Free grimoire pages: churchyard rules, signs, and the old rules of familiars
People ask me where to begin. Begin with the rules. Every old craft had them, and most were never written down. They were said once, at a gate or across a kitchen table, and you were expected to remember them.
So here are four pages of them, written down. They are free. Print them, keep them in your book, give one to someone who needs it. There is nothing to sign up for.
The rules of the churchyard
Ten rules for walking among the dead, from greeting the gate to washing your hands when you come home. The one people remember is the sixth: if you hear your name, do not answer.
Download the rules of the churchyard (PDF)
Download the cover (JPG)
Signs something came home with you
Twelve signs to watch for in the week after a churchyard, a funeral, or a house where someone has died. Some are in the house, some are in the night, and some are in you. One sign is weather. Two in the same week is a guest.
Download signs something came home with you (PDF)
Download the cover (JPG)
The old rules of keeping a familiar
Eight rules the women of my line kept, from the first spoonful in the morning to the crossroads at the end. Not every witch keeps a familiar. Those who do keep it by these.
Download the old rules of keeping a familiar (PDF)
Download the cover (JPG)
Familiar or house spirit?
The old North knew two kinds of spirit in a home: the nisse who belongs to the farm, and the familiar who belongs to you. This page sets them side by side, with the old way of telling a passing thing from a returning one. If you want the stories behind it, read three spirits that stayed.
Download familiar or house spirit (PDF)
Download the cover (JPG)
All four in one file
Each page is A4 and prints well on ordinary paper. They look best on something heavier, in cream, if you have it. The covers can be printed too, to go in front of each page in your book.
These pages give you the rules. What my line does once it is through the gate, and how a familiar is called and kept, is written down elsewhere. That is kept for those who come further in.
~Hazel
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