Some Gorge Reviews

Graham has found a website where people review places they've visited - it's called QYPE & I'd never heard of it before (am I the last person on earth who's unfamiliar with this site???) Anyway there were some gorge reviews about the museum so I thought I'd pop the link in so you could have a look. It's http://www.qype.co.uk/place/197733-The-Museum-Of-Witchcraft-Boscastle . Thanks to the contributors for the positive comments.

Latest News

Quite a few things to mention at the moment:

Firstly the museum is featuring in the latest Lammas issue of Pagan Dawn so grab a copy to read the interview with Graham about the history of & future plans for the museum.

Meredith & Mandrake the swallows have built a new nest & are presumably going to have a few new chicks in the next couple of weeks - Graham has the camera trained on their nest so we can watch their progress from the front desk.

We've introduced some lovely new soaps handmade for us by Namaste Therapy - one features a witch & the other a pentacle. I'll try to get some pics on & put them on http://www.theoccultartcompany.co.uk/ website on the weekend so you can purchase them online.

One of our favorite authors Owen Davies has a new book out 'Grimoires - The History of The Magical Book' and his previous one 'A People Bewitched' is back in stock. 'Grimoires' is a very attractive hardback with a fetching cover - it only arrived today so we have not read it yet but going by his previous works it will be well researched & highly informative.

By popular request, Graham has put together a 'Wise Woman's Spells & Charms' CD which retails at £ 4 . This is the sound track from the museum's wise woman's cottage featuring spoken spells and charms with the crackling of the fire in the background. Cassandra Latham reads the spells collected mainly by Levannah Morgan.

We now have witch key rings back in stock. They are not easy to come by for some reason.

That's all for now but watch this space for news on ........
MOW spirit boards & Joyce Froome's book

Pagan Dawn Lammas Issue

There's a fab article in the Lammas issue of Pagan Dawn. As it is the 13 year anniversary of Graham taking over the museum at Samhain & the 5 year anniversary of the flood on August 16 Pagan Dawn has published an interview with Graham outlining a bit of the history of him taking over & what's planned for the future. He makes mention of the fact that the collection has been donated to The Trust for the Preservation of the Museum of Witchcraft so that it will remain accessible to the public & cannot be broken up as unfortunately has happened to so many other collections.
Not everyone realises that the museum receives no government grants whatsoever & is funded solely by visitors & a small amount of retail sales, that's why it's so important that you all come along to support us when you can. We love to see you and get your comments. I've started putting a comment of the day on the twitter site (witchmuseum is the tweet) so you can see what people are saying about us. I'm also mentioning new retail products that we get in to sell in the shop.

Eastbourne Lammas Festival Notice

Our friends over at Eastbourne are organising this year's Lammas Festival as we speak. Here is some information for those who are keen to go along:

Eastbourne Lammas Festival 1st and 2nd August – Western Lawns, Eastbourne Seafront from 11amThe Eastbourne Lammas Festival is a pageant of morris dancing, carnival giants and live music from traditional and folk-rock to modern jazz. Now in its 9th year, Eastbourne Lammas Festival just gets bigger and better. Each day starts with Morris dancing in differing styles, with hosts Hunters Moon Morris and guests along with with drumming from the Pentacle Drummers. As always Saturday’s Carnival parade at 12.30 promises to be spectacular. The Eastbourne Giants Herne and Andred will once again lead dancers, drummers and festival-goers along the prom from the pier to the Western Lawns. Anyone, of any age is invited to join the parade if they come along to the Pier entrance at around noon, though children must be accompanied by an adult. Feel free to dress up! Raid your dressing-up boxes, strap on a pair of fairy wings or garland your hair with flowers and join in. The more the merrier!The afternoon features live bands and performers including Touchstone, Magic Folk, Black Strap Molasses and the Blue Shift Jazz Band. Lie back and laze in the sun by the sea as you listen to the music. Bring a picnic or chose from the variety of food and drinks that are on offer over the weekend. The Beer Tent is run by The 1648 Brewery who brew their excellent Lammas Ale for the event.With clothing, book, jewellery and craft stalls and demonstrations, plus children’s entertainment from face-painting and story-telling to Mouse Town, Punch and Judy and bouncy castle, there is something for everyone.
Saturday ends with the ritual “slaying” of John Barleycorn, the Festival’s traditional rite, at about 5.30pm. Sunday ends with a Scratch Ceilidh which is a chance to kick your shoes off, grab a likely partner and dance on the grass!The festival annually raises money for the RNLI. Please give generously throughout the weekend.

For more information and up to date details of bands, see website www.lammasfest.org

New Additions

Here are two of our recent donations. The colourful Golden Dawn Tools were used by a Canadian magician and are now on display upstairs as part of our Ritual Magic section. I must say I think they are truly fabulous but I've always been keen on a splash of colour. On a less colourful yet equally interesting note are the two concealed cats which were found in a house in Bristol during refurbishment work. The house was built in the late 1800s which makes this a fairly late example of cats concealed in walls. It is thought they were used as charms to protect houses from mice & rats. We are coming along with the Tarot display. We (& by we I mean Graham) are constructing the case from mahogony doors & toughened glass. We've also had some offers of images & text from some fabulous people. More on that later.

Thanks Exmoor Pagan Camp

A Big thanks go to Yarrow & all who attended the Exmoor Pagan Camp & took part in the raffle. £50 was raised for Friends of the Museum. Much appreciated.

Swallows a Big Hit

The live stream of the swallows' nest footage has proved a big hit with visitors to the museum!! The staff have even got a sweep stake on when they think the chicks will fledge. Derek, the largest of the chicks, appears ready to take off at any minute. Meredith & Merlin are great parents & all four of the little chaps are still doing well. Check out the latest video.

In the meantime Graham has been working on some new exclusive products for retail & I've introduced some new cards based around the Richel collection. They are doing very well & I'll be putting some on The Occult Art Company website shortly. As soon as Graham's new products are ready I'll put some info on this blog.

Mandrake it is

We're delighted to announce that the name of the male swallow is Mandrake (as suggested by Lesley). 'Meredith & Mandrake' has a nice ring to it. Their chicks are now popping their heads above the nest so we'll try to get a snippet of them having their lunch. Joyce is beside herself with excitement in the booth & is being easily distracted from her research. She's getting closer to finishing her book now so she needs to keep her eye on the ball - not the birds!! Chortle. I do amuse myself at times.

Cool Blog

I thought I'd draw your attention to a cool blog that has some info on the museum. You can find it by clicking this link http://www.squidoo.com/museum-of-witchcraft .