Practical Magic with Blue Firth
Blue Firth is a potter, designer and a witch. She has Russian Ukrainian heritage and grew up playing stone circles in the Orkney islands. She is Casa Julfa´s residency programme curator. Founder Corinne Aivazian asked her dear friend some questions about what magical practice is to her.
It seems that Magic has been part of your life , since forever! Do you have any early memories around magical practice you’d be happy to share?
I spent many summers as a child on a island in Orkney where my fathers family are from, and was told many tales from Orkney folklore about Selkies, Finfolk and witches. Each summer I was surrounded by standing stones, burial mounds and ancient archaeology. I remember doing a project on Orkney witches when I was 11, but of course it was just storytelling then.
I also have a vivid memory of seeing the relic of a saint- a skeleton, in a candlelit orthodox church on a visit in Kyiv with my mother whilst visiting family when I was about 8, I was terrified but allured by the glimmering light, the silence and the strangeness.
These tales and experiences, mixed with the brilliant bunch of folklore and witch-related TV of the 80s and 90s brewed up my early interest in magic. If you were a kid in the UK in the late 80s, TV was a treasure trove of weird, haunted adventures which still remain some of my fondest memories, surreal spooky escapism seemed a part of education back then! Rent a Ghost, Moondial, Through the Dragons Eye, Knightmare!
I know throughout your time at the Royal College of Art and in the years that followed you were encouraged to explore being a witch as an an area of research rather than a way of being. I am wondering if there was a tipping point when you knew that being a witch was no longer something that you were prepared to hide?
…yes, this interest, that started with the supernatural and paranormal grew and became the starting point and impetus for the artwork I was making. I was obsessed with ideas of resonant history and haunted space, which fitted nicely with an academic research based practice which in turn got me into the Royal Academy Schools, something for which I am very grateful. It was just that as my interests became more potent, personal, political and intertwined with my world-view - the more disingenuous it felt to make artwork about it.
Making artworks that spoke about these things was far less important than finding my own place within it. I hope that makes sense. I didn't call myself a witch until much later, I was however referred to as a witch constantly in an affectionate way, which was both charming and problematic to me.
When I found pottery, which was after my time at the RA Schools, it felt immediately like I had found the medium through which I could communicate my thoughts and beliefs, it felt genuine and as I was making objects people could take home they could take or leave the meaning. The objects could function on more than one level.
I wanted to ask you a little bit about our collaboration, we spent so long developing the pieces and considering all the possible uses of them and now we have both finally have had a set for a little while I wanted to ask you some of the magical rituals that you have been able to use them as a tool to facilitate.
Well - now I have my own Goblet and Orb I have the right tool for the job so to speak. I use the goblet to hold water and watch the moon's reflection in it when the weather allows, or I use it to burn incense and then meditate on the smoke. The ball I actually use less for "looking" even though its surface is incredibly deep, but instead I hold it, close my eyes and roll it in my hands. Perhaps more of inner visions through the eyelids. As it is hollow it feels more like an inner world object for me, and as the goblet is open that feels more external. When they are together though as a decorative object on my shelf, they are like a little magic duo that wink at me everytime I pass them reminding me of my practice, the land where it came from and of our friendship.
That´s so beautiful, it´s also interesting because although we have never discussed it I use my orb in the a very similar way, even though I think we both imagined that initially it would be a sort of clay version of an obsidian mirror. Whilst it totally can function like that, it is so powerful as an object that it seems to suggest uses to the beholder. I wanted to finish by asking you how do you define magic for you, and how do you think people can start to build a magical practice…..and I guess what should you do if you think you’re witch?
Such an interesting question. Well I define magic as an act of connecting to the web of everything. It’s an understanding of connectivity to the self, to nature, to community. It is political and can be painful. It’s actions that allow one to be truly genuine and brilliantly unique and supports others to do the same. But magic is also a practice of the liminal and unknown. Entering into questions you don’t know the answers to.
This can all sound quite vague and will be specific to each person. So in practical ways I would suggest giving yourself some context. What do you love? Gardening? Make up? Cooking? Creating? Begin to think of these practices as potential magic acts. See if these actions can help you align to a truer sense of self. Can you heal through food? Learn about yourself through growing seedlings? Use make up as self love? These can all be spells that you can adapt the more you practice. Spells can be blowing a dandelion to the wind, burying your hands in the earth, a lullaby to a worm or catching moonlight in sleepy tea. But I think best if they are yours and made with intention.
Try following your own cycles and rhythms. Use the moon or the seasons and track how you respond. Are the times of day or year where you are bursting with energy? And times when you feel fallow and flat? Ask how this knowledge can fit with a personal magic practice? When would it be best to practice abundance magic or helaing magic?
I would also suggest reading some of the incredible texts that’s exist now on contemporary witchcraft.