

A test run.

00:46:43 Nik

With that.

00:46:45 Nik

But also we're just talk and like comment sections under my post when people have like their own ideas and like comment on the work which I do, which I love because you have this like really interest.

00:46:55 Merrily

MM.

00:46:58 Nik

Thing.

00:46:59 Nik

Imagination of people who come from different backgrounds but are also somehow related to the topic of German food magic. So some people might have ancestry which is vulgar German and which is a Russian German minority. And they also have their practices.

00:47:14 Nik

Hmm.

00:47:19 Nik

And then we kind of get to talk in the comments, for example. So this is really interesting and.

00:47:25 Nik

But in if you want like regular content, for me the best way to get it is through picture because I'm so busy with your university right now, so you might not get as much.

00:47:36 Nik

Right.

00:47:40 Nik

Are as consistent.

00:47:41 Nik

Free content from you on YouTube, which I hope to change.

00:47:44 Nik

In the coming future, but for.

00:47:47 Nik

Now most of my stuff will be on Patreon.

00:47:50 Nik

Hey.

00:47:50 Merrily

Well, yeah, it sounds like you have a lot of really good offerings and you're kind of extending sort of the you're asking your your patreons like, hey, what topic should I cover? You know, it's very interactive and that's really cool and I hope somebody soon that you can have like a chat room. So I could see that being really beneficial for people to kind of share.

00:48:10 Merrily

Knowledge and everything. So that's really cool.

00:48:15 Merrily

Now so the next question, it probably is very similar to what you have on your Patreon, but maybe different. Do you have any upcoming projects or events that you would like for us to know about?

00:48:25 Nik

Oh.

00:48:27 Nik

Not, not necessarily. I mean, I always have something cooking in the background, but these things aren't like not quite ready yet to share.

00:48:37 Merrily

Hmm.

00:48:40 Nik

Again, I am very busy right now.

00:48:43 Merrily

Right.

00:48:44 Nik

Which kind of puts a hold on this kind?

00:48:47 Nik

Of hobby that I have on the.

00:48:48 Nik

Internet.

00:48:48 Merrily

Yes.

00:48:51 Nik

But.

00:48:52 Nik

And if I.

00:48:53 Nik

Could let people know one thing it will. It will probably be that the best way to keep up with me and to get these like.

00:49:01 Nik

Quote UN quote releases ahead that but but releases that I have on would be on Instagram because that's basically where I most frequently updates in my life and you.

00:49:13 Nik

Can get like.

00:49:14 Nik

A notification whenever like something important comes out.

00:49:20 Merrily

Cool. So OK, so yeah, so that's definitely probably the best. Is that the best place to reach you is maybe on Instagram and your Patreon most likely?

00:49:29 Nik

Yeah, yeah, I'll regularly check my DMS, although it's OK, sometimes it's cruise with DDMS somehow, so that I always see them a couple of days later. So if anyone right now is waiting on a message back from me, I'm so sorry. I'm really trying my best. I hope that it will fix this issue in the future.

00:49:36 Nik

Yes.

00:49:50 Merrily

Yes, I've also run into this recently. So. So yes, everybody, it's OK. Yeah, we'll just be a little patient. No worries.

00:50:00 Nik

Yeah, if you want to make sure that I see your message, there is A to you on my patron where I give, like, personal health to people who want to do research and to teleport magic because for a lot of them, especially that I aspire, it can be hard to get specific sort of information. So I with my perspective.

00:50:18 Nik

And help try to help them out. So if you have any questions about general food measure or how to reconnect or anything and I haven't responded to it, haven't seen it sort of my patron is probably the best way.

00:50:29 Nik

To get a very.

00:50:30 Nik

Quick response from me.

00:50:33 Merrily

Yeah. Thank you for that. OK, so we're definitely wrapping it up, but are there some words of wisdom that you would like to?

00:50:42 Merrily

Leave us with today.

00:50:45 Nik

Yeah. Yeah. Let me just check my notes because I pondered this question a lot. Yeah. So this goes back to what I was talking about previously.

00:50:56 Nik

With the way that.

00:50:58 Nik

Cubans kind of on separate from nature, and they actually play a role within it. If you think back on the example of the Willow trees that the humans cut to specific like to use the wood and their crafts and then the stuff that grows back is often used by animals for nesting. So this is sort of a reciprocal relationship. I think that shows.

00:51:18 Nik

What?

00:51:19 Nik

This narrative that often floats around the Internet of humans are parasites on this earth, and everything would be better without humans isn't actually true. Like we play a really important role in the ecosystem in my opinion, and we have a place here definitely.

00:51:35 Nik

I feel like this is just a misidentification of the true problem that it isn't. It isn't humans in.

00:51:42 Nik

General, I feel like.

00:51:42 Nik

The real problem is.

00:51:44 Nik

The disconnection that often results from.

00:51:48 Nik

US building.

00:51:50 Nik

Systems in society that aren't beneficial to most, perhaps just a small percentage of people. So to anyone who might have this idea, who anyone who harbors the idea that the world would be better off without humans, I'd say.

00:52:12 Nik

Respectfully, you're wrong and.

00:52:16 Nik

I really employ anyone to even if folk magic isn't your thing. Just have a light research and try to find out what your culture traditionally did to connect to the landscape that they're on and you'll.

00:52:31 Nik

Find a treasure trove of.

00:52:33 Nik

How to connect with nature or your landscape in a way which isn't as harmful as you might see today? And perhaps then you realize that we really are the issue. It's just, well, the capitalists basically.

00:52:49 Merrily

Oh wow, wonderfully said. I couldn't agree more.

00:52:53 Merrily

I love it.

00:52:54 Merrily

Well, thank you so much, Nik. I really.

00:52:56 Merrily

Enjoyed our time together?

00:52:58 Nik

Today.

00:52:58 Merrily

You too. Thank you so much. I feel like my brain grew 2 sizes after having Nik 𝔇𝔢 𝔖𝔭𝔬𝔢𝔨𝔢𝔫𝔨𝔶𝔨𝔢𝔯 on the show today. Do check out the show notes for Nik's link tree and definitely take a look at their Patreon and Instagram. Do you remember to like, follow and subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform? It really helps us grow.

00:53:18 Merrily

Thank you for listening and being an important part of the casual temple.

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EPISODE 28 - Nik, 𝔇𝔢 𝔖𝔭𝔬𝔢𝔨𝔢𝔫𝔨𝔶𝔨𝔢𝔯

AUDIO:

VIDEO:

SYNOPSIS

GUEST LINKS

HOST LINKS

BOOK NOTES

TRANSCRIPT