For open minds
Russian photographer Akunohato has a brilliant neo-pagan cosplay calendar ready for 2019. It’s not just neo. It’s neon.
Like what you see? You can pick up the Neon Witches over at Etsy.
In Pure Spirit
Which alternative 2019 calendar do you recommend?
This year will be the 400th anniversary of the Pendle witch trials. In Pure Spirit has written Pendle and the witches before; asking whether film makers were cursed in 2009, writing about Gallows Hill where the witches died and even whether Gawthorpe Hall has become involved.
The real Pendle witches were probably not “real witches” at all and it would be nice to say that modern society has gotten over the stigma of ‘witchcraft’ but that may not the be the case. This year has already has had ‘witchcraft murder’ headlines in the press – and in the United Kingdom too. However, the modern witch or wicca (and many people are keen to stress the difference) is generally a force for good.
As an official attempt to claim a Guinness World Record and as a charitable attempt to raise money for the Pendleside Hospice the Pendle Witch Walk aims to gather more witches together than the world has ever seen before.
Simon Tattersall, who’s helping to co-organise the event, told The Pendle Today that;
“We only announced the launch a couple of weeks ago and the levels of interest have been staggering – we’ve already had dozens of people register for the walk, the website traffic has been phenomenal, plus we have 250 Facebook followers and 700 on Twitter!
“We’re hoping for a great event and a truly memorable day. The world record attempt for the greatest gathering of “witches” will give everybody’s efforts an undisputable measure of achievement, but more to the point we hope that via their sponsors walkers will raise in excess of £50,000 for Pendleside Hospice.”
If you’re on Twitter then you can follow Pendle Witch Walk or even In Pure Spirit.
In Pure Spirit
What do you make of the idea? Is this is a good idea – or do you sense any problems with it?
If you’re planning on going to the Pendle Witch Walk why don’t you leave a comment below so other In Pure Spirit readers can say hello and catch up with you at the event.
Photo credit: David Nutter.
Exactly 300 years ago to the day (March 31st, 2011) Ireland finished its last ever witch trial. No one was burned at the stake, no one was drowned but eight Presbyterian women were sentenced to a year in jail alongside time in public stocks. On market day these “witches” had to suffer the crowds pelting them with rotting fruit and stones.
The eight became known as the Islandmagee witches. All eight were from the Islandmagee area in Co Antrim.
The Carrickfergus court found all eight gulity of bewitching Mary Dunbar, a local girl.
It was said that Dunbar suffered from fits, trances and vomitting household objects. She would also throw bibles and swear.
Historian Dr Andrew Sneddon, based in the University of Ulster, is working on a book (Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland, 1586 – 1946) which suggests Dunbar faked the symptoms in order to behave as she wished and to find fame.
The Islandmagee witches were all poor, some drank – unusual and frowned on by the community – and some had physical disabilities. Sneddon points out that they were an easy target for anyone looking to find a witch scapegoat.
Talking to local press, he said;
“Being possessed allowed her to misbehave without consequence, move from invisibility to notoriety within her community and attack her elders at will.
“Dunbar chose to blame her possession on the witchcraft of the Presbyterian Islandmagee women because they had reputations locally as witches and failed to meet contemporary standards of female behaviour and beauty.
“The accusations were also used to further local political goals at a time of intense party political conflict between the two main political parties of the day, the Whigs and the Tories.”
Ireland repealed their 1563 witchcraft law in 1821. That was 110 years after the Islandmagee trial.
In Pure Spirit
Do you think any of the Islandmagee eight where likely to be witches?
Picture credit: Wilson Adams, shows Islandmagee and surrounds.
The Judges’ Lodgings take their name from the courts of Lancaster Castle. The current castle and priory were founded by Roger de Poitou in 1086 (the same man responsible for the founding of Ashton Hall).
The Castle hosted the Assize Courts and was responsible for many trials. These courts became infamous for handing out more death sentences than any other Court in England outside of London. The Assize Courts only happened twice a year, prisoners would be stuck in tiny cells for months, sharing with others, but between 1776 and 1975 the judges would stay in the building now known as the Judges’ Lodgings.
It is said that the Judges Lodgings are the oldest town house in Lancaster and is a Grade 1 listed building. It is currently a museum and has a fantastic collection of gorgeous Gillow furniture as well as a Museum of Childhood which has toys and games dating back to the 1700s.
It wasn’t always the Assize Judges who stayed in the building, though. Perhaps the most famous lodger was none other than the feared witch-hunter Thomas Covell who played a key roll in the Pendle Witch affair.
Thomas Covell stayed in the Judges’ Lodgings between 1590 and 1638. He had many responsibilities; Keeper of the Lancaster Castle, Country Magistrate and Coroner. It was his role as Keeper of Lancaster Castle that meant he was responsible for the interrogation, imprisonment and execution of anyone sentenced to death during his time. The Assize Courts did not reserve the death sentence just for murderers. Forgers were also commonly sentenced to death. Little wonder that they became known as The Hanging Judges of Lancaster.
In 1612 the Pendle Witches were arrested and it was Thomas Covell who held them until their trial began. The judges at the trial were Sir James Altham and Sir Edward Bromley. The prosecutor was a local magistrate called Roger Nowell and it was Nowell who had collected a number of the statements and confessions from the accused witches.
Thomas Covell was not well liked. Records indicate that one of his contemporaries described him as “a beastly man”.
In Pure Spirit
The Judges’ Lodges are open to the public. Have you been inside? Would you recommend it?
What about ghost or psychic phenomena? There’s so much associated with the Pendle Witches that it is surprised there are so few tales of haunting and ghosts?
