WILD HAIR
By Rachel Raymond
Over the last few millennia, hair has acquired an impressive body of lore. In cultures where the use of magick is prized, usually the more hait one has the better. In cultures where magick is considered to be evil or irrational, hair is often correspondingly shorter.

Hair was once thought to contain so much magickal power that just brushing it could cause the seas to storm and the cosmos to tremble. Highland lasses would abstain from combing their hair out at night if their brothers were at sea, lest they create a storm that drowned them. "Good" women always kept their heads covered so people would know they weren't trying to cause a hurricane. The Malleus Maleficarium, the definitive guide to the recognition and persecution of Witches, maintained that Witches could control wind, rain, hail, and lightning with their hair.
According to Tantric tradition, the universe is created and destroyed by the letting down and binding up of the hair of the great goddess Kali. Comets were once thought to be stray hairs of the Great Mother Goddess. Disheveled hair signifies raw power and is often depicted on demons and deities of the underworld. Basilisks (a cross between a rooster and a snake) were said to sprout from the discarded pubic hairs of a menstruating woman. Snakes were often used to represent the extra-powerful hair of sorceresses like Medusa.
Long hair is supposed to denote a woman of lustful wanton disposition, drive men to think impure thoughts, and to incite demons with supernatural desire. In Bavaria during the eighth century a "Lewd loosing of hair" was a heinous crime.

Ancient Egyptians and Greeks would unbraid and unbind their hair while attending a birthing woman, hoping that loosening their hair would encourage the birth goddess to allow the babe to be born more easily.

When the Egyptian god Osiris was murdered and dismembered, the goddess Isis found the pieces and reassembled them, and then brought him back to life be covering him with her long black hair. They conceived a son, the falcon god Horus. When she nursed the infant Horus she protected by sheltering him under her hair. In imitation of Isis, Egyptian widows used to put a lock of their hair in their husband's coffins in order to protect them on their journey to the underworld.
Hair as a repository of the soul was often used as a sacrificial offering in place of the person's life. It might be placed on an altar or hung from the branches of a sacred tree. Teutonic women used to sacrifice their braids to the goddess Berchta, but then substituted braided bread instead.
Berenice, the wife of Ptolemy III, sacrificed locks of her hair on Aphrodite's altar in order to protect her husband on his campaigns. The hair miraculously disappeared and was placed in the stars as the constellation Coma Berenices, Berenice's hair.

The deliberate removal of hair for spiritual purposes signifies a rejection of worldly aims and passions. Catholic priests shaved their tonsures while Catholic nuns, Orthodox Jewish wives, and Buddhists shaved their whole heads.
During the inquisition, the accused were shaved of all their hair. According to the Inquisitors, Satan's followers couldn't be harmed as long as they had their hair. The saying "To make a clean breast of it," meaning to confess, comes from this practice. Later Hitler, who modeled many of his methods on the Inquisition, also shaved his prisoners.
Hair colour also has significance. Long dark hair is credited with the powers of sorcery and seduction. Fair hair is stereotypically used to denote innocence and goodness. Red hair has always carried the connotation of strong magickal powers. In ancient Egypt, those with red hair were thought to be beloved of Set, Egyptian God of magick and death. Red-headed children were given amulets to ward Him off from taking them too early.

In Russia red hair was a sign of great magickal power. According to medieval inquisitors, red hair was a sign of the devil's favour and a sure indicator of a Witch. However, should you be on good terms with a redhead, it will bring you good luck if you run your fingers through his or her hair.
Because hair is so powerful it is said to be of the utmost importance how you dispose of it. Deliberately burning a lock of hair is supposed to inflict pain and possibly death on its original owner. I only know that it is certain to inflict a noxious odor on the person burning it. If you want somebody to come to you, boiling a lock of their hair is supposed to do the trick. If you want to prevent somebody else from doing anything with your own hair or nail trimmings then the safest thing to do is to bury them.
To exchange locks of hair was once a declaration of trust because it was believed possible to do tremendous harm to another through magick if you had some of their hair. Hence lover's exchanged locks as a way of saying, "I trust you with my life."

If you want your hair to grow back quickly, trim it on the New or waxing Moon. It is also said that cutting your own hair is unlucky, although that probably depends more on your skill with a pair of scissors than anything else.

The use of hair as a magickal tool has a long and illustrated history. However, magick has no set hairstyle. The length of hair one possesses does not denote one's level of magickal power or skill. The important thing is to use your intuitions and abilities to make the most of your own personal magick crop of wild hair.
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