Веда Заговóров Волхва Велеслава (этюд о заговорно-поэтическом творчестве современных неоязычников)

This article analyses the book Veda of Magic Spells (Slavic Magic Spells Book) (2014) written by Ilya Cherkasov, who publishes his works under the pen name of Magus Veleslav (Volkhv Veleslav). The title of the book points out its dual genre. On the one hand, this is a collection of “pagan” magic spells that have been purified by double-faith historical layering, but on the other hand, this is also a compilation of Vedic hymns glorifying the Slavic Gods. There are some texts in the book which have close parallels with folklore compilations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. At the same time, there are many texts which are probably personally composed in the style of traditional magic spells by Magus Veleslav himself. Unlike traditional magic spells, in the texts of Magus Veleslav any Christian elements are absent. For example, instead of the Christian “Amen” at the end of a magic spell, he puts the exclamation “Goi!” And instead of the traditional word-combination “the slave of God (name)”, the author uses the formula “the grandson of Dazbog (name)”. The article finds that Magus Veleslav takes a free approach to traditional spell texts, seeing them as material for his own idiosyncratic literary reconstruction of pagan poetry.