Elizabeth Andrews's Blog, page 12

Sleeping amidst the falling cherry blossom

After a night of spring revelry my faerie fell asleep among the bluebells and ferns at the bottom of the garden. Luckily a light covering of cherry blossom has fallen on over her protecting her against the sudden snow shower!

St Marks Eve

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According to my trusty almanac the 24th of this month is the night to visit the church porch.At the appointed hour ghosts of the doomed can be seen passing into the church. You may need to make three visits before the spectres will appear before you but beware if you see your double or fall asleep while the ghostly procession passes you will surely die within the year.
'The ghosts of all whom death shall doomWithin the coming year;In pale procession walk the gloom,Amid the silences drear.'


It is also a good time for young girls to use divination to discover the identity of their future husbands. Hang your smock by the fireplace and await for the arrival of an apparition of your true love to come in and turn your garment for you.
'On St Mark's Eve, at twelve o'clock,The fair maid will watch her smock,To find her husband in the dark,By praying unto good St Mark.'
In Lincolnshire young women would visit the Malden Well on St Mark's Eve and walk backwards around it three times, at the same time making a wish to see her destined sweetheart. After the third circle she must kneel and gaze into the water, hopefully to see the image of her future husband.

Weird and wonderful folkore surrounding the Cuckoo

It is at this time of year  that you can expect to hear the first cuckoo and if you are walking at the time it is considered to be lucky.Not so lucky to hear it while lying in bed as this means that you or someone in your family will die that year.If you have no money in your pocket when she calls or if you fail toturn over all the coins you have, you will be poor all year.On hearing the cuckoo sit down and immediately take off your left shoe you will find in it a hair of exactly the same colour as that of your true love.


If you wish to know how many years of life you have left then count how many times it calls, each call equates to one year of life.
On hearing its first call run three times in a circle, giving good luck for the rest of the year. It is also encouraged that you run to the nearest gate and sit on the top rail as this will drive away the spirit of laziness.On Dartmoor along the River Teign the older generation  believed that the song of the cuckoo called the salmon upstream
March, he sits on his perch; April he tunes his bill; May, he sings all day;June he alters his tune, and July, away he do fly"



This is a Reedwarbler feeding a juvenile cuckoo!
According to Aristotle the cuckoo should be praised for its resourcefulnes, for laying its egg in another birds nest. 


This habit has led to a connection between cuckoo and cuckoldry and indeed the word cuckold is derived from cuckoo.
"The cuckoo then on very treeMocks married men. for thus he sings: Cuckoo!"Skakespeare

&...

               
 The bluebell is one of the most potent of faerie flowers and a bluebell    wood is a very dangerous place to stray into.     It will be  full of faeries weaving spells and enchantments amongst the trees     into which you will be drawn if you are not careful.      Mortals will be held captive until led out by another human and if a child wanders     into their webs of enchantment they will be whisked away to faerie land and      never seen again.The faeries are called to their revels by the sound of the bluebells chiming but if a human hears the chiming it means a malicious faerie is nearby and can possibly foretells your own death. For this reason it is known as deadman’s bells in Scotland.If you wish to attract faeries to your home plant bluebells in the garden.


The Bluebell is a common bulb in England and Scotland, found less in Ireland. Grows in dense patches in woods and hedges. The flowers are found in pink and white as well as the more usual blue. All have a wonderful scent.     Flowers  April to June.




  Scottish Bluebell or Harebell.  A common native perennial of Britain,            found on poor dry soils such banks, roadsides and dry grassy areas.           Flowers July to September.



The bulbs of the bluebell are poisonous in their fresh state but have diuretic and styptic properties and when dried and powdered have been used as a styptic for Leucorrhoea. Bluebells are currently being investigated in the treatment of cancer.The viscid juice contained in the plant has been used for many things in the past, such as a substitute for starch, bookbinding gum and also for setting feathers upon arrows.



Excerpt from 'Faerie Flora'

Gulliver's Travels

The morning sunshine beckoned Gulliver out for an adventure, little did he know that the lovely sunshine wouldn't last!Having to shelter in one of these strange automobiles during a heavy hailstorm, he waited patiently for the sun to reappear.

Wading through the thick layer of ice left behind by the storm he tottered off towards Seaton beach. 
Seaton a small seaside town in East Devon on the south coast of England. It faces onto Lyme Bay, to the west of the mouth of the River Axe, it has red cliffs to one side and white cliffs on the other. A sea wall separates the shingle beach from the town. This is one of the towns that sits on the 96 mile Jurassic Coast line.

Being a very small elf he found it difficult to keep his feet in the strong winds blowing off the sea.








Tired of being blown around by the cold wind Gulliver is having a rest behind one of the rocks on the beach


In Saxon times Seaton was known as Fluta or Fleet, the Saxon word for creek and was founded by Saxon Charter in 1005 AD.But there has been a farming community here 4,000 years before the Romans arrived when it  became an important port although the remains of the Roman occupation has been reburied to preserve them.In 2013 a local builder unearthed the Seaton Down Hoard of copper alloy coins, these Roman coins, about 22,000 is believed to be one of the largest 4th century collections ever foundThe importance of Seaton as a port continued  for several centuries, supplying ships and crew for Edward I's wars against Scotland and France until a landslip caused by heavy storm partially blocked the estuary. The arrival of the railway added to the decline of the harbour.

Witches Spittle

The use of spittle by witches for curing warts is quite well known and was and is 
used freely in many healing charms , as well as curses.They believed that spittle contained the essence of their personality, and so by 
spitting on a certain area their power and their influence is brought to bear on 
that particular spot.Christ cured a man's blindness by spitting into his eyes and it was also common 
practice in many ancient religious ceremonies, believing that the saliva of the gods 
bestowed healingOne author of folklore, Ruth St Leger-Gordon recounts a tale from the mid 60's of a 
neighbour who was well known to be a witch. 
This woman, Mary Ann, cursed a tradesman with whom she had fallen out by spitting
 on his doorstep three time and muttering " Take that, take that, take that".After which the man had nothing bad luck, his wife died, his business failed, he then
 went deaf and to cap it all died young. Her powers, it seemed, could be either black or white depending on her mood; for 
about the same time she cured a six year old girl of a chronic eye infection which up till 
then had the local doctor baffled. Mary Ann drew the young girl to one side and spat 
three times into each eye. The mother, a firm believer in Mary Ann's powers forbade 
the young girl to wipe the spittle from her face. She was not disappointed for shortly after
 the young girls eye complaint  cleared up and she was able to attend school again.
Many people find that they have the gift for using healing charms without having 
to be a 'witch' but custom decrees that these gifts must be handed down alternately
 from man to woman in each succeeding generation. If there is no one  suitable in the 
family then the gift is passed on to an outsider.

Jan 17th: Twelfth Night, Old style

This is traditionally the time to wassail your apple trees, to encourage them to bear a good crop in the coming year. This is still prevalent today and has been revived in many country areas.
The owner of the orchard, along with friends,  gather in the orchard singing, firing shotguns into the branches and beating the trunks with sticks to drive out the evil spirits to ensure a good crop for the coming year.Cider is drunk from the wassailing bowl which contains hot spiced cider, lumps of apple and pieces of toast.The remains from the bowl is poured over the roots as an offering to the Apple Tree Man, and the cider soaked toast is placed in the forks of the trees.
‘Old Apple Tree we wassail thee, and happily thou wilt bear,For the Lord knows where we shall be,Till apples another year’       


The oldest tree in the orchard is inhabited by the Apple Tree Man, who is the guardian of the orchard. To honour him the last few apples must be left for him and the pixies; this custom is called griggling, pixy hoarding and cullpixying.
 The apple symbolises fruitfulness, prosperity,  and rejuvenation and the wood is still seen as a symbol of security. Beware of entering an apple orchard as the trees are inhabited by faeries and pixies, so do not sit beneath a tree and fall asleep or you will fall under a faerie enchantment. If you wish to call upon the faeries summon them with a apple wood wand; and eating an enchanted apple will allow you to enter the faerie realm. You can burn the bark as an offering to the faeries on midsummer night.
from 'Faerie Flora'

Greet the first new moon of the New Year

'May the light be fair to meMay the course be smooth to meIf good to me is the beginningSeven times better be thine endThou fair moon of the seasonsThou great lamp of graceBring blessings on me and my house'
The new moon is considered to be the most important of its phases, especially in Ireland. And its appearance was greeted with a ceremony which was believed if not carried out would bring misfortune.The women of Cork would bless themselves and offer a short prayer, 'May she leave us in good health.'Marriage divination was also carried out in the light of the full moon.In England it was customary to  stand astride the bars of a gate or stile ( in Yorkshire they would kneel on a ground fast stone) and say aloud:
'All Hail to the moon, all hail to thee,I prithee good moon reveal to meThis night who my husband or wife must be'
I believe the idea was that you would dream of your future partner that night.
And to finish an Irish blessing for you!
'May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire.'


And for more information about the new moonhttp://faeriesandallthatstuff.blogspo...

Food Magic and Medicine from our hedgerows

For anybody who is interested in the folklore of our hedgerows my article in last years Kindred Spirit magazine might be to your taste, This is just the opening paragraph, the full article can still found in the magazine via the Kindred Spirit  website: http://kindredspirit.co.uk
Britain’s hedgerows are an important part of our countryside not only for the wildlife but also for the diversity of flora that can be found in these micro environments but the folklore which is part of our heritage is in danger of being lost as well. These oral traditions have been passed down through the generations and usually safeguarded by the housewife who would have turned to the hedgerow for food and for medicine. The more everyday ailments could be treated by a quick visit to the hedgerow. Having just rudimentary medical knowledge this herbal lore was indispensable for the families well being and would have been used in many different ways, both herbal and culinary, with a wealth of folklore for each plant.The superstitions and charms surrounding the plants were also an important part of their lives and governed many of their everyday actions. The seasons of the year were celebrated using these plants and in some cases performing a central role in the celebrations.May Day which harks back to pagan festivals was celebrated as the beginning of summer and on May Day Eve communities would go out and bring in the ‘May.’ Spending the night outdoors they would greet the first light with drums and blasts on cow horns to welcome  in the summer and then return home laden with branches of May blossom (Hawthorn) to decorate their homes.And we were up as soon as any day OAnd to fetch the summer home,The summer and the May OFor the summer is a come O
And the winter is a go O

Price Promotion

Starting on the 18th Jan 2017, both The Lavender Witch and the second in the series The Cunning Man will be available at various countdown prices for a week from Amazon Kindle.
The Lavender Witch is a chilling ghost story based on the strange but true events surrounding the death of Hannah Beamish, accused of being a witch by a wealthy farmer in a small remote village where she lived in the early 1800’s. 
One hundred and seventy years later these strange events, only now remembered by a few, come to light when Kitty and Gordon move back to the Devon village where they were born, they buy an old orchard from a farmer and build a small house. All is fine until they move in and Kitty spends her first day alone in their new home.
Over the course of their first week in the house chilling apparitions appear and events spiral out of their control bringing the past and present together until the truth emerges as to what really happened on Castle Hill. Was Kitty and Gordon's return to the village a coincidence? And what secrets are the elderly sisters Sybil and Queenie keeping? To save their home and their sanity they must finally put the ghosts to rest. 
The Cunning Man.
During an innocent day trip with the WI to Bindon, a small fishing village on the Dorset coast Queenie and Sybil, the psychic sisters are troubled by the underlying atmosphere of fear and secrecy.
Their curiosity is further piqued when Queenie notices fresh witch marks carved into every door lintel in the village and when they encounter the ghost of a child in the churchyard they realise they have to investigate further.