Richel Prints in Glastonbury

Some of our wonderful prints from the Dutch Richel Collection are now available at "Witchcraft" in Glastonbury. Owners Trevor & Liz visited the museum last week and were so impressed with the prints they asked if they could sell them in their store. They have both the large prints and the smaller size so if you're visiting Glastonbury pop in & say hello & let us know what you think. The prints are copyright the Museum of Witchcraft and are available in the Museum or online from www.theoccultartcompany.co.uk . Here's an example of one of the prints. The original dates from 1837 & she's unusual as her broomstick is also a stang.

Witchcraft Podcast

I recently entered the next stage of the 21st century and did a podcast for Karagan of the "Witchcrafting Podcast". I'm attaching the link for those who would like to have a listen. I hope it works: PODCAST
Thanks to Karagan in Portugal for the interview. We love the music by the way.

Flood Anniversary

Well we seem to have survived the second anniversary of the flood without too much trouble. We recently had a comment from a reader which I insert here:
"I wish you all well, but I do wish Boscastle as a whole would move on from the floods - it's all we visitors ever hear about! There are still large poster signs up about it down the harbour. It really is time to move on ...Good luck for the season."
I can just say that we would like to get over it too but we are still only halfway through the reconstruction & still have another year of flood defense works and rebuilding. The majority of tourists who visit Boscastle ask questions and are still very interested in what happened on the 16th August 2004 and are keen to know what the next steps in the rebuild are.
When a 30 foot wall of water sweeps through one's tiny village carrying over 80 cars with it and destroying homes and businesses, it takes more than just a few days to recover. Sorry if we're boring you but thanks for the kind wishes.

Return of the Snowshill chest

Some of you may remember the beautiful wooden chest that sat in the last corridor of the museum before the flood. The chest came from the 'secret room' in Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire which was once owned by Mr Charles Wade. The chest was badly damaged in the flood and has spent the months since being restored. Unfortunately the box itself was beyond repair but luckily the front panel, which was the most interesting part, has been saved. It is now on display in the upstairs gallery along with a few other items from the Manor. Note the amazing carved faces.

New Sign

Numbers of visitors have been down recently & we believe it to be due to the building works being carried out around the museum & the harbor in general. Other shops in the village are apparently doing well. So Graham has commissioned a sign to face outward towards the river, hopefully catching the eye of passing visitors. It seems to be helping somewhat, along with our lovely flower boxes, which are making our corner of the harbor look a little more festive. Our window display smells rather fab too. The sprigs of rosemary we put there are warming up & giving off a lovely aroma. It might help people remember the museum as well!

Chinese carving expert knowledge required

Calling all experts in Chinese carvings! Since the flood we've been working our way through the storeroom, identifying & cataloguing artifacts that have long lay in wait of some attention. We have rediscovered a Chinese carving of an idol that was donated to the museum several years ago. The owners thought it was bad luck (thanks very much) so they passed it on to us. We like to think that it helped to protect us during the flood. Is that just wishful thinking? So here's where you come in. If any of you can identify the carving could you please let us know. Is it a Chinese deity? Is it Chinese? Is it Japanese? Any information would be graciously received.

The Times likes MOW

In today's The Knowledge magazine in The Times, The Museum of Witchcraft has been put at number two of the top museums in the country. High praise indeed. Thank you Tim Teeman (he made the selection). Number one was the Black British Style exhibit at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Spruce up

Due to the mammoth building works outside the museum (they're rebuilding the Youth Hostel, christian shop & harbour Restaurant) visitor numbers have been down as the whole place looks like a building site. If you didn't know the museum's there you'd miss it. So rather than be dejected & depressed we've decided to spruce up the front area directly outside the museum to make it more appealing & attractive. Graham has made some plant boxes, beautifully routed with a pentacle of course, and we've planted some vibrant flowers. The nasturtiums are having a field day & really enjoying the sunny location, as well as the geraniums which have added to the instant colour. We've also built up a rock planter & placed a gunnerah in there as it's very damp. All plants seem to be doing really well & the whole area is starting to look much more appealing.

On the weekend I thought it was time something was done to the window display. We've taken the flood information boards out. Don't worry they've been moved inside for people who are interested to see the pictures. I found a recipe* for cleaning copper on the internet & polished up one of Cecil Williamson's copper dishes and it is now shining away beautifully and full of fresh rosemary & bay leaves in the window. All the dried herbs have been removed & replaced with fresh ones. An altar using ritual items from the museum has been set up in place of the flood boards.

We think it's looking much better so hopefully more people will notice us & come to visit.

New Owl

Well, we'll keep trying. The lovely black cat statue which we had placed in the niche of the witch post outside the front door was recently wrenched from its home and smashed. So, on my recent visit to Crete, I bought a lovely bronze statue of an owl which Graham has firmly affixed in the space. Let's hope this one stays in place. I think it looks rather nice, don't you?

Sticks R Us

Sometimes the magical things that happen around the museum surprise even us. Graham has recently been researching stangs for a new display. The dictionary tells us that in non witchy circles, a stang is simply a stick.
I have always said that Graham has the ability to simply think about something and it will appear and sure enough Steve Patterson soon appeared with two lovely stangs for the new display. This was the first of an extraordinary sequence of stick donations.
The next stick to appear was Cecil Williamson’s old stick ‘Sticky’ which was bequeathed to us after the passing of Brownie. Cecil took his magic stick with him everywhere and Brownie inherited it after Cecil's death. Sticky is now on display near the shrine and above the obituaries of both Brownie and Cecil.
Shortly after that a chap walked into the museum with a present for Graham – you guessed it, yet another stick. This time a beautifully hand carved flying witch headed stick. Graham had told the man how much he admired his hand crafted stick last year when he visited the museum. He went away, made Graham a ‘witch stick’ and delivered it a couple of weeks ago. What a lovely thing to do.

Last week yet another donation arrived. By now we should have known it would be another stick but we never guessed that it would be such a special one. This was one of the rare glass sticks that were made C1800 in Nailsea. They were often placed near a bed as it was said that they attracted the evil spirits that caused illness. It was of course vital that they were cleaned every day to remove the ‘evil.’ Oh, and then Carole fell down the steps, injuring her foot & was on sticks for a week. But she's ok now.
What could all these sticks mean? Maybe the spirits are demonstrating how much support we have?

I have put photos of the witch headed stick, the glass stick & one of Steve Patterson's stangs.

Gerald's Typewriter

When Brownie Pate sadly died recently, she bequeathed some of her favorite magical items to the museum. One of these treasured artefacts is Gerald Gardner's typewriter. We are pretty sure it is is genuine. It's an Imperial 65 which dates to between 1952 & 1955 (approximately) & it has an Isle of Man plate on the back. We are having a further verification done by our "Gerald expert" Philip Hesselton. Joyce has been remembering her long lost secretarial skills & has typed a letter to Philip so he can compare the typeface with some of his old Gerald correspondence. Here is Joyce at her task.

Calling Accountants!

The Friends of the Museum of Witchcraft are considering applying for charitable status and may require the services of an accountant to act as one of the trustees.
We are currently asking for people with appropriate accounting qualifications and skills to put their names forward for the voluntary unpaid position. If you are interested in putting your name forward for consideration please email your details to museumwitchcraft@aol.com or write to the museum at Museum of Witchcraft, The Harbour, Boscastle, PL35 0HD.

Aussie Connections

Last weekend we were visited by Darren & Tammy, two South Africans now living in Australia. I think it's safe to say they were impressed by the library. They are involved with the recently launched Australian pagan magazine "The Crossroads" which is mainly available in Canberra bookstores or by mailorder. I believe Lilitu's Books & Music Store in Canberra is a good place to look if you'd like to check out a copy. We're hoping to receive some copies for our archives. They took a few photos so you may see our lovely faces in one of their magazines in the future. Here we are checking out the first issue of Marian Green's Quest magazine which has been running for 30 years.

Thanks to Jenny Layton in Sydney for sending us a copy of the article about the museum which appeared in the last issue of the Australian "Witchcraft" magazine. Much appreciated!

Farewell Peter Hill

Our friend, Peter Hill, passed over to the Summerlands on 22nd May 2006. Peter was an experienced witch and freemason and a great friend and supporter of the Museum. He lived in Boscastle for many years but the hilly landscape proved too difficult for his ailing hip so he moved to the less hilly Sussex coast. PeterÂ’s family have kindly donated many of his working tools to the museum for which we are very grateful.

We have fond memories of you Peter.

Graham and the Museum gang.

A Table At Last

Library visitors will be pleased to hear that we have finally purchased a table for the library. We have been wanting to get one for some time but were waiting for the right one to come along. This one has an old world feel, but is not too big that it overpowers the room. We think it's just right. What do you think?

Graham has also put in some new lighting. He'll have to expand the shelving shortly as many more books are being donated. We are up to about 4,300 books already.

Mary Ellen gets a face lift

Graham's beloved Landrover is looking extremely attractive at the moment. Mike, the local National Trust Warden is a fantastic signwriter & he's done a lovely job on Mary Ellen. Note the cute broomstick over her rear bumper. She's getting a lot of attention today. The weather has been gorgeous so she's been parked, topless, outside the museum. She has one of the newspaper stories attached to the windscreen for all to read about how she came to replace Graham's old Landrover Sally which was destroyed by the flood.

Odinist Fellowship

Congratulations go to the Odinist Fellowship. We were recently notified of the "ground-breaking judicial decision, giving legal recognition to the Odinist religion in English law...For the first time ever, a judicial declaration has stipulated that a pagan religion, namely Odinism, is to be accorded recognition, as a religion, for legal purposes. The legal precedent...will help to protect the rights, not only of Odinists, but of all pagans, in the workplace. The Odinist Fellowship is proud of having achieved this breakthrough for the wider pagan community." (adapted from information received from Robin Jackson, Information Officer for the Odinist Fellowship)

Brownie

It is with sadness that we announce that on the 4th of May 2006 Brownie Pate passed to the Summerlands at the age of 84.
Brownie was a witch and psychic, as well as a good friend to Cecil Williamson and this museum. She suffered terrible persecution from the press in the 1970s when they discovered that she was both a witch and a children’s ballet teacher. The tabloid press at the time thought that witches should be kept away from children.
This museum is indebted to Brownie for the books and magical artefacts that she bequeathed to us. We are now busy cataloguing & covering all the books and this bequest may force us to bring forward our plans to add more storage space to the library.
Enjoy the Summerlands Brownie!

Pagan Federation International

Anyone who is planning to attend the PF International meeting in Lunteren in Holland on 20th May will be very excited (?) to hear that I will be attending the meeting and doing a talk on the history and happenings of the Museum of Witchcraft. Unfortunately it appears that there is no powerpoint facility so I may have to do a bit of a soft shoe to spice up the presentation.

The Occult Art Company will also be there with a selection of prints from the Richel Collection. The collection originated in Holland so it is only right for them to be shown over there. Hope to see some of you there.

What's W?

Just had a query from Wade asking about W magazine. It's an American Fashion Magazine & the one featuring some museum artifacts is the latest issue with Meryl Streep & Lindsay Lohan on the cover. Unfortunately the magazine doesn't credit the museum in the story. Hope that answers your question, Wade.