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.

New Book by Paul Broadhurst

For all those fans of Paul Broadhurst's books (Sun & the Serpent which he co-wrote with Hamish Miller, The Dance of the Dragon, and others), he has just published another book called The Green Man and the Dragon. Graham and Joyce from the museum were among those who proof read the book and they say it's fascinating. I'm yet to read my copy but I'm loving the cover. It was launched on St George's Day and can be found in most good book stores. I have seen it on Amazon as well but there does appear to be a bit of a wait with them for some reason. It can also be bought from Paul's store The Otherworld in Boscastle if anyone's visiting.

New Retail Items Proving Popular

There have been a few new additions to the retail cabinet since reopening and they are proving to be very popular. The standout items are the dowsing rods made by well know author & dowsing specialist Hamish Miller. Graham has placed a coin under the mat and has great fun getting customers to locate it with the rods. There are handmade leather Books of Shadows from Sue Bucklow and protection charms from Levannah Morgan. Steve Patterson has made some beautiful dark scrying mirrors. Two are carved as Green Men and the others are of a more simple design. The Occult Art Company is now offering framed Richel prints in the museum.

Nice Surprise

We had a rather pleasant surprise in the past few days. Regular readers may remember the statue of the obsidian owl that was stolen from the post outside the museum several months ago. Someone has placed a little black cat statue in the space now & it looks rather fetching. We have no idea who put it there but it's very attractive. So thanks very much to the phantom pussy placer.

As promised some more Morris pics

Here are a few more piccies of the Hunter's Moon side dancing outside the museum and around Boscastle.

Oh drat, the computer is not letting me upload any more pics at the moment. I'll try some more later.

This is Ray showing some festive Easter cheer with a few chicks in his beard. Chortle.

Happy Oestre with Morris

The sun came out as the Hunter's Moon Morris side started their dance outside the museum this morning. What a wonderful way of celebrating this ancient festival - music and dancing! This was their fourth year of dancing in Boscastle and this year they were raising money for the Boscastle Busker's charity "The Mount Edgecumbe Hospice". It is great to hear that three generations dance in the side, the tradition is living on. Graham celebrated with the side by downing a giant pint of beer followed by a tiny one. I'll add more pictures later. The web browser has just gone weird & won't upload more pics.

W!

For all you American readers, get a copy of the most recent W magazine as some of the artefacts from the museum are in it. There is also a shot of us in the dark of night. Haven't seen it myself yet but am eagerly awaiting a copy. Fashionable at last!

Stick it to me...

We've had some wonderful friends from Holland visiting us over the past week. Rosalie & Freya have been painstakingly going through all the four & a half thousand books in the library, checking their dewey numbers, shelf placement, and generally getting them in proper order. They had a break from indoor action on Wednesday when Graham got us all out harvesting sticks for the walkers who visit the museum. Here we are gathering the aforementioned sticks.

Surprise Visit

A bit of excitement in Boscastle today! Word had been going around that a senior government figure would be visiting the village to check on the rebuilding process and show support for the villagers and workmen. John Prescott arrived around 315 pm, stopped off in the Wellington Hotel for a bit, then strolled around the harbour meeting & greeting. He was very pleasant to everyone & agreed to a photo in front of the museum with Graham & I. Voila!

Fums Up

Graham has recently acquired this little Fums Up charm for the new "Charms and Talismans" display. They were given to soldiers in WWI as good luck charms. The arms are articulated & the head is made of wood so that one could "touch wood" for good luck. Cute, isn't he!