Kostej the Immortal is a figure in Russian fairy tales and foklore, where he appears as an antagonist, a formidable enemy. He is, in essence, an immortal lich, whose lifeforce is bound to an object that is exceedingly difficult to capture. For example, his soul is hidden in an egg, the egg is in the duck, the duck is in the hare, the hare is in the chest, the chest is buried or chained up on the far island. Kostey often takes the role of a malevolent rival father figure, who competes for the hero’s love interest, or entraps her.

The origins of his character are lost in history. Early accounts suggest that he could have been, like most black magicians in history, a warlord. His name appears as Koshey 12 th century Slavic chronicles where it refers to an official during a military campaign. Similar terms exist in Ukrainian, where Koshovoy denotes the head of the ‚Kosh‘, or a military encampment.

The tales of Kostey can be traced back to Khan Konchak, the Kuman leader who fought the then Christianized Slavs and would be, as a Pagan sorcerer, demonized in later accounts. His last recorded appearance in Russian chronicles appears during the 1203 capture of Kiev, which would place him at 100 years old. At that time, that would make him be remembered by almost six generations. Koschei’s life-protecting spell may be derived from traditional Turkic amulets – not only were these oval (egg) shaped, but they would often contain arrowheads, just like the folkloric tales speak of a needle in Koschei’s magical egg.

The most prominent feature among his magical powers are his protection against being killed, hence his name “Deathless”. He can also cast a sleep spell that can be broken only by playing an enchanted instrument. He is said to ride a three- or seven-legged horse, he may have tusks or fangs, and may possess a variety of magic objects, like cloaks and rings, that a hero is sent to obtain. When a princess rejected his offer of marriage, he turned her into a snake.

The name of this Slavic goddess can be traced to the old indoeuropean root „mare“ which is found in various expressions for “nightmare” or “death”. She is a dreadful figure of terror that is only invoked to be appeased and propitiated, especially in springtime processions which have been a feature in Slavic foklore from ancient times. During these processions, an effigy of Lady Death dressed in white robe is paraded, adorned and buried by either throwing it into water or burning in fire.

Morana is listed as Diana or Ceres in medieval chronicles, which would make her also an agricultural deity, witch connections to the moon, the realm of the night, and werewolf cults. Her more benign face might have link her to themes of fertility and healing, just as many other similar deities who rule over both death and bringing new souls into this realm. Some accounts tie her to the Twelve Nights of Darkness following the winter equinox, a period of time which was traditionally full of mischief and masquerade.

Morana appears as a pale maiden dressed in white with penetrating gaze. As the Queen of Nightmares, she is in charge of terrorizing souls and dashing out punishment, and learning through hardship. She is compassion-free and rules over natural death and cycles of lack. In Slavic lands, winter was essentially a time of great test, where only those well-prepared and favoured would survive. She can make you perfect your skills through application of Darwinian laws: Only the strongest and those who adapt well to the conditions will survive.

Vodnik (”The Water Man”) is perhaps the most famous of dark Slavic spirits. As the cranky and dangerous lord of the water realm he rules over the souls of those who had drowned. He keeps them in jars, and when he finally decides to set them free, they pop up to the surface in the form of a water bubble. To enter his realm usually meant one´s fate was sealed, and they could only return among the living if they came up with some incredible wits or a high price. Rarely, he will take a shine to some unfortunate human who stumbled into his realm and teach them mysteries.

He rules over a tremendous empire that spans riverbeds, creeks and lakes where he has palaces of crystal, and herds of all animals. In wintertime, he rests in his underworld realm, sleepy and stagnant. In spring he awakens and stirs, just as the water springs awaken, and brings fertility, and also the risk of floods. Just like his Greek counterpart Hades, Vodanoy has an insatiable lust and a thing for kidnapping women, whom he takes down to be his brides. Vodanoy´s wedding then manifests as raging elements. Just as other dark deities, he was venerated mostly in the form of appeasing sacrifice. Mill owners sacrificed him black pigs to prevent him from breaking the dams. Other sacrifices include black ducks, black chicken, cats or loaves of bread. In times of dire need, he was given a black horse dressed with honey. Vodanoy is thought to be a nighttime spirit, afraid of lightning. He appears as a cranky old man, or an attractive young fellow. He can turn into frogs, fish, snakes or any water-related animal.

The Black Eagle, or the Reichsadler (German for „Imperial Eagle“), is one of the oldest coats of arms in the world, and among the oldest national symbol used in Europe. Its original use dates back to the times of Charlemagne in the 800’s, and from then to the Roman Aquila, or the Eagle Standard. The eagle had quasi-religious importance to the Romans, far beyond being a symbol of the legion – the Roman military went to great lengths to recover it if it were lost; after the devastating Battle in the Teutoburg Forest which sealed the fate of three legions, the Romans spent decades retaliating for defeat while also attempting to recover the three lost eagles.

The black eagle as a totem animal, from shamanic lore:

“Those who have Black Eagle as totem, will find themselves in the roles of spiritual warrior or huntress archetypes and are able to go into very difficult situations and still remain peaceful and grounded, slow and steady, in order to see into areas that are very fertile, but also very shadowy. Black eagle mirrors a person who is internal and must master life internally. The life purpose of those who carry the Black Eagle Totem lies in dealing with the shadow aspect of life, always trying to balance it, never falling in the shadow pit, but bringing balance and harmony with others.”

The Warring Gods

Czernobog (Chernobog) „The Black God“ is the dark, accursed god of the night and hell, of chaos and the diabolical realm of darkness. Chernobog rules over the evil fate and stands for the principles of darkness and chaos. He is thought to reside in the West, the direction of sunset. From this direction, the night advances and with it, unseen forces. Regardless of these attributes, he was venerated by the Old Slavs with numerous sacrifices for he could alter the destiny of men, in exchange for blood sacrifice. Like many Demonic and Chtonic deities, Chernobog controls acquiring wealth and understanding of the material world. He teaches us the importance of reason, logic, and egoism. He is also the one who presides over revelation of mysteries and arcane knowledge. Like Lucifer and Prometheus, he was once punished and sought refuge in the dark realms because he broke the great Heavenly Laws and he let the sacred knowledge be spread to lower worlds. Parallel could be drawn with Azazel, who taught mankind the art of war, and the occult arts. In his animal form, Chernobog is usually seen as a wolf or a snake. He is said to take on the form of a young raven-haired man dressed in a plain black priest robe whose penetrating gaze burns and freezes you at the same time. He is associates with Morana, the goddess of death, with whom he has spawn several demons.

Belobog (Bielbog) „The White God“ is the god of heaven, light, sunshine, warmth, and peace. Often depicted as a wise old man with a staff, a long beard dressed in white robes, Belobog appears during the day and he is associated with the East, direction of sunrise. He is seen as the bringer of good luck and happiness, but in his wrathful aspect he can also be seen as the storm, and lightning.

Among many Slavic myths, there is one particularly interesting. The myth says that these two gods – Chernobog and Belobog – created the world, together and this was their “perfect” creation. However, during the creation process, Belobog and his evil counterpart, Chernobog clashed with each other, and therefore… they caused the world to look as it does.

The Slavic Worship of Belobog and Chernobog shows parallels to ancient Iranian mythology of Ahriman and Ahura Mazda. These myths are reflected in the memory of the landscape itself. Czech historian Jan Peisker found more than thirty different toponyms (names of places, local names) in the Western Slavic lands which seemed to depict an ancient dualistic sacred scene. Its structure was always the same: a running river, flanked on the west side by a rock with a name indicative of devil, fear, darkness, blackness or hell, and on the east side by a hill or a mountain peak with a name associated with Sun, heaven, light or whiteness. These ancient memories of the landscape tell the same story – on the the east side of rivers, a good, White God equivalent of Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda was worshiped, but the west side was reserved for his enemy, the Black God equivalent of Zoroastrian Ahriman.

Due to their opposing personifications, these two gods are involved in the never-ending fight and their principles clash with each other. This cyclical battle is woven into the pagan calendar, the wheel of the year where they take turns ruling over the land. At around the time of Winter Solstice, Belobog beats Chernobog and establishes the rule of Light. In his human form, Belobog can be seen as a wise old man with a beard, who has a snake crawling at his feet. This snake represents ancient wisdom, and also the defeated Chernobog, or Satan. Unlike in the later christianized version where Saint Michael Archangel throws the Satan into the bottomless pit forever, or Saint George banishes the Dragon underground, the Pagan myth is cyclical. As winter fades and daylight grows, so does grow the adversarial power of the Black Sun, and at the time of Summer Solstice, Chernobog once more assumes the throne.

This occult knowledge is supported by the findings of Serbian scholar Veselin Čajkanovic who compared the solar deity mentioned in Russian historic sources, Dazhbog, with a far darker and chthonic character of Serbian folklore of an almost identical name, Dabog. Čajkanović pointed out that solar gods in various mythologies tend to have double aspects, one benevolent and light, representing the Sun in the sky during the day, and other malevolent and chthonic, representing the Sun in the underworld during the night. Thus the two seemingly opposite gods, good and evil, light and dark, could actually be simply two different aspects of a single deity.

Russian philologists Ivanov and Toporov researched the universal Indo-European myth of the battle of a Storm god and a Dragon and its Slavic version, the fight of Perun and Veles. In many Slavic countries, there are toponyms reminiscent of the two: the name of Perun is associated with a hill or mountain peak, and the name of Veles with water or a lowland under it. The opposition between the two of them is not that of good versus evil, but rather of above versus below. Perun, being the god of thunder and sky, was worshiped in high places. On the other hand, the places reserved for Veles, the god of underworld and cattle, were in lowlands near rivers or springs. With the arrival of Christianity, the once supreme god Perun was usually identified with heavenly saints, especially those depicted with powers of lightning, such as Prophet Elijah and Saint Michael Archangel, or sometimes even with the Christian God. Veles, a god of the underworld, became associated with the Christian Devil.

Belobog is referred to in American Gods by Neil Gaiman (as “Bielebog”), where he replaces his brother Czernobog in the spring. Czernobog/Bielebog lives in a Chicago apartment with the three Zorya. Towards the end of the novel, when the ‘springtime’ following the war between the gods begins, Czernobog himself begins to lighten in personality, and at one point muses that perhaps Bielebog actually is himself.

Chernobog and Belbog, The Warring Gods

Czernobog (Chernobog) „The Black God“ is the dark, accursed god of the night and hell, of chaos and the diabolical realm of darkness. Chernobog rules over the evil fate and stands for the principles of darkness and chaos. He is thought to reside in the West, the direction of sunset. From this direction, the night advances and with it, unseen forces. Regardless of these attributes, he was venerated by the Old Slavs with numerous sacrifices for he could alter the destiny of men, in exchange for blood sacrifice. Like many Demonic and Chtonic deities, Chernobog controls acquiring wealth and understanding of the material world. He teaches us the importance of reason, logic, and egoism. He is also the one who presides over revelation of mysteries and arcane knowledge. Like Lucifer and Prometheus, he was once punished and sought refuge in the dark realms because he broke the great Heavenly Laws and he let the sacred knowledge be spread to lower worlds. Parallel could be drawn with Azazel, who taught mankind the art of war, and the occult arts. In his animal form, Chernobog is usually seen as a wolf or a snake. He is said to take on the form of a young raven-haired man dressed in a plain black priest robe whose penetrating gaze burns and freezes you at the same time. He is associates with Morana, the goddess of death, with whom he has spawn several demons.

The ages old dispute over Black and White Magic can be boiled down to one basic distinction –

𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔪𝔞𝔤𝔦𝔠𝔦𝔞𝔫𝔰 𝔡𝔬 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔬𝔩𝔡 𝔞𝔤𝔢.

They cannot. Every true Black Magician knows this, for he invites unnatural death by his actions.

Black Magic is the perversion of Natural Law, so for a Black Magician to die a natural Death would be an abomination. The modern magical Wannabe, and Play-It-Safe practitioner of modern magic, of course, doesn’t want to hear it, and thus, by opening my speech here with the most iconic definition of Black Magic I am bound to sound offensively antiquated.

Black Magic stretches the Law of Nature as far as it goes. It is an exploration of its far side, and its edges. It is a double edged sword that allows you to cut deep through the fabric of reality, and its other edge comes back to cut into your own flesh and skin. Black Magic requires Blood Sacrifice – which can be thought of in various ways. That being said, every form of magic that is based on Sacrifice should be recognized as a form of the Black Arts. Let there be no doubt about it, even though it will be sometimes passionately denied by the Practitioner who is deluded about the Nature of their own Works of Darkness, or who, for reasons of fear and vanity, doesn’t want to be associated with that label. The dilettante who subconsciously seeks to evade the destiny that befell every single Black Magician in history does so by the most naive manner – by refusing to call themselves a Black Magician.

Rest assured though that Satan recognizes his own.

𝔗𝔬 𝔟𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔲𝔢𝔡 𝔰𝔬𝔬𝔫.