Gardener Items Return to Museum

For Simon Costin's report of the return of Gerald Gardner's items to the Museum of Witchcraft click here .

Decoration and Donation

It's been a busy week with the chaps in painting the library, builders fixing rogue downpipes and Graham putting together a new display of recently donated items from the Isle of Man Museum. After Gerald Gardner died, the artifacts from the museum he took over from Cecil Williamson eventually ended up at Ripley's Believe It or Not in the USA. These items were then obtained by a person in New York who has very kindly donated them to the Museum in Boscastle. A Circular route indeed! Simon Costin was good enough to organise the collection and transfer of items from the US to Cornwall so we thank him very much for that. A Press Release on the donation will be coming out soon with more details but in the meantime, below is a picture of Graham's efforts with the display.

To the right we have some pics of the lovely Martin and Paul painting away in the library.

Divine Amusement

Graham was very amused a couple of days ago when a representative from a South Western leaflet distribution company came into the Museum to ask him if he would like to have a leaflet stand in the front entrance. The representative looked rather distressed when Graham said he would not entertain the idea even if he was paid a million pounds. It turned out this was the same company that had recently refused to take the museum's business and place leaflets around the North Cornwall area - on religious grounds!! Looking embarrassed and suggesting he knew exactly who Graham had spoken to, he apologised and left. I wonder how many times this poor chap has been knocked back due to the actions of his boss.

Leaflet Experiment supported by Friends

The museum recently received a cheque for £2,916.20 to cover the cost of new leaflets and distribution throughout locations in North Cornwall. Thank you for allowing the museum this opportunity, without 'Friends' this scale of advertising would be impossible, and of course we hope this will result in a substantial increase in visitor numbers, and give tourists a further awareness of our location and existence!

thanks to all our 'Friends' for your support

Graham, Hannah & Joyce

New Book from Dave Evans et al

A new book which Dave Evans has edited is now out! It is listed on Amazon,

and available for pre-order. It is an intelligent collection of essays

by some leading names and some new writers, and I hope you will find

it interesting.

The Enduring Problems with Prophecy: from Early-Modern Times to 2012 and Beyond

Dave Evans (editor)

Lionel Snell (aka Ramsey Dukes) Julian Vayne Dave Lee Cynthia Dunn

Alexander Cummins Helen Frisby Siobhan Monroe Francis Breakspear Dave

Evans (contributors)

Have you ever wondered why prophecies are, well, usually pretty off

target? It seems that every few years we have an impending 'end of

days' scenario (there were two in 2011 alone), with all manner of

prophets of doom foretelling a grim future, and then.... on the

appointed day the world continues to turn, the sun rises as normal,

the birds sing and nothing much is changed. Then a few days later, up

springs another prophet, with news of the grisly details of another

impending Armageddon on the way. This timely, intelligent and

entertaining collection of essays by a heady mixture of well-known and

new writers, including Julian Vayne, Ramsey Dukes, Al Cummins, Helen

Frisby, Cynthia Grannon, Dave Lee, Dave Evans, Siobhan Monroe and

Francis Breakspear,examines this recurring phenomenon from a variety

of perspectives, academic, scientific, economic, esoteric,

philosophical and historical, and comes up with some surprising

conclusions, both about modern doomsayers (2012, the Y2K bug etc) and

older historical instances of the end of the world, and muses on why

nobody, of all the modern prophets and psychics alive today, was able

to predict 9-11. Along the way we examine John Dee, British Civil War

women prophets, class war, oil spills, aeonic succession, a new way to

date our calendar (and how 2012 might already have passed us by

without anyone realising), portents of doom in Victorian England,

Terrence McKenna and the Timewave theory, the Mayan Calendar, economic

meltdowns and much, much more besides Read it now, just in case the

next prophecy is right...

Available worldwide, this is the Amazon UK link.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Enduring-Problems-Prophecy-Early-Modern/dp/1905524382/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334579221&sr=1-1

For the USA here at http://www.amazon.com/The-Enduring-Problems-Prophecy-early-Modern/dp/1905524382/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334568014&sr=1-1

if the the link shows as "unavailable at present" - this is because the stock

is still on the way to Amazon. Pre-order with confidence : )

 

If you are not a fan of Amazon please take these ISBNs and support

your local bookshop:

ISBN-10: 1905524382

ISBN-13: 978-1905524389

New Exhibits to watch out for

Scarborough Museum has an interesting exhibit at the moment called Fears Foes & Faeries which Tabitha Cadbury has worked on. Tabitha has been doing a lot of research on charms at various museums around the country including Scarborough & the Museum of Witchcraft. Follow the link for more information.

http://scarboroughartgallery.co.uk/art-gallery/exhibitions

For those interested in Folklore & the Doc Rowe archive, the Museum of East Anglian Life in  conjunction with the Museum of British Folklore, the first exhibition of Doc's photos and videos is currently on in Stowmarket

http://eastanglianlife.org.uk/exhibitions/current-exhibition-the-doc-rowe-archive-50-years-focusing-on-folk/

I was lucky enough to attend the opening last weekend where Simon Costin interviewed Doc about his collecting days past and present, and we were treated to some fabulous music, wine and nibbles. Thanks to Simon and all at the museum fro making us feel very welcome. I recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Weekend Tryptich

I'm off to London this weekend for a threesome of activities: Firstly to attend Belostra in Balham on Sunday - I'll be there with Deborah selling wares from the museum and talking about Friends of the Museum to anyone who's interested, secondly we'll both be visiting Simon Costin who has recently been to New York and picked up some intriguing artifacts for the museum (more of that later), and thirdly we'll both be going along to the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket on Saturday to attend the opening of Simon's Doc Rowe exhibition. Should be a good weekend!

A Charming and Magical Day

The day is filling up fast so let us know if you'd like to come along.

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.

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