Happy Yule

We hope everyone has a fabulous Yule Fest. The museum may open tomorrow December 25 for a few hours in the middle of the day so if you're around do pop in. The AGM went very well and we voted to change the date so next year will be earlier - we'll announce this when the date has been finalised.  Thanks to Willow Moon in Tintagel who had collected around £75 for Friends of the museum during the year. We also raised around £90 through the raffle. More news and pics soon.

Museum YouTube Video

Click here for a direct link to The Museum of Witchcraft Video filmed by Tom Chick & Flo Kennard.

AGM Report

What a fab weekend was had by all at our latest AGM & Get Together. It was sad that quite a number of Friends were unable to attend due to the weather but we hope to see you next year. Speakers included Professor Martin Smith from Bournemouth University who spoke on the research he's been carrying out on 'Harriett', the tarred skull. His talk was exceptionally well illustrated with moving CAT Scan pictures of Harriet and the feedback from attendees was very positive. Then John Smart spoke on the history of The Regency & The Royal Windsor Coven which was enlightening and we look forward to his future writings on the subject. Joyce Froome (museum historian) spoke on Magic in Christianity - inspired by the museum's new exhibition then Judith Noble spoke on Kenneth Anger & 'Luciferian London', showing his short film 'Invocation of My Demon Brother'. The AGM followed where trustees were re-elected and we welcome a new member to the team, Nick Miller. Some changes were agreed, the main one being changing the date of the next AGM so the museum can wind up for the year earlier and also so Boscastle will be more open (ie shops etc) when people come down to visit. More on exact dates later.

The day was wound up with a showing of the fab new video of the museum which was done by Tom Chick & Flo Kennard who won a competition to film it. Tom came down from Edinburgh to be there for the launch and answer questions. The film can be viewed here .

Friends Weekend

Busy with preparations for the Friends weekend. We're heavily booked this year so hoping we can fit everyone in. Meeting in the Welly bar Friday evening fro drinks before Saturday's full day of talks. We'll also have tarot readings Saturday evening courtesy of Eileen Blacklock. Remember this is a Friends of the Museum event - non Friends are welcome but will need to join on the day. It's cold here but no snow at the moment. See you soon maybe.

Witchfest

Thanks to Merlyn and the organisers of Witchfest - we had a great day at the event promoting Friends of The Museum of Witchcraft and selling products to raise money for the museum. We met some great people there as well! Graham's new stand design was a hit especially when I was trying to put it up and take it down. Great amusement for anyone watching! The main raffle prize on the day was a private tour of the museum for one person plus 12 of their friends. The lucky winners will have Graham King take them behind the scenes to see the archives and learn the stories behind some of the artifacts. This prize is going to be offered at some events next year to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the museum (50yrs in Boscastle).

Occult Art back to business

Apologies to anyone who has been trying to order on The Occult Art Company website. I've just updated the site and we've had a problem in one part of it - ie it's been telling customers we're not shipping to their area. This problem has been rectified so you should be OK to order as normal. Postage costs are included in the prices on the site so it may appear that prices have increased but this is not the case - extra postage & packaging costs will not be added at the checkout. International buyers are asked to email us for international postage rates. We hope to have this step removed soon but in the meantime, just give me an email & I'll get back to you asap.

Closed for 2010

Well another year of hot museum action is over as we shut the doors until April 2011. We're going to  be having a break over the Yule season and then back to spruce up the museum and get ready for the 50th Anniversary of the museum opening in Boscastle and the 60th Anniversary since the museum first opened its doors on the Isle of Man in 1951. See you next year!!

Friends weekend Rooms

Two double rooms have become availble at The Welly for the Friends weekend. PLease phone 01840 250202 to book at £25.00 per person B & B.

New Website

Very exciting stuff - our new website has gone live today! You are now able to search documents, read the guidebook, and go straight to The Occult Art Company to make some museum related purchases. More later but go and check it out and tell us what you think - www.museumofwitchcraft.com

latest news

Apologies for minimal blogging recently - have been having trouble getting into the programme from my computer so have only been able to do snippets from my computer. A fair bit of action has been happening in the last few weeks - we've had artist Mat Chivers down working on drawings for an upcoming exhibition he's having in January at the Maddox Gallery in Mayfair in January 2011. He's chosen some interesting pieces - a dark mirror, scrying ball, and Golden Dawn staff so far. I've popped in a photo of Mat working in the library. His work has been largely sculptural until recently. You can see some of his art at his website www.matchivers.com .

I've been off at a couple of stalls recently - firstly the witchmarket in Glastonbury (organised by Adrian Bryn-Evans) which went very well and may become an annual event. Here's a pic of the stall showing rather creased tablecloth and our membership secretary who also sells her own amber & jet necklaces and homemade soaps. I also had a preview of Adele Clough's new B & B 'The Covenstead' which promises to be a fabulous witchy venue to stay in when visiting Glastonbury. Yesterday I went along to the Cornwall antiquarian Society meeting in Helston which was a little quieter but they had some excellent speakers including Jason Semmens and Paul Broadhurst. Our next appearance will be at London's Witchfest where four of the Trustees of friends will be there with the Museum and Occult Art Company stall to sell Museum items and answer people's questions.

Joyce and I will be up at the Moot With No Name (organised by Geraldine Beskin of Atlantis Books) on November 24th where Joyce will speak on her new book 'Wicked Enchantments' about the Pendle Witch Trials and I will be her beautiful assistant (cough).

Work on the anniversary book is coming along nicely after a weird hiccup within the Indesign programme we are using - kept crashing for some reason - maybe it doesn't like witches - but Graham seems to have sorted it out with help from the Adobe team and it's full steam ahead from here on in. I have a couple of printers in mind but I may be on the lookout for a good copy editor who would be willing to volunteer to check the book before it finally goes to production. More news soon as I seem to have fixed my blogger problem.

Post cards response

A big thank you goes to Robert Tims who has responded to our request for the Horned postcard - it will now be able to appear in next year's anniversary book
Hoorah

Request for post card

We would like to use an image from one of the old post cards in our book next year and we don't have a good enough example. Does anyone have a copy of this post card or a high res scan to send us? We will return it if you send the original. Thanks

Occult Reliquary

We have just received a few extra copies of the Deluxe edition of the Occult Reliquary. They are possibly the last ones we will be getting and these have been selling very quickly. They are available on http://www.theoccultartcompany.co.uk/ until sold out.

Recent Book Donation

Thanks to a Friend of the Museum who recently donated three fabulous books to our library. They are: Diabolical Liberties, Ballads of Good and Evil from the hand of Daniel; Amrita; and a rather fabulous leather bound edition of The Horseman's Word. We believe more are on the way.

Mother Shipton Missing

Either a very brave or a very stupid person has stolen a Mother Shipton statue from her perch in the Images section of the museum. We're not sure how long she's been gone but most things stolen from us return sooner or later due to strange happenings to the thief. So beware if you see one on ebay - it may or may not be ours. I attach a photograph of the missing statue and the spot where she once stood.

Occult Art Website Down

Those of you wanting to purchase online museum goods over the wekkend may have to check back in a day or two as the website is undergoing some work - while the host is being changed over the site will be downm but we hope to get it back up asap. This is all gearing up for a new look website in the very near future.

A Walk Through The Occult Reliquary

Graham is so happy with how The Occult Reliquary has turned out he's made a video outlining the contents.

West Country Witches

We are keenly awaiting the new book by Mike Howard, 'West Country Witches', which is due out next month. It is being published by Three Hands Press who have just launched 'The Occult Reliquary' for The Museum of Witchcraft. In this book Mike examines the witchcraft and sorcery practised by historical witches, charmers, cunning folk and pellars of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire and also the faery lore of these counties. Should be a good read!

Stolen Guide Books

Very busy in the museum at the moment as you can imagine so it was really irritating to discover that someone had stolen our large print guide books yesterday. We provide the guides for those who have difficulty with reading small print as part of our programme to be as accessible as possible for those with a disability. Graham had to spend most of the day redoing the guides as they had disappeared from the computer. I wonder how long it will take for them to be returned - most things that are stolen from the museum are returned quite soon - I have no idea why!!:)))

The Occult Reliquary

The long awaited Occult Reliquary featuring images and artifacts from the Richel Eldermans Collection has arrived and is available from the museum or from The Occult Art Company. The Special and Deluxe versions have sold out (although we may have another small allocation in 2 weeks time) but we have a number of standard editions available at £84.00 each. They are selling very fast so, if you are interested, get your order in quickly to avoid disappointment.