Witch Krafting with Kat

Welcome to another Witchy Wednesday, this week I am sharing some wonderful prints from the Wellcome Collection archive. A wonderful place to research history. All images because of their age are now in the public domain. About the Wellcome Collection.  Wellcome Collection is a free museum and library. Through their extensive collections, exhibitions and events, in books and online, they help to explore the past, present and future of health. You can find them near Euston station in London. All their exhibitions and events are free. You can use their library and view items from their collections free of charge– on some items you may just need to book in advance. Wellcome Collection opened in 2007. They care for many thousands of items relating to health, medicine and human experience, including rare books, artworks, films and videos, personal archives and objects. They are part of Wellcome, a charitable foundation supporting science to help build a healthier future for everyone. Ple...

    K rampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure from Central and Eastern Alpine folklore who punishes misbehaving children during the Christmas season, often accompanying St. Nicholas. He is a half-goat, half-demon creature who beats naughty children with birch sticks and may stuff them in a sack to be carried away. His name comes from the German word krampen, meaning "claw," and the tradition has pagan origins, possibly linked to pre-Christian winter solstice celebrations.   Krampusnacht is on December 5th each year, which is the evening before the Feast of St. Nicholas. It is a tradition in parts of Alpine Europe, where Krampus, a horned folkloric figure, accompanies St. Nicholas to punish misbehaved children.  A great explanation of the history of Krampus in this video by Bibi Pelic.   All images were source from The Public Domain Review and Domain Free.  Thank you for joining me again for another Witchy Wednesday. Have a magical week and plea...

  The Hellfire Club an innocent D&D group in Stranger Things.  The Hellfire Caves in High Wycombe was a place I frequented a great deal when I was a kid way back in the 1980's! Myself and my friends, looking very much like the kids of Stranger Things, used to ride from Wooburn Green across the Rye, across the Town all the way to West Wycombe on our bicycles. We use to spend the day rolling down the grassy hill, having picnics and then going into Wycombe caves before wearily heading home. In the caves we used to soak up on all the spooky stories of the Hellfire Club and make up other ghost stories to try to out scare each other!  Happy days! 😆  The Hellfire Caves in West Wycombe, near High Wycombe, are a network of man-made chalk caverns used as a meeting place by the 18th-century Hellfire Club. Founded by Sir Francis Dashwood, the caves were a secret, decadent club called The Hellfire Club and were known for its elaborate parties and allegedly scandalous or occu...

  Welcome to another Witchy Wednesday with me Kat Hazelton. Elizabeth Sawyer lived in Winchmore Hill. She was rumoured to be a witch long before she was charged. Her penchant for oaths and blasphemies had made her suspect, and was claimed to have provided the Devil with his first access to her. Information from Wikipedia.  Elizabeth Sawyer (died 1621), also known as the Witch of Edmonton or Mother Sawyer, was an English woman convicted and executed for witchcraft in 1621. Her case became one of the most well-known witch trials of the Stuart age and inspired a famous play, The Witch of Edmonton.  Elizabeth Sawyer was a poor, one-eyed, and elderly woman living on the fringes of her community in Winchmore Hill, in the parish of Edmonton, North London. She was widely ostracized by her neighbors due to her physical appearance and a reputation for using oaths and blasphemies. Long before formal accusations, local rumors had associated misfortunes with her.  The specific ac...

Welcome to this weeks Witchy Wednesday. For this weeks blog posting I thought it would be nice to share some of F Goya's artwork depicting Witches, Hobgoblins and otherworldly creatures.  Witches' Sabbath 1797–1798 Oil on canvas. Goya incorporated folklore into his work to critique superstition, religious and political power, and the human psyche. He depicted popular Spanish folklore, particularly themes of witchcraft and the supernatural, often to satirize the ignorance and fear that allowed institutions like the Spanish Inquisition to thrive. His work frequently uses these folkloric images as allegories for more contemporary events, such as political upheaval and the "devouring" nature of revolutions.  Three old hags surround a basket of new-born babies with bats in the distance. Etching by F. Goya, 1796/98. Three dwarf hobgoblins, two of them in monastic habits, drinking from tumblers. Aquatint by F. Goya, ca. 1797. Goya, Francisco, 1746-1828.Date: [1796/1798] Two ...

Balthasar Bekker by J. Hilarides (1691) Balthasar Bekker. The World Bewitch’d. London, 1695. This weeks Witchy Wednesday is about Balthazar Bekker. I found some rather interesting links and information online which I hope you will also enjoy.  Balthazar Bekker was a Dutch Theologian pastor in Amsterdam where, as “an enthusiastic disciple of Descartes, he wrote several works of philosophy and theology, which by their freedom of thought aroused considerable hostility. His best known work was Die Betooverde Wereld (1691), or The World Bewitched (1695, one volume of an English translation from a French copy), in which he examined critically the phenomena generally ascribed to spiritual agency, and attacked the belief in sorcery and ‘possession’ by the devil, whose very existence he questioned” (Britannica). Bekker’s bold denunciation of superstitions about witchcraft proved such a formidable attack on official State and Church practices that he was ultimately forced from the ministry. ...