Opening On Friday April 1st

We're opening the museum on Friday so welcome to 2011!! Thanks to Gerry & Vannessa Greenslade and Dee Pearce who've worked tirelessly over the last few weeks to clean & paint the museum & generally get it ready for opening. Graham spent the afternoon cleaning & re-lighting the shrine so it should look spic and span by Friday. See you Friday or beyond.

Hot Floor Action

Graham & Dee have been a pair of old scrubbers this week as they try to transform the upper gallery floor that has been caked with 6 years of varnish & grime. We were going to replace the flooring but at around £600 it was just too expensive so with some specialist floor cleaning products & much elbow grease I think it's coming up a treat. Not sure if this pic shows it well enough but there is a distinct difference between scrubbed & unscrubbed.

German translation

Great news for German visitors. We have just received a full German translation of the guide book from Susanna Supper who visited the Museum last year and offered us a free translation. We will be putting the information onto laminated cards next to the accompanying exhibits as we have with the French translations.

60th Anniversary Book

Well all is very exciting as I have just sent the 60th anniversary book 'The Museum of Witchcraft~A Magical History' off to the printers today. A total of 47 people have put forward their essays/poems/artworks which have been collected in this book which will originally be published as a cloth bound limited edition of 250 copies. It also contains a short Cecil Williamson biography, an article Cecil wrote about his museums, a rundown on the Richel Eldermans Collection & a piece on the 2004 flood. See the previous post for info on the book launch date.

Day of Talks Coming up to Celebrate Museum's Anniversary

Friends of the Museum of Witchcraft

are proud to present

Guardians of Cornish Magic

A day of talks to celebrate the Museum’s 60th Anniversary

at

The Wellington Hotel Boscastle

May 14th 2011

In the 20th Century 3 people in Cornwall had a major effect on the worlds of Witchcraft, Magic and Folklore.Cecil Williamson collected magical artefacts in his now world famous Museum of Witchcraft, William Paynter was the last great collector of Cornish folklore, and Ithell Colquhoun’s love of the Cornish landscape influenced her art, her writing and her magical practice.

1030 doors open

1100 Cecil Williamson - Life of an Occultist by Kerriannn Godwin and Joyce Froome

Williamson founded of The Museum of Witchcraft 60 years ago in 1951 and this talk looks at his fascinating life before and after the Museum’s inception.

1215 The Cornish Witchfinder: William Henry Paynter by Jason Semmens

Paynter was a folklorist, antiquary & bard of the Cornish Gorsedd who collected witch-stories & folklore during the 1920s & 30s. His writings are the last great collection of Cornish Folklore.

1315 lunch break

1415 Ithell Colquhoun’s Magical Cornwall by Dr Amy Hale (anthropologist)

Surrealist artist, poet and essayist, Colquhoun had a passionate relationship with Cornwall whiich lasted over 40 years. We look at her art, writings and magic and see how her perspectives on Cornwall intersected with wider cultural movements such as Cornish nationalism, the earth mysteries movement and the development of Paganismin the latter half of the 20th century.

1530 Break

1830 Anniversary Book Launch at The Museum of Witchcraft upper gallery

The Museum of Witchcraft ~ A Magical History

a collection of personal memories celebrating 60 years

published by The Occult Art Company in conjunction with Friends of the Museum

Cost for the day ~ £10.00 on the door (prebooking preferred to avoid disappointment)

Concessions for Friends of the Museum ~ £6.00

Book launch ~ free

Donations welcome

Reservations can be made by contacting museumwitchcraft@aol.com or 01840250111
Payment should be made on the day by cash or cheque & tickets are to be picked up at the door

at least half an hour before doors open

Library expands & aniversary plans.

Due to the ever-increasing numbers of books which are being donated, the library is expanding into the kitchen. Graham is busy painting and putting up shelves in readiness for an onslaught of news books. On the subject of books, the anniversary book is going well with all submissions in and most of the author biographies done. Designing the cover this week so hopefully it can get to the printers by end Feb. Fingers crossed. Steve Patterson is organising a day of talks to go along with the book launch for May 14th. We are confirming it this week so I'll let you know details shortly.

Database

Just a quick update on the database - all is going well with the data entry and it is proving a great boon to researchers. We have heard there are people who may have issues with the database. If any one has any concerns please contact the museum directly so we can address any problems personally. We always prefer people to have a dialogue with us directly rather than having misinformation spread around. Hannah is looking after things at the moment and Graham will be available from Feb 9th. So once again please speak to Graham directly for any information regarding the museum. It will be the best place to find out the facts.

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.