Sarah Osbourne, born Sarah Warren, married a prominent man by the name of Robert Prince. He was the brother of a woman who married into the prominent Putnam family. She moved with her husband to Salem Village in 1662, where the couple had two sons and a daughter: Joseph, James, and Elizabeth. Robert Prince died in 1674, leaving Sarah Prince a widow.
Sarah Osbourne became one of the first persons accused of witchcraft at the beginning of the year 1692, when Betty Parris and Abigail Williams became ill with an unknown sickness. Both girls claimed that Sarah Osbourne, along with the servant Tituba and Sarah Good, had been afflicting them. Elizabeth Hubbard also accused Sarah Osborne for Afflicting her, describing it as her pinching and poking her with knitting needles. All three women were considered social outcasts, albeit for different reasons. Sarah Osbourne had not attended church in almost three years due to a long illness, and was also still dealing with legal issues with the Putnam family. Ann's accusation of Osbourne was most likely the product of powerful suggestions from the Putnam family.[2] The warrant for Sarah Osborne's arrest was written for March 1, 1692. She was to be placed in the Boston jails for the duration of her examinations and trials.
Sarah Osborne was the second of the original three to be examined before local magistrates, following Sarah Good and preceding Tituba. Although Osborne denied all the accusations against her, it was to no avail. The words of Sarah Good's examination were twisted to accompany the girls' accusations towards her and later Tituba would claim that the three of them were indeed working with the Devil.
Osborne was also questioned about her dreams and whether or not she had ever dreamt of Indians (a believed sign of witchcraft and the Devil). Sarah Osborne admitted that she had in fact had a recurring dream about an Indian who would take her by the hair and drag her out of her house.
At one point during the examinations, Osborne presented a defense that could not be challenged nor argued against. It was repeated frequently by others who were later accused. She stated: "I do not know [but] that the devil goes about in my likeness to do any hurt."[6] In other words, she was stating that any use that the Devil made of her image was inherently unknown to her; if the Devil were harming the girls while assuming her appearance, she had no idea of it and could not be held accountable. This statement gave her a chance to be found innocent.
She died in jail on May 10, 1692, before the Court of Oyer and Terminer convened, so she was never indicted or tried.
Showing posts with label Witch History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Witch History. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Famous Witches - Moll Dyer (? - c.1697)
Artists impression of the legend of Moll Dyer by Norma Durkin (from http://access-somd.org/
tobacco_to_tomcats/
tobacco_to_tomcats.htm)
Moll Dyer was a legendary 17th Century resident of Leonardtown in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, who was accused of witchcraft and chased out of her home by the local townsfolk in the dead of a winter night. A road, a stream and a large rock all bear her name, and her story has inspired ghostly sightings and the plot of the 1999 film “The Blair Witch Project”.
No historical record has ever been found of Moll Dyer's existence, and not all stories agree on her origins. One popular story says she was an Irish noblewoman who came to the province of Maryland alone to escape a mysterious past, and settled in a cottage outside of what was then Seymortown (later called Leonardtown). Her isolated way of living and shadowed past, along with her reputation as a herbal healer, drew suspicion among the locals, who labelled her as a witch, and began blaming all the misfortunes and hardships in the town on her, despite her habit of giving cures to the townsfolk.
The winter of 1697 was particularly harsh, food was scarce and many people died. The townspeople suspected Dyer of cursing the town, and after an epidemic (possibly influenza) swept through the area, killing many locals, a vigilante group of townsfolk decided to get rid of her. They set fire her cottage in the middle of the coldest night of the winter and Dyer fled into the nearby woods. Exhausted and freezing, the story tells that she knelt down near a large rock, placed one hand on it and raised her other hand to call down a curse upon the land and her persecutors. She was found, frozen to death, some days later and, when her body was removed, her frozen hand and knee left permanent impressions in the rock as an everlasting reminder of her fate and her curse.
The supposed boulder was moved to the front of the Leonardtown courthouse and, although the handprint is no longer clearly visible, people have reported feeling profoundly uncomfortable or beset by terrible aches and pains around it, and cameras have reportedly malfunctioned. On the coldest nights of the year, people have reported seeing a woman with long white hair and a white dress walking through the fields and woods near the town, accompanied by a white dog.
tobacco_to_tomcats/
tobacco_to_tomcats.htm)
Moll Dyer was a legendary 17th Century resident of Leonardtown in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, who was accused of witchcraft and chased out of her home by the local townsfolk in the dead of a winter night. A road, a stream and a large rock all bear her name, and her story has inspired ghostly sightings and the plot of the 1999 film “The Blair Witch Project”.
No historical record has ever been found of Moll Dyer's existence, and not all stories agree on her origins. One popular story says she was an Irish noblewoman who came to the province of Maryland alone to escape a mysterious past, and settled in a cottage outside of what was then Seymortown (later called Leonardtown). Her isolated way of living and shadowed past, along with her reputation as a herbal healer, drew suspicion among the locals, who labelled her as a witch, and began blaming all the misfortunes and hardships in the town on her, despite her habit of giving cures to the townsfolk.
The winter of 1697 was particularly harsh, food was scarce and many people died. The townspeople suspected Dyer of cursing the town, and after an epidemic (possibly influenza) swept through the area, killing many locals, a vigilante group of townsfolk decided to get rid of her. They set fire her cottage in the middle of the coldest night of the winter and Dyer fled into the nearby woods. Exhausted and freezing, the story tells that she knelt down near a large rock, placed one hand on it and raised her other hand to call down a curse upon the land and her persecutors. She was found, frozen to death, some days later and, when her body was removed, her frozen hand and knee left permanent impressions in the rock as an everlasting reminder of her fate and her curse.
The supposed boulder was moved to the front of the Leonardtown courthouse and, although the handprint is no longer clearly visible, people have reported feeling profoundly uncomfortable or beset by terrible aches and pains around it, and cameras have reportedly malfunctioned. On the coldest nights of the year, people have reported seeing a woman with long white hair and a white dress walking through the fields and woods near the town, accompanied by a white dog.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Famous Witches - Raven Grimassi (1951 - )
Raven Grimassi is the Italian-American author of over a dozen books on Neopaganism and witchcraft. He is perhaps best known for his popularization of Stregheria, the witch sect of Old Italy, and for his research on Charles Leland’s work on Aradia.
He was born in 1951, the son of an Italian immigrant mother who was herself born and raised in the area of Naples, Italy and who came to the U.S. as a war bride at the close of World War II. His family moved frequently from state to state following his father's career. He was reportedly descended from an Italian witch named Calenda Tavani, who lived in Naples several generations ago, and his early training was a mixture of Italian witchcraft and folk magic (although there is some debate as to whether he actually belongs to a "family tradition" of religious witchcraft as he has sometimes claimed).
In 1969, through a young woman who managed a herb shop in Old Town San Diego, he was initiated into a San Diego coven, which claimed to follow the Gardnerian Wicca tradition. In the early 1970s, he studied Wicca in more detail, gradually forming his own Aridian (or Arician) system of practice, which was a blend of Wicca and elements of traditional Italian witchcraft. He formed a small group known as the Coven of Sothis, which operated for a few years in the San Diego area. During this time, he also studied Qabalah and other traditions of Wicca, such as the Brittic and the Pictish-Gaelic systems (into which he initiated largely in order to help preserve their teachings, rather than as a full participant).
In 1979, Grimassi began teaching his own Aridian/Arician tradition at Ye Olde Enchantment Shoppe in San Diego, describing it as a modern Americanized system of Italian witchcraft or Stregheria that he created specifically for non-initiates. An early student was Scott Cunningham (himself the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects), who remained a first degree initiate during his three years of study with Grimassi.
Also in 1979, Grimassi became editor and contributing writer for a magazine called “The Shadow's Edge” (which later evolved into “Moon Shadows” and then “Raven's Call”). In the early 1980s, he produced two self-published books, “The Book of the Holy Strega” and “The Book of Ways”. However, it was the publication of “Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe” in 1995 which really launched Grimassi's professional career as an author, and he has gone on to produce over a dozen popular books on witchcraft and Wicca.
In addition to Italian witchcraft, Grimassi has also studied and the work of Charles Leland for over thirty years. He views Leland's book “Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches” as a Christianized and distorted version of the original story of Aradia (whom he believes to have been a mortal woman named Aradia di Toscano), although he also notes that there are genuine elements within Leland's Aradia material, such as the inclusion of a full moon ritual and a sacred meal at the Tregenda (Sabbat), along with the pantheon of a goddess and god figure.
He married Stephanie Taylor, co-author of the Well Worn Path divination system, who also operates an online witch shop known as Raven's Loft, which she and Grimassi once jointly owned as a physical shop in Escondido, California.
Grimassi is currently co-director of the College of the Crossroads, a modern Mystery Tradition School devoted to the preservation and continuation of pre-Christian European religion and spirituality, and the Directing Elder of the Arician Tradition of Italian witchcraft.
He was born in 1951, the son of an Italian immigrant mother who was herself born and raised in the area of Naples, Italy and who came to the U.S. as a war bride at the close of World War II. His family moved frequently from state to state following his father's career. He was reportedly descended from an Italian witch named Calenda Tavani, who lived in Naples several generations ago, and his early training was a mixture of Italian witchcraft and folk magic (although there is some debate as to whether he actually belongs to a "family tradition" of religious witchcraft as he has sometimes claimed).
In 1969, through a young woman who managed a herb shop in Old Town San Diego, he was initiated into a San Diego coven, which claimed to follow the Gardnerian Wicca tradition. In the early 1970s, he studied Wicca in more detail, gradually forming his own Aridian (or Arician) system of practice, which was a blend of Wicca and elements of traditional Italian witchcraft. He formed a small group known as the Coven of Sothis, which operated for a few years in the San Diego area. During this time, he also studied Qabalah and other traditions of Wicca, such as the Brittic and the Pictish-Gaelic systems (into which he initiated largely in order to help preserve their teachings, rather than as a full participant).
In 1979, Grimassi began teaching his own Aridian/Arician tradition at Ye Olde Enchantment Shoppe in San Diego, describing it as a modern Americanized system of Italian witchcraft or Stregheria that he created specifically for non-initiates. An early student was Scott Cunningham (himself the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects), who remained a first degree initiate during his three years of study with Grimassi.
Also in 1979, Grimassi became editor and contributing writer for a magazine called “The Shadow's Edge” (which later evolved into “Moon Shadows” and then “Raven's Call”). In the early 1980s, he produced two self-published books, “The Book of the Holy Strega” and “The Book of Ways”. However, it was the publication of “Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe” in 1995 which really launched Grimassi's professional career as an author, and he has gone on to produce over a dozen popular books on witchcraft and Wicca.
In addition to Italian witchcraft, Grimassi has also studied and the work of Charles Leland for over thirty years. He views Leland's book “Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches” as a Christianized and distorted version of the original story of Aradia (whom he believes to have been a mortal woman named Aradia di Toscano), although he also notes that there are genuine elements within Leland's Aradia material, such as the inclusion of a full moon ritual and a sacred meal at the Tregenda (Sabbat), along with the pantheon of a goddess and god figure.
He married Stephanie Taylor, co-author of the Well Worn Path divination system, who also operates an online witch shop known as Raven's Loft, which she and Grimassi once jointly owned as a physical shop in Escondido, California.
Grimassi is currently co-director of the College of the Crossroads, a modern Mystery Tradition School devoted to the preservation and continuation of pre-Christian European religion and spirituality, and the Directing Elder of the Arician Tradition of Italian witchcraft.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Famous Witches - Sybil Leek (1922 - 1982)
Sybil Leek was an English witch, astrologer, psychic and occult author who wrote more than 60 books on occult and esoteric subjects. Dubbed "Britain’s most famous witch" by the BBC, she was a colourful character in her time. Her trademarks were a cape, loose gowns, a pet jackdaw named Mr. Hotfoot Jackson perched on her shoulders, and a crystal necklace that she claimed had been passed down to her from her psychic Russian grandmother.
She was born on 22 February 1922 (although her funeral card says 1917) in Normacot, Staffordshire, to a well-to-do family with a long history of witchcraft which can be traced back to a 16th Century ancestor Molly Leigh, who died in 1746 after being accused of witchcraft (and possibly further back to the 12th Century witches of southern Ireland). From an early age she lived and grew up in the New Forest area of Hampshire, an area steeped in folklore and witchcraft associations.
Her immediate family all played a part in encouraging her to follow the craft. She learned about nature, animals, the power of herbs and Eastern philosophies from her father, and astrology, the psychic arts and divination from her Russian grandmother. She had little orthodox schooling, but many scholarly characters were regular visitors to the family home, including H. G. Wells, Lawrence of Arabia and Aleister Crowley.
At the age of sixteen, Leek met and married a prominent concert pianist and music teacher, twenty-four years her senior. They toured and travelled around England and Europe for a time, but he died just two years after the marriage, and Leek returned home to her grandmother’s house. Shortly after, she was sent by her grandmother to a French coven, based at Gorge du Loup in the hills above Nice, to replace a distant relative of hers as High Priestess.
Eventually, she returned to England but, after a short time staying with an acquaintance in Lyndhurst in the New Forest, she went to live with the Romany Gypsies in the forest. She lived with the Gypsies for a year, learning more about the forest, ancient folklore and the practical use of herbs. During this time, she also attended rituals of the Horsa coven in the New Forest, which they claimed had existed for over 700 years, and for a short time she was High Priestess, and therefore a member of the "Nine Covens" council.
Later, her family also moved to the New Forest area, and Leek opened up an antique shop in the heart of the New Forest at Burley (as well as one at Ringwood and one in Somerset), although she refused to sell anything to do with witchcraft. At some point, she met and married a man called Brian, and together they had two sons, Stephan and Julian, who are reported to have inherited the family’s psychic gifts.
While walking in the woods one day, she had a vision which made her realize that her purpose in life was to promote the craft and the Old Religion, and she began to do just that. Into the 1950s, her reputation as a psychic, astrologer and witch began to attract attention and, as media interest in witchcraft grew, Leek found herself constantly being pestered by news reporters and tourists, who travelled to Burley specifically to see her. She even had to create decoys in order to be able to attend secret coven meetings, for fear of being pursued by cameramen.
She was eventually asked to move out by her landlord, and she took advantage of the offer by an American publishing house to travel to the United States to speak about her new antique book “A Shop in the High Street” on American television. She saw this as an opportunity to spread the word in America, where the witchcraft revival was just beginning. While in New York, she was contacted by Hans Holzer, a parapsychologist, who invited her to join him investigating psychic phenomena, and they went on to do numerous television and radio programmes on the subject. She then moved to Los Angeles, where she met Dr. Israel Regardie, Aleister Crowley’s old secretary and an authority on Qabalah and ritual magic, and they spent much of their time together discussing and practising Golden Dawn rituals.
In later years, she moved to Melbourne, Florida, and divided her time between there and her work base in Houston. She continued to promote the craft, her reputation gradually growing until she was touring frequently and holding lectures throughout the United States, as well as in England and Europe.
Always strong in defence of her beliefs, Leek sometimes differed and even quarrelled with other witches. For example, she disapproved of nudity in rituals, a requirement in some traditions, and was strongly against the use of drugs. She was also at odds with many other witches in that she did believe in cursing. She was also one of the first of the modern day witches to take up environmental causes.
Leek died at her Melbourne, Florida home on 26 October 1982.
She was born on 22 February 1922 (although her funeral card says 1917) in Normacot, Staffordshire, to a well-to-do family with a long history of witchcraft which can be traced back to a 16th Century ancestor Molly Leigh, who died in 1746 after being accused of witchcraft (and possibly further back to the 12th Century witches of southern Ireland). From an early age she lived and grew up in the New Forest area of Hampshire, an area steeped in folklore and witchcraft associations.
Her immediate family all played a part in encouraging her to follow the craft. She learned about nature, animals, the power of herbs and Eastern philosophies from her father, and astrology, the psychic arts and divination from her Russian grandmother. She had little orthodox schooling, but many scholarly characters were regular visitors to the family home, including H. G. Wells, Lawrence of Arabia and Aleister Crowley.
At the age of sixteen, Leek met and married a prominent concert pianist and music teacher, twenty-four years her senior. They toured and travelled around England and Europe for a time, but he died just two years after the marriage, and Leek returned home to her grandmother’s house. Shortly after, she was sent by her grandmother to a French coven, based at Gorge du Loup in the hills above Nice, to replace a distant relative of hers as High Priestess.
Eventually, she returned to England but, after a short time staying with an acquaintance in Lyndhurst in the New Forest, she went to live with the Romany Gypsies in the forest. She lived with the Gypsies for a year, learning more about the forest, ancient folklore and the practical use of herbs. During this time, she also attended rituals of the Horsa coven in the New Forest, which they claimed had existed for over 700 years, and for a short time she was High Priestess, and therefore a member of the "Nine Covens" council.
Later, her family also moved to the New Forest area, and Leek opened up an antique shop in the heart of the New Forest at Burley (as well as one at Ringwood and one in Somerset), although she refused to sell anything to do with witchcraft. At some point, she met and married a man called Brian, and together they had two sons, Stephan and Julian, who are reported to have inherited the family’s psychic gifts.
While walking in the woods one day, she had a vision which made her realize that her purpose in life was to promote the craft and the Old Religion, and she began to do just that. Into the 1950s, her reputation as a psychic, astrologer and witch began to attract attention and, as media interest in witchcraft grew, Leek found herself constantly being pestered by news reporters and tourists, who travelled to Burley specifically to see her. She even had to create decoys in order to be able to attend secret coven meetings, for fear of being pursued by cameramen.
She was eventually asked to move out by her landlord, and she took advantage of the offer by an American publishing house to travel to the United States to speak about her new antique book “A Shop in the High Street” on American television. She saw this as an opportunity to spread the word in America, where the witchcraft revival was just beginning. While in New York, she was contacted by Hans Holzer, a parapsychologist, who invited her to join him investigating psychic phenomena, and they went on to do numerous television and radio programmes on the subject. She then moved to Los Angeles, where she met Dr. Israel Regardie, Aleister Crowley’s old secretary and an authority on Qabalah and ritual magic, and they spent much of their time together discussing and practising Golden Dawn rituals.
In later years, she moved to Melbourne, Florida, and divided her time between there and her work base in Houston. She continued to promote the craft, her reputation gradually growing until she was touring frequently and holding lectures throughout the United States, as well as in England and Europe.
Always strong in defence of her beliefs, Leek sometimes differed and even quarrelled with other witches. For example, she disapproved of nudity in rituals, a requirement in some traditions, and was strongly against the use of drugs. She was also at odds with many other witches in that she did believe in cursing. She was also one of the first of the modern day witches to take up environmental causes.
Leek died at her Melbourne, Florida home on 26 October 1982.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Famous Witches - Joan Wytte (1775 - 1813)
Joan Wytte was born in 1775 in Bodmin, Cornwall. She was sometimes called the “Fighting Fairy Woman” or the “Wytte (White) Witch”.
Joan was famed as a clairvoyant, and people would seek her services as a seer, diviner and healer. Her healing practices included the use of “clooties” (or “clouties”), strips of cloth taken from a sick person and tied to a tree or a holy well as a form of sympathetic magic, such that when the cloth rots, the disease was believed to dissipate.
Later in life, she became very ill-tempered as a result of a tooth abscess, and would shout and rail at people. She often became involved in fights where she exhibited remarkable strength and people came to believe she was possessed by the devil. She was eventually incarcerated in Bodmin Jail, not for witchcraft but for public brawling, and due to poor conditions in the jail, Joan died of bronchial pneumonia at the age of 38.
Her bones were disinterred and used for séances and various pranks, then later displayed at the Witchcraft Museum in Boscastle, Cornwall. It is said that, while her skeleton was on display in the museum, they started to experience disruptive poltergeists, and a witch was bought in to advise them, who said that Wytte's spirit wished to be laid in a proper burial. She was finally laid to rest in a peaceful wooded area in Boscastle, and her gravestone reads: “Joan Wytte. Born 1775. Died 1813 in Bodmin Jail. Buried 1998. No longer abused”.
Joan was famed as a clairvoyant, and people would seek her services as a seer, diviner and healer. Her healing practices included the use of “clooties” (or “clouties”), strips of cloth taken from a sick person and tied to a tree or a holy well as a form of sympathetic magic, such that when the cloth rots, the disease was believed to dissipate.
Later in life, she became very ill-tempered as a result of a tooth abscess, and would shout and rail at people. She often became involved in fights where she exhibited remarkable strength and people came to believe she was possessed by the devil. She was eventually incarcerated in Bodmin Jail, not for witchcraft but for public brawling, and due to poor conditions in the jail, Joan died of bronchial pneumonia at the age of 38.
Her bones were disinterred and used for séances and various pranks, then later displayed at the Witchcraft Museum in Boscastle, Cornwall. It is said that, while her skeleton was on display in the museum, they started to experience disruptive poltergeists, and a witch was bought in to advise them, who said that Wytte's spirit wished to be laid in a proper burial. She was finally laid to rest in a peaceful wooded area in Boscastle, and her gravestone reads: “Joan Wytte. Born 1775. Died 1813 in Bodmin Jail. Buried 1998. No longer abused”.
The Yule Log
On the winter solstice, on the longest night of the year, people would place and set afire an entire tree, that was carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony. The largest end of the log would be placed into the fire hearth while the rest of the tree stuck out into the room! The log would be lit from the remains of the previous year's log which had been carefully stored away and slowly fed into the fire through the Twelve Days of Christmas.
It was considered important that the re-lighting process was carried out by someone with clean hands.
Tradition has it that the burning of the Yule log was performed to honor the Great Mother Goddess. The log would be lit on the eve of the solstice using the remains of the log from the previous year and would be burned for twelve hours for good luck and protection. As the fire began all other lights would be extinguished and the people would gather round the fire. In thanksgiving and appreciation for the events of the past year and in bidding the year farewell each person would toss dried holly twigs into the fire.
The next phase of the burning of the Yule log commenced with people tossing oak twigs and acorns into the fire and they would shout out their hopes and resolutions for the coming New Year and sing Yuletide carols. The celebration of the Yule log fire ended with unburned pieces of the Yule log saved to start the fire of next winter’s solstice Yule log.
The custom of the Yule Log spread all over Europe and different kids of wood are used in different countries. In England, Oak is traditional. The “mighty oak” was the most sacred tree of Europe, representing the waxing sun, symbolized endurance, strength, protection, and good luck to people in the coming year. In Scotland, it is Birch; while in France, it's Cherry. Also, in France, the log is sprinkled with wine, before it is burnt, so that it smells nice when it is lit.
Ashes from the Yule log are very beneficial to garden plants, however, it is considered very unlucky to throw out the ashes of the Yule log on Christmas day.
Various chemicals can be sprinkled on the log like wine to make the log burn with different coloured flames! Here's a short list. Be sure to follow safety precautions if you plan on using them!!
•Potassium Nitrate = Violet
•Barium Nitrate = Apple Green
•Borax = Vivid Green
•Copper Sulphate = Blue
•Table Salt = Bright Yellow
It was considered important that the re-lighting process was carried out by someone with clean hands.
Tradition has it that the burning of the Yule log was performed to honor the Great Mother Goddess. The log would be lit on the eve of the solstice using the remains of the log from the previous year and would be burned for twelve hours for good luck and protection. As the fire began all other lights would be extinguished and the people would gather round the fire. In thanksgiving and appreciation for the events of the past year and in bidding the year farewell each person would toss dried holly twigs into the fire.
The next phase of the burning of the Yule log commenced with people tossing oak twigs and acorns into the fire and they would shout out their hopes and resolutions for the coming New Year and sing Yuletide carols. The celebration of the Yule log fire ended with unburned pieces of the Yule log saved to start the fire of next winter’s solstice Yule log.
The custom of the Yule Log spread all over Europe and different kids of wood are used in different countries. In England, Oak is traditional. The “mighty oak” was the most sacred tree of Europe, representing the waxing sun, symbolized endurance, strength, protection, and good luck to people in the coming year. In Scotland, it is Birch; while in France, it's Cherry. Also, in France, the log is sprinkled with wine, before it is burnt, so that it smells nice when it is lit.
Ashes from the Yule log are very beneficial to garden plants, however, it is considered very unlucky to throw out the ashes of the Yule log on Christmas day.
Various chemicals can be sprinkled on the log like wine to make the log burn with different coloured flames! Here's a short list. Be sure to follow safety precautions if you plan on using them!!
•Potassium Nitrate = Violet
•Barium Nitrate = Apple Green
•Borax = Vivid Green
•Copper Sulphate = Blue
•Table Salt = Bright Yellow
Monday, February 14, 2011
FAMOUS WITCHES- MOTHER SHIPTON (1488-1561)
Mother Shipton was a 16th Century English soothsayer, prophetess and supposed witch who is said to have made dozens of unusually accurate predictions, including the Great Plague of London, the Spanish Armada and the Great Fire of London. Many of the more colourful details of her life (such as her birth in a cave in Knaresborough and her hideous appearance) were later admitted to have been fabricated by Richard Head, the editor of a book of her prophecies published forty years after her death.
Mother Shipton was born Ursula Southeil (or possibly Sontheil) the daughter of the 16-year old suspected witch Agatha Southeil (or Sontheil) in 1488 (or possibly 1486). She was reputedly born grotesquely deformed and hideously ugly, but was nevertheless taken in by a kindly townswoman. Her head was too large, her "goggling" eyes glowed like embers, her cheeks were sunken, her limbs were twisted and ill-formed, and she was born with a full set of teeth which protruded like the tusks of a boar. According to local accounts was referred to as “Hag-Face” and “Devils Bastard” as she grew up, and it was believed by many that the father of such an ugly child must be the Devil himself. Some of the accounts of "strange and terrible noises" or a great crack of thunder and a pungent smell of brimstone at the moment of Ursula’s birth are probably later fabrications to fit in with the fanciful notion that the Devil had been the child's father.
Fanciful tales grew up around her of strange events which were said to have plagued the cottage as she grew up. The furniture would mysteriously rearrange itself, plates be flung about, and food vanish before the eyes of astonished mealtime guests. It is said that when pushed beyond the limits of her notoriously limited patience, she would send goblins (or even dragons) to put some of her tormentors to flight. On one occasion, warned that her activities might lead to her being burnt as a witch, she supposedly put her wooden staff in the fire and, when the flames had no effect on it, said: “If this had been burned, I might have too’.
However, neither her growing reputation as a witch nor her appearance (which apparently worsened as she grew up) deterred a York carpenter and builder Toby Shipton from marrying her in 1512 (the inevitable tale developed that she had used a love-potion to bewitch her hapless suitor). Although they remained childless, their relationship was described as “very comfortable”.
Mother Shipton was credited with powers of clairvoyance and through the centuries her predictions, originally passed down by word of mouth, were held in the same high regard as those of her near contemporary, Nostradamus. Her early forecasts were to do with local people and events, and people travelled to Knaresborough from some distance around to consult her. She was particularly successful in solving the sort of commonplace interpersonal disputes, and it was recorded that thieves would publicly return stolen goods (apologizing to the astonished owners for their sin), wandering husbands would beg forgiveness and mend their ways, and corrupt officials would make spontaneous acts of restitution.
Title page of a 1686 edition of Mother Shipton's prophecies (from http://yowusa.com/planetx/2003/
planetx-2003-06a/1.shtml)
But, as time passed, her prophecies became more ambitious and began to relate to the country as a whole, including prominent figures at the court of Henry VIII. For example, she predicted that Cardinal Wolsey (the “Mitred Peacock”) would see York, but never reach it, and in 1530, after falling out of favour with the King, Wolsey set out to find refuge in the north and was within sight of York when Lord Percy arrived with a Royal Summons demanding he return to London to face a charge of high treason.
Her reputation has been kept alive by her foretelling of events in the more distant future: the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the accession of Lady Jane Grey, Drake’s defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Great Plague of 1665 and, perhaps most famously, the Great Fire of London of 1666. It is claimed that some of her prophetical verses foretold iron ships, motor transport, submarines, aircraft and perhaps even the Internet (‘around the world thoughts shall fly in the twinkling of an eye’). One of the most famous examples of Mother Shipton's prophecies, which apparently foretells many aspects common to modern civilization and predicts the end of the world in 1881, is now known to be a 19th Century forgery, which did not appear in print until 1862.
Many people now accept that the figure of Mother Shipton is largely a myth, and that the majority of her prophecies were composed by others in retrospect, after her death. The most notable book of her prophecies, edited by Richard Head, was first published in 1684, and Head later admitted to having invented almost all of Shipton's biographical details.
Mother Shipton died in 1561 (or 1567), and is said to have been buried in unconsecrated ground somewhere on the outskirts of York, possibly at Clifton. Despite the disproofs of many of her prophesies, she was both feared and revered in her own time, and has been remembered by many over the centuries as England's greatest prophetess.
Mother Shipton was born Ursula Southeil (or possibly Sontheil) the daughter of the 16-year old suspected witch Agatha Southeil (or Sontheil) in 1488 (or possibly 1486). She was reputedly born grotesquely deformed and hideously ugly, but was nevertheless taken in by a kindly townswoman. Her head was too large, her "goggling" eyes glowed like embers, her cheeks were sunken, her limbs were twisted and ill-formed, and she was born with a full set of teeth which protruded like the tusks of a boar. According to local accounts was referred to as “Hag-Face” and “Devils Bastard” as she grew up, and it was believed by many that the father of such an ugly child must be the Devil himself. Some of the accounts of "strange and terrible noises" or a great crack of thunder and a pungent smell of brimstone at the moment of Ursula’s birth are probably later fabrications to fit in with the fanciful notion that the Devil had been the child's father.
Fanciful tales grew up around her of strange events which were said to have plagued the cottage as she grew up. The furniture would mysteriously rearrange itself, plates be flung about, and food vanish before the eyes of astonished mealtime guests. It is said that when pushed beyond the limits of her notoriously limited patience, she would send goblins (or even dragons) to put some of her tormentors to flight. On one occasion, warned that her activities might lead to her being burnt as a witch, she supposedly put her wooden staff in the fire and, when the flames had no effect on it, said: “If this had been burned, I might have too’.
However, neither her growing reputation as a witch nor her appearance (which apparently worsened as she grew up) deterred a York carpenter and builder Toby Shipton from marrying her in 1512 (the inevitable tale developed that she had used a love-potion to bewitch her hapless suitor). Although they remained childless, their relationship was described as “very comfortable”.
Mother Shipton was credited with powers of clairvoyance and through the centuries her predictions, originally passed down by word of mouth, were held in the same high regard as those of her near contemporary, Nostradamus. Her early forecasts were to do with local people and events, and people travelled to Knaresborough from some distance around to consult her. She was particularly successful in solving the sort of commonplace interpersonal disputes, and it was recorded that thieves would publicly return stolen goods (apologizing to the astonished owners for their sin), wandering husbands would beg forgiveness and mend their ways, and corrupt officials would make spontaneous acts of restitution.
Title page of a 1686 edition of Mother Shipton's prophecies (from http://yowusa.com/planetx/2003/
planetx-2003-06a/1.shtml)
But, as time passed, her prophecies became more ambitious and began to relate to the country as a whole, including prominent figures at the court of Henry VIII. For example, she predicted that Cardinal Wolsey (the “Mitred Peacock”) would see York, but never reach it, and in 1530, after falling out of favour with the King, Wolsey set out to find refuge in the north and was within sight of York when Lord Percy arrived with a Royal Summons demanding he return to London to face a charge of high treason.
Her reputation has been kept alive by her foretelling of events in the more distant future: the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the accession of Lady Jane Grey, Drake’s defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Great Plague of 1665 and, perhaps most famously, the Great Fire of London of 1666. It is claimed that some of her prophetical verses foretold iron ships, motor transport, submarines, aircraft and perhaps even the Internet (‘around the world thoughts shall fly in the twinkling of an eye’). One of the most famous examples of Mother Shipton's prophecies, which apparently foretells many aspects common to modern civilization and predicts the end of the world in 1881, is now known to be a 19th Century forgery, which did not appear in print until 1862.
Many people now accept that the figure of Mother Shipton is largely a myth, and that the majority of her prophecies were composed by others in retrospect, after her death. The most notable book of her prophecies, edited by Richard Head, was first published in 1684, and Head later admitted to having invented almost all of Shipton's biographical details.
Mother Shipton died in 1561 (or 1567), and is said to have been buried in unconsecrated ground somewhere on the outskirts of York, possibly at Clifton. Despite the disproofs of many of her prophesies, she was both feared and revered in her own time, and has been remembered by many over the centuries as England's greatest prophetess.
Famous Witches - Agatha Southeil (c.1470 - c.1488)
Little is known of Agatha’s life except that she died very young, after giving birth to a daughter, Ursula Southeil (later known as Mother Shipton), in a cave near Knaresborough, Yorkshire, England, now known as Mother Shipton's Cave. She was widely regarded as a witch, mainly due to her status as a social outcast and due to her deformed and hideously ugly child.
Agatha Southeil (or Sontheil) was generally recorded as an orphan of "slothful and idle" tendencies, who had been subject to the scorn and derision of local women for her loose morals, and there is some evidence that while she was pregnant, she may have been tried as a common prostitute.
When she became pregnant outside wedlock at the age of fifteen, and was so victimised by the local townsfolk that she fled to a cave by the Dropping Well at Knaresborough, on the opposite bank of the River Nidd, to give birth. The mysterious petrifying property of the water that runs down the cliff into the well made this a shunned place and was regarded with fear by the superstitious. It was believed that Agatha’s hideously ugly child (who was later to become known as Mother Shipton, a well-known witch in her own right) was sired by the Devil.
It is likely that she died in childbirth, or soon after, in 1488 (or possibly 1486).
Agatha Southeil (or Sontheil) was generally recorded as an orphan of "slothful and idle" tendencies, who had been subject to the scorn and derision of local women for her loose morals, and there is some evidence that while she was pregnant, she may have been tried as a common prostitute.
When she became pregnant outside wedlock at the age of fifteen, and was so victimised by the local townsfolk that she fled to a cave by the Dropping Well at Knaresborough, on the opposite bank of the River Nidd, to give birth. The mysterious petrifying property of the water that runs down the cliff into the well made this a shunned place and was regarded with fear by the superstitious. It was believed that Agatha’s hideously ugly child (who was later to become known as Mother Shipton, a well-known witch in her own right) was sired by the Devil.
It is likely that she died in childbirth, or soon after, in 1488 (or possibly 1486).
Famous Witches - Angéle de la Barthe (c.1230 - 1275)
Angéle de la Barthe was a prosperous woman of Toulouse, France, who was supposedly tried for witchcraft and condemned to death by the Inquisition in 1275. She has been popularly portrayed as the first person to be put to death for heretical sorcery during the medieval witch trials.
Born around 1230, a noblewoman of Toulouse, France, de la Barthe was an adherent of Catharism, a Gnostic Christian sect deemed heretical by the Catholic Church. She was allegedly accused in 1275 by Inquisitor Hugo de Beniols of having sexual intercourse with the Devil (or an incubus) and giving birth to a flesh-eating monster with a wolf's head and a serpent's tail, whose sole food consisted of babies and young children. De la Barthe was accused of having either kidnapped and killed these children or of digging them up from graves, and was held responsible for the disappearance of many infants over the previous two years. Under torture, she confessed to having had sexual relations with Satan, and she was found guilty and burned alive.
Contemporary scholars have cast doubt on the truth of the Angèle de la Barthe story since there is no mention of her trial in the Toulouse records of the time and congress with demons was not yet a crime in 1275, and the 15th Century chronicle from which her story derives is now considered spurious.
Born around 1230, a noblewoman of Toulouse, France, de la Barthe was an adherent of Catharism, a Gnostic Christian sect deemed heretical by the Catholic Church. She was allegedly accused in 1275 by Inquisitor Hugo de Beniols of having sexual intercourse with the Devil (or an incubus) and giving birth to a flesh-eating monster with a wolf's head and a serpent's tail, whose sole food consisted of babies and young children. De la Barthe was accused of having either kidnapped and killed these children or of digging them up from graves, and was held responsible for the disappearance of many infants over the previous two years. Under torture, she confessed to having had sexual relations with Satan, and she was found guilty and burned alive.
Contemporary scholars have cast doubt on the truth of the Angèle de la Barthe story since there is no mention of her trial in the Toulouse records of the time and congress with demons was not yet a crime in 1275, and the 15th Century chronicle from which her story derives is now considered spurious.
Famous Witches - Alice Kyteler (1280 - c.1325)
The case of Dame Alice Kyteler was one of the first European witchcraft trials and the first recorded claim of a witch having intercourse with demons, although the charges were almost certainly trumped up by those seeking her money. Kytler herself escaped, but others in her household were less fortunate.
Dame Alice Kyteler was born in 1280 at Kyteler's House in Kilkenny, Ireland, the only child of an established Anglo-Norman family. She was a wealthy and beautiful Irish noblewoman, and was married four times, to William Outlawe, Adam le Blund, Richard de Valle and, finally, to Sir John le Poers.
When Sir John was taken ill, he suspected he was being poisoned, and on his death, Alice’s step-children accused her of using poison and sorcery against their fathers, and of favouring her first-born son, William Outlawe Jr. In addition, she and her followers (ten of her servants and her son, William) were accused of denying the Christian faith, sacrificing animals to demons and blasphemy. There were some rather bizarre specific claims, included the mixing in a robber’s skull of magical ointments made from worms, hairs from buttocks and clothing from unbaptized baby boys, and alleged intercourse with a demon named Robin or Son of Art, which reportedly appeared as a black shaggy dog or as three Ethiopians carrying iron rods. Various powders, charms and incantations were also found at her home.
The case was brought in 1324 before the then Bishop of Ossory, an English Franciscan friar called Richard de Ledrede, but Dame Alice’s network of influential friends deflected the accusations and even had the Bishop arrested. John Darcy, the Lord Chief Justice, travelled to Kilkenny to investigate the events and vindicated the Bishop, who again attempted to have Dame Alice arrested. Although convicted in 1325, on the night before she was to be burned at the stake, she escaped to England, and was never heard of again.
The Bishop, however, continued to pursue her followers, bringing charges of witchcraft against them, and Alice’s son William Outlawe (who was accused of heresy, usury, perjury, adultery, clericide and other misdemeanours), was convicted but escaped relatively lightly after recanting his heresy and sorcery, being ordered to hear three masses a day for a year, to feed the poor and to pay for a church roof to be covered with lead. Her lower-class followers were less fortunate, and one of them, Petronella de Meath, was tortured by whipping to obtain incriminating information against her mistress, and finally burned at the stake on 3 November 1324, the first person in Ireland to be executed by this method.
This was one of the first European witchcraft trials and followed closely on the election of Pope John XXII to the Papacy, and his addition of witchcraft to the list of heresies in 1320. It also contained the first recorded claim of a witch having intercourse with her incubus. Although the trial itself did not spark immediate, widespread witch-hunts, suspicions of conspiracies with demons, such as those against Kyteler, would be revived in years to come against other reputed witches
Dame Alice Kyteler was born in 1280 at Kyteler's House in Kilkenny, Ireland, the only child of an established Anglo-Norman family. She was a wealthy and beautiful Irish noblewoman, and was married four times, to William Outlawe, Adam le Blund, Richard de Valle and, finally, to Sir John le Poers.
When Sir John was taken ill, he suspected he was being poisoned, and on his death, Alice’s step-children accused her of using poison and sorcery against their fathers, and of favouring her first-born son, William Outlawe Jr. In addition, she and her followers (ten of her servants and her son, William) were accused of denying the Christian faith, sacrificing animals to demons and blasphemy. There were some rather bizarre specific claims, included the mixing in a robber’s skull of magical ointments made from worms, hairs from buttocks and clothing from unbaptized baby boys, and alleged intercourse with a demon named Robin or Son of Art, which reportedly appeared as a black shaggy dog or as three Ethiopians carrying iron rods. Various powders, charms and incantations were also found at her home.
The case was brought in 1324 before the then Bishop of Ossory, an English Franciscan friar called Richard de Ledrede, but Dame Alice’s network of influential friends deflected the accusations and even had the Bishop arrested. John Darcy, the Lord Chief Justice, travelled to Kilkenny to investigate the events and vindicated the Bishop, who again attempted to have Dame Alice arrested. Although convicted in 1325, on the night before she was to be burned at the stake, she escaped to England, and was never heard of again.
The Bishop, however, continued to pursue her followers, bringing charges of witchcraft against them, and Alice’s son William Outlawe (who was accused of heresy, usury, perjury, adultery, clericide and other misdemeanours), was convicted but escaped relatively lightly after recanting his heresy and sorcery, being ordered to hear three masses a day for a year, to feed the poor and to pay for a church roof to be covered with lead. Her lower-class followers were less fortunate, and one of them, Petronella de Meath, was tortured by whipping to obtain incriminating information against her mistress, and finally burned at the stake on 3 November 1324, the first person in Ireland to be executed by this method.
This was one of the first European witchcraft trials and followed closely on the election of Pope John XXII to the Papacy, and his addition of witchcraft to the list of heresies in 1320. It also contained the first recorded claim of a witch having intercourse with her incubus. Although the trial itself did not spark immediate, widespread witch-hunts, suspicions of conspiracies with demons, such as those against Kyteler, would be revived in years to come against other reputed witches
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