I am thrilled to present, in what I plan to be a festive tradition for Witch Country: A Ghost Story for Christmas!
Since the days of Charles Dickens and a Christmas Carol (1843), and, I'm sure, long before, we have huddled around fires to tell tales of spirits and ghosts during the cold yuletide nights.
So here is a tale where witches raise storms and become ghosts themselves, seeking a little retribution, perhaps.
Merry Christmas One and All! Xx
My frosted trip to Dartmoor was a beautiful adventure! With eerie misty tales and tricksy standing stones! (I’m still not quite sure I understand how many stones the ‘Nine Maidens’ is supposed to be!)
Wishing you all a bright November and a very Merry Midwinter; I look forward to sharing new adventures with you in 2025! & If you’d like to keep up to date with my adventures, keep an eye on my patreon page! Where I’ll continue to post snippets over the winter break.
Enjoy some Folk Fun and Food drawn from my fourth Book; Kitchen Witch: Food, Folklore & Fairy Tale! and Kitchen Witch Companion: Recipes, Rituals & Reflections
Wishing you all many happy hallowed evenings this October!
Join me for Tales from the Wildwood live Zoom event on October 30th, 6pm (GMT) Eventbrite Link
A short and sweet podcast episode for September!
If you are seeking more tales of forest folklore and witchy woods, Do pick up a copy of the Witch and the Wildwood
Join me for Tales from the Wildwood live Zoom event on October 30th, 6pm (GMT) Eventbrite Link
A wonderful wander with stones, witches and wizards!
The Monument or The monument commonly called Long Meg and her daughters, near the River Eden by William Wordsworth, 1822
A weight of Awe not easy to be borne
Fell suddenly upon my spirit, cast
From the dread bosom of the unknown past,
When first I saw that family forlorn;
Speak Thou, whose massy strength and stature scorn
The power of years – pre-eminent, and placed
Apart, to overlook the circle vast.
Speak Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn,
While she dispels the cumbrous shades of night;
Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud,
At whose behest uprose on British ground
That Sisterhood in hieroglyphic round
Forth-shadowing, some have deemed the infinite
The inviolable God that tames the proud.
In June, I journeyed along the Fife Witches Trail to stand at the stone we call Lilias Adies’ grave and to pay my respects to the accused witches of Scotland at Dunfermline Abbey.
I’ve shared a few snaps on my Patreon page if you would like to consider supporting the podcast. There are both free and paid options that I hope will suit everyone!
Notes & News from today’s episode
Check out the work of our incredible cover artist Luki! https://www.instagram.com/olya.luki/
Bohemian Poems, Ancient and Modern (1849) translated by Albert Henry Wratislaw
On the oak the sunbeams play’d,
’Neath the oak there stood a maid,
Strawberries she gather’d there
For a feast till mid-day fair.
To her comes a lady white,
With a golden girdle dight,
But her loose dishevell’d hair
All conceals her count’nance fair.
She doth to the maiden say,
Wait, O wait awhile, I pray!
If the hair thou plait’st for me,
Thou shalt sometime blooming be.
Sit the maid and lady white,
With the golden girdle dight,
And the maiden plaits the hair,
Which conceals her count’nance fair.
After, when the maid arose,
Gifts the Vila fair bestows,
Little leaves of hawthorn free,
Large leaves from the old oak-tree.
Fleets the Vila, homeward now
Doth the maid returning go;
Tossing scornfully her head,
O’er the path the leaves she spread.
Then at home the tale she told,
As her apron she doth fold,
Ah! but how astonish’d she,
Gold and silver sheen to see!
Then she knows the Vila white
Would the service small requite,
Silver leaves of hawthorn free
Golden from the old oak-tree.
Quiet can she not attain,
Till the leaves she seeks again,
But the leaves alas! are gone,
And the maiden weeps alone.
This is a bit of a wandering journey! Where did the name Witches Castle come from? And what role do the fairies play? Listen and learn more!
Goblin Combe: You’ll find many versions of this story, including the one in Folktales of England, by Katharine Briggs and Ruth Tongue, 1965
The Brecon Elves & the Wise Housewife: A Variation of a story that can be found in Folk Tales of Wales by Eirwen Jones, 1978
The Fairy of the Dell: A short and sweet version of a tale told in Welsh fairy-tales and Other Stories by P.H Emerson, 1894
Today, I have a collection of tales! I start the podcast with some snippets from my upcoming book, The Witch and the Wildwood. Then, I head out on a journey to Arundel, Sussex, to indulge in Wassail and a walk around in muddy fields looking for Witch Hares!
Episode Notes
Here is my Patreon page www.patreon.com/witchcountry- with various notes, videos, folk tales and delights!
I will let you all know when The Witch and the Wildwood is ready to Pre-order! This is my book for 2024, and in 2025, Witch Country, the book, is coming!
I read about wassailing from Kitchen Witch: Food, Folklore & Fairy Tale
If you are interested in succeeding where I failed! This is the Hare Loop Walk!
I am now on Patreon! a great way for me to share extra tales, videos and snippets of my travels. And a way for me to fund new travels!
Links Mentioned:
My Books (which can be bought directly from the publisher, all the usual online places and you can get your local indie to order in!)
Find me on the Insight Timer App link here - which offers oodles of free meditations and talks
Starting Witch Country: A Journey through story and landscape and all things witch, with perhaps the most famous, infamous witches of England - the accused witches collectively known as the Pendle witches.
Thoughts on this episode? ideas? new witchy places I should explore? Say hi on Instagram! @thisiswitchcountry
Find All Manner of Magic over on my Instagram!
