What if a grimoire was never simply a book of magic?

Long before they were hidden behind glass in museums or wrapped in stories of spells and secret societies, grimoires were companions to everyday life. They gathered remedies, dreams, prayers, recipes, observations and the quiet moments their owners refused to let slip away.

Part history, part reflection, Ink, Memory & Living Magic traces the forgotten tradition of these remarkable books, from medieval manuscripts and herbals to the handwritten notebooks of ordinary people whose names have been lost to time. Along the way, it asks a gentler question: if a grimoire is simply a record of what we choose to notice, perhaps we have been writing them all along.

If you’d like to explore the history of grimoires, folklore and magical manuscripts a little further, these are some wonderful places to begin:

• Davies, O. Grimoires: A History of Magic Books (2009).
• Lecouteux, C. The Book of Grimoires (2013).
• Hutton, R. The Witch (2017).
• Wilby, E. Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits (2005).
• Wellcome Collection – https://wellcomecollection.org
• Museum of Witchcraft and Magic – https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk

Hex & Muse is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my deepest respects to their Elders past and present - and to all First Nations people, whose stories and spirits continue to shape this land.

Follow along for more folklore, magic, and mythic musings:
Instagram: @hexandmuse
Website: www.hexandmuse.com

Hex & Muse is a spellbound journal of folklore, magic, art, and the sacred feminine - told through cinematic storytelling and whispered histories.
From my altar to yours… thank you for listening.

There are stories that refuse to stay still.

Medusa has been carried through centuries as a monster, a warning, a figure placed at the edge of fear - and yet her story has never settled there.

In this episode of Hex & Muse, we return to Medusa with care, tracing her origins in ancient Greek mythology, her transformation through the writings of Ovid, and the way her image has moved through art, power, and culture across time.

We explore the meaning of her gaze; how it shifts the act of seeing itself and how her story has been reclaimed in the present, where Medusa has become a powerful symbol for survival, autonomy, and living within a body that has been changed.

This is an episode about myth, but also about what myth holds.

About who gets to tell a story.

And what happens when that story is taken back.

• Ovid - Metamorphoses, Book IV
  https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorphoses4.php
• Hesiod - Theogony (Gorgons + early myth references)
  https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Theog.+270
• Apollodorus - The Library, Book II (Perseus myth)
  https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.4
• Theoi Greek Mythology - Medusa & Gorgons
  https://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Gorgones.html
• Caravaggio - Medusa (c. 1597)
  https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/medusa
• Benvenuto Cellini - Perseus with the Head of Medusa
  https://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/perseus.html
  
  

• Marina Warner - Monuments & Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form
• Mary Beard - Women & Power: A Manifesto
• Natalie Haynes - Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths
• Jess Zimmerman -Women and Other Monsters
• Emily Wilson (trans.) - The Odyssey (for broader myth context and gender reading)

Hex & Muse is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my deepest respects to their Elders past and present - and to all First Nations people, whose stories and spirits continue to shape this land.

Follow along for more folklore, magic, and mythic musings:
Instagram: @hexandmuse
Website: www.hexandmuse.com

Hex & Muse is a spellbound journal of folklore, magic, art, and the sacred feminine - told through cinematic storytelling and whispered histories.
From my altar to yours… thank you for listening.

As the Northern Hemisphere turns toward the light, we arrive at the spring equinox - known in many pagan traditions as Ostara.

In this episode of Hex & Muse, we explore the stories, symbols, and seasonal rhythms that shape this moment. From ancient myths of return and renewal to the folklore of hares and eggs, we trace how these traditions have travelled through time - eventually forming what we now recognise as Easter.

Blending mythology, history, and modern ritual, this episode invites you to reconnect with the turning of the earth and the quiet beginnings that come with it.

Historical & Mythological Sources

• Bede - The Reckoning of Time
  (Primary reference to Eostre and early spring festivals)
• The Golden Bough - James George Frazer
  (Comparative mythology - Adonis, Attis, seasonal cycles)
• Metamorphoses - Ovid
  (Greek myths including Persephone-related traditions)

Pagan Traditions & Seasonal Practice

• The Wheel of the Year - Pauline Campanelli
• Ostara: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for the Spring Equinox - Kerri Connor

🐇 Folklore & Easter Traditions

• Stations of the Sun - Ronald Hutton
  (Origins of British seasonal customs and festivals)
• The Oxford Companion to Food - Alan Davidson
  (History of Easter foods, including hot cross buns)

Optional Modern / Accessible Sources

• The British Museum -seasonal festivals & ancient rituals
• The National Trust - Easter traditions & folklore

Witches wheel Episode

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-witchs-wheel/id1820752122?i=1000713487773

Hex & Muse is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my deepest respects to their Elders past and present - and to all First Nations people, whose stories and spirits continue to shape this land.

Follow along for more folklore, magic, and mythic musings:
Instagram: @hexandmuse
Website: www.hexandmuse.com

Hex & Muse is a spellbound journal of folklore, magic, art, and the sacred feminine - told through cinematic storytelling and whispered histories.
From my altar to yours… thank you for listening.