New book published features the Museum

This book features photographs of the Museum and considers the Museum as part of its analysis.

Micromuseology

An Analysis of Small Independent Museums

By: Fiona Candlin

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/micromuseology-9781474254977/

Watch a video about our shop stock!

On youtube.com there is a video by someone calling themselves the Haunted Bat.  They visited the Museum and purchased a lot of items from our gift shop.  Thanks for the positive feedback and promotion!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNLXbntMA4k

Museum appears in Dolmen Grove

http://issuu.com/dolmen-grove/docs/the_dolmen_grove_samhain_2015

The Museum is profiled on page 23 and 24.  Thanks to Diane for this article.

Demonic cupboard in Devon?

Intriguing story!  thanks to Gillian Nott for bringing this to the Museum's attention.

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Psychics-called-Paignton-antique-store-Devil/story-28136118-detail/story.html?00

New window display for winter

We change our window display regularly to reflect the changes in the Wheel of the Year.  We decorate the stag's antlers and have an object from the Museum collection in the window which links with the current season and festival.

The Wheel of the Year

The Ancient Festivals

The year can be divided into eight major festivals which mark the passage of the Sun through the year and relate directly to the agricultural cycle.  This is significant to many people (including witches)  The current festival is:

Yule or Winter Solstice

On or about December 21st

The ancient festival of Yule celebrates the Winter Solstice when the sun has reached its lowest ebb.   The days are short and the nights long but from now on we will notice the Sun returning.

The Sun child is reborn, a time to rejoice.

It is no coincidence that the Christian Church chose this time of the year to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the bringer of light.    Christmas festivities may be a continuation of a much more ancient pagan celebration

Decorate your home in the ancient way with sacred mistletoe and holly.

This is a time of promise, a time to look to the future, a time of preparation.

For the Winter Solstice or Yule, the stag’s antlers have been decorated with snowflakes and white goose feathers in celebration of winter and Goddess Holda.

Mother Goose Statue

The origin of Mother Goose is almost certainly the Central European Goddess Holda.  Night-flying wild geese were believed to be Holda and her spirit companions flying through the sky. In some legends her companions were the spirits of the dead, but it was also believed that living humans could join her.  During the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries a number of accused witches confessed to taking part in these flights, specifically mentioning Holda by name.   The term ‘Mother Goose story’ – which seems to mean ‘folktale’ – apparently originated about the same time.

Holda was a Nature Goddess, with many wild animals sacred to her. As well as taking the shape of a goose, she could appear as a beautiful young woman or a fearsome crone.  She was a story-telling oracle, and also someone who tested people by setting them dangerous or misleading challenges.  She is probably the prototype of many of the witch-figures who feature in fairy tales.

The Goddess Holda actually appears in one of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, as Mother Holle, a mysterious old woman with magic powers who tests two young sisters, rewarding one and punishing the other. She was said to wear a cloak made of goose-down.  Snow was supposed to be the down falling from her cloak (although another, perhaps more modern, version of the folklore had it that snow was Holda shaking out her goose-down quilt).

One rather charming legend tells how she was travelling through the countryside on a wagon when the axle suddenly broke.  A local carpenter made her a new axle, and when Holda had gone on her way he went back into his workshop and found that all the wood-shavings had turned to gold.

The Mother Goose pantomime story is in many ways a classic example of a dark mythology transformed into a light-hearted morality tale, but the important thing is that the three crucial elements are still there: magical transformation, magical test, and magical animal. 

Watch a video of the Museum by candlelight

Fun video of our Halloween event and candlelight evening.  Complete with an interview with Joyce.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOZ9gjJ823A

Great Friends of the Museum AGM this year

Our AGM in the Wellington Hotel was a great success.

The morning session opened with fascinating talks by Wayne Freeman and Helen Cornish, and was followed by a Pop-Up Museum in which Friends were invited to display their own treasured magickal artefacts.  (A companion guide to this event is available in the Museum Shop, limited stock!).  Many thanks to all who participated, all the staff at the Welly and to the organisers, especially Jason Karl.

With thanks to Kerriann Godwin for the fabulous photos!

West Penwith pagans celebrate festival of Samhain

Article and photo gallery showing Cornish activities on October 31st.
http://www.cornishman.co.uk/GALLERY-Celebration-Samhain-ancient-Gaelic/story-28113073-detail/story.html#1
With thanks to Gemma Gary for sharing this article.

Pagan Federation Spring Conference - we will be there!

Article about Halloween event in local paper

At the weekend, the Museum's October 31st event was visited by a local photographer.  He has just informed us that the story has been "splashed" on page 9 of the Camelford and Delabole Post.  We have an article plus five photos.

Nice photo of Judith (Museum manager) who was dressed as Titiana from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Her husband, Peter, dressed as Bottom (complete with donkey head) and their dog, Tom, dressed as Shakespeare with Elizabethan ruffs!

Many thanks to Peter Glaser for taking these photos and sharing them with us.

You can look at the article online:
http://www.camelford-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=102128

And for more professional photos of the event see:
http://www.cornwall-photos.com/search/gallery/
data=Peter+Glaser+Boscastle+Halloween+Mari+Lwyd

Pumpkins on parade

We had great fun at the weekend with Boscastle's first ever Halloween pumpkin carving competition (sponsored by the Boscastle Chamber of Trade and Commerce).  We had lots of fantastic entries and were so impressed by the talent and enthusiasm of people from the village and our visitors.

The Jack O'Lanterns lined the processional route down the Harbour and we have had so many comments on how wonderful this looked.  Everyone who entered a pumpkin (and left their name and contact details) will be receiving a small prize courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce.  There is also one overall winner which was chosen by Mari Llywd!  

Unfortunately, two of the pumpkins rolled into the river during the crowded part of Saturday's event (and one of them was a fantastic pirate pumpkin).   Also one went completely mushy before Saturday and had to be binned - sorry!

Apologies if any mistakes were made connecting names with pumpkins, there was a lot going on on Saturday- we did our best in the circumstances!  Also, if we missed anyone or if anyone has any good photos of the pumpkins lining the Harbour we'd love to add any other information or photos to this blog.

So here are the ones that remained/we have names and contact details for and the overall winner....

Overall winner: carved by staff at the Riverside. 

Carved by Ami.

Carved by Wilbur 

Carved by Zara Templar aged 8.

Carved by Liam Templar aged 5.

Carved by Millie, member of staff at the Riverside.

Carved by staff at Cornish Rambler.

Carved by Lola.

Carved by the staff at Things.

Carved by staff at Cornish Rambler. 

Carved by staff at the Picture Parlour. 

Pumpkin lanterns carved by staff at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic!

Thoughtful article "Meet the real witches"

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/meet-kents-real-witches-45487/

Thanks to Kerriann Godwin for posting this link on Facebook!

Museum's first ever poetry CD soon to be launched!

The Museum and Circle of Spears Production have made a CD together of poems relating to witchcraft and magic.  The CD will be available to purchase in the Museum shop and online shop.  It can also be purchased/pre-ordered from:
http://www.circleofspears.com/store/p7/Poems_of_Witchcraft_and_Magic.html

This collection was really inspired by the refurbished Images of Witchcraft gallery.  When undertaking this refurbishment, we realised how many of the images in that section relate to poetry such as our wonderful statue of Meg Merrilies, our new items on Tam O'Shanter and of course, the Macbeth plaque (which features on the front cover of the CD).  When looking at these objects, we found a complex and often sympathetic image of the witch: as a child of nature, mystery and imagination and, as such, of great interest to Romantic poets.  The CD features music and poems as well as excerpts from some of Shakespeare's more "magical" plays.

When Mark and Tracey Norman approached us and suggested doing an audio book or recording of some type for the Museum to use in the collection and also to sell in the shop a recording of poems seemed like a perfect fit.  We hope to install a way of listening to these poems in the Images of Witchcraft gallery over winter so visitors can look at the objects and listen to the poetry that inspired them.

Please see the front and back CD covers for more detailed information about content.

Wonderful photos of Halloween event

Many thanks to John Isaac for these photos.

https://hightailspaces.com/space/H8oBW

Where is Mari Lywd going next?

Here is a poster showing the future journeyings of Mari Llywd (who visited the Museum on Halloween).  If you missed Mari here, maybe you could see them somewhere else?

Winter Openings

It has been a great season here at the Museum.  Our opening hours are now limited.  Here is a reminder of them if you want to visit over the winter.  The library can be used by appointment and we will open (if we can) for specific bookings and groups (for example, we're opening especially for The Camelford Young Farmers organisation in mid November).  Please contact the Museum if you have any queries or requests.

Winter Opening 2015 - 2016

Open weekends in November (closed weekdays) 12-5pm (last entry at 4.30pm)

Closed in December until Christmas holidays

Open every day from December 19th until January 3rd (inclusive) where Opening hours each day will be 12-5pm (last entry 4.30pm)

Closed Christmas Day

Closed from 4th January 2016 until March 24th 2016

Re-opening Friday March 25th and remaining open every day until October 31st 2016

What an amazing night!

Yesterday was October 31st and we had lots of events happening during the day and into the night.  We've already chronicled our daytime events but things got even more spectacular after dark!

Above: the whole crew outside the Museum after the afternoon morris dancing (see our previous blog for more photos of this).

Above: Mari Llywd arrives at the Museum and below inside the Museum. 

Above: the visitors are greeted by cakes and ale.  Soul cakes baked by Peter, ale poured by Joyce!

Above: Joyce in the thick of it all!

Above: Fire dances performed as it gets dark.

Photos above to give you a feel for the event (which was well attended as you can see).  

Photos don't really do the atmosphere justice - better come yourself next year if you can (we've pencilled in the date of  Saturday October 29th 2016 - see you there!)

Our last candlelit evening of the year was also a success with many of the crowd and many morris dancers coming back for a look around the Museum. 

Above: Little turnip lantern to be held in the hand

Above: Pumpkins from last night enjoying the morning sunshine in Boscastle