Coastguard Shouts Aplenty

Well two anyway - - - moments after returning from a Coastguard Shout in Tintagel where someone had broken both legs & had to be airlifted out of Merlin's Cave, the Boscastle Coastguards were called to another rescue in Boscastle Harbour. Another broken leg it seems as someone had slipped on the sewage pipe & was unable to be stretchered out. The Naval helicopter had to be called in for another airlift - Graham & the other Coastguards co-ordinated land based actions from the ground & kept crowds well clear. It was unable to land due to its size so the rescue worker was winched down & pulled the casualty up. Hopefully the injured person will make a full recovery. I managed to get a few pics. We're always grateful to the helicopter crews who do such an amazing job - as well as our lovely Coastguards.

Graham writes about the new tarot display

I have today finished the new Tarot display. You will recall that the previous display was destroyed by the flood five years ago.

Creating displays from scratch is not as easy as you might expect, especially when you have no budget, but lack of funds can drive one to find more unusual solutions.

The first task was to find an empty space – this is getting more and more difficult but we soon decided that the gap under the scrying mirror cabinet would be ideal. Our new Tarot display would be in the ‘divination’ area – very appropriate. After measuring up the long narrow space Kerriann and I wandered into the workshop looking for inspiration which soon came in the form of a lovely old mahogany and glass frame that once sat on top of a mineral display in The Natural History Museum. This was the last of the display cases that were donated after the flood. After removing the old glass the frame was cut to size, re glued and new safety glass ordered. Kerriann picked up an MDF panel which we covered with black Velcro sheeting and a new ‘made to measure’ display case was born.

A duplicate Rider Waite was found in the archive and whilst I spent a couple of days laying the cards out Kerriann wrote the accompanying texts. We jiggled cards and text around until they fitted and in the end looked very impressive.

However, in line with modern trends, we wanted to make the display more interactive so we racked our brains for a method whereby visitors could select a tarot card and get an interpretation. The easiest way would be to provide a pack of cards but I am sure that cards would ‘disappear’ within days so a more secure method had to be devised. We looked at rotary card filing systems, at various methods of laminating and chaining cards and other methods involving brass eyelets and key rings but none were going to be easy.

Inspiration came again in the workshop!

Before the flood we had purchased an old coin operated fortune telling machine. One popped an old penny into the top and the weight of the coin dropping turned a mechanism that span a pointer over a dial from which your fortune would be read.

This machine had been badly damaged in the flood and was sitting in a corner of the workshop looking unloved – it was about to get a new lease of life. The water-damaged dial was removed and replaced with images of cards from the major arcana and the mechanism modified to accept modern coinage. A lick of paint, some wood polish and a drop of oil and she worked like new! Drop a 2p in the top, the pointer spins and eventually stops – Hey Presto! you have selected a tarot card. Purl Wise has provided interpretations for a panel adjacent to the new display which may even raise us some extra pennies (or 2ps)

Still to add is a laminated copy of 'The Fool's Journey' by Roger Pratt , our expert tarot reading friend in New York (always like to enhance our trans Atlantic relations).

Lets hope our visitors appreciate all the work that goes into our wonderful museum!

Get Well Soon Adrian

We'd like to send a get well soon message to The Friends of the Museum's Honorary President Adrian Bryn-Evans who recently broke his collar bone. Adrian does a huge amount of work for the museum but he'll be taking it a bit easier at the moment while he recuperates. I'm sure he'd appreciate any healing thoughts you could send across the ether to help him recover.

Tarot Display

We've been making good progress with the tarot display. Graham has made the display box & placed the cards in a colourful manner. The text is next on the agenda. Here is a piccy of the work so far.

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 .

Meredith

If you're coming to visit make sure you check out the screen in the booth showing Meredith the swallow & her new chicks. We're doing our own version of Springwatch with a camera set up discreetly near Meredith's nest to watch her antics. The nest is in under the roof between the museum & the National Trust cafe next door. Have grabbed a video from Graham for you to have a look at. It was filmed earlier today & we can't see any small beaks yet. It seems to start with Meredith's chap then she comes into the picture towards the end. Does anyone have a suggestion for his name?

Wackiest Museums

We've just been alerted to a blog of the World's 10 Wackiest Museums - follow the link to see what else is on there. Museum of Witchcraft number 7

Recent Donations

Just thought I'd mention a few of the recent donations we've had.

A bangle from Robert Eagle in the USA is useful for us to demonstrate that Gardnerian wicca spread to the US. It is museum object number 2031.

An intriguing one is the Victorian face screen (museum object number 2032)
It is an"unusual petitpoint sheild shape face screen with devil design worked by hand in silk & wool. It would originally have been attached to a brass rod or stand to protect ladies from the glow of the fire."

We think this might be European - can anybody confirm this?

Anonymous Donation

We would like to pass on A Big Thank You to the person who anonymously left an envelope containing a large donation over the bank holiday. This will go towards our roof fund.

Please let us know who you are so we can thank you properly.

Easter pics

I've finally located a few of the photos taken over Easter - they seemed to have disappeared into my computer's ether. Hunters Moon Morris had a fab time dancing outside the museum & singing in The Wellington, Jerry Bird had a book signing for his new book 'Landscape of Memory' & Freya the dog generally had a lovely time being petted by all & sundry. I am hoping to find the pics I took of Jerry & James Findlay playing in The Welly for you - they too seem to have disappeared.

PF Wessex

Adrian Bryn-Evans has recently us a cheque for £17.80 which was money raised from the PF Wessex conference on April 18th. Thank you so much for your ongoing fundraising efforts.

Anonymous Donation

On Sunday 12 April a man left an envelope in the museum marked 'Donation to Museum'. He was thanked and he went on his way.
When the envelope was later opened by Graham he was shocked to find that it contained £3000 in twenty pound notes!
Whilst we know that we did recognise the donor as a regular visitor it was a busy day and we can't remember his name. If you are that man please contact us so that we can thank you properly. Likewise if you know who made this amazingly generous donation please pass on his details to us.
The money will go towards paying for the new roof which has just cost us £ 60,000!

Thank you very much, kind, anonymous, man!