A re-post from way back in October, 2008: Magical Thinking and Cornish Witchcraft

An article in the November/December 2008 issue of Archaeology Magazine talks about witchcraft in Great Britain. Recently, an archaeologist uncovered strange pits while doing work to extend a barn on her property in Cornwall. She has since brought students out to help her uncover several more pits and an ancient spring, all filled with what she believes is evidence of witchcraft spanning many centuries, including the 20th.

Many of the pits were lined with the skin (including the feathers) of a swan, on top of which were placed varying amounts of eggs almost ready to hatch, pebbles, and bird parts and claws from various types of birds. The spring was lined with quartz and contained things like nail clippings, human hair, straight pins, and small pieces of cloth. Part of a cauldron was even found.

Quoting from the article, the archaeologist, Jacqui Wood, said:

"Over the last 30 years I've been quick to dismiss ritual as an explanation for unusual archaeological finds. It usually means that the archaeologists can't think of anything better. So now it seems especially ironic that I end up with a site absolutely full of ritual."

The earliest dates for the pits are the mid-1600s. Whatever was being done here was important enough for the practitioners to risk being pointed out as witches. The 1600s were a dangerous time to be caught doing anything with a pagan tinge. It was doubly risky because swans were symbols of royalty and owned by the crown. And apparently whatever these practices meant is still important. One of the pits dates from the 1950s. It was lined with the skin of a dog and contained dog teeth and the baked jaw of a pig.

Old magic and magical thinking is still among us.

Images from Wikimedia, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and The Witch Channel's Information Page

Witchcraft and Spells - but I'm not a witch

Okay, I have resumed my spooky October posts~

In my collection can be found these two books, but I am not a witch (contrary to what my daughter may tell you at times).

These books are in my collection for research purposes. They are very interesting, full of all sorts magical information. Browsing through them can start the creative storytelling juices flowing.

I mark interesting pages and passages with sticky notes and little colored post-it flags. You never know what might be useful in a story that you might want to write.


For instance, this is from the spell book in a section about fabrics:

"Spells are cast by embellishing fabric: many traditional needle-work arts are intrinsically connected to spiritual traditions. The exquisite traditional embroidery motifs of Baltic, Hungarian, Romany and Slav women confer blessings, power, protection and fertility."

In one book I read over the summer, the author obviously was familiar with this notion. In the book, a group of women gathered once a month under the auspices of a sewing club so that they could sew, knit, crochet, and embroider the spells needed to keep what they believed were harmful fairies from entereing through hidden doorways into their world. What the leader of the group didn't know was that her own grand-daughter was half fey. The grand-daughter knew, though, and lived with the fear that her mortal-hating fairy half would show itself at some point - and worse, that it was drawing the malicious fey to their world in search of her.

Things don't turn out exactly the way you might expect in the book. It was very entertaining and I really liked the idea of these women meeting and working so hard to protect thier world with their handicraft. See, you can take a small idea and build an entertaining story around it, even if you're not a witch (which I'm not).

I'm still gathering information and letting it all whirl around in my head. Hopefully a story worth writing down will settle out eventually.

Magical Thinking and Cornish Witchcraft

An article in the November/December issue of Archaeology Magazine talks about witchcraft in Great Britain. Recently, an archaeologist uncovered strange pits while doing work to extend a barn on her property in Cornwall. She has since brought students out to help her uncover several more pits and an ancient spring, all filled with what she believes is evidence of witchcraft spanning many centuries, including the 20th.

Many of the pits were lined with the skin (including the feathers) of a swan, on top of which were placed varying amounts of eggs almost ready to hatch, pebbles, and bird parts and claws from various types of birds. The spring was lined with quartz and contained things like nail clippings, human hair, straight pins, and small pieces of cloth. Part of a cauldron was even found.

Quoting from the article, the archaeologist, Jacqui Wood, said:

"Over the last 30 years I've been quick to dismiss ritual as an explanation for unusual archaeological finds. It usually means that the archaeologists can't think of anything better. So now it seems especially ironic that I end up with a site absolutely full of ritual."

The earliest dates for the pits are the mid-1600s. Whatever was being done here was important enough for the practitioners to risk being pointed out as witches. The 1600s were a dangerous time to be caught doing anything with a pagan tinge. It was doubly risky because swans were symbols of royalty and owned by the crown. And apparently whatever these practices meant is still important. One of the pits dates from the 1950s. It was lined with the skin of a dog and contained dog teeth and the baked jaw of a pig.

Old magic and magical thinking is still among us.

Images from Wikimedia, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and The Witch Channel's Information Page