Icy Sedgwick's Blog, page 37
August 9, 2018
John Dee: The Magician and the Devil in Manchester
What does an Elizabethan mathematician, a northern pre-industrial town, and Beelzebub have in common? Answer? They all appear in the tale of John Dee and the devil in Manchester. Dee, immortalised in the opera Dr Dee by Blur’s Damon Albarn, is a fascinating figure in Britain’s occult history. So without further ado, let’s pop back to the […]
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August 6, 2018
The Shadow Cabinet
Prime Minister Etherington sat at his desk, staring at the reports laid out before him. The words swam before his eyes, with particular phrases leering at him. “Possible conspiracy”…. “grave threat to the nation”…. “utmost importance”…. “imminent danger”… “I have no idea what to make of all of this. Can any of it be substantiated?” […]
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August 2, 2018
Who is the River God Tyne on the side of the Civic Centre?
Newcastle and Gateshead are currently awash with adverts for the Great Exhibition of the North. The aim is to promote the art, design and innovation in the region now. But what of its heritage and culture? We’ve played host to the Romans, the Vikings, and indigenous British tribes. With that in mind, let’s meet the mighty […]
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July 26, 2018
A Joker in the Pack: The Folklore of Playing Cards
You probably own at least one deck of playing cards. And if you’re anything like me, you literally only know how to play one card game. Solitaire. Have you ever considered using them to tell fortunes? Cartomancy doesn’t just rely on fancy decks of special cards. True, Madame Lenormand became famous for her divinatory cards […]
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July 19, 2018
Folklore of Fortune Telling, Superstitions, and Avoiding Danger
In the 1990s, paper fortune tellers were all the rage at my school. They were like the low-tech version of a Magic 8 ball, another fortune telling ‘toy’. Ours never looked as fancy as this one, but this is what I mean. Their use in England dates to the 1950s (Opie 2001 [1959], pp. 341–342). […]
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July 12, 2018
Mirrors and Witches: How to Cast Spells using Mirrors
> As we saw in last week’s post on reflections in folklore, mirrors play a huge part in many superstitions. Linked to ideas around the double, mirrors can be downright creepy. The so-called Witches’ Mirror, or dark mirror, doesn’t help with the association. Traditionally, they’re made from slices of black obsidian. As this doesn’t grow on […]
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July 4, 2018
Review of Dorothea Brande’s Becoming A Writer
Certain books reappear on ‘you must read’ lists of writing manuals. Stephen King’s On Writing is a prime example. Dorothea Brande’s seminal text on creative writing is another such title. Becoming A Writer was first published in the 1930s, yet the wisdom it contains is still just as relevant today. Most writing books focus on the mechanics […]
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June 28, 2018
Black Dogs and Englishmen: Black Shuck in English Folklore
This month ended up being all about death omens, from the Bean Nighe of Scottish folklore to the Fetch of Irish lore. How about turning our attention to English folklore, and its spectral black dogs? In some parts of the country, the dogs act as death omens. Elsewhere, they represent the Devil. And in other […]
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June 21, 2018
Why Is The Fetch Seen As A Death Omen?
Folklore crackles with tales of spirits and doubles. These bad omens, like the Bean Nighe, point to the death of the beholder. Irish folklore also features the fetch, a shadowy double who appears at the point of death. According to the folklore, the fetch appears to a third person just as someone dies, or is about to. […]
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June 14, 2018
Why is the Bean Nighe seen as an omen of death?
We’re possibly all familiar with the idea of the banshee. The wailing female spirit cries out to announce a death within certain Irish families. But what of her cousin, the Bean Nighe? This lonely spirit also marks impending deaths, in Scotland and Ireland. Let’s get to know her a little better and find out why she’s an […]
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