Russian/Slavic Folk Magic & Witchcraft Resources?

[Tasiya]

Putting this out there for any other Russian or Slavic witches who could point me in the right direction to find resources about Russian/Slavic witchcraft beyond the well-known ones (Madame Pamita, Polish Folk Witch, "The Bathhouse at Midnight", Gentle Hearts Unite, etc), or would be keen to connect and discuss our culture's folk practices!

I was born in Russia but moved to Australia when I was very young, and unfortunately don't have any relatives back there who are/were involved in any magic practices or witchcraft so I had to pick up all my knowledge from books and other secondary sources.

I'm open to resources on ANYTHING to do with Russian/Slavic occult/witchcraft/folk magic, but really looking for information specifically on anything related to working with water (ideally the sea, but any water would be great), divination with playing cards (the Russian system), and Заговоры (zagovory).

I'm also (mostly) fluent in speaking & reading, so if there are any resources that are only available in Russian, I'd still be happy to check them out!

Thanks in advance

 

[Amadeus]

I speak poor russian and often use subtitles. On youtube there are podcasts and talks, Anastasia kasatschok Анастасия Казачок. Long talks about random spiritual subjects, some bits and pieces of information here and there which can be useful. There are quite a lot of videos, up to hour or so long. I've definitely found some things I was looking for.

Which divination system, there are actually several with the playing cards, I haven't really used the ordinary cards much for this, mostly tarot. There should be a post somewhere here in the forums, about these methods.

 

[speculumphilosophi]

I came across references to divination by water, in a text dated 2nd century A.D. Water was another reflective form of the mirror (speculum) and Mercury was the god associated with that form of prognostication. Boys were used often to stare into.water because supposedly their innocence and age gave them divine insight.
The references here to British or Slavic magic is fine by me but I also think occult science goes way back historically, so our more modern cultures inherited a lot of knowledge from ancient civilisations. For example, in Louisiana, African people brought their Voodoo religion with them, which likely evolved from the ancient cultures around Algeria, Morocco, Alexandria. By the way, in that region the Punic language was spoken, similar language to Hebrew and rich in occult knowledge.
Ultimately, whatever is interesting is fine.

Post automatically merged: Aug 18, 2026

The O.P. might like this:

These Druids, at a certain time of the year, meet within the borders of the Carnutes, whose territory is reckoned as the centre of all Gaul, and sit in conclave in a consecrated spot. Thither assemble from every side all that have disputes, and they obey the decisions and judgments of the Druids. It is believed that their rule of life was discovered in Britain and transferred thence to Gaul; and to‑day those who would study the subject more accurately journey, as a rule, to Britain to learn it.

"The Druids usually hold aloof from war, and do not pay war‑taxes with the rest; they are excused from military service and exempt from all liabilities. Tempted by these great rewards, many young men assemble of their own motion to receive their training; many are sent by parents and relatives. Report says that in the schools of the Druids they learn by heart a great number of verses, and therefore some persons remain twenty years under training. And they do not think it proper to commit these utterances to writing, although in almost all other matters, and in their public and private accounts, they make use of Greek letters. I believe that they have adopted the practice for two reasons — that they do not wish the rule to become common property, nor those who learn the rule to rely on writing and so neglect the cultivation of the memory; and, in fact, it does usually happen that the assistance of writing tends to relax the diligence of the student and the action of the memory. The cardinal doctrine which they seek to teach is that souls do not die, but after death pass from one to another; and this belief, as the fear of death is thereby cast aside, they hold to be the greatest incentive to valour. Besides this, they have many discussions as touching the stars and their movement, the size of the universe and of the earth, the order of nature, the strength and the powers of the immortal gods, and hand down their lore to the young men."

 

[Thebes]

Great Russian Incantations by Leonid Maykov (1869) is a pretty good older reference on Zagovory. I haven't found a translation of the work, but there are a few PDF copies out there which can be translated by various tools. Written by an academic, it is pretty comprehensive.

 

[Sonnenkult]

I‘m also interested in this topic but I had the same problem, it seems like there is not much about slavic magic on the english internet, perhaps searching in russian may help. But one Book looks really promising: „Flight of the Firebird: Slavic Magical Wisdom & Lore“. I haven‘t bought it yet but I will After finishing my current book.

 

[speculumphilosophi]

The Russian language site is now ya.ru which used to be yandex.ru
I confess to being a bit witchy and downloading free music via Russian sources. I think yandex or ya ru run an English language version so you should find better results there. I tried славянское колдовство for slavic magic and plenty of pages and books popped up.

 

[Caridoc Tacitus]

I knew a Russian witch a while back. She described her family's line of craft as nomadic Romani style. Romani are awesome. I knew a family that made it all the way down to Argentina in a school bus. They couldn't read or write but they were happy and great dancers and sewers.

 

[speculumphilosophi]

I had a close friendship with an ethnic Russian woman who lived in Estonia. She also taught Estonian and was bilingual. We spoke in Russian since I didn't know any Estonian and she didn't speak English. She was not a witch by any means but she was closely bonded to her cat.
Estonia is the witchcraft capital of Europe. Witchcraft is practised in Estonia and the words Nõid, loits, võlu, arbus, posija, lausuja, ennustaja, synaja, kaldun all mean witch.
The language is similar to Finish. Last time I was there around 1997, you could speak Russian.
There is apparently a witchcraft museum there but I wouldn't want to see it as I'm told there are testimonies to the persecution of witches, which was also horrific in Lithuania.
A few of my friends were part Russian, part Estonian and my best friend back then Urmas spoke perfect Russian and English.

Post automatically merged: Aug 29, 2026

This video has been out for some time. I have a very strange story to tell about my experience of witchcraft in Estonia. I never had any intention to get into witchcraft but even so it's interesting. I especially love to watch a witchcraft movie, especially "Night Of The Eagle" I thought was a great English, 1960s film.

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