Witch Krafting with Kat

To follow on from yesterday Witchy Wednesday posting I thought it would be nice to add a link to this feature on Elizabeth Woodville The White Queen of England 👑 and daughter of the Duchess of Bedford.  Some folklore stories and articles about History can be quite scary and disturbing and may have some adult content. So I would always advise visiting, reading and viewing any links before showing or reading to younger children.

This painting of a wealthy 15th century Burgundian woman, by the artist Petrus Christus 1450-1460, gives an idea of the fashions Jacquetta of Luxembourgh may have worn.  The interesting true story of Jacquetta of Luxembourgh who was a ccused of witchcraft.    Jacquetta of Luxembourgh also known as the Dowager Duchess of Bedford and Countess Rivers was born around 1415 or 1416 possibly in one of her fathers Chateau's in Northern France at the time occupied and owned by the English.  She was married firstly to John of Lancaster the Duke of Bedford, the third son of King Henry IV of England and brother to the upcoming King Henry V. Then after the death of the Duke she secretly got married to Richard Woodville 1st Earl Rivers. Which was done without the Kings permission. Though a shakey start the King forgave them both and Jacquetta retained her title from her first marriage of Duchess of Bedfordshire. The marriage was long and fruitful producing fourteen children. Inclu...

Well a truly magical day not only being Witchy Wednesday but also its the Summer Solstice the longest day of sunlight in the Northern atmosphere.   As I type people all over the world are making their way to the ancient stones of Stone Henge and other ancient sites across the country to welcome the sun as it dawns on the 21st of June. The longest day of the year.* The ever turning wheel now stars turning slowly towards the Autumn, the length of day light starts to slowly shorten and the night gathers more time.   *The longest day of the year is often used an expression. It doesn't mean a twenty four hour day becomes longer in hours. You you don't need to panic and drink more coffee! ☕😂 Instead it refers to the daylight hours being considerably longer than the dark night skies. In ancient times this must have felt like a never ending day and in contrast Samhain, better known as Halloween, must have felt like the never ending night!  I found this great explanation in ...

Summer Solstice will celebrated at Stonehenge from 19:00 hours on Tue 20 June to 08:00 hours on Wed 21 June. Please visit English Heritage link below for more details  🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞   https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/solstice/

As it's now not long for the Summer Solstice here are a few links you might find interesting.  For a great description to understand the Summer Solstice please visit.  https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtjGLYLtYun/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== For information on the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge this year.  https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/solstice/  

The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle Cornwall have posted a reminder that they are shut for one week from the 19th of June to the 25th of June for well deserved staff holiday.  Please visit their facebook link for updates and other interesting information.  visit  https://www.facebook.com/museumofwitchcraft

  Illustrations to Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1930 Jen Campbell examines how 19th-century beliefs about disability, physical appearance and character are presented in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella,  Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde . Please visit this link to the British Library  https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/disfigurement-and-disability-in-gothic-literature

 🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿 🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿 The River Witch!  Poem by Katherine Hazelton 2023 Down by the stream Lives a woman of weeds She is green with sharp nails And on children she feeds  Lying in wait, under the water she hides The occasional bubble on the surface does rise! A poor unfortunate child, who was warned not to go Looks in the water 'SPLASH' in he does go!  🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿 I have always been fascinated by River Witches since I was a small child. Having been told stories by my own grandparents of local folktales!  I am not the only child either River Witch stories have been told by parents and grandparents for hundreds of years, if not longer, to scare children away from playing near places of danger. Often small deep stagnant pools of water would get covered in pond weed and become dangerous traps. Young children would run over them thinking it was grass get tangled and trap...

The Lancaster Witches: examinations of Margaret Johnson, Mary Spencer, and Frances Dickenson. In this document the Bishop of Chester describes the answers of 3 women accused of witchcraft in Lancaster, 15 June, 1634. For more information and to see this document up close please visit: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/early-modern-witch-trials/accusation-of-witchcraft/ Because some folklore stories can be quite scary and disturbing with some adult content I would always advise visiting, reading and viewing links before showing or reading to younger children.

Snail witch by Rémi Jacquot When thinking of Witches most people think of a large black Cauldron, broom, pointy hat and possibly a cat!  Not everyone associates Witches and Snails! But snails and especially their shells have a long history in medicine and in witchcraft from being ground up to make potions, used for protection spells, threaded together to form a necklace to bring love or even kept as a familiar!  Offering a snail a tulip petal in my garden  Having a small garden I have quite a few snails happily living under pots and tucked away in damp corners. Yes they can be annoying when they decide to chomp on my flowers but I decided many years ago to be a natural gardener and to embrace my miniature cows! And since I have I find them a fascinating creatures with very cheeky characters and their shells are quite distinctive so you can tell them apart. I have also over the years found a good way to reduce the carnage of a wet night feasting is to offer snails some ext...

Witchcraft: a witch and a devil making a nail with which to make a boy lame. Woodcut, 1720. - 1720 - United Kingdom - CC BY. Woodcut printing Woodcut is a relief printing  technique in printmaking . An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges —leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The block is cut along the wood   grain  (unlike wood engineering , where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer ), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas. From Wikipedia. Jon Crabb on the witch craze of early modern Europe, and how the concurrent rise of the mass-produced woodcut helped forge the archetype of the broom-riding crone — comp...

  I have always loved tall cottage garden flowers such as Hollyhocks, Delphiniums, lupins and my particular favourite the Foxglove. When looking up information on plants especially those that are indigenous to the UK a lot of them are heavily woven into British folklore. Some are connected to stories of fairies and magic beings, others have a more deadly association's with Witchcraft! The foxglove is one of those plants that has connections with both Fairies and because of it's toxicity also Witches! Here are some links to some really interesting articles on Foxgloves. https://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/incredible-tale-foxglove-179066 https://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2019/06/foxgloves.html https://theresagreen.me/2012/06/20/foxglove-fairytales-myths-medicine/ https://norfolktalesmyths.com/2019/07/26/foxgloves-beauty-and-danger/ Because some folklore stories can be quite scary and disturbing with some adult content I would always advise visiting, reading and viewing links be...