What Konotop is
Konotop is a real town in Ukraine, and in the folklore of the region it has a reputation: a place of witches, of water that listens, of thresholds that matter. These seven stories were written for this site in that climate. They are not a retelling of any existing tale, and nobody in them predicts a future.
Each legend has a visitor with a question and a witch with a deck. The cards in the story are the same 78 cards you can read here, and they do what cards do in a good reading: they put a name to something the visitor already half knew. The decision at the end always belongs to the visitor.
How to read them
Take one at a time. Every story ends with a lesson that works as a question for the day rather than a rule, and every witch has her own way of seeing: water, wax, salt, herbs, the moon, roads, dreams. If one of the seven sounds familiar, that is usually the one worth reading first.
These are literary stories, not instructions, and not predictions. Nothing here tells you what will happen in your love life, your money or your health.
Frequently asked questions
Are the Konotop stories true?
No. They are literary legends written for Ask the Signs, inspired by Ukrainian and Polish folklore. The witches and their visitors are fictional, and no reading in them predicts anything.
Where does the idea come from?
From the Ukrainian tradition in which Konotop is known as a town of witches, and from Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko's story "The Konotop Witch". These are new tales in that climate, not a retelling of his plot.
What is the witch of the day?
One of the seven, the same for everyone on a given date, with one line of her advice. It changes daily and does not describe your future — treat it as a thought to carry.