Book Giveaway

Book Giveaway

I am interested in any quirky, funny, or downright scary faerie stories or anecdotes that you might have. 

 If you have met one of the inhabitants of the land of Fae even better! 

So please share with us on this site and I will present a copy of Faerie Flora 

to the most interesting or funniest. 

So sharpen your pencils, flex your fingers and get to it.

Looking forward to your stories!

St Finnians Night

St Finnians Night ,12th Dec, is celebrated in the Scottish Highlands and Islands: it is very unlucky to go to bed supper less on this night, any one who did so was likely to be carried away over the rooftops by the faeries!

According to a Minster living in Barnstaple Devon. 1683 via a letter to a friend: 'Francis Fry  was returning from work when he was caught by a female spectre who grabbed him by the skirts of his doublet and carried him into the air... and about half an hour later he was whistling and singing from the middle of a quagmire. Coming to himself an hour after he was found, he solemnly protested that the daemon carried him so high that he could see his Masters house underneath him no bigger than a hay cock... he prayed to God not to suffer the Devil to destroy him and he was then suddenly set down in that quagmire. The workmen found one of his shoes on one side of the house and the other on the other side; his perriwig was espied next morning hanging in the branches of a tall tree.'

Fairyland

Fairyland is generallly believed to be a beautiful place where perpetual summer reigned. Gervase of Tilbury tells how a Derbyshire swineherd followed a sow through a cave and came to a country where all were reaping, though the Derbyshire hills were covered in snow. Sometimes this fairy land was lit by supernatural means, no sun or moon being visible.

In a Cornish folktale, a young woman called Cherry from Zennor, takes service with an unknown gentleman who brings her to an underground country lit by a strange and lovely light. Here she has to tend a little boy and it is not until she rubs some of his ointment on her own eyes that she realises she is in faerieland. As soon as her master knows that she can see him as he really is he transports her back to Cornwall, leaving her on the exact spot where they first met. And she is never again able to find her way to his house.

Numerous stories tell of people who have danced with the faeries for they thought was just a few hours and in fact was a year and a day. Two men met the faeries in a lonely place; one joined in with their dance but the other returned home. When his friend did not appear, he was accused of murder but managed to stave off arrest until a year and a day after meeting the faeries. He escaped taking a knife with and headed back to the place where they met the faeries. There he saw his friend dancing tirelessly in the faerie circle. He flung his knife into the ring seized his friend and manged to drag him away. His friend was astonished to hear what had happened, as he though he had only been dancing for a couple of hours.

A more tragic tale is that of King Herla who was invited to the wedding of the faerie King. Herla and his men attended the magnificent feast held in the palace which was entered through a cave. After three days of feasting Herla prepared to leave for home. The Faerie King gave him a small hound and warned him that none of his company must alight from their horses until the hound leaps to the ground. When Herla reached his home he found everything changed, old landmarks had changed, the people spoke a strange language and his family and friends were not to be found. He asked a shepherd for news of his Queen and the man replied that he knew nothing of her except that two hundred years ago there was Queen of that name whose husband had disappeared and never seen again. In the meantime the Saxons had invaded Britain and were now the rulers of the country. The three days in faerieland had been three hundred years on earth and the world that Herla knew had vanished. At this terrible news some of his men leapt from their horses and were immediately turned to dust. The rest with the King at their head wandered hopelessly through the land seeking refuge. Some say that they can still be met riding over the hills, but according to Walter Map they all plunged into the River Wye and perished in the reign of Henry II.

Folklore of Mistletoe

Mistletoe is one of the most popular plants for decorating the house at Christmas along with Holly and Ivy, and apart from been used as a decoration the plant has  healing properties as well.

This is an excerpt from 'Faerie Flora'

The mistletoe that grows on the oak was sacred to the ancient Celts. it would be cut on the sixth night of the new moon at midsummer and the winter solstice by white robed priests. Using a golden sickle or knife the plant would fall into a cloth held by members of the order, taking care that the sacred plant did not touch the ground. Traditionally two white bulls would be sacrificed at the same time.

Sprigs of mistletoe would be distributed for the protection of homes against thunder and lightening.

The plant was considered to be one of the most magical as the Celts believed that it bestowed life and fertility and the white berries contained the sperm of the gods.

Decorating the home with mistletoe is an important part of the Christmas festivities; this is a survival of the Druid traditions, but the 'kissing under the mistletoe' has its origins in the Greek festivals Saturnalia, which is usually held during the Yule season to celebrate the birth of Saturn.

One berry is removed with each kiss until none remain; any young girl standing underneath a bunch of mistletoe could not refuse to be kissed otherwise she would not be married in the following year. In some parts of England it is customary to burn the mistletoe on the twelfth night, otherwise all the young people who had kissed beneath the mistletoe would never marry.

In Worcestershire kissing bunches were kept hanging from the beams all year until replaced by new ones at Christmas. The old bunches were then burnt, a steady flame indicates a faithful husband and a spluttering flame an irritable one!
In times past Mistletoe was forbidden in churches as it was seen as a heathen plant; but at on time in York cathedral it received full honours. It was ceremonially carried to the high altar on Christmas Eve after which a universal pardon and liberty for all was proclaimed at the four gates of the city for as long as the branch lay on the alter.
The mistletoe  is known as the plant of peace; especially to the Scandinavians it is sacred. This has its origins in the legend of Freya/ Frigga the Goddess of beauty, love and marriage. Frigga was the wife of Odin. Legends tell that when she shook out her bedding snow would fall to earth. She was also the goddess of divination and she forsaw the death of her son Baldur.  He was shot by a dart made of mistletoe and died, for three day every element of the earth, air fire and water tried to revive him. But it was Frigga who managed to restore him to life, her tears of joy turned into the white berries of the mistletoe. And for ever after warring factions would make peace under a branch of mistletoe.
The practice of this strange custom in York using the plant makes sense when you realise   the city was for nearly a hundred years the capital of the Scandinavian  Kingdom founded by Halfdan in 875.

Cristmas tree

Have you set up your Christmas Tree yet? I haven't, I resist until a couple of weeks before the big day.

Then I crawl into the attic and try and find the boxes of ornaments that have disappeared under a year's

worth of clutter, and why do the wires of the fairy lights always get tangled?

But never mind...here;s a bit of waffle about Christmas trees!

The traditional decoration in England was always the Yule Log, the earliest mention of a  Christmas Tree was in 1829. There is a note in Grevilles Diary in which he describes three little Christmas trees he saw at Pashanger. Princess Lieven was apparently responsible for this spectacle, 'as is customary in Germany.'

Prince Albert is usually credited with the introduction of Christmas Trees, starting the custom at Windsor in 1841, although George III's  wife Queen Charlotte introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800;but the custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family. Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with the custom and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote, "After dinner... we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room... There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees.

After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert by 1841 the custom became even more widespread throughout Britain.    In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas-trees is not less than ours used to be". In 1848 The Illustrated London News described the trees in Windsor Castle in detail and showed the main tree, surrounded by the royal family, on its cover. In fewer than ten years their use in better-off homes was widespread. By 1856 a northern provincial newspaper contained an advert alluding casually to them, as well as reporting the accidental death of a woman in Somerset, whose dress caught fire as she lit the tapers on a Christmas tree. They had not yet spread down the social scale however, as a report from Berlin in 1858 contrasts the situation there where "Every family has its own" with that of Britain, where Christmas trees were still the preserve of the wealthy or the "romantic".

A Saints Day particularly associated with Christmas is St Thomas's Day 21st Dec, although he has no particular association with the day itself it is the Winter Solstice.

'St Thomas Grey, St Thomas Grey

Longest night and shortest day'

Uptil until the second world war women went a 'Thomassing' or  'agooding' going from house to house to beg for wheat to make Christmas cakes and bread. Each householder was obliged to hand over a pint of wheat which was then taken to the village mill to be ground into flour without charge. In return for the donation of grain a sprig of holly or mistletoe would be given. In Staffordshire the clergyman also gave the women each a shilling and in some parishes a collection was taken in Church and called St Thomases Dole.

Mummers

 
Mumming was also popular around Christmas time especially on Christmas Eve. Popular throughout the country and usually enacted simple stories such as King George who usually kills the Turkish Knight or the King of Egypt or some such villain. St George was the original hero but then appeared as King George, probably influenced by the reigns of the four Georges. He was usually responsible for the death of another character, usually the comic relief, but all was well at the end when a Doctor would appear and restore life to all the characters in the play.

The mummers usually followed this simple ethos of good triumphing over evil or it was the rebirth of spring at the beginning of the year. Originally pagan in origin this has been performed for at least eight hundred years and is now the only example of pre- reformation folk drama left in this country.

The Troupe of  Mummers would walk around the district visiting various houses along the way and performing in their play in the kitchen or hall of the residence, probably imbibing many pints of cider and beer along the way. So by the end of the evening many of the verses and songs would have been rather rude!
 

Christmas customs now long gone

There was a custom in Gloucestershire that as part of the Wassailers at Christmas they would be accompanied by a man wearing a sack with his head thrust into the hollowed out head of a bull.

" The Bull, shaggy head with horns complete, shaggy coat and eyes of glass, was wont to appear, uninvited, at any Christmas festivities. None knew when he might or might not appear. He was given the freedom of every house and allowed to penetrate  into any room, escorted by his keeper. The whole company would flee before his formidable horns, the more so as towards the end of the evening, neither  the Bull nor his keeper could be certified as strictly sober. The Christmas Bull is now obsolete, but up to forty years ago, he was recognised custom."

 note this was written about the time of the second world war.

'Dorset up along and Down along'

With the onset of the war many customs such as these were put to one side; however once peace reigned they were never resurrected, mores the pity!

Another similar custom was the Hoddening Horse, although  he did not invade houses in quite the same manner he toured the villages with a band of young men and boys, prancing in front of open doorways. He was covered in a white sheet and wore a horses head whose jaws snapped ferociously open and shut on hinges. This was a winter custom, taking place around Christmas in some districts and All Hallows Eve in others.

 

 

Ivy Faerie: available as cards or prints, ideal for the festive season!

www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk

Apart from being one of the plants brought in for the Christmas decorations the ivy has some interesting folklore surrounding it.

This is taken from my book Faerie Flora;

"This plant brings good luck, fun and happiness, and growing some over the outside wall of your house will deter misfortune.

If you have a house plant of ivy and it dies this might signify that financial problems may be looming.

Ivy is the symbol of fidelity and it used to be customary to hand a wreath of ivy leaves to newly weds. The bridesmaids would also carry some mixed in with their bouquets as it was believed to aid fertility and bring good luck. Wands entwined with ivy are still used in nature fertility rites and in spells for love magic.

For a woman to dream of her future husband she must collect some leaves and recite the following:

Ivy Ivy I love you

In my bosom I put you 

The first young man who speaks to me

My future husband he shall be"

We decorate our houses with greenery at Christmas as did our Roman and Teutonic predecessors as part of their winter festivals.

In some areas it is believed to unlucky to bring Holly and Ivy in before Christmas Eve and all the boughs must be taken down before Twelfth Night.

Faeries and goblins come in with the greenery to shelter against the winter cold; in return for this they would behave and cause no mischief. This is why the boughs must be removed otherwise the more malicious kinds of faeries will be encouraged to stay.

The festive season is fast approaching

Christmas seems to be getting earlier every year, I saw Christmas cards etc for sale in our local supermarket as early as September this year. The trouble with this, it is such a big build up by the time Christmas Day has arrived everybody just wants it over! Just mention 'Christmas' and everybody groans!

This isn't how it should be, we seem to have forgotten that it is a season of joy not just for buying socks and dodgy jumpers.

So I am going to waffle on about old traditions associated with the festive season for the next few weeks to try and get myself in the mood, even seeing the Cocacola ad didn't help!

Well, I haven't made my Christmas cake or pud yet and November is the traditional time for this, apparently.

It was always a tradition in our house to stir the mix for the cake and have a wish, this is usually done with the pudding mix tho. The traditional threepennybit, the ring, thimble and other charms put in to the puddings are auguries of the future; the thimble for the predestined old maid, the ring for those who are to be married within the year and so on. Bearing a flaming pudding into the dining room harks back to the old fire festival of Yule. This festival sprang from the Scandinavian Yule, from which many of our older Christmas customs come from, this was a sun festival when the Yule log was lit once again.

And the mince pies are supposed to remind us of the spices brought by the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem. To eat twelve mince pies between Christmas and Twelfth Night ensures twelve happy months in the coming year. The amount of mince pies consumed over Christmas in our house will probably ensure a decade, at least, of good fortune!

mermaids monsters and other fishy tails..

Well, I am six months into my new illustrated book about Mermaids; what a fascinating subject!

There are so many subdivisions of mermaids not counting all the water spirits, water monsters, bog spirits, selkies, noks nacks, hoopies etc.

I have to include all of these of course as they are so much a part of the folklore of the country, I think it is only right that I try and cover as many of the watery folk as possible.

Take the Tiddy Mun for example; has anybody outside of Cambridgeshire heard of this one I wonder?

He is a bog spirit that inhabits the fenland of east anglia and controls the flood waters of the area. He was greatly angered when the Dutch came over to assist with the draining of the fens and brought down a plague on the cattle and the children of the area. He was only appeased when the people apologized and gave offerings of water and beer to him.

So any suggestions on little known watery beasties will be greatly appreciated!

Happy Halloween!

The Night of the Dead when the ghosts of all our departed revisit the earth. And a time when all the witches and evil spirits are abroad.

Light bonfires on hilltops to ward off evil spirits and bang pots and pans loudly all around the village to scare away evil spirits.

Hey how for Hallow E'en

A' the witches tae be seen

Some in black and some in green

Hey how for Hallow E'en
As you can see this is a bit late.... but family commitments made it impossible for me to finish so ho hum I will finish now and go on to All Souls Day or Soulmass, 2nd Nov.
This is the day when the dead are especially prayed for
Tindle bonfires burn to light souls out of purgatory, in Lancashire huge fire were built on the hills all around the horizon on Halloween and the next day burning faggots carried around the fields. Blazing masses of straw were carried to high ground and thrown into the air. While the burning embers fell all present would knelt and prayed for their departed relatives and friends. The name Purgatory Field still clings to some of the places where this rite was held.
Soul cakes are given to visitors to the house, a big batch would have been made for this purpose. The gift of cakes was originally intended for the souls in Purgatory who needed human help because they could no longer help themselves. In the early 1900's it used to be the soulers used to adults but it became more common for the children to do the honours.
In Cheshire and Shropshire  the children would go from house to house singing the traditional song;
Soul! Soul! for a soul cake!
I pray you, good missis, a soul cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,
Or any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for them that made us all.
If no soul cakes are forthcoming sweets and coins can be given instead.

Music for Halloween...

This story is from the Shetland Islands

A fiddler from the village of Yell was carried off by Trows to perform for their Halloween celebrations.

After playing for what seemed to him the whole night he was allowed to depart and immediately proceeded homewards. When he came to his house in the village he saw with surprise that the roof had collapsed and that everything was in a bad state of disrepair. He banged on the door of his neighbours but complete strangers answered his knock. They knew nothing of the situation and did not know the man, telling him that the house had been in that state for many years. He sought out the oldest inhabitant of the village but even he, though but being of great age, knew of nobody ever staying in the house. But however did remember hearing a tale to the effect that at one time the owner of the house had mysteriously disappeared. This had happened before he was born and it was commonly supposed that the hill folk had taken him.

The poor fiddler was completely devastated and had nowhere to go so the old man offered him a bed for the night. The following day which was Sacrament Sunday they both went to church. The fiddler asked to be permitted to communicate. This request was granted but no sooner did he touch the' elements' bread and wine of the Eucharist than the fiddler crumbled into dust.

A strange story from Scotland

A variation of this strange tale is told around the north of the country.

A man lost his way in the mist and after wandering lost for some time saw a light and headed for it, stumbling through the dark he found his way to a huge oak tree. As soon as he touched the trunk the light was extinguished. He climbed up the trunk of the tree into the canopy to see if he could see any more lights in the distance. As he reached the top he discovered that the trunk was hollow, he looked down and seemed to be gazing down into a church where a funeral was taking place. A coffin surrounded by torches was being carried into the church, borne aloft by cats!

The man hurriedly scrambled down the tree and set off, he hoped, in the right direction of his friend's house.

He stumbled into the house and immediately started to tell of his strange experience. His friend listened intently, surrounded by his sleeping dogs, but the man's cat was sat up and seemed to be listening to every word. When the man exclaimed that the torches and the coffin was carried by cats and that there was a crown and sceptre laid upon the coffin, the cat yelled and said 'Then old Peter's dead and I'm the King of the Cat's. Whereupon the cat sprang up the chimney and was seen no more.

Halloween..

 

From earliest Celtic records Halloween, Samhain, was originally celebrated on Nov 1st and on the following day. At this time the Celts believed the human world would be open to the gods and spirits of the Otherworld. Originally a Druidic festival which involved human sacrifice and other offerings, these celebrations have continued but with many of the original rituals and significance forgotten.

In early Celtic traditions Samhain was closely associated with burial mounds which were believed to be the entrance to the Otherworld.

In some parts of the highlands of Scotland the festival was traditionally held on the 11th of Nov. Part of the celebrations was the creation of a bonfire, samhnag, on a mound 'The Mound of the Dead'

One such mound was at Fortingall in Perthshire. This mound it was believed held the victims of a terrible plague, the corpses being carried there by an old woman driving a cart pulled by a white horse. The mound is topped by a plague stone.

When the bonfire is lit the locals would take hands and dance around the blaze. When the fire wanes young boys would take burning faggots and run around the boundaries of the farms in order to protect their homes against faeries and other evil beings.

In Cornwall Halloween was called Allantide especially around the village of St Allan. Allantide being a corruption of the middle english Alhalwen-tyd, All Hallows Tide.

It was usually celebrated on the nearest Sunday to All Hallows Eve.

Here children were instructed to take apples to bed with them, then in the morning to eat them; this was thought to bring good luck. Adults would also do this to dream of their future partners.

Other charms to try at this time to divine names of future partners;

Write names on pieces of paper, screw up small and press into balls of mud. Then immerse in a bowl of water. The first to open would reveal the name of your future partner.

A wedding ring suspended between thumb and forefinger by a length of cotton accompanied by 

'If my husbands name is to be......

let this ring swing'

Mandrake, a powerful herb

As it is getting close to Halloween I  thought I would concentrate on a few witchy and spooky things!

First of all mandrake, every good witch needs this herb...

It is a poisonous perennial and is a member of the nightshade family and it has powerful magical properties.

The root which resembles the figure of a man or woman has a strong unpleasant odour and is used in philtres as an aphrodisiac. 

In medieval times it was believed that the mandrake grew best beneath a gallows tree as the roots would spring up from the semen and other body drippings of the hanged corpse. The gallows were traditionally placed at crossroads, a place long associated with magic and evil. Animals would be sacrificed here in honour of Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. It was here that witches would call up devils and demons, as some spells were considered to be more effective if cast at a crossroads. The corpses of the condemned would be cut down and buried there as it was believed that their ghosts would be confused by the choice of roads and be unable to find their way home.

Local witches would gather the roots at night for use in their spells. The plant would be washed in wine and wrapped in silk and velvet and fed on sacraments stolen from a church.

Witches would also take the right of a murderer from the gallows and using mandrake make a 'Hand of Glory'. This would be used when the witch was making a potion as it was believed it intensified the potency of the spell.

Further info on mandrake and its uses can be found in 'Faerie Flora'

28th is St Simon and St Judes Day so expect rain!

Judging by the weather forecast for the coming 24 hours I think this will prove to be correct!

Simon and Jude were among Christ's twelve Apostles and some say that they were among the shepherds to whom the angels announced the birth of Jesus.

Simon was martyred because he was sawn in half and is now the patron saint of woodcutters and Jude is the patron saint of lost causes.

It is supposed to rain heavily on this day, oh dear!

Also on this day peel an apple in one strip and turn around three times holding it in your right hand and repeat:

'St Simon and Jude, on you I intrude

By this paring I hold to discover

Without any delay, to tell me this day

The first letter of my own true love'

Then drop the peel over your left shoulder and it will form the initial of of your future partner; if however it breaks you will never marry!

This sort of game is also carried out on Halloween, so you get two goes at it!

Making a magic wand...

What woman wants to be without her wand? 

So if you leave your favourite magical tool on the bus here's how to make another..

Wands are traditionally made from wood but can also consist of metal or crystal.

In Wiccan and ceremonial magic the wand is used for channeling energy, other magical tools can be used as well including athames. These are used to command while wands are a more gentle tool and used to invite and encourage energies.

In Wicca the wand represents the element of air,  and sometimes fire.

There are many woods that can be used but here are a few favourite ones.

Hazel

This has been considered a magical tree  for years and is known as The Sacred Tree of Knowledge, its powers recognised by Pagans and Christians alike. It was with a hazel wand that St Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland.

Great care has to be taken to cut the hazel at the correct time; Midsummer Eve is best as the tree is at it's most powerful then.

Apple

A powerful wood, used by Celts in their Samhain festivals. A wand made of this wood can be used to summon faeries and is good for using in faerie magic.

Willow

This tree is the essence of magic and is strong in the cycles of life, dealing with death and rebirth. Burning willow wood will help guide the spirits of the recently departed.

Oak

According to the Celts this tree is the Father of the Trees and is worshiped by them.

It contains powerful magic and is used in many celebrations and rituals.

Elder

This is greatly prized by the faeries so makes a good wand to have when using faerie magic.

You can take the wood from a fallen tree if it is fresh do not use rotten wood. Wood that has just fallen during a storm is a great choice as it will be imbued with the force and energy of the storm that caused it to fall.

Only use wood from a tree that has been hit by lightening if you are a very experienced practitioner as this wood will be very powerful!

The best time to cut the wood is during the night of a waxing moon.

Ask permission of the tree before cutting the wood then leave a small offering to the tree spirits in the roots; not copper as this could kill the tree.

'Oh great tree, oh stronge tree

I ask thee to give me of your wood to 

further me in the art of spellcraft

Accept my gift and grow strong

Oh great tree'

Prepare the wood by sanding it down and annointing with frankincense.

Wrap it in a cloth and put it away for seven days.

After this period take it outside in the moonlight and raise the wand aloft, calling upon the spirits of the earth to help and guide you in your work.

The magic of Poppies

The common poppy was, as legend tells it, born from the blood of a dragon, but they have been long used as symbols of sleep and death. Sleep of course from the opium found in the flower, in Greek and Roman myths the flowers were used as offerings to the dead. The image of the flower was used on tombstones to denote everlasting sleep

This symbolism was evoked in the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists sleep forever.

The most well known use of the poppy is of course of Remembrance Day, the use of the bright red flower is a symbol of rebirth and everlasting life.

The poppy was also a favourite ingredient in Black Magic according to Ben Johnson in his 'Witches Song'.

'Yes, I have brought to help our vows,

Horned poppy, Cypress bough,

The fig tree wild that grows on tombs,

And juice which from the larch tree comes'

The poppy,which is ruled by the moon, possesses the magical ability of prophecy. Cut a hole in a dried pod and remove the seeds. Write on a small piece of yellow paper the question to which you desire an answer and place inside the pod. Put the pod beside the bed when you retire at night and the answer will be revealed to you in a dream during the night.

Poppy leaves can also be used for love divination charms, one use was  determining from which direction one's true love would appear by tossing a piece of Poppy cake out of the door and sending a dog out to fetch it. From the direction the dog would reappear provided the answer to the question. One could also use Poppies to obtain prophetic dreams about one's future husband - on St. Andrews night young girls would scatter Poppy seeds behind them to dream about their future husbands. 

Eating bread using the poppy seed on New Years Eve would instill the magical power of the  plant and bring blessings of abundance for the forthcoming year. You can also wear a necklace of poppy heads which will act as a charm for fertility and abundance although strangely if poppy seeds are placed inside a new brides shoes this will make her infertile.

The poppy was also used in invisibility potions; by steeping poppy seeds in wine for 15 days, then drink a glassful every day for five days while fasting.

  This was said to make the person invisible at will.

Poppy seeds were also considered a magical aid against Daemons. If being pursued by a demon throw a handful of poppy seeds in its path, this will distract the beast as it it will be compelled to stop and count every one  the seeds. This charm was even believed to ward off vampires who were sometimes thought to violate fresh graves. If Poppy seeds were put into the coffin with the dead person's body any preying vampires also lost their purpose for the same reason.

A tale of ghosts from Dorchester

 
The county town of Dorset is Dorchester; a beautiful old town with an ancient 

history. Famously Thomas Hardy lived near here and based one of his novels

 in this town, the infamous Judge Jeffries, the hanging judge. And before that 

of course the Roman occupation, many artifacts of which are in the museum. 

For a medium sized town there are a large amount of churches, and it is in one of 

these this story is set....

It was Christmas Eve 1814 when the church of St Peter's was being decorated 

by the clerk and the sexton for the Christmas service on the following day. Clerk 

Hardy and Sexton Ambrose Hunt had locked themselves in while carrying out their 

work and were at length cold and tired. They sat down on a settle and from there they 

could see right down the north aisle of the church. While they rested an unlucky 

thought came to them; the Holy Communion wine stored in a cupboard close by. 

The two men took the bottle and went back to the settle and sat down. They had hardly

 taken the first sip when they became aware of a figure sitting between them. 

It was their late Rector, the Rev Nathanial Templeman. The two men said afterwards 

that he had risen up before them, looked at them with a very angry countenance and

 shook his head just as he had done when alive when displeased. Then the spectre has 

slowly floated up the north aisle and disappeared from their sight. 

Clerk Hardy fainted away while the sexton tried to recite the Lords Prayer.

They were both very frightened but always affirmed their story when asked later. 

They said they could not mistake their old master, looking as he did in life and 

wearing the same clothes.
Here are details of a few more  ghostly figures seen around the town

Condemned Man Location: Dorchester - Judge Jeffrey's Restaurant Type: Haunting Manifestation Date / Time: Unknown Further Comments: Used as a court room by Judge Jeffreys, the ghost that reputedly haunts this building is one of many that the Judge had hanged.     The Only Way is Up Location: Dorchester - Old Malthouse, High East Street Type: Haunting Manifestation Date / Time: Mid twentieth century? Further Comments: The sounds of someone climbing the stairs and opening a door were heard several times by a former occupant of the building, though they never heard anyone come back down. Upon investigation, the upper part of the building was always found empty.     Prisoner Location: Dorchester - Pond along towpath Type: Haunting Manifestation Date / Time: Nineteenth century onwards? Further Comments: A escaping prisoner tripped and drowned in this pond, weighed down by his chains. The sound of rattling is still said to haunt the area.     Jeffreys Location: Dorchester - Shopping arcade along Antelope Way Type: Haunting Manifestation Date / Time: Unknown Further Comments: The Hanging Judge is said to walk in this area, following a path that he took during life.     Grey Lady Location: Dorchester - Site of gibbet Type: Haunting Manifestation Date / Time: Unknown Further Comments: This phantom figure seen around the site where the gibbet was stood is thought to be either a Tudor woman or the ghost of Martha Brown, the last woman to be hanged for murder in Dorset.     Water Fairies Location: Dorchester - Thorncombe Wood - Rushy Pond Type: Haunting Manifestation Date / Time: Unknown Further Comments: While some say this pond is home to fairies, others maintain it is home to a more spectral entity (though who or what is unclear).     Gorilla? Location: Dorchester - Unnamed Park Type: Cryptozoology Date / Time: March 2013 Further Comments: A teenager photographed a strange creature close to her home in parkland, before it ran up a tree and disappeared. The teenager said the creature resembled and moved like a small gorilla, although the nearby Monkey World attraction denied they were missing any of their animals.     Woman in Bonnet Location: Dorchester - Wessex Royal Hotel Type: Haunting Manifestation Date / Time: Unknown Further Comments: Wearing a bonnet and a long dark dress, this phantom woman has been seen from outside the hotel, gazing from a window on the ground floor.     Coach in the House Location: Dorchester - Wolfeton (aka Wolveton) House Type: Haunting Manifestation Date / Time: Unknown Further Comments: One owner of the property won a large amount of money when he drove a horse and coach up the stairs inside the house - his victorious ghost reportedly re-enacts the antic. A separate entity is that of a headless grey woman, a member of the Trenchard family who slit her own throat, while a priest is said to haunt the gatehouse (where he was held prisoner).

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victims

Faerie Changelings...

A small cottage in Trefeglwys was the place
of much trouble between the husband and wife.
They were constantly arguing about their twins,
who the mother was convinced had been
swapped for faerie changelings.
A local Wizard was called in to  advise them.
An eggshell was to be boiled and made into a
stew which then had to given to the farm workers
for dinner.
If the twins said or did anything unusual then it
was certain that they were faerie changelings, and
then should be thrown into the Llyn Ebyr Lake.
As soon as the shell began to boil they started to
chant
“Acorns before Oak I saw,
An Egg before a Hen,
But never one hen’s egg stew
Enough for harvest men.

With this the mother took them straight to the lake
and threw them in.
A group of faeries immediately appeared to
save them from drowning.
They handed back the stolen children and then
disappeared back into the hills.

Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles

Stepping into Faerie Rings

Faerie rings, where faeries and witches gather to dance and sing which makes it a very dangerous place to step in unaware.

If you are drawn inside you can only escape the dancing faeries if a human chain pulls you out of the ring. You will lose all sense of time and what might seem like minutes could have been hours.

But this is the down side of faerie rings...if you run around a faerie ring nine times under a full moon this will enable you to see and hear the faerie but do not do it on All Hallow's Eve or May Eve as these are very important faerie festivals. They would be very offended and carry you off to faerie land.

If you would like a wish granted, stand in the middle of the ring under a full moon and it will come true.

It is said that beneath the faerie rings gold lays buried and if you dig deep enough it can be retrieved; however I am pretty sure that the faeries would be a bit peeved and goodness knows what would happen!

Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles

New Faerie Dolls, perfect for Christmas!

Perfect for Christmas Pressies,
 yes, it is that time of year again!
Handmade in Somerset and available from my website
 www. magic-myth-legend.co.uk
please contact for overseas shipping costs

 Beatrice the Faerie Bookworm

 Zelda

 The Green Man

Granny

The Faeries of Weardale..

 The locals all know that the Weardale  have more than their fair share of Faeries and that they can be anything but friendly at times. So when a local Farmer found  that his young daughter had strayed into a Faerie cave, he was terrified that they would take the little girl in revenge. He quickly consulted the wise women of the village, following her advice, he silenced everything in the house that night, the clock, the fire in case it crackled, the dogs were fed and put outside, in fact he did everything to have complete silence for when the Faeries arrived, for they cannot work their magic in silence.
At the stroke of midnight he heard them ride into the farmyard  and stop, obviously puzzled by the lack of noise, until upstairs the little girl’s dog started barking; t he one thing that he had forgotten.
By the time he had reached her room the little girl was gone.
The next morning as soon as it was light he visited the wise women again. The only way to get his daughter back was to give the King of the Faeries three gifts which he could not refuse and would be forced to hand back the little girl.
The three things were a real puzzle to the Farmer, he did not know what they meant or how to get them. Something that gave light without burning, a live chicken without a bone in it’s body and he had to collect a limb from a living animal without spilling any blood.
The Farmer walked slowly home trying to work out this riddle when he was distracted by a commotion in the trees, a kestrel had hold of a lizard by the tail, which  promptly shed it and disappeared into the  grass. So he had one of the gifts and by the time he had got home he had worked out another part of the riddle; one of his hens had been sitting on a clutch of eggs for 15 days and he knew that although alive the chick’s bones would not yet have formed. So now he had two gifts safely collected. As for the third he puzzled all day until the night began to draw in, so he made up his mind to go to the cave and hope that he would find the third gift on the way. It was quite dark by the time that he reached the hills and he could clearly see a green glow in the grass. A glow worm was the third gift. The farmer called to the Faerie King to release his daughter and as the he was just about to refuse, the three gifts were laid in front of him, the Faeries disappeared and the little girl came running out of the cave.
After that she stayed close to home, knowing better than to meddle with the Faeries that live in the Dale.
Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles

A ghostly funeral

 
There is a long tradition of ghostly going-ons around the village of Todber in Dorset, which the locals believe is the result of huge battles taking place in the area. Close to the site is a deep water filled quarry in which many human remains were found in 1870.
One of the hauntings seen regularly, on a certain date, is the funeral procession. This appears on the stroke of midnight crossing Sackmore Lane from Fillymead to Dunfords.
A line of ghostly mourners follow the coffin, the faces of which cannot be seen. This also applies to the pall bearers, their faces being covered by the pall that covers the coffin.
This ghostly procession follows the line of the fighting until it disappears into a dank mist that appears at this time.
While researching the battle I came across this..I think this demonstrates well the independant  nature of the people of the west country!


Every one knows that the English Civil war was fought between King and Parliament, but the largest battle in Dorset, (some of the sieges involved more men), was not fought between Cavaliers and Roundheads. It occurred in 1645 when a force from Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army, numerically outnumbered by some 4 to 1, did battle with the Dorset Clubmen a little known third force which owed no allegiance to either side.
The Clubmen were countryfolk who resented the 'un-natural' Civil War and had grown weary of the battles between Cavaliers and Roundheads, and the depredations of the soldiers of both sides which damaged their lands and ruined the crops. Few of them knew the merits of the quarrel between King and Parliament but, armed with clubs, (from which came their name), pitchforks and scythe blades, this motley collection of yeomen and farmers took issue with both sides. Often generalled by clergy, they took a battering wherever they defended their land. Their only uniform was a white cockcade and their banners were inscribed with the motto

'If you offer to plunder or take our cattle,
be assured we will bid you battle'.

Although they came from all the surrounding counties the Clubmen were particularly strong in Dorset and after having been harried by Oliver Cromwell some 2-4000 of them became entrenched on Hambledon Hill in August 1645. It was here that they made their last stand led by the Rev. Bravel of Compton Abbas. Against them was Cromwells army of about 1000 men, fresh from the siege of Sherborne Castle and which had earlier surrounded the town of Shaftesbury and capture about 50 of the clubmens leaders who were holding a meeting there. Cromwell attacked from the rear and the clubmen were routed. Most fled, and some it is said, escaped by sliding down the hill on their bottoms, amongst them 4 clergy.
At the end of the battle when Cromwell sent 50 dragoons to drag the remaining Clubmen from the hill, it was probably as comic a battle as the reenactment by villagers carried out when Princess Marie Louise visited Shroton in 1951. Cromwell's dragoons easily overcame them and chased some 400 of them down the slopes to be locked up overnight in the village church of St. Mary's. Next day Oliver Cromwell decided that they were 'poor silly creatures' and after lecturing them allowed their release.
Other than this final stand, very little detail is known about the Clubmen or their leaders. It is known that prior to the battle on Hambledon Hill they had gathered at Badbury Rings. and that one of their leaders was Richard Newman , a member of the Newman family of Fifehead Magdalen.

I am lucky enough to have a huge buddlia bush in my garden, it has been glorious all summer, offering loads of pollen to all the bees and butterflies.

I have kept a watchful eye on the butterflies as according to countryside folklore 

these beautiful insects are actually faeries in disguise.  

I have not spotted one in its true form yet and as the blooms are fast fading I think I 

will have to wait for next year's blossoms.

People used to think butterflies were witches or fairies in disguise stealing butter, 

cream and milk. This could also be the reason for the name butterfly. 

They also thought that the insects would fly into cowsheds in the middle of the 

night to steal milk from the cows udders.

While in other countries the butterfly was considered to be a human soul and will 

bring luck. 

In Slavic countries they will open the windows so that the soul can leave leave the body, 

often seen in the form of the butterfly.

In Finland a sleeping person, if dreaming is thought to have his or hers soul fluttering 

above the bed in the form of a butterfly.