Shrine at the Museum

The Shrine area in the entrance is a place for contemplation and reflection - in keeping with this we have recently installed a brass dish filled with sand so that people may leave candles.

New residents at the Museum...

We are pleased to announce that the world of faery has come to the Museum of Witchcraft!

The old tree stump is a new home for somebody; they have chosen a very nice spot next to the sweet-peas...

Invite the faery-folk to your garden with our lovely new fairy doors!  Pop in to the Museum shop to browse our range of Made in Cornwall doors...

New Shop Stock Available!

The Museum of Witchcraft Shop has some exciting new items for the summer holidays.

How about a fabulous 'Magical Cabinet' complete with miniature scrying crystal, skull, candles, bottles with magical ingredients, and loads more!

We also have new Tree of Life bracelets, tarot charms...

Acorn-inspired earrings...

Lucky sixpences (both as necklaces and charms with paper scrolls) and lots of other beautiful magical things...

We also have some fantastic new key-rings, fridge magnets and badges - using Cecil Williamson's brilliant retro art from the '60s and '70s.

All these great items will be available through our online shop very soon!  Or you can call into the Museum shop anytime...

http://www.museumofwitchcraft.com/shop/gb/

New window display in place

"From remotest times, back even to the birth of humanity, Talismans have been held in high estimation by all nations...on account of their virtues, as transmitters of luck and to avert misfortune." W Pavitt, The Book of Talismans (1970).

We have a new theme to our wonderful Stag's Head window display:  Amulets and Talismans from around the world.  These beautiful hand-painted objects hang from the antlers, evoking the beauty of the originals - some of which can be seen inside the museum - this Cornetto (red charm) for example, can be seen in 'Protection' upstairs.

We have also provided a little information on some of the charms and talismans to inform and intrigue our visitors.  

Triangular Abracadabra

Did you know that abracadabra roughly translates as begone?   People in the Middle Ages wore talismans like this to try and get rid of illness.

Cornetto

An Italian charm to ward off the evil eye.  It looks like a chilli and the name means little horn.

The Ankh

A mysterious Egyptian symbol with a circle at the top of a cross, also known as the ‘key of life’.

Chao-Lao

The Chinese god of long life. He has an elongated head to indicate his vast wisdom.

Come and see the new display!

School visits Museum

We were visited on Tuesday by a school group from Roseland Community College.  The students were enjoying their activities week and looking at Cornish Myths and Legends.  In the morning they visited Tintagel Castle and then in the afternoon they toured the Museum and did some (supervised) object handling.  They looked at some mystery objects and tried to figure out how they would have been used by cunning people in the past.  Although only a short visit the students seem to have learnt a lot about magical practices.  If you would like to organise a school visit to the Museum, please contact Judith to talk about a tailor made educational package.

New leaflets for visitors

We have two new sets of leaflets to enhance visitor's experiences of the Museum.  The first is a brief guide to the Museum which has been translated (thanks to the Pagan Federation) into French, German, Spanish and Dutch.  This will be a great help to speakers of these languages as it provides a brief introduction to each section of the Museum and a bank of key words which appear regularly throughout the collection.

We have also developed a series of "I like" guides to enable visitors to personalise their journey through the Museum and have their attention drawn to key objects based on the themes that interest them.  We have four leaflets available: I like art, I like a good story, I like nature and I like unusual things.  They are displayed near the entrance and are free to pick up and use.

Visitor tells us about witch hunt in the Netherlands

Joyce from the Museum writes:

A visitor from the Netherlands has given us some interesting news about her home town Roermond.

400 years ago Roermond was the scene of a witch hunt that led to 74 people being burned. To commemorate this anniversary the townspeople have created a website 

http://www.heksenjaarroermond.nl/ 

They have also been holding a series of events, organising education programmes, and have produced a powerful musical drama Heksenwaan.

Entertainment and spectacle have played their part, but the townspeople have also put a special emphasis on the importance of remembering that prejudice and injustice are still all too common, and that in honouring the memories of those who died during the witch hunts we must also recognise that their stories still have relevance today.

The Museum of Witchcraft would like to salute the people of Roermond for such an insightful and moving response to this tragic episode in their town’s past.

Welcome to Joan's Garden

The Museum now has a new feature for visitors to enjoy - a herb garden.  In the courtyard in front of the Museum there is now a herb wheel with various herbs in it.  We already have Joan, the wise woman's cottage inside the Museum and we've imagined that this is the garden where she picks herbs for her remedies and gives them with advice to the people who might visit her in search of help.

We've used Michael Howard's Witches' Herbal book to select herbs with witch stories and folklore connections.  The herbs are planted and labelled with information about them such as "a handful of carraway seeds in your husband's pocket should keep him faithful" and "comb your hair with rosemary to prevent baldness"  An attractive, educational and intriguing new aspect to the Museum!

Kernow Passports

The Museum of Witchcraft is now a Kernow Passport Agency and visitors can get their Cornish passports stamped here!

This initiative has been launched by Celtic Nation Passports.  We have been selected as one of twenty "must see" places in Cornwall.  The passports can be bought for £5 and then stamped at all twenty places.  We're proud to be part of a celebration of Cornish culture and we thank the organisers for including us.

For more information and for a list of places to buy the passport contact: billpearce1934@gmail.com
The Kernow Passport is not currently for sale in the Museum Shop.

Late night openings this summer

We will be having late openings of  the Museum this summer on the first Saturday of every month.  We will be open from 8pm till midnight on the following dates: Saturday July 5th, Saturday August 2nd, Saturday September 6th and Saturday October 4th. 
 

At each of these times, we will be open by candlelight and there will also be an opportunity to see some of the objects in depth (out of their display cases for you to have a closer look)  The objects will include: black mirrors, crystal balls, corn dolls and gemstones and crystals.

The last two candlelit openings were hugely popular with visitors.  It was a truly magical and beautiful way to see the Museum and really gave people chance to take in the objects without the daytime hurly burly.  Lots of people have said that they were sorry they missed the last candlelit opening: now is your chance if you missed it before - come along!

Book Review - Magic in Modern London by Edward Lovett (1925)

Judith from the Museum writes:

This book looks lovely: great cover, lovely layout, unique pictures and a nice size but I wasn't sure what to expect not knowing who Lovett was (sorry for my ignorance!) and not having that much interest in modern London either (sorry again to lovers of modern London!)  I picked it up one day and I absolutely loved it.  I ended up reading the whole thing and looking in the Museum library for other works by him.  

The book is full of great stories and magical practices.  There is a remedy for whooping cough (cut a piece of hair from the sufferer, put it in between two pieces of buttered bread, throw the bread outside into a street, you will see a dog there, he will eat the bread. shut the door) and the story of where the term moonraking came from (it is to do with hiding kegs of brandy from excise men).  There are lots of examples of lucky charms that people used during World War One.  All these stories are illustrated with examples from the Museum collection. There are too many different examples of charms and cures to mention here - you really should read it yourself.   

Reading the book really helped me to gain a better understanding of some of the objects in the Museum.  The collection of objects that stands out are the horse brasses.  I see them every day but I hadn't really thought about them that much (there are so many other amazing objects in that part of the Museum which steal the limelight!)  So I found the section of the book on brasses with its connections to the importance of the horse in the past and with hag riding and protection magic really interesting.  My favourite thing about the book was Lovett's tone and his conversational style.  He seems to have almost goaded and kidded people into 'confessing' their beliefs.  He regularly recounts himself saying "You don't believe that rubbish do you?" to which people usually reply "Of course I do!"  Magic was alive and thriving in modern London.

Magic in Modern London is available from the Museum shop for £25

http://www.museumofwitchcraft.com/shop/gb/books/144-magic-in-modern-london.html

The Museum of Witchcraft on Japanese TV

We welcomed Mai, Hanako and a TV crew from Japanese TV station TBS to the Museum this morning.  They were here filming for a television show which will air in Japan at the end of July.  

They were particularly interested in moles feet charms, wands and mandrakes - anything to do with Harry Potter!  The show is part of the 'Discovery of the World's Mysteries' series (Sekai Fushigi Hakken), and pulls huge audiences in Japan on its Saturday 9pm slot.

http://www.tbs.co.jp/f-hakken/

We need you - help us to (offically) become the Best Museum in Cornwall

Voting time is here for the Cornwall Today Magazine Awards and we're up for Best Museum.  There are three other Museums nominated and we really need your help to win the much deserved title of 'Best Museum in Cornwall'  Voting is really simple.
1.  Visit this website: http://www.cornwalltoday.co.uk/awards/#/awards/vote-now or search the internet for Cornwall Today Awards and visit the website
2.  Scroll down to the Best Museum Category and click next to our name
3.  Scroll down again and enter your details
4.  Click submit

If that doesn't work for whatever reason you can e-mail your vote directly.  In your e-mail say you want to vote for the Best Museum Award for the The Museum of Witchcraft and then put your name.
E-mail address: awards@cornwalltoday.co.uk
The results are announced in September.  Thanks in advance for all your help and support.  Fingers crossed!

Teddy visits Museum and enters competition!

Joyce from the Museum writes:

Children’s Art Week has got off to an entertaining start – although the first picture handed in at the Museum was not by a child but by Jed the teddy bear.

Jed is a member of the Guymer Gang, an association of intrepid explorers, and arrived at the Museum dressed in a splendid wizard costume. Although he is only 8 years old, he did agree that he isn’t strictly a child, and so not eligible to compete for prizes in the competition, but he was delighted with his purple Art Week sticker – and we felt his self-portrait certainly deserved a mention on our blog.

Proudly associated with the Museum of British Folklore

Visitors to the Museum of Witchcraft will notice a new display near the entrance.  This celebrates our connection with the Museum of British Folklore and offers visitors the chance to find out more about it.  Many visitors have inquired about the Museum and picked up the postcards which are now available.  We now also stock some items from the Museum in our shop as well.

How to enter our Drawing Competition

The Drawing Competition started today and there is a photo of the resources provided to visitors to the Museum above.  Here are the details of how to enter (if you can't visit the Museum you can still enter!)

Museum of Witchcraft Drawing Competition How to enter The Competition is open to all young people aged between 3 and 18. The closing date for entrants is June 30th. There are pencils, paper, clipboards and a dedicated 'drawing area' in the Museum. Entrants can complete their work while visiting the Museum or take their work away with them for completion/improvement and either send it in by post or scan it and send it electronically by e-mail.  The best entrants will probably use colour and possibly paint and other media to create a quality piece of work. We are looking for imaginative responses to the Museum. Some ideas for artworks: ·  draw an object on display ·  draw a room or display  in the Museum ·  draw the exterior of the Museum ·  imagine how an object might have been used in the past and draw that ·  imagine the story behind an object and draw it ·  research witches and witchcraft more and come up with a picture on this theme ·  draw a picture about magic ·  use your imagination There are addressed envelopes available in the Museum or work can be sent to: The Museum of Witchcraft The Harbour Boscastle Cornwall PL35 0HD e-mail: museumwitchcraft@aol.com There will be prizes for the best work and the opportunity to have the work displayed in the Museum of Witchcraft, exhibited as part of an online exhibition and used in promotional materials for the Museum (potentially this may include mugs, T-shirts, postcards, posters)

Museum of Witchcraft Drawing Competition

The Museum of Witchcraft is taking part in Children's Art Week from Monday 16th June to Sunday 22nd June.  Young people are encouraged to visit the Museum and draw pictures of the objects in the Collection and use their imaginations to come up with an imaginative interpretation of witchcraft and magic.  They can bring your own sketchpad and pencils or use ours.  The best pictures will be exhibited and there will be prizes for the winners.  

Museum of Witchcraft receives Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence Award

Another successful year for the Museum with positive visitor feedback and glowing reviews.  One recent review said:
"Best Museum in Cornwall"
This is a fantastic little museum and covers absolutely everything to do with all aspects of witchcraft, occult, paganism etc.  Nice atmosphere and friendly staff.  Not too scary for children either.  Very cheap entrance fee as well.  I would highly recommend this attraction to visitors.  Where it is situated is lovely too.  Right next to the river running down to the sea.  National Trust cafe next door.  Ideal.

Book Donation by a Museum admirer

We received a lovely letter from a visitor to the Museum.  It was so nice that we thought we'd share it with you.

"I visited the Museum last summer as part of my honeymoon (a visit I had wanted to make for some years!) and was beguiled by the place.  I later wrote a short piece about the trip on my blog, to share my enjoyment.

In the same vein of love and respect, I am now sending a copy of my first published work for your perusal - I hope it is enjoyed, and I would be genuinely honoured if it could be given a place in your marvellous library.

Thank-you for your time and I wish the Museum every success in the future.  Hopefully I will see it again myself before too long (perhaps an anniversary!)"

Thanks so much for the letter and the book: it will be catalogued and put in the library and be of use to future library users no doubt.  The book itself is available for sale online and has received some really positive reviews.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Esoteric-Occult-Stephen-Wakefield/dp/1907126201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401966858&sr=8-1&keywords=magic+esoteric+the+occult+wakefield

Museum of Witchcraft shortlisted for Best Museum Award

We just found out that the Museum has been shortlisted in the Best Museum category by Cornwall Today Magazine Awards 2014.  We are one of four Museums shortlisted for this award.  We'll get to see the full list and find out more details when the next edition of the magazine is published on June 19th.  There will be a public vote so we'll keep you informed on how to have your say.  Well done to us for getting shortlisted!  I'm sure you'll agree that we would be worthy winners.