Joyce in Accident

This morning Joyce was involved in an accident when a car failed to stop at a junction and ploughed into both her car and a rather large Mercedes towing a caravan. Luckily no one was seriously injured but it looks like her car is  write-off. Joyce was understandably very shaken and will be taking the rest of the week off. We all send her calming thoughts after this stressful experience and hope she can get back to her adoring fans at the museum as soon as possible.

Easter Serenade

We had a special treat today when Carole Talboys (who many will remember from her days working in the booth at the museum) came down to the harbour to play her dulcimer. She has been studying this instrument for a couple of years now and her dedication is really paying off as her playing was, dare I say, divine!! Carole is fundraising for Lifeboats and you may see her playing outside the museum over the summer. Here we see Hannah looking on in awe:)

New Bickies

Everybody's loving the new bickies so far. Get your tube when you come along to the museum. They're yummy as well.

Short story Competition

Having recently discovered the publishing bug I have decided to run a short story competition based around the Museum.

The competition has been advertised to Friends first and is now open to others via the museum blog and Facebook page.

Rules are as follows:

Theme - it must be a fictional account of anything to do with the Museum and the opening line must be ’Mother told me not to come….. ‘

Word Count - 500 to 1,000 words and word count should be shown at top of first page. Any piece which exceeds the word count will automatically be disqualified.

Deadline - June 30th 2012, entries received after this date will not be considered.

Submission - send by email to kg@theoccultartcompany.co.uk or by mail to The Museum of Witchcraft, The Harbour, Boscastle PL35 0HD.

Entrant’s name, email address, phone number and submission title should be contained in body of email or covering letter and the submission attached. Do not put your name on the submission as it will be judged anonymously.

Font - Times New Roman or Arial 12.

Charge - free to enter.

Copyright - Worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author, but the Friends of the Museum of Witchcraft has unrestricted rights to publish the winning entry in the friends of the Museum of Witchcraft newsletter, Museum website or any future Museum related publication.

Judging - The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Winning Entry - will be published in the August Friends’ newsletter and online on the Museum of Witchcraft blog. The winner will also receive a paperback copy of The Museum of Witchcraft~A Magical History.

So get your creative witch’s hats on and get writing. Remember this is fiction we want! I know there is a lot of talent out there and who knows we may be able to get enough material for an anthology of witchy writings.

Hunters Moon Performance

Hunters Moon Morris Side will be performing outside the Museum on Easter Sunday April 8th at 1130am and 330pm. They will be in Tintagel & Port Isaac on the Saturday. check out their website: http://huntersmoonmorris.co.uk . We're very much looking forward to seeing them soon!

John of Monmouth Book Signing

Last weekend the Pagan Federation South West held its annual conference in Kilkhampton and was a great success with everyone commenting on the lovely atmosphere during the proceedings. The Museum always opens for the Sunday after the conference for the attendees to come & be the first to visit for the new year. This day coincided with the launch of John of Monmouth's new book 'Genuine Witchcraft Explained, The Secret History of the Royal Windsor Coven & the Regency' so we took advantage of the sunshine and had a book signing outside the front of the Museum. the book, has had some good reviews and I'm looking forward to reading it. It can be purchased from The Occult Art Company website. Here is a pic of John enjoying his booksigning with brigitte (top) & Deborah.

New magic & the Military Exhibit

Graham has been having great fun putting together a new exhibit about magic & the military especially around the Second World War. he has acquired a Hitler pincushion which was used as a cursing poppet. There is a rather interesting Reader's Digest article from the early 40s which has a cursing Hitler song. He's also just picked up a Kaiser Wilhelm poppet to add to the display. Here are some pics:

May Magical Day & Friends AGM

There will be a day of talks at the Wellington Hotel for the Museum on May 19th - more info on Sunday but please email kerrwitch@aol.com with questions or to let me know you would like to attend.
This year's Friends AGM & Get Together will be held on November 10th. Damh the Bard will be giving a talk during the event and performing in the evening. more information on speakers etc shortly.

Paperback MOW book

The paperback version of The Museum of Witchcraft~A Magical History is at the printers as we speak! Will announce here as soon as it is available. I will shortly be putting some pics of last weekend's Pagan Fed Museum open day & The Occult Conference in Glastonbury this weekend. Apologies for radio silence recently - there's been a lot happening before we open, publishing books, attending conferences, new displays, international visitors etc etc etc..........aaah excuses excuses. National Geographic filming next week as well. May be able to breathe shortly:)

Children of Cain by Mike Howard

Hannah has enjoyed reading Mike Howard's latest publication 'Children of Cain' she comments;

I must say it the most informative, thoroughly researched, all encompassing book I have read in ages. It has conjoined the threads of various individuals mentioned in books and articles over the years, showing the similarities and differences between 'Traditional' groups, including The Clan of Tubal Cain, The Regency, The Pickingill and Sabbatic Crafts.

I think this publication will be enlightening to many, especially as the word 'Traditional' appears to have become fashionable recently, and the glossary at the end is second to none. It is beautifully produced by and available from http://www.threehandspress.com .

New book by John of Monmouth

As promised here is the information about John of Monmouth's new book. It is called Genuine Witchcraft is Explained - the secret history of the Royal Windsor Coven and the Regency and it will be out Feb 10th published by Cappall Bann for £17.95. I believe you can preorder it through Cappall Bann.

2012 Update So Far

Happy New Year to all out there. Just wanted to update you on what's happening so far this year. The museum will be opening on Saturday March 31st this year so we're currently working on some ideas for our new window display.

Due to popular demand the anniversary book will be reprinted in paperback. I'm just waiting on the last few permissions to come in then it will go to the printers to be ready for the opening at the end of March.

Steve Patterson is working on an event for the museum in May as last years 'Guardians of Cornish Magic' was such a success. This may involve an author's evening.

Mike Howard's new book Children of Cain has recently been published by Three Hands Press. Gemma Gary has released a new version of 'Traditional Witchcraft' and Cassandra Latham Jones has her latest book Village Wisewoman is also out.

I have also just heard from John of Monmouth that his book will be released Feb 10th. It can be ordered through Cappall Bann. More on this when I get the details.

If you're on Facebook we have a Museum of Witchcraft Fans page

If you wish you can follow us on Twitter at @witchmuseum

Jacky Dowding

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Jacky Dowding in a car accident just before Christmas on December 13th, she was just 43 years old. Jacky had joined Friends last year and many of you who attended the November Friends' Get Together will remember her very bubbly and friendly presence. She loved Boscastle and the Museum and we are happy that we were able to share a small part of her life. Deepest sympathies go to her friends and family, particularly her 3 children, her partner, and her good friend Lyn Berriman. Merry Meet and Merry Part and Merry Meet Again.

Notification of witchcraft talk in Exeter

At a recent meeting for the British Association of Friends of Museums I met some attendees from Exeter who informed me of an upcoming talk on Witchcraft in March this year. It sounds very interesting so I thought I'd let people know about it. Hoping to get along myself.

Witchcraft in Exeter 1558-1660

Using new reserach, Mark Stoyle, Prof of Early Modern History at University of Southampton, will tell the story of some of the unfortunate Exeter men and women who were accused of witchraft by their neighbours and show that executions of supposed witches in the city began more than a hundred years earlier than the history books suggest.

Tickets price £5.00, for this lecture, at 7pm on 29 March the Royal Albert Memorial Musem will be available from 16 January.

Apply by post to Friends Ticket Sales, RAMM, Queen St, Exeter EX4 3RX. Please enclose a cheque made out to Exeter City Councill and enclose an SAE.

New Publishing House to Look out For

Thought some of you esoteric writers out there might like to hear of a new publishing house starting up - here is more info and the website for further details:

WyrdBooks is a new publishing house (a virgo, born in September 2011), specialising in literary esoterica and run by non-fiction writer Sinead Spearing and Sian Thomas (poet & editor). We welcome fiction and non-fiction manuscripts on folklore, magic, myth, gnosis, transformation and the transpersonal. So far we've had some interesting manuscripts, but we're looking for something we love. Submission guidelines can be found on our website: http://www.wyrdbooks.co.uk/

Sian Thomas did a stint as poet in residence at the museum a year or so ago and we wish them both success with their new venture.

New Publication from Cassandra Latham-Jones

Have just read Village Witch by Cassandra Latham-Jones and wanted to recommend to you all. It is a brave, personal, heartfelt account  of the trials and tribulations of Cassandra's life and extraordinary career, incorporating the beauty and magic of deepest Cornwall with some humour and evocative photographs included. Beautifully illustrated it can be purchased from http://www.troybooks.co.uk/

Fab New Book

We've just been sent a lovely new book 'Mummmers, Maypoles and Milkmaids  -A Journey Through the English Ritual Year'. This large book is packed with amazing colour photographs and traces some of the many folk traditions and festivals that happen throughout our year. Some of the festivals are centuries old and some are more modern revivals but they are all interesting and the book is required reading for anyone interested in folk traditions. It is available on Amazon  and you can get to the publisher by clicking here for more information.

Friends AGM & Get Together

Great time had by all at the recent Get Together at the Wellington Hotel on November 19th. Interesting speakers including Tabitha Cadbury on Folk charms, Simon Costin on the latest news about the Museum of British Folklore, Steve Patterson on the Magic of Boscastle, and Julian Vayne stood in on very short notice speaking on the topic 'What I did on my Holidays' about his recent visit to Nepal. In the evening we had merriment and japes with music from The Jowsters who came up from Penzance, and the local singing group The Boscastle Buoys. Graham led the walk to Joan Wytte's gravestone through Minster woods on the Sunday. Judith Noble stood down as Chair and Elayne Hoskins has taken over this position. Deborah Westmancoat is now Vice Chair as well as membership secretary and Judith will now be secretary. There were a few stalls and a raffle which all helped to raise more funds. We are looking at making changes to the membership year, hoping to introduce rolling membership instead of the April to April timings we have at the moment. Thanks to all for your support throughout the year and we'll see you at the next AGM in 2012. 

Website Problem!

There is a very serious situation with the website - it looks like the domain has been stolen and information changed. We have someone working on it at the moment hope to have it rectified as soon as possible.

Welly Rooms available for the Friends Do

There are still a couple of rooms available at The Wellington Hotel for the Friends do
If you would like to book you'll need to phone as their online system is block booked for the Museum so will show rooms as being booked out
the phone number is: 01840 250202

the rooms we still have available for the 18th and 19th are as follows:

1 x Standard Double - £50.00 per room per night
1 x Superior Double - £70.00 per room per night

1 x Superior Family Suite - £70.00 (for 2 sharing) - £110.00 (if the room is occupied by 4 persons)
(Double bedroom, Bunk bedroom, Bathroom where the bunk beds are suitable for adults)